Interview - L Venkata Subramaniam - "i.t." magazine
I'm visiting with L Venkata Subramaniam, who authors the popular Folk Technology series for "i.t." magazine, and the owner and author of The World Through Coloured Glasses blog.
Angela: How did you get started as a writer? And what led you to the information technology genre? Were you always drawn to new technology?
LVS: I got started as a writer only a year back. I sought out the folks at i.t. magazine and bugged them to take me on as a writer. They agreed and that started me out. After high school I went on to study electrical engineering. I stayed long enough and obtained a PhD. From a young age I was drawn to technology. In my regular life I am a computer science researcher. I have been with IBM Research for ten years now. I work on data mining, speech recognition and image processing. I have three issued patents and have seven pending patents. I have also written a number of scientific papers. I often teach at IIT, Delhi, one of the top engineering schools of the world. I became a writer to try and motivate young people to enter into a career in technology. In my articles I try to point out the use of technology in everyday things like sports, healthcare, medicine, transportation, advertising, you name it. Through my writings I hope young people get ideas on new applications of technology to benefit society and mankind.
Angela: How long have you written your Folk Technology series for "i.t." magazine? Is this is monthly feature? And do you cover some of the same topics on your blog, The World Though Coloured Glasses?
LVS: I started writing the folk technology series in January 2008 as a monthly column in i.t. magazine. Incidentally my first article in the magazine was about blogging and collective wisdom. I reproduce the articles I write for i. t. magazine with a one month time lag on my blog. I also write original articles just for my blog. I can afford to be more informal on the blog because of the nature of the medium. Also Blogging lets me express myself better to the reader through the use of hyperlinks, videos and pictures.
Angela: Tell us a little about "i.t." magazine, I see the publication celebrated it's 15th anniversary in November 2006, are there any new things on the horizon for the publication? Will your series continue with the same focus, or do you see this evolving with the changing times as well?
LVS: "i.t." magazine covers technology without going into gory technical details. Even non-technical folks should be able to read an article in the magazine, understand and hopefully appreciate it. Its main readership comprises CEOs and senior management of companies in the IT sector. In current years the magazine has developed a major inclination towards startups. They cover recent startups their technologies and also give ideas on technology ideas for new startups, give tips on funding, manpower and resource issues for startups. Their focus is likely to remain the same in the coming years. I have been bitten by the writing bug and yes blogging is addictive. I plan to write a lot more in the near future.
Angela: Describe The World Through Coloured Glasses blog, is this an extension of your magazine series, or a whole different venture for you? Do you find blogging easier than traditional article writing?
LVS: The blog predates my magazine series. However, it can be taken to be an extension of the magazine series because I started to take blogging more seriously after I started writing for the magazine. Blogging is a lot more than just writing. The magazine has its own readership and I am just hitching a ride. I write an article and send it across. It is someone Else's job to design the layout, add pictures and see to it that people read it. But with blogging I am fully responsible. I have to design the layout, I have to link to related articles, I have to reach out to the readership, I have to think how to advertise my blog so that more readers know about it.
Angela: Of the two, the magazine and your blog, where do you feel the most of your personality and opinions show in your writing? Do you find you can be more passionate in one over the other?
LVS: Blogging allows a closer relationship between the reader and the writer. It is very interactive, you know who the reader is, and most importantly every reader can comment back. The interactivity makes it very spontaneous. The readers of blogs are themselves a vibrant community of writers. To me blogging is a learning exercise. I learn new things to be able to write about it, then I learn a second time when people read what I have written and give their comments, I learn again when I visit my readers and read their blogs. I am an expert in some of the things I write because I invented those things. But I have learned so much from the comments that readers leave behind. Blogging continues to broaden my perspective and my thoughts.
I've been visiting with L Venkata Subramaniam, author for "i.t." magazine, and the owner and author of The World Through Coloured Glasses blog. If you have any questions, feel free to visit his blog and post comments! And for all the very latest in information technology explained as only Venkata can, be sure to read his series entitled Folk Technologies inside the next issue of "i.t." magazine!