New Media Sociology

Thank you very much for your responses!

2011-02-17T07:50:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends,

I thank all those I met in Europe, across Germany as well as in Paris and Amsterdam who cooperated and enriched me with their invaluable and insightful experiences.

In case you still want to share your experiences on the Internet media with me, feel free to send me your comments and observations on any aspect of the Internet. You can mail me at newmedia.soc@gmail.com

Best Regards,

Asim Chowdhury

Research in Europe

2010-09-17T16:07:00.000-07:00

Hello Friends,

As part of the European Research Program, I shall undertake a short-term research project on New Media, Technology and the Internet in Europe. I will be based in Potsdam, near Berlin, in Germany. Apart from the serious academic research that I will undertake here, I will pend down my everyday experiences here. To read my travellogue you can visit www.asimineurope.blogspot.com

Cheers!

Asim

Share Your Experiences with Me

2010-06-05T04:48:00.000-07:00

Hi!
The Internet in surely a fascinating technological space. It can change our lives, our worlds and the environment around us. How has the Internet transformed you over the years. How did you navigate from the pre-Internet era to the Internet era. How have you experienced the transformation in your everyday.

Send me your experiences, irrespective of where you hail from and who you are. Your experiences will help me in my exploration of the Internet. Also, send me your contact details and your real names. I assure you these will be kept confidential. You can mail me your experiences at newmedia.soc@gmail.com

Cheers!

AC

A Trip to Kolkata

2010-06-04T22:29:00.001-07:00

In May, 2010, I visited Kolkata (erstwhile Calcutta), the first capital of British India and an important center of commercial and "intellectual renaissance" that swept India during the seventeenth century and the early eighteenth century.

Kolkata, inspite being forced into oblivion as a city is like none . However, inspite its seemingly lack lustre urban space and under-developed environ Kolkata has a legacy like none other. I have been visiting the city off and on, about once in a few years. What stuns me in this city everytime I visit it is the warmth and intellectual fervour of its natives that is just not visible in any other city in India. The Bengalis, inspite falling back in infrastructural development behind North India, carry the same intellectual fervour and softness they are well-known for.

During my visit I stayed in the heart of Kolkata in the HHI Hotel and spend a great deal of time meeting people and observing the changes that the information economy has bought. During the few days I spent in Kolkata I also witnessed many things, the campaign for municipality elections, the ailing tramways, the charm of Park Street, the rich blend of the old and the new in the urbanscape. I also met a couple of respondents whose life was transformed by the emerging technologies, so much so that they were getting sucked in a technological "blackhole". Is this our future now?

My room inside the HHI Asim Choudhury Kolkata Silchar The Glamourous Park Street

The view from my hotel room Asim PhD Scholar Delhi UThe Trams in the city

Malls and complexes dot the city outskirts Asim SilcharAn election rally in a street corner

Roma Mam's Exhibition at IGNCA during the International Sacred Arts Festival

2010-05-10T02:53:00.000-07:00

Prof Roma Chatterji displayed her Pata paintings at INGCA, New Delhi, during The International Festival of Sacred Arts, New Delhi that was organized from 5th to 9th March'2010. All of us visited IGNCA and witnessed the various others sacred art forms as well. The festival ended on 9th March with a theatre by the famous Kanhaiya Lal of Manipur. Professor Roma Chatterji's collection was based on her more than 2 decades of research work on the Chitrakars of Bengal. Here are some photos from the festival.

Meeting for the European Programe

2010-05-10T01:23:00.000-07:00

The meeting for the prestigious European program of the Sociology Department was organized in the Vice Regal lodge on 30th January, 2010. The Sociology Department of Delhi University has surely come a long way and is one of the finest departments in the world. Anyway all Phd, M.Phil and MA students had a great day that ended with a suptous meal.

Ph.D Scholars Workshop @ Sociology Dept., D-School

2006-08-30T09:24:00.000-07:00

On 25th August, 2008 the Ph.D Scholars Workshop in the Sociology Department of D-School, Delhi University. I presented a paper titled, "Blogosphere: The New Social Space".

The Workshop was indeed very encouraging and interactive and had fellow scholars from the department and our brilliant faculty members who, as usual, enlightened me even further.

My paper was focussed on how blogosphere is emerging as a new social space where virtual communities are forming up. These communities have interesting possibilities such as the power-political game that takes place and the notion of the public and the private realm.

For your understanding let me summarize some of my research findings for your, in brief:

1. The blogosphere is a political space and everyone participating in it have some agenda -- direct and indirect.

2. The community formed on the blogosphere is always surrounded around a cause. There are communities that form around day-to-day personal experinces but these communities are loosely fragmented.

3. The blogosphere as a public sphere is very powerful in the way it leaves footprints for all future times. As a result there is very few distortion of meaning and experinces, even if it were to be desired.

Share your experiences and opinion with me at newmedia.soc@gmail.com

Seperating the Wheat from the Chaff: A sociological problem

2006-06-28T06:19:00.000-07:00

Hi folks!
Thanks for your tremendous response. I have received a lot of responses in my mail box. Many respondents have sent me their contact details.

For me the responses are worthwhile only when they come from users who want to reveal their identity. Annonymous responses are fine but they do not accurately capture people's experiences.

Since the topic relates to your experience in the blogging space, I think there's no harm if you were to reveal your identity and share your experiences. It will only enrich my research work and provide me an opportunity to address a much wider bandwidth of issues related to blogging.

You are welcome to share any experience that you may have on blogging, good or bad. Further this study is not limited to a specific geographical area and so anyone from anywhere across the world can respond. The only hitch perhaps is that your language should be english. Mail me at newmedia.soc@gmail.com

Cheers!

AC

Research on Blogs and Blogging in India

2006-06-03T04:38:00.000-07:00

Send me Your Response

Friends!

Thanks for your tremendous response through this blog, as well as, e-mails.

Blogs are a global phenomenon. Each passing day witnesses thousands of newer blogs from citizens across the world. However, the practice of blogging means different for different people. For the Westerners blogging is a way to discuss on issues such as politics or personal things. For a culturally diverse nation like India it means cross-cultural communication, shared experiences and a way to protest against governance. In this sense it serves a more pro-active role.

Following are my concerns that you will need to address while participating in this research project:

1. What are the type of blogs that interest you? Are these on personal issues or issues that affect the society at large?

2. What are the problems that you face while blogging?

3.What are your personal observations on Indian blogs?

4. Has blogging or blogs bought in a change in your lifestyle or ideology?

5. Do you think you have been able to bring about a change in your society through blogging?

6. What are your observations on cross-cultural communication through blogs?

7. Do you feel that censorship is important for blogs?

8. What, do you think, is the difference between websites and blogs?

PS: If you are not able to answer to some or any of the above questions, please do send me your observations on any area related to blogging. Your response is vital for the success of this research project. If you choose not to post a reply in the public domain, you can e-mail me at newmedia.soc@gmail.com.

Your Concerns

2006-06-02T01:05:00.000-07:00

Hi Folks!

Of late I have received several mails where respondents are asking me how I am going to use the information they sent me. Some have even queried whether the information is all of any use for the research.

To cut a long story short, I want to remind you that all the response I am receiving is directly related to my research work. It provides interesting findings on how the culturally diverse Indians are responding to cyberspace. Perhaps the concept of online interviews is new to India and so its creating some doubts on the minds of the respondents. By participating in the research you have nothing to loose -- rather it will serve an Indian researcher to complete a study that has tremendous benefits of all future researchers.

So please do write to me without worrying much about revealing your identity. You may or may not reveal your identity. Afterall, what's in a name.

PS: All information gathered here will be solely used for academic purposes and no names of respondents will be disclosed unless they want me to do so.

The Project

2006-05-23T03:12:00.000-07:00

Hi!

To begin with, let me introduce myself. I am a D.Phil student in the Sociology Department of Delhi University and I am researching on the sociology of the new media. I am looking at the cultural forms and artifacts that assume shape on the Internet and the way users relate to them in their everyday lives.

The emergence of the Web and its wider implications on human lives cannot be denied. I am exploring three distinct areas -- blogs, search engines and reality shows.

I would be delighted if you could pull off some time and share with me your experiences in the following areas:
1. Blogging
2. Use of the Search Engine
3. Experience with reality shows and the way you have used the Internet to participate in Voting etc.

It would be great if you can send me me your full name, your profile, e-mail address and telephone number. You may mail me these in addition to your replies on the blog. My e-mail address is newmedia.soc@gmail.com

Should you have any queries, feel free to contact me on my email ID.

Cheers!

Asim Chowdhury

Welcome Folks!

2006-05-22T03:09:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the research space! This is the space for conducting sociological research on the new media.

The blog will be updated shortly.

Rgds,

Asim