In 2005 WACC participated in a workshop together with World Council of Churches and the Bossey Ecumenical Institute to look at the challenges posed by newly emerging technologies. The outcome was a discussion document called Convergent Technologies, which prompted a number of organisations around the world to pursue the debate and to contextualise different questions.

The second workshop was on ‘Understanding the digital divide in the Indian Context’ and took place in Bangalore (see YouTube). Its purpose was to define the digital divide and understand it from a historical perspective. Particiapnts reviewed the digital divide from the standpoint of India's 'information society' and examined the role of media conglomerates and information imbalances North and South.

The third workshop was on  'Understanding India’s information society' and focused on its characteristics and the changes taking place in social practices, labour practices, political processes, and in the sphere of media and public policies. In a second phase, research was carried out to strengthen community radio as a way of catering to the people’s needs and concerns at the local level and to assess its contribution to people’s empowerment.

As a result of these workshops, CISRS has brought out a New Media Literacy Trainer's Manual exploring questions such as: Who will own these technologies? Who will control them? Who will be ethically responsible for their application and use? In particular, what will be the long-term impact of such technologies of information on society? Will we be able to motivate enough ethical reasoning to counterbalance scientific opportunism, commercial greed, and the consolidation of political power?

WACC is delighted to assist CISRS in making the manual more widely available. It can be downloaded here.

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