Thursday, October 15, 2009

The road to eternity...

Though this is not related to my curriculum in any way, I just had to post this on my blog... This is something my friend told me when I was upset(more with myself than with others) and asked me to remember for the rest of my life... :) Here's a biiiig thanks to you !!!

Gul te khar paidaish ikse, ik bag chaman de dovein,
Ik shabumar gulan di oshak, par khar rahe nit ovein.
Thoda rehna kabool pyare par, tu khar na hovein,
Hassham aan milein gal hasske, chahe ik pal pass khalovein.

Translation:

FLowers and thorns take birth in the same garden... Flowers shed themselves after sometime, but the thorns stay there forever... Prefer to live a shorter life than become a thorn, meet everyone with happiness even if you meet him for a moment!!

I'll always remember this!!

Friday, October 2, 2009

Ruzena Bajcsy... Anita Borg Technical Leadership Award winner

This was one of the best sessions I have attended at the Grace Hopper Conference this year... to hear this technical lady of astounding impact talk about Computer Vision, a field that I have always had interest in.. :)

With a list of innumerable qualifications and awards having become quite synonymous with her now, Ruzena is a professor in the University of California, Berkeley. She has made substantial impact in today's world, by combining the various research areas together to make contributions to technology. For about an hour in today's session, the time that she spoke, She completely left me amazed about all the advances that one can make using Computer Vision...

Starting with a description about the requirements of Tele-immersive environment setup, Ruzena enlightened us about how the clusters of cameras have to be positioned at different angles, to be able to grab a 3D vision of the object under consideration. Not only do the collaborations have to be same, but also the internal and external parameters for all the objects participating in the environment. It's more of a joint 3D world that she and with her, others in this field work on. They way scientists in universities in different parts of the world, collaborate with each other, collect data, analyze data and work on a 3D reconstruction of images without even being physically acquainted with each others physical environment.

On of the main areas of concern is the Real time usage of such systems, which is more concerned about understanding human dynamics and based on interaction with the virtual environment. Another one is about the representation of data in a way such that it not only requires less bandwidth to be transferred but can also speed up reconstruction. All these interesting tasks are intriguing, but great to learn. As I heard Ruzena speak, there was definitely a thought in my mind about what serves as the source of motivation for her ans so many other technical women here at the conference as well... And here's the answer, it's the vigour to face and stand against the scientific challenges and more importantly, the applications that the usage of all such technology serves to the world around.

I witness seeing some of the nest technical (and artistic :)) work at her session today, displaying the efficient usage of Computer Vision to accomplish innumerable tasks. Based in the idea of interacting and communicating in a virtual state, as if we were in the same physical state. The example that popped up right there in my head was that of Second Life... no wonder individuals can actually interact and have meetings using second life as if all of them are sitting on the same table, irrespective of whatever part of the world you reside in. A few such examples I saw were about teaching different types of exercises and dances or any other physical activities to individuals specially the ones for which trainers are not usually available, recognition of human activities, using artifacts etc. A nice one was dancing with your own self.. :P.

After such an intriguing talk, Ruzena ended by allowing others to think about some language that we could have to code or define physical movements of humans just like the way we speak or even music for that matter, which would make all such tasks a piece of cake irrespective of whatever place you come from..:)

I loved writing this one... Please leave your comments if you liked it or any views about it.. :)

Time is on my side...

On the exciting second day of the Grace Hopper Conference, attracting people in all age brackets, an interesting workshop I attended was the one on Time Management, Time Is On My Side, organized by Lockheed Martin. When there are innumerable things to be done at the same itme, the ability to properly and efficiently use our time to complete various tasks becomes of utmost importance. This one was less of a discourse and more of a discussion... Relating myself with all the time bandits and time management problems that others have as well, I could'nt help nodding my head constantly... :)

Beginning with a discussion on the many struggles that people face with managing their time, I realized that the problem majority faced was to handle both work and school regularly, and things even more difficult for those who have to look after a family as well. Something I should ponder about, cause I just have to go to school, unlike many others who have to handle a plethora of things in their lives, and even then fail to devote the appropriate time to tasks invariably. One of the many reasons that women face problems with time management is because they just cannot say 'NO', which virtually always makes them end up neing overscheduled. Something that happens with me as well. Many a times you realize that you have so much to do that it's hard to segregate what should be put first on the stack. And their comes the concept of undersytanding and differentiating between what's urgent and what's significant. Invariably, we find ourselves being caught in this web of the 'TO DO' things and at that time it becomes important to realize as to what has to be done first and what thereafter, something which only the subject can decide depending on what tasks are more significant to affect his life in the coming time.

On today's earth, where if we sit with a paper and try to jott down a list time bandits, it will turn out to be incessant, almopst everyone in the hall figured that the majority of time they wasted was on the internet chatting with theri friends, texting and virtually always ending up maximizing their break time... As these are some of the things I find myself trapped in as well, I understand, and so do many others, that the only possoble solution is self constraint, and to realize that you have tasks of more priority to be done before you.

As almost everyone at some point of time, makes a list of things to be done, it's important to understand the sequence of their being done as well, by making a clear distinction between what is urgent and what is significant... After all, it's good to have a schedule, it;s good to have a clear picture of the next day in front fo you, as that just helps me to complete tasks with all myself and all confidence... and also gives a sense of satisfaction and happiness once I have done them... (No wonder we love to strike out the tasks from the 'to do' list once they are done.. :P). But they are my individual opinions, what do you think about time management? Is it good to make a schedule? Are their better practices to be followed to make ourselves more organized? Feel free to leave a comment... :)

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Jo Miller Session - Becoming a person of influence

Woah! What an exciting first day at the Grace Hopper Conference 2009...

With a series of events lined up from the very morning, I was desperately looking forward to the session by Jo Miller on Becoming a person of influence, having heard a LOT about her from all the last year attendees... and the praise did stand... Jo makes you think about nothing else for the time she is speaking. :)

With the topic of discourse being one with the most standing weightage in today's world, of becoming a person of influence... I could'nt help agreeing with each and every thing Jo spoke. Frankly, I was able to relate myself with almost all the instances she spoke of.

Starting with the description of the emerging leaders' quandary which includes the conflict between the need of a higher level job and the needed leadership skills, something that haunts almost every individual willing to get to a higher position, the best way undoubtedly is to show that we have more capabilities than those needed by our present job, by taking up more projects and building a network of influence around us. When I see around myself, almost all the students being hired right now, are not just done on the technical basis but primarily on their networking skills, thier ability to connect with others, their ability to influence, and that's exactly what Jo spoke about. A typical example demonstrating the importance of our influence is one where two persons give the same idea, but for one, when it is not even heard porperly, for the other, it is taken as a sign of sheer genius-- just shows how important influence is... How important it is to make our presence felt... to display our area of expertise and not just wait standing with a bent back for someone to grant us permission to speak.

One of the best part of today's session was this quote, "Our behaviour teaches people how to treat us", a very simple one but with a great impact. Quoting an example of the dog psychology centre, Jo convinced me about this one, convinced me to the fullest. It's only our influence that tells others what we are, and the best way to do that is through conversation.

Going forward to talk about the sources of influence, Jo talked about the 6 main ones... namely relationships, the base one for all other types of influence... because if you have great relationships with people, you have an image of credibility, .. next , direct influence, one which requires the implementer to be fair, firm and professional. The most important thing to remember when doing so is to focus on a bright vision for the future... something that many people dont realize the value of. Next in the queue is the influence that we impart on others by being an informational powerhouse, by knowing the latest developments in our area of expertise, in our organization. Being an undergrad in an engineering institue, I believe this is one of the most important ones for me, considering that everyone one around you wants to learn from you... having a finger on the pulse of everything that is happening surely helps. Next one is the resources influence, Many a times women in an organization donot ask for the resources they would need to accomplish a particular task, thereby refraining from proving themselves to be a fair custodian of resources. According to me, asking for and efficiently utilizing the resources also helps us to make a special position for ourselves and gain visiblity. But nevertheless this is something that women harldy use along with the next one, expertise influence. Derived from our resume, this one works more on how well we display and let others know of what qualifications we have, rather than underestimating ourselves and taking a back seat for our achievements. It is matter of extreme importance to speak up, rather than waiting for an invitation. In industry, this is the primary one for all those willing to get themselves recruited, beacuse until and unless we prove ourselves worthy enough of a particular task by making our qualifications visible, why on earth should someone hire us in front of a hundred others. And the last one in the line is the positional influence, the ability to educate others about who you are, what you do and why should someone come to you. And this one works for sure, with a few examples of such 30 second commercials to introduce oneself, it became quite significant that their proper usage can make one go to places, after all, the first impression is the last impression.

According to me, all these stand of equal value and are worthy enough of being implemented in our day to day meeting with people and situations, to become a person of influence, but for me the most important one which needs work is the the first one, the relationships influence, the base for all, cause I believe I need to be more social with everyone around me. Am starting it from today, my first step towards becoming a person of influence... :) What about you? Which field do you need to improve? What field are you the most strong at?.. Feel free to leave a comment, so that I may know your perspective on this session as well... :)