Abstract
The role and impact of satellite television in the recent national development of India is explored from four metatheoretical viewpoints: the utopian view that technology is intrinsically good for humankind, the dystopian view that technology is an unmitigated curse, the neutral view that technology per se has no important effects on society, and the contingency view that the potentially desirable and undesirable impacts of a technology are differentially determined by the context in which the technology is introduced at a particular time. The contingency viewpoint is stressed and used to analyze the Kheda experimental communication project in rural India.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 129-148 |
| Number of pages | 20 |
| Journal | Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media |
| Volume | 32 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Mar 1 1988 |
Funding
Organizationally, the Kheda Project was a decentralized unit. It relied mainly on government funds for financial support, thus making it independent of commercial interests. The KCP enjoyed a great deal of political autonomy from the central government. The Project's organization fostered a participative form of management, recognizing that individuals working at operational levels in the organization were often the most qualified to suggest improvements. The KCP encouraged a high level of lateral communication between production, research, and administrative staff. Organizational members were encouraged to attend training workshops in their respective skills (many of which were organized by SAC). These initiatives demonstrated that the KCP had taken into account organizational factors (Contingency I in Table 2).
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Communication