Loss of human touch...

Submitted by Lisha on

Sankalp as an organization has been growing at a steady rate. We now have dedicated set of volunteers who are probably the best people to do the work they do, with less number of people to replace them and do the same quality of work. So, as of now, all of us are working in our respective wings, in turn actually working towards a common goal, eliminating blood shortage problem.

In the process of achieving our promise, we are about to finish 6th year of improved efforts and small stepping stones of success. And, by about to complete 6th year, I mean, the anniversary is pretty near and all of us are equally excited about the anniversary event.

As is common before any organization level event, planning starts and the execution phase follows and finally the D-day is complete (with probably chances for improvement, as observed by some of the volunteers who always look for the growth of the organization). One of the Sundays, right at the beginning of the month of May, the topic of anniversary was brought up. The enthusiasm of the volunteers flowed and, we already had ideas pouring in.

What particularly caught my attention was an observation by one of the volunteers. He told why not use generic and digital posters for the anniversary this time, rather than the hand-made posters as usual. He rightly defended his statement with the observation that it usually eats up the volunteers’ time. It is usually so with any creative stuff we try to do. I really didn’t know what to say to defend my point that hand-made posters are to be there. But after about a day or two, I could get clarity over what I had in my mind.

Like mentioned before, all of us do different kinds of work to reach a common goal. And there are few days in a year where all of us, regardless of what we do, come together and spend time together to do something which is actually binding us together. It is something like a family get-together for me and we still manage to get the necessary work done.

Maybe it is strange to hear this from a person doing a technical course to enter a technical field, but the world seems to be heading towards an era where humans have to talk to machines only, and the machines may become our only companions. We are tending to automate all the processes which involved humans before. We are trying to build process-oriented works than person-dependent works. Building processes is not why I fear the development; it is another thing which comes in the same package. Process-dependent works are good so long as it doesn’t end up being person-independent.

My personal feeling is it is never the same to read an e-book and a book by turning the pages over, it is never the same to type this blog and share this verbally with a friend. My personal request to all of you is to restrict technology to reduce our work, not replace the feeling in and around us.

Comments

Submitted by souravroy on Sat, 09-May-2009 - 00:02

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I agree that.. Anniversary is one event when we volunteers get together and work like a family. When we laugh together, tease each other & still get the work done. I also agree to the fact that.. Man is becoming mechanical. The value of smelling a flower is much more than admiring a picture of it on your comp. But there is a tendency in humans to loose the control over work, become interdependent when they do a work together. This happens when we get together as a group and try to do all the things. A group can be of two types. In the first, people get together and plan, debug, fix and clarify. Then they set out to work independently. The other type of group is one in which the group itself tries to do the task all as one. We tend to conduct events the second way. My point here is, Anniversary is a group event. It is one day when we claim to the outside world what we do. We enjoy this day. But making it beautiful is equally important. And this is possible only when we take it as another blood request, another newsletter, another camp & not like a time to party. Moreover, when there are many things to be done, establishment of control at specific points and use of technology becomes important. That's one of the reason why the tech team exists. Make the posters, but ensure there is a small group of people responsible for it. Which plans for it, discusses with everyone, taps creativity, and works on it. Same with every thing done in anniversary. May it be the skit. May it be the songs. This ensures quality & brings down inter dependencies. Use of technology where required also ensures that the person has time for himself. His creativity. He can spend that time with his family and friends. Or utilize it in studies. I don't disagree to your point. But understand that freedom & discipline are complementary. The purpose of discipline is to protect freedom. Soldiers are disciplined. They protect the freedom of the nation. Fences around a house ensure that the kids play within and don't enter the busy roads. I hope you got my point.