Awantipora: The Department of Journalism and Mass Communication (DJMC), Islamic University of Science and Technology (IUST), Tuesday inaugurated one-week National Workshop on ‘Communication Research: Tools, Methods and Approaches.’ The workshop being held from August 31 to September 5 is being conducted both in online and offline form.
Vice Chancellor, IUST, Prof Shakeel A Romshoo, who presided over the inaugural session, lauded the Journalism department for touching the important area of Communication Research. He stressed that proper communication was imperative, “for many of the problems arise due to miscommunication.”
Talking about the responsibilities of researchers, the VC said the researchers should choose areas that have at least some relevance to the society. He also spoke about the importance of using proper tools that make research more result oriented. “The research outcomes should reach common masses and that is where proper communication is very important,” he said. Stressing on the outreach being equally important as research itself, Prof Romshoo announced that the university will soon engage a Dean Outreach.
In his keynote address, Prof Shafey Kidwai, former Chairman, Department of Mass Communication, Aligarh Muslim University, dealt in length with emerging trends in communication research. He said due to lack of proper historical study of journalism, the subject is still in dormancy in India. “We live in an interconnected world, wherein nation states have become ‘global states’ that is why we need to focus on global communication research and identify simultaneous trends,” he said.
Prof Kidwai said the new trend is to depict how media framing is done and ‘doctored truth’ is being portrayed as reality. “The job of a communication researcher is to unlock this ‘perceived reality’ and a human touch has to be there in every story or research,” he said.
Welcoming the guests, Dr Ruheela Hassan, Head, DJMC, expressed gratitude to the university administration for going ahead with the workshop despite a long halt to the on-campus academic activities. Deliberating upon the importance of the workshop theme, Dr Ruheela said the workshop shall provide researchers and academicians some important insights into different dimensions of the Communication Research. Meanwhile, a short video prepared by the department was also screened during the session.
Describing Communication Research as an important aspect of academia, Dean Social Sciences, Prof Abdul Salam Bhat, said there has been a transition in media operations as well as research, and “a politically, socially and ideologically motivated nexus is operating.” “The dominance of this nexus is manipulating the research outcomes. Such workshops should help in creating awareness and encouraging researchers to work against the lines of such nexuses,” he said.
In his address, Dean Research, IUST, Prof Haroon Rashid Naik, said the focus of the students should be on acquiring better communication skills rather than gold medals “because how we communicate is more important than mere degrees.” Seconding his views, Dean Academic Affairs, IUST, Prof A M Shah said proper communication is the main focus in teaching and research. He urged the students to take research to a next level.
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