Fsf-friends June 2005

fsf-friends@gnu.org.in

33 participants
47 discussions

by Manjush G.Menon

Original Message ----- From: "IT@School" <itschool(a)asianetindia.com> To: <manjushmenon(a)hotmail.com> Sent: Saturday, October 05, 2002 5:08 PM Subject: Reply > Mr.Manjush G. Menon > We are not giving to depend totally on Ms. Products. Rather MS > Office is taught along with open office and Windows along with Linux > from this year. Arranging the resource persons for training an open > software, making available the software, the maintenance of a help desk > etc. are logistical issues which could not be immediately undertaken. > We plan switch out to open software within three years. > Executive Director > ---- Original Message ----- From: Manjush G. Menon To: itschool(a)asianetindia.com Sent: Friday, October 04, 2002 5:46 PM Subject: Respected sir, From Manjush G. Menon, Sr.Programmer, Sofker Solutions Pvt Ltd, Kochi-18. To The Executive Director, 'IT @ SCHOOL' Project, SCERT Buildings, Poojapura, Thiruvananthapuram-12. Respected sir, SUB: In protest against the inclusion of products from multinational companies in the syllabus of 'IT @ SCHOOL' It's a very dissappointing fact that when the whole world is moving towards Free software, we at kerala are going behind a major MNC - Microsoft. I hereby register my protest in such an act from 'IT @ SCHOOL' Project team. Breaking of prototypes will definetly help us in finding economical and high quality products for our future generation. For students and programmers, the GNU Linux contains 'GNU Compiler Collections' which includes C, C++, FORTRAN, PERL, TCL etc. Also, for DTP and other publishing purposes, it includes GNU Office utilities like Abi-Word, gedit, and other worksheet utilities, all these with a nominal cost of Rs 700-800/-. The software as it is, is free and the cost is accounted towards the media (CD + Documentation) included. By this letter, I urge you to take this matter seriously and suggest necessary modifications in the action plan of 'IT @ SCHOOL' project. Wishing you all the best and wishing all 'Students @ SCHOOL' a bright future, Thanking you, Yours faithfully Manjush G. Menon. ______________________________________________________ Check out all the latest outrageous email attachments on the Outrageous Email Chart! - http://viral.lycos.co.uk

18 years

[Fsf-friends] INDIA: Request to sign a petition favouring Free Software in the campus

by Frederick Noronha (FN)

Please sign this petition if you agree with it... it's an attempt to convince a prominent technological university in Bangalore (VTU) to be opened to the use of Free Software too. http://bangalore.gnu.org.in/?VTU-FLOSS_Campaign Krishna Pagadala, San Jose, USA. I have benefitted highly from the Free Software movement and the Freedoms it has provided. Specifically the Freedom to learn from the source code has helped me in getting a high-technology job in the US. I wish that all students enjoy the all the Software Freedoms. Pramode C.E, IC Software: I would like to add that there are efforts under way to develop innovative hardware experimentation platforms using GNU/Linux to improve the quality of Physics (as well as Engineering) education; and the best part is that it's being done in India. Please visit http://www.nsc.res.in/~elab/phoenix/ to know more about the `Phoenix Project' being developed by Ajith Kumar at the Nuclear Science Centre, India. The wealth of high quality tools and the open nature of the platform is of immense value to young engineers and scientists raring to unleash their creativity; the lessons in freedom and sharing that students learn by using GNU/Linux will also go a long way in shaping their character as caring and responsible human beings. ashidhar b desai ,6th sem E&C, B.V.Bhoomaraddi College of Engineering & Technology Hubli,Karnataka,India ,FLOSS is an excellent alternative for the existing commercial softwares..Academics(colleges and univ) is the best way to promote and support "Free Software".It will be a great initiative if the univ adopts it(it will become an example for other univ & institutes). News about open source and gnu/linux stuff---Indian Inside . Lets get Liberated.LONG LIVE OPEN SOURCE. Praveen Arimbrathodiyil (National Instititute of Technology, Calicut) Fri Mar 11 17:34:50 IST 2005 We use GNU/Linux in our main Computer center. It saves a lot of money of the college as there is no licence fee to be paid for each users. Since the source code of the softwares are available many computer science students do projects based on Linux kernel and other such projects. The possibility of use of thin-clients (which our computer center use) reduces the cost of hardware dramatically. It has proved to be beneficial to our college and I urge you to chose Free Software for giving a better alternative for students. Debapriyo Sarkar. Final year student of BCA, Goa. As a student, I plead to every university, to adopt, encourage and spread the use of Free/Libre Open Source Software (FLOSS). The benefits are clearly far-more significant than cost savings (which of course is a huge motivating factor). The quality of software reviewed and worked on by virtually the entire developer community of the world is definitely at least world-class if nothing else. It is possible to save on costs with $0 priced closed source software often termed as freeware, but the limited resources of the single developer or the couple of developers behind the software makes future of such software bleak. Compared to that, software released under an open source license, helps user as well as developer involvement to happen as deeply and transparent as no other licensing model can support. As the letter includes the following (stripped) statement "...Octave, which is simulation software written by University professors. This usually comes with the GNU/Linux Operating System." which clearly shows that professors of universities elsewhere have contributed to the solution of making quality software available to the students and colleges alike under a license that welcomes further contributions to improve the project virtually endlessly. As a personal experience, I often have used open source alternatives whenever acquiring the proprietary packages meant depending on the lab assistant to provide the CD for illegal copying or genuinely going out and shelling out all those huge wads of cash for functionality that was already at my disposal with added advantage of continuing development and a long-life (of the software). As universities use and recommend use of open source software,rate of development is bound to grow with more and more students using the same version of software both at college and home (no limited cheap "student" edition which are "cheap" imitations with myriad "limitations"). Also professors' contributions in the form of bug reports, bug fixes, new functionality patches and their work in increasing awareness about the benefits of using open source software would help improve quality of free software to an enormous extent. Vijay Kumar, Chennai, India. http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/schools.html .P.Sujeevan,Project leader, S2S2, Kerala .Here at kerala at school level more than 50 of schools are still using GNU/Linux.Also SSLC IT practical examination has successfully done under the linux operating system.Some schools are still using the Linux terminal server systems.Next year aggressive work is planning to implement complete linux environment in schools.http://s2s2net.netfirms.com _____ _/ ____\____ Frederick Noronha * Freelance Journalist * Goa \ __\/ \ India T +91.832.2409490 M +919822 122436 | | | | \ http://fn.swiki.net http://goabooks.swiki.net |__| |___| / http://www.bytesforall.net http://www.bytesforall.org \/ ----------------------------------------------------- Writing with a difference, on issues that really make the difference.

18 years, 2 months

Re: SLYNUX

by doxa＠sancharnet.in

>Yes, I'll second that. We all must remember that Sarath is > in his teens and in his enthusiasm ( or due to TV publicity) > must have overstepped some aspects. As another poster posted, > it can be softly pointed out and right way can be pointed out. > Then we may have a prodigy in our midst. I think we missed out completely on the age of Sharat. A similar episode once had surfaced on a mailing list on php-db where another 'child prodigy' (one Tonu) was advising programmers at NASA a few years back. When Tonu was bombarded with advises, he had to cry out that it was time for him to have an ice-cream with his friends, which prompted 'the list' to check out his age. I think we need to have a diplomacy while dealing with newbies and 'child prodigies'. Cheers Sarath. Go ahead and do things. If someone tells you that something had been a mistake, correct it and proceed. We desperately need people like you. CK Raju

18 years, 3 months

Confusion over computer programs

by Ramanraj K

The patent office has published a draft practice manual at http://patentoffice.nic.in/ipr/patent/manual.htm and called for suggestions: <quote> MANUAL OF PATENT PRACTICE & PROCEDURE - PATENT OFFICE, INDIA (2005) Last Date of Submission of Suggestions extended upto 20th August 2005 </quote> Though TRIPS clearly says "Computer programs, whether in source or object code, shall be protected as literary works under the Berne Convention", and the Patents Act also excludes computer programs from patentability, the Patent Office, on the strength of many US cases, has tried to classify computer programs and has attempted to make a few exceptions. Computer programs cannot be patented as part of any invention, as much as any mathematics involved in an invention cannot be patented. The draft manual has been published at the above site, and please send your feedback so that we may address the issues involved. A few quotes from the Draft Manual: <quote1> 3(K) a mathematical or business method or a computer program perse or algorithms. computer program product is claimed as "A computer program product in computer readable medium", "A computer-readable storage medium having a program recorded thereon", etc. In such cases the claims are treated as relating to software perse, irrespective of the medium of its storage and are not held patentable. Examples in respect of other categories of subject matter are Scheme or method of bookkeeping. Business method in the field of accounting. Method of tax collection. A contents display method for displaying contents on a screen, A method for controlling an information processing apparatus, for communicating via the Internet with an external apparatus, A method for transmitting data across an open communication channel on a wireless device that selectively opens and closes a communication channel to a wireless network, and each wireless device including a computer platform and including a plurality of device resources that selectively utilizes a communication channel to communicate with other devices across the network All the above methods though utilise computer programs for its operation, are not computer programs as such and hence allowable On the other hand, A method of executing a computer program, in which at least part of the copy of the program available for execution is analysed to determine whether or not any change has been made thereto, and in the event that a change is detected, a further copy of the program is retrieved and caused to be executed instead of the first copy, A method for generating a new computer program using a software development tool, These are the programs solely intellectual in its context and hence not allowable. The Guidelines for examination of Computer-related inventions are given in Annexure 2 <\quote1> The examples used to justify patentability for some of the kinds of computer programs, is very vague and was very difficult for me to follow. Could someone please explain what it means? <quote 2> 9.CONCLUSION The statute excludes from patentability the software per se. The inventions relating to the application of the computer program or software is held patentable under the Indian Patent Act, 1970 when claimed in combination of hardware and software components of a computer which provides a "technical advancement " over the prior art. It is necessary for the applicant to describe the "technical contribution" to the prior art when the invention involves software. The technical problem, which needs to be solved by the invention, should be sufficiently described as to how the hardware is controlled by the software to overcome the previously described problem. The "technical character" of the invention should be brought out clearly in the claims. </quote2> TRIPS is conveniently forgotten, and heavy reliance has been made upon US decisions that have no application to India. IMO, US should change its patent practice to fulfill its TRIPS obligations and any illegal practices in the US that are contrary to TRIPS cannot be cited as examples here in India. Besides, the manual gives the following example: <quote> EXAMPLE (1) If one has invented a new kind of spray bottle patents may be granted for - . The bottle itself (a product) · A chemical in the plastic (chemical composition) · The spraying mechanism (an apparatus) · How you extruded the plastic (a process) </quote> I suppose, if the contents of the spray bottle happened to be water, the patent office would not patent water along with the new invention. If we can see why water is not patentable along with the sprayer, then there should be no difficulty in seeing that novel computer related hardware inventions could be easily patented, excluding any computer programs it may use. The computer programs the invention uses would be "protected" by copyright law, but never fall within the scope of the patent. Please comment. Let us please take up the issue as soon as possible. Regards, Ramanraj.

18 years, 3 months

Re: [Fsf-friends] SLYNUX - Gaining Cheap Popularity

by NS Srikanth

> From: Krishna Pagadala <krishnaact(a)yahoo.com> > Subject: Re: [Fsf-friends] SLYNUX - Gaining Cheap Popularity > To: Principal Support List of FSF-India <fsf-friends(a)mm.gnu.org.in> > Message-ID: <20050628154027.93858.qmail(a)web52601.mail.yahoo.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 > > Most of the reporters are clueless about computers, > and come to interview Sarath just because it makes a > "good" news item. I dont think they have any interest > presenting the issue well. > > If anybody wants to understand the media, please > watch/read Manufacturing Consent. > http://chomskytorrents.org/TorrentDetails.php?TorrentID=32 > http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0375714499/qid=1119972544/sr=8 -1/ref=pd_bbs_1/002-2201387-8431267?v=glance&s=books&n=507846 > > As for trademark infringement, please cut Sarath some > slack. Do we want to live in permission culture or in > free culture? http://www.free-culture.cc/ Yes, I'll second that. We all must remember that Sarath is in his teens and in his enthusiasm ( or due to TV publicity) must have overstepped some aspects. As another poster posted, it can be softly pointed out and right way can be pointed out. Then we may have a prodigy in our midst. > > Regarding renaming xmms to linamp, again do we want to > take permission from the powers that be every time? Is > it a world worth striving for? living in? > > I think Sarath has all the rights to do what he has > done. > > And regarding the nonsense of piracy, please read > http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/words-to-avoid.html#Piracy > > -Krishna Really enlightening ! NS Srikanth

18 years, 3 months

SLYNUX - Gaining Cheap Popularity

by Dileep M. Kumar

Hello GNUHeads, I just saw a program (samakalikam) in Kairali TV. They were showing Sharat Lakshman and his newly developed OS "SLYNUX". I hope you all also read this mail.. Sharat. We had lot of discussions on this topic some months back. At last Sharat himself told us that he just remastered knoppix (http://mm.gnu.org.in/pipermail/fsf-friends/2005-January/002756.html). But right from the news in Hindu, he claims that he build an OS based on linux and it is user-friendly like Windows. This is making false impression in majority of public (who are non-IT people). In TV program he was telling that he renamed xmms to linamp and gaim to slynux messenger so that people who come from windows world understand easily. Does these products allow to change their name like this. Also names like My computer, My documents are trademark of Microsoft, IAC. He uses these terms to make SLYNUX mimic like windows. These are trademark infringement. His new site www.slynux.co.nr has proofs (screenshots) to support this. He now invite the community to join the slynux development. This can put others also in danger. What is your goal, sharat ? If you want to advocate the advantage of FS, this is not a good way, IMO. Hackers from different part of the world work hard to achieve this goal, join them. See distros like Mandrake, Fedora, Ubuntu ... Just renaming the efforts of those hackers and gaining cheap popularity is bad. May be you are too young to understand this. Atleast your parents (or the people who support you) should understand this. You are really insulting the hackers who build knoppix and other GNU tools bundled with it. If you are a real hacker, join with savannah or similar group of hackers. Regards -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------ -- Dileep M. Kumar || dileep AT kumarayil DOT net || www.kumarayil.net Our future depends on our philosophy - Richard M Stallman No Software Patents: http://www.nosoftwarepatents.com/en/m/intro/index.html ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ---

18 years, 3 months

Koha 2.2.3 (GPLed Integrated Library Mgmt System) LiveCD published

by indradg＠icbic.com

Hi all, L2C2 Technologies (www.l2c2.org) has published a LiveCD featuring the latest version (2.2.3) of Koha (http://www.koha.org) - The World's first Opensource Integrated Library System (ILS). It can be freely downloaded from Koha's Sourceforge site. The download URL is : http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=16466&package_id=58674 About the Koha LiveCD --------------------- The Koha Live CD is designed to provide the potential user with a "feel" of what Koha is like, without requiring the user to actually install anything in the computer's hard disk. To use the CD, one has to simply put it in one's CD-ROM drive, and reboot. A fully featured version of Linux loads off the CD-ROM and one can easily check out and play around with Koha via the Mozilla Firefox web browser provided in the Linux desktop environment that starts up. The CD comes with a sample dataset of about 1000 titles to enable the users to get a feel of the day-to-day operations. For example, one can create a new user and try out the circulation module which supports keyboard-wedge style barcode readers . The core components inside the Koha Live CD (version 1.0), all of which work together to provide the ultimate end user with the experience of Koha are: * Koha (version 2.2.3) * Apache HTTP Server (version 2.0.53) with mod_perl support * Perl (version 5.8.4) * MySQL (version 4.1.10a) * XFCE4 Desktop Environment (version 4.1.10a) * Mozilla Firefox Web Browser (version 1.0.2) * Kbarcode barcode generation software (version 1.8.0) * GLabels label designer (version 2.0.1) With best regards, Indranil Das Gupta, Chief Technology Architect L2C2 Technologies E-Mail: indradg(a)l2c2.org Phone : (0)-98300-20971 L2C2 Technologies --=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-- [Innovations that make a difference] --=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-- www.l2c2.org ---------------------------------------------------------------- This message was sent using IMP, the Internet Messaging Program.

18 years, 3 months

Careers in New Media Festival, 1-3 July 2005

by Shekhar Krishnan

Dear All: Apologies for cross-posting. Please forward to interested individuals and organisations. For more information and to register, contact Sonia Nazareth at +91.22.2382.1893 or +91.98199.39820 or write to sonia(a)cometmedia.org Best, S.K. _____ Comet Media Foundation presents CAREERS IN NEW MEDIA seminar and exhibition interactive presentations with the finest minds on the hottest topics in New Media DATES: FRIDAY 1st, SATURDAY 2nd and SUNDAY 3rd July 2005 TIME: 10.00 A.M. to 5.00 P.M. Daily VENUE: Bosco Hall St Andrews Church Compound, Hill Road Bandra West, Mumbai 400050 a COSMOS foundational event CAREERS IN NEW MEDIA is a festival composed of a seminar, an exhibition and scope for many interactions. It aims to create awareness among students about the new and viable professional options unleashed by emerging information and communication technologies. Friday 1 July 2005 NEW MEDIA FOR COMMUNICATIONS Seminar 10.00 A.M. to 5.00 P.M. Saturday 2 July 2005 NEW MEDIA FOR A NEW WORLD Seminar 10.00 A.M. to 5.00 P.M. Friday 1 July, Saturday 2 July and Sunday 3 July NEW MEDIA Exhibition 10.00 A.M. to 5.00 P.M. CAREERS IN NEW MEDIA will have an inter-disciplinary approach, with experts and established professionals from a wide variety of work areas sharing their experiences and visions of the future. This is an unique opportunity for students to interact with experts in order to make a strategic career choices. COSMOS is a recently-launched initiative of the Comet Media Foundation in Mumbai, exploring the complex and densely woven field in which science, technology and society overlap. The educational programme of COSMOS is scheduled to be operational by 2006. For more information on the Comet Media Foundation visit http://www.cometmedia.org The CAREERS IN NEW MEDIA festival is open to all. Entry to the exhibition is free. The seminar presentations require pre- registration, as seats are limited. The registration charges are Rs 200. For more information and to register, contact Sonia Nazareth at +91.22.2382.1893 or +91.98199.39820 or write to sonia(a)cometmedia.org FRIDAY 1 JULY 2005 NEW MEDIA FOR COMMUNICATIONS Seminar (25 minute presentation will be followed by 15 minute question and answer sessions) 10:00 to 10:15 Introduction CHANDITA MUKHERJEE Comet Media Foundation, Documentary Film-Maker 10:15 to 10.45 Keynote Address "the unfolding new media scenario " NINA SABNANI Head, Department of New Media Studies National Institute of Design (NID), Ahmedabad 10.50 to 11:30 "Making it in the games industry" REENA GEORGE Human Resources Manager, Indiagames Ltd, Mumbai HRISHI OBEROI Head of 3D and Console Games, Indiagames Ltd, Mumbai 11:30 to 11.45 BREAK 11:50 to 12:30 "Animation as a career for the future" SHILPA RANADE Faculty Member, Industrial Design Centre (IDC), Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Mumbai 12:35 to 1:15 "Can writing be a viable career? Exploring web-journalism" KIRAN JONNALAGADDA Blogger and Information Architect, Seacrow Labs, Bangalore 1.20 to 1.30 "The power of the portal: a case study" Z. ANSARI rediff.com 1:30 to 2:15 LUNCH 2:20 to 3:00 "Entrepreneurship in the age of new media: entertainment and commerce" TOBY MORNING Chairman, Urban Technology Ventures, Los Angeles, U.S.A. 3:05 to 3:20 BREAK 3:25 to 4:05 "Opportunities in audio-visual post-production" NEIL SADWELKAR Editor and Editing System Consultant, Technical Consultant to Pixion Studio 4:10 to 4:30 Concluding Remarks NIRMALENDU JAJODIA Software Developer, Board Member, Comet Media Foundation SATURDAY 2 JULY 2005 NEW MEDIA FOR A NEW WORLD Seminar (25 minute presentation will be followed by 15 minute question and answer sessions) 10:00 to 10:20 Introductory Note NIRMALENDU JAJODIA 10:25 to 11:05 "Emerging careers in the new information age" GURUNANDAN BHAT Chief Technologist, Synapse, Goa 11:10 to 11:50 "Future prospects for sound specialists" P. BALARAM Audio Engineer, Audeus Studios, Mukta Arts, Mumbai 11:55 to 12:10 BREAK 12:15 to 12:55 "Careers in e-learning" RUPESH GOEL Head, Simulations, Tata Interactive Systems 1:00 to 1:40 "GIS (Geographic Information Systems) applications" VINEET SHROFF Founder-Director, Biond Software, Mumbai 1:40 to 2:25 LUNCH 2:30 to 3:10 "New media as an area of research and training" NISHANT SHAH Research Scholar, Centre for the Study of Culture and Society (CSCS), Bangalore 3:15 to 3:30 BREAK 3:35 to 4:15 "ICTs, social development and business models" JAYALAKSHMI CHITTOOR Editor, I4D Magazine, Centre for Science Development & Media Studies (CSDMS), New Delhi 4:20 to 4:30 Vote of Thanks INDRANIL CHAKRAVARTY Film-Maker and Project Director, COSMOS New Media Initiative, Comet Media Foundation, Mumbai ABOUT THE SPEAKERS NINA SABNANI teaches Communication Design at National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad. After a degree in Fine Arts from Baroda, she studied animation at NID and in the UK. Later, she did a post graduate programme in Television & Film from the USA on a Fulbright Fellowship. She has evolved with the times to embrace a wide range of subjects in her profile. At present she teaches courses in Visual Scripting for Animation, Interaction Design, Linear and non-linear story telling, Games design, Illustration and Multi-sensory Design. http://www.nid.edu REENA GEORGE currently Manager Human Resources at Indiagames, had extensive experience in the IT industry. A part of the dynamic industry of wireless gaming, Reena has taken Indiagames from an 80 member team to over 250 employees in the past one year. She is an active member of the HR Infotech Association, Mumbai. http://www.indiagames.com HRISHI OBEROI is currently Head of the 3D & Console games at Indiagames. He has specialised in computer graphics and animation and has designed and programmed 2D and 3D games for mobile phones. Hrishi is currently producing a console named "Ashoka". He is active in the International Game Developer's Association, Mumbai chapter, organises gaming events like WCG India and speaks in technical forums concerned with games development in India. http://www.indiagames.com SHILPA RANADE is a faculty member at the Industrial Design Centre, Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay. A gold medallist from Sir J. J. Institute of Applied Art, she did her Masters in Visual Communication from IDC, IIT, Mumbai and subsequently completed an M.Phil in Animation from the Royal College of Art, London. Her animation film Mani’s Dying won the critics award at the Bombay International Short Film Festival, 1996 and was nominated for the best British short film award at the British Short Film Festival, 1995. http://www.idc.iitb.ac.in KIRAN JONNALAGADDA is a writer and programmer who works at the crossing of media, technology and the web. Currently a consultant technologist at various organisations, he is also an Independent Research Fellow at Sarai, studying how the user interface affects online communities. He is also a collaborator on the Mumbai Free Map Project of CRIT (Collective Research Initiatives Trust), Mumbai, a member of the Plone Foundation, and a trustee of the Tapovan School in rural Bangalore. An observer and participant in blogging, Kiran is also an occasional journalist and a keen photographer. http://www.seacrow.com http://www.freemap.in TOBY MORNING is an entrepreneur who heads Urban Technology Ventures, Los Angeles, California, U.S.A. This group of internet-based companies aims to leverage technology and “serve as a catalyst for creating a more peaceful, healthy, prosperous planet for future generations”. Toby’s passion for music has taken him from event promotion to music distribution and concert promotion to the Internet radio portal djunion.com. Toby’s focus is on developing the company’s internet services, and he is in India investigating various fresh business opportunities with Indian partners. http://urbantechnologyventures.com NEIL SADWELKAR spends most of his waking hours as an editor and edit system consultant, currently at a large post production house called Pixion. Neil started out making sky shows in the Planetarium, moved to 16mm film and then followed video through its evolution as a professional medium. Neil has been associated with documentary and feature film-making in all the possible capacities—sound recordist, editor, camera person, director. He has been a contributing editor at Misenscene, and forum host at the DMN Forums’ Final Cut Pro forum. http://www.sadwelkar.com GURUNANDAN BHATT enjoys working on applications that allow people to organise, share and disseminate data and collaborate in useful, productive and innovative ways. Currently Chief Technologist at Synapse, Goa, a company that “partners with clients to solve their business problems through information-based initiatives” Gurunandan has worked extensively on designing and developing complex yet inexpensive information systems. An ardent proponent of Open Source software, he regularly speaks at events, has authored several books and writes for technology magazines. http://www.plusthought.org BALARAM PONDENKANDATH graduated from FTII Pune in sound recording and sound engineering. He has designed, installed and worked as a recordist at a number of leading sound studios such as Sargam Studio, Audio Bytes of Mumbai, VGP Digital Studios, ABM Digital Studio, Maryan Digital Studio of Chennai and Navodaya of Trivandrum, Jeevan TV satellite channel of Cochin and the dubbing and DTS mixing studios for Easwary Films, Banglore. Currently Balaram is the chief recording engineer at Audeus Studio for Mukta Arts. He consultants with the Music Archive at St. Paul's, Bangalore and does sound engineering for musical shows in India and abroad. http://www.muktaarts.com RUPESH GOEL is Head, Simulations, Tata Interactive Systems, a large developer of custom e-learning solutions. It has a multi-disciplinary team of over 700, including content developers, 3-D animators & modellers, software engineers and instructional designers. TIS e- learning programmes cater to the needs of diverse sectors in the corporate, educational and government arena. Its offerings include business and educational simulations, enterprise applications training, adaptive assessments, story-based learning objects, game- based learning, teacher tools and teaching aids and a host of other applications. http://www.tatainteractive.com VINEET SHROFF trained in aeronautical engineering at IIT Powai. He founded Biond Software in 1994 with Milind Dalvi. Biond is in the space of creating GIS datasets or digital maps for India. His expertise includes procurement and analysis of high-resolution satellite imagery, vectorisation and CAD work, physical field survey and application software development. Vineet is also the founder director of Newreka Chemicals and CEO of Standard Engineers. His special interests include growing exotic fruits. NISHANT SHAH is a researcher in contemporary culture and new digital media based at the Centre for the Study of Culture and Society (CSCS), Bangalore. His interests are in looking at the formation of online communities in the third world through blogging. The construction of identities online and the patterns of social structure that arise due to these activities are of immediate interest to him. Nishant has been designing and teaching courses in contemporary digital cultures for undergraduates at Christ College and St. Joseph's College, Bangalore. His work has been published in various poetry anthologies and he dreams of writing a novel some day. http://www.cscsban.org JAYALAKSHMI CHITTOOR has written extensively on gender, consumer issues, ICT4D, mountain issues and natural resources management and has experimented with new electronic media for community building and networking. Heading the i4d programme of the Centre for Science, Development and Media Studies, she brings out the monthly magazine “i4d” and coordinates two research studies. She also works as regional Asia advisor to Bellanet International, promoting ICT tools to provide opportunities to disadvantaged communities and for providing democratic space in the world of the Internet. http://www.i4d.csdms.in http://www.i4donline.net

18 years, 3 months

Careers in New Media Festival, 1-3 July 2005

by Shekhar Krishnan

18 years, 3 months

How to start a Telugu Wikipedia

by doxa＠sancharnet.in

There was a request for help on *how to start a telugu wikipedia* a few weeks back. http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/How_to_start_a_new_Wikipedia provides solution. CK Raju

18 years, 3 months

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Fsf-friends June 2005