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Bishnupriya Manipuri in the Internet: Past, Present and Future

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RK Rishikesh Sinha, New Delhi

Seemingly the journey of the Bishnupriya Manipuri community in the Internet space is among the best endeavour that a linguistic community has ever taken in India.

Being in the top third in the participation of a community from India in www.wikipedia.org, and with couple of websites/ blogs devoted to the community, the Bishnupriya Manipuri presence in the ever-increasing Internet world is secure and firm.

The contribution of the duo Ashim Singha and Uttam Singha in the bulging cyberspace comes very visible in its initial days. When they first set foot in this vibrant world, they did what the time demanded from them: identifying ourselves in the Internet.

And among those initial endeavours were perhaps creating pages in www.wikipedia.org, and opening web pages devoted to the community. They distributed all around the world our culture, history and language. Doing this they were creating information that could sail through in the Ethernet easily.

What more one could expect from them? They created concrete and firm pillars on which the coming generation can climb upon and start their own course.

They gave a platform on which the next blast-off could be easy. The present generation or the next generations don’t have the burden to create what they have done in the webspace, at least.

And they did it before the Internet tool was very handy and common to the people. The Internet was at that time a scarce entity. Imagine still it is a far cry for many.

Challenges Ahead

Challenges are many. First the Internet is still evolving.

The tools and technology surpasses its previous avatar. We are into Web 2.0 and people are talking about Web 3.0. You can differentiate Web 1.0 and Web 2.0 with its level of interactivity. What will be the level of interactivity in Web 3.0? The question is: Will we be able catch on in the 3.0 level, and in the next technology invention?

Financial viability is another concerning matter. There is no free lunch in this world. And the adage holds good here also. Bishnupriyamanipuri.com is running on cloud computing. Though the cash flow is minimal for the services, but this is a cost, without any model of revenue generation.

Interestingly, the big and monolith web entities of the world who are into content generation, take all the news websites, are not able to find a revenue generation model for the properties in the Internet. The recession had a bitter affects on them. It has made media pundits to ponder hard – how to cash-in their online real estate. They can’t come out with a model since the Internet has evolved with the content free-tag. What about the growth of Bishnupriya Manipuri in the Internet? Is their any solution?

Bishnupriya Manipuri in Print. This is something we all know about. The death rate is too high. Print is not at all a viable option to venture into. The cost of production and distribution will bleed anyone who tries his hand.

Opportunities Ahead

In recent times, Web entities in their effort to cash in what they produce for the world have come out with some sort of revenue models. And they are sharing the monetary gain with the users.

You Tube bleeds Google than any other entity owned by it. Try creating channels in You Tube, there is a revenue model. One can have shelter there.

Twitter is one which is in frenzy in the Internet. Don’t think of money. Coming generation or the present one can utilize this tool effectively for the community.

Next is Knol, another Google product. It is a carbon copy of www.wikipedia.org. Knol, quoted as unit of knowledge, one can add pages after pages devoted to the community.

So this was the journey from the past to the future that the community can take it in the Internet. Its future sojourn will be very much depends on the initiator, his perception about the community and the tool he uses.

Last and not the least: Internet is all about the number game and at about the content. In both the benchmark, we are a minority.


Today is Erei (Friday)


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