Date:10/10/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/10/10/stories/2008101060331600.htm

International - India & World

Hi-tech meet in U.K. concludes

Hasan Suroor

LONDON: Where does the Internet go from here? How will it look like in the next ten years? And what about the print media? Are there actually two “media worlds” — one in decline and the other growing despite competition from newer forms of communication?

These were some of the issues that dominated the concluding session of the two-day India-centric “World Hi-Tech Forum 2008” here on Wednesday.

The Forum, attended by leading specialists from India, was organised by the British Institute of Technology and E-Commerce (BITE) to promote India as a hub for global investment.

Over two days, it explored a range of issues relating to technological and business partnerships in a global age. The high-point of the final session was a presentation by Lawrence Roberts, known as the “father of the Internet.”

Dr. Roberts, who was responsible for designing, planning and developing the world’s first major packet network, now called the Internet, offered a glimpse of the future of the Internet and how technology was likely to change. The next ten years, he said, would see an exponential growth in the Internet covering 99 per cent of the world’s population.

N. Ram, Editor-in-Chief of The Hindu, highlighted the contrast between the state of the media in the west and in Asia, especially India. He said there were in effect two “media worlds.” While in many developed countries newspapers were seen to be in decline, the story in Asia was one of growth and optimism.

In a detailed exposition of the trends in the Indian media, he said all sections (newspapers, broadcasting, the Internet) were growing, generating a huge demand for trained journalists. The Internet was the most “interesting and intriguing” part of the story of the Indian media, he noted.

But Mr. Ram warned against the tendency towards “dumbing down” and called for “revitalising” the traditions of independent journalism. Prof. Sundarajan Ramachandran, vice-chancellor of Madras University; Arun Aggarwal, Vice President, Tata; and Saivta Singh, director, Gandhi Smriti and Darshan, were among other prominent participants.

Dr. Muhammad Farmer, chair of the Forum, said it had been a “great success.”

“We were really pleased to be able to get so many distinguished personalities from India,” he said pointing out that India was chosen as the focus because of its role in technological innovation and enterprise.