#mediatronjnc

One fine Tuesday afternoon, the idea of #chewWORDbacca was born. The result of a Eureka moment, it spurred from the Star Wars character, Chewbacca, the loyal and intelligent friend of Han Solo.

Chewbacca is known to confuse his opponents instead of refuting them and to us, is the ideal mascot who embodies wit, character and charm.

His inability to speak English becomes synonymous with the difficulty we face in pronouncing difficult words. Environ a copacetic diurnal day!    

This is the end.

You can stop reading now.

Social media is the ultimate equalizer. It gives a voice and a platform to anyone willing to engage.

- Amy Jo Martin

It is a universally accepted fact that man is by nature a social animal, Aristotle being one of the earliest philosophers who alluded to this fact. Humans have always been known to have voiced out their thoughts, opinions or views on many a subject with a natural tendency to interact with one another.  Through the many cave inscriptions, Egyptian hieroglyphs, written manuscripts and finally with arrival of the printing press mankind has come a long way.  

Previously, the exchanging of important information between people whether it is political or social, took place by word of mouth or through a messenger. Society or the world at large did not always function or revolve around incidents that affected a particular region or country. In contrast with the past we now have people probably living in the other side of the world sharing our most intimate moments thanks to the social media. Although people still depend on newspapers and magazines to a large extent, primary importance is given to broadcast media by way of television and predominantly the internet.

Considering the prevalence of the internet, there is this sudden flood of information and news from every nook and corner of the world. One would sometimes find difficulty in assessing, accepting, disregarding and compartmentalizing the enormous amounts of information we receive through a click of the mouse. There is a certain advantage that the media can take over this matter.  Take for example the Israeli – Palestinian conflict. Although the ‘discord’ between the countries has existed for over 60 years, no one found it necessary to cover the issue. Every year thousands of Palestinians, a large number of which were women children would be killed and with absolutely little or no defense the Palestinians could do little to protect themselves.

Mediatron. One word that is a constant thought in the minds of the students and faculty of the Department of Media Studies and Communicative English of Jyoti Nivas College. Each day, we get closer and closer to the culmination of the work and effort poured out by every participant into this national-level fest and conference.

The groundwork for Mediatron began to be laid out in the beginning of January 2016, with the re-opening of the college after the Christmas vacations. From the very first meeting, debates began between and among the faculty and the students. The theme, the backbone of the fest, had to be decided before anything else. Various ideas, such as YouTube’s effect on television, films and their genres, and the evolution of media were lobbed around and dissected. The conclusion that the planning committee arrived at was that digital media was a common factor, and highly relevant to youth and life today. And so, the theme ‘Digital Media and its Influence: Empowering or Overpowering?’ was adopted.

The next step was the naming of the fest. A lot of thought and consideration had to be given to the name, as it would be a permanent one, used for years to come. It had to reflect the fact that it was a media fest. ‘Mediatron’ emerged as something that fulfilled this requisite, along with having a nice ring to it.

With the theme and the name sorted, things began to pick up speed. A core committee was elected, which would chalk out the blueprint of the structure of Mediatron 2016, and make it a reality. Details, both major and minor, were pinned down. The event list was planned.

We have to admit that digital media has become an indispensable part of our everyday life. It has simplified many a varied task for us and has also taken much of our time that is usually allotted for recreational activities. Even so, writers – aspiring ones as well as those who have already established a platform for themselves have much to gain from this form of media.

Before digital media took a hold of the masses, writers had to depend first on their editors, followed by a review from their publishers who would then take the responsibility of publicizing their work. However, in present scenarios, writers are able to do their writing, as well as their very own editing and have become publishers themselves.