The Musalman Urdu daily: only paper in the world still written by hand

Extract:
"Chennai’s The Musalman is the last handwritten Urdu paper.

Because it looks like a curious remnant, The Musalman attracts curiosity. It is, they say, the oldest Urdu daily, and perhaps the only paper in the world still written by hand. Just as the recent announcement by Godrej & Boyce, the last big manufacturer of manual typewriters, that it would stop making the machines drew worldwide press, so The Musalman has since 2007 drawn media interest.

On May 11, the Ministry of External Affairs’ Public Diplomacy Division released on YouTube an 11-minute film on The Musalman, directed by Ishani K Dutta of Delhi-based Carrot Films. Dutta hopes that when the film is shown in Arab countries and Europe it will generate support. “It’s just passion that is driving them. The katibs really don’t get a lot of money, but they actually enjoy this whole process." in Handmade newspaper, Rrishi Raote / New Delhi May 21, 2011, 0:46 IST, www.business-standard.com









On the same shelf:

THE LAST CALLIGRAPHERS

Prospects bleak for Indian handwritten newspaper,

Ontario Library Association's Super Conference 2010 - Media Monitoring

My 2 cent: I notice that this year's conference is totally shy of social media and news media. Even external factors (e.g., bloggers, aka virtual news media) are not so passionately contributing to this scenario.

I am not just talking in the air. See the list below. Compare this with the huge coverage (2008 media monitoring) I covered in 2008.

Why I say this is because in 2008 they invited bloggers, to join. In 2009 they had a 'blog' of their own. And in 2010, all of the above is gone. NO Blogging or Facebooking. Media has no news stories, whatsoever, so is the glaring absence of the social media, not many to blog about, no presence or links to facebook, twitter, etc.. Does this give any clue that we are fading or ready to fade. There are no social media buttons, that was the least to show the currency of the professional conference. A slide show (in 2010) with no dynamic approach (to make the show interactive or informative), is the only innovation and that's it.

There ends the story of media attraction, media presence, and social media in short. Incidentally, the theme of this year is: Step Up Your Passion.
The bottomline is: It pays to be a pessimist just for a better ROI!!!


Super Conference 2010 details are here
Are you in this Slide Show? Or you know someone in this show? See the Super Conference 2009 Slide show


Who else is blogging about this subject (NONE is reporting the scenario nor evaluating the sessions, as they did in the past):

Jane Dysart

mwblogger

Library-Child

Library Steph

BookPusher

J. Torres

k12digital

http://stephenslighthouse.com

Laura D. - KPL

Google for more bloogers's Updates here


More on the same shelf from the News Room

Five things to do this week: February 27-March 5

Public Library Service Award Winners Government of Ontario News - ‎Feb 26, 2010‎

More news updates here and here