Fr. Joaquim Fernandes sdbICPA president Fr. Adolf Washington, in his welcome speech said: “Name any new gadget and one will find the youth using them. Youth are keeping pace with technology and are at the helm of social networking. There are flip and flop sides to technology. This conference will throw light on our youth and how they use technology without affecting their personality.”
The Theme of the conference was “New Technologies: How India’s Youth Are Using Them Today.” Bishop Aloysius Paul D’Souza of Mangalore presided over the inaugural session and blessed the conference. He was speaking after inaugurating the Seventeenth National Conference of the Indian Catholic Press Association in the city. “Technology and youth cannot be separated; practically every technology is used by most of the youth.” He said of hundred and fifty eight parishes in his diocese, many parishes had websites and documentaries of parishes, and they even posted Bible messages every day. “We have Sarang community radio broadcast producing rural and value-based programmes at Aloysius College,” he added.
In the first session, the speakers, Mr. Hari Prasad Nadig of Sampada Net spoke about the new technologies which unites and bonds the general public through information sharing. He spoke about the difference between the propriety software and the open source software which gives creativity and adaptation to venture out into the deep ocean. Ms. Meera of Citizen Matters spoke of the various initiatives and successful ventures taken up by their organization in getting grassroot people to make better decisions by knowing their rights and duties as a citizen. The moderator was Rev. Dr. Richard Rego sj. In the second session, the speakers Fr. Harris of DBICA, Chennai, and Fr. Joshy of “Teenager” magazine, Mumbai spoke about media convergence and how youth today have become digital and have created a niche in the virtual spaces of the internet both in the print media and the audio-visual arena.
Bishop Aloysius conferred the Tamil Catholic Writer Award to Prof. S. Vincent of Madurai, CBCI SC/ST/OBC Award to S. Vincent of Kumbokonam, and Fr. Louis Carreno sdb Award to Anil Ronald Fernandez of Deccan Herald newspaper, Mangalore. The award carries a citation, memento and a cash prize of Rs. 10,000.
The conference was supported by the Department of Mass Communication of St. Aloysius College, Mangalore, “Raknno” Konkani weekly and Canara Communication Centre, Mangalore.