Sabina

Digital Citizenship and Creative Content Training at KCM

2009-08-12T15:46:00Z

A Digital Citizenship and Creative Content Training was organized at KCM by the Microsoft Nepal. It was a four day long training dating August 9 to August 12. We had about 40 participants which included students and faculties from different colleges of Nepal (Kathmandu).

We started the program with simple questions like what is intellectual property, copyright and more. All of these were followed by number of case studies where we had a lot of discussions and views from different people. This discussion actually made us think about how, what and to what extent the copyright can come in use. The hardest part was “at what time or phase can you copyright your work?? When your idea, concept, beta form or the final product is ready??” We had different people, different thoughts and different justification for the same particular situation. These provided us lots of opportunities to explore not only our thoughts but also to understand the situation better from other people’s point of view.

As we carried on with other case studies on the following days, things got more complicated. The situation and people which we had argued to be on the safer side at the top of our voice, slowly began to change direction with new ideas and laws coming up. Most of the time, it was very difficult to have a clear cut answer. Gray shades could be seen everywhere.

Issues related to social media like facebook was the most complicated one to me. It actually made me wonder if I am allowed to upload the pictures I have captured during our training session itself tonight after going home in my facebook or not. Various aspects like protecting your own privacy, respecting other people’s privacy, what if some third party misuses the information in my network, should I go on taking everyone’s permission before uploading or tagging my friends’ photos and many more in a row were all getting into my nerves as we didn’t had any clear cut answer.

Fair use was one of another complicated matter. In was very hard to put a boundary between what is fairuse and what is not. Many a times, it proved that most of the illegal works are carried forward in the name of fairuse. And it was like, if you can defend yourself well then you can be in the safer side. But, as we learnt the conditions and terms defined in the “fairuse”, things got more clear. Atleast, it was a relief for things that we students have been doing like photocopying some chapters from a library book. But still the gray shades exist.

As Amrita, one of participant had mentioned,” there was discussion, discussion and discussion but no conclusion”. Every time after the discussion, we were asked to hang on to those thoughts and we were carried forward. So, lots of brainstorming happening everywhere.

During our training we also had presentations related to Digital Signature, SAM, EULA, Software keys and more. We also had a guest from US Embassy, New Delhi come in our last day of training, who gave us presentation on things related to patents, trademarks and more. The term patent was something really new to me.

Now, that we had come across a lot of terms and facts like copyright, patents, trademarks, fairuse and many more and also “copyright Act and Rules of Nepal” to play with , it was much easier to find answer to several unanswered questions.

Making Cartoons related to copyright, developing videogame concepts within 5-7 minutes, developing ideas to pass on the digital citizenship message to the public and the drama based on shortcut movie was all the fun. And, I am sure we all developed a lot of debating skills in us. Also, we interacted with many new friends, which was fun indeed.

Now, after all the discussions, presentations and conclusions that we had during these four days of this training, the best message that we get is no wonder

“Living Responsibly in a Digital World”, i.e. we all have to become a good digital citizenship.

As these training was “training for trainers”, we all believe that this is going to have a ripple effect, and we will buzz the people around for becoming a good digital citizen.

Ah…..still some of the questions seems answered to me and still troubling me somewhere. Hope with time and better understanding, I will be soon able to find out. If not,may be it's their nature to fall under the gray shades.

INSTALL FEST at Kathmandu Engineering College

2009-07-14T07:06:00Z

After a long wait, finally Install Fest was organized at KEC. Install fest at Thapathali Campus was an inspiration for all the MSPs and since then I was eagerly waiting for the day when it will happen at my college too.

With the thought of reaching to greater number of students, we planned to combine our Install Fest with Drishti, which is a three day annual event of KEC. The date for the Drishti was fluctuating and so was the Install Fest. Finally, we had the event on July 11, 12 and 13.

We were supposed to have a presentation on July 10 about the Install Fest, but to my horror, we had to cancel it. However, we continued the Install Fest with the distribution of Genuine Microsoft Software on these three days.

Here, we registered our stall as “ INSTALL FEST-use Genuine Microsoft software for free” . We sat whole day long for three days and as the students and faculty visited our stall, we provided them which various information related to what is Microsoft doing in Nepal. Our primary focus was on the Genuine Microsoft Software provided to the STEM-D via MSDNAA and ELMS.

We had divided our group into two parts where one group was busy flowing the information related to MSDNAA and ELMS and the other group was busy burning the cd/dvds, and also distributing the software in pendrive and harddisks.

For the distribution of software, our college had also bought us new dvd writers. Everyday, we made some backup cd/dvds from home and also continued burning during the event. In the last day, we also ran short of our cd/dvds stock but thanks to a friend who was thoughtful enough to bring more looking at the response of previous days. Advertisement for the Install Fest also worked well. We had students who came up with harddisks and since it was time -consuming to copy all the software to the harddisks and would hamper distribution to other students, we had to carry them home, copy and bring the other day. Some are still to be completed.

Moreover, we also collected the email address of our students and faculties and showed them a demo of how they can get the software and key from the ELMS. We also provided them with the information that all the MSDNAA software are also available at “cis.inet.kec”, which is our LAN, for their easy access and avoid bandwidth problems.

Since this expo was open to all, not only Kecians but we also had students from different colleges like Pulchowk, NEC and Advance to name a few. These students were also really interested. Though, we could not help them with the ELMS service from our college, we were happy to help them with MSDNAA software keeping in mind the criteria of STEM-D. And for our visitors who were of school and +2 level, we talked a lot about the possibility of DREAMSPARK happening for them. The students who had just passed +2, were hoping to get the service in their near future once they are enrolled into STEM-D.

Personally speaking, I believe combining INSTALL FEST with Drishti was the smartest decision we made. It just rocked and the response that we got was more than expected. I was totally satisfied with the opening day but the response just grew more and more other days. It wouldn't be wrong if I say, “ on the basis of flow of information to the students, three days of Install fest was equivalent to my five months as a MSP”. This time, we were also able to cover KCST(microbiology) which is a part of KEC.

Lastly, I would like to thanks all the MSPs and ravi dai for visiting drishti and encouraging me, to my class for volunteering to the extreme in the INSTALL FEST and to my college KEC for believing in us and helping us in terms of fund and resources.

Also, I would like to thank the organizer of Drishti for giving us this great opportunity of taking our voice to the students and to all the visitors for listening to us.

I always believe that once students realize that what you are speaking is for their benefit and no nonsense, you don’t have to do much. Students will themselves start approaching and demanding their rights. And, it has begun at KEC……….

Deepzooming your photographs

2009-05-31T09:34:00Z

We all are aware of the fact that as we zoom out our photographs, the pixel breaks and we are no longer able to have a clear view. But, now with the help of a new technology called deepzoom, you will able to zoom in and zoom out your pictures to any extent, and still very comfortable to the eyes.

You can also create a composition using a large collection of images. The users will be able to move around zooming any part/region they want. The region that is being viewed will be fixed first. So, it is fast too.

The MSP photochain (http://student-partners.com/photochain.aspx) had inspired me very much, and I wanted to do the same for my class. So, I played with deepzoom using some of my classmate photos and here is what I came out with.

http://deepzoompix.com/Album.aspx?alias=Sabina&album=6

Thanks to Allen sir who helped me throughout this project and to my friends who made the photographs available.

Deepzoom composer can be downloaded from here

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=457b17b7-52bf-4bda-87a3-fa8a4673f8bf&displaylang=en

Here’s also the deepzoom turorial that had helped me alot

http://www.labnol.org/software/tutorial-deep-zoom-composer/4094/

Example of site using deepzoom

http://memorabilia.hardrock.com/

Learn more about deepzoom

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc645050(VS.95).aspx

Uploading photos using Windows Live Photo Gallery

2009-05-28T18:02:00Z

Life is full of memories, and Photos and videos is the best way to bring these moments alive again. Sharing our beautiful moments with our family and friends is all the fun. And, in today’s era, everything happens online. You don’t have to carry the photographs or videos along, or your family and friends don’t have to wait to come to your place and have the view. You can just upload it to your account in windows live, facebook or anything similar and share it with the entire world.

Windows live photo gallery can make your work much easier. Using Windows Live Photo GalIery, it is very easy to manage our photos and share them online. You can zoom, rotate, search, add ratings, tags and text captions to your photographs very easily.

When it comes to the speed, Windows Live Photo Gallery is just amazing. If you try uploading the pictures from the windows live, facebook and similar directly, it takes an unexpected time and you usually end up with an error message. But, with Windows Live Photo Gallery, you can upload any number of photos at a time and with great speed.

You can also directly download the images from your camera to the Windows Live Photo Gallery. As soon as you connect your camera to the computer, the photos will be grouped based on the date when the photos where clicked. It can also be used as the default image viewer on Windows.

You can download the Windows Live Photo Gallery here.

http://download.live.com/photogallery

You can also use Windows Live Photo Gallery Plug-ins to upload photos to facebook, youtube and similar.

http://blogs.msdn.com/pix/pages/Plug_2D00_ins.aspx

Asking for or helping other via Windows Remote Assistance??

2009-05-27T14:47:00Z

Every now and then, you face problems while computing. You might be in need of an instant help and your friend might have the solution to your problem. But, what if you don’t get what he is actually trying to explain you and you are still stuck with the problem.

Well, Windows Remote Assistance is the perfect solution.

Recently, I got my problem solved using Remote Assistance and I experienced that the best way to fix a problem is to have someone show you how. It was more like watching a live video to me. Windows Remote Assistance connects two computers so that one person can troubleshoot or fix problems on the other person’s computer.

Windows Remote Assistance is a very convenient way for someone you trust, such as a friend or technical support person, to connect to your computer and walk you through a solution—even if that person isn't nearby. To help ensure that only people you invite can connect to your computer using Windows Remote Assistance, all sessions are encrypted and password-protected.

By following a few steps, you can use an instant message, e‑mail or file to invite someone to connect to your computer. After he or she is connected, that person can view your computer screen and chat with you about what you both see. With your permission, your helper can even use his or her mouse and keyboard to control your computer and show you how to fix a problem. You can also help someone else the same way.

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/helpandsupport/learnmore/remoteassist/intro.mspx

Here’s the Step-by-Step Guide to Remote Assistance.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb457004.aspx