The 3L Mantra to live by!

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

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 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 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): Pop

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 sta

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&

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 perh

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 a

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…