My Podcasting Experience (Part I): Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) — India
“Podcasting might be thought of as a form of academic gift.” — Les Back, professor and author
Recently, my boss, mentor, and professor in the discipline of Computer Science and Engineering at IIT Gandhinagar, Neeldhara Misra, suggested that I could try my hand at podcasting. In the long run, it would be yet another way to hone my science communication skills and pursue my passion.
What better way to start this task than with some major events in computing education and research? The Institute recently hosted IRISS, ACM-W workshop, and ACM- annual event, from 13th to 15th February 2020, and I got the chance to talk to some of the most eminent minds in this domain during my podcasting exercises.
Presently, we are in the process of editing these podcasts. In the meantime, I thought it would be great to share a few snippets and sneak peeks from these sessions with you all in the form of some write-ups.
So, here goes!
The following is part 1 of this series and includes interesting interactions with some people associated with the ACM-India Council.
For the readers who are unfamiliar with this organization, ACM India Council is an effort of ACM, the world’s largest educational and scientific computing society.
Abhiram Ranade: Professor of Computer Science at IIT Bombay and the President of ACM-India
As the President of ACM-India, what are some points about it to which you would like to draw our attention?
The Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) is a worldwide, 70-year-old organization. In India, we have its subunit known as the ACM-India Council. The main motto is helping computing as a profession and science. It organizes activities involving both academia and industry in computing, intending to advance computer science education and award achievements. For example, talking about initiatives specific to students, we have summer schools — last year, we had 11 of them on a range of different topics such as game theory and machine learning. ACM-India is also trying to work with the regulatory bodies like AICTE to design the curricula and assessments for teachers so that the students gain the experience of practical applications of theoretical education.
What is your take on the statement — academia supporting and promoting industry and vice-versa?
One of the missions of ACM-India is to get the cooperation going between these two crucial entities. An example being the Summer Schools, which I talked about earlier. They are jointly held by industry and academia to produce, in the future, good researchers for the country, who would have significant contributions to the industry.
For you, what were the highlights of the ACM-Annual Event 2020?
This event saw some of the leading minds in computing, from across the globe. We got Yann LeCun, the 2018 winner of the ACM Turing Award, who delivered an outstanding talk on the hottest topic of today — Deep Learning. This branch has made it possible for the machines to see, hear, and understand humans. Another interesting session on Algorithms, by Sussane Albers, the recipient of the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize, talked about designing clear step-by-step instructions that help machines complete specific tasks and gave a more nuanced understanding of the true performance of an algorithm. In an inspiring lecture, Shwetak Patel, the winner of the ACM Prize in computing, explained how simple things like cell-phones could serve as diagnostics in healthcare. M. Balakrishnan from IIT Delhi gave insights on the devices intended to help the blind. All these sessions were scientifically engaging and helped the participants explore the depths of computing.
Hemant Pande: Leading computing professional for more than 25 years and the Executive Director of ACM-India
You are associated with the webinar series and are a part of the summer school steering committee at ACM-India. Can you please throw some light in these initiatives?
The summer schools, now extended to the winter schools, have become very popular and useful initiatives for students. Focused on critical thinking and problem solving, these programs strive to develop leadership skills by exposing the students to impactful academic as well as applied research. About the webinars, they encourage more active collaborations between industry and academia. Every other month, we get an industry leader from the country who gives a one-hour talk, which is open to all. Industry acts as a big pull for a significant number of students coming out of academia. These webinars are an effort to prepare the students so that they can actively participate in industry-academia associations.
Recently, there was an article on the ‘Communications of the ACM,’ titled ‘Publish AND Perish’ by Mr. Vardi, which said that the future of conferences is virtual. Do you feel that the power of these virtual platforms will be helpful for people in specific ways?
I wouldn’t take anything to an extreme. Although we utilize various things that are virtual, such as webinar series or online journals, one cannot undermine the importance of interpersonal interactions. 10–15 minutes spent with somebody in person is worth more than three hours spent online reading about their work. We should take everything in the right context. Networking events and conferences are great platforms that serve a dual purpose — present research and get feedback as well as connect with some eminent scholars in your field.
Vipul Shah: Principal Scientist at Tata Consultancy Services and the Head of ACM-India CSPathshala initiative
Tell us something about the CSPathshala initiative. How can it lead to benefits for students in later education?
The mission of CSPathshala is to bring computational thinking, which is a requirement not just for computer science but for all possible fields and disciplines, to schools. Now-a-days, the curriculum in schools focuses on teaching the techniques of computing and programming languages. This paradigm needs to change in the digital age of today. Rather than the languages, students should understand the intricacies of programming itself. There is a need for them to be creators, problem-solvers, logical reasoners, and critical thinkers. How to bring science into computing? — We have to train our students on these skills, and this is what CSPathshala is all about. It teaches the fundamentals of computing to students across the country in the form of exciting classroom activities, without computers. Started in 2016, it has 400+ volunteers from four continents who have created draft curricula for standards 1st to 12th and teaching aids (such as PowerPoint presentations, lesson plans, and worksheets) for standards 1st to 8th. Currently, about 3,00,000 students are learning computational thinking through CSPathshala initiatives in 11 states in four languages.
How do you think we can actively promote computer science engineering education and research?
In CS education, there is a need for more research. For example, in terms of assessment, how to effectively grade the open-ended question-answers and partially grade the MCQs, constitute the two essential points to be addressed. Computing is a very vast field, and there is a need to spread awareness about its different domains among people. Continued introspection, review, and revamping of the curriculum is a necessary step to promote computer science engineering education and research.
Abhijat Vichare: Software Consultant, Educator and Speaker of ACM-India
How can we encourage active women participation in computing?
We need to create an encouraging, empowering, and overall better atmosphere for women to pursue whatever they wish to do, and it should not just be limited to the field of computer science.
So, enough sneak-peeks from part 1. I end it here with the promise that its detailed chit-chats (podcasts) are coming soon! The next part of this series will involve some thought-provoking tit-bits from the ACM-W podcasts (Association for Computing Machinery’s Council on Women in Computing), which I had with some of the brightest females in computer science. Stay tuned!
(Part 2 of this series can be found here.)
