As a child, I used to read the Mid-Day every single day – which then evolved to the Mumbai Mirror. In both newspapers, I distinctly remember reading articles that mentions US stats for everything! Weight loss, cell phone usage, computer stats, everything. Sadly, this hasn’t changed very much and it is near impossible to come across statistics of Indian users on social networks. India really needs an Alexa/ComScore/Compete of its own — and one that’s available for everyone to use for free.
It annoys me that Indian media is so OK with relying on U.S. stats, and that they place so much importance on achievements by prominent western figures (think Mark Zuckerberg, Steve Jobs, Eric Schmidt and Biz Stone & Evan Williams) — instead of profiling success by Indians and people of Indian origin. And while they do profile the occasional Indian, I want to see these people become household names. I want parents to encourage their kids to work hard so they can be like so-and-so person.
So I’m going to start creating a list Indian entrepreneurs/thought leaders/influencers/etc. in the social media/internet/tech space. My list is probably going to be US-centric for now, but feel free to refer over anyone you feel should be featured as well.
Pranav Mistry, MIT PhD candidate, genius behind Sixth Sense, which was presented at the TED conference (Feb 2009)
Here’s his bio from his website:
Currently, I am a Research Assistant and PhD candidate at the MIT Media Lab. Before joining MIT I worked as a UX Researcher with Microsoft. I received my Master in Media Arts and Sciences from MIT and Master of Design from IIT Bombay. I have completed my bachelors degree in Computer Science and Engineering. Palanpur is my hometown, which is situated in northern Gujarat in India.
Here’s the video of Pattie Maes (Founder and director of the MIT Media Lab’s Fluid Interfaces Group) presenting Sixth Sense at Ted 2009.
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
This is great stuff. In real world, I would be happy if it moves to the phone from the neck. Or has it already.