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Here’s another great product of a young Pakistani who unleashed his idea online. Here’s Metal Seinen through the eyes (and keyboard) of its creator, Zeeshan Shah -

Facebook, Orkut, Myspace, Linkedin. I am sure the reader of this article has heard of these names and is at least a member of one of these. This is the current wave of the spiral evolution of the internet. This has wave been named as Web 2.0 by Tim 0’Reilly, a supporter of the free software and open source movement.

The online encyclopedia, Wikipedia, which itself is a prime example of online collaboration and Web 2.0, describes it as:

Web 2.0 is a term describing the trend in the use of World Wide Web technology and web design that aims to enhance creativity, information sharing, and, most notably, collaboration among users.

What I present to you now is another example of web 2.0 collaboration, one which has presented itself in our own backyard.

Metal Seinen is a youth based Pakistani group which propagates creative and professional progression though mutual efforts of the members. Metal Seinen translates into ‘Metal Youth’ where ‘Metal’ represents the will to challenge one’s difficulties. What is interesting is that the creation of this group links directly to the web 2.0 effect of collaboration and communication.

In the summer of 2006, a handful of people came together through an orkut community to arrange an event for their common interest. The turnout was much better then one could have anticipated. The idea of online communication for bringing people together in Pakistan did indeed seem hold merit to it, even if it were for a small community such as Anime (Japanese Animations)

This event was the precursor to the next activity by this group. The next event was larger with creative contributions by a larger number of people; all of which came forward through online collaboration. Contributions included performances by musicians & presentations of art by budding artists.

Since then, Metal Seinen has declared itself as a ‘Platform for Creativity & Communities’. It utilizes a mutual collaboration system for creative projects between its members. This system extensively uses the Web 2.0 basis of creativity and collaboration.

With usage of open source software over the web and promotion of creativity through their events, Metal Seinen has inspired creative professionals to come forward with their ideas and talent.

The founder of this idea and the group describes it in the following manner:

Think of MS as just a room with an office attached. You go into the room through the office, where all you have to do is tell your name and skill. You then go into the room where everyone immediately knows you. You communicate with those guys, see what projects are on or start your own. Once you have a team or you’re in one, and you have some preliminary material, you just come back to the office and talk to MS which will place you in an avenue for promotion.

One of the ideas behind Metal Seinen is the loss of creativity during early post-grad years. They state that their basic goal is to inspire creativity from creative people and provide hope to budding talent. This creativity is not just restricted to media or software fields, it encompasses all professions.

One could have a great mechanical idea but cannot go through with it because of various issues such as lack of motivation, support and feasibility, that idea is lost. Metal Seinen is a platform which allows you to fulfill that idea through the benefits that Web2.0 has provided Social networking and online collaboration have allowed MS (Metal Seinen) to act as a platform.

The benefit ? Besides being able to mutually improve one’s skills and participate in youth communities, companies looking for the next great idea benefit. If one is given hope, inspiration and a resource platform, they would strive harder with their ideas and inspire others as well leading to a domino effect.

Metal Seinen being a group for youth brings common interests together as well. It also acts as a platform for communities such as Anime, Comics, Gaming, Arts & Music. They strive to provide direction and arrange events for isolated communities such as Anime, Gaming & Comics while bringing talent forward for communities such as Arts and Music.

One cannot imagine this being possible in the days of Mirc or Chat rooms. It is only through wikis, blogs, social sites and professional networking that these activities have been possible. Today, Professional recruiters use networking sites such as Linkedin for company hiring periods. All of this is a testament to the fact that the WorldWideWeb is continuously evolving and we all are flowing along with it.

Visit the site by clicking here , or browse through the Metal Seinen Forums ! Great, GREAT job!

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