Review : AmarChitraKatha.com
As we had reported yesterday, ACK Media has launched AmarChitraKatha.com today. (related Article : (Related Article : Amar Chitra Katha : Round 2)
WATBlog takes a look at the eagerly awaited website and gives you an exclusive and first ever complete review of the website.
So, here is what we saw.
The homepage is good. On top-right, username/password box is provided. Usernames will be used to provide communities-related services. He website also has some user generated content in the form of stories submission.
The homepage had the “Story of the Week”. I would have rather loved to see “Story of The Day”, though. Something short, though. I quickly clicked the “Story of The Week”, to be presented with a full page comic strip. I loved the animation of “turning-the-page”. It’s exactly as you would turn the pages of a real-life book. Some good UI at work here.
Bottom-left, there’s an “Upcoming Events” section. Three events that were visible within that section were – “Music And Creativity”, “Sri Ramakrishna Prasanga” and “Point Your Canvas – A Workshop” with a “View All” link at the bottom. On clicking on “View All”, you are taken to a page called “Cultural Beat”, which, it’s acknowledged, is powered by AskLaila. You can even find other events there. Infact, the category list of the events was quite large. Though, not all of them were populated yet. This feature imitated the functionality of websites like Kyakare.com. It also shows the “Most Viewed Events” and “Highest Rated Events”.
An interesting feature on the site was a section called “ACK Pedia”. According to the website -
“ACK Pedia will be the definitive source of information on Indian culture in the broadest sense. The articles in the ACK Pedia will be targeted at anyone interested in experiencing, engaging with and expressing about Indian culture. Our goal is to make ACK Pedia the authoritative source on the people, places and culture of the India region.”
Sounds interesting. With crores of (Yes!) Gods, this is not going to be some small feat. I liked the idea of one credible source for a particular subject. The content will be generated by the users, but “the curatorial and editing process will be expert managed“. Creative Commons license will be used for this content, except in some cases.
“Create With Us” sections asks for user participation in arts and stories. However, I didn’t like this guideline for the stories – “The story should be from Indian mythology or folklore, or about a famous personality. It cannot be about a living person“. Looks like they are still intending to sell the same form of content, to an entirely new generation. There were user-submitted stories which can be read after logging in.
“ACK Recommends” is a section that promises to have reviews of movies, music, books, TV Programs, toys, gadgets etc. I’m not sure why things like gadgets were included in this list.
The section “Shop” allows you to buy previous comics from Amar Chitra Katha.
Conclusion
The guys at Amar Chitra Katha are aware of the changing landscape. They know they have to evolve. And hence to present the content in the present form. I am impressed with the idea. However, there are a few glitches that should be taken care of. The format of stories, for example, needs a heavy revamp. You don’t need to show Lord Ram, the way you were showing Him in 1960. Virgin comics has shown us how Ramayana can be sexy. We need more of such stuff. Where Virgin failed, ACK can succeed. But it should seriously consider a complete revamp of the content that it has. Right now, the website offers what has been produced so far. There is no fresh content. Though, they have tried to build a community around the website, I do not see one forming if they do not experiment with the content. Initiatives like “ACK Pedia” were very good, though.
However, they need to be more focused. What’s the need to have reviews of “toys” and “gadgets” on a website that’s primarily about digital distribution of comics?
Still, AmarChitaKatha.com is a good attempt. I hope they work on it to take it to the next level.
Would like to read our readers’ opinion on this.
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I loved the look, features of this site. Just wish they had a Hindi page as well. There are millions of fans of Hindi Amar Chitra Katha. ( I don’t like calling them “ACK):)