Khetro Broadsheet 01: January 2004

Khetro Broadsheet 01: January 2004

At first sight

---

Khetro is an initiative for generating an open space for cross-disciplinary dialogue and implementation of innovative ideas aimed at exploration, exchange and implementation in the domain of community culture, old and new media and ecological existence.


The editorial team of Sukanya Sanyal, Silanjan Bhattacharyya and Ranu Ghosh deserve appreciation for the effort which has gone into the first issue of the Broadsheet (released at the Kolkata Book Fair 2004). Priced at a very nominal INR 5 (and perhaps this is also an indicative one), the Broadsheet aims to address issues on ecological experience, poetics and politics of free code, daily life of intellectual property law, net(work) culture, media etc. The Broadsheet has been edited in collaboration with Mrityunjoy Chatterjee of Sarai-CSDS who has also conceived the understated design of the issue.


The Broadsheet states unequivocally that

'any part may be reproduced in any form without the written permission of the publishers for educational and non-commercial use. The contributors and publishers, however, would be very happy to be informed.'

This comes as a stunning antithesis to the prevailing culture of the publishing domain and one hopes that such a spirit will prevail through the subsequent issues. One also hopes that with the publication of the Khetro Broadsheet 02 (slated to be around May 2004), the publishers will allow downloads of this copy from an easily accessible URL. Given the nature of the work that is Khetro's praxis, a community level media of interaction would also be in accordance with the cause.


Alternate modes of communication are often loaded with subtle semantic nodes that lead onto further exploratory niches. The Broadsheet is not an exception to this rule. Pushing the envelope from the normal and accepted, tokens and symbolic codes aggressively suggest a pathway towards inquiry and creative inputs. On behalf of Khetro, Nilanjan Bhattacharaya puts forth that

'This broadsheet is a collaborative initiative to enter into a shared creative journey, inviting passengers from diverse domains of society, to mark a convergent sphere of interaction and dialog.'

This issue contains (albeit such a listing would not be possible):


[1] Ecological Existence: The way a city is born and the way it lives By Silanjan Bhattacharyya where he explores the 'controversial' issue of demarcating and defining urban areas as ecosystems.


[2] Poetics and Politics of Free Code: a compilation of thought streams on the Free and Open Source movement through links and the concept of 'freedom'.


[3] Daily Life of an Intellectual Property Law: an extract from Intellectual Property and the Knowledge/Culture Commons project of ALF, Bangalore and Sarai-CSDS, Delhi


[4] Net(work) Culture/Media: a small insight into 'Net Culture' and spin-offs


[5] The ABC of Tactical Media: By David Garcia and Geert Lovink


[6] New Media, old Public: By Anjan Ghosh on new emerging media and the process of marginalisation.


- posted by sankarshan @ 2/07/2004 08:16:00 PM