Connections 6

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Welcome tto
o Issue 6!
A
fter a two-year hiatus, we’re
reconnecting with you to bring
you the latest developments in the
BK IT world. A great deal has
changed, partly as a result of the
Yagya’s Global Functioning
process and partly as a response
to the need for greater regional IT
autonomy. At the same time, a
great deal has been achieved.
You’ll learn about it all within
these pages. We also hope the
issue’s jokes and cartoons will get
a smile or chuckle out of you, and
that perhaps you’ll pick up a
useful tip or inspiration as well.
Thanks to those of you, too
numerous to mention, who
submitted reports, photos and
other content. Reader feedback
and constructive suggestions for
improving CONNECTIONS are always
welcome and appreciated.
—EditorI
PS: Email addresses for Leads mentioned in the
articles are listed on page 27.
HY PE R LINK ED C O N T E N TS
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Welcome & Sr
ations 1
Sr.. Mohini’
Mohini’ss Inspir
Inspirations
Karunabhai’
ations ................ 2
arunabhai’ss Inspir
Inspirations
Thinking Globally
cting R
egionally 3
Globally,, A
Acting
Regionally
Global Pr
oject
s: IW
ebsite ................. 4
Project
ojects:
IWebsite
Global Pr
oject
s: UN Blog .................. 5
Project
ojects:
Global Pr
oject
s: Murlis & eL
earning .. 7
Project
ojects:
eLearning
Global Pr
oject
s: DF Dat
abase ........... 8
Project
ojects:
Database
Global Pr
oject
s: JAM ........................ 9
Project
ojects:
Global Pr
oject
s: IYF W
ebsite .......... 10
Project
ojects:
Website
Regional Pr
oject
s: Africa ................ 11
Project
ojects:
Regional Pr
oject
s: Americas/Caribbean
12
Project
ojects:
Americas/Caribbean12
Regional Pr
oject
s: Americas/Spanish IT
13
Project
ojects:
IT13
Regional Pr
oject
s: A
sia P
acific ........ 15
Project
ojects:
Asia
Pacific
Regional Pr
oject
s: Eur
ope .......... 16-18
Project
ojects:
Europe
Regional Pr
oject
s: India ............. 19-24
Project
ojects:
Safe Computing ......................... 25-26
Dir
ect
ory o
oject/T
echnical LLeads
eads
27
Direct
ectory
off Pr
Project/T
oject/Technical
eads27
Glossary o
erms .......................... 28
off T
Terms
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Newsletter of Brahma Kumaris Information Technology (IT) Worldwide
Issue No. 6, October, 2009
love, peace, and good wishes to
create the experience of connection
and belonging.
Greetings ooff lolovve ttoo all rreader
eader
eaderss,
O
ur lives are interconnected
and there is always great joy
in feeling connected. It is human
nature to desire to be connected
and connectedness also nurtures
our lives at many different levels.
One of the most important ways
we’ve discovered to fulfill the
desire for connection is through
media—newspapers, television
and now the internet. Yet in spite
of so many ways to connect, I find
that many still feel isolated.
Connection merely through
communication is not enough.
There needs to be a spiritual
connection. By seeing each
individual as a soul—a spiritual
entity possessing qualities of love,
peace, and happiness—we create
connections and communications
based on spiritual principles.
When such spiritual bonds are
created, souls transmit very pure
vibrations and feelings towards
each other. That’s when one starts
using the spiritual technology of
The vibrations and feelings that
help us create spiritual connections
for the self and relationships with
others are always those of love and
sharing. When such vibrations are
present, there is understanding and
meaningful communication while
carrying out a task. Service should
be in everyone’s heart and each
task should have a value of service.
This will make us very creative and
also very altruistic; then every task
will be achieved without difficulty.
I once asked Dadi Janki, “Which
comes first—relationships or
service?” She said, “Relationships”.
Her response made me reflect, and
I realized that when relationships
are based on respect and trust,
tasks are done in the best possible
way and success is guaranteed.
I just want to say to all my friends
and experts: Always be aware of
and try to activate the spiritual
dimension of connections. Enjoy
each moment by creating spiritual
connections—simultaneously, and
with the same degree of quality,
with which you create technical
connections—so that humanity is
served and also God’s blessings are
experienced at every step.
I wish you all congratulations for
your offerings and achievements.
With Love, Sister Mohini I
©2009 Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University. All rights reserved.
Portions of this publication may be reproduced or circulated only with the written permission of the editor.
1
D
ear Brothers and Sisters,
It’s not an exaggeration to
say that Dadiji was someone who
really understood what IT is
about. She appreciated IT, blessed
it, promoted it and gave time for
it. She loved the media. Even now
she is doing one-hundredfold
service through the media: we
keep receiving reports that
everywhere in the world,
especially in the Indian Diaspora,
people are saying, “Yes, yes, we
know your Dadiji.” Every embassy
has seen her last rites. All saints
and religious organizations have
heard of her and we have received
condolences from everywhere—all
because she was loved by the
media and by IT. As we go forward
let us not forget that she has been
the backbone of whatever we’ve
achieved to date, whether BOL, our
websites, email, etc., and I’m sure
she will continue to guide and
support our IT as well as our
spiritual efforts in her subtle form.
BK KarunaI
R
otten P
ot
at
oes!
Rotten
Pot
otat
atoes!
A kindergarten teacher introduced
a new game to her class. Each child
was to bring a bag containing a few
potatoes to school. The teacher
stressed it must be a plastic bag.
Each potato was to be given the
name of a person that the child
disliked, so the number of potatoes
in each child’s bag varied
accordingly. Some children had two
potatoes in their bags; others had
three; some had up to five potatoes.
The teacher explained the game
required the children to carry the
bags of potatoes with them
wherever they went for one week.
2
As the days passed by, the
potatoes naturally started to rot and
smell. The children complained
about the odor. Those carrying five
potatoes complained about the
heaviness of the bags. All were glad
when the week finally ended and
they could throw away the bags of
rotten potatoes.
The teacher asked them: “How did
you feel while carrying the
potatoes around all week?” The
children complained loudly about
carrying the heavy, smelly
potatoes. They had not enjoyed this
game at all!
Then the teacher explained the
hidden meaning of the game, “When
you carry dislike for someone in
your heart, it is like carrying a bag
of rotten potatoes. It burdens you
wherever you go and creates a bad
odor around you. If you keep love
and good feelings for everyone in
your heart, those “potatoes” will
never spoil and will one day
nourish you as well. The children
understood and began to find things
to like about the people they had
disliked before. I
Newsletter of Brahma Kumaris IT Worldwide
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“Don’t fear failure so much
that you refuse to try new
things. The saddest
summary of a life contains
three descriptions: could
have, might have, and
should have.”
— Louis E. Boone
“Our doubts are traitors,
and make us lose the good
we often might win, by
fearing to attempt.”
—William Shakespeare
“You gain strength,
courage, and confidence
by every experience in
which you really stop to
look fear in the face.”
—Eleanor Roosevelt
October 2009
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Thinking Globally
cting....R
egionally!
Globally,, A
Acting....R
cting....Regionally!
Did yyou
ou know
know??
œ that IT began to play a part in
Baba’s Yagya over 20 years ago,
as a result of our 1986 global
initiative, The Million Minutes of
Peace Appeal?
œ that today, over 1,000 IT
professionals from around the
world (the largest representation
being from India) are engaged in
the Yagya’s IT service?
œ that the growth in size and
stature of the BKs across the
world, together with our use of
and reliance upon IT, paralleled
our development of international
projects such as Global
Cooperation for a Better World
(1988-1990) and Sharing Our
Values for a Better World (1995),
as well as our participation in the
UN’s International Year for a
Culture of Peace (2000)?
œ that in light of the Yagya’s new
operating and governance model
(consisting of the International
Coordinating Council (ICC) and
seven Global Functioning Areas
plus their respective teams),
discussion is underway to
constitute an eighth area/ team
that represents the Yagya’s IT
functioning?
œ that by 2002, IT had become a
vital aspect of our organizational
functioning? And this is when we
realized that, by combining our
IT expertise across the world, we
could realize greater speed and
efficiency in our global work?
œ that the first global IT retreat
was held in Madhuban in
October 2003?
œ that our coordinated global IT
efforts have not only received
encouraging inspirations from
Respected Dadis, Senior
Brothers and Senior Sisters, but
have been directly addressed and
blessed by BapDada?
œ that the first CONNECTIONS
newsletter was produced in
May, 2005?
œ that an ad hoc group of IT
professionals and regional
representatives (reflecting past
and current global IT efforts) met
in London in May 2009 to review
the our global IT status and its
integration with the Yagya’s
Global Functioning model? The
group recommended that an
enhanced global IT operating
model be adopted and that, as
part of it, an IT Coordinating
Office (ITCO), comprised of a
small number of individuals
under the leadership of a
chairperson, be established to
coordinate global IT efforts. This
recommendation has been
welcomed, and final discussions
will take place in Shantivan in
October ‘09 to endorse the model
and agree the composition of the
ITCO.
The Enhanced Global IT
Oper
ating Model
Operating
The most important elements of
the new model are:
œ that each region have autonomy
as to how it operates with respect
to IT functioning, in order to
effectively balance the Yagya’s
global and regional needs.
œ that the ITCO will exist to:
Š share information among IT
groups, as well as with the
BK family, via news bulletins
and an IT newsletter
Š coordinate IT meetings
and conference calls
Š liaise with RCs and NCs on
IT matters
Š facilitate global IT guidelines
and policy creation
Š serve as a point of contact
for individuals who have IT
concerns
Š facilitate new IT ideas and
proposals
Š initiate international IT
projects
Soooo, now you know!I
©2009 Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University. All rights reserved.
Portions of this publication may be reproduced or circulated only with the written permission of the editor.
3
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Global Projects
IW
ebsite Update
IWebsite
During 2004-2005, ideas and
feedback about the IWebsite’s
(International Website’s) design
and content were solicited from
around the world. The
technology behind the site was
also selected from the options
available at that time. This
constituted Phase One of the
IWebsite project. Until now, the
IWebsite has displayed a
branding, or ‘look and feel’,
reflective of international
agreement regarding the overall
aim of BK internet presence at the
time of the site’s January 18th
2006 launch.
Phase Two began in mid-2006,
with the objective of translating
the international site into all the
major languages and bringing
existing BK national sites into line
with the international branding.
This effort has ensured the
consistency of content across all
official BK websites. Currently the
4
France Website Home Page
international site is available in 16
languages and nearly 70 national
websites have adopted the
international branding and
technology—quite an achievement
in four short years!
The fruit of
the easy
efforts
shown on
page 6: the
California
Website
Home Page
Newsletter of Brahma Kumaris IT Worldwide
The IWebsite team is not one to
rest on its laurels however. In the
past few months the team has
moved into Phase Three of the
project. The aim of this phase is to
refresh the current international
site—not only by adding new
features, but by bringing the site
up-to-date following a review of all
written content. A complete
redesign of the site is being
considered. The technical
infrastructure of the site is also
under review, as new technologies
have emerged that may be better
alternatives to what is currently in
use. Thus Phase Three may include
a complete technical re-write of
the core infrastructure. As this
phase may involve different or
additional team members to the
original team, work will officially
begin once the appointed team is
in place. It is hoped that the first
part of this phase, consisting of a
October 2009
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revamped Home Page, will be
achieved by Dec 2009. The rest of
Phase Three will happen in
parallel and be delivered at a later
date.
Using the ‘rapid website
development method’ of holding a
workshop for website technical
support souls from several
countries at once, the IWebsite
team will continue to help create
additional country sites.
Sr. Waddy is the IWebsite
Coordinator; Sr. Vasanti is the
Project Lead. The Technical lead is
Br. Sasha and the Design Lead is
Br. Jaydev. They are aided by a
much wider international team of
35 souls.I
Denmark Website Home Page
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UN Blog R
eport
Report
BKs are very active at the UN and
support various programs and
projects on regular basis. Our UN
w e b s i t e, w w w. b k u n . o r g ,
communicates BK UN initiatives
and activities. However, the
website doesn’t provide a dynamic,
interactive platform where
information about, and updates to,
our various projects can be
regularly disseminated to target
audiences in a timely way.
Therefore, the UN team decided
that a blog offers a better means
of frequent connection.
The overall nature and purpose of
blogs is informal communication.
Blogging doesn’t involve much
technical skill. Blogs are easy to
create and provide a quick method
of publishing content without
requiring a professional PR body
to draft and review it.
The BK UN blog (based on the
soon-to-be-released BK web 2.0
policy) will inform the public
about UN activities in which BKs
are involved and showcase BK
initiatives which support UN
programs. The blog will also
describe the affiliation of BKs
with various UN bodies like
UNESCO and WHO, as well as
provide information about
previous BK UN projects.
Most importantly, the blog will
be an interactive platform
between the BK UN team and the
public, allowing interested
individuals to connect directly
with BK UN related initiatives.
Since its launch in September
2007, our UN blog has been used
extensively. It has become a
platform where individual
project/ program managers post
updates and share activities with
the public. One can find
information on recent initiatives
like the Human Greatness
Project, read inspiring human
rights stories, or learn about
experiments with values, etc.
Contributors to the blog include
representatives from BK UN offices
in New York, Geneva, and Vienna,
as well as BK guests who intern at
these offices for special conferences.
The technology being used is
dpr
ess
.or
http://w
or
ordpr
dpress
ess.or
.org
WordPress (http://w
http://wor
g).
Over the next six months there are
plans to:
· Update the blog with the BK look
and feel (using templates based
on the BK web 2.0 policy);
· Introduce even more efficient tools
and easy-to-use publishing
technologies for updating the blogs;
· Integrate the blog with the
official BK UN website.
Anyone who can host the blog at a
BK facility and administer it over a
period of time is welcome to join the
team. Please submit your feedback
and ideas for the UN Blog to:
http://blog.bkun.or
g/
http://blog.bkun.org/
g/. I
submitted by Br. Vivek Kashyap
©2009 Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University. All rights reserved.
Portions of this publication may be reproduced or circulated only with the written permission of the editor.
5
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Anubhuti
IW
ebsite
IWebsite
Team
Easy
Eas
y at
Work
Peace Village
Anubhuti
Italy
6
Newsletter of Brahma Kumaris IT Worldwide
Portugal
October 2009
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Murli Sy
stem
System
In September 2009, the PGP
system originally used for
accessing the Murlis was closed
down completely. The java-based
Murli system which replaced it
was created due to new
requirements regarding security,
manageability and usability. This
system has now been operational
for more than 3 years. As we go
to press with this issue of
CONNECTIONS, centres from
Africa, including some in remote
areas with very poor internet
connections, are migrating to the
newer system. By the time you are
reading this, all centres outside of
India will have been moved onto
the current system, and—watch
this space!—in the near future, an
estimated 3,000! centres in Bharat
(India) are expected to be
accessing Murlis via the present
international system.
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How many of you recall when we
used to get Murlis by post (or snail
mail, as it’s called nowadays)?
Those of us in foreign countries
were generally reading Murlis
dated three months behind what
was being read in Madhuban.
Global IT efforts changed all of
that. Today we take for granted the
fact that the Murli being read in
class is the same as that being
read in Madhuban. This ‘miracle’
has undoubtedly affected our
collective mindset in subtle and
profound ways: by literally getting
us all on the same page, increasing
the unity of the gathering, and
making us truly one family. We’ve
come a long way, Baba!
Numerous “bug fixes” and
improvements to functionality
have continually been added since
the current system began, and the
service has recently been moved
to a new server. As a result, it is
now much faster and more
responsive. Other enhancements
are under consideration,
including a new PDF-viewer which
would give users additional
printing options. Under the
project leadership of Sr. Vasanti
and Br. Allan, the team continues
to explore options for improving
usability, security and stability.I
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Global Projects
eL
earning Update
eLearning
The eLearning project, begun in
March 2006, aims to offer Brahma
Kumaris course content online to
enable self-paced learning and to
serve audiences that cannot be
served through conventional
learning formats. Important
prerequisites are that the content
be “culture neutral”, interactive,
and accessed easily by people
having dialup as well as those with
broadband internet connectivity.
eLearning is a powerful means of
serving souls who might not have
“When you judge
another,
you do not define them,
you define yourself.”
—Wayne Dyer
access to spiritual knowledge in
any other way. For example, many
countries are not open to spiritual
teachings; however their citizens,
by attending eLearning courses on
the internet, are still able to
benefit. In situations where people
are challenged to find time to
attend a course at a local centre,
eLearning offers the opportunity to
learn in their own time and at their
own pace.
An initial eLearning project,
“Empower the Self – Think
Positive”, has been developed
using HTML, Flash, CSS, Moodle,
graphic design, editing and
testing skills. This module, which
was completed in April 2009, has
been approved and will be
included in the new version of the
IWebsite. Additional course
offerings, including the basic
lessons of the Foundation Course
in Raja Yoga Meditation, are
planned to follow. I
©2009 Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University. All rights reserved.
Portions of this publication may be reproduced or circulated only with the written permission of the editor.
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Global Projects
The Double F
or
eigner Dat
abase Sy
stem
For
oreigner
Database
System
In December 2008, the RCs
requested the Global IT team to
develop an online system for
managing
the
transport,
accommodation and onward travel of
double foreigner (DF) BKs arriving
in India and travelling to Madhuban.
The system will be used by
Ahmedabad, Delhi, Mumbai and
Madhuban to collate details of
international travellers from all over
the world arriving at the various
locations. This system is intended to
replace the numerous ‘ad-hoc’ emails
informing of arrivals and
departures that are currently
received by all the locations in
India. Instead, a centre or NC will
enter the information into this
system and the data will then be
accessible
to
all
relevant
stakeholders and departments.
Project leads Sr. Vasanti and
Br. Sasha from the UK expect the
DF Database to be live and
operational just in time for the
current Madhuban season. As the
season progresses, the system will
be optimized to accommodate
various other needs. The priority
at the moment is rolling out the
system and training all the users
to use it.I
Travel Detail List View
Visitor List View
Remind you of anyone you
know? Hope it’s not you!
The one
with whom you have
issues
is your unknown self
made manifest.
—Anonymous
8
Newsletter of Brahma Kumaris IT Worldwide
October 2009
○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○
J-A
-M
J-A-M
Get
acelift
Getss a F
Facelift
The current J-A-M website,
.just-a-minute
.com
www.just-a-minute
.just-a-minute.com
.com, was
www
developed in 2006 to support the
launch of the just-a-minute
campaign. The campaign is now
moving into Phase Two; therefore
the look and feel of the existing
website needs revamping and
enhancement with new features.
The revamp has involved a
combination of in-house and
outsourced activities/ personnel.
Sr. Isabelle and Br. Matthew play
the roles of Key Users; Sr. Rekha
and Br. Tony are the Project Leads;
Br. Allan leads the technical side
and commercial designer Arthur
Irving has provided the new
design. Br. Anthony Phelips, UK
and Srs. Maithili and Ashwini of
India have also been involved.
The design, outsourced under the
guidance of the in-house team, has
now been completed. Underlying
technology has been changed to
provide a better user interface and
improved efficiency. Some of the
new features are already
functional. All written content, and
in particular the j-a-m “seven-step
process”, is currently being
reviewed. The revised website is
planned to go “live” by the end of
November. I
©2009 Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University. All rights reserved.
Portions of this publication may be reproduced or circulated only with the written permission of the editor.
9
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Global Projects
available. The website project
leverages expertise from within the
IYF team itself. In this initial stage,
the different work groups are
functioning in parallel to prepare/
review content and design, and
over the next few months they will
work closely together to complete
the content. The tentative go “live”
date will be in early 2010.
International Y
outh
Youth
Forum ((IYF
IYF
ebsite
IYF)) W
Website
and P
ort
al
Port
ortal
the spiritual empowerment of
young people, a website is being
created based on some of the
newest technologies currently
Formed in 1995, the International
Youth Forum is now a network of
some 8,000 young BK adults, ages
16-30, living in 49 countries.
Through “You First”a process
created by Forum members that
seeks to activate and reaffirm
spiritual self worth, the IYF
supports young people in
exploring and developing their
spiritual potential. The IYF Forum
is comprised of a number of
subgroups or workgroups, that
reflect various areas of interest
such as Yummy Cooking, Writing
& Publishing, Cheerfulness, IT (of
course), and others.
10
Using Alfresco Document
Management, an IYF portal has
been created for effective
document management and easy
sharing among the workgroups;
it’s also been customised for
adequate access security and easy
interaction among the groups.
Further enhancements will follow
based on user feedback. The
project is led by a team
comprising Key User Sr. Gopi;
Project Leads, Sr. Rekha and
Br. Sathesh; Technical Lead,
Br. Allan; and Design Lead,
Sr. Monica of India. I
A glimpse of part of one of the pages of IYF Portal
To introduce IYF and highlight “You
First” as a pragmatic approach for
Newsletter of Brahma Kumaris IT Worldwide
October 2009
○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○
Regional Pr
oject
s: Africa
Project
ojects:
In July 2007, seniors in Africa
decided to implement websites for
African countries based on
templates created by the IWebsite
team. Gradually, an ‘African Web
Team’ has emerged, comprised of:
Sr. Avnee of Kenya, Brs. Karim and
Emmanuel of Gabon, Srs. Malla,
Usha and Pratiba of South Africa,
Br. Gildas of Ghana, Br. Nick, UK
and Br. Michael of Nigeria, Srs. Niti
and Sangeeta of Mauritius, Br.
Andelo, UK and Brs. Vishwanath
of DR Congo. BK IT professionals
from other African nations are
welcome to join this team.
Concepts for the website emerged
as well. Bright, vibrant colours like
sky blue and earthy browns, reds
and/or sunlight/sandy oranges
were favoured by the team. Ideas
for banner photos and other site
images flowed forth: African
flowers, birds and sky; national
flags; the sand dunes of the
Sahara and the lagoons of Lagos;
photos of main centre buildings;
happy African faces; the colours
and patterns of African clothing
(such as of the Maasai of Kenya).
presence in every country in by the poor bandwidth in most
Africa. To date, 17 African African countries.
countries have websites.
A working team has formed with
The team recently conducted a representatives
from
all
survey on the enhancements subregions of Africa. Sr. Pratiba,
needed for the websites, including South Africa, Sr. Avnee, Kenya and
a ‘wish list’ derived from user Br. Vinai, UK are the Project Leads.
input. The survey revealed that the Additional members include
most immediate needs are:
Sr. Grace of Ghana, Br. Vikram of
Mauritius, Br. Hiren of Zimbabwe
· enhancing existing sites with a and Br. Navin of South Africa.
means of uploading articles, news
This team is responsible for
and event announcements;
everyday technical support of
· developing a portal for sharing basic hardware and software, the
information between centres websites, Murli and VoIP systems,
and facilitating administrative and future IT developments.
matters across the continent.
Rollout of the java-based Murli
Now the team needs to develop the system is nearly complete. The
skills to implement the changes. In system was adapted to
addition, simpler technologies and accommodate countries where
templates are being explored that Murlis have to be downloaded and
overcome the limitations presented printed in internet cafés.I
The aims of African website
designers are several: to present
a united overview of BK activities
to Africa-wide organizations; to
give an overview of BK activities
from the BK centre perspective
(future events, courses, recent
events and feedback, etc); to
create an experience of African
unity within Africa; to present the
BKWSU as a Global Organisation;
to create a “Serve Africa” project
page with news and experiences;
and to show how the BKWSU may
be the only institution with a
©2009 Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University. All rights reserved.
Portions of this publication may be reproduced or circulated only with the written permission of the editor.
11
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Regional Pr
oject
s: Americas
Project
ojects:
Caribbean Expansion
Rapid expansion is taking place in
the Caribbean, with the opening of
centres in four new countries: St.
Kitts, St. Lucia, Antigua and Puerto
Rico. A team has been formed to
steer the Serve Caribbean project.
This team consists of Srs. Hemlata
and Jasmine, as well as Brs. Anand
and Vijai of Trinidad; Sr. Loes of
Suriname; Sr. Rona of the
Dominican Republic; Sis Devki of
St Maarten and Br. Mark of
Guyana.
Murli access has been granted to
all four centres. St. Kitts and
Antigua are set up and using it. St.
Lucia and Puerto Rico are waiting
on the acquisition of laptops. All
are awaiting authorization and
access credentials for BOL. Once
these basic facilities are in place
and the instruments are trained to
use them, the team will focus on
acquiring official bkwsu email
addresses, designing the country
websites, and completing a
Caribbean brochure.U
Email Migr
ation & V
oIP
Migration
VoIP
Another project currently
underway is the migration of all
Caribbean centres to Google mail.
To date, Trinidad, Guyana,
Suriname, Jamaica, Bonaire and
Curacao have been successfully
migrated. Grenada is still
outstanding.
With the help of Br. Janardhan and
the VoIP team, we are in the
process of setting up VoIP for
centres in Trnidad and are
awaiting VoIP extensions and
password for the four centres. The
main centre, San Fernando, has
already been assigned a VoIP ID;
the others should be set up by the
end of 2009. As soon as Trinidad
is complete, we will look towards
rolling out to the rest of the
Caribbean.I
“By three methods we
may learn wisdom: first,
by reflection, which is
noblest; second, by
imitation, which is
easiest; and third, by
experience, which is the
most bitter.”—Confucius
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Just St
ay Ther
e
Sta
There
by Br. Ajay, India
12
The Artist has picked up the brush.
O puppet...don't make your own movements.
He knows it’s the right one for his masterpiece.
Feel the tug and respond ...
O brush... don't worry about the strokes made through you...
He’ll make you dance;
They have more meaning than what you see.
the audience will applaud.
Don't try to invent your own distinctive style...
just be His.
just be there.
The Wise One knows.
The Musician is playing the flute,
He will make you the best if you allow Him.
Making different tones emerge at different times
O soul...your wisdom lies in letting Him do
O flute ... Don't make your own discordant sounds ...
whatever is appropriate through you.
All disonance will in time resolve in harmony.
Hark! You are part of a symphony...
So O lucky soul...
just be there.
Just be there with Him.
Watch Him with detachment and fascination ...
The Puppeteer is pulling the strings.
Just be there
Just let the Master do His work.
And stay there.
Newsletter of Brahma Kumaris IT Worldwide
October 2009
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Spanish IT Services in the Americas
Remote A
ssist
ance
Assist
ssistance
What do you do when you need
help
installing
software,
trouble-shooting a problem or,
Baba forbid, get a virus—and the
closest BK tech support person is
in the next country! If you’re a
centre coordinator in Argentina,
Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay, México,
Colombia, Bolivia, Guatemala, El
Salvador, Venezuela, Perú,
República Dominicana, Costa Rica,
Ecuador or Panama—help is just
an email or VoIP call away. The
America’s Spanish IT team is
providing remote assistance to all
computers in the Spanishspeaking regions of America.
Br. Emiliano leads this project,
assisted by Sr. Analia Garcia of
Argentina and others.
Mail (Gmail). Few centre
instruments understood the
technical terms (like ‘SMTP’ and
‘POP’) needed to make the
transition (and some, quite
understandably, didn’t particularly
want to learn them!), so they were
simply asked, “Please leave your
computers on. We need to change
something”. And, almost as if my
magic, the migration took place.
The
team
is
presently
exploring other remote access
software as a backup.U
Google™ Mail (Gmail)
Speaking of Gmail, the entire
region
has
now
been
migrated onto it, and all is well.
The new system is fast and friendly
and many brothers and sisters are
happy with it. There are separate
domains and administrator
accounts for each county, as this
allows better administration of
bigger countries like Brazil.
This service is based on LogMeIn
remote assistance software
https://secur
https://securee.logmein.com/US/
(https://secur
h o m ee.. a s p xx). Currently it is
affording access to 66 computers
and providing remote technical The domains follow the a standard
format: mail.ar.bkwsu.org (Argentina),
support in the following areas:
mail.br.bkwsu.org
(Brasil),
· email configuration
mail.cl.bkwsu.org (Chile), for
· configuration of software and example. Every coordinator also
has a Gmail account. This
hardware devices and VoIP
transition was accomplished with
· installation of software, the help of Br. Anoop from Atlanta
including Antivirus
and Sr. Sandhya from New Jersey.U
· computer and software training VoIP
· repair and updating of the Using e-mail, Skype™, and even
Windows operating system
“snail” mail, Br. Emiliano
· training in Plone for website undertook to explain to the
management, currently for Chile, instruments of all the centres in the
region about VoIP and its benefits,
Colombia, Peru and Uruguay.
and to inspire them to invest in the
LogMeIn has greatly facilitated the system. In July of 2009, 15 VoIP
regional changeover of the email units (Grandstream HandyTone
system from SurgeMail to Google™ 486) were purchased and installed.
Sr. Analia began configuring the
devices and, with the help of
LogMeIn and others, VoIP setup has
begun to move forward in all
areas of the country. The team
would like to have their own VoIP
Server in Argentina, in addition to
the one in the USA.U
Country W
ebsites
Websites
Many websites based in HTML
have existed in the region for some
time. A few months ago, work was
begun with the London Iwebsite
team to develop country websites
based on the Plone standard.
Br. Emiliano traveled to the USA
for training with the London Team
and is now helping construct each
country’s site and teaching an
instrument in each country how to
use Plone. So far, websites are up
for Argentina and Chile, and the
websites of Colombia, Mexico,
Uruguay and Peru are nearly
complete. Very soon work will
begin on sites for Paraguay,
Panama and others. This project
is progressing at a very fast speed
due to the LogMeIn remote
assistance facility and it is
anticipated that all websites may
be up within the next three
months.U
Intr
anet (Global Libr
ary ffor
or
Intranet
Library
Spanish-speaking people)
Working with centres in Spain, a
portal site has been established on
an Alfresco™ Server based in
London which will house a Global
Library for all Spanish language
publications. This facility will
enable the sharing of Spanish
documents, publications, designs,
pictures, and recorded or
©2009 Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University. All rights reserved.
Portions of this publication may be reproduced or circulated only with the written permission of the editor.
13
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Regional Pr
oject
s: Americas
Project
ojects:
Spanish IT Services in the Americas
Americas,, continued
transcribed classes. The NCs of
the countries involved are in
communication about which kind
of documents will be housed on
the server. The project is just
getting organized and publications
are starting to be uploaded. The
team would like to use a
subdomain
such
as
libreria.bkwsu.org for this service.U
Massiv
e Emailing Using
Massive
OpenEMM
Google™ Mail does not allow the
sending of emails to many
recipients at one time. To
overcome this obstacle, as well as
many other problems that occur
when trying to send batch emails,
the OpenEMM system has been
installed (with the help of
Br. Sasha from the London team)
onto a dedicated BK server in
Argentina. A video tutorial in
Spanish that clearly explains each
step of using the system, has been
created and e-mailed to all the
centers. Each centre has its own
OpenEMM account and all the
centres are in the process of
learning to use it. This system is
powerful, easy to use and works
online. The database is secure and
backup is provided. In the future,
OpenEMM will be integrated with
the country websites, and no
doubt many others applications
for its use will be discovered.
Please see the European region
report for more on OpenEMM.U
14
BOL in Spanish
Webr
adio
ebradio
Because of language barriers, A system is available for
many centres in the region cannot streaming some transmissions,
easily receive BapDada’s meetings although it is not yet widely used.
via the current BOL service— The aim is to establish a secure
especially if the instrument who system for the region.U
normally translates from English
to Spanish has to leave for work Webcasting
before the transmission finishes. Br. Simon of the UK is helping the
Until now, for each meeting, many team research and set up an
different arrangements for appropriate webcasting service for
translation have needed to be Spanish-speaking BKs in the
made. For example, some centres region.U
connect to other centres via Skype™
ftw
ar
e
Softw
ftwar
are
in order to receive translation in Legal So
Spanish. Conversations have
It is desireable to have legal, or
begun with with Brs. Surya (USA/
licensed, software on all of Baba’s
India), Shashin, and Simon about
computers; however as the
how to resolve this situation. A test
Windows® Operating System is
was run at one centre using live
costly, an open-source alternative,
streaming over a public channel
ubuntu, (Linux-based) is being
(via a public URL). Although it
considered and tested in some
worked well, it is not a secure way
centres, notably Peru. U
to provide the transmissions to all
centres and so the region is IT T
Trraining
hopeful that a way forward can
Many instruments of Spanishsoon be found.U
speaking centres in the region are
Website Serv
er
Server
being trained to use Skype™ and
LogMeIn, and a plan is underway
In Argentina a dedicated BK server
to train at least one IT support
has been operating as a file server
person per country. New hands in
(http://brahmakumaris.org.ar/) to
this respect include Sr. Analia from
host a few websites in the region
Argentina, Br. Edgar from
that have not yet moved onto the
Colombia, Br. Luis Sanchez form
Plone™ standard, including
h t t p : / / m i c o r a j e t u c o r a j e . c l / Mexico and Br. Isaac from Peru.I
i n d eexx . p h p (Chile) and http://
bkperu.or
g/ (the original Peru
bkperu.org/
website). Although the server is
working well and is available to the
whole region, it is planned to
upgrade it in the near future.U
Newsletter of Brahma Kumaris IT Worldwide
Once the game is over,
the king and the pawn go
back into the same box.
—Italian proverb
October 2009
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Regional Pr
oject
s: A
sia P
acific
Project
ojects:
Asia
Pacific
Secur
e Webcasting tto
o
Secure
Centr
es
Centres
Br. Charlie of Australia requested
a system that would enable BKs
living in remote areas to listen to
the Murli live via a secure online
connection. As Br. Simon from the
UK has, for many years, been
responsible for audio and video
webcasting of Dadi Janki’s classes
from the UK, he was requested to
set up a similar system. Supported
by Br. Vinu of Australia, the project
has been completed and is
currently setup for Sydney, Perth,
Philippines, and Poland. The aim
in upcoming months is to make
more BKs, especially those who are
unable to attend Murli class due
to bodily limitations or residing
long distances from a centre, aware
that the system is available.U
CEFIL W
ebsite LLaunch
aunch
Website
In June 2007, Dadi Gulzar was
present when ground was broken
and the foundation stone laid for
the Community Centre for Inner
Learning (CEFIL) in Kuala Lumpur.
On August 30, 2009, Sr. Shielu from
Madhuban was present when its
g , was
website, w w w
w.. c e f i l . o rrg
launched.
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
Positive Thinking
Anger Management
Stress Free Living
Improving Self-Esteem
Children’s Character Development
(Years 6-12)
Youth Empowerment Group
(Years 13-18)
Women Empowerment Group
Values Education
Heal The World
Although construction of the CEFIL
building is still underway, the
current main centre at Bangsar,
Kuala Lumpur will host CEFIL
activities until the construction is
completed. Hence, the CEFIL
website will play an important role
in announcing CEFIL’s courses and
activities, providing online
registration, and keeping the
public
informed
about
construction progress.
A CMS version of the website,
which will allow non-technical
people to seamlessly update the
site, will be developed over the
next 3 months. Training of users
will begin in early 2010. Brs. Kumar
and Sanath are leading the project.
Team members include: Brs.
Ramanathan and Ravi and Srs.
Chandra and Vicky.
The CEFIL website was initially
conceptualized in April of 2009 and With such auspicious beginnings
the domain purchased a month and lofty aims, no doubt CEFIL’s
later. Development began in mid mission will be fulfilled.I
June and construction of the site
was completed by mid July. The
launch of the website was timed to
take place during the Asian Retreat.
CEFIL was born out of an altruistic
desire to help people discover and
reconnect with their inner being.
This pure desire will catalyze the
betterment and enrichment of
human and social consciousness.
It is also hoped that CEFIL will
bring together likeminded people
to engage in collaborative
charitable activities.
CEFIL’s aims will be achieved
through a variety of programs:
©2009 Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University. All rights reserved.
Portions of this publication may be reproduced or circulated only with the written permission of the editor.
15
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Regional Pr
oject
s: Eur
ope
Project
ojects:
Europe
Eur
opean Dat
a Centr
e
European
Data
Centre
A data centre is a special building
which provides an air-conditioned
environment, reliable power (with
its own backup batteries and
generators in the event the
national power grid should fail),
and a high speed and reliable
Internet connection. Previously
the Yagya maintained a number of
physical servers for hosting our
various websites, the Murli
download service, and our
webcasting and email services.
Each server was a separate box
housed in a data centre, and each
box had a duplicate box for
emergency recovery in a data
centre in another location. As our
number of servers has increased,
it has become expensive and
impractical to purchase so many
boxes and to hire the required
space in data centres.
Therefore, in the European region,
a technique called “virtualisation”,
in which many “virtual” servers
are run on one physical server, is
now in use. A virtual server, or
VM, can be moved from one box
to another, almost as easily as
copying a large file from one
computer to another. If the VM
data is on a fast storage device
known as “SAN” which is
connected to a host server pool,
the resources of the host servers
can be shared amongst many
VMs. Since a particular VM is
unlikely to need all the available
resources all the time, much more
efficient use is made by this
pooling of resources. The host
servers run very simple, basic
software. If one host server fails,
then another can take over the job
16
of running a particular VM.
Currently, 28 virtual servers are
running at once, providing website,
web content management, email,
database, document management
and webcasting services to the
European and other regions.
The team is also making use of the
innovative “cloud computing”
services that recently became
available. This means hiring
hosting services by the hour for
running our VMs. Using someone
else’s hosting services can be
expensive but makes a lot of sense
when done as backup protection
for emergency situations, and
these services are currently being
used only for disaster recovery. In
the event our data centre
equipment or connectivity fails, all
services can be restored using the
backup of our VMs stored on
“cloud services”. The Data Centre
team, consisting of Brs. Sasha,
Simon, and Sandeep, has
conducted a set of trials and
chosen Elastichosts, a UK company,
www
.elastichost
(www
www.elastichost
.elastichostss.com/
.com/). Their
services best matched the
requirements for backup storage
cost and fast recovery of our VMs.
Newsletter of Brahma Kumaris IT Worldwide
For the technically curious, a brief
overview is shown in the
accompanying diagram. Migration
of disaster recovery services to
Elastichosts cloud is currently
work in progress. More extensive
use of cloud services may be
undertaken in the future if that
becomes more economical than
increasing the capacity of our own
equipment.U
Zimbr
a Mail Migr
ation
Zimbra
Migration
for Eur
ope
Europe
ope,, Africa,
Austr
alasia, R
ussia
ustralasia,
Russia
IT is a fast-changing environment.
The email system adopted in 2005
and rolled out across the world,
giving our centres and dedicated
BKs consistent email addresses,
was based on the Surge Mail
platform. Our needs now are for a
more advanced system with a
richer set of features. After
evaluating different options
(including Google™ Mail, which is
the preferred choice of the
Americas region), Zimbra was
selected as the replacement
system for Europe, Africa,
Australasia and Russia.
This image is
best viewed
zoomed to
200% in the
pdf version of
CONNECTIONS 6.
October 2009
○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○
Zimbra is free, open source
software
for
email
and
collaboration. Zimbra enables
users to manage emails, group
calendars, contacts, instant
messaging, file storage and web
documents. Even smartphones
(e.g. iPhone, BlackBerry®) can be
synchronised with Zimbra. Zimbra
software has already been installed
on the Yagya’s computers in the
UK data centre and will be
administered by the following
team: Project Leads: Brs. Vinai and
Sandeep; Technical Team:
Brs. Sasha, Allan, Simon and Gil.
There’s even a HelpDesk/training
team, consisting of Br. Sandeep The integration of Postini and
Zimbra will be more user friendly
and Br. Andelo.
than the old Barracuda system:
BKs currently access their emails spam email and notifications will
using one of the following options: be sent directly to a “junk” folder
a desktop email “client” within Zimbra. Further details and
application such as Outlook or training will be provided nearer the
Thunderbird when at home; and a time to migrate to the new system.
web browser based system and
web client such as Squirrel mail To date, In addition to installing
when away from that base and testing Zimbra, the team has
location (i.e., in Madhuban). also tested its mail migration tools,
Zimbra allows users to continue to its email filtering features
use Outlook, Thunderbird, etc. (forwarding spam to a junk folder),
without changing anything. To use and the incorporation of a
Zimbra via the web, users will Disclaimer Message. A “skin” (the
simply need to use a new URL (web way the program appears to the
user) with Baba’s logo has also
address).
been implemented. Communications
To protect our email servers, an regarding the migration plan, as well
enterprise email security solution as training and user education, are
is needed that enables us to ongoing.
significantly eliminate spam,
improve anti-virus protection, and Users will be migrated to the
reduce the cost and complexity of Zimbra platform on a regional b
our email system. The team has asis. A few key centres in the UK
Retreat
Centre,
selected Postini from the (Global
Lighthouse
Retreat
Centre
in
numerous options available.
Worthing,
Innerspace
Oxford,
Postini has already been deployed
for several months and will Wembley Innerspace and Janki
continue to be used with Zimbra. Foundation) will be migrated
before the 2nd of October 2009.
The migration of email accounts
in Africa, Australia, Russia and
Europe will start after the 2nd
November 2009. This rollout plan
includes training materials and
“practice” or “test” accounts so
that users can become familiar
with Zimbra. U
I am rubber and yyou
ou are glue
ou say bounces off of me and sticks to yyou!
ou! (Children’s slogan)
glue,, whate
whatevver yyou
©2009 Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University. All rights reserved.
Portions of this publication may be reproduced or circulated only with the written permission of the editor.
17
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Regional Pr
oject
s: Eur
ope
Project
ojects:
Europe
Eur
ope’
com V
oIP
Europe’
ope’ss Inter
Intercom
VoIP
Service
Online Mailing List
Sy
stem
System
The Global IT team for several
years has provided centres all over
the world with VoIP services,
thereby helping to reduce the cost
of telephone calls between
centres. (If you are new to the VoIP
concept, please see the October
2005 issue of CONNECTIONS, archived
g/media/
at w w w
w.. b k w
wss u . o rrg
connections/). Until now, we have
relied on a single server in the USA
to support all the regions
(excluding Madhuban, which has
had its own VoIP server for some
time).
Have you ever subscribed online
to receive a newsletter or regular
service, like “Thought for the
Day”, available from some of our
national andretreat websites?
Have you ever unsubscribed from
receiving emails from a website?
If so, behind the scenes you were
interacting with some type of
mailing list software..
In order to provide greater
capacity and also improve service
and audio quality, the team
recently decided to deploy
regional servers. The European
team, consisting of Brs. Sasha,
Vinai and Sandeep, recently
completed migration of users from
Europe, Africa, Australia, Russia
and India onto the European
server. Now they are in the
process of deploying a server for
the Asia Pacific region, and, when
that is completed, Australasian
users will be migrated onto that.
These migrations will not affect
VoIP service; centre users
anywhere in the world will still be
able to communicate with centre
users in any other part of the world
as they currently do. Once the
deployment of regional servers is
complete and users have been
migrated onto their respective
regional server, each region will be
responsible for maintaining its own
VoIP services.U
18
Mailing list software enables the
creation and maintenance of an
online mailing or distribution list.
The software can be manually
administered, but often the
process is automated, allowing
individuals to add or delete their
names from the list.
A number of mailing list software
packages are currently in use
across the BK world, although PHP
is deployed in the majority of
instances. Several concerns have
been raised regarding PHP,
however, and consequently an
Online Mailing System project
was initiated to evaluate other
open source and commercial
options and recommend an
appropriate alternative.
Following a trial period, OpenEMM
was selected as the software that
best meets the needs of the
European region. Being open
source it is also free. The software
.openemm.or
g/
website, www
www.openemm.or
.openemm.org/
g/,
proclaims OpenEMM as “a
feature-rich enterprise software
for professional e-mail newsletters and e-mail marketing… Its
code base ... is used… by
companies like IBM, Siemens and
Deutsche Telekom. OpenEMM
Newsletter of Brahma Kumaris IT Worldwide
offers already more than 95% of
the functionality of most
commercial products and some
features commercial products do
not offer right now (i.e. MySQL
support).” OpenEMM is easy to set
up on a single server.
The Online Mailing List team is led
by Sr. Vasanti. Evaluators include
Sr. Chitrakala and Br. Simon. The
technical team consists of
Brs. Andelo and Sasha, and
template
design
is
the
responsibility of Br. Jaydev. The
team is currently finalizing the
selection and will soon begin
deployment and designing
common customisable templates
for BK use.U
Eur
opean Identity
European
Management Pr
oject
Project
Currently Baba’s national and
centre coordinators need to
remember many different
usernames and passwords in
order to access BK systems such
as the Madhuban Classes Portal,
the Double Foreigners Madhuban
Travel Database, and the
upcoming mailing list system
(OpenEMM). By using an Identity
Management server for user
authentication, one set of
credentials can be used across
different applications.
Br. Sasha, the Technical Lead and
Architect for this project, and
Br. Gil, the Developer, will soon
enable more applications to use
Identity Management servers for
user authentication. They will
implement automatic single-sign
on and central role management
where possible.I
October 2009
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Regional Pr
oject
s: India
Project
ojects:
India IT Meet, March 2009
Following the March 2009 Retreat
for BK Indian IT professionals,
projects are now being launched
and implemented under eight
Special Interest Groups (SIGs). In
addition to each group’s lead,
a co-lead plays a supporting role
in project tracking and
deliverables. The SIGs are as
follows: PMO;
Application
Development; Collaboration;
Helpdesk;
Infrastructure;
Multimedia; Service; Website.
Members of the PMO take care of
project requirements, planning and
deliverables, communication with
the teams and stakeholders and
sending periodic updates to
seniors. Led by Br. Shashin, PMO
members include Brs. Ajay, Bala,
Bhanu, Chandrashekar, Dattatray,
Deep, Deepak, Dilip, Mukesh,
Raghu, Shanmugavel, Sushil, Tulsi,
and Yashwant and Sr. Ashwini.
Br. Sanjiv is also a key contributor.
For information regarding any of the
SIGs or their corresponding projects
described below, please contact
[email protected]
[email protected]. U
©2009 Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University. All rights reserved.
Portions of this publication may be reproduced or circulated only with the written permission of the editor.
19
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Scenes fr
om
from
the India IT
Team Meeting
Mar
ch 2009
March
Shantiv
an
Shantivan
20
Newsletter of Brahma Kumaris IT Worldwide
October 2009
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Regional Pr
oject
s: India
Project
ojects:
Madhuban Netw
ork
Network
Infr
astructur
e
Infrastructur
astructure
(Infrastructure SIG)
industry is underway. Its primary
objective is to serve Baba’s India
IT service team members in order
that they may in turn serve the
India-wide IT sector. Action plans
have been put forth within the
team and a final plan will soon be
submitted to seniors for approval.
The initiative will likely enlist
target companies and utilize
approved templates and standard
service tools, such as offering one
or two-day seminars/retreats at
various cities across India. Team
members include Brs. Ajay, Bhanu
and Deepak and Sr. Nikky.U
For the past several years, thanks
to the tireless efforts of a group of
dedicated souls, BKs abroad have
benefitted greatly from receiving
the live transmissions of
BapDada’s meetings via BOL
(Baba Online). Moreover, when
travelling to Madhuban, many of
us now take for granted the
ability to sit down at a computer
on any Madhuban campus to
check our email, or connect our
laptops wirelessly (thanks to the
20 Wi-Fi hotspots distributed
across three campuses). However,
did you know that the network
infrastructure that makes all of
this possible also provides other
wondrous facilities? To mention
just a few:
Madhuban Classes P
ort
al
Port
ortal
· 350 computers are networked
across all three campuses.
· Seventy-five departments and
more than 1,000 Madhuban
niwassis utilize an intercom
facility for day-to-day
communication.
· Madhuban regularly sends
programmes, service news, etc.
to over a thousand centres in
India and abroad across a
3Mbps Internet leased line.
· Live video transmissions of
Shantivan
programmes,
including Bapdada’s meetings,
are regularly broadcast to Gyan
Sarovar and Pandav Bhawan
campuses, and vice versa.
Baba says we are creating heaven
with our own bodies, minds and
wealth. Certainly this is true of the
WiFi Tower for Gyan Sarovar
souls on the IT Team, who have
directly contributed since 2004 to
improve the Yagya’s IT
infrastructure. Br. Yashwant is the
Project Lead, aided by Brs. Dilip,
Dattatray and Sushim.U
Serv
e IT (Service SIG)
Serve
An initiative that utilizes the skills
and resources of the India IT
service team for giving Baba’s
message to professionals in the IT
Shiv Baba continues to share with
us the ocean of knowledge.
Inspired by Him, our dear Dadijis
and senior brothers and
sisters across the Madhuban
complexes are also imparting their
thoughts, churnings, and
experiences on a regular basis.
Additionally there are many
public programmes and events
happening on a daily basis that we
may have missed or want to
re-live again and again. The portal
will provide BK teachers with a key
to open this treasury of Madhuban
jewels, providing a wonderful way
to access recent and past classes
and events in audio or video
format. The Portal makes use of
the Alfresco Share technology.
Br. Shashin of London, aided by
Br. Sasha, UK and Sr. Maithili,
India are responsible for
providing the service. Indian
centres received access in
September. Access for centres
outside India will be given shortly
after the India rollout.U
©2009 Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University. All rights reserved.
Portions of this publication may be reproduced or circulated only with the written permission of the editor.
21
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Regional Pr
oject
s: India
Project
ojects:
Madhuban Visit
or
Visitor
Tracking Sy
stem
System
(Application Development SIG)
to generate reports needed by the
departments that were mentioned
previously.
Impr
oving Gener
al
Impro
General
Madhuban Security
(Infrastructure SIG)
This project is meant to provide
an easy-to-use, secure, online
method for registering details of
participants coming to Madhuban
for various programs. The system
is designed to be used both for
BapDada’s season as well as for
other programs held at Madhuban
throughout the year. In the long
run, the system will be used for
double foreigner registration also,
in order to do away with the present
cumbersome paperwork system.
Initial development of the system
is complete and integration
testing of the various components
is underway. The Campus module
was successfully used for
BapDada’s 2008-09 season and
has been enhanced to work with
the new Centre module. The plan
is to roll-out the Centre Module to
a few main centres by the end of
October and release it to all
centres thereafter.
Phase I of an electronic,
camera-based surveillance system
to improve security on all three
Madhuban complexes was
completed in June and includes
maintaining a log of all visitors to
Madhuban.U
In the existing scenario, anyone
coming to Madhuban from India
informs headquarters through
their centre-in-charges either by
letters, fax or email. Double
foreigners are required to fill out
two sets of papers on arrival,
specifying arrival and departure
details and any needed special
arrangements. The ‘registration
data’ thus collected is then used by
the accommodation, kitchen, and
transport departments, as well as
by Sister Munni (to plan for gifts).
22
The Campus VB module was
developed by Br. Shanmu and team
from Chennai. Initial portions of
the Centre module were done by
Br. Shashi of Mumbai and have
been enhanced by Br. Raghu of
Bangalore. The infrastructure
support is being provided by
Brs. Dileep and Yashwant of
Madhuban, with help / advice
from Br. Sasha, UK. Br. Bala of
Hyderabad is the Project Manager;
Br. Shashin of London leads the
project overall.U
Madhuban Internet
Security (Infrastructure SIG)
A special server dedicated to
restricting unauthorized access to
the internet across the three
Madhuban complexes became
operational at the end of June.
Using Virtual Local Area Network,
or VLAN, technology, the
Madhuban network has been made
more robust and secure, and
optimized for service activities.
Access to tamoguni websites is
being prevented with a content
filter
called
Cyberoam®,
www
.c
yber
oam.com/
(www
www.c
.cyber
yberoam.com/
oam.com/), which
monitors the internet utilization
Madhuban computer workstations
The Visitor Tracking System,
which uses Ruby on Rails,
PostgreSQL, Apache Web Server,
and Ajax technology, comprises
two modules: a Centre Module
and a Campus module. The
Centre Module is accessed over
the internet by centres in India for
sending to Madhuban the details
of participants attending any
program at headquarters. The
Campus module (a Visual Basic
application) is used by the
Madhuban Accommodation
Department to allot rooms for
participants when they arrive and
Newsletter of Brahma Kumaris IT Worldwide
October 2009
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and consumption of each user.
From the company’s website,
“Cyberoam gives complete
visibility into “Who is doing What”
in the network and allows policies
to be created at the user level
based on work profiles.” The
service, which uses “multi-core
processors optimized through
software architecture”, was
installed on the server in August.
This project is led by Br. Yashwant,
aided by Br. Dilip and others.U
India W
ebsites (Website SIG)
Websites
The popular India-based website
www
w.. b r a h m a k u m a r i s . c o m
m,
aimed at the global community,
receives over two million unique
visitors each month. A site
dedicated to India events and
.bkinf
o.in
www.bkinf
.bkinfo.in
o.in, receives
news, www
200,000 unique visitors each
month.
Content Management System
(CMS) technology has enabled
rapid development of websites.
The Shanti Sarovar Retreat Centre
website was launched recently
www
.shantisar
ovar
.or
g ) and a
(www
www.shantisar
.shantisaro
ar.or
.org
site for Om Shanti Retreat Centre
is under construction. A third of the
Yagya’s 18 Wings have websites:
A man was praying.
He said, “God!?”
God responded, “Yes?”
The man said, “Can I ask a
question?”
“Go right ahead,” God said.
“God, what is a million years to
you?”
God said, “a million years to me
is only a second.”
“Hmmm,” the man wondered.
Then he asked, “God, what is a
million dollars worth to you?”
God said, “a million dollars to
me is as a penny.”
So the man said, “God. can I
have a penny?”
And God cheerfully said,
“Sure!!.....just a second.”
The Sports Wing website will be
launched in the near future.
The website SIG comprises many
members and is led by Br. Mukesh.
A sub-team is forming to work on
CMS-based websites using the
award-winning Joomla® application
www
.joomla.or
g/
www.joomla.or
.joomla.org/
g/).U
Business and Industry Wing:
.bkbiwing.or
www.bkbiwing.or
.bkbiwing.orgg (IE browser only);
www
Education Wing:
.bk
edu.or
g (IE browser only;
www.bk
.bkedu.or
edu.org
www
not yet available in English)
Media Wing:
.bkmedia.net
www.bkmedia.org
.bkmedia.net;
www
Medical Wing:
.bkmedicalwing.or
g;
www.bkmedicalwing.or
.bkmedicalwing.org
www
Scientists and Engineers Wing:
www
.bk
se
w.or
g;
www.bk
.bkse
sew
.org
Youth Wing:
g;
www
.bky
outh.or
www.bky
.bkyouth.or
outh.org
Global F
estiv
al W
ebsite
Festiv
estival
Website
With the help of various ad hoc IT
team members, Br. Karuna has
launched a website in support of
the Global Festival programme:
www
.globalfestiv
al.in
www.globalfestiv
.globalfestival.in
al.in. A portal
that allows centres to share
promotional and other material
related to this programme has also
been set up. Live updates of
programmes as they happen are
http://
available
at:
liv
e.bkmedia.or
g. U
live
.bkmedia.org
So
ftw
ar
e De
velopment
Softw
ftwar
are
Dev
elopmentss
echnical Support
Technical
&T
(HelpDesk SIG)
Policies are in place for using Open
Source software for projects
wherever possible. Bulk licenses for
Microsoft Windows, MS Office and
antivirus software have been procured
for Madhuban and some centres.
India-wide, a HelpDesk team is in
place for providing assistance with
configuring VoIP telephone and
BOL, and for troubleshooting
problems with MS Windows and
Office. Brs. Chandrashekar and
Shashi are the project leads, aided
by Br. Deep and members of the
HelpDesk and Application
Development SIGs.U
“There is one thing that is common
to every individual, relationship,
team, family, organization, nation,
economy, and civilization
throughout the world — one thing
which, if removed, will destroy the
most powerful government, the most
thriving economy, the most
influential leadership, the greatest
friendship, the strongest character,
the deepest love.
“On the other hand, if developed
and leveraged, that one thing has
the potential to create unparalleled
success and prosperity in every
dimension of life. Yet, it is the least
understood, most neglected, and
most underestimated possibility of
our time.
“That one thing is trust.”
--Stephen M.R.Covey
©2009 Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University. All rights reserved.
Portions of this publication may be reproduced or circulated only with the written permission of the editor.
23
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Regional Pr
oject
s: India, continued
Project
ojects:
India V
oIP Services
VoIP
(Infrastructure SIG)
Alfr
esco ffor
or SIGs
Alfresco
(Collaboration SIG)
More than 500 centres in India and
abroad currently use the Yagya’s
VoIP services to make free
telephone calls. In addition, over
1,000 “Closed User Group” BSNL
mobile phones in Madhuban have
the facility to make free calls
anywhere in India and abroad.
The estimated annual savings
from such VoIP telephone services
is 20 lakh Rupees, or nearly $42K
USD. Installation of an additional
VoIP server in Thailand by the end
of June is enabling more centres
in Asia / India region to call
Madhuban or other centres at no
cost. Through this facility, centres
can also listen to Madhuban
classes free of charge.U
All the SIG teams for India IT have
been provided Alfresco Share
portal access, which features
blogs, wikis, discussion boards,
chats, document sharing, etc. that
enable team collaboration and
work-flow management. The lead
for this project is Sr. Ashwini,
assisted by Brs. Dilip and Deepak.U
Video and TTele-confer
ele-confer
encing
ele-conferencing
(Media SIG)
OpenEMM ffor
or Bulk
Email (Collaboration SIG)
The number of registered India IT
team members currently exceeds
1,100. In light of the team’s rapid
expansion, it became necessary to
replace PhP, the existing method
of mass communication through
email. Therefore the team is in the
process of migrating to OpenEMM,
the open source mailing list
software also being using in Latin
America and Europe. This will
enable one-way communication/
announcements between the
project management team and all
members of the entire India IT
team. Br. Shashin of London is the
project lead, aided by Brs. Deepak,
Dilip and Sandeep.U
Spr
eed ffor
or E-confer
encing
Spreed
E-conferencing
(Collaboration SIG)
The India IT team is using the
Spreed web conferencing system
www
.spr
eed.com
(www
www.spr
.spreed.com
eed.com) for conducting
periodic meetings and reviews.
Spreed allows document sharing,
online presentation, mind
mapping, desktop sharing and
multiple-way telecommunication.
This project is managed by Brs.
Dilip and Deepak.I
○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
Since 2005, video conferencing
facilities have been successfully
used to broadcast India megaprogrammes and other events.
Wing administrators, Regional and
National Coordinators, and the IT
Team itself are making good use
of teleconferencing facilities which
enable up to 30 people to
conference and make collective
and immediate decisions on
specific matters.U
Synchr
oniz
ed Y
oga (PMO)
Synchroniz
onized
Yoga
Half-hour-long, synchronized
yoga drills are conducted every
weekend (Saturdays at 7pm IST).
To be a part of this effort, contact
[email protected]
[email protected]
One meets his destin
oid it.- French proverb
destinyy often in the road he takes to av
avoid
24
Newsletter of Brahma Kumaris IT Worldwide
October 2009
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SAFE COMPUTING
Safe Computing ffor
or the
Body by Br. Bala Kishore, India
Our previous issues have focused
on technological aspects of safe
computing. However there are
many hazards to computer users
as well. Prolonged computer use
can result in eye strain, back
problems, numbness in hands and
feet, repetitive strain injury (RSI),
carpal tunnel syndrome and
fatigue. An entire industry of
human
engineering
and
ergonomics has arisen to study how
people physically interact with
their job, equipment and work
environments—and to provide
effective solutions so that people
can work in safety, comfort and
with increased productivity.
Critical areas with respect to
computer use are the location of
the monitor, the keyboard, user
seating and work area lighting.
Some examples of poor monitor
ergonomics include: needing to
twist your neck to look at the
monitor instead of looking straight
ahead at it; needing to tilt your
head in order to look at the screen
because the monitor is too high or
too low. If the keyboard is too high,
causing your hands to be at an
angle, the nerves running through
your wrists can rub. Also, needing
to hold your elbows away from the
body can lead to aching in your
upper back, shoulders and neck.
This latter position causes tension
in the neck muscles and can lead
to headaches. Positioning your
mouse too far away can cause a
strain on your shoulder. A seat that
presses into the underside of your
thighs and/or does not support your
back can also create problems.
Do y
ou compute
you
lik
e this?
like
The good news is that, in most
cases, corrective measures are
relatively simple and inexpensive.
Following the ergonomic guidelines
shown in the attached diagram can
help you prevent common injuries
associated with the use of
computers. Here are some
additional links with helpful
information:
Brother Bala offers the following
additional tips, based on his
personal experience:
1. Regular Exercise (for at least
half-an-hour
daily)
to
strengthen low back, hands,
legs, neck, shoulders, fingers so
that they gain enough strength
to handle the stresses and
strains of a busy work-day.
Computer-related Repetitive Strain
Follow the simple guidelines in
Injury:
the accompanying illustration.
http://eeshop.unl.edu/r
si.html
http://eeshop.unl.edu/rsi.html
2. Don’t sit for more than 45
Repetitive
Strain
Injury:
minutes in front of your
www
.r
epetitiv
e-str
ain-injury
.com/
www.r
.repetitiv
epetitive-str
e-strain-injury
ain-injury.com/
computer. Take regular breaks.
Walk around for a couple of
A Patient’s Guide to Low Back Pain:
minutes before you resume your
www
.eorthopod.com/public/
www.eorthopod.com/public/
p a t i e n t _ e d u c a t i o n / 6 5 70 /
work. (The way Br. Bala does
lo
w_back_pain.html
low_back_pain.html
this is by going to fetch a glass
of
water
from
the
Low Back Pain:
cafeteria
every
hour
or
so.
He
.medinf
o.co.uk/conditions/
www
www.medinf
.medinfo.co.uk/conditions/
personally
discourages
use
of
lo
wbackpain.html
lowbackpain.html
big water bottles which will rob
Office Ergonomics:
you of this opportunity. You
www
.o
ffice-er
go.com/
www.o
.office-er
ffice-ergo.com/
might think this is a waste of
time, but Br. Bala cautions that
Desktop Yoga:
if you don’t take such measures
www
.will-harris
.com/y
oga/r
si.html
www.will-harris
.will-harris.com/y
.com/yoga/r
oga/rsi.html
©2009 Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University. All rights reserved.
Portions of this publication may be reproduced or circulated only with the written permission of the editor.
25
○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○
Perfect
Computer
User
Er
gonomics
Ergonomics
now you will have “ample” time
soon enough when you will be
unable to do much of anything!)
3. Don’t neglect early signs of
problems or postpone seeking
medical advice. Each day you
postpone could rob you of your
professional life for days, months
or years in the future!I
Internet Security
26
For those of you concerned about
internet security, the BBC recently
published a video clip on their
technology page entitled, “Webcam
under hacker’s control”. In the clip,
a reformed hacker reveals how
anyone might inadvertently
download a ‘Trojan’ that can
monitor everything you do on your
computer. In this case the ‘victim’
visited an illegal software
download site and downloaded
software he wanted to get for free.
Trojans that download with such
software can use your webcam to
listen and watch you make phone
calls. They can record your
keystrokes when you type in your
name or ID and password on a
supposedly ‘secure’ website and
then relay this information to
persons who can gain total
control of your computer and thus
even “total control of your life” (to
paraphrase a statement from the
video). A security firm, Prevx,
produced the video as a warning to
w s .bbc
.co.uk/2/hi/
consumers. (nn eew
.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/
technology/80
3920
7.stm
technology/803920
39207.stm
7.stm) I
Newsletter of Brahma Kumaris IT Worldwide
What is the hardest thing to
break? A habit
habit. Here’s why:
If you break the H,
you still have A BIT.
If you break the A,
you still have BIT.
If you break the B,
you still have IT!
Hey, after you break the T in
IT, there is still the ‘I’.
And that (I) is the root cause
of all the problems. Right..??
Now you know why a HABIT
is so hard to break….
The clue (I) is in its name.
October 2009
○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○
AFRICAN REGION:
avneec@y
ahoo
.co
.uk
.co.uk
avneec@yahoo
ahoo.co
Sr. Avnee Chauhan, UK
[email protected]
Sr. Grace Lopez-Charles, Ghana
Br. Hiren Hargoven, Zimbabwe Hiren.Hargo
[email protected]
Br. Navin Kumardew, South Africa
[email protected]
.za
[email protected]
Sr. Pratiba Daya, South Africa
[email protected]
yratty@m
u.bkwsu.org
Br. Vikram Dookna, Mauritius kho
khoyratty@m
[email protected]
[email protected]
Br. Vinai Shah, UK
Key contribut
or
s: Brs. Karim and Emmanuel (Gabon), Srs.
contributor
ors:
Malla Jevan and Usha Jevan (South Africa), Br. Gildas
(Ghana), Br. Nick Christian (UK), Br. Michael (Nigeria),
Srs. Niti Baboolall and Sangeeta Mackun (Mauritius), Br.
Andelo Tabu Ngandi (UK), Vishwanath Pacheymootoo (DR
Congo)
AMERICAS:
Sr. Analia Garcia, Argentina
Br. Anand Singh, Trinidad
analia@bkinfo
.net
[email protected]
anand.singh@m
.com
anand.singh@myycmmb
cmmb.com
.net
anoop@bkinfo
[email protected]
Br. Anoop Das, USA
Br. Emiliano Cara, Brazil
[email protected]
ahoo
.com
Sr. Hemlata Sanghi, Trinidad hemalatasanghi@y
hemalatasanghi@yahoo
ahoo.com
Br. Janardhan Chodagam
Sr. Sandhya Kanthan, USA
Br. Vivek Kashyap, USA
[email protected]
sandh
.net
sandhyya@bkinfo
[email protected]
viv
ekkash
vivekkash
[email protected]
.bkwsu.org
Sr. Waddy (Veronica McHugh), USA miami@us
[email protected]
or
s: Br. Edgar Garzon, Colombia; Br. Luis
Key contribut
ors:
contributor
Sanchez, Mexico; Br. Isaac Pedraza, Peru
ASIA P
ACIFIC REGION:
PA
[email protected]
Br. Kumar, Malaysia
Br. Sanath Sukumaran, Malaysia
Br. Vinu Chhima, Australia
[email protected]
vin
[email protected]
[email protected]
Key contribut
or
s: Brs. Ramanathan and Ravi and Srs.
contributor
ors:
Chandra and Vicky
EUR
OPE:
EUROPE:
Br. Allan Schweitz, UK
Br. Andelo Tabu Ngandi, UK
Sr. Chitrakala Uthappa, UK
Br. Gil Fernandes, UK
Sr. Gopi Patel, UK
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
gopi.patel@globalretreatcentre
.org
[email protected]
○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
Cont
act Det
ails o
oject /T
echnical LLeads
eads
Contact
Details
off Pr
Project
/Technical
EUR
OPE, continued:
EUROPE,
Sr. Isabelle Gauthier, UK
Isabelle
[email protected]
[email protected]
Br. Jaydev Pinara, UK
jay
de
[email protected]
jayde
[email protected]
Br. Matthew Earl, UK
[email protected]
.uk
[email protected]
[email protected]
Sr. Rekha Vallishayee, UK
[email protected]
Br. Sandeep Somavarapu, UK
Br. Sasha (Alexander Polev), UK
[email protected]
Br. Sathesan Gegathesa, UK
bk_sathesh@y
ahoo
.com
bk_sathesh@yahoo
ahoo.com
Br. Shashin Shah, UK
[email protected]
[email protected]
Br. Simon Blandford, UK
Br. Tony (Tahir Khan), UK [email protected]
[email protected]
Sr. Vasanti Patel, UK
[email protected]
Br. Vinai Shah, UK
Key contribut
or: Br. Anthony Phelips
contributor:
INDIA:
[email protected]
Br. Ajay Nair
[email protected]
Sr. Ashwini Chavale
[email protected]
Br. Bala Kishore
bhan
[email protected]
[email protected]
Br. Bhanu Prasad
[email protected]
Br. Chandra Shekar
[email protected]
Br. Dattatray Gursale
deep
[email protected]
[email protected]
Br. Deep Singh
Br. Deepak Subramanian
Br. Dilip Gudimetla
[email protected]
[email protected]
Sr. Maithili Shetty
[email protected]
Sr. Monica Gupta
ebees.com
monica@interactivebees
ebees
.com
monica@interactiv
Br. Mukesh Rakholia
[email protected]
Br. Raghu Kumar
[email protected]
Br. Sanjiv Gupta
sanjiv
[email protected]
[email protected]
Br. Shanmugavel
[email protected]
Br. Shashin Shah, UK
Br. Shashi Kumar
Br. Sushil
Br. Tulsi
Br. Yashwant
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
s: Sr. Nikky, Br. Sushim
Key Contribut
or
Contributor
ors:
©2009 Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University. All rights reserved.
Portions of this publication may be reproduced or circulated only with the written permission of the editor.
27
○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○
Glossary o
erms
off T
Terms
[Note: A consolidated glossary of all
terms defined in previous CONNECTIONS
newletters may be found at http://
www
.bkw
su.or
g/media/connections
www.bkw
.bkwsu.or
su.org/media/connections
g/media/connections.]
A Banner is an identifying heading
and/or logo at the top of a website.
The future of computing?
http://www
.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/65
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/65
documents in their orignal format
irrespective of the program by
which or the platform on which
they were created.
A Trojan is a software program that
appears desirable but in fact
contains something harmful, like a
virus or worm.I
BOL stands for Baba Online, the
live transmission of BapDada’s
seasonal programmes.
Bug Fix is a tiny program/ utility that
repairs flaws in a software program.
THE SECRET
The Creator gathered all of
Creation and said, "I want to
hide something from the
humans until they are ready
for it. It is the realization
that they create their own
reality."
The eagle said, "Give it to me,
I will take it to the moon."
The Creator said, "No. One
day they will go there and
find it."
CMS stands for Content
Management System, a software
program that formats, manages and
stores web information.
CSS
CSS, acronym for Cascading Style
Sheets, is a set of standards that
specifies how a document should
appear on the web.
The salmon said, "I will bury
it on the bottom of the
ocean."
eLearning refers to learning
conducted via the internet or other
“e”
e”lectronic media.
"No. They will go there too."
Ergonomics comes from the Greek
words “ergon” (work) and “nomoi”
(natural laws). Thus ergonomics
refers to the relationship of a
human being to her/ his work
environment and to factors in that
environment which affect human
comfort and efficiency.
The buffalo said, "I will bury
it on the Great Plains."
The Creator said, "They will
cut into the skin of the Earth
and find it even there."
Grandmother Mole, who lives
in the breast of Mother
Earth, and who has no
physical eyes but sees with
spiritual eyes, said, "Put it
inside of them."
And the Creator said, "It is
done."
28
Cloud computing uses internetbased development or distant
(cloud) 3rd party servers for data
management and storage.
Moodle is “an Open Source Course
Management System (CMS)...a
tool for creating online dynamic
web sites for...students.” http://
moodle
.or
g/about/
moodle.or
.org/about/
PDF stands for Adobe® System’s
Portable Document Format. It
enables printing and viewing of
Newsletter of Brahma Kumaris IT Worldwide
Feedback W
elcome!
Welcome!
We hope you’ve found this
newsletter informative and easy to
understand. We welcome your
suggestions and feedback.
Please submit your comments to,
or request for previous issues from,
[email protected]
[email protected].
You are also warmly invited to
submit IT-related articles, jokes,
cartoons or other relevant
information of timely interest for
our next issue.
October 2009