Conversations with Dina
Creative Chaos - Dina Mehta's Blog
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- Open Source Democratizes Knowledge
The Sunday edition of the Economic Times here in India, has a column by Nandu Pradhan, President and MD, Red Hat, titled Open Source is democratising knowledge. He talks of Linux as an example of the tremendous benefits of collaborative knowledge, shares how Linux is being employed in India, and draws a parallel to its development in India with other traditions of knowledge like yoga and ayurveda - free and open to all. Abundance in its true form!
Some excerpts:
"Enterprises across India have also been quick to realise the benefits of open source despite the enourmous amounts of FUD (fear, uncertainity and doubt) that proprietary vendors have sought to create. Today, enterprises like LIC, IDBI, IRCTC, IndiaBulls, UTI Bank, Canara Bank, CESC and others use Red Hat Enterprise Linux and other open source software to run their mission critical applications. The SMS voting backbone for highly popular TV shows like Kaun Banega Crorepati and Indian Idol also run on Red Hat Enteprise Linux."
"It is no surprise that Linux and open source software have caught on rapidly in India. Our traditions of knowledge like yoga and ayurveda have always been free and open to all. We have successfuly built commercial models have been built on top of free knowledge as can be seen from the proliferation of Ayurvedic spas and the fact that yoga is a $30 billion industry in the US.
Open source proves that the age old adage that we all grow richer by sharing knowledge still holds true in the Internet era. For decision makers who are implementing IT, it is time to take a long hard look at the long term benefits of open source and evaluate the value it provides on servers and desktops."
Sun, 04 Feb 2007 15:39:03 GMT - Live from Asia Source II
I've been quiet here, but have been blogging a lot at the Asia Source II blog. Its been fun facilitating the Open Publishing sessions - I've learnt so much myself! We've had huge challenges with connectivity - 120 of us sharing a 256 kbps modem; trying to get Plone then Drupal working and finally resorting to Wordpress for the live blog! Rather than writing it entirely, I've got lots of folks from different countries and tracks sharing their perspectives. Lazy me :)
What's the blog about ...
This blog is meant to capture the colours, flavour, essence and spirit of Asia Source II in Sukabumi, Indonesia. We'll be sharing our discussions from the sessions, lots of fun stuff, some serious FOSS wisdom, and even some poetry. We'd love it if you jump in and add your perspectives to the many conversations and exchanges we will have in this space. The Asia Source II wiki will have more detailed content and reports.
Here's one of my early postings there:We're working in military tents!
There are four learning tracks for the morning sessions. Three of the four groups are working in military tents, fitted with 8-10 computers. The uber geeks have a classroom, where they can lock up all their cool gizmos like wireless transmitters.
Here's what Track 1 on Open Publishing had as their objective for the Camp Blog they are running as one of their projects:
- to create a lasting online documentation of the camp
- to capture the 'spirit' of Asia Source
Go over to the blog and join the conversations there!
They've been blogging, learning how to resize and insert images today, tomorrow they go podcasting. Fun!
Mon, 29 Jan 2007 08:50:02 GMT - Off to Indonesia for AsiaSource - II
I'll be in Sukabumi, Indonesia for the next ten days, at AsiaSource II. It really is going to be a camp, and am excited to be living fairly in dormitory style - takes me back to my college years! Its also an opportunity to meet an entire new set (for me) of folks doing some excellent work in the social media area in South Asia and South East Asia, as this is the first time I'm attending a conference in the Asian region.
There are four main learning tracks:
- Open Publishing and Broadcasting
- Alternative Hardware and Access
- FOSS Implementation and Migration
- Information Management
When Sunil, who I met at the Global Voices Summit in Delhi, invited me to be a facilitator for the Open Publishing and Broadcasting track, my first response was how will I help - I'm not a geek. He then assured me that he was looking for someone who is a user .. and for someone who can help people explore benefits of the social and community aspects of this media. Apart from all the geeky stuff I am looking forward to immerse myself in, some of the conversations I'd like to encourage in this track are around:- risks in open publishing and managing risks
- why organizations should adopt social media
- role of social media/open publishing in disaster relief
- communication, community, collaboration brought about by social media
- open publishing is not just about blogging/wikis ... it is also about keeping track of conversations - session on RSS, trackbacks, social bookmarking, technorati, digg etc ... the entire ecosystem around blogging
I hope to blog my experiences while there!
Technorati tag: AsiaSource II
Thu, 18 Jan 2007 14:24:04 GMT - Brand 2.0 - Lessons for Marketers
Everyone seems to be talking about it. Nice to see these perspectives in the context of brands and products. I read this at Brandchannel today:
SelfLead - the emergence of the sovereign citizen - by Ray Podder.
Excerpts:"What if anything and everything you owned, knew, thought, created or used was negotiable at any point in time? What if you could sell off your junk, get compensated for your opinions, or lend, borrow and bet without the need for banks or governments? What if your creative product had a larger audience than corporate networks? What if your lone dissident voice couldn’t be silenced even by the rich and powerful?"And here's another paper found at Brandchannel from Dec 2006 - How To Crash The Consumer-Controlled Party. And Not Get Thrown Out .... (pdf file)"At first, it may seem strange to think that you could be on the same level playing field as a multinational corporation, but just consider how business and customers co-exist in networked spaces. As of now, we both get our basic queries and network trend data from the same place. Pending the Net Neutrality power struggle and censorship issues of the moment, the deeper resources of the Internet will likely become available to everyone as well. Given the probability of that reality and the other factors previously mentioned what do we do to use this shift to our advantage both as individuals and as companies?
Enable the empowered. Marketing is no longer about messages. It’s about motivation. If you want to motivate the new sovereignty, reach them by the tools they will use to refine their participation power. That means be available as choices for personalization on start-page like environments where choosing your brand of service is a self-defining action. For example, if you deliver travel services, then the new sovereign citizen is both your traveler and your travel agent. If you sell art then the new sovereign citizen is your art promoter, using your art in experiential ways to define their personal spaces."
Mon, 08 Jan 2007 07:36:21 GMT - Trends 2007
What should marketers be looking at in 2007?
TRANSUMERS from GENERATION C(ASH) living transient, connected, participative lifestyles, showing off their STATUS SKILLS, experiencing TRYVERTISING, masters of their YOUNIVERSE, indulging in TWINSUMER ventures, within the TRANSPARENCY TYRANNY of the GLOBAL BRAIN moving ever closer to CROWD CLOUT.
(Images from the trendwatching website). Go there to find out more on status, transparency and consumer power, the online revolution, more adventurous consumption, and a shift from consumption to participation.
Some excerpts:"GENERATION C(ONTENT) is joining GENERATION C(ASH). If consumers produce the content, if they are the content, and that content brings in money for aggregating brands, then revenue and profit-sharing is going to be one of 2007's main themes in the online space. It's not like brands will have a choice: talented consumers are going to be too sought after to remain satisfied with thank you notes. Get ready for an avalanche of revenue sharing deals, reward schemes and sumptuous gifts aimed at luring creative consumers."
"TRANSUMERS are consumers driven by experiences instead of the 'fixed', by entertainment, by discovery, by fighting boredom, who increasingly live a transient lifestyle, freeing themselves from the hassles of permanent ownership and possessions. The fixed is replaced by an obsession with the here and now, an ever-shorter satisfaction span, and a lust to collect as many experiences and stories as possible.* Hey, the past is, well, over, and the future is uncertain, so all that remains is the present, living for the 'now'."
"(Oh, and just wait for TRANSUMERS to be amongst the first to accept if not desire virtual goods. After all, the more time they spend online, the less need they have for expensive, fixed, hardly ever used physical goods. But we're getting carried away here...)"
"emerging TWINSUMER trend: consumers looking for the best of the best, the first of the first, the most relevant of the relevant increasingly don't connect to 'just any other consumer' anymore, they are hooking up with (and listening to) their taste 'twins'; fellow consumers somewhere in the world who think, react, enjoy and consume the way they do."
"Now, through an onslaught of new collaborative filtering software, millions of new personal profiles, exclusive communities and what have you, the TWINSUMER phenomenon is turning millions of reviews, ratings and recommendations into truly valuable results fitting one person's very particular preferences or even lifestyle. Whether it's a one-off TWINSUMER union or an ongoing relationship. TWINSUMER therefore isn't about access to reviewings or ratings or even trust in general (those are fast becoming hygiene), but about relevance.""At the core of all consumer trends is the new consumer, who creates his or her own playground, own comfort zone, own universe. It's the 'empowered' and 'better informed' and 'switched on' consumer combined into something profound, something we've dubbed MASTER OF THE YOUNIVERSE. At the core is control: psychologists don't agree on much, except for the belief that human beings want to be in charge of their own destiny. Or at least have the illusion of being in charge.
"And because they can now get this control in entirely new ways, aided by an online, low cost, creativity-hugging revolution that's still in its infancy, young and old (but particularly young) consumers now weave webs of unrivaled connectivity and relish instant knowledge gratification. They exercise total control over creative collections, including their own creative assets, assume different identities in cyberspace at a whim, wallow in DIY / Customization / Personalization / Co-Creation to make companies deliver whatever and whenever, on their own terms".
"Remember the promises of flawless matching of supply and demand, and limitless consumer power, when the web burst onto the scene a dozen years ago? While the last few years didn't disappoint (consumers are already enjoying near-full transparency of prices and, in categories like travel and music, near-full transparency of opinions as well), 2007 could be the year in which TRANSPARENCY TYRANNY really starts scaring the shit out of non-performing brands."
Mon, 08 Jan 2007 06:00:37 GMT - Stray Dogs, Muslims and Non-Vegetarians Barred
Buying a house in Mumbai is sooooo frustrating. I have been looking for a two-bedroom place in a specific area of the city (Worli-Mahim) for the last 8 months. I've been looking at both old apartments and some in new buildings that are mushrooming all around the city. I like the old apartments because they are more spacious and have higher ceilings. The new buildings come with more 'fittings' and some of them can be quite nice - but you feel really cheated on the super built-up area rates they charge you, which can, in some cases be upto 45% of the carpet area of the flat. So you have to really compromise on the living area in the flat, and are paying so much more needlessly.
This is such a disorganized sector - there are brokers and sub-brokers - anyone can become a broker and you don't need to be affiliated with a firm. They ask for anywhere between 1-2% of the sale or purchase and this is 'bargainable'. Very often, they haven't seen the place they are showing you, and this results in tremendous wastage of time. Because I am a woman and I don't have a big firm attached to my name, they assume time is of no essence to me - and fix and change appointments at their whims and fancy. And prices they quote always seem to be 'negotiable'. If I ask to examine papers for the apartment they tell you its all ok.
I have come so close to buying something at least thrice - then it all falls through for reasons completely out of my control. In one case, I paid up a token amount of Rs.100,000 and had to get it back because on examining the papers the housing society had not given the owner an NOC to sell. When I ask for the papers in advance, they say papers can be handed over only after you have paid up the token amount. Thanks to my sister who is a corporate banker and deals with this sort of thing professionally, we had a handwritten, signed memo with the owner, and I was able to get the token amount back.
Another apartment fell through at the negotiation stage, where the owner wanted over 40% of the amount in cash as against cheque payment - to cut down on stamp duty, registration and most importantly capital gains. And I thought the days of paying out black money are gone, since the IT department has become so much more vigilant.
I wish there were some standards here!
I really had my heart set on the last apartment that fell through. I'm buying the place on my maiden name which is a typical Parsi surname - Dastur. When the owner heard that, he immediately said "sorry madam we only allow strict vegetarians in". I'd been rejected for one flat for this very reason earlier, and it happened again. It reminded me of the British Raj, when there were signs outside clubs, hotels and restaurants which read something like - 'Dogs and Indians not allowed'. Only in this case, I feel discriminated against by my own people. I'm made to feel like a pariah simply because I eat meat. This is really ridiculous.
I feel for the Muslims in our country too - in many buildings I visited, I was told by the society members and brokers in a tone meant to make me heave a sigh of relief, that Muslims weren't permitted to buy.
While I can still handle the inefficiencies and inconsistencies in the buying process, this discrimination really sucks. Any ideas on whether any sort of action can be taken against it? Would love to hear your views.
Tue, 02 Jan 2007 13:12:19 GMT - 2006 ...
.... has been a great year for me in many ways. Rob, in a recent post, wonders:
"2007 - When enough people leave Plato's cave?
I wonder - Will enough people leave the cave and experience the sunlight to cause a Tipping Point in 2007? Will Life 2.0 take hold? I think so!"
I think so too - and its not just me - I think I had left the cave a few years ago. The nice thing is I see I am not alone in the sunlight - and people from all spheres of life are beginning to see. Clients, friends, family, acquaintances and so many unknown faces that are beginning to bask in the same sunshine. I have been guided by some, have guided others - and still found my own little spot.
This year has brought a certain convergence in my 'traditional' qualitative research work and blogging and social media. More of my research work is in the area of tech and social communication - mobile phones, software development - and I've been able to use my research skills and marketing experience in bringing about workshops on how brands and companies could build communities through conversations that empower their customers to infact become their marketers. And, as in the last few years since I began blogging, much of the new and exciting work is coming in because of my blog connections. I really am looking forward to engaging in more of these conversations and I've already got some projects lined up for 2007 that are exciting.
Looking back on 2006, I thought it would be nice to do a recap (even just for myself) on how its unfolded - and give thanks for all the people I've had the opportunity to meet, and for the projects I've worked on this year, the conferences and unconferences I have attended.It started off with the Brand 2.0 workshops I conducted with Stuart - thanks Vamsi from Starcom and Rajeev at Western Union for trusting us and giving us this first opportunity. More Brand 2.0 in 2007.
I attended BlogHer earlier this year in San Jose - a wonderful experience.
Thank you Liz Lawley - for inviting me to the Microsoft Social Computing Symposium in May.
I've also been so fortunate to be part of a pure Open Space Meeting coordinated for NPR by the amazing Rob at the New Realities Forum in Washington DC in May. The agenda was set completely by participants - if I remember right, there were more than 300 participants. However, it had a core theme - a very clear objective - and was really well-organized in terms of a lot of care taken in figuring out the venue, the rooms, making it easy for people to navigate through the free-flowing structure, and run by a real maestro in Johnnie Moore, who Rob describes as "an exemplar of calm courage and astonishing presence" which is a really perfect description of Johnnie. Thank you Rob - and Page and Dana from NPR, for allowing me into this amazing space you have created and for trusting - we hadn't met face-to-face until then!
I was part of a large team that helped organize BlogCamp India in August - here are my reflections
The other area that my blogging has taken me into is activism of sorts - which started in December 2004 with the tsunamis blogging efforts - and this year, we formed collectives and groups to battle internet censorship and help out when we had the serial bomb blasts in Mumbai. Here are some links: MumbaiHelp blog and wiki. The Bloggers Collective was formed and we fought against blogs being banned, against censorship, and demanded our right to information.
On research projects, I've done some interesting work for Unilever this year - have spent many days in rural India, facilitated a creativity session for one of their product groups, and I think (I hope) managed to sell them the idea of doing Brand 2.0 workshops :). I'd also say here I have thoroughly enjoyed working regularly with Pat and Lizzie at Social Solutions Inc and Gerald Lombardi at GFK-NOP through whom I've enjoyed working with Dean Gaylor, Chai Ki Lim and Sharon Asker at HP, who had come down to India. Also through SSI - I've done work for Kraft. Some of my new clients this year - Nicole-Anne Boyer, a colleague from Worldchanging got me to do a learning journey and a few sessions with a bunch of French retailers here in Mumbai. Smita Pillai and Sanjay Gupta of Vistakon for whom we did a study, where we merged approaches from ethnography and more traditional motivational research. In November, Stuart Penny and Jude Rattle from Flow Interactive UK contacted me through my blog, and I did a small study on cell phones for them.
Its all paid really well - and most importantly has been a lot of fun! Thank you all for making this year a really fun and productive one.
For me its also been a year of change - with joys, frustrations and disappointments too. Many many thanks to my family and friends for supporting me through a really busy and somewhat difficult year.
End of mush :)
Looking ahead to 2007:
- More Brand 2.0 workshops where I'd like to involve more collaborators and facilitators. Am currently talking with Euan Semple about a possible series in April this year in Mumbai.
- A fall-out of the Global Voices Online Summit and a meeting with the awesome Professor Ashok Jhunjhunwala- has resulted in the setting up of a pilot outreach programme in rural India where the objective is to get a person from a village to prepare a story about any aspect of life in his or her village every
day (25 days a month) and post it.
- Developing further on my series of cultural insights and trends
- A consulting gig for an MSM publication in India that would like to go Web 2.0. This would include research as well.
- I'm going to be in Indonesia for 10 days beginning Jan 20th to facilitate the Open Publishing Track at Asia Source II - Free and Open Technologies for NGO's and SME's. This is an initiative of the UNDP Asia-Pacific Development Information Programme.
Sat, 30 Dec 2006 17:29:45 GMT - Sheer Elegance
Choices,
Simplicity
and
Elegance"If you're using the term simplicity to mean "grace and economy" or "elegance," that's terrific. A great example of this is the difference between the way you search for music on Rhapsody and the way you search for music on iTunes. Rhapsody makes you decide if you want to search for albums, tracks, or artists. iTunes doesn't give you any choice: it just searches all fields, which works just as well and is easier. Economy means power, in this case, and it’s a feature.
On the other hand, if you're using simplicity to mean a lack of power, a lack of features, that's fine, if you want to be in the paper clip business, good luck with that, but the chances that your product will solve my exact problems starts to shrink and your potential market share does, too."
Great stuff from Joel Spolsky.
Fri, 22 Dec 2006 20:03:45 GMT - Global Voices Online Summit, Delhi 2006
Global Voices Summit in Delhi. Rebecca MacKinnon, one of the co-founders of Global Voices Online sets out some thoughts before the summit. In an email to the GV group, she says: "I've posted on my blog with some thoughts about what I'm hoping to
accomplish at this meeting, plus some context of where we've come from
and where we may be going."
Latest news from the wiki:- Global Voices Delhi summit - only a few days to go!
- Global Voices launches new search function!
- See also the collaborative attendee-written blog on this wiki.
- Photos may be found on Flickr.
- Participating via IRC (One click Web chat!)
- Streaming Live Audio
- Audio and video archives of some of the presentations (coming soon).
- Topical discussions and roundtables
- Coverage, transcripts and archives
See you there if you're participating ...
Technorati: gvdelhi2006 - global voices
Thu, 14 Dec 2006 18:30:29 GMT - Blog Tag Game
I have been tagged by my friend Rob Paterson in a Blog tag game where you tag 5 people whose blog you enjoy and ask them to tell the world about 5 things that most people may not know of you.
Along with me, Rob has tagged:- Craig Willson at Humble
- Peter Rukavina at Ruk.ca
- Cynthia Dunsford at Iridescent spoke
- Johnnie Moore at Johnnie Moore's Weblog
1. I am an obsessive napper - give me 10 free minutes anytime, anywhere and I will nap. If my day doesn't graciously offer them up, I take 60 minutes!
2. I love driving and am quite the speed freak - I spent hundreds of hours playing those computer racing games and only got myself a real license when I was 34 - I'm convinced I drive well (not everyone thinks so!) because I played those computer games.
3. Related to driving, I intensely dislike auto-rickshaws and their drivers - I never did when I didn't drive myself. I have had this vision of lining them all up by the sea, giving each one a really hard kick in their ratty butts, and watching with glee as they topple over and into the sea.
4. My broad shoulders come from hours and hours of training as a swimmer. Yeah I swam the nationals and was more of a long-distance swimmer - one race I will always remember is a 20 nautical mile stretch when I was 14. Much as I wish they were smaller, I think they have their uses - I can be a good listener :)
5. I cry bucketloads at movies - however inane or silly they are, however silly it makes me feel. I like sad movies.
Five blogs that I'd like to tag, as my little nephew says 'just because' ...- Whether Pigs Have Wings, by Anant Rangaswami
- Lilia Efimova's Mathemagenic
- Nilu's Recursive Hypocrisy
- Beth Canter's blog - Beth's Blog
- Jim McGee's Musings
Tue, 12 Dec 2006 14:42:15 GMT - MSN India Report on Blogging Trends
Some blogging trends in India .. based on a study 'Blogging India: An MSN and Windows Live Report'
"A desire for self-improvement and personal development is found to be a key driver of India's blogosphere with a large majority of online users reading blogs to stay informed about world events. They enjoy reading about technology the most, followed closely by news and education. Elsewhere, technology content ranks low.
These findings suggest that blogging in India could become the "new fourth estate" with close to half the respondents believing that blogging content is as trustworthy as those of regular media outlets such as newspapers, radio and TV."
Some statistics are available here. And the Economic Times has more.
- 14% of internet users actively blog
- 39% are aware of blogs
- over 75% of all bloggers are men
- 85% are below the age of 35
- 49% said they read blogs to be entertained
- 50% found blogs by business leaders interesting
- in contrast, 24% found politicians' blogs interesting
- 58% started their blog to express themselves, while 40% to entertain others
- Half of all blogs receive 10 visitors or less per week
- 90% of bloggers spend up to 5 hours per week reading blogs or updating their own blogsAm not sure how the research was conducted, but the article seems to suggest it is based on a survey among over 1000 visitors to the MSN India portal. This is by no means representative blogosphere in India - not many bloggers I know think highly of MSN or go to the portal at all.
Does anyone have access to the entire report and can you share it?
We really do need some good demographic and behavioural statistics on blogging and online social networking in India.
Technorati Tags: blogosphere, India, blogging, blog statistics, blogs
Tue, 28 Nov 2006 12:57:13 GMT - New for Old - Trading Cases
Anyway, back to the new cover - the shop owner first showed me a black case with a really good-looking blue streak on it for Rs.350 (about 8 USD). Despite much tugging and pushing, it did not fit well. I was quite surprised with what he did next - he took out a brand new 7610 box - it was sealed - he opened the seal - took off the casing of the phone, and gave it to me. I had to pay double the price of course, as it is an 'original' in his words. When I asked him how he would sell that phone, he said no worries, he'd fit another cover on it. Am sure he'd sell that one as the 'original' too!!!
While on mobile phones, just last month, I got the cover for my Nokia 7610 changed - my three year old white cover was badly bruised. I was in Delhi and went to a small shop which had all the latest models of phones. That's where I got a good look at the N73. I also looked at the N93 - it is a very clunky phone. And a bonus offer for me - he wanted to buy back my phone which is now almost three years old for Rs.6000 (approx 135 USD). Not bad .. I should have taken him up on it - little did I know I'd get the N73 so soon!
Technorati Tags: N73, Nokia N73, Mobile Phones, Cell Phones
Mon, 27 Nov 2006 19:13:20 GMT - Turning 40 ....
...... isn't so bad. Not when you get a brand new cell phone - the Nokia N73! :):):) (apologies Jabberwock, but I can't help feeling like a smiley person).
I haven't played with my new phone much yet ... but I love the large screen, the sliding cover over the lens and flash, and the photo slide-show function which I played with on a friend's phone - it was just awesome. The phone part of it is just fine - its become a necessity today and there is little differentiation between models on that front (this isn't wifi-enabled though). And it feels great having a real digicam ready-to-shoot, in your pocket 24/7. (Their website states "Inspiration can come to you anytime"). I can't wait until I start clicking away.
Here's a detailed review by Ken Camp, with some drawbacks highlighted.
And I love the tagline in the N73 ad - "the future of photography is connected" - it clearly re-positions cell phones... ooops digicams. Smart!
Technorati Tags: N73, Nokia N73, Mobile Phones, Digicams, Cell Phones, Positioning,, Marketing
Mon, 27 Nov 2006 16:31:07 GMT - No pink prizes ...
Was passing by one of the busiest 'walls' in Bombay today .. and couldn't resist this picture. Any guesses on the product? No pink prizes ange :)
Wed, 08 Nov 2006 13:05:23 GMT - Corporate Social Responsibility - Reuters Event
Reuters is holding a live event on Corporate Social Responsibility. The full announcement is here. There is a live chat that will be curated by the Global Voices Online team at the event - to facilitate interaction between bloggers/ remote participants. The event page is here - http://tinyurl.com/yzo66p
It would be great if we had more people from South Asia in the discussion though the time is a little odd - 5 AM IST on Friday November 10. If you're up then, and interested, do join in.
Wed, 08 Nov 2006 09:32:44 GMT
