Seminar on “Mobile Journalism: Potential and Challenges” at ASA University Bangladesh

On June 2, 2012 (Saturday) a seminar on Mobile Journalism took place at the campus of ASA University Bangladesh (ASAUB). The seminar was jointly organized by ASA University Bangladesh and Bangladesh Online Journalist Foundation (BOJF). Razib Ahmed, Freelance IT Journalist and Blogger, presented the keynote paper at the seminar. Later, blogger S.M.Mehdi Hassan and Program Associates of Local Governance, UNDP, Kazi Nasreen Nahar spoke as discussants on the keynote paper. Prof. Md.Muinuddin Khan, Vice-Chancellor, ASA University Bangladesh was the Chief Guest at the seminar.

In his speech, Prof. Md. Muinuddin Khan thanked everyone for organizing seminar on such a new subject. He urged the faculties and department officials to develop courses on this subject as soon as possible. He said, “We are living in a world where the ICT sector is related with us, directly or indirectly. No matter, which subject a student studies, he or she cannot deny the presence of ICT. He hoped that 3G Internet, which is supposed to arrive by the end of this year, would further bolster the development of the telecom sector of the country. 

In his keynote, Razib Ahmed talked about different aspects of Mobile Journalism. Aside from the students of Computer Science and Journalism, students majoring in English and BBA can study Mobile Journalism as part of their future career. He talked about the ever increasing popularity of the smartphone and said that the capability of the handsets and the carrier increased a lot with time. This resulted into the creation of new possibilities in different fields and Mobile Journalism is another such possibility. Mr. Razib further said that by embracing Mobile Journalism, television channels, FM Radio Stations, daily newspapers and magazines and online news organizations can save a lot of money and publish more news at the same time. In addition, Mobile Journalism would play critical role in covering the news of different localities outside Dhaka city.

Manjurul Haque Khan, Advisor, Career Counseling Center, United International University (UIU) was present as special guest at the seminar. He discussed about the potential of Mobile Journalism as a career choice. Prof. Dr. Abu Daud Hasan, Dean of the Faculty of Arts & Social Science and Chairman, Dept. of English presided over the seminar.