two months into my internship, there are so many questions:

1) Is scratch only about the programming skills and the skills to talk and collaborate - what about creative expression?

2) Thinking like a designer = "computational skills" (as explained by jeanette wing) ? 

3) How are these skills different from the new media literacies or the skills that people generally keep referring to as 21st century skills? Do these need consolidation?

4) Why does the teacher think its important these are important skills?

March 8, 2010 - Dharavi District Redevelopment: A Symbol of the Future and a Celebration of Cultural Heritage | The 3rd Teacher

For the first time in human history, one out of every two people lives in a city. One out of three of these city dwellers lives in the informal environment—a slum. Home to nearly one million people, Dharavi is one of the most densely populated areas on the planet.

OWP/P | Cannon Design was engaged by Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architects to participate on a collaborative team working for the redevelopment the Dharavi district in Mumbai. Given the massive scale of the project, each firm on the team led specific components: the master plan concept was prepared by Chicago Consultants Studio; the commercial market-rate fabric development by AS + GG, and OWP/P | Cannon Design oversaw the tenement housing fabric development, including planning for new schools.

Education across the globe is transforming from a pedagogy that trains children to be information receptors to a pedagogy that trains future generations to be knowledge seekers. An environment that supports “multiple intelligences” is imperative—it must provide a diversity of teaching and learning spaces to support a wide range of learners. Flow and agility will be intrinsic in these spaces so that the knowledge sharing and relationship between teacher and learner is constantly enhanced.

Both primary and secondary schools would be developed using the same base building module, allowing for ease of transition between the school types as the demand for education shifts based on demographics. A primary design driver was maximization of efficiency and space so that every area within the building supports teaching and learning.

For the primary school level, our concept is based on the academy model, which is a series of 500-student schools. Primary schools will be embedded within residential buildings and dispersed across Dharavi so that students can attend neighborhood-based schools. The schools will have open community space at the ground floor, in order to strengthen community ties to formal education. A medical clinic is planned at the ground floor of the primary school as a fully functional clinic that also amplifies the belief in educating the whole child.

Secondary school students in Mumbai’s slums have some of the lowest graduation rates in the country. The proposed program for secondary education will be based on an apprentice/entrepreneurship model, whereby students can spend time in adjacent commercial, healthcare and merchant communities in preparation for future career and trade opportunities.

Ye hai Mumbai meri jaan

 

(download)

 

Pic 1: Day 1 of the conference at the Industrial Design Center, IIT Bombay. Flower decoration welcoming guests. Must have been some hard work.

Pic 2: Day 1 Exhibits along with the poster presentations. This one's by Nina Sabnani inspired from the traditional Kavaad

Pic 3: Day 1 Exhibits next to poster presentations. This one was particularly interesting. Sort of like an inspiration of wht we want to do further with our own project.

Pic 4: Day1 Exhibits next to poster presentations. Honestly, this was confusing to me and I don't know how a kid is going to reach to the top of the board. 

Pic 5: Again something that we wanted to implement for our own project. good to know, we're thinking similar to what the world is :)

Pic 6: Out in Mumbai. Hirandani Upscale.

Pic 7: European buildings and mumbai autos :)

Pic 8: Day 2 at the conference. More flower decorations. The symbols went well with my presentation's formatting :)

Pic 9: Day 3 Route map for the local train

Pic 10 and 11: At some mall. Go Gola.. too cute to be TM violation.

Pic 12: Targeted and relevant marketing in the locals. A guy selling accessories in a ladies compartment of the local.

Pic 13: Old cameras being sold on the road. The guy started at 6k for the antique hasselblad(?) came down to 3k and then to 1.5k. Still didn't buy it.

More pictures on twitter :)

All in all, the presentation went super well and I had some very good time at Mumbai - thanks to my amazing company :) 

NetSpeak (via @Dharmishta)

I came across an interesting (and huge!) list of acronyms on netlingo.com. I created a list of terms and definitions the site’s definitions that I found:

*Culturally interesting (indicative of cultural phenomena or paradigms)
*Technologically referential (taking certain degree of technological understanding)
*Funny


My comments are (in the parenthesis).


! I have a comment
*$ Starbucks
02 Your (or my) two cents worth
1174 Nude club (not a number abbrv. like leet—made to look like an address so parent’s dont know)
404 I haven’t a clue (i love this one, it’s like a 404 error for a human!)
511 Too much information
8 Oral sex
9 Parent is watching
99 Parent is no longer watching (i hadn’t seen 9 as the signifier for this… maybe you have)
?^ hook up?
A/S/L/P Age/Sex/Location/Picture (picture is new since i was a teen!)
A3 Anyplace, Anywhere, Anytime
AAAAA American Association Against Acronym Abuse
ACD Alt Control Delete
AFZ Acronym Free Zone
ALOL Actually Laughing Out Loud
AOB Abuse Of Bandwidth
ASLMH Age/Sex/Location/Music/Hobbies
AYV Are You Vertical? (as in, are you awake?)
banana code word for penis (not obvious?)
BD Big Deal -or- Baby Dance -or- Brain Drain
BDBI5M Busy Daydreaming Back In 5 Minutes
BDC Big Dumb Company -or- Big Dot Com
BEG Big Evil Grin
beos Nudge
BIBO Beer In, Beer Out
Blkbry Blackberry
BM Byte Me
BOB Battery Operated Boyfriend (vibrator, obvs.)
BOCTAAE But Of Course There Are Always Exceptions
BOFH Bastard Operator From Hell
book it means cool
BOTEC Back Of The Envelope Calculation
BSOD Blue Screen of Death
BTWBO Be There With Bells On (not by the way, body odor?)
BTWITIAILWU By The Way I Think I Am In Love With You
BWL Bursting With Laughter
BWO Black, White or Other (there isn’t a def. for this one, but the see also is for gay/straight male/female so they’ve got to mean race…)
C-P Sleepy
CD9 Code 9 - it means parents are around
CICYHW Can I Copy Your Home Work
CID Consider It Done -or- Crying In Disgrace (this could leave some room for miscommunication…)
Cof$ Church of Scientology
CRBT Crying Real Big Tears
CRTLA Can’t Remember the Three-Letter Acronym
CT Can’t Talk
CTMQ Chuckle To Myself Quietly
CTO Check This Out
CU See You -or- Cracking Up
CUOL See You OnLine
CUWTA Catch Up With The Acronyms (seriously?)
CWYL Chat With You Later
CX Cancelled
CY Calm Yourself
CYA Cover Your Ass -or- See Ya
CYE Check your Email
CYL See You Later
CYM Check Your Mail
CYO See You Online
DAMHIKT Don’t Ask Me How I Know That
DFLA Disenhanced Four-Letter Acronym (that is, a TLA)
DGTG Don’t Go There Girlfriend
DGYF Damn Girl You’re Fine
DINK Double Incomes, No Kids
DIRFT Do It Right the First Time
DISTO Did I Say That Outloud?
DNC Does Not Compute
DRIB Don’t Read If Busy
DWB Don’t Write Back
DWBH Don’t Worry Be Happy
DWPKOTL Deep Wet Passionate Kiss On The Lips
DWS Driving While Stupid
DWWWI Surfing the World Wide Web while intoxicated
DYFM Dude You Fascinate Me
DYHAB Do You Have A Boyfriend?
DYHAG Do You Have A Girlfriend
EMRTW Evil Monkey’s Rule The World (i think they mean the US government?)
EOM End Of Message
EOT End Of Thread (meaning: end of discussion)
EWIE -mailing While Intoxicated
FAWC For Anyone Who Cares
FDGB Fall Down Go Boom
FE Fatal Error
FOAG F*** Off And Google (meaning to go “search the web”)
FOMCL Falling Off My Chair Laughing
FRED F***ing Ridiculous Electronic Device
FWB Friends With Benefits
GAFYK Get Away From Your Keyboard
GAGFI Gives A Gay First Impression
GALHER Get A Load of Her
GALHIM Get A Load of Him
GANB Getting Another Beer
GD&R Grinning, Ducking and Running
GGGG God, God, God, God
GOS Gay Or Straight
HBIB Hot But Inappropriate Boy
HCC Holy Computer Crap
HOHA HOllywood HAcker
IDST I Didn’t Say That
IITYWIMWYBMAD If I Tell You What It Means Will You Buy Me A Drink
IKYABWAI I Know You Are But What Am I?
ILICISCOMK I Laughed, I Cried, I Spat/Spilt Coffee/Crumbs/Coke On My Keyboard
IPN I’m Posting Naked
ITMA It’s That Man Again
ITS Intense Text Sex
IYFEG Insert Your Favorite Ethnic Group
KIBO Knowledge In, Bullsh** Out
KPC Keeping Parents Clueless
LDTTWA Let’s Do The Time Warp Again
LJBF Let’s Just Be Friends
LSV Language, Sex, Violence
LTHTT Laughing Too Hard To Type
LYLAS Love You Like A Sister (finally one i recognize!)
mhhm uh huh -or- yeah (does this need a translation?)
mlm giving the digital middle finger (whoa, it’s visual…)
MMYT Mail Me Your Thoughts
NAB Not A Blonde
NIFOC Nude In Front Of The Computer
NNWW Nudge, Nudge, Wink, Wink
NWAL Nerd Without A Life
OMB Oh My Buddha
OMIK Open Mouth, Insert Keyboard (open mouth, insert foot?)
RTBM Read The Bloody Manual
RTBS Reason To Be Single
RU/18 Are You Over 18?
RUMCYMHMD Are You on Medication Cause You Must Have Missed a Dose (seriously??)
SM Senior Moment
SMIM Send Me an Instant Message
SMOP Small Matter of Programming
SNAG Sensitive New Age Guy
SNERT Snotty Nosed Egotistical Rotten Teenager
SSEWBA Someday Soon, Everything Will Be Acronyms
SSIA Subject Says It All
STBX Soon To Be Ex
s^ what’s up? (i used to use the analog version of this on notes in middle school—the hand drawn up arrow)
TYCLO Turn Your CAPS LOCK Off
WAK What A Kiss
WAMBAM Web Application Meets Brick And Mortar
WILB Workplace Internet Leisure Browsing
WISP Winning Is So Pleasureable
WIT Wordsmith In Training
WLMIRL Would Like to Meet In Real Life
YAOTM Yet Another Off Topic Message
YAUN Yet Another Unix Nerd
YSAN You’re Such A Nerd
^5 High Five

Tata Swatch - world's cheapest water filter

 

Tata Chemicals launches ‘Tata Swach’
Mumbai / Kolkata: December 7, 2009

World’s most cost-effective water purifier improves affordability of safe drinking water for millions of Indian families

Pure water is one of the world’s most precious natural resources. With much of India’s population denied access to safe drinking water, the delivery of safe, convenient and affordable water purification is one of the biggest social and technological challenges in the country today.

Responding to this challenge, Tata Chemicals today unveils ‘Tata Swach’ – a unique and innovative water purifier. Requiring no energy or running water to operate, an early version of the product first saw the light of day as part of the Tsunami relief efforts. Today, the replaceable filter-based product, which is entirely portable and based on low-cost natural ingredients, delivers safe drinking water at a new market benchmark of Rs30 per month for a family of five.

Speaking at the launch, Ratan Tata, Chairman, Tata Sons, said: “Safe drinking water is the most basic of human needs. The social cost of water contamination is already enormous and increases every year. Although today’s announcement is about giving millions more people affordable access to safe water, it is an important step in the long-term strategy to find a solution to provide affordable access to safe water for all.”

Tata Swach is the result of years of collaboration between several Tata companies, including TCS, Tata Chemicals and Titan Industries. Based on an innovative concept developed by the TCS Innovation Labs – TRDDC, the Swach technology combines low-cost ingredients such as rice husk ash with superior nanotechnology. The efficiency of the product has been rigorously tested to meet internationally accepted water purification standards.

Water-borne disease is the single greatest threat to global health, with diarrhoea, jaundice, typhoid, cholera, polio, and gastroenteritis spread by contaminated water. According to a 2007 United Nations report, half of the world’s hospital beds are occupied by patients suffering from water-borne diseases. In India, such diseases cause more than 1.5 times the deaths caused by Aids and double the deaths caused by road accidents.

Built around a bulb-like water purifier made of natural elements like rice husk ash impregnated with nano-silver particles, Tata Swach is convenient to use. It produces clean and safe water without using electric power or running water, which is often not available in rural areas. The cartridge bulb is packed with a purification medium which has the capability to kill bacteria and disease-causing organisms. It can purify up to 3000 litres of water after which the cartridge stops water flow. The water purifier gives the user enough lead time for cartridge replacement. Fourteen patents have been filed for the technology and product.

Commenting on the launch, R Gopalakrishnan, vice chairman, Tata Chemicals, said, “Safe drinking water is a basic human right. Tata Swach combines technology, performance, convenience and above all affordability to serve this basic human right of millions of consumers. The company has made affordability an important part of its innovation efforts. Tata Swach can play its part in the national efforts to reduce water-borne diseases.”

S Ramadorai, vice chairman, TCS, said: “It was the pressing need of people trapped by the effects of natural disasters such as the Tsunami that saw the deployment of one of the earliest versions of this product. A key part was the insight that a natural material like rice husk can be processed to significantly reduce water-borne germs and odours when impure water is passed through it. At TCS, we are enormously proud to have played our part in originating this technology which TCL has made into a consumer-friendly offering.”

Speaking on the superior technology used in developing Tata Swach, Murali Sastry, chief scientific officer, Innovation Center and one of the topmost nano-scientists in the world said, “It is an enormous privilege to be a part of the development team on a project which has the potential of positively impacting the lives of millions of people globally.”

R Mukundan, managing director, Tata Chemicals, said, “With the launch of Tata Swach, we are taking a small step towards fulfilling our Chairman’s vision of making safe drinking water available for all at an affordable cost. Just as Tata Chemicals dedicated itself to the eradication of goitre with Tata Salt, so with the launch of this product we are committing ourselves to work towards wiping out the curse of water-borne diseases.”

 

 

 

 

Why I think India has the biggest shot at being the most green country

the video here demonstrates how it is possible and easy to have less trash and be green. The end of the video says Reuse, Repair, Repurpose and be Responsible. Whether Indians are responsible or not is a bigger topic for discussion and ought to be discussed perhaps somewhere else. But I can say without a doubt that Indians have an innate need to repair, reuse and repurpose.

Repair: Almost everything you posses - a bag, purse, watch, mobile, umbrella to any piece of electronic machinery's can not be used for anything less than 5 - 20 years, depending on what the article is. If it fails within three years - its a piece of junk and the company that produced that product may not be trusted anymore.

Reuse: 'Pass it on' is a culture strongly followed in India. An elder sibling passes on his/her books to the younger one(s). So are clothes, although this might be less frequent. Often when the youngest one has grown out of them, they are given away in exchange for stainless steel utensils.

while on the topic of utensils, you'll find that in every Indian housewives kitchen, almost all utensils are made of steel or aluminium and therefore reusable. Breakfast and lunch packs are also packed mostly in steel boxes - which are reusable (as opposed to most zip it bags)

Repurpose: "Never throw away something that is clean or not smelly - for it can be repurposed" A CD that won't work anymore can be turned into a beautiful show piece oin the hall. Those emboidered patches of the salwar that won't fit anyone anymore can be repurposed to make the table mats llok prettier, the saree thats torn(the one which the maid refuses to take cos she's just too cool for that :)) can be repurposed into a doormat. I swear by the last one, a doormat my grandma knitted with my mom's torn cotton sari has lasted for nearly 5 years now. Its washable and and serves the purpose perfectly.

However, this is changing.. Western thoughts/objects have started to make us think that plastic is cooler. This needs to be turned around and we need to go back to our previous ways of re-purposing, repairing and reusing.