- Website
- http://viveks.info
- Description
- I work with the Liberation Technology Program at Stanford University. My interests are cosmopolitan and this blog will reflect many such interests. For more, click on "Me" above.
About Author: Vivek S.
Posts by Vivek S.
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Poverty-line debate: Time for Montek to criticize Montek
Posted on March 23, 2012 | No CommentsIndia’s Planning Commission fixed the poverty-line at Rs. 29 per person per day (around ½ USD at today’s rate) attracting severe criticism that the amount is unreasonably low. The Commission’s Vice Chairperson, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, mounted a spirited defence of the poverty-line in CNN-IBN recently. He argued that the poverty line is used only to measure the trends in poverty over time, and it does not indicate the level of poverty, and so the level of poverty-line does not really matter. In other words, this number is only a benchmark based on which we can find out whether the number... -
Paradise lost? The destruction of gorgeous birding area by Delhi
Posted on January 19, 2012 | No CommentsDelhi and its surrounding areas host thousands of birds, both permanent residents and visitors from Europe, Russia and other areas. Wetlands, the thickly wooded ridge, old buildings and a variety of other habitats enable hundreds of species of birds to thrive in the area. The wetlands present one of the most heavenly sights that one gets to see in the grater Delhi area, and it is getting encroached, polluted and destroyed. This news item by CNN-IBN documents one beautiful wetland that has been given to builders, so that ugly buildings can replace a beautiful habitat for hundreds of birds and... -
Making subjectivity visible: Sections from my dissertation
Posted on December 31, 2011 | 1 CommentMy pot belly, being 'rosy complexioned' and other stories from the field. I wrote these pieces in a course on ‘creative non-fiction’ and included them in the dissertation to provide my readers a break from the formal monotony. Sadly, most people remember sections of this from the dissertation, and little else. Such is the life of a doctoral student. -
Classrooms without walls
Posted on December 21, 2011 | No CommentsAfter watching a news report on the appalling number of schools in India without even a building to house it in, I saw an advertisement mentioning “My classroom has no walls, I have no ceiling”. I would have thought that it were a fundraising advertisement to build schools, but for the white smiling face in the ad. It turns out in this strange world that classrooms without walls can also be sold as an opportunity. -
Must-watch videos on ventriloquism redefined
Posted on December 20, 2011 | No CommentsWe are used ventriloquists doing their routine with a variety of puppets. Here are a few videos that redefine ventriloquism as most of us know it. It is totally awesome. -
Two bizarre gates
Posted on December 10, 2011 | 1 CommentThe strangeness of the gate of the Delhi School of Economics compared to an equally bizarre gate in Los Angeles. -
The art & craft of academic writing: Interviews & talks
Posted on December 9, 2011 | No CommentsUnlike a lot of people, writing does not come to me naturally. It has been a slow and difficult learning process, and I had to contend with massive writing project as I started the dissertation. As it turned out, writing the dissertation was fun, but not always. It took me an year and a half to write the dissertation after the fieldwork, and in the process, it helped me to know what other writers had gone through. A lot of that advice came from the committee and from my peers at the University, and some of it came from webcasts on... -
Mind-maps for organising the layout of a chapter, article or dissertation
Posted on November 17, 2011 | No CommentsMind maps can help us contend with different ways of organizing the layout of chapters, books or articles when we are confronted with different way of organizing it. -
Photosynth of Stanford on a beautiful cloudy day
Posted on November 13, 2011 | No CommentsPanoramic view of one of Stanford using Photosynth software of Microsoft. -
Need for public service mobile application foundation for India
Posted on November 8, 2011 | No CommentsDuring my last visit to India, I participated in a few meetings on questions such as strengthening the right information act, the role of the PDS, and other social issues. In all these meetings there was a vigorous debate on how mobile phones could be used on each of these issues given the rapid spread of mobiles in rural India. Despite periodic discussion about the use of technology, I did not hear viable ideas among my activist friends. I believe that this is in part because most of them are not advanced users of technology, and they have definitely not...
