Visakan Jayaswetha Vanagopal

The Human Factors Institute started off this year too and there have been some interesting and innovative projects that have come our way. With the pioneering vision of the Director, Dr.Jay Gillette, the team is all geared up for an exciting year at the institute. The projects are not only interesting, but also innovative and make the researchers to think outside the box.

DML for DCC (Digital Media Learning for Distributed Collaborative Community):

This year among the other projects, the institute was involved with the development of a grant proposal for the MacArthur Foundation. The MacArthur Foundation is a private, independent grant making organization that is based in Chicago. This year the foundation was requesting proposals of existing projects in relation to Digital Media and Learning. The existing Weblog project which involved the building of a Distributed Collaborative Community (DCC) using Weblogs as the tool to implement it was seen as the perfect fit to the requirements of this grant.
The fact that this concept has been applied to an active class at the Center (ICS 602- Human Communication) with great success, gave us a strong footing on the proposal. The community megablog uses a movable type platform which is relatively easy to use. The response of the students regarding the unique concept of blogging has been overwhelming and this has helped in the building of a Distributed Collaborative Community.
Women in technology: Another important aspect that is to be covered in the DCC project is the participation of women in the technical world. The blogs act as a platform for the women to express their views on various issues which they might otherwise not communicate. It helps the women community at CICS (both current and alumni) to collaborate with each other thus initiating a healthy competition.
Incidentally, Dr. Jay Gillette presented on our Weblog project at the Global Forum 2007 held at Venice, Italy in November, titled “Creative Collaboration for the Information Renaissance: Weblogs Build Collaborative Community”. The talk was well received.

The People:
One of the greatest resources that the institute is proud of is its human resource. With 15 researchers (that’s one-fourth of the entire class) in the team, the institute resonates with energy and enthusiasm that is sure to take this institute which represents the Center to greater heights.
Dr. Gillette’s concept of involving everyone with everything is being applied at the institute and every researcher gets a chance to head and manage the work sessions every week.
Usability:
One of the projects that is currently under discussion is the usability testing of websites. Though this was being done as a part of the curriculum all these years, it is proposed that this testing can be done as a part of the institute’s research work that goes hand in hand with the curriculum. It is also being discussed about the setting up of usability testing set up that can remain in the lab even for future testing projects.

The Greatest Challenge:
One of the greatest challenge that institute is facing is getting resources for the institute. By resources, I mean things that can be from a table or a chair to computers and money. Human resource is another very important aspect that might prove to be useful for the institute. There is a team (Research Business Development) that is dedicated in working for this and there is a lot of progress that is being made with regard to this. The team is taking support form all the team members and is on the look out for organizations and companies that might be able to use our service and in return offer us any kind of resource that might be useful to the institute.

The Beauty:
The institute meets on Fridays from 10 am to 12 pm. Being a Friday, people tend to relax at the end of the week. But the response of the researchers has been stupendous and it is their participation and enthusiasm that will make this institute a great success.
Another interesting aspect of the institute is that, people participate in the activities of the institute even if they are not physically present. This helps us in building in a community that may be distributed over time and space and still maintain the cohesiveness within the team.

Posted by vjayaswethav at 12:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

As my roommate and I were tracking the happenings of a game of cricket that is being played as I write this blog, I ask myself the question as to why this game is just not a game for most Indians. One of the few things that we miss having come to the US is cricket. Cricket, for those of you who do not know how the game is played, is a game that involves 22 players, 11 in each team. Based on who wins the toss, one of the team bowls and the other bats. I hold myself to the temptation of explaining the entire game, but the bottom line is you have to just hit the ball. It is actually not as easy as it sounds. You must be tactful in hitting the ball so that you don’t get caught out and you must also protect the three pieces of wood called as “stumps” that is behind the batsman. Vague as the explanation may sound, I just wanted to give you an idea on how the game is played. But the point that I want to talk about is the passion with which the game is played. This is not just a game that you watch and eventually forget about it the next day. People consider it as a religion. The players are their demi-gods. People tend to get so personally involved that they even miss work and classes to see matches being played. One of the main reasons that the game seems to be so popular among Indians is that the game is relatively easy to play and it is totally a team game. More than physical, the game involves the use of the mind in playing it. You get yourself easily involved in the game as you start playing it. This game also remains one of the earliest games that came into India (actually introduced to us by the English).

The problem with the passion
Being passionate about a game is good. But the problem with cricket is that the fans get too involved that any loss by the team is not easily tolerated. There have been numerous incidents of effigies of players being burnt when they did not perform well. If you think that it is just the uneducated and the illiterate class who do this, well, no. Even highly educated people tend to involve in such activities of protests. The fact that this game runs in the blood of the Indians, it hard to reduce the fervor amongst the fans which sometimes tend to kill the spirit of the game.

India v Pakistan – The high voltage game
One of the most intense matches that gets played is the one between India and Pakistan. Being arch rivals not just in the game, these matches tend to trigger a lot of enthusiasm amongst the fans. A man shot himself when his team lost, a weak hearted person died when he was watching one such a match which happened to have a nerve cracking finish. These are just a few of the many examples of how the game has impacted people’s life. The stadium roars with applause when their superstar walks into the field. One has to be there to believe how silent the crowd gets when the player gets “out”. Fans see the match even if takes place for 5 full days. The fun part is that even after you play for 5 days, you don’t get a result.

Gully Cricket – the fun part:
This is a form of cricket which is played on the streets, on the sands of the beach and on small playgrounds. For most cricket lovers, there is nothing like waking up in the morning at 4:30, riding your bike to the ground and reserving a “spot” for their team to play cricket. The rules are totally different and some rules don’t exist. You have 20 teams playing on a field that may be 75 % the size of a football ground. The fun part is that the game is so casual and yet every one gets so involved. It does get nasty sometimes, even to the extent of players beating up each other. But even after all this, the game ends on a “gentlemanly” note where people buy beer to sort out “issues”.

All said and done, the game has been and will continue to be one the few things that India is passionate about. The beauty with this game is that, though there are internal conflicts – whether political, class based or religion based – one of the things that the whole country is united in sharing its passion is – Cricket. So, eventually I told myself that, instead of analyzing the reasons, lets just PLAY THE GAME. To end my blog, I suggest that you visit this link which has a two minute video about how gully cricket is played (its actually a clip from a movie so don’t bother to find out what is being said): http://youtube.com/watch?v=-SLLVoKHBnw

Posted by vjayaswethav at 11:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)