cyber media

Symbiosis Institute of Media and Communication organized National Cyber Media Conclave’09, a media seminar that covered various perspectives of the media relating to the cyber medium on March 28th, 2009. The seminar was designed to encourage learning of the new media. Organized to bring together eminent personalities from the cyber world, students and aspiring media professionals on a common platform, to promote the conception and growth of ideas, the NCMC ’09 (National Cyber Media Conclave) witnessed two panels of speakers debating issues such as the power, reach & potency of cyber media for knowledge sharing, social change and networking and, the emergence of the web as a medium for branding and marketing.

The Conclave hosted two panels of speakers on the potency of cyber media for knowledge sharing, social change and networking; and the emergence of the web as a medium for branding and marketing. Also present were Mr. Namit Bimbhat, CEO, Switch Media Services India Pvt. Ltd and Mr. J Mahadevan, VP, bharatmatrimony.com who enlightened the audience further about new media.


The first session saw eminent entrepreneurs from the cyber industry such as Kiruba Shankar, Co-founder, The Knowledge Foundation, CEO of Business Blogging Pvt. Ltd and Founder-Director of 5ive Technologies; Jasmeen Phateja, Founder, The Blank Noise Project; Shivam Vij, Blogger & former Tehelka Journalist, Delhi; and Shiv Bhaskar, CEO, The Viewspaper.

Kiruba Shankar began the session by laying emphasis on maximizing the social media connect in India, the role of social networking site and its burgeoning presence and implications in marketing and corporate scenarios. Citing Twitter as an example, he demonstrated the collaborative capability of the Internet wherein the net could be used as a medium to get multiplicity of opinion. Shankar also stressed on the interactive nature of blogs, and how it was a critical tool for organizations to gauge feedback and general perceptions of concerned people.

Shivam Vij elaborated upon the difference between mainstream media and social media, adding that the role of the new media was to complement mainstream media rather than replace it. He talked about the emergence of the blog as a paradigm shift from the vox pop in traditional media.

Shiv Bhaskar Dravid, Founder of The Viewspaper, a new initiative launched to give voice to the socio-political views of the NextGen youth, shared his views about the evolution of the ownership of the media, from being the tools of the few to truly being a public-owned medium. Speaking on “Cyber media as the ultimate fourth estate”, he said that online media was a true convergence of all the three traditional tools of mass media, also having the additional benefit of being a real time media. The costs being low, Citizen Journalism is one field that is growing steadily but strongly, he added.

Jasmeen Phateja then spoke of Blank Noise, a project that started as a community-public art project that seeks to confront street harassment and eve teasing. She stressed on the power of internet as a tool for social change. She also touched upon the power of the net as a vehicle to create an on-ground activation to mobilize public opinion and cited a ‘blogathon’ as a tool to fight against the same

The long-debated issue of self-regulation in cyber media was discussed with the panelists acceding that the cyber journalists needed to be accountable on what they write.

Mr. Rajesh Lalwani, CEO and Founder, Blogworks, a virtual media initiative which delivers strategic social media knowhow and solutions to brands and corporate organizations, spoke about the existing clutter in the market and how integrated marketing communication needs the internet as the modern consumer is tech savvy and uses the internet to help him in purchase decisions. He thus outlined the role of the internet as being a major purchase decision influencer. He also on conducted a workshop on blogging for the students, which was informative and interactive.

An innovative and interesting case study on ‘Bell Bajao’ campaign was presented by Ms. Rashmi, who emphasized the usage of Internet as a tool for publicity and mobilization besides the use of conventional media. She also said that cyber media is teaching the youth in their own language.
Adding to the views discussed during the day, Professor Ujjwal Kumar Chowdhury, Director–SIMC talked about the blend of mainstream traditional and the cyber media being the way forward. An interactive Q & A session with the audience, moderated by Professor Chowdhury, brought the session to a close.

On the whole the event was an interactive one that brought together various stalwarts of the cyber space and it was a complete source of knowledge and interaction.