4th National Call for 'Astronomy Olympiad Teacher' Training 2015!

Nepal Astronomical Society (NASO) is pleased to announce 4th National Call for 'Astronomy Olympiad Teacher' Training 2015 to select teachers who will help the organizing National Astronomy Olympiad Organizing Committee- Nepal (NAOC-Nepal) to organize 3rd National Astronomy Olympiad 2016- Nepal.

Among all the applicants, five best applicants will be selected based on their motivation, academic history and interviews (both telephone and in person). They will participate in the upcoming Astronomy Olympiad Exposure Camp 2015 which will be held at Homi Bhabha Center for Science Education (HBCSE),Mumbai,India during November 2-5, 2015.

What is the objective of this Training?
The primary objective of this training is to select the five best applicants who will assist NASO to organize NAO-Nepal which is operational in Nepal since 2014. It also aims at productive interaction of our selected candidates at regional level (SAARC) with Olympiad activity at its focus.

What will be there at the training at HBSCE,Mumbai, India?
It will consist of various exposure sessions on theory, data analysis problems as well as night sky observation sessions. Tentative topics include celestial mechanics, observational astronomy, positional astronomy and observable properties of stars.

Who can apply?

Astronomy educators from different sectors i.e. Astronomy outreach personnel from scientific institutions, University / college / high school teachers, staff of planetaria and science museums as well as active amateur astronomers.

What will be the cost of participation?
Selected candidates will be reimbursed to and fro travel fare as per the entitlement (Maximum II AC). Food and accommodation in the HBCSE Guest House will be provided. During the workshop, one may visit HBCSE laboratories, library, History of Science Exhibition, HBCSE “books for sale” section, etc.

How to apply?

Interested candidate need to send their one page (A4 size) motivation letter and latest CV with photo and contact number/s to info.naso[at]gmail.com by 5:00 PM, Monday, September 7, 2015. Incomplete application will not be processed for the selection round!

When will be the selection result available?

The result will be announced at our website on Wednesday, September 9, 2015 and provided with further instruction on the participation in India.

Looking forward to welcome your application!

To know more about NASO and its activities, click here.

Short Films all in: Chhoto TV

With the recent rise in young and enthusiastic Nepali movie makers, the rise in Nepali short movies is also evident. There are several Nepali short movies in +YouTube and other media platforms and this is where Chhoto TV comes in.

Chhoto TV is a website with a collection of short movies mostly Nepali. It's an online portal where users can experience short movies published by creative personels. +Swapnil Acharya, a visual designer and owner of design company +Expresiv Studios, along with his partner +Chandan Goopta   an engineer, is the man behind this project. Both of them worked together in a short movie last year, and now they've teamed up for Chhoto TV, their pet project besides the main work.

So why this and why now? Mr. Acharya answers:

Right now the problem with short film scene in Nepal is that there are so many great films made but they're not discovered or they aren't on YouTube at all. When you search for "Nepali short films" in Youtube, you end up with random videos or skits that don't necessarily qualify as short films. 

We wanted the discovery to be easier, thus decided to handpick the best ones ourselves and present it to our viewers. Actually, the project comes out as a result of my own frustration - and I hope this will help many more people who love short films like I do.

Something interesting is that Chhotu, the Himalayan Red Panda is the mascot used for Chhoto TV as it's also seen in the logo. The main idea to use the panda is to have something native that could represent Nepal. as Mr Acharya mentions:

I'd like to portray him as a film watching companion. After all, we mostly watch films with our friends, right?

With the target audience Nepalese and everyone who either understands or is interested in watching Nepali movies, it seems logical to have all the short Nepali movies in one place as it will be featuring mostly Nepali short films made by Nepali people. Apart from that, interesting videos about Nepal would also make its way in Chhoto TV.

Mr Acharya's final words for enthusiastic young film makers:

A lot of young people are very interested in making short films - I urge them to make more and more films so the creativity of the next gen Nepali comes out well. Owning digital equipment's to shoot/edit a film is easy nowadays, but I still see we're struggling with content - I look forward to see richer quality films in the future. And I want Chhoto.tv to be a system of encouragement and reward for them.

As for now, do enjoy some amazing Nepali short movies through their site Chhoto.tv and also connect to them through Facebook or Twitter.

Reach out to us +View Your Choice- तपाईको सोचाई हाम्रो रोजाई -  if you have a story to share 

viewyourchoice@gmail.com

The Pot-Hole that Tweets! How the Social Media is supporting towards development.

Technology and innovation run parallel to each other. With the right use of technology, there can be a creative innovation and one of them is the tweeting pot-hole. The tweeting pot-hole tweets when a vehicle drives though a device which is placed in a pot-hole. 

This is an initiative carried out in Panama city by a popular news show and agency +P4 Ogilvy&Mather. With the urge to build a modern city, the local authorities weren't concerned about the deteriorating road conditions in the city. The idea is to placing a device in a pot-hole around the city, so when a vehicle drives over a pot-hole with a device installed, it sends out a complaint tweet directly to the department of public works. The segment was also broadcast in the news show and there was a huge participation by the public. With the number of tweets flooding in, soon the pot-holes started disappearing.

With the use of modern technology to fix the streets of Panama,Nepal could use such tools in its development process. Having similar streets with numerous pot-holes, Nepal could use such technology get the attention of the authorities. The roads and streets which mostly wear out within months of being paved could get the attention if this device is to be used. With the growing vehicle and social networking users in Nepal, pot-hole tweets would certainly grab the attention of the concerned authorities as it would more likely poke them. With such amount of pressure, a plan of action is certain to take place. 

However, this is just one of the ways for progress. With the recent rise in social media users in Nepal, there are different projects that have been creating an impact in the development of Nepal. The increasing number of Nepalese +Instagram users have made a platform for projects such as the hashtag trend of #Kathmandugram and #ShapersKtm created by +GlobalShapers Kathmandu , a concept adapted form the GlobalShapersCommunity to document the issues in Hong Kong.

#Kathmandugram will engage with Kathmandu's Social Media users to document and promote social issues in Kathmandu. 

Also, #NepalPhotoProject is another project where social media users send there photos or hashtag them showing different events, lifestyle or happenings in Nepal.

One of the popular things that happened over the internet was the #ALSIceBucketChallange conducted by +ALS Association Greater New York Chapter which includes dumping a bucket of ice water on someone's head to promote awareness of disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. This became so popular that it earned huge donations from celebrates and high profile people. 


With the growing use of Social Media, the need of adapting to new forms of technology is a must. The right use of social media is a great way for a country like Nepal in the process of development. With some innovative projects like the hashtag trend, it is fascinating to see how Nepalese could use this as a path to progress.