Web 2.0

04/6/2014

Endowed with this intellectual task of writing a "blog" on "Blogs", I am honoured to cover up the lecture by one of the most fascinating political writers of the country.

Shivam Vij, the founder of Kafila.org and an ideal for journalists and intellectuals across the country, entered our conference room, a room full of people from all walks of life, belonging to different generations, across all regions, linguistic groups, genders and of course "discourses".

Looking fresh and flawless as ever, donned in the typical journalist/revolutionary style of Kurta, Mr Vij asked our mentor Sharmila to generously announce in the class that he, against our perception of his alluring eyes, missed out on his sleep session last night. And with the generosity of CSE, he was provided with the "CSE special" extra strong coffee for the sleep deprived.

Beginning his lecture with reference to the "Tsunami Blog", which was a collaborated blog acting as a online resource during the December 2004 Tsunami and started with a bunch of people from Bombay (journalists and otherwise), Shivam Vij highlighted the role played by blogs, blogging and their importance in democracy, social participation, creating awareness, and to act as a counter balance to the mainstream media (the newspaper, TV channels and films).

He elaborated on how the year 2005 saw the "Blogging Boom." capturing the countries one by one across the globe and we were enlightened to the new term "Web 2.0", more familiarly called the "Social Media." And this new "wave" came from the people, the English speaking, politically aware and revolutionary class, or as Lenin would call them- The Vanguard.

And this wave overturned the traditional views on Media.

Blogs mainly focused on criticizing the practices and ethics of the traditional media. Now the People themselves were writing back, writing back on anything that caught their thought. Millions writing on a range of issues from politics to gender discrimination to environment destruction to technology to bio diversity to personal emotional upheavals.

And with new two way relationship between the institution of media and the masses, the people were empowered. At least those people who had access to internet and had the vocabulary. And these people matter. As our beloved Sumita Dasgupta points out, it is these people who mobilize the lowest rungs of society, represent their voices and bring about "change."

And if 'you,' and by you I mean educated intellectuals, are really worried about a cause and want to capture attention 'immediately,' create the ripple effect and an upsurge, the 'new media'-blogs, facebook, Twitter, buzzfeed- are the places you are looking for.

And they really do matter.

Shivam Vij highlights this point by bringing examples of the "Pink Chaddi movement", theTribal blogs and the Kafila.org itself.

And then we had the moment of the day. You can write something very well researched, on seemingly boring issue of public health or farmer's suicide, and have all the will and passion behind it. But it needs to be made interesting, alluring and catering to the senses of the "target audience." Because you need to sell it. You need to make people aware of your cause. In a people-friendly way. Not in an intellectual, boring traditional media way.

Ending his coffee and his lecture, he opened the floor for questions, the questions representing diversity of the class he was teaching.

He did create a passion in us. He did create optimism in us for "social media". He rejected the notion of "too much complaining". And at the end of it, we did realize that one blog; one person's passion can bring about a change. After all, the protest against the Delhi gang rape case is the result of it. The Arab spring was the result of it. It is the age of democracy. And the Social media is just another way to reinforce it.

However, in contrast in his style of writing, somewhere in the middle of too much glorification, we are missing out on grey areas that we are living a country of great digital divide; that some issues never get highlighted; that some issues are highlighted in a particular way to arouse one particular section of readers; that we are not living in a utopian world without power-relations; that freedom of speech and expression, even in blogs, is restricted both internally and externally; that whistleblowers are rarely accepted, and that something written against the "norms" and the "rules of the larger structure of society" will be condemned, or blocked.

Yet Social media, with its own set of advantages and complications, can and does make a difference, both in positive in negative directions in the relative sense of the terms. And we need to decide how feasible it is.

And let us keep in mind that too much optimism is as bad as too much complaining.