Extra Innings at WAT

For the last 2 years I have been actively leading a virtual life, spending a lot of my time online, trivia crunching. A lot of the info has been feaces, but in between I also managed to gain insight into a few things here and there. I have taken a particular liking to Social Media and the Web and wanted to reach out to a larger audience and that is where WATBlog comes.

I shall be blogging about Social Media, Technology and the Internet over here. Do check it out if you're into that sorta stuff.  And visit this link to see all my posts at WAT

If not, well, Whatever Things will aways be basecamp. You can chill here. 

New Skin

I changed the blog's template today. Got a little tired of the previous one. I always wanted to have a three column template but couldn't find the right color combination. I simply love this one. Now am playing around with it.

Election time@ BITS: Directory

With more and more posts about the BITSian elections being posted, I thought about making a directory of all such blogs. This list in no way exhaustive, do leave additional links in the comments section.
(Majority of the credit goes to the Vineets [Pandey and Keshari] for compiling the initial list on google reader, from where the following list was mercilessly flicked) :)

Abhilash, Electrical, 03-07,

Keerthi Kiran, Instrumentation, 04-08,
Sriram.V , Electrical,04-08

Abhishek Nayak, Biological Science,05-09
Chinmay Kulkarni, Computer Science,05-09


Ashutosh, 06-10
Abhiram, Computer Science, 06-10,
Anurag Dutta, Computer Science, 06-10
Atin Bhattacharya, Physics & Computer Science, 06-11
Rishabh Kaul, Economics & Civil, 06-11
Rachit Chandra, Computer Science(Presidential Candidate),06-10
Shoaib, Computer Science, 06-10
Shruti Shah, Chemistry & Civil,06-11
Shushant, Mechanical, 06-10
Vineet Keshari, Computer Science, 06-10


Pranav, Instrumentation, 07-11

Zemanta

Image by Zemanta via CrunchBase I've been trying Zemanta for nearly three months now. I am a bit frustrated with the number of pictures (creative commons) it offers, however, the service as such is quite interesting. Recommending relevant pictures for every three words, along with useful tags and links. Personally, I think it works better with Wordpress. I can see it to be quite useful for journalists in the future if these guys start including better links (I wasn't entirely satisfied by the links provided).

Proto and beyond

Currently, I am like a delocalised electron, shifting from one end of NCR to another.

Last couple of days have been really hectic. Firstly with Proto.in, it was fun. I think a lot of the people there mistook me for a VC, courtesy my attire. The second day was comparatively more relaxed.

Loved the innovation brainjam session that Amit Somani of Google had suggested (based on his own experience at Google). I could see only half of the startups showcased. Missed out on Lootstreet, where my college pal Navin is interning. Apparently it went well. Kudos to them. Lifeblob was another interesting startup that caught my eye. They are an e journal, and records your life history in the form of a timeline. Though initially a little skeptical about it, I later had a slight change of mind. I was thinking that this is something which might be bought by Facebook. But then according to me, this is exactly what Lifeblob should avoid. Facebook, notes also allow tagging, but with all those other applications and clutter around, it becomes crazy, following what everyone is upto.

Proto is also where I met Kiruba Shankar. It was simply amazing hanging out with him.

And there was a quiz. Most of the questions from the prelims were easy, had seen them somewhere or the other, but it was a fun quiz. Proto is also where I met Sumant Srivathsan from the BQC (I introduced myself saying, "I heard you were a student...") and we partnered for the biz quiz which we ultimately won. Samanth Subramanian was the host.

Liveblogging was there, but no wifi, so well, guys were busy connecting their data cables and tweeting from their phones. The results are yet to be announced.

Some really good talks on Day 1. Also for all the blogging, do check out proto4 tags on technorati. I myself blogged about it on Mutiny and WATBlog.

The weather here has been cruel. Not inclement, just cruel.

Then there was the ESPN Quiz. Will talk about that later.

Bangalore Mirror

Harshil from WATBlog/Consultancy was kind enough to inform me that my guest article was published in the Bangalore Mirror Tabloid. Thanks a lot.

Also, I found out recently that the verrrry best newspaper of the plateau, oh why not...the entire south, has hit Bangalore. Good, its also their problem now. Here it comes.

Apart from this...a lot of stuff has been brewing up. Have got my self involved in a variety of projects. A long detailed post is due.

On open letters

Enough open letters written by bloggers are surfacing the internet these days. Letters to celebrities and politicians, letters about decisions been taken, mistakes been made, letters about what could-have-been. Letters from people with strong opinions and who probably even share a concern.

Hawkeye had an interesting article the other day on his blog where he shares his opinion on Open letters.

They Suck.

I have written one (or two) in my blog. I now feel very ashamed about it. Every open letter I read makes me cringe. Open Letters are usually defined as letters read by everyone else except the intended recipient. Mainly because the writer does not have the ‘vakku’/ is not important enough to attract the attention of the intended recipient.

I couldn’t agree more. Having seen enough open letters on the World Wide Web, I can safely assume that the people, to whom the letter is directed, seldom get to read it. These include our esteemed politicians, law makers or any authority. Open letters are more of a vent post than anything else. The satisfaction of typing ones thoughts down in a rather “in-your-face” manner more often than not, is compensation enough and no further effort is made to ensure that the open letter reaches the person it is intended to reach. At best, it receives comments from friends, fellow bloggers, stumblers and random passers who share the concern, and sometimes even generates enough publicity to uplift the blogger to than status of an “activist” but nothing more.

Open letters could also perhaps be an interesting way to generate more publicity for your blog. Apart from that it probably also boosts the writers ego. I mean, obviously, if a letter written by you generates 30 comments, most of which are a positive pat on the back, you would obviously consider your job done, even if the person the letter was directed to was sipping orange juice, completely oblivious to the fact that somewhere in some corner of the world wide web there exists a letter directed to him/her.

An open letter can only work if its the other way around. If a famous person addresses it to a group of people, like Steve Jobs’ letter to Ipod users, or Abdul Kalam’s letter to kids of high schools. For a blogger to get his point across to someone important, either the open letter has to receive a lot of media publicity or maybe he/she has to look for an alternative. Obama Girl anyone? If not that then maybe in the official forums of a company which has responsive moderators who will give a damn about your opinions. Another way might be through letters to editorials of popular dailies (for chances are they’re more popular and read by a larger diverse group than your blog).

Mirrored at Mutiny.in

Cornered!

Posts by Navin & Abhilash about how blogging might affect the corporate scenario later on made me think about whether blogging is really as impressive as we made it sound.

On one hand, you can use your blog to advertise your products as is exercised by Malcolm Gladwell and Seth Godin. There is surely a huge market for Viral bloggers out there, but that's when you use it with corporate intentions, what about ones personal log entries where one opines?

What if in the future( or is it being done already) recruiters start to scan your social networking accounts and blogs in order to get a real insight into your personality? Would that be ethically correct on their part? And would it be smart on your your part to go around exercising your free speech and maybe jeopardize an opportunity coming your way( mind you the other way is also possible)?

I can think of anonymous accounts or rather under a pseudonym as a suitable alternative to this issue. The reason I say this is because:

1. While your anonymous, you have the power of choice as to whom to disclose your identity to.

2. You can fully be vocal about your issue without thinking twice about the repercussions as as your corporate life is concerned.

Social Entrepreneurship has always been there.

Pluggd.in has a recently had an article on how sustainable is social entrepreneurship in India.
The author felt that Amul was the only social venture which actually made it big as was reflected in the blog post

How many national scale, socially relevant, market oriented, impact making businesses can you name in India?” is a question that I asked at a recent gathering of friends. This is partly due to the fact that the only answer that springs to my mind is “Amul“, partly out of a certain confidence that the other person too cannot name any other business and partly out of a genuine desire to know. This question has intrigued me for some time now. Why haven’t there been many more Amul’s in our country? God knows there are enough and more social problems to be solved!

And almost instantaneously there were comments from people retorting. One such person said there have been similar groups such as Lijjad Papad and Fabindia.
Though Lijjad papad has received enough publicity, FabIndia on the other hand according to me has been doing brilliantly. Its great how they have created a niche for themselves in the garments industry and have actually made themselves in a huge brand. Generally as is the case you find similar handmade products only in exposition fairs or in some shady corner. FabIndia on the other hand have made it a retail business with chains of FabIndia's all over the country selling high quality really low priced garments. Here is a link into their back ground.