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11 Feb 2009 · media
When White House press conference doesn’t invite correspondents from The Wall Street Journal, The Chicago Tribune, Time and Newsweek but president Obama fields questions from the correspondent from The Huffington Post, a news blog (or should I call it an Internet only news publication) it sure is a sign of change! Read the New York Times article…
Continue reading →10 Feb 2009 · media
Google is making its database of 1.5 million public domain books accessible from mobile devices for free. Amazon is working to make all its Kindle titles available on mobile devices.Random House Publishing has announced that will make books available for free for mobile devices. Penguin Group (USA) has started Penguin 2.0, again aimed for mobile devices… Google already has a mobile version of Google Book Search… Is the future of ‘books’ likely to be in our palms?
Continue reading →06 Feb 2009 · media
Like the open source movement in software, an open source movements in the textbooks may be afoot. If this movement takes hold it will surely impact the textbook business, which is perhaps the only safe island in a sea of troubled publishing business. The other question is what motivates people like Professor R. Preston McAfee to make their books available for free, when they could have earned a fair bit from it – $100,000 advance and more, according to a New York Times article (Don’t Buy That Textbook, Download It Free)
Continue reading →03 Feb 2009 · media
According to Time magazine, novel podcasts, unlike audiobooks “are truncated into segments and may include ambient sounds, music as well a cast of voices playing different characters.” “Evo Terra, the co-founder of Podiobooks.com, says 45,000 episodes are downloaded each day.” If you are in the publishing business you may want to find out more… at Podiobooks.com you can find and subscribe to audio book as well as novel podcasts. Links: Time Article PodioBooks website
Continue reading →16 Dec 2008 · community-radio
According to Elise Nordling, “The primary function of radio is that people want company.” Assuming that to be true, what kind of company do people normally want? Who do you and I like to talk to? To listen to? To someone who speaks our own language, perhaps. To someone who understands our world, and our lives, and the joys and sorrows and challenges that go into living each day. A mirror that we look into, sometimes admiringly, sometimes critically, but a mirror nonetheless.
Continue reading →03 Dec 2008 · media
Marcella Nunez-Smith of Yale School of Medicine and his team spent more than 18 months studying some 173 researches conducted over the last 30 years on how media affects the lives of children – ‘…obesity, tobacco, drug and alcohol use, sexual behavior, low academic achievement and ADHD’. Turns out that 80 percent of the research efforts show a ‘link between a negative health outcome and media hours or content’. The study says there is ‘…above average evidence to support the link between media exposure and drug use, alcohol use and low academic achievement.’ This research focused on television, music, movies…
Continue reading →30 Nov 2008 · media
The Mumbai tragedy has once again highlighted how the radio can be the most effective medium of communication in the time of crisis, be it floods, earthquakes, war, or terror strikes. With electricity supplies cut off, televisions switched off, one of the most effective way to get the message across is the radio. CR activists have been arguing for emergency radio stations in Bihar for a while now, but their plea seems to have got buried in some file – at least till the next tragedy will strike our country, as it surely must.
Continue reading →19 Nov 2008 · community-radio
At the risk of being taken seriously, I look forward to the day I can hear Lalu Prasad Yadav, our right honourable Railways Minister, coming on in between some truly ribald Bollywood numbers playing on an FM channel and saying, “Humka bhote dijiye! Phir mat boliyega ki yeh rail-gaadi nikal gayee.” (Vote for us. Later don’t say that you missed the train.") But the flip side of the goverment giving the in-principle go-ahead to political ads on FM channels could well be a hijacking of the airwaves.You can read the full story that was published in Mint on November 19, 2008 here.
Continue reading →17 Oct 2008 · media
An excellent opportunity for those looking seriously at how media is shaping our society, and how society is shaping media, is the Tejeshwar Singh Memorial Fellowship that will support such an endeavour by paying scholars Rs 50,000 per month for one year, plus Rs 50,000 as travel expenses. It would be interesting to see the publications that come out of this exercise.
Continue reading →28 Aug 2008 · community-radio
Here’s a video link sent by Frederick Noronha through the CR-India mailing list. Sajan is the founder of the Community Radio Forum. Currently with Doordarshan, Sajan has 15 years of experience with radio. He has also been moderator and resource person for Solution Exchange, a UN ICT for Development initiative. The video of Sajan outlining where community radio in India stands today: Can also be seen here.
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