Kiruba.com

You Can Be Part of The Crowdsourcing Book

2009-06-25T01:11:00.000-07:00

As many of you already know, I'm currently authoring a book on Crowdsourcing. Me and my research intern have been spending the better part of the month researching and writing. The book is taking shape very well.

We are now throwing the doors open and encouraging you to be part of the book. Not just because the book is on crowdsourcing, but because I have long realized that my intelligence is limited. I look upon your wisdom to enrich the book.

I invite you to be part of the book. Here's how you can participate.

Tweet about your views on Crowdsourcing. Remember, your personal opinion is what matters.

It can be anything related to crowdsourcing. It could be about its usefulness, tips, your experiences etc. Don't hold yourself back.

You can send in as many tweets. Preferably if its within 140 characters. But, don't worry if you cannot. Just send it. We'll do word play later to get it in line.

If you need two tweets to convey a certain message, that's fine.

Alternatively, you can also email it to me at Kiruba[@]Kiruba.com. Or SMS me at +91.98415 97744. Or just leave a comment in this post.

20% of the book, that's 28 tweets of the 140 tweets, will be from you all. I've done most of my part of the book and now look up to you for your wisdom.

For each selected tweet that makes the cut, your tweet will be published in the book along with your name and twitter ID. Your photo, your profile and link to your Twitter ID, blog, Facebook page, Flickr account will be published in the companion website. Once the book is complete, you will be amongst the first to get the PDF version of the book.

I look forward to collaborating together.

Announcing My New Book - CrowdsourcingTweet

2009-06-24T21:01:00.000-07:00

A lot can be said in 140 characters.

That's the premise behind my new book, CrowdsourcingTweet.

The book is a compilation of 140 tweets. Each tweet less than 140 characters.

The book is part of the #Th!nkTweet Series published by HappyAbout, a California based publishing house.

The inspiration behind the book stemmed from Rajesh Setty, my mentor and author of the first book in the series.

I got sold on the idea of authoring a book via tweets for the following reasons:

- We now don't have the time to read big books.

- I've always enjoyed reading small books that I can finish on a plane ride.

- It's much easier to write a small book!

- I found a great publisher and mentor!

- I truly believe in the 'Wisdom of the Crowd'.

In the true spirit of the book, 20% of tweets will be crowdsourced. An opportunity for you to participate.

When we listen to a lecture, we take notes of important points. Treat this book like a compilation of those points.

The book is in its final stages of completion. It will hit the stands in early September 2009.

In case you didn't notice, this post was written in tweet sized sentences!

The Cleartrip Experience - Part 2

2009-06-24T04:40:00.000-07:00

This is a follow up post to my experience with ClearTrip during my trip to Kuala Lumpur. Please read the first part if you are new to this. Also read the blog post by Hrush, Cleartrip's co founder. ( Apologies for the delay in writing the second part.)

After a harrowing experience at the Chennai Airport and a thrilling last minute rush, me and my wife were on board the Malaysian Airlines flight to KL. As soon as I landed, I had to rush to the conference venue. This kept the bitter memories off my head as I was fully occupied with the conference.

Once the conference got over, later that evening, I wrote a detailed post on Cleartrip's Customer Forum. I knew that forum posting will have to meander through layers of authority and hence I followed it up with emailing Hrush, the co-founder and Nikhil Godbole, Senior Manager, Operations.

Prior to this, I also made a tweet venting my frustration. I wanted to make a detailed blog post but a combination of complete lack of sleep the previous night and a draining day at the conference left me with little energy. That's when I realized the importance of Twitter. You get to say what you want to say in quick time. No wonder Twitter is cannibalizing blogs!

I wasn't expecting a prompt reply. Cleartrip surprised me here. Nikhil wrote an apology email and confirmed that my tickets for both me and my wife will get taken care of. I was asked for my hotel phone number and soon enough, he gave me a call.

The next day, I received an email with the PNR details for our return flight. Nikhil called me up once again to give me the confidence that they had double checked the tickets.

To me and my wife, having a confirmed return tickets was a major source of relief. We could now enjoy our vacation without worrying about nasty surprises.

On the morning of Day 5 in KL, the day we were to fly back, I received an email from
Cleartrip saying that they have bumped us up to Business Class. They explained that they were sorry for spoiling our Wedding anniversary and wanted to make up.

We were spoilt bad on Business Class. Pampered would be an understatement. There were just two other passengers in the entire Business Class. This meant that the stewardesses out-numbered us.

I consciously ordered Champagne. As we toasted, we couldn't help but think of the stark difference between the two experiences. What started on a disastrous note ended on a fairytale.

Important lessons learnt.

It's natural to screw up. But it takes courage to admit one's mistake.

I'd give credit to Cleartrip for following up and resolving the issue. The phone calls and prompt reply helped.

Before making the blog post on Cleartrip's blog, Hrush wrote to me seeking my permission to take this incident as a case study and to explain the reasons. I agreed. He earned my respect for following this simple courteous gesture.

I will continue to use Cleartrip to book tickets. But from now on, I will take the extra effort to make a phone call to the airline to confirm the tickets. Definitely so, if its an international one.

Twitter is indeed powerful. I no longer look at it as a ego-massaging, narcissistic tool. It's a fantastic community tool. Just this morning, I had requested for an illustrator for children's book and I got over 20 personal references via email and Twitter. Now, that's usefulness.

Twitter is useless if it is used as a PR announcement tool. It's strength comes in when corporates engage in genuine conversations. Cleartrip gets a thumps up for that.

You need balls of steel to point your customers to vent their frustration and complaints on your corporate website in full public view. At first sight, it looked like having the public Customer Forum on Cleartrip's site is like shooting your own feet. At least that's what most PR folks at a conference in Bangalore said when I took Cleartrip as a case study. But look deeper and you will notice that they use it as a transparent tool to show resolution of complaints. And they are using the public scrutiny to their advantage to resolve issues.

I'm looking forward to the reimbursement of the ticket money from them. I'm assuming that's under process.

Also, looking forward to the changes that Cleartrip said they will be making based on the learnings from this incident.

Like they say, Alls well that ends well.

The ClearTrip Episode : My Experience

2009-06-16T01:58:00.000-07:00

A month ago, I got an invitation to speak at The Cost Effective Advertising Conference in Kuala Lumpur. The date clashed with our 9th wedding anniversary. I sensed a wonderful opportunity to spring a surprise on my wife. I decided to take her along. I wanted to wait until the tickets were booked before I broke the news to her.

My first choice was Cleartrip. Over the last few years, it's been the only site I've used for my flight bookings. Mostly domestic though. Great experience, everytime. All my international tickets, however, were either booked by clients or conference organizers. This was my first experience booking an international flight ticket on ClearTrip.

As soon as I paid Rs.24K for the tickets, the first surprise I got was a message that said that the tickets are only blocked and not booked. To confirm booking, I need to present the copy of the Malaysian Visa along with the passport photocopy. This was new to me. And they gave me exactly a day to get this done.

I rush to the Malaysian Embassy to get my visa and they throw me a stump. They said they will only issue a Visa if I have confirmed ticket booking.

Huh?!

Reminded me of the chicken and egg syndrome.

I tried to convince the Malaysian embassy officials of my predicament and with the rest of the documents (like invitation letter, conference brochure with my name on the speaker list etc), it was in vain. I even fixed a meeting with a senior official the next day.

The next day, I got a call from a ClearTrip support staff who said, "Sir, your online booking is now void because it is past the deadline. Would you like me to refund your money minus cancellation charges or would you pay Rs.8000 extra for booking new tickets?" I found the casual tone of the message annoying. I did not like either of the choices she offered.

I explained to her about my embassy discussion and that no embassy issues a visa in one day and told about my desperate measures to get the visa (which was a requirement for me to get tickets from Cleartrip).

That's when she said that visa is optional. Optional?? That was not mentioned in the email I got from Cleartip. I tell her that and she replied, "Oh, that's standard email we send out".

Standard?? That casual tone again. Ohh!

What I did not understand was why did she have to wait until AFTER the deadline had passed. If she had called me at least an hour before the "deadline', I would have understood that visa was not compulsory and could easily have just given her the passport copy alone. It could have saved me tons of stress.

But she shrugged her shoulders. So did her team leader. So did the manager. Each time I had to repeat the explanation. But I must give it to them for patiently listening to me.

You know, when you pay Rs.24,000 of your money, the least I would expect is to be told in advance if the tickets was going to expire.

I accept its my mistake that I did not call them up and tell them about my visa problem. At the same time, it would have been nice for someone to have called and warned me about the impending 'cancellation'. Calling me AFTER the tickets have been cancelled isn't helping me at all.

After much discussion, cleartrip came up with a solution. I pay 50% ( Rs.4000) extra and they will book my tickets. I hated doing it but I really wanted to give my wife a vacation. I coughed up the money.

I get a confirmation mail from them saying that the tickets have been booked. Received the PNR.

Now, here's when the real incident starts.

On the day of departure, I land at the Chennai Airport two hours before check-in. I hand over my passport and the online booking printout to the staff. The staff took an unusually long time to process my tickets. I sensed trouble. The staff did various rounds of discussions amongst themselves. Half hour passed.

Then the official came to me and said my wife's ticket is ok and mine has been cancelled. Cancelled?? I told him that can't be because we booked it together. He took out a printout and showed me the dreaded word. "VOID".

You will realize how complicated the scene is when you listen to this. I booked my flight tickets through ClearTrip.com on a Jet Airways flight, which is operated by Malaysian Airlines and handled by an Air India Staff. And each one shrugged their shoulders and said its not their problem. I called ClearTrip but their customer service counter closed at 10 PM.

Now, there was only half hour to go for the flight to take off. I get panicky. I offered to buy a new ticket, but they refused to book a new one because they close the counter one hour before departure. An airport staff said I could still book it through a travel agency outside the airport. I run across to this agency. They said they cannot book the ticket because its just 20 minutes for take off.

I rush back and the guy at the counter gave me another idea. I could book the ticket for the next day and the airline will honour my ticket for today. And so I run like a mad man across the airport to this travel agency again and booked a new ticket. By this time, it was just 12 minutes for take off.

With the new tickets in hand, we had to wade through the immigration check and the really long security check line. You have no idea the number of "please' and "excuse us" I had used to go past the long queue.

With just 5 minutes before take off, we were the last people to enter the flight. I was panting and awash with sweat. My wife was really hassled. This is NOT the kind of experience I wanted to give her on her vacation.

-------

I'll update the second part soon of what took place after I reached kuala lumpur.

Got a Question for MD of Microsoft India?

2009-05-12T21:48:00.000-07:00

Today at 3PM, we will have the privilege of having Rajan Anandan, Managing Director of Microsoft India, as the guest at 'The Kiruba Show'.

'The Kiruba Show' is a podcast interview series with CEOs and top brass of Indian and international companies. The show follows a friendly conversational tone. You can find the old podcasts here and the new site will soon be launched with the fresh set of podcasts, which includes interviews with SAP MD, Jeffrey Archer and many.

I'm a firm believer that the collective knowledge of the audience is far higher than just any one individual. The show extensively uses Social Media to have the readers actively be part of the program. You have the chance to ask questions and we will pass it on to the CEO on your behalf. Due credit will be given. While asking the questions, your name and your profile will be mentioned. When the interview eventually gets published, your blog, twitter and LinkedIn profiles will be linked to.

Quite honestly, I've been meaning to give due credit to people who contributed with your questions and I plead guilty for not giving enough credit. That's one area that I really will be working on correcting it.

If you had the chance to meet the MD of Microsoft India, what is the one question you would like to ask him? Here is how you can pass on your questions.

Twitter: Please send in your questions as Tweets with @Kiruba.

Comment on this blog post: Just drop your question to Rajan in the comment section below this blog post.

Facebook: Here is my facebook profile. Just write your question on my wall or send a private message to me.

Email : The simplest and most effective method. Send your question to Kiruba @ Kiruba.com.

SMS: Another effective method. Send your question to +91 98415 97744.

Look forward to your questions.

TwitterCamp on June 21 at Chennai

2009-05-04T21:59:00.000-07:00

Pic: tenz1225

Block the date, fellas. June 21st, Sunday. TwitterCamp cometh.

TwitterCamp is a one day unconference where discussions revolve around the concept of Micro-blogging and its various uses. It's an open event. Pretty soon, a wiki will be set up where you can register your name and the topic you would like to speak on.

We have started the hunt for a venue that can hold 150 people. As of now, we have had a very enthusiastic response from US Technologies to help offer their office space as venue.

Calling good designers to help design a logo for TwitterCamp. Please let your imagination fly.

The event is the brainchild of The Knowledge Foundation, the non-profit group that has brought up BarCamp, Proto.in, WikiCamp, MobileMondays etc.

TwitterCamp is a true unconfernce, meaning that anyone can participate and help out in organizing. If you would like to offer a helping hand, please send an email to ganesh @ rupya.com.

Looking for TEDIndia Fellows

2009-05-02T09:31:00.000-07:00

We all know that TED is coming to Mysore, India later this year. As part of the event, TED is looking to select 100 TED Fellows.

TED Fellows are remarkable thinkers and doers who have shown unusual accomplishment, exceptional courage, moral imagination and the potential to increase positive change in their respective fields. They can be innovators in technology, entertainment, design, science, film, art, music, entrepreneurship or the NGO community, among other pursuits.

The application to apply for a TEDIndia Fellow opened on April 20th and runs till June 15th.

The TEDIndia Fellows program will have international representation with a distinctly South Asian majority, with approximately 75% of the Fellows representing the South Asian region, and 25% representing other regions of the world. South Asia is defined as including the countries of India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Tibet, Myanmar, the Maldives, and Sri Lanka.

For more information about how individuals may apply for a TEDIndia Fellowship, please visit
http://www.ted.com/fellows/apply. TED Fellows may apply or be nominated by another individual.

If you know a great person who fits the bill, please do highlight them. You can either directly nominate them or mention them in the comments below. Lets aim at bringing the hidden gems out in the limelight. Great achievers deserve the spotlight.

My First Advertising Experience

2009-04-11T20:18:00.000-07:00

I got a call from Ogilvy & Mather, the advertising agency, saying that they are doing an advertising campaign for ChennaiLive and that they would like to feature me in the advertisement.

The first question that I asked Rangesh, the head of the project, was "Why me?". Not that I was being modest but I was genuinely interested in knowing the reason why they had picked me. He then began to explain the concept. They had selected 10 people from various fields who have made a difference to Chennai and wanted me to be there from a technology/Internet perspective.

He then began to say who the other folks were.

Benny Dayal, a popular cine playback singer who is part of A.R.Rahman troupe. He has sung for Delhi 6, Ghajini, Ayan and many more.�
Sarath Babu, the real life slumdog millionaire who after IIM A, decided to set up a food chain. He sold idlis when he was a kid. He's now contesting the Lok Sabha elections.�
Venkat Prabhu, Film Director who's two films Chennai 6000028 & Saroja have been hits.�
Pratap, Head, Human Resources, Sony Ericsson Asia Pacific
Taara Rhine, Cultural Assistant, Allaince Francais�
Swathi Iyengar, Tai Chi expert�
Murali, Gold Gym, Fitness expert�
Mahadevan, �who runs a Rs.400 crore food empire. Think Hot Breads, Planet Yumm, Wangs Kitchen, Zaras, Don Pepe, Benjarong etc.
Chaitanya Rao,Chennai's leading Fashion Designer,�

An impressive list. It reminded me of Cerebrate, where we were aiming to rope in interesting folks from different fields.

I found it a bit fascinating when I was told that this was not a celebrity endorsement and that I will not be paid for it! �I guess they wanted to make things clear.�

And so a couple of days later, the crew landed up at my apartment for the photo shoot. �It's amazing how long a simple photo shoot can last. �Just for that one single photo, the shoot lasted over four hours. It would have lasted longer had it not been the setting of the sun that evening. �And this is not including the test shoot that was done a day earlier.�

This makeup man has been in business for over 30 years and has worked on some of the biggest heros and heroines. �As he was giving me layers of paint and powder, we engaged in some interesting conversation about his profession. �By the time he was done with me, I was looking like a drama artist.�

There was this instrument that the crew was constantly using. They told me its to check the light intensity and pretty much the same thing that the cricket umpires use.�

The crew in action. There was a professional photographer, a visualizer, project coordinator, light boy and the makeup man. I forgot the photographer's name but distinctly remember him to be a very affable guy who had an amazing smiling face. While he was shooting pics, he would engage me in conversation and crack jokes to get me to smile natually. �

By this time, the light was fading fast. �The crew brought out a shiny white material in order to reflect more light on to me. �They wanted me to pose with a laptop. But my laptop was at home which would mean losing precious few minutes. So, the photographer gave me his MacBook to hold.�

And so, here's the final ad. �Amazing how they can pep up things. ��Notice the magical disappearance of the Apple logo. �You can see that in my photo but not in the Ad. Guess, its been morphed out.�

Click here for a bigger version of the ad. �The text that accompanies the had has a few factual errors. �The copy intends to say I "run" Wikipedia India which is incorrect. Wikipedia is a community project and I play an active part in helping spreading its usage. �Have requested O&M to correct the text.�

�I had the first real 'behind-the-scenes' view of the advertising world. The people here are creatively brilliant and at the same time, wacky. �They are also perfectionist to the core. The minutest angle changes and the slightest light correction matter to them. �Overall, the entire experience was fascinating.�I'm told that the ads will go live sometime early next month.�

Chennai Facebook Developer Garage

2009-03-14T19:52:00.000-07:00

The first Facebook Developer Garage in Chennai takes place today (March 15th) at 2PM. Its a community event in an unconference mode where we get a chance to explore, get gritty, tinker, experiment, and test out ideas for Facebook Platform. The idea is to get our hands dirty, and explore fresh ideas and solutions.

The event is not just for hardcore techies but also for business folks who would like to know how to leverage social networks effectively. Social Networks can be potent tools for building online communities, PR, brand building, talent scouting & recruitment amongst others.

Thomas Jestin, who is the winner of the Facebook App Contest will be demoing his app. Philip Urech, a Swiss national, will present his experience on how United Nations used Facebook and social networks in their Nuclear Disarmament campaign.

Photon has been kind enough to offer their office space as the venue. Here's the address.

Photon Infotech
No. 2/102, Photon Towers,
Old Mahabalipuram Road, Karapakkam,
Chennai.

Here's the direction to the venue.

For more information on directions and venue, please call Vasanth at 98409 59948 or me at 98415 97744.

Here are the other logos that we designed for the Garage.

The Epicurean Encore

2009-03-02T00:09:00.000-08:00

I vividly remember the first meeting with Jigyasa Giri & Pratibha Jain. It was a couple of years ago when they had invited me home for a wonderful spread of absolutely yummy home-cooked meal. The recipe for each of the food item was taken from their best selling, award winning book, 'Cooking at Home with Pedatha'. The book went on to win the prestigious 'Gourmand' Award for the 'The Best Vegetarian Book in the World' in 2006.

The success of their first book encouraged them to publish their second book titled 'Sukham Ayu', a carefully researched book which is the quintessence of an ayuvedic diet. The book is a wonderful collection of recipes consisting of simple, vegetarian dishes with the goodness of Ayurvedic insights.

From left to right : Pratibha Jain (standing behind the podium) is a Ph.D in Languages and runs a language translation service. Jigyasa Giri (with the mic) is a Kathak dancer and choreographer. To her left is Latha Menon, documentary and adfilm maker and wife of Rajeev Menon, famed cinematographer and film maker. Next to her is Andrea Jeremiah, model, Jazz musician, singer, theatre personality and actress. Right most is me, singularly representing the male community, having been overpowered by a very eloquent, multi-talented, beautiful women.

When my turn came to speak, it was rather easy for me. I spoke from my heart. Not only was I impressed with Jigyasa's and Pratibha's passion for food and their ability to author books, I was quite impressed with their marketing ability. While writing a book is tough ( oh, just ask me!) , getting the book marketed is even tougher. I personally think that both of them did an outstanding work in using the Internet to get the word around.

They were also living my dream. I always wanted to document my grandmothers' lives so that their rich experiences and fond memories can be passed on to my daughters and their kids. It always remained a wish list and when I meet someone who walked the talk, they instantly gain my respect.

The book is based on extensive research done at KARE, a health retreat in Pune. Dr.Prakash Kalmadi, Founder and Medical Director at KARE was so impressed with their first book, 'Cooking at Home with Pedatha', that he invited the authors to his retreat to start work on an Ayuvedic cookbook.

Just before the event was about to start at the Landmark bookstore in Nungambakkam, an old friend bumped into me. He happened to be there at the bookshop and when he learned that I was there for the book launch function, he asked me, "What's the connection with you and cooking?". He caught me off guard and I sheepishly replied, "Eating"!

Writing for The Financial Express on Facebook. What's Your View?

2009-02-19T20:15:00.000-08:00

The Financial Times has requested me to write a balanced story on the whole Facebook privacy issue. �What's the issue? � Facebook claims that whatever your write is theirs.�

You hereby grant Facebook an irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, fully paid, worldwide license (with the right to sublicense) to (a) use, copy, publish, stream, store, retain, publicly perform or display, transmit, scan, reformat, modify, edit, frame, translate, excerpt, adapt, create derivative works and distribute any User Content you post.

I'd like to get your view on what you think of this. �Are you feeling insecure with what Facebook can do with your content? �Is it right for Facebook to own what is rightfully yours? �Or are we unnecessarily crying foul considering that most of the sites anyways has the same clause from the beginning? Maybe its just media hype to fill the space and air time? �

Whatever your views are, however strong and critical they may be, do send them to me. If you are OK with it, I may use your opinion in the article. Please make sure to type in your full name and your designation. On the contrary if you don't want to get printed, please explicitly state that as well. I respect your right to privacy!�

You can either leave your opinion as a comment to this post or mail it to me at Kiruba @ Kiruba.com. Thanks in advance.�

My Speaking Schedule : Walking My Talk

2009-02-05T19:38:00.000-08:00

One of my goals for 2009 is to get better at public speaking. While many say that they have enjoyed my talks, deep inside me, I know I could've done much better. Way better. � My heart always cringes when I miss an opportunity to deliver a knock-out performance (and not just a good performance). �I think there's a sea of difference between a good performance and a Knock-out performance. �My ex-boss calls it "hitting the ball out of the park". ��

Unfortunately, a knock-out performance also requires an extraordinary effort. Quite honestly, I've never been the sort of guy to prepare for a talk weeks in advance. It's always been a slog-over effort. While that's sufficient for a 'good performance', its just is never good enough to hit that sixer.�

Over the next few weeks and months, �I'll be putting on an honest effort to correct myself, imbibe the qualities that I've admired in other speakers and to do justice to the qualities that what people believe I have. I'll document my efforts, tricks, pitfalls of my journey and hope to learn from you all.�

Thankfully, I've had a few opportunities lined up and I *really* hope to walk my talk. �Here's what my schedule looks like.�

The Entrepreneurship Cell at IIT Bombay is organizing the annual The�Entrepreneurship Summit on 7th Feb. The event hosts Eureka'08, Asia's biggest business plan competition. I've been invited to be a mentor and look forward to sharing my expertise and helping the folks out.

At the same event, I'll be the moderator for a panel discussion titled 'What are the pitfalls to avoid before starting up'. �I've got a kickarse panelists of successful entrepreneurs and a great audience. �Moderating panels is a bit more challenging than speaking at a panel and look forward to it.

It's the biggest NASSCOM event with the who's who of CXOs. �I've been invited as the official podcaster for the event and look forward to interacting with some of the best minds in the industry. �

It's the biggest annual PR event for PRCAI ( Public Relations Consultants Association of India) and I'm a panelist for a session titled, 'New Media v/s Traditional Media'. �My hands are already itching! �Can't wait.�

After a long time, there's a session from STC Chennai taking place and I'm speaking on how Technical Writers can benefit from Social Media. �The event takes place on 21st February.�

The talk should've happened last week if the TamilNadu govt would not have announced a blanket shut down of all colleges because of the SriLankan crisis. �I'm told my talk at the college has been pushed to next week and I'll be speaking on 'Making the most of the Downturn'.�

The biggest SEO and SEM event in India makes a comeback after a successful show in 2007. The event is happening on Feb 28th & March 1st. �I'm co-organizing the event as part of The Knowledge Foundation and will also speak on how Social Media can help enhance your Web footprint resulting in better search results.�

The 2nd Facebook Developers Garage�in India�will take place in Chennai. Again an event I'm helping co-organize as part of The Knowledge Foundation. �Hoping to get the development community together and share my experiences on how best to leverage the power of Facebook as a platform. The event takes place on March 15th.�

I'm told that the Symbiosis students really liked my talk at the 'FootPrints' event in Chennai and have invited me back to their annual event called 'Cyber Media Conclave' taking place at their beautiful campus in Pune. �Don't know the exact dates but I'm told its scheduled for mid-year.�

The event that really captured my attention is this PR 2.0 �event that will take place in Tehran, Iran. It's organized by the Iran PR professionals and pleasantly surprised by how much interest they have in leveraging the Net as a medium. �I'll be keynoting at this event and will be speaking on how Govt organizations can leverage the power of Social Media. The event takes place on July 9th.�

The Photologue of the Tamil Wikipedia Academy

2009-01-27T19:28:00.000-08:00

Amongst all the Wikipedia Academies held earlier, I would rate this Tamil Wikipedia as the one which had the highest learning quotient. About 15 interested folks had turned up to learn about how to contribute to Tamil Wikipedia. We learnt what it takes to contribute to Tamil Wikipedia while also learning some shocking statistics that almost made me put my head down in shame.�

While Tamil�Wikipedia�has close to 17,000+ articles, most of these have been contributed by a small team of 50�Wikipedians. �In other words, there are only around 50 Tamil�Wikipedians worldwide, out of which only about 10 are consistently active�

Most contributions to Tamil�Wikipedia�are done by�Srilankan�Tamils who live in other countries like�Canada, US and Malaysia. �It's a matter of shame that we in�Tamilnadu�don't do much. A situation that must be changed.�

Telugu�Wikipedia�leads the pack with 42,000+ articles. �Once again, most of the contribution is by people living outside India.�

That's what put in the seed for having more Wikipedia Academies that will encourage more regional language contribution from people within India. �

We had two experienced�Wikipedias,�Ravi Shankar�and�Ganesh, who took the time and effort to come teach. In my opinion, both of them deserve huge praise because they signify the very spirit of the�Wikipedia�community : The willingness to share knowledge.�

After the initial introduction to Wikipedia, Ravi suggested the team split into two teams so that there can be better attention and interaction. This worked wonders. �It was a very interactive learning session more driven by Q&A.�

There were two learning hurdles to cross. �The first is typing in Tamil. While all the participants knew Tamil and how to write, very few knew how to type in Tamil. The audience were taught transliteration techniques where one can type in Tamil and the software automatically converts into Tamil. �

The second hurdle is learning how to edit Wikipedia. �I must say that for a total fresher, Wikipedia editing can be a steep learning curve. No, I'm not talking about simple spelling correction. I'm talking about adding a new article, adding reference articles, adding new photographs etc. Now, lets not even go near adding tables and including templates. �Those are *waay* too complex. ��

It's a good thing that Wikimedia Foundation is seriously looking at simplifying the editing into a WYSIWYG (simple visual editing) method.�

Ravi, who did his doctorate in Netherlands, showed exceptional love for both the language and Wikipedia. He had a natural teaching aptitude and patiently handheld the newcomers through the world of Wikis.�

A huge shout of appreciation should also go to Natkeeran, a tamilian living in Cananda and a prolific Wikipedian, who showed exceptional interested in getting eveyone together for this academy. Even though he was thousands of miles away, he constantly wrote in with encouragements and proactively wrote to many people to come volunteer to teach.

The local neighbourhood newspaper played an important role in spreading the message. While the English Wikipedia Academies always had better response in terms of attendance, I realized that it was difficult to reach out to people interested in Tamil Wikipedia through the blog network. That's when I realized the power of local media.�

Anyone can start a Wikipedia Academy. The whole idea is to get a small place where people who are interested in Wikipedia can learn. �You can do this in your home, school or a nearby park. You don't need to take permission from anyone to conduct an academy. It's very low cost too.�

It would be great to see such Wikipedia Academies take place all over India. Be it cities, towns or villages. If you need any assistance, there are many of us who are eager to help assist you. Please call me at 98415 97744 or email Kiruba @ Kiruba.com.�

Tamil Wikipedia Academy on Jan 18th

2009-01-15T23:31:00.000-08:00

Here's an opportunity to learn how to edit Wikipedia in Tamil. In this 3rd edition of Wikipedia Academy, we will get learn from experienced Wikipedians who have spent many years contributing to Tamil Wikipedia.

One of the major objectives of the Global Wikimedia Foundation is to grow the contribution to regional languages worldwide. The Indian Chapter of Wikimedia Foundation will focus heavily on encouraging regional language contribution.

While there are a healthy number of Indian volunteers who contribute to Wikipedia, most help out in English. Regional languages, for example, Tamil Wikipedia, pales in comparision. Another matter of concern is that most of the edits are done by Tamilians who live outside Tamilnadu. Most of these are passionate Tamil lovers who live in US, UK and other countries. It's time we encouraged more people in Tamilnadu.

There's a lot of good intent to help. It could just be the case of sheer ignorance. That's where the Tamil Wikipedia Academy aims to help out.

We have experienced Wikipedians like Ravi, Sundar, Mayuranathan and Ganesh who have volunteered to come help teach. Learn more here.

We'll also use this opportunity to meet together to discuss on what strategies we can use to grow Tamil Wikipedia. Everyone is welcome. You don't necessarily have to deal with Tamil Wikipedia. Any Wikipedia enthusiast who is willing to volunteer and help out with ideas and efforts is welcome.

Please take note of the venue and the timings.

Day: Sunday, January 18th.

Time: 3 pm to 5 pm

Venue: F5ive Technologies, C-1, Raj Paris Apts, 82, Kamaraj Steet, Virugambakkam, Chennai - 92.

Directions: On Arcot Road, after Avichi School and a big Raymond's Showroom, take the first right. This is Kamaraj Street. After 100 meters, the road splits into right and left. (a 'T' junction). The venue is exactly at this 'T' junction. It's opposite to an Amman Temple.

Call for help: Should you need help, please call me at 98415 97744 or email Kiruba@Kiruba.com

We request you to help pass the word around to friends who might be interested. Please blog or tweet this information. Thanks in advance.

Nila Soru : Re-living a Childhood Memory

2009-01-13T19:31:00.000-08:00

Pic by Bohemian

The full moon was stunning. I don't remember the last time I've seen it this bright. Maybe it had to do with the power cut. I stood watching it for a full minute soaking in its beauty. It reminded me of my childhood days.

Back in Rettani, my maternal village near Tindivanan, we kids would gather around on the terrace and our aunt would feed us 'Sambhar Boova' (that's kidspeak for sambhar rice). With outstretched hands, we would receive riceballs in turns while listening to some fascinating story.

My journey down memory lane was cut short when the power came back. The bright city lights diminished the luminosity of the moon. No wonder we never notice it that often. That's when I thought about my kids and felt bad for them. Will they ever get to experience the small pleasues that we were fortunate to enjoy. An idea struck me. Why not have a 'Nila Soru' dinner tonight?

My wife and Mom are a fantastic sport. I told them the idea and they were party to it immediately. They made nice sambhar rice (with lots of ghee, yumm) and potato 'poriyal'. The kids in our apartment are a connected lot and the word spread quickly. They all assembed on the terrace and after a bit of dancing and playing, it was food time.

The only person missing though was the moon! At 8:30 pm, no sight of the main character. I was told he'd take time to come up. We were all hungry and decided to go ahead.

My wife placed rice balls in each kid's hand one by one. I followed by keeping the potato sidedish. The kids seemed to love it. Just the sight of joy on their faces was worth it. In our daily rush and a commercialized lifestyle, we fail to realize the happiness in small things. Many of the kids parents came up to the terrace too and it was their chance to reminiscence about their childhood.

Podcast: Mark Yolton, Head of SAP Communities, on Social Media

2009-01-08T03:02:00.000-08:00

I'm passionate about Social Media and even more interested in knowing how Companies leverage the Net effectively. I've been closely following how some of the leading companies globally use social media. One company in the list is SAP,the World's biggest business application software company. I've been impressed with them specifically with the way they have built their communities both amongst developers and business professional.

There are over 1 million members in SAP community and they have used both online Enterprise 2.0 strategies and real world events to actively engage them.

When I was invited to attend SAP TechEd, it was just the opportunity I needed to meet Mark Yolton, the key person behind SAP communities. Mark comes with over 20 years of experiece and has held senior management profiles at Oracle, PeopleSoft and Sun Microsystems. Watch the interview.

Kiruba Interviews Mark Yolton, Head, SAP Community Network from kiruba on Vimeo.

The New Year Celebration I Won't Forget in a Long Time

2009-01-01T19:07:00.000-08:00

In 13 years since our apartment has been built, this is the first year that a New Year has been jointly celebrated. When we took over the responsibility of the apartment association during mid-2008, this was on the must-do list. And huge credit should go to the kids for pulling a remarkable event together. I was pleasantly surprised by their organizing skills and financial acumen.

The kids performing a dance for the song 'Yeh Ishq hai' from Jab We Met. I must've listened to this song a hundred times while they were rehearing the dance at my home. My wife was the troupe's choreographer.

Notice the colourful screen in the background. It's made out of 64 sarees, generously lent by the ladies in the apartment.

There were many games during the 3 hour event. One such is the musical chair contest for men.

The buffet was the highlight of the celebration. Each home took the responsibility of cooking one special item of their choice for everyone. It reminded me of unconferences where folks picked up their own topic to speak. We had over 3o items and I can tell that this can rival any 5 star hotel food.

Just before midnight, we all got together for a group photo. That's just half of them. Few had to leave for churches and temples for New Year Pooja.

We bought some classy fireworks (these are monstrous guys) and we timed it beautifully with the New Year countdown. Then came a huge cake where the eldest couple and the youngest kid in the apartment jointly cut the cake. Then followed a melee of cream splashing spree!

To see the unity amongst the residents and the amazing spirit and talent of the kids was fantastic. A New Year Celebration I won't forget in a long time.

Cooking Money !

2008-12-28T12:45:00.000-08:00

It's strange to find my Dad inside the kitchen. And so I go in to find out what he is upto and find him doing an even stranger thing. He's cooking money! Apparently, he got his money laundered in the washing machine along with his shirt and he's drying it up.

The Making of the Community Christmas Tree

2008-12-24T03:14:00.000-08:00

Every year, I set up an artificial Christmas tree at my home, decorate it with small goodies and lights. However, it just doesn't have the festive feel nor the spirit. This time, I wanted it to be different. I wanted it to be bigger and more importantly, make our apartment folks to be involved. That's when the idea of a community tree cropped up and quickly latched on to it.

This is the tree that's inside our apartment that we chose. We planted this two years ago and this guys has grown fairly strong. We decided to give it the Christmas look.

Off I went to Parrys Corner. It's a good one hour ridefrom my place. Worth the long ride. You get the best varieties and the best prices. Picked up stars, trinkets, bells, and other stuff.

There's a special lane in Parrys corner that only deals with electrical goods. Picked up a whole bunch of 'china made' Christmas lights.

The whole idea attracted the apartment kids like Pied Piper. That's just half of them. A whole lot more joined in soon.

The kids helped set things up and the adults joined in doing the hard stuff like electrical wiring and hanging.

We needed thin metal wires in order to hang the stars and the bells. There's a nice hardware store nearby and bought these wires.

Meanwhile, another team of volunteers began work on getting the electrical wiring ready. Since all the bulbs were to be fixed as a serial connection, we had to make sure that the connections were perfect. One mistake and the rest of the bulbs won't glow. I wanted to call in a professional electrician to help but the enthusiastic guys said they'd do it themselves. I was impressed.

A kind gentleman in our apartment helped source a ladder that greatly helped. Once the wiring was done, we began to hang the lights.

As the evening progressed, the day light began to fade making the task harder. The team didn't want to stop mid way and we laboured on. The thin branches didn't help either and we had to be careful. The lightest guy in the team took on the adventurous job of getting up the tree.

When we switched on the power, it was a sight to behold. The colourful lights lit up the place brightly. The kids and the folks in the apartment broke into an applause immediately. Seen here are the three guys, Nagesh, Manohar and Rajesh who took on the bulk of the work. Each of the kids went and shook their hands saying, "Thank you uncle". The joy on the kids face was worth all the 6 hours of hard work.

The spirit was contagious. One of the neighbours even bought a whole pack 'jalebis' for the team. Now the folks in the apartment are enthusiastic about celebrating a joint New Year Celebrations on 30th night and plans are underway. It's the first time in 12 years that this apartment is seeing a joint celebration.

Amazing what a little spirit and a Christmas tree can do! :)

Microsoft v/s Open Source. The Startups Win

2008-12-18T21:18:00.000-08:00

I would assume I know a thing or two about startups. For starters, I've attempted a couple myself, giving me an inside view of entrepreneurship. The many entrepreneurs that I've gotten to know over the years of organizing Proto.in help give me a peek into the overall ecosystem.

Almost the bulk of the startups that I know of start off using Open Source software or something that's available for free. PHP is the language of choice for web development. Consequently, MySQL the pick for database. For corporate email, Hosted GMail for domains rules. Google apps for everything with collaboration. Skype for teleconferece. OpenOffice for docs & spreadsheets. If you notice, the underlying common denominator is the cost. It's zilch. You can't argue with 'Free'. For an entrepreneur who is starting off on a shoestring of budget, this *is* a big deal.

It's a good thing that Microsoft has realized this. Their latest release of the BizSpark program is a great long term vision to ally with the startups and at the same time take on the Open Source onslaught in their own home ground.

Through the BizSpark program, Microsoft is giving away most of its software for virtually free. Check this out. Microsoft SQL Server, Microsoft Office SharePoint Portal Server, BizTalk Server and Systems Center, Microsoft Dynamics CRM, MSDN Premium subscription, Microsoft Express Studio (design tools), Microsoft Windows (Vista, XP, all Ultimate & enterprise editions), All SDKs, and Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 Professional. In case you didn't notice, that's pretty much a bulk of MS' key offerings. All free for 3 years. Add to this free support.

This reminded me of my home town, Pondicherry's strategy to boost tourism and business. They gave tax holidays for 5 years to all new hotels and IT companies. No taxes at all. You take home all the profit you make. Ventures started flooding in. It's been a very successful program. This year that holiday comes to an end, and now the government will benefit from its five year patience because the taxes from these companies will start flowing in.

The strategy is the same for Microsoft. Encourage the startups to use Microsoft products. The first 3 years is the most crucial for startups to grow and they are giving their help and support at this crucial period of their growth. Once these fledgling startus metamorph into an established company, they get to reap the benefits of selling both new software and support.

You have to give it to Microsoft for chalking out a long term strategy across 82 countries.

Will this affect Open Source? One would be tempted to answer 'yes' but in the long run, this competition is actually good for the community. It will make them push the bar even higher resulting in better products.

Competition is always good.

More Comic Relief

2008-12-15T08:40:00.000-08:00

A few days ago, our coworking office got colourful, thanks to a certain TinTin, Dilbert and Homer Simpson. This was our second installment of comic poster collection.

The entire portrait was created from scratch by our designer, Rajesh. We got it printed at a great place in North Usman Road, T.Nagar called GLO. They have this really fancy machine who's printing quality that I'm always impressed with. After a week of anxious wait, the poster got framed. Got it done at United Brothers who's shop is conveniently located close to the printer. Seen here is the person carrying the finished product to my car.

Transported them safely across.

It was past midnight by the time we got down to drilling holes and nailing. Huge dollops of appreciation to the neighbours who understood our need to create a racket at wee hours. We warned them up sufficiently in advance and that helped. We wanted the painting to be done before Jimmy Wales' visit and the start of Wikipedia Academy.

The Academy in progress and the painting looked real good. Today, I was browsing through the Economic Times in Bangalore and they had a nice colourful picture of the hall with the poster. You should have seen me beam.

Jimmy at our office. Love that ~~dilbert~~ Simpsons picture behind him.

The last two pictures from Jaggy's collection of photos from Wikipedia Academy.

This is One Pissed House Owner!

2008-12-06T01:18:00.001-08:00

The message on the wall translates to, "The Place Where Dogs Piss" !

Gulliver's Tiffin Carrier?

2008-12-02T20:56:00.000-08:00

Found this monster of a tiffin carrier at a shop in Pondy Bazaar at T.Nagar, Chennai. Notice how its taller than my daughter, Kalpitha.

Rain Deluge: Photos From My Area

2008-11-28T05:48:00.000-08:00

This is the apartment next to ours that got flooded. Water had entered all the ground floor apartments and they were pumping out water using the two motors the whole day. Thankfully, our apartment was built on a higher foundation and we were safe.

About a few hundred meters from my home is this place called 'MettuKuppam'. Tranlated in english, it would mean 'Village on a higher ground'. In reality, it was the opposite. Every street out there looked like this.

Notice how water is flowing through the streets like a river.

This is the street where the Electricity Board Office is located. It was funnily ironic that they couldn't restore electricity to their own office.

Water has entered every home. Notice how this shopkeeper has used bricks elevate this stall.

Kids sieving the waters for fish. Don't think they got lucky.

A tree has split into two and fallen off.