I've been getting a lot of comments and private mail from various people on the Bharatheeya Blog Mela - knocking me on the head for having 'narrowed' down the scope for this week, by suggesting a topic - "Developmental Issues relating to Technology in India - this can cover IT, telephony, science and medicine, even new technology thats making a difference in areas like arts, research, media, advertising and marketing".  

Let me try and explain why i am keen on this subject.  It is in fact, an attempt to widen the scope of the blog mela really.  I know this may sound paradoxical - but i've been following many of the blog melas and i find they cover, for the most part, political issues.  And indeed, they are wonderful; posts and seem to be the most popular, going by the number of comments and quality of conversation they encourage around them.  My point is simple - i have found many Indian blogs and bloggers all over the world that are also talking about a New  Indian order, powered by tech - irrespective of field of operation - right from empowering villagers in remote areas by offering new forms of trade and barter, to hand-held PDAs being used by doctors to administer cures in remote areas, to new uses of tech that is being adopted by media, creative and design houses. Or even stuff like how SMS is changing our lives - and shaking up the greeting card industry, or the impact of Instant Messengers on relationships and communication.

And i feel none of these are being highlighted enough. 

Let me also explain that i am no techie - and lets not think of technology as a 'sector' - lets look at it as an enablor for development and change. 

One solution to this is that i do 2 rolls for the mela - one for more general posts and the other for posts specifically discussing developmental issues related to technology in India. 

Makes sense - Jivha, Quizman and gang ?

4:26:15 PM    comment []  trackback []

Flashmobs in Mumbai on October 4 - organised by mumbaimobs.org, online community working towards bringing together flash mobs in Mumbai. 

3:26:07 PM    comment []  trackback []

Today's the last day for receiving nominations for the 31st Bharateeya Blog Mela - so let them flow - send them in to me. A reminder on the guidelines :

1. Posts must either be made by Indians or focus on India or Indians.
2. Send in permalinks to the individual blog entries only, not just the URL. If the permalink is not working, send me the title and date of the blog entry.
3. You can nominate your own posts or someone elseís
4. You can submit any type of posts, although I'd particularly like to focus on articles and posts about "Developmental Issues relating to Technology in India - this can cover IT, telephony, science and medicine, even new technology thats making a difference in areas like arts, research, media, advertising and marketing".  This time round, humour me, and lets stay away from political rants :) so we can introduce ourselves to a new set of bloggers.  

7:54:46 AM    comment []  trackback []