My Experience as a Participant at IT4D

Report By: Mandip Prasai

I was always curious to present paper at international conferences. This was my first and a wonderful experience presenting a research paper at the Sixth International Conference on Information Technology for Development (IT4D).

I was representing this conference as a student from DWIT college, Tribhuwan University and as a researcher from Summus Engineering and Consultancy. It has been a great experience to meet many intelligent personnel, sharp colleagues, experienced entrepreneurs, researchers, professors, and international delegates. I fully enjoyed the two-day conference with many interesting presentations and discussions on various technologies and researches.

This time I was a bit in a rush during the conference. I had my college final examination scheduled till 1 pm and my conference presentation was scheduled at 2: 45 pm the same day. Anyhow, I was able to manage both of these. Now, this was the time to present my research paper. Shy by nature and junior by age, I was dreading at the beginning. I started presenting the paper. My paper was titled “Approaches to Solving Issues in Healthcare Industry using Emerging IoT Technology”. As I started the presentation, I found most of the audience getting interested in my topic. This helped me to overcome my fear and I was in the flow with my presentation. In the end, I got a round of applause from the audience. Now, this was the time to defend questions from panelists. I answered the question asked by one of the panelists Mr. Ritu Raj Lamsal. After this, I was very happy to listen to good comments from the other panelists Mr. Garry de la Pomerai. After getting queries from the audiences and answering to them my presentation ended. After the first day of the conference, we had some snacks at the 109-degree restaurant.

The second day of the conference was scheduled at the Kathmandu Marriott Hotel. The keynote speeches, researches, and presentations were awesome. The hospitality throughout the conference was wonderful. The second day of the conference ended at around 5 pm with photo sessions.

I would like to express heartfelt thanks to the organizing committee and the people who have made this conference possible. I would also like to thank all the presenters for proving fruitful information. Thanks to my supervisor Mr. Bhas Raj Pathak and co-authors who made the research work possible. I have benefited very much from this fantastic event.

Glimpses of IT4D 2019

My Experience of IT4D 2016

Report By: Samjhana Pokhrel, Analraj Bhattarai & Kofulla Shrestha

Samjhana Pokhrel
At 8:30, all of us in the hiking team gathered together at the Deerwalk premises. Loaded with water bottles and drinks, we started from Panauti and headed towards Khopasi. It took us around two hours to hike to Banthali from Khopasi. We enjoyed walking a lot with our team. At one point during the long walk, we got caught up in bushes and slippery roads and ended up with an unforgettable moment – one of our colleagues slipped to the ground comically producing a bout of laughter from the rest of us. What an experience! Then a few of us, including me, followed a different way to reach the resort.

For a while we relaxed and took a lot of photos but soon we were speeding up again. Laughing, talking and resting on the suspension bridges, when and how the hours passed, no one knew. Than after about an hour of a walking, we finally reached the resort.

The resort was exactly as we had imagined. A quite resort amidst scenic views of nature. We stayed at the resort for three hours; eating, drinking, and dancing. All the while some of us occupied the dance floor while others kept busy just watching and enjoying. Finally, we had a delicious lunch together after which all of us came to the dance floor.

Singing and shouting we started moving down, crossing all the bushes and hanging bridges. After what seemed like a very short journey, we reached Khopasi. Then we got on our bus and drove all the way back to Kathmandu.

Analraj Bhattarai
On the 1st of August, I can honestly say that I had one of the best experiences in hiking. We started off at Deerwalk with a good breakfast and some happy conversations and headed to the bus that would take us to Khopasi. After reaching there, we started the hike with good spirits. We walked on and on and on. We observed the wounds of last year’s earthquake and how it had impacted the life of people living there. We saw raging rivers, beautiful scenes, and long bridges. We came across so many plantations and took photos of various sites.

Even though it was narrow path almost many of us felt it was not so tough compared to high hill trekking. The climb was so joyful that we felt like even the weather was encouraging us. We laughed, talked and walked so happily that initially we were not exhausted at all. Then slowly the conversations drained, and we started talking more slowly and walking more slowly.

But soon enough I could see our destination in sight. Then we sped up once again. When we reached there, I sat down, rested and had enjoyable conversations with pleasant people. The dancing began, and I watched happily from afar.

Soon enough it was time for lunch where we ate to our fill. I never realized that I was so hungry, and I must have eaten a lot more than considered healthy. I did feel like I haven’t had such delicious food. I was just that hungry, or the food was that delicious.

Afterwards the dancing resumed, and I joined in for a bit towards the end. And I’m happy to say that I wished that we could’ve dance for a while longer. We then walked back towards our bus on a journey that seemed much shorter than before. The path seemed narrow and started descending through the forest and because of the recent rain most of the way was slippery . Many of us lost balance and ended up sitting right on the wet rocks.

After we had climbed onto our bus, the exhaustion hit me, and I felt like I had no energy left in me. The ride refreshed and energized me, and I walked off home with a smile on my face.

Kofulla Shrestha
Before attending the IT4D conference I thought the conference would be boring like other conferences. Obviously I know IT and of course it does help in many aspect for development. But the scenario was completely different. The IT4D conference was much more interactive and interesting. Before attending the conference I didn’t know that we had done so many things due to IT and IT has helped us a lot. It was new to me. “Wow! We have mobile apps used in these fields?!”I met so many people in the conference and I think this might be the cool way to reach more people. I think I should be able to use many of these mobile apps in my line of work. And that would be awesome! I hadn’t known much more about the mobile apps and IT before I went to the conference. But now I feel like I need to update myself.

As for the hiking, my thoughts before and after the hike were completely different. In the hike I found people who have so much ideas stored in them. Those people were fun loving people, their ideas were aspiring, their motives were clear and it was really good to know them. The most fun part was the killer dance moves of the people. And I thought to myself, “I should learn them too.” Meeting new people was a really good experience. Ideas click, but people make it happen. And I think fun is the best way to do it. Getting to know the people, making friends, sharing life experiences was the astounding environment. Wow! That’s the best way to do it. I am really glad to be a part of it. And I am grateful to everyone that led me to it.

Glimpses of IT4D 2016

My Experience of IT4D 2014

Report By: Mahika Pandey

The morning was cool when we stepped off the bus and stretched our legs. Our hike was to start and begin at a resort in (start place). At a restaurant, we loaded our back packs with water bottles while the talking lightly and musing of the journey ahead. The journey had been short: only an hour. Our group had assembled at the Deerwalk complex for breakfast before boarding the bus and setting off. We had pulled into the resort at around 10:00.

We were led down the road into a grassy area by a local guide. He pointed at a very muddy, steep incline that we were supposed to climb. The inclined path was the first leg of our journey: it was also the worst! The trail was narrow, uphill, and infested with leeches: most of us were bitten. We came upon many slippery patches of ground and sudden downhill sloped areas, where everyone was forced to jump. After a half hour of complaints on my part and difficult hiking, we took rest at a wayside restaurant. We gave each other much needed leech checks and a number of socks and shoes had to be shook clean.

We decided to abandon the road less traveled and take the main road for the remainder of the hike. The road was rocky and winded up the mountain. The atmosphere was light as walked, glad that we were free of the treacherous path we’d started on. However, the rocky road soon became muddy and slippery. The incline steepened and every step was taken more cautiously, as not to slip and fall.

We headed back down soon after. The wet ground was even harder to navigate downhill. When we reached the rockier road we had an option: take the long, leech-free route, or the leech-infested shortcut. Without much hesitation we chose the safe way out. The downfall of the safe route: there was no shade from the relentless sun, and the road was endless. Under the glare of the sun the road spiraled upwards as we walked along it.
After about an hour of walking, we again reached the resort in (end place). We sat gratefully in the indoors and downed cold drinks. We stayed at the restaurant for three hours, eating, drinking, and even dancing! The music came on and a dance floor was created in the middle of the floor. The dancing was spirited and some of the tipsier adults provoked lots of laughter with their dancing. We ended our time at the restaurant by taking turns standing in front of the camera and talking briefly about the hike.

When we finally piled back into the bus it was 5:00. The ride back was alive with a game of Antakshari! Everyone enjoyed the raucous singing and light talk. We pulled into Deerwalk at around 6:30. After farewells, we all headed back home. The hike had been a short and tumultuous, but great fun nevertheless!

Glimpses of IT4D 2014

IT4D 2012

Report By: Admin

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Glimpses of IT4D 2012