A Digital Communications Management workshop was held on 28th November, 2015 at FLAME University. The workshop’s primary aim was to deliberate on the implications of the emergence of digital media on the curriculum and teaching of communications management.

Leading professionals, academicians and consultants from digital media participated in the workshop. Some of the notable names were – Mr. Siddharth Deshmukh, (Director, Cohezia Digital); Mr. Rahul Jain, (Group Brand Manager – Media and Digital, Asian Paint); Mr. Vivek Shah (AVP, Eclerx); Mr. Ajay Gupta (Grey Worldwide); Dr. Pramod Khambete (Consultant, User Experience Design); Gaurav Kulshrestha (Digital Marketing, Bajaj Auto).

The discipline of communication studies is one of the domains which is constantly evolving. At its core lies the plurality of inter-disciplinary approaches and applications. In the last decade, the proliferation of ‘new media’ technologies has radically changed the already fluid landscape of communication studies, and it continues to evolve further. The impact of such ‘new media’ and digital developments have tremendous implications for both the academic world and the communications industries. Schools of communication studies must not only keep up with these rapidly-changing scenarios, but must step forward and set the agenda.

With this evolution in media, it is imperative that the students come prepared, and job ready in the market. However, training students is a constant challenge due to the ever-nascent nature of this industry. This essentially requires the professionals to have proficiency and knowledge of both, theory and practice. It requires one to strike a balance between knowledge and skill of both, traditional and new-age media. It also requires one to be both, creative and analytical in equal measure. Further, it requires in-depth knowledge and awareness of social, economic and cultural context of the audience.

The workshop concluded that introduction of digital and new media in the curriculum is urgently required if the communication schools have to stay industry relevant. They also suggested a broad framework within which digital knowledge components can be included in the curriculum.