Dr. Usha Raman, Associate Professor, Department of Communication, University of Hyderabad (UoH) conducted a 5-day workshop in Thimphu, Bhutan, on “Use of Social Media for Government Information and Media Officers”, from February 29 to March 4.
23 officers from various ministries in the Royal Government of Bhutan attended the workshop, which focused on the ways in which social media could be used in governance and in increasing citizen involvement, and in the long run, contribute to Gross National Happiness.
Dr. Usha Raman obtained her Masters in Journalism and Ph.D in Mass Communication from University of Georgia, USA. She moved into academia after close to two decades as a freelance journalist and health communications practitioner. Her teaching interests include news reporting and feature writing, specialized writing (science, technology, environment and health), science/health communication, and social impact of digital media. Her research has been in the fields of cultural studies of science, science and health communication, clinician-patient communication, children’s media, and digital culture studies. Usha is an honorary fellow of The George Institute for Global Health and a member of the ethics committees of L V Prasad Eye Institute and the Indian Institute of Public Health, Hyderabad. She is Editor of Teacher Plus, a monthly magazine for school teachers in India. She is the author of Writing for the Media (Oxford University Press, 2009).