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Using computer images to aid understanding

Frederic Andres

He harnesses the resources of information technology to manage large amounts of data, using techniques from various branches of science. His view is that digital records have the potential to bring together the experiences of people speaking various languages and hailing from different cultural backgrounds.

With over a dozen patents to his credit, besides scores of publications, he aims at helping people - from schoolchildren to office executives - share their views with one another using the fast-developing digital medium.

On a visit to Coimbatore to share his expertise at a workshop on multimedia and digital content management, organised by VLB Janakiammal College of Engineering and Technology, Frederic Andres, Associate Professor, Digital Content and Media Sciences Research Division, The Graduate University for Advanced Studies, National Institute of Informatics, Tokyo, Japan, expresses his views in a chat with A. A. Michael Raj.

INFORMATION NEED not be only in the form of written documents. It could be images, videos and innovative multimedia content. However, the need was to enable people at various levels make use of available information in a way that they needed. "Digital content can be used for high school students to understand Japanese calligraphy," Prof. Andres said. "They can write and share their stories." When children wanted to know the meaning of an unfamiliar word, they tended to look it up in a dictionary that they knew was reliable.

However, when they used the Internet, they would have to differentiate between different kinds of information and know which ones were reliable. At first they would have to learn the basics from their teachers. Then they could begin the effort to find out on their own, whatever they required.

He demonstrated through images on his laptop, how it had been possible for researchers to use digital resources to document the nuances of Australian aboriginal culture in which there was no written tradition of preserving and passing on records. "Information technology is a tool for any kind of domain. We need to get what we are looking for," he said. His dream is to make `digital equality' a reality in the world, through the World Organisation for Digital Equality, a non-Governmental organisation.

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