By Dan Wooding

A groundbreaking survey of people in four developing countries shows that they are decades behind their Western counterparts in the adoption of emerging technologies. Radio remains vital for information they use in their everyday lives.

According to a news release from A. Larry Ross Communications, interviews conducted in the respondents’ native languages showed how old technologies may still be the best technologies for communicating with people in the developing world whose daily priority is survival.

The survey was conducted by the International Center for Media Studies (ICMS), host of the symposium “Emerging Technologies, Globalization and the Developing World” at CBS Studio Center in Studio City, Calif., April 6. Insights from the survey, just one of the items on the agenda at the symposium, will benefit ministries and other groups that work internationally.

“Radio was an important means of gaining information in Africa long before these countries gained independence in the 1950s and ’60s, and it’s still the dominant means of communications,” Dr. Robert Fortner, executive director of ICMS, said.

“The same trends hold true elsewhere in the developing world as well. For the missionary who works in Asia, or the nonprofit organization that provides relief in the Middle East or Latin America, this information is just as valuable.”

According to Fortner, the advent of new means of communications — such as the Internet and cable television — had little impact in the areas surveyed, where the availability of electricity was spotty, at best. Many of the respondents had not entered the Television Age, let alone the Digital Age. Less than 25 percent of each language group surveyed said they used a computer.

The news release went on to say, “Most of the areas covered by the survey have recently been scenes of conflict, and everyday life can be a challenge. With few exceptions, people rely on radio for up-to-date information on potential threats, such as the movement of troops, giving the medium credibility when it is disseminating other messages. Respondents also indicated that they were interested in information about political power (its use and abuse), the nature of evil and its manifestations in human life, hygiene, disease prevention and basic treatments for common childhood ailments.”

Muslims responding indicated that they are almost five times more likely to trust radio to advise them on “how to live life” than any other form of media. They also indicated that they trusted radio more than they did their religious leaders.

“There is little doubt that media will continue to have the broadest reach and be the most effective way to reach people with the Gospel and life-saving information,” Fortner added. “But for ministries and other organizations that work in the developing world, it is not the newest trend or technology, but the most culturally appropriate and timely message and medium, that will prove successful.”

The results of the study, as well as a comparable survey in Indonesia, will be reported and analyzed at the symposium, which will focus on the most effective ways to reach indigenous people in the developing world. It is open to religious and secular nonprofits, churches and religious organizations involved in missions work, international broadcasting and media organizations, academics, non-governmental organizations that work in the developing world and foundations that support organizations involved in international work.

The International Center for Media Studies, founded in 2007 as a division of Far East Broadcasting Company, is a non-profit organization that conducts strategic research into the use of media and technologies in the developing world. Because spiritual and physical needs are magnified in conflict, natural and man-made disasters, extreme poverty and religiously or politically oppressed countries, ICMS focuses on areas where these conditions prevail.

For more information, visit www.center4media.org. Early symposium registration of $375 per person is available through March 13.

NOTE TO EDITORS : To arrange an interview with Dr. Robert Fortner, please contact Steve Yount of A. Larry Ross Communications at 972.267.1111 or steve@alarryross.com.