BBC Click

I have followed a BBC programme Click Online. Now it is called as click. There is one section in the programme called webscape. This segment describes interesting websites. I have come across very interesting websites through BBC Click.

Last week it talked about a website http://www.bomomo.com . This website makes you an abstract digital artist in no time. The result of this website is amazing. You can save your master pieces in jpg format and use it else where. There is flickr site which has hosted some of these bomomo created images.

I was wondering what technology Bomomo is using. It did not appear to be flash or a java applet. It probably uses Ajax. I was impressed with its versatile and interactive abilities.

There were a few impressive websites with similar functions as bomomo. One such site was scrbl.com which provided a online sharable white board.

Using technology to enhance learning has been going on for ages. Present day technology perhaps has not been exploited enough for learning purpose.

How many beds per room

When we were discussing about the hostel design, One issue which came up is how many beds per room.

Both Prof. Ajit K Das and I have studied in single rooms (Single bedded really) in IIT Kharagpur. In IIMB, it was single rooms all the way. In XIMB, it was common to have single rooms.

However, we had studied in an era with few students (In my batch in IIT, we had 30 students in Electrical Department). It was also an era when Government made the education virtually free. Today, it is very different. The strength in a class is high. Hence, today in IITs, single rooms are no longer available. Investment per bed turns prohibitively high if you choose a single bedded. Hence accommodation charges will be high if we choose single bedded hostels.

Do different types education need types of hostels? We felt that under-graduate students will benefit from company in their room. A chum in the room will provide emotional and other forms of support which will be needed for young kids just out of home. However, post-graduate students being mature perhaps will benefit from solitude and privacy.

Hence, we felt that multi-format hostels capable of accomodating single bed and more than one bed would be a good idea. We will have a combination of single bedded, double bedded and triple bedded rooms to meet needs of different categories of students

Fraud at Satyam

Yesterday when I met Vishal Dev in IDCO, he asked me what is happening at Satyam. When I came home for lunch and switched on the TV, I realized what he meant. Satyam has committed the biggest Enron style fraud in the recent history. Ramalinga Raju has resigned as the chairman of Satyam.

Software Services Companies always (I think justifiabily) rode the moral high horse: no corruption, no frauds, no scams. This was possible as they did their business abroad.

They grew at breakneck speed. Look at the number of people working in TCS, Infosys, Wipro. The tyrnover, the profits grew at amazing rates for decades. The shareholders, the employees and others benefitted most and expected the companies to perform like this eternally.

How do you meet such high expectations? Satyam found the answer in cooking the account books. I hope that other companies are finding more ligitimate means.

Institute like ours focus on technology educations. I think time has now arrived to expose the students to the other side of technology: moral and ethical business practices, corporate governance. I hope that the future curriculum will educate the students to be good corporate citizens.

Green Campus

Last Sunday, TCS unveiled their campus in Bhubaneswar. I had the good fortune of meeting Mr. Muthuraman, Mr. Ramdorai among others. In his address Ramdorai talked about the Green Building of TCS.

A few weeks ago, the Director of the Regional Museum of Natural History mentioned that in one year time the varity of butterflies has grown to over 100 in their campus. The butterflies live a full life cycle from caterpillar to butterfly. (The director was a Botanist)

IIIT campus has to be green: it should have plants and lawns. The buildings need to be green: we should consume less energy and emit less carbon dioxide. It should be an inviting place: it should invite intellectuals, and animals and birds. Since I hated zoology and botany when I was studying Biology, I really have no clue about the flora and fauna. We are consulting the people from the forest department and horticulture department to understand the idea of greening the campus.

I hope that IIIT campus will impress visitors its with its calm, green and full-of-life features rather than the steel-and-glass imposing structures and don't-come-near-me features.

New Website

I love services of Google. I liked Google sites for its numerous features but specifically for its ability to integrate other google products like google docs, picasa etc.

Our website was getting a little monotonous with never-changing content and a little boring look. So I thought let's change the website using Google Sites.

In the last week of 2008, I played with Google sites to create the new IIIT website. My son Rahul who was on vacation was accomplice in this process often by being critical of the aesthetics. I spend my new year eve working hard on the website while others were partying hard. The Bloochip guys were unhappy because we were dumping their CMS for Google Sites.

I announced the arrival of the website to the Students. They loved it especially the parts where their photos appear :). Prof. Ajit K. Das liked the pages where there were photos of the Cricket Match (because his photo appears there?).

Ph.D. Programme

IIIT now has a decent faculty : 6 numbers. 3 of them hold doctoral degrees. Other three are on the verge of completion.

We feel that it is a good time to start our Ph.D. programme. It will be consistent with the objectives of the Institute. The programme should have a slow start rather than a kick start. It should be a low key affair rather than a fanfair.

To start with we should start with may be a couple of students. The entire institute will work with them to make it a worth while programme.

Rather than a symbolic programme, it will be a programme which will bring us respect among our peers for the quality and the rigour of the programme.

Thoughts of the Campus

What should a campus of a Tech Institute be like?

This is a very relevant question as we are about to embark on the construction of our campus.

We are clear from the start that ours will be a residential campus. Students and the faculty must reside on the campus. The proximity and the interaction adds tremendous value to the learning experience. It will be a 24x7 campus brimming with life round the clock.

We have decided to have somewhat tall structures. In Bhubaneswar, it is common to have 3 storied buildings. The BDA would frown upon tall structures. However, of late, tall structures have become more acceptable. Tall structures help preserve open space.

We wanted to create monument which will symbolize the spirit of the Institute in the same way as Eiffel Towers symbolizes Paris. This is still a thought in process.