To Do And Not To Do On Social Media

-Pratiti Nath

Social Media enables us to connect with people, share our lives, conduct business, exchange ideas and information. All of this in a quick and hassle free manner. It isn’t devoid of certain drawbacks. Similar to all other modes of communication like telephone, SMS or letters , social media too is plagued by certain problems. These problems can only be countered by following certain decorum. Here are some common social media etiquette to keep in mind while using any social media platform.

 1. Choose a proper profile picture and name

You are very fond of your pet and have it as your profile picture. You are book-lover and choose your favorite character as your name on social media channels. While these things display your likes and your personality it raises a question about your genuineness. Remember this may appear in Google search when someone searches for your name. Always opt for a decent genuine picture of yours along with your name. If you don’t want your picture in the public domain refrain from adding any instead of relying on pictures of places or superstars. In case of a business account make the company logo or the company building showing the name as the profile picture. Share your vision in the about yourself section and the company tagline for cover picture.  

2. Separate your personal and professional life

Similar to your real life, your virtual life should have separate forums for professional and personal spheres. You definitely don’t want your boss browsing over your late night clubbing or weekend beach gateway pictures. Leave it for your friends. Likewise you don’t want to bore your friends with unnecessary work details. Having separate accounts for your business or work related handle and for your personal use is the key. If you are not one of those who can handle multiple accounts then customize your posts. Control who can view your posts.

 3. Do not write posts when you are angry or feeling low

You are feeling low tweet, a philosophical quote or a sorrowful vague post. While these posts might serve the purpose of relieving the burden of your emotion, they don’t go down well with others. Frequent such posts will often lead to people associating negative attributes (like complaining) with you. Hence, they will start avoiding you. Think before posting such things. Think of its viability after a few months. If it isn’t then discard it. If you cannot do without posting such things customize them to “friends”, “only me” or any other that you prefer. 

 4. Refrain from tagging and sharing pictures of others

You uploaded a picture of your friends chilling on beach and that landed her in trouble in her office. You have posted an old nostalgic picture of your high school batch mate. He isn’t comfortable of it. Thus, refrain from sharing pictures of others without their consent. People have a definitive way of projecting themselves in public which might not gel with your perceived view. Hence, always ask before posting. Another problem is of unnecessary tagging. Don’t tag people to pictures when they aren’t in it. Nobody wants to see a picture of your cat tagged along with 50 people and 20 comments. 

5. Refrain from Oversharing

People need not go through everything you find interesting on Facebook. Of course you find those memes and short stories hilarious. You need not share each and every item you like. Restrict the number of posts you share. Only share the ones which you find of utmost importance. Oversharing will clutter other people’s news feed leading people to ignore or unfriend you. 

6. Restrict from badmouthing anyone.

You had a fight with your partner or had a bad day at office and you start lamenting it out on Social Media. Remember these are public forums and hence the thing you are posting is available for everyone to see. Thus, refrain from making resentful posts or badmouthing anyone. 

7. Do not jump on the bandwagon and start a debate war.

Social media is a platform for sharing things and connecting with people. One such way of doing it is sharing your views and opinions about current affairs. Be tolerant and understanding of other people views and opinions. Your friend changes his profile picture in solidarity of the Paris attack whereas you didn’t. Politely disagree with his views and convey your message privately. Don’t start a debate over it. Some friends have shared something about your favorite superstar and you find it offensive. Instead of quarreling it out in public discuss it privately. If possible ignore such things.

8. Refrain from spamming people with gaming requests/friend requests/apps request.

You like to play online games and can’t help people sending request. While you might not control these things, you can certainly control the number of such requests you send. Prevent from recommending unnecessary pages and apps to people. In case your friends do so, convey it to them that you don’t like it or stop notifications from those apps. 

9. Refrain from making personal conversations on posts

Suppose you have uploaded a picture of yourself in a restaurant. You friend likes it and starts asking questions about it. Gradually the conversation starts drifting to other things. Now, this could irritate others who have liked/commented on your pictures and getting cluttered by your notifications. The best way to deal with such things, is politely answer the first question and then allow the conversation to flow on a private chat. If you are bogged by such notifications from anyone’s profile just turn off future notifications from them.

10. Check your grammar, spelling, facts and don’t overuse abbreviations/hashtags

The things which you post will remain online in the future. Anyone can view it by searching about the topic. Hence, you should be absolutely sure about facts before posting them. Read the full document or view the full video before making a comments about it. Grammatical errors and typos can make you seem insincere. Use abbreviations but don’t flood your entire writing with it. It might make you cool in your friend’s circle but it puts a question mark on your credibility. Hashtags are important to make people notice certain issues or points. Thus, hash tagging is for particular words or phrases. Don’t hashtag every word in the sentence. 

These are the essential habits one needs to keep in mind while using social media platforms. Abiding by these rules one can easily prevent any nuisance from occurring.

The Story of Alma Mater

-Pratiti Nath

Ever dreamed of a store delivering customized t-shirts, tops and all other kinds of apparel? Alma Mater is just that. Now wait! it isn’t just any other kind of customized product selling merchandise. Here you get products customized according to the institution you are affiliated to. Your very own customized college products.

Origin of the idea

"Three years ago, two friends, one too many beers, one kickass business idea, one million dollar company… This, in a nutshell is how Alma Mater came about."- this is how the alma mater story begins in their facebook page. This company is a brain child of 2 people- Varun Agarwal and Rohn Malhotra way back in 2009. They hit upon this idea while reminiscing their good old college days over a chilled beer. That’s when the idea of catering to the needs of alumni of various colleges came into light. Thus, the name Alma mater. Varun started this apparel store targeting the necessity of memorable items and apparels for different institutions alumni. Soon, after that he wrote a book titled ‘How I braved Anu Aunty and co-founded a million dollarcompany’. This became an instant hit paving the way for him and his company. The company is based in Koramangla, Bangalore.

The Journey So Far

The major feature of this online apparel website is its “PLAY” tool.  As the name suggests you can literally play with the design, graphics, colour, fabric and other aspects of your desired products. Unlike other websites they don’t offer you selected choices. Here you can make your own designs and order them. Their unique outlook and aesthetic designs led to huge leap in profits. They manage to ship 15000 products every month. 

Keeping the target audience in mind the price range remains at an affordable limit of 450-700 rupees. Till July, 2013 they have sold 3,00,000 products. With the help of these tool you can draw doodles, make designs. As many as 800 fonts and 2000 vectors are at your disposal. Apart from that you can add your institution logo and change the background colour. Thus it provides huge pool of creative potential to unleash your creativity and wear it on your t-shirt. A plus point of this tool is its social forum. One can form groups here and easily discuss & build design with their friends. Till 2013 the response is substantial with almost every associations using it – from school students, college students to start-up companies to individual group associations. The company first started out-sourcing their work but now the manufacture & printing process is solely done by their 200 dedicated workers. This has removed the hazard of relying on others and minimized errors. With the incorporation of the PLAY tool, work has cut down further as continuous involvement with the customers aren’t required. One can just create their design and order it. As of now, they have worked for 2500 schools/colleges, 600 corporates, 100 start-ups spreading over 180 different cities of the world. This includes India and 6 other countries. Till May 2016, the company website registers 323401 happy customers, 15232 customized designs, 3554 college clients and 458420 likes on facebook 

Future outlook

The current focus of the company is to be the number one merchandise in customized t-shirt & products market. Their sole agenda is to completely monopolize this market and rake the 25-30% gross margins to even greater percentage. 

Things You Need To Know About Virtual Reality

-Partiti Nath & Sona Jain

What is Virtual Reality?

Virtual reality, term seems self-contradictory. You might think how can something that is virtual - be a reality? VR is a computer based technology where a real or an imagined world is duplicated and allows a person to interact with its surrounding environment. A virtual world is created which looks real and very much closer to reality. The latest technology involves graphics displayed on HD stereoscopic display screens coupled with enhanced stereo speakers & headphones enabled for VR users. Majority of them function by stimulating sensory and tactile receptors- thereby making the experience seem like a reality. It creates a virtual 3-dimensional world where the user can explore and feel the environment like it’s real. It’s like giving firsthand knowledge of places or things before you can actually experience them. 

For example: How would you like if you could walk through a city or country before going on a vacation? You could experience tunnels, roads, water-bodies and mountains through VR that will change according to your sensation. This 3D world has life size images and objects which are sensitive to your body, that is, they are flexible to change according to your eye movements or tactile stimulation. This virtual reality system creates a feeling of being a part of a world or experience and enables the user to interact with the environment. This immersion and interactivity is known as telepresence. 

According to computer scientist Jonathan Steuer this immersion has 2 components: depth of information (resolution, graphics etc. of the images) and breadth of information (visual and audio which affects the sensory and tactile stimulus). This feedback sensory stimulus is the haptic system. 

The Equipment Used

The gear used today has evolved quite a lot. It isn’t restricted to 3D glasses and equipment. Technology has advanced so much that now you can get haptic system enabled foot wears, clothes and other articles for visual reality. A few of the gadgets are Oclus Rift, HTC Vive, PlayStation VR, Sulon Q, Samsung Gear VR, Google Cardboard and many more. Scientists and programmers have started using Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML),X3D, Collaborative Design Activity (COLLADA) etc which enables people to maneuver between different virtual landscapes and interchange/exchange files in virtual reality space.

Utility of Virtual Reality

1. The most prominent field of VR utility is gaming, film and television industry. Earlier it was only restricted to video games like those played on PlayStation. With the onset of animation films, VR utility has become a boon. In films like avatar, inception, matrix etc where a perceptive illusion world is created, VR played a crucial role.
2. For heritage restoration and archaeology VR is extensively used to monitor areas which otherwise can’t be explored without destroying artifacts. For example: for mapping the underground Stonehenge area in Wiltshire, UK.   
3. VR is used to create 3D models of buildings or roads or streets. Thus enabling in real life visualization of architecture & urban planning.
4. This technology is used by automobile companies to create 3D designs of cars and 3D environments to test these car models.
5. VR helps in creating virtual environments for training different space programs, military programs or medical practices.
6. Doctors specially surgeons use VR to visualize the exact operation model before a surgery. They can test various robotic devices before going onto actual surgeries. 
   
7. They can be used to treat different phobias like height or water- by enabling patients to face them in a virtual world. The advantage of this is, it occurs in a controlled manner and the patients are easier to handle.
8. Libraries and Museums can employ VR to create 3D interactive programs- like an interactive tour through the museum or a visual reading of a sci-fi novel.

The Indian Scenario

According to a TOI report from CES 2016 Las Vegas Convention, VR is the next big thing. This is going to be the year of Virtual Reality. South-east Asia, along with India is a potential market.  The main concern in India is pricing and non-availability of educated users.  So far VR is restricted to gaming and high-ventured films in India. Theaters and gaming zones have them. PlayStations are widely available. India today has VR enabled mobile devices and mobile accessories. Various advanced VR devices OCULUS rift, HTC vive, Project Morpheus [PlayStation VR], largely remains unavailable in the Indian market. 

Overall, VR is here to stay. India being a diverse country with rich heritage, population, flora & fauna, ever demanding healthcare sector and an entertainment crazy nation; VR is of prominent  importance to us. 

Virtual Reality in Chennai 

Our own city (Chennai) will soon be getting its first ever virtual reality experience – Kaleidozone, which aims to create all-in-one system that delivers an interactive and immersive experience. By combining the latest advancements in immersive head   mounted displays, controllers, motion capture systems and real time 3D engines. Kaleidozone delivers human experience with limitless potentials. The team has more than 75 years of collective experience as business owners, technologists and game developers, who are looking at tapping the amusement industry in India which is poised to grow from $375 million to $811 million by 2020. (Source: Business India report on growth of Amusement Industry quoting IAAPI)

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