Ranking Universities on Web Visibility

Webometric.info analyzes about 15,000 universities world wide and ranks 5,000 of them on their “web performance” which is a weighted combination of

Their objective:

We intend to motivate both institutions and scholars to have a web presence that reflect accurately their activities. If the web performance of an institution is below the expected position according to their academic excellence, university authorities should reconsider their web policy, promoting substantial increases of the volume and quality of their electronic publications.

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Sonia Sarkar on Reservations for Christians

“St Stephen’s to have 50% Christian quota” says Sonia Sarkar. (How unfortunate is it to have a name like that and to have to report on an issue of reservations for Christians?)

I don’t know but I hope and pray (to use an expression) that St Stephen’s is not supported by any public funds.

Anyhow, here’s a nice illustration of innumeracy to add a bit of humor to an otherwise pathetic story:

The management wants 50 per cent reservation for Christians, another 30 per cent for Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe candidates. So that would leave 30 per cent for general category students.

PS: For the benefit of those who did not get the “Sonia Sarkar” joke, “sarkar” means “government” in many Indian languages.

Open Thread — Say what you will

Time for you to speak up and state your opinions on whatever suits your fancy. If you wish to use the “lurker” login (password “lurking”), please do leave an identifier in the comment.

[Cartoon by Clay Bennett.]

On Failure and Imagination

Without having read a single word of the Harry Potter novels, I guessed that JK Rowling must be an extraordinary person. The possessor of an imagination so remarkable that it captures the hearts of hundreds of millions cannot but be extraordinarily talented.

But I am wary of objects of popular fascination — whether they be religions, politicians, movie stars, cult leaders, popular movements, fads and fashion. I have never been one to judge anyone good merely because millions of people hold him or her in high regard. I am extremely suspicious of the “wisdom of the crowds.” Indeed, whenever I come across a highly regarded public figure, my default assumption is that all cannot be quite right with the person. I admit that I am a cynic.

So while I guessed that Rowling was extraordinarily talented, I did not have an opinion on whether she was good. I am delighted to conclude that she is a good person. The evidence? Her Harvard University commencement address. Here, for the record, are some excerpts: Continue reading “On Failure and Imagination”

Laptops and Learning

Let me begin with an “I told you so.” For a few years I have been obsessed with the use of technology in education because it is my considered position that the smart use of technology provides the best hope of solving the problem of educating the hundreds of millions in India.

But a bit of thinking brought me to the (apparently contradictory) conclusion that laptops in the school learning environment is detrimental to learning. I love the idea of using technology in schools but totally distrust the idea of one-on-one laptop use in schools. In 2006 I wrote, “It is predictable that in the near future, good schools around the world will prohibit school students the use of laptops while in class, just as students are not allowed cell phones.”
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Administrivia

I had to close registration for comments because of spammers. There’s a generic comment login: lurker and the password is lurking. I hope if you use it, do sign off with a real name or with a persistent pseudonym, please. Otherwise it is hard for others to refer to you in their comments.

If you wish to have a real user login for comments, email me atanudey at gmail and let me know what user name you wish to have.

Wish you a fun weekend but don’t be like the guy on the right.

Let’s regularize this, shall we?

I think it is high time the government of India took some action. This whole thing is becoming regular enough that its normality should be acknowledged by having a ministry in the government which would frame proper regulation and oversee the industry. I propose that they frame the right tax codes. People would like to know what the tax rate is for income arising from rewards earned from murdering people?
Continue reading “Let’s regularize this, shall we?”

Fuel Surcharge for Private Cars

In a piece I had written for the Indian Express (see “How we subsidize the rich“, Feb 15, 2008), I had advanced a tentative solution to the problem of how fuel subsidies benefit those rich enough to afford cars at the expense of the poor. Here I will address a few objections raised against the idea.
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Swami Ramdev’s Peculiar Beliefs

I don’t know who Swami Ramdev is. I have not seen him, read him, or heard him. My knowledge of who he is is limited to what I read about him in this Rediff article, “Swami Ramdev attacks the political system“, which says that he is “the iconic yoga guru with a phenomenal mass fallowing (sic).”

Evidently he is widely regarded as a spiritual guru. But however spiritual his claim to fame may be, I can’t help but wonder how can an adult who is clearly able to function normally be so mistaken about the nature of the world as to actually hold the positions that the article claims he does. Does spirituality or whatever it is that is his main calling so shield him from the everyday material world that he is totally and completely disconnected from reality?
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