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Publishing
the 100th issue of any magazine necessitates some amount of
introspection and stock-taking. When we began working on this
issue, we wondered how best we could communicate to our readers
how we feel at having reached this juncture.
We,
the Humanscape team, comprise over 400 people. This team is
built with members being added over the years. However, unlike any
other “team” most of the members here have never met, let
alone interacted with each other. This, in fact, is not because of
the physical magnitude of the enterprise. On the contrary, Humanscape
is brought out every month by a “core team” of three people,
with minimal infrastructure and material resources. The rest of
the members are those who associate with us from time to time.
They do so because their association with the magazine fulfils a
need – of Humanscape and of the contributor alike. They
are journalists, writers, professional illustrators, designers,
social development practitioners and some are pure supporters, all
strung by the common thread of faith in Humanscape and its
potential. The publication of Humanscape has been guided by
the need to give creativity its due and to exercise it for the end
objective that we stand for –
positively affect a current of opinion aimed at bringing
about desirable changes in the individual and society.
It
is all very well for us to say that being with Humanscape
is a fulfilling experience for those who associate with it. But
who is to ratify our claim? It is towards this that we have sought
the testimony of an assortment of people who have been with us for
varying periods of time – contributors, readers, editors and
others. We have asked them to give us a testimony of how they
would describe their association with Humanscape and their
opinion of its effectiveness. We heard from a lot of people, and
have accommodated as many responses as possible in this issue.
What we received was both, heartening as well as thought
provoking. The latter, because we have been prodded to work on,
grow and assess our trajectory to see where we will find ourselves
in the future.
This
is perhaps the first formal attempt at carrying out a “field
survey” to review the performance of Humanscape. In the
course of our work, over the past eight years, we have received
feedback continually from those who use the magazine - use
because Humanscape is a publication with a purpose. We have
modified our editorial content from time to time in response to
such feedback. The most recent has been a shift in focus 10 months
ago. The shift was necessitated by the need to be relevant to a
set of people with whom we had interacted over time – social
development workers and those who would like to join them. Since
May 2001, Humanscape has been bringing out issues which
take a ground-level look at areas of concern. We have profiled the
efforts of some people/associations which are working to address
these concerns. The aim is that issues of Humanscape serve
as reference for those who are involved in similar fields of work
(alternative education, for instance).
In
this issue, we have reproduced some of the best articles from our
past issues. There were many more which qualify to be part of the
“best of”, but these articles are selected not from the point
of view of quality alone, but also as a manifestation of what the
magazine stands for and its relevance in the present context –
rural realities and how to address problems therein, comment on
media, corporate social responsibility and others.
We
do hope you find this special issue of Humanscape
interesting, thought provoking, meaningful and most of all,
relevant.
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Editor
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