What’s up with Dawn’s updates? They’re not there!
July 7, 2008
Dawn, Pakistan’s leading English newspaper for national and international news, seems to be going through some ummm… difficulties in updating its website as quickly as its competition in the market. In the midst of the 5 suicide bomb blasts rocking Karachi, it is 10pm and almost 3 hours until after the incident, there is no mention or update on the Dawn website. That’s really not how you’re going to make the most out of staying on top, is it? People look to you for updated news and current events, moreso online now than print.. They’re going to be in big trouble if they don’t get their act together fast.
Also, I thought I’d give them the benefit of the doubt and search for “Dawn News” in a search engine. The link “latest news” leads to a November 3rd, 2007 Musharraf’s Declaration for the State of Emergency in Pakistan.. Certainly something we can understand that we all need reminding about, but not necessarily latest.. unless we’re STILL in the state of chaos….
Maybe my internet connection was just re-routing it (since they are more biased towards Express News - Pakistan’s first and BEST channel…NOT!), but type in dawnnews.tv and you get re-routed back to dawn.com - Anyone else having the same problem?
Dawn Asia Finance Conference 2008: The Event Report
June 18, 2008
On 17th of June 2008, the Dawn Media Group organized the Asia Finance Conference 2008 at the Pearl Continental Hotel in Karachi. The event mainly focused on the convergence of Telecom and Banking and had Minister of IT Sindh, Raza Haroon, as the Chief Guest of the ceremony. If you want photographs, please click here - You can also read up our initial morning assessment of the event, here. [Read more]
Photographs of the Dawn Financial Technology event
June 17, 2008
Here were a few of the photographs we snapped at the event - Please note that these were only some from the first two sessions - More of the other sessions to come later. Thanks!
The Dawn Financial IT Conference
June 17, 2008
I think the story ended for the conference as soon as Jehan Ara, President of PASHA got up as the 4th speaker (about an hour after her scheduled time) and asked, “So how many bankers are there in the audience” and 6 people raised their hands. Another few responded to the question, “And how many technology companies?”. You saw a lot of people get up and leave soon after she asked, “So what are the rest of you doing here then? Isn’t this a conference for the Financial Institutions who have something to do with IT?” A few members chuckled - a lot many were shocked at the lack of an audience.
Was the eagerly-awaited Conference worth the effort? Even a sponsored event has to have some justification - it’s people’s time after all. Between Salman Ansari making his points in his keynote address (which began after the Chief Guest had finally arrived) about the government’s love affair with the want to regulate everything, Zahid Jamil went through his presentation about how the legislative authorities slow down the speed of business, and Shahida Saleem about how the unbanked must be banked, it was obvious where the conference was going - strong content falling on deaf (or irrelevant) ears. But enough about the organization because there was none - let’s critique the substance that the speakers were addressing -
80% of Pakistan is not using banking facilities. An astounding figure! Yet, when you listen to speakers who keep harping on about how regulations and legislations are created to hinder the speed of the growth rather than facilitate it, you can’t help but wonder what kind of people actually sit on the committees that create these policies.
Does the donkey-cart walla deserve service? Of course. Can he get it? Fat chance. If he needs to go through all the procedures to apply for some kind of virtual payment system as getting an FBI background check, the growth will just not happen. What I can’t wrap my head around is the State Bank regulation (at least I THINK it was the State Bank requirement) that biometric ungoothaa-chaap (thumb impression), photo ID and lord knows what else needs to be submitted in order to initiate the account - Ummm… wasn’t that all the money the Government spent on the NADRA ID cards? It apparently took our little thumb print AND photograph - why the data can’t be replicated if someone is already in the system, kind of defeats the purpose.
But that’s alright - really! There weren’t any relevant people sitting in the audience to really pay any heed to the nuisance that the policy makers are trying to create, so that’s okay. Not only will the system be complicated and impractical, it won’t have a chance because nobody knew about it to begin with.
Since the past few conferences, since all of us have realized that there is such a large population of completely untapped population that we never knew existed, every presentation now talks about the need to address the ghada garee walla and the housewife. The chota tapka that actually needs all the services that our services sector wants to provide, but is unable to.
So it’s great to hear the need for the contact center by ZRG (who spoke about being courteous to the customer by hitting them based on how much information you have about them!) and the other companies who basically ran the sales presentation causing the audience to pass into a complete trance whiling the time away with the the 2-hour delayed lunch ‘right around the corner’, the question I want to ask myself is “Did this have any impact on my life.” and the answer has to be “yes”.
People attend this because it was organized by Dawn. Was I impressed with the speakers? No. Was I impressed with the content? Hardly. Was I impressed with the expo? *giggles and keels over, only to fall asleep with the excitement. Is it the fault of the organizer? In all honesty and fairness, no.
Look at our audience. Were they not invited? Did they just feel if the “right kinda people” show up, that it will be a waste of time? If so, then obviously the right kinda people need to be making the effort to show up, otherwise ban these events. I have had more than one person say that this is the last conference they will ever attend here.
Is this the kind of growth we want to project? Is it conferencing for the sake of conferencing? Networking for the sake of networking? I refuse to believe that our industry is small enough so that it can fit in a room, but I don’t think the industry is making the effort to even show up.
[For those of you expecting event coverage, please check back later - I need to dig up some of the older event reports and update some of the figures, but other than that, I didn't hear anything new.]
No website for DAWN Banking & Financial Technology Conference & Expo?
June 16, 2008
I’ve been running a search, trying to locate the Dawn event that is scheduled to take place in Karachi on the 17th of June, but haven’t been able to locate a web presence for the event. I DID locate a blog or two about it, (though not on the Dawn’s website itself), but that’s about it. Strange that the largest English print media wouldn’t think to use the world’s largest online, virtual media to promote itself… for free!
While I’m sure the event will be great since it is Dawn, however, I actually got a a number of calls and emails from people asking me whether I knew their website; or their updated agenda. Not that I work at Dawn, but I offered to coordinate the necessary information making the required calls, but in a day and age, when we boast about the world being at our fingertips, when things like these happen, you really can’t help but wonder, “Am I doing something wrong or did they really forget!?”
So I venture onto the dawn.com website - and nothing. Not a banner, not a continuously-looping clip, not an article. Granted that there is a small percentage of people who define their existence and plan their days based on the information they get from the virtual media, but still! It’s an IT Conference with technology-savvy people planning to either attend or participate. Go figure! Oh - if you want to get the one-liner update, please visit the page on the Pasha blog
Dawn Takes ‘Citizen Journalism’ Seriously!
June 11, 2008
Finally!! Someone in the mainstream media takes the Web2.0’s most popular concept of Citizen Journalism, seriously! Dawn has to be the first mainstream print media to actually acknowledge the fact that it has 160million potential collaborators around Pakistan, and is reaching out to them.
Considering all the television channels, radio stations and print houses that are opening up, do you really think everyone can keep up with the monotony of running similar content on their screens or front pages? And there are only so many people that can be hired on their teams to write, record or film only so much that is going on within their “known surroundings”. [Read more]
Dawn’s Banking & Financial Technology Conference & Expo
May 26, 2008
When? June 17 – 18, 2008
Where? Pearl Continental Hotel,
The Dawn Media Group, wielding enormous influence among business leaders, policy makers, think-tanks as well as within the English reading public at large is hosting a 2 day exhibition& conference under the successful umbrella titled DAWN Asia Finance Conferences Series IV-”Banking and Financial Technology Expo” on 17th & 18th June 2008 at Pearl Continental , Karachi. [Read more]
It’s Video and It’s Online!
March 7, 2008
Today is the age of self-promotion. There is nobody that knows you, your product or your market better than you. So what stops you from just picking up a camera and driving the point home? If it was any other time and place, I’d say “everything hinders online publishing.” Today, I say “there is no excuse for not having your face and voice splashed everywhere online.” It is all possible.
Television. Radio. Print. Outdoor. These have been the usual, conventional media avenues that you have at your disposal. And these are also, as a friend of mine would argue, the most effective. But their effectiveness has been measured simply because they have been the only avenues around and have developed audience trends around their offerings.
But we’ve already entered into the age of Web2.0. The age of buzzwords such as ‘interactivity’, ‘push marketing’ and of course, ‘convergence’. Today is that day for collaboration, and collaboration not just from the citizen or even the service provider – but collaboration of content and planning and marketing budgets in addition to all the other levels and challenges that a media campaign has attached to it. [Read more]
Super Technologies and DIDX Power Pakistani Election News Via Cell Phone
March 3, 2008
Super Technologies, Inc., the creator and provider of DIDX.net, virtualphoneline.com and other telecom services has launched a new service, called InfoNumber for streaming news Via the phone for radio and television service providers. The service empowers users to call a local phone number and hear live news or headline news, a 5 minute summary of the top news of the hour. [Read more]
Adding the e into Elections:Umair Naeem
February 24, 2008
Finally, the much awaited Elections have come and gone. Fortunately for Pakistan, they went by without any major incident, although the political aftermath is something that we shall continue to face for a while. But leaving aside the political repercussions, elections are always an event that is driven by numbers; both pre and post polls. [Read more]