Hello,

We’re looking to establish a new student magazine for the general Montreal students and are currently looking for team members to fill in positions:

Assistant Editor
Design Director
Photographer
Circulation Director
VP Finance
VP External
VP Internal
Director of Advertising

Several positions for writing are also waiting to be filled.

For further information, please email iam [at] tabishbhimani [dot] com with your resume and expression of interest.

Thank you.

No quality of human nature is more remarkable, both in itself and  its consequences, than that propensity we have to sympathize with  others, and to receive by communication their inclinations and  sentiments, however different from, or even contrary to, our  own…Hatred, resentment, esteem, love, courage, mirth, and  melancholy; all these passions I feel more from  communication than  from my own natural temper and disposition.”  David Hume, treatise on  Human Nature, 1740, section xi.

In his Treatise on Human Nature, David Hume touches a very pertinent aspect of human disposition: not only does he highlight the centrality of communication as a foundational principle in our interaction with our social peers, but also the importance of doing so effectively, thereby conveying messages to the clearest degree. So crucial is effective communication in imparting emotions and sentiments, that one may give higher resolve to what is imparted by another, than one’s own judgment.

It is worth noting, that Hume refers to our propensity to sympathize with others as a natural tendency, which communication facilitates. His philosophy states that we feel in alignment with our peers no matter how different our current perceptions and emotional states may be. Simply by communication, our inclination to sympathize with others takes precedence over our judgements and reasoning. In his treatise, Hume provides examples from both the young, naive child who internalizes what is proposed to him, to the wise and rational man who gives preference to the reasoning of his peers (230).

In contemporary society, we see this all the time, spanning across continents, in various circumstances. Take for example, a street beggar in Pakistan who claims to have not eaten for days, with a wife and two children at home also without food. Despite our logical reasoning, we may buy into the idea purely through the way the information is communicated and sympathize with this beggar, feeling his pain. Let us take a look at the Western court room. Even though the jury that decides the fate of the defendant is provided logical proof and evidence of his guilt (or innocence), the closing statements that the lawyers present them with carry both verbal cues and non-verbal gestures that appeal to their higher emotional state. This appeal in effect may trigger sympathy, which as mentioned previously, takes priority over the rational discourse, according to Hume.

It may be noted as mentioned above, that our dissemination of emotions occurs not only through the words we speak, but also by the non-verbal cues we provide the recipient. In terms of the verbal, what we say (the content), and how we say it (speed, pitch, loudness, etc.) is only one aspect of this two-pronged spear. The non-verbal cues we give in terms of our facial and hand gestures, the clothes we wear, the environment in which we communicate also play a significant role on what is understood of the communication that takes place. In a conflicting situation, where the verbal and non-verbal gestures do not complement each other, the message we receive may be “noisy.” For example, a few words of veneration and praise may be taken as a sarcastic comment if we speak through gritted teeth, with our arms folded over (a defensive gesture).

We have established that both verbal and non-verbal communication work in tandem to transmit certain messages, and the more they work together, the more effective this transmission is. When we communicate in a cogent fashion, we trigger the sympathetic aspect of the receiver. This is key in Hume’s philosophy: it is his understanding (and for the sake of this paper, we accept this assumption), that this triggering of sympathy finds its cause more in communication than in one’s natural disposition. By means of persuasive communication, one is able to look at circumstances in a different light. In non-technical language, communication has the power to make us feel in ways that reinforce our emotional state of mind, or change it otherwise. This also means that in a certain way, communication has power over us.

What does this mean for us, today? With the development of a myriad of technologies, how effective are we in communicating? Initially, we would communicate orally with members of society. The advent of the chirographic, and consequently the typographic technologies brought about new methods of communicating that we employed for various purposes as needs arose. Governments, corporations, and institutions of authority apply a variety of media in conjunction with each other to convey messages to its intended recipients in an adequate manner. Through the use of sound, imagery, and creative copywriting, advertisers are able to persuade potential consumers into purchasing a product or even a lifestyle. They appeal not the logic, rational being, but to the instinctual, sympathizing being. If the communication is effective, it is immediately able to put us in a certain state of mind that corresponds with the message. We purchase products not based on their use value: we go far beyond to the emotional state that they will help us achieve.

Let us look at the typical Hollywood movie. A scene involving a modern-day Romeo having lost his Juliet to another sits and sulks in a somewhat empty, dull room with dramatic lighting and a slow love song that plays in the background. The camera moves slowly to pan around and shift its focus between objects in the room and the Romeo to communicate the emptiness and pain he feels. Immediately, we feel for the Romeo and are able to put ourselves in his place, foregoing the fact that we are watching a film with a highly constructive narrative.

At the same time, communication has been the major factor in bringing about revolution. Martin Luther King Jr., for example, was able to rally an innumerable number of African-Americans for a common cause. His ability to use words and gestures effectively gave rise to a sensational movement in American history, bringing about significant changes in the social structure and status quo.

Effective communication has significant power in various circumstances. Our propensity to sympathize with both the sender and the message is facilitated by communication. Whether the emotion conveyed runs parallel with, or contrary to our own, through this communication, our sympathetic tendency takes precedence over our rationalizing tendency. Effective communication goes beyond the verbal to the non-verbal as well as the appropriate use of various media technologies to impart messages. In this way, communication has a certain power over us, both as individuals, and communities. Hume understood this well: the passions he felt found their roots more in communication than in his own natural temperament.

“Love is not a crutch. Neither are relationships. Don’t fall in love with someone because they will be there for you. That belittles love. And you will have clipped its wings. To understand love, you must understand what it is not. When you understand what love is, you will have understood the true definition of a meaningful relationship.“

I have been the Editor of the Winters Free Press for roughly a year now. The Press is owned by the Winters College Council which looks over the finances of the Press. The Council also has several departments (or smaller versions of them), including finance, internal affairs, social-cultural, sports, etc.

Often times there is a conflict between the departments of the institutions which are in a constant tug-of-war, trying to accomplish their tasks.

Why does the tug of war exist? In the year that I have been editor, I have understood the issue to be of clarity and proactive engagement. Or lack thereof. It is essential that the various portfolios communicate their issues to each other to work out an efficient solution that works for both parties. The aim should be to utilize capacity efficiently, and to develop more capacity where the need exists.

If the problems are not approached in such a method, a system failure could result. It is also discouraging for members of institutions to see that their efforts are in vain, and their professional growth is being hindered, along with the growth of the organization.

Dalton Kehoe, a professor at York University and a consultant at Heart of The Matter teaches various organizational communication and interpersonal communication courses in order to bring more awareness about such issues, and perhaps come to solutions. Kehoe also imparts knowledge and understanding through his very practical workshops, including Appreciative Inquiry, D.I.A.L.O.G.U.E. talk, Leadership for Engagement, and so on. I believe that principles and values these workshops impart are fundamental to effective functioning of an organization.

My understand is this: if organizations do not find within their fundamental principles, the need (and consistent efforts) for efficiency and growth, they are simply not worth the time, effort, money, or manpower that is put in them. In a world with limited resources, it is essentially pertinent that organizations understand its internal workings to achieve harmony. Just like the various organs in the body.

(via)

And if I was to write any more,
Of what you mean to me,
Of mothers, fathers, of family,
Of lovers and the love that I let be,
Of how you make me feel and,
For you how deep I’d bleed,
Id have to write off a cliff,
Id write the heights of the Eiffel in Paris,
The ruffles across the robe of Lady Liberty,
I’d even ink the white surf of ALL the seven seas…

In the last issue of the Winters Free Press (March Edition), I began a section called Meeting the Fellows. Who are Fellows?

Fellows are chosen from both inside the University community and outside in the world beyond the campus boundaries. They are selected on the basis of the contribution they can make to the academic, intellectual and artistic life of the Winters community

-Who are fellows? (Winters College)

Most people however, are not aware of who the fellows are and what their role is. Each month we (try to) introduce a fellow by either interviewing them, or writing an article about the work they do. This allows both the students to recognize who the fellows are and what they stand for, and it allows for the appreciation of the revered members of our community.

The March issue had the following article. Please click the image for the full version. Stay tuned for more. If you would like to contribute to the Winters Free Press, please leave a message here and we will get in touch with you.

I haven’t posted something in a while. But this is too important to not. Reblog please. Don’t even give me credit.

The “web” was a creation that was meant to allow people to share information openly, freely and easily. Created by Sir Tim Berners-Lee for this very purpose in 1991, only now have people begun to realize this potential of the web (Economist, p31). Democratic participation of audience as creators has been the fundamental principle underlying this creation and this hidden revolution has been romanticized in many ways. What does this mean for the dominant social class and elitist groups in society? How does this affect the practices of main stream media and dealers of public opinion? This paper will attempt to discuss the idea of Web 2.0 and related technologies, their place in political struggle and their role in evolving current media practices.
Even though the fundamental goal of the web may have been to encourage democratic participation, this potential had not been realized until very recently with the emergence of blogs and podcasts, and later wikis, twitter, and similar tools and technologies. These are what we refer to as Web 2.0. With the terminology being tossed around incessantly, it is then necessary to introduce a very basic definition of Web 2.0 before one can move on to discuss its various aspects.
Bill Thompson writes that it is not entirely clear what the term means, encompassing even the most basic forms of dynamic content publishing tools. Everything from “community sites, photo-publishing services, and the wide range of visitor-editable pages [on Wikipedia]” are considered part of the Web 2.0 movement (Thompson, p10). Therefore, any online community or tools that allow for original, user-generated content constitute Web 2.0. These tools allow for the active, democratic participation of members of the online community, and enable audiences to comment on the original content, therefore producing even more of it.
Blogs are perhaps the most common publishing utility that empowers the average user to become an active participant in a new or ongoing discourse about practically anything. Common blogging tools such as Blogger and WordPress allow other users to comment and therefore generate an ad hoc discussion. Hyperlinking to blog posts carries the conversation to another group of audience members (many of which are participants as well), with varying opinions in various regions.
The Cornell University’s Integrated Web Services defines podcasts as a combination of the words, “iPod” and “broadcasting” which allows individuals to publish audio recordings on the internet for audiences to download and listen to on their iPods and portable devices. While podcasting is a different technology from blogs, the fundamentals are still the same: user-generated content.
Similarly, technologies such as Twitter allow for members of its online community to stay abreast about what other members are doing. This information may be seemingly irrelevant, from “twittering” about waking up in the morning, to attending a global conference on eradication of poverty. It is a way for people to communicate and comment on what is being communicated.
We have highlighted various technologies that form part of the institution that is Web 2.0. The recurring notion is user generated content in a public domain. The logical question that follows from the study of these technologies is this: Why is user-generated content important? It is worthwhile to examine this question as it provides insight into the development and evolution of these utilities. The Economist answers this very question: Web 2.0 “has the hallmarks of youthful rebellion against the conventional social order, and is making many traditional media companies tremble (p31).” The attention that user-generated content has been receiving is worth examining in this very respect: it challenges the cultural hegemony of the conventional institutions that create and dispense news. The creation of blogs and podcasts as well as syndicated feeds using the RSS technology have challenged the dominant meaning of the term, “journalist.” As Web 2.0 becomes more and more accessible to more and more audiences around the globe (only 11% of Asia, 4% of Africa has access to the internet) (Economist, p31), the significance of mainstream media is challenged, bringing a shift in the hegemonic order, redefining what it means to be a journalist. Chung et al highlight this shift: these technologies have empowered the audience to become information providers (p305).
The idea of citizen journalism highlights that those who are not professionals, frequently participate in issues of public interest on their web logs and podcasts. Matheson (in Thurman, p140) estimates that approximately 50% of all blogs deal with public affairs. Although this sort of journalism may cover popular contemporary events and common issues, it exists because mainstream journalism is lacking in that it only caters to the dominant bloc of society. In its very existence, citizen journalism challenges this notion. It aims to fill the gaps that mainstream media fails to account for.
The mainstream media has certain news values that are characteristic to it. For example, those events that are simple and unambiguous receive precedence over those that are complex and require more explanation (Golding and Elliot, p636). Web 2.0 technologies allow like-minded individuals to comment and create a discourse around a range of topics and issues that the mainstream media does not cover, even creating an entire discourse around why this is so.
Another aspect of the mainstream media is that it gives a higher priority to events and circumstances involving the elite members of society, including elite organizations and countries (Golding and Elliot, p638). Bloggers, podcasters, video loggers, and twitter members continuously highlight issues and events within local communities. These things may be of less interest to a national media agency, but of significant interest to the participating audience who relies more and more on these online resources to receive their news. This is reiterated in the New Statesman, “Indeed, members increasingly rely not on post and the press, but on websites, e-mail, blogs, text messages, and social networking services such as Facebook (New Statesman, p3).”
With these challenges in mind, it is no surprise that news reporting has taken this direction to broaden the meaning of journalism, and even what constitutes news. Citizen journalists, bloggers in particular, claim that “mainstream journalists are often arrogant elitists who do not want to include the public in deciding what’s important and what’s not (Chung et al, p306).” However, this has not been a one-way street. Journalists too, have highlighted their concerns dealing with news values and standards. Journalists have held strong opinions on the quality of the news value in terms of spelling, punctuation and grammar, accuracy and balance (Thurman, p144). Some journalists believe that what one must sift through content be selective as to what is published in the first place. This may tie back to the news values that cater to the dominant public sphere due to time and space constraints. Other issues such as credibility, mediocrity, and lack of professionalism have also been raised.
Nevertheless, with Web 2.0 empowering the people, and more people getting their news and information from the internet, mainstream media have come face to face with issues that are economic and political in nature. As a result, the mainstream media has had to adapt to the Web 2.0 framework to incorporate audiences in a more active way. This is reiterated by Bill Thompson, “It is hard to imagine a website that does not provide user engagement and interaction (Thompson, p10).” Today, even professional online news websites as well as online versions of traditional, mainstream media incorporate this aspect. There are two major differences, however. First, the incorporation of traditional journalistic values, and secondly, the bottom line dealing with profit.
News websites such as CNN.com sift through user comments to filter out what is worth publishing based on certain criteria. This is traditional journalistic practice applied on the web. Mark highlights Peter Picton’s (the editor of theSun.co.uk) reiteration of this practice, in that people prefer to “read a well-crafted news story or feature by someone who is trained and experienced in that field (Thurman, p144.)” The idea is to not only reduce recycled content, but also to keep a check on whether the contribution comes at par with news values.
Users still contribute based on their willingness to write about their experiences and point of view. Their contributions are still treated in a traditional way. However, with public involvement in news reporting, it can become a resource and cost intensive task to monitor and control the flow of information. Questions about remuneration may also come up (Thurman, p147-8).
In terms of the bottom line, even though these news agencies may utilize the Web 2.0 framework, the idea to generate a profit and to cover costs is key. User forums have yet to be commercialized in a way that is innovative and effective, and sites like the DailyMail.co.uk have tried various advertising and sponsorship methods to capitalize on this technology (Thurman, p148).
It is worthwhile to appreciate the path that journalism has taken. Chung et all comment on technology’s role on journalism from the invention of the Gutenberg press, to developments in photography and radio. For them, it is just another technology that will affect the meaning of journalism and how it is practiced (p306). Industry leaders and opinion dealers may seek to incorporate these technologies with their current practices to reap maximum benefit and reach the widest audience. One thing is clear however: the increasingly active, democratic participation of the audience members marks a significant, albeit steady shift from the current status quo. Smaller, local or regional blogs, podcasts, etc. cater to the local community, certain niches, and non-dominant groups. These groups collectively constitute a significant portion of the civil society. Awareness and development of the Web 2.0 framework by participants will seek to strengthen this society, bring in to light the existence of diversity and plurality, and perhaps act as effective counter public spheres.

Beyond a certain point, knowledge is no longer created. It unfolds. As knowledge progresses, it becomes less temporal and exoteric. Temporal and exoteric knowledge deals with social schemas, themes, frames, and ideologies. This sort of knowledge is subject to creation and recreation.

As knowledge progresses to incorporate more universal understanding, it becomes less localized, and therefore less exoteric. By nature, it progresses to higher levels. It becomes esoteric and comes from the inside. It incorporates more and more of the world in which we live and the world which is within us. This knowledge is timeless and irrefutable.

Therefore, knowledge unfolds. It has always existed, always will. It is not a result of circumstance. It is nether right, nor wrong. In fact, it transcends these notions. Pay no heed, then, to the pseudo intellectual indulgences of the mind. However, shun not those minds that indulge in these thoughts. In due time, they will understand the humbug nature of the circles they walk in and exceed boundaries.

There, one has transcended.

~Tabish
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“Out beyond ideas of wrong doing and right doing, there is a field; I’ll meet you there” ~Rumi