T T Sreekumar holds an M.Phil. in Applied Economics from Jawaharlal Nehru University (CDS/JNU),New Delhi and a PhD in STS (Science, Technology & Society) from the School of Humanities & Social Science, Hong Kong University of Science & Technology (HKUST), Hong Kong. Currently teaching at the Department of Communication, EFL University, Hyderabad, India, he has previously taught at the National University of Singapore (NUS), MICA-The School of Ideas, Ahmadabad and Division of Social Sciences, HKUST, Hong Kong. At EFL University, he is also holding the position of the Director of the Educational Multimedia Research Center (EMMRC).
He is the author of the book “ICTs & Development in India: Perspectives on the Rural Network Society” (Anthem Books, London, 2011). Widely published in National and International Journals, Sreekumar has research experience in India, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam and Singapore and has presented research papers in major Communications and Social Science Conferences/Seminars held in Asia, USA, Europe, Africa, New Zealand, Canada and Latin America.
A writer and columnist in his mother tongue Malayalam, Sreekumar has authored/edited 12 books and written over 300 articles in the language.
He has been the Editor in Chief (2013-2017) of Journal of Creative Communications (peer reviewed, international Sage Publication), and the Associate Editor (2014-2019) of Media Asia (Taylor & Francis). He is currently the Editor of International Journal of Media Studies published by EFL University. He also serves as member of the editorial advisory board and as manuscript reviewer for several other prominent journals.
His research interests include New Media and Technoculture, Impact of Internet in Developing Countries, Mobile communications, State Civil Society relations, Political Economy of Development; Religion and New Media, Cyberculture and New Social Movements.
He is also closely associated with several civil society organizations in India.
Sreekumar, T T (2011) ICTs AND DEVELOPMENT IN INDIA: PERSPECTIVES ON THE RURAL NETWORK SOCIETY, London: Anthem Press
‘ICTs and Development in India’ provides a critical account of the impact of the use of Information Technology in development projects in India, focusing particularly on E-governance and Information & Communication Technologies (ICT) development programs initiated by Civil Society Organizations (CSOs). Sreekumar challenges the conventional wisdom concerning the potential of ICT to provide unprecedented social and economic opportunities for vulnerable groups such as women and marginalized communities by highlighting its failure to bridge social divides. He argues that in addition to reinforcing existing social divides, the patterns of ICT deployment and control have in certain cases created new divides. Given such tensions and contradictions, this book questions whether it is appropriate to consider civil society as an independent realm of social action separated from State and Market.
‘Rural India has become a model laboratory for global experiments in a new era of market-driven development communication. T. T. Sreekumar’s critical and empirically rich study of India’s emerging “rural network society” offers a much needed counter-history to the dominant techno-utopian narratives that continue to fuel both policy and scholarly discussions.
Paula Chakravartty, , Associate Professor, Department of Communication, University of Massachusetts
