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Maps … and taking a stand

fredericknoronha — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 23:01:37 +0000

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:

Do maps merely list cities, towns, rivers and mountains or can they also reveal what happens in these locations? Can anti-pollution drives, instances of forest degradation or disease-filled zones be displayed on a map? Certainly. A while ago, that was not a possibility as maps were mere location guides. Now, with online acees to publicly available maps combined with satellite imagery and enhanced graphical displays, maps can be artfully used by rights advocates to achieve greater impact in their campaigns.

Maps for Advocacy, a booklet published by Tactical Technology Collective, is an introduction to geographical mapping techniques and shows advocates how best to utilise mapping techniques in their campaigns. The booklet introduces rights advocates to mapping tools and also lists inspiring examples where maps have been effective in creating an impact.

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.”

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Tags: maps, activism

Posted in BytesForAllIndia, Cyberspace, Resources, Websites

Mormugao, highly mapped?

fredericknoronha — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 15:36:07 +0000

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

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Tags: Mormugao, wikimapia, Goa

Posted in BytesForAllIndia, Cyberspace, Goa, Resources, Websites

Google enables Indians to build maps of their villages, cities

fredericknoronha — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 15:22:40 +0000

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.

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Tags: India, cyberspace, maps, Google

Posted in BytesForAllIndia, Cyberspace, Resources, Websites

Bookworm…. at Panjim

fredericknoronha — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 12:44:03 +0000

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/]

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Tags: blogs, alternative, cyberspace, bookworm

Posted in AltIndia, Cyberspace, Educational, Goa, Resources, Teacher resources, Websites

A CD on Goa….

fredericknoronha — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 09:39:28 +0000

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)….

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

Posted in Cyberspace, Goa books, Goan Diaspora, Resources, Websites

A family from Moira, Goa

fredericknoronha — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 08:49:22 +0000

Richard de Souza has his family-tree site here:
http://moirafamily.tribalpages.com/
Says he: “Have a look around and let me know what you think by leaving
a comment in the Guest Book.”
Courtesy, Moira-Net: http://groups.google.com/group/moira-net?hl=en

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Tags: village, family tree, goa, india, villages, moira, moira-net

Posted in Goa, Goan Diaspora, Websites

Educational power points….

fredericknoronha — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 20:00:40 +0000

Friends at Sangath pointed to this site, that contains tonnes of educational presentations (Power Points, mostly). Check it out: http://pppst.com/ Pete’s Power Point Station.

It describes itself thus: “Free presentations in PowerPoint format, and free interactive activities for kids.”

Links to resources in language, arts, math, science, social studies, seasonal and special themes, reading and writing, art music drama and dance, plants and animals, health and safety, abc’s fairy tales, physical education, geography, nutrition and the food pyramid, three branches of government, reading comp, countries and continents and regions, adhd and special need kids, rhyming words and confusing words, parts of speech, world languages, ancient history, bullying, library skills, children’s literature and authors, advertising and propaganda, world history, codes and ciphers and secret messages, clip art, templates, tutorials and more…

Quite a useful site this!

Taking sharing to the classroom

fredericknoronha — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 18:51:31 +0000

The case for Free/Libre and Open Source Software (FOSS) in schools … this is a paper I put together for IOSN (International Open Source Network, South Asia) in Chennai.

It was a learning experience working on it. You can read or download the whole paper from here: http://www.divshare.com/download/3321637-94c

A quote:

In the text above, one is presented with more than just hints of the
varied and many possibilities that FOSS opens up for schools in South Asia.
There is clearly a profusion of tools available, which needs to be
adequately exploited. As of now, however, the lack of easy-to-access FOSS skills could cause a setback in the spread of Free/Libre and Open Source Software in South Asia. The lack of widespread awareness of these tools among educators, and importantly even those drafting the curricula, remains a matter for concern. Steps taken in this regard could go a long way in building a firm basis for the spread of FOSS, in schools and beyond.