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If Harvard created social networking, students of the Indian Institute of Technology –Bombay (IIT-B) are moving a step ahead and creating research networking. The institute has already begun work on it by creating research profiles of their students — a research engine as they call it where details of students of research, patents and publications have been put up. Entirely student-driven, the web portal will be officially launched on Monday.
The database aims at being a one-point source for accessing information on students research interests, current working area, publications, patents, contact details and any other relevant details. Students can register and update information through their internal login credentials and the portal can be viewed by anyone anywhere.“This is the beginning of what we hope will be a platform for student research activities across universities,” said VSK Murthy Balijepalli, general secretary academic affairs, post graduate programmes.
“Soon, students outside IIT-B can create their research profiles and students with similar research interests can be added as research friends. We are also planning additional features such as research-based games, and news.”Already 40 postgraduate students maintain and update profiles on the websitehttp://gymkhana.iitb.ac.in/academics/research/. It will soon be opened to undergraduate students. Students who have put up their profile on the portal tout it as the next big thing.
“This is first IIT to experiment with such a format. If things move in the right direction, this will become as big as Facebook or any other networking site for research scholars,” said Vedanta Pradhan, a masters student, who has put up his profile. “Once more and more research scholars start accessing it, it will lead to several collaborations.”
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