Democratising Knowledge Futures

Dateline: British Council Auditorium
13 January 2009

Sheila Jasonoff:
Science and technology have acquired a significant position through which they can influence the governance issues. There is subtle difference between state and government.
Any imagination of science -technology indicators illuminates the friction between the democratic set up. The idea of globalisation decides our preferences. It is forcing the citizens to become consumenrs outside the rubrics of sovergian country.
These days the apparent significance of democracy is on descending phase and that of economics is on ascending phase. Therefore there is serious need to understand deeper institutional linkages of knowledge making leading towards knowledge society and knowledge economy.
Law has emerged as a form of play articulated in the form consensus language in democratic set up. It is kind if framework to interpreat the implications of technology. Therefore law has greater potential to understand the human rights violations. This is the reason which compells us to observe the interaction between various authorities or knowledge systems so as to say.
Law has to address the ecological ways of knowledge making.


Pushpa Bhargav:
The dream to make India a knowledge society is being debated these days. To protect the right of the citizen to discharge responsibilty can be strengthened by growing the prospects of citizens to have more and more information.
This can be rationalised in our understanding of hierarchy of data, information, knowledge and wisdom which are never similar. "Ignorance is like sand and knowledge is like rock. Information is like package while knowledge comes in bits.
There are no boundaries of knowledge making or creation. Compartmentalisation of the knowledge is human creation and not the gift of the nature.
There is growing influence of power on knowledge making and there are increasing evidences that relations in knowledge production units are influencing the power roles throughout the centuris.

Knowledge based society is easy to govern. But on the contrary there is no ideal society today in whole world which can give a model for all of us. It is more true that knowledge distribution is uneven. This unevenness provides largest base for exploitation.

Therefore, remember that knowledge remains stagnant and decays when it is kept hidden from the desiring and deserving masses. Knowledge grows when it flows and when it is distributed.

Upendra Bakshi:
By virtue of constitution everyone has equality of opportunity but if we look through prism of human rights very few have equality of justice.


Suman sahai:
Knowledge should not be monopolised by IPR regimes. Developing countries have large resources containing indegenous sources of knowledge. Majority of the pharma companies generate their significant amount of value addition in research out of indegenous knowledge resources which they fail to acknowledge.
Thus there has to wider critical examination of WTO, CBD and other IPR Laws.
The IPR regimes are not leading towards discollective possession of knowledge.
There has to be checks and balances on exploitation of origins of information and knowledge.

Upendra Bakshi:
The dignity of the natural resources must be preserved.

Shiva Viswanathan:
The indegenous and informal forms of knowledges have exceptional role in democracy.
They have deeper possibilities of innovation which are exemplified in CSIR set up and the capacity of common men and women working tirelessly in our country.
The value systems and framework of dialouge between science and democracy must change as we progress.
The irreplacable triangle of preeminent values is made up of "Liberty, Fraternity and Equality"
This has to be added with three virtues of "Sustainibility, Plurality and Citizenship"
Moderns of enlightenment are asking for multiple rationalities.

This dialouge must go beyond quest of participation towards quest of voice. to coexist all.
Let us understand ironies and limits of science. Let us create a sense by which we can laugh at ourselves to introspect in better way.
India is possibility of new world we are tring to discover in these time of crisis.

Philosophy of Industrial Design

If your car can turn it`s wheels in 90 degress to accomodate itself in parking space you will be delighted. If you are saved in severe accident by alert push-n-tight belt system which is automatic you will be eager to know about this technology. Even it sounds novice in Artificial Intelligence, the technocrats are trying to design the cars which will talk to drivers in effort to avoid the accident.

Getting to know the philosophy of a technical process of industrial designing turned out to be very intersting. It is a combination of great perseverance, hard work and patience. NISSAN motors,Japan recently convened a workshop on Industrial Design in IIT Delhi. On the sidelines of worshop they have also organised a design contest and exhibtion of the winner`s ideas of future automobile.

The buzzwords of the design vocabulary of any ideal design process are as follows: Clear, Creative, Consistent and Customer Focussed...I tried to enter in the mind of the designer when I talked to Parag who hails from MS Ramaiah Institute Of Tehnology, Bangalore who also bagged second award in this competition. He says that even though it is expected fundamental technological understanding of the automative engineering to start career in designing, what you need is good vision of customer and understanding of their needs and difficulties in operation of pertiuclar product. Good ability of imagination and visualisation about the functional sttributes of the cars will be very helpful. He was explaning to me this by indicating towards his design where he has tried to take in account Indian needs of family, wheather and traffic.

NISSAN representatives focussed in their articulation on their efforts to adapt what they call the Japanese DNA in the design process of all new models they bring out in the market.
One representative said, " Simple stuff has more functions. We in our globally spread design labs in Japan, Korea, Taiwan try to achieve simplicity which is purified by culture and philosophy of "Land of Rising Sun i.e. Japan"

Any design has to be symbolic, refined, clear, iconic, fresh from the standpoint of users by knowing changing aspirations of the consumer. A good design process consists of following process:
a) Exploratory Design Process
b) Project Design Phase
c) COO-CDM
d) Production Stage CEO -CDM
e) Project Design Phase

The major finding of this workshop was the realisation about new mantra of design industry that previously it was "Form Follows Function"....These days the modern user frinedly vheicles are adapting to the standard of "Form Follows Emotion".