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Unconference | Photo: Vijay
Manipal:On April 18th Manipal had its first ever Bloggers Meet. The turn out was quite large with not only MU students and professionals participating but also students from colleges around Manipal.The Un-conference, which was the key event of the meet, started after lunch with Annie Zaidi, a Tehelka journalist speaking on Blogging and Citizen Journalism.
An un-conference is basically the opposite of a conference, where the floor is open to all the participants for discussion and with a single moderator to ensure that the discussion flows in the right direction. It is an informal event and anybody and everybody is welcome to throw in their arguments and points. “Everybody participated and that is what makes it a success. Sometimes even if the discussions got too heated, the fact that everybody was presenting their points was what made it such a big success” said Sameer Hashmi, final year MS Mass Communication, one of the core organisers.
Many experts also presented their papers. The Vice-Chancellor of Manipal University, Dr. Rajshekharan Warrier spoke about medical blogs. Chandrahas Choudhury, a writer and literary critic based in Mumbai, writes for Mint, the Observer and the Sunday Telegraph brought on a discussion about writing skills in blogs and literature and blogs. It was a very interactive session and very enlightening. Peter Griffin’s( a communication consultant and blogger) session kicked off the un-conference. “An un-conference is not only about putting your own point across but also respecting someone else’s freedom to speak.” he said.
Various out station students also presented their take on various topics through power point presentations. Sameer Jha, all of 16 years of age and the youngest delegate on team spoke about ‘Why people leave blogging’. ‘Power of the anonymous’, ‘Web 2.0’, ‘Spam’ ‘Pros and cons of the internet’ were some of the presentation topics by other delegates and event participants.
Participants included not only bloggers but also those who don’t blog and find it unnecessary. This added even more flavour to the un-conference.
Sub-edited by Sara Mohd Siddiqui |
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