Under the patronage of the Archbishop Most Rev. Albert D’Souza a one-day seminar on “Emerging Trends of Social Media and Citizen Journalism” was organized by the Commission for Social Communications in the Archdiocese of Agra on Sunday 13, July 2014. The seminar attracted as many as ninety participants of all age group from around the Archdiocese.
In his inaugural address the Archbishop stressed that Jesus is the Word that came down to dwell among us and each one of us is to communicate this Word to the world using the available means of communications. He also urged that such seminars should also be conducted and discussions should be carried on at parish level also.
The participants attended the seminar with utmost attention as the resource persons elaborated upon the topic. Almost 90 percentage of the participants said that they use at least one of the popular Social Media applications like, Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp in their mobile phones. Therefore, the topic was extremely relevant and interesting to them. During the power point sessions the participants were able to raise their doubts and participate in the discussions actively.
The first resource person, Fr. Saji Palamattom urged the participants primarily to uphold the values of one’s own individuality, the values of one’s family, one’s own mother land and one’s own religion. While social media is a great asset to the modern world and a divine blessing to community building, it can also become a curse and destroy communities if it is not used prudently and with charity towards others. He also dealt on the topic of Citizen Journalism as a means to channelize the energy of the youth towards a better society. He urged them to use their mobile cameras to take news worthy photos and shoot videos of exceptional events and share them through the social media. He said, citing many examples, that such activities can make drastic developments in the local administration.
The second resource person, Fr. Bhaskar Jesuraj spoke about the secure use of computers. The participants found that the talk on how to protect one’s data with password and what are the things to be avoided so that one’s online and offline data are not hacked by hackers, was very useful and informative.
On the occasion, an essay competition also was conducted on the topic, “Communication that Serves Authentic Human Relationships”. The topic has been carved out of the 48th World Communications Day message of His Holiness Pope Francis.
-Fr. Saji Palamattom
Director
Commission for Social Communications
Archdiocese of Agra
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