Hello all, We invite proposals for the next round of the Sarai FLOSS fellowships. Please see the announcement below, and note in particular that the deadline for submissions is midnight IST on Sun., Sep. 14th, 2008. We also stand ready to discuss possible projects. Please email me directly, or send email to floss AT sarai DOT net with any queries.
The announcement is also online at <http://www.sarai.net/fellowships/floss/2008-floss-fellowships-call-for-proposals> and a PDF copy of the announcement is available at http://www.sarai.net/fellowships/floss/sarai-floss.pdf Please feel free to circulate these far and wide. Regards, Gora ------------------------------------------------------- Call for proposals: Sarai, CSDS, short-term FLOSS fellowships August 20, 2008 1. Introduction The Sarai programme of the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, Delhi (http://www.sarai.net) is pleased to announce fellowships for projects related to Free/Libre and Open Source Software (FLOSS) activities. We invite proposals for projects of practical value, especially those relevant to educational, social, and community needs. This year, the fellowships are funded by the National Internet Exchange of India (NIXI), http: //www.nixi.in, which seeks to promote Indian language computing, and network technology needs for India in the FLOSS domain. The Indian Linux Users' Group, Delhi (ILUG-D) has also agreed to be technical partners on this year's fellowship projects, and will be involved in the selection of proposals, and the monitoring of projects. We wish to increase contacts between FLOSS communities in India and abroad, and would encourage tie-ups with major international FLOSS projects. We are particularly interested in the areas below, but any proposal meeting the conditions listed at the end is eligible: o Localisation of user interfaces into Indian languages, and the translation of documentation for FLOSS applications. o Indian language computing, including work on fonts, rendering, locales, input methods, spell-checking, etc., as well as in advanced technologies like optical character recognition (OCR), handwriting recognition, and speech-to-text. o Research on networking technologies relevant to the spread of the Internet in India, to the use of Indian-language domain names, and enabling a migration to IPv6. o In the interest of sustained development, we would like to see the enhancement of, and extensions for projects funded as part of past Sarai FLOSS fellowships. In particular, we draw attention to Hindi automated speech recognition (http://sourceforge. net/projects/hindiasr/), NewsRack (http://newsrack.in), and Hindawi (http://www.indicybers.com). o Documentation for users of FLOSS tools, particularly in the area of Indian language computing. o Projects involving cutting-edge technology, especially in the domains of mobile computing, embedded devices, robotics, GPS, GIS, and location-based services. We will be asking for a collaborative approach from the fellows; among one another, with people in ILUG-D and Sarai, or with the broader FLOSS community. Details of these will be worked out with the selected fellows, but will include things like discussions over IRC, email, and postings on the Sarai Project Resource Centre (PRC) mailing list. Blogging about progress on the projects is especially encouraged. Fellows will also be asked to prepare a timeline for the projects, with intermediate milestones, and will be expected to adhere to them. 2. Applying for the fellowships We invite students, developers, researchers, and practitioners interested in the FLOSS arena to apply for the fellowships. While there is no prescribed format for the applications, we expect them to be in sufficient detail for a reviewer to sensibly evaluate them. Attention to details, such as a plan of work that addresses what is possible to accomplish within the limited project period, a projection of how the work might be continued after that, and a discussion of the possible impact of the project, is strongly recommended. Please mail your application, along with a resume, to [EMAIL PROTECTED], with the subject line of "Sarai FLOSS fellowships". As this information is intended to be public, also subscribe to the PRC mailing list at https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/prc, and post a copy there, failing which your final proposal will be forwarded there by one of us. Enquiries are invited at [EMAIL PROTECTED] , and on the PRC list, including questions on how to frame proposals. The last date of submission is midnight IST on Sun., Sep. 14th, 2008. The projects will run for a total of about six months, with a final workshop to be held at Sarai, CSDS, Delhi, where the fellows will be expected to present a summary of their work. The total amount of the fellowship will be Rs. 70, 000. 3. Conditions Applicants should have a valid bank account in any bank operating in India. These are support grants, and the fellows are free to pursue their primary occupations in parallel, as long as they keep working on proposed projects as per schedule. The fellows must be willing to make a release of their final work under any open-source licence approved by the Open Source Initiative (OSI). Please see under http://www.opensource.org/licenses for a complete list. Proposals from teams, partnerships, collectives, and faculty on the behalf of a group of students are welcome, so long as the grant amount is administered by a single individual, and the funds are deposited in a single bank account in the name of an individual. ------------------------------------------------------- _______________________________________________ ilugd mailinglist -- ilugd@lists.linux-delhi.org http://frodo.hserus.net/mailman/listinfo/ilugd Archives at: http://news.gmane.org/gmane.user-groups.linux.delhi http://www.mail-archive.com/ilugd@lists.linux-delhi.org/