Invitation for the Hum Blogistani essay series – 2007 edition
Blogs have become a force to reckon with, they are the new paradigm of online communication. It’s fascinating to see how common online journals with candid & irreverent personal opinions, observations and links became a formidable force when blended with reader reactions. Since their advent, blogs have graduated from mere online diaries to vehicles for marketing, thought leadership, knowledge management and crisis communication, among others.
Indibloggies is pleased to announce the 2007 edition of its annual essay series “Hum Blogistani”, where various Indian bloggers share their thoughts about the Indi-blogosphere, evoking its journey so far, probably doing a SWOT analysis and predicting the road-ahead.
Fellow Indibloggers, I am sure you will like to share your wisdom on the subject of blogging and would like to share your thoughts on the nuances of Indian blogging. I am honored to invite you to this year’s essay series and request you to pen a short essay on the subject (or any other subject that revolves around the India blogging scenario).
We will also have some modest reward for the best of the submitted essays, chosen by known names of the Indiblogdom. I thank you in earnest for sharing your insights with the world and look forward to receiving your contribution.
- Essays should be written in English and are acceptable only through email at indibloggies at gmail dot com. Please mark the subject as “Essay Submission: 2007” and try to avoid attachments.
- Word-limit: We suggest a world limit of about 800 words.
- Last date for submission is tentatively 25 March 2008.
Prizes: The best essay chosen by a panel of known bloggers would receive a copy of Biz Stones’ book Who Let the Blogs Out?: A Hyper connected Peek at the World of Weblogs
- Accepted essays would become the property of Indibloggies.org. The essay could not be published on any other website or print publication. However author of the essay could publish it on his own blog/website with a link to the appropriate Indibloggies website page. (Please note that this does not apply to submitted essays not accepted for inclusion in the series).
- Indibloggies reserves the right to accept/reject submissions. All efforts would be made to inform the author about the results of submission.
- Decision about the best essay and prize distribution would be binding on participants and no objections would be entertained.
Suggested topics (feel free to suggest more in the comment area):
- Rise and Growth of Indic Blogging (aka blogging in Indian languages)
- Blogs’ anti-establishment nature have ruffled many a feather in the corporate world. Brands fear them; companies treat their posts with caution. How are companies, corporations and governments dealing with this new menace? How are the Business & Corporate blogs faring (remember Mazda’s “Kid Halloween” debacle?) in using blogs to their advantage?
- Is blogging really meaningful? Have blogs made any difference to a society like ours? How is blogging relevant to the third-world and developing nations where internet penetration itself is an elite phenomenon?
- MoBlogs, VLogs, Photo blogs, Microblogs so many formats, but which one works the best, which are the most popular formats in India? What are the trends, which blog platforms are most popular? What kind of blogs are widely read? What’s the ASL of Indibloggers?
- Celebrity bloggers are here, from Shekhar Kapoor to Aamir Khan, so many have jumped into the blogging bandwagon, but how many of them are taking it seriously? Why are they blogging? And why are the politicians shying away? What’s the story here?
- Banning is a popular deterrent in India, just raise a hue and cry about anything on religious and caste grounds and it would be banned. India has seen a stupid blanket ban on Blogger.com on the behest of national security. In our neighboring countries situation is worse. Trace the path of democratic tyranny in your essay, how do we deal with such bans? Is pure slander free-speech? Self-censorship, regulation, blogging laws etc.
- Is there is any differences between blogging techniques, usages, foci, etc, depending on the different cultural landscapes ie, how is Indiblogging different than the rest of the world? (suggested by John Saddington)
- Your suggestion comes here…
