ITT 2000: Media Convergence and
Knowledge Management - A Report

INTRODUCTION

The Millennium ITT or ITT 2000 hosted by National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL), Bangalore during 22-24 November 2000 was initiated and sponsored by National Information System for Science and Technology (NISSAT), Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR), Government of India. The Meet attended by over 200 registered delegates was covered by a wide range of TV services like DD, UDAYA, ETV and ZEE NEWS; and national dailies like The Indian Express, The Asian Age, Deccan Herald, and The Hindu.

The Meet aimed to deliberate on such issues as Digital media and storage technologies; Content organization; Access technologies; Electronic publishing (e-journals, databases, pricing models, consortia for sharing) ; Digital/Virtual information centres; IT policies; IPR issues; and Knowledge management and society. The Meet as usual comprised inaugural and technical sessions, panel discussion, an exhibition of IT and knowledge management products and services; and Infoquiz.

INAUGURAL SESSION

Dr R. V. Krishnan, Deputy Director, NAL and Chairman of the Organising Committee, welcomed Dr R A Mashelkar and other dignitaries and delegates. He briefly outlined the theme of the conference and the topics that would be covered during the next 2 days of the Conference.

In his thought provoking inaugural address, Dr R A Mashelkar, Director General, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), and Secretary, Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR), Government of India, reiterated his firm belief that the 21st century would be the century of knowledge and the mind and most products and services would have knowledge as the basic inputs. For any successful enterprise, the 4Ms i.e. men, materials, money and motivation are the essential ingredients. But it is a fifth `M' -mind, which brings 4 M's together. Dr Mashelkar explained how about 50% of the economic growth in the OECD (Organisation for European Community Development) countries is on account of knowledge inputs in product and process development. The international trade statistics show that while the exports of products having knowledge content have increased from 11% to 22% in these countries between 1976 and 1996, the exports of primary products had actually declined from 45% to 25%. Scientific and technological knowledge is doubling every 10 years at present and in view of its exponential nature of growth, the doubling of today's knowledge might occur in the matter of few days in the coming years. At present, 12 million e-mail messages are transmitted over the Internet within a short duration of one minute and the rate is growing exponentially.

Inaugural session in progress

Dr Mashelkar went on to mention about the challenges, which India is facing on account of the emergence and growth of knowledge and its management. Just as forest resources, dairy products and petroleum products served as the new engines of economic growth in Sweden, Denmark and the Middle East countries respectively, it is the IT industry and its services that would go to serve as the growth engine for the Indian economy. Actually, India should use its prowess and expertise in the IT sector to "pole vault" its economic growth. At present, Indian software exports have a compound growth rate of 55% and most of the MNCs are outsourcing their requirements from India. However, what should be of more significance than the growth of the IT sector is the new self-confidence and pride that Indians are gaining, which, in turn, is getting them international attention and respect.

Dr Mashelkar shared some of his main concerns about the growth of knowledge economy and its implications to the country. The present divide between natural capital and digital capital should not be allowed to be widened. At present, too much importance is attached to the IT profession by the young Indian engineers and scientists. This might adversely affect the traditional economies of the country such as agriculture, textiles and what is known as the "brick and mortar" industry . India is rich in traditional knowledge and skills that have been accumulated over centuries in the past and these should be nurtured and preserved for posterity. IT should be used as a tool to develop the growth of these economies too.

Another issue of major concern is that the knowledge generated in research laboratories like NAL should be disseminated freely and speedily to benefit various sectors of the society and economy. India is very rich in traditional knowledge and every thing should be done to preserve it and enrich it with value additions. Knowledge management is also about managing the minds of knowledge workers. Indian knowledge workers are to be found in almost all countries, including such advanced countries like the US, where 30% of NASA scientists and engineers and about 20% of software scientists in IT companies like Microsoft and IBM are Indians. Before concluding, Dr Mashelkar said that, just as the Prime Minister of India said some time ago, the 21st century will be India' s century.

Dr A. Lahiri, Advisor, National Information System of Science & Technology (NISSAT), DSIR, gave a brief account of the themes and deliberations in the previous five National Conferences of ITT. ITT 1994 was organised in Delhi during 7 _ 8 December 1994. Bengal Library Association, Calcutta organised ITT 1995 during 21-24 December 1995. In 1996 the Meet could not be organised. In 1997 it was again organised as ITT 1997 at National Chemical Laboratory, Pune during 7 _ 10 January 1997. Central Leather Research Institute (CLRI), Chennai organised ITT 1998 during 31 August _ 3 September 1998 which was devoted to Gateways to Information. The observations and recommendations of the Meet was highly helpful towards the formation of National Task Force on Information Technology. In 1999, Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT), Hyderabad took the responsibility of organising ITT 1999. The Meet devoted to Towards Information Content for Global Competitiveness was organised during 16 _ 19 November 1999.

Dr Lahiri extensively dealt with the perceptions on knowledge management held by different sections of people. Questions have been raised whether knowledge management relates to information management or innovation management or documents management, corporate information management, intellectual properties management, traditional knowledge management, competitive management and so on. He stressed also on the knowledge contained in individual minds and wondered what would become of such knowledge when individuals leave and scatter themselves elsewhere.

Prof S. Sadagopan, Director, Indian Institute of Information Technology, Bangalore, delivered the Keynote Address devoted to `Why, how and models of knowledge management'. He opined that knowledge about knowledge management is still hazy and there is a great hype about this newly emerging field because of a few success stories per se and not new to India. The Bhagavad Gita delineates twenty-seven kinds of knowledge. The famous Indian poet, Raja Bhartrihari, defined knowledge long ago as a source that grows with sharing and rests still by not sharing.

Dr T.S. Prahlad, Director, NAL, in his Presidential Address highlighted the steps that had already been taken in NAL to create the basic infrastructure required for knowledge management systems, including the establishment of a campus-wide communication network, development of a supercomputer based on parallel computing techniques, and creation of facilities for providing advanced information services to the research scientists and engineers. The future proposals in this regard relate to the creation of an Indian aviation portal, a multimedia centre, and a dedicated information system for the major projects of designing and developing a civil transport aircraft -SARAS- indigenously.

The inaugural function came to a close with a formal vote of thanks proposed by Sri I R N Goudar , Head, Information Centre for Aerospace Sciences and Technology (ICAST), NAL and inauguration of the Exhibition by Dr Mashelkar

TECHNICAL SESSIONS

Session I: Knowledge Society

Dr M. Ram Mohan Rao, Director, IIMB, chaired the Session. In all, three presentations were made during this Session.

Mr. Bill Bowonder of Administrative Staff College of India dwelt on the role of knowledge management in promoting and nurturing innovation and creativity and cited specific examples and case studies.

The second presentation by Prof N. Balakrishnan, Head, SERC, IISc. was on `Management of knowledge assets -software issues'. He spoke on the organization and management of knowledge assets and stressed the development and application of specialized software.

Sri N. V. Satyanarayana, Chairman & Managing Director, Informatics India Ltd., Bangalore, spoke on media convergence and its impact on information management. He explained how the computer communication technologies are converging into a single medium for storage, retrieval and transmission of voluminous data, voice, pictures at high speeds and how the media convergence is impacting library and information management, electronic publishing and distribution of information.

Session II: Knowledge Management -Sector Applications

The Session comprising six presentations was chaired by Dr R. Srinivasan, former Head, Computer Services Division, NAL and currently a Consultant in CMG Ltd., Bangalore. In his opening remarks, Dr Srinivasan said that knowledge management is now set to become a growth industry by itself. There are numerous Web sites on the Internet, containing more than 20,000 references to knowledge management. Knowledge combined with experience is important in the present day competitive world of R&D, trade and industry. IT industry is also greatly influenced by knowledge management and its applications. He suggested that as there are a large number of knowledge workers in Bangalore it would be worthwhile considering the formation of a Knowledge Management Society to promote and spread the culture of knowledge management and its applications.

Sri N.K. Sharma, Managing Director, National Research Development Corporation, New Delhi made a presentation on `Valuation of knowledge assets, Intellectual property rights, R&D results and experience in enterprises'. He pointed out how technical valuation of knowledge assets is rather complex and difficult. It may not be possible to put any value on the research efforts and knowledge that have gone into the development of many knowledge-based products like computer software, drug formulations, new business methods and strategies, etc. He explained the theoretical and practical evaluation methods followed in NRDC and presented a case study for determining the value of IPR relating to the manufacture of rice husk board and transfer of technology to Indonesia.

In her presentation on `Why process documentation is necessary for knowledge management', Ms. Nita Mukherjee, Mumbai, enumerated the reasons which are as follows: (i) ISO 9000 Series require detailed documentation for certification purpose; (ii) Globalization measures cannot be effective without preparing detailed process documentation; (iii) Application for issue of standards has to be supported by process documentation; (iv) Process documentation shortens employees' time and efforts; (v) It is necessary to undertake international comparative studies, and to assist non-governmental organizations for replicating best practices; (vi) It helps to promote the preservation of our traditional knowledge, and is useful for shaping policies, developing best practices and for academic studies. A case study on process documentation of the recent quake in Maharashtra was presented. This case study is perhaps the first one to be undertaken in the country on behalf of the Government and the World Bank. It took about 2 years to complete and the results were encouraging.

The next presentation on `Knowledge management for knowledge discovery' was made by Prof A. Neelameghan, Institute for Information Studies, Bangalore. He pointed out that knowledge-based management is not the same as knowledge management. Knowledge is embodied in objects, a body of ideas, social and cultural systems and values. Creation and the means of recording of ideas have enabled human beings to preserve and transmit knowledge orally and through records using various communication media. There are several paths that lead to knowledge discovery, including the important ones of observing the unusual in the usual, finding or formulating a principle or theory that explains observed phenomena in different fields, and relating an observation in one situation to different situations.

Sri P. Ganguly, Hindustan Lever Ltd., Mumbai, in his presentation on `Knowledge management in corporate environment' explained the contours of the knowledge management cycle which involves the acquisition, capturing, sharing, learning, applying, and building upon knowledge. He pointed out that it is not enough to focus on knowledge but on those who own it. He cited the example of Severa-l, the knowledge management system existing in Hindustan Lever and other multi-national companies like Shell, Daimler-Benz and Ford Motor.

A case-study on setting up a portal on knowledge management and finance, i.e. WISEGUY in Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India Ltd. (ICICI) Mumbai, was presented by Mr .Mathew Joseph. He said that his company's philosophy has been to move away from physical assets to knowledge assets and to put knowledge management ahead of corporate management. He went on to explain in detail the salient features of the Company's knowledge management portal and the benefits that are being derived from it.

Sri N.K. Gopalakrishnan of Administrative Staff' College of India, Hyderabad, in his presentation on `NISSAT Portal on Knowledge Management' said that a project to set up this Portal had been taken up in April 2000 with the support of NISSAT. The objectives of the Portal are to set up an Indian knowledge base focused on Indian economy and to serve as a gateway to global knowledge communities. The content of the Portal would be Indian innovations, venture capital, funds, knowledge enterprises, infrastructures development and e-governance. Several knowledge-based services are envisaged.

Session III: Knowledge Management and Information Centres

The Session that witnessed four presentations was chaired by Sri S. Krishnan, National Chemical Laboratory, Pune.

The first presentation on `Retraining of library and information scientists as knowledge officers' was made by Sri H. Anil Kumar, NIRMA Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. He stressed on the need for library and information scientists to retrain themselves and to acquire skills in leadership, project management techniques, IT and Internet technologies etc, in order to become knowledge organizers, knowledge specialists and knowledge facilitators. They should strive to be the chief knowledge officer of the organization and involve themselves in capturing, storing and organizing information and develop knowledge management systems, and help generate new knowledge by value additions.

The next presentation was by Sri IRN Goudar, Head, ICAST, NAL on `Library management to information management to knowledge management'. He maintained that the five fundamental laws of library science enunciated by Dr S.R. Ranganathan are still valid even in the era of Internet and knowledge-based society. After outlining the principles and techniques of knowledge management, he pointed out how librarians are already ushered into knowledge management activities and practices and the paradigm shift that is taking place whereby libraries are getting transformed into knowledge management centres. By way of an example, he outlined the various features of and services provided by Aerolnfo, the Web-based knowledge management system that ICAST of NAL has set up.

Dr T.B. Rajasekhar, Visiting Scientist, Informatics India Ltd, Bangalore, made a presentation on `Possible role of digital libraries in knowledge management'. He explained in detail how digital libraries can contribute to knowledge management, as there are several overlapping processes and techniques that are common to these systems. The digital library processes that could be applied to knowledge management include analysis and user profiling, content capture, representation and evaluation, content deselection, cataloguing and indexing, search and retrieval techniques, ranking, relevance and feedback, standardization and networking. In fact, a digital library can form an integral part of knowledge management.

`Infrastructure development and knowledge sharing in the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research' (IGCAR) Kalpakkam was the topic of the presentation by Dr S. Venkadesan of IGCAR. He explained the existing IT scenario in IGCAR, which covers a wide range of computer facilities including a campus-wide network. Knowledge management applications of the Centre cover hospital management, walkthrough, purchase management, materials management, library management and service and training simulators.

Dr R.V. Krishnan, Deputy Director, NAL, chaired the post-tea session during which three commercial presentations were made on behalf of three information service providers.

Mr. Perdeep Kumar, Elsevier Science Publishers, Singapore, made a presentation on Elsevier Direct, a service that allows information users to search, retrieve, mail or print full texts of articles online from 1200 electronic science journals. Abstracts/indexes from another 1200 journals can also be searched online and downloaded. There is also a database containing about 1.2 million articles published since 1995. Subscriptions to Online or At-site versions are available. The advantages of this service to the users were outlined.

Sri Sanjay Grover of Informatics India Ltd., Bangalore, presented details of the information products and services offered by the Company through its various Business Divisions. The information products offered in CD format include: India Business Insight, Exim Data, CABSAC (Commonwealth Agricultural Bureau for South Asian Countries) Database, Mtech (Manufacturing Technology) Database, NeuroMed (Neurology Medicine) Database. The Company has also established partnership with several international information service providers for distributing their products and services in India. The Company also provides journal subscription service and has set up J-Gate, an electronic gateway to international journals.

Sri Satya Prakash of Informatics India Ltd, gave the details of the ESDU (Engineering Science Data Unit) Database provided by Information Handling Services of US.

Session IV: Experience of KM Applications in Corporate Management

The Session was chaired by Prof K R S Murthy, IT Education Standard Board, Bangalore. In this Session, five case studies on knowledge management practices in the corporate sector were presented.

Mr B M Khar, Oil and Natural Gas Commission (ONGC), Dehra Dun, presented a case study on `Knowledge management practice in ONGC'. He informed that ONGC has set up a task force to implement knowledge management system and practices, and a pilot project has already been set up to explore and experiment, expand and support and institutionalize knowledge management.

Mr. S. Dwivedy of Microsoft, Bangalore, in his presentation spoke on the knowledge management practices in Microsoft which has set up what is known in the company circles a `digital nervous system' to provide knowledge management products and services across the company's offices worldwide. The main function of this digital nervous system is to manage knowledge management, e-KM to integrate knowledge for operational and e-commerce activities. The company has also set up a digital dashboard as a portal with numerous subject categories and search facilities for the benefit of the sales personnel. A data warehouse has also been set up.

Mr. Aravind Srinivas of Tata Consultancy Services, Bangalore, made a presentation on `Knowledge management practices in TCS'. The company's main focus is on software products and services for various business applications. Therefore, the company's knowledge management objectives and practices cover locating, organizing, transferring and sharing knowledge assets for the benefit of thousands of the company's employees spread throughout the world.

Sri S. Bandyopadhyay of PriceWaterCoopers Ltd., Calcutta spoke about the experience in developing knowledge management practices in his company. The company views knowledge management as an essential ingredient for its future growth and success, although setting up knowledge management system is complex because of several factors like geographical dispersion of the company's activities, cultural autonomy of the workforce and competitive environment in the market place, and so on. He then proceeded to outline the methodology and programmes that need to be adopted in evolving best knowledge management practices.

The next speaker, Sri Kalyan Kumar Banerjee of Mind Tree, Bangalore, also dealt with knowledge management practices in his company. He laid particular emphasis on what he termed as triggers to knowledge management i.e. innovative resolution of problems, generation of new ideas, discussion threads, meetings with customers, and new events. There are several inherent barriers to knowledge management such as, reluctance on the part of the staff to share information with others, fears of possible duplication of efforts, time constraints and doubts about the correctness of the steps taken in this direction. He suggested several approaches to overcome these barriers.

PANEL DISCUSSION ON CYBER LAWS

Prof N.L. Mitra, Former Director, National Law School of India University, Bangalore acted as the moderator. The panelists comprised Mr.V. Ramakrishna Rao, Senior GM (BGL), Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited, Bangalore; Prof V.C. Vivekanandan, NLSIU; Mr. Pavan Duggal, Advocate, Supreme Court, New Delhi; and Dr I.K. Ravichandra Rao, Head, Documentation Research & Training Centre, Indian Statistical Institute, Bangalore

Dr A. Lahiri welcomed the gathering and introduced Prof Mitra, the moderator of the panel discussion and requested him to conduct the proceedings.

Prof Mitra in his introductory remarks compared the relation between Law and Technology with the relation between a traditional Hindu wife and her husband. He elaborated further that the IT Act does not provide for the representation of IT people as Cyber Regulations Appellate Tribunal. He drove home the point that law has to be subtle, practical and transparent. Prof Mitra opined that the legal system needs to create a hybrid between copyright, patent, etc. to create an IPR protection. He further pointed out that the present laws provide for the detection of cyber crimes and investigations and penalties but the law is silent on its applicability so far as trans-border cyber crimes are concerned.

Mr V. Ramakrishna Rao maintained that the abundant use of Internet is definitely the day_to-day requirements to make use of the technologies like e-governance and e-commerce. He emphasized the need for a synergy between different agencies in knowledge society like ISP, CIP, government and users to capitalize on the maximum benefits from IT, its uses and the laws governing it.

Prof V.C. Vivekanandan projected a detailed view of e-governance and remarked that it is a strategic intervention in the governing process to make it more responsive, transparent, affordable and accessible. He recommended eight imperatives of future e-governance such as (i) Focus on IT reshaping work; (ii) IT usage for strategic innovations; (iii) Utilization of best practices in IT initiative implementation; (iv) Improving budgeting and financing for promoting IT initiatives; (v) Protection of privacy and security; (vi) Formation of IT-related partnership to stimulate economic development; (vii) IT usage for promoting equal opportunities and healthy communities; and (viii) Preparation for a digital democracy.

Mr Pavan Duggal, a noted legal expert in the cyber laws was happy to mention that India is the twelfth nation to initiate steps towards creating cyber laws. He detailed the positive aspects of the provisions of the IT Act 2000 such as legality of e-mail, providing legal infrastructure for e-commerce, use of digital signatures, electronic records filing, retention of information in electronic format, information security, cyber crime's definition and a detailed procedure to deal with these issues. He also expressed his concern about the draconian powers given to the law enforcing agencies. He pointed out the need for inclusion of these issues in the IT Act 2000 and bringing out a new law relating to e-banking, electronic fund transfer, etc.

Prof I.K. Ravichandra Rao's focus was on the impact of cyber laws on information services and publications. He pointed out that during the IFLA 96 meet, it was recommended to revise cyber related laws for the inclusion of digital / electronic resources. The present day practice is confused as to the transfer and distribution of information in electronic format. He mentioned that while similar laws in UK and USA provide for downloading of electronic records and their distribution to the users for fair use, the Indian IT Act 2000 has no mention of information transfer and distribution.

The presentations were followed by lively discussions on several issues relating to virus affecting files and the necessary precautions including legal steps need to be taken. Mr Pavan Duggal gave a few suggestions including saving and printing whatever one can, informing police, noting the source/IP address, and calling cyber forging expert. Dr I.K. Ravichandra Rao expressed the fear of taking away the computer by the police. In a question on the handling of junk mail he replied that IT Act is silent as there is no privacy law as yet. To another question on HRD programs on cyber law especially for police and lawyers, Mr Duggal responded positively, but mentioned that the present programs are inadequate. Prof Vivekanandan mentioned about the steps taken by Government of Karnataka for police and judges. On a query about the legalization of the new digital signature issue, the reply was that the government setup still do not allow credit card payment. Moreover, it is quite expensive to activate the digital signature. The moderator, Prof Mitra summarised the discussion with a remark that the burden of cyber law responsibilities lies on the recipient. Dr Lahiri thanked the moderator and the panelists for conducting the intensive and interactive session.

Session V: Community Information

Prof Ashok Jain of Delhi University chaired the Session. In all there were three presentations

Sri Parthasarathy Banerjee of NISTADS, New Delhi, made a presentation on `Some indicators of competence in software companies in India', based on the results of a survey conducted with the support of NISSAT/DSIR. The survey evoked poor response from many software companies and information was not readily forthcoming. Basing whatever information that could be gathered, the conclusions could be drawn are: (i) software companies desire to achieve product and project competence; (ii) strategic competence was rated higher than the technology competency; and (iii) the respondents were almost unanimous on the necessity to have knowledge competence.

The impact of traditional knowledge on modern science was the theme of the next presentation by Prof Rajesh Kochar of All India Society for Electronics and Computer Science, Bhopal. Prof Kochar pointed out that the process of culling out information from knowledge is rather difficult since the divide between traditional knowledge and systematic knowledge is widening. Therefore, it is very necessary to capture, preserve, codify and assign values to traditional knowledge and the sooner this is done better it would be.

The last presentation in this Session was on knowledge management in the newspaper industry by Sri H.R. Mohan of The Hindu, Chennai. He said that as far as the newspaper industry is concerned, knowledge management is a cross-disciplinary domain. Newspapers approach knowledge management through several means, including application of modern technology for better accessibility to information; applying re-engineering processes to manage change and to overcome cultural and behavioural patterns; making use of knowledge of outside experts; promoting knowledge transfer processes; gathering business intelligence and maintaining good reference libraries. He presented the results of a survey conducted in 1999 on the per capita information content generation and suggested auditing of knowledge growth and applications. In his view, it is more important to manage ignorance rather than knowledge.

Session VI: Multimedia

This Session was chaired by Dr Ravi Nanjundiah, COAS, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. In all, three presentations were made in the Session.

The first presentation devoted to `Low cost multimedia content generation - an Indian perspective' was made by Sri A. B. Saha of the Ministry of Information Technology (MIT), Government of India, New Delhi. He explained the findings of a three-year multimedia project of MIT and demonstrated the processes involved in template-based content creation. MIT would offer the design of user-interaction methodology by templates. Sensorial design skills are widely available across the country as a result of the ongoing educational and training facilities for multimedia.

Sri Dinesh Katre of the Centre of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), Pune, spoke on `Multimedia heritage documentation'. He explained how knowledge embedded in many heritage sources such as architecture, art, music, chanting, mantras, weaving and family traditions lend themselves to multimedia creation. He gave examples of a few multimedia projects on heritage documentation that are being undertaken in C-DAC. The Centre has also designed simple-to-use multimedia authoring software (templates) that will be useful to librarians, curators, event managers, photographers and other facilitators.

The next presentation devoted to `Multimedia for high school education' was by Dr Srinivas Bhogle of NAL. He listed the elements of multimedia such as printed word, audio, animation, video, and movie, and explained how the best form of communication could be achieved by combining these elements. Multimedia is different from a movie and it is interactive. Its applications cover many areas like computer-based training, product presentations, walkthroughs, games, etc. He presented a graphical case study of the application of multimedia in education/teaching.

Session VII: International Experience

This Session was chaired by Dr A. Lahiri, Advisor, NISSAT, New Delhi and comprised three presentations. In this Session, all the presenters were from outside India and provided glimpses of the convergence and knowledge management scenario abroad.

Prof David Smith, University of Wales, UK, spoke on `Education and the challenge of convergence' and explained how the convergence of the media - telecommunication and computers - is impacting every aspect of education. The mission of university education covers content technology, design technology, management technology and delivery technology. Prof Smith explained how the universities in the UK are meeting the challenge of media convergence and gave details of many projects in progress.

Prof Karamjit S. Gill, University of Brighton, UK, then spoke about `Managing knowledge in the networked society: a European dimension'.

Mr. Jeremy Ford of SilverPlatter, Hong Kong, in his presentation explained the objectives of knowledge management and gave details of the practices being followed in his company.

CONCLUDING SESSION

Dr T.S. Prahlad, Director, NAL chaired the Concluding Session. Several delegates gave an account of their experiences and impressions gained during ITT2000 and complimented NISSAT and NAL in organizing such a useful programme.

Sri M N Seetharaman, Rapporteur General, presented a report summarizing the important points raised and suggestions made in more than thirty presentations that were made during the Programme.

In his concluding address, Dr A. Lahiri, Advisor, NISSAT, invited the delegates to suggest suitable themes for the next ITT programme. He also presented a summary of recommendations that had emerged out of the presentations and deliberations during the Programme.

RECOMMENDATIONS

1. For every project, large or small, detailed process documentation may be made.

2. The NISSAT KM portal may be enriched with information from Indian corporate bodies, enterprises and MNCs operating in India.

3. NISSAT should help prepare case files of experiences, practices and designs of KM initiatives in public institutions, enterprises, and MNCs operating in India. These are to serve the training needs on a realistic basis.

4. Short-term training on KM may be organized in various parts of the country to generate awareness about the benefits of KM, and to stimulate initiatives on KM.

5. Training of young university graduates and retraining of LIS professionals for content development may be organized to generate entrepreneurship.

6. Entrepreneurship in the usage of multimedia content creation technology that has reached maturity stage may be promoted.

7. Library professionals may increasingly be empowered to become knowledge managers.

8. Special programs may be launched to capture traditional knowledge, skills, and oral traditions and organize the content in explicit environment for future applications.

9. Human resources development programs on legal aspects of information technology and information contents may be organized in a systematic basis. Further, in-depth debates on various aspects of existing laws and future requirements may also be organized.

EXHIBITION

An exhibition of IT and knowledge management products and services was organised at the Conference venue. While inaugurating the exhibition Dr R.A. Mashelkar, DG, CSIR appreciated the new initiatives of various publishers in making available the electronic journals through Internet. Leading companies llike Elsevier Science (Science Direct), Informatics India Ltd, Springer-Verlag, USAPL/GIST and LB publishers gave the demonstration of their products and services on all three days of the Meet for the benefit of participants. While Elsevier presented their online journals site Science-Direct for accessing more than 1500 journals in S & T, Springer-Verlag demonstrated similar service called Link. Among many products and services that figured in the Exhibition are CD-ROM databases published by Informatics India Ltd. and SilverPlatter Inc.; Library automation software called SLIM, Web of Science, Current Contents Connect (Web Version of CC) IHS and Jane's Products. Informatics India Ltd demonstrated their latest online journals portal J-Gate. The USAPL/GIST apart from giving the details about their vast network of journal subscriptions especially from IEEE, gave the demonstration of IEL to access the online journals. NAL's ICAST set up the stall AeroInfo: Cyber Café. It had four systems with Internet connectivity facilitating the participants to navigate through the portal AeroInfo and send e-mails. LB Publishers exhibited the latest books on knowledge management, IT and related areas. The efforts put by Mr. M.R. Suresh in organising the exhibition were very fruitful as indicated by the number of visitors and the feedback received from the participants.

INFOQUIZ-2000

The last session was followed by "InfoQuiz-2000" a regular event at ITT and fourth in the series. It was conducted by M/s Informatics India Ltd. and sponsored by five companies, i.e. Cambridge Scientific Abstracts, BIOSIS, ISI-Thomson Scientific, Internet Securities Inc., and Allied Publishers.

The preliminaries were conducted on the evening of 23rd November 2000. Eight participants were paired into four groups for the Final round on 24th November 2000. Dr T B Rajashekar of National Centre of Science Information, conducted the programme as the quiz master.

The winners were Mr C R Madhusudan Rao of C-DAC and Mr. Jayakumar of IGCAR while the runners up trophy was bagged by Mr Shailesh Gadhe and Dr S Krishnan of NCL.

— Reported by Sri MN Seetharaman,
Rapporteur General of the ITT 2000

-------
Information Today & Tomorrow, Vol. 20, No. 1, March 2001, p.6-p.13
http://itt.nissat.tripod.com/itt0101/itt2krep.htm