Building social technology

How technology would have made difference if focus was not just pure commercial but social enhancement?

This year Indian parliament has passed Right to education act where every child in India has a right for education. Government is suppose to make available funds for government run primary education, payment of teachers, nutritional food (mid day meal scheme) and infrastructure like Schools. It’s anybody’s guess how successful this act would be. The ministers and administration involved in education department has clearly shown lack of vision by not investing in the medium of education. Still 90 % of the schemes focus on physical based school where in some places students have to hike 10 Km every day. Its an irony India’s so called IT skills is not utilized for addressing this problems.
2010 marks the start of small hand held tablet pc segment with Apple, Dell and Samsung stealing the show. As I go through the review I can’t stop thinking of the fact that these are the perfect solution for countries like India and Africa to spread education. If mobile phones can come with 1GHZ processors (costing 20K Rupees) then definitely tablet pcs can be made in much cheaper rate and distributed among the kids.

There are two main question which people would ask for a project like this 1. How this technology would help? and 2.How to make this commercially viable?
Look at the solution below

1. How this technology would help?
As mentioned earlier students from many remote village has to trek around 10 KM to reach school. In most of the cases school building is in a dilapidated condition and with lack of basic facilities like water and electricity. With 3g enabled device students can stay connected and learn from home as well. Also, since long time students have been burden with loads of outdated printed books which can be replaced by digital contents. Also since most of the devices have audio visual communication aids it can be used for healthcare and social improvement schemes as well. Since a low powered processor is used the battery back would be a great advantage. Solar charges can be built to charge these devices.

2. How to make this commercially viable?

Cost is the main factor which acts as hindrance for such projects. But here also there are simple solutions.
1. Manufacturing cost: Mass production and use of local components would definitely reduce the cost of such devices. Electronics is cheap, it’s the commercial value of higher end chips and proprietary software which makes it the device expensive. Government should start manufacturing of such units which take the commercial and profit angle out of it
2. Commercial sponsorship: Rural market of India is one of the largest driver of economy. Rural marketing figures on the top in the marketing budget of all FMCG company. Sponsorship and advertisement through this device would enable the makers of such device earn profit and mass reach for marketers
3. Sponsor a Tablet: Sponsoring a Tablet PC can be promoted as tax saving opportunity and surely many people for opt for this option.

All it requires is a will power to make a change and use technology for social benefit. I hope one day this would be a reality in India

Stop Cribbing !

Hello All,

Last few days of my life has been quite interesting. I have suddenly realized to accept the good and bad and stop cribbing in my life. Like any other frustrated Tax payer middle class person I use to crib and complain about small things in Life. But surprising last few weeks God decided to take me for a ride. here it is

1. Crib no 1: Roads are bad in India and there is no traffic regulation
The truth: Last weekend i was zipping my car at 190 KM/HR with any hindrance except for occasional lane cutting by slow altos and maruti 800.. And on top of that no speed Guns or police to worry about.. (I dont think we will have that in 100 years in India)..Then i realized only in Autobahn in Germany you can go at such speeds.
Morale of Story: I should open my eyes ans realize that India's infrastructure has developed by leaps.

2. Crib no 2: Western countries has better life style and choice than India.
Truth: I didn't consider cost factor and affordability factor. An average salaried person in India do not have to think twice before marriage or having kids. But in Europe this is a big factor.. The cost of living is too high compared with salary..
Morale of Story: India is great

There is a saying grass is always greener on the other side. I have realized to be happy on this side :)

Inner Voice

Well ! i am not a spiritual guru or any where close to attaining nirvana i had an interesting incidence last week which provokes me to write this blog. Last Saturday i was at home relaxing ( i had no plans and it was raining outside), mom was watching her usual spiritual talks on Amrita channel.

Surprisingly i was glued to one of the program which was on Inner Voice by an Industrialist turned spiritual guru. Here are some of the things which he was talking about.

In todays digital world one finds it very difficult to stay alone and being with oneself even for ten minutes.

1. You are alone you play on TV. not any channel in particular but just surfing through channels
2. IF you get bored you plug in your ipod (even in the loo)
3. You get to internet see if people are online if not poke them through facebook or orkut
4. Still bored you take a magazine you purchased last week because you liked the cover page.
5. Still after some time you throw the magazine in a corner and take your mobile and go through the address book.

Imagine all the things we do to avoid boredom (here means sitting alone).

We feel it is a sin sitting alone and doing nothing infact it the other way around. If you are in any of the situation above you infact are lucky few having time for yourself. Its a pity we do not listen to our inner voice. Try doing these simple activities.

Go to a river side and watch the beautiful sunset. see how nature behaves- young birds chirping elder ones coming back to nest. Stop watching that in National geographic . it still happens in your backyard and your neighborhood. Go to a mountain and feel the breeze. if you are not lucky enough go to the terrace of your apartment and enjoy sitting alone and rewind your life. See what all things have you achieved in life and what all are yet to be achieved. You will find that there are a lot of stuff which you can talk to your self.. Sitting in silence and just watching the world (time) passing bye is also a good way of increasing your listening and attention skills.

I realized one thing - Having a lot of friends in your phone book or facebook is not enough. you should befriend yourself.

Funny Queens Language

Queens language? I guess almost all of us must have guessed by now that i am speaking about English language.

At this point i remember of a famous hindi film dialogue " English is a very funny language." Really over the years i have been studying and working in English language I never thought i would be writing a blog on it.

Now since i am working in a Spanish language i am realizing how people use English language and interpret them differently. Till now i though as Indian (specifically south Indian) we spoke either British or US language. Why south Indian ? We have a funny tone and end up rounding and emphasizing each word. My colleague / friend Ivan pointed out that there a third variety which is Indian english. (He was pointed towards me :) ) After pondering i realized hoe true he was.

English is such simple and devoid of rules each person can say the same sentence in different fashion. For me that's the beauty and bridges the gap between two countries. English has a great impact on not only bringing people close to each other but also help us to understand cultural nuisances.

It also opens room for some humour for eg in our Spanish class all hell breaks loose. Our trainer always ends up saying something in English having a different meaning and the whole class burst into laughter. Even our boss Ivan when first came to India me and the team in India couldn't understand more than 50 % of what he was talking (he was speaking english only the pronunciation was different).

Now i can say there is no perfect English (I am open to critics) If the receiver understand what you intend to say then your english is perfect. But what if the message is interpreted differently by different people. What if i am putting the information on website?....hmmmmmm the fight for best English continues?

( I wonder whether Spain was ever invaded by Britisher? then Indian and spanish english would have been same.......strange how history affects the language)

ROI

I am working as a Product Manager in a Spain based e-Learning company. I am about to have my first sponsored event for promotion of our product, but i am bothered about few things.

• How do i make sure my participants are not bored and make them genuinely interested in my concepts?

I have been reading many of the blog post of many CIOs and understand that most of the sponsored events ends up as time wasting, irritation power point presentation a.k.a business school presentation. Definitely one of the methods is don't talk about product but present use cases and interactive session to discuss on the domain where my product stands. Well i hope this works.

• What is ROI?
  

Tell me about it. How does any company arrive at this magical figure in a tangible way at the beginning of implementation is what I am confused? Doesn't any one care about employee training, acceptability and change management effort? I wish i could have a simple empirical formula. Alas ! I know it is not possible because every individual business is dynamic and ROI is something which you arrive after some time of implementation - say one or two years down the line.


Well Product selling and vendor management is still a challenging and satisfying work. A success case increases the morale of product companies and a good partnership always helps Clients in achieving their goals.

Bridging the Gap between and vendors and buyers is a continuing, evolving and exciting process.