Generating Content

Just a year-and-a-half old, owner Chandini Harlalka has a Masters in History of Art from the famous Karnataka Chitrakala Parishad. Her trained eye for talent and knowledge keeps her busy generating content from art schools across the country. "We have contact programmes with art schools and currently we have about 50 artists in our kitty," says Chandini. "We are basically creating an avenue for artists who are not picked up by galleries as yet. This way, they are able to sell their work." The site has a few masters as well because Chandini sees the interest from viewers.

The artwork is also not physically stored. That definitely brings down operating costs for this online gallery. "The artist has the freedom to put up their artwork after registering," Chandini adds. She then whets them depending upon the demand for that particular genre. A lot of artists are talented in various media and are able to showcase everything at one go and sell their work.

Currently about 613 artists and over 2,500 artworks are available on the site. With so much fresh talent passing out of schools ("We get around five- to-seven artist requests daily"), the quality of the artwork is of utmost importance. "Art lovers should get an idea of what the contemporary art scene is. So random sketches and hobby artists are not included," admits Chandini.

Full Story: Melody for art's sake - Asian Age

The online resource, an initiative of IT@School Project of the General Education Department of Kerala government, is designed specifically for students and teachers of mathematics and science, and provides resources in English and Malayalam to enhance their understanding of these subjects.

Peter Hamilton, the worldwide director of the Intel Skoool programme, said it is their goal to stimulate the use of technology in learning to benefit societies.

"We aim to help develop strong skills and supporting infrastructures around the world, and ready to use technology to help grow local economies and knowledge development in societies," said Hamilton.

Full Story: Now Skoool web technologies in all Kerala schools - Little About (blog)

I talked about this my book, the  Website Owner's Manual , which I am giving away to 10 lucky Econsultancy members (see the footer of this article for more details on how to enter). But first, let's take a look at what it takes to be a brilliant website owner...

No single thing makes a site successful, but a good website owner puts into place the elements that give a site a fighting chance.

A lack of definition leads to a lack of focus . Without a job description, you can find yourself drawn into unrelated work. Worse still, others can presume something is your responsibility when it isn’t.

Full Story: What is the secret to a successful website? - Econsultancy (blog)

LocaModa Inc. has announced the official launch of its Digital Out of Home (DOOH) app store at Digital Signage Expo 2010 , taking place at the Las Vegas Convention Center, February 24-25.

According to the company, the LocaModa App Store is the first of its kind to offer place-based networks a one-stop shop for social media applications, specifically designed for venues ranging from cafés, bars, quick serve restaurants, public spaces, cinemas, and convention centers.

The key features of the LocaModa App Store are: Free applications with revenue-generating ad units.

Full Story: LocaModa Launches Digital Out of Home App Store at Digital Signage Expo - Digital Signage Expo

Like other international media groups, Spain’s Prisa had to devote virtually all of 2009 to restructuring its businesses, streamlining its operations and divesting itself of assets in order to pay down its heavy financial debt of about $7 billion, largely resulting from its acquisition of Sogecable, Spain's leading pay-TV company and TV network owner.

Two years ago, Prisa launched a bid for the 50% stake of Sogecable not under its control in order to make the company the center of its audiovisual strategy. The worsening economic situation and subsequent fall in group revenues, plus pressure from creditor banks, shattered the company’s plans and forced Prisa to develop an asset sales policy. These asset sales included 25% of its Santillana publishing division and up to 35% of Portuguese group Media Capital. In the last months of 2009, it also sold 43% of its pay-TV business (21% to Telefonica and 22% to Telecinco) and its entire TV network Cuatro, which will be folded into Telecinco in exchange for an 18% stake in the latter. This last transaction, which is estimated to close by mid-2010 and still needs to be approved by competition authorities, would mean that Prisa’s role in Spain’s television business would be considerably reduced, although it would still keep majority control over its pay-TV business.

 A change of this magnitude — Sogecable accounted for 34% of Prisa’s EBITDA in 2008 — forces the group to redefine its strategy. Prisa executives see this as a necessary response to the transformation process being experienced by the communications industry worldwide.

Full Story: Analysis: What is Prisa's New Strategy after Cutting Back its TV Assets? - Portada Magazine