Tagged: Desipundit RSS

  • Gaurav Mishra 12:47 pm on December 26, 2008 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: Bridge-Blogging, Context, , Desipundit, ,   

    Calling for a State of the Indian Blogosphere 2009 Collaborative Report 

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    I have been reading a lot of work done by Ethan Zuckerman and others at the Media Re:public project at the Berkley Center of Internet and Society at Harvard University.

    In a very well written paper on the importance of international news, Ethan Zuckerman talks about the value of adding context to interest Western readers in international news.

    I’m a big fan of Global Voices, which curates user generated content from around the world via a network of more than 150 active volunteer authors and translators and more than 20 freelance part-time regional and language editors. I am subscribed to the Global Voices country feeds for Brazil, India, Russia and China and regularly check their special coverage section for their more comprehensive stories.

    However, even as I agree with Ethan on the importance of context, I believe that the present linkblog format of Global Voices doesn’t really provide that context. Reading the absolutely brilliant Global Voices India feed, for instance, doesn’t give an outsider an overall sense of the structure of the Indian blogosphere.

    It doesn’t tell her that some of the oldest and the most influential Indian bloggers are journalist-writers (Amit Varma, Shivam Vij, Annie Zaidi). It doesn’t tell her that some of the popular Indian bloggers write blogs that resemble personal diaries, filled with humorous personal anecdotes, book, music and movie reviews, and opinions on news stories (Meenakshi Reddy Madhavan, Neha Vishwanathan, Rashmi Bansal, Patrix, Manish Vij). It doesn’t tell her that a new category of Indian business and technology bloggers are beginning to speak to an international audience (Amit Agarwal, Gautam Ghosh, Kamla Bhatt) and some are even beginning to resemble mini news organizations (WATBlog, Pluggd.in). It doesn’t tell her that several Indian celebrities (Shekhar Kapur, Amitabh Bachchan, Aamir Khan, Shobhaa De) and CEOs (Gurcharan Das, Rajeev Karwal, Ajit Balakrishnan) are experimenting with blogging. It doesn’t tell her that blogs are likely to play a more involved role in citizen activism in the 2009 general elections than they have done so far. It doesn’t tell her that Indic language blogging is finding its feet with several bloggers choosing to blog in Hindi, Tamil, Kanndada, Telegu or Bangla. Finally, it doesn’t tell her who the influential Indian “bridge-bloggers” are, which ones she should follow and why.

    Similarly, the other Global Voices country feeds give me a peek into the Chinese, Russian or Brazilian blogospheres but don’t give me an overview. Let me say that the problem isn’t peculiar to Global Voices. The equally well curated Desipundit linkblog for Indian blogs also fails to give such a holistic view. Finally, as a quasi-academic trying to make sense of social media in the BRIC countries, I can safely say that such a resource doesn’t really exist elsewhere either.

    What we need is a State of the Indian Blogosphere 2009 report (and a similar report for the other big countries Global Voices covers).

    I see an annually updated 15 page PDF report that includes the following sections (later updates may or may not cover different topics) –

    1. An overview of the Indian blogosphere (How many blogs? How many blog readers? What are the most discussed topics?)

    2. The history of the Indian blogosphere (What are the biggest milestones? What are the biggest controversies?)

    3. An overview of the personal and diary blogs in India (Who are the most popular bloggers? What are the most common themes? What are the recent trends?)

    4. An overview of current affairs and activism blogs in India (Who are the most popular bloggers? What are the most common themes? What are the recent trends?)

    5. An overview of business and technology blogs in India, including CEO blogs (Who are the most popular bloggers? What are the most common themes? What are the recent trends?)

    6. An overview of celebrity and gossip blogs in India (Who are the most popular bloggers? What are the most common themes? What are the recent trends?)

    7. An overview of Indic language blogging in India (Who are the most popular bloggers? What are the most common themes? What are the recent trends?)

    8. A review of the biggest themes and memes in the Indian blogosphere in 2008, including a review of mainstream media news stories about blogging in India.

    9. A directory of the most influential bridge bloggers in India, which can use Amit Agarwal’s directory of Indian bloggers as a starting point.

    It’s obvious that such a report can hardly be put together by a single person, and I suggest that DesiPundit and Global Voices take the lead in putting it together, with contributions from leading Indian bloggers.

    Neha Vishwanathan and Patrix can work on the history of the Indian blogosphere (#2), the overview of personal and diary blogs in India (#3) and a review of the biggest themes and meemes of 2008 (#8). Shivam Vij, Annie Zaidi or the folks at The Indian National Interest can be requested to write the overview of current affairs and activism blogs in India (#4). I’m sure Sakshi Juneja will be happy to write the overview of celebrity and gossip blogs in India (#6). The Indic language curators at Global Voices and Desipundit can put together the overview of Indic language blogs in India (#7). Kamla Bhatt, Gautam Ghosh and Amit Agarwal can collaborate on the overview of business and technology blogs in India (#5). As involved observers of the Indian blogosphere at the aggregate level, Kiruba Shankar, Rajesh Lalwani, Dina Mehta and I can contribute to #1 and #8.

    Finally, I offer my full support to Global Voices and DesiPundit to help with convincing people to write their 500 word sections, chasing them to do it within deadlines and editing the final report.

    The State of the Indian Blogosphere 2009 collaborative report can then serve as a pilot for similar reports for the other big countries Global Voices covers.

    Ethan/ Neha/ Patrix: What do you think?

    Shivam/ Annie/ Sakshi/ Kamla/ Gautam/ Amit/ Kiruba/ Dina/ Rajesh: What about you?

    Update 1: Since there seems to be some quick interest in this idea, here’s how you can help. In the comment section below, or in a post of your own, suggest what should be included in each of the nine sections, or suggest a new section. For instance, you can make suggestions on the best themes and memes of 2008 and link to the relevant blog posts or news articles. We’ll find a way of acknowledging the suggestions in the report.

    Update 2: I have written a quick post on the top five themes and memes in the Indian blogosphere in 2008 to kick off the initiative. It’s your turn now.

     

    • Gautam Ghosh 1:45 pm on December 26, 2008 Permalink | Reply

      Brilliant idea !
      I would be game for it!

    • Gaurav Mishra 1:51 pm on December 26, 2008 Permalink | Reply

      @Gautam: Thank you. If you like the idea, I would request you to write a post on what else to include in such a report and the best way to compile it. Let’s get enough momentum behind the idea to make it happen.

    • Mayank Dhingra 2:06 pm on December 26, 2008 Permalink | Reply

      Sounds like a plan, count me in.

      what’s up comment #2 ?

    • Gaurav Mishra 2:29 pm on December 26, 2008 Permalink | Reply

      @Gautam , @Gaurav

      Would like to give a hand regarding collating #5 if needed.

    • neha 5:35 pm on December 26, 2008 Permalink | Reply

      I think it’s a fantastic idea – but might make for more interesting reading – if after a rough draft was done – we wikified it and invited changes, and contributions. I think we can only provide a basic skeletal draft…

      But fascinating idea nevertheless…

    • Gaurav Mishra 5:46 pm on December 26, 2008 Permalink | Reply

      @Gaurav/ Mayank: Thank you. I’ll look forward to your suggestions.

      @Neha: I’m delighted that you like the idea. Your idea of opening up the first draft into a wiki is brilliant. I’m hoping that Global Voices + DesiPundit will quickly adopt the idea. It will be great if we are able to put together a first public draft by mid January. :-)

    • David Sasaki 9:40 pm on December 26, 2008 Permalink | Reply

      One of the very first projects of Global Voices was a wiki-based Bridge Blog Directory. We had separate pages for each national blogosphere and the idea was that one representative from each blogosphere would curate, contextualize, and update the directory – basically, what you’re proposing for India. Beth Kanter did a great job with the Cambodian blogosphere for a few months. After about six months though every page was out of date. It would be great if we’ve reached a point were individuals (or groups) were willing to keep such a directory maintained. I think it would make a valuable resource.

    • Gautam Ghosh 12:21 am on December 27, 2008 Permalink | Reply

      Was wondering if we can also compile a demographic of bloggers in India. Who all blog, which age group, which industry, how much do they update their blogs, etc.

      Would a web based poll work?

      • Aryan Niyukti 5:26 am on December 27, 2008 Permalink | Reply

        I agree with Gautam entirely. It will be interesting to explore the spread of Indian Blogger Demographics – age wise, industry wise, region-language wise,length & frequency of posts, tools used, interests etc. It will also be useful to explore the evlution from the ‘early adopters’ to the the more ‘recent converts’ to try to extrapolate the shape of future blogging.

        Another unrelated theme could be an effort to understand why there haven’t been any purely ‘Indian’ innovations in blogging/ social networking whereas gobally there have been so many of them. Does it only have to do with internet penetration or there are many other peaces of the puzzle?

    • Rajesh 12:46 am on December 27, 2008 Permalink | Reply

      Would be happy to chip in on this one.

      Cheers

      Rajesh

    • Gaurav Mishra 1:25 am on December 27, 2008 Permalink | Reply

      @Everybody: I have written a quick post on the top five themes and memes in the Indian blogosphere in 2008 to kick off the initiative. It’s your turn now.

    • Gaurav Mishra 1:30 am on December 27, 2008 Permalink | Reply

      @Rajesh: I’m delighted that you like the idea. Let’s start off by cracking the top themes and memes part, as a quick win. then, let’s put our heads together on the overview.

      @Gautam: I feel that it would be nice to put together a first draft of the report based on what we already know. We can do the survey in the second phase.

      @David: Thank you for your encouragement. I have seen the Global Voices Bridge Blog directory. What I have in mind is even more top level than that. In fact, I would argue that the focus in the sections I have outlined above should be more on the blogging themes and less on the bloggers themselves.

    • Pramit Singh 11:47 am on December 27, 2008 Permalink | Reply

      I have written about the Biggest moments in Indian Blogging history here.
      http://mediavidea.blogspot.com/2008/12/simpleguide-to-biggest-moments-in.html

      Before that in Feb 2008 I wrote a three part series on Citizen Journalism in India. Cross posted on Journalism.co.uk site.
      http://mediavidea.blogspot.com/2008/02/state-of-citizen-journalism-in-india_9328.html

      Hope it helps.

    • Gaurav Mishra 3:14 pm on December 27, 2008 Permalink | Reply

      @Aryan: I think that both the questions — understanding the demographics of Indian bloggers and blog readers and understanding why there haven’t been significant blogging innovations in India — are important. However, I would rather focus on the low hanging fruit and compile what we already know collectively.

      Pramit’s post is a perfect example of how knowledge is often hidden in places that aren’t obvious. If ten Indian bloggers write a post like that, we will have the first draft of the State of the Indian Blogosphere report.

      @Pramit: Thanks for your post. I was compiling a list of the top ten milestones in Indian blogging and your post reminded me to include some milestones I would have otherwise left out.

      Recently, I also gave a long interview on citizen journalism in India that will appear in the Sunday edition of Mail Today. I’ll use inputs from your series to expand that posts as well.

    • Naina Redhu 4:36 pm on December 29, 2008 Permalink | Reply

      Gaurav, Design as an industry – independent designers etc. have picked up a lot of steam in India in the last couple of years. When I started blogging about design, there was nothing from India on the web in that department – now, there are thousands of Indian designers and design studios who have taken up blogging – case studies of real design engagements, design workflows and processes, pricing and client-interaction being some of the subjects being discussed, which were earlier ALL hush-hush – as a designer who started out on their own, there was nothing for guidance – no prior experience to benchmark against. I believe that the India design industry is slowly but steadily increasing its presence on the web – especially through blogs. If you need anything related to the design part, let me know how I can contribute.

    • Gaurav Mishra 4:39 pm on December 29, 2008 Permalink | Reply

      @Naina: Can you write a post on the design blogs in India, on your own blog or as a guest post on my blog?

      • Naina Redhu 4:53 pm on December 29, 2008 Permalink | Reply

        Of course I can do that – let me do some research on the design blogs side of things so I don’t get my facts wrong. I’ll let you know when I have my stuff ready. 4/5 days ok?

    • Gaurav Mishra 9:42 pm on January 4, 2009 Permalink | Reply

      @Naina: I’ll look forward to the post.

    • Ankesh Kothari 10:03 am on January 12, 2009 Permalink | Reply

      Whats the purpose?

      I personally would just have passing interest in a document about the history of blogging in India. But show me the future. Show me whats hot in India and how to make it even better. That is something I would pay for.

      I would love it if more politicians and media personnel and CEOs take to blogging and make things more transparent. So my suggestion would be: could you make it a bit more future oriented than just history and context oriented?

    • Asfaq Tapia 8:44 am on January 28, 2009 Permalink | Reply

      I will be happy to help with #5 :)

    • Kanupriya 6:34 am on March 30, 2009 Permalink | Reply

      Hi,
      Is this report ready? Do let your readers know when this will be out :-)
      And in case any help is required, will be happy to do the same.

    • Solanasaurus 12:11 pm on May 18, 2009 Permalink | Reply

      I would love to read a report like this! On wikipedia some blogging communities have pages, like this one: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iranian_blogs – would be great if we could create one for Indian blogs and lean on the Global Voices community to create and maintain several more. Like David says, it’s really hard to keep these things updated over time. Coming up with a good template/structure for describing a blogging community would be a good service, I think.

    • Gaurav Mishra 11:48 am on May 19, 2009 Permalink | Reply

      @Sonala: Thank you for your encouragement. I have re-activated the work on the report. The Iran blogosphere Wikipedia page is great, by the way.

    • dina mehta 3:49 pm on May 19, 2009 Permalink | Reply

      What a great set of comments and recommendations here! Let me add my two-bits:

      1. I’m happy to help with #8 as I mentioned to you in my email.

      2. #1 is a dicey area – we would need to launch a proper survey for that to be robust – there are so many varying estimates about the number of blogs, readers etc. The report you referred to in your earlier post on the Indiblogger State of the Blogosphere has a sample of just 7895 – and the data seems flawed as some of the most obviously successful bloggers like Amit Varma to name one, are missing. Why? Perhaps due to the opt-in nature of collecting data which isn’t really successful given the fact that we’ve crossed the stage where there were a few thousand bloggers who were better-knit as a community.

      We need to look for a more solid methodology (like what Pew does for eg.) to really get robust statistics.

      3. Neha’s point of wikifying this exercise is great. It’s the perfect tool for collaboratively building a document and would make it so much easier to add/edit/review. So I’d suggest you or someone starts a wiki and instead of blogging thoughts at each one’s individual blog – lets work within that space to create this ‘living’ document.

      4. Lots of categories are missing I feel – like Naina points out Design there may be several others in different professions, in the Arts, Culture, Poetry, Fiction and many many more that I am sure I’m leaving out

      5. How are we going to assess Most Popular Blogs in each category – we need clear parameters for this. If they fit into the narrative anecdotally to make a point or as an example that’s super. But having lists with rankings etc. is something I am wary of after 6 years of blogging. Most lack credibility as they are based on faulty or inadequate samples and a lot of subjectivity which was ok when the blogosphere was much smaller (blame the researcher in me for being cynical about this).

      6. More importantly, what purpose do these lists of popularity serve really?

      7. Building a bridge-blogger’s directory is a nice idea – once again lets do this the wiki-way as Global Voices had done.

      • Gaurav Mishra 4:18 pm on May 19, 2009 Permalink | Reply

        @Dina: I just replied to your email.

        All valid points, as always.

        I have updated my IndiBlogger post to reflect some of the points you made: http://www.gauravonomics.com/blog/the-indibloggerin-state-of-the-indian-blogosphere/.

        I think the IndiBlogger data works more or less at the aggregate level (city/ language/ PageRank/ Alexa Rank/ Frequency/ Rececny), but not for ranking.

        How to make it more robust is a big question. As of now, I want to focus on data/ insight that is already available. At some point of time, all of us (you, Mahesh, Rajesh, Rajiv, Kiruba, Siddharth) should pool our resources (both time and money) and do a proper study, which all of us can then use for our companies.

        The IndiBlogger report, in any case, is just one part of the whole project, which has been in my mind for more than six months. The original proposal was to make a qualitative report, which will give an outsider an overview of the Indian blogging scene. It was meant to be a very non-commercial, Global Voice/ Desipundit like affair. Here’s something else that I have been pitching to GV: http://indiatalks.org/best-indian-bloggers/

        I think we should suggest the best blogs within each category, based on some criteria, which we can collelctively decide on. It doesn’t have to be quantitative. It will be biased, by default. But, it’s better than nothing.

        Yes, we should have more categories. The category list is just indicative.

        Blog Melas are great but they are temporary. IndiBlogger has a meme-aggregator called IndiVine which is similar. We need something more enduring, more “meta”, like the wikipedia page on Iranian blogs: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iranian_blogs

    • dina mehta 3:55 pm on May 19, 2009 Permalink | Reply

      LOL!! Just realised this post is dated Dec 08!!! Whatever happened to all this energy Gaurav??

  • Gaurav Mishra 4:00 pm on November 29, 2008 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , Bomb Blasts, , , Colaba, , Desipundit, GroundReport, , , MumbaiHelp, , , Shootouts, , ,   

    Real Time Citizen Journalism in Mumbai Terrorist Attacks 

    ( The Mumbai terror attack has finally ended after more than 60 hours.

    Even as I continue to track instances of citizen journalism in the Mumbai terror attack on this post, I’m trying to make sense of what happened in a work-in-progress case study and a Flickr set of screenshot on the role of social media in the Mumbai terror attack. I’m also compiling reactions on Indian news media’s coverage of the terror attack.

    For more, see my interviews on the role of citizen journalism in the terror attack with Los Angeles Times, CBS News, BBC, DNA, LiveMint, Associated Press, Journalism.co.uk, Tehelka, NPR, CNN, CUNY TV and Star Telegram.

    Finally, the role of the online community in India has not ended with the Mumbai terror attack. We need to come together to shape a moderate, nuanced online discussion on the 11/26 Mumbai terror attack to bring back calm and peace to Mumbai and ensure that we don’t repeat the mistakes others have made after such tragedies.

    One such initiative is Voices Against Terror, an open group blog/ online petition that hopes to help build international consensus, including consensus in Pakistan, against terrorism and terrorist organizations like Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jamaat-ud-Dawah.)

    Late on November 26, Mumbai was shaken by a series of bomb blasts and shootouts in at least twelve ten prominent locations in the upmarket and densely populated South Mumbai, including hotels (Oberai Trident and Taj Mahal, Marriott and Ramada), the popular restaurant Leopold Cafe, hospitals (Cama Hospital and Bombay Hospital), Nariman House, the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) railway station and the police headquarters in South Mumbai.

    The situation is still developing and there is wide speculation about whether these incidents are a result of a gang war or a coordinated terrorist attack. Hitherto little-known terrorist organization Deccan Mujahideen has taken responsibility for the attacks but many believe that Lashkar-e-Taiba is behind the attacks. The terrorists, young men aged between 20 to 25 years, are believed to have come to Mumbai by sea.

    So far at least 25 60 80 87 101 125 143 154 people are feared to be dead and t least 250 900 250 274 327 more are reported to be injured. At least 50 100 more people, especially British and US nationals, have been were held hostage by the terrorists at the Taj Mahal and Oberai Trident hotels and Nariman House, but most of them have been released now. As a result of heavy fighting, both hotels are on fire now the situation is under control now.

    So far, micro-blogging service Twitter seems to be the best source for real time citizen news on the Mumbai terrorist attacks, and “Mumbai” & “#Mumbai” are both on Twitter trending topics now.

    Citizen Journalism in Mumbai Terrorist Attacks Twitter

    Some blogs, like Global Voices, are also beginning to write about the Mumbai terrorist attacks, but most active Indian bloggers are talking about the unfolding event on Twitter.

    The Mumbai terrorist attack is now on the front page of Google News and Mahalo is doing a great job of compiling the story as it unfolds.

    Citizen Journalism in Mumbai Terrorist Attacks Mahalo

    The first photos of the Mumbai terrorist attacks are up on CNN-IBN and NDTV and both (CNN-IBN and NDTV) are streaming live video feeds of the unfolding situation.

    I’ll be updating this post with more citizen generated resources on the Mumbai terrorist attacks as they are put up.

    Update (Nov 27, 12:45 am India time): The first YouTube videos on the Mumbai terrorist attacks are up (1 and 2), but they aren’t live accounts, just TV recordings. The first Flickr photographs of the Mumbai terrorist attacks are also put up by Vinukumar Ranganathan.

    Citizen Journalism in Mumbai Terrorist Attacks Flickr

    Update (Nov 27, 1:30 am India time): The Mumbai terrorist attack is now on the front page of the citizen journalism website GroundReport.

    Citizen Journalism in Mumbai Terrorist Attacks GroundReport

    Update (Nov 27, 2:00 am India time): The phone lines in Mumbai are jammed in the aftermath of the Mumbai terrorist attacks. @Zickzackly is offering to halp pass on messages at the MumbaiHelp blog.

    Citizen Journalism in Mumbai Terrorist Attacks MumbaiHelp

    Several people on Twitter are also offering to help pass on messages to friends and family in Mumbai.

    Citizen Journalism in Mumbai Terrorist Attacks Twitter Help

    Update (Nov 27, 2:15 am India time): Neha Vishwanathan at Global Voices is doing a series of posts on the Mumbai terrorist attacks.

    Update (Nov 27, 2:30 am India time): After Mahalo citizen journalism website NowPublic has the best page on the Mumbai terrorist attacks.

    Citizen Journalism in Mumbai Terrorist Attacks NowPublic

    Several TV recordings of the Mumbai terrorist attack are now up on YouTube, but there aren’t any first hand videos yet.

    Citizen Journalism in Mumbai Terrorist Attacks YouTube

    Update (Nov 27, 2:45 am India time): Both the popular Indian blog aggregators — DesiPundit and BlogBharti — are strangely silent on the Mumbai terrorist attacks!

    Maitri Vatul has done a roundup of social media coverage of the Mumbai terrorist attacks (via Mahalo).

    Update (Nov 27, 3:00 am India time): A sketchy Wikipedia page on the Mumbai terrorist attacks is now up. Please help update it.

    Citizen Journalism in Mumbai Terrorist Attacks Wikipedia

    Now the volume of tweets on the Mumbai terrorist attacks is so high that I can’t keep up! So, I am now checking geo-tagged tweets on the Mumbai terrorist attacks from people living in Mumbai (via @zishaanhayath).

    Update (Nov 27, 3:15 am India time): Manish at Ultrabrown is live-blogging the Mumbai terrorist attacks with some first person accounts.

    Update (Nov 27, 3:30 am India time): Now, someone has started a dedicated twitter account for updates on the Mumbai terrorist attacks @mumbaiattack

    Update (Nov 27, 3:45 am India time): Here’s a Google Map of the key locations in the Mumbai terrorist attacks.

    Update (Nov 27, 4:15 am India time): Indian blog aggregator Desipundit finally has a roundup post up on the Mumbai terrorist attacks and well-known Indian blogger Amit Varma has a narrow escape from the Mumbai terrorist attacks.

    Update (Nov 27, 4:30 am India time): Arzan Sam Wadia at Mumbai Metblogs is doing a series of posts on the Mumbai terrorist attacks.

    Xeni Zardin at Boing Boing and Noah Shachtman on Wired have done roundups of citizen journalism coverage of the Mumbai terrorist attacks.

    Update (Nov 27, 4:45 am India time): Here are two graphs showing the spike in tweets about Mumbai and tweets tagged with #Mumbai in the aftermath of the Mumbai terrorist attacks.

    There are 100+ videos on YouTube now on the Mumbai terrorist attacks, but only recording of TV news clippings, no user generated videos.

    @kcbsnews wants to speak to Twitter users in Mumbai –

    Are you in Mumbai? We’d love to know what you’re hearing and seeing.

    SepiaMutiny has a post up on the Mumbai terrorist attacks but points to the SAJA post for discussions. SAJA is hosting discussions on the Mumbai terrorist attacks on BlogTalkRadio

    Update (Nov 27, 5:30 am India time): Looking at the front page of Technorati, you wouldn’t even suspect that Mumbai is wrecked apart by terrorist attacks!

    Citizen Journalism in Mumbai Terrorist Attacks Technorati

    Update (Nov 27, 6:30 am India time): Several technology blogs — including Techmeme, TechCrunch, 140 Chars and Amy Gahran — are writing posts on the role of Twitter in the reporting on the Mumbai terrorist attacks.

    Citizen Journalism in Mumbai Terrorist Attacks Techmeme

    CNN has even linked to the Twitter profiles of @gsik and @puneet and the Flickr set of @vinu in its story on online coverage of Mumbai terrorist attacks.

    Update (Nov 27, 8:30 am India time): Kamla Bhatt is live-blogging the Mumbai terrorist attacks.

    Dan Gillmor has written a nice post onthe role of Wikipedia as a news breaking source in the Mumbai terrorist attacks.

    Homeland Security National Terror Alert tweets about the dangers of social media without explaining what dangers it is talking about –

    #mumbai terror attack demonstrates the usefulness and also the dangers of social media.

    Global Voices has a special coverage page for the Mumbai terrorist attacks.

    Fox News links to Vinu’s Flickr photos on the Mumbai terrorist attacks.

    Finally, before I take my first break in almost 8 hours, I find myself in the unenviable situation of explaining to someone that this post is not a “power of social media” game for me, but a distraction from endlessly worrying/ praying about my friends back in Mumbai.

    Update (Nov 27, 11:30 am India time): Back from a break, I’m shocked that the terrorist seize of Mumbai is still going on, after almost 12 hours! This is not a terrorist attack, this is war!

    Several bloggers (Arzan Sam Wadia and Duncan Riley) are speculating if the government wants to shut off Twitter, fearing that the terrorists might be tracking it.

    Mahalo has a separate page up for the coverage of the Mumbai terrorist attacks on Twitter.

    Update (Nov 27, 11:45 am India time): Several bloggers are now discussing if Twitter has been a valid source of news during the Mumbai terrorist attacks — Mathew Ingram, Ewan McLeod, Jason Preston, Twitips, Tom, TechMacro, Riayn, Chris Maiorana, Laural Papworth, Stephen Collins, Amit Agarwal, Tim Malbon, Daily Twitter.

    Ted McEnroe from NECN also has a story on the use of Twitter and Flickr in the Mumbai terrorist attack reporting.

    Update (Nov 27, 1:15 pm India time): Dina Mehta, who has been tweeting about the situation all night has a post with useful helpline numbers (cross-posted at MumbaiHelp blog).

    Indian blogger-writer Sonia Faleiro writes an evocative first person account of the Mumbai terrorist attack. Sonia and Amit Varma were probably together in the group of six stranded at the Gordon House Hotel in South Mumbai.

    Indian blog aggregator BlogBharti finally has a roundup of blog posts on the Mumbai terrorist attacks.

    Update (Nov 27, 2:15 pm India time): As the #Mumbai volume on Twitter explodes I’m moving to the Twitter feed for links related to the Mumbai terrorist attacks.

    After all this talk of the role of Twitter in the Mumbai terrorist attacks, @biz has posted a four sentence official post.

    NDTV has a comprehensive roundup of online discussions about the Mumbai terrorist attacks.

    Update (Nov 27, 2:30 pm India time): US Daily Star Telegram quotes me extensively on a story on the use of Twitter in the reporting on the Mumbai terrorist attacks.

    Citizen Journalism in Mumbai Terrorist Attacks Gaurav Mishra Star Telegram

    Update (Nov 27, 3:45 pm India time): Suddenly, all the newspapers/ TV channels are interested in the story on the role of social media in the Mumbai terrorist attacks reporting.

    The Age story on the role of Twitter in covering the Mumbai terrorist attacks (via Faine Greenwood).

    Shefaly Yogendra has an interesting analysis of what happened on Twitter in the aftermath of the Mumbai terrorist attacks.

    Update (Nov 27, 4:15 pm India time): On a Skype video call with CNN for an interview on the role of social media in the Mumbai terrorist attack coverage. Waiting patiently for my turn while tweeting links.

    Update (Nov 27, 4:30 pm India time): Just finished my live Skype interview with CNN on the role of citizen journalism in the Mumbai terrorist attacks.

    The seize in Mumbai has been on for almost one full day now and no end is in sight. I feel angry and tired/ frustrated in turns.

    Update (Nov 27, 5:30 pm India time): BBC blindly follows the news rumors on twitter –

    Indian government asks for live Twitter updates from Mumbai to cease immediately. “ALL LIVE UPDATES – PLEASE STOP TWEETING about #Mumbai police and military operations,” a tweet says.

    Journalism.co.uk has a nice roundup of the online coverage of the Mumbai terrorist attacks.

    Update (Nov 27, 8:30 pm India time): Mayank Austen Sufi has compiled a collection of reactions to the Mumbai terrorist attacks from Delhi artist types.

    Rezwan has written a post at GlobalVoices about the use of Twitter in discussing the Mumbai terror attacks.

    ArunShanbag is live-blogging the Mumbai terrorist attacks and posting pictures from the affected South Mumbai areas.

    Blogadda has a list of Indian bloggers live-blogging the #mumbai terrorist attacks.

    Jessica Reed from The Guardian has a nice roundup of social media coverage of the Mumbai terrorist attacks.

    Update (Nov 28, 4:45 am India time): Here’s a regularly updated list of Indian bloggers have been live-blogging the Mumbai terror attacks. While most bloggers are posting news and opinion based on mainstream media coverage, a few are posting first hand accounts and even photographs. I still haven’t seen any user generated videos.

    Update (Nov 28, 6:30 am India time): Three dramatically different first-hand accounts of the same #mumbai terror incident from Rahul, Amit and Sonia. It’s impossible to guess from the posts that they were stranded together at the Gordon House Hotel.

    Suddenly, the tone of discourse on the Mumbai terrorist attacks has changed in the Indian blogosphere from sharing information and expressing pain to offering analysis and rhetoric. The change is obvious if you compare DesiPundit’s first roundup of posts about the Mumbai attacks with its second roundup. But, I expected this to happen, once the shock of the surprise seize wore off.

    Update (Nov 28, 7:30 am India time): Several Indian bloggers have criticized the Indian television news channels for sensationalizing their coverage of the Mumbai terror attacks and, perhaps, helping the terrorists inadvertently: Neha Vishwanathan, Chetan Kunte, Prem Panicker, OffStumped, Falstaff.

    Update (Nov 28, 8:30 am India time): Dipity has several useful visual displays for user-generated content, including a map view and a timeline view.

    Citizen Journalism in Mumbai Terrorist Attacks Gaurav Mishra Dipity

    Update (Nov 28, 9:30 am India time): Here are videos of the CNN interviews with Dina (also on YouTube) and Vinu (also on YouTube) on the Mumbai terror attacks –

    Amit Varma’s interview with BBC —

    Update (Nov 28, 10:00 am India time): Indiblogger is also compiling a list of posts by Indian bloggers on the Mumbai terror attack.

    Update (Nov 28, 8:15 pm India time): I can’t believe that the Mumbai terror attack is still going on, after almost 48 hours! I feel sad & angry & exhausted. This can’t be true.

    Amit Varma points to some great news articles & blog posts on the #mumbai terror attacks.

    Update (Nov 28, 11:15 pm India time): @zickzackly has started a Facebook event to show solidarity with the policemen and soldiers fighting the Mumbai attacks.

    Update (Nov 28, 11:45 pm India time): Even as I continue to update this post with instances of citizen journalism in the Mumbai terror attacks, I’m trying to make sense of what happened in a work-in-progress case study on the role of social media in the Mumbai terror attacks. Also see my interviews on the role of citizen journalism in the terror attacks with CBS News, DNA, LiveMint, Journalism.co.uk and Star Telegram.

    Update (Nov 29, 1:30 am India time): Vinukumar Ranganathan has more Flickr photos of navy activity in South Mumbai and life in Mumbai in the aftermath of the terror attacks.

    Citizen Journalism in Mumbai Terrorist Attacks Flickr
    Citizen Journalism in Mumbai Terrorist Attacks Flickr

    Update (Nov 29, 3:00 am India time): CNN interview of blogger Harish Iyer, who has set up Mumbai Terror Helpline to track details on the injured/ dead in the Mumbai attack.

    Here’s a Google Docs spreadsheet of the injured and dead in the Mumbai terror attack via MumbaiHelp.

    Arun Shanbhag and Ashesh Shah are now uploading photos of the Mumbai terror attack to Flickr.

    Citizen Journalism in Mumbai Terrorist Attacks Flickr
    Citizen Journalism in Mumbai Terrorist Attacks Flickr

    Update (Nov 29, 8:30 am India time): Aravind T Jose has made a video of the timeline of citizen journalism in the Mumbai terror attack, based on this post –

    A Wordle representation of this post –

    NECN on citizen journalism in Mumbai terror attacks –

     

    • Jarrett 4:41 pm on November 26, 2008 Permalink | Reply

      Please also see crowd-powered news site NowPublic’s featured coverage of the Mumbai attacks:
      http://nowpublic.com/tag/mumbai — as well as live updates from across the microblogosphere at http://nowpublic.com/tag/mumbai/scan

      Thanks,
      Jarrett

      –
      Jarrett Martineau
      Editor, NowPublic.com

    • Nikhil 4:42 pm on November 26, 2008 Permalink | Reply

      Terrorists roaming the streets in police vans, killing ATS personnel, Setting hotels on fire with Grenade Attacks.This is war, not an attack

    • Kunal 4:43 pm on November 26, 2008 Permalink | Reply

    • lilious 7:32 pm on November 26, 2008 Permalink | Reply

      Check out this graph showing the increasing volume of twitts about Mumbai: http://www.twitscoop.com/twits/search?q=mumbai

    • tweetip 8:46 pm on November 26, 2008 Permalink | Reply

      #Mumbai ~ 1st Tweets Timeline & Chart … http://tweetip.us/lkphd

    • Ramon 7:25 am on November 27, 2008 Permalink | Reply

      Hello.

      I like your blog.

      http://www.soitu.es/soitu/2008/11/27/vistoenlared/1227780401_219682.html

      Greetings from Spain.

    • AC 9:51 am on November 27, 2008 Permalink | Reply

      If you don’t want to (or can’t because there are to many of them) read every message on twitter, use tweetag.com instead of search.twitter.com

      search.twitter is good when you are looking for something specific.
      Tweetag gives a big picture of the current trends; without the need to enter a specific keyword

    • Anand 8:00 pm on November 27, 2008 Permalink | Reply

      Awesome amount of info…
      But about awfully horrible event…
      Actually, horrible is an understatement….

    • Reena 12:55 am on November 28, 2008 Permalink | Reply

      Hey Gaurav, IndiBlogger.in too kickstarted their speak out efforts yesterday. You might want to add them as well.

    • Ryan 6:03 am on November 28, 2008 Permalink | Reply

      I believe the information filtering to the people via the media is totalyl responsible for the numerous rumours coming up. After being with the city through all the previous situation, (blasts etc), it is troubling to know that all the main media companies send uneducated brash personnel to the sites to cover and analyse the situations. How can the big television networks propogate information without having hard evidence via their sources at the venue (e.g.CST) in such a important situation as this. Furthermore, all the media interviews with the Police/NSG etc, clearly show the undeucated appproach in questioning the authorities to gleen accurate information. Brash, abrasive, repetitive questions do not assist this situation.

    • Aravind Jose T. 3:52 pm on November 28, 2008 Permalink | Reply

      Mr. Gaurav,
      I’ve been following you at Twitter for quite a some time now. (@AravindJose)

      As my contribution, I’ve created a “Documentary on Citizen Journalism in Mumbai War”.
      It’ll be soon uploaded to YouTube, Vimeo and MetaCafe.

      I wanted to thank you, as this post served as a “script” for the documentary. Proper attribution have been given at the end of the documentary.

      I’ll send the link as soon as it is uploaded.

    • Mumbaikar 3:07 am on November 29, 2008 Permalink | Reply

      Hey do include a link to The Big Picture, they have high-res photos on mumbai attacks.
      http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2008/11/mumbai_under_attack.html

    • Rahul Gurung 9:27 am on November 29, 2008 Permalink | Reply

      Now that the siege is over, it’s time to look what went wrong and what can be done to avoid any such attacks in future. I hope that from this time on, our goverment should wrok to further strenthen our boundaries and intellegence sources as well. It’s good to see people coming together and unite, but why should people unite only when there is a disaster, why can’t we always stay united??? This will for sure bring a change to our country.

    • Tim Malbon 1:15 am on December 1, 2008 Permalink | Reply

      Hi – thanks for your link to my blog post about Twitter’s Mumbai coverage. I’ve now followed up that post with another in which I propose some ways of making Twitter more useful for the specific circumstances around ‘live’, developing events like the Mumbai terror assault. What a tragic and hideous even it has been – our hearts go out to all those who have lost friends, relatives and loved ones.

      The link to the new post “Bring on the #moron filter” is http://www.madebymany.co.uk/bring-on-the-moron-filter-00351

      Please let me know what you think,

      Thanks,

      Tim

    • IDLI 2:34 am on December 5, 2008 Permalink | Reply

      As pointed by another user that, as now siege is over, it is necessary to take a look at what went wrong. Myself being a technologist , came with technological ideas to fight terrorism, my views on technology a means to fight terrorism are posted
      http://inboticslab.blogspot.com/2008/12/technological-revolution-against.html

      I would appreciate if one can pass around the word of a technological organisation to fight terrorism.

      JAI HIND

  • Gaurav Mishra 12:30 pm on May 10, 2007 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , Desipundit, , Nerve-Endings-Firing-Away, , Patrix   

    Desi Blogging Cafe: Patrix from Nerve Endings Firing Away 

    DesiBlogging Cafe Patrix is an urban planning doctoral student at Texas A&M, the founder of DesiPundit and a self-confessed Shyamali Malakar fan. Patrix blogs at Nerve Endings Firing Away.

    I have already written about why I love Patrix’s blog -

    - Patrix has an intuitive understanding of how conversations are created on blogs, and, as I try to understand the nature of online conversations myself, I find myself looking up to him as something of a guru.
    - Patrix has an innate curiosity about technology and popular culture and the ability to write from an enthusiast’s perspective, something any blogger would do well to emulate.
    - Patrix is one of the most generous people I have known, online or offline, and, via DesiPundit and his own blog, he has probably done more to promote desi blogging than anybody else.

    Patrix belongs to the second most widely seen species of desi bloggers, the doctoral-student-blogger (the first, of course, is the journalist-blogger) and I’m sure that you’ll meet many more bloggers from this species in the ‘Desi Blogging Cafe’ interview series.

    Patrix

    - – X – - X – - X – -

    Patrix says that he doesn’t like being in front of the camera because he isn’t photogenic. So, I took the liberty of using a picture from a ’silly photo’ tag in which he looks really cute. Don’t you think so?

    - – X – - X – - X – -

    Q. When and why did you start blogging? Has the reason why you blog changed over time?

    A. I started blogging in June 2003. I had been reading blogs then for over six months mostly at Rediff and was intrigued by the concept. I had always wanted to write informally and indulge in opinion writing which my blog let me. I don’t suppose the reasons why I blog have changed much. Perhaps, the content and the topics I blog on might have changed but overall, I have tried maintaining the personal touch.

    Q. What do you blog about? Has the focus of your blog changed over time?

    A. Like I said above, I am primarily a personal bloggers and in my recent post upon completing 2000 posts on my blog, I looked at the categories I post under. The ‘Personal’ category came out on tops by a wide margin followed by my observations/ rants/ opinions on current affairs, politics, and society & culture. I admit to being a reactionary blogger but I have always been. Lately, like you have, I have been writing on how one can make your blog better.

    Q. How do you think people describe your blog to others who don’t read it? How would you like them to describe it?

    A. Top bloggers advice you to have a niche and focused blog but frankly, I treat my blog as a personal space for my writings which consists on my opinions, thoughts, and raves/ rants. People may describe the blog as sometimes being all over the place regarding content but I am not worried about that. It just means that I am interested in a host of issues and topics and my blog reflects that. However, I recently changed my tagline to “Crossing Borders, Crossing Cultures” (apologies to a photo contest I once participated in). I would like my blog to be a reflection of an Indian living outside the country’s borders and experiencing different cultures. Presenting my thoughts on a rapidly evolving landscape of the constantly shrinking world (ok! that was a bit too ambitious).

    Q. How do you think people describe you to others who don’t know you? How would you like them to describe you?

    I think I am widely perceived as overly diplomatic (at times) and guarded in my opinions but I don’t think that always applies to me and I have been blunt and forthcoming at times. Based on my writings, I hope people think of me as a balanced, rational, and intelligent individuals who is not averse to changing his views if he is offered a better argument.

    Q. Is your online persona different from your real self?

    A. Not really. But I would add that I am perhaps more lucid in my writings that I am in real life. I am able to lay out my thoughts and get my point across more clearly on my blog.

    Q. How important is your blog to you? In what ways? Why?

    A. It wasn’t intended to be, but now, it is quite an integral part of my life. I will be blogging at least in some form or the other for a long time. It has helped me meet up with really intelligent, smart and creative people. Bloggers can be a helpful bunch and you learn something new everyday either through comments on your blog or content on other blogs. Apart from serving as a ‘warehouse’ for my thoughts, opinions, and bookmarks, I have earned quite a bit from my blog and although not enough (by a long shot) to sustain on its own, it is encouraging to see that I could if I put in the effort and time. But I like to keep it as a hobby.

    Q. What have you learnt from blogging?

    A. I have learnt to network and voice my opinions in a better manner. I have also learnt a lot about technology and design that I would have otherwise not learnt. I wrote a longer post about this when I completed my 2000 posts.

    Q. What are you highest and lowest blogging moments? Why?

    A. My highest blogging moment was during the IIPM-Bloggers face-off and I think it was the first time, blogging came into its own and successfully rallied against an institution that was making false claims and bullying ordinary people who simply exposed the truth. The lowest point I think in hindsight was the entire tirade against Rohan Pinto. He obviously did a mistake and seemed genuinely apologetic but I think the blogging community could have handled it in a better manner primarily because even though everyone forgets it in time, Google doesn’t. I hope it hasn’t affected him too adversely.

    - – X – - X – - X – -

    I found it really interesting that Patrix has interpreted this question in this wider sense: almost like “what have been the highest and lowest moments in desi blogging?” What do you think?

    - – X – - X – - X – -

    Q. Which are your three favorite posts? Why?

    A. I’ll not mention my most popular ones (hits-wise) – Cricket World Cup & Malakars at American Idol, so here goes (in ascending order):

    - Have I changed much?
    - My Olympics 2004 series.
    - I haven’t written the best one yet :-)

    - – X – - X – - X – -

    Actually, Patrix has not only managed to mention all three of his highest hit posts, he has given me only one of his favorite post. Patrix, we want two more favorite posts from you!

    - – X – - X – - X – -

    Q.How many blogs do you read? If you were to read only one blog, which one would it be? Why?

    A. I read a lot less now than when I was posting on DesiPundit but still I have around 150+ blogs (mostly desi) in my Google Reader. Just one blog? that’s difficult because I different kinds of blogs – personal, technology, political, opinions, etc. There I go being diplomatic again!

    - – X – - X – - X – -

    Come on, Patrix, tell us! We’ll still love you if you say it’s not Gauravonomics!

    - – X – - X – - X – -

    Q. If you were to think of one question I should have asked you, what would it be? What would your answer be?

    A. Ah-ha! smart question. I would perhaps ask something about the future of blogging and where is it headed in the Indian context. Well, in answering that question I would say that I had expected blogging to take off but somehow it seems to have stagnated and we aren’t really seeing the explosive growth that I have seen in other countries like Japan, China or even Iran. I guess the community or social networking culture is still restricted to Orkut and YouTube and probably lack of widespread Internet access is partly to blame.

    - – X – - X – - X – -

    ‘How to grow blogging in India?’ is a question I have been thinking about myself. It’s a mix of two questions actually: ‘how to encourage more Indians to set up blogs?’ and ‘how to encourage them to continue blogging?’. I don’t have all the answers yet, but the key to both the questions is ‘community’. You’ll hear more on this from me very soon.

    - – X – - X – - X – -

    Thank you, Patrix! And, yes, you are too diplomatic! :-)

    - – X – - X – - X – -

    Neha Vishwanathan from ‘Within/ Without’ is next up on ‘Desi Blogging Cafe’. Do walk in tomorrow for more virtual coffee and real conversation!

    - – X – - X – - X – -

    Have you read these ‘Desi Blogging Cafe’ interviews with your favorite bloggers: Jai Arjun Singh, Jammy Rajan.

     

    • Vi 11:47 pm on May 12, 2007 Permalink | Reply

      Curious; are you redoing all the blogs you covered in your previous series?

    • Gaurav 12:43 am on May 13, 2007 Permalink | Reply

      Hey Vi: The plan is to do these interviews with, let’s say, 100 desi bloggers, including the ones I have covered earlier. Does it make sense? Do let me know. :-)

    • Ravages 3:20 pm on May 13, 2007 Permalink | Reply

      hmmmmm….

    • Vi 10:06 pm on May 13, 2007 Permalink | Reply

      It certainly makes sense.

      Just a tip though: Covering a 100 Desi blogs seems to be quite a challenge, so why not count the ones you have covered previously in your other series? Your previous efforts seems to be going to waste here.

      Good luck, though! :)

    • Santosh 2:22 am on May 14, 2007 Permalink | Reply

      Patrix is the man! You should’ve taken the opportunity to ask him a few questions on his impending nuptials also ;-)

    • Patrix 2:38 am on May 14, 2007 Permalink | Reply

      Great! After all that natak about the pictures, you go ahead and post my silliest picture :) But thanks for your words. Appreciate it.

    • Rum And Coked 7:35 pm on May 18, 2007 Permalink | Reply

      When is the next one up?

    • Plumber 3:10 pm on August 25, 2007 Permalink | Reply

      So is the ‘desi blog of the day’ series over? It anyways was/is a which only seemed/s to cover very popular bloggers. You should instead cover the hidden gems of the blogosphere, not the already-over-hyped ones.

      Cheers!

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