Two News Reports on International CALIBER-2006 inauguration held at Gulbarga University, are pasted below. Libraries asked to join OCLC to get access to 60 million catalogues http://www.hindu.com/2006/02/03/stories/2006020303310300.htm Special Correspondent Three-day international symposium, CALIBER-2006, begins GULBARGA: Arthur Smith, director of Ohio-based Online Computer Library Centre (OCLC), on Thursday asked libraries in universities and research centres in India to become part of the OCLC to gain access to 60 million catalogues. The OCLC has 50,000 member-libraries in 109 countries. Inaugurating a three-day international symposium, "CALIBER-2006", the theme of which is "Dynamic Interoperable Web Based Information Systems", at the Mahatma Gandhi Hall on the main campus of Gulbarga University here, Dr. Smith said the OCLC was a community of international libraries with inter-operable ideas. Its members in the U.S., Africa, China and South America are looking to India in the emerging area of inter-operable computing. He said libraries in the world are inter-dependent in exchanging research findings. They are also helping research scholars in their endeavour to excel. Referring to the remarks of senior scientist and software expert Rahul De' about authentication of information provided by different portals on specific subjects sought by those on the Internet and the alleged manipulation of reputed websites by a few who placed misleading content, Dr. Smith said to overcome this problem and to provide authenticated and correct information, OCLC has installed a giant switching capability on Google and once a visitor seeks information, a message will flash seeking authentication from the libraries post. There is also another facility in the switching capability that will take the user to authentic and correct information. Dr. Smith said the giant switching capability will also enable the user to get information in his preferred language, if the facility is available. Dr. Rahul De', who delivered a special lecture, released a compendium of proceedings of the symposium. S. Rajanna, Registrar, addressed the gathering. Dr T A.V. Murthy, director of INFLIBNET Centre, Ahmedabad, delivered the presidential address. In the morning, a pre-conference "Tutorial on Building Digital Libraries Using Dspace" was conducted. ICT must be able to meet the needs of people: expert http://www.hindu.com/2006/02/03/stories/2006020313440400.htm Special Correspondent `Foremost problem in applying these technologies is language' --------------------------------- Most e-governance projects in the country have failed Some, such as `Bhoomi' in Karnataka, are widely used --------------------------------- GULBARGA: The major challenge facing software experts involved in information and communication technologies (ICT) is the designing and building of technologies and networks that are best suited to the needs of the people, according to Rahul De, Chairman of the Hewlett-Packard Chair at the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore. Delivering a lecture at the three-day 4th international convention, CALIBER-2006, on the theme "Dynamic inter-operable Web-based information systems" at the Mahatma Gandhi Auditorium on the main campus of Gulbarga University here, Dr. De pointed out that the ICT developed in the West is meant to meet Defence and industrial requirements. Similarly, computing and network technologies have been designed and developed for the U.S. Department of Defence. These technologies are not designed to serve educational and developmental needs, Dr. De said. Information and communication technologies are highly flexible and can be moulded to meet the needs of a nation like India. The foremost problem in applying these technologies for development is language, he said. At present it is difficult to search the Internet in Hindi or Kannada and this leaves out a large number of young citizens who are literate in their own languages and who could have benefited from the power of the Internet. Although the technology for performing such a search in Indian languages does exist in the form of text-based parsers, XML content markers and rudimentary translators, a lot needs to be done to enable the younger generation, particularly students, to get information in their own language, he said. Although governments have invested crores of rupees on e-governance and other ICT projects, most of this money has gone down the drain. A recent study on e-governance projects in developing countries showed that 85 per cent of them are a failure, he said. However, some ICT projects, such as "Bhoomi," a kiosk-based project launched by the Karnataka Government, have been successful, he said. According to an estimate, more than eight lakh people use the system every month. More than 500 delegates are participating in the international convention. ------------------------------------ Message Sent by: Vijayakumar, J. K --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? With a free 1 GB, there's more in store with Yahoo! Mail. Two News Reports on International CALIBER-2006 inauguration held at Gulbarga University, are pasted below. Libraries asked to join OCLC to get access to 60 million catalogues http://www.hindu.com/2006/02/03/stories/2006020303310300.htm http://www.hindu.com/2006/02/03/stories/2006020303310300.htm Special Correspondent Three-day international symposium, CALIBER-2006, begins GULBARGA: Arthur Smith, director of Ohio-based Online Computer Library Centre (OCLC), on Thursday asked libraries in universities and research centres in India to become part of the OCLC to gain access to 60 million catalogues. The OCLC has 50,000 member-libraries in 109 countries. Inaugurating a three-day international symposium, "CALIBER-2006", the theme of which is "Dynamic Interoperable Web Based Information Systems", at the Mahatma Gandhi Hall on the main campus of Gulbarga University here, Dr. Smith said the OCLC was a community of international libraries with inter-operable ideas. Its members in the U.S., Africa, China and South America are looking to India in the emerging area of inter-operable computing. He said libraries in the world are inter-dependent in exchanging research findings. They are also helping research scholars in their endeavour to excel. Referring to the remarks of senior scientist and software expert Rahul De' about authentication of information provided by different portals on specific subjects sought by those on the Internet and the alleged manipulation of reputed websites by a few who placed misleading content, Dr. Smith said to overcome this problem and to provide authenticated and correct information, OCLC has installed a giant switching capability on Google and once a visitor seeks information, a message will flash seeking authentication from the libraries post. There is also another facility in the switching capability that will take the user to authentic and correct information. Dr. Smith said the giant switching capability will also enable the user to get information in his preferred language, if the facility is available. Dr. Rahul De', who delivered a special lecture, released a compendium of proceedings of the symposium. S. Rajanna, Registrar, addressed the gathering. Dr T A.V. Murthy, director of INFLIBNET Centre, Ahmedabad, delivered the presidential address. In the morning, a pre-conference "Tutorial on Building Digital Libraries Using Dspace" was conducted. ICT must be able to meet the needs of people: expert http://www.hindu.com/2006/02/03/stories/2006020313440400.htm http://www.hindu.com/2006/02/03/stories/2006020313440400.htm Special Correspondent `Foremost problem in applying these technologies is language' Most e-governance projects in the country have failed Some, such as `Bhoomi' in Karnataka, are widely used GULBARGA: The major challenge facing software experts involved in information and communication technologies (ICT) is the designing and building of technologies and networks that are best suited to the needs of the people, according to Rahul De, Chairman of the Hewlett-Packard Chair at the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore. Delivering a lecture at the three-day 4th international convention, CALIBER-2006, on the theme "Dynamic inter-operable Web-based information systems" at the Mahatma Gandhi Auditorium on the main campus of Gulbarga University here, Dr. De pointed out that the ICT developed in the West is meant to meet Defence and industrial requirements. Similarly, computing and network technologies have been designed and developed for the U.S. Department of Defence. These technologies are not designed to serve educational and developmental needs, Dr. De said. Information and communication technologies are highly flexible and can be moulded to meet the needs of a nation like India. The foremost problem in applying these technologies for development is language, he said. At present it is difficult to search the Internet in Hindi or Kannada and this leaves out a large number of young citizens who are literate in their own languages and who could have benefited from the power of the Internet. Although the technology for performing such a search in Indian languages does exist in the form of text-based parsers, XML content markers and rudimentary translators, a lot needs to be done to enable the younger generation, particularly students, to get information in their own language, he said. Although governments have invested crores of rupees on e-governance and other ICT projects, most of this money has gone down the drain. A recent study on e-governance projects in developing countries showed that 85 per cent of them are a failure, he said. However, some ICT projects, such as "Bhoomi," a kiosk-based project launched by the Karnataka Government, have been successful, he said. According to an estimate, more than eight lakh people use the system every month. More than 500 delegates are participating in the international convention. ------------------------------------ Message Sent by: Vijayakumar, J. K Do you Yahoo!? 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