3 day workshop on 'Exposure to Communication Design for IT and Media Professionals' at IDC, IIT Bombay

'Expo CD'

3 Day Workshop:
'Communication Design for IT and Media Professionals'

26th - 28th August 2010 from 9.30am - 5.30 pm
at IDC, IIT Bombay
http://www.idc.iitb.ac.in/events/expo-cd-2010.html

Introduction:

The course Expo CD is a refresher course on the finer aspects of Communication Design specifically meant for IT and Media Professionals.

The course will inform the participants about the overall aspects of Communication Design for the Digital Media, a deeper understanding of Communication Graphics, Methods for Structuring and Visualisation of Information as well as exposure to creative processes for solving communication problems.

The subjects covered during the workshop include - Typography for Digital Media, Expressive Typography, Typography for the Web, Information Graphics, Information Visualisation, Communication Graphics, Icon Design, Design Process, Design Methodology, Interactive Design, Identity Design, etc..

The course is scheduled to have lecture and discussion sessions in the morning followed by workshops on Communication Design related creative problem solving sessions in the afternoon

Course Contents /Lectures:
The following are the list of topics and speakers during the workshop:

1st Day:
Introduction to Communication Design for IT Professionals
Prof. Ravi Poovaiah

Web Typography (part 1)
Sri Grirish Dalvi

Digital and Expressive Typography
Prof. G V Sreekumar

Web Design (part 2)
Sri Girish Dalvi

Workshop on Digital Typography
Prof. G V Sreekumar and Sri Girish Dalvi

2nd Day:
Gestalt and Information Theory
Prof. U A Athavankar

Information Visualisation and Design
Prof. Ravi Poovaiah

Information Graphics
Prof. G V Sreekumar

Ordering of Information
Prof. Mandar Rane

Workshop on Information Design and Analysis
Prof. Ravi Poovaiah and Dr. Ajanta Sen

3rd Day:
Communication Design and Identity - theory and applications
Prof. Ravi Poovaiah

Human Factors in Communication Design
Prof. N Sadhu

Communications, Scenarios and Storytelling - theory and examples
Prof. Nina Sabnani

Designing Interactive Communication Experiences
Prof. Ravi Poovaiah

Workshop on Design Methods - worldview, affinities and analysis
Dr. Ajanta Sen

Who will benefit?
The workshop is meant for all professionals involved in the communication media and design industry, design consultancy services and marketing of products. This would include designers, engineers and others involved with Visual Design, Web Development, Software Products, Multimedia Products, Digital Media, Product Graphic design, Interface Design and New Media Design. Organisations would particularly benefit from the workshop by sending in a team of professionals to learn collectively from lectures, case studies, new methods and techniques and the theoretical aspects of design principles.

Registration
The early bird course fee for the 3day workshop is Rs. 12,000. For participants from Educational Institutions, the fee is Rs. 6,000. This includes course material, lunch and refreshments for three days. Do register early as the number of participants are limited.

Participants can send a demand draft / cheque payable to "Registrar, IIT Bombay" along with the following details to

ExpoCD Workshop Coordinator
IDC IIT Bombay, Powai
Mumbai- 400 076
Phone:022 2576 7801

Please send the following details along with the registration fees:

Name:

Designation:

Organisation:

Address:


Phone:
Fax:
E-mail:

Do you need accommodation?

Limited accommodation is available at the IIT guest house on a first come first serve basis.

Contact details:

If you have any queries, please contact:
seminar[at]idc.iitb.ac.in

Chetan Bhuj
ExpoCD Workshop,
Industrial Design Centre
IIT Bombay
Powai Mumbai- 400 076, India

Phone: 091-22-2576 7820, 091-22-2576 7801
Fax : 091-22-2576 7803, 091-22-2572 3480

Call for Papers - UN SC Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace & Security

A Call for Papers on UN SC Resolution 1325

WILPF invites submission of papers on a broad range of issues around the implementation of 1325, as part of the Women, Peace and Security: From Resolution to Action Geneva High-Level Consultation 15-16 September 2010, Geneva.

Papers can address gender/women in conflict or post-conflict; the implementation of SCR 1325; and/or women in the context of protection, conflict prevention and participation.

Content can be presented as analysis, critiques, good practice, lessons learnt, case studies and/or campaigns.

Papers can also be formatted as articles, case studies or toolkits. Word limit 10,000.

Deadline: 20 August 2010
Please submit to 1325papers@wilpf.ch and provide the following information:

Name:

Institution/Organisation:

Title of Paper:

Country:

Particular themes include (please note compulsory to highlight in submission):
Early warning
Peace-Processes
Participation
Representation/Peace-Processes
Participation
Representation/Participation
Political Participation
Peace Keeping (including Sexual Exploitation and Abuse and Gender Training)
Civil Society Activities/Women Organising for Peace
Human Rights (including Socio-Economic rights/development; Racial and Ethnic Discrimination; International and Regional Instruments and Mechanisms)
Demobilisation, Disarmament, Repatriation, Resettlement and Reintegration (DDRRR)
Small Arms and Light Weapons
Landmines
Violence against women
Displacement
Humanitarian Assistance
Health (including HIV/AIDS and Reproductive Health)
UN Implementation
National Implementation (including NAPs)
All relevant registered papers will be published as part of a Literature Repository on http://www.peacewomen.org/.

Please use the following links for more information -
WILPF 1325+10 anniversary

Women, Peace and Security: from Resolution to Action Geneva Consultation

Context
The year 2010 marks the 10th anniversary of the UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on women, peace and security. Building on the commitments of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (adopted at the 4th World Conference on Women), the resolution acknowledged for the first time the important role of women in the prevention and resolution of conflicts and in peace building, and the importance of their equal participation and full involvement in all efforts for the maintenance and promotion of peace and security.

As part of resolution 1325 celebrations, a high level Ministerial debate is due to take place at the Security Council in New York in October. The debate will focus on reviewing the implementation of resolution 1325 and subsequent resolutions, as well as examining ways to further enhance their impact.

To ensure input at this ministerial debate the European Union and Belgium (who will hold the Presidency from July 2010) have planned three events. These events in Brussels, Geneva and New York are focused around the three pillars of the resolution 1325: participation (Brussels), protection (Geneva) and prevention (New York).

Women, Peace and Security: from resolution to action, the Geneva Consultation will be held on the 15 and 16 September 2010 and will focus on protection. It is organized by the Belgium mission and the EU Delegation, in partnership with relevant UN agencies and NGOs. It will be coordinated by UNDP, UNHCR, with the support of UNITAR and the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom. The Conference will bring together representatives from EU Member States, UN organizations and NGOs, from humanitarian, human rights and security domains.

Just presented WAVE over Skype video to a group of 25 in Jakhama, Nagaland!

Thanks to Babul Gogoi and the Foundation for People's Empowerment for this opportunity to present what WAVE is about. I hope we see many more citizen journalists inspired to report stories from their areas!

We like Girlie Girl Army!

A Glamazon Guide to Green Living - how neat! Sign up for their weekly e-newsletter...

Article about WAVE on Audiencescapes.org, a development communications website

Young Indian Women Ride WAVE to Free Expression

By Paromita Pain

17 May 2010

Mumbai-based activists Angana Jhaveri and Sapna Shahani wanted to use media to help empower young Indian women. Brainstorming with Madhusudan Agarwal, director of social change media house Mam Movies, the pair drew inspiration from the "She Creates" project. Mam had trained 25 Mumbai girls in filmmaking techniques and had them make short films on the theme, "What it feels to be a girl."

The result was Women Aloud: Video blogging for Empowerment (WAVE), a nationwide project that last year became the first winner in India of the Digital Media and Learning competition run by the MacArthur Foundation and HASTAC. Armed with a $107,000 grant, Jhaveri and Shahani have convened women from every corner of the country to learn about video blogging techniques and create content on social and personal subjects.

Digital Expression

The WAVE founders describe their project as a “digital platform for young Indian women to voice their perspectives on issues that matter through video blogs”. They aim to share compelling videos that start conversations and build bridges to enable the exchange of novel solutions. Video blogging is a means to talk without censorship, where the camera is allowed to show a reality most corporate news channels miss.

A first batch of 25 project participants launched their video blogs at the end of January 2010. Nearly 50 women so far have gone through WAVE's 11-day training sessions on ideating, scripting, camerawork, editing, animation and other details of the process. The participants' strongest motivation was to create a greater and more sensitive understanding of the issues they and their communities have to deal with, very often on a daily basis.

“We introduced the trainees to the fields of development and gender, women and media, community media and the online forum of video blogging, then the filmmaking areas of production related activities," said Angana. "We also dwelt on the art of storytelling and the different genres like animation, and finally brought the training to a close with a discussion on sustainability in the future." Some 30 women who make videos regularly get mentored by WAVE for a nine month term.

The young producers have shot a diverse mix of films, with subjects ranging from education to floods to sexual health, to more narrow topics such as the festivities and politics surrounding a typical wedding. Some are artistically oriented, such as one about the art of Kolams, or sand paintings, in Tamil Nadu.

Anandi, a community health supervisor, shares her experiences of working in the remote areas of Uttarakhand in northern India. She is hoping to make more women aware of their health rights. Usha Dewani, who lives in Guwahati in eastern India, discovered the joys of grassroots comic strips in a workshop, and she used video blogging to tell more people about how such strips can help articulate their needs. Lebul Nissa, who grew up in Srinagar in conflict-prone Jammu and Kashmir, told about her life there and how she learned the word "curfew" before she learned the word "picnic." Moushumi Basu, from heavily industrial Ranchi in the Northeast, weaves a story of tribal exploitation, uranium radiation and superstition.

Gauging Impact

While the impact is yet to be measured in quantifiable terms, participants are encouraged to show their work to selected audiences. “I think we're just beginning to see the impact in a small way because we're so new," said Angana. "The congratulatory comments on the movies are encouraging. The videos have been shown by some of the girls in their communities, and for their work. We've been asked to make DVDs for them to screen to larger audiences. Sulochana from Goa, who works on health awareness for an NGO, just made a great video about cultural perspectives to menstruation which she plans to use in her awareness programs,” Angana added.

“We hope this new video material from areas as far as Aizawl and Trivandrum will not only inspire action within the community, but also engage individuals and organizations working towards development. [as well as] academics, researchers, and social investors,” says Angana. That’s why the WAVE team were keen to work with college-graduate age woman who could also be mentored as citizen journalist video bloggers.

Some of the blogs deal with serious issues. “An eye opener moment was Moushumi Basu’s video about a village murdering a family accused of witchcraft. It struck me that her journalism instincts translated so well into video and that we would be seeing many more fascinating stories if journalists around India had video cameras, rather than the mostly [whitewashed] stories you see on television networks,” says Sapna.

Another favorite video on the site is Sakshi Saini's profile video where she narrates the gossip that went around during her marriage in Delhi. Dwelling on society and social issues needn’t always be serious!

Some of the women trained through WAVE have been offered jobs to produce videos. Not all of the women who come in for training are comfortable with the equipment. “Yes, some women do struggle with technology and gadgets like cameras, which I think is mostly because of a lack of accessible training. We've created a video production guide we call a 'toolkit' which is available to download free of charge on our website's 'learning' area”, explained Sapna.

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Paromita Pain is a senior reporter and sub editor working on the Young World and Nxg youth supplements of the Sunday edition. She is currently residing in Austin, Texas.

DNA Bombay newspaper article on May 10

30 members from across the country have come together to video-blog on issues affecting their areas
Women make WAVEs in cyber space
Uttarika Kumaran
Mysore: In the small town of Odana di, incidents of human trafficking are frequent. But of late, a particularly vulnerable group is being targeted — mentally challenged girls.
Chandigarh: The municipal corpora- tion is shutting down dhobhi ghats across the city, replacing them with modern laundry marts to be run by the dhobis. They now sit idly behind their brand-new counters, listening to the silent whir of coin-operated washing machines.
Thane: Every day after school, a 12- year-old girl joins her family of dombaris or ropewalkers, negotiating 20-foot-high wires with ease. Besides con- tributing to the family income, she is also keeping alive a fast vanishing tradition.
These are disparate pieces of news. There is no connection between them whatsoever. But the only thread that connects these untold stories is the women who have chosen to tell them.
Women Aloud Videoblogging for Empowerment (WAVE) is a new video blogging website that has empowered 30 women from across the country to embrace the vast potential of the au- diovisual medium on their own terms. While organisations, such as Video Volunteers, have already laid the groundwork for community media in the country, the founders of WAVE, Sapna Sahani and Angana Jhaveri, hit upon a powerful formula — combine a highly personalised storytelling medium with the interactive potential of the Internet.
Last year, their proposed project was awarded a $1,07,000 grant from the MacArthur Foundation to train one woman from every state in India to make their own videos. The self-suffi- cient model required participants to be educated, have Internet access and be able to quickly adapt to the video medi- um. “We decided to focus on semi-urban women whom we offered a stipend of Rs3,000 per video,” says Sapna.
The introductory videos on the web- site are a good indication of what’s in store — expressions of personal yearn- ing share an equal platform with press- ing community issues. Prutha Soman, 25, from Thane, who dances blithely under an open sky in her first video, hopes to make people aware of indige- nous art forms of Maharashtra, which are facing extinction.
Moonstar Doud, 26, from Chandi- garh, an enthusiastic advocate of sus- tainable living practices, is keen to ex- periment with the video medium through fictional narratives and the use of animation.
In her video about dhobis, she’s go- ing to adopt a silent film style ala Chap- lin. “These days, we’ve stopped re- sponding to images of suffering in the media. This visual overload needs to be countered by adopting a fresh, lighthearted way of looking at things,” she quips.
Still grappling with certain aspects of production, most bloggers choose to send their material to the WAVE office alongwiththeirAVscripts,wherefree- lance editors put them together. But practical experience has allowed some to fashion their own ways of telling a story visually.
The bloggers are also up-to-date ad- dressing current issues. For example, they will soon be putting up videos of their views about the Women’s Reser- vation Bill, a packaged presentation of which Sapna and Angana hope to send to Delhi. To see the videos or find out more about WAVE, go to www.waveindia.org.

Apoorva Shaligram, WAVE videoblogger from Maharashtra featured on E-TV Marathi channel