Sanskriti’s Interview: An Insight on Insight

The following article is an interview with Sanskriti, the chief editor at Insight, in the 2023-24 tenure, by the freshie feature panel in February 2023. They also conducted a fun survey among the editorial board members of the 2022-23 tenure, whose results are presented alongside the interview.

An Insight on Insight

A third-year student, Sanskriti Agarwal, from the environmental science and engineering department, sat down to discuss the proceedings at Insight, the official student media body of IIT Bombay. She was an Editor during the tenure 2022-23 and is now the Chief Editor for the tenure 2023-24. While describing her journey from the Debating Society to an aspiring Chief Editor, let’s dive into what she had to say about her writing, junior editors, and the issues on campus. 

The results presented below are from a survey conducted for the members of the editorial board of Insight 2022-23. 

Q. What does insight cover?

Everything that happens inside the realm of the IITB ecosystem comes under things that Insight can cover. What we do officially cover is, however, dependent on multiple factors. A lot goes on regarding research, conversations, or drafts that don’t make it through to our official channels. 

For national and international issues, we try to understand their relevance within the IITB context to see if we can provide viewpoints different from what the external media covers.

Q. How does it feel to have junior editors?

The UG sophomore-level position of junior editors was added in the 2022-23 tenure thanks to Achintya and Muskaan, and it was an entirely new concept for us. We were slightly anxious, but it was one of our best times. The junior editors, being passionate, worked the hardest and brought so many creative ideas to the table. It allowed us a great deal of flexibility as well.

Q. Why did a PoR at Insight appeal to you in your third year?

Not knowing what I was a part of, I had contributed to a piece in Insight during my freshie year called “The Life of an Online TA”. Fast forward to the “PoR season,” as people call it nowadays; I was also one of the herd of sophies looking for something that would add to both my skills and resume in my third year 😉

I had heard a lot about Insight from debate club seniors. While going through the groundworks, talking about issues that only some take up in the institute seemed very appealing. Going down the rabbit hole of what Insight has covered in the last 25 years has become one of my favourite pastimes because you uncover so many unexpected facts and trivia about the institute and how the times were different, yet somehow the same all this while. To know that you are a part of chronicling the same for years to come is surreal to think about.

The impact of what Insight does appeals to me, and even if we can make a slight difference to better the lives of IITB people during our tenure, that satisfies a lot. 

Q. How do you cope with negative feedback on an article?

Negative feedback, more often than not, comes from the point of view of bettering the article. Regarding feedback from the Editorial Board, every piece undergoes thorough scrutiny by the Editors and the Chief Editors before publishing. However, if we miss something, we are always open to discussions and up for improving our report. We understand that we have to express certain opinions that do not appease the entire audience, but we try our best to ensure that we always have logical responses to any questions they might raise. A negative response, in the form of just hate, is not helping us or the sender 🙂

Q. You’ve written plenty of articles for insight now. What’s one of the most memorable or best pieces you’ve worked on?

I worked on a piece on Institute Reboot for the Post-Pandemic Special Newsletter. Being one of the batches impacted deeply by COVID-19 (we lost our freshman year to online semesters) and the fresh memory of our urge to start our campus life drove our enthusiasm for the piece. We got to interview a lot of people from the institute reboot committee and important student representatives and look through multiple plans and timelines that were planned to ensure a safe start to post-covid life on campus. As I said before, I’m sure that batches in the future would find it fascinating to read about how IIT-B dealt with the pandemic, and our article would be one of them 🙂 

Q. What is a quirky habit you have while writing?

I try to be funny with my writing to make the article interesting to read. This does not work in my favour at times since it may not be suitable to take a leisurely tone. There needs to be flow and understanding of how an article should be written because specific topics may be sensitive and require a solemn undertone.

Q. Why do many freshies need to learn about Insight and are not much involved in it? 

It’s always possible to be aware of all things happening on campus, irrespective of whether it’s good, bad or, well, elections? Jk. 

Anyway, we have multiple programs to introduce freshies to insight: the Freshie Newsletter, our orientation, and the Freshie Feature. We also welcome anyone who wants to contribute as a panelist to our other works, barring some few which need experience and confidentiality.

Q. What changes do you plan to implement during your upcoming tenure as one of the chief editors at Insight?  

Our priority will be getting the articles out of the pipeline. We also want to get the Insight Website up and running to improve efficiency and reduce latency as an online media body. We are planning on making video articles to engage our readers better. We will continue with projects like the ‘Leisure Magazine,’ which has pieces with satirical, funny takes on the happenings around the campus. I wish to run the body smoothly and help Insight grow to greater heights.

This article was written as part of Insight’s Freshie Feature 2023 program.