Dear Friends:
I am the Associate Director of PUKAR (Partners for Urban Knowledge Action & Research), a cross-sectoral research collective of scholars, urbanists and professionals based in Mumbai. I have long been lurking on this list for several months, though I am neither a programmer, nor do operate in a GNU-Linux environment (as yet). Many of us in the research and non-profit sector in India are aware of the free software movement, and are thinking seriously about the politics of information and issues of authorship, copyright, etc. I am very keen to have PUKAR work more closely with the GNU-Linux Users Group in Mumbai and the Free Software Foundation in India to explore these issues in depth.
I noticed the recent suggestion by Trevor Warren, Nagarjuna and others for a hands-on workshop for people in Bombay. PUKAR recently organised the DOC-SHOP, a five-day workshop on media and documentation practices for media, architecture and arts students, part of our annual PUKAR Monsoon series working with undergraduate colleges and students in Mumbai. We had five days on different forms of documentation: video, photography, text, sound, and the web. We are now archiving the DOC-SHOP at http://www.pukar.org.in/doc-shop/
We had met Dr Nagarjuna in connection with the DOC-SHOP, and we had hoped to introduce free software in our work, but we did not have enough time to familiarise ourselves with all the new applications and the new environment. The DOC-SHOP was supported by Apple Computer India and they provided machines installed with a suite of applications: Final Cut Pro, iPhoto and iTunes, PEAK, Dreamweaver, and so on. We mostly use Macs in our office as we do a lot of graphics and media work, and are becoming aware of its UNIX core. I am very keen to explore various free and open source software packages for our uses in PUKAR, and to help raise awareness about the technical and politics issues surrounding free software, amongst our peers and friends.
Would you Linuxers consider organising this suggested open workshop in partnership with PUKAR? We have a space available next to our office on the 4th Floor, Kitab Mahal, Dr Dadabhai Naoroji Road, next to New Excelsior Cinema, near VT Station. This is centrally located for students, professionals, and the media located in South Mumbai. We can discuss the length, content and form of the seminar, and how we can make it as open and accessible an event as possible, for maximum impact. Let me know your ideas and suggestions.
Best
Shekhar Krishnan _____
PUKAR (Partners for Urban Knowledge Action & Research) P.O. Box 5627, Dadar, Mumbai 400014, INDIA
E-Mail mailto:secretariat@pukar.org.in Phone +91 (022) 2207 7779, +91 98200 45529, +91 98204 04010 Web Site http://www.pukar.org.in