Education makes a man sharper and perhaps a gentleman but inIndia it seems to be failing on all counts.
As the country booms the shortfall of employable talent isnow creating problems. For VenkateshPrabhu, visiting faculty at the Department of Computer Science and Technology,Goa University, this is a problem that has far reaching consequences.
Indian students, he feels cram on theory but are unable toget cracking in the real world. That is a problem he feels is due to the natureof the curriculum. His efforts at the university to introduce inventiveacademic exercises have resulted in a positive response from the students. Hesays “Students have to learn to work as a team. They have to learn toco-operate and exchange ideas and innovate. These are the qualities that willhelp them blossom in the corporate world or when they step out to launch theirown business.”
Interesting thought from a person who wears many hats.Venkatesh after having worked in Austria and Dubai returned to Goa to work andcreate something unique. His company Thyway Creations, created corporate films,logos and documentary films in the state. His motivation was rather simple. Hesaid “I want to create something of my own, both with creating software andbuilding a brand. There is a tendency in Goa to just pick a logo without muchthought. I am trying to initiate a change in this process”.
A visiting faculty with the Goa University, he spends agreat deal of his time these days involved in teaching “Human ComputerInteraction”. It involves understanding the psychology of a person using thecomputer. Situations are discussed, story board prepared of how it will be usedand then the subject is videotaped as he or she uses the computer. Followingthis lengthy process a prototype is created. It is a time consuming process.Which comes to the heart of all products designed which is how and why is itcreated. The simple scissor, Venkatesh says is a great example of a simpledesign. It fulfills the three requirements i.e. affordance, constraints andvisibility. The scissor, he says is simple to use, makes it very obvious whatits function is and there is no confusion in the user’s minds. Many designershe felt worked in a vacuum and created products that befuddled the user.
To top all this, Prabhu is also involved in a project thatcould bring the treasures of the world of science, culture, philosophy andother fields in Konkani. An initiative of the Department of IT in Delhi, Department of Computer science and Technologyand Department of Konkani it is expected to see some light at the end of thetunnel in ten year. This is an all-India project and it is being done inseveral states in their local language.
As if this was not enough, he is also involved in creatingdesigns for IFFI 2013. He lives a busy life but it is marked by passion and aprecision of thought that helps him move ahead and help him achieve hisgoals.
