Author: changethinker

Born and raised in Mumbai, India with an undergrad degree from Oman and a masters degree from the National University of Singapore. I am an Environmental Professional with a passion for Sustainability, Social Innovation and Governance related issues. A Change Agent in the making who believes that small is beautiful and that impact can be achieved -one soul at a time.

Digital: Beyond Cartography

Digital is a reality we experience in the communicative realm along with e commerce now a days. The functionality of technology makes life easier to navigate and negotiate. Digital is underwritten by technology and anchored in neoliberalism which makes its velocity ferocious having both direction and magnitude. The vector of the digital is inter weaving through society. However, the epistemology of Digital is rooted in more aesthetic configurations.

Digital is an imagination which is beyond the constraints of cartography. It hooks physical reality with technological determinism. The hope of the digital is more powerful than the present functionality of the paradigm. The investment in the hope factor, makes it powerful. Neoliberal cash follows the momentum of technology, to generate better returns.

Smart Nation philosophy of Estonia, with its radical e-residency structure is banking on the success of IT platforms such as Skype, moves the nation ahead of its limited birth rates and geographic limits. Singaporean technocrats are leveraging digital to meet is urban planning challenges, and has a dedicated minister incharge of Gov Tech, exemplifying the People Action Party’s faith in pragmatism and planning far ahead of the curve. The notion and practice of Digital in the Smart Nation narrative fits in perfectly.

India too is creating an ambitious Digital agenda with the philosophy percolating in daily lives through Aadhar. This is in thorough difference to its challenge in sanitation and hunger. A bundle of paradoxes at every node which India is. The ideology of the digital is beyond the technology which it’s creators write the code. An imagination which has a dark flip side in shaping society for the worse among which is loss of jobs due to automation.

More than just a ‘Like’: Image in the Era of the Digital

Image in the age of Instagram has democratized the access of visual information and art previously the exclusive preserve of art galleries in the power capitals of the world, but cannibalising monetisation opportunities for the visual artist. A simple netizen has access if interested to the Magnum photographers collective work at the click of the smart phone. It’s powerful as the visual art informs people of different angles of the world previously unexplored. The conversation has transformed into a dialogue, young visual artists from Salt Lake, Kolkata such as Ronny Sen, can inform narratives from Kolkata which are bottom up. Similarly Arko Datto with his engaging visual commentary on climate change is adding to the discourse as Aarti Kumar Rao, an environmental photographer whose work on riverine ecosystems has been phenomenal.
Instagram has with the filters, has monocultured a visual aesthetic, a very millennial aesthetic. The filters are filter choice architecture. Technology is augmenting the art of the image, as Animation has added its wizardry to cinema. Where is Technology limiting art? Is there a boundary? Bangladeshi Photographer recently was lambasted over social media for ‘editing’ his photos in a project in a red light area.
How is image consumed? A photo which has been captured over hours/days/weeks especially for an ethnographic project is ‘seen’ in a flicker of a second. Is it justified? The deluge of visual data is saturating our attention spans.  The same is valid for the documentary/commercial movie business. Netflix/Amazon Prime and it’s desi equivalent in Alt Balaji is shifting content consumption patterns to the smart phone from the theatre. The power of decision making is moving to a different set of executives. The tech  executives in Seattle and the Palo Alto area have the key to the purse strings rather than studio bosses. The clout of the star producer can whittle down, and women actors can feel safer. The indie film makers have a new audience for its content; the cutting edge work from film festival circuits have a broad audience.  There is a new economy at play for a new digital visual narrative.
The power of social media as an amplifier was observed during the #metoo movement, that the bunch of pioneer activists such as Rose MacGowen are the Times Magazine  Person of the Year. The powerful from Kevin Spacey to Charlie Rose was shown the door. The über popular ‘House of Cards’ dropped Spacey while the final season continues with the real star Robin Wright. I totally adore her character, Claire Underwood.
The digital natives consume experiences on the digital. Instagram with its own exotica such as the Tiger Nest in Bhutan to sky diving in New Zealand is noted/catalogued in the cloud of the digital archive. The cultural sector as well as the food business are victims of this millennial fetish. The photos from the UNESCO Heritage Town in Penang is primed up for photos for Instagram. Restaurants all over the world with social media branding gurus, are creating Non distinguishable spaces. Food porn does not make always for electric viewing.
The digital as a cultural realm is the field for the visual arts to curate the popular imagination. The movie makers, photographers and editors have a duty to create experiences for the audience to challenge their thinking. The last thing would for Instagram/Netflix to stream business as usual content, reflecting creative decisions on , reflecting creative decisions on cable and in print.

Rebooting Social Impact Assessment

I think some applied social and cultural history is needed to be foreground for social, heritage and economic impact assessment reporting for development projects in the Global south. There is certainly adequate room to manoeuvre beyond limited demographic data crunching and the performance of participatory research.

Some new matrices need to be formulated too. A paper somewhere is lurking, I guess.

HR in the era of AI

This era of gig economy would need a different indicator toolbox for assessing capabilities to one a decade back. Now, we work remotely across geographies on Skype, on projectised mode. This piecemeal work mode gets reflected on the document called as the resume. HR recruiters appreciate a linear cv. Having worked as start up advisor and non profits in Singapore and India, I can certainly observe the work landscape shifting. The era of AI would need an alternative people management mindset.

06121992:25

25 years back, when I was rushed home from school in Navi Mumbai because of the tectonic event. I remember the streets in sector 10 vashi was eerily empty. The Day when we became no different than our south Asian neighbors. We created a subliminal tiered citizenship, and hundreds died in its aftermath in Mumbai. My father missed the Air India building by a whisker.

Identity politics crystallised in many an election in Amdavad including the 2002 genocide. 2014, the fervour of Hindutva+ reached its zenith and the political project reached theoretical completion. The Juniads and the Pehlu’s are precipitates of that fateful day. The hate pill is venomous. I wish, for a polity and politics to be inclusive. I wish for Indian Muslims to get a place for rent in India’s cities without getting intrusive questions asked. This day is a poignant inflection point for contemporary Indian history, with wounds still raw. Words can feel incomplete. Everyday violence with a small v in actions makes activism ring hollow.

Pride in ones history baked in to History is manifesting in non issues in banning a film to making an outward religious performance necessary, in order to navigate the everyday. This is certainly the New India in the making.

Environmentalists as Bridge Builders

Environmentalists and Social Development Professionals are interlocutors of conversations between science, economics and law. The challenge would be in reframing the conversation towards solution building. Environmentalists are often perceived as advocacy and research professionals who raise issues, bring them in to the limelight but are limited upto suggesting alternatives. The disconnect with the market is evident with the chasm in the language used by the two communities of practitioners; the environmentalists and the business community. The focus on the bottom line and the long term focus on conservation clash.

The consulting community also tries to bridge the gap, but are often facilitators in the regulatory sphere; rendering services to the project owners. The challenge is however to be conversant with a lingo which understands ecosystem issues and the costs with the regulatory drivers. It’s time for Environmentalists to move beyond being rubble rousers and give practical solutions to industry and policy makers regarding the environmental issues of the day.