When a tree shook Delhi by Manoj Mitta and H S Phoolka - Audio now available.

If you want to learnt reportage, really, really good reportage writing, this book is PERFECT for you. I recorded it immediately because one honestly does not remember when one last saw such great reporting.

The book is still under copyright, so please do use it only for a visually challenged beneficiary.

The cataloging is pending, so am sharing the direct links here. Of course, its work in progress. more chapters will get added.

When a tree shook Delhi - File 1

When a tree shook Delhi - Page 5-16

When a tree shook Delhi - page 16-24

When a tree shook Delhi - Page 25 - 30

When a tree shook Delhi - Page 31-39

When a tree shook Delhi - Page 41-46

When a tree shook Delhi - Page 47-57

When a tree shook Delhi - Page 58-66

Do share your feedback. :)

ICSE 7th class help available now!

The students of the Sri Ram School took real interest in the recording they were about to do for CLABIL. They wanted to do work that will really be useful.

They made the extra effort of preparing this whole material so that there is no copyright infringement.

So, we are very proud and happy to share this - our first school level resource help - ICSE Class 7 content in English medium.

For Maths, click here.

For Science (Physics, Chemistry, Maths), click here.

These files are not yet available on the online library - www.braillecards.org/audio.php, because we have over 200 files waiting to be cataloged. Yes, of course you can help. :)

The Open Source Software Quiz

Because we are so excited about the Open Source Training coming up in May 2013, we decided to make this quiz post about Open Source software.

1. Open Source is the same as freeware.
True
False

2. Windows and Linux are both open source free Operating Systems.
True
False

3. Sourceforge.net is a website for sharing open source programs.
True
False

4. Open Source Programs can run only on Linux or other open source Operating systems.
True
False

5. Which of these words is NOT an open source product/ term?
A. Safari
B. Firefox
C. Ubuntu
D. Linux
E. Apache

6. Copyright means that the software should not be freely distributed. What does "copyleft" mean?
A. There is no such term.
B. Copyleft means that the software can be freely redistributed, no restictions.
C. That the software can be freely redistributed, but all modified and extended versions of the software must use the same license.

7. You cannot use Windows and Open Source Software on the same computer.
True
False

8. Which of these is a paid software ?
A. LibreOffice
B. Microsoft Office
C. Open Office.

9. Facebook, Google and other sites were possible only because they used open source software for development. This kept their costs low. They still run on open source.
True
False

10. What is the name of this cute penguin, the logo of Linux?

A. Linus
B. Rex
C. Tux

Credits: In creating this quiz, i learnt from: (aka, where can you find more fun quizzes)
http://whatis.techtarget.com/quiz/Quiz-More-fun-with-open-source
http://www.howstuffworks.com/ubuntu-and-linux-quiz.htm
http://www.infoworld.com/d/open-source/open-source-iq-test-766


PS: we have created this quiz. please feel free to record into audio for the Esha beneficiaries, convert it to Indian languages and then record it. In fact, please DO all of the above, and we will be happy.

The Year long project at TSRS

Last week, students of Class  at TSRS recorded for the CLABIL project .

The follow up activity was for them to visit an institution. We chose Junta Blind Hostel in Gurgaon.

And on this day, like some other days, i can see the difference Esha makes to real people. To the children who went to that school. They came out thoroughly impressed with the talents and ability of the people they had just visited. Those children came out transformed.
Am very grateful for that.

We'll let pictures do the rest of the talking.

Understanding Computer education - and the concept of screen readers

computer class room - they are being shown how screen readers are used

having fun :)

getting VERY impressed with the fine work involved in chair making and the precision involved.

this was the best part - in the music room, the visitors sang a song that they had prepared for the school. In turn, the school also sang a song that was prepared for the visitors. At the end, both sides were singing with each other :)

learning braille - formally.

group photu at the end. In the pic are Swapna mam who is the class teacher of the class, Narendra sir who runs the Gurgaon institution, and of course, a bunch of very happy kids.

 

Feedback: The Sri Ram School Theater Workshop

On 6^th March, 2013, Raju from Esha took a workshop. It was very impactful. Children were very thankful to Raju Bhaiya for taking then on a journey with no eyes. It was conducted to sensitise the children towards visual impairment and after the workshop we all felt that without this workshop we could not have created the same impact.

Web Anywhere: A web based screen reader :)

Today, i heard about the most amazing thing - a web based screen reader that is absolutely pathbreaking!!! Its called WebAnywhere (WA).

Why is a web based screen reader revolutionary ?
Because it completely ELIMINATES  machine and software dependancy. Before WA, a blind person could only use their own machine to use personal computing. the screen reader needed to be installed on the machine.

But now, ANY machine can be used by a blind person. All they need to do is to click on the link and they're on!!

Happy Independence Day, Folks! We are free to use any machine we want from here on.

See the awesomeness here:
http://webanywhere.cs.washington.edu/beta/index.php

More 9Tankis with students - IIT Delhi and The Sri Ram School, Aravali

As i have said before.. when we do 9Tankis with children, it always excites me more because when we sensitise the children, we sensitise the future.

So we are very happy to talk about the workshops that happened this quarter - with IIT Delhi, and with Class 7 students of The Sri Ram School, Aravali campus.

The pictures of the Sri Ram School workshop are here:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.521827587868147.1073741826.100001227328495&type=1&l=76a93fda9d

For IIT Delhi, we could only get this picture:

Theater Workshop (9Tanki) of Esha at IIT Delhi, Feb 2013

Raju Koli continues to be very popular with all the people who attend the workshop. His feedback is so positive that even we are moved and touched, every single time.

I was reading through the IIT Delhi feedback and if even 10% of these students remember a part of the experience they went through today.. we will live in a lot more inclusive world.

Even at The Sri Ram school, the enthusiasm of the teachers, and their involvement in the entire project was so wonderful...

days like this make us want to send a prayer - someone up there is watching out for us.. :)
 

What we want

Today, i was at the AICB, at their really nice computer lab, explaining to them about the CLABIL project and looking at avenues of joint collaboration. (i'd basically gone there to pick up a brailler and we got talking)

Two of our most successful projects on the CLABIL (www.clabil.org) are:
Learn English
GK

When i said this, the computer teacher smiled and nodded in agreement. i was thinking of that nod and agreement on the way home and realised something really interesting. In a normal school, if we ask them what more they want, GK is never likely to be on that list. Sighted children get an overdose of GK and current affairs, and will do a lot to avoid having to read more GK. While our children seek out GK.

I think thats an interesting ... juxtaposition.

The word believe actually means Be.Live. To believe something is to BE it and to LIVE it.

Nowhere is it more true that at Esha. If we didnt believe in this idea so completely, we could never have realised, to whatever extent, this insane dream.