About
Oktave is a professional body for fostering exploration and developing expertise in all aspects of information management. It is registered as a not-for-profit trust in the state of Karnataka, India.
Background
Recent technological advances have vastly increased the amount of information that we deal with on a routine basis. It is also estimated that the amount of information that is generated, exchanged and stored over electronic media doubles every two years.
Information management has suddenly morphed from what was once a sidelined issue of concern, to one that is of immediate concern and with deep repercussions. Information affects us both positively and adversely on a routine basis. It impacts us both tactically and strategically.
On the one hand, we are witnessing a boom in what was hitherto unknown opportunities like service outsourcing, tele-medicine, distance learning, internet banking, vehicle information networks, etc. and on the other hand, we are confronted with hitherto unknown threats like phishing, identity theft, cyber stalking, etc.
There is an immediate and growing need to address information management from a holistic perspective that encompasses different concerns like extraction, transmission, storage, search, knowledge discovery, learning, social and cognitive impacts, etc. under one umbrella.
Information management derives concepts from different domains like information theory, discrete mathematics, probability and statistics, optimization theory, artificial intelligence, philosophy, cognitive psychology, etc.
Information management itself is a horizontal domain having several application areas like systems analysis and design, banking, security, telecommunication, bioinformatics, robotics, media, e-governance, pedagogy, medicine, etc.
The Oktave Research Foundation
The Oktave Research Foundation is set up in this backdrop. The objective of Oktave is to create a self-sustaining professional body that is concerned with all aspects of information management.
The goals of Oktave include the following:
- Build an ecosystem to foster interaction between professionals from disparate areas on information management
- Foster development of standards
- Foster low-risk collaboration among industries on information management issues
- Encourage inter-disciplinary research on information management
- Create a source of knowledge and software concerning information management
- Recognize and acknowledge pioneering and groundbreaking work in information management.
Activities
Activities of Oktave include the following:
- Conducting workshops and tutorials on different areas of information management
- Conducting a series of meetings having disparate representatives for setting standards
- Hosting open and “partially open” software and knowledge repositories
- Facilitating low risk collaboration among Oktave members by hosting intelligent search techniques matching expertise profiles with requirements.
The details about workshops, tutorials and standards’ meetings will be tracked in our events section.
As of this writing (September 2007) membership to Oktave is currently not open. We are still working on the back-end infrastructure to host membership related activities. However, we are open to volunteer support. If you would like to volunteer for Oktave, please contact us at info@oktavelabs.in.
“Partially Open” Initiatives
By default, all Oktave outputs like software, documents and datasets will be in the public domain. However, in specific cases, some of these outputs will be “partially open.” These resources are open only to Oktave members for a lead period of time before they are made fully open. The rationale behind this is to facilitate collaborative creation of contemporary initiatives with a competitive edge.
Membership
As of this writing, membership to Oktave has not yet started. We however, are very open to volunteer support.
Oktave membership is available for both individuals and organisations. Benefits of Oktave membership include the following:
- Opportunity to attend Oktave technical meetings
- Discounts and fee waivers in workshops conducted by Oktave
- Opportunity to participate in standard-setting meetings and influence standards
- Opportunity to avail of research or conference travel grants that are made available from Oktave from time to time
- Opportunities for discovering potential business partners and collaborators by being listed on the Oktave semantic search engine.
Once Oktave membership crosses a critical mass, we hope to extend member benefits including starting an Oktave technical communications magazine.