Commix2016 volume 8

23 August 2016

B

MA in Media and Communication Studies Initiative

Bengaluru: engaluru city is one of India’s favourable destinations for students who wish to graduate from elite universities. Christ University has made a name for itself in this regard by providing varied degrees across many disciplines.

Arun Teja, a student from the department of International Studies,Christ University said, “I feel relaxed when I see the lush greenery around me, it is comforting and relaxing.” It is easy to conclude that the Hosur road campus is recognised as one of India’s and Bengaluru’s elite campuses and has also managed to bag several awards for nearly 30 years now.

Volume 7, Issue 8

Photograph : Rachel Dsouza

Kashinath K,from the Centre of Publications,Christ University, has been actively involved in the development of the Hosur road campus since its inception and fondly remembers the days when it was called ‘Christ College’. He said, “Initially, there was only one block which constituted the entire campus and the remainder of the area was filled with trees. In the late 90’s, we started the practice of participating in the Lalbagh flower show which inspired the present Vice Chancellor, Fr. Thomas C Mathew to develop the garden around the campus. We used to stroll around the campus and discuss our ideas for developing the green cover.”

Mr Kashinath fondly recalled the old days and added, “Most of the University belonged to the Dharmaram College. I feel the greenery around campus plays a vital role in the development of the student’s psyche and refreshes and rejuvenates their senses.”

He concluded by saying that he hoped the future generations would care for the green landscape and understand, observe their intrinsic beauty and also the balanced play between the architecture and the ecosystem that supports holistic education in the University.

-Subhajit Paul

All About Research An Interview with Researchers Bengaluru: The technological advancement has opened the gate for budding researchers to explore and come up with high quality research. The need to progress is essential as research is what drives the future of any country and researchers play a vital role in bringing up this change.It is important for a researcher to have thirst for knowledge. Also, any professional, finds a way to stay motivated by working towards their interests.

Satisfaction is the evil when it comes to research. When selecting a research topic or while conducting a research there are an array of things a researcher needs to keep in mind.

Importance of review of literature: It’s necessary to identify the gaps in already existing literature and to address

the following gaps in one’s research, work before jotting down a research plan.

The most important and primary thing is to know the difference between research objective and research questions. Research question is how one is going to fill the gap between already existing knowledge and natural phenomenon.

Methodology: The next thing to axe is methodology as it is the foundation of any research work. Proper understanding of the methodology is appropriate for a research.

Strong conceptual knowledge about the field of study is a must before starting a research.

One needs to dig out as much information as one can to understand the area of study.

Define your study: Specification

is the right way to go while working on a research project.

It helps to avoid unnecessary deviations. Also, it is as important to be flexible as being specific.

The research plan pattern should be from broad to specific area and again from specific to broad application area. The application area is where one attracts the funding organizations.

Key elements like identifying appropriate variables, forming hypothesis based on the same and figuring out the best possible sampling technique constitute a good research plan.

The above mentioned aspects are credited to the discussion with Prof. Rajesh and Prof. Kannan. S, Media Studies Department, Christ University.

-Vidyashree

Drama Adds Spice to Life!!!

Bengaluru: A duo representing Thespo, a young theatre group based in Mumbai flew down to Bengaluru to give the students of Christ University a detailed orientation on their next edition Thespo 18 on 16 August 2016.

director or a producer, Thespo can help you find these personalities almost immediately. They will be able to put you in touch with people who you could benefit from.

Once you sign up with Thespo, they help talent find opportunities.

Thespo is a youth theatre movement which conducts youth national theatre festivals every December in Bombay..The students of the University attended the orientation program for Thespo 18 which was conducted by Vivek Rao, the Director of QTP Entertainment Pvt Ltd and Vivek Madan who is the Judge for the screening.

Teena also a performance theatre student of the University said: “It was helpful and fun. They have now put forward a few opportunities that we as aspiring theatre persons would love to take up. I’m really inquisitive and want to know more.” Once the students are selected, there will be a screening happening in the month of October 2016.

Vedashree, a performance theatre student of Christ University says: “I’m happy that I got a chance to attend the orientation by Thespo. It helped us understand what they’re after and what they’re about.”

The plays are judged on the basis of honesty, loyalty, potential of the story or the script and so on.

There are no restrictions while performing the play. It can be in any language. They can be as creative If you are a playwright looking for as they like. All they look for in a a director or an actor looking for a play is genuine actors and passion.

“Thespo is a youth theatre movement which conducts youth national theatre festivals every December in Bombay” They will make suggestions on how the team can improve on the effect of their script for example like what kind of music they could have used instead of the one that they are currently using etc.The festival is crowd funded and happens every year. This is Thespo’s 18th edition.

If you have a story or an idea of a story, write it down and send it in to Thespo after registering throughWWW.THESPO.ORG The scripts are screened on the basis of honesty, loyalty and potential of the story etc.

-Rose Tomy

Literature- an artefact of language

Bengaluru: ‘Srujana’ is a service learning programme which is a part of the MA English Literature Department. It began in the year 2011 and was quickly incorporated into the syllabus.

Srujana aims to equip students from backward communities with language skills to give them an extra edge when they seek for jobs. The intention behind this programme was never a charitable one instead it was designed to serve the self interests of the students so that they could become better educators in their professional careers.

Shobana Mathews, the coordinator of the programme said, “It was during a class discussion way back in 2011 that we decided to formulate a service

learning programme where both the students and the kids from rural areas could benefit. It was a win-win situation for everyone.”

Currently tied up with CSA (Centre for Social Action), they conduct their classes every Saturday at L R Nagar, Bengaluru.

The response of the programme has been most impressive and the changes can be seen clearly. The kids who are being taught can speak perfectly good communicable English and have a rich and deep understanding of prose and poetry.

She added, “Literature has always been under suspicion and it is our goal as the English department to alleviate the concerns of the people and teach language to those who are in dire need of it. If you consider Literature to be an artefact of language, then our aim becomes very clear.”

Srujana follows the principles of the American Philosopher, Bertrand Russell, wherein he

mentioned that society can progress at its fullest potential only if each and every one of us acts on making the best version of ourselves and not focus on others.

Students who attend the programme too are delighted to be a part of it. The head of the committee, Lis Sanya, said, “During our initial class, we were told to expect 25-30 students but when we arrived at the venue, there were only 6 students. Though disheartened, we immediately modified our plans and with games and other fun activities, imparted that day’s curriculum to the kids.”

The programme hopes to extend beyond the bounds of the university and plans to tie up with an NGO in the coming days and increase the extension beyond L R Nagar and hopefully teach a large number of students at the same time.

-Pratap Pranay

CAPS - Know yourself Bengaluru: The CAPS Assessment Wing (CAW), which is a part of Centre for Academic and Professional Support, Christ University, conducted their latest venture ‘Testing Times’ on 17 and 18 August 2016, in the University.

A personality test was conducted for the students who had registered for this programme.

This personality test helped one to understand their characteristic traits in detail, along various dimensions and accordingly gave

an insight into what might be the appropriate career path.

The test was conducted in the classrooms and registrations were open to the entire University via email. Students applied in huge numbers and the ones who did not get into the current slots had an option of choosing from the dates given in September.

Christ University has many youngsters who are pursuing different vocations and courses.

Some of them may still not be clear as to which career to choose and what their future looks like. The test will definitely help the students get an insight. For example, a thinking personality test

would be more suited for a student pursuing their career in science or the one who wants to become a scientist.

This was conducted under the guidance of the CAPS coordinator, Mr Sabu John,from the Department of Psychology and was assisted by the student coordinator, Uma Maheswari.

The team will conduct themebased tests every month to help the students understand themselves and their traits better. The different themes would include interest, aptitude, intelligence and so on.

There are volunteers from the Department of Psychology working for CAW who are also in charge of conducting and invigilating the tests.

-Rose Tomy

A Sound Interview Bengaluru: Christ University’s Centre for Concept Design (CCD) is an audio recording studio, equipped with professional softwares and tools designed to give the students hands on experience. Here’s what Mr Nishant Fernandes, a Sound Engineer at the CCD had to say about the Studio and its equipments

Q

What kind of instruments do we use in the ccd, which provides students the opportunity to develop the skills in audio production?

Nishant: three sony full hd

cameras to record whole video sessions. For audio production, we do have Pro tools HD with c24 control surface, similar to what’s been used in Hollywood for audio production. None of the other universities have this facility for their students, such high end equipments we also have a broadcast setup, in case there’s a newscast for media students, they get the feeling of working in a studio where in you get the blue n green chroma king shooting environment with a tele prompter which is exactly what is used in a news station for broadcasting. They work on work stations. We have three

mac pros by Apple which is entirely lit up by camera lighting with a DMX which goes along with a lighting kit. That’s the list of equipment in the studio.

Q

What was your thought behind putting up a studio of such high monitoring?

Basically the studio’s purpose is to enlarge the vision. It is primarily for the media department so that we can have access to the industry’s equipment. It’s not enough if they only learn the theory,

they also need to know how to practically use the technology.

We have a team of specialists to work with different courses to use technology to the best of their abilities, in order to provide students an experience apart from the classroom environment.

We also have an online course module known as ‘Mooc’, which is accessible to everyone in the university. The entire faculty in the University, which comes up to about a thousand lecturers, take part in workshops and are trained to present a lesson or a course online through the same medium. These courses are then later uploaded on Moodle, where the students can access them from anywhere and learn from where they are.

Q So this kind of production

makes the CCD a special place for the staff as well as the kind of education that the college looks forward to giving?

Absolutely. Because we have a variety of 1000 videos that are shot and edited from scratch by our own staff, which they are trained to do. There are 1000 videos online

Q

and they are all more or less 10 minutes long. It is 10 minutes of What were the initial great education and has so much challenges you faced while coming visual content that the students up with the creation of CCD? can’t miss it. The CCD is also used to produce promo videos for The equipment we had was not different events in the college. up to the mark. We convinced the management to invest a As a teacher, what is your huge amount in the studio. To vision of the growth of CCD in the convince the management was one college campus? challenge, but they were happy As a part of the faculty teaching with the plan. The other issue was music and Media, we have started academic diversity, a large number Audio production wherein we look of people from various departments forward to creating a professional wanted to make use of the studio.. music album that is to be published To be able to cater to all students internationally. Music production of all departments, was another is one of our primary aims this big challenge. Because production year, having already produced 2 is not an hour or two’s job, It is a songs, and we hope that in a couple tedious process which involves of months we will be able to , preparation, post production, produce something internationally. editing and everything to be done This is just the beginning and we on time. Thus, time management want to see how far this will go is another challenge we face. with the students of the campus, Coupled with these issues we are a and just to note: What we mean by small team of three working here, production is, the students know with Fr. Benny Thomas who was how to produce their works, not responsible for the inception of that they come and perform and CCD. have it produced for them. They know how it’s done, and how to -Rachel Dsouza launch it for themselves.

Q

The Labour of Youth

Photograph : Rachel Dsouza

Bengaluru: The “National Level Capacity Building Workshop for Child Rights Social Workers” was conducted on 18 August 2016 at Christ University.

The inaugural address was delivered by Mr R Ragavendra Jannu, Commissioner of Labour, Government of Karnataka. In his speech he expounded the new ‘Anti Child Labour Action Plan’ which was under the process of being drafted by the Government of Karnataka.

The key note address was delivered

by Mr. Lukose Vallatharai, Independent Consultant, Public Policy where he highlighted two important factors which have led to an

increase in the dropout rate at child rights and also proved to be schools. an indication of their intelligence and acute and astute awareness of the problems that surrounded them.

Followed by the open house session, the participants were divided into three different groups and each group was given a specific topic. Each group discussed among their group members together and came up with new models and After the inaugural ceremony, recommendations in relation to the four plenary sessions were topic given to them. This division conducted; three plenary sessions of people enabled each group to were conducted on day one of the have a different perspective on the workshop while the fourth plenary issue and ensured that no two ideas session was conducted on the presented would be the same. second day of the workshop.

Once each group had finished its Once the sessions concluded, an discussion, each group member was Open House session enabled all given the opportunity to present the participants to express their their ideas and recommendations opinions and thoughts in relation to with all the other participants of child labour and child trafficking. the program. The session was The participants came up with moderated by Dr. Hemalatha, different ideas and suggestions Department of Social Work, Christ which reflected their deep University. commitment towards protection of -Sachin Athialy

Flavours for the Palate high pressure environment of a restaurant so that when they work in an actual set up, they are not fazed by the demands of it.”

The restaurant will be functioning on two days of the week for now, Wednesday and Friday. Wednesday will focus on gourmet European delights while Friday will take a look at the traditional regional cuisines of India.

Radhakrishna added, “We aim to provide an entire panorama of flavours for the students and soon hope to be operational during the

The upcoming restaurant named, ‘Palate’ is a brand new initiative by the Department of Hotel Management. This is a one of a kind restaurant in the college campus which will serve a variety of cuisines and dishes that normally cannot be found in the college canteens.

Radhakrishna, the student coordinator of the restaurant, said, “This restaurant is the first of its kind in India and the objective is to teach the students about the process of managing a restaurant and give them hand on training at the same time. We want them to know the

The Team

lunch hours for all six days of the week. As of now, we just want to focus on the quality of the food and ensure that both the guests and the students who work at the restaurant have a nourishing and wholesome experience”

The restaurant will be looked after by the 3rd year students on Wednesday and they will be

in charge of F&B production, F&B specialization, front office management and the mechanics of the bakery. Friday too will have the

same four departments functioning but the 4th year students will be in charge of the operations on this day. The restaurant will open its doors on the 24th of August, 2016 and bookings along with the choice of cuisine will have to be made two days in advance.

-Pratap Pranay

Faculty In-charge

Pratap Pranay Rachel Dsouza Rose Tomy Sachin Athialy Subhajit Paul Vidyashree Kumar

Suparna Naresh Fr.Biju K Chacko

FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION ONLY