Arbind Sinha

Anthropological perspectives and approaches in SITE

Dr. Arbind Sinha is currently Advisor at MICA, Ahmedabad where he headed the Institute twice. He

worked for 22 years with Space Applications Centre, ISRO; Two years as Communication Advisor with

Royal Danish Embassy, New Delhi, and two years as Director-General of Shanti Business School. He was

part of the SITE, Kheda, and Jhabua Communication Projects, Interactive and Tele-teaching

Experiments, and studied Disaster Communication, health communication, and taught Social and

Behaviour Change Communication.Dr. Sinha authored two books, co-edited two books, and published

papers and chapters in various books and journals. He travelled to various countries for lectures,

fellowship, and academic collaborations.

Abstract: When Satellite Instructional Television Experiment (SITE) was conceived by Dr. Vikram

Sarabhai and his team, it was perceived as a techno-social experiment to assess the technical feasibility of

taking development information straight to the areas otherwise deprived of information circumventing

hierarchical reach of Sarkari (government communication) from Central or State government to the

people. SITE was also seen as another exercise in ‘Management’ to see if India can manage to take

centralized development programme information from the policymakers to the programme users and

increase their quality of life.

Arvind Singhal

Theorizing SITE and television studies in Indian context

Bio:Arvind Singhal is appointed as the Samuel Shirley and Edna Holt Marston endowed Professor of

Communication and Director of the Social Justice Initiative at the University of Texas at El Paso (2007

onwards). In addition, He has courtesy appointments as the William J. Clinton Distinguished Fellow at the

Clinton School of Public Service, University of Little Rock (since 2010), Distinguished Visiting

Professor 2, Inland School of Business and Social Sciences, Norway (since 2015), and Chancellor’s

Honorary Professor, Amity University, India (since 2020). He is the co-author/co-editor of 15 books and

over 200-peer reviewed essays, and has traveled and lectured in some 100 countries.

Abstract: My first book, India’s Information Revolution (Sage Publications, 1989),was published 32

years ago and was dedicated to Vikram Sarabhai, the visionary who saw an information revolution

coming in India, and helped make it happen. Spending my summers at Space Application Center,

Ahmedabad provided the impetus for me to earn graduate degrees in communication, and be a small part

of Vikram Sarabhai’s mission.Arvind Singhal is appointed as the Samuel Shirley and Edna Holt Marston

Endowed Professor of Communication and Director of the Social Justice Initiative at The University of

Texas at El Paso (2007 onwards).

B.P Sanjay

Communication policies, development, deployment in the context of SITE

Prof Sanjay is presently at the Manipal Institute of Communication, MAHE after four decades of teaching

and research experience in several institutions across the country. His research association with SITE began

with the Bangalore University project on SITE evaluation led by Prof Eapen and Leela Rao.

Abstract: Scholars have pointed out that technologies are not neutral and they need to be examined within

the macro PE context. The communication satellite is an example of a host of relationships at the policy

level. Sarabhai coalesced and led the space sector development in India leading to SITE. Will focus on

policy parameters of this experiment.

Bhupendrasingh Bhatia

Institutionalizing SITE contribution genesis and evolution of DECU

Mr. Bhupendra Singh Bhatia is an engineer and MBA from IIM Ahmedabad by qualification and has

worked for the Indian Space Research Organisation from 1971 to 2006 from where he retired as the

Director of the Development and Educational Communication unit.( DECU). During his tenure of 35

years he worked on all major projects of Satcom Applications including Tele-education and Tele-

medicine. The Satcom projects included the Satellite Instructional Television Experiment (SITE), The

Kheda Communications Project (KCP), the Jhabua Development Communications Project (JDCP) and the

Training and Development Communication Channel (TDCC).

Abstract: Dr Vikram Sarabhai was a visionary who dedicated his life to nation building by creating

institutions that would apply modern technology for national development. He played a major role in

Atomic Energy, Space, Electronics, Textiles, Management, etc.. He believed that India should be self-

reliant in these areas and stated that we should be second to none in the Applications of these technologies

to the problems of national development.He envisioned a long term Space Program for the nation which

included the development of launch vehicles ( SLV, ASLV, PSLV and GSLV) , Satellite (INSAT) and

Applications program (SITE) for these technologies.

Binod Agrawal

Conception and formulation of research methods for evaluating SITE - dilemmas to

approaches and methodology

Binod C. Agrawal, (PhD-Anthropology,1970 University of Wisconsin, Madison, USA) is a well-

known International Communication Research expert. He has a reputation for being innovative in

research methods and techniques, institution building, management and teaching leadership.

Founder Director of several institutions and a university. Earlier he worked for over two decades

and pioneered use of qualitative methods for communication research during the world-famous

Satellite Instructional Television Experiment(SITE),1975-76 and led an interdisciplinary SITE

social research team of over 100 social scientists

Abstract: SITE- social evaluation was conceived as a multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary

research evaluation. Sociological quantitative methods were used along with anthropological in

depth studies. The focus of the talk will be anthropological qualitative descriptive studies.

Chitra Vaitheeswaran

Audience Research in the context of Indian Television and the contributions of SITE

Dr Chitra Vaitheeswaran is an International expert with long innings in the field of Development Broadcasting

and Communications Research. She has been a long term/short term consultant for International Agencies and

Multilaterals such as the Asian Development Bank, CIDA, The United

Nations Development Programme, United Nations Office for Project Services, among others

Abstract: Audience Research has long been one of the segments of program planning from the perspective of

policymakers of All India Radio and Television since its inception. However, according to the speaker, the

introduction of Television centres in major cities had significantly increased the scope and commitment of

research beyond Audience profile and Feed back studies. Here, she greatly acknowledges the contribution of

SITE which had coordinated with Indian Television to further train researchers in Formative and Summative

research to understand the concept of development programming.

 E.V. Chitnis

Reminisce of SITE

Professor Chitnis was educated as a Physicist with specialisation in Electronics and Communications.

After a brief teaching stint, he began his research career in 1953 at Physical Research Laboratory,

Ahmedabad. One of the areas on which he spent a great deal of time was the evolution of the concept of

Satellite Instructional Television Experiment (SITE). SITE was a leap frogging in the use of satellite

technology of direct broadcasting for educational and developmental purposes and the success achieved is

due to the end-to-end approach adopted. As Programme Manager, he directed the SITE experiment, which

was conducted in 1975-76, after a five-year preparation, in 2,330 villages, dispersed over 20 districts in 6

states.

Abstract: His reflections of the context in which satellite technology came to India and the enormous

human resources that were mobilised for the program and ISRO are articulated. His reminiscence of the

era have been recorded very recently and will be played in the session. At 96, he is one of the important

personalities who shaped the SITE program as well as the other macro space projects in India.

J.S Yadav

Importance of site in the growth of Space sector: A communication perspective

Dr. J. S. Yadav has 35 years of experience in designing IEC strategy, preparing media action plan, developing and

designing prototype of media materials for communication/media campaigns. He has worked for 12 years as

Director (Chief Executive) of India’s premier communication institute - Indian Institute of Mass Communication

(IIMC), New Delhi and earlier as Professor of Communication Research. He has served many experts groups,

technical advisory groups and committees. He has conducted over 125 research studies, written reports and

published 8 books.

Abstract:J.S Yadav will be re-examining SITE and its implications for post SITE development in India.

Kiran Karnik

Retrsospective Analysis for translating Sarabhai's idea through the project SITE

Kiran Karnik describes himself as a ‘public un-intellectual’, a non-academic with a strong interest in public

policy and strategy. Columnist and author, his books include “eVolution: Decoding India’s Disruptive Tech

Story” (2018), “Crooked Minds: Creating an Innovative Society” (2017), “Coalition of Competitors: The

Story of Nasscom and the Indian IT Industry” (2012), and a forthcoming book on India in 2030. He is

widely recognized for his work in the IT sector.

Abstract: The Satellite Instructional Television Experiment – an India-US joint project carried out in 1975-

76 – has won wide recognition and acclaim. The path-breaking work, precursor to ISRO’s satellite

communication programme, delivered educational and developmental TV content via satellite directly to

2400 villages in far-flung parts of India (using a mode which has evolved to today’s DTH). Renowned

futurist and science-fiction writer, Arthur Clarke has called it “the greatest communication experiment in

history”. Widely written about and extensively researched, it provided many lessons and deep insights into

the use and impact of communication.

Mira Desai

Institutionalizing Educational Television Post-SITE: A Critical Analysis

Mira started her professional career as Social Researcher with DECU/ISRO, Ahmedabad in 1990 and

subsequently worked in EMRC and Mahila Samakhya Gujarat prior to joining SNDTWU Mumbai in

1997. She has formal qualifications in Commerce, Development Communication, Distance Education,

Extension Education, Participatory Research, Women’s Studies and gender. Her core areas of competence

are teaching and research, content creation, curriculum design, and training and documentation. She has a

number of publications to her credit, including five books, a Government of India award for her book

manuscript and many more.

Abstract: Television entered India for social education from its inception in 1959 but for school

education in 1961. Prior to SITE the Educational Television (ETV) had begun yet formalization of ETV

became evident post-SITE. Over the years, pre-SITE as well as post-SITE, the relationship of education

with television had been that of hand and glove. While television did not view ‘education’ in a narrowed

definition, ETV was mostly contextualized under formal curricular framework. Success of SITE led to

television component in INSAT programme and numerous subsequent avatars of ETV being UGC

CWCR-1984, CIET-1984 and SIETs, CEC-1991, EduSat-2004 and modern versions integrating ICT and

Internet modes of delivery replaced broadcast with narrowcast and television with video. This talk

examines how ETV institutionalization post-SITE and subsequent modes and forms of ETV remains mass

delivery and monoculture in a multicultural country like India.

Dr. Mira B Aghi

Theorizing SITE and television studies in Indian context

Dr. Mira B. Aghi is a behavioral scientist and communications expert whose outstanding work as a

researcher, community health educator and advocate to prevent tobacco-related diseases has been honored

by numerous awards, including the International Network of Women against Tobacco (INWAT) Tribute

for Outstanding Service to Women in 2009 and the Luther Terry Award in 2012. She was also the first

woman from Asia to receive the WHO Gold Medal.

Abstract: Dr Vikram Sarabhai’s birth centenary is an occasion to pay tributes to his unique contribution

to the development and deployment of satellites for Communication. Dr Sarabhai as the Director, Physical

Research Laboratory located in Ahmedabad, convened an army of an able and brilliant scientist,

anthropologist, communicators, and social scientist from all corners of the country to spearhead the Indian

Space programme. In 1966, Sarabhai’s dialogue with NASA was instrumental in SITE. The historic

Satellite Instructional Television Experiment (SITE) in India (1975-76) was regarded as “the largest

sociological experiment in the world”. SITE is regarded as a textbook case of mass media and

development. It covered 2400 villages of six states and transmitted programmes using ATS-6. British

Science writer, Arthur C Clarke called SITE the” greatest Communication experiment in history.” It has

engendered research traditions in communication spanning areas of policy, technology choice,

deployment, instruction, and relevance of certain paradigms in the field. The webinar apart from paying

tribute to the visionary would highlight scholarly reminiscences of that era and where applicable its

resonance in the positive communication ecosystem.

Mohan. J. Dutta

Decolonising communication education:insights from SITE

Mohan J Dutta is Dean's Chair Professor of Communication. He is the Director of the Center for Culture-

Centered Approach to Research and Evaluation (CARE), Massey University developing culturally-centered,

community-based projects of social change, advocacy, and activism that articulate health as a human right. He

sits on the advisory group “Cultural Contexts of Health” of the World Health Organization Europe’.

Abstract: Professor Dutta will discuss the theoretical registers created by SITE for intervening into the

whiteness of communication studies. The presentation will attend to the concepts of public ownership of media,

community-owned development, science democracies, and public pedagogy as the basis for interrogating the

privatization of development and communication infrastructures, The imaginary of SITE will serve as a basis for

voicing communication as community participation in development.

Noshir. S. Contractor

Metatheoretical perspectives on satellite television and development

in India: What we learned - and did not learn -from SITE to inform digital media in

contemporary India

Noshir Contractor is the Jane S. & William J. White Professor of Behavioral Sciences in the McCormick

School of Engineering & Applied Science, the School of Communication and the Kellogg School of

Management at Northwestern University. He is the Director of the Science of Networks in Communities

(SONIC) research group. He investigates how social and knowledge networks form – and perform – in a

wide variety of contexts including business enterprises, scientific communities, global health and space

travel.

Abstract: In 1988, along with Arvind Singhal and Ev Rogers, I co-authored an article titled

Metatheoretical perspectives on satellite television and development in India in the Journal of

Broadcasting & Electronic Media. In that article, we analyzed the role and impact of satellite television

from four metatheoretical viewpoints: the utopian view that technology is intrinsically good for

humankind, the dystopian view that technology is an unmitigated curse, the neutral view that technology

per se has no intrinsic effects on society, and the contingency view that the potentially desirable and

undesirable impacts of technology are differentially determined by the context in which the technology is

introduced at a particular time.

Pramod Kale

Importance of site in the growth of Space sector: A communication perspective

Pramod Kale had worked with the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) for over thirty-two years

during which he held various leadership positions. He started his work on satellite tracking at the Physical

Research Laboratory - PRL, Ahmedabad in 1960 and was a member of the first team sent to Goddard Space

Flight Center, NASA, USA for training in launching sounding rockets in 1963 and establishing the Thumba

Equatorial Rocket Launching Station – TERLS. The first rocket flight took place in 1963 from TERLS on

21st November 1963.

Abstract: In the decade 1960-1970 only one Television station was operating in our country. Dr. Sarabhai

was convinced that television should be used for educational and instructional purposes. The absence of a

nationwide microwave network necessary for a television network was seen by him as an opportunity to

bring television service to all the villages in India using Space Communications. While the studies were

being carried out to define the Satellite Instructional Television Experiment, simultaneously the necessary

studies regarding the satellites and launch vehicles were also being carried out. As a very bold step, he had

included the development of a satellite launch vehicle capable of launching large communication satellites in

the Decade Profile for Atomic Energy and Space issued in 1969.
Srinivas. R. Melkote

Communication and Development - The examination of paradigms in the view of SITE

Srinivas Raj Melkote is Emeritus Professor in the School of Media and Communication at Bowling Green

State University, USA. He has taught in the fields of media and communication for over 40 years in

universities in India, Jamaica and USA. Professor Melkote has researched and published extensively on a

range of issues covering the role of media and communication in development and social change,

participatory communication, health communication and media theory.

Abstract: Professor Melkote will speak about his direct experiences with SITE research as well as elaborate

on different paradigms in development communication within the context of SITE.

Usha Rani Vyaasulu Reddy

The Relevance of SITE in teaching, research, and practice of communication in the 21st

Century

Prof. Usha Vyasulu Reddy has recently retired as Advisory Faculty at the Centre for IT and Public Policy,

International Institute of Information Technology, Bangalore and as a Visiting Professor at the S.N.School of

Communication, University of Hyderabad. She is a former Professor and Director, Centre for Human

Development, Administrative Staff College of India, Hyderabad, and former Director, The Commonwealth

Educational Media Centre for Asia, New Delhi. Earlier, she was Professor of Communication and Director,

Audio Visual Research Centre, Osmania University.

Abstract: The SITE experiment took place 45 years ago. It was pioneering in many ways, whether for

technology application, for development in a poor country, for social science research and for teaching. Most

important, it changed the way in which communication scholars began to look at the critical intersections

between the benefits of science and the requirements of a developing country. This presentation is a

discussion of the ways in which SITE changed us and to question whether an experiment such as SITE

remains relevant in today’s communication environment.