I know there are lots of people talking about the fact that Google has just announced that the "VOICE" option will be available as part of gmail.... actually, this is "stale" news IMHO. Google talk plugin has been available for a fairly long time and things like VOIP utilities (like voice-to-speech conversions etc) have also been available. It probably is going to see more mainline usage now.
However, one of the other announcements ie. availability of data analysis API (although only in the US on an invitation basis for now) is probably more revolutionary - assuming this works as expected.
Basically, this would allow for anyone who has access to raw data to push these to the "google cloud" and come up with some predictable data points ie. what if analysis for free !
Yes, this does assume that the data is going to get loaded onto the web, that someone will push and pull back these analysis structure etc. However, the availability of these utils is surely going to change some "real time" dynamics ?
Can you imagine that I can not only do route planning, I can also put together some model where I can also produce results on traffic behavior based on some past patterns ?
Or, to our detriment, someone is going to start "pushing" their choice of "wine & cheese" the next time you are going past a shop at a particular time of the week ?
As with most of cutting edge - this, again, comes with a double edge ?
Friday, August 27, 2010
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Learning new languages : Are we forgeting this due to dis-use ?
We, the family, decided to step out for a quick lunch today. Given that it was an unplanned decision on the way back home, we made our way to the neighborhood "New Shanti Sagar". For those who're unaware, these are local vegetarian food joint that are fairly ubiquitous in Bangalore suburbs.
While we were having soup (that comes with the set meal), I watched around. There were 3 neighboring tables. One on our right had a father and son pair who were clearly Malayalam speaking. They conversed in a combination of English and Malayalam (just as we were doing a Kannada + English combo at our table). In front of us were a team clearly from the north of India. These folks were conversing in Hindi.
The captain taking the orders came around and seemed to pick the language of the table by some logic. He took the order from the pair next to us in English. Ditto for us until we ordered in Kannada and then he switched to Kannada all the way through. For the folks from the north - he started taking the order in Hindi.
I had observed the above with no special thought at all - it was "normal" in my mind - until an "Anglo-saxon" couple walked in. Suddenly, the equation seemed to change....
- The waiter and captain seemed to fuss around in English, while the couple were making a fantastic effort in trying to speak "Kannada".
- The Hindi speaking team switched to a combo of English and Hindi (seemed to automatically include Hindi)
- The father and son pair started to use more of Malayalam
The most natural folks were the foreigners who continued to struggle through Kannada interspersed with English and signs....(lesser spice etc)
What struck me most was
- The lack of efforts on the part of the other folks (from within India) in trying to use the local language
- The apparent "need" to switch the level of use in their own mother-tongue in front of visitors
IMHO - we'd have a more casual and better world if people just followed their natural instincts to communicate just as tourists would ?
While we were having soup (that comes with the set meal), I watched around. There were 3 neighboring tables. One on our right had a father and son pair who were clearly Malayalam speaking. They conversed in a combination of English and Malayalam (just as we were doing a Kannada + English combo at our table). In front of us were a team clearly from the north of India. These folks were conversing in Hindi.
The captain taking the orders came around and seemed to pick the language of the table by some logic. He took the order from the pair next to us in English. Ditto for us until we ordered in Kannada and then he switched to Kannada all the way through. For the folks from the north - he started taking the order in Hindi.
I had observed the above with no special thought at all - it was "normal" in my mind - until an "Anglo-saxon" couple walked in. Suddenly, the equation seemed to change....
- The waiter and captain seemed to fuss around in English, while the couple were making a fantastic effort in trying to speak "Kannada".
- The Hindi speaking team switched to a combo of English and Hindi (seemed to automatically include Hindi)
- The father and son pair started to use more of Malayalam
The most natural folks were the foreigners who continued to struggle through Kannada interspersed with English and signs....(lesser spice etc)
What struck me most was
- The lack of efforts on the part of the other folks (from within India) in trying to use the local language
- The apparent "need" to switch the level of use in their own mother-tongue in front of visitors
IMHO - we'd have a more casual and better world if people just followed their natural instincts to communicate just as tourists would ?
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Tour of select government schools in Madanpalle, AP : Mixed bag / mixed reaction
The last 2 days saw Subbu (key member of Sikshana) and I visiting a number of schools that we've adopted in the Madanapalle area of AP. While, for Subbu, this was a follow up meeting, it was a "brand-new" experience for me. Given my lack of local language (Telegu) skills, my role was more of an observer than a real player.
I came back with mixed feelings : Some good / positive outcomes where we (Sikshana) seems to have made a dent and some real worrying points. The worrying points first....
a. In 4 of the 7 schools (particular area), we found a couple of students (typically boys !) being classified as MR ie. euphemism for Mentally Retarded by the local teachers. These were all for class 4 students. While it is certainly not rare to find these in government schools, what was shocking for me was....
- The ratio of such classification ie > 15% in some of the schools
- The "casual" manner in which these kids were being discussed in front of the other students. Esp. the usage of words like "duffer" etc.
- Resignation / acceptance on the part of the teachers that they (the students) were in some way beyond redemption and hence the need to exclude them in counts of any kind for literacy levels.
There is a definite need for some kind of an independent survey and support structure in these schools. Given that the classifications I saw were already at class 4 (typically 8-10 age group), I'm afraid that some of these branding would have already settled into the psyche of the kid in question ?
b. There seems to be growing resignation on the part of the government teacher (maybe as a result of years of non-involvement) that they have NO SAY in the structure of pedagogy / testing process etc. Driving to a distinct lack of ownership. Case in point :the new "benchmark" tests
- There has been a new introduction of something called the "Benchmark" test for class 4 that seems to have almost ZERO relevance to the field situation. In this test, a class 4 student is "benchmarked" on class 4 syllabus !. The baseline is not even class 3 where I'd see some logic to the process ?
- The marks / questions and gradation all are not linked to each other ?
- The teachers, when questioned, state that they've raised this at their internal meetings, but, have not got a remedial message. All are busy either administrating these tests (one more in the series) or justifying the results !
More importantly, there seemed to be a certain level of resignation on the part of teachers to the fact that the government would eventually "privatize" the whole primary education process and hence there was no real incentive to "voice" their opinions ?
There were however, some silver linings. We were thrilled to find a school which had ALL (100% of the students in class 4), capable of reading / writing Telugu fluently.
As Subbu commented : this was a real Independence celebration for the class ie 100% literacy
I came back with mixed feelings : Some good / positive outcomes where we (Sikshana) seems to have made a dent and some real worrying points. The worrying points first....
a. In 4 of the 7 schools (particular area), we found a couple of students (typically boys !) being classified as MR ie. euphemism for Mentally Retarded by the local teachers. These were all for class 4 students. While it is certainly not rare to find these in government schools, what was shocking for me was....
- The ratio of such classification ie > 15% in some of the schools
- The "casual" manner in which these kids were being discussed in front of the other students. Esp. the usage of words like "duffer" etc.
- Resignation / acceptance on the part of the teachers that they (the students) were in some way beyond redemption and hence the need to exclude them in counts of any kind for literacy levels.
There is a definite need for some kind of an independent survey and support structure in these schools. Given that the classifications I saw were already at class 4 (typically 8-10 age group), I'm afraid that some of these branding would have already settled into the psyche of the kid in question ?
b. There seems to be growing resignation on the part of the government teacher (maybe as a result of years of non-involvement) that they have NO SAY in the structure of pedagogy / testing process etc. Driving to a distinct lack of ownership. Case in point :the new "benchmark" tests
- There has been a new introduction of something called the "Benchmark" test for class 4 that seems to have almost ZERO relevance to the field situation. In this test, a class 4 student is "benchmarked" on class 4 syllabus !. The baseline is not even class 3 where I'd see some logic to the process ?
- The marks / questions and gradation all are not linked to each other ?
- The teachers, when questioned, state that they've raised this at their internal meetings, but, have not got a remedial message. All are busy either administrating these tests (one more in the series) or justifying the results !
More importantly, there seemed to be a certain level of resignation on the part of teachers to the fact that the government would eventually "privatize" the whole primary education process and hence there was no real incentive to "voice" their opinions ?
There were however, some silver linings. We were thrilled to find a school which had ALL (100% of the students in class 4), capable of reading / writing Telugu fluently.
As Subbu commented : this was a real Independence celebration for the class ie 100% literacy
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Indian style innovation ie. Jugaad : Alive & kicking
Over the weekend, I was in BR Hills (Biligiri Rangana Hills) in Yelandur taluk of Karnataka with some friends. We reached there post 4:30 PM and it was almost sun-down by the time we got to the top.
For those who've not been there : it is a great view to see miles and miles of green forest + rolling hills in all directions esp. with the orange hue of the setting sun on the "hillock enveloping" clouds.
Given the picturesque setting, it was obvious that there would be some professional photographers who'd want to click snaps of tourists (with the right background ?) for a fee.
What caught our attention was not all of the above, but the 2 large boxes that were placed on a jutting rock in the center of the clearing. These boxes had a whole lot of people around it all "oohing" and "aahing". Curiosity piqued we walked up to the set of boxes and realized that it actually was a colour printer covered on all sides with wooden slats ie. weatherproofed !
It took us a few minutes to realize that we were actually looking at the Indian version of instant photography !.
The printer in the center was the place the couple of photographers would zip to post a "photo session" and print (for a price) copies of the individual tourists. The second box was a portable UPS for powering this printer !
Clearly, Indian "Jugaad" is alive and kicking. While I'm sure there will be a lot of people who'd comment on the lack of portability, unwieldiness of operation etc, the photographers themselves, seemed very nonchalant. They were showing off crisp photographs and doing some brisk business.
Hats off and power to the spirit of innovation....
For those who've not been there : it is a great view to see miles and miles of green forest + rolling hills in all directions esp. with the orange hue of the setting sun on the "hillock enveloping" clouds.
Given the picturesque setting, it was obvious that there would be some professional photographers who'd want to click snaps of tourists (with the right background ?) for a fee.
What caught our attention was not all of the above, but the 2 large boxes that were placed on a jutting rock in the center of the clearing. These boxes had a whole lot of people around it all "oohing" and "aahing". Curiosity piqued we walked up to the set of boxes and realized that it actually was a colour printer covered on all sides with wooden slats ie. weatherproofed !
It took us a few minutes to realize that we were actually looking at the Indian version of instant photography !.
The printer in the center was the place the couple of photographers would zip to post a "photo session" and print (for a price) copies of the individual tourists. The second box was a portable UPS for powering this printer !
Clearly, Indian "Jugaad" is alive and kicking. While I'm sure there will be a lot of people who'd comment on the lack of portability, unwieldiness of operation etc, the photographers themselves, seemed very nonchalant. They were showing off crisp photographs and doing some brisk business.
Hats off and power to the spirit of innovation....
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)