Traditional song of Lakshadweep

Laksha dweep is group of islands.The traditions of these islands are different ones at the same time a lot of similarities also have. Baswically islands share Islamic cult. Based upon the living atmosphere and conditions,varieties of art forms are available in various islands. The cultural discourses include traditional stories, folk tales,songs art forms. Here is a sample of a folk song.            This song elaborates their experience of voyage using odam (traditional ship).



SCHOOL MEDIA CLUBS

Central Institute of Educational Technology organises
NCERT SCHOOL MEDIA CLUBS
Media is very important part of students’ lives. They spend lot of their time consuming media messages. They watch TV, surf internet, listen to the radio, read newspaper and also take pride in owning a sophisticated toy called Mobile phone which gives them an opportunity to do all these activities when they are on move. Media has penetrated deep into their lives and hence has enormous power to reconstruct the way they look at the world, to shape their opinion, and redefine their values. Media messages if consumed wisely can broaden their horizon and help them to understand world in a better way but if these messages are not consumed wisely and judiciously it can create havoc.
Therefore, it is important for students to develop a conceptual understanding of the media that will involve both critical reception of and active production through media. It will also enable students to express their own voice through media, as well as the ability to see through what mass media offer. The basic idea is to provide students with an opportunity to develop life skills which will enable them to analyze these forms of modern communication and to help students to become wise consumers of media. The best way to do this is to have Media clubs in schools which will provide students a platform to not only understand media but also express themselves through media by playing an active role.

Objectives

• To develop among students an understanding of the effects of mass media on themselves as individuals and also upon society and how the media influence our understanding of reality.

• To develop skills to deconstruct media messages by making them understand the constructed nature of media.

• To develop skills to encourage the production of creative media messages.

• To encourage students to express their feelings and thoughts through media messages they produce

• To introduce students to various career opportunities in mass media.


The activities under the Media Club:
Media Diary: Each student of media club will have his/her own Media Diary to record consumption of media messages. The club coordinator (teacher) will analyze the diary to see the trend in the media habits of children. This will help the students to keep track of their media diet.

School Newspaper: A thought-provoking newspaper by the students of Media club. The newspaper could be an issue based newspaper which carries news, features, editorials, poem etc on one theme eg. Right to Education, Corporal Punishment, Environment etc. Themes could be selected by the editorial board/members of media club based on their experiences or the events taking place in the society around them

Expression through Pictures: This includes Capturing scenes and events through camera. Students will be given topics to click photographs on.

Documentary: A video / Audio documentary can be scripted and produced by the students of media club. Club may screen the documentaries of programmes produced by their club and critiquing can be arranged by inviting experts from the field.

Screening: The club also can have screening of good films/video listening to good audio programmes

Media Advocacy: Club coordinator along with other teachers and students will track the content of media both print and electronic and initiate debate and discussion on various issues highlighted in the media.

Media Literacy Activities: A manual containing around 50 activities related to media analysis will be provided to schools by the CIET. Club coordinators will conduct those activities with the club members to develop among students an understanding of media.

Media Club News Bulletin: Since lot of activities will be organized in schools, the media club members will record these activities and pass it on to CIET for Media Club News Bulletin which will be aired On DD1 and Gyan Darshan. This will be a news bulletin by the students for the students.

Interface with Media: This is the platform through which members of media club will get an opportunity to interact with the experts from media and media education. Schools may organize talk by various media personalities.

Media Club on Facebook: Each member of media club will be invited to join the media club on facebook where they can share their experiences with others. This will be platform wherein media club members will exchange information and explore more possibilities and opportunities.
Media Club Blog: Each school will have their own media club blog.
Its our voice: Student will be encouraged to participate in mainstream media by writing letters or by joining some socially relevant campaigns initiated by the media.
‘Media Club Experience’ Seminar: This will be organized at CIET at the end of the year wherein club coordinators will share their experience of running media club in their school.
STRUCTURE OF MEDIA CLUB

The media club should essentially have a governing council which plans and executes the activities of media club. The members of the Governing Council should include:

(i) President- Principal

(ii) Secretary

(iii) Media Club coordinator- Teacher

(iv) Four members who will include teachers, experts from media and media education.

The governing council can meet four times in a year for proper planning and monitoring of the media club activities.
IMPLEMENTATION
In order to undertake the programme in a systematic way it will be started in 30-35 schools in Delhi in collaboration with CIET, NCERT. Later on these schools will act as Lead Schools and about 25-30 schools will be attached to each lead school for proper coordination and implementation of various activities. Each lead media-club coordinator (teacher) will act as a master trainer. Orientation programmes for Media Club coordinators (teachers) are being conducted at CIET, NCERT.

teacher tips/RADIO 02

RADIO : THE BLIND MEDIUM
Ratheesh Kaliyadan


Teacher was asking about television drama. A girl stood up and told: “I prefer radio, the scenery is so much better”. Words of the girl drowned in a loud laugh. Was it a comment of a day dreamer?
While go deep into the answer, the class realized that the girl is absolutely right.
 Why?
 Radio can brought out any situation to its listener; virtually created by appropriate sound effects and supported by right music.

According to Robert Mc Lersh, Radio is a blind medium. But this medium stimulates the imagination. The listener tries to visualize the sound source in the mind of the listener. Any size pictures are created corresponding to the emotional context of the speaker.
This is one of the characteristics of radio medium.
For more characters, read Principles of Mass communication.
Contact: mediafolkmarc@gmail.com

teacher tips/RADIO

MILLIONNIRES' MEDIA
Ratheesh Kaliyadan

Guglielmo Marconi

Radio journalism is quite different from print journalism in all aspects. 1920s mark the embryonic period of radio. It was in 1896 the dream of radio became a reality by the works of James Clerk Maxwell a Scottish physicist which predicted the existence of electromagnetic waves. Heinrich Hertz introduced the so called radio magnetic waves in 1880s.Guglielmo Marconi succeeded in sending signals in May 1895. He moved to England in 1896. In England Marconi attempted at wireless telegraphy and transmitted messages to short distances. Marconi became a great success in his attempts to transmit wireless signals across the Atlantic in 1901.The wireless telegraph used to send and receive wireless signals had invented by Edwin H Armstrong in 1922 made available of broadcaster receiver.

Radio in India

In India the Radio club of Bombay broadcasted its first programme in June 1923 and the Calcutta Radio Club in November1923.They loaned transmitter from Marconi Company. The Madras Presidency Radio Club with a 40 Watts transmitter began transmitting on July 31, 1924.Rao Bahadur C.V. Krishna Swami Chetty, an Electrical Engineer to the Corporation of Madras was the driving force behind the Madras Presidency Radio Club.

Indian Broadcasting Company

The early years of Indian Radio Clubs were not flourishing. They faced financial problems. Bombay and Calcutta presidency clubs decided to form a private limited company. Thus Indian Broadcasting Company Ltd was formed. First broadcasting station in India under Indian Broadcasting Co. opened in Bombay on July 23, 1927. The station was inaugurated by the British Viceroy of India Lord Irwin. In the inaugural function the welcome speech was delivered by Sir Ibrahim Rahimtoola, chairman of Indian Broadcasting Co. the speech became a prediction by the words: : “India cannot lag behind the rest of the world in so great a development, the potentialities of which are only just beginning to be realized.” The enthusiasm had driven the developments in Indian radio. On August 26, 1927 the second station established in Calcutta. The Calcutta station was inaugurated by the Governor of Bengal Sir Stanley Jackson. These stations opened with a 1.5KW medium wave transmitters.

Indian State Broadcasting Service

Indian Broadcasting Company Ltd became under the direct control of the Government of India on April1, 1930. The company abolished and instituted the Indian State Broadcasting Service under the department of Industries and Labor. A separate office with the Controller of Broadcasting as its head was constituted on March1, 1935. The Controller of Broadcasting was in charge of the installation of transmitters, studio and arranging programmes. Lionel Fieldon was appointed as the Controller of Broadcasting on August30, 1935. Home department took over the responsibility of Indian State Broadcasting Service in 1936. The name Indian State Broadcasting Service was rechristened as All India Radio on June 8, 1936.

All India Radio

The new name and face was the contribution of Lionel Fieldon. The amazing story of change in name told by Fieldon is available in PRINCIPLES OF MASS COMMUNICATION. If YOU are interested to know more about radio through Principles of Mass Communication,contact Media Analysis &Research Center.
Lay your comments:mediafolkmarc@gmail.com

media camps for girl children

MEDIA CAMP FOR GIRL CHILDREN
Sarva Siksha Abhiyan (SSA) organises media camp for girl children in all panchayats in Kerala. Bolck Resource Centers are in charge of organising the camps in association with the local self governments. It is a novel venture introduced by SSA Kerala last year. selected children from a block got opportunity to participate last year. This year the canvas of  the media camp is enlarged; but restricted to girl children. Why girl children? They are targeted and misused by media. Women and girl children are the major victims of media activism. The mediavists (media activists) know gossips and female physique get more market than any other matters. The media become a hot spot if it provides news targeting women folk.

Ratheesh Kaliyadan on print media

The camp emphasises to create an awareness on media interventions in society. What media tell is believed to be real,authentic and true. Really the seen is worsely affected my various ethical issues and bad practices. More over the editorial policy and slanted versions of news items pose questions on the the so called objectivity of news production.At this juncture an eye on the media matters and stories is a must before swallows what media put forth. The kids' media camp point out the reality inside the media organisation in selection,correction and rewriting of the stories.
Peralassery panchayath of Kannur district organised the camp for forty children from various schools in the panchayath. Ratheesh Kaliyadan, Director,Media Analysis and Research Center lead a class on techniques of print media reporting. The interactive mode of the class conclude by deciding to gather news from their own surroundings and produce a hand written newspaper.

Inter personal machno communication

INTERPERSONAL MACHNO COMMUNICATION
Ratheesh Kaliyadan

We were discussing about types of communication. While talking on interposed communication learners contributed certain examples like using of telephone, mobile etc. it was a 15 year old girl in my class at Govt.Girls Higher Secondary School, Thalassery twisted our discussion into a chaos. “How do you name the process of communication between a person and a computer? Is it interpersonal mediated / interposed communication?” the question troubled me for a while. As a revelation I told it is “interpersonal machno communication”. Yes, it is interpersonal machno communication because a person is interacting with a machine.
Communication experts are blurred in defining the process of communication that happens between a person and a machine like computer. Somebody call it as computer mediated communication. It is not an apt term to define the process because some other machines also intervene in this process. So I may call it as interpersonal machno communication. I used the term in latest edition of my book, Principles of Mass communication.

This is a new addition to the world of communication discourses. Here the sender and the receiver is one and the same. But a machine is frequently involving in the process of communication. A sender feeds information in a computer. She/he uses text, audio, video, graphics, animation… and any other forms. The idea comes from the mind of the person who sits before the computer. The messages are loaded and recorded in a computer, instead of her/his brain. The sender can retrieve and reuse the same piece of information whenever she/he likes, provided the machine is with. This is unlike using a telephone in communication. In telephone conversation at the other end a receiver is present in person.
The machine may be anything with the retrieving ability like high definition mobile phone, iPod, computer etc. Posting and retrieving of most of the files depend on the person’s own memory. This is a unique type of communication sponsored by techno centered environment.
Read more on types of communication in Principles of Mass Communication by Ratheesh Kaliyadan. Contact: mediafolkmarc@gmail.com

NOW LEAK JOURNALISM

AND NOW LEAK JOURNALISM
Ratheesh Kaliyadan
Scoops and investigation goes beyond the boundaries. When a scribe brought forth a minor scam attempt, media managers celebrated it with 'Exclusive Explodes. Here a man leaked thousands of web pages in a war document. The custodian is not an ordinary authority. The leak had happened in the US defence documentation which is marked top secret. Julian Assange's attempt marks a new face and phase in online journalism.
WikiLeaks bombard is observed as " the emergence of open source journalism". According to Sevanti Ninan,"Julian Assange makes it possible for anybody anywhere in the world to submit secret documents for publication". The most interesting and stunning episode of the bombard leakage is the online posting of video which showed airborne Americans in Iraq killing civilians including two Reuters journalists in 2007.

Wikileaks is not a stand apart journalistic intervention. It is a means of active participation. the web journalists  group becomes a movement. Each and every pages of the war documents on the website is a link.It seeks financial,legal and technical support. "help us extend and defend this work".
And now we have a new era in the history of journalism. Thanks to Julian Assange, online journalism flies in the wings of top secret documents. In the midst of alarms on 'national security', the war documents leaked by WikiLeaks pave a newer way in media interventions. It is a wonderful question: If nobody have a secured life, can US nationals only have it? A stateless movement is not responsible to care about US national security is the philosophy behind the bombard leakage.