media education
The question that I would like to cover throughout this thesis is the relevance played by the independent approach in Indian media education that certainly differs in grand scale from the high-tech industry sector development. Thus, apparently opposite and non- relational components of ICT could probably not easily claim their interdependency. However if we draw a larger map of ICT for development we will see that formal education practices are closely related to the national organizational structure of society and that the industry sector relies on most of its highly educated and trained workers. Their education becomes a value for the industry as well as for the national development and competitive neo-liberal nature of societies. In fact from a much broader view “India’s involvement in the It revolution is best understood as belonging to a process of Westernization” (Greenspan, 2004: 3). And that more local self-education and media training is instead concentrated on enlarging participation and localization.
In the case of media education this perspective amplifies and clearly shows a model that could demonstrate that ICT in practice is delivering and creating structures of an Occidental society. The main perspective of the Indian government on how education should work in a global economy focuses mainly on privatized partnerships.
In fact: “The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has requested the government to permit foreign direct investment (FDI) in the education sector to create a team of skilled manpower for meeting the requirements of the rapidly growing economy”
The fact that the confederation of Indian industries is asking the government to open its doors to foreign investment certainly creates a favorable ground for privatization of universities, regulation of curriculum and includes a growing concern for possible standardization of knowledge elites. What types of foreign investments are going to invade educational facilities? This is still to become an object of close study in global privatization trends of the educational sector, however in case of India it might cause to affect the next generation in a semi-conscious way, because of its recent history of opening its market to global investments.
On the other hand it emerges that education fosters in a community environment, where implementation of ICT bring into light a totally pervasive acceptance of connectivity and practice.
“A learning activity is, in essence, a conversation undertaken between the learner and other members of the community. This conversation, in the web 2.0 era, consists not only of words but of images, video, multimedia and more. This conversation forms a rich tapestry of resources, dynamic and interconnected, created not only by experts but by all members of the community, including learners”.
The origin of social media in India
It will not be easy to change the long folk theatre tradition by introducing ICT, and audio-visual performances, but it will at least assure a cultural continuity, a cultural production that evokes independently a global culture or the western cultural imperialism.
Folk theatre – street protest
I found some relevant and important views on the traditional popular media ways addressed social and political issues helping to establish a proper grass root public event in the book “Voice to the Voiceless: The power of people’s theatre in India” written by Jacob Srampickal that introduces in a complete history, form the role of street and folk theatre in India
“Its ability for direct communication unlike any other form of art enables it to be a powerful tool in political propaganda. In India where there is a high degree of illiteracy and diversity of language and dialects, a theatre form of this sort, versatile and adaptable, cheap and mobile has indeed tremendous potential” (Srampickal, 101)
In my research I came across theBlank noise project, which consists of a group of activists that makes interventions in the city to question eve teasing and sexual harrasment of women in public spaces. They intervene contemporary in Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore and significantly intervene in spaces. The actions that happen are collected through stories and pictures on the blog, which encompass the network between the Blank noise activists throughout India. Their intervention consist on standing still and looking back continuosly to passerbyers. Their intervention specifically address the position of women in the public space through an act of street performance, which sometimes acts with graffiti and stencils on citywalls and citystreets with explicit messages of reclaiming roles and questioning traditional unspoken forms of male domination and power
development
1.1.1.The case of info-tech industries
Production and consumption of media content and practice in the South-Asian context has always been subjugated to national policy, nevertheless influenced by the economic and political elites. The opening of Indian markets in the early 1990 lead to a fast liberalization of the ICT industry. The decade that followed was one of free trade and cooperation especially in the high tech sector. The case of the media industry, after opening to the western markets, is although miles away from building a local identity, which would engage in participation and creation of media practices for its own action and reflection.
Anna Greenspan in her book: “India and the It Revolution” (2004) gives a detailed analysis of the advantages and proliferation of industry investments in Information technology (IT). Her observations focus on the case of abundant human resources, which encompass a high level of education in the scientific and technological knowledge and English skills, which basically is the language of the ASCII, the common encoding scheme. She further analyses the immigration flow of highly expert Indian nationals who were employed by most of the Sillicon Valley high tech industries and who contributed to the emergence of the global Indian entrepreneurship in the IT industry, which I will discuss further in this paper. “ Business-world, an Indian magazine aimed at hyping the new economy, cities one estimate that a full 40 per cent of start ups are by Indians. Other studies claim that about one-third of the engineers in Sillicon Valley are of Indian descendent and by the late 1990s, 7 percent of th valley’s high tech firms – 774 companies – were led by Indian CEOs.”
Process of westernization has increased the divergence between the middle classes, which are estimated to be around 20% of the population and the urban poor, the slum dwellers.
Due to the overall technological modernization in the 20th century that is linked with the fast growing global information economy the so called techno-dependent societies in developing countries are sprouting It has been confirmed by the Unesco world report that in most areas of education, scientific research and new technologies the general short termed application of new technologies in the above mentioned fields lead to a more general techno-deterministic approaches which is lacking critical development (Unesco world report, p 21).
I will briefly trace in this chapter the history of western dominance; its pathological character and the role of technology in developing countries form the more generalized perspective to specific approaches in media education. The medical terminology used here refers to the persistence of this trend, the pathology of bringing civilization where according to Occidental standards, there is none.
Improvement in technological advancement happens behind closed doors, where ICT products and services are being created. In fact private corporations mainly detain margins of standards, patents and knowledge ownership that goes against the culture of open knowledge that fosters more development, more creativity and more participation which builds intellectual and material benefits to societies in most developing countries.
I will talk more about knowledge societies in a different chapter, however should be acknowledge here that ownership and control of the telecommunication infrastructure in most cases denies rather than increments development. Mark Thompson in his critical discourse analysis of a speech by the president of the World Bank annotates that less developed countries are integrated involuntarily into global networks of capital, production, trade and communication. He finds that technocratic stakeholders are nurturing dominant discourses of interest in the discourse of ICT for development . The power of technological hegemony, the intertwined structure of ICT with the global telecommunication property and infrastructure, leaves aside possibilities based on sustainable and decentralized mobile and networked coexistence on regional levels. Indeed from this perspective, ICT feeds the notion of participation in a global economy and connectivity, instead of encouraging more local and user oriented practices and knowledge of ICT. To better understand this fragmented approach on Indian ICT I will draw from the example of education.
The earliest version of the web began with the creation of commercial software in 1993 that provided an accessible and practical tool to be used also by those who were not so familiar with Information Technology. After two years, in 1995, the privatisation of the dynamics that controls the Internet system with Microsoft on the lead. From this point on, related commercial providers were in the hands of a few private conglomerates . The web allowed communication to run in a multifaceted way across the globe, this is the time when information and services that are linked to ICT became a vital necessity to the world economy, but also increased ties on a regional level. One way flow of information started to become history, for those who could afford to buy the technology, computers and updated versions of ingenious software. However in less developed regions in the world is still difficult to produce and sustain electricity. In many countries technologies could not compete with oral traditions or local culture, mainly because of literacy and cultural differences. In this perspective, the expansion of ICT in developing countries starts to be seen as a new form of dominance over regional economies and markets. In most cases the introduction of ICT’s to developing regions, made by international NGO’s or other private donators, was an important step in making information and knowledge accessible in rural areas. Indeed, the problem that rises from the point of view of the rural and economically deprived people is that the infrastructure needs a long-term sustainability. There is a lack of local operative centres that would provide or repair knowledge and material. The far most effective and supportive ICT providers at this point in Africa are only private companies and multinationals . In fact NGO’s, which work in the development areas provide good quality initiatives and projects in the ICT sector, but they have only finances for a limited period of time. Only a market led solution in ICT4D could not be the only possible sustainable practice, because there is far more need for an adequate literacy and local educational support that provide the right means to empower minorities, women and youth. On the other hand enabling a paradigm of an adequate access to knowledge basically should deal with problems such as inequalities represented in societies in order to become a readable solution for extending human rights. Indeed inequalities are the core of a much more larger set of social instabilities and low economic perspectives in less democratic developing countries.
introduction
The focus of this thesis is self-education in India based on media, which technically comprehend the use and alteration of ICT technologies, where I will theoretically and practically observe different approaches that enable creativity and autonomous artistic expression. In fact in India there are two main paradigms leading to very different approaches to technology, on one hand the state run institutions focus on ICT implementation in their curriculum which shapes the next tech-savvy generation while on the other independent organizations and media labs focus on do it yourself media practices and alternative media projects.
It is in the latest that more cultural content, cooperation and exchange of knowledge is generated, which re-determines educational paradigms. Standard learning is being challenged by informal exchange of peer to peer mechanisms and do it yourself practices encouraging a changing perspective of media education in the networked society. Which media education practices assert more solidarity with technology, the urban space and knowledge? New media education practices in India encourage the emergence critical culture in its urban environment, relationships and comprehension.
“Freire believed that development implies liberation, namely a freeing from the mental and physical shackles of existence within a ‘culture of silence’ to the humanization of self as part of the community. Authentic development is a process whereby through an intense process of learning, characterized by the twin elements of action and reflection, the oppressed as a class confront and overcome the culture of domination and create meaningful alternatives for their own future. (Srampickal, 1994 p. 6) It is in this context of media education, where action and reflection become essential mechanisms that define the nature of creativity through learning fabric of self-education.
Developing countries are being caught up in an increasing buzz of ICT that is enveloping most of the social and political sectors. In the example of India, the ICT sector is an extremely interesting case due to the fact that its participation in world economy founds on information technology and software development. Most of technologically driven ICT education packages are linked with international organizations and private businesses, which facilitate a sustainable and efficient outcome of standardized media trainings. This is the case of e-learning, programmes that encourages the formation of learning activity that reflects the needs of a new generation of computer operators. On the other side the government of India is increasing its focus on providing computer access and implementing new technological kiosks in rural areas of the country aiming at broadening “government-to-citizen and business-to-customer services” . The major aim considering the national policy approach is to stress specific lack and preoccupations regarding the formation of global ICT knowledge societies directed at forming tech operators in developing world, who will produce, organize and run private and multinational ICT industry. Technology development is linked with relationships at the level of production and consumption, which is well visible in the case of the Indian high tech economy. The government is increasingly investing on solutions that will provide more access to its citizens. This fact has unfolded a large series of packages promoting ad hoc solutions in urban and rural areas. It is still increasingly a paradox type of solutions since the social and economic status of the majority of the population is lacking basic access to water, infrastructure and health facilities. “To bridge India’s widening digital divide, the Government is focusing on increasing physical access to computers connected to the Internet. In a recent policy initiative, it has promised to put in place in rural India a hundred thousand Common Service Centres (CSCs) — broadband-enabled computer kiosks that will offer a range of government-to-citizen and business-to-customer services, besides providing sheer access to the Internet.” The Unesco world report called “Towards Knowledge societies” has stressed the fact that nowadays the digital divide is increasing the widening of the knowledge divide between countries of the North and countries of the South: “closing the digital divide will not suffice to close the knowledge divide, for access to useful, relevant knowledge is more than simply a matter of infrastructure – it depends on training, cognitive skills, and regulatory frameworks geared towards access to contents. (p. 22).
Trebor Scholz described how technological interaction along with social and economical structures holds a hegemonic position in shaping the everyday life through a variety of social actors. In the report by Unesco’s meta survey on the use of technology in education in Asia the official position of the Indian government regarding the implementation of ICT in education aim is to create“ a sustainable competitive advantage in order to maintain India’s global leadership position in knowledge-led business. ”
The second major concern I want to address focus on the specific attribution of ICT is social hierarchy. Educational programmes that encourage uses of ICT bring benefits only to those who can effort higher education. “When one examines the aims of projects seeking to “bridge the digital divide” (and the like) in countries such as India and South Africa, and honestly observes who gets to participate, produce, share and benefit, one is faced with the uncomfortable fact that it is, still, mainly the elite” However one thing should be acknowledged at this point, as Bernardo Sorj suggests, it is the ability of the user, his intellectual ability that will shape ICT benefit as “a tool of cultural empowerment and social creativity” . Nevertheless technology can’t become the only apparatus of social benefit, but it needs adequate basic levels of possibilities throughout the users environment, such as the assurance that basic human needs aren’t lacking and that human knowledge is not affected by local and national censorship. With a population of almost 1 billion and a critical level of poverty, India still require in many cases to assure its citizens upon meeting these standards.
Due to the relatively increase in media learning environments in developing countries the approaches to technology and their manifestation encompass relatively inventive and regenerative cultural emancipation. Changes in learning practices through the use of old and new technology in mobile laboratories and festivals become in this milieu greater source of understanding and dealing with cultures that preserve their creativity, autonomy and activity in contrast with the economical needs of the society. In its diversity and creativity a slow process of self recognition in the city space flourishes in constant activity and readiness to experiment with technology. Locating ideas and sources of experience that grow from below in different cultural tribes contribute to accomplish new attempts to contrast control of media in the democracies of the South. More South to South knowledge exchange creates an alternative model to the techno-deterministic and western-centric paradigm of education as well as enlarge the possibilities of cooperation forming new axis in the global world economy. This trend is already visible on the level of knowledge formation, active involvement of civil society partnerships and parallel organizational structures. While struggles for public control over basic human needs such as water and electricity formed organized struggles against the privatization of such goods in most Latin American countries succeeding in their demands, the reclaim of technological knowledge and media practices shall be the next step in expanding parallel cooperation, solidarity and social network on the global level. The greatest example of such policy is the fundamental Brazilian accomplishment of the Ministry of Culture, which established cultural media centres called across the country where access to ICT is unrestricted and provides open source software, which facilitate users in exchanging and producing media content and renders public participation.
I’m interested to see how the Sarai media centre use technology of new and old media (open software learning, P2P sharing of contents, etc.) to provide media literacy in the context of the urban space. What forms of communication do they use to allow the expression of different viewpoints in response to cultural and social environment? Interactivity in the urban environment is crucial in maintaining alive the engagement and creativity of communities and individuals. Forms of urban production that most of the times are recreated in the sphere of new media through webpages, blogs and mailing lists, but their power exists in establishing links between the environment and online practices of civic activism.
It will be of increase precaution that this research is going to conclude its findings, since there are many dynamics that are still unfolding and mutually affecting methods of learning and sharing knowledge in the Indian continent. Research is also going to be focus on specific projects and media labs, which are not fully representational at the national level, however they form a trend in defining major media practices.
