The IFLA International Newspaper Conference 2010 Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) New Delhi 25th - 28th February 2010.

ONLINE NEWSPAPER READING HABITS AMONG PhD STUDENTS AND FACULTY MEMBERS IN ALIGARH MUSLIM UNIVERSITY Dr. Naushad Ali P.M. PhD (Chairman) & Mohamed Musthafa. K (Research Associate ) Dept. of Library and Information Science Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India

Online Newspaper / Web Newspaper 1. Definition A newspaper that exists on the World Wide Web or Internet, either separately or as an online version of a printed periodical -Wiki

2. Features: Multimedia - sound records, video clips... Hyperlinks Contact through Forums and Chat rooms Easy access to archives Instant news update Full screen photos and interactive polls

3. Limitations: Need power connection to use Need live Internet connection Not easily portable Varied style of presentation Need to click and scroll to select a news Too many links make confusion and waste the time.

4. Objectives of the study To find out online newspaper reading habits of faculty members and PhD students of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), India Frequency and time spend for reading online newspaper Preferred languages Reasons for choosing online newspaper Media (On screen/ Print out), and locations Cont…..

Objectives of the study – Cont…. Preferred news items – Local, National, International, Sports, Employment.. Special features like video clips, sound records, Online surveys, hyperlinks, forums and chat room facilities, Readers attitude towards advertisement Difficulties to read online Suggestions to improve the online reading habit.

5. Methodology 200 online questionnaires among faculty members Through online forums and social networking sites to PhD students 100 each printed questionnaire among faculty members and PhD students. 90 filled up questionnaire were received from faculty members. Out of this, 80 considered. Out of 95 questionnaires collected from PhD students, 88 were considered. A semi-structured oral interview is conducted among faculty members and PhD students A personal interview with the in-charge of computer section in Maulana Azad Library (university central library) and central computer centre

6. Results & Finding Majority of the faculty members (88.75 %) and PhD students (95.45 %) have a habit of reading online newspaper. Even though, print news paper is the preferred medium of reading news among faculty members (53.25%) and PhD students (60.23%) online newspaper is not used as a daily reading material by many respondents. Only 36% of respondents read online newspapers daily. Majority of the respondents spend only minutes at a time to read online newspaper. 65% faculty members and 59.09% of PhD students, prefer English online newspaper followed by Hindi (21.25% F.M & 22.72% P.S) and Urdu (13.75% FM & 11.36% P.S). A small percent (6.81) of PhD students prefer Kashmiri, Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam and Arabic.

Results & Finding (Contd …) Newspaper Readership – The Hindu (English) 48.75% FM & 59.09% PS Dainik Jagaran (Hindi) 13.75% FM & 25% PS Siyasath, (Urdu) 15% FM & 11.36% PS

Results & Finding (Contd …) Preferred Online Newspapers The Hindu Dainik Jagaran Siasath

Results & Finding (Contd …) Preferred Online Newspapers Other than Hindi/Urdu languages: Madhyamam Online, Manorama Online (Malayalam), Dinamani (Tamil), Pratidin (Bengali). (22.73 percent PhD students)

Results & Finding (Contd …) Why do prefer ONP ? Instant news update (95% FM & 97.72% PS) Maximum news coverage. (88.63% PS & 62.5% FM) Free of cost (56.25% FM & 81.89% PS)

Results & Finding (Contd …) How do read ONP ? 1.On screen (100% FM & 93.18% PS) 2.Take printout (5% FM & 6.88 PS)

Results & Finding (Contd …) Where do read ONP ? 1.Faculty Members -at their chambers (72.5%) 2. PhD students -Department computer labs (37.5%) -Central library (20.46%) -Central computer lab (27.28%) -Internet café (5.68%) No faculty member goes to Internet café

Results & Finding (Contd …) What do read in ONP ? 1.National and international news items (77.5% FM & PS). 2.Local news items (47.5% FM & 60.23% PS) 3.Employment news (65.91 PS) -No faculty member read this item. 4. Sports and entertainment (16.25% FM & 54.55% PS). 5. Social and political commentary (8.75% FM & 4.55% PS)

Results & Finding (Contd …) Additional Features 1.Sound records -on special occasions 2.Video clips - on special occasions 3.Surveys (47.5%FM & 31.81% PS) on special occasions 4.Response to the columns and feature reports through Forums and Chat rooms (13.75% FM regularly & 25 on special occasions only). 5.Advertisements, (No FM but 40.90% PS on special occasions)

Results & Finding (Contd …) Problems faced There is no any common problem Unknown character display for regional languages (22.5% FM) Slow downloading rate (34.09% PS) Too many links (20% FM& 11.36% PS). Reading on screen is tiring (29.55% FM & 12.5% PS).

Results & Finding (Contd …) When did started reading ONP 1.Within 2-4 years - Majority (47.5% FM & 56.81% PS) 2.Within 5-10 years - A minor group, (8.75% FM & 4.54% PS)

7. Suggestions & Recommendations To publishers: 1.Facility to enlarge the font size may be given in every news papers. 2.Keep up-to-minute news update regularly. 3.Special attention may be given to career / employment news. 4.ONP should provide more spaces for news than advertisements. 5.Measures may be taken to avoid the character display problems in regional languages. A standard Intic script may be followed by regional newspapers. 6.News and reports given in online newspaper should be as sufficient as in print counterpart. 7.e-Papers may be available at free of cost or at minimum charge to all readers. 8.Sufficient consideration may be given to local news.

Suggestions & Recommendations (Contd..) To Aligarh Muslim University: 1.Wi-Fi facility should be provided in the entire university campus for easy access to internet. 2.The number of computers with internet connectivity may be increased in the hostels and computer labs. 3.Online newspaper awareness programs may be conducted 4.Faster broadband connectivity and better bandwidth should be provided in order to download large amount of data which may include text, graphics, sounds etc. 5.Subscription to e-Paper should be considered to provide full access to the online newspapers through out the campus. 6.Digital archive of news clipping may be set up in the university library. 7.Facility to take print out of research related news items / articles may be provided in the campus.

the end Thanks