FW: [IP] Background to the film Slumdog Millionaire

From Professor Farber's IP list.  I remember reading the original story and sharing it with my IT100 class at the time...

Sam

-----Original Message-----
From: David Farber
To: ip
Sent: 2/24/2009 12:43 PM
Subject: [IP] Background to the film Slumdog Millionaire

Begin forwarded message:

From: Brian Randell <Brian.Randell@ncl.ac.uk>
Date: February 24, 2009 12:01:22 PM EST
To: dave@farber.net
Subject: Background to the film Slumdog Millionaire

Hi Dave:

For IP if you think it is appropriate:

> A NEWCASTLE professor watched Oscar-winning Slumdog Millionaire - 
> not realising he was the inspiration behind the movie.
>
> A decade ago Professor Sugata Mitra knocked a hole through the wall 
> of his laboratory in New Delhi, India, so children in the adjoining 
> slum could play on one of his computers.
>
> The experiment, to see whether unschooled children would teach 
> themselves how to use the internet if left to their own devices, was 
> intended as an educational tool.
>
> But it eventually inspired the film which swept the Oscars on Sunday 
> night.
>
> As he celebrated the film's success, original author Vikas Swarup 
> said he wrote Q&A, which was adapted for the screen by Simon 
> Beaufoy, as a direct result of hearing about street children using 
> Professor Mitra's computer.
. . .

Full story at:

http://tinyurl.com/czcd32

See also:

http://markkobayashihillary.computing.co.uk/2009/02/a-niit-at-the-movies
.html

cheers

Brian

--
School of Computing Science, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne,
NE1 7RU, UK
EMAIL = Brian.Randell@ncl.ac.uk   PHONE = +44 191 222 7923
FAX = +44 191 222 8232  URL =
http://www.cs.ncl.ac.uk/people/brian.randell

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