Guillotine

The day was rather challenging, considering the weekend that we travelled through; drained off energy and dampened by the weather, our spirits were hibernating as pointed out by Bharat Sir.

                Socialism, Capitalism, Communism, Bourgeois or Proletariat nothing seemed to work, not even Retail Therapy of the Capitalist, the class was equally divided, liberally day dreaming and off course the fraternity was not even remotely covalent. History was moving back and forth; AD, BC, BE,… all appeared to be jumbled alphabets and no one had a clue which jigsaw to which puzzle , at one point it did becoming un-nerving as though an imminent  revolution was brooding  parallel to the topic at hand, French Revolution. Phew!!! Seemed like we were in the wrong era in this time travel..! Hold on there is always a silver lining and the sun did shine at the end.

Aboriginals, their struggle, the Jews, Nazi propaganda, modern illusions of MNC’s and the Man eaters of Sundarbans unravelled themselves clad in different attires and this time, the coin was in the reverse, “Unless a lion starts to write you will only hear and learn a glorified history of hunters.” So was the case for the afore mentioned topics and we did get a different picture of the lions version from Bharat Sir. To conclude, as he said, Print has the power and one with power becomes powerful, however it’s up to us to be Orators and thinkers or to adjust ‘WB and hold Tri-pods.’  

                                                                                          - article by Shekhar Das

  

EVOLUTION OF MEDIA

The Nascent Paradigm

With the advent of technology, we probably didn’t foresee the supersonic speed of transition from print to digital.

From the equality principles of Marxism to the communism spirit of Cuba and China to atheism leading to the debate between genesis and evolution, today’s class discussion went off on a tangent covering different spheres of relative studies keeping intact the context -The evolution of media. 

Barath Sir spoke about a non-fiction book by Jared Diamond, Gems, Germs, and Steel. This book outlines a theory that civilization is not created out of superior intelligence but is the result of a chain of developments, each made possible by certain preconditions. Similarly, one can trace back the evolution of media as a result of the ones that came before it. For eg: He talks about frames (consecutive images displayed by a device) in a video which could be traced back indirectly to the working mechanism of a flip-book to a certain extent. Also, how video showcases linkage to photography.

Barath Sir recollects a point made by a student about the distraction caused by ads while reading an article on the internet. He points out how stories in the internet today with short videos and gifs. are similar to the newspapers (containing moving images) of the Harry Potter movie series. He also gave an insight about how earlier people regarded technology as a hindrance to religion and ironically, in the present era, how technology controls religion.

Considering the vastness of this topic, there wasn’t any formal conclusion made to it although the examples and the relative citations enhanced a deeper understanding of evolution and new media.    

                                                                                                                         - article by Vivek Das

The Phantom Itch 

Click on this link for the talk delivered by Neil Postman in Denver Colorado March 28, 1998 on the 

Five Things We Need to Know About Technological Change*

Today’s discussion was based on an essay by Neil Postman called Five Things We Need to Know About Technological Change*. These five things were expressed as ideas starting with the idea that technology comes with a price. Barath cited examples such as how the telegraph killed the idea of space; how with the arrival of automobiles also brought along with them pollution; the decline of manners among most people who use cellphones (he’s asked us to look up the meaning of a P2P Call) and local shopkeepers who lose out on business because of e-retailers.

The second idea also speaks along similar lines in that there are advantages as well as disadvantages to technology. For instance, the idea of a Smart Classroom – a concept which Barath said he would never put to practice. He went to the board and drew what I erroneously thought at the time looked like an alien grasshopper’s head but others guessed correctly as being a set of kidneys. This was to demonstrate how such drawings on a board, and the simultaneous explanation of them by the teacher, were how students used to learn about the human anatomy. However, nowadays we have colourful diagrams of the same presented to us in the form of PowerPoint presentations and these distract from what the teacher is actually trying to explain.

The third idea is about how technology dictates certain prejudices in us as a culture. For instance, Barath gave us the example of how we would look at a person who would come to class carrying a typewriter as someone who was more than a little odd; but we would not judge someone in such a way if they were carrying one of Samsung’s latest phones which when you think about it, are quite large. Barath has also asked us to watch the film The Lives of Other People in relation to this matter.

The fourth idea speaks about how technology does not adapt to an environment; rather, it actually causes changes in the environment in which it exists. Barath cited the example of when a drop of red dye (technology) may be dropped into water (environment). In the end, it is the water which is altered by the drop of dye. Similarly, it was with the arrival of television that our perception of certain incidents change. Some issues are turned from mole hills into mountains, thus inciting cultural violence. It becomes difficult to take a stance on any issue when it comes to television. Because of its reach to millions, there will always be someone, or some group of people, that will take offence.

The fifth and last idea speaks about how we have evolved into accepting the intrusiveness of new technology and viewing it as an extension of ourselves without really questioning its consequences. However, there are consequences and with the arrival of new technology, there has also arisen the need to protect ourselves from it. For instance, there is the need in most people to always have their phone with them, to the point that even if they don’t, some have instances where they think they can hear their phone ringing.

In the end, Postman warns that we must be careful that we “use technology rather than be used by it.”

*Please get your copy of this reading from Beautymorn. 

                                                                                                  - Article by Aimesha Kurbah