Plan Fund Proposal (2010-11)
Department of Political Science
Govt.College Madappally.
(1).2202-03-105-99, Faculy Development.
1.National Seminar on “Social Movements and Protest Politics in India”.
Introduction
Protest reflects the key aspect of the relationship between the state and society. State is responsible for formulating and carrying out policies for society. State may lack the resources to meet the demands and expectations of various competing social groups. That may lead to anger among some groups in the society, which can take the shape of protest movement. Protest arises from disagreement over limited issues, such as opposition to particular policies of a government, or antagonisms between groups competing for political influence.So how movement arises and how various groups participate in it is an important area of intellectual pursuit.Students of political science and teachers should have great mastery over the area so as to get a clear understanding of the society.It is so important to understand how to approach a social movement and what are basic theoretical approach to social movements.
Relevance
In democracies, we do not see a uniform pattern of popular protest movements.Some democracies experience more protest than other democracies. France hosts more protest annually than Germany does. Bangladeshis invade the streets much more than the people in Sri Lanka do. Answers to this difference may be found in their political cultures or by carefully auditing the performance of their democratic institutions. However, it is more puzzling when within the same democracy, people in some areas protest more successfully than other areas. It seems that some ordinary people, who are busy in their struggle for day-to-day survival, attain the degree of coordination and mutual awareness that they need to wage strategically effective protests, while some others fail. Some need to ask, why some groups sharing a grievance mobilize successfully while others do not in democracies? In recent years, democratisation has spread to the South and with it increasing number of social movements. The origin and outcome of these movements are being explained with the help of theoretical frameworks developed to study social actions in the North. Here, the aim is to examine the relevance of these theories to evaluate the success and failure of social movements in the developing countries.
In India at the outset, we must note that the term “non-party domain” or the “non-party political domain” is not a conceptual category that refers to any specific set of processes, movements, institutions or practices.But it is so vibrant and proliferating day by day. It is a category that has been descriptively deployed in the Indian context by a group of scholars, to refer to a series of movements and social struggles that burst forth on the scene in the 1980s, broadly speaking. In the specific sense in which this category was used by these scholars, it was meant to refer to a series of responses to problems in the formal political process that prevented the interests of a whole range of social groups and many significant issues from getting translated into the electoral calculus of party politics. Of late, the term that has gained some currency in political discourse and is being used widely to refer to a range of movement-type as well as institutional initiatives, is the notion of “civil society”. This category is increasingly used as a self description even by those groups who would have in an earlier period used the category of “non party political domain”. Even though the current use of this concept of “civil society” too is quite vague, it has at least the advantage of being used as a normative category to demarcate a sphere of non-state activities that keeps the state’s excesses in check and attempts to influence policy in the direction of greater transparency and accountability.
Seminar Themes
Social movements and protest politics,New social movements,Civil society movements,Various social movements in India
Duration of Seminar
Two days.
Estimated expenditure statements
Remuneration to resource persons-30000/-
Remuneration to participants-30000/-
Stationery and other expenses-10000/-
Food and accomodation-20000/-
Total Estimated Expenditure-90000/-
Biju Gayu
Thursday, July 1, 2010
commons in the cyber age brennen plan fund seminar proposal
Plan Fund Proposal (2010-11)
Department of Political Science
Govt.Brennen College.
(1).2202-03-105-99, Faculy Development.
1.National Seminar on “Commons in the Cyber Age:Politics in the Space Online”.
Introduction
Political process has undergone dramatic shifts in recent years with the coming in of internet and internet enabled political process.Internet and cyber age have made phantom changes in the way people think and act on political life. Twitter,facebook,orkut ,blogs etc are recent technological advancement, ofcourse ,has some political ramification. Public sphere,civil society,and social capital being recent theoretical advancements in political theory little awareness has been created among academia and students community.There are definitely some connection between such theories and the internet,which if exposed to students and teachers would be of immense help for improvement of both the discipline as well as to the proficiency of teachers.
Relevance
The net generation, growing up with the internet and other online media, is widely assumed to consist of more responsible citizens, using their technological expertise to campaign on social and political issues, exercise closer scrutiny over their governments, genuinely being more politically engaged. Citizens of the so-called ‘global village’, ‘virtual democracy’, ‘electronic agora’ or ‘blogosphere’ are said to fulfil the dream of a unified and interconnected world. The unprecedented expansion of Online Social Networks (OSN) such as Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn and Twitter offers vast opportunities for communication, entertainment & chatting. These online forums differ from traditional media, such as Public Service Media (PSM), in that they allow more interactivity and many-to-many communication. But they have some similarities to Habermas’ concept of the public sphere: net spheres are public places that are outside of control by the state; they allow individuals to exchange views and knowledge as well as critical points of view; they are spaces where public-minded rational consensus can be developed.
The advantages of cyber-media are that they are not confined to frequency bandwidth; anyone can be a ‘publisher’ (ability to voice one’s opinion; collective action); they provide access (to all with internet account); they are self-generating social networks, allowing networks to form from participation, rather than structuring relationships from the top. However, the net can turn to be a noisy, uncontrolled environment; the open participation may turn chaotic, so there can be no model rules of behaviour or structured conversation; texts and voices may result in anarchic, rather than democratic forms of participation. What is more, there are linguistic barriers and blogging sites are typically dominated by male voices and polarized opinion. The very notion of openness is at stake as there is limited competition among providers. Inclusiveness can be an issue too – not all people use the Net due to cost considerations or lack of skills, especially in the developing world. Most crucially, critical discussion – the very notion of the Public Sphere – is often absent on the Net, whose content is highly partisan.
So, is it a myth that the Internet can revamp the Public Sphere, tackle political apathy and mobilize citizens? Not entirely, for there are plenty of good examples to show the opposite, as evidenced by Barack Obama’s online campaign to activism on Facebook and Twitter and the Twitter-aided demonstrators in Moldova and Iran against the fraudulent parliamentary election results and the Iranian authoritarian government respectively. Groups in Facebook can choose to support the liberalisation of Tibet; Twitter often has real-time updates on events like the Mumbai terrorist attacks. These examples highlight the Net’s informative and mobilising power.
Seminar Themes
Internet and democracy,Public sphere online,Online social movements,Protest politics online.Civil society online,Social capital online,Digital divide
Duration of Seminar
Three days.
Estimated expenditure statements
Remuneration to resource persons-30000/-
Remuneration to participants-30000/-
Stationery and other expenses-10000/-
Food and accomodation-20000/-
Total Estimated Expenditure-90000/-
Department of Political Science
Govt.Brennen College.
(1).2202-03-105-99, Faculy Development.
1.National Seminar on “Commons in the Cyber Age:Politics in the Space Online”.
Introduction
Political process has undergone dramatic shifts in recent years with the coming in of internet and internet enabled political process.Internet and cyber age have made phantom changes in the way people think and act on political life. Twitter,facebook,orkut ,blogs etc are recent technological advancement, ofcourse ,has some political ramification. Public sphere,civil society,and social capital being recent theoretical advancements in political theory little awareness has been created among academia and students community.There are definitely some connection between such theories and the internet,which if exposed to students and teachers would be of immense help for improvement of both the discipline as well as to the proficiency of teachers.
Relevance
The net generation, growing up with the internet and other online media, is widely assumed to consist of more responsible citizens, using their technological expertise to campaign on social and political issues, exercise closer scrutiny over their governments, genuinely being more politically engaged. Citizens of the so-called ‘global village’, ‘virtual democracy’, ‘electronic agora’ or ‘blogosphere’ are said to fulfil the dream of a unified and interconnected world. The unprecedented expansion of Online Social Networks (OSN) such as Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn and Twitter offers vast opportunities for communication, entertainment & chatting. These online forums differ from traditional media, such as Public Service Media (PSM), in that they allow more interactivity and many-to-many communication. But they have some similarities to Habermas’ concept of the public sphere: net spheres are public places that are outside of control by the state; they allow individuals to exchange views and knowledge as well as critical points of view; they are spaces where public-minded rational consensus can be developed.
The advantages of cyber-media are that they are not confined to frequency bandwidth; anyone can be a ‘publisher’ (ability to voice one’s opinion; collective action); they provide access (to all with internet account); they are self-generating social networks, allowing networks to form from participation, rather than structuring relationships from the top. However, the net can turn to be a noisy, uncontrolled environment; the open participation may turn chaotic, so there can be no model rules of behaviour or structured conversation; texts and voices may result in anarchic, rather than democratic forms of participation. What is more, there are linguistic barriers and blogging sites are typically dominated by male voices and polarized opinion. The very notion of openness is at stake as there is limited competition among providers. Inclusiveness can be an issue too – not all people use the Net due to cost considerations or lack of skills, especially in the developing world. Most crucially, critical discussion – the very notion of the Public Sphere – is often absent on the Net, whose content is highly partisan.
So, is it a myth that the Internet can revamp the Public Sphere, tackle political apathy and mobilize citizens? Not entirely, for there are plenty of good examples to show the opposite, as evidenced by Barack Obama’s online campaign to activism on Facebook and Twitter and the Twitter-aided demonstrators in Moldova and Iran against the fraudulent parliamentary election results and the Iranian authoritarian government respectively. Groups in Facebook can choose to support the liberalisation of Tibet; Twitter often has real-time updates on events like the Mumbai terrorist attacks. These examples highlight the Net’s informative and mobilising power.
Seminar Themes
Internet and democracy,Public sphere online,Online social movements,Protest politics online.Civil society online,Social capital online,Digital divide
Duration of Seminar
Three days.
Estimated expenditure statements
Remuneration to resource persons-30000/-
Remuneration to participants-30000/-
Stationery and other expenses-10000/-
Food and accomodation-20000/-
Total Estimated Expenditure-90000/-
politics and social media brennen ugc seminar proposal
A. Title of the activity:
“Politics and Social Media : Commons in the Space Online”.
B. Background including details of past events organised on the proposed
topic:
The internet, arguably the single most important communication break through the latter half of the last century, has revolutionised the way people, communicate, access information including the mass media reportage, and even how they respond to and comment on social and political issues. In this context ,it has been argued the internet has facilitated a phenomenon what philosopher Jurgen Habermas has defined as the ‘public sphere’- a forum where public opinion is shaped.Both the theory of the public sphere and the utopian rhetoric surrounding the Internet have been the focus of scholars for some time. Given the ability of people to connect with others around the globe through the Internet, could the Internet give rise to online public spheres? If so, how would such spaces work? This proposal proposes that public spheres do exist on the Internet, and details how it functions with making reference to online social networking in India taking as a case in focus.
Relevance
The net generation, growing up with the internet and other online media, is widely assumed to consist of more responsible citizens, using their technological expertise to campaign on social and political issues, exercise closer scrutiny over their governments, genuinely being more politically engaged. Citizens of the so-called ‘global village’, ‘virtual democracy’, ‘electronic agora’ or ‘blogosphere’ are said to fulfil the dream of a unified and interconnected world. The unprecedented expansion of Online Social Networks (OSN) such as Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn and Twitter offers vast opportunities for communication, entertainment & chatting. These online forums differ from traditional media, such as Public Service Media (PSM), in that they allow more interactivity and many-to-many communication. But they have some similarities to Habermas’ concept of the public sphere: net spheres are public places that are outside of control by the state; they allow individuals to exchange views and knowledge as well as critical points of view; they are spaces where public-minded rational consensus can be developed.
The advantages of cyber-media are that they are not confined to frequency bandwidth; anyone can be a ‘publisher’ (ability to voice one’s opinion; collective action); they provide access (to all with internet account); they are self-generating social networks, allowing networks to form from participation, rather than structuring relationships from the top. However, the net can turn to be a noisy, uncontrolled environment; the open participation may turn chaotic, so there can be no model rules of behaviour or structured conversation; texts and voices may result in anarchic, rather than democratic forms of participation. What is more, there are linguistic barriers and blogging sites are typically dominated by male voices and polarized opinion. The very notion of openness is at stake as there is limited competition among providers. Inclusiveness can be an issue too – not all people use the Net due to cost considerations or lack of skills, especially in the developing world. Most crucially, critical discussion – the very notion of the Public Sphere – is often absent on the Net, whose content is highly partisan.
So, is it a myth that the Internet can revamp the Public Sphere, tackle political apathy and mobilize citizens? Not entirely, for there are plenty of good examples to show the opposite, as evidenced by Barack Obama’s online campaign to activism on Facebook and Twitter and the Twitter-aided demonstrators in Moldova and Iran against the fraudulent parliamentary election results and the Iranian authoritarian government respectively. Groups in Facebook can choose to support the liberalisation of Tibet; Twitter often has real-time updates on events like the Mumbai terrorist attacks. These examples highlight the Net’s informative and mobilising power.
C. Aims/ Objectives (in at least 500 words):
As the topic is relatively an explorative area of study,not much programmes have been found being organized.The area is found to be professional and in vogue in western academic world. Political process has undergone dramatic shifts in recent years with the coming in of internet and internet enabled political process.Internet and cyber age have made phantom changes in the way people think and act on political life. Twitter,facebook,orkut ,blogs etc are recent technological advancement, ofcourse ,has some political ramification. Public sphere,civil society,and social capital being recent theoretical advancements in political theory little awareness has been created among academia and students community.There are definitely some connection between such theories and the internet,which if exposed to students and teachers would be of immense help for improvement of both the discipline as well as to the proficiency of teachers.
D. Target audience/ participants with expected number:
We plan to invite renowned scholars from Central Universties, IIT’s, IIM’s, Deemed Universities,Professional Institutions,Government representatives and bureaucracy,media,social activist groups and professionals abroad.The academicians in Kerala and all over India can participate in the programme. The seminar is useful for scholars recently interested in online politics and e-governance.Teachers from all over India can participate in the programme.Students who are interested in the online politics can also attend the programme.
We expect 200 participants
E. Details of Sessions:
Please mention themes/ topics to be covered under each Business/
Technical Session and names of Resource Persons:
Seminar Themes
1. Internet and democracy
2. Public sphere online
3. Online social movements
4. Protest politics online
5. Civil society online
6. Social capital online
7. Digital divide
8. Social media
F. Expected outcome:
The seminar will be of immense help for professionals as well as people interested in the online politics.The topic is recently originated and found to be of recent in academic pursuit.The seminar will be useful for policy makers to redefine priorities.It makes a question that whether we have to depend the “Net” unnecessarily?Activist groups will get enough resource for their future action and priorities from the seminar.More over the seminar will be highly useful for students and teachers to improve their knowledge domain.
“Politics and Social Media : Commons in the Space Online”.
B. Background including details of past events organised on the proposed
topic:
The internet, arguably the single most important communication break through the latter half of the last century, has revolutionised the way people, communicate, access information including the mass media reportage, and even how they respond to and comment on social and political issues. In this context ,it has been argued the internet has facilitated a phenomenon what philosopher Jurgen Habermas has defined as the ‘public sphere’- a forum where public opinion is shaped.Both the theory of the public sphere and the utopian rhetoric surrounding the Internet have been the focus of scholars for some time. Given the ability of people to connect with others around the globe through the Internet, could the Internet give rise to online public spheres? If so, how would such spaces work? This proposal proposes that public spheres do exist on the Internet, and details how it functions with making reference to online social networking in India taking as a case in focus.
Relevance
The net generation, growing up with the internet and other online media, is widely assumed to consist of more responsible citizens, using their technological expertise to campaign on social and political issues, exercise closer scrutiny over their governments, genuinely being more politically engaged. Citizens of the so-called ‘global village’, ‘virtual democracy’, ‘electronic agora’ or ‘blogosphere’ are said to fulfil the dream of a unified and interconnected world. The unprecedented expansion of Online Social Networks (OSN) such as Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn and Twitter offers vast opportunities for communication, entertainment & chatting. These online forums differ from traditional media, such as Public Service Media (PSM), in that they allow more interactivity and many-to-many communication. But they have some similarities to Habermas’ concept of the public sphere: net spheres are public places that are outside of control by the state; they allow individuals to exchange views and knowledge as well as critical points of view; they are spaces where public-minded rational consensus can be developed.
The advantages of cyber-media are that they are not confined to frequency bandwidth; anyone can be a ‘publisher’ (ability to voice one’s opinion; collective action); they provide access (to all with internet account); they are self-generating social networks, allowing networks to form from participation, rather than structuring relationships from the top. However, the net can turn to be a noisy, uncontrolled environment; the open participation may turn chaotic, so there can be no model rules of behaviour or structured conversation; texts and voices may result in anarchic, rather than democratic forms of participation. What is more, there are linguistic barriers and blogging sites are typically dominated by male voices and polarized opinion. The very notion of openness is at stake as there is limited competition among providers. Inclusiveness can be an issue too – not all people use the Net due to cost considerations or lack of skills, especially in the developing world. Most crucially, critical discussion – the very notion of the Public Sphere – is often absent on the Net, whose content is highly partisan.
So, is it a myth that the Internet can revamp the Public Sphere, tackle political apathy and mobilize citizens? Not entirely, for there are plenty of good examples to show the opposite, as evidenced by Barack Obama’s online campaign to activism on Facebook and Twitter and the Twitter-aided demonstrators in Moldova and Iran against the fraudulent parliamentary election results and the Iranian authoritarian government respectively. Groups in Facebook can choose to support the liberalisation of Tibet; Twitter often has real-time updates on events like the Mumbai terrorist attacks. These examples highlight the Net’s informative and mobilising power.
C. Aims/ Objectives (in at least 500 words):
As the topic is relatively an explorative area of study,not much programmes have been found being organized.The area is found to be professional and in vogue in western academic world. Political process has undergone dramatic shifts in recent years with the coming in of internet and internet enabled political process.Internet and cyber age have made phantom changes in the way people think and act on political life. Twitter,facebook,orkut ,blogs etc are recent technological advancement, ofcourse ,has some political ramification. Public sphere,civil society,and social capital being recent theoretical advancements in political theory little awareness has been created among academia and students community.There are definitely some connection between such theories and the internet,which if exposed to students and teachers would be of immense help for improvement of both the discipline as well as to the proficiency of teachers.
D. Target audience/ participants with expected number:
We plan to invite renowned scholars from Central Universties, IIT’s, IIM’s, Deemed Universities,Professional Institutions,Government representatives and bureaucracy,media,social activist groups and professionals abroad.The academicians in Kerala and all over India can participate in the programme. The seminar is useful for scholars recently interested in online politics and e-governance.Teachers from all over India can participate in the programme.Students who are interested in the online politics can also attend the programme.
We expect 200 participants
E. Details of Sessions:
Please mention themes/ topics to be covered under each Business/
Technical Session and names of Resource Persons:
Seminar Themes
1. Internet and democracy
2. Public sphere online
3. Online social movements
4. Protest politics online
5. Civil society online
6. Social capital online
7. Digital divide
8. Social media
F. Expected outcome:
The seminar will be of immense help for professionals as well as people interested in the online politics.The topic is recently originated and found to be of recent in academic pursuit.The seminar will be useful for policy makers to redefine priorities.It makes a question that whether we have to depend the “Net” unnecessarily?Activist groups will get enough resource for their future action and priorities from the seminar.More over the seminar will be highly useful for students and teachers to improve their knowledge domain.
POLITICS AND SOCIAL MEDIA BRENNEN UGC SEMINAR PROPOSAL
A. Title of the activity:
“Politics and Social Media : Commons in the Space Online”.
B. Background including details of past events organised on the proposed
topic:
The internet, arguably the single most important communication break through the latter half of the last century, has revolutionised the way people, communicate, access information including the mass media reportage, and even how they respond to and comment on social and political issues. In this context ,it has been argued the internet has facilitated a phenomenon what philosopher Jurgen Habermas has defined as the ‘public sphere’- a forum where public opinion is shaped.Both the theory of the public sphere and the utopian rhetoric surrounding the Internet have been the focus of scholars for some time. Given the ability of people to connect with others around the globe through the Internet, could the Internet give rise to online public spheres? If so, how would such spaces work? This proposal proposes that public spheres do exist on the Internet, and details how it functions with making reference to online social networking in India taking as a case in focus.
Relevance
The net generation, growing up with the internet and other online media, is widely assumed to consist of more responsible citizens, using their technological expertise to campaign on social and political issues, exercise closer scrutiny over their governments, genuinely being more politically engaged. Citizens of the so-called ‘global village’, ‘virtual democracy’, ‘electronic agora’ or ‘blogosphere’ are said to fulfil the dream of a unified and interconnected world. The unprecedented expansion of Online Social Networks (OSN) such as Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn and Twitter offers vast opportunities for communication, entertainment & chatting. These online forums differ from traditional media, such as Public Service Media (PSM), in that they allow more interactivity and many-to-many communication. But they have some similarities to Habermas’ concept of the public sphere: net spheres are public places that are outside of control by the state; they allow individuals to exchange views and knowledge as well as critical points of view; they are spaces where public-minded rational consensus can be developed.
The advantages of cyber-media are that they are not confined to frequency bandwidth; anyone can be a ‘publisher’ (ability to voice one’s opinion; collective action); they provide access (to all with internet account); they are self-generating social networks, allowing networks to form from participation, rather than structuring relationships from the top. However, the net can turn to be a noisy, uncontrolled environment; the open participation may turn chaotic, so there can be no model rules of behaviour or structured conversation; texts and voices may result in anarchic, rather than democratic forms of participation. What is more, there are linguistic barriers and blogging sites are typically dominated by male voices and polarized opinion. The very notion of openness is at stake as there is limited competition among providers. Inclusiveness can be an issue too – not all people use the Net due to cost considerations or lack of skills, especially in the developing world. Most crucially, critical discussion – the very notion of the Public Sphere – is often absent on the Net, whose content is highly partisan.
So, is it a myth that the Internet can revamp the Public Sphere, tackle political apathy and mobilize citizens? Not entirely, for there are plenty of good examples to show the opposite, as evidenced by Barack Obama’s online campaign to activism on Facebook and Twitter and the Twitter-aided demonstrators in Moldova and Iran against the fraudulent parliamentary election results and the Iranian authoritarian government respectively. Groups in Facebook can choose to support the liberalisation of Tibet; Twitter often has real-time updates on events like the Mumbai terrorist attacks. These examples highlight the Net’s informative and mobilising power.
C. Aims/ Objectives (in at least 500 words):
As the topic is relatively an explorative area of study,not much programmes have been found being organized.The area is found to be professional and in vogue in western academic world. Political process has undergone dramatic shifts in recent years with the coming in of internet and internet enabled political process.Internet and cyber age have made phantom changes in the way people think and act on political life. Twitter,facebook,orkut ,blogs etc are recent technological advancement, ofcourse ,has some political ramification. Public sphere,civil society,and social capital being recent theoretical advancements in political theory little awareness has been created among academia and students community.There are definitely some connection between such theories and the internet,which if exposed to students and teachers would be of immense help for improvement of both the discipline as well as to the proficiency of teachers.
D. Target audience/ participants with expected number:
We plan to invite renowned scholars from Central Universties, IIT’s, IIM’s, Deemed Universities,Professional Institutions,Government representatives and bureaucracy,media,social activist groups and professionals abroad.The academicians in Kerala and all over India can participate in the programme. The seminar is useful for scholars recently interested in online politics and e-governance.Teachers from all over India can participate in the programme.Students who are interested in the online politics can also attend the programme.
We expect 200 participants
E. Details of Sessions:
Please mention themes/ topics to be covered under each Business/
Technical Session and names of Resource Persons:
Seminar Themes
- Internet and democracy
- Public sphere online
- Online social movements
- Protest politics online
- Civil society online
- Social capital online
- Digital divide
- Social media
F. Expected outcome:
The seminar will be of immense help for professionals as well as people interested in the online politics.The topic is recently originated and found to be of recent in academic pursuit.The seminar will be useful for policy makers to redefine priorities.It makes a question that whether we have to depend the “Net” unnecessarily?Activist groups will get enough resource for their future action and priorities from the seminar.More over the seminar will be highly useful for students and teachers to improve their knowledge domain.
POLITICS AND SOCIAL MEDIA BRENNEN SEMINAR PROPOSAL
A. Title of the activity:
“Politics and Social Media : Commons in the Space Online”.
B. Background including details of past events organised on the proposed
topic:
The internet, arguably the single most important communication break through the latter half of the last century, has revolutionised the way people, communicate, access information including the mass media reportage, and even how they respond to and comment on social and political issues. In this context ,it has been argued the internet has facilitated a phenomenon what philosopher Jurgen Habermas has defined as the ‘public sphere’- a forum where public opinion is shaped.Both the theory of the public sphere and the utopian rhetoric surrounding the Internet have been the focus of scholars for some time. Given the ability of people to connect with others around the globe through the Internet, could the Internet give rise to online public spheres? If so, how would such spaces work? This proposal proposes that public spheres do exist on the Internet, and details how it functions with making reference to online social networking in India taking as a case in focus.
Relevance
The net generation, growing up with the internet and other online media, is widely assumed to consist of more responsible citizens, using their technological expertise to campaign on social and political issues, exercise closer scrutiny over their governments, genuinely being more politically engaged. Citizens of the so-called ‘global village’, ‘virtual democracy’, ‘electronic agora’ or ‘blogosphere’ are said to fulfil the dream of a unified and interconnected world. The unprecedented expansion of Online Social Networks (OSN) such as Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn and Twitter offers vast opportunities for communication, entertainment & chatting. These online forums differ from traditional media, such as Public Service Media (PSM), in that they allow more interactivity and many-to-many communication. But they have some similarities to Habermas’ concept of the public sphere: net spheres are public places that are outside of control by the state; they allow individuals to exchange views and knowledge as well as critical points of view; they are spaces where public-minded rational consensus can be developed.
The advantages of cyber-media are that they are not confined to frequency bandwidth; anyone can be a ‘publisher’ (ability to voice one’s opinion; collective action); they provide access (to all with internet account); they are self-generating social networks, allowing networks to form from participation, rather than structuring relationships from the top. However, the net can turn to be a noisy, uncontrolled environment; the open participation may turn chaotic, so there can be no model rules of behaviour or structured conversation; texts and voices may result in anarchic, rather than democratic forms of participation. What is more, there are linguistic barriers and blogging sites are typically dominated by male voices and polarized opinion. The very notion of openness is at stake as there is limited competition among providers. Inclusiveness can be an issue too – not all people use the Net due to cost considerations or lack of skills, especially in the developing world. Most crucially, critical discussion – the very notion of the Public Sphere – is often absent on the Net, whose content is highly partisan.
So, is it a myth that the Internet can revamp the Public Sphere, tackle political apathy and mobilize citizens? Not entirely, for there are plenty of good examples to show the opposite, as evidenced by Barack Obama’s online campaign to activism on Facebook and Twitter and the Twitter-aided demonstrators in Moldova and Iran against the fraudulent parliamentary election results and the Iranian authoritarian government respectively. Groups in Facebook can choose to support the liberalisation of Tibet; Twitter often has real-time updates on events like the Mumbai terrorist attacks. These examples highlight the Net’s informative and mobilising power.
C. Aims/ Objectives (in at least 500 words):
As the topic is relatively an explorative area of study,not much programmes have been found being organized.The area is found to be professional and in vogue in western academic world. Political process has undergone dramatic shifts in recent years with the coming in of internet and internet enabled political process.Internet and cyber age have made phantom changes in the way people think and act on political life. Twitter,facebook,orkut ,blogs etc are recent technological advancement, ofcourse ,has some political ramification. Public sphere,civil society,and social capital being recent theoretical advancements in political theory little awareness has been created among academia and students community.There are definitely some connection between such theories and the internet,which if exposed to students and teachers would be of immense help for improvement of both the discipline as well as to the proficiency of teachers.
D. Target audience/ participants with expected number:
We plan to invite renowned scholars from Central Universties, IIT’s, IIM’s, Deemed Universities,Professional Institutions,Government representatives and bureaucracy,media,social activist groups and professionals abroad.The academicians in Kerala and all over India can participate in the programme. The seminar is useful for scholars recently interested in online politics and e-governance.Teachers from all over India can participate in the programme.Students who are interested in the online politics can also attend the programme.
We expect 200 participants
E. Details of Sessions:
Please mention themes/ topics to be covered under each Business/
Technical Session and names of Resource Persons:
Seminar Themes
- Internet and democracy
- Public sphere online
- Online social movements
- Protest politics online
- Civil society online
- Social capital online
- Digital divide
- Social media
F. Expected outcome:
The seminar will be of immense help for professionals as well as people interested in the online politics.The topic is recently originated and found to be of recent in academic pursuit.The seminar will be useful for policy makers to redefine priorities.It makes a question that whether we have to depend the “Net” unnecessarily?Activist groups will get enough resource for their future action and priorities from the seminar.More over the seminar will be highly useful for students and teachers to improve their knowledge domain.
POLITICS AND SOCIAL MEDIA:U G C SEMINAR PROPOSAL
A. Title of the activity:
“Politics and Social Media : Commons in the Space Online”.
B. Background including details of past events organised on the proposed
topic:
The internet, arguably the single most important communication break through the latter half of the last century, has revolutionised the way people, communicate, access information including the mass media reportage, and even how they respond to and comment on social and political issues. In this context ,it has been argued the internet has facilitated a phenomenon what philosopher Jurgen Habermas has defined as the ‘public sphere’- a forum where public opinion is shaped.Both the theory of the public sphere and the utopian rhetoric surrounding the Internet have been the focus of scholars for some time. Given the ability of people to connect with others around the globe through the Internet, could the Internet give rise to online public spheres? If so, how would such spaces work? This proposal proposes that public spheres do exist on the Internet, and details how it functions with making reference to online social networking in India taking as a case in focus.
Relevance
The net generation, growing up with the internet and other online media, is widely assumed to consist of more responsible citizens, using their technological expertise to campaign on social and political issues, exercise closer scrutiny over their governments, genuinely being more politically engaged. Citizens of the so-called ‘global village’, ‘virtual democracy’, ‘electronic agora’ or ‘blogosphere’ are said to fulfil the dream of a unified and interconnected world. The unprecedented expansion of Online Social Networks (OSN) such as Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn and Twitter offers vast opportunities for communication, entertainment & chatting. These online forums differ from traditional media, such as Public Service Media (PSM), in that they allow more interactivity and many-to-many communication. But they have some similarities to Habermas’ concept of the public sphere: net spheres are public places that are outside of control by the state; they allow individuals to exchange views and knowledge as well as critical points of view; they are spaces where public-minded rational consensus can be developed.
The advantages of cyber-media are that they are not confined to frequency bandwidth; anyone can be a ‘publisher’ (ability to voice one’s opinion; collective action); they provide access (to all with internet account); they are self-generating social networks, allowing networks to form from participation, rather than structuring relationships from the top. However, the net can turn to be a noisy, uncontrolled environment; the open participation may turn chaotic, so there can be no model rules of behaviour or structured conversation; texts and voices may result in anarchic, rather than democratic forms of participation. What is more, there are linguistic barriers and blogging sites are typically dominated by male voices and polarized opinion. The very notion of openness is at stake as there is limited competition among providers. Inclusiveness can be an issue too – not all people use the Net due to cost considerations or lack of skills, especially in the developing world. Most crucially, critical discussion – the very notion of the Public Sphere – is often absent on the Net, whose content is highly partisan.
So, is it a myth that the Internet can revamp the Public Sphere, tackle political apathy and mobilize citizens? Not entirely, for there are plenty of good examples to show the opposite, as evidenced by Barack Obama’s online campaign to activism on Facebook and Twitter and the Twitter-aided demonstrators in Moldova and Iran against the fraudulent parliamentary election results and the Iranian authoritarian government respectively. Groups in Facebook can choose to support the liberalisation of Tibet; Twitter often has real-time updates on events like the Mumbai terrorist attacks. These examples highlight the Net’s informative and mobilising power.
C. Aims/ Objectives (in at least 500 words):
As the topic is relatively an explorative area of study,not much programmes have been found being organized.The area is found to be professional and in vogue in western academic world. Political process has undergone dramatic shifts in recent years with the coming in of internet and internet enabled political process.Internet and cyber age have made phantom changes in the way people think and act on political life. Twitter,facebook,orkut ,blogs etc are recent technological advancement, ofcourse ,has some political ramification. Public sphere,civil society,and social capital being recent theoretical advancements in political theory little awareness has been created among academia and students community.There are definitely some connection between such theories and the internet,which if exposed to students and teachers would be of immense help for improvement of both the discipline as well as to the proficiency of teachers.
D. Target audience/ participants with expected number:
We plan to invite renowned scholars from Central Universties, IIT’s, IIM’s, Deemed Universities,Professional Institutions,Government representatives and bureaucracy,media,social activist groups and professionals abroad.The academicians in Kerala and all over India can participate in the programme. The seminar is useful for scholars recently interested in online politics and e-governance.Teachers from all over India can participate in the programme.Students who are interested in the online politics can also attend the programme.
We expect 200 participants
E. Details of Sessions:
Please mention themes/ topics to be covered under each Business/
Technical Session and names of Resource Persons:
Seminar Themes
- Internet and democracy
- Public sphere online
- Online social movements
- Protest politics online
- Civil society online
- Social capital online
- Digital divide
- Social media
F. Expected outcome:
The seminar will be of immense help for professionals as well as people interested in the online politics.The topic is recently originated and found to be of recent in academic pursuit.The seminar will be useful for policy makers to redefine priorities.It makes a question that whether we have to depend the “Net” unnecessarily?Activist groups will get enough resource for their future action and priorities from the seminar.More over the seminar will be highly useful for students and teachers to improve their knowledge domain.
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