[Tugindia] MHRD mission to spread open source software in India

[Kannan Moudgalya]

Hello,

MHRD has launched a national mission on education through ICT 
(www.sakshat.ac.in) to improve the levels of education in India.  One of 
the activities identified for this purpose is to spread open source 
software in India.  MHRD invites proposals from all enthusiastic 
experts.  Work in all areas are welcome: popularisation, use, 
development and documentation.

IIT Bombay has obtained funding for this purpose.  Our areas of focus 
are Python (see Prabhu's mail at the bottom), Scilab, TeX family and 
Blender.  We are looking for collaborators and also for people who will 
work with us. 

In the Scilab area, some of the activities are
1.  Programming - improving the GUI, removing the bugs, adding new features.
2.  Adding functions through Scilab's inbuilt language.
3.  Improving the existing documentation and creating new documentation.

For people who want to work with us, some of the required qualifications 
are:
A.  Any bachelor's degree or higher.  Students working towards their 
degree (part or full time) also are ok.
B.  Good familiarity in any one of Scilab, Matlab, Octave, Matrix-x or 
any other package in this family.
C.  Ability to write and speak well in any Indian language, including 
English.

We are asking people who can write and speak well (item C in the above 
list), because we want to create spoken tutorials.  Some examples of the 
spoken tutorials are at www.moudgalya.org - see the link for tutorials 
on LaTeX.  As only a head phone with audio input is required to create 
these tutorials, even students without much infrastructure can 
contribute.  We are interested in generation of these spoken tutorials 
in all the areas mentioned above (Python, Scilab, TeX family, Blender).  
Funding is available to support this activity.

I would like to receive your inputs.  I would also like to hear from 
prospective collaborators and prospective staff members.

Regards.

Kannan Moudgalya

Prabhu Ramachandran wrote:
> Hello,
>
> Project positions are open at IIT Bombay for a new government funded
> project on adoption of Free/Open Source Software (FOSS) in Indian
> science and engineering education.  Applicants may email their resumes
> along with a one page writeup on why they think they are well suited for
> the project to:
>
>      admin.foss[at]iitb.ac.in
>
> News, announcements and details regarding the project are available here:
>
>    http://www.aero.iitb.ac.in/~prabhu/Projects/FOSSEducation
>
>
> Overview of the project
> -----------------------
>
> The eventual goal is to replace the use of commercial tools in Indian
> science and engineering education at the college level.  Towards this we
> are working on the following broad themes:
>
>   - Python for scientific computing.
>   - Scilab (http://www.scilab.org, http://www.scilab.in).
>   - Multimedia authoring tool suited for Indian languages with a LaTeX
>     backend.
>   - Other projects related to the above.
>
> I will be personally involved with the "Python for scientific computing"
> component.  This will broadly involve:
>      - NumPy (http://numpy.scipy.org),
>      - SciPy (http://www.scipy.org),
>      - matplotlib (http://matplotlib.sf.net),
>      - Sage (http://www.sagemath.org),
>      - Mayavi (http://code.enthought.com/projects/mayavi),
>      - ETS (http://code.enthought.com/projects),
>      - SymPy (http://code.google.com/p/sympy),
> and various other packages of interest.
>
> As part of the project you will have opportunity to work with the core
> developers of these major projects.
>
> Requirements
> ------------
>
> The positions are all for a maximum duration of 3 years.  The initial
> appointment will be for a period of 1 year which will be extended based
> on performance.
>
>      - Project manager: 1 position
>      - Technical writer: 1 position
>      - Software Developers/content generators:
>          - Python: 4 positions
>          - Scilab: 3 positions
>          - LaTeX: 2 positions
>
> You will need to stay on campus or commute to IITB.  Accommodation will
> be provided if available, otherwise HRA will be provided.
>
> Qualifications
> ---------------
>
> Project manager:
>      - Good knowledge of programming and open source software community
>      - People management
>      - Communication
>      - Organizational skills
>
> Technical writer:
>      - Excellent language and communication skills (spoken and written)
>      - Familiarity with computers
>      - Willingness to learn
>
> Programmers/content generators:
>      - Willingness to learn
>      - Good programming skills
>      - Passion for FOSS
>      - Experience with FOSS
>      - Good math and science skills
>
> System administration and web development skills are also required so
> strong applications with those skills would also be considered.
> Experience with Python/Scilab/LaTeX is a plus.  Experience with working
> on a FOSS project is a big plus.
>
> Job description
> ---------------
>
> As part of this project you will work towards creating material for
> adoption of the various existing FOSS tools in the science and
> engineering curriculum.  This will involve generation of a significant
> amount of documentation in the form of tutorials, audio/video
> demonstrations, written material, and lectures.  The material will often
> go towards augmenting existing courses.  The project will involve
> working with several well known packages and improving them both in
> terms of documentation and code to add features or fix bugs.
>
> We will be hosting several workshops, sprints and conferences where you
> will get to meet the developers of many important packages.
>
> Remuneration
> -------------
>
> The pay will be in the range Rs. 10000 to 30000 depending on the
> qualifications and experience.  For extra-ordinary people the upper limit
> is flexible.  Accommodation will be provided on campus if available.
>
> Why you should apply
> --------------------
>
>      - You get paid to improve and write FOSS.
>      - You get to do really meaningful work -- your work will influence
>        generations of future students all over India and potentially
>        elsewhere.
>      - You get to work on some of the most important projects that will
>        influence the future of science and engineering.
>      - You get to meet and work with the authors of various important
>        packages.
>      - You will be at IIT Bombay and will have best of both worlds --
>        good pay and an academic environment.
>
>
> More details maybe obtained from here:
>
>    http://www.aero.iitb.ac.in/~prabhu/Projects/FOSSEducation
>
>
> Thanks.
> Prabhu Ramachandran                 http://www.aero.iitb.ac.in/~prabhu
>
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