Year 2011-12 (up to june 2011)
Open Institute for Skills, Enterprise and lifelong Learning
We are pleased to announce that one of our long standing goals has come to fruition with the opening of a 'Skills and Enterprise Centre' at Guwahati, Assam. This is a collaborative effort of Alliance for Community Capacity Building in Northeast India, Prag Foundation and a few enterprising individuals. The centre named Open Institute for Skills, Enterprise and Lifelong Learning and at present equipped with a cluster of 10 high specification PCs (Intel i3 processor/ 19 inch LED monitors) and 5 Dell laptops (Intel i5/19 inch monitor). The cluster is networked and connected to the internet. We are planning to offer a range of courses in the centre. The centre will help us to professionally carry out initiatives throughout the region. The centre will support affiliated satellite centres run by 'grass-root organisations' thus creating a regional network. We will recruit volunteers/apprentices to support our activities who will in turn benefit from experience while working with us. We have already invested about INR 8000,000 so far but the centre still needs further investment to complete unfinished internal works, buy furniture and equipment. The process of formalising this venture into a Not-for-Profit (section 25, Indian Company Act) company has been initiated so as to run the entire operation in a professional manner.
Workshop
Quantum GIS Workshop, 19-21 April, 2011
From 19-21 April, 2011, Open Institute along with its allies Prag Foundation and Alliance for Community Capacity Building for North East India conducted a professional development course on Quantum GIS, open source GIS software. The workshop was successfully completed under the supervision of Dr. Rituparna Bhattacharyya, MA (BHU), PhD (Newcastle), Mr Sanjay Prasad, Director, Geo Edge Modelling & Mapping Consultants, Ghaziabad, UP, 201014 and Sonu Sharma, GIS Consultant, GEMM Consultant, Ghaziabad, UP, 201014.
The feedback suggests all the participants were highly satisfied with the structure and content of the course rating it ‘excellent’. One stated ‘I learned a lot about GIS skills and that too using Open Source software in a homely atmosphere. I am thankful to the organisers and the instructors but the duration of the course was too short. But definitely, I am going to recommend this course to my friends.’
List of participants
- Mr. Achinta Bharali, Design Engineer
- Dr Polly Vauquline, Assistant Professor, Bajali College, Pathsala.
- Mr. Ashim Saikia, Design Engineer
- Mr. Jayanta Sarma, Senior Design Engineer
- Mrs. Mauchumi Buragohain, Director, Abhinava, Engineers
- Mr. Soumitra Adhikari, Design Engineer
Publication
Guide to Academic Writing [ISBN 978-1-908368-00-3]
Comments
'During my 33-year span as an academic, I had to spend many hours advising students who were writing under-graduate projects and MA/MPhil/PhD dissertations. Dr. Rituparna Bhattacharyya has filled a gap by writing a comprehensive book entitled Academic Writing: Scholar’s Guide. It deals not only with how to construct and complete a research project, but also with how to write academic articles in a professional manner. This book is a valuable contribution to the academic world. The detailed examples in the book will be particularly useful for students who have just embarked upon higher education.' - Dr. Jitendralal Borkakoti, BA (Hons) & MA (Delhi), MSc(Econ) & PhD(LSE), Former Faculty Member of Middlesex University, London.
'A welcome addition to the growing body of books on honing research and writing skills. In an easy and simple style, the book demystifies and personalises the process of thesis writing for young researchers. By using examples from India, the book grounds the process of writing firmly in the familiar context and in doing so makes a subtle yet important contribution to the politics of knowledge creation.' - Dr Anindita Datta, Assistant Professor, Department of Geography, Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi, Delhi-110007.
Searching Scholarly information on the Web [ISBN 978-1-908368-01-0]
Comments
'A piece of research that doesn't see the light of the day, carries no value as the goal of research is "welfare of animate and inanimate world". So research done has to be known to peers as well as public. In our country, there is still a wide gap as for information dissemination, because of which quite often there is 'duplicacy' in research creating a situation for one to believe what a he or she has done is the first attempt. Moreover, a great amount of research depends upon secondary data already available and for want of such secondary data many researchers get bogged down to generate the required data. So, this attempt by Dr Rituparna to make information accessible is a commendable one and is a welcome step forward to improve the lot of researchers, young and old alike, of our country.' - Professor K.N. Prudhvi Raju, Department of Geography, Banaras Hindu University, India.
'This excellent, comprehensive guide to the resources available in the internet has been compiled by Dr Rituparna Bhattacharyya, PhD from the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, United Kingdom. Googling the internet for useful information is a daunting and time consuming exercise often leading to pages of irrelevant information. In this compact guide, Dr Bhattacharyya has condensed links to useful websites in an accessible and logical format. I have no doubt that students and scholars will find this guide extremely useful.' - Dr Ritu Kataky, Department of Chemistry, Durham University, United Kingdom.