The seed for the Computer Society of India (CSI) was first sown in the year 1965 with a handful of IT enthusiasts who were a computer user group and felt the need to organize their activities. They also wanted to share their knowledge and exchange ideas on what they felt was a fast emerging sector. Today the CSI takes pride in being the largest and most professionally managed association of and for IT professionals in India. The purposes of the Society are scientific and educational directed towards the advancement of the theory and practice of computer science and IT. The organisation has grown to an enviable size of 100,000 strong members consisting of professionals with varied backgrounds including Software developers, Scientists, Academicians, Project Managers, CIO's , CTO's & IT vendors to just name a few. It has spread its branches all over the country. Currently having more than 500 student branches and rooted firmly at 73 different locations, CSI has plans of opening many more chapters & activity centers in smaller towns and cities of the country. The idea is to spread the knowledge and provide opportunities to as many interested as possible.
The CSI Vision: "lT for Masses" :
Keeping in mind the interest of the IT professionals & computer users, CSI works towards making the profession an area of choice amongst all sections of the society. The promotion of Information Technology as a profession is the top priority of CSI today. To fulfill this objective, the CSI regularly organizes conferences, conventions, lectures, projects, awards and at the same time it also ensures that regular training and skill updating are organised for the IT professionals. Education Directorate, CSI helps physically challenged citizens by providing training 'Punarjani' CSI also works towards a global approach, by seeking out alliances with organizations overseas who may be willing to come forward and participate in such activities. CSI also helps governments in formulating IT strategy & planning.
Global affiliations and CSI
• Representing the Indian community in the International Federation of Information Processing (IFIP) since 1974.
• Representation in all the technical Committees and some of the working groups of IFIP. CSI has also organised IFIP sponsored events and conferences in India.
• Reciprocal membership agreement with the British Computer Society and the Australian Computer Society and the IEEE Computer Society.
Knowledge Building at CSI:
In a fast changing environment, the IT Professional constantly needs to update himself/herself. With this very purpose in mind, the CSI painstakingly brings out various technical publications at regular intervals. Some of these are:
• Only Member in IFIP from India (International Federation for Information Processing)
• Leading Member of SEARCC (South East Asia Regional Computer Confederation)
• Partner of IEEE Computer Society (Institute of Electrical and Electronic Institution)
• MOU with Springer for publication of Proceedings of Conferences organized by CSI CSI Transactions on ICT
• Have MOUs with PMI (Project Management Institute)
• Have MOUs with MYANMAR (Computer Professional Association)
In addition CSI has its own face book page https://www.facebook.com/CSIHQ?ref=hl and a vibrant website www.csi-india.org which offers a lot of articles, information and counseling platform for all IT professionals. An active Digital Library preserves all the Digital Assets of CSI.
Youth and CSI
Being closely associated with Students, the Society has developed a well-established net-work of "Student Branches" all across the country. CSI has 488 student branches with more than 90,000 Student Volunteers across the nation. The activities conducted for the Students associated with the Society include lecture meetings, seminars, conferences, training programmes, programming contests and practical visits to installations. CSI has a strong Educational Directorate based at Chennai which undertakes activities related to Certification of professionals related to the latest technologies. Its recent initiative of distance education in the Business Domain areas offers technology enabled learning supported by personal counseling and expert advice. In an ever changing environment, CSI offers professional counseling being a great need of the hour. And this is done by being in close contact with its young members through various events, conferences, symposia to name a few. CSI regularly organises SEARCC Programming Contest, Alan Turning Quiz, Discover Thinking Project Contest, On-line Programming Contest etc. for the students.
Events at CSI
As part of its endeavor to bring together and assimilate various aspects of IT, CSI conducts premier events such as National Convention, Regional Conferences, Theme Conferences focusing on verticals etc. Apart from this, number of workshops re-conducted at the local chapters to get such professionals together on a common platform. Besides the Convention, the Society also conducts an "Exhibition" which endeavors to bring in the manufacturers and system developers to exhibit their products & services to the professionals. The Society organises various panel discussions and these views are compiled so that they can be protected as the views of CSI at the appropriate forums.
CSI Awards
Achievement is a wonderful thing. But what makes it even more wonderful is being publicly acclaimed for it - especially in the presence of one's peers. That's why the CSI has instituted awards in several categories. Also members with many years of significant contribution to the IT industry are made Fellows of the Society. It is regarded as one of the most prestigious titles that an IT professional can receive in the country today. Most prestigious awards of CSI are :
• CSI Nihilent E-Governance Awards
• CSI IT Excellence Awards
• CSI Young IT Professionals Awards
• CSI Service Awards
• CSI Academic Excellence Awards
• CSI Fellowship and Hon. Fellowship Awards
• CSI Lifetime Achievement Award
Benefits for CSI Members: Knowledge Sharing and Networking
Being a CSI member one can avail the opportunities like : Opportunity to participate in the international, national, regional and chapter events of CSI such as conferences, seminars, symposia, workshops, technical talks, free lectures on latest technological advancements in IT at discounted rates between 10% - 50%.
Other important Chapter activities which offer a platform for networking with distinguished industry leaders, scientists, academicians include
• CSI-SPIN events
• Knowledge Forum Activities
• Security Forum Activities
• symposia
• CIO Meets
• Annual CIO Summit
• Opportunity to offer workshops/ trainings in collaboration with CSI.
• Join Special Interest Group (SIG) for research, promotion and dissemination activities for selected domains, both established and emerging.
• Opportunity to deliver guest lecturers in educational institutes associated to CSI across India,
• Right to vote in CSI elections.
• Opportunity to become part of CSI Management Committee at Chapter, Regional and National levels (subject to the eligibility criteria).