Moderator Vacancy Investigation: soc.culture.indian.telugu
Steve Bonine
moderated group soc.culture.indian.telugu
This is a formal Moderator Vacancy Investigation (MVI), begun because
moderated newsgroup soc.culture.indian.telugu is not functioning, and
may have been abandoned by its moderator(s).
This investigation will attempt to verify the reasons for non-function,
and may result in the removal of the group or the selection and
installation of a new moderator. In practice, the Big-8 Management
Board considers the third alternative -- changing the status of the
group from moderated to unmoderated -- as likely to cause more harm than
good.
NEWSGROUPS LINE:
soc.culture.indian.telugu The culture of the Telugu people of India.
(Moderated)
RATIONALE:
Probe posts to this group resulted in bounces. The last on-topic
article is from 2005.
DISTRIBUTION:
news.announce.newgroups
news.groups.proposals
soc.culture.indian.telugu
soc.culture.indian
CHARTER
Telugu is the twelfth most widely spoken language in the world
[1], the second most widely spoken language in India. It is a Dravidian
language spoken by about 69 million people. Earliest written records in
Telugu date back to the third century A.D., while polished written
literature dates back to about 1000 A.D. Andhra is the Sanskrit name
for Telugu, and most of its speakers are in Andhra Pradesh, a state in
the southern part of India. Telugu is one of the four major languages of
the Dravidian family, with its own script common to all of its several
dialects. Telugu culture dates back to the begining of Christian Era and
it has evolved with the inputs from both Sanskritic and Dravidic culture
groups.
The proposed newsgroup is expected to be a forum for
discussions on topics that are specific to Telugu culture, with no
apparent relevance to persons not interested in Telugu culture and
language. Postings relating to Telugu or Andhra Pradesh but are of
relevance to others are expected to be crossposted to appropriate
newsgroups (eg soc.culture.indian, rec.music.indian.classical).
Likewise, if a topic is not Telugu-specific, it is expected that it will
be posted elsewhere in an appropriate forum. Many postings on the
proposed newsgroup are likely to be in transliterated Telugu, with an
English translation not necessarily accompanying them.
The following is a partial list of such possible topics.
Arts:
-----
Performing Arts: Kuchipudi dance, its style and framework compared to
Bharatanatyam and other dance forms from other parts of the country,
dance dramas, evolution of Telugu theater, Telugu lyrics in Karnatic
classical music, devotional philosophies of its exponents.
Other Arts: Ballads, `harikatha', `burrakatha', their current
popularity.
Communication Media:
-------------------
Electronic Media: Quality of Telugu TV programs, State autonomy
versus privatization of the TV, relevance of various programs on the
TV, its role in social life, in politics, in government, in adult
education, its influence on common man, its role as a news media. Same
for Radio, with discussion on regional radio stations.
Print Media: News analysis, commentary, editorials, investigative
and yellow journalism in Telugu newspapers, their quality in
comparison with national newspapers in English.
Literary quality and popular literature in periodicals, soft
pornography in weekly magazines, science fiction, educational
magazines, children's magazines, comics.
Visual Media: Films: Various genres, modern trends, comparison with
other Indian or foreign language films, technical quality, dialects in
films, literary quality of songs, obscenity in sight and sound, social
issues in films, film personalities such as directors, actors.
Painting, sculpture, handicrafts, puppet shows and street plays.
Developmental Projects:
----------------------
Literacy improvement, adult education, primary health care,
eradication of social evils like `Jogin' system and bonded labor, NRI
interest in such projects, profiles of social service organizations,
social workers, governmental long-term projects.
History:
-------
Various theories on the history of the Telugu language and people,
life of a common man in various dynasties, current status of native
tribes, British influence on the region, migration patterns.
Literature:
----------
Discussions on classical as well as modern literature may include
major literary movements, various literary forms and their
relationship to the content, diachronic evolution of the relationship
between form and content, influence of world literature and
philosophers, folk literature, children's literature, literature in
various dialects, translations from other languages, poets,
playwrights, novelists, story tellers and such.
Scientific Literature:
---------------------
Teaching science in Telugu, scientific vocabulary in Telugu, reviews
of science books in Telugu, taking science to rural children.
Software:
--------
Good features of a transliteration scheme, various schemes,
typesetting in LaTeX, what-you-see-is-what-you-get software based on
transliteration, special spell-checking problems in Telugu, optical
character recognition, merits of existing packages, ftp sites for
transliterated texts.
Teaching Telugu:
---------------
Challenges in teaching Telugu to the second generation (born and
settled outside of Andhra Pradesh) - especially that outside of India,
designing textbooks, dictionaries and other learning tools for them.
The above is only a small sample of possible topics. It is hoped that
the proposed newsgroup will generate discussion on many more such topics.
HISTORY OF THE GROUP:
The group passed its vote on 13 June 1992 by 276:64. The group was
active between August 1992 and August 2001.
PROPONENT: Steve Bonine <s...@pobox.com>
PROCEDURE:
Those who wish to comment on this moderator vacancy investigation should
subscribe to news.groups.proposals and participate in the relevant
threads in that newsgroup. To this end, the followup header of this MVI
has been set to news.groups.proposals.
For more information on the MVI process, please see
http://www.big-8.org/wiki/Moderator_Vacancy_Investigations
CHANGE HISTORY:
12 June 2011: Moderator Vacancy Investigation