Constraint and opportunity

The adoption of information technology has smashed the barriers that existed in broadcasting and dissemination.

Covid-19 has brought devastation to the world in so many ways. It has confined people to their homes, villages, countries and spaces, taking away the mobility humans were used to. Face-to-face interaction has become frightening, something that mechanisation of society had begun with the introduction of the automobile at the start of the 20th century but perfected beyond belief by the advent of cell phones. Yet, information technology, while further physically isolating each individual to themselves, paradoxically created at first a synchronous virtual community. But the pandemic has opened the floodgates of community crossing the limitations of national and financial boundaries. Through Facebook and YouTube live streaming, Zoom, Webex and Microsoft Teams Meeting, and several such apps, more and more communities across continents not only receive ideas without the costly infrastructure of a radio or television station but exchange them. And that’s the miracle of new technology in response to this pandemic.