About Carlos Presentation

One of the few presentations I enjoyed a lot was Carlos’s  works on “Business, Etiquette, and Poverty: Fair Trade, Free Trade and CSR.” Fair trade, free trade, and corporate social responsibility (CSR) are the hot trends in the corporate culture. Every corporate is trying to   create an image of being responsible towards the community and society they are serving to.
Within the world of business, corporations have been known for making money and increasing
shareholder values. However, recently a new movement has been added in this process. Corporates are looking  for broader corporate responsibilities: for the environment, for local communities, for working conditions, and  for ethical  practices .In Carlos’s presentation, he  showed us anti-smoking  video, to which Truth Campaign is promoting .

Beside CSR, fair trade and free trade are 

important issues which have impacts on the global economy. Free trade is a policy in which a government does not discriminate against imports or interference with exports. But it does not mean that government abandons all controls and taxations. They have conditions based on tariff barriers, currency restriction, and import quotas.

Free trade is based on Adam Smith’s argument on the division of labor. He believed that nation could make and sell whatever products they could compete in the  international market.
Fair trade is a system of exchange that appreciates producers, communities, consumers, and environment. It is a global model where economy is rooted to people connections, justice, and sustainability.
Carlos talked about importance of CSR in the corporate world. He described how CSR would help to create a better image and positive reputation of a company to their consumers, even though that is not their primary goal. Secondly, customers tend to buy stuffs from a company which favors fair trade. Corporations like Whole Foods, Starbucks, Harris Teeter ,and Trader Joe are good examples of CSR.These companies are using their policies on fair trade, sustainability to brand, and promote their brand name . For example ,if you  go to Starbucks, you will see some people of third world country working happily on their coffee field .These images encourage  consumers  to go back to Starbucks again and again, because they feel  that they are helping communities and favoring global economy and sustainability .

Carlos ideas and success story about corporate social responsibility was the S.T.A.R moment. Use of video and power point slides helps him to connect stories and audiences at a same time. His presentation made me think more about fair trade, free trade, and CSR. If I had to add more, I would definitely add how these corporate are using media to promote their primary goals, to make money, by using secondary goal (Social responsibility).Well, that could be another wonderful presentation.

Self Promotion Using Social Media

       From early morning to late night, these days, we are frequently connected with some sorts of social media. Now social media is no more a new concept, rather it has become a part of our daily life, which has drastically changed the way we used to perceive our surrounding. But, ironically it is nothing more than a virtual world created by the Internet. People are using it as a platform to share ideas and to interact with other people. According to Merriam Webster Dictionary, social media is a form of electronic communication (as Web sites for social networking and micro blogging) through which users creates online communities to share information, ideas, personal messages, and other contents like videos and images. People updating their Facebook status; sending tweets; watching and sharing videos on YouTube and sharing links on Diggs are some of the examples of  uses of  the social media .This interaction among people from all around the world has converted world into a small global village, where time difference does not matter anymore. The popularity of social media has encouraged many business communities, political activists, and media houses to reach their targeted audiences easily and faster than ever before. The  revolution brought by the social media has not only provided a platform to share our notions, but equally has given a platform to bring social and political changes. For instance, the social media has utterly changed the political scenario of   Middle East. Besides, many people are using social media as a tool of self promotion.
Promotion, advertisement, and branding are not the new words in the world of the marketing.They started with industrial revolution in the early 20th century. Promotion is a message issued on the behalf of some products, ideas, or person. It is an act of rising in a rank or position which is also a parameter to judge people growth and progress. Self promotion is also a part of branding yourself. Self promotion includes advertising and publicity of oneself. According to business visionaries Thomas Peters, “Everyone is a marketer.” One who sells himself and herself is a good sales man. Promoting ourselves has been easier than before because of the evolution of the social media. Before, self promotion was harder than now as one had to go and talk with individual people, or small group of people to sell their agendas. But things are changed now. With the birth of new media like Facebook, twitter, blogs, and video sharing sites, one can reach to the targeted audience faster and easier and get instant feedback too. Instant feedbacks and responses are good ways to improve self promotion.
According to recent poll , 96 of people of US population have joined some sorts of social network. One out of eight couples married in the U.S last year met via social media. You tube is the 2nd largest search engine after Google. Besides, 25 percent of search results for the world’s top largest brands are links to user-generated contest and 34 percent of bloggers post opinions about products and brands. The statistics show how active people are in social media these days.
Self promotion using social media is not a piece of cake, but a proper strategy and planning will lead to positive promotion. The most important thing is to create a brand. Creating brand though the social media will help other people to know and understand your talents. If you are a photographer, then create a photo blog. If you are a good writer or poet, register in a wordpress account and start posting your articles, so that people can see and enjoy your articles.

A photojournalist Jim MacMillan, who won Pulitzer Prize in 2007, said that he was looking for a way to reach to his new audiences. After attending blog world conference, he re-invented himself and joined the social media like Facebook and twitter to reach new viewers of the photography. Now, thousands of people including creative professionals, musicians, and writers follow him. His social presence on the new media even gave him job during the economic recession of 2008. According to Jonah Berger, a marketing professor, using social media not only helps to create a brand but also helps to shape a career for new students and one who is already in a business for  a long time.
Secondly, another good way to self promote ourselves is to follow the leaders. Following leaders and experts in social media will help to get the pulse of the beat we are trying to cover. Reading articles, columns, and following links from experts will help to learn from other people experiences and works. This is also a good way to be in touch with them.
Thirdly, networking through words and deeds is another important aspect of self promotion. Building a network with the like-minded people will help to share and interact about new ideas emerging in the market. Beside that, constructive feed backs received from group members on certain projects or works will help to polish and improve ourselves.
Fourthly, while self promoting, be a teacher, not a salesman. People have tendency to become a salesman when they have to pitch or promote some ideas. Nobody likes salesman because they force you to buy stuffs.  So it is good to be a teacher, who sells ideas but clearly states negative and positive aspects of a certain subject matter. Just throwing ideas on people make them angry so it is better to describe background and explain everything.
Besides that, having all your media presences linked to one social media pages helps to organize oneself in the new media .While doing that, it is important to have  a real name  or a consistent name with a good and short bio .
Learning to be your own advocate is really important these days, either it is on real work place or while doing self promotion on the social media. Being competitive, punctual, positive, and strong with your words and actions are important for branding. Despite of  continuous hard works to self promote, people sometimes make blunder mistakes. Charlie Sheen, Kane West and Chris Brown are recent examples who jeopardize their future just because of their irresponsible behavior in the social media. There are several things which ruined self promotion through the social media.
When you are in the social media, do not post or like any racist, sexist jokes and comments on your wall. Stay away from religious offences and stereotypes. Do not post inappropriate photos and cartoons of you, friends, and family members. Do not send spam to your friends and never forget to say thank you to your well-wishers and critics who give you nice feedbacks on your works.
    Many people think self promoting is not good. For them, self promotion is more like claiming oneself a god, praising ourselves which is not true. Self promotion is not a new concept .People have been self promoting themselves from thousands and thousands of years now. I think self promotion came before marketing and branding because human are promoting themselves every second, every day with proper behaviors and etiquetts just to make an impact on other people. This world is all about impression and self promotion is utterly important.
There are many people in the world who think social media is taking away interaction and personal communication away from the society. But for me, it is bringing back the love and connections which human have missed in last couples of years ago. Long time ago, our ancestors used to live with a small group of people, enjoy bonfire and share tits bits of life.

Now world have changed. It is  a big global village  and social media is connecting  every human dots of  the world ,bringing every one under a same roof and joining every one  though the social media .                                                                      

            

New Ways of Seeing

I am not a big fan of non-fiction, but there are times when I have gone through it and actually liked it.  Being a student of media and photography, “Ways of Seeing” has come across me several times, as a chapter reading or as a YouTube video screened in a class discussion.  Even going through one or two chapters of Ways of Seeing, it provides you new ways to look at things that you have seen many times.  Eventually, after reading chapters and watching YouTube videos, I came across book Ways of Seeing finally. 

Ways of Seeing  is book written by John Berger and Mike Dibb. It explains and argues about the way we look at visual images and criticizes traditional Western cultural aesthetics by raising questions about our ways of seeing. It started as a BBC four-part television series of 30 minutes, and later converted into a book by John Berger.
           The books consist of seven different essays, out of which four essays use words and images. Remaining three just use images to justify topics. Ways of Seeing has been used as a text for studies of visual culture and art history. This book was first published by Penguin Publication in 1972 in United Kingdom,which consisted of 166 pages. John Berger’s Ways of Seeing is an in-depth look on art, the way people perceives it and how the traditional paintings and the modern day publicity have interpreted new images of women and sexuality.
                In the book, Berger compares and explains the different views of art from 15th century to modern day. According to writer, images are the most powerful means of instant communication that human have developed; since it’s really difficult to describe the essence of pictures  in words, it  mystifies viewers-sometimes it also creates an illusion to viewers.Nevertheless,it gives a certain realm for viewers to interpret the way they want to see the pictures. But again, people interpretation of arts differs from place to place, culture to culture and human to human, based on their vision, experiences and cultural backgrounds. In the book, writer argues that the invention of camera has changed traditional value of art forever. With the reproduction of photographs, arts have lost its aesthetic importance,since it is available for advertisements and merchandises, and can be manipulated to disseminate different ideas and messages

                

The Story of Elephant God

In Hinduism, Ganesh is one of the most renowned Gods who is  worshiped in the beginning of every religious ritual,and special events. In Sanskrit, ‘Ga’ symbolizes Buddhi (intellect) and ‘Na’ symbolizes Gyan (wisdom).Thus, he is considered as the master of intellect and wisdom.  He is the son of Shiva (God of Destroyer) and Parvati, often regarded as Shakti (feminine power).Ganesh is easy to identify because he has an elephant’s head.   There are several myths about Ganesh having an elephant’s head.

Long time ago, Lord Shiva and Parvati used to live in the hilly mountains of Himalayas .One day Shiva decided to go to jungle for meditation. Parvati was alone at home. She wanted to take a bath, but there was no one around to guard her and stop people from accidentally entering the house while she  was taking shower. So, she created an image out her body wastes and turmeric paste and gave life to it with her divine power. Thus, baby Ganesh was born.

Parvati ordered Ganesh to guard the house and asked him not allow 

anyone from entering the house.Ganesh obediently followed his mother’s command, standing right in front of the main door. After a while Lord Shiva returned from his meditation, and tried to enter into the house. But little Ganesh did not let him in. Since Shiva was unknown about the miracle birth of Ganesh, he tried to convince  Ganesh that he was the husband of Parvati, and let him enter into his house. Faithful Ganesh  didn’t listen whatever Shiva told him. Feeling insulted,Shiva lost his temper and cut the head of the Ganesh with his divide trident.

Parvati was distracted with loud noises coming out from outside. She ran outside and shocked to see dead body of her son .She lost her temper and started to cry .She asked Shiva to restore life of her son. Shiva was ,then, helpless, and left with no choice.
Shiva and his armies tried   their best to find head of the Ganesh, but all the attempts went in vain.
Lord Shiva came up with an idea. He asked his armies to go north of Himalayas
and bring the head of anything which they would find on the way.  After several hours, armies came back with a head of an elephant. Lord Shiva attached the head of an elephant to the Ganesh’s body and brought him back to life. Since then  he was worshiped as Gajaraj, a God with an elephant’s head.

I have read and heard this story several times in my life. I don’ remember people telling this story to anyone at present,I mean since I left Nepal in 2006. This story was hidden  on my subconscious mind .As I  was typing  this  story today, several questions and curiosities  aroused in my mind regarding  Hindu culture and  religion.
Since ancient time Hindu society has been a patriarchal society. According to this folk story, Shiva   had an authority and a power of the universe. He had his own armies. He was praised and worshiped by everyone .He was considered  justice lover even though he killed people in his bad temper.
Women were considered  as weak, inferior, and insecure.  Parvati was scared  at her own home.  She looked for someone to guard her house. It is an irony that woman who had power to create a baby out of turmeric, but did not have guts to guard herself.

Video about birth of Ganesh

 

 Sources:-
 Who is Ganesh?

 What does Ganesh symbolizes? 

Perfect example of Stereotypes

Experiences

            After taking several classes in many universities, finally I am about to graduate. This is  my  last  semester at the  University of District of  Columbia, and soon I am  about to discover new  world of possibilities  in  a  real world.    But there are so many questions and dilemmas. Sometimes, I feel I am ready to go out and rock on.Then   again, some things scare me.  My unconscious  mind says I am   not prepared yet.

            I took a lot of classes and did   projects, presentations and papers on TV Production, Advertisement, Public Relations, Photojournalism and Media Ethics. All of these classes were interconnected and yet they were taught from their own unique perspectives.

            Even though I have galloped on different media theories, philosophies,ethics and rules,and techniques of production from different classes, I  feel  like  I am an unpolished diamond having  all shines and sparkles, but buried inside black crust of rocks.   There are ideas and perspectives but they are   not organized   and  not interconnected.So before graduation I  was looking  for  a magical class which combines   and connects all ideas  and lessons  I  learnt during  my  five years long  journey towards degree.And finally I registered in one called “Communicative Arts Seminar”.

           This class creates a great awareness among students, and helps them out to get their missions. and goals. It also prepares  them  to understand  the linkages between the various forms of creativity and communication, and  the fundamental complexities  of both.

           That’s all I  was eagerly looking for, the class which  would interconnect and combine all the skills I learn  at UDC. Again, I am an unpolished diamond and this is a time to hon it. I am sure  this class will be helpful to me .