Sarnath, Christmas and Ashok Chakra

To all of you, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!

Few Days before when I was in Sarnath mere 15 km from Varanasi, I was not stonished to see four religious institutions just shouldering to each other. A huge stupa stands there praying and meditating. This was constructed by Ashoka, the original version of which was destroyed later by Mughalas and again repaired by British.

I met one young member of Mabodhi pracharini sabha shivshnkar Mukharjee(09335553783). He, in nuts and bolts told me the history of Buddha`s coming there and how the breed of Bodhi Tree was planted there by Sanghmitra who was in Ceylone at that time circulating the message of Gautam at the behest of her father Ashika.

Interestingly he indicated our attention towards one church and said that this church is not open for Indians except the foreign christens. This was quite susprising. Shivshankar was very kind to provide all the details very meticulously just like trained guide. He said, "We are devoted servants of Buddha...We read all the time literature related to Buddha. We are not much educated but we know what great things Buddha has adviced to all of us.

He told me that during his last moments Buddha had to eat meat and that was one of the reason of his deteriorating health.It has one jain temple also. One darga along with the walls of that temple.

There is a Museum at Sarnath and anyone landed up in Varanasi must go to visit that Museum. It has the India`s national emblem, the four lions, sorryly one of them destroyed...preserved. It also has partially recovered Ashok Chakra...

Different faces, moods of Buddha across the centuries...
Many of the important carvings in the museum were taken to the China for the exhibition.
For many times I have seen museums but every time I never enjoyed them.
But Sarnath museum, really made me to interact with what actually they want to say with their delicate engraves.

It was a such a treasure trove, Sarnath, a symbol of India`s diverse religious legacy and spiritual practises starting from Vipasyana to the Art of Living....
Really there are very few moments where you truly realise why you are so happy.

The we headed towards Ganga-Jamuna-Sarswati Ghat..Dashaswamedh Ghat...
We met Laxman Maazi....He told me that 90 percent of the total tourists have declined to travel to Varanasi who normally make city just like their second home. This was direct reference he made to the assult on India made recently by terrorists.

Now I remember what BBC`s voice in India for 3 decades, Mark Tully said few days before when he was in JNU to deliever Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Lecture. India is a country which is being forced by secularists to wear the colourless clothes when actually no colour other than Orange will suit on them. And he continued, India is a unique country which has amalgamated all other contrasting colours of all religions into that orange shade. even then it is being labelled as Hindu country. Those were remarkable comments. Salute to you Sir Mark!

Varanasi and Sarnath were best to realise how Mark is right. We can understand Hinduism, India, Hindustan, Bharat all in one city....Shall we go once again....Let us start now!!!
(http://picasaweb.google.com/nandanupadhyay/Francesco?feat=email#5152352102767553490)

IIITA Science Conclave: Terrorism, Network Security, Bertand Russel

Today`s day turned out to be really epitome of the conclave.

Day was kicked off by state of the art topic "Intrusion Detection and Security Audit" lecture by Prof. Satish Chandra,General Manager of the Mitretek. Corporation, Washington, USA. It was really useful and precise talk as far as current security concerns are expressed by Intelligence Agencies about the increasing amount of white collar professionals being deployed by terrorists organizations.

Disgruntled employees can often be the reason for the information leak outside. The expenditure on biometric operations may be more but circumstances are that password based security system are no more reliable because sophisticated techniques of hacking are known to large number of people.

The smart thing about presentation was it addressed the core concern of networking professionals. The real time detection of intrusion of the network systems is going to be serious issue in coming future. Therefore India must pay attention as lot of E-governance initiatives are going to be in coming years.

Then came the great man Raj Reddy, recipient of Padma Bhushan, who is working in Artificial Intelligence for last forty years. He cited three definitions of the great streams of science-engineering.
Engineering, he said, is enhancement of human`s skills to do things more effectively. Medicine, he explained, is a science to repair and develop abilities of human body and Computer Science is program or machine scaling up the mental ability to analyze and interpret the research data and processes.

He traced the evolution of human computer interaction birth of internet and search engines, conceptual philosophy of search engines, the challenges ahead of Artificial Intelligence. He referred to defined term of intelligence for machines as: To learn from experiences, exhibiting adaptations, goal oriented, vast amount of knowledge with self awareness and should be able to operate in real time.

Then came the real iconic lecture of Harold Kroto. Iconic in a sense he really set the benchmarks in front of audience, how one should communicate to hundreds of audience for two hours without a break about a complex issue of Carbon 60 means Bucky ball, his invention for which he got Nobel in 1996.

His main focus was on Science and Sustainability. He came, he talked, he conqured:

Confuscious said, "I seek not to know the answer but to understand the
question." He deliberated on what actually scientific method is...by
above quotation. "A scientist always holds on the opinions as long as
he/she is sure about it.But in the process he/she always knows not be
too sure about that."

Expressing concern about the various controversies related to newest forms of technology, he said, "These days, sarcastically enough, Knowledge is not guarantee for good decisions being made across the world. Sometimes guided ignorance of the communities and people like us give excuse to power players to move towards unscientific/irrational misadventure either to ban some kind of research or to continue illegitimate research."

When I asked him, does the debate surrounding nanotechnology, biotechnology including the negative implications of it on society is going in the right direction or not, he opened up wider angle of the human intervention in the scientific progress. He said that at one age of the history there are vested interests who sought the ban on Chemistry because it produces hazardous chemicals. This is irrespective Chemistry is equally responsible making our life much more livable than ever before. On the same lines, he asserted nano-bio technologies will create some hazard during the growth of that science. But we should not take it as a learning experience because we cannot afford this risk. What we can do is to have good people who carry foresight studies regarding these technologies so as to prevent the risk in premature time."

Number of questions were thrown at Korto regarding faith, luck, dream, belief, irrationality. He explained in splendid terms what exactly rationality is recalling Bertand Russel; 'Is man (and woman of course!) rational? I am still searching for the evidence..."

He has such a subtle humor and low melting point by which he gets easily amalgamated with the audience that you forget that he is teaching you and you are actually probing him to explain the things from your level of understanding. That is I think secret of science communication.

He was relentless, spontaneous and just like kid; talking with naughty analogies of the research realities to common day life and behavioral patterns of diverse scientists. "The evidence of the argument is the key to the progress of scientific thought, no doubt about that. This thought of Russel forms the ability to go ahead on research work, ideally."

"I really do not know research is enjoyable or not. It takes vast degree of hard work and unstoppable perseverance. Research is something more than mere enjoyment. We should be multidimensional to think beyond one dimensional phenomenon of enjoyment."

We were, in old days, were taking photographs, developing and printing those by mechanical ways. That gave us the space to understand the science behind it. Today in the world of convergence, everything is digitized and we rarely ask the questions to understand the micro processes of any system. The challenge in front of us is how to sustain the curiosity in young mind in time of sophisticated technologies so that we can unravel the step by step building blocks (even though complex by nature)of any machine or invention.


Dr. Kroto finally said, Science and research is all about fresh approach, young mind and ability to question the icons, role models, experts and establishment." He heralded all the INSPIRE Fellows and other young students to be aware that they are the real future of science. Whatever transformation is going to happen in science is to be done by these apparently innocent but inherently very creative. non obvious minds."

I cannot resist myself from humming the 1985 Michael Jackson and others` item:



We are the world

There comes a time when we heed a certain call
When the world must come together as one
There are people dying

And its time to lend a hand to life
The greatest gift of all
We cant go on pretending day by day

That someone, somewhere will soon make a change
We are all part of gods great big family
And the truth, you know, love is all we need

We are the world, we are the children
We are the ones who make a brighter day
So lets start giving

Theres a choice were making
Were saving our own lives

Its true well make a better day
Just you and me

Send them your heart
So theyll know that someone cares

And their lives will be stronger and free
As God has shown us by turning stones to bread
So we all must lend a helping hand

We are the world, we are the children
We are the ones who make a brighter day
So lets start giving

Theres a choice were making
Were saving our own lives
Its true well make a better day
Just you and me

When youre down and out, there seems no hope at all
But if you just believe theres no way we can fall
Well, well, well, well let us realize that a change can only come
When we stand together as one

We are the world, we are the children
We are the ones who make a brighter day
So lets start giving

Theres a choice were making
Were saving our own lives
Its true well make a better day
Just you and me

We are the world, we are the children
We are the ones who make a brighter day
So lets start giving

Theres a choice were making
Were saving our own lives
Its true well make a better day
Just you and me
--------------------------------------

I am delighted by today`s events....
I wish every student get Dr. Kroto as teacher...
God bless all the students who are curious to work upon their excitement of
science!!!!!!!
-----------------------------------------------------

From IIIT Allhabad: Quantum Mechanics, Capitalism and Anandbhavan

"Along with my parents insistence, soon internalized, that I do very well in school, went my love of reading and my love of mechanics. I read everything: fiction, history, science, mathematics, biography, travel. There were two free public libraries within walking distance of my home; I remember taking six books home from every visit, the limit set by the library. This reading had only partial approval from my parents.

They wanted me to play more sports because they were acutely sensitive to their children being one hundred percent American, and they believed that all Americans played sports and loved sports. They felt that too much reading interfered with my going outside to play sport. I loved rainy days when I did not have to go outside, and to the present I still feel very content on a rainy day."

These are the anecdotal evidences of 1995 Physics Nobel winner Martin Pearl who was speaking at Science Concalve at IIIT Allahabad todday. Advocating for simple models to understand difficult and complex concepts of quantum mechanics he wondered innocently that who knows these decades old laws may prove false one day.

Reacting to the question about the outcomes of the LHC experinement in progress at CERN, he exclaimed "Nobody knows what will come out of it."

Earlier in morning I happened to be in Anandbhavan the historic home to Indian National Congress proceedings and Nehru Gandhi family...The one of the insulated library of Pandit Nehru there was hiding one book named "Britain without capitalism." Later in the day, Prof. Pearl opined that more and more the research funding for particle physics and accelerators is going down and people are finding it less interesting than before to work upon particle physics. The 1990 Nobel winner Friedman also had expressed same views a day before it.

Nehru in his will said that my ashes be submitted to Ganga-Yamuna sangam. He asserted that he is not viewing sangam from religious point of view but from a approach of vast life. As someone has said "Knowledge grows when it flows!!" This was perfect note for the science conclave I am attending. Eventhough very less world renowned scietists are here looking at the excitement on young students face, it makes you convince about the need of more and more such programes throughout the country.

IIITA Conclave Report: 16/12/ 08---Don`t do science for sake of awards

"As I very much liked to draw and paint as a child, I entered a special art program in high school, which was very much like being in an art school imbedded in a regular high school curriculum. While I always had some interest in science, I developed a strong interest in physics when I was in high school as a result of reading a short book entitled Relativity, by Einstein. It opened a new vista for me and deepened my curiosity about the physical world."

These are the revealation of Prof. Jerome Friedman who delievered a inspiring lecture on second day of the Nobel Conclave meet here in IIIT Allahabad.

He was key person in a research team which in a series of investigations found clear signs and traces of therotically proved existence of an inner structure in the protons and neutrons of the atomic nucleus For more details kindly go to http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1990/press.html.

In a really interactuive and friendly way unlike to the most of the scientists who find it difficult to convey the complex research findings in easy way, he really mastered the articulation of the understanding of the fundamental principles in simplest way. (The discussion regarding this has been done in Scientists Must Speak: Bringing Presentations to Life(Routledge)by D. Eric Walters and Gale C. Walters. Friedman urged the new emerging students to work on the fundamental questions raised by his reaserch.


There was a rare dissert for students where five nobel laurets were present on the dias...Answering a question related to what kind of model for science communication must be adopted, other veteran scientists were equivocal about creating more and more centre of excellence and retaining the best tallent of the country by facilitatiing the finest of the infrastructure and facilities.

One student identified the the bone entangled in the throat of the polcymakers: Why talented students are running away from the fundamental research area to other streams? Yesterday


Questions about why we cannot tap the most of the somlar energy was also very very urgent in the all of the agenda across continents.

The personal biographies of the scientists can tell us lot of about the reasons of discovery, progress...

Research Managers must know the technology. Unless and untill they know the techniques and mechanism to work out perticular process you cannot lead a successful innovation. This was the reply from one Nobel Laurete to the wise question that how ideas are transformed to innovation.

Students asked all the scientists their worst moments of their life. One scientist said that he was on the verge of making suicide because his paper was not published in Nature for five years. This paper eventually turned out to be driving force for him to recieve Nobel.

Yesterday gudiing the Physics studnets Dr. Claude Cohen-Tannoudji (Winner 1997) was answering to one innocent but wise question how we can make research interesting. There he said interest will come if we really do it for the sake of science and not for the sake of any rewards.

Nobel Laurets Conclave Indian Inst.of Information Technology Allahabad

Curiosity and excitement about research drives the interest in research said the 1997 Physics Nobel Laurete Claude Cohen-Tannoudji addressing the dense gathering of students and teachers at IIIT, Allahabad where Nobel Laurete Conclave was ignited with wonderful speeches today.

He was part of the team which developed methods of cooling and trapping atoms by using laser light. Their research is helping us to study fundamental phenomena and measure important physical quantities with unprecedented precision.

Following is the extract from his speech when he actually was awraded Nobel in 1997.

"We were a small group, but the enthusiasm for research was exceptional and we worked hard. Brossel and Kastler were in the lab nearly day and night, even on weekends. We had endless discussions on how to interpret our experimental results. At the time, the equipment was rather poor and we did what we could without computers, recorders and signal averagers. We measured resonance curves point by point with a galvanometer, each curve five times, and then averaged by hand. We were, somehow, able to get nice curves and exciting results. I think that what I learned during that period was essential for my subsequent research work and key personalities such as Alfred Kastler and Jean Brossel certainly had a significant role in it."

Primarily it was understood that this gathering will project 18 Laurets as communicated. With the organisers confirming the participation of 12 scientists, I further enquired and came to know that only 5 are coming. Even world class scientists are scared of the distant Mumbai attacks.

I wondered looking at the pioneering research institutes in India who facilitated to melt the inferiority complex in Indian minds by achieving partial self reliance why this conclave has not considered invitation to emerging scientists from Indian laboratories.

They are apparently failed to convince world class ambassodors to come to IIIT and on the contrary failed to recognise and felicitate the bright spirit of the Indian youth who has taken new challenges of research in recent times in India and abroad.

Mobilisation of the masssful bunch of students towards this type of programes has remained the obcession of the government. Right now this programe has no specific agenda. It only speaks about interaction with world renowned sientists.

It will be not schocking to learn that many of the reactions I recieved from the serious particpants that IIIT has arranged this week long programe only to spend the allotted funds by the ministry.

Shall we give them benefit of doubt?
Certainly not?

There has to be central, nodal instituion for the motivating students for fundamental science having definite scheme knowing the exact delicacies of scheduling, expertise of science communicators, empanneld scientists for talks, dedicated research and documentation team commited towards the progress of science-technology and social-psychologists analysing the trends of the students interests in the country.

This is a part of wider culture who knows the significance of the quest of knowledge and really knows how to respect that....

Interaction has to be bidirectional and informal. On the first day, I felt as if I am in stereotypical college class. These are the events where no opportunity should be left behind to stress importance of science in our life....

It is said that greatest discovery of science in 20th century was how to study science and not the inventions in actual. We never bother about that.

Please wait for next report of tomorrow!!!!

Bye

I am me

I am me.
In all the world, there is no one exactly like me.
There are persons who have some parts like me,
But no one adds up exactly like me.
Therefore, everything that comes out of me
Is authentically mine because I alone choose it.

I own everything about me
My body, including everything it does;
My mind, including all its thoughts and ideas;
My eyes, including the images of all they behold;
My feelings, whatever they may be...
Anger, joy, frustration, love, disappointment, excitement
My mouth, and all the words that come out of it
Polite, sweet or rough, correct or incorrect;
My voice, loud or soft.
And all my actions, whether they be to others or to myself.

I own my fantasies, my dreams, my hopes, my fears.
I own all my triumphs and successes,
All my failures and mistakes.

Because I own all of me I can become intimately acquainted with me.
By doing so I can love me and be friendly with me in all parts.
I can then make it possible for all of me to work in my best interests.

I know there are aspects about myself that puzzle me,
And other aspects that I do not know.
But as long as I am friendly and loving to myself,
I can courageously and hopefully, look for solutions to the puzzles
And for ways to find out more about me.

However I look and sound, whatever I say and do, and whatever I think
And feel at a given moment in time is me.
This is authentic and represents where I am in that moment in time.

When I review later how I looked and sounded, what I said and did,
And how I thought and felt, some parts may turn out to be unfitting.
I can discard that which is unfitting, and keep that which proved fitting,
And invent something new for that which I discarded.

I can see, hear, feel, think, say and do.
I have the tools to survive, to be close to others, to be productive,
And to make sense and order out of the world of people
And things outside of me.
I own me, and therefore I can engineer me.

I am me and I am okay.

--- Copyright © 1975 Virginia Satir

Age of Creativity

+ Believe in your creativity
+ Stimulate your perceptive abilities
+ Find inspiration in the world around you
+ Get over creative blocks and the fear of failure
+ Engage your curiosity
+ Recognize and use your creative instincts
+ Give yourself the time, permission, and nourishment to do creative work
+ Develop a daily practice to accomplish these goals
+ Work collaboratively

Citizen Journalism in India

Prospects of Participative Journalism in India

Recent terrorist attack in Mumbai once again reinforced our belief in wider participation of society in information gathering, processing and disseminating to counter confusion, rumors and negative mass campaign. This was realized even at the time of Tsunami surge in 2004, London Tube bombings in 2005, Katrina devastation in 2007. The use of same electronic technology used by media houses by individuals has created tremendous impact on our capacity to reach out to the event like never before.

Journalism's first obligation is to the truth Democracy depends on citizens having reliable, accurate facts put in a meaningful context. Journalism’s first loyalty is to citizens. Its essence is a discipline of verification. Its practitioners are expected to maintain an independence from those they cover. It is desirable that practitioners of this craft must serve as an independent monitor of power. Media; both print and electronic provide a forum for public criticism and compromise. They interact with official representatives or unofficial sources by striving to reach the deadline to make the significant, interesting and relevant information available. Converging media asks the news to be more and more comprehensive and proportional. Therefore, its practitioners must be allowed to exercise their personal conscience.

Some terms appear self-reflective: “personal publishing”, “self-publishing”, “do-it-yourself journalism”, “participatory journalism”, “citizen journalism”, “deliberative journalism”, “alternative media/publishing”, “collaborative publishing”, “open publishing”, “social media”, and “community publishing”. These are being uttered in public spaces like never before. There are other practices also which focus on the problems of citizens and try to solve those problems by actively participating citizens in various joint forums along with some stake holder NGOs, voluntary organization etc.

The increasing use of RTI by local vernacular language and mainstream English newspapers to expose the corruption and delays in the completion of the public interest schemes, programs is testimony to the increasing efforts of collaborations between formal media organizations and civil society. One of the aims of journalism is to enable citizens to rule themselves. The interactive platform provided by participative journalism empowers common citizen so as to accelerate the investigative spirit of the development oriented information gathering process.

Commonly we know these are the tools through which citizen journalism is practiced world over. Handbooks, Blog hosting services, Blogging tools, Blog search engines, Content management systems, Photos, Audio, Video, Mapping, Collaborative research, News feeds, Political data, Website widgets, Place blogging, Wiki, Traditional journalism, Other Sources, Watch Resources, External links.

“Citizen Journalism” is a popular label used to describe a form of media that involves moderated reader participation. It generally starts off as a Web-based approach, but one of the long-term strategies is to develop a “best of” print edition that ultimately will serve as the medium’s revenue source. The Northwest Voice, which is the citizen journalism arm of ‘The Bakersfield Californian’, used material from the Web edition to revive its shopper edition. The paper’s own institutional research showed that readership of its regular shopper edition was low, and this was not pleasing to advertisers. Mary Lou Fulton, drawing upon an idea pioneered in South Korea, guided the start of a community Web site that was run solely on story and photo submissions from the community. As content increased, the material eventually replaced the stale material that often stocked the shopper editions. Readership increased for several reasons. There was a “refrigerator door” effect, meaning that citizens were reading the print version of The Northwest Voice more closely because it included news important to them or about them that was akin to putting a child’s hand-drawn picture on the refrigerator as a source of pride and enjoyment.

But beyond the popular definition and the benefits in rebuilding sagging publications, what is citizen journalism? In point of fact, citizen journalism reverses the sender-receiver process of traditional journalism. Whereas newspaper, television and Web media use the journalist as a “gatekeeper” in the process of selecting and presenting news, in the citizen journalism format the journalist is a “shepherd” in the process. What this means is that the journalist’s role is to seek out community voices and encourage submissions; their only editing role is in making sure that copy is readable and does not open the publication to legal problems such as libel or defamation, and then they make selections as to what goes on the main pages of the Web site. Consider what Fulton told Online Journalism Review:

“We are the traditional journalism model turned upside down. Instead of

being the gatekeeper, telling people that what's important to them 'isn't

news,' we're just opening up the gates and letting people come on in. We

are a better community newspaper for having thousands of readers who

serve as the eyes and ears for the Voice, rather than having everything

filtered through the views of a small group of reporters and editors.”

In its beginnings it was referred to as “participatory journalism” or “open source journalism,” but it also has been referred to as “grassroots journalism” and “user-generated content”. For the purposes of this study, I shall use the term “citizen journalism” due to its overwhelming acceptance in industry circles and trade publications, but it is more important here to present a clear conceptual definition if for no other reason than the term “citizen” has proven to be problematic for some when assessing this new type of medium. Little scholarly research has been published on this burgeoning medium due to the fact that it is relatively new, and thus one of the goals of this work will be a clearer definition of what citizen journalism is in terms of both past theoretical and conceptual work.

There has been a great deal of buzz recently about the potential for Weblogs to revolutionize journalism, to make it more democratic, and to help demystify the craft by exposing the wizard behind the curtain of the media establishment. These claims, however, are only partially correct and are derived more from speculation based on the potential of the medium rather than from actual results. Printed words on paper, as a broadsheet, tabloid, magazine, newsletter, or pamphlet, remain a vital component of our robust press. While it is undeniable that new communication technologies have had profound and often disruptive effects upon entrenched journalistic practices, they have primarily enhanced the speed, accuracy, and geographic scope of reporting, or they have augmented the dissemination and reception of news and opinion.

It is reasonable to predict that Weblogs will follow the pattern of prior communication technologies and initially disrupt entrenched journalistic practices yet, over time, become integrated components of the mainstream media landscape. The broad claim that Weblogs will "democratize" journalism stems in large part from the notion that the media is not democratic or, at least, not democratic enough. This criticism applies not only to countries that officially control or suppress their media but also to nations with an ostensibly "free" press.

The Internet, as a many-to-many media model, allows for any article, link, and commentary to be published on a Weblog to an infinite public of interconnected users who may examine the text in question and instantly respond with collaborative evidence and links or, conversely, refute the claims made therein by posting conflicting data and criticism. The temporality of the existing "Letter to the Editor" mechanism for public response to media texts is superseded by the creation of a real-time virtual feedback loop, and the nondiscriminatory nature of most (there are private and friends-only sites) Weblogs allows respondents to forgo the intermediary step of editorial-staff review before publication of criticism. The reflexivity of Weblogs also opens the respondent to the feedback and criticism of other users, allowing every claim to be examined and vetted, leading in turn to increased openness and transparency of dialogue.

This research work will try to envisage Participative Journalism in all of it's possible forms in India. As Internet penetration is gradually increasing in Indian cities but not to the optimum level where Citizen Journalism can be practiced more vigorously, the other interactive media can be studied in order to investigate the success of interactive, collaborative, fearless forms of voluntary communication yielding to the some contribution in the solving of the any sort of problems encountered by citizens and then by communities and by and large any specific cause, service, institution etc.

Despite its bright prospects there are some questions identified by some experts about the possible contribution of the participative journalism. The journalist of the future needs to be competent in moderating and facilitating healthy debate without losing the descent judgment. Certainly, bringing these informal Participative forms into formal conscience will meet with dramatic challenges to how journalism has been traditionally practiced. (www.OhMyNews.com)

How should “personal journalism” with its informal writing style be added to the established body of journalism knowledge, especially elaborate and well-crafted news writing? How should the “personal voice” in journalists’ weblogs be governed by their long-held ethics of objectivity or impartiality? (Pradyumna Maheshwari Vs The Times of India Case) Could blogging journalists both “think and write” at the same time? How should they be different from ordinary citizens who blog? In this scenario what are recent initiatives on the Indian scene which promise the future of Citizen Journalism in India to be assuring.

Should the Civic engagement issues be incorporated in the Participative Journalism? Yes, we should not make a distinction between the citizens making news themselves by digital media and the citizens actively engaging with the platform of media so as to solve the issues in front of them. Despite the widely recognized fact that marketing war and new advertising models are emerging by having more active participation of readers, audiences, it should be critically investigated that upto what degree the quality of the news making, news delivery improvement is achieved. This is not only from the perspectives of content creation, content editing and content transmission but also to legitimize the representative concerns of the community consciously sidestepping from official agenda of the profit making corporate management.

Participative journalism demands putting the public interest ahead of he maximization of profit. It goes beyond only gathering of facts. The act of a citizen, or group of citizens, playing an active role in the process of collecting, reporting, analyzing and disseminating news and information. The intent of this participation is to provide independent, reliable, accurate, wide-ranging and relevant information that a democracy requires. The initiatives by ‘CNNIBN’ has given citizen journalism new voice. ‘Prabhat Khabar’ from Jharkhand has running ‘Readers Court’ in recent months. ‘The Indian Express’ has been very vocal about use of RTI. The Hindu has given readers chance to participate to improve the quality of the newspaper by having new column ‘The Reader`s Editor’. Marathi daily ‘Sakal’ publishes a weekly supplement totally devoted to the spontaneous articles by it`s readers.

Public journalism departs from traditional practices by advocating reporting public listening in news gathering, by producing purposeful news, and by encouraging public debate. These methods are mirror images of traditional journalistic practices are seen as contributing widespread dissatisfaction the media: an over reliance elite or expert sources for news, an emphasis on conflict between opposite sides and short time horizon that leaves some issues under-covered and other covered without any serious follow up.

Public journalism doesn't only aim to treat readers as citizens,it assumes that readers want to be citizens. By and large they are sufficiently serious about making their cities,states,and country work better that they would hammer out a smart agenda, ask experts and candidates relevant questions and strive for a practicable solutions. Public journalism empower citizens to have the time,money,access,and professional expertise of journalists.

Some critics worry that promoting public deliberation through community meetings with trained moderators is costly in terms of financial resources as well as time and takes a toll on the basic functions of news reporting i.e. reporters tasks of describing events and discerning their causes. Others are concerned about the loss of objective authority, authority that comes from the widespread belief that one is telling truth rather than justifying one's position. No other institution does what journalism does, namely "inform, monitor, critique" public affairs.

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

References:

Albert W. Dzur, Public Journalism and Deliberative Democracy, Polity, Vol. 34, No. 3, 2002, pp. 313-336, Palgrave Macmillan Journals

Altschull, J. Herbert, A crisis of conscience: Is community journalism the answer?', Journal of Mass Media Ethics, Rutledge 1996

Jeremy Littau, Citizen Journalism And Community Building: Predictive Measures Of Social Capital Generation, A Thesis at the University of Missouri-Columbia, 2007

Nguyen, An, Journalism in the Wake of Participatory Publishing, The University of Queensland & Australian Journalism Review, 2006

Shyne Bowman & Chris Willis, We Media: How audiences are shaping future of news and information, American Press Institute 2003

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Important Links

http://ec.europa.eu/research/index.cfm?lg=en&pg=who&cat=j&tips=on

Pls visit this home page to get authentic content for Science Journalsits

Half glass of whisky

Good Morning,

This is my first post.
First of all, congratulations to all my countrymen over successful launch of Chandrayan-I. This is time to celebrate and move ahead.

--------------------------------------------------


There is a glass which is filled upto half with whicky. Some one can say half glass is full, someone can say half glass is empty. Our perspective decides our illusion. I am saying this illusion because every perception about reality may not be true knowledge at all. Sometimes, it can be just apparent, subjective feeling of some kind of existence of phenomenon.

The positive or negative attitude is too simplistic interpretation of our view to understand the world around us. Perspective is much more than that.

Why we need perspective?
Without perspective we will not be able to live. We have to learn take sides for better or worse. For fight or to lose. It is this framework that helps us to place the things in priority in order to understand in sequence we like.

Lacking perspective will drop us in deep confusion. It does not matter our perspective is right or wrong. But primarily any type of perspective gives us basis for comparative analysis of stuation where we wish to intervene.