kinshuk sunilit aint no, dessert if therez no caek

I am leaving for Chandigarh today. To attend OSScamp Chandigarh October 2009 – a culmination of a month’s work. A platform to promote open source in the state of Punjab. The first of its kind in the state. Exhiliration, Relief, Worries, Issues. I feel all of this. And a lot more.

In recent times, in the aftermath of the September camp at Delhi – a couple of individuals stood up, who did not agree with the way OSScamps was being done. They were worried about it all being a psuedo-marketing effort by my company. They were worried about lack of ownership and transparency in the organisation of events. Most of all, they were worried about the lack of open source software in the camp. And that having a camp was, apparently,  important than open source. Or the fact that ‘dont focus on open source, talk about free software‘. And a lot of smearing, as well.

I respect people who have an opinion, and who stand up for it. Most of the criticism was welcome. What was unnerving was the way it was put. The ‘my way or highway‘ way of speaking never went well with me. Constructive criticism takes us all forward, but negative criticism doesnt do much good. I see it around me. Always.

I do not understand this sub-culture amongst the FOSS pseudo-elites in India (as far as I have encountered) – the ego tussle of being worshipped and treated like god. Their words and wishes be held fast as if some writing on the stone. Never quite understood: why people expect that, why other appease them. In my simple existence, I only understand man’s effort and his proving his worth with that.

For the last 3 years, I have been working with FOSS – contributing, being a part of it, pushing it with all my personal might, making attempts and efforts of organising camps. It has involved a lot of pushing around. Running around. It was not easy, it was not simple. And I did all I could. In retrospect, now, I see a shift as more people take up the mantle as well. I see friends and acquaintances, who stand up and begin new efforts. OSScamps, in my opinion, has done well as a platform. The effort that was put by me, my colleagues and friends, so many people in the community – everyone’s efforts, gave OSScamp a direction and a focus; and it always stayed true to that.

There has been another shift – from developers to students. Students will drive FOSS forward. Developers have a vested interest in technology; Students, apart from wanting good placements, have a lot of spare time, passion and enthusiasm. I see their enthusiasm in all FOSS events I have participated at. They are the main drivers of FOSS today and an even bigger catalyst tomorrow. They form a major chunk of all efforts required by a community initiative. They lead. They work. They play.

When the said negative cirticism took place, I got the opportunity to gauge the community – the concerns and issues. I used the opportunity to evaluate, where we stand today and where we are headed. No one had agreed with the individuals who were disgruntled with OSScamps. Everyone came forward to protect the way of the community – we are different, we don’t deny it. The plain fact is that we dont do, nor do we want to do that, which everyone does. We have a faith and a belief and we work on it. Aspirations and Dreams. We try to achieve. I feel a lot of people in the community will agree with what I speak. I hope.

I am leaving for Chandigarh today. To attend OSScamp Chandigarh October 2009 – a culmination of a month’s work. A platform to promote open source in the state of Punjab. The first of its kind in the state. Exhiliration, Relief, Worries, Issues. I feel all of this. I know that the community in India encourages OSScamps as a platform to promote FOSS. I understand that the community wants to make the best of the event, take a step forward. The aftermath of OSScamp Delhi September 2009 was a good opportunity to disprove some myths and clear away a lot of confusion about the events and the community. Now we walk with a clearer focus. Knowing that, where I am going today, I will be accepted and encouraged as one of the brothers in arms. Amen.

I have been working in that role and function now for almost 18 months, yet it will be a very difficult job for me to define it. Why am I attempting to define it? Well, all my friends (the Non-geeks) keep asking me – what the hell is your job profile. Guys! Read this carefully and read it Very carefully – I am going to sincerely pour out my heart for you all here – yes I am awesome!

When understanding something, I have always found it useful to begin with the language. The Word “Community Manager” literally means someone who manages the community. So, what is a community? A Community is a ‘social group of any size whose members reside in a specific locality, share government, and often have a common cultural and historical heritage’

For a company, a community is the pool of its customers, partners, suppliers, users, and can include Similar stakeholders (government, society, really!). What is important is that these entities are brought together to co-habitat a specific region. The members also depend on the strategic objectives and direction the company wants to move.

So a community manager is someone who manages this community for a company. Savvy?

What that means is that a community manager is an interface between the company and the community. It is the community manager that gets all the conversations done. He uses the social media tools and platforms to pitch the company’s perspective to the community and brings back ideas and feedbacks from the community to the company. He represents the company in the community and the community in the company. He is the one who balances the community’s welfare with the strategic objectives of the company.

In the present day world, where technology is being abstracted within daily life at a very fast pace resulting in almost instantaneous conversations; a community manager can make all the difference between a successful company and a not so successful company (lets avoid all negative speak). He would be the one creating opportunities, brands, and customer loyalty.

In my (not the very) next post, I will talk about some specific activities almost every community manager undertakes.

Take that huh!

This post was originally published on Digimantra.com

Have you ever had one of those moments when you desperately need an answer but don’t know who to ask? Or that all those you could think of asking have no clue, but you do need an answer? Well, Aardvark is meant for you? Aardvark provides you with a platform to have realtime conversations with friends around topics that you have questions about. This can be way much more efficient and helpful than searching the net. Aardvark uses the latent knowledge people have, which cannot be caputred on a web page. All of this, without downloads. Just email Aardvark or send it an IM, and help is on its way.

This post was originally published on Digimantra.com

On june 25th, my blog was hacked by one Mr. Rat and the Black Hacker. Genuinely and very humbly they thanked ‘the administrator for vulnerable scripts‘. Bleh! I learned some lessons then. My Plugins and Themes folders within wp-content were set to +777 which is not a very advisable setting. Now, I am wise. What followed was a series of precautions. I, now, use varied passwords for my profiles now. Simply put, I use a system of a base password + a unique site identifier – useful enough to make a unique password for all sites. And no more +777s. you can learn from my example.

Right here, in this post I will just post an update of what all has happened since.

This blog has undergone a lot of changes since then. I changed the theme – feedbacks for the previous theme were that it looked a lot more like a magazine than a personal blog. This theme fares better on that count. But I lost a lot of readers due to the hack. My subscriber count fell from 108 to 20, which is very sad. In the meanwhile, I have, also, been working on a number of new initatives:

There is Digimantra with Sachin Khosla. Digimantra is a technology blog for everyone from the newbies to the pro. I am currently looking after the Open Source and Gaming Sections of Digimantra. we also recently launched some cool services at Digimantra. Do Have a Look!

Then there is InGDIn or the Indie Game Developes India community – which I intend to make into a platform for all indie gaming action in India. Loads to do there yet. If you are interested in indie gaming, do have a look at the community.

I have also started working on The Boon Prophecy and actively looking for collaborators. The Boon Prophecy is a third person action adventure being developed by me and Yadu in the Ogre3D engine. The game tells the story of a Kargil veteran of the Indian army who faces a supernatural evil in his hometown of Sikri. Part 1 of a trilogy, it is still in the planning stage.

Not to forget, Chronosign.com is also making fast headways as a development garage of a couple of my friends. We are working on some fun Apps concepts which would be nice to use. At least we think so. More updates on this later.

Right now, I am also working on some major changes on the OSScamp community site. So keep your fingers crossed, a lot is about to come.

A lot of stuff is going on. There are good news on the front of Afterlife – the novel I was writing. I will soon share a reading draft of the same on my blog. While, i am also making some useful efforts for my career in the Music Industry.

All in all, It has been a very hectic week and I am sure there are many more hectic weeks coming. Will keep you posted.

Ciao

It feels really strange to realize that in those few minutes when I was at CCD, just after having felt the bombs; I was there, between two bombed sites, joking, trying to preserve my calm, while people were injured, while they were crying, trying to find their loved ones, while they were witnessing violence, gore, and death. It is a tragedy of unknown proportions…
A tragic end to a day full of twists and turns. Sadness and sorrow fills me as I write this. As I began my day, I had never thought how it will end. I had no clue at all.

September 13th, 2008. New Delhi
8.0 AM
It started with me rushing to my Ahok Vihar office for the monthly strategic review meetings. Had to work on the Marketing Divisions strategic intent and planning and put it across the board. Had just updated Open Coffee Club Delhi in the morning that I shall be attending the OCC Delhi Meet at Café Coffee Day, Outer Circle, CP later in the evening.

At around 12:40, between the series of meetings, got a mail at the OSScamp Community mailing list about the offline Drupal Meet up at Srijan Campus, Nehru Place. God! I was going to miss it as my schedule was already overflowing. I didn’t want to miss it anyway. But that’s what short notices do. No offence.

3.20 PM
Started my presentation. Discussed the various aspects of our brand building exercises, problems we are facing and possible solutions and the ones the marketing team would recommend. A fierce discussion on a new brand identity that needs created. A lot of discussion I wouldn’t want to bore you with. Finally, I was free by 4.15PM.

4.20 PM
I left a note for my boss that I am leaving for the OCC Delhi Meet at CP; an unusual first for me. At the time it felt the right thing to do even when I have never really cared about updating my boss with my every movement. It’s like we have an understanding at OSSCube that if we are doing quality work in stipulated time, it proves that I am a good judge of how to utilize my time and we don’t question each other. My boss doesn’t question me and I don’t question my team. That’s the way it goes. So it puzzled me: why I wanted to leave that note. Obviously, now I can speak a lot about my intuitions and premonitions and other such myths. But that wasn’t it, exactly. Not very easy to understand what it was.

4.35 PM
Trying to get an auto for CP has always been a tough job for me at Ashok Vihar. Finally I got one and I called Satpal to update him about my being late. The problem with unconferences is that people generally don’t take the deadlines very seriously. Or let’s put it correctly, diplomatically: we all are busy people with overflowing schedules; unconferences are just flexible enough to accept such situations. Needless to say, moron me was not the only late guy. But that’s what the game is all about – people coming.

5.11 PM
Some problem at Ramakrishna Ashram. The road was closed. Had to take a detour through Gole Market for CP. A thick jam there due to all the vehicles detouring.

5.20 PM
Finally reached CP. Café Coffee Day, Outer Circle. A few hundred meters from Central Park and Gopal Das Building.

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