Veni Vidi Vici- ‘I came, I saw, I conquered’. Prof. Sree Sreenivasan could well make it his tagline for his USIS lecture on Social Networking! As a participant, I found his talk no less than mesmerizing.
On 19th July, 2011 American Centre, Kolkata has arranged a session with Columbia University Professor and Dean Dr. Sreenivasan. The discussion was centering on how social networks actually could play a role in democracy.
In recent past, we have seen some popular uprising in Middle East and Egypt, which are popularly referred to as twitter or Facebook revolution. Professor interacted on this in a very lively manner, though the title of the discussion was ‘New Media: Defining Democracy’ but it was never so limited in discussion. In a lively manner, professor through his wonderful presentation took us to the universe of the social networking. What are the countries that are hooked into this, what’s the latest trend in this, can an individual stay really aloof from social networking in present day scenario etc.
In India, I can bet that no institution can ever think of having a lecture period on Facebook, Orkut, Twitter or Google Plus. But Prof. Sreenivasan has been doing this in the Columbia School of Journalism for past few years. Actually, he encourages students on getting into social networking so that actually it ‘ruins their interest’ in it!
Time to time there was snap polls that how many in the audience actually know how to connect on linkedin and twiiter and some other interesting stuffs. The response was really surprising, most of us really don’t know the mechanism of those sites. Large number of school students were present and they made the programme very lively with their continuous participation.
In the course of the discussions, good, bad and the ugly side of the social networking has been focused upon. The renowned digital media from USA emphasized the need for social media practices that balances in perfect tune on & off line status.
How did the professor himself be part of Facebook? That’s co-incidentally a Kolkata connection. He glued into the ‘Scrabulous’ (online Scrabble) – popular game on Facebook, much before Farmville and Mafia became everyone’s darling! It has been developed by St Xavier’s College alumni Jayant and Rajat Agarwala, that attracted him to join it. Though in this city of warmth, this is Professor’s first visit!
In the lively Q&A session, moderated by veteran journalist Snehasis Sur, so many interesting questions came up. One of them was how far face book ‘revolution’ or ‘peace initiative’ can yield result? Isn’t profanity a common practice on the social media platform?
Isn’t social media making us ‘unsocial’ too? He considered the scenario as ‘glass half filled’. He told, “My family is in four countries, so it’s the best platform to keep in touch with each other.” Humorously enough, how so many eyebrows were raised when his FB friends saw he (Prof. Sreenivasan) is now friend with his mother-in-law! But he himself has taken a tough challenge that how for another 5 years he would keep away his kids away from this networking world. His twins will reach teen then.
Though he is for social networking, but he never encouraged fake accounts on networking sites. To keep inquisitive parents and curious cousins at bay, he advocated a real name culture. In his words, “You should have only one account on any social website because then you will be more real. It won’t be a case of split personality…”
He was introduced to us by Acting USA Consul General in Kolkata Clinton S “Tad” Brown as a person who teaches facebook and orkut (In India many would lose their consciousness after knowing this) but the most skeptic of the same. And all I can say the ‘City of Joy’ welcomed him with his skepticism & mastery.
Professor, waiting eagerly to meet you again…
Welcome back to ‘Coolcutta’!
Showing posts with label Orkut. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Orkut. Show all posts
Friday, 22 July 2011
Sunday, 31 October 2010
(UN) Social Networking!
It’s brief news. Avid news lovers too can miss this one! While reaping through the newspaper my eyes stuck onto news‘Mother kills baby for Farmville!’
Anyone familiar with Facebook knows what Farmville is all about! Sometimes I call it ‘plight of an urban farmer!’ Seeding, harvesting, barn raising, building and blah blah blah… All you have to finish within a stipulated time! A young mother from Florida was playing Farmville, her 3-month-old was crying. His crying was so ‘disruptive’ in manner that she shook him vigorously and eventually the baby was dead!
This is not a single incident; many such big & small incidents are taking place in name of social networking!
The idea of social networking lies in connecting people. Orkut set the stage few years back and Facebook made it a ‘status symbol’! There are several other sites like these two but the way these networking sites have attracted people, that is quite a phenomenon!
Post 1995, the world has changed like never before. 24x7 job throws us in a grinding machine, office is taking so much of time that relationships are paying for that! Divorces are rising; psychological problems are taking the toll on urban youth, insomnia, hyper tension, anxiety has become a common phenomenon in almost all the household.
And here comes the immense effect of social networking. It is engrossed people in various activities, it starts with ‘friend request’, ‘sending message’, ‘wall post’…. These are really good as it helps finding long-lost friends of school or college, it gives a chance to keep in touch with even distant family members. It gives an opportunity to make new ‘friends’! These aspects of social networking is good but at the same time several games like Farmville, Café World, Mafia Wars are making us mad!
Those who are addicted in these games, they are missing classes if they are school or college students, office employees are giving their heart n soul in farming keeping aside their assignments, if anyone is serious about his or her pending works, he/she is taunted by colleagues for not giving enough time to these games!!
Letter writing has become a thing of past. Even e-mails have become distant second in race with sms! Phones (be it mobile/landline) are still going strong! But the clear winner is Face Book or Orkut! People are just posting on your wall to know how you are doing, where are you now, various other questions and all the wishes! They are not even feeling to call each other over the phone or of making a visit to their households! Days are not far away when wedding invitation, death news and all other news will come through these networking sites!
I believe, Social Networking sites are actually destroying the relationship. I am not focusing on the privacy factor, but isn’t it a phone call once in a while or meeting with people once after long interval more healthy and cordial than posting messages on your wall?
As the proverb goes, ‘out of sight/out of mind!’ Actually social networking is making us mechanical, we are losing our tender emotions, and we are becoming unsocial by stop calling or meeting friends and relatives!
It’s like the discovery of Dynamite. The ‘boon’ for the society later proved a bane too. I guess social networking is taking the same route by making us unsocial and addicted to the sites, not to the people we care for!
Anyone familiar with Facebook knows what Farmville is all about! Sometimes I call it ‘plight of an urban farmer!’ Seeding, harvesting, barn raising, building and blah blah blah… All you have to finish within a stipulated time! A young mother from Florida was playing Farmville, her 3-month-old was crying. His crying was so ‘disruptive’ in manner that she shook him vigorously and eventually the baby was dead!
This is not a single incident; many such big & small incidents are taking place in name of social networking!
The idea of social networking lies in connecting people. Orkut set the stage few years back and Facebook made it a ‘status symbol’! There are several other sites like these two but the way these networking sites have attracted people, that is quite a phenomenon!
Post 1995, the world has changed like never before. 24x7 job throws us in a grinding machine, office is taking so much of time that relationships are paying for that! Divorces are rising; psychological problems are taking the toll on urban youth, insomnia, hyper tension, anxiety has become a common phenomenon in almost all the household.
And here comes the immense effect of social networking. It is engrossed people in various activities, it starts with ‘friend request’, ‘sending message’, ‘wall post’…. These are really good as it helps finding long-lost friends of school or college, it gives a chance to keep in touch with even distant family members. It gives an opportunity to make new ‘friends’! These aspects of social networking is good but at the same time several games like Farmville, Café World, Mafia Wars are making us mad!
Those who are addicted in these games, they are missing classes if they are school or college students, office employees are giving their heart n soul in farming keeping aside their assignments, if anyone is serious about his or her pending works, he/she is taunted by colleagues for not giving enough time to these games!!
Letter writing has become a thing of past. Even e-mails have become distant second in race with sms! Phones (be it mobile/landline) are still going strong! But the clear winner is Face Book or Orkut! People are just posting on your wall to know how you are doing, where are you now, various other questions and all the wishes! They are not even feeling to call each other over the phone or of making a visit to their households! Days are not far away when wedding invitation, death news and all other news will come through these networking sites!
I believe, Social Networking sites are actually destroying the relationship. I am not focusing on the privacy factor, but isn’t it a phone call once in a while or meeting with people once after long interval more healthy and cordial than posting messages on your wall?
As the proverb goes, ‘out of sight/out of mind!’ Actually social networking is making us mechanical, we are losing our tender emotions, and we are becoming unsocial by stop calling or meeting friends and relatives!
It’s like the discovery of Dynamite. The ‘boon’ for the society later proved a bane too. I guess social networking is taking the same route by making us unsocial and addicted to the sites, not to the people we care for!
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