B-Log

  If periods are named after a single, predominant activity that characterizes it, there could be reasons why we should call the period we are passing through as the ‘age of webinars', even though the use of the term 'age' may sound rather stretched. But given the way the world plies in adjectives of the highest degree and blows things out of reasonable proportion, I can stand my ground. If, on the grounds of practices of a c0uple of months we can talk a ‘new normal’ into existence, one can employ the term 'age' to denote it too! Webinars have certainly raised the bar of the institutions in terms of technological competence and digital flair. All have equipped themselves a lot digital literacy wise. There has been tremendous upskilling on the part of the academic professional thanks to the Covidian compulsions. But there are many more reasons for their popularity and frequency. Let us take a cursory look at the webinar-scenario unfolding. Expense factor The b...

  Of the many institutions upended by the onslaught of social media, propelled by technology, is the mansion of punctuation. Much hallowed corridors of the house of Punctuation have been taken apart and occasionally differently put together by the social media practices. The outcome is a state of affairs in which many of us, not just the millennial, find ourselves switching allegiances and often enjoying the delights of the new converts, breaking many of the sacrosanct norms of the full stop & comma practices we are drilled into. The weird mix ups of symbols, excess, irrational presence and inexplicable absences too characterize it. But certain of these nouveau norms of non-punctuation are interesting. The one I really found sensible for reasons perhaps best known only to me is the case of multiple periods. Though Americans call it period, we have never cared much to call a ‘full stop’ a ‘period’. Rather, we have enjoyed the power and absolute sense of finality of the s...