FN: Frederick Noronha’s blog

Patrice Riemens from the Netherlands has his own understanding of issues of technology and society… Here he talks about the role the Dutch have played in cyberspace (and why), and his research in India on multinationals coming out of here even a quarter of a century ago!

Sophia Kamaruddin pointed me to the page where I could download the ebook titled Maps for Advocacy: An Introduction to Geographical Mapping Techniques

An interesting book:

This is a rather applied and useful title. For instance: “Maps provide a fabulous medium for telling stories and documenting changes in a given place over a period of time. They give readers an additional perspective that taps into our ability to process visual information and relate to spatiality. Very often maps are also useful in understanding complex issues such as the conflict in Darfur (http://www.
ushmm.org/maps/projects/darfur/).“

The rationale for the book is here: “Advocacy organisations worldwide face great challenges. One of these is how best to communicate and disseminate information to communities, staff, funders, governments and other organisations in a world saturated with information,
media and advertising. They may also need to keep track of complex and diverse information in their own work. Using maps is one strategy to overcome these challenges. Mapping provides a powerful, clear, and intuitive medium for communicating and sharing information, statistics and data.”

Tags: maps, activism

Thanks to my priest-musician friend Joaquim Loiola Pereira, I got a copy of of Saudades do Nandinho just this evening. Have been tuned into it for the last hundred minutes or so… and did it bring back memories!

The Sixties were a strange time in Goa. My folks had returned home (from Brazil) just then. But they soon realised that “their home” they had returned to, was a confusing and fast-changing place. Jobs were scarce. Electricity was still to reach the villages, including ours! Bizarre things (since these were then, still, largely uncomprehensible) were happening on the political front. It was in those times that Nandinho grew up.

He passed away, untimely and in his early fifties in July 2007. In between, he was one of the powerful voices (and strummers… and more) of a generation. A generation born in Portuguese Goa, who saw ‘their’ language being eroded before their eyes, and then rebuilt in a museumised way when tourism grew here and needed an experience of The Exotic after the 1980s.

A year later after his death, a collection of his MP3s were put together. I didn’t know Nandinho Lobato de Faria in real-life. But one had heard his name a great deal.

A search in cyberspace yields hardly any hits. This one, an obituary mention, is from Joel de Souza’s Newsclips of 2007 July:

Matildes (also the sister of the late student-activist Cyril Pacheco, another friend, who died untimely due to malaria), put together this set of MP3s. It has some 36 numbers, 19 solos and the rest with the bands he performed with) was keen to pay some kind of tribute to him. I think it’s a very nice idea. If only if it could be heard by more people who listened to Nandinho in real life. Cyberspace could help!

It took me back to the 1960s… confusing times in Goa, specially for its Catholic population, caught in a change it was only too ill-equipped to cope with. Lovely bitter-sweet memories, as Nandinho sings those songs (which continued for some more decades, and probably in a smaller way, now too, in the Latin Quarter of Panjim, where Nandinho’s home was close to where the Herald publishes from in recent years).

Tags: music, goa, portuguese, catholic, goan, musicians, nandinho

For some reason, Mormugao, the port town of Goa, seems to be among the top 20 “most described cities” in the world! See http://wikimapia.org/#lat=15.42&lon=73.78&z=11&l=0&m=a&v=2

Tags: Mormugao, wikimapia, Goa

For a vast country which lacks adequately detailed and available maps for many of its areas, India is now finding an unexpected solution come up in the form of Google Map Maker.

Google recently extended its ‘map maker’ service to India, and within three weeks of its launch, has already drawn quite some attention to it in cyberspace.

Supporters of the project started sending messages out via the Net, urging each friends and colleagues to create their own detailed maps — by adding details of features in the villages or urban areas where they live.

Google Map Maker is a new service, from the Mountain View, California-based internet search giant. It is an attempt to expand the service currently offered by Google Maps.

In countries where mapping data is hard to come by, Google Maps is being opened up to a collaborative community effort.

This project’s goal is to obtain high-quality mapping data to be published and used on the existing Google Maps service.

“Mark your favourite spots in your city or hometown. Add features such as roads, parks, and buildings for unmapped rural areas. Tag small businesses and help users find them. Collaborate with others to map neighbourhoods that interest you,” says Google, urging participation in its India collaboration mapping project.

Located at maps.google.com/help/mapmaker/india/ the project was conceived and developed by Google’s Indian engineering team.

One needs to sign-into a free Google email account, and zoom in to the area you want to map. You can add features, names of the place, and save it. The map changes and additions are later edited by those trusted, to make sure that entries have a higher level of accuracy.

Once you ‘add a neighbourhood’, showing your interest in the area, you can be kept informed with changes made by others in that area of the map.

“Map your area of the world, right from your desktop,” Google urges Indian users in a promotional video on their product.

“Mark the well-loved family-run store where you grew up. Highlight hidden gems where you live. Tag popular hangouts where you went to school,” says Google.

It’s logic is to urge wider community participation, a strategy that usually works in an online world where thousands participate, and each one of ‘the crowd’ contributes a small piece of information.

Google Map Maker was launched in India in end-August 2008.

Commented ContentSutra.com, an Indian digital news monitor: “Considering the success of Wiki-Mapia in India, it isn’t surprising Map Maker was a product developed by Google’s Indian engineering team.”

In late 2006, news-reports said Mumbai had become the most-mapped city on the planet, via the Wikimapia volunteer-driven network.

Infact, among the Top 20 “most described cities” in the Wikimapia world are Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Mangalore, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Delhi, Thiruvananthapuram, Mormugao (Goa), Vizag and Indore. Bombay or Mumbai is rated the highest.

Critics of Google Map Maker, such as the collaboratively-crafted Wikipedia, however have raised issues about the fact that unlike OpenStreetMap, which provides its map data under a sharable Creative Commons license, any maps created by users of Google Map Maker are the intellectual property of Google.

Some issues of security and mapping have also been raised, in a country where the official approach towards maps has a legacy which gets traced to the colonial British attitude over the same.

Tags: India, cyberspace, maps, Google

Yesterday, when I took Riza (“amost 10″) over Bookworm, Sujata Noronha (no relative) buttonholed me and re-asked about setting up a blog. Feeling guilty, because VM and me had been discussing the possibility of a website for them for some time now, I tried something that might help to get started.

WordPress (because it’s Free Software) is my favourite blogging software. So I grabbed their comp, and helped to set up a rudimentary blog of sorts. Check it out here. Later in the night, during my nocturnal hours, added some of the posts that Bookworm has been sending to my address.

I really think Bookworm is an innovative project, and needs our support. If you feel like helping in anyway, do lend a hand. It’s a good cause… (and I’m not saying this just because my daughter spends her time with books, craft and art there occasionally).

[Above, Claudia1967's photo, reproduced with permission: http://www.flickr.com/photos/claudia1967/349173566/]

Tags: blogs, alternative, cyberspace, bookworm

My former colleague and friend, Niraj Naik, has come out with “Goa’s first comprehensive data bank on (a) multimedia CD”. It promises to explore all facets of Goa, with the largest compilation of photographs and information. It is an “ideal gift for students” and a “treasure trove for students, teachers, tourists, NRGs (non-resident Goans) and Goa enthusiasts” says the cover of the CD. It is priced at Rs 99 and comes from http://www.digitalgoa.com

Unfortunately, the CD runs only on Windows (.exe file) while my comp runs on GNU/Linux (Free Software)….

Tags: goa, india, cds, resources, online, digitalgoa, digitised resources

More about this group: http://groups.to/camerasforacause

Cameras for a Cause (C-FAC) is a volunteer network, meant to share photography (and sometimes videography) skills with campaigners, citizens, not-for-profits and anyone undertaking work for positive social change on the planet.

1. By “positive social change”, we refer to those working on issues of environment, labour, conservation, education, development, IT-for-change any other such issues. We leave it open to each volunteer to define what they see as a “good cause”, and to offer their support to the same.

2. Anyone, anywhere on the planet with access to a camera and a suitable level of photography skills, can volunteer to sign-up here. The network was however started out of Goa, India in September 2008.

3. Each volunteer needs to give out sufficient details of their offer for volunteer help (form below), their skill level, time and travel-hours willing to commit to each project, and restrictions on their ability to help, if any.

4. As an organisation we neither seek nor solicit funds. Work is based purely on voluntarism. Rules may be changed in future, depending on the needs of the group, while ensuring to be fair to all concerned. Entry is open to all, and members are free to leave the group if they so choose. Members are encouraged to invite other socially committed lensmen (and women) to join this network.

5. Cameras for a Cause believes in, and supports, sharable licensing for their work. We are influenced by the power of sharable knowledge and creative work (as seen from the Free Software movement, the Creative Commons, the Wikipedia, etc). We encourage associated photographers to share their work with a Creative Commons or other suitable license.

6. Our volunteers do not expect to be paid for their work. Under some circumstances, travel cost and modest refreshments (if applicable) may be appreciated. In case the work involves
a project spanning many days, or travel beyond home base, and the organisation concerned has funds to cover photography, you could consider offering a honorarium to our volunteers.
This may be worked out directly with the photographer concerned. Keep in mind that some of our volunteers are freelancers, and revenues earned might help make their overall photography operations viable to help to cross-subsidise the photography of other good causes.

7. This network has two levels of membership: photographer-volunteer and general-volunteer. The latter are those who may not currently have the photography skills, but are willing to help this venture in other ways (spreading the word, administrative functions, publicity, etc).

———

DETAILS FOR PHOTOGRAPHER-VOLUNTEER:

Name:
Location:
Contact details (phone, mobile, address):
Type of work: Still / Moving / Photo Story / Audio / Multiple

Cameras used
Digital (details):
Traditional photography:
Web videography:
Others (details):

Offering services to (specify types of causes you prefer to
work with):
Area within which willing to work:
Notice period needed:
Time-slots available for volunteer work:
May decline to undertake project if (specific circumstances):
Photographic experience:
Examples of volunteer (or NGO) work undertaken:
Expect to be paid/reimbursed (Yes or No, with details):

More about this group: http://groups.to/camerasforacause

Tags: photography, goa, india, volunteerism, initiatives

Tania Pérez Bustos is a PhD student from Colombia doing fieldwork in India. Her research is on the educational and gender dimension of experiences like FLOSS (Free/Libre and Open Source Software) that aim to popularize technology. She says, “I really liked the statement in the (BytesForAll) website in which you assume a critical position towards ICT and the political context it is immersed in … unfortunately not very common.” Here, she talks about her work, and her encounter with India, Colombia, and the need for links between these disparate and distant regions.

Sukumar Anikar <anikar@azimpremjifoundation.org>  [1] and Prasad <prasad@azimpremjifoundation.org> managed to get across to me a copy of a DVD … and what a DVD at that! It contained a whole lot of fascinating educational software for school children.

A couple of nights ago, I ended up ‘playing’ some educational games with Aren, 5, and told him that my friends had sent the same across free. “Did you say ‘thank you’?” he asked me in turn. In fact, he kept ‘playing’ on these games, though it was almost midnight, and even though he’s too small to obviously understand many of the concepts being taught here (decimal fractions, and what not … but big enough to be interested in the wild animals of the jungle and to try and comprehend how fruits and a balanced diet gives us the energy we need to do work). The ‘games’ sent across in this DVD work excellently and without flaw (so far) on my Ubuntu laptop. They have been adjusted to work with the GNU/Linux operating system.

It drew my interest enough to dash across another email to Sukumar and Prasad, requesting more programmes.Given the medium of instructions being used (and subjects taught) in Goa, I am particularly interested in software dealing with:

• English language
• Hindi language
• Maths
• Environmental Science
• General Science
• Social Science
• Co-curricular subjects

Check out the long list of what’s available. http://www.azimpremjifoundation.org/html/E_Learn_Mat_table1.htm

The Azim Premji Foundation is actually keen to work with educational institutions (rather than with individuals, if I understood right) for obvious reasons.

Said the APF in a mail to me: “We always support the state governments by providing them the Digital Learning Resource (DLR) for deployment in Government schools. Generally, the support is by providing the right to replicate our content to the state, without any costs.  Our Digital Learning Resource is not provided if the intended use is for commercial purposes. We also share content with NGOs and other institutions who manage schools where there is no barrier on admissions and where no fee is being charged.”

And Mr Anikar added, “Almost all our titles or Digital Learning Resource are trilingual i.e. in English, Hindi and in any one of the regional languages. While we have just 10 titles in Marathi the same is not available for immediate release as they have to be validated by a state government. However, we will share other titles that are in English and Hindi. Further, we are also in the process of making our content compatible with [GNU]Linux platform and hence for the present we will be sharing only such titles which are compatible with both windows and Linux and those that have been tested.  The remaining titles would be shared on a future date and on completion of testing. We will be clustering our titles in a couple of DVD’s and send it across to you in the next week…. We also wish to state that there is a process that needs to be followed in implementing the Digital Learning Resource in schools which we will share the same with you once you confirm the receipt of Digital Learning Resource .”

And: ” Digital Learning Resource are not meant to help in computer literacy. The target group is children in the age group of 6-14 years and the Digital Learning Resource primarily presents concepts related to Maths, Science and Language related to the curriculum for classes Standard I to Standard VIII.”

By way of background, from their website: ” Azim Premji Foundation has commenced the digital content creation effort in the year 2002. So far, Foundation has created over 100+ master CD titles for the classes 1 to 8 and the same have been translated into various regional languages in India including few tribal languages. The content is created with the pedagogical focus to enable the children to directly use and learn where the teacher will act as facilitator. The attributes of the content are; curriculum oriented, child-centered, self paced, interactive and multimedia based content.”

You probably know that Azim Premji is the Chairman and CEO of one of India’s largest software companies, Wipro. Wikipedia [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azim_Premji] says he was rated the richest man in India between 1999 to 2005 (and is probably among the top five now).  This impressed me: “Premji is known for his modesty and frugality in spite of his wealth. He drives a Toyota Corolla and flies economy class, prefers to stay in company guest houses rather than luxury hotels and even served food on paper plates at a lunch honouring his son’s wedding.”

Check it out. Really useful stuff. The educational content on the DVDs, I mean!

–
[1] Head – Technology for Education, Azim Premji Foundation, #134, Doddakannelli, Next to Wipro Corporate Office, Sarjapur Road, Bangalore – 560 035 Tel: 91-80-66144900/901/902 (Board)   91-80-66144922 (Direct) Fax: 91-80-66144903 Mobile: 09449820054 www.azimpremjifoundation.org

Tags: software, kids, education, Wipro, Azim Premji

Some views I presented in some corner of cyberspace:

The editor-writer relationship is a crucial one, close yet fraught with misunderstandings.

Before burning bridges, we need to evaluate carefully whether it’s worth it.

Personally, I would prefer to keep quiet when something doesn’t work, rather than to come across as someone who is “complicated to work with”.

There *are no* standards to go by, more so when we try to span different worlds — the commercial and the non-commercial, India and North America, Goa and her diaspora, print and cyberspace.

The approach that works for me is to try and be flexible with my editors. (I hope writers treat me similarly when I don the editorial cap occasionally. With writers, I try to be accomodative, and to pay them with gratitude and feedback when I can’t do so with money.) If things turn too bad, then I would follow the Biblical dictum of wiping the dust of my feet and moving on. (Look who’s quoting….)

Tags: journalism, media, editors

Joel’s pictures on Flickr.com … got some interesting links via this page: http://www.flickr.com/people/52243088@N00/

Links to some interesting groups here:

Joel’s Goa Pics’ public groups

Tags: photos, goa, flickr

Photo from an earlier LUG activity (ECAP 2006).

A GNU/Linux user group (LUG) meeting tomorrow, Saturday, July 26, 2008 from 3-5 pm at the Goa Science Centre. Dhaval Giani <dhaval.giani@gmail.com> volunteered:
“Am in goa for the next week. Can do a short talk on becoming a “Becoming a Fedora Package Maintainer, no rocket science”. Can also talk about building a community around an open source project.” Wish I could make it, but have to be in Quepem at the same time.

Tags: freesoftware, LUG, Goa

Tags: Oriya, SMS, news, blog

My friend in the Carribean, Deirdre Williams <williams.deirdre at gmail.com> told me about the work of Gabriel from Argentina and Jamil from Pakistan. She wrote: “We were discussing the new multi-lingual tlds (ICANN meeting in Paris) and I offered you as someone interested in the use of non-Roman scripts on the Internet. Jamil is a software engineer, Gabriel a lawyer….”  Interesting … 

Tags: Net, non-English

GeekyBodhi.net is my techie colleague Mayank Sharma’s blog. Check it out… found an interesting interview with the founder of distrowatch.com on it…

This is what Mayank writes:

Hello. Welcome to my little 50Meg corner on the web. I am Mayank Sharma, writer, programmer, student, and more

I have been writing on technology, especially free and open software,for the past five years. During this period I helped launch SouthAsia’s leading FLOSS monthly LINUX For Youas its Assistant Editor. I am currently busy putting together aweb-based publication devoted to Localization, Education and FLOSSmigration. Besides writing, I love to hack also, my most recentcontribution — an installer for the Utkarsh Localization Project. Still struggling for a computer sciene degree, I love Formula one car racing.

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Cajetan Rego from Tivim in Goa recently announced: “I would like to share my thoughts with you regarding the upcoming elections in Goa. Please read my blog http://thegoan.blogspot.com. I request you to leave your comments on the blog even if they are against my opinions. Kindly forward this link to your friends if you agree with my opinions.”

Interesting. Looks like a rather unabashed piece of pro-BJP propaganda! Sorry for being so blunt. But the effort here seems to be to say “things were fine under the BJP, rotten under the Congress… and the BJP it is that will restore Goa’s golden era.” Of course, Congress rule is rotten and corrupt. But is the Number Two nationwide party qualitatively different, or does it offer scope for optimism?

technorati tags:goa, blog, politics, pre-poll

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Hi Frederick,

(Apologies for this somewhat lengthy missive)

I am a teacher educator based in Bangalore (see the link to my personal blog below for a better idea of who I am) and have been involved in an effort educatorslog.in – to create a free online space for people involved in India to CONNECT . SHARE . GROW — connect with other educators and those interested in education in India (pre-K through higher and adult education), share resources that are contextually relevant to educators and teaching in India, and grow through learning about exemplary practices and professional development programs that cater to the needs of Indian educators.

The idea is to serve the cause of education in India – to someday have a comprehensive repository of resources relevant to teaching in India, and a host of ideas from showcasing best practices in education in India, in addition to having a space that a teacher or anyone passionate about education in India can come to raise an issue, discuss, debate, voice, or perhaps even just announce a conference, a new book or product related to education.

This initiative was launched among a small user community in Feb. 07, and since March it has been opened up for general membership. You can catch some of the most engaging discussions (thus far) in the following threads -

* Grey areas of school admission policy, a search for new assessment ideas
* Indian school education: good or bad, why this dichotomy?
* The 100 laptop
* Sex education in our schools, how to deal with the taboo
* Should Indian languages wither away?
* Learning diabilities-1

The site is built on drupal, and uses web 2.0 features such as those for group blogging (comments, forward as email, no. of hits), tagging (each post can be tagged, and there is a tag cloud view available as well as the 20 most popular tags on the landing page), organization by themes and tags for easy searching and access.

In the interest of education in our country, it would be great if you could check out educatorslog.in and profile it on your blog or provide a link to it, or simply pass this email on to those you know who are involved in education and would benefit from being a part of this free community space.

We could certainly use some help to get the word out!

I know it’s too much to ask regular bloggers like yourself to post to other blogs, but it would be great if you could also contribute your thoughts/ideas/resources on educatorslog.in.

I will be happy to answer any questions you may have about this.

Regards,
Shuchi Grover
http://educatorslog.in
http://shuchi-edblog.blogspot.com

technorati tags:education, india, bangalore, shuchi-grover

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Sometimes we moan about how unfair life has been to us….

A while ago, I set up a mailing list dealing with autism in India at: http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/autism-india/

I think it came about because I was at a seminar, and feeling helpless about all the suffering people touched by this (and, more so, their families) go through. This list today connects some 75 persons across India (a tiny number, relatively speaking, in a country of 1.1 billion)… but when I read what these people are going through, it reminds me how lucky we are … even if we don’t realise it most of the times.

technorati tags:autism, india, mailing-lists

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So, can someone tell me what this poker stuff is all about? The links I can find online are here. Sun, sea, poker, stereotypes

technorati tags:Goa, tourism, stereotypes, poker, India, Asia, hotels, Dabolim, airport

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Jennifer “Jen” Lewis, a Goan lady-engineer based in Birmingham, seems to be having a ball of a time with what she calls Family konkani knock knock jokes

While reading these jokes, I ran into one of her newer mailing lists which I wasn’t aware of. It’s the GoanStudentsAbroad list on Yahoogroups.com.

And btw, Jen is also behind the impressive VascokarsUnited mailing list, meant to keep in touch people from Goa’s largest urban area and port-town. Beneath her name, I also saw a link to the esoterically-named IEIGLC That stands for the Goa branch of “The Institution of Engineers (India) Incorporated by Royal Charter 1935″. Guess the GLC stands for the “Goa local chapter” and it includes members with engineering degrees such as the AIE, AMIE, MIE and FIE. Oh fie, don’t ask what that all stands for!

PS: And, btw, you can find Goanet Careers here, and that list’s archives here