Name and Title of the Programme   :    Webinar on “Digital inclusion of underserved communities​”

Date   :    18th December, 2020

Organized by     :    Jointly by:-

                                  1. IEEE Delhi Section and 
                                  2. Bharati Vidyapeeth’s Institute of Computer Applications and Management (BVICAM), New Delhi

In collaboration with       :    1. Computer Science (CS) Chapter of IEEE Delhi Section
                                            2. Consultants Networks Affinity (CNA) Group of IEEE Delhi Section
                                            3. Inter Society Relations (ISR) Standing Committee of IEEE Delhi Section
                                            4. Industry Relations (IR) Ad-Hoc Committee of IEEE Delhi Section
                                            5. Life Members Affinity (LMA) Group of IEEE Delhi Section
                                            6. Institution of Electronics and Telecommunications (IETE), Delhi Centre
                                            7. Indian Society for Technical Education (ISTE), Delhi Section
                                            8. Computer Society of India (CSI), Mumbai
                                            9. The Institution of Information Technology Professionals, Safa Society, New Delhi
                                            10. IIPC, AICTE, New Delhi

Report:

The Webinar was held on 18th December, 2020 in the benign presence of the dignitaries from all the collaborating professional societies, including Prof. Subrata Mukhopadhyay, Chairperson, Consultants Network Affinity Group and Former Chairperson, IEEE Delhi Section. The webinar was blessed to have inaugural address by Prof. Subrata Mukhopadhyay giving a brief background of the all these webinars in collaboration will all the premiere professional societies, including the latest happenings in the domain of Digital Inclusion. Prof. R. K. Vyas, National President, CSI welcomed all the invited guests and participants. Prof. M. N. Hoda, Director, Bharati Vidyapeeth's Institute of Computer Applications and Management (BVICAM), New Delhi addressed the session and discussed the background note of conducting such Webinars through virtual platforms. He emphasized that these webinars act as networking tools to connect people from across the world and help them to adapt to a New Normal life, a new ecosystem caused by COVID-19. He also discussed the five phases of COVID-19 i.e. Denial, Anger, Bargain, Depression and Acceptance and motivated the participants to directly move to Acceptance phase from Bargain phase without going into Depression phase, which is also one of the objectives of these weekly webinar series. He also motivated participants to continue learning regardless of all round disruptions. He also discussed the background of the topic of the webinar; Digital Inclusion and its related issues & challenges, which is going to be one of the most important concern to reach to the unreached, connect to the unconnected, include to the not included and serve to the underserved to ensure inclusive growth and development.

Ms. Melissa Sassi, Chief Penguin, IBM Hyper Protect Accelerator, USA, was the lead speaker. She first introduced the topic to the participants. She discussed that the moving beyond IQ and EQ, let us now welcome DQ, a measure for determining one’s digital intelligence. Webinar further discussed the following competencies: (1) digital citizen identity, (2) usage and screen time, (3) safety and cyber bullying, (4) cyber security, (5) emotional intelligence and empathy, (6) communication and digital footprint, (7) literacy and critical thinking, and (8) rights and privacy management. The webinar also discussed a tech skill-building platform that runs on VS Code that’s geared toward learning the enterprise computing skills that drives millions and millions of transactions per second, brought presented by IBM. The webinar discussed all these related issues and various related initiatives by the major technology gaints.

The session was concluded with Question & Answer round where participants willingly asked their queries, followed by concluding remarks by Prof. M. N. Hoda. He gave his heartfelt appreciation to MS. Melissa Sassi for her insightful and detailed session. He also thanked all the participants and panellist for giving their precious time for having participated in this webinar and also making all the other webinars hosted by BVICAM, a huge success. Mr. Ravindra Joshi, Chairman, SIGHT and Secretary, IEEE Delhi Section,  gave the vote of thanks. He also highlighted the significant contributions of the SIGHT Volunteers. The webinar attracted huge participation from across the country and abroad like Saudi Arabia, UAE, Canada, Bahrain, Ethiopia, Maylasia, Qatar, Bangladesh, Spain, Phillipine, etc. The webinar was coordinated and anchored by Dr. Ritika Wason, Associate Professor, BVICAM, New Delhi and Mr. Uttam Singh Bist, Assistant Professor, BVICAM, New Delhi was the technical host for the Webinar.