Nurturing talent and thought

Jyoti Nivas College recently held Akhyana 2013, a media fest that looked at the pros and cons of the internet, social media and the various ways in which people communicate in today’s world.

It saw the participation of colleges like Seshadripuram College, Vijaya College, St Anne’s College, IIPM, Kristu Jayanti College, Indo-Asian Academy, Baldwin’s Methodist College and St Joseph’s College of Arts and Science among others.

Students participated in various media-related events — paper presentations on topics like ‘Newspapers to e-papers’ and ‘Online media as a forum for social change’; a short film competition, where the top two films were screened; a photography competition; internet spoof, which was the most popular item in the fest; ad presentation using strategies they learned in the classroom and last but not the least, radio jockeying.
The entire campus was full of life and the classrooms that were used for the events were decorated with cut-outs showing the progression of media from letters to phones to emails to 3G technology.

“The fest was well organised. I have never done a paper presentation before but the learning process has been great. It was an opportunity to gain confidence,” says Nithyashree of St Joseph’s College of Arts and Science.

Other participants also shared the same opinion. Paul of Kristu Jayanti College participated in the photography contest.

He notes, “The crowd was very creative and full of energy. The events were interesting and quite innovative, especially media spoof.” There was also a panel discussion on ‘Internet - the keyboard to new media’, where the speakers were Karan Medappa, a PR professional at Lintas; RJ Rakesh of Radio One and Islahuddin N S, manager, Qyuki, a social media platform. While some good points were raised and the question-answer session was interactive, not everyone was impressed. “It was good, but I felt that it wasn’t professional enough since they weren’t experts. We already knew most of the things they said and there was nothing much to learn,” opines Praveen, a student of CMR Centre for Media Studies.

Despite a few disappointed students, organisers from the college were pleased with the turnout and felt that their efforts did not go in vain. “While organising this fest, we learnt the importance of hard work and functioning as a team. But the best part has been bonding as a class and having fun in the process,” says Aiman, who headed the ad presentation event, adding that it was rewarding to see students from other colleges have fun.