PUNE,MAR 28, 2009: Symbiosis Institute of Media andCommunication (SIMC), one of India’s finest media andcommunication education and training Institute played host to some of India’s finestminds in a first of its kind Cyber Media Seminar, a students’ initiative, atits 300 acre, state-of-the-art campus atop Lavale.

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 debatingissues such as the power, reach & potency of cyber media for knowledgesharing, social change and networking and, the emergence of the web as a mediumfor branding and marketing.

The first session saw eminent entrepreneurs from the cyber industryincluding Kiruba Shankar, Co-founder, The Knowledge Foundation, CEO of BusinessBlogging Pvt. Ltd and Founder-Director of 5ive Technologies; Jasmeen Phateja,Founder, The Blank Noise Project; Shivam Vij, Blogger & former TehelkaJournalist, Delhi; and Shiv Bhaskar, CEO, The Viewspaper a new initiativelaunched to give voice to the socio-political views of the NextGen youth.

Giving Twitter as an example, Kiruba Shankar elaborated on the collaborativecapability of the internet wherein the net could be used as a medium to getmultiplicity of opinion. Kiruba Shankar put forth the view that more than beinga channel of change like the print and the broadcast media, blogging was moreof a medium to express oneself.

Putting forth the view that Power of a blogger is the power of apersonality, Shivam Vij elucidated upon the difference between mainstream mediaand social media, adding that the role of the new media was to complement mainstreammedia rather than replace it. He talked about the emergence of the blog as aparadigm shift from the vox pop in traditional media.

Shiv Bhaskar Dravid, Founder of The Viewspaper, sharedhis views about the evolution of the ownership of the media, from being thetools of the few to truly being a public-owned medium. He said that onlinemedia 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 beinglow, Citizen Journalism is one field that is growing steadily but strongly, hesaid.

Jasmeen Phateja using Blank Noise Project initiated in 2003 as a referencepoint, voiced her views about the power of internet as a tool for socialchange. She also touched upon the power of the net as a vehicle to create an on-groundactivation to mobilize public opinion.

The long-debated issue of self regulation in cyber media was a bag ofcontention, with the panelists acceding that the cyber journalists needed to beaccountable on what they write.

Session Two began with Mr. Rajesh Lalwani, Founder and CEO, Blogworks.com expressinghis views about the relevance of narrowcasting to reach the intended audienceand how New Age Customer of media is a more involved stakeholder today, ratherthan just being a consumer of the past. Talking about the power of the digitalmedium, he introduced the concept of Digital Activism being the new power toolto awaken the masses.

Ms. Rashmi Dhanwani, Manager– Media & Internet – Breakthrough spoke about internet as a tool for massmobilization.

Mr. Namit Bimbhat, CEO-Switch Media, touching upon Viral Marketing, talked about evolving face ofonline video and the global learning potential and & relevance to India

Mr. J Mahadevan, VP –Products, bharatmatrimony.com, who designated himself as the Chief EngagementOfficer, talked about the online customer and his acquaintance with acquisition& retention dynamics and how it was important to connect with the cyberusers and speak their language.

Mr. Atul Chitnis, Senior VP, Geodesic Information Systems gave theconcluding talk at the seminar and spoke about the future of the net beingdriven by Open Source Software (OSS) across products such as the web browser,multi-media player or an Apple iPod.

Adding to the views discussed during the day, Professor Ujjwal KumarChowdhury, Director–SIMC talked about the blend ofmainstream traditional and the cyber mediabeing the way forward. An interactive Q & A session with theaudience, moderated by Professor Chowdhury, brought the session to a close.

A workshop on bloggingwas also on conducted by Mr. Rajesh Lalwani, Founder and CEO, Blogworks.com forthe students.