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Permalink Reply by Siddhartha Shankar Ray on September 15, 2011 at 19:59

 

 

Dear Sri Bharadwaj,

 

Your Inquiry, quite interestingly, address a real life issue; far extending the boundary of traditional Librarianship. As such, my views too are not restricted to the theme of Traditional Librarianship.

Well, talking about Information Society, it is actually E-SOCIETY  and it reflects in our regular chores that with the advent of e-facilities, the backdrop of the social systems has been changed radically. People pay through credit cards and transactions are reflected in our cell phones. In academia, laptops are gradually replacing the traditional Exercise Books. I presume that in not-too-distant future, students will attend classes with dictaphone type instruments attached with lap/palm tops to follow lectures. I know  some of our students regularly audio record the lectures they attend and prepare notes by playing them!  Even from my experience I can narrate some overwhelming transformations in life. Earlier, when I used to visit official Headquarters at New Delhi, I had to book the tickets personally (or had to send some one) to the booking counter, then I used to write letter to our Guest house in charge for booking of a room & had to get his confirmation letter before my journey and I had to waste around half an hour to locate & identify the office vehicle. While, now, I can book tickets from my home, can get accommodation booked  with an e. mail and get the vehicle number through a SMS in my mobile as I arrive at the Railway Station or Airport. We can now recommend the issues for discussions beforehand and all the members can exchange views before the meeting itself and it not only saves lots of time but also enable us to embark on fruitful discussion as we could think over them well in time and not on the spot!!

 

If you go shopping, you see the products and expiry dates of requisite items, you can choose among the varieties and select items. A couple of weeks ago, one of my relative fell ill and I sent all his Pathological and Radiological reports to one of my medico friends in Tokyo through e. mail and within 12 hours I got expert opinion!!

 

Never-the-less, a student in a suburb town can have equal access to knowledge as his counterpart in metro cities which, unfortunately were unimaginable in our student life some 30 years ago.

 

The Indian scenario is really changing to an information society or rather e-society.

 

Regards,

 

Siddhartha S. Ray

Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta

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