The 3L Mantra to live by!

EUR fellowship grant 2012-2014 for the research proposal, “Virtual parks: Conceptualizing leisure spaces in the digital age”

2012-01-24T01:38:00.000-08:00

Dr. Payal Arora, a member of The Erasmus Centre of Media, Communication and Culture (ERMeCC) has received € 135,000 from the EUR fellowship grant scheme for 2012-2014 to study the conceptualizing of leisure spaces in the digital age. For the next two years, the recipient of this grant Dr Arora will be investigating how real and virtual leisure spaces can be comprehensively framed through a historical, transnational and cross-cultural lens. This project has also procured a book contract with the Studies in Science, Technology & Society Series of the Routledge/ Taylor & Francis Group. The forthcoming book will be published under the title, "Virtual and Real Leisure Spaces: A Comparative and Cross-Cultural Analysis."In essence, the early 20th century birthed a radical phenomenon across several cultures and nations- the demarcating of certain public space for primarily leisure purposes. From India to the United States, urban parks became a symbol of democracy, openness, and freedom as they emerged from a protracted struggle to shift from the hands of the State or imperial powers to that of the masses. There was much euphoria about their unregulated and public character, reflecting a new age of modernization and civilization. Yet, over time, it has been revealed how contentious the process of shaping, regulating, and sustaining of public parks can be as well as its pluralistic and transcultural nature. Interestingly, the 21st century is celebrating the birth of another leisure space that shares this rhetoric of being open, free, universal, non-utilitarian, and democratic: social network sites. As the Net shifted from the hands of the State to that of the user, its leisure spaces have been looked upon as sites where regardless of gender, age, and/or culture, people commune, browse aimlessly, socialize and share their views openly. Yet, two decades later, usage of these online spaces reveal its deeply political, commercial and socio-cultural character that opens debates of critical concern on what constitutes as openness, universality and democratic as governments and corporations are finding ways to architect and manage these virtual geographies and, users are harnessing these sites for a range of activities.

Thereby, this project draws parallels between urban parks and social network sites, and aims to highlight the historicity and plurality of public leisure spaces and provide a much needed rootedness in this highly speculative media discourse. While social network sites have a short history, the study of underlying structures, networks and its cultures have been of core preoccupation in the sociological and anthropological field for decades. Urban parks, be it the classic 19th century parks or more contemporary theme parks, corporate parks, walled and community gardens, and commercial parks serve as spatial metaphors to reveal different aspects of new media spaces. Metaphors have been used strategically in the social sciences and humanities to unpack complexity and normalize novelty by extending the meaning of content/context to which it is applied. Here, urban parks as a metaphor serve as a powerful tool to construct and comprehend virtual space by overlapping the physical onto these digital domains. This capitalizes on the now much accepted notion that the Net has spatial characteristics in common with real-world places and how we comprehend geographic space reveal insights and lines of enquiry into how we spatially comprehend Web 2.0 spaces.

Communes. Communities. Cults

2011-12-29T12:16:00.000-08:00

A few colleagues and I went out for dinner some time back and bonded over the usual small talk of renting and work and relationships. One of my colleagues made the conversation rather spicy by telling us that he lived in a commune in Amsterdam where there were about 10 people and that they often had dinner together in the evenings. He admitted that it was partly due to the cheap rent that drew him to this commune as much as the ideals. This got me thinking of a commune I encountered in my fieldwork two years ago when writing my book. I had gone to the Central Himalayas for research where I encountered the Mirtola ashram, a place where people voluntarily left their 'material' life behind in the cities and dedicated to living a simple and 'honest' life through the tilling of the land, growing their own produce, living with and within nature and praying to the Gods through a ritualistic practice every evening. Within a matter of months, much infighting began. Some did less and some did more. In this forced egalitarianism, hierarchies pushed forth. A leader was born to maintain harmony amongst equals. Irony was born.

And then my mind wandered further into my past when I was eighteen and left home to join a Marxist artist community in Kerala, an unusual and heady state in the South of India which has been uniquely a voluntary communist regime within the larger capitalistic space of India. This community in a way was a small slice of the larger Kerala ethos of high education, strong emotion and deep political leanings. We all pursued our art on the side while we earned our living through odd jobs of sorts. I taught in Mary Roy’s school at that time, the mother of the now famous Arundhati Roy, the Booker prize winner of God of Small Things. There was something magical about living with artists…the passion and sharing of resources, ideas and inspiration; jointly marveling at fireflies that took over the skies at night as the electricity went out as part of our daily routine, and of course, sharing common indignation on the state of reality – the roads, the price of rice, the traffic jams, the soulless commute, the burdened families, the dowry system. Until, one day, we got the rude awakening that our commune was not sufficient to protect our kind from the common worries of the day when we came home one day to see our artist friend lying on the ground with his wrists slashed, blood gushing around him. He survived but the commune did not. One went to Mumbai and became a professional artist; another went to join another commune called Auroville, the City of Dawn in an adjacent State; another became a founder of a business, abandoning all art, while another became a web designer. Myself, I left for San Francisco to pursue my art, hoping to become a muralist or painter.

When I went to San Francisco, I lived in Tenderloin for the first two years. In 1996, this was the blind spot for cops where in principle, there seemed to be a live and let live agreement between the authorities, the prostitutes, and drug dealers. On my second day, my apartment was broken into. At the end of the week, my roommate got harassed by the local gang, pushing her off the edge, making her head back to New Jersey where she came from. Yet, behind this all, a communal feeling was formed. I got free muffins from the café next door; I got a free pass into the nightclubs around there and was protected by the watchful gaze of the bouncers and pimps around. It seemed that my ticket into this commune was my waitress and immigrant status and my artist naiveté. Today, there is little chance that I’d get entry into that same commune regardless of their familiarity with me. I no longer belong.

So one can’t help but think about what makes a commune and why is that different from a community? When does a commune become a cult? What does it take for a commune to be a commune and what is its staying power? Why do people have this need to share certain ideals over others and what is the role of economics in this social membership? Is economics really at the heart of this? Or are these micro experiments on reconstructing society the way we’d like to see it, an artistic product shall we say? As we move and (re)settle, year after year, often propelled by jobs, families and/or passion, how many of us continue to desire and seek for communes and more importantly are willing to commit to the larger rules of someone else's game?

Another review on my book "Dot Com Mantra: Social Computing in the Central Himalayas"

2011-12-17T06:17:00.000-08:00

The Australian Journal of Anthropology (ISI/SSCI Indexed journal)Dot Com Mantra: Social Computing in the Central Himalayas P. Arora. Farnham, Surrey: Ashgate, 2010. xv + 172 pp. Illustrmap, bibliog., index. ISBN 978-1409401070. £50.00 (Hc.)Arora’s book offers an ethnographic answer to a common question in development studies: can new technologies transform other cultures effectively and for the better? Not surprisingly for an ethnographer, her answer is a critique of the technological determinism inherent in this question. She focuses on the introduction of computers in Almora, a town in rural northern India where a long-standing web of Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) has steadily tried to influence people’s behaviour. Computers are but one of the technologies that NGOs hope will transform these farmers’ and villagers’ lives. A pastiche of types of organisations are introducing computers in the central Himalayas—some strikingly hands-off educational NGOs, some government-sponsored projects for farmers and some for-profit cybercafes.Each merit a chapter in this ethnography as Arora turns to different sites throughout this village where computers have been introduced by NGOs or entrepreneurs. One might expect that farmers would find computers, and in particular the Internet, veryuseful tools. After all, the internet can allow them to see how people are pricing the items the farmers are growing over a much wider geographic area than word of mouth reveals. The Indian government decided to provide computers in the name of village empowerment and introduced one-stop shops to make available a wide range of agricultural information to local farmers. For a variety of reasons, these government computer kiosks proved too cumbersome to use for farmers. Without mediators between the farmers and these far-flung markets, the farmers cannot turn this information into action. The kiosks were placed in inconvenient locations, forcing farmers to travel to even more places to complete all their errands. They couldprint out government forms, but still had to wait in line to hand in the forms. And the computers often broke down, with only the private cybercafe owners, that is, the kiosks’ rivals, equipped to fix them. For all of these reasons, the governmentcomputers never became widely used. In addition, Arora deftly illustrates a tenet familiar to science studies scholars: it is not the objects but the networks they condense that shape efficacy and whether the object will be adopted or not. Computers presuppose infrastructures and networks, and when these do not exist, the computers will not be useful in anticipated ways. For similar reasons, an educational aid project failed in Almora as well. An NGO had convinced the Indian government and World Information Technology and Services Alliances to support a Hole-in-the-Wall project—computers would be placed in public walls available for any child to play on them. The idea behind this is that without teachers or schools, the children would be able to learn a large number of computer skills through experimentation. If instruction is discipline, as Foucaultian scholars of education would have it, no instruction is putatively freedom. While this project appears to have been successful in other locations around India, it was a resounding failure in central Himalayan towns. Arora argues that the failure is because of a complex absence of infrastructure.‘In other words, the act of learning without conventional school constraints is contingent on the support of institutional, social and other factors, making it less ‘‘free’’ in that sense’ (p. 103). The public computers required supervision, not to assist curious children, but to prevent vandalism and to make any necessary repairs. In other Indian communities thatcould afford to provide such support, the computers were sought out by children over time.When Arora turns her attention to the entrepreneurial computer centres throughout the town, she finds relatively thriving businesses, in part because the owners are eager to provide the repairs and support lacking for the other projects. But what precisely are the services these cybercafe´s provide? After volunteering for a month at one of these centres, Arora determines that these computer centres are often extensions of the nearby schools for the students who enter. Yet in what sense are these centres extensions? The students learn how to produce documents that are collages produced by cut and paste. School projects are fulfilled through practices that in other contexts would be seen as plagiarism. Arora wants to put this label aside and focuses instead the skills one must develop to create these collages. She discusses how the upper-caste school girls convince the computer centre employees to manipulate keyboards on their behalf (perhaps so they can avoid touching caste-contaminated keyboards). Creating these documents require skills and coordination, a considerable degree of social coordination. Yet by sticking resolutely to only what takes place within these computer centres, she ignores the other ways in which this social coordination takes place. How are these documents received within the school grounds? Do teachers approve of these pastiches? Are some pastiches considered better than others? If Arora had not been writing so resolutely for a development studies audience, she also might have addressed questions about plagiarism that anthropologists invariably explore these days, that is, what ideas about authorship circulate among these school girls, within the school and within the town itself to accommodate this type of contextualisation?Dot Com Mantra can be used effectively in upper-level development studies courses and technology studies courses to explore how technologies such as computers travel. The sentences are a bit too dense and unwieldy for lower division students, at least in my university. Another caution: the price of the book is a bit steep, which course instructors should take into consideration.Ilana Gershon, Department of Communication and Culture,Indiana University

The Re-Branding of Middle East Youth: Identities, Possibilities, Connectivities

2011-12-12T02:42:00.001-08:00

It’s a good sign when you don’t use much of your carefully planned PowerPoint slides when interacting with the youth. Had a wonderful discussion with an engaged and critical group of Language students at the University of Jordan on new technologies, business communication and culture as well as with a significant number of youth who attended the Leaders of Tomorrow event at the King Hussain Cultural Centre organized around this topic. Granted, many seemed to come from a privileged background with impeccable English and an international exposure. This by no means discounts their perspective. In fact, given my experience in India and the fact that I’m a product of such privilege, I’m acutely aware of that thin line between belongingness and responsibility that the fortunate feel towards their immediate surrounding versus the feeling of affinity towards that of afar. It is much too easy to become civically disengaged from our context and I’d even argue that much of the youth, be it in Jordan or India or other such nations are unintentionally primed by the education system towards detachment (often through convent schooling and other postcolonial institutions that still serve as key places for good and cheap education). It takes a certain introspection to shift from ones monocultural perspective that is fostered within walls of privilege and group affinities. The notion of diasporas sweeten the deal with the hope that we still belong to a community, giving us that warm fuzzy feeling of placement and a legitimate way out from responsibility towards ones nation. It’s a double-edged sword really as this very same notion can foster strong ties, relationships, and connectivity that has been accelerated and enhanced through social media. We are not rational creatures by any means and much of our decisions are emotively and personally driven, leading a Jordanian entrepreneur in Amsterdam or an Indian born regional manager in Silicon Valley to establish their outsourcing hubs in their own home towns to be closer to family, friends and somehow feel that they’re not “sell outs” of their culture. Fighting the oreo image or the coconut label of being brown on the outside and white in the inside is hardly easy. We constantly hear about the “authentic” citizen, as if geographic situatedness in itself creates rootedness and a sense of nationalistic responsibility. Interestingly however, today it has become unfashionable to use the term “patriotism” when addressing this phenomenon, as it connotes a lemming-like behavior; the herd-like movement and choices that one is attributed to make when driven by this concept. However, this is stronger as ever and has manifested itself in business opportunities flowing back “home” through deliberate orchestrations within multinationals by migrants of all stripes and colors. The much touted brain circulation has been embraced over the brain drain fear as migrants flow with their ideas, connections, and opportunities across these cultures, creating bridges to new markets and new possibilities in one’s social and political life. What I sense from being in Amman and interacting with the youth here is that they’re at some interesting and undoubtedly challenging junctions right now: of wanting to get out and seek opportunities elsewhere and yet knowing somehow that this is their time of being here and capitalizing on the euphoric expectations that have emerged through the much hyped twitter revolution enveloping this region. That somehow, this is their time to reify this hype and make it tangible by leveraging on the hope and positive attitudes and investor-oriented mindset that much of the outside world has towards them. The youth in the Middle East have been re-branded. They know that; it’ now a matter of converting this brand into something that will be fruitful to them and their people. There is also a sense of more choices and making use of promising opportunities and yet, there is deep uncertainty and fear and lack of guidance in this virgin territory given that their comfort zone is to abide by plans that their parents and the government has for them. Being a leader of tomorrow out here would be a little easier if they had leaders of the past to guide them. The pressure is intense but fortunately they have each other and as long as they’re communicating, interacting and sharing, it has to get easier somehow…

Does culture matter? Business practices across the Netherlands and Middle East

2011-12-09T12:29:00.001-08:00

A few months ago I was contacted by the Netherlands Institute of Beirut to see if I would be interested in talking about culture and business in the Middle East. This is part of their upcoming initiative to create bridges between the Middle East and the Netherlands, starting within an academic setting. Part of this commendable drive it seems to me is a response against this growing Islamophobia within Europe which is of course deeply troubling. What better way than to engage the youth across these borders in areas of common interest. I like the idea that instead of going there to be preachy about intercultural harmony and respect, that we choose a topic that the youth are genuinely engaged with and from there see how culture actually matters. So of course it’s of little surprise that the topic that youth in the Middle East seem to be interested in is that of business, social media and globalization. And for good reason. Like other young people across the globe, I believe they are more concerned about how to shape their identities online and are striving to capitalize on these new digital platforms to create collaborations and sustain relationships. Perhaps some of them want to embrace entrepreneurship and experiment with their ideas online given that they’re entering an economy that has little to offer them and instead of chasing unpaid internships indefinitely and pricy master and doctoral degrees, perhaps they can be drivers of their own fate. But of course it’s worth communicating ones skepticism about overplaying the role of social media in this process. Much like the over hyped role of twitter in the jasmine revolution, I definitely do not want to communicate that this is their digital ticket to liberation and freedom from the current economic plight. More importantly, I do not want to get stuck with exhausting notions of culture as nation bound which is common when one is doing a “bridging” of cultures where on either end of the spectrum lies the Middle East and the Netherlands. Before you know it, we often get ourselves wrapped up with the typical discourses on religion and values and social customs, exoticizing the other and walking away with a reaffirmation of difference rather than commonality.On the other hand, one does not want to discount it completely. So I was very excited to see the Economist article on the Magic of Diasporas where it talks about how the youth from emerging markets are leveraging on these digital platforms to circulate ideas and connections that foster trust and propels business opportunities. The bottom line here is that the migrant is not a dirty word and that current protectionist policy is doing more damage within borders by blocking flows of people (and thereby fresh thinking) from different cultures. It talks about how crossing real and virtual geographies enables creativity that is essential to staying ahead in the game. We need to shift from our monocultural outlook and comfort zone, allowing us to view the typical as something that could be exotic again. I liked the way it framed geographies of diasporas over nationhood, geographies of innovation and networks over the usual notions of class and culture. Anyway, I digress...So when I first started to prepare for these workshops at the University of Jordan and St. Josephs in Beirut, it started with a couple of innocent workshops with students. Now its grown to conducting workshops with the Leaders of Tomorrow, a non profit for the youth at the King Hussain Cultural Centre in Amman to the Chambers of Commerce in Beirut where I'll be addressing mainly business people from Lebanon. I am keenly aware of my dearth of knowledge of their context and their current practices. But that said, I believe that my vagabond lifestyle of moving from India to San Francisco to Boston to New York and now the Netherlands may be of some interest as well as the fact that I shifted careers quite dramatically and have leveraged on multiple social media platforms in my work and personal life to move ahead. I hope that by personalizing this talk and drawing from my range of cross cultural experiences in work and my private life, and providing ample opportunities for them to share theirs, we'll be able to jointly see what these bridges can look like…less nationalistic I hope and more about reproduced social practice that is shaped through certain policies and politics. Looking forward to this adventure...

My Favorite part of TEDx Amsterdam: The making of the "living brain"

2011-11-25T12:40:00.001-08:00

Amazing performance and idea by the Dutch National Ballet and beautiful photos by Jan Jaap Heine

Alan McSmith: Time to get in touch with your wild side

2011-11-25T07:58:00.001-08:00

For every ten of those Mac worshiping, crackberry addicted, Starbucks weekend worker bees, there is always someone who makes noise of living simply, living deeply, living…period. Modern life is defined by this antithesis; the romanticism of nature rises as we get more technologically dependent and removed from the workings of the daily struggles for sustenance. We immerse in nature temporarily and dwell deeply in concrete worlds; we prefer to be unfamiliar with nature and familiar with the city, our daily landscape that we navigate through. But every once in a while we are called upon to pause, to pay attention, to reflect by physically and emotively experiencing the environment that nurtures us, with a hope that we will realize why it needs to be nurtured in turn. Alan McSmith, a nature guide who has worked for 25 years in the wilderness of Africa and an advocate for environment conservation, is one such soul.His talk starts with the audience surrounding a digital campfire on the stage screen, transporting us to the dark and mysterious spaces of the Kalahari desert. We are taken on a journey through nature, as we put on our blindfolds and listen to his words:...you feel the wind going through the trees...you are out of your comfort zone...a leopard is heard at a distance...baboons...the leopard and the baboons become your fear...are you afraid of losing control?...resist the temptation to lift the blindfold...you feel the sunshine on your legs, your belly and eventually much to your relief, you feel the sunshine on your face...you’ve done it!The audience looks like they’ve come out of a hypnotic state, opening up to his message about nature as a way of life. He wryly remarks, “you by now have figured that my office is slightly different from yours,” and goes on to talk about how our connection with nature, regardless of where we live, will keep us rooted and stable. He has given each of the members a stone to hold onto, a humble reminder of the bigger picture, “whenever you feel threatened by a baboon in a boardroom for instance, the stone will bring you back to this point.”McSmith hopes that we strive to create a balance, that of human innovation with humility towards nature. As we know, this is rarely looked at as a balance but rather competing principles as modernity has pushed us to make difficult decisions and we have often chosen the path of paying the price with nature. It seems like an inevitability that social development and the wilderness are in conflict. Yet what would happen if we felt this was not an option and that nature was a necessity for keeping our humanity, would we innovate differently? McSmith calls us to experience the simple living that the wilderness challenges us with, knowing that its often easier to hide behind the complex meanderings of the social web.Remember the Walden Pond experience of the 1800s where Henry David Thoreau decided to live with and within nature to reclaim his humanity? “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.” Naiveté to some, inspirational to many, we occasionally get a strong social voice that pushes us to explore what it means to get in touch with our wild side.McSmith extends this tradition of seeking and thinking as he states, “wilderness is more than just a place, it is a way of life!”CLICK HERE FOR THE VIDEO OF TALK ON TEDx AMSTERDAM website:

Baby Mozarts within us all?

2011-11-25T03:17:00.001-08:00

Who doesn’t love ‘Baby Mozart’? A multimedia edutainment, this musical toy lures parents with the promise of opening up their child’s latent creativity and spatial-reasoning. In fact, the popularization of music within the cognitive domain has pervaded our day-to-day lives as we see this as a means to healing and a balm for many other afflictions such as autism, Alzheimer's disease and disabilities that result from stroke. Part of this attraction is perhaps in its primal status as it serves as a listening stimulus with seemingly transformative powers. Across cultures it appears that peoples’ pleasures and sense of well-being are tied to their passion for music. Yet, can we authoritatively say that we all have musical predisposition? Are we just little Mozarts waiting for the right stimulation to tap into the well of our primitive and latent musical nature? Are we all somehow born with a beat to our steps?Apparently, there’s no point denying it…regardless of who you are or where you are from, we are all born musical. While babies from Germany seem to cry differently from those in France, says Dr. Henkjan Honing, the KNAW-Hendrik Muller Chair of Music Cognition at the University of Amsterdam, they share the essential ability to identify music elements, even at that stage. He says that we are indeed musical animals and the more important question is rather on what makes us so. He subjects the audience to a series of sound experiments on testing our listening skills. As predicted by Dr. Honing, we lived up to the expectations of being the typical adult prototype who have somehow lost our skills to a degree and yet demonstrate some common agreements on sounds and musical tones. He exposes us to music snippets, baby cries, and even ropes in an audience member to sing the pop song “Staying Alive.” The TEDhead volunteer delivered to the delight of the audience, with the right high tempo and pitch for this song (that Dr. Honing jokes is perfect for heart patients). Dr. Honing claims that this proves his theory on how common our skills of listening are and how effortlessly we recall pitch, tonal variations and other more primal characteristics of music listening.So, the average Joe can indeed pleasantly surprise you (including that drummer who lives above your floor) with his musical expertise. Dr. Honing remarks that these are events that should be seen as less anecdotal and more evidence for the fact that we are indeed innately oriented and attuned to music. So how controversial is this claim about believing that we share the mental script for basic appreciation of music? What happens when this claim starts to encroach on the finer acts and the high cultural realm of music performance? Will there come a day when we will also argue that we can all be Mozarts and that this music genius is but a common talent that is waiting to come through with the right stimulus?TO VIEW THE VIDEO FOR THIS TALK, CHECK THE TEDxAMSTERDAM SITE:

Grey Matter: People Matter: Launching the ‘Living brain’

2011-11-25T01:47:00.001-08:00

Sheer poetry through the hokey pokey! The launch of TEDxAmsterdam by the Dutch National Ballet compels us to emerge, engage, and enter with our left leg, right leg, and oh all of our senses! Ballet artists enter the stage and their seemingly random movements are shown from above behind them, allowing us to see how chaos slowly but surely comes together, becoming the sensible as well as the sensational. And what a way to represent the TEDxAmsterdam theme of 'human nature!'After all, what comes to mind when we speak of ‘human nature’ are notions of being organic, raw, and spontaneous. Yet, when grappling with what constitutes as being human in this current time, we have become more and more preoccupied with significant alienations that occur around us. Crisis looms and reminds us of our vulnerabilities from the possible euro meltdown, techno-hackings to the continuous struggle for political freedoms across the Middle East. The brain takes over, rationalizing, segmenting, dissecting; often churning out clinical solutions to human problems. But then we are surprised when, for instance, bank bailouts are met by OccupyWall Street movements…comfort zones are threatened and forcibly redrawn.This year, TEDxAmsterdam immerses us within the ‘human nature’ theme and fittingly has launched with this specially choreographed rendition of this theme by the Dutch National ballet. Along with dance2film (Altin Kaftira & Mathieu Gremillet), Ernst Meisner and Grand Sujet at the Dutch National Ballet has pushed the envelope, bringing the dancers to reproduce the complexity of the human brain in ballet form on stage. Perfectly symbolic, the dance takes on the deep sense of order within spontaneity, brings intimacy through structure and form, and creates an underlying pattern through a seemingly chaotic orchestration. We see the deliberate curling of the feet within this brain composition, with the heads and bodies overlapping and curving to take on the shape of the brain. At some point, the numerous dancers lose their status as people and become a unified person on stage, a composite whole, a living brain.This performance is not just live right now but is being digitally captured through The Netherland’s most creative minds from ballet, film, photography, interactive, design and communications. They have joined forces through the WE ARE Pi, an assembly of 100 professionals to bring to life a series of ‘living brains’ for this event. The production process apparently started with a question from WE ARE Pi to dance2film, whom have a strong history of dance film production – “Is a human brain made from people possible, has it ever been done before, and can you help us make it happen?” This poetic movement and dance creation serves to extend these brain waves across the room here at Stadsschouwburg to across physical and cultural borders in visual and interactive form. As we experience this magic, we are reminded of what TEDxAmsterdam intends to be, an intellectual journey that is woven with emotion, synergies, inspiration, community and creativity, and where the human being is central to this world of ideas and action. Now, that’s what its all about!CLICK HERE FOR THE VIDEO OF THE PERFORMANCE ON THE TEDx AMSTERDAM WEBSITE:

Here we go again! TEDx Amsterdam mania and fanaticism renewed

2011-11-20T10:08:00.001-08:00

Let’s just get this out of the way. Yes, I am still a hardcore TED groupie. Okay, I did not spend all of last year crossing the days off the calendar but did engage with tremendous foreplay - the communication process building up to next week’s TEDx Amsterdam event. Creating the profiles of this years’ speakers to release to the press flirted with my senses, compelling me to look them up on Wikipedia, YouTube and other digital platforms, consuming them voraciously in their presentation style and novelty of their ideas. Almost started to stalk some of them on Twitter but my saner part was kind enough to remind me that I really don’t have much in common with Computer-mediated Epistemology or Musical Cognition in the long run. Ah but that is why this event, a gathering of artists, designers, scientists, architects, technologists, and activists is so unusual and addictive – the adrenaline rush of immersing into unknown territories and specialties with just one common thread –ideas worth sharing and worth pursuing. As an academic used to being surrounded by the usual suspect fellow scholars, this is refreshing and indeed how I believe new ideas often truly emerge.

This year will focus on the theme of “human nature” and will kick start with the “living brain,” the Dutch National Ballet rendition of the human brain through dance form. I also did not know until a few days ago while creating Jim Stolze's profile, the founder of TEDx Amsterdam, that he is the European ambassador of TED and that he did this fascinating study about how the internet positively impacts happiness. Also I have to admit, I am morbidly curious of Tinkebell, a controversial Dutch artist best known for handling animals in her work where she actually made a handbag from the fur of her cat. In the age of the YouTube cat video fandom, this is rather hard to get away with!

And what has changed with our communication team since last year? Well, it will be an exciting reunion as we have digitally engaged much through this year and will be nice to bond in our Press Corner again. Rumor has it that we have special lap pillows to not burn our thighs off with our laptops. Also, not sure if this year Fokke and Sukke can tease us on being Mac heads as I will be breaking the chain with my run of the mill PC due to a certain incident involving drowning of my MacBook Air with a bottle of water.

Evidently some people one may argue, do not deserve to be part of the Mac Commune but I do feel liberated though from the cult with my 'damn if I care' laptop. What is definitely an exciting new intervention is working with Louise Fresco, a former UN director and sustainability expert to come up with the days’ summary of good ideas and happenings. All in all, same place, same time, round the clock idea immersion from 9am to 9pm...the promise of a supreme high is just around the corner!

Battling Uncertainty: Old and New Experts in the Market for Visual Arts

2011-10-09T05:42:00.000-07:00

Sotheby's Art Institute and University of Cambridge Judge Business School organized a very stimulating workshop with a lecture series on the new risks in the art market from multiple perspectives including economists, business folk, art dealers, auctioneers, and media experts: Exploring Risk and Uncertainty: Metaphors from the Art MarketQuestions about the role of information in valuation, the new sources of knowledge and the management of these sources for assessment, the place of originality of the art in contemporary valuation and more were tackled and discussed. Filip Vermeylen and I presented on specifically intermediaries, from the past to the digital present and the implications new media has in this age old gate-keeping space when it comes to making decisions and evaluations on art value. Battling Uncertainty: Old and New Experts in the Market for Visual ArtsOur paper explores the position and purpose of experts in the art world over time. It has been long understood that art theorists, critics, historians, dealers, auctioneers, curators and so forth play a seminal role as intermediaries in a market that features significant information asymmetries and uncertainty. They facilitate exchanges and are instrumental in determining the artistic, social and financial value of a work of art. However, in this digital age, declarations surface on the death of the expert. The intrinsic value of a work of art is not (or no longer) a given, and various new intermediaries, both social and technical, now appear to contribute to and compete in shaping the valuation process. In the context of the art world, questions therefore arise relative to the role of the amateur in the evaluation and validation of art in current times. Do social media level the playing field and can we assume that equity and vastly increased scale in participation results in better judgments? Does online participation on art valuation impact its actual market pricing? In this paper, we contend that the traditional art experts have not necessarily been replaced by these new players, but rather that new voices have been added to the chorus. This said, many issues - particularly those involving trust and art quality - remain unresolved in the contemporary art market.

Past as a friendly ghost: The art world all over again…

2011-10-09T04:45:00.000-07:00

It’s been almost a decade since I left the art world to pursue academia. From convincing CEOs and their interior designer sidekicks to buy a Toy painting from the Warhol series for the children’s room to now convincing students to learn how to communicate when selling themselves and their ideas, things have changed somewhat. But it’s hard to forget the adrenaline of clinching a deal, of convincing your client that a Chagall lithograph was meant for them as you dimmed the lights in the viewing room, got them to nurse some wine and relax on the leather couch in the privacy of the gallery room. In my naïve days, I thought information deeply mattered. I thought a buyer would be interested and would demand knowledge on the background of the artist, their historical significance, the artistic significance of the piece to the provenance of the artwork. Yet over time, you get to realize that decision-making is a more irrational process and rationality comes often after the deal is done to justify one’s choice. It has to fit with the art deco theme in the house or perhaps there is a romance with the location of the subject matter in the painting or loyalty towards the nationality of the artist. Indeed, this is information too but of a different sort, less intuitively connected and more personalized to the client. This was the real job of the art dealer, to get to detect the unique information that is needed to make the deal go through. Some called it intuition, some called it a matter of patience and then some called it good listening…the client always tells you if you’re willing to listen. That said, much of such mediations happened face to face. Even at the peak of the dot com bubble in San Francisco in the 1990s, it was a big deal to do transactions over email and the phone. There was fear that the client would slip away, would not need the dealer anymore; that the process of buying was emotive and that was possible more face to face than online. It was about building relationships and virtual connections did not serve well in building trust. Sure, one used the phone and email to keep the client reminded of one’s presence, of diversifying the means through which we could serve as a nagging presence in the back of their minds until they decided on buying the art piece. But there was no question of the gallery becoming defunct for the tradition of selling art. Yet, in today’s information and digital age, has the game changed radically in the art world? Are we still holding onto age-old gatekeepers and their possibly redundant traditions in connecting the buyer to the seller, the customer to the art, the gallery to the artist? How is trust being established as the art world goes online? Will the mass dictate now and the dealer listen? How closed are the gates to the art world and who is entering now? So more than a decade later, I find myself back at the gallery doorstep, contemplating its new fate and the role of art dealers in mediating information within this (once elite?) gated community.

Review of My book "Dot Com Mantra" in The British Journal of Educational Technology

2011-07-28T10:32:00.001-07:00

Reviews
_1187 58..64
Arora, Payal (2010) Dot com mantra Ashgate (Farnham, Surrey & Burlington VT) ISBN 978-1-4094-0107-0 190 pp £55
http://www.ashgate.com/default.aspx?page=637&calctitle=1&pageSubject=417&lang=cy gb&pagecount=1&title_id=9768&edition_id=12842

This book presents an ethnographic study on the use of computers, carried out in a marginalised town in the central Himalayas—hence among a group of remote, new computer users—with the aim to allow new perspectives to emerge and old views to be revisited. The study does not investigate if computers are good or bad, but spots the range of constraints and opportunities entailed by their use. It highlights relations between old and new technologies together with people’s beliefs, perceptions and modes of use, and reﬂects on the nature and implications of the learning induced. In order to reveal a perspective that is not biased by formal institutional difﬁculties, the study is concerned with computer use in public contexts outside school settings (cybercafés, NGOs and cyber kiosks), where it is possible to observe how people actually interact with computers for a variety of purposes. Emphasis is put on social learning—seen as a dialectic process enacting human ingenuity—which shapes the use of technology and is shaped by it. The author concentrates on understanding the place and space of technology, its boundaries, frame of reference, interpretation, functionalities and optimisation. The focus in not much on tools, but rather on human imagination, which is the root of people’s activity with the tools. The attention to everyday popular uses helps to de-romanticise and demystify the promise of computers as pathways to change.

The book starts by describing the nature and character of local people and their relationship with a variety of old and new technologies. Then it examines the links with policies related to education and development. Finally, it explores the range of activities that local people car ry out within cybercafés; these seem to be mostly not utilitarian but centred on social and entertainment purposes. What also emerges from the study is that computers are not neutral tools but a social phenomenon, a means of persuasion, seduction and remembrance. What people learn while interacting with them can widely differ from what we may expect them to learn. Multiple literacies entailed by computer use are not a set of universal skills but depend on the context of that use and on the power relations within it. There is an intricate relationship between leisure, labour and learning. Leisure, which is a demand and a necessity for all, can be deeply educative and provide long term accomplishments and deep-rooted skills through gratiﬁcation. This implies that computers should be re-conceptualised so that they better fuse labour and leisure.

The book alternates descriptive parts, which are easy to read and entertaining, with dense reﬂections, which are thought-provoking but rather laborious. As you can guess from the above description, this is not the usual study on learning with computers. Traditional readers will likely fail to appreciate the ethnographic aspects of this study. The book, however, makes a pleasant and stimulating read for whoever wishes to reﬂect on educational technologies from a different perspective.

Giuliana Dettori (received February 2011)
Researcher at the Institute for Educational Technology of CNR, Genoa, Italy

Review of my book "Dot Com Mantra" in The Journal of Education, Community & Values

2011-07-28T10:27:00.000-07:00

THE JOURNAL OF EDUCATION, COMMUNITY, AND VALUES
Dot Com Mantra. Social Computing in the Central Himalayas
Berglund Authority Level 4
Review by Jeffrey Barlow

Dot Com Mantra is an excellent work by Payal Arora, a much-published [1] Indian anthropologist who writes frequently on social computing, that is, the connection between society and the use of computers. This study is an ethnography (a branch of anthropology dealing with the scientific description of individual cultures [2]) done in the town complex of Almora, in a fairly isolated area of Uttrakhand, India, formerly Uttar Pradesh.Dr. Arora is well qualified to write this particular work. She has studied at Cambridge (Certificate in Teaching ESL), at Harvard (M.A. in International Policy, Education) and at Columbia (Doctorate in Language, Literacy & Technology). This work is derived from her Ph.D. Dissertation, Social Computing in the Central Himalayas.

Dot Com Mantra focuses largely on the social, economic, and political aspect of development considered within a global framework. Dr. Arora speaks the language of the area and fully immersed herself in its day-to-day life, moving among farmers’ organization, development groups (non-governmental organizations-NGOs), teachers and students, and even volunteering her time working in an Internet café, from all of which she derived deep understandings. In many cases, Arora’s conclusions are counter-intuitive and the book sparkles with frequent flashes of insight. We learn also that many of the approaches of the non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and of the Government of India are ineffective in the area, because they have ignored the social aspects of technology.It is not that the area is under-computerized; many groups have distributed machines in a variety of settings, but these attempts fall afoul of existing social conditions. For example, schools are given computers, but one-quarter of the teachers never show up to teach. Of those who do, fully half do not teach even when present [3]. Most of them are held personally responsible for the books and machines sent them and will have to pay if they are damaged, so they lock them safely away. Aware of these issues, NGOs and the Government of India previously sponsored a variety of access points—via the Hole-in-the-Wall/HiWel program among many others [4]—to encourage children to teach themselves [5]. These meet with initial success, but in order to be safe from vandalism or theft, the centers have to be placed on school-grounds where the same conditions which vitiate the educational process also impact the use of the “free” computing facilities.

Arora’s insights are deeply rooted in a close knowledge of both practical and theoretical pedagogy and anyone interested in education could benefit from understanding this aspect of her research. Part of her progress here might be said to be “unlearning,” as she finds that many of her assumptions are simply irrelevant in the social context of village India. For example, after working in the Internet café, she comes to understand the limitations of Western attitudes toward plagiarism. Arora has focused closely on gender issues in her previous research. In her ethnographic research in Almora, she also derives a new understanding of gender issues. This comes about when she watches female students, usually treated in the critical literature as deliberately marginalized in the world of technology, ably manipulate not the machines so much as those who work in the cafes (including the author), on the model of traditional Indian mistress-servant relationships. She concludes that choosing not to work directly with technology is also a means of using technology, and a valid choice in many situations. The author also begins to understand the complexity of globalization when she assists two local girls prepare school papers on “Western” art by selecting a variety of graphics, including cowboy-style horse paintings done by a contemporary Chinese artist, side by side with the Mona Lisa and the works of a noted Indian painter [6].

The weakness of NGO and governmental assumptions about the link between development and I.T. development are treated directly in a section on farming. Farmers are given access to computers by the government in the belief that, with better information about markets and prices, they can avoid exploitation by traditional middlemen.However, the author learns, the middlemen are also a critical element in farming practices, advising farmers of how to develop new crops, for example. And even with perfect knowledge of the market, the farmers are still producing on such a small scale that they cannot take any better advantage of the information.Dot Com Mantra really comes alive and makes a significant contribution when Arora begins to reconceptualize the Internet cafes and their most frequent use as places not of learning so much as of recreation. Here she undermines one of the major assumptions of developmental economics: that the poor are so desperate that given the opportunity they will always choose to look first after basic needs and that idling away time is the province only of the wealthy. Arora concludes: “There is an assumption that the poor will somehow behave differently from their wealthier counterparts. Herein lies a deep bind of contemporary ICT development thinking [7].”

As with the issue of plagiarism, however, when the author situates the recreations of the Internet cafes in the local social context, she comes to see the play as also a valid social choice for the use of computing. We learn, for example, that due to widespread broadband access in Almora, local children and teens are now fully conversant in many elements of Indian urban culture, their rural dialects are now inflected by urban usages, and they are also fairly aware of international pop culture. These may seem to a developmental economist to be an inadequate result for billions of dollars of investment in I.T., but in fact, as Arora points out, in their own way, these consequences represent considerable progress. The work betrays its origins in that it is extremely dense and steeped in academic jargon. However, it should be of interest to a variety of audiences, including most especially those concerned with development, with I.T. investment, with teaching and pedagogy (in any context—many of the weaknesses she spots in constructivist practices in education are as relevant in London or New York as in village India—and generally interested, as are we, in the impact of the Internet). But given its cost ($99.95) most readers should probably seek it out in an academic library, where it properly belongs.

Paper presentations at the IAMCR Conference 2011 in Istanbul

2011-07-09T05:43:00.000-07:00

I'll also be presenting on the following topics at the IAMCR conference 2011 in Istanbul, Turkey:

1) CULTURES OF CYBERSPACE: A PEDAGOGIC FRAMEWORK

It has taken the past decade to commonly acknowledge that cyberspace is tethered to real place. From euphoric conceptualizations of virtual space as novel, unprecedented and revolutionary an entity, the dust has settled, allowing for talk of boundaries and ties to real world settings. Metaphors have faithfully followed this scholarship; there is a clear mission to architect Net spaces, be it chatrooms, electronic frontiers, homepages, to information highways. This metaphorical approach allows for concretization and comprehension of Net spaces for policy regulation, private sector practice and pedagogic instruction. This paper focuses particularly on the pedagogic angle, providing a rubric of guidance for university professors to address the critical relationship of the real and virtual in new media studies programs. This paper proposes a conceptual framework of applying metaphors to systematize the connect between online and offline spaces. The design of spaces can be conceptualized into 5 typologies: utilitarian-driven, aesthetic-driven, context-driven, play-driven and value-driven, making explicit the diversity of online spaces and its innate characteristics. This framework applies lessons learnt from the architecting of real space to virtual space. In doing so, it spans the field of urban planning, architecture, and new media studies. Currently, there is little guidance for instructors in new media on how to teach this relationship of the real and virtual. Thereby, this pedagogic framework will allow professors and students to engage in the comprehension of cyberspace through a more sophisticated and interdisciplinary avenue.

II. WALLED GARDENS: AN ANALYSIS OF THE PRIVATE-PUBLIC NATURE OF ONLINE LEISURE
(Under the Program: Between Security and Privacy. Understanding the Balance be-tween Surveillance and Data Protection as
Local, Regional and Global Policy Issues)

In this Web 2.0 era, contemporary leisure is dominantly situated within the online sphere. It is now commonly believed that much of what users do online is of a social nature and if we are to understand their enactments, online spatial analysis of these cyberleisure spaces is a good starting point. This paper thereby proposes that if the Internet can be seen as a “digital city,” its online leisure spaces need to be seen as its virtual parks. Social network sites and parks share much rhetoric in common- they are both perceived as free, universal, democratic and non-utilitarian in nature. Yet, if we are to take on this metaphorical comparison through a historical and comparative analysis, we will discover the ongoing politics of keeping these leisure spaces “public.” For instance, the making of parks in the 19th century involved a significant struggle to shift from the State to the masses. Also, parks across nations and cultures, although one of the seemingly least regulated public spaces, is in fact bounded by social, cultural and economic constraints that shape its very nature. Furthermore, an interesting discussion can stem from the fact that contemporary leisure spaces are finding themselves more within “gated communities,” both online and offline, highlighting an interesting and important dimension of the semi-private nature of cyberleisure spaces. This paper leverages and re(situates) Habermas’s theory on the public sphere, essential for our understandings on notions of ownership, authority, regulation, class, inclusivity/exclusivity in relation to leisure. The tensions of the public and private can be revealed through this parallel as we delve into questions of current importance in relation to online leisure: can we equate “public” space with “free” space? What are the trade-offs involved in keeping a social space “free?” How do we understand the notion of access to these cyberleisure spaces in relation to its current socio-cultural and economic boundaries? How “open” are contemporary leisure spaces and what are its determining factors? Overall, an analysis of the public versus private nature of cyberleisure spaces, both online and offline can shed light on what regulates and shapes contemporary leisure.

IAMCR Conference 2011 in Istanbul: Theme: Cities, Creativity, Connectivity

2011-07-09T05:27:00.000-07:00

Istanbul, here we come! The International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR) will be starting next week from the 12th to 18th of July with papers surrounding the theme of Cities, Creativity, Connectivity.

I'll be Chairing a Program session on the "Second Wave of the Digital Divide" as well as presenting a paper on the following topic:

The leisure divide: Can the Third World come out to play?

In this Web 2.0 era, evidence is mounting on human ingenuity and creativity with and within online spheres. Much has been documented on how users innovate in a myriad of ways, opening possible economic and techno-social opportunities through play. From initially being viewed as “wasteful” and “idle,” cyberleisure is slowly but steadily being recognized as potentially productive, labor intensive and commercially fruitful. In fact, online leisure has stimulated a virtual economy where “dragon sabers,” a cyberweapon of the Legend of Mir III sells on ebay and “Farmville,” an online farming application on Facebook propels users to speed up their virtual harvest with real currency. In this global and information society, such innovation has become fundamental to getting ahead as the rat race moves online. That said, when we look at the world of ICT and international development, a different story seems to emerge. Much focus is placed on how the Net is being used for a range of utilitarian means such as healthcare, education, to employment. An army of commercial ethnographers from Microsoft, Intel, Google and Hewlett Packard as well as the usual INGO suspects, have been unleashed to capture the newly empowered in action. As billions of dollars are being invested to bridge the digital divide in developing countries, much is at stake on amassing evidence that the poor are, in fact, leapfrogging chronic socio-economic barriers through ICT. Hence, visions of the farmer accessing crop prices online, ridding himself of the tyranny of the middlemen infuse policymakers and practitioner discourses, streamlining research agendas even more so on measuring how ICT is being used for utilitarian ends. However, the underlying assumption here is that somehow users in Third World countries are inherently and intrinsically different somehow from the Western world. While there is no pretense on the fact that what most users do online in the West are primarily “purposeless” – social networking, porn, idle browsing and media consumption and production, there seems to be a belief that users in the emerging markets will have a more conventional work ethic online; they will virtuously reach out for ways to get information for healthcare diagnostics and treatment, online education to agricultural best practices. While undoubtedly this happens, this paper argues that there is a possibility that much of what users do even in Third World countries is, in fact, heavily leisure oriented.To build this case, this paper first examines the relationship between labor and leisure, a) historically and b) comparatively, online and offline. After which, we investigate how new information and communication technology usage has been perceived over time in the Third world nations - intentions versus actual practices. Lastly, this paper traces out the commonalities between supposed First and Third world nation’s practices of new media usage, making the argument that we need to stop exoticizing users in ‘emerging markets’ as more utilitarian driven and work conscious. Instead, this paper calls for a conscious inclusion of cyberleisure in the larger analysis of new media usage in supposed Third World countries.

Digital absence: The modern day sabbatical?

2011-07-01T01:40:00.000-07:00

When you speak of sabbaticals, you perhaps picture a professor of art history sitting at a café in Florence, trying to come up with a new spin on Uffizi art. It seems that academia has usurped this practice that has been enveloped in biblical meaning for the longest of time. This hiatus from work has had the weight of Ten Commandments backing it up, allowing the masses to justify their temporal ceasing to labor. Henceforth, the weekend was born. Granted, this is a rather simplistic interpretation. Of course one needs to take into account other phenomena such as the industrialization era where leisure began to be viewed as not necessarily a waste of time but actually that which could enhance productivity. In fact, these strategic interruptions have served as a signal of the modern era where a society sees its inherent virtue. So the question is not on whether or not it is advisable to desist working for some time but rather, how long is it acceptable to leisure before it is viewed as unproductive? The weekend is now an accepted notion and serves as a common motivation for the average modern day laborer as they “slave” away in their routines of day-to-day work, keeping in mind the reward of a relaxing weekend with family and friends. However, beyond that, the option of time-off for its own sake is rather an alien concept in most private sectors.

Also, who is allowed to temporarily cease from labor and why? Sabbaticals implicitly bring to mind privileged white-collar workers where this is seen as a strategic incentive to sustain and retain this elite working class. And what happens when blue-collar workers embark on the same path? It will usually be perceived as part-time work or ill health, signals of a poor economic climate perhaps. Much like what makes a foreigner an “expat” versus an “immigrant” has more to do with economics than with other social aspects.

And of course, what constitutes as non-working time as new media infiltrates and blurs boundaries on work and play at a constant basis? Obama has raised our level of awareness of the Blackberry addict, the new drug of the digital and mobile era where we are now victims of our own constant and often involuntary urges to immerse in online busyness. Productivity and labor has never become so obviously disassociated as in today’s Web 2.0 era where being engaged during “work” and “working” have become issues of serious concern to the private sector at large. It’s a double-edged sword really. Companies benefit from this compulsion as they can reach their employees, the junkies of new media, even during the sacrosanct weekend. On the other hand, leisure stealthily creeps in during the routines of work life, enveloping their worker bees with the trivia of social life through Facebook, Twitter and Youtube. In fact, the spatial aspect of work, of being at the office to produce is also being challenged as technical mobility and the nature of work has undergone radical transformation one may argue. It may even seem that this laboring elite are their own worst enemies as they compulsively engage with work regardless of location and time.

Pushing this further, taking a digital absence is currently shrouded in controversy as expectations of instant gratification from customers as well as ones own Net addiction propels one to actively and with much effort, disengage from the cybersphere. There is no discreet way of excusing oneself from techno-laboring. It is yet to be seen how long absences from ones own blog or twitter is perceived and how that impacts ones legitimacy in the Web 2.0 world where ones absence is digitally clocked and paraded for one and all.

In-built democracy in the Middle East

2011-02-21T06:00:00.000-08:00

Writing about the Middle East uprisings is intimidating as words barely do justice to the phenomenal spirit that has captured people in this region and beyond. How can one not be awestruck and humbled by these moments in time? If it were a movie, it would win the Oscars undoubtedly. It guarantees a lump in your throat each time it gains media limelight. We live vicariously through these times, getting a taste of what it’s like to be passionate for an ideal. Our palette is being honed for more exotic flavors of democracy. This media coverage has become our new high.

Frontpage coverage gives frontline feelings; it’s a battle and we, the reader, march along. To sustain this momentum, questions surface: are the people in the Middle East fighting for democracy or are they fighting against authoritarianism? Will this region create their own style of democracy, much like the Chinese, who have managed to defy the conventional coupling of capitalism and Western style democracy? And besides, are they even ready for democracy? Some say that they have little practice with this system of ideals.

As revolutions go, this is as expected, a contained chaos, an organized anarchy. Interestingly, one of the features of this domino effect of political action is its territorial containment. Over 2 million protesters gathered in Tahrir Square on February 10, 2011 in Egypt. In Bahrain, tens of thousands marched to Pearl Square in the country's capital Manama, calling for regime-change, one of the largest demonstrations in its history. In fact, there is an interesting relationship between public spaces and revolutions as history reveals and architects revel in. While streets serve the fervent and ignited marches, public squares provide a home for more sustained mass demonstrations.

If we look at the French revolution, the best-known architects of the time -Boullee, Ledoux, and Lequeu looked at designing public space to "educate, inspire, and serve" citizens. While meant for the government to create a sense of national culture and some argue, spread state propaganda, this very architectural fabric became and still serves as the battleground for public discontent. So for those who believe that this region has little history of democratic enactment, it is worth attending to the in-built architecting of public space within these urban territories...and shall we say, spaces of democratic performance?

The Dutch government WANTS YOU to party!

2011-01-26T07:22:00.000-08:00

The residential street of Gashouderstraat seems like any other in the Netherlands. There is a play space at the corner; houses have large windows and cycles lean precariously against anything resembling a post. A few potted plants scatter the footpath. And then it starts to unravel. A herb garden emerges on the sidewalk and we are told that we can access sage to thyme for our evening meals. This community garden effort has government backing. Nothing transforms a space as public gardening – an innovative strategy to create ownership of public property. Although seemingly an oxymoron, the idea of keeping things “public” requires certain privatization or belief in appropriating spaces as ones own. It’s been working across cultures, especially as a means of urban renewal in areas from the Bronx in New York to out here. After all, a sense of ownership comes with responsibility. You live a little longer here and the stories start to emerge of how a boy of 11 collected signatures from this street, as he wanted a play space at the corner. Dutch give bureaucracy a remake here as they apparently responded within 3 weeks to this effort. A children’s park was born. In some ways, this socialism comes with a very capitalistic drive – ownership, private property and freedom to shape your environment. Stretching the time spent here and you realize that it’s not just the material shift in public space but the temporal community gatherings that foster material investment in public space. In other words, the local government doles out petty cash for a street party to foster neighborhood feelings, with the very pragmatic logic that if people are bonded, communal change will be positive. And so we party for social change…Proost I say!

Does Culture fail to Shock?

2011-01-14T00:04:00.000-08:00

When moving to a new country, there is much talk about “culture shock,” where inadvertently you discover that not everyone has heard of Shah Rukh Khan, forget Koffee with Karan Johar; where walking is interpreted as a sign of your cycle having been stolen and where Nutella wins over peanut butter as a choice of spread. But the truth of the matter is that this is not really a “shock” to the system as for it to jolt you, it has to confront you immediately.

In fact, momentum and pace is at the heart of such eureka moments, which, contrary to popular belief, creeps up on you at the most unexpected of times or perhaps never! You could be walking by the Marijuana Museum in Amsterdam everyday, oblivious to the fact that there is, after all, a museum on this much-adored weed. This term “culture shock”, although a cliché, is in fact barely representative of what one goes through when one shifts geographies. After all, we don’t just travel with our material luggage, we move with our well-encased worldviews that neatly insulates us from the new surrounds that you plunge into. So it is very much possible to float along for years without actually attending to what could possibly shock you. And when we do attend, it is often at the peripheral observation of confirming your deep-seated notions of how people are, in general, strange. Maybe you even celebrate your normalcy by accepting without much probing into the peculiar ways of the new tribe. Thereby, its not a shock, its an affirmation of all what you’ve held dear for so long.

“Shock” requires us to believe that people are inherently like you. Given that we live in a time of celebrated narcissism, that sensation will need to be earned. That said, if you were a brand manager, you can see why, “culture non-shock but a mild surprise” does not do the trick. We expect a punch but what often we get is a tap on the shoulder. But few, turn around nevertheless.

Mirror Mirror on the wall, who is the cheapest of them all?

2011-01-06T21:44:00.000-08:00

Today’s world is the world of consumerism. “Access,” even in the most economically disadvantaged areas is less about the basics. In fact, there is a thin line between what constitutes as necessity versus luxury. The farmer wants a mobile to listen to Radio1 94.3; the housemaid in Bandra wants a TV to watch her favorite soap opera; the watchman in Electronic City aims to get a car one day. With India’s massive consumer base of a billion strong, the economy of scale as a perennial cliché kicks in as predictably as ever. So there is nothing new in the fact that new technologies can become accessible at a faster rate in emerging markets than its western counterpart. What is new however is that products today are being developed from the start to be accessible – in one word –CHEAP. Patience is a thing of the past apparently. The new consumer has made the economy of scale redundant here.

The burgeoning middle class laps up the Tata Nano, the people’s car at $2500, an unprecedented figure for an automobile today. The legendary chairman, Ratan Tata remarks: “Today, we indeed have a People’s Car, which is affordable and yet built to meet safety requirements and emission norms, to be fuel efficient and low on emissions,” Mr. Tata added. “We are happy to present the People’s Car to India and we hope it brings the joy, pride and utility of owning a car to many families who need personal mobility.”

And this seems to be just the start. In the hardware world, the brainpower universities of IIT & IISc have pioneered the tablet computer at the cost of a mere $35 with promises of getting even cheaper for the students. And if we cross over to the medical world, we see pioneering innovations of cost effective treatment in major sectors, from prosthetic legs to eye treatment to HIV drugs, an invaluable model to learn for the West where healthcare is perhaps one of the biggest contentious issues of the day.

Best yet, cheap is no longer automatically equated to lower quality. In fact, the demanding consumer expects more apps, more features, and more gadgetry for less. Competition and choice have fueled such expectations, raising the bar for innovators. And rightly so. When we look in the mirror, we now want to see not the present but the future. The question is, who will present the fairest future for us all?

When in India...swami style reflections in 2011

2011-01-04T23:04:00.000-08:00

I left India 16 years ago. With every annual visit back to my hometown, Bangalore, there is a new version of the past created. The past becomes highlighted when the present changes. And changes are aplenty. Roads are constantly being expanded with colossal pillars for the fast train emerging smack in the middle. The guts of Bangalore are being opened up for the NammaMetro, “our metro” fast train, designed to control and digest the 7 million strong city residents. There is constant talk of the “center” being moved, given the construction of luxury gated communities and IT parks along the outskirts of Whitefield to Hosur road, with the future rotating around the new airport shaped after much championing for a new global image for this hybrid city.

And hybrid city it is as 60% of the residents come from across the country and NRIs (Indians who settled in the West) are making their way back to etch their place in this perceived dynamic market and simultaneously be close to their aging parents. The new ambition balances with traditional family values, working well for the Indian economy. On the other hand, the “center” remains entrenched and persists with the small fry shops that I grew up with, small corner comic book libraries, sweetstalls and jean shops surviving the onslaught of the new mall virus spreading across Bangalore. Within the last 5 years, malls have made their presence felt from 3 shopping complexes to now about 40 mega-consumer parks spread across the city. Marks & Spencer, Lush, and Nokia rests non-ironically with home grown stores within these new leisure park spaces, wrapped within the larger experience of masala popcorn and Bollywood in IMAX style.

Everywhere you go, you feel the presence of change. Sikkimese hairdressers, Malayali nurses, to Punjabi business people create the surround sound of the city. New policies emerge to streamline this dynamism be it new bank policies to stricter rules on getting a SIM card for the cell phone. Security measures have beefed up yet India has the knack of displaying ironies in the most entertaining of fashions. Pirated DVD shops, once hidden, now gain legitimacy as they take over a large shopping complex in the heart of Bangalore, selling “original quality” pirated movies of Sex and the City to Salman Khan’s latest big hit, Dabangg. What else? This city continues to hold the title of the “Garden City,” in spite of the systematic felling of trees and the “Pub city” in spite of recent year changes to pub timings to 11am, killing the liquor business to a great degree. Simultaneously, this city is being considered a serious contender from the typical Mumbai hotbed of cultural innovation, for Italian fine cuisine to fashion, expanding its reach beyond the software and call center nodes that represent it. With the New Year, new changes are felt. The city is a beast, consuming and being consumed at a faster rate than ever before. It is a lot to digest after all.

After inventing the WWW, where do you go next?

2010-12-15T02:43:00.000-08:00

Sir Tim Berners-Lee is the keynote speaker at this ICTD conference happening here in London. The Michael Jackson in the computing world, Sir. Tim Berners-Lee has been credited for inventing the World Wide Web, launching the first basic communication via the Internet in 1989. So...he appears lost on stage, as if he walked into the wrong conference. A tech-geek at heart, it seems he is compelled to connect his general fabulous geekiness to starving children in Uganda. And sadly he tries. He brings up in some circular way this farmer in rural India who makes decisions on drilling the land and sowing the seeds and something about rainfall and er...as if he just had a crash course on farming ..farming for Dummies 1.0. And just when you wonder where its heading, he miraculously ties this to accessing the Internet for empowerment, a point already beaten to death not just at this conference but for the last decade in the ICTD field.

Okay, so while he may not be the development guru (nor does he claim to be which is the redeeming aspect here), he becomes more engaging when he actually starts to talk about his toys, his nerdy state of being and more. He talks about the creative process, particularly on how scientists inhabit the fuzzy world of stories and inspiration: "I spend a lot of my time in an anecdotal world." While nothing new per se, it is nice to be reminded that data often does not inspire, it often justifies...it's the after and not before of the creative process.

When asked (surprise surprise) as to what is the future of the www, a member of his www consortium reveals that voice technologies is where the www should be heading to. Seems so intuitively obvious given the high illiteracy rates around the world yet it is amazing how voice-based technologies has not taken off at an unprecedented scale; wish they talked more about this as to why this hasn't yet happened. Instead, questions concerning wikileaks seems to infuse the auditorium space, tying this to security, walled gardens, regulation and open vs proprietry software. Nothing too revealing in these discussions and predictive in terms of its place in this interdisciplinary conference.

So, post-keynote talk, I land up chatting with some Microsoft guys who are researching on search techniques. They tell me that they've heard Berners-Lee talk every year as a keynote speaker at the WWW consortium and apparently, he uses the same speech year after year after..year! Hard to beat the www idea huh? So just a tip here- if you're going to do something epic in life, just hope this happens later rather than earlier in your career. Of course, we often don't know a moment is epic until after the fact. This explains why often the initiation of epicness is marked by the mundane such as the testing of the telephone call by Bell saying "Mr. Watson come here, I want to see you" to Berners-Lee's first web address "Info.cern.ch" explaining the WWW project. So next time, you may be better prepared when you confront your own 5 minutes of fame...

Geography for development: mapping for change

2010-12-14T03:42:00.000-08:00

Who doesn't love a good idea! Here's one, aerial mapping of a community space in Palestine by attaching a regular camera to a kite. So picture this..."tampering" with a regular camera and attaching it to a kite that flies overhead your community allows for a aerial perspective of your local space; piloted by Palestinian youth make it even better. This stems from the Voices Beyond Walls organization, a collective of independent Palestinian and international media technologists, filmmakers, photographers, educators, and activists that hold digital storytelling workshops with the youth in the refugee camps in the West Bank.

Here's another kind of mapping: in Kibera, Nairobi, digital mapping of this "blank spot" on Google maps becomes richly detailed through the initiative of local information surveying and sharing to create a digital public map of their own community. And why should one care? Well, besides its invisibility online, it has more pragmatic purposes. Community maps allow for the planning of policy and practice initiatives. Kibera, in spite of its Hollywood fame, having been featured in Fernando Meirelles's film The Constant Gardener, is also a region which is one of the largest slums in Africa that is in dire need of attention. This project stems from the Map Kibera initiative, drawing from local participation through smsing on updates of their local space for planning, navigation, and community rejuvenation.

There are other kinds of mapping too...mobile traffic mapping during earthquakes, mapping of the virtual economy flow to understand the scope of digital labor in developing countries to mapping of hotspots of artists in Poland as tourist online guides. In fact, mapping seems to have gained tremendous attention amongst development practitioners as they look at capturing spaces as a platform to addressing issues such as youth education, healthcare, urban planning, emergency relief and more.

That said, who is actually using such maps is a looming question still. While very powerful to gain grants from sponsors and funders and legitimacy amongst INGOs, the actual locals are often unaware of the entire lifelines of such projects...

The ICTD conference kicks off with marital discord between practitioners and academics

2010-12-13T01:32:00.000-08:00

The ICTD conference for 2010 goes all Harry Potter on us, hosted by Royal Holloway, University of London. This university, started in 1886 and financially backboned substantively by Thomas Holloway who made his millions from patent medicine, is a fascinating site to hold the conference in. While we're immersed delightfully within the history of this educational space, we're confronted with the future of this relatively newly created ICTD conference space. Its a response to the persistent frustrations of the disconnect between academia and practice. It's about making "relevant" academia, to network these seemingly disparate groups in a fruitful manner and create sustainable thinking through interdisciplinary means.

So it is of little surprise that the conference launches with a panel of practitioners and moderated by Tim Unwin from Royal Holloway, University of London. In true academic self-flagellation, Tim remarks that only practitioners can truly "guide the next decade of academic research." Invited on the panel is Erik Hersman, co-founder and director of operations of Ushahidi, Anriette Esterhuysen, executive-director of the Association for Progressive Communications, Tony Salvador Senior Principal engineer, and Director of Research, Emerging Markets Platform Group, Intel Corporation, Anita Gurumurthy, IT for Change, Ken Banks, founder of kiwanja.net and creator of FrontlineSMS, and Indrajit Banerjee, Director of the Information Society Division, UNESCO. They were invited to speak their mind on what they think should be researched on in the near future, look deeply into certain issues and question certain dominant assumptions in the field. Of course, as predicted, the debate starts of with the usual practitioner-academic debate, with an underlying bias of making the "practitioner" very current, reflexive, insightful and "close" to the beneficiaries. Academics however, need a new PR agent apparently as they're viewed as parasitical creatures, feeding off on the "brain food" of practitioners as Anriette states. Banerjee, an ex-academic fuels this further with his comment that "“academics are talking to themselves while development is out there." Of course, there is some noise on who is this "practitioner" anyway? Aren't all academics, if genuinely effective, are practitioners too ? - as such, all "good theory is good practice too," as Anita states. So is that really true?

While this ritual perhaps is essential, given the role of rituals in general as markers that indicate that we're all part of this community that shares common tensions that at once divide and unite at the same time, there were more interesting points that were brought up by this panel, namely from Erik, a technologist who astutely asks why do we pigeonhole technologies as tools for development? Its like saying Mozilla Firefox is for development just because it's being used by emerging market demographics! So why do we naturalize certain tools as “empowerment tools” and does this really have a particular advantage for the ICTD field or does it long term do more damage as we exoticise typical tools and thereby create barriers on intergrating "exotic" populations into the typical user-interfacing group?

fodder for thought for sure...

Fokke n Sukke does a number on us Tedhead bloggers

2010-12-07T03:27:00.000-08:00

Granted, my profound ignorance of Dutch cartoons mitigated a little only due to self-centrism. Having learnt that us TEDx bloggers from the TEDx Amsterdam event (that recently wrapped up on Nov 30th) was covered by two specimens that don't wear pants, it piqued my attention for sure. Fokke, a run-of-the-mill duck wearing a small sailor's cap is accompanied by Sukke, a canary bird that wears a baseball cap backwards but apparently rocks the boat with their supposed tails that coincidently resemble male genitalia. But thats not all that they rock. Their benign disguise is coupled with politically incorrect humor and barbed sarcasms targeted at posers such as us TEDheadders, a subculture of The Economist reading, Mac hugging, Jon Stewart loving type of groupies.

So, Fokke & Sukke is a Dutch comic strip created by writer and illustrator Jean-Marc van Tol, and writers John Reid and Bastiaan Geleijnse and is published in the daily broadsheet NRC Handelsblad. These guys even won the Stripschapprijs, the Netherlands’ premier cartoon award. So no doubt then it is flattering that our esteemed little creatures decided to focus (albeit mockingly) on us bloggers given the numerous distractions going on at the TEDx event.

So the translation for this goes something like this..based on my pigeon Dutch:
Sitting down in the press balcony with pen and paper

Sukke! Everyone uses an apple! (holding onto their pen and paper)
Shh! Careful or they'll realize that we don't know shit about nanotechnology!

I m sure its more acidic when translated correctly...but hey, nothing like getting immortalized by a bunch of furry creatures that are still not extinct.

Reporting from TEDx: Muthoni the Drummer queen

2010-11-30T11:13:00.000-08:00

Performance by Muthoni, the drummer queen
Starving artists, rich recording labels…that’s how the cliché goes. Microfinance, usually reserved for talk on farmer loans and such is now making waves into the world of the music industry. Fans are putting their money where their mouth is, enabling start-up capital to aspiring musicians from developing countries around the world. The clincher here is that musicians do not give up ownership or control of their music rights.

microfinance + music + digital media= Muthoni the drummer queen!

for more, check out TEDx Amsterdam site: Moving to the microfinance beat!

Reporting from TEDx: replaying Darwins journey + the circus as conference

2010-11-30T09:03:00.001-08:00

Sarah Darwin talks about Darwin's journey replayed today
Like the usual family pressure is not enough, having Charles Darwin as your great great grandfather must hardly be an easy feat. That said, rather than hide from it, Sarah Darwin embraces it openly and audaciously retraces the “emotional” journe, as she calls it, of the HMS Beagle. A biologist herself, Sarah describes how she and her family set sail round the world on the Dutch clipper Stad-Amsterdam, starting at the same port where Charles Darwin embarked around 178 years ago...
Check out the TEDx website for more:
Sarah Darwin: Following in your footsteps great great granddaddy!

AND

Peter van Lindonk's talk on demanding creativity as ground for unity for stimulating ideas
It’s about time someone added chutzpah into conferences! Aren’t most conferences about remembering the lines but forgetting the theatre of it all? Peter van Lindonk, the co-founder of the annual PINC-Conference, knows this better than most people as he rounds up people in Amsterdam around one theme and one theme only: creativity. PINC stands for People Ideas Nature Creativity and unites people on passion over content. Of course, there’s something to be said about embracing passion over discipline; think about De Bono, the creativity guru who was a physician, author, inventor, and consultant or Bucky Fuller, the American engineer, author, designer, inventor, and futurist who pioneered “spaceship earth.” What they all have in common is this irreverence for compartmentalizing ideas by discipline.
Peter van Lindonk: Pocket full of passion

TEDx Amsterdam's Photogenic moments...

2010-11-30T05:42:00.000-08:00

Reporting from TEDx: Dr Anita Goel on personalized medicine

2010-11-30T03:37:00.000-08:00

Dr Anita Goel on Personalized medicine
It’s nice to know you’re special. Anita Goel backs this up with science, showing that no two people are alike in their molecular profiles, and as such no two treatments can be alike. Tailored diagnostics – personalized medicine has come to our doorsteps. Covered with ivy, Dr. Goel is a product of Harvard-MIT and Stanford, a physicist, a physician, founder and CEO of Nanobiosym, a company that has a not-so-humble vision to “to revolutionize healthcare globally.” She states that their goal is to give patients worldwide real-time access to their own diagnostic information via low-cost handheld devices and provide a personalized approach to cure through one’s genetic makeup. So what, individualism is the new holism? For more, check out the TEDx site:

Dr Anita Goel: healthcare at your digital fingertips

Reporting from TEDx: Cacao Man: I am from Mars !

2010-11-30T02:28:00.000-08:00

Santa Claus look alike, Dr. Howard-Yana Shapiro, talks of chocolate through 26 Mayan languages. Where does cacao come from and why does this matter? Being the global director of plant science and external research at Mars Incorporated, he shares with us the buzz phrase of today= sustainable cacao.

Chocolate matters! But not in the way we imagine, Christmas stockings and all. He says, "everything is on the move, forced by nature," meaning that to satisfy our love for chocolate, we need to start thinking of its effect on people and cultures, nurturing nature and naturalizing this nurturing as a habit of the future. He approaches this through the eyes of a scientist and anthropologist, an important and yet surprisingly rare combination in the field. "We will not certify poverty!" he stresses, talking of how deforestation is deeply connected to chocolate and how corporations need to equate business models with eco-models, where co-dependency is but a must.

According to The Guardian, "approximately four-fifths of the world’s cocoa production takes place in Ghana and the Ivory Coast. The majority of cocoa trees are grown on 2-3,000 family-run farms which are easily susceptible to the influence of climate, disease and price-shifts. This commitment to buying their crops will make a huge difference to the national and local economy"

So its time to give more thought to the bitter-sweet side of chocolate...

Becoming the Press at TEDx: the hoopla around it

2010-11-30T02:12:00.000-08:00

Green bordered Press Passes and RESERVED written on red velvet seats...its nice being the Press! Cookies and koffie; polaroids being taken to give some kind of instant energy feeling; long-bearded men, probably all eco-warriors or physicists... spotted! Admittedly, as we blog away with our Apple computers in a row (with every other minute checking Facebook), we're deeply concerned about more pressing issues such as what we should do with our goodie bags post conference when we go for the after-party to Chicago Boom! Such are the troubling times we live in.

Other issues do seep in such as what can we say about someone whose claim to fame is that she is the great great granddaughter of Charles Darwin...ok, but what about it? And of aliens on stage...er? and fake snow falling on a man who has come from Africa in his native costume, saying that this is the first time he has left his hometown and he receives unanimous applaud...because??? One is tempted to see this as condescending, and sensational but we resist for we're "Press" and as reality goes, we're representing TEDx that is representing Amsterdam/ The Netherlands that is representing a host of sponsors from Philips to Sonoma to Microsoft. And such struggles are punctuated by umpteen cups of coffee and organic sandwiches packed with biodegradable forks and knives and recycled napkins. Even the garbage cans seem to communicate some holistic citizen kind of message like Save the Planet or some such, disorienting us and compelling us to debate on whether we should drop our empty bottles of water into it lest we get accused of well, misusing disposal bins.

And if this isn't enough, TED speakers share the stage with a man in a box of ice, aka the IceMan, Wim Hof, the world record holder, adventurer and daredevil who immerses himself regularly in ice. And he does so again, but this time on the TEDx stage for an audience and Press who have been over this day, trained slowly but surely on becoming accustomed to the strange, the weird, the different...and as our host aptly calls him, the icecube on a stick!

Live blogging at TEDx...

2010-11-30T00:53:00.000-08:00

Blogging live on Alef Arendsen:
Even trendy renewable energy requires PR. Granted, Al Gore helped to make climate change a topic again. But for the most part it’s been all about what you can do for the world and not for yourself. The New Motion, a company about “electric mobility powered by renewable energy,” turns this around. “If we want to create lasting change, we have to accept the premise that we act on self-interest,” says Alef Arendsen, one of the co-founders. For more, check out the TEDx blog site:
Alef Arendsen: Fixing my problem fixes yours

TEDx starts with a Boom...

2010-11-30T00:18:00.000-08:00

Jon Rosenfeld from Boom Chicago, an Amsterdam comedy institution known for its live shows and video productions is hosting TEDx Amsterdam today. He starts for sure with a bang, a boom and happily no bust, cracking up the audience with his witty oneliners such as, "we're all TEDheads here. We're the nerds from high school that made it!" or "we're the Economist readers ...we have that secret nudge, that all knowing wink of getting off on an orgy of ideas" and more, paving way for Prof. dr. Gerardus 't Hooft, the Nobel Prize winner in Physics. Now thats a hard act to follow! In fact, I believe usually scientists do not usually follow comedians when launching into their talks on how nuclear energy transforms the world. So well, kudos to him as he slowly works his way to engaging us with his facetious warning that, "blackholes are not safe to be close to...it can be dangerous!" While starting with the cliche of beam me up Scotty which is oh well, but expected from the man who talks of space, he gets less cliche as he talks about space colonization, setting up hotels of non-gravity and hanging out with "stupid" robots of the 20th century when sending people to Mars...one's social club will be er, confined to robotics of the past. He also talks of the typical commute of moon to earth and back, and we can wonder if audio books will do the trick to help us through this commute!

Russian doll for the TEDx: a blog within a blog

2010-11-29T02:29:00.000-08:00

So, fanatic that I am for TED conferences...well, actually, calling this a conference is akin to calling caviar food or the ipad a computer. The cult of TED is more like it, from Ideas Worth Spreading to Fanaticism Worth Holding onto! It all started in the oh so cliche California where people came together to give "the talk of their lives " er...in 18 minutes. (Andy Warhol promised a 5 minute fame so lets just say inflation just kicked in). It started by pontificating about Technology, Entertainment and Design and now has spread to any topic that can be delivered in a way that will make an audience feel cool n cutting edge, and if you can squeeze in a tear or two from them, more the power to you! Ah and did I mention this is an invite only event, nurturing the VIP instinct amongst an eclectic group of people who need reassurances of their role in life like myself? There is nothing like a good dose of intellectual elitism to get people's attention...simple supply and demand that works brilliantly to make something more desirable, period.

So while I'm no doubt part of this emotive herd, I can be slightly objective to say that these talks are self promotional PR for ideas being launched... promising the end of today as we know it and the future as we see it through the speaker's eyes. But who cares given that conferences in general have become so content centric and delivery eccentric where people astonishingly can serve as sleeping tablets, missing the picture that the audience does matter! Perhaps its the Bollywood side of me, but I expect a mix of passion, counter-intuitive thinking, and sparks ...lots of em.

So it should not come as a surprise that with TEDx happening tomorrow in Amsterdam at the Stadsschouwburg, the grand city theatre, I'm going to be one of the live bloggers at the event. Something like chaining myself to the pillars of Stadsschouwburg crossed my mind if I were not to have gotten into this somehow. So on the 30th November 2010, ideas on the theme of "Science and Fiction" will play out, punctuated by tons of peacock performances in networking over meals and drinks, starting from 7:30am to 9pm in the evening. I will be blogging about microfinance in the music industry where Muthoni the drummer queen will talk, electric cars with Plug'N'Party campaigning to retracing of Darwin's journey by his great great grand daughter, Sarah Darwin and more.

Book Release: Dot Com Mantra: Social Computing in the Central Himalayas

2010-09-06T12:30:00.001-07:00

At last, eight months in the Central Himalayas spent examining how people use computers and the Internet has panned out - my first book published by Ashgate publishing (UK) has just got released.

ABSTRACT: Billions of dollars are being spent nationally and globally on providing computing access to digitally disadvantaged groups and cultures with an expectation that computers and the Internet can lead to higher socio-economic mobility. This ethnographic study of social computing in the Central Himalayas, India, investigates alternative social practices with new technologies and media amongst a population that is for the most part undocumented. In doing so, this book offers fresh and critical perspectives in areas of contemporary debate: informal learning with computers, cyberleisure, gender access and empowerment, digital intermediaries, and glocalization of information and media.

REVIEWS:

'A towering piece of research and writing, imbued with theoretical and methodological vigor, and sensitively illuminating the intersections of digital media and human ingenuity in the Central Himalayas. A must read.'
Arvind Singhal, University of Texas at El Paso, USA, and Clinton School of Public Service, USA

'In every age, innovative technology has been met with an awkward mixture of enthusiasm, indifference, scepticism and hostility. The advent in our time of cheap, mobile computing and cellular telephones has drawn a similar response, especially in the international development community. In Dot Com Mantra, Payal Arora goes beyond the familiar juxtapositions to show how poor individuals and communities actively negotiate their engagement with twenty-first century technology, documenting the conditions under which they use, abuse and reject it in their everyday lives. The result is a book that is fascinating in its own right, but also highly instructive to a new generation of development policymakers, in rich and poor countries alike, caught between an imperative for easy answers and the reality of messy complexity.'
Michael Woolcock, World Bank

The politics of the floating gay

2010-08-08T05:17:00.000-07:00

The floating gay parade, 80 boats with specific themes sailed along the Prinsengracht/ Amstel river canal with Lady Gaga ruling the airwaves. Cher managed to seep in a little but gone are the days of Madonna and Barbara Streisand. While no doubt an enjoyable spectator sport, there were some troubling trends. For instance, the energy on the boats lay low (my benchmark = NYC and San Francisco gay pride parades). You start to think about the relationship between the parade participants or “actors” and the crowd or the “audience.” Usually, in such parades, the line between the spectator and the spectacle is blurred, with the run of the mill you and I dressing up with stringy pink wigs, rainbow socks, to sometimes a full blown, out-of-the-closet costume. And you cheer...like your life depended on it. Your vocal cords compete with the likes of a newborn baby. Yet, at the Amsterdam parade, there was a sober quality where the audience barely even cheered, let alone waved at the floats that went by. A beer and camera in hand, they waited diligently for each boat to have their say as they clicked away, almost voyeuristically so. You wonder how much of that played into the energy on these boats as you saw even the S&M boat with black leather shorts and straps retire on the boat, some barely shaking their hips. Was it the physical distance that created a psychological distance? Are street parades more high energy because proximity creates accountability? It is theatre after all, where small productions are more "involved" and "involving" than say, a Broadway musical perhaps? What was also strange was the United Colors of Benetton themes..niche boats like "Mensa gays," "Jewish gays," "black gays," to "gays for ING" and more. What happened to the rainbow unity, at least just for 1 day? And not to forget, the commercialization of these boats, of ING and ABN to the police and political parties all showing their progressive side, hoping to get a slice of the DINK (Double Income No Kids) population. There was also a “Fight Cancer” boat…seriously? Isn’t this a mission confusion statement here? Is this where gay parades are heading to – niche markets, competing causes, and spectator sport? So as I joined the masses in clicking away, I contribute to pictures speaking a thousand lies.

Culture on the go: the New Yorker's Subway

2010-08-05T11:24:00.000-07:00

Commuting can be a drag, even more so in a densely populated city like Manhattan. I’ve done the uptown-downtown journey for years where you learn to block ungainly sights, smells and sounds on the subway. It’s a talent onto itself really. Jammed with the loudly enthusiastic tourists, the drunk and the homeless, and the emaciated college kids heading to east village, you develop a protective force field that usually is a potent combination of your iPod, the Economist and shades. That said, it is astonishing that the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) takes this reality and turns it to its advantage. Understanding that New Yorkers are constantly on the move, it capitalizes on this and makes this commute a cultural experience. And we do stop and notice. While there is comfort in standardization through the quintessential subway blue and white tiles, there is also difference. Difference that reflects specific neighborhood stops. So if you get off the Natural history museum, that’s easy..you find different animals and their larger counterparts embedded in the tiles. Its as if the museum experience is extended and enhanced. If you’re in Harlem, you’ve got the color and character and jazz. And then, if you're at the Prince stop, you ve got interesting visual stories of figures in motion, all unique, quirky and artsy. Art has found a way of saving the commute. Of course, no one will ever accuse the commute within NYC to be monotonous, although it’s not necessarily culturally enhancing. So you learn to forgive the man picking his nose or the children yelling in your ears as you absorb the free art experience tailored to you, marking each neighborhood in its own unique way.

The fate of Paul the Octopus

2010-07-12T11:48:00.000-07:00

They say the legendary Paul, the German octopus who predicted all Germany’s matches and the final victor of World Cup correctly, is about to retire. I think not. He has a future awaiting him…

1) Paul is going to sign on for the hot remake of Bond’s Octopussy. The question is, can he seduce the British star Daniel Craig like the way he charmed the Spanish? Maud Adams, move over, Paul's the real deal.

2) Paul wonders how anyone in their right mind can actually think that entertaining kids in a German aquarium is retirement? That’s a load of work people! Instead, he wants to cash in! Although the Spanish economy is er, not doing as well as it did in the World Cup final, he wants his share! Lawyers, make your move!

3) Paul is thinking of joining Wall Street; while everyone was busy seeing his moves on predicting the World Cup final, no one noticed him picking out the next Google…oh well, you snooze, you lose.

Shut up and watch the game!

2010-07-12T10:02:00.000-07:00

Saying something profound about football is not my forte. Yet, here you have it, I'm in the Netherlands and its the World Cup final between Holland and Spain. As you will soon guess, this is definitely not the blog where you will get insightful commentary about Robben’s missed opportunity to strike a goal or Iniesta's amazing play that won the Spanish it’s world cup; I've barely wrapped my head around the fact that there are defenders, keepers and strikers…that there are referees who play bad cop with no real good cop around. It's a nasty job apparently.

Also, I realize that like any other ritual, there is the core and then, there are the spectators, ready to peripherally engage by following the code. It doesn't take much to learn the code. Wear orange. Wrap your beesies, those little furry creatures that come along with every 15 euro purchase from Albert Heijn around your headband like antennae of Dutch support. Scream "kill...kill...kill," and mumble along with the eclectic bar songs that sound more like ole Irish gigs. Do NOT do the step dance. And most importantly, do what others do - drink, stare at the screen while talking, and moan and cheer in accordance. Its simple really, a tribal lesson for survival in the world of football witchcraft. Besides, the "insiders" need us "outsiders" to feel inherently the "insider!" Let's not make any mistake about this...we, mere rubble, still serve a purpose through our skirting the boundaries. We define the boundaries. That will suffice for me.

There is also something liberating about my unsportiness; my profound ignorance pushes me to ask some questions to the "insiders" that make for an interesting discussion. Why, in this age of new technology where each move is documented and replayed does the referee still organically decide on who gets the penalty card? Why is this a contentious question? Why does this threaten the “authenticity” of the game as claimed by football purists? Why does “technology” find itself opposite “ritual?” Is there something profane about technology as much as there is something “sacred” about the ceremony of sport? Does the preservation of the “referee” role speak about a larger issue of the preservation of our humanity, our inherent flaws and human weakness as well as our intuitive and ingenious talent that defies or competes with new technology? Do we dare bring the two to contest?

Why why why… but questioning is just another form of outsiderness. If you want in, shut up and watch the game!

Reforming higher ed in Jordan: politicking away

2010-06-25T13:54:00.000-07:00

Policy-making is political theatre. No doubt about it. That which is not behind closed doors is posturing. But rather than condemn posturing, we should try to understand it. After all, it serves a purpose. It makes public the intent to create buy-in as well as detect common resistances. Conferences oriented towards policy-making are hardly about making decisions then and there. It's about feeling the pulse, NOT of the generic public per se, but about key stakeholders in the game. So with this higher education reform conference in Amman that I was part of, ministers, deans, professors, private education consultants, ed publishers and others congregated for a period of 3 days to discuss key problems and solutions for higher ed reform. About 500 delegates including from Lebanon, Syria, Palestine and others in the region took part in this process. It was an impressive turn out of card touting and name dropping. It was true to form, a networking event.

All this should not surprise. Jordan is an amazing example of diversity and assimilation as it has one of the highest concentrations of immigrants and refugees and yet is able to provide stability. It could be the center of learning in the Middle East region and beyond. After all, education is big business. It no longer suffices that higher education cater to the local but rather, serve as a global platform and stepping stone to transnational competitiveness. In fact, Jordan is strategically positioned to take on this role, with an extraordinary 20% of the budget earmarked for higher education. No wonder private educational providers turn up to such events from around the world, hoping to get a slice of the educational funding pie.

What is also interesting are the buzzwords that circulate. In spite of the diversity of the crowd, the same themes keep circulating, telling us what's in fashion now: blended learning, student-centric pedagogy, mentoring, outcome based education and the like. Also, there is much emphasis on new media in the classroom, pushing one to wonder why they don't just have that as central to the conference. Audience questions are also revealing. The fact that they are rarely questions but statements of public belief, experience, and conviction feeds into the posturing ambiance. “I have been a dean for 34 years and in my experience…” is usually how it goes. Posturing is the public policy dance after all.

The Amman adventure begins...

2010-06-15T21:41:00.000-07:00

It’s like a James Bond film really: indoor palm trees, high ceilings, limestone walls, sheiks in long white robes helping themselves to a luxurious breakfast buffet at the Le Royal hotel; the chatty cab driver who tells me that he has friends everywhere and a Maltese girlfriend waiting for him at home. Military men with guns (well, not flowers obviously), guarding precious property…hang on, the property is the American University! Nothing invites students so enticingly as the nozzle of the gun. The only deviation from this sexy storyline is that we are here for a higher education reform conference. From exciting thriller to drama (or documentary perhaps), the term “education” has a way of sobering this momentum. This is a collaboration between Columbia Middle East Research Center and the Jordanian government. Columbia University, much like several universities in the US, is eager to gain an academic foothold in the Middle East and capture a new consumer base of young doe-eyed students while the Jordanian government, as part of its extended semi-love affair with the US, strives for strategic affiliations. I am here as part of the Columbia team to help in creating a policy document for higher education reform with an emphasis on new media, internationalism and the knowledge economy. An adventure awaits, as I wonder how the Jordanians will receive a professor from the Netherlands with a British accent (or so I’ve been told) yet sounding rather American, and wearing an Indian tunic!

Google, the virtuous? Google, the warrior?

2010-06-11T13:40:00.000-07:00

At the Thousand Oaks conference panel on Social responsibility of Mass Media, there was an interesting discussion about government regulation. A renowned media scholar brought up the “Google exit from China” as an example of how State regulation can indeed have dire consequences for its own population. This professor regurgitated what most media agencies have been propounding on this issue - Google left China after supposed multiple clashes with the Chinese government regarding censorship of its search engine. The Chinese people lost out and ethics won apparently:

Drummond, the Senior VP, corporate development and chief legal officer of Google announced the following:

We had uncovered evidence to suggest that the Gmail accounts of dozens of human rights activists connected with China were being routinely accessed by third parties, most likely via phishing scams or malware placed on their computers. We also made clear that these attacks and the surveillance they uncovered—combined with attempts over the last year to further limit free speech on the web in China including the persistent blocking of websites such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google Docs and Blogger—had led us to conclude that we could no longer continue censoring our results on Google.cn.

This professor is actually in good company: CNN, Huffington Post, to the Hindustan Times, news media transnationally seem to frame this story through one primary lens: the high price China paid due to its State regulation on information. There is much lament on what will happen to the Chinese citizens, on the tremendous loss for China in access to a quality search engine like Google and how after all, there is such a thing as corporate ethics.

Yet, few media stories mention Baidu in the same article as Google’s exit, even in the passing. Strange I must say, given that this home-grown Search engine company has the largest market share in China and is growing, from 64% to possibly 79% and of course, will benefit with Google’s departure. In fact, Google’s share since 2005 has dropped from 33% to 20% . There are a number of reasons for that as I learnt recently from my own students at Erasmus University: according to Jonas, Sonja and Disi, it's possibly due to a host of reasons including user patriotism, State marketing of Baidu, its user-prefered mp3 music sharing device to the fact that most users are less interested in being political online and more interested in social and entertainment oriented activity.

Regardless of why Google has lagged behind so astoundingly in such a hot future market of online consumers, I am more interested in how media across board has gone along with the portraying of Google’s exit strategy as that of corporate ethics. The media has been complicit in simulating a dignified exit for this corporate giant who has failed in its effort at penetrating this Chinese market. In the guise of virtue, this defeated warrior exits, having media lend a halo to this act.

Not quite "up in the air!"

2010-06-10T16:36:00.000-07:00

Am on the road right now, but not quite Up-In-The-Air style. From Amsterdam to Thousand Oaks (near LA but as argued by some, “far” from LA as possible), I’m doing the conference circuit, the social life of many academics. After all, here’s a willing audience for your obscure Whitehead reference and hand-punctuated intellectualism. And if you thought Marxism is dead, you’ve evidently not attended enough academic conferences. Impossible ideals are preserved in the confines of academia, a natural fodder for multiple critiques of real world practice, leading to publications and sustenance of passion from the vantage point of the beloved armchair. Don’t get me wrong; I love armchairs. It’s comfortable, and allows for a respectable pause for reflection and pontification. Of course, I like it even better when we’ve earned the temporary rest through actual experience but then, if that were always the case, whom would we have left to mock?

So what was this conference about? Well, besides the usual deep evaluation of hotel rooms and fine dining which is the lifeblood of such conferences, we came together to bond on what’s the social responsibility of mass media, particularly pertaining to contemporary events such as the financial crisis to the oil spill. The term “social responsibility” itself should be up for discussion though as its hard to be responsible to an abstract “social” entity, as if there’s a monolithic group with shared interests. No wonder we can go around in circles sometimes when we’re grabbing trendy terms as a starting point of discussion, without acknowledging that this expectation is in itself problematic. Being responsible to one social group comes at the trade-off of another. The question is, who is the deserving and current chosen “victim” group that is deemed in need of representation and protection?

Also, one can’t help but notice that when critiquing the media, often journalists are badgered to death on their amoral drive for the quick storyline, their direct role in distorting news. So it was refreshing to see a journalist in the audience share her struggles of how hard it is to penetrate the corporate marketing slick that gets circulated to all journalists. It’s so manicured that often she lamented, journalists have little choice but to print what they get from these corporations. Better something than nothing. Now that’s what I like about conferences - when different stakeholders come together and give us their side of things. Unfortunately that does not happen often. We surround ourselves with too many people from academia and too few from the professional world.

Another discussion that I thought was interesting is this demand for “balanced” reporting, this fair share of voices. It seems to me that people argue for an even platform for all parties. There’s this romantic notion that if they all enjoy the “equality” of representation, there will be more diverse perspectives and debates. Hardly. We start from a deeply uneven platform where special interests and lobby groups dominate. So if we’re looking for more “balanced” reporting, we have to first make explicit the dominant views and stakeholders and from that standpoint, advocate for those voices that are less vocal, less noticed, less attended to.

Remember Bucky?

2010-05-16T00:23:00.000-07:00

Walking down memory lane makes you stumble on not just your lived life but also, that which is lived by others. Memories of being 18, of yearning for utopia, of being completely and utterly immersed in learning comes flashing back and Buckminster Fuller, the renaissance thinker, designer, innovator, and teacher, is very much part of this. His grand ideas of dome homes around the world may not have taken off the way he envisioned but it surely inspires! He instills play and humor in spaces of living, a rare feat!

Of course what's even more astonishing is how his geodesic design traveled to the most unexpected of places: I encountered the geodesic dome when I was on a work project in Pondicherry, India in 2004 (see pic 1). This "perfect geometric unity" design was used by Aurovilleans, an experimental community to create their space of "sacredness". Be it hippies in Marin, California to refugee camps or UN "tent cities," there's nothing like a loud reminder to us all that ideas get a life of their own once out in the wild!

Much to know about the Dutch!

2010-05-03T01:12:00.001-07:00

It's been almost a year since I left New York for the Netherlands. In fact, almost 15 years since I left India for the "West" (San Francisco, New York and Boston...got addicted to paying high taxes but apparently not high enough as I decided after all to come to the Netherlands ;-)

So, what do I know about the Dutch by now? In danger of reinforcing stereotypes n all, I plunge in...

1) They surely love to smoke. Smoking and cycling seem to be the national commuting style, with no helmets on of course. And this picture comes in family size too- often, a couple of babies are packed in at the front and the back to celebrate the economics of cycling!

2) They do love their flowers although admittedly not the flower festival as much...I think they surrendered Keukenhof, their annual flower fest to the tourists, willingly might I add. Why on earth they wonder would they PAY to see flowers? Only the dumb tourists and expats like myself would do something so silly. Of course though they enjoy their flowers up close and personal; they have at least a few vases at home for different kinds of arrangements and for good reason..flowers here are cheap.

3) Believe it or not, the Dutch do go dutch when it comes to paying the bill!

4) If you're around my height then welcome to being the Alice in Wonderland...these guys and gals are some of the tallest in Europe. In fact, recently the campus photographer who came to make brochures of us faculty at Erasmus complained that I was bad for his knees as he had to bend down to take my photos..ah the poor guy..thank god for Dutch health insurance!

5) Biterballen (bitter ball) is the Twinkie of Holland..who knows what the hell is inside it but it sure tastes good! Besides, who wants to live long anyway?

Education today: Head in the sand?

2010-05-03T00:36:00.000-07:00

In another recent book chapter, Global Education Greenhouse: Constructing and Organizing online Global knowledge, Karen and I delve into the possibility of online collaboration in the makings of global knowledge. We were really astounded by how insular our educational systems are in spite of so much talk on globalization! While companies are merging and partnerships across industries are happening across borders that were unthinkable even a decade ago, somehow our educational system continues to be very "local"...very nationalistic.

How do we make education globally relevant and applicable? Can we inspire students to think transnationally and cross-culturally? How is global thinking related to innovation?

We basically acknowledge that there is a crisis in our current educational system as we are poorly preparing our students for this global era. Tye states that "global awareness will become the first new basic skill of the twenty-first century, as computer literacy has so rapidly become a basic skill in the final decades of the twentieth century.” So true.

So Global Education Greenhouse (GEG) is one attempt to address this need - basically a portal or Google of curriculum if you may across cultures and nations. This is based on Karen's prior work on connecting cultures through online learning in her peace diaries initiative. After all, isn't it time we start to look at what's around us?

Plagiarism: Moral hazards or strategies for the 21st century?

2010-05-03T00:06:00.000-07:00

My book chapter/ case study on academic plagiarism just recently came out - "Copycats of the Central Himalayas: Learning in the age of Information."

Basically, I spent about 8 months in Almora, a rur-town in Central Himalayas, investigating what people do with the Internet. Given that cybercafes had sprung up relatively recently, I volunteered to work for one in exchange of playing witness to internet usage. It was amazing as I really actually pictured people to be using it for the usual browsing and entertainment oriented stuff. Instead, I became an active accomplice to plagiarism by college students - open, active, ingenious plagiarism! Of course as soon as one says "plagiarism," academics and others get all hassled about it, frothing in the mouth about it immorality, the decline of this generation and more. Rather than focus on the "pathological" reasons why students do what they do, I thought it would be worth stopping and asking how on earth did these students learn to do what they do! To know where to look, how to look, how to assemble information strategically and create an entire thesis out of other people's material is a talent in itself..not trying to glorify plagiarism but am trying to emphasize the "learnings" that go on with new technology which begs us to question what is learning in this day and age!

Queens day: Happy cows are here again!

2010-05-01T05:55:00.000-07:00

Will power...what a burden! We sweat the small stuff a lot. We have to constantly exercise our Will to abstain from that extra slice of pie, from being "uncool" by wanting to stay home on a Saturday night watching Youtube, or just calling home to check in. Individualism can suck sometimes. Blame is rarely distributed. There's a reason why we say "exercise" your will...it's pure and simple work. Sometimes, however, society orchestrates an opportunity to take a break. And BREAK it is!
Queens day in the Netherlands is one such moment in time! Thousands of people blind you with their orange glory as they sweep through Amsterdam. High on pot, techno and a vague reminder of being Dutch AND low on foot-estate, the mob has come to celebrate their Queen Beatrix and her conveniently timed birthday. (although born on January 31, the weather and her highness pushes this date to May 30th, allowing for orange neon bikinis, rave street parties and blood sporting bargaining at the freemarket!).

People have little choice but to be cattled around. And in that haze of second hand smoke, an idea dawns...cows have it good.

There's a reason they look so blissful. Someone is exercising their Will for them! Isn't that part of the appeal of voluntarily joining a mob of pushing and shoving people moving aimlessly around the city, (in)voluntarily subjected to a random set of sensory overload all in the name of the Queen? For a change, we have a legitimate excuse to let go of our Will.

Will is willingly let go of...moo to the queen!

Thinking (not acting?) outside the box

2010-04-25T00:56:00.000-07:00

Have you wondered why certain sayings are phrased one way versus another? Why do we NOT say "act outside the box?" and instead push "thinking" to venture out? Coloring outside the lines is said to be good at times..but we are never told to redraw those lines. Boxes can be turned inside out but it's still the box. We need that box.

"How does one do it? " asked a student the other day; "we try so hard to get away from the 'structure' but it's so dominant and all...it's hard to escape!" Students already referring to "society" as "structure" means that she is paying attention in class...not bad, not bad at all! Taking theory and applying it to one's life to grapple about one's own existence is even better.

This is the age of the tortured soul. It is a privilege to pause, ponder, probe.
It is an achievement to recognize that we' re within a particular confinement. If we know the rules, we can play with them.
And play we do...

If the box is made of cloth, is it still the Box?

Instead of trying to get outside the box, why not exhibit ourselves through the box?

In fact, why not make the box "home" and that way, you reverse efforts...you' ll now want to get back "in" and not out!

Bow when I bow: Business etiquette all the way?

2010-04-17T10:26:00.000-07:00

Can't blame corporations for packaging culture. Anything to make a deal. It's that slight edge that you get in knowing that you cannot discuss business over dinner in Argentina or that it's not done to address your Korean client by her first name. Nuances infuse relationships. Missed nuances apparently can cost you your contract or sour your business partnership. In fact, management gurus and experts have done a great job in infusing paranoia about cultural misunderstandings in the business circuit...

"...the single greatest barrier to business success is the one erected by culture." Edward T. Hall and Mildred Reed Hall

Metaphors lace this paranoia:

"Culture is like an iceberg. The tip of the iceberg is easy to see. This includes the visible aspects and do's and taboos of working in other cultures. The remaining huge chunk of the iceberg hidden below the surface includes the invisible aspects of a culture such as the values, traditions, experiences and behaviors that define each culture. Venturing into different cultures without adequate preparation can be just as dangerous as a ship maneuvering icy waters without charts, hoping to be lucky enough to avoid hitting an iceberg. The difference is that the ship will know immediately when it hits an iceberg."

So sure, there is some validity in learning business etiquette but at what expense? It is dangerous to condition oneself before hand on "Arabic" or "Mexican" business "ways" as it negates several essentials:

1) Business people across the world are more forgiving of cultural faux pas when it is evident that you're outside their cultural zone

2) Sometimes, your ignorance can be turned to an advantage where you use this opportunity to LEARN about your partner and ask freely questions regarding their culture; it not just demonstrates that you're interested in them as people but also in their culture. Business is NOT just about making DEALSl its about establishing relationships.

3) People from a particular culture are rarely consistent and true to their cultural "expectations;" Crossing cultural lines can be liberating from the stranglehold of a particular "cultural" business practice.

4) Misunderstandings when confronted and resolved can actually lead to stronger bonds and ties in business; conflict and resolution deepens relationships at times.

5) Adhering to a cultural cliche can actually be perceived as stereotyping and can be seen as an insult

The bottom line is to be in the moment. The unknown should be looked upon as a treat to a new world versus something to be feared.

Fear never sells.

Culture for Dummies?

2010-04-17T02:10:00.001-07:00

This is no joke. Believe it or not, there are "Culturally sensitive Quizzes" out there to train you to perform better in business across different cultures and nations. It's so stereotypical that it should crack you up (although obviously not intending to do so); Try it out.

Check out Kwintessential

=================================================
QUESTIONS SAMPLE: Cross-Cultural Quiz on Islam

1. On which day would you expect to get least business done in Muslim countries?
Friday
Saturday
Sunday

2. Which of these would make the best gift for a Muslim client?
Silk tie
Perfume
Watch

3. The teachings of Islam emanated from which modern day country?
Palestine
Saudi Arabia
Egypt

4. During negotiations your counterpart keeps saying 'inshaAllah' (God willing) to each of your requests. What should you do?
Accept the 'inshaAllah' mentality
Demand some firm commitments
Repeat the phrase but try and establish some concrete agreements

5. What is the name of the holy book in Islam?
Torah
Mecca
Quran

6. If you have a proposal to take to a company - who should you aim to speak to?
A member of staff that has access to the senior ranks
The owner
The relevant departmental manager

7. You are preparing a presentation for some potential Arab clients. What kind of information would be best?
Statistical
Visual
Textual

8. When greeting a Muslim woman which of these should you do?
Wait for her to extend a hand before shaking hands
Shake hands to avoid the possibility of causing offense
Not greet her as this will cause her to lose face

9. Prior to doing business with Muslims, which of these will assist you most?
Highlighting your reputation
Establishing trust
Having a well thought out and attractive business proposal

10. You are negotiating with an Arab Muslim to buy one of their products - their starting price is higher than you anticipated. What should you do?
Haggle until you reach the price you want
Accept it - the price will not change
Call an end to the negotiations

========================================================
ANSWERS:

1. On which day would you expect to get least business done in Muslim countries?
You answered: Friday
Correct!

2. Which of these would make the best gift for a Muslim client?
You answered: Silk tie
Incorrect answer. The correct answer would have been: Perfume

3. The teachings of Islam emanated from which modern day country?
You answered: Egypt
Incorrect answer. The correct answer would have been: Saudi Arabia

4. During negotiations your counterpart keeps saying 'inshaAllah' (God willing) to each of your requests. What should you do?
You answered: Repeat the phrase but try and establish some concrete agreements
Correct!

5. What is the name of the holy book in Islam?
You answered: Quran
Correct!

6. If you have a proposal to take to a company - who should you aim to speak to?
You answered: The owner
Correct!

7. You are preparing a presentation for some potential Arab clients. What kind of information would be best?
You answered: Statistical
Incorrect answer. The correct answer would have been: Visual

8. When greeting a Muslim woman which of these should you do?
You answered: Wait for her to extend a hand before shaking hands
Correct!

9. Prior to doing business with Muslims, which of these will assist you most?
You answered: Establishing trust
Correct!

10. You are negotiating with an Arab Muslim to buy one of their products - their starting price is higher than you anticipated. What should you do?
You answered: Haggle until you reach the price you want
Correct!

==============================================
My final score is: 70% (Apparently "A decent score")

Stereotypes make the world go flat!

2010-04-17T01:07:00.000-07:00

I love stereotypes! Granted, it ruffles quite a few feathers and often for good reason. The Italians want you to know that they're more than just a bowl of pasta; the Dutch insist that they don't walk around in clogs holding tulips to their face; and the Canadians well, would appreciate it if you stopped calling them American.

We expend much time and energy on how stereotypes offend. However, it's time for a new kind of PR for stereotypes.
So I proclaim the following: STEREOTYPES BOND US TOGETHER

Really.

So listen up...

One day, Paddy Irishman, Paddy Englishman, and Paddy Scotsman walked into a pub together. They proceeded to each buy a pint of Guinness. Just as they were about to enjoy their creamy beverage, three flies landed in each of their pints and got stuck in the thick head.

Paddy Englishman pushed his beer away from him in disgust.

Paddy Scotsman fished the offending fly out of his beer and continued drinking it as if nothing had happened.

The Irishman, too, picked the fly out of his drink, held it out over the beer and then started yelling: "AH YOU LITTLE THIEF! SPIT IT OUT, SPIT IT OUT!"

...haven't you ever laughed at paddy jokes or your own version of "racist" jokes? In fact, there is a paddy out there laughing the loudest at this joke.

Even the cute furry muppets agree that everyone is a little bit racist!

Humor often comes at someone's expense.

This my dear reader, is the price for us to all get along!

On the Internet, EVERYbody knows you’re a dog

2010-04-12T00:52:00.000-07:00

Online anonymity is overrated.

Trust.

The "real" and the "fictitious" identity socialize in cyberspace.

Deception online may not be a morality issue when everybody is doing it; when everybody EXPECTS you to do it; and sometimes, mass deception becomes fantasy, when everybody WANTS you to do it.

When it becomes routine social practice, it becomes the norm.

Masquerades become carnivals, become temporary and recurring pleasure. "tootsie23@" tells her story for everybody to read. Is it really relevant to know how authentic "tootsie23@" is? Can we use the same moral compass that we apply to books and journals, newspapers and all other kinds of conventional print to online pontifications? The sacredness of print reminds us of its age, its stature - it provides the comfort zone.

Even in masquerades, when we reveal ourselves in plain sight, we are still part of the carnival. We are still playing a part. As long as the carnival is going on, we are seen in costume, whether it is true or not.

Perception is reality.

Being WATCHED!

2010-04-07T00:06:00.000-07:00

An enthusiastic student comes into my office - he's one of those die hard Apple fanatics, the lifeblood of this industry. This fruit lover makes a compelling case to transform academia for the students through simple Apple software. He wants to tape the lectures through his camcorder and upload it on the Apple video site for students to watch and learn. He argues (point well taken) that students can refresh their memories on certain concepts covered in class and basically grasp material better. He says that he gets that universities are inherently bureaucratic and for immediate action, students need to take initiative. He promises that students will appreciate getting this material through a range of mediums and applications -podcasts to Facebook, listening as they commute or when cramming in study groups.

Yes. So true. Although nothing original here actually. It's already being done in some universities, albeit the sexy brands expanding their reach through new media. TED speakers today have a worldwide audience; some lecturers are gaining celebrity status. Besides, this phenomena expands democracy in education by providing access to the great and well, not-so-great minds as they pontificate on micro specimens to urban design and 16th century art. Mediocrity has a place here..in fact, its the very substance of such online academic democracy...everyone gets heard across board who are CHOSEN to be heard.

So why hasn't this caught on?

Couple of reasons...

1) Academics are human too - we fumble and stumble and bullshit our way sometimes through material...this promises to capture that vulnerability. How does one "erase" miseducation and misrepresentation when captured through online posterity?

2) Academics are narcissistic - the last thing we need is to be reminded that we're aging and nerdy and have high pitched or flat monotonous teaching styles. God forbid, we watch our own lectures online and fall asleep through it!

3) Academics are forced to perform- this is a sort of academic whoring where we are meant to appease to a larger audience when being filmed; the camera creates a self-conscious performance, sometimes geared more towards form than substance.

That said, students are more forgiving than we'd like to believe. Besides, fear of such possibilities are NEVER a good reason to turn such ideas down. The camera may just teach us something in turn. And who knows, we may one day start to enjoy our online alter ego!

Battle of the Wolves? Dances with the Bulge?

2010-04-06T14:05:00.000-07:00

You trade coffee, tea, spices, rubber...you trade music, art, film; human traffic as commodity and more...what I don't expect is the import of national histories for tourism! Let me explain my bafflement here. In the Ardennes mountain region of Belgium, one with a long and complex history where the battle of the Bulge for instance took place, it has a little town. Within that town, a monument dedicated to the victims of the Ardennes offensive sits right next to a 'Red Indian' paraphernalia shop, one that has been around for apparently several years. Instead of battle of the Bulge souvenirs, you can take home feathered headdresses, cowboy hats and Indian chokers...

History rewritten through urban planning and design!

Kitsch me if you can...

2010-04-06T13:14:00.000-07:00

Easter weekend is here.

Out hops the stuffed bunnies in all shapes and sizes; they hang from windows, perch happily at mall cafes and frame chocolate isles of supermarkets. Its not a sin to be furry and cute. Its their duty. Their presence is considered appropriate to mark this ritual event. In fact, we expect kitsch to be at places of common ground only to reinforce our social distance from it. The masses allow for the elite to exist.

So it is no wonder that one feels unnerved when one sees these creatures in their furry glory infiltrate your exclusive moments at what you consider a classy Belgian restaurant. While a real French speaking hostess serves a four course meal and punctuates your dinner at strategic times to make sure your wine glass is full, you see Easter kitsch seep through EVERYWHERE!

As you sit by the window, a wonderful landscape view of the hills of the Ardennes is tainted by a nest of eggs on your table; a humble potted plant is violated by gaudy yellow feathers shooting up from its soil and in case the message hasn't come through potently enough, yellow chicks have been let loose on the table. Kitsch has taken over as you consume your quail with white cabbage. Nothing is sacred anymore. Elitism is fraying, losing its edge and if not careful, will get corrupted by the common man's taste! After all, when have you seen ritual parade itself rawly in its full regalia at a Tiffany store or the Four Seasons?

So what makes this kitsch in the first place? Why is kitsch easy to identify and just as difficult to define? Milan Kundera kindly illuminates us on this, "Kitsch causes two tears to flow in quick succession. The first tear says: How nice to see children running on the grass! The second tear says:How nice to be moved, together with all mankind by children running on the grass! It is the second tear that makes Kitsch Kitsch."

Packaged sentimentality apparently is on the rise...there is no safety in low numbers anymore!

Flowers speak louder to the expat Dutch wannabe...but why?

2010-03-21T10:29:00.000-07:00

I ask my students if they are planning on going to the Keukenhof, the world's largest flower garden spectacle. They justifiably don't understand my pronunciation until a kindly soul who has mastered the deciphering of my butchered Dutch words rephrases the question for the class.

"Thats only for old people and tourists," remarks one, followed by unanimous nods from across the room.

I inform them that I just bought my tickets. In this masterful, single-handed stroke, I have just underlined in their minds how old I actually am!

I take this further. I ask my Dutch colleagues if they are going to the Keukenhof. They ask why would they? They ruthlessly disrupt my definition of this event as an "older Dutch sport" as absolutely lacking evidence and foundation. Not ONE 'older' Dutch colleague has been to it nor plans to go.

It's not like people here don't like flowers. On the contrary. This is a flower-loving nation. Its inherently unfair that the hippies hold the title as the flower-power generation as the Dutch deserve it more so with their daily and weekly purchase of flowers, their home collection of 10-12 different vases for different floral arrangements, and their general tendency to mark occasions with the humbling presence of the thorn and petal.

So why is it that when 7 million tulips are planted annually in the town of Lisse in the South of Holland, do the Dutch scorn and scuttle in the opposite direction? Its obviously not for the dearth of quality flowers.

What happened to the old Dutch Tulip mania that feverishly brought Tulip prices to equal an annual merchants wage in the 17th century? Did that fever find a cure? Has that beast been tamed and domesticated in this remote town for few to witness? Again,..hardly, It is one of the most photographed locations in the world and a million like myself flock annually to this area in search of beauty and should I say this..."Dutch culture?" While I seek to be a commoner, I am rudely surprised that its not the Dutch commons that I was seeking to partake of. Its this morphed tourist-expat-queen type of common that I find myself amongst.

To confuse matters, the Walk Like An Egyptian song frames my experience of entry into this Dutch portal where we are offered maps by women dressed up like the Duchess of the past and as we venture further, Russian dolls play with the landscape. If its from Russia with love, then is it from Holland with I kind of like you but am too reluctant to show it sentiment? How does the simple expat trying hard to become more "Dutch" cope with this foreign love affair?

So can Keukenhof authentically represent "Dutch culture" if it has been architected for the non-Dutch? Can these flowers speak of a Dutchness to us non-Dutch? And if so, what is it that we should be hearing through this floral scream?

Stranger in a strange land is not so alone after all!

2010-03-21T10:17:00.000-07:00

How sentimental we can get of the good old days where you could ring the bell of your neighbor for a cup of sugar or stop the policeman to ask how his family is doing. Actually, this is the marketed nostalgia many of us have grown up with; a world of yesteryear where what is now seen as impossible was once, possible and for all probably reasons, true and genuine. We yearn for a packaged past that has been sold to us. Today, we crave community and desperately glorify city youth intermingling and dependencies as a new “urban tribe” behavior– a reassembling of family affiliations and sentiments into a more channeled and contemporary neo-familial relationship based on raw and selfish need.

Social networking sites resemble an online tribal dance. But the underling premise here is that these “old” community patterns have been reinvented on cyberspace. Yet, if you stop and think, perhaps you may struggle like myself to remember the warm sentiments and comfort of the strangers of the past; in fact, as far as I recall, we were warned against them and family served as stronger boundaries to surpass than they are now. What is also surprising to me is that strangers, professional strangers in my life who I’ve never met but have had a few exchanges through email and most importantly, who do not inhabit my quintessential cyber tribal grounds of LinkedIn and Facebook seem to, without much fuss, lend an enormous helping hand. They serve as letters of recommendation, as endorsements, as pillars of faith in my professional pursuits. I wonder how that has come to fruition? Is it perhaps our social status displayed and paraded online that comforts them into throwing their support in for good measure? Is it that cyberspace is now such familiar territory for certain professional groups, more “home” than office, allowing for family like behavior in professional settings? Or is it that one has become very savvy in personal branding, subtly reminding our professional strangers of our presence through blogs and other online thought-clutter, transforming 'us' the 'stranger,' into a familiar household name?

Computers are people too!

2010-03-15T02:19:00.000-07:00

Bloggers beware. You thought you were writing for a bunch of info addicts or a grannie with ten cats but alas, you may actually be writing for a far different audience. Be it your instruction manual on how to make a good burrito or your pontifications on the latest video of Lady Gaga and Beyonce, your musings are becoming more and more deeply relevant to your new audience…the computer. You, my dear blogger have given computers a new lease to life!

“…the web could be mined to track information about emerging trends and behaviours, covering everything from drug use or racial tension to interest in films or new products. The nature of blogging means that people are quick to comment on events in their daily lives. Mining this sort of information might therefore also reveal information about exactly how ideas are spread and trends are set.” –The Economist, March 11th 2010

http://www.economist.com/science-technology/displaystory.cfm?story_id=15660874

Isn’t it nice to be heard in bits and bytes? Isn’t it a pleasure to help those suffering advertising companies who are overwhelmed by your chatter to at last know you in ways perhaps you don’t know yourself? Alright alright…am being a bit unfair as this can also lead to some really innovative solutions on critical news dissemination or grassroots political action. Besides, it maybe even nice to actually be targeted more appropriately by ads …instead of a teenager receiving ads on Viagra, she can get ads on the latest hip hop albums perhaps? But all in all, one thing is for sure – your thoughts are not alone!

Manufacturing ourselves: What's wrong with that?

2010-03-14T04:36:00.000-07:00

A picture speaks a thousand words…yeah I know, what a cliché. Do videos speak more I wonder? So are we experiencing a textual silence or reserve perhaps in this new media age? Hardly. And what happens with all this contemporary chattering? Who is listening? Who cares enough to listen? Apparently not many according to media consumer analysts. People are too busy speaking about themselves, their day, their fleeting thoughts on toilet paper, baby nappies and strawberry yogurt often through the wonderful and humble medium of the picture. As I partake in this tradition by manufacturing my typical day and social life on Facebook as posed moments at happening events, I wonder what’s all the fuss about. After all, we are supposed to be our own best PR agent. If you don’t manufacture yourself, few people will care to do so on your behalf or worse yet, construct you through a montage that is not true to your desired manufactured self. Of course, self PR needs constant work. Me-branding articles...

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/27/us/27iht-currents.html

http://ezinearticles.com/?Lets-Talk-About-Me---Branding-For-MLM-Success&id=3585200

http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/10/brandyou.html

...tips, guidance all packaged for our cyberselves, waiting to put that non-carbon footprint all over the Net. And sometimes it takes a thousand words to come up with the right picture!

Annual Museum Night in Rotterdam- Art becomes life!

2010-03-07T08:02:00.000-08:00

What a wonderful idea isn't it? To make "high" culture a popular event is a challenge that the Netherlands seems to have met and even superseded expectations. Here's a glimpse of the program of the night:

All 45 museums and galleries participating in the ninth edition of the Rotterdam Museum Night have announced their programmes, inspired by the theme XS/XL. The spectacular opening at 20.00 hours outside the Laurenskerk will kick off with a musical highlight of XS singing tones, XL music and 999 eyes that will be let off to wander through the night by the minister of Culture Ronald Plasterk. The programme of the Museum Night is varied and consists of pure highlights. The Witte de Withstraat and the Museumpark is the booming centre of the night. Let yourself be surprised by the eccentric circus at Alliance Française or relive your puberty in the National Museum of Education (Nationaal Onderwijsmuseum). Make your own inventions in the Kunsthal, create your own dream world in Boijmans or get the creeps in a show with monsters only: kids are allowed to stay up extra long on the Museum Night! Or you can join in the rhythm of a spectacular performance with the “Journey through the city”.

Now to see if we can make the popular, run-of-the-mill life of ours art!

Gawk and Learn?

2010-03-05T00:45:00.001-08:00

Theme parks of the most unique kind are springing up everywhere! Leisure is taking a new turn. Recently Kunming, an area of 13,000 acres in southern China’s Yunnan Province is being converted into a Disney land of the little people. Tourists can come by to immerse in the spectacle of dwarfs performing and living at the same time; it’s a veritable live reality show.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/04/world/asia/04dwarfs.html?em

Are these frozen realities that we choose not to see? Will we wake up and feel more inclined to think about disability more deeply or have we made disability exotic here? And even if it has been made exotic, can we argue that perhaps it is still better to be visible than invisible?

Or take for instance the efforts of harnessing the ready-made reality of slums in Mumbai, India, as a tourist attraction to educate and entertain. Packaged tours of poverty sold for the common good? Dharavi, Asia’s largest slum covers an area of 530 acres and sweeps you with experiences of a 100,000 people performing being poor. 50 tours a month take place through these slums, giving you the Kodak moments of exotic markets of incense sticks, mangoes, recycling of garbage and pottery. http://www.realitytoursandtravel.com/

Given that poverty is a pressing reality amongst the majority of the world, it is still not acknowledged as mainstream reality in the media. After all, media often serves us what we would like reality to be than being a mirror of reality. So one can argue that it is time to capitalize on alternative realities and compel people to roll down their windows for a change and in fact, actually charge them for it!

Sure this shocks. It is meant to shock. But shock with good intent to make money for the poor, the disadvantaged…people on the margins of society is what the battle here is about isn’t it? Is this a fair trade-off basically is the question.

And then there are theme parks of frozen fantasies, captured nostalgia, pigeon holed into our memory boxes of what the good ole days used to be. Primitivism is another performance that is starting to mint money through adventure tourism. Ever wondered what it would be like to meet cannibals, spears n all, feathers and dancing around the fire?
https://pantherfile.uwm.edu/wash/www/cannibaltours.htm

A little thrill, a little more fear, a lot more exoticism than your run of the mill day job in your office cubicle for sure. Such is the targeting of cannibal tours, a growing niche of adventure tourism where it is promised that you can feel like you’re stepping into a time machine to glimpse at a past that is disappearing fast from social memory.

Of course the discomfort that you feel is partly guilt for gawking, partly a moral outrage to commodify people and capitalize on their desperation, and partly the fear that these people will be frozen with their lifestyles just for us to continue to gawk at them. However, it is worth keeping in mind that applications from 'dwarfs' are skyrocketing at the little people kingdom in China, that the poor in the slums and the 'primitives' in cannibal villages are surviving and sustaining themselves from such tourism. Is morality the prerogative of those who can get on the tour bus and have the CHOICE on whether or not to gawk?

Let's talk dirty?

2010-02-26T02:46:00.000-08:00

Good intentions drive me mad. The moment you start talking about intent, it means you've failed in what you were trying to achieve right? I'm a victim of my own good intent. In class, I want to talk about countries and people that have been made exotic over decades if not longer; I want to talk about countries that have been written off as poor, corrupt and pretty much basket cases of the world. Say you bring up Ethiopia, besides our Michael Jackson's We are the world pop song charity event and famine jokes (that apparently is now off the politically correct radar on what can be made fun of), what comes to mind in the average youth? Or take South Africa and but for our man Mandela and Bono duo, rugby, and apartheid, it's pretty much a frozen picture. The idea here is to get to be less myopic about the world and more excited about global dynamism n all. Sounds all noble but hey, intent is pretty much always screwed. This is why.

To talk about a context, you've gotta first talk dirty. To talk about South Africa deeply, you need to dig deeper. And then what? You come up with statistics such as it being one of the crime capitals of the world, high unemployment, townships, busing, poverty, corruption, rape and more. And if you can somehow get the youth to get pass these stats, they can discover some amazing sides and exciting new developments in SA. But here's the catch. It's like going down a supermarket isle of products screaming buy me and expect to come out of that trap empty handed. Doesn't happen much. By the time you've gone through this dirty talk, one's mind is likely to be made up.

Need to clean up my act for sure! Perhaps stop dirty talk and go straight to business? Focus more on the hot entrepreneurship, emerging cell phone markets, fabulous art and music scene and more, and then let the dirty unravel later?

ATTENTION Please! Is shock the only way out these days for social marketing?

2010-02-26T02:31:00.000-08:00

Marriage versus an affair

2010-02-12T09:06:00.000-08:00

I confess..I'm a PC person...PC has been my companion for the last 10 years...we now have a solid marriage; you know the kind where you know exactly what to do to get PC all fuzzy and happy; learning to tolerate and then actually start to like its quirks and moods; got great memories of us trekking the Himalayas to the villages in Guatemala. They say he doesn't look like much but I say that he is a grounded guy, who has no problem in roughing it. They say that he is too much of a common man, sort of like a village bumpkin, not very sophisticated, not very visionary but I say, he is truly worldly and that the great thing about being common is that he relates to more people than not. So in comes Mac, the slick talker who struts his style. In fact, my parents hooked us up with the best of intentions. I was gifted the MacBook Air, slim, sexy and seductive. But come on...I feel like if I sneeze, Mac may just fall apart! Its so delicate and light that you wonder if its really designed for portability or for display? Its one laptop that pretends to be for movement when in actuality, I think its the idea of portability that has been sold and not the reality.

Karaoke Kills?

2010-02-10T11:57:00.000-08:00

Sinatra has done it again...no, not got the hearts and minds with his music but rather, got the hands to work overtime; apparently, people in the Philippines are busy stabbing each other over the singing of "My Way." Alright, I'm falling into the usual sensationalizing of such news as it makes good copy but with the recent murders happening in the guise of Filipino passion for this song, this has taken on quite a legendary status. Its strange to associate such violence and rage with karaoke, especially since I've been touting karaoke as an amazing tool for social engagement and edutainment from my research work in rural India.

http://planetread.com

The Same Language Subtitling project that I researched on was pioneered by Dr. Brij Kothari. The idea is simple really...people in rural areas watch alot of TV, particularly Bollywood songs and the argument goes that if only we put the lyrics at the bottom of the screen that highlighted as it got sang, people would be able to sustain their literacy skills while being entertained.

So what to make of such rages of passion? Perhaps see this as a reminder that music is deeply emotive and that emotion trumps all - TEXT, subTEXT, conTEXT? That killing you softly with songs can happen!

The Science of passion?

2010-01-27T08:23:00.000-08:00

Can social science academics write with passion (pre-tenure of course)! After all, didn’t many of us get drawn to this field because we were just innately and insatiably curious about everything and better yet, wanted to be paid to think deeply about it, and share this through our teachings and writings? I love the drama of writing…truly. Just coming up with titles gets me in a tizzy. Isn’t it better to say “I can’t do Barbra” than “Social Learning in Multi-contextual environments?” [See this article of mine, http://www.payalarora.com/Publications/EdPhil-TheoryJ-2008.pdf]. Does this compromise on what I’m saying or does it enhance the experience of thought? I mean, our social scientific methods can keep us disciplined enough to control our biases but it’s our biases that makes for real passion!

Mind the Gap?

2010-01-09T21:22:00.000-08:00

We are obsessed with difference. No doubt that every technology impacts society. No doubt that every new generation gets accustomed to certain unique ways of communicating through novel mediums. It is therefore natural for people to be concerned with “generation gaps.” The acceleration of technological change is assumed to create an acceleration of difference. Yes. It is assumed however but not determined. Expectations are but one aspect of new technology usage. We forget though that most technologies are used to fulfil something very basic and fundamental – the fostering, strengthening, and enhancing of relationships. The end incentive is not to maximize new technology but to maximize human relationships. Thereby, regardless of the widening spaces between generations, the panic of “mini-generations gaps” needs to be grounded; to remind oneself that people will continue to use a plethora of technologies to stay in touch, to connect, and to share. When I moved to the US from India in 1996, I continued to write letters to my family regularly in spite of email and instant messaging infusing my life. It had not infused theirs and to this date, still doesn’t. We should have more faith in our younger generations…most panic is created from the fear of not stimulating the younger generation enough, not “keeping up” with them, and not living up to their expectations. The irony is that the younger generation today is not that different from the youth in the past – they want what all youth wants –inspiration. To shape and share that kind of capital is what we should really concern ourselves with.

Soap Opera of Google and Apple- Are we missing Microsoft as yet?

2010-01-05T20:04:00.000-08:00

Strange how we now read news of Google and Apple having a face off with each other with little mention of our good ole timer Microsoft. Google releases their Nexus One cellphone against the popular iPhone model, quite a bold step into the highly marked territories of Apple. In turn, Apple has just acquired Quattro Wireless, a mobile advertising company. The stakes at this turf war seem serious. And much like a good Hollywood script, the cast of characters are set. Apple and Google, who bonded in the past over their mutual enemy, Microsoft, are now finding themselves in line of each other's fire. The question is...why is Microsoft silent in all this? Is it because its had its time of day? Is it because Microsoft without Bill Gates is like a sizzler without the sizzle? Or is Microsoft learning the benefits of spectator sport?

Presenting at the Global Communication Association Conference

2010-01-05T19:48:00.000-08:00

The Global Communication Association conference held at Bangalore was fascinating not just in its rituals [the only conference I ve been to that actually has politicians addressing the audience for almost 2 hours] but also its allowance for more "meaningful networking." Yes, this seems like an oxymoron but it did play out, genuinely so due to the critical size of the attendees. Few of us, including Yahya Kamalipour, Head of Dept of Communication and Director of the Centre for Global Studies at Purdue University, Orayb Najjar from Northern Illinois University, and myself got invited to speak at Manipal University on the topic of "Rethinking the Media Manifesto for an Equitable World Order." This was facilitated by the very challenging MD Nalapat, UNESCO Chair at Manipal University. Check it out...
http://www.daijiworld.com/news/news_disp.asp?n_id=69015

Simulation: Ad campaigns for "Using Protection"

2009-10-10T01:54:00.000-07:00

Get this, after designing this simulation, I found this video on YouTube...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfDyD4avQAE

====================================================

DESIGN AN ADVERTISEMENT CAMPAIGN

THEME: USE PROTECTION

Instructions: Create a comprehensive campaign that identifies your 1) main goals for your ads. 2) key message 3) channels & placement of communication-aka radio, internet etc. 4) choice(s) of contraceptives.

Step 1: DESIGN and PRESENT an actual advertisement Step 2: Class analyzes your ad Step 3: Share your strategy with the class

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Group: 1 (People: Marketing Manager; Press Agent; Advertising Rep; Creative Team)

Client: WHO (World Health Organization)

Target Audience: Sub Saharan Africa

Client concern: Does not want to offend religious sentiment & government

Excerpt of Context given to the students:

BBC News (17 March 2009): Pope Benedict XVI, who is making his first papal visit to Africa, has said that handing out condoms is not the answer in the fight against HIV/Aids. The pontiff, who preaches marital fidelity and abstinence, said the practice only increased the problem. "A Christian can never remain silent," he said, after being greeted on arrival in Cameroon by President Paul Biya. The Pope is also due to visit Angola on his week-long trip, where thousands are expected to attend open-air Masses. Some 22 million people are infected with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa, according to UN figures for 2007. According to Vatican figures, the number of Catholics in Africa has been rising steadily in recent years. Baptised Catholics made up 17% of the African population in 2006, compared with 12% in 1978, the Vatican says. While in Africa, the pontiff is expected to talk to young people about the Aids epidemic and explain to them why the Catholic Church recommends sexual abstinence as the best way to prevent the spread of the disease.

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Group: 2 (People: Marketing Manager; Press Agent; Advertising Rep; Creative Team)

Client: Obama Government (DEMOCRAT GOVT)

Target Audience: Nevada, North America; teenage girls

Client concern: Be careful of State leanings /values

Excerpt of Context given to the students:

Context: The teenage birth rate in United States was 53 births per 1,000 women aged 15–19 in 2002, the highest in the developed world. If all pregnancies, including those which end in abortion or miscarriage, are taken into account, then the total rate in 2000 was 75.4 pregnancies per 1,000 girls. Nevada and the District of Columbia have the highest teen pregnancy rates in the U.S., while North Dakota has the lowest. [10] Over 80% of teenage pregnancies in the U.S. are unintended; approximately one third end in abortion, one third end in spontaneous miscarriage, and one third will continue their pregnancy and keep their baby. Within the United States teen pregnancy is often brought up in political discourse. The goal to limit teen pregnancy is shared by Republicans and Democrats, though avenues of reduction are usually different. Many Democrats cite teen pregnancy as proof of the continuing need for access to birth control and abortion, while Republicans often cite a need for returning to conservative values, meaning abstinence.

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Group: 3 (People: Marketing Manager; Press Agent; Advertising Rep; Creative Team)

Client: Royal College of General Practitioners partnership with Durex, the leading contraceptive company

Target Audience: British adults

Client concern: wants to be cool yet informative to the public

Excerpt of Context given to the students:

BBC, Health Report, Sept 2009: A UK survey has revealed that myths about contraception may be widespread. One in five women said they had heard of kitchen items, including bread, cling film and even chicken skin, being used as alternative barrier methods. Others had heard food items such as kebabs, Coca-cola or crisps could be used as oral contraceptives. The survey questioned 1,000 women aged 18 to 50 and was carried out by market research company Opinion Health, sponsored by Bayer Schering Pharma. Contraceptive myths have been around for thousands of years. Ancient methods have varied from crocodile dung and honey before sex, to sea sponges and beeswax after. Perhaps the most intoxicating was alcohol made from stewed beaver's testicles. However, it seems that a variety of unsafe and unproven methods might still exist in modern Britain. Dr Annie Evans, Women's Health Specialist at the Bristol Sexual Health Centre, said: "It is not surprising, given that Britain continues to have the highest unintended pregnancy rate in Europe."

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Group: 4 (People: Marketing Manager; Press Agent; Advertising Rep; Creative Team)

Client: Safe4Now Foundation

Target Audience: Prostitutes

Client concern: get noticed for its cheap price factor

Excerpt of Context given to the students:

PRESS RELEASE: Amsterdam - Now a new condom brand emerges in Europe which is mainly targeting prostitutes. If you’re not an artist or designer, being given thousands of expired condoms for your purposes, then you can obtain a cheap condom 100 pack anonymously and fast off the internet across Europe.The new European campaign to distribute cheap condoms for the sex industry is brought to us by the Dutch Safe4now Foundation. Their goal is to “allow prostitutes to work safer, more pleasant and cheaper”...

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Classroom Simulations: Taking on Bashir, designing Airports in Shanghai and more

2009-10-10T01:36:00.000-07:00

I’m a huge advocate of simulations in classrooms. You get students to take on role plays and enact within real life contexts and rest assured, these students will blow your mind away. We have traveled from Brazil to Sudan to China. From addressing the building of a factory in the Amazon to standing for elections in Sudan, these students have risen to the challenge beautifully.

For instance, the Brazil case study I designed demanded that each student group represent different interests: Perenco Oil, Ecowatch, the Brazilian middle class, the government and the Survival international Group. This played out on a popular TV show, where I took on the role of “Veronica”, a famous TV show hostess. What we got was “Candy forest” representing Ecowatch battling her way with an experienced VP of Perenco Oil, with the government trying hard to play neutral. What was fascinating was that the attacks were focused on Perenco, leaving the government relatively unscathed inspite of their supportive stance. I find this reveals so much about our understandings of international conflicts and more importantly, I hope, humbles students to realizing the complexities of real life scenarios.

The Sudan exercise too was such a delight. This could have gone on for hours! They had so much to say and even as the class time was up, they were fully pumped with ideas that were itching to come out! Student groups were told that they were all competing to be the next ruling party of Sudan and thereby, had to come up with an election campaign. The twist here was that each group was told that they were representing a particular faction: the African tribal group, the military generals, the economists, and the international relations focused groups. This is the outline each group got from me including information on the country's geography, economic, political and socio-cultural makeup.

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SUDAN ELECTIONS 2009

Current Situation: President Bashir has stepped down as President due to the Darfur crisis and international pressure. The seat of Presidency is vacant. A new election monitored by the UN is going on with 4 nominees as finalists.

Your group is 1 such team vying to be the future government of Sudan.

Your audience are the Sudanese people. They are tired of being viewed as victims and tired of apologizing and being shamed by the West. Afterall, it was a bad government and not bad people. They are proud and have a rich cultural heritage and want to make their mark in their own unique way.

Choose:

1) President nominee

2) International Relations Advisor

3) Economic Advisor

4) Education Advisor

5) Security & Diplomacy Advisor

Decide on the following for your campaign speech:

1) Your campaign promise – Core issues

2) Campaign motto “Yes we can” byline type

3) Target voter demographic- what is your strategy?

STEP 1: All groups give a presentation to the public on their plan for Sudan

STEP 2: President nominees take the stand. Cross-fire: President nominees consult their team and ask questions to each other

STEP 3: Audience asks further questions

STEP 4: Voting takes place

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In short, I m a big fan of simulations! More to come...

Do I need to join the Korean boot camp too?

2009-10-10T00:56:00.000-07:00

Apparently I fit the description of an addict; apparently I’m truly at-risk…or so the New York Times article on Korean bootcamps for cyberaddicts informs me. “They spend at least two hours a day online, usually playing games or chatting. Of those, up to a quarter million probably show signs of actual addiction, like an inability to stop themselves from using computers, rising levels of tolerance that drive them to seek ever longer sessions online, and withdrawal symptoms like anger and craving when prevented from logging on.” Sounds really familiar…of me checking my email every five minutes, of me getting all worked up that I don’t have access to the Net the other day, preventing me from watching the latest SNL spoof…my life had almost come to a stop. I guess my membership to this club should be confirmed then? But 2 hours really? Is there a super-membership as I believe I break a higher bar than that.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/18/technology/18rehab.html?em&ex=1195621200&en=ae5b633804a5ee6b&ei=5087

South Korea, with their savvy Net loving citizens are now in a crunch. They need to wean their population off the Net juice so to speak. Kids are dropping out of school it seems just to stay online…or worse, “dropping dead.” The government saves the day. Rescue camps have sprung up all over the place by the government to remind their people that pottery and drumming are not such bad alternatives. Seriously though, going by this, many of us with Net access are spending such time online, making us more the norm than the deviant entity in society. If kids are dropping out of school, lets focus on how schools are engaging/disengaging them versus shifting all the blame to online compulsions. The same behavior seen by them when they grow up will be perceived as having a great “work ethic.” After all, I don’t see boot camps springing up anytime soon for worker bees online…

Rhetoric vs. Reality unifies?

2009-09-05T01:47:00.000-07:00

I like the Economist magazine...its not afraid of having a strong opinion. Not that I readily agree with their arguments but no one can accuse them of not taking a stand. For instance, they write about Al Jazeera (http://english.aljazeera.net/), one of the supposedly few independent media networks in the Gulf States as a natural unifier in a region that is seen as much fragmented. It is a fascinating argument of how a media network scales itself across the world now, by creating a sense of unity and identity through its rhetoric of shared Middle East concerns. Of course, the problem here is that the Economist, when it talks of the "fragmented Arab nations" implicitly reinforces such stereotypes of this region in a constant state of flux. Even though we all know that the State is not necessarily a representative of its people, we see this constantly at play when we talk of nations. Middle eastern leaders of States may not be able to work together or be united in a cause perhaps, but this should not imply that people across these States are not tied deeply by common interests and values, even spanning across these States to other regions, the "West" included.

In context with "Asia" for instance, there is an argument that the age old "divide and conquer" colonial strategy worked in fragmenting Asian societies. This has some credence. It has taken awhile to trust and partner with neigboring States, like India with China even though they can potentially be powerful partners in trade, commerce and more. But one should give enough acknowledgement to the deep challenge that is posed in balancing interests of global competition with cooperation...that is truly a learning curve considering there is little history to back such practices. If we are to identify a media "unifier" amongst Asia, perhaps Bollywood has an answer...SRK posters in Peru, Kenya and Cuba tell a story...when we speak of unification of people, we can be jointly entertained while sharing different politics and values...

Learning to walk the thin line from "The Wire"- a tribute

2009-08-23T06:04:00.000-07:00

I am an unabashed fan of the series, “The Wire.” It is by far one of the finest “video-ethnographies” I’ve ever seen. It has the potential to offend at a glance…far from being politically correct, it does not seem afraid to break convention and start and continue with a multitude of stereotypes: of African-Americans in the drug trade, their lives wrapped with dysfunctional schools, corrupt politicians, apathy in family life, not so “maternal” mothers, violent teenagers, and deadbeat and racist cops. It’s almost entirely an African American show. Yet, scratch the surface and sit through this show and you will start to understand how this all comes together…it humanizes violence…shows how the violent are victims too; shows how ingenious these children are who in spite of their circumstances learn to survive…it makes you realize that if you were in their position, you would probably be compelled to take to the drug trade, violence, and more..it seems the smartest and sometimes only path available in such desperate contexts. That for sure takes guts to portray. This show does not allow you to comfortably see through one lens of a main protagonist that you can relate to; it shifts lenses almost with every new series… characters come and go until you’re left on your own to experience this complex phenomena. In truth, the most difficult aspect of investigations, of ethnographies as such, video and otherwise, is to take upon a hotly contentious topic, say race, and combine it with the cliché correlation of drugs and violence…most investigators fail to come out of it unscathed as the danger of perpetuating a stereotype is high. Hence, few venture into this terrain and those that do, tend to point their lens to “success” stories, to show that not all is “lost” or perhaps the good old potential for “reform” where by highlighting a desperate situation, makes the case for urgent rescue. “The Wire” however takes us through their day to day lives to see how larger systems of schooling, security, politics, and economics play at the ground level. You cannot walk away with judgment…try condemning a cop for his racist moves and you realize how he is very much a victim too of higher orders for “stats” for the upcoming election, for pressures from the community, from his fear of his own safety and more; try condemning a drug addict and neglecting African American mother and you see how desperate her situation is, her loneliness, her lack of safety nets and more; the story keeps thickening..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wire

Talking of sensitive subjects such as race, I have just moved to Rotterdam, Netherlands, as the event of the firing of the Swiss Muslim scholar, Tariq Ramadan by Rotterdam city council and Erasmus University unfolds. He is accused for his refusal to stop working for an Iranian backed TV channel as he was hired to be a key advisor on integration issues. The argument goes that his credibility is undermined by his association with the Iranian regime. That said, at a glance, one may condemn him for his association with the Iranian regime especially at a time when mass street protests against the regime are unfolding in Iran; or perhaps one may condemn the city for its “racist” move…and so the story continues without an actual understanding of what the forces are that compel such action. What we do not know is why at this moment in time, does a scholar affect city officials? How does Ramadan negotiate his need for critical scholarship with the dealings of the Iranian sponsored Press? Who is the audience for his program in Iran and worldwide? What’s the nature of his association and its impact? Who funds his position at Erasmus University and what are the real constraints on the university in his hiring and firing? What is the economic and immigrant climate in Rotterdam currently and how does that play into this action? Rather than making this about “Islam,” we should take a moment to see how we can approach this from multiple perspectives before forming a quick judgment. Who says TV is an idiot box? The Wire surely can show some guidance here…

http://www.dutchnews.nl/news/archives/2009/08/ramadam_still_welcome_in_oxfor.php

http://www.eur.nl/fsw/staff/homepages/ramadan/lectures/

Digital textbook euphoria...

2009-08-09T11:57:00.000-07:00

Sure it’s more convenient…who wants to carry around heavy books when a kindle would do. Sure its more comprehensive…why go through text in a linear rote fashion when hypertexts allow you to journey through multiple websites, course materials, videos, visuals and more with a click of a mouse?Digitalizing textbooks make sense but let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Curriculum is still the same, dictated by the politics of the system. Digital or not, if a book is not engaging on paper, the chances are that its appeal will barely enhance through its electronic counterpart. So let’s not confuse convenience for engagement. Digital euphoria can only go this far…

The future of the past: Digital evidence or new media fabrications?

2009-08-05T12:19:00.000-07:00

If only the dead could talk, they would tell us what really happened… and sometimes they do. Rodrigo Rosenberg, a lawyer in Guatemala was murdered on May 10th 2009 by an unknown gunman. However, he continues to talk through YouTube, channeling his blame towards President Alvara Colom and others for his death. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxZptUp9a44&feature=fvst

This digital expose of claimed corruption and conspiracy is becoming a common phenomenon. In India, the Tehelka news magazine revealed tapes implicating Gujarat minister Narendra Modi and other politicians for the mass killings of Muslims in the infamous Gujarat riots in 2002 through their taped confessionals.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0z114wnwXtQ

On a less grisly note, who could forget the Mexican Zapatista movement, an armed revolutionary group in Chiapas, Mexico that brought their movement into the international limelight through the strategic use of the Internet. Their desire for indigenous control of their local resources became an international topic of contention seemingly overnight.

Yet the proof is not necessarily in this digital pudding apparently…authenticity of these videos is being questioned and continues to be questioned by the accused. That’s not surprising really. Legally, digital evidence seems to have less impact that one might expect. We know that not all that goes into print is “truth” so why should digital media be any different? Yet it is…the feel of authenticity through allowing us to relive moments of the past, of allowing us to transport ourselves to the moment of confession, of recognizing the humble efforts of the “small” guys in this drama is no small feat. While the legal battle continues, the seeds of doubt have been planted. But is that enough really? How can new media become powerful tools of justice? What does it really take?

Cookie in a cookie jar

2009-07-31T14:12:00.000-07:00

We’re all labeled apparently; income level, sex, age, single, married, children and more. To sum up, we are seen to add up to nothing but a cookie that travels with a click of a mouse. WE are our own worst enemy. Naïve about our journeys online, we have supposedly become a gold mine for the government, advertising companies, and more who want so desperately to get to know us better. We are, literally, worth knowing. Our web choices, our little escapades into online dating and shopping are being tracked and profiled. This seems like our fate. The world is spilling with our data. There are no coincidences anymore. You don’t just happen to see online that there is a sale at Macy in San Francisco or that SRK, the Bollywood king just came out with a new movie. It’s all part of the design of public life online. But before we really get caught up with this Big Brother Orwellian notion, let’s take a moment to think of ourselves in all our complexity. I love Beatles, old Hindi songs, Aamir Khan Ads, burritos, Spanish tiles, Oaxacan chocolate, Irish folk music, and Timbuktu bags. I can be cheap. I love free events in New York. But I like spending my money on good winter coats. I love Paris and I love Almora, a small town in the Himalayas, India. What can you say about me so far? What cookie jar do I belong to?

I swear it was here a minute ago!

2009-07-31T11:35:00.000-07:00

Citations are the lifeblood of academia: who you cite, what you cite, when you cite…it’s the site of all contention, creation, and collaboration. But in this new media age, what happens when you’re examining a web site and its activity only to discover that having referenced it, it may no longer exist. Ah…your word stands alone as witness to a cyber event that perhaps is long gone or migrated to some other nook on cyberspace. Also, it’s painful to reference a webpage without getting into the messiness of copyright…who owns that space? Is it the user, the platform owner, an organization that perhaps the user belongs to or all of the above? It’s the hell of online copyright. And things can get even more complicated. For instance, I need to reference an image online that a user was looking at. That happens to be the photograph of a painting of Mona Lisa. So apparently, even though the original may be out of copyright, the photograph is not. The delightful chase begins…starting with the photographer and then the organization who commissioned that photographer …not to forget the expenses that may incur in gaining permission to reproduce a “painting” in print when in fact, I’m not even interested in the painting but what it represents to the user. Mona Lisa is incidental to my study…and apparently so is the cost. So instead, I will trust the imagination of the reader as they use my words to imagine Mona Lisa in all her glory. Old fashioned stand alone print is sadly more affordable in the 21st century.

What's so Ironic?

2009-07-28T13:11:00.000-07:00

Cybercafe in Almora, Central Himalayas

Video killed the Radio star?

2009-07-28T12:44:00.000-07:00

Just when we got over our nostalgia for the radio days, it seems to be back with a vengeance. Digital NPR is having its hay day…from iphones to the web; they’re scaling and scaling fast. All Things Considered…24/7 online and offline it seems. Check these stats out: http://www.truemeasure.com/onlineStatistics.php

Do Ultimatums really work online?

2009-07-26T10:37:00.000-07:00

Facebook warns you that you can choose your Username only once…you’re pretty much stuck with “iWearNeonUnderwearToBed” as a sign in..best of luck on getting that job! As employers, colleagues and friends that you haven’t yet gotten around to de-friend check you out and scrutinize your moves and shakes online, are you forced to live with your mistakes? Really? I see that with the Kodak mafia threatening to make my online photos “disappear” if I don’t order some prints from them..their threats have become part of my monthly routine and yet my photos continue to live a long and supposedly healthy life on their turf. I get it. There’s no free lunch…until someone else comes along to offer you free food? Do threats really work in this online business? If you threaten, you’ve got to see it through otherwise you lose credibility. If this is the new cat and mouse game between online users and producers, what is the prize?

What's so ironic?

2009-07-25T14:33:00.000-07:00

Ideas on the rocks!

2009-07-24T14:25:00.000-07:00

Enterprise Ireland surely knows how to woo you! In little brown conference bags you find Jameson Irish Whiskey to take you through for the rest of the evening in Palo Alto. Mainly Irish and Irish American entrepreneurs and venture capitalists gather to plot and plan how to chase money from pennies to dollars in this economic climate. Some good advice spews forth from a venture capitalist…if someone asks you, “will you be my mentor,” I say “No” …much of this is equated with dating…you don’t ask to get married on your first date, do you? Now that’s good advice. But they also demand face-to-face courtship. What then should we make of all the LinkedIn and Facebook chase that goes on with relative strangers? Does that go far at all? I personally have befriended several researchers, professors and practitioners in my field online. Over the years I would say some of these have become genuine relationships as we exchange Real favors in Virtual settings. So is Venture Capital in Silicon Valley just conservative? Is this the way of the Economic priesthood?

The T-Mobile Dance

2009-07-24T13:52:00.000-07:00

Do corporations now just want to be loved?
Is laughter a way to the consumer's heart?

CNN Paul R. La Monica from Media Biz complains that getting laughs comes at a high price..in fact, millions of dollars worth of corporate dollars only to find that after the first few chuckles, the consumer walks off not knowing whether you're selling cellphones or dance shoes...yes?

But there is something here- entertaining and marketing ..its not really one or the other but really on how to strike a hit with the right churning of the two...I, for one, have become an active promoter of T-mobile dancing...see the video below... but I haven't switched.

I currently stand as a consumer of their new media sales but not their products...not exactly what they were looking for.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQ3d3KigPQM