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Blogging for a change

Shrenik Rao uses blog as a tool for change

MAKING A POINT Shrenik thinks people should hold corporates and governments accountable

On the mantle are The Rupert Murdock Way and Dreeze and Sen: India Economic and Social Development, as also digital tapes of his interviews with Amartya Sen, Ulrich Beck, Joyce Mujuru and Zafarullah Khan Jamali that he plans to upload on his weblog. His take is, leveraging on technology as a form of communication that is beyond capital control. Ask him about his inspirations? "Murdock for giving people what they wanted and his capitalist way of expansion, and Jürgen Habermas for his concept of public sphere as a network for communicating information and points of view which eventually transforms them into a public opinion," observes Shrenik N. Rao, Editor-in Chief, Dolsun Inc.

Blogging for development? Exactly what this UK-based Hyderabadi has in mind. The London School of Economics (Media and Communications) graduate is busy putting his classroom theories of `Role of Communication Technology in Development' into action with his new age platform that will go live in this part of the world in about two months. "We are encouraging people to blog, making them aware of the power of blogging. They can hold corporates and governments accountable," he observes.

It's not just about blogging but also about awareness on global issues from local perspective. "The whole point is to bring the local and global together as also decentralising communication - issues on road, electricity shortage. India can phase out lots of issues through blogging. There are so many issues which need attention as much as the languages here. It's when you look at your own culture from a different geological area that you become aware of them. Blogging just needs to take off in India. It's about helping people empower themselves," he says.

About the future of traditional media in the face of weblogs, "the same question was raised when television and radio arrived. Each medium will complement the other. There is a huge potential of merging Internet with broadcasting now that CAS has opened up," he says.

Plans ahead include an English news channel for four southern states, taking off from his experiences as a vice president of a news channel before the LSE calling. For the moment, an adventure buff, he plans to go on a hot balloon trip across Africa to spread awareness on AIDS.

SYEDA FARIDA

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