In early 2007 I traveled to India to extend my understanding of the cross over between media arts and community cultural development practice. This research trip was funded by the Australia Council's RUN_WAY initiative.

The focus of my trip will be the Sarai new media centre in Delhi. A part of Delhi's Centre For The Study of Developing Societies, Sarai describes itself as 'a space for research, practice and conversation about the contemporary media and urban constellations'.

The work carried out by the researchers, arts workers and media practitioners at Sarai are based on the following philosophies:
- They use new media to empower disadvantaged people through community projects;
- They facilitate discourse around information technologies and pro-people initiatives;
- They encourage the open source software movement and alternative computer culture;
- They conduct research into networked cultures and digital archiving

The Cybermohalla Project is an example of a community project initiated by Sarai. The project works with young people living in slum settlements and working class neighourhoods. It brings together the energies of community based social intervention, creativity with texts, sound & images and innovative uses of computers and digital technology, while remaining alert to the imperatives of social and cultural specificity and autonomy.

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