February 2006

February 2006

Power of Your Ideas - how you can use the Internet.

In the day of the Internet, we have seen communication spread like a spider's web.    In the Advertising Studies, one finds a deeper inquiry into human communication.    Humans communicate with one another by the spoken word and sign expressions.    At close range the voice is low and needs to be raised as the distance increases.    People living in large houses tend to speak louder.    Gossip is the mother of the News Media.    The street sellers, are the parents of Advertising Industry.    Street sellers have had slogans which have become folklore: Two a Penny Hot Cross Buns reminds me of one.    Paper boys in the streets of New York used to peddle their papers with similar slogans.    Our own vendors, go along our streets with the high pitched slogans.   The point I am driving at, is that we can not communicate with our mouths shut.    Ideas come from spoken words.   They can foster love or hate, prudence or imprudence, frugality or lavishness.    The one who speaks gains (may not be financially, but surely with fulfillment) and one who listens without using his own judgment, loses.

We are all aware of the preaching of Jesus Christ.    He went about doing good, as he was teaching.  It was not one sided.     Today, we find TV preachers, peddle their ideas with the lure of miracles.   Jesus on the other hand wrought miracles which helped people and were his instruments to testify to His teaching.    From the human perspective, Jesus had too little time (only three years) to accomplish his goals.    He was unwise to use fishermen as his helpers in continuing his mission.    He catered to impoverished people, who were His followers.    How can you then explain, that His ideas took such deep root, and prevail even today after 2000 years!    For those who think on the human plane, it is a mystery, but those having a faith in the invisible know that it is the way God operates.

In the life time of Jesus he had his calumniators, and those who opposed Him and plotted His death.    This endeavor still persists to this day.    It was a clash of ideas, and loss of territory in the field of the mind.    When you have another's mind in captivity, you can mold it and exploit it for your own gain.    That is what commercial advertising about and the ultimate aim of the News Media.    This can work both ways.    Many feel at home, when they get the feeling that they are in the flock with birds of their own feathers.    Very few will use their own judgment, but allow themselves to be led by their noses.    They can end up as losers.    When you compare this with the preaching of Christ, or any of the great teacher of religions, you will note that they were not loud mouthed.  They often suffered for their ideas, but went about doing good.    The poor folks who listened, were truly the inheritors of the land, when the rich and mighty of the times lost because of their foolishness and imprudent adventures    It was these poor folks who kept the teaching in their traditions and handed it them down to the succeeding generations.

Today, we are bombarded with a barrage if information.   Our mail boxes get filled with Spam and useless mail.    We come to know of some humor and ideas through the mail forwarded by friends..    We come to know of websites, through Search Engines, like Google and Yahoo.    Links on websites spread the knowledge of other websites.    There are free websites, giving information or there are appendages of the News Media, which spread their 'news' on line.    Paper being a commodity has a price, and so News media has to charge a fee.   Compared to the written word, the electronic word is dirt cheap.    You have free servers, where you can host your own website and link it up with those of your friends,    Yahoo, Google, MSN and others offer forums or Groups, where you can exchange ideas and information.    www.geocities.com  is a Yahoo subsidiary, which hosts personal sites for free.    www.doteasy.com  is another Server     In the latter arrangement, you can upload all types of web pages, and files.       So, you too can spread your wings and speak out your mind and tell others what you need them to know.    This can have a positive effect on our times, when negative ideas seem to get greater space than good ideas.

Every website starts with an index page.    All web pages are files with .htm or .html extension.    So, when you click on your favorite website, the first page you see is called index.html     -    from here you move to the other web pages, via hyperlinks.    The HTML language is a text based one which can use your humble Notepad program.   It is chosen by the Internet, because it takes the least amount of time to be uploaded to the Satellite.   To learn the HTML language you can take a free course on the internet at http://webdesign.about.com/    learn how to write simple pages or use Microsoft FrontPage program to design them.    You can use the server's FTP program    or use a free program which can be downloaded from the internet.    The less you spend, you can give more free service to your friends.   Your time is the only thing that you should have to spare.   But it you love to 'talk' then you will find time for 'gossip' !

When you put an inquiry on the Search Engine, the program scans the various web pages that are on the web.  The page it seeks most is the index.html    On the top HTML code, there is a Title, Key Words and Description.   This appears on the results of your Search Engine.   Further, depending on the number of hits a site gets, the result gets a higher priority.   So, you have to start by telling your friends, join groups and spread the message.    You have to identify a niche market    -  people who need the information you want to provide.  With geocities, make that your Yahoo ID.   For paid sites a suitable name should then be chosen which a person is likely to put in the Search Engine.    Server Sites, have a facility called, Search for a Domain Name, and you put your name there, and invariably you will find it has already been registered.   So continue till a suitable name is been created.    Then according to your budget, find a suitable Server to host your website.  Then register it for a fee, with the server.    For your information, I  have hosted this site on my own, with a little help from friends.   HTML language can be learnt on-line, which will help you to write your codes.

One last thing to know is how to track the visitors who come to your site, and find out what they are searching for, and this should give you ideas, how to improve the scope of your website, and serve others better.   I use this Website to do my tracking and give reports.   http://www.addfreestats.com/index.html

My tryst with the web sites started some years ago when my wife was searching for crochet patterns.  I discovered that simple American housewives  were hosting websites and offering free the life's work to others and for free.    Instantly I started to admire these ladies and wanted to emulate them.    From their websites I came to know of the geocities website, which has been taken over by Yahoo.    We always learn from one another, and in the strange world of the cyberspace, strangers become friends, our lonely homes become Satellite Transmitters !    You will be surprised to know that not every website is generated in a corporate business work place.     I am operating from my living room, in a north Bombay township, living in an apartment building, with an internet connection and a computer.    This can be duplicated by many.   I wonder, why our Churches and Parishes have not woken up to this possibility.   I think it is an expensive venture requiring extra-ordinary education !    The parishioners can volunteer, if the parish priests can open their vistas.    In the meantime, everyone is called upon to chip in his or her mite, in this information revolution and spread good news and cheer all around.   Help our children grow in a world with positive ideas.

If you need any advice please write to mailto:walterpais@roltanet.com