National Digital Library of India (hosted by IIT Kharagpur) lists my 2012 arxiv.org paper on improving practice of software development in Indian academia, for suitable search terms

The cropped screenshot given below which was taken today (early hours of 26th Jun 2020), captures the matter.

[To open pic in larger resolution, right-click on pic followed by open link (NOT image) in new tab/window. In new tab/window you may have to click on pic to zoom in.]

Hmm. Quite surprising that NDL India, https://ndl.iitkgp.ac.in/ , chose to put it up! I don't know when they put it up. Maybe it had been put up in 2012 itself but I had not noticed it in my searches on NDL.

Anyway, good to know that my views on the matter are easily accessible now through NDL which I think is India's top digital library, and is funded by Govt. of India.

Note that the above mentioned arxiv.org paper of mine is a pre-print paper which has NOT been published in any peer-reviewed academic publication.

draftable.com has a great online tool for comparing text of 2 PDF files

Here's a great online tool for comparing text of 2 PDF files: https://draftable.com/compare

In its comparison results it shows both files side by side with a common synchronized scroll bar [older file is supposed to be provided first and is shown on left; newer file is shown on right]. The scroll bar shows area with differences in green and green is the colour used to show the different area (text) in one file. [See pic below.]

[To open pic in larger resolution, right-click on pic followed by open link (NOT image) in new tab/window. In new tab/window you may have to click on pic to zoom in.]

[In my case, there was only additional text in one file (and that too only in one line of one page). The help file says that removal of text is shown in red colour, and addition of text is shown in green colour.]

Note that the help file says that only the text in the two PDF files are compared and not images. However, one can physically view the images in old and new files by scrolling to those pages and check manually whether the images look the same.

Also, the help file says that formatting changes (e.g. bold font instead of normal font) are not shown. Hmm. That's sad.

ISBN 978-93-5406-538-5 allotted for Hard Bound Indian CS & IT Acad. Reform Activism book

Last updated on 3rd July 2020

isbn.gov.in, the Indian government agency that allots ISBN numbers, has allotted ISBN 978-93-5406-538-5 (without hyphens: 9789354065385) for the hard bound version of my book: Indian Computer Science & Information Technology Academic Reform (Past) Activism Blog Book.

The pic below shows the allotment details.

[To open pic in larger resolution, right-click on pic followed by open link (NOT image) in new tab/window. In new tab/window you may have to click on pic to zoom in.]

Now I have to add the ISBN number in the title-verso page of the book, use Pothi.com cover creator tool to generate an ISBN barcode which will go in the back cover of the book, add price info. to back cover, and then submit the changed cover page and interior book contents to Pothi.com for review. I hope to get that done in the near future.

After long break due to COVID pandemic, I have resumed my book work; Applied for ISBN for hard bound Indian CS & IT Acad. Reform Activism book

It was on 13th March 2020 that I had placed the order for my first copy of my first hardback/ hard cover/ hard bound book: Indian Computer Science & Information Technology Academic Reform (Past) Activism Blog Book. Note that I had first published the paperback version of it.

Hard bound books have the potential to be in good shape for longer period of time than paperback. It is bulkier. It is also slightly more expensive (Rs.377 + shipping at Pothi.com, https://store.pothi.com/book/ravi-s-iyer-indian-computer-science-cs-information-technology-it-academic-reform-past-activis-0) as against the paperback version (Rs.325 + shipping at Pothi.com, https://store.pothi.com/book/ravi-s-iyer-indian-computer-science-cs-information-technology-it-academic-reform-past-activism-).

Hard bound books also take longer to produce (for print-on-demand printing like in my case). So before the 13th March 2020 order got ready to ship, India went into Janata (voluntary) curfew on 22nd March and into lockdown from 25th March, in the fight against COVID-19 pandemic. That froze production/shipping of my hard bound book!

Around a month ago, on 16th May 2020, I received that hard bound book! I have blogged about it here (post published only on 16th June 2020): https://eklavyasai.blogspot.com/2020/06/happy-to-receive-first-hard-bound-copy.html with the post having some pics of the hard bound book.

Yesterday and today, I started doing the next step of the work related to the hard bound book, which was fixing some issues in the cover page, and then applying for ISBN number for it. Given below is the fixed front cover page picture with title text moved slightly to the right.

[To open pic in larger resolution, right-click on pic followed by open link (NOT image) in new tab/window. In new tab/window you may have to click on pic to zoom in.]

I also modified the back cover page to have the description text in a smaller font. Given below is a pic of it.

Note that these cover changes are not yet incorporated in the book sale page. I will initiate that after I get the ISBN for it (more on that is given below).

A little while back today, I completed the ISBN 2nd level application work. Given below is a pic having the relevant data from isbn.gov.in (the Indian govt. agency that allots an ISBN).

I hope to get the ISBN allotted in the next few days time, after which I will add the ISBN number to the book title-verso page as well as back cover page, and also add price to back cover page. Then I will submit the changes to Pothi.com and after review, order a copy to check out whether the changes have got incorporated properly. That would hopefully finish my book self-publishing work for the hard bound version. I still need to get ISBN for Pothi.com paperback version of the book which is what I will do after the hard bound version work is finished.

Happy to receive first hard-bound copy of my Indian CS IT Acad. Reform book for which order was placed before lockdown

Last updated on 17th June 2020

Note: This post was composed around 16th May 2020 but kept as a private post. I am publishing it now on 16th June 2020.

I am happy to share that today (16th May 2020) I received the first hard-bound copy of my book: Indian Computer Science & Information Technology Academic Reform (Past) Activism Blog Book. I had placed the order on 13th March 2020 as is shown in attached Pothi.com order partial screenshot info. (with some info. blanked out). The Hard-bound (Hard Cover) book (as against paperback book) takes 8 to 10 business days (as per Pothi.com) to get processed (printed & bound) and so I think that as per original schedule the book should have got dispatched towards end March.

[To open pic in larger resolution, right-click on pic followed by open link (NOT image) in new tab/window. In new tab/window you may have to click on pic to zoom in.]

But India got into Janata (voluntary public) curfew on March 22nd and lockdown started on 25th March which would have frozen my book production (Print-On-Demand) work. Phase 3 of the lockdown started on 4th May 2020 during which some relaxations were provided for non-essential items like books in areas which are not in red zones/containment zones, and so I think this hard cover book copy work would have picked up from where it had been frozen. It got dispatched on 8th May 2020 by Indian government postal service Speed Post and I got delivery of it today 16th May 2020.

I must also mention that new orders for this hard cover book, https://store.pothi.com/book/ravi-s-iyer-indian-computer-science-cs-information-technology-it-academic-reform-past-activis-0 , (or my other paperback books) are not being fulfilled typically as of now by Pothi.com (orders outside Bangalore NOT fulfilled) or by Notion Press, the two self-publishing platform companies that I use for my books.

Of course, I took appropriate precautions by wearing a mask while taking delivery, washing hands with soap after removing the outer package cover and putting it in garbage bag, and soap-washing the scissors I used to cut open the outer package cover. I let the inner contents of the package fall (from a short height) onto the floor, after I cut open the outer package. This way, I touched the inner package only after I had discarded the outer cover and soap-washed my hands carefully.

I am learning to get on with life in Coronavirus pandemic. I am NOT going to allow it to stop me from doing work that is permitted by Indian government authorities. But I decided to share this post, as of now, privately with a few people only as I have some concern that publicly sharing this could get misused by others, and perhaps stop courier and other delivery to Puttaparthi areas outside red zone/cluster containment zone. I may make it a public post some months down the line when I feel that possibility of misuse of this info. by some in the public, is very low.

I have also attached some pics of the hard bound book. As it is my first hard bound book, I can see some needed improvement(s) right away. The hard bound book binding area is clearly visible on the cover. The beginning part of the title text on front cover, starts in this binding area - so that has to be moved slightly to the right to start ***after*** the binding area. I will also now apply for an ISBN for this hard cover book after making required changes to cover of book, and also any inner contents of book if necessary. I had to wait to apply for ISBN till I got the first hard cover copy and checked it out.

I am glad to see that after 25th March when the lockdown started, now on 16th May 2020 I have re-started my book work, which falls in non-essential category of work. I am determined to get back to such work that was doing prior to lockdown, but within guidelines and restrictions imposed or advised by the government of India and/or the government of the state of Andhra Pradesh.

17th June 2020 update

Given below are pics taken by a mid-range mobile (Samsung M21) camera on 17th June 2020.

The two pics below show the binding top and bottom edge in the inner contents part of the hard cover / hard bound book.

The pics below have a comparison of the hard cover / hard bound (hardback) book with paperback book. Note that only the front, spine and back of the cover page of hard bound book is larger than paperback book, but the inner contents of hard bound book have same size as the paperback book (A4 size).

Above pic has hard bound book on left and paperback book on right.

Above pic has hard bound book above and below the paperback book.

Above pic has paperback book kept inside the hard bound book, on top of hard bound book's inner content. The two pics below show from top angle and bottom angle, how the paperback book size fits exactly with inner content of hard bound book. Only the hard bound book cover pages are bigger than paperback book size.

--- end 17th June 2020 update ---

Given below are old pics taken by low-cost mobile camera on or around 16th May 2020