Interesting
Reads – 2018-11-16
Contents
Articles
- How Did the EC Link 300 Million Voter IDs to Aadhaar In Just a Few Months?
- Procrastination Sucks — So Here’s The “Eat That Frog” Way to Powerful Productivity
- How to avoid losing your memory in the digital age
- Book Summary: "Sexual Harassment of Women: Climate, Culture, and Consequences in Academic Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine"
- A Guide To Corporate Innovation: 19 Strategies To Drive Innovation Now
- Batteryless smart devices closer to reality
- The kilogram is being redefined – a physicist explains
- Traction: How Any Startup Can Achieve Explosive Customer Growth – Book Summary
- Edison’s Legacy: Industrial Laboratories and Innovation
- Nationalism a driving force behind fake news in India, research shows
Events /
Announcements
- eWIT: Book Release Event on 19th Nov 2018
- ACM India Chennai Professional Chapter: Expert Lecture on “Security and Trust” on 30th Nov 2018
- Digital Disruption and Transformation Summit 2018 on 1st Dec 2018
- Faculty Development Programme on “Data Science using Python Programming”
- KLA National Conference on Corporate and Media Librarianship, Thiruvananthapuram during 14-15 Dec 2018
- LTC2019 - Library Technology Conclave & LibTech Award
- CSI-2018: 53rd Annual Convention of Computer Society of India 2018 at Udaipur during 14-16 Dec 2018
- INDICON 2018: Theme “Harnessing Technology For Humanity” at Coimbatore during 16-18 Dec 2018
- Best Practices in AICTE Approved Institutions
- AICTE Quality Improvement Scheme (AQIS) 2018-19
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========================================================
Articles
How Did the EC Link 300 Million Voter IDs to Aadhaar In Just a Few
Months?
From accessing parts of the NPR database to using
the DSDV tool, the Election Commission may have walked just outside the
boundary of good data-sharing and privacy practices.
Note: This is the first piece in a three-part series
on elections, Aadhaar-linking and voter targeting.
New Delhi/Bangalore: India’s Election Commission
(EC) adopted a host of tactics to rapidly link hundreds of millions of voter
IDs to Aadhaar numbers in 2015, some of which may have skirted the boundary
between responsible data-sharing practices and outright violations of privacy
and user consent.
According to the organisation’s internal
documentation, obtained through multiple right to information (RTI) requests,
in at least four major states, the local election commissions had access to
parts of the National Population Register (NPR) database, which helped hasten
the Aadhaar seeding process.
Other methods the EC deployed included the use of
the controversial DBT Seeding Data Viewer (DSDV) tool – a service that allows
third-parties to view non-biometric identity data held by the Unique
Identification Authority of India (UIDAI).
Interesting
Video: Nobody, Not Even UIDAI, Knows
How Aadhaar Is Being Used
Procrastination Sucks — So Here’s The “Eat That Frog” Way to Powerful Productivity
Spend Your Most Valuable Time on Your
Most Valuable Activities and You’ll Change the Trajectory of your Life.
Related: Summary
of the book Eat the Frog: Eat Frog by Brian Tracy is an excellent synthesis of
much of the existing productivity literature to date, achieving about 80% of
the total benefits from time management.
My summary here attempts to condense the book into a few pages of
critical insights, organized into four primary sections: organization,
efficiency, identifying your strengths, and optimizing yourself. Implementing even a small number of these
techniques will result in greatly increased effectiveness.
How to
avoid losing your memory in the digital age
With
Google taking the place of memory, many worry that a vital faculty is eroding.
Can memory athletes – who can retain hundreds of numbers in seconds – show us
how to get it back?
Related
story: Is Google Making Us Stupid?
Book
Summary: "Sexual Harassment of Women: Climate, Culture, and Consequences
in Academic Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine"
Over
the last few decades, research, activity, and funding has been devoted to
improving the recruitment, retention, and advancement of women in the fields of
science, engineering, and medicine. In recent years the diversity of those
participating in these fields, particularly the participation of women, has
improved and there are significantly more women entering careers and studying
science, engineering, and medicine than ever before. However, as women
increasingly enter these fields they face biases and barriers and it is not
surprising that sexual harassment is one of these barriers.
Over
thirty years the incidence of sexual harassment in different industries has
held steady, yet now more women are in the workforce and in academia, and in
the fields of science, engineering, and medicine (as students and faculty) and
so more women are experiencing sexual harassment as they work and learn. Over
the last several years, revelations of the sexual harassment experienced by
women in the workplace and in academic settings have raised urgent questions
about the specific impact of this discriminatory behavior on women and the
extent to which it is limiting their careers.
Sexual
Harassment of Women explores the influence of sexual harassment in academia on
the career advancement of women in the scientific, technical, and medical
workforce. This report reviews the research on the extent to which women in the
fields of science, engineering, and medicine are victimized by sexual harassment
and examines the existing information on the extent to which sexual harassment
in academia negatively impacts the recruitment, retention, and advancement of
women pursuing scientific, engineering, technical, and medical careers. It also
identifies and analyzes the policies, strategies and practices that have been
the most successful in preventing and addressing sexual harassment in these
settings.
A Guide
To Corporate Innovation: 19 Strategies To Drive Innovation Now
Given
the importance of innovation to drive the longevity, growth, and
competitiveness of large corporations, here are 19 bulletproof strategies you
can use to look innovative.
Batteryless smart devices closer to reality
Researchers at the University of Waterloo have taken
a huge step towards making smart devices that do not use batteries or require
charging.
These battery-free objects, which feature an IP
address for internet connectivity, are known as Internet of Things (IoT)
devices. If an IoT device can operate without a battery it lowers maintenance
costs and allows the device to be placed in areas that are off the grid.
Related:
The research paper by Wang, Abari and
Keshav titled, Challenge: RFID Hacking for Fun and Profit-ACM MobiCom, appeared
in the Proceedings of the 24th Annual International Conference on Mobile
Computing and Networking, October 29–November 2, 2018, New Delhi, India, 461–
70.
The kilogram is being redefined – a physicist explains
Since 1889, countries who are members of the General
Conference on Weights and Measures have agreed to use a standard block of metal
– kept near Paris – to define the kilogram. But although the modern block is
stored in a highly controlled environment, its weight can change by tiny
amounts as wear and tear causes it to lose mass and dirt causes it to increase.
To address this problem, scientists around the world have spent nearly two
decades discussing how the kilogram could instead be defined in relation to
constant measurements of nature. And now they have finally reached a decision.
Related
story: This is why physicists just completely redefined the kilogram.
Traction:
How Any Startup Can Achieve Explosive Customer Growth – Book Summary
Any
business owner will tell you that one of the most difficult parts of sustaining
and growing a business is getting people to know that your company exists and
keeping customers happy enough that they want to tell others about your product
or service.
This
is why we took the trouble of summarizing some of the best advice from the book
"Traction: How Any Startup Can Achieve Explosive Customer Growth" and
compiling it into the free downloadable business starter kit below.
Related:
78 Takeaways from Traction Book
Related:
The 19 Channels You Can Use to Get Traction
Edison’s
Legacy: Industrial Laboratories and Innovation
Between 1999 and 2016, the U.S. share of global high technology exports dropped from 18 percent to 7 percent. From one of the world’s leading technology product exporters prior to 2000, the United States has become a net importer since then, and the deficit keeps growing. During this period, China’s share of exports increased from 3 percent to 26 percent, reflecting the shift of manufacturing overseas—including important high technology industries that were pioneered in the United States as early as the 1950s—such as telecommunications systems, consumer electronic products, microelectronics, and solar energy converters.
Nationalism
a driving force behind fake news in India, research shows
A
rising tide of nationalism in India is driving ordinary citizens to spread fake
news, according to BBC research.
The
research found that facts were less important to some than the emotional desire
to bolster national identity. Social media analysis suggested that right-wing
networks are much more organised than on the left, pushing nationalistic fake
stories further. There was also an overlap of fake news sources on Twitter and
support networks of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The findings come from
extensive research in India, Kenya, and Nigeria into the way ordinary citizens
engage with and spread fake news.
Related: Full Research Report from India
Related:
Full Research Report from Kenya and Nigeria
Events
/ Announcements
eWIT: Book Release
Event on 19th Nov 2018
eWIT
invites you to Role Model Series for the release of the book “The New Plan A”
on Friday, 19th Nov 2018 at 6.00 p.m. at Sutherland Global, Block -
1B, 1/124, Shivaji Gardens, Nandambakkam post, Ramapuram, Mount Poonamallee
Road, Chennai – 600089. Phone: 044 – 6900 0176
Formal
invite is at http://www.ewit.co.in/rolemodelseries_book_19nov2018.pdf
To
register to this free event, pl. visit https://goo.gl/nqSE5w
ACM India
Chennai Professional Chapter: Expert Lecture on “Security and Trust” on 30th
Nov 2018
ACM
India Chennai Professional Chapter's Expert Lecture on “Security and Trust” by
Mr. Kaarthik Sivakumar of Cisco at IMSc on 30th November 5:00 PM
This
is a free pgm. Pre-registration is essential. Register at
Digital
Disruption and Transformation Summit 2018 on 1st Dec 2018
FICCI TNSC with support from Government
of Tamil Nadu is organizing its 3rd Edition of Digital Disruption and
Transformation Conference (also known at DT3),
the 3rd annual flagship event of FICCI under the theme of “Digital
Rumpus – Perish or Prosper” on 1st December 2018 at Hotel ITC Grand Chola,
Chennai.
CSI & IEEE members are eligible for
10% discount in the registration fee. The discount code to be applied at the
time of registration is CSIDT3, IEEEDT3
respectively.
For details pl. visit http://ficci-tnsc.com/it-ddts-2018/ or contact: Mr R Sudharsan at sudharsan.ramu@ficci.com, 044-42849614-15
Faculty Development Programme on “Data Science using Python Programming”
As an initiative of Ministry of
Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY), Government of India, Electronics
& ICT Academy, IIT Guwahati, Assam organises one-week Faculty Development
Programme on “Data Science using Python Programming” from 28 Jan 2019 to 1st
Feb 2019 at Sri Sankara Arts & Science College, Kancheepuram, Tamil Nadu. (about 65 km from Chennai).
Registration Fee (Including Snacks and
Lunch)
- Rs. 2,950/- for Faculty, Lab Technicians and Project Staff.
- Rs. 1,475/- for Faculty members belonging to ST/SC category.
- Rs. 5,900/- for Industry Personnel, Student & Research scholar
Accommodation will be provided at the venue (college) free of cost (including breakfast and dinner).
KLA National Conference on Corporate and Media
Librarianship, Thiruvananthapuram during 14-15 Dec 2018
The Kerala Library Association is
organizing the National Conference on Corporate and Media Librarianship.
It will be held in the Padmam Auditorium, IMG, Thiruvananthapuram during 14-15
December 2018.
The conference brochure at https://bit.ly/2wTl966
Download the KLANC2018 registration
form here http://keralalibraryassociation.org/downloads/KLANS2018RegistrationForm.pdf
LTC2019 - Library Technology Conclave & LibTech Award
LTC2019 - Library Technology Conclave on the theme “ebooks to
eLearning: Libraries as Learning Hubs” is being organised by Informatics
India Ltd in collaboration with CUSAT - Cochin University of Science and
Technology, Cochin during 23-25 Jan 2019 at CUSAT, Cochin.
Nominations are invited for
LibTech Award till 10th Dec 2018
For more details please visit: http://ltc2019.com
CSI-2018: 53rd Annual Convention of Computer Society of India 2018 at
Udaipur during 14-16 Dec 2018
The
53rd Annual Convention of CSI will be held at Hotel Inder Residency. Udaipur,
Rajasthan, India during 14-16 Dec 2018.
For
details visit the convention website at http://www.csi-2018.org
INDICON 2018:
Theme “Harnessing Technology For Humanity” at Coimbatore during 16-18 Dec 2018
With
the theme of “Harnessing Technology for Humanity”, the 15th IEEE India Council
International Conference (INDICON 2018), being organized by the IEEE Madras
Section during December 15-18, 2018, at Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Coimbatore,
with technical support from the Indian Institute of Technology Madras, promises
to be bigger and better than before. With plenary sessions, keynote addresses
by reputed academicians, tutorials, workshops, Student Paper contests, industry
exhibits and stalls and most importantly, high quality presentations from the
best of the researchers in India, no effort is being spared to make INDICON
2018, the best so far.
For
details visit the website at http://indicon2018.in/
Best Practices
in AICTE Approved Institutions
To
download a 44 pages booklet on “Best Practices in AICTE Approved Institutions”,
pl. visit https://goo.gl/X2DC3c
AICTE Quality
Improvement Scheme (AQIS) 2018-19
All
India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) invites applications from AICTE
approved Technical Institutes/ Deemed to be universities/University departments
/ Students eligible for financial assistance under the following Schemes of
Quality Improvement during financial year
2018-19.
For
details pl. visit https://goo.gl/FDhKXf
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Feedback
We
will be pleased to have your feedback on the “Interesting Reads” posts being
sent once in five days.
Pl.
share the links of any interesting things you come across so that we can
include them in these email posts.
Also,
pl. share the email ids of your colleagues, friends, peers and contacts, if you
want them to be included in the google group to get regular posts.
Pl.
send all your communications to hrmohan.ieee@gmail.com
With
regards
HR
Mohan
