Organised By: Dept. of Mass Comm. & Journalism, Digital Divide and Development Communication: The Student’s Dilemma in Assam A Research Paper Presentation during: National Seminar on Communication for Development: Scope, Strategies and Policies, 2016. Organised By: Dept. of Mass Comm. & Journalism, Gauhati University. Presented by: Syed Mohsin Raja.

Introduction: Base Technology & Digital Media are everywhere… An alternate to the traditional medium for the good, Widely accepted in the academic sodality, Its wide espousal among students, Like income gap, there’s gap in the digital media usage

What is Digital Divide?

Indian context is much deeper, covering the usage! What is Digital Divide? The digital divide is defined as the gap between those students who have access to digital technology at home and those who do not. - Mason and Dodds (2005) Indian context is much deeper, covering the usage!

Why Digital Divide is there? USAGE & UTILITY

Background The research was based on the level of Digital Media usage among the Students of Assam, Data Collected from 5 Colleges in Nagaon District, Assam, Response collected from 535 students, Bachelor level students only.

Methodology Purposive sampling: Survey: Observations. Homogenous, Typical. Survey: Questionnaire, Opinion Poll. Observations.

Methodology Homogenous sampling was directed towards the student groups, Typical sampling towards the bachelor level students, Survey: Questionnaire was used for students, Interviews & Opinion Polls were used for the authorities. Observations – Adoption level among the homogenous sample groups.

Digital Media Usage: Technical Technology Acceptance Model: Fred Davis, 89’

Digital Media Usage: ICT To understand Digital Divide from the Communication perspectives, Uses & Gratification Theory is applied, with the assumptions that: The audience is active, The media usage is goal oriented, Choice of medium rests w/ the member to gratify the needs, There’s self-awareness of media usage, Value of judgement of media assessed by the audience.

Digital Media Usage To understand the intersection of Digital Divide and Development Communication, SMCR Model is applied to show that: Digital Divide supports McLuhan’s medium is the message (of status), Starting from Encoding to Decoding, Digital Divide impacts the entire communication, Digital Divide acts as the base of knowledge and mostly as culture as well, affecting the possible development through communication

Data We Have NOT SURE 3%

Data We Have Active 49%

Findings We Have Digital Media is underutilized among the Students in Assam, Most of them have mobile phones and Facebook installed into it, but are rarely using an active email ID, Very rarely access any website of academic or career development. Communication for development through Digital Media in under utilized.

What Can Be Done Formal training, Syllabus inclusion, Digital assignments, University/UGC intervention, Utilizing student community, NSS, NCC groups for awareness, Awareness sessions.

Thank You! mohsin@5itechnology.com Syed Mohsin Raja +91-9435488999 @SyedMRaza