Hi all,
I was wondering if the computing movement in India has some sort of plan for putting information on the web about computer pioneers and leaders etc in India or from India, who have done some amazing things or are doing amazing things in the field of computers or technology.(examples could be pioneers of the cdot rural exchange etc when cdot was formed) This would really help increase the number of people attracted to computers and open source computing (or free software ) by giving pride and recognition to the best in the field and also help bring some sort of community culture.
We should build this as part of our folklore on the lines of the hacker culture in the elite US universities in the 70s etc. There is a site for amazing stories about India called www.goodnewsindia.com but it is too generalised and not technology related.
I know atleast 3 stories of great work done by people of Canadian origin(RIm-- blackberry phenomena, QNX real time OS from waterloo univ, APL or J by Ken Iverson) but very little about Indian achievements (except Vinod Khosla's being one of the 4 who started Sun microsystems and Sabeer Bhatia who started hotmail). The germans, italians, french, chinese and the japanese and now even the south Americans, Korean etc take so much pride in being leaders in specialised areas of the open source movement whereas we don't hear much of our pioneers.
Kush
--- Kush be_a_sport@rogers.com wrote:
Hi all,
I was wondering if the computing movement in India has some sort of plan for putting information on the web about computer pioneers and leaders etc in India or from India, who have done some amazing things or are
Good idea - but we may not find too many names in the list.
I know atleast 3 stories of great work done by people of Canadian origin(RIm-- blackberry phenomena, QNX real time OS from waterloo univ, APL or J by Ken Iverson) but very little about Indian achievements (except Vinod Khosla's being one of the 4 who started Sun microsystems and Sabeer Bhatia who started hotmail).
Can it be because there has been no great `Indian Achievements' so far?
The germans, italians, french, chinese and the japanese and now even the south Americans, Korean etc take so much pride in being leaders in specialised areas of the open source movement whereas we don't hear much of our pioneers.
How many `pioneers' do we have?
Makes me think of India's greatest contribution to the world of mathematics ;-)
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Pramode C.E. wrote:
How many `pioneers' do we have?
Makes me think of India's greatest contribution to the world of mathematics ;-)
I was thinking that maybe a beginning needs to be made by searching thru patents etc and networking information. We may have a lot of hidden talent that OUR MEDIA has not even unearthed (as compared to the hours and hours of painstaking research that western media does about its own scientists and experts in various fields). Once the beginning is made, we may unearth facts which are unknown till now.
A few years ago I had read about a young Indian who went to a conference in Singapore to be acknowledged there for a paper on computer security techniques that he had discovered (without a formal background in computers or mathematical sciences) just by reading very advanced books that he had access to, thru his father who was a research scientist.
Then there was an article in rediff.com about a pioneer and entrepreneur (from chennai) who launched a company in Singapore which was listed on the Australian stock exchange. This person discovered a new way to compress image data and was using the new algorithm to make a medical radiology product. The new algorithm was far more efficient than the jpg algorithm( i think atleast 20 times more efficient and it was claimed to be lossless too) (but there is no independent verification of such astonishing stories from a team of acknowledged Indian experts or academy of science etc --so such possibly great stories are not put in the limelight and do not last long enough in the public memory). One reason is that all academies of science in India are basically govt owned - -so there is no independent and prestigious grouping of scientists who command outstanding respect and authority(unlike the situation in the west).
Was just reading an old edition of "india today" (feb 6 2006 edition) which has the google story on its front cover and on page 36 we have a small clipping/writeup on key Indians who have helped put google on the map. But there needs to be more information of this sort put on a permanent or almost permanent place (on the lines of goodnewsindia.com) with more details dug up about the algorithms used or the lives of the people in the writeup. Basically give the story a human touch and make it more interesting such as the struggles and the ups and downs these people had before they were successful.
That would really help making Indian role models, establish pride in hacking or do it yourself culture. A few things we lack terribly are -- 1 how to work in teams 2 how to resolve conflicts and understand why and how they happen 3 present or communicate properly/intelligibly 4 not sharing information --phenomena of extreme competitiveness (crab mentality) 5 readily acknowledging our peers and 6 making a welcoming environment for newbies or laymen
Kush
Kush wrote:
That would really help making Indian role models, establish pride in hacking or do it yourself culture. A few things we lack terribly are -- 1 how to work in teams 2 how to resolve conflicts and understand why and how they happen 3 present or communicate properly/intelligibly 4 not sharing information --phenomena of extreme competitiveness (crab mentality) 5 readily acknowledging our peers and 6 making a welcoming environment for newbies or laymen
and I must add that 7 we need to have acknowledgement/acceptance for being different or multidisciplinary (or well rounded). e.g. we never talk about our chaps having interests other than nerdy interests (things like soothing or inspirational music etc specially classical raga or western instrumental etc or gardening as a great hobby for the typical Indian nerd)
Gardening, golf, fishing, trekking, adventure sports, literature, the arts, music, team or individual sports (except cricket) or martial arts--tai chi, yoga, breathing techniques, gourmet food etc etc are generally not associated with typical Indian nerds. Gardening particularly is looked down upon but it has a very therapeutic and balancing effect for a person who is exposed to electromagnetic radiation for hours at a time.
Our research universities etc (except for the IITs, IIMs and older universities etc) do not have the kind of open tranquil space to walk and think, potter around, sing, enjoy or relax as compared to the university campuses in the west which gave researchers enough space in their own living places or bungalows to live comfortably and have other interests.
Our typical nerds are sort of factory assembled or regimented products not being exposed to (or tolerant of ) different streams of knowledge or viewpoints whereas westerners come from all walks of life (lawyers, jurists, artists, finance people, management people, mathematicians, doctors etc etc) into the technical fields now.
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Kush -
Pramode C.E.