Mozcamp Asia 2011

Mozcamp Asia 2011 was held in
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on 18-20 November 2011. The two day event was packed with interactive presentations, discussions on new products, engagement opportunities, and community building.

Mozilla communities from various Asian countries participated in this event. You view more information about various communities and their activities on the Mozilla Asia Community Quilt.

The event theme was "Many Voices, One Mozilla", and had three broad tracks of engineering, training and regionalization, the content for this MozCamp is now available online here

Read More

Bollywood Afternoon In Hanoi

A lot can happen over a cup of Masala Chai. Sunday afternoon's are usually Indian food at Foodshop 45 in Tay Ho, Hanoi. After a good meal the conversation around the table turned to Bollywood movies. Hey, Next week lets do lunch and watch a Bollywood film. Now that sounds like fun. Lets do it!

Bollywood Afternoon @ PUKU, Hanoi

Do join us for some great Indian food and a Bollywood movie 'Kal Ho Na Ho (Hindi, with English subtitles)' at PUKU, Hanoi. Please don't forget to register for the event.

• Time: 06 November · 12:30 - 17:30


• Location: PUKU Cafe & Bar 16 Tống Duy Tân, Hanoi, Vietnam


• Cost: 250K VND (per person)


• Registration: Send email to puku.hanoi(at)gmail.com.
  You can also respond using the Bollywood Afternoon event page on Facebook.com.

Watch the Trailer of Kal Ho Na Ho (Hindi with English Subtitles 2003)

Life of a very serious girl, Naina, changes on the arrival of her new neighbor, Aman, who teaches her a new way to live. Takes place mostly in
NYC - with parts in Mumbai.
Starring: Preity Zinta, Shah Rukh Khan and Saif Ali Khan
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0347304/

Read More

Accessibility Reaching Everywhere Workshop Nov-Dec 2011 in Brussels

AEGIS project organizing its final Workshop and 2nd International Conference entitled “Accessibility Reaching Everywhere” on 30 November – 2 December 2011 in Brussels, bringing together both end-users (people with disabilities) as well as platform and application accessibility developers, representative organisations, the Assistive Technology industry, and policy makers. Since 2008, the AEGIS consortium (comprising companies such as Vodafone Foundation, Research in Motion, Oracle, and research groups from Cambridge University and Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, etc.) has been developing an Open Accessibility Framework – comprising open accessibility interfaces, user interface components, developer tools, end-user applications and prototype accessibility solutions for desktops, rich Internet applications and mobile devices.

The workshop on 30 November will focus on the realisations of the AEGIS (Open Accessibility Everywhere: Groundwork, Infrastructure, Standards) project and provide attendees the opportunity to try out all outcomes of the project. The demonstrated products offer barrier-free access to desktop, mobile and web applications, are open source based and will be freely available.

The conference on 1-2 December will gather a wide array of experts and users in the area of Assistive Technology to discuss scientific and policy developments in accessible technology; showcase relevant projects and initiatives in the area of assistive technology.

Access to both events will be free, but places will be limited.

This event comes ahead of the European Day of People with Disabilities that is marked by the European Commission via a policy conference in the first week of December each year, in close cooperation with the European Disability Forum (EDF).

Invitations for registration, scientific papers and exhibitors will be issued soon.

Both events take place at the Diamant Conference and Business Centre, Boulevard A. Reyerslaan 80, 1030 Brussels. More information is available under www.aegis-project.eu, or contact Ms. Julie Buttier at julie.buttier@epr.eu.

About AEGIS Project

AEGIS is an Integrated Project (IP) within the ICT programme of FP7 and aims, through user research and prototype development with current and next-generation ICT, to develop and validate the necessary infrastructure and accessibility frameworks needed for deeply embedding accessibility into the desktop, smart phones and rich Internet applications; with a focus on the needs of users with mild, severe or complex disabilities served via assistive technologies; and to propose these results to the appropriate standards organisations for adoption, as well as to make them available through open source as much as possible.

You can now view the AEGIS project video online here.

Read More

Japan-Vietnam Workshop on Software Engineering 2010 (JVSE 2010)

JVSE 2010 is the third joint workshop on
software engineering aiming to further strengthen the progressive
R&D collaboration between Japan and Vietnam. This workshop intends
to exchange on-going research topics in software engineering and
related fields as well as to find possible research collaboration of
all participants. In particular, theoretical researchers are encouraged
to present the research results that would be implemented as tools.
Graduate students and young researchers are encouraged to present their
on-going research and initial results, and to participate to obtain new
ideas and overview of current trends. JVSE 2010 is a special event to
celebrate the 15th Anniversary of the Establishment of Faculty of
Information Technology, University of Engineering and Technology, VNU
Hanoi.

The workshop is about all aspects related to software
engineering. The topics include but are not limited to the following
categories:

• Software specification and verification


• Software testing


• Formal methods and industrial case studies


• Component-based development


• Software evolution


• Software metrics and measurement


• Software process improvement


• Real-time and fault-tolerant software


• Modern software architectures


• Multi-agent systems


• Software services and cloud computing

INVITED SPEAKERS

• Keijiro Araki, Kyushu U., Japan


• Zhenjiang Hu, NII, Japan


• Hiroyuki Iida, JAIST, Japan


• Atsushi Ohori, Tohoku U., Japan


• Kazuhiro Ogata, JAIST, Japan


• Mizuhito Ogawa, JAIST, Japan


• Koichiro Ochimizu, JAIST, Japan


• Masahiko Sakai , Nagoya U., Japan


• Hiroyuki Seki, NAIST, Japan


• Akihiko Takano, NII, Japan


• Shoji Yuen, Nagoya U. , Japan

Event Details

• Event Name: Japan-Vietnam Workshop on Software Engineering 2010 (JVSE 2010)


• Date:
  Thursday, December 9, 2010
  
  11:00p - Friday, December 10, 2010 12:00am




• Location: Room 212, E3 building, 144 Xuan Thuy rd., Cau Giay dist., Hanoi, Vietnam


• Website: http://www.coltech.vnu.edu.vn/~hoangta/jvse2010/

Read More

Sahana Camp in Hanoi Vietnam

SahanaCamp 1.2 will be held from November 2-5, 2010 in Hanoi, Vietnam, sponsored by IBM Vietnam

SahanaCamp 1.2 is a 4 day event to show participants how information technology can help with Disaster Management through the Sahana Eden Open Source Disaster Management Platform. Sahana Eden has been deployed in numerous disasters including the 2010 Haiti Earthquake and Pakistan Floods. SahanaCamp will be an intensive, interactive and participatory event, where participants will get hands on experience using the Sahana Eden Platform. The event will be facilitated by Fran Boon and Michael Howden from the Sahana Software Foundation, who have extensive experience in using technology for Disaster Management and have run similar SahanaCamps in India and Taiwan. SahanaCamp will contain general sessions for people interested in using Sahana Eden for disaster management and technical sessions for people who are interested in supporting the use of Sahana Eden in Vietnam and contributing to the Sahana Eden project.

Spaces are limited. Applications close Thursday, 14 October. Register for SahanaCamp 1.2

For more information, please contact Michael Howden or visit SahanaCamp 2.1 home page.

Read More

Web Accessibility Initiative in India: Technology, Standards and Implementation workshop

W3C India office and Yahoo! India Research & Development is organizing a Workshop on Web Accessibility Initiative
in India: Technology, Standards and Implementation on 11 December
2010, Bangalore. Workshop would provide the technology developers, web
service and solution providers, Policy makers, NGOs and users a unique
platform for understanding the common needs and implementation issues.

The special focus of workshop will be on multilingual requirements in
web accessibility area and capturing the requirements for Indian
languages as per W3C WCAG 2.0 Standards.

The details of the workshop may be referred at: http://www.w3cindia.in/wai_conf/waiweb.html .

The workshop is free of Cost and the last date for registration is 25th November 2010.

Topics to be Covered in Workshop

W3C and Web Accessibility Initiative

• Overview of Web accessibilty and role of W3C Standards


• WCAG 2.0


• WAI-Accessible Rich Internet Applications (WAI-ARIA) 1.0

Web Accessibility Status in India

• Challenges Multilingual web Access


• Adoption of W3C WCAG 2.0


• Guidelines for Indian Government websites-Roadmap from Web Accessibility respective and Accessibility of PDF and OFFICE documents


• Certification,Compliance and Evaluation tools



• Casestudy : Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment

Emerging Technology and Web Accessibility Implications

• HTML 5.0 and Accessibility


• Mobile Web and Accessibility


• Accessibility Issues for Next Generation Devices

Technology Development for Multilingual Accessibility in India

• TTS In Indian Languages



• Braille Interface in Indian Language

Business and Strategic Perspective of Web Accessibility

• Industry Session

Summary and Recommendations

Read More

Swathi Sangeethotsavam 2010

The thunderstorm lasted all night, it was raining all sunday afternoon. The lake water is rising again, I resist the idea of going for a swim. First I need to finish the discussion about cultural diversity. We wrap up at 5:30 pm and its getting dark fast. I decide to head to town for evening of music and cultural at Swathi Sangeethotsavamn instead. The music festival is held every year in the magnificent courtyard of Kuthira Malika palace in Thiruvananthapuram.We spent the evening listening to carnatic vocal concert by Mavelikara P. Subramaniam. Sitting in the courtyard of the ancient palace, listening to the music from stage glittering with oil lamps, the sweet smell of flowers and the cold rain laded wind added magic to the evening.

PS: Reminds me of a musical concert yet another rainy day.

Read More

PyCon India 2009

Most action happens on conference sidelines PyCon India 2009 is no expection. You can always watch the recordings of talks later on. Catching up with friends comes first. Sharing ideas about projects, events and just talking all things geek. Good to hear that Santhosh was interested about integrating dhvani with speech dispatcher for Orca screen reader. Sharing experiences of working with non-profits with Sayamindu and talking about accessibility issues on OLPC SUGAR. And exploring possibilities of doing Ubuntu Karmic release parties in Chennai and Bangalore with Parthan (technofreak), Renuka and Debayan.

I did catch few of the lectures of Ramakrishna on Enterprise Linux, Parthan and the presentation by the FOSSEE team.

Parthan Python newbie talk


The Mallu Gang !


Praveen shows his Android G2


Baij T-shirt with topsy turvy logo


What's Reappy ?


Jinesh checking out Samsung mobile (Q2?)


Hiran hacking my T-shirt with a pen :)






The Food was Good!



Where are the crowds ? Ah! 75 students took off to see the city!

Prabhu Ramchandran charms the crowds


The feedback !

Read More

At National Workshop on Web Accessibility in Trivandrum

Delivered a lecture about Ubuntu accessibility features and Orca screen reader at the National Workshop on Web Accessibility here in Trivandrum. I had to wrap up the usually hour long talk quickly so that I can catch the train to Bangalore to be at the Pycon India 2009 the next day.

The two day Web Accessibility workshop hosted by SPACE and Centre for Internet and Society concluded at Christ Nagar International School today. 43 participants from various Government departments and private firms took part in the workshop. The aim of the workshop was to educate web developers of Government and non Government agencies on how to develop websites that are equally accessible to people with disabilities.

Read More

Read More

National Workshop on Web Accessibility, Trivandrum September 2009

During the last National Workshop on Web Accessibility in Bangalore I said to Nirmitha (Center of Internet and Society) "Let have the next workshop in Trivandrum".

Thanks to support of Society for Promotion of Alternative Computing and Employment (SPACE), Insight ICT Centre for the differently abled and Kerala State IT Mission this event comes to Trivandrum, Kerala.

We want to take this workshop to other cities in India. If you are interested leave a comment or email me.

Announcement of National Workshop on Web Accessibility

The Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) and Society for Promotion of Alternative Computing and Employment (SPACE) are organizing a workshop on web accessibility for web developers from the public and private sector from September 25 to 26, 2009. The workshop will take place at Christ Nagar International School, Kowdiar, Thiruvananthapuram, between 09:30-17:30 hours each day.

The workshop seeks to bring together practitioners from Government Departments, as well as from small and medium enterprises across the country. The primary aim of this workshop is to demonstrate the importance of creating accessible web sites and to educate the developers of government and private web sites on how to incorporate accessibility features into new as well as existing web sites.

The training comprises both theory-oriented and practical sessions.The trainers are specialists in various aspects of web accessibility. The main focus will be on WCAG 2.0 guidelines. The workshop is for persons already involved in developing web sites with good knowledge of HTML, XML, CSS, etc. In addition to training web developers in accessibility, the workshop will also serve as a platform for capacity building by training potential accessibility trainers.

The programme is supported by Kerala State IT Mission, which runs INSIGHT - ICT Centre for the differently abled in association with SPACE.

Hurry! Interested persons are requested to register immediately as seats are limited.

Candidates may register directly on the website at http://c11.space-kerala.org/webw/

Read More

Jump-start Camp on Web Technology For Non-profits

A four-day workshop on the essentials of using open-source software for non-profit uses. Workshop content will not be demanding in terms of existing skills and will require only curiosity, enthusiasm and openness for successful participation. This workshop will act as a catalyst for concerned individuals, resources and urgent needs in the field of web technology for non-profit use. The potential for non-profits to use the potential of web-publishing, social networking, online communities and SMS will be explored through case-studies and examples as well as rapid hands-on exercises.

For this workshop the OpenSpace Pune website will be taken up and as an exercise and as a project and in the four days we will learn quick and effective ways of using free and open source software to address the needs of a network based organization like OpenSpace. Tools for networking, discussion, mass-action, advocacy and activism will be explored. Enthusiastic workshop participants will have the opportunity to continue an engagement (with a stipend and other benefits) with OpenSpace for the technology projects.

To apply email Renu Iyer at renu@openspaceindia.org with the required information requested on the events page.

Read More

Shivkumar Sharma Santoor Concert

Theo and me braved the thunderstorm to attend the opening day of 24th National Convention of SPIC MACAY here in Thiruvananthapuram. The evening started with Pandit Shivkumar Sharma Santoor concert, it brought back so many memories. It was pure delight to hear the maestro play raag megh to the sound of the rain outside. Certainly, it is an experience that I would cherish for a long time to come.

Read More

National Workshop on Web Accessibility, Bangalore June 2009

Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) has been a forerunner in advocating for a national policy for electronic and web accessibility for persons with disabilities. In addition to seeking a policy reform in this matter, we are also bolstering our advocacy efforts by organising trainings and workshops at no cost for web developers across the country to spread awareness and build capacity in this area in both the public as well as the private sectors. Our first workshop, which was organised jointly with UN Solution Exchange and supported by the NIXI, took place in Ghaziabad earlier this year.

We are organising our second workshop on web accessibility for developers at Bangalore from June 5th-7th, 2009. The workshop will take place at the CIS office on Cunningham Road. Registration is free of charge. If you or any of your colleagues are involved in developing websites and are interested in making your websites accessible to all
groups in society, including persons with disabilities (approximately 71 million Indians and 6% of the total world population), please register for this workshop at the earliest.

The trainers are experts in this field from Delhi and Bangalore and have been working in the field of accessibility for many years.

For more information and registration, please mail Nirmita Narasimhan:nirmita@cis-india.org or call: 080 40926283.

http://cis-india.org/events/national-workshop-on-web-accessibility-june-2009

Read More

2nd International Documentary and Short Film Festival of Kerala

2nd International Documentary and Short Film Festival of Kerala

19th - 25th June, 2009
Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India

The Kerala State Chalachitra Academy announces the 2nd International Documentary and Short Festival of Kerala to be conducted from the 19th-25th June 2009 at Thiruvananthapuram (formerly known as Trivandrum), Kerala, India. The festival, a unique venture in India is being organized by the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy for the Dept of Cultural Affairs, Govt. of Kerala as part of its endeavor to catalyze a vibrant documentaryand short film movement. Increasing accessibility and affordability of film and other media technology has led to a boom in the production and scope of films. The media is now used by image-makers from all walks of life to express, experiment, learn and as an effective tool to conscientise and bring about social change. The festival aims to map and reflect the exploding nature of the medium in its many facets of creativity and resistance. To participate in this unique event please read the rules and regulations and download the entry form and submit before 1st May 2009 to


Secretary

Kerala State Chalachitra Academy

Mani Bhavan

Sasthamangalam

Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala 695010


Ph: 0091 471 2310323

Fax: 0091 471 2310322


iffkoffice@yahoo.co.in, ivfkoffice@gmail.com


www.keralafilm.com


You can download the Entry Form and
Rules & Regulations.

Read More

Free Software Camp for Ngo's and Civil Society Groups in Delhi, India

Free Software Workshop for NGOs and Civil Society Groups



Effectively compute and communicate in your local language
using free and open source software tools and techniques

NGO In a Box Workshop


June 5-6,2009,Delhi and NCR,India



Call for Participation

What is NGO in a Box?


NGO-in-a-box is a collection of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) tools selected for use by non-profit organizations,along with workshops conducted to help users effectively deploy the software in their organizations.The software is distributed in down-loadable form and as a physical box set of cd's. Several customized editions of NGO-in-a-box exist to provide organizations with the software they need in relation to different topics and requirements.

This is a Call for participants for our 8th workshop.Make use of this free software workshop to enrich your knowledge and help your organization effectively leverage free software without the licensing hassles.Learn about free software components and methodologies and how to enable it in your everyday work.

Limited accommodation can be arranged for out-of-station people, on a first-come, first-serve basis. All participants will be expected to bear their own travel costs.

For details of our previous workshops, visit http://ngoinabox.mahiti.org

Organizers: This workshop is being organized jointly by Sarai,Delhi and Mahiti Infotech,Bangalore.

Read More

Santa Claus In Our Office

I discovered this video on my phone yesterday. Ivan was messing around with my phone in the FSFS.in media room last year (BTW Ivan is the cute kid in the video). He captured me chuckling when I heard Raji referring to Juan Carlos as the Santa Claus in our office. I know Juan hates to be called that, lets hope he doesn't read this post. :P

Read More

Free Software Camp for Ngo's and Civil Society Groups in India

Free Software Camp for Ngo's and Civil Society Groups

NGO In a Box


5 day residential workshop on free software tools and methodologies


March 24 - 28 ,2009,Madhya Pradesh,India



Call for Participation

What is Ngo in a Box?


NGO-in-a-box is a collection of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) tools selected for use by non-profit organizations,along with workshops conducted to help users effectively deploy the software in their organizations.The software is distributed in down-loadable form and as a physical box set of cd's. Several customized editions of NGO-in-a-box exist to provide organizations with the software they need in relation to different topics and requirements.

This is a Call for participants for our 7th workshop.Make use of this free software camp to enrich your knowledge and help your organization effectively leverage free software without the licensing hassles.Learn about free software components and methodologies and how to enable it in your everyday work.

Limited number of scholarships are available for select participants based on past work,area of expertise and ability to spread the concept to other voluntary organizations.These participants will receive free training,food and accomodation.Travel expenses will be reimbursed at the end of the workshop.

For details of our previous workshops, visit http://ngoinabox.mahiti.org

Organizers: The workshops are being organized by Mahiti, Bangalore with the support of HIVOS, Netherlands and in collaboration with Tactical Technology Collective.

Participant profile: This event is geared towards the technology professionals working in Ngo's and similar voluntary organizations; consultants and tech support groups providing IT service and support to such non governmental bodies.

The workshop will cover the following broad domains:

1. Free Software: What to consider when migrating to free and open source software(FOSS), installation of a Linux operating system, commonly used office and internet packages.




2. Open Publishing: Desktop publishing, image editing, web publishing and collaboration, content management.




3. Audio Visual: Audio-Video editing and distribution, media capture, audio visual playing tools.




4. Security: Internet security, passwords, data storage and backup, communication and encryption.

Techniques and methodologies:To help you effectively communicate with your audience in india and across the world.

Date and Place: This event will be held in the state of Madhya Pradesh from March 24 - 28, 2009. Participants are required to attend the entire event, which means arriving at the venue on
or before 24 March and leaving on 28 March evening. The exact venue will be communicated to successful applicants.

Last date for submitting application forms: March 5, 2009

Intimation of final list of participants by : March 10, 2009

Interested? Visit http://ngoinabox.mahiti.org and fill up the online application form

Read More

KAFISO Third National Short and Documentary Film Festival 2009

In a few days I would be travelling to the Third National Short & Documentary Film Festival 2009. This film festival is organized by the Karimnagar Film Society (KAFISO), the local film society of Karimnagar town in Andhra Pradesh (India). Not far from this town I started attending film screenings at our local film club (or societies as well call it in India) at very young age and two decades later I now return as a Jury of film festival. Its been a wonderful journey ! .

My last visit to Karimnagar was during the Workshop For Film Society Organisers last year. I wrote my experiences here in this blog entry. During the workshop I raised one important question about the dwindling participation of youth in the film societies movement in India. Except in the film screenings and festival in some metros, you rarely find young audience at all. And I don't see any new film Societies starting these days either, most of the active ones like the one in my hometown are long defunct.

KAFISO has really taken the right step forward by organizing this film festival in two government college in Karimnagar town, SRR Government Degree College and Women's college in Karimnagar. I hope such screenings in colleges would encourage youth take to film appreciation. On the other hand the newly formed Sircilla film society is also part of this festival (That's a good start fellows!). Watch out for this space for more news from the festival side lines.

Read More

13th IFFK Awards

Some of the films that bagged various awards at IFFK. I could quickly note down while sitting here at the closing ceremony of the event. The Mexican film Parque Vie will be the closing film. The official news is in Malayalam, here is the link
13th IFFK Awards Declared

And the Winners are

 Postcards from Leningrad
      Director: Mariana Rondon       


 Parque Vie Dir:Enrique Rivero
    (86min/Mexico/2008)
     (90min/Venezuela/2008)



Malayalam Cinema Now 

Lucky Red Seeds/Manjadikkuru
    (India/117 min/)
    Dir: Anjali Menon


Hassan Kutty award in IFFK

Lucky Red Seeds/Manjadikkuru
    (India/117 min/)
    Dir: Anjali Menon



 Firaaq Dir: Nandita Das
      (101min/Hindi/2008)

Machan Dir:Uberto Pasolini
     (109min/Sri Lanka, Germany/2008)

The Yellow House Dir:Amor Hakkar      (84min/Algeria,France/2008)


 The Imprints Dir: M.G Sasi
      (99min/Mal/2007)

Here is the Complete listing of the selected films.

Read More

Free Software for Movie industry workshop at IFFK

The Free Software for Movie industry workshop was conducted this morning as the part of 13th International Film Festival of Kerala IIFFK) 2008. Delegates, film Makers, editors, sound engineers, graphic designers and students attended this event.

Gearing up for the workshop


Juan, Anil, Arun and Paul


IFFK Creative Director Ms.Paul talks about the workshop



Arun introduces Free Software to the participants


Anil starts his lecture with the basics of Digital Film making workflow





Participants interact after the workshop


Blender installed on a participants Windows XP Laptop


Blender Basics tutorials shared

Read More