[silk] Talk on Internet, Transparency and Politics
Dear all, The Centre for Internet and Society organizes a talk on Internet, Transparency and Politics. Description: The 2009 general elections in India have been preceded by various initiatives that seek to provide information to the voters about candidates contesting the elections. The aim of providing this information is to help voters to make 'informed choices' when casting their votes. This talk is being organized in the context of the research that CIS-RAW fellow Zainab Bawa is carrying out on Internet, Transparency and Politics. Why has the Internet become an important space for publishing information that is streamlined for facilitating interaction between citizens and the state? What is the impact of making such information available to citizens? How does it transform their relationship with political actors and government agencies? Simultaneously, how are elected representatives and political parties responding to these 'transparency' initiatives? *Profile of the Speaker:* Barun Mitra is the Director of Liberty Institute, a think-tank based in Delhi. He has conceptualized EmpoweringIndia.org to enable voters to cast their votes thoughtfully during the elections and to use the information on the site to hold their elected representatives accountable after they have been voted in. Barun Mitra also writes on issues of environment, health, trade and democracy in national and international publications. Time and Date: Wednesday, 15th April, 2009; 5.00 - 6.30 PM Venue: Centre for Internet and Society, No. D2, 3rd Floor, Sheriff Chambers, 14, Cunningham Road, Bangalore - 560052 For more details, visit http://www.cis-india.org/events/internet-transparency-and-politics -- Zainab Bawa Ph.D. Student and Independent Researcher Between Places ... http://wbfs.wordpress.com
Re: [silk] On self-improvement
Kiran K Karthikeyan wrote: Yeah, and could you please start that thread, kiran? Can't wait to see the drift. Here goes... Can't remember why, but somewhere in between the half intoxicated banter, the conversation shifted to self-improvement books a la Stephen Covey and his ilk. I read De Bono and it has proved useful. But will you count it as self improvement? The other self improvement author I read is Steve Pavlina (his blog and his newsletter). He has a lot of ideas that have helped me introspect better, but some of them seem really far fetched. I remain unconvinced. My opinion is that self-improvement works. However, it might be that what I am labeling as self-improvement, might be different from what you guys were talking about. -- raj shekhar Take my love, take my land Take me where I cannot stand I don't care, I'm still free You can't take the sky from me Read the latest at my blog: nice facebook error page http://rajshekhar.net/blog/archives/342-nice-facebook-error-page.html
Re: [silk] On self-improvement
Self-improvement, to some degree, requires self-awareness. Self-help books try to bake some of this in, but I think ultimately having the ability to see your automatic thoughts and understand their motivators. I think this is the realm of cognitive psychology, and I think they use many tools from that in self-help books -- but from what I've had recommended by well-credentialed folks is Feeling Good (horribly trite title for a great book) by David Burns. It describes itself as a therapy for depression, but what it does is quite thoroughly and methologically lay forth the principles of Cognitive Therapy as created by Dr. Aaron T. Beck at the University of Pennsylvania. Burns was one of Beck's students (both MDs and clinical researchers). And obviously way before that there was Astanga Yoga where self-awareness is a big part. For Covey the Seven Traits of Highly Effective People might be obvious, but as we deconstruct it, we see that he's a Mormon, and therefore may live a fairly idyllic life free from of the vicissitudes (or fun) that some face, simple and wholesome values, and with a lot of positive thinking going on around. For those wondering why adopting those traits may be harder than just wanting to, I think self-awareness is key. Know thyself... For example, I do not like fishsticks...
Re: [silk] On self-improvement
Kiran K Karthikeyan wrote: provide strategy on self-improvement, rather than just glorifying the end-product (which fashion magazines do). When I studied object oriented programming a lng time ago, what fascinated me was how much common sense sells. Almost all the self-improvement books and courses say the same thing, IMO. I read the self-help books with the same amount of faith as I read the Left Behind[1] series. If you have not read them (IMO, absolute religious pot-smoking-vodka-drinking-mushroom-chomping-induced-drivel), I strongly recommend that you do. Every other superstitious belief will seem reasonable once you read this. Venkat [1] http://www.leftbehind.com/ and http://www.amazon.com/Left-Behind-Novel-Earths-Last/dp/0842329129/ref=sr_11_1?ie=UTF8qid=1239648665sr=11-1
