I had an opportunity to attend this event as we Progress Software were the Gold Sponsorers of the event and this is for the first time I had attended the ACM India Conference. ACM India Council, part of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) which is the world's largest educational and scientific computing society for the Computer Science/IT community, has today started its two day annual conference - ACM India Annual Conference 2011 (January 28th & 29th), at the Indian School of Business (ISB), Hyderabad. The conference that is hosted by ACM India's Hyderabad Chapter will see a participation of about 500 computing professionals, academics, and students over the 2 days. ACM India Council focuses on serving as a professional network for individuals who are involved with the science and technology of computing and encouraging students to take an active interest in the emerging and exciting world of computing
This conference brings in the world's best computing educators, researchers and professionals to inspire exchange of ideas, share resources and address the challenges. As India has contributed significantly in the field of Computer and Science, ACM aims to grow its presence in the country and create a large network of computer science and information technology professionals
Mr. Alain Chesnais, President - ACM and Mr. John White, CEO - ACM inaugurated the event and thereafter Dr. Charles P. Thacker, Technical fellow at Microsoft, took a session titled - 'Improving the future by examining the past' where he discussed about the technical choices made and the way those were applied as technology evolved from 20th century. He suggested some possible changes that might make computing better in the 21st century. After his session Ms. Barbara G. Ryder from Virgina Polytechnic Institute and State University gave an insightful view on Harnessing the Power of Static and Dynamic Program Analysis which took the audience through the 1996 ACM Computer Surveys featuring the challenges facing program analysis methodologies and how these challenges have been met. She also presented a new analysis paradigm - blended program analysis - that enables practical, effective analysis of large framework-intensive Java applications. Following this a panel discussion was organized on The Business Case for Diversity, and the Science behind the Problems in Realizing Diversity.
In order to stress upon on the prominence of computing in domestic market, an insightful and interesting session along with a panel discussion titled - 'Computing in India: A Retrospective' was organized that featured leading India figures in the field of computing like Dr. Mathai Joseph, Advisor - Tata Consultancy Services, Mr. Harish Jagtiani, President - Intermark Corp and Mr. Shashi Ullal, Director and Advisor, Intertec Software Pvt. Ltd
The final session of the day was presented by Dr. Eric A Brewer, Professor of Computer Science, University of California on an interesting and highly relevant topic - 'Technology, The Cloud and Development'. In his session Dr. Brewer connected technology for development and the rise of the "cloud" starting with real development projects led by his TIER group in India, such as connectivity, telemedicine, and electrification. Besides these he spoke of some of the challenges, solutions of working in developing regions and most importantly why he believes the rise of the cloud will be among the most important forces shaping the future of development, quality of life and urbanization.
Commenting on the occasion, Mr. Alain Chesnais, President - ACM and Founder Visual Transitions said, "India is very important to ACM's future plans as a lot of computing is happening there, in teaching, research and profession. We hope to make ACM relevant to India with activities that are unique to the country. The formation of the ACM India Council is a step towards that. The India council has been doing to tremendous job to increase the activities and visibility of ACM in India. The 2 day annual conference is an attempt to further enhance the activities."
Mr. P J Narayanan, Co - Chair, ACM India and Professor and Dean of Research at the International institute of information Technology (IIIT-H), Hyderabad said, "India has started its journey in computing well, but have a long way to go to establish itself as a base for high quality research, design and product development ACM offers a large number of resources for students, researchers and professionals in the computing area. ACM also has very generous licensing policies for its digital library that Indian academia and professionals can take advantage of. We want the members and its chapters to take full advantage of the resources available at ACM and increase their activities in their locality. The ACM India event features some of the highest achievers in the world. This is a rare opportunity for the Indian computing fraternity to interact with the global leaders, to learn from them and to influence them."
ACM India council is driving up activities in India through its chapters and members. The number of professional chapters has increased in India from about 1 to 10 in the last 15 months. The growth in the number of student chapters is similar.
Overall the Meeting had some good sessions on Computing in India, Diversity in Business Scenario( which was a good and different apart from all the other sessions on the day ) and the first day ended with the closing note and thanks from the CEO and second day was Workshops on Microsoft Azure and Web 2.0.
Other points to mention would be the amazing ISB campus which hosted this event.
I felt very happy sitting in the ISB conference room and listening to the sessions by some of the best profiles of industry today.
I had not taken photographs of the event.However, I will be posting them here at my blog once I get them from other sources.
I would conclude recommending this ACM meeting as it's a good platform for the existing ACM Members, Professionals and Students who are part of the ACM chapters.
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Snap from the Event
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For more Pictures and Slide Presentations visit:
http://www.acmhyd.org/events/acm-india-2011/acm-india-meeting-slides-and-resources
Source : www.acmhyd.org
