~ News traders ~

Gone are the days where journalists used to report news AS IS. These days they trade news based on who pays them ( the media owners to be precise). I know it is broad acquisition against all, but that's how I view them these days. The numbers of journalists who actually report news is quite few compared to the number of media companies that have grown in the past decade across India.

Thanks to Social Media & other alternate news site which provide a different perspective to abused, TRP seeking, continual *BREAKING NEWS* on every mainstream news channel, be it regional or national.

Public Service Broadcasting trust and Prasar Bharti Corporation have come together to produce a documentary on #PaidNews in Indian media. 
Note: This documentary is nearly 3 years old, but very relevant even today.

After watching it, you realise that many cases have not been taken to it's logical end by the Media. Watch what the Sports Journalists has to say about the media's role on IPL

40:53

it's happening life feel clock in the morning and still going on

41:00

the media which had been going gaga over the IP 0 for three years

41:05

sadly did a somersault a day after the times likes to serve the Baltimore these

41:09

for scams on the news all yesterday the Enforcement Directorate is doing

41:12

everything

41:13

to drag him back to India and face the charges said

41:19

it's like upto order readers or your viewers

41:23

I like a herd you you them in one direction could one day

41:26

and southerly when they actually you're getting exposed

41:29

who were exposed also in this the people who had not call their viewers

41:34

I'm sure they've really don't hesitate to ask was reading newspapers are those

41:38

really P weekend as

41:40

the foot three years you told us a different story know all of a sudden you

41:44

are

41:45

picking a somersault and saying everything is on the border

41:49

this man are about to %uh this poor River you for these two years

Following are some of them which I regularly follow:
News Laundry
Media Crooks
Media Nama
The News Minute

Which alternative sites do you visit on a daily basis for your news? Do share them. 

Source: News Laundry

~ Smartphones & dumb people ~

If you haven't yet watched this movie then please do. Technology is a catalyst to make lives easier & simple. As with everything if you end up over doing a specific thing then you become an addict & need rehabilitation. 

So lookup & stare away from the display. Move away from "Always connected" in the virtual world to being with family & friends in the real world. We only have finite time to live, so enjoy it!

'Look Up' - A spoken word film for an online generation

~ Human behaviour on Social Networks ~

Not really sure how would one interpret the behaviour of humans on the web. As most people tend to freely speak out in the virtual world via the popular Social Apps like Facebook / Twitter, many of us seem to have failed to differentiate the definition of "Like" vs "Read".

This rant originates from my observation of people's behaviour on the Social Networks. 

1. Does a like on Facebook actually mean they liked it or an acknowledgement of having read the piece? 
2. Or an RT (ReTweet) means they endorse the subject of the tweet vs they wish to pass on the information to their respective followers?

As of writing this post, I observed that 12 people have liked the post of "22 labourers killed in a road accident in Karnataka" from The Hindu.

I have add this debate with earlier too & failed to conclude on the subject. What your are thoughts on the same? 

~ Offline vs Online ~

Paul Miller speaks about his offline experience. There is a lot of paradox of being offline vs online. 

It doesn't matter what it is, finding the balance in everything we do in life is the key. When we overdo something, thats when we get into trouble.

This situation might not hold good to most Indians. Definitely applies to all those who use a lot of social apps & are not connected with real world.

Additional reading: Always Connected | Offline Paul

~ Always connected ~

Off-late, have been getting into the mode of keeping my occupied w/ my smartphone when I am in a social gathering. Could be Twitter, Whatsapp, Path or Instagram. Observations regarding my behaviour from my fiancé often makes me slide the phone aside & have a conversation. 

I wasn't like that before, but over the recent months the app addiction has increased. Rather than blaming the technology or the device, its time to accept the short coming of myself. I could use the technology / device as a catalyst in making our lives simpler & better than turn me into Zombie. 

We all need to find balance that keep us sane and connected to the real world. We seem to be more interested in snapping moments on camera, sharing status messages, tweeting sporting events or music shows than ever before. Having conversations with people around is more fun than via social media apps. Definitely, the medium can't be blamed for the addiction we create for ourselves. As with every new invention, technology/device/gadget could be boon or bane based on how one adopts it!

Nick Bilton has a good piece in BITS

“Every experience is being mediated and conceived around how it can be captured and augmented by our devices,” said Mathias Crawford, a researcher in human-computer interactions and communications at Stanford University. “No place is this more apparent than our meals, where every portion leading up to, during and after a dining experience is being carved out by particular apps.”

People make dinner reservations on OpenTable; check in on Foursquare when they arrive at the restaurant; take a picture of their food to share on Instagram; post on Twitter a joke they hear during the meal; review the restaurant on Yelp; then, finally, coordinate a ride home using Uber. 

You be the judge & make the necessary changes in your lifestyle.

Additional reading: Information overload in a minute | Social engagement | Offline Paul | Smartphone: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

~ Information overload ~

Ever wondered what the netizens of the world do in 60 seconds? The infographic below is the answer to that.

Via: The Next Web

Am sure those reading this post, have an account in one of the above application & do contribute a substantial footprint. Off-late I have tried my best to share very less content on networks.

Not sure about others, but I have experienced distraction while I had Tweetdeck running. After 6 months of self discipline, I have kind of cut down twitter usage. Currently, check my TL while commuting to office {P.S: I do not use smartphone while driving. I take the company transport ;) } or during lunch. The below diagram is an ideal representation of how my mind was before.

Mental desktop of Distraction Junkie. Source: Componentowl

Am slowly getting to a different state. To see how the mental desktop of Zen Coder looks like, I suggest you read the post - Are you a Zen Coder vs Distraction-Junkie. 

I definitely need some kind of Intelligent Algo OR need to cut down on the number of people I follow in the Social Networks to filter the Noise from the Signal.

A new kind of addiction can be seen around - consuming or producing content and being hooked to a mobile device. This might lead to a different health issue if we don't know how to maintain balance b/w online & offline world. 

GoodNight! going offline :)

~ Don't be evil ~

'Don't be evil' is a phrase which is associated with the search giant, Google. The same can be found in Code of Conduct section of the Corporate Governance. Many of them across the world use Google for more than just Search. With the explosion of Android platform Google has got a foot hold into the millions of devices in our day-to-day usage. Even though they claim that they do not track individual behaviours. We will never know how the scheme of things work with companies. 

After the advent of various Social Networks, people are broadcasting their lives constantly throughout the day via various digital avatars freely than ever before. The platforms are competing for User Engagement by innovating their UX or providing unlimited data for photos & videos. Anything free drives many users to use such services. While the companies are looking to maximize profits based on user activity on their sites, the Governments have other motives. The Govts would like people to use such services as we are now beginning to see that they want to mine the data.

Governments' defense for snooping would be protecting national interests & securing the country. Governments across the world have been making requests to many companies to comply with law of the land to share data on need per basis. You can see how Google complies with various requests from Governments across the world in their Transparency Report. While Google & Facebook have been forced to remove content from their sites in India last year. 

While people in the US were shocked by revelations that US Govt is collecting phone records of many Americans who are customers of Verizon. You can read the Verizon Court Order.

Later in the day NSA's PRISM program was exposed, all of us need to concerned about our digital privacy. 

Washington Post explain how NSA uses PRISM for data collection or mining from the Servers of 9 Major Internet companies.

Another article from Washington Post covers the whole thing in more detailed manner.

The National Security Agency and the FBI are tapping directly into the central servers of nine leading U.S. Internet companies, extracting audio and video chats, photographs, e-mails, documents, and connection logs that enable analysts to track foreign targets, according to a top-secret document obtained by The Washington Post.

Equally unusual is the way the NSA extracts what it wants, according to the document: “Collection directly from the servers of these U.S. Service Providers: Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, Facebook, PalTalk, AOL, Skype, YouTube, Apple.”

Guess what most of the companies who are listed as Service Providers for the PRISM program have to say. They have flatly denied what is seen on the NSA presentation slides. Isn't that obvious that they would deny it? :P

The eavesdropping program is detailed in the form of PowerPoint slides in a leaked NSA document, seen and authenticated by the Guardian, which states that it is based on "legally-compelled collection" but operates with the "assistance of communications providers in the US."

Each of the 41 slides in the document displays prominently the corporate logos of the tech companies claimed to be taking part in PRISM.

However, senior executives from the internet companies expressed surprise and shock and insisted that no direct access to servers had been offered to any government agency.

You can read more about the denial from the tech giants on Guardian.

If you ask, When & What data has been collected? Source

Some of the world's largest internet brands are claimed to be part of the information-sharing program since its introduction in 2007. Microsoft – which is currently running an advertising campaign with the slogan "Your privacy is our priority" – was the first, with collection beginning in December 2007.

It was followed by Yahoo in 2008; Google, Facebook and PalTalk in 2009; YouTube in 2010; Skype and AOL in 2011; and finally Apple, which joined the program in 2012. The program is continuing to expand, with other providers due to come online.

Collectively, the companies cover the vast majority of online email, search, video and communications networks. 

Indian Govt isn't far behind in developing a system which lets them snoop on their citizens either. Off-late have come across online campaigns on various social networks against ICMS.

What is ICMS?

Indian Central Monitoring System(ICMS) is being implemented by the Government of India(GoI) this year. GoI started implementation from April 2013.

What does ICMS cover?

For now, it will be linked to the Telephone Call Interception System (TCIS) setup to monitor voice calls, SMS and MMS, GPRS, Fax Communications on landlines, CDMA, GSM and 3G networks, and video calls. 

You can read & support the STOP ICMS campaign here. 

We would like to believe that we live in a Democratic setup where freedom is the beacon. After discovering that such programs exist for monitoring people, all in the name of providing national security. I wonder how different are we - Indians or Americans - from the Chinese. Democracy is just another sugar coated pill which we would like to believe offers something better for "We the People".

Huffington post has a George W. Obama ;)

Update 7 June 2013

We now have statements from the CEOs of Google & Facebook on the PRISM. Who is speaking the truth, NSA's presentation showcase the companies who have joined against the passage of time or those who run these Companies?

Here is the response from Larry Page:

First, we have not joined any program that would give the U.S. government—or any other government—direct access to our servers. Indeed, the U.S. government does not have direct access or a “back door” to the information stored in our data centers. We had not heard of a program called PRISM until yesterday.

Here is the response from Mark Zuckerberg:

Facebook is not and has never been part of any program to give the US or any other government direct access to our servers. We have never received a blanket request or court order from any government agency asking for information or metadata in bulk, like the one Verizon reportedly received. And if we did, we would fight it aggressively. We hadn't even heard of PRISM before yesterday. 

Additional reading

Media coverage about the ICMS here: The Verge | The Register | Human Rights Watch. I do not see any Indian Media covering this or are we caught up in the IPL hole ignoring this? ;)

More about PRISM here:  EFF | Guardian | Guardian | WashingtonPost | WashingtonPost 

Microsoft admits revealing subscriber data to govt | Google Got 2431 User Data Requests From Indian Govt Between July & Dec 2012 | India is next only to the US, which made 45 user data requests a day on an average, the highest for any country | India’s requests for Web censorship increase | The NSA surveillance story reinforces why an entity like WikiLeaks is so important

Doublespeak Denials Of PRISM Hid The Truth About Participation | Tech Giants Built Segregated Systems For NSA Instead Of Firehoses To Protect Innocent Users From PRISM | Obama tells intelligence chiefs to draw up cyber target list – full document text |

~ Viral marketing comes at a price ~

I know companies spend loads of money on advertising & marketing their product. Advertisements are one of *the* mainstream ways to promote. However, these days videos are created more for Viral Factor on the Social Networks.

Today morning, I came across the video on FB wall. No doubt the video is well edited by Pro Cycle to showcase their product. 

Not sure why they had to put an off-road bike {not bicycle, I mean Motor Bike} in the video. Another aspect which I disliked, was the need/necessity to show the location info at the start. 

People in the city already lack in conserving nature - parks, lakes, trees, wildlife - in and around Bangalore. While the city is ever-expanding & many prominent builders are exploiting open spaces with new Villa / Townships offering; add to it, people are always on look out for adventure & exploring new avenues to kill their time. I wonder what impact it would have on Thurahalli forest if people took their Motor Bikes to explore the eco-space.

ProCycle is bicycle store with a “difference” that is committed to promoting bicycling in a “Correct” manner. You will experience our commitment and feel this difference the moment you walk into our store at Indiranagar

Thats the introduction about ProCycle on their website. While they state their committed to promote bicycling in a *Correct* manner. I hope they live up to every word. 

I googled & guess what I found, not to be surprised, exploitation of Turahalli   has already begun with illegal temple :(

“Turahalli is the last remaining wilderness space so close to South Bangalore. Everyone in the adventure community, be it climbers, walkers, birdwatchers or cyclists, have a responsibility to keep the forests as they are, and leave minimum impact. The same responsibility does not seem to hold good with temple constructions and the like,” adds Venkatesh, alias Venky. More here

Therefore, viral marketing comes at a price. The price could be monetary at times; And in this case ecology, which could be irreversible. 

Yes, they already got my attention & a post. I hope people of the city enjoy & conserve what is left in and around Bangalore.

~ Offline Paul ~

Also known as Paul Miller. Mr Paul embarked on a year long journey to be disconnected from the digital world. It would be hard for a person like him to go offline for 12 months without internet.

I'd used the internet constantly since I was twelve, and as my livelihood since I was fourteen. I'd gone from paperboy, to web designer, to technology writer in under a decade.

In Information age, it is quite hard & takes a lot of effort to stay in-sync with rest of the world without Internet. At least to those of us who are constantly consuming endless data from various streams. My parents on the other hand  contradict me, they don't use or need internet for any of their daily chores. However, I do require it for my profession. Outside of work it is more or less for social communication, reading, consuming news, occasional shopping, watching videos & nothing beyond.

Here are some of the thoughts which I liked from Paul's first post after coming online - I’m still here: back online after a year without the internet

"Internet is reprogramming our relationships, our emotions, and our sensitivity," said one of the rabbis at the rally. It destroys our patience. It turns kids into "click vegetables."

As my head uncluttered, my attention span expanded.

By pulling away from the echo chamber of internet culture, I found my ideas branching out in new directions.

It turns out paper books are really great. I don't comparison shop to buy plane tickets, I just call Delta and take what they offer.

In fact, most things I was learning could be realized with or without an internet connection — you don't need to go on a yearlong internet fast to realize your sister has feelings.

The moral choices aren't very different without the internet.

There's a lot of "reality" in the virtual, and a lot of "virtual" in our reality - Nathan Jurgenson

What I do know is that I can't blame the internet, or any circumstance, for my problems.

The longest I have remained offline in the last 3 years, the farthest my memory can be stretched, is about 3 days ;) How long have you remained offline?

Here is an interesting poster which I came across recently.

~ News is entertainment ~

Post the Doordarshan era when the Govt of India allowed private players to broadcast, we initially had a bouquet of sports & entertainment channels. As far as the News channels were concerned, back in late 90s we had - DD, Zee News & Aaj Tak. The alternative source of news were magazines - The Outlook, The Week, India Today & regional cousins - and traditional Newspapers.

Step into 21st Century, we have 120 News channels operating across India. Of these 120 channels, guess about 5 English channels are watched by most urban population, discounting the Regional news channels. 

Thanks to these channels, am disillusioned by how information is feed to us & at times they have constant supply of *Breaking News*. Thanks to FDI &  politicians / political parties who want a medium to reach out to the masses, we now have many of them who own or control some of these channels. Most of these channels are biased towards a specific party, religion or an issue. Very rarely do we see these channels take a neutral stance &  get the bottom of an issue. 

After the Radiagate exposè, I lost faith with some of the main stream media professionals {& their organizations} whose names have appeared in the deal making. I feel the role of media today has changed to that of a *Middleman* who brokers deals between different political parties, business men, corporations than their primary objective of delivery quality information to the people of the current affairs. My view holds good w.r.t Indian media only.

I have been watching Madhu Trehan's episodes today morning & agree with her points. Wonder how those anchoring the shows fail to miss the obvious. I wish those Media professionals watch Madhu's show & take it as feedback about their work & bring some change. Have been following the alternative media - bloggers or websites - which cover/offers another perspective to the main stream media. Some of them which I frequently visit are:

Open The Magazine

The Caravan

Kafila

Churmuri

Media Crooks

News Laundry

Faking News *Satire 

Move over bloggers or websites, we now have  realtime crowd-sourced news being covered by people across the globe powered by Twitter. Any major event {Political | Sporting | Festival | Product Launches} or Catastrophe being delivered instantaneously with videos & pictures. This breaks the hold of mainstream media on coverage of events. The below pictures were taken by Andrew Kitzenberg, in the night when Tsarnaev brothers had a show down with police.

Here it’s clear to see the brothers taking aim and firing on the officers. (Taken at 12:47:57AM)

This is a zoomed in view from the last image. The red circle highlights the pressure cooker bomb that was used just moments after this photo was taken. These are the only pictures which I have come across on the internet captured by Andrew. For first hand account of the event witnessed by Andrew visit here

However, the normal public do not have access to information when it comes to Govts or Corporations. That's where we bank on the these Media Corps to deliver news AS IS versus interpreting or transforming before reaching us.

We have hacktivist style of news reporting from YourAnonNews & WikiLeaks. Even though their means of obtaining information is not considered ethical by majority their intent isn't *always* wrong. From the recent Boston bombings, we have seen online vigilantism which caused a lot of rumour & chaos in the already stressed environment. This is one of the major drawbacks of digital world when data is available for everyone to piece together & offer their own versions.

One of the politicians I admire is Mr Obama. How I wish our PM Mr Manmohan Singh shared some wit or at least spoke, at times, when it mattered. Enjoy this talk, Obama taking digs at the entire media during his speech at the White House Correspondent’s dinner.

Additional reading: A week inside India's media boom {FT} | Inside the Anonymous Hacking File on the Steubenville 'Rape Crew' {The Atlantic} | THE LESSONS OF STEUBENVILLE {The NewYorker} | Breaking news is broken {Slate} | Hey Reddit, Enough Boston Bombing Vigilantism {The Atlantic} | Security alert: notes from the frontline of the war in cyberspace {The Guardian} | The trolls among us {NYT}

Update 13 May 2013

Anubha Bhonsle has a very good write up on how Twitter plays a role in how we consume news & also the responsibility of the journalists to get their basics right & provide meaningful context to the raw data. Do read 'News in the time of Twitter' on News Laundry. 

There is no denying that social media platforms can today spread information and misinformation far quicker than they would have spread a decade ago. The problem though isn’t with technology. The problem is many of us have all but abandoned standards of good reporting, the very basics. The need of the hour is a reporter who will shape a narrative in a cacophony of noise, conversation and abundant content around him/her or on the social web. A reporter who will dig, question, unearth and make the linkages.

Biz Stone, the co-founder of Twitter has been quoted as saying, “We provide the information. That’s when we hand off the baton to journalists, to provide context.”

~ Question onself ~

The media dubbed Falak as “India’s Baby.” Now the young woman became “India’s Daughter.” With the passage of time, we all move on. 

Paul Beckett, WSJ bureau head in Delhi, has nailed it on the head in his article 'How much more can India take?' last two paras.

"All that will take engagement at a time when the overwhelming temptation for many will be to fume on Twitter then mentally withdraw.

Politicians must engage, too. And, if they don’t, they must be punished in the only way that they appear to understand: Removal at the ballot box, where voters have a recurring chance to prove that they don’t forget."

Applies to each one of us including self. As my friend, Anand Patil, says we all are arm-chair activists who live within our comfort zones to have an opinion and speak about it on various mediums - Twitter or Facebook or writing a Blogpost. 

Besides the outrage, what is my contribution to the society? A question to self.
— J (@Vjuneesh) December 29, 2012

Vjuneesh has a good thought. Contemplate & decide what you can do to make the situation better in life. 

~ Socially Me ~

The life of an technophile living anywhere today, is expressing those moments of emotion as a constant stream of data to various Social Networks - FB, Twitter, Instagram, Path, G+. The power of smartphones & data connectivity has exploded into data bomb. Will not be surprised, if the Governments tomorrow are not elected by tweets :) 

I personally use all of those networks for various means:

1. Instagram: For clicking moments when am travelling & without my DSLR around. 
2. Path: For places  - restaurants, movies, leisure - all for audit trail purpose. 
3. G+: For sharing information w/ co-workers on various news items - tech, political, football.
4. G+Messenger: For 3 months, have been using it mostly to connect with Gooners who are spread across the globe. We share the latest updates, rants, news or anything to do with ArsenalFC. Happened to meet few of them in Bangalore & watched the Arsenal vs Manchester United game with Bangalore Gunners. This week we were amongst the first to have Arsenal FC Fans G+ Community.
5. Twitter: Consuming or sharing instant updates about anything under the sun which I like.
6. FB:  Updates from college friends, (ex)colleagues, travel, interests, etc.
7. Last.fm: For scrobbling songs.
8. Also there are numerous tech blogs which I follow on a daily basis.
9. Using LinkedIn more often over the last 2 weeks. Most of you who are connected would have noticed the activity :P
10. Youtube subscriptions are active, but not regular.

By now you have figured out how much of information over-load I go through in a day from various apps at various point of time. This definitely isn't good when you are working or otherwise. Your attention span takes a BIG hit & distracts from your task. Off-late {for the past 2 months} have made  conscious effort about how & when I use - Twitter & FB. I check them during lunch / tea breaks & post dinner, during weekdays. On weekends, my usage of Twitter & FB is high; considering football games.

The trigger for the post was this article by Roger Cohen - Thanks for not sharing, on NYT. 

Like everything else in life, when it comes to usage, technology too has its share of pros & cons. Instead of blaming - technology, smartphone, social networks, information overload - for not having enough time for loved ones or pursuing your hobby or reading a book or going for walk or run or meeting friends, etc. It boils down to the individuals' approach on maintaing the balance in the eco-system of life. Be it virtual or real, we still have control over ourselves. The day hasn't arrived yet, where machines have taken over & we have limited options. It isn't far, surely gonna happen. But till then, we are the masters of our own lives & we can maintain a healthy balance. Be the judge the next time when you are about to share or like something w/ the rest of the world :)

Take a look at the Socially Awkward Infographic. 

Image source: DigitalQuarters

Update: 26 Jan 13

If you are a developer, then I recommend you read Christian Grobmeier post 'The 10 rules of Zen programming' This should definitely help one focus & achieve more in the age of social distraction {Twitter, FB, Whatsapp, Emails, SMS, et al}

~ Bangalore Traffic Police & power of IT ~

Am impressed with the way Bangalore Traffic Police has begun adopting the power of Information Technology over the years.

1. They got away with the paper receipts for booking offences to reduce or marginalize corrupt practices by introducing Blackberry mobile solutions. This gives tracking historical offences & also the fine one pays goes into the Govt coffers
2. Under the BTRAC 2010 program, they introduced the Surveillance cameras 
3. Also introduced enforcement cameras to regulate the speed limit
4. Embracing and usage of Social Media - Twitter, Facebook - for better communication, interaction & management with the citizens, makes a good model for adoption for other cities
5. They are coming up with couple of Traffic Management Centers to keep tab on the overall city infrastructure. 

Today they have announced that Citizens can now take pictures and share it with the Traffic Police on violations. Am gonna put my mobile phone to good use now. Fellow Bangaloreans watch out, Citizens are now armed. Good initiative by BTP. The Service is called Public Eye.

Not really concerned whether the offender will be booked or go Scot-free, I shall be doing my bit.


BTP Website | Vision (PDF) | Live Traffic Feed (Video)