Silicon subcontinent

S. Arunachalam

15 January 2000, New Scientist,

WHEN a group of eight-year-olds at a secondary school in Chennai (what was until recently Madras) were asked recently what they’d like to be when they grow up, most replied: “Work with computers” or “work with computers in America”. Fifteen years ago, the smart ones would have picked medicine, engineering, the civil service or banking. A few adventurous ones would have dreamed of Bollywood or cricket. And the studious types would have chorused: “scientist”.

Those days are gone. India’s young and their parents know that the domestic software industry was worth 178 billion rupees (£2.5 billion) by 1999 and is growing fast. They know that popular websites such as Hotmail, the shopping site Junglee and the people search engine who were created by Indians. They know that the world’s youngest Microsoft certified software engineer Govind Jajoo is a 14-year-old boy from Jaipur in northwest India. And they watch enviously as executives from …

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg16522215.100-silicon-subcontinent.html

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Information Technology: Equalizer or Separator of Developing Countries?

S. Arunachalam

The Technology Source Archives, at the University of North Carolina 1998

Scientists in developing countries have a problem: those who work under adverse conditions in developing countries need to achieve more to win recognition than those who work under better conditions in developed countries, and often scientists in these developing countries watch their work go unnoticed, no matter its quality. Technology exacerbates this inequality and further marginalizes scientists on the periphery. It is important for researchers to know what is happening around the world and to publicize their own work. Information is key to the growth of knowledge, and dissemination of information is crucial for scientific enterprise.

http://technologysource.org/article/information_technology/