| Patrice Riemens on Fri, 19 Jul 2002 19:45:14 +0200 (CEST) |
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| <nettime> Delhi Cybermohalla Project |
>From the Sarai-Reader & BytesForAll lists. (apologies to the X-posted!) ---------- Forwarded message ---------- dear all, the cybermohalla project of sarai turned one year old in may 2002. the following is an introduction to the project, included in galiyon se/by lanes (http://www.sarai.net/community/cybermohalla/book01/bylanes.htm), a first book publication from cybermohalla. looking forward to an engaged discussion, best, shveta -------------------------------------------------------- About Cybermohalla Cybermohalla, the word, suggests a hybrid location. It has the open-endedness of cyberspace, qualified by the local specificities and intimacy of a mohalla, or a dense urban neighbourhood. Sarai's Cybermohalla project takes on the meaning of the word mohalla, its sense of alleys and corners, its sense of relatedness and concreteness, as a means for talking about one's 'place' in the city, and in cyberspace. One can approach the Cybermohalla project from many directions. One can begin with a critique of the technological imagination and the expressive universe of the dominant mediascape, and then go on to map a counter strategy which grounds itself on access, sharing and democratic extensibility. One can see it as an experiment to engage with media technologies and software 'tactically' and create multiple local media contexts emerging within the larger media network that the Internet seems to engender. Still further, one can see it as an engagement with local history, experiences, modes of expression and creativity. In its broadest imagination, one can see Cybermohalla as a desire for a wide and horizontal network (both real and virtual) of voices, texts, sounds and images in dialogue and debate. 'Public'-ation modes are and will be as diverse as wall magazines, books, posters, stickers, web pages, audio streams, animation, etc. The present technological juncture provides a possibility - the point is to actualize it. Currently, Cybermohalla has as its physical co-ordinates Sarai and a Media Lab (Compughar) at LNJP basti, Delhi. A working class settlement that is under constant threat of dislocation, the basti is in the heart of the city though invisible to Delhi's many millions. Compughar, started in May 2001, is a small media lab running on free software and low cost media equipment, and is a collaborative effort between Sarai and Ankur, an NGO working for the last two decades in experimental education. The young people (mainly young women) who come to the Compughar are between the ages of 15 to 23. Most of them are school irregulars and dropouts. Their writings can be seen as a database of narrative, comment, observation, word play and reflection.To us their writngs evoke a sense of the everyday that gestures towards an intricate social ecology. We invite you to enjoy and engage with this specific mode of writing the city. Jeebesh Bagchi ------------------------------------------ Cybermohalla is an experimental collaborative initiative between Ankur, a Delhi based NGO and Sarai, for the creation of nodes of popular digital culture in Delhi . The Compughar (Media Lab) is located in LNJP basti, a working class settlement in Central Delhi. Write to [email protected] About Cybermohalla: www.sarai.net Galiyon Se / by lanes: http://www.sarai.net/community/cybermohalla/book01/bylanes.htm _________________________________________ reader-list: an open discussion list on media and the city. Critiques & Collaborations To subscribe: send an email to [email protected] with subscribe in the subject header. List archive: <https://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/> ----- End forwarded message ----- # distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission # <nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net criticism, # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets # more info: [email protected] and "info nettime-l" in the msg body # archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: [email protected]