Sort of new – One world

In the beginning was the Word document. So while I learn HTML, here are a few articles I wrote a while ago presented in good old Word format. Some of these were published (though I have the URLs to only a few of them), the others weren’t (fortunately), but they give a fairly good idea of my interests at various times in my life. The newer articles are in the right pane (you may want to start there) – you will also find some of these articles on my blog (Prasanna in Blogsphere a.k.a The Improbable Blogger).

If you scroll down a bit, you will also find a few documents from my professional life. Nothing exceptional, definitely not what I wish I had accomplished, but possibly interesting if Internet content and knowledge management practices interest you. Papers on a content management maturity framework and value-proposition or the ROI that content teams deliver are the latest addition there.

Write me if something strikes your fancy (a little bit about me here, and if you know me, here is a link to Paavani's blog). I’ll try and add a few articles regularly, and hopefully the site will look better after I add a bit of HTML flourish to it!

A few recent essays. First, an atypical ‘political piece’ on Indo-Pak relations in which I advocate a ‘one country-multiple systems’ approach to political reunification on the sub-continent. An idea that has left most people cold. 

Also on this site.

 Sort of new – At home

From the days when I confused words for ideas.

This one reflects my fascination for the cinematic experience (rather than movies themselves).

The other one is a look at the evolution of media tools and why its hegemony is illusory.

A total write-off this one. Words, more words, and then some more with the odd sparkling sentence thrown in. Spot it if you can. Definitely not my finest hour!!

A bit of social conscience here. A story about brass band musicians who play at weddings for the love of money (and occasionally music).

On a better researched note, a long article on how a newspaper combated censorship during the Emergency in India. A peek into the world of misleading headlines, suggestive matrimonial advertisements, nudges and winks – all for a good cause.

 This one is about the ruminations of an erstwhile imported worker who now holds an exported job. Is the choice between importing workers and exporting jobs a real one?  Looking ahead to a world where home is everywhere.

Also on this site

Sort of new – Cricket anew

A bit of sex and a whiff of controversy. First, a look at why men are unfaithful.

Then, why we owe all knowledge to the gay folk among us.

And finally, a movie review I wrote which didn’t amuse Spielberg fans at all. The Academy didn’t agree either.

More sex! I wrote this one when the Internet was only something you read about. And guess Virtual Reality sleaze was the easiest way to get my editor’s attention!

This one is a little tamer. A description of my first encounter with the Internet at a college laboratory when ‘Windows’ was still a magical word.

Is Twenty20 the answer or is there a way to reinvent one-day cricket? A few new ideas about a very old game – 16 player playing roster and rethinking field restrictions.

Also on this site.

 Sort of new – Article 370

My fascination with the Internet took several, often contradictory, forms.

Here’s an article in which I talk of the Internet as a web of illusion. Also on this site.

Evidently not a thought that I would have bet my life on, for here’s an article suggesting that we don’t use the Internet efficaciously enough.

I often wrote about things I had no clue about. An example is this article on artificial intelligence on which I probably read up more than I did for a tutorial that was due around the same time.

And here is one that discusses research, which ‘proved’ the superiority of the white race, based on skull size. I don’t have the whole article with me any more but hopefully you’ll find enough to chew on.

 Continuing in the polemical vein – an argument to extend Article 370 to all other states in India. Something hopefully for both the article’s abolitionists and proponents to consider.

Also on this site

 Sort of new – Nature 2.0

A few samples from my working life that has been spent churning out (or creating, whichever you prefer) more documents than I care to remember. Here are a few lying in my machine right now that may interest online content practitioners (my apologies about the uneven PDF formatting of the documents).

A decent introduction to staffing a content team

A competition audit of now mostly defunct sites

A presentation examining a potential voice and tone strategy

An examination of content types and how they help

A way of looking at content attributes

Content publishing workflow in an offline environment

How do you know that an organization's content strategy is up to scratch? Here's a content management maturity framework that may help.

A recent presentation that I put together to introduce basic knowledge management concepts to non-practitioners. Will hopefully help me better answer questions about what I really do!

Another question that people often ask – what is the point of knowledge management or KM? Does it bring any tangible benefits? Here is an attempt to answer the question about measuring the value of documentation/KM.

A more detailed paper on the value that specialized content teams deliver to organizations. An attempt to answer questions like why create specialized content teams, what is the value-proposition or ROI that content teams deliver, and how is the world of content changing

A lot of people ask me what content strategy or management really is. Here is a document in which I tried to define the role of an Internet content strategist and its evolutionary paths.

What is content strategy? Here is a short presentation that tries to answer questions like 'why content strategy', 'what are its key components' and 'how does one get started'

How do you identify a good content strategist? The best way probably is to meet him or her and take it from there but here’s a test I created to shortlist candidates and gauge their comfort level with basic content principles.

The last one proposes (in slightly roundabout fashion – I hope to rewrite this piece soon) that the only way to preserve nature is to reshape it. Another piece that hasn’t quite stirred the imagination of my readers.

Last updated on March 28, 2006

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