In recent years, connectivity via digital platforms has increased rapidly and social media has reached even remote areas of India with the proliferation of digital connectivity. With that, digital platforms have emerged as the new arena of expression of thoughts and reactions to current events. Digital social media platforms are fast in disseminating information and creating awareness. They also have an immediate impact as people can express their feelings reacting immediately after any event. The digital interfaces of interaction, peer-2-peer networks of connectivity, real-time documentation and evidence building in the face of crises, and the ability to build autonomous networks of resistance
and dialogue have all resulted in extraordinary demonstrations and political movements which shape the modern world.
One danger when approaching the field of social media is the possibility of being overwhelmed by the sheer abundance and diversity of the communicative practices they channel. They are often used as a means of representation, a tool of ‘citizen journalism’, employed to elicit ‘external attention.’ They are used as a means of organisation of collective action, and more specifically, as a means of mobilisation in the crucial task of ‘getting people on the streets.’
But, some are skeptical about the effectiveness of this kind of activism. While before the creation of social media, activists risked their lives and limbs to stand up for what they believed, this new type of activism shows a pattern of transient participation with ambiguous repercussions. The motivation of the activists also remain vague or non-sustainable according to some, as there are a lot of issues they can comment on and the issues change very rapidly on social media platforms giving such activism a very short shelf life. While the digital media remains crucial to the shaping of contemporary socioeconomic and political world, it essentially remains like a black box that conflates multiple registers
of meaning and layers of life. Therefore, it becomes important to un-engineer it and see what it enables and hides.
In this backdrop the Victoria Memorial Hall and ORF Kolkata announces their Inter-University Annual Debate Competition for 2019 which seeks to engage opinion on the following theme: ‘Social Media Is The New Courtroom For Justice’
Speakers Include:
Jayanta Sengupta, Secretary and Curator, Victoria Memorial Hall
Nilanjan Ghosh, Director, ORF, Kolkata
Ashok Dhar, Visiting Distinguished Fellow, ORF Kolkata
Bhaswati Chakravorty, Eminent Journalist, The Telegraph
S.V. Raman, Programme Consultant, Victoria Memorial Hall
Kunal Sarkar, Senior Consultant Cardiac Surgeon, Head MICS; President, Calcutta Debating Circle
Nadira Patherya, Former Judge Supreme Court of India, High Court at Kolkata, Odisha, Patna and Jharkhand
Swati Gautam, Entrepreneur
Debanjan Chakrabarti, Director, British Council, East and North East India
