Foreword

A foreword is a (usually short) piece of writing sometimes placed at the beginning of a book or other piece of literature.

Typically written by someone other than the primary author of the work, it often tells of some interaction between the writer of the foreword and the book’s primary author or the story the book tells.

Unlike a preface, a foreword is always signed.

The main difference between Preface and Prologue is that the Preface is a introduction to a book or other literary work by the author and Prologue is an opening to a story that establishes the setting and gives background details. …

Prologue

Typically found in works of fiction, a prologue is usually written from a character’s point of view (either the main character or a character who brings a different perspective to the story). This introductory passage gives the reader additional information that will help their comprehension of the rest of the book.

The length of a prologue depends on the nature of the story, but it’s best to keep it trim. One to five pages should suffice. “I don’t mind prologues if they fit the story, and I do like them fairly short,” says agent Andrea Hurst, president of Andrea Hurst & Associates.

The prologue should always be an integral part of the novel, written in the same spirit and style. Otherwise, it’s a personal preface rather than an opening chapter. The prologue should read like a short story in every aspect, except for its ending.

Your prologue could be set in the past to reveal an important event. It could jump into the future and the rest of the story becomes a sort of flashback up to that point.

Preface

The entire preface can be as short as four paragraphs, and should not be longer than three type- written pages. Finally, the preface must end with the name of each editor, his or her affliation, and complete contact information (address, phone, fax, and e-mail address).

A preface is written by the author and tells readers how and why the book came into being. An introduction introduces readers to the main topics of the manuscript and prepares readers for what they can expect.

Well, while preface is an introduction to the book written by the author of the book himself, an abstract is concise information about what the reader can expect inside the book and is more popular in the world of scientific research as it helps readers know beforehand if the work indeed contains what they are looking …

Synopsis –

Digital Democracy … A Way Ahead

Mike Rana’s book

Digital Democracy book is a set of enabling solutions that recommend what needs to be done for a genuine democracy.

In the past, democratically elected leaders extended their reach to become dictators, totalitarians or tyrants. There is not much of a difference though, just a degree of ruthlessness. People like Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, Idi Amin, Saddam Hussein, Col Gaddafi fit snugly in this niche. Their modus operandi of manoeuvring targets is explained in the book.

Today’s world works with a bit more finesse. It deploys computers and makes ready the social media to overlap and overwhelm the long-standing paper media. What is required for using social media to conduct and win political elections is a question whose significance is vital in this context? How much electioneering can be conducted online? Can we implement online voting as well?

The covid pandemic gave us a rousing opportunity to revamp our education system at all levels.  The higher the level the more amenable it was for adapting to the new paradigm. It enabled the concept of working and learning from home and recorded unbelievable returns on investments. A few large companies who subscribed to this concept discarded the non-productive activities in their offices with amazing results. And what these activities were?

During the last year and a half, our health services and systems were proved to be, if you like, putrid. The pandemic made us realize the shortcomings and imponderables. How digital enablers would be used for ameliorating the health services and all the paraphernalia that goes with it, is quite enlightening.

Based on the above can we define an index (Mike Rana’s democracy index DDX) that will determine the attitudes of our politicians, ultimately leading to a utopian democracy that we’ve always dreamed of.