[Blogcamp.in] Sunny was here!

The Great Man of Indian Cricket made his presence felt and got a rousing reception from Bloggers at the Blogcamp in Chennai. Speaking on podcasting among other things, Sunny also said that he would start blogging soon. Wow! Moreover, he was thrilled about the way podcasting has become a main method of communication and he himself is keen on exploring the possibilities of taking this forward.

Take a look at more posts about it here.

Technorati : Blogcamp.in, Blogging, Chennai, Cricket, India, Sunil Gavaskar, Unconference

[Blogcamp.in] Collaborative Blogging

Peter Griffin, Neha Viswanathan, Dina Mehta, Scott Carney, Chandrachoodan G and some others on collaborative blogging. Disaster blogging in particular.

Suddenly, we’re talking about rural blogging. Er. Ok.

Scott Carney’s is an interesting story. Perhaps the only real case I think I have heard for collaborative blogging. All others are “We want to, so…” but this guy has a reason to ask people to come together. The Tsunami effort apart, trying to bring the power of blogging together to get answers from normally difficult sources (like the Indian Govt), would be worthwhile.

Dina had a proposal to set up a Technorati tag so anyone who wants to pursue it or write on it. A good point by Scott was that Bloggers should ask questions. Not necessary to be a journo. “Sure we will be refused. But even journalists are.”

I’m headed to the Podcast session… this one is not going anywhere…

Technorati : blogcamp india, blogcamp.in, chennai, unconference

[Blogcamp.in] Corporates, MSM and blogging

A raging debate is underway. “Why don’t corporates take blogging seriously and why don’t their employees blog?” Hm. Apple, Google were two companies who’s employees were “accused” of not blogging. Microsoft and Sun, though seem to have kept Indian bloggers happy allowing their employees to blog.

An instance that Dina mentioned (from what I could hear sitting at the back here) was about GM running ads (please someone correct me if I have heard this wrong). Will try for some more dope on this!

Technorati : blogcamp india, blogcamp.in, chennai, unconference

[Blogcamp.in] Almost lunch…

So I ran out, got myself a Wi-Fi dongle and am finally connected . The enthusiasm continues and we are now starting to fall behind schedule. 30 mins and two speakers to go in this session. Will we make it?

Technorati : blogcamp india, blogcamp.in, chennai, unconference

[Blogcamp.in] First impressions (9.15 am)

A nice breakfast was followed by a leisurely drive to Tidel Park and once we got here, it was a hark back into college days. Not in the way things were happening, but just the enthusiasm. It reminded me of days when a college fest was the most important thing in the world and something around which your entire world revolved! Welcome to Blogcamp!

A collection of some of the best blogging talent from India, this place has an infectious enthusiasm. You just don’t want to be left out. Hats off to Kiruba and team for putting this together.

Setback 1: Wi-Fi is the way to go for connectivity at the Tidel Park auditorium. Unfortunately, my official issue laptop does not have Wi-Fi and Sify, the connectivity guys around here cannot install their client on an XP machine. They need Win 2000. Hu? You kidding me right? No.

Blah. So here goes me. Archiving all this and now on my way to the city to get myself a Wi-Fi dongle! Hope my boss reads this and gets me a Wi-Fi (and Bluetooth) ready laptop.

Technorati : blogcamp india, blogcamp.in, chennai, unconference

I’m going to Blogcamp

I’m going to Blogcamp. What’s that, you say? Know more about it here. And watch out for more updates as they happen.

Cheerio.

Technorati : blogcamp, blogger meet, chennai, india

Another block on blogs

What is this country coming to? After an initial block on blogs after 7/11, the Congress party (in power) has decided to flex its muscle and ban all Anti-Congress blogs and sites. The explanation states:

India’s Department of Telecommunications (DoT) passed an order to ISPs on July 14 to block blog sites, as they were said to be spreading anti-national message. The list of the websites to be blocked was confidential

Now. since when did Anti-Congress become Anti-National? Most sites that have been asked to be blocked talk negatively (or truthfully, if you will) about the Congress and its allies. Why are these bans never extended to the mainstream media? Why can newspapers write true stuff and survive? Ditto for TV Channels?

Or is that because blogs are new media, they are being experimented with? Something similar had happened recently in Pakistan and China… and we were sandwiched in the middle thinking, “Hm. Nice place, this India”. Well, wake up.

Two points come to mind:

1. Bloggers should be proud of what they do if the govt. needs to block them for it obviously means they are “in the public eye”.

2. The Bajrang Dal blogs? (Don’t bother, it’s blocked!)