Assam colleges opt for Open Source Software, get trained

Guwahati – In a first ever effort in the country to acquire skills in the use of Free / Libre and Open Source Software (FLOSS) Assam state has set the trend by sending representatives from colleges in all 27 districts for a training workshop organized by the first private university in the state.

“After promoting FLOSS right from the start of the university since 2008, today it is a dream come true for us to host faculty from colleges representing all 27 districts of the state,” says Pro Vice-Chancellor of Assam Don Bosco University (ADBU) Fr Joseph Nellanattu, a FLOSS apostle.

“This is the first of its kind program in the state and we can be role model for other states,” said Deputy Director of Higher Education, Government of Assam Mrs. Chinmoyee Talukdar addressing the gathering of some 70 academicians from 53 colleges of Assam.

ADBU Vice-Chancellor Dr Stephen Mavely had words of praise for the Department of Computer Science & Engineering (CSE) and Information Technology, School of Technology, for organizing the one-day Training in FLOSS, 2 December 2015 at its Azara campus.

Dr Mavely thanked IIT Bombay Spoken Tutorial Team for their active collaboration over the past five years in promoting FLOSS.

Among resources persons are National Coordinator-Training, IIT Bombay Ms. Shyama Iyer, and Executive Officer & Training Coordinator, IIT Bombay Ms. Akanksha Saini.

“This ADBU initiative with CSE&IT department hopes to create greater and promote FOSS and Spoken Tutorials,” said Workshop Coordinator Assistant Professor Mr Vijay Prasad.

Sessions include lectures on Spoken Tutorial project, Linus Operating System basics and installation, and hands on session in Libre Office.

At the end of the workshop, besides certificates of participation for all participants, all 27 knowledge centers will receive a book on FLOSS as well as DVDs with Spoken Tutorials.

The Spoken Tutorial Project is about teaching and learning a particular FLOSS like Linux, Scilab,LaTeX, PHP & MySQL, Java, C/C++, Libre Office etc. via an easy video tool – Spoken Tutorials.