Web4All - Your place in cyber SPACE

FSF India, SPACE and the National Institute of Technology, Calicut, Kerala, is organising a National Conference on Free Software and Education at Kozhikode (formerly Calicut) during September 10-12. Faculty members from some of the eminent institutes in India and abroad will speak on the need for using Free Software in education ...

Insight is conducting a four-day class on ‘Introduction to HTML’ to the master trainers here. HTML is the most popular markup language for creating a website. A website is a virtual space for presenting a matter in a way that it turns on the visual modality of a person. But the imagery spins that most websites resort to are immaterial for a visually challenged person. The HTML lessons at Insight is a prerequisite and an attempt at discovering how a visually challenged person perceives a visual dominated realm. The class that began on 16 August will conclude on 19 August. Insight will assess the post-session performance of the participants to identify the potentiality of an advanced course in HTML.

 

The members of Free Software club of VHSS Irimpanam (SSK) localized tuxpaint. The detailed how to on compiling tuxpaint in malayalam is available in the school website.

Participants of the Insight training programme took the exams administered by IGNOU on 7 August 2010. Twenty one visually challenged students, including students of the fourth batch of the two-month training programme, appeared for the test. The examination was superintended by Prof. T U K Menon, programme-in-charge officer, IGNOU.

 

Seventeen students of the fourth batch of Communication and Soft Skill Development programme bid goodbye to Insight on August 6. A tearful ceremony marked the farewell day with the students sharing their remembrances of 60 days of learning and fun at Insight. They thanked each and every member of the Insight staff for “being the light of their eyes”, the light that mined a path, which Insight believes will change their lives forever, if only they walk on it. Some of the Insight members recollected their mellow and bitter memories of the past two months. There was a lot said but much more unsaid and only a few teardrops could speak of the genial aura that environed Insight. The students gifted Insight with a chiming clock with 12 melodies as a memento. Now, when the clock chimes its rhythm to intimate the hour that lingered and lapsed, Insight is reminded of those unseeing and half-closed eyes that looked into the alchemistic days ahead with a bit of blue sky. Someone once rightly said the best things said come last.

 

A sensitization programme on the exploitation of technology for the betterment of marginalized section of people in Kerala was held at Sociology Department, University of Kerala on 17 July. It was attended by more than 40 students of M.S.W and M.A. (Sociology) streams of the university. The programme started at 10.30 am with an introduction by Prof. Manu Bhaskar (Head of the Department, Sociology). Sri. James Mathew, project co-ordinator, Insight, delivered a talk on the activities of the Insight project. He highlighted the issues faced by the visually challenged community and requested the help of the attendees, quantitatively establishing many of the issues that were identified as part of their project work.

Sri. Prinson delivered a presentation on Village Documentation and Community Computing (VDCC) project. He described the rationale behind VDCC and elaborated on its current activities in Munnar. He requested the students to come up with ideas for replicating similar models in other districts.

നമസ്കാരം,

2009-2010- അദ്ധ്യയന വര്‍ഷത്തില്‍ എന്റെ ക്ലാസില്‍ പഠിച്ചിരുന്ന മുഹമ്മദ് രിഫായിയുടെ രചനകള്‍ “പൂമൊട്ടു്” എന്ന പേരില്‍ പുസ്തകമാക്കി, കഴിഞ്ഞ മാസം പ്രകാശനം ചെയ്തു. ഗണിത ക്ലാസിലും പുസ്തകം വായിച്ചിരിക്കാന്‍  ഇ‍ഷ്ടപ്പെടുന്ന കുട്ടിയാണു് രിഫായി. അതു് അവന്റെ എഴുത്തിലും വ്യക്തമാണു്. ആ മികവാണു് ഒരു പുസ്തകമായി ഇറക്കാന്‍ എന്നെ പ്രേരിപ്പിച്ചതു്. കൂടുതല്‍ വിവരങ്ങളും, പുസ്തകത്തിന്റെ ഡിജിറ്റല്‍ പതിപ്പും ബ്ലോഗില്‍ ഇട്ടിട്ടു​​ണ്ടു്.

വായിച്ചു് അഭിപ്രായം എഴുതുമല്ലോ?

http://ghssthrikkavu.wordpress.com/

നന്ദി
നിര്‍മ്മല ടിച്ചര്‍

nirmala narayanan k i <nirmalaown@gmail.com>

Honourable Chief Minister of Kerala Sri. V S Achuthanandhan inaugurated the fourth phase of the Insight project at Mascot Hotel in Thiruvananthapuram on 12 July 2010. The felicitation of the Insight students who cleared the IGNOU exams was also held. Forty five students received IGNOU certificate. The CM presented certificates to six students who scored more than 80 per cent in the test. In his address, he congratulated Insight on its three successful years. He has offered complete support from the part of the government for the smooth functioning of Insight. Dr. Rathan U Kelkar I A S, Director, Kerala State IT Mission, delivered the welcome speech and Dr. Ajay Kumar I A S, Principal Secretary, IT Department, gave the presidential address. Dr. Ajay Kumar suggested that Insight should strive to develop into a national centre for providing ICT training to the differently abled. The keynote address was given by Sri. V N Rajashekharan Pillai, Vice Chancellor, IGNOU. Sri. Amarnath Raja, board member, SPACE, Smt. Latha Pillai, Pro-Vice Chancellor, IGNOU, and Sri. Sajeevan C, representative, Kerala Federation of the Blind, felicitated the event. Dr. K S Divakaran Nair, Regional Director, IGNOU, marked the vote of thanks.

 

The monthly meeting of Thiruvananthapuram unit of Free Software Users Group (FSUG) was held at the Insight Resource Centre in Vellayambalam on 10 July 2010. Along with FSUG members, staff and visually challenged students of Insight took part in the meet.

The ball was set to roll with the participants introducing themselves. Visually challenged persons shared their experiences on using GNU/Linux. Discussion comparing the accessibility tools in Linux and their proprietary counterparts followed. Suggestions that came up include providing added support and improvement of accessibility tools like ORCA. The vivid participants kept the discussions alive and the meet concluded two hours later than the scheduled time.

 

നമ്മുടെ മുന്‍ മാനേജരും ഹെ‍‍ഡ്​മാസ്റ്ററുമായിരുന്ന വി.കെ. അബ്ദുല്‍ഖാദര്‍മാസ്റ്റര്‍ ഇന്നലെ രാത്രി ഒന്നര മണിയോടെ മരണപ്പെട്ടു.
ഉദര സംബന്ധമായ അസുഖത്തെത്തുടര്‍ന്ന് കുറച്ചു ദിവസമായി ഇടപ്പള്ളി അമൃത ഇന്‍സ്റ്റിറ്റ്യൂട്ടില്‍ ചികിത്സയിലായിരുന്നു. 1991 മുതല്‍ 2000 വരെ സ്കൂളിന്റെ ഹെഡ്​മാസ്റ്ററും പിന്നീട് മാനേജരുമായി സ്തുത്യര്‍ഹമായ സേവമനുഷ്ടിച്ചിരുന്നു ഇദ്ദേഹം. സര്‍വ്വീസില്‍ നിന്നും വിരമിച്ച ശേഷം തൃശൂര്‍ വടക്കേക്കാട് ഇംഗ്ലീഷ് ഹയര്‍ സെക്കന്ററി സ്കൂളിന്റെ പ്രിന്‍സിപ്പലായി ജോലി ചെയ്തിരുന്ന ഇദ്ദേഹം ഇപ്പോള്‍ തളിക്കുളത്തെ ഒരു സ്കൂളിന്റെ പ്രിന്‍സിപ്പലായിരുന്നു. നമ്മുടെ ഹയര്‍സെകന്ററിയില്‍ ജോലി ചെയ്യുന്ന നിസ്താര്‍ മുഹമ്മദ് അടക്കം നാലു മക്കളുണ്ട്. എടവനക്കാട് വടക്കേവീട്ടില്‍ കുടുംബാംഗമാണ് പരേതന്‍. ഖബറടക്കം ഇന്നു രാവിലെ 11.30ന് കുഴുപ്പിള്ളി ജുമ്അത്ത് പള്ളി ഖബര്‍സ്ഥാനില്‍ നടത്തി.

Participants of the Insight training programme attended the second set of exams conducted by IGNOU on 29 June 2010. 18 students appeared for the test that was held in two batches. Prof. T U K Menon, programme-in-charge officer of IGNOU, administered the exam procedures.

 

The final one of the district level workshops on Insight was held in Trichur, the cultural capital of Kerala, on 30 June 2010. IT @ School Project Office was the venue of the event. Sri. Jobson Abraham, master trainer, IT @ School, delivered the inaugural address. Nearly 25 people participated in the workshop. The audience hailed the efforts of Insight on empowering the visually challenged and urged to extend its activities for the betterment of the speech and hearing impaired.

 

Thiruvananthapuram: Travancore Hall in Technopark was spot for a different job fair on Monday, the 28^th of June, from any of the ones that it had hosted so far. The candidates of the job fair were visually challenged people hailing from different parts of the state. Insight and Kerala State IT Mission jointly organized the job fair. Seven IT companies and 45 Insight students participated. M K Solutions, a start up company, and LetsGoTravel, travel solution providers, have offered placements to four candidates. Among the four, two will be working on a project that will be outsourced to Insight. MobME, a mobile media and entertainment company, has also assured to employ two persons after identifying suitable positions in their firm. Ariva Med Data Infotech, Zyphix Technologies, Aceware Technologies and Attinad Software Pvt. Ltd. are the other companies that took part in the event.

 

The feedback from the delegates of the companies were highly encouraging as the event could bring a positive mindset on employing the visually challenged in the IT sector. The basic computing skills and confidence level of some of the candidates took the delegates by surprise. All the companies that participated in the job fair have agreed for prospective alliance with Insight for employing its visually challenged students. The job fair undoubtedly succeeded in stimulating a genuine attitude in the employers about the abilities of the differently abled.

 

എസ്.എസ്.എല്‍.സി. 2010

1. വൈപ്പിന്‍ ഉപജില്ലയില്‍ ഏറ്റവു കൂടുതല്‍ കുട്ടികള്‍ ജയിച്ച സ്കൂള്‍ (260)

2. ഏറ്റവും കൂടുതല്‍ ഫുള്‍ A+ (5)

People from varied credentials attended the district workshop in Alappuzha that was held on 23 June 2010. Akshaya district coordinator S Satyaprakash and assistant district coordinator M R Anoop, representatives of Centre for Social Studies and Gandhi Smaraka Grama Seva Kendram, visually challenged teachers and students and Akshaya entrepreneurs constituted the thirty plus audience. The event held at Brothers Auditorium received encouraging feedback from the participants.

 

 

The state-wide ICT training programme initiated by Insight concluded with the five-day training session in Pathanamthitta district. The programme supported by IT @ School was conducted in all the 14 districts in Kerala. The programme was intended to deliver the benefits of Information & Communication Technology to visually challenged school teachers in the state. The success of the programme is nothing less than an accomplishment for Insight.

 

The training programme in Pathanamthitta was held at IT @ School Resource Centre in Thiruvalla. It started on 14 June and concluded on 18 June 2010. Four visually challenged teachers in the district participated in the training programme.

 

The Ernakulam workshop held on 18 June 2010 ended in a spirited note with scores of suggestions from the participants. A good number of them requested to refashion ‘Swaram’ audio magazine to include separate sections for students and teachers. The workshop was held at School for the Blind in Aluva. Smt. Sheela, school principal, IT@School master trainer coordinator Sri. Jayan, school staff, students and visually challnged teachers from different schools attended. The school management has agreeed to arrange computers and other infrastructure, if Insight can provide a certified training  course at the school.

 

 

Pathanamthitta, often called as ‘Pilgrim Capital of Kerala’, hosted the Insight workshop on 17 June 2010. The workshop received plaudits from the audience, that consisted of more than 40 people from various grounding. Sri. Cherian Polachirackal, Thiruvalla municipal chairman, inaugurated the event. Akshaya district coordinator Sri. Biju and Kerala Federation of the Blind representatives also took part.

 

The District Panchayat training programme conducted by Insight that drew a bead on taking ICT to differently abled in the remote areas of Thiruvananthapuram successfully concluded on 16 June 2010. The programme was jointly organized by Kerala State IT Mission and Thiruvananthapuram District Panchayat. It took off on 1 February 2010 and spanned over four months, covering nine centres in the district.

 

Nearly 140 differently abled persons enjoyed the benefits of the programme. The visually challenged were provided training at the Insight centre in Vellayambalam. Insight team visited various Panchayats to offer training to people with other physical and mental challenges. This effort was highly appreciated and the beneficiaries have requested Insight to conduct training sessions on long-term basis.

 

We are glad to announce the placement of one more of our student, Sri. Michael Raj, at M K Solutions, an IT startup based in Thiruvananthapuram. His primary responsibility will be monitoring customer complaints. Michael will also assist in inventory management. The company has offered to assess his performance during the first two months. The company will give us a feedback on the difficulties he might face in the roles assigned to him. This will help Insight shape its training programme to meet the requirements of the current job scenario. We express our gratitude to Sri. Krishnakumar, managing partner of M K Solutions, for his sensitive approach towards the cause. We hope that more employers will come forward to give the differently abled a chance to prove their mettle.

 

Malappuram workshop that was held on 16 June 2010 was inaugurated by Sri. Arimbra Mohammed, president, District Panchayat. Sri. Salim Kuruvambalam, District Panchayat health and education standing committee chairman, and Akshaya assistant district coordinator Sri. Unni Madhavan were also present. Visually challenged teachers, special school teachers, Akshaya entrepreneurs and representatives of SHESHI, an NGO, participated in the workshop. Malappuram District Panchayat has been actively working towards educating the differently abled. Braille Saaksharatha is their pilot project for the visually challenged. They have put forward a proposal for association with Insight for expanding their activities in the subject area.

 

Four visually challenged school teachers in the district of Kollam has found their way into the virtual zone. A five-day training programme on ICT was conducted by Insight for these teachers at Pattathanam Government SNDP School. The training will groom them to efficiently employ basic computer tools and the internet.

The training programme was inaugurated by Sri. K Bhaskar, Vadakkevila ward councilor, on 8 June 2010. The principal of the school Sri. R Radhakrishnan presided over the inaugural function. The programme is a part of the initiative to provide ICT training to visually challenged school teachers in association with the IT @ School project.

 

The workshop in Palakkad turned out well and the session teemed with numerous proposals from the audience to implement the work of Insight in the district. Smt. Prema, Karimpuzha panchayath president, inaugurated the workshop. Akshaya assistant district coordinator Sri. Boban Thomas was also present. Nearly 40 visually challenged teachers and students, parents, special school teachers and Akshaya entrepreneurs attended the function.

 

More than 50 people participated in the workshop held at School for the Handicapped, Kolathara on 11 June 2010. Sri. Aboobacker, president of the Kerala Federation of the Blind and Teachers Forum president Sri. Easakoya felicitated the event. The audience consisted of visually challenged teachers, special school teachers and PTA members of the school.

 

Insight workshop at the landlocked district of Idukki was conducted at Louis Braille School, Kudayathoor on 11 June 2010. A considerable number of visually challenged students and teachers attended. Kudayathoor Panchayat president Smt. Susamma inaugurated the event. Sabu Varghese, Akshaya district coordinator, gave the felicitation speech. They have invited the support of Insight in providing training to the differently abled in the area.

 

Akshaya District Office was the workshop venue in Kannur. The function that was held on 10 June 2010 was inaugurated by Sri. M V Jayadeep, assistant district coordinator of Akshaya. Visually challenged teachers and students and Akshaya entrepreneurs participated.

 

The workshop in Kottayam, the city of letters, had a huge turnout with the assemblage consisting of visually challenged teachers and students from various blind schools in the district. Even parents of some of the students participated, a gesture that has to be welcomed with gusto. The workshop was held on 10 June 2010 at the Government Blind School in Olassa.

 

Insight workshop in Kasargode was held on 9 June 2010. Sri. Sathyaseelan, vice president of Kerala Federation of the Blind, delivered the inaugural address. Government Blind School at Kasaragod was the venue. The participants of the function were mainly visually challenged teachers, students and special school teachers.

 

Workshop in the erstwhile Quilon was held on 9 June 2010. Sri. K Bhaskaran, ward member, Vadakkevila inaugurated the workshop. In his inaugural speech, he said that Insight and its activities will be brought to the District Corporation’s attention. More than 35 differently abled people from various walks of life attended the workshop.

 

Wayanad

 

The first one of the statewide workshops on Insight was held in the district of Wayanad on 8 June 2010. The workshop was designed to create an awareness on the working of Insight and to seek suggestions for extending the activities of Insight to other parts of the state. Sri. P V Sudhakaran, principal of Government VHSC Munderi, Kalpetta delivered the inaugural address. Though most of the participants of the workshop were visually challenged school teachers, there were physically disabled people from other backgrounds as well. The workshop received good response from the audience and the efforts of Insight was appreciated at the event.

 

7 June 2010: Insight has launched the fourth batch of Communication & Soft Skill Development course for the visually challenged at Insight centre in Vellayambalam. The two-month course focuses on honing communication skills in English and offers various confidence building sessions. Along with classes on effective communication, the students will be imparted with ICT training. On successful completion of the course the students will be awarded a certificate by IGNOU. 20 Visually Challenged students are participating in the course.

A one day workshop was conducted on 24th May for parents and special educators at Autism Sisukshema kendram of Kerala State Child welfare council, Thrissur . The workshop familiarized the participants with Gcompris, a free software educational package. Altogether 26 teachers and parents of autistic children from the institute participated in the training programme.The general opinion from Teachers during the feedback session was that Gcompris will be helpful in improving the functional academic concept of the autistic children.

A training programme was held at Insight for 10 VC school teachers from various districts of Kerala in association with KFB Teacher’s Forum from the 17th to the 22nd of May. Slightly advanced topics were covered during the course upon the request of the teachers. Training was suspended on 21st due to exams at Insight.

The first examinations conducted by IGNOU for Insight students was held at the Insight centre on 21st May 2010. 27 visually challenged students attended the exam which was held from 10:00 am to 4:30pm in 3 batches. Prof. T.U.K Menon, Programme-in-Charge officer from IGNOU supervised the proceedings of the day.

We are glad to announce the release of Swaram - the first Text to
Speech System in Malayalam, based on the festival engine. You can
download the package from here.

This is an alpha release primarily intended for testing purposes and
bug-fixing. This has been tested with version 1.96 of the festival
speech engine, and is expected to work on GNU/Linux distributions
which uses GNOME as the desktop interface.

The software was developed almost entirely by the efforts of Mr. Rijoy
V, who has been working on this for the past 10 months. Kindly send in
your queries and suggestions to rijoy dot v at gmail.com.

A two day workshop was held at INSIGHT in association with IIT Bombay, for creating audio tutorials for the Visually Challenged. Around 20 visually challenged students participated in the workshop that was held on the 3rd and 4th of May. During the workshop the students were divided into groups, and asked to  prepare scripts and get it recorded. Four tutorials of around 10 minute duration was prepared as part of the workshop. The sessions were led by Krishnakant Mane and  Anusha Kadambala from IIT Bombay.

A training programme for the Akshaya Enterprenures was conducted at NIC hall, collectorate Kottayam on 24^th April 2010. 31 participants from different Akshaya Centers took part in the programme. The training was conducted with the objective of equipping the Akshaya entrepreneurs with the necessary technical skills to train the visually challenged in using computers .

A training programme for the Akshaya Entrepreneurs was held at Model Engineering college, Ernakulam on 22^nd & 23^rd April 2010.It was a training for the Akshaya trainers to train the visually challenged in using computers. 14 participants of Ernakulam district participated in the programme.

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ചരിത്രത്തിലെ ഏറ്റവും മികച്ച റിസല്‍റ്റുമായി 100 %ത്തിന്റെ തൊട്ടടുത്ത്…

INSIGHT conducted Trainers training programme for the staff members
with respect to the ICT Centre for Visually Challenged at CHMK
Library, University of Calicut. Five selected staff members of the
university attended the training programme, conducted on 19th and 20th
April 2010 .

The training was on the use of computers with the latest ICT tools.

Through this facility visually challenged students can make use of the
digital library, for their academic as well as research activities.

SPACE published a report of its study conducted among students of arts and science colleges in kerala to assess their access to ICT. The study conducted among 200 students, has identified a large gender disparity in ICT use, despite high computer literacy among students. The socio-cultural ethos of Kerala makes Internet out of bounds for girls, unless they are from high income groups who can afford connectivity at home. Although Internet cafes have proliferated the landscape of Kerala, these largely remain male domains.

read more

The training programme for the Akshaya Entrepreneurs at Thiruvananthapuram was held on 12th and 13th of April 2010, for training the Visually Challenged in using computers. 6 participants from selected Akshaya centres participated in the training programme which was held at Manacaud Akshaya centre, Thiruvananthapuram.

സുഹൃത്തേ , വിക്കിമീഡിയ ഫൗണ്ടേഷന്റെ വിവിധ മലയാളം വിക്കികളില്‍ പ്രവര്‍ത്തിക്കുന്ന വിക്കിപ്രവര്‍ത്തകരുടെ സംഗമം 2010 ഏപ്രില്‍17 ശനിയാഴ്ച ഉച്ച കഴിഞ്ഞു് 2 മണി മുതല്‍ 5 മണി വരെ  എറണാകുളം ജില്ലയില്‍ കളമശ്ശേരിയിലുള്ള രാജഗിരി കോളേജ് ഓഫ് സോഷ്യല്‍ സയന്‍സില്‍ വെച്ചു് സംഘടിപ്പിക്കുന്നു.  സ്പേസ്, രാജഗിരി കോളേജ് ഓഫ് സോഷ്യല്‍ സയന്‍സ്, ഐടി@സ്കൂള്‍, മലയാളം വിക്കിപദ്ധതികളുടെ പ്രവര്‍ത്തനത്തില്‍ തല്പരരായ വിവിധ സന്നദ്ധസംഘടനകള്‍ തുടങ്ങിയവയുടെ സഹകരണത്തോടെയാണ്‌ ഈ പ്രാവശ്യത്തെ മലയാളം വിക്കിസംഗമം സംഘടിപ്പിക്കുന്നത്. ...