Frederick Noronha (born 23 December 1963) is an Indian journalist, writer, publisher, and Wikipedia editor based in

Saligão Saligão () is a census town in North Goa district in the Indian state of Goa. It is surrounded by the villages of Porvorim, Parra, Guirim, Sangolda, Pilerne, Candolim, Calangute and Nagoa and is in Bardez Taluka of Goa. It is 10 km fro ...

Goa Goa (; ; ) is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is bound by the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north, and Karnataka to the ...

. He is active in

cyberspace Cyberspace is an interconnected digital environment. It is a type of virtual world popularized with the rise of the Internet. The term entered popular culture from science fiction and the arts but is now used by technology strategists, security ...

and involved with e-ventures related to Goa, developmental concerns, and

free software Free software, libre software, libreware sometimes known as freedom-respecting software is computer software distributed open-source license, under terms that allow users to run the software for any purpose as well as to study, change, distribut ...

. Noronha primarily writes about free software/open-source issues, technology, and computing in India. He is the co-founder of BytesForAll and the founder of Goa 1556, an alternate publishing house.

Education

Frederick Noronha received a B.Com. degree from Dempo College of Commerce and Economics,

Panjim Panaji (; , , )also known as Panjim, is the capital of the Indian state of Goa and the headquarters of North Goa district. Previously, it was the territorial capital of the former Portuguese India. It lies on the banks of the Mandovi river est ...

, and M.A. (English Literature) degrees from

Goa University Goa University is a public state university headquartered in the city of Panaji, in the Indian state of Goa. The traditions of Goa University date back to the 17th century,Prôa, Miguel Pires. "Escolas Superiores" Portuguesas Antes de 1950 ...

and the

University of Bombay University of Mumbai is a public university, public List of largest universities and university networks by enrollment, state university in Mumbai. It is one of the List of largest universities and university networks by enrollment, largest univ ...

. In 2021 he took a PhD in English, focusing on publishing in twentieth-century Goa, via Goa University's Department of English (under Prof. Andre Rafael Fernandes). Noronha is also an alumnus of the Internationales Institut für Journalismus (G57 course, 1990). He received a scholarship from the Institute for Further Education of Journalists (Fojo), Sweden (1998) and was a Sarai Print Media Fellow (2001). He was a Panos Fellow in 2001 (focusing on reproductive health and gender issues).

Journalism

He has been a full-time journalist since 1983. From November 1987 to December 1994, Noronha was a staff correspondent for ''

Deccan Herald ''Deccan Herald'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper published from the Indian state of Karnataka. It was founded by businessman K. N. Guruswamy and launched on 17 June 1948. It is published by The Printers Mysore, a privately hel ...

''. From 1994 onwards, he turned to a freelancer, and has written for India Abroad News Service (now

Indo-Asian News Service Indo-Asian News Service or IANS is a private Indian news agency. It was founded in 1986 by Indian American publisher Gopal Raju as the "India Abroad News Service" and later renamed. In December 2023, Adani group, known for its close ties with t ...

), on news related to

and, more recently,

Information Technology Information technology (IT) is a set of related fields within information and communications technology (ICT), that encompass computer systems, software, programming languages, data processing, data and information processing, and storage. Inf ...

. He also worked as an editorial consultant with Herald (Goa) from October 2003 to April 2004. He has written articles on

, Goan books,

media Media may refer to: Communication * Means of communication, tools and channels used to deliver information or data ** Advertising media, various media, content, buying and placement for advertising ** Interactive media, media that is inter ...

, environment, development, and information technology. From 1996 to 2006, he has been part of the Admin Team of Goanet, a volunteer and not-for-profit network that links the Goan diaspora community. Publications that have featured Noronha's works include ''

The Economic Times ''The Economic Times'' is an Indian English-language business-focused daily newspaper. Owned by The Times Group, ''The Economic Times'' began publication in 1961 and it is sold in all major cities in India. As of 2012, it is the world's secon ...

'', '' The Financial Express'', ''Spider'' Internet Magazine (Pakistan),

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...

(photographs), ''Dawn'', the

BBC website BBC Online, formerly known as BBCi, is the BBC's online service. It is a large network of websites including such high-profile sites as BBC News and BBC Sport, Sport, the on-demand video and radio services branded BBC iPlayer and BBC Sounds, t ...

and ''

Outlook Outlook or The Outlook may refer to: Computing * Microsoft Outlook, also referred to as ''the classic Outlook'' an e-mail client and personal information management software product from Microsoft * Outlook for Windows, also referred to as ''the ...

''. Noronha is a

Wikipedia Wikipedia is a free content, free Online content, online encyclopedia that is written and maintained by a community of volunteers, known as Wikipedians, through open collaboration and the wiki software MediaWiki. Founded by Jimmy Wales and La ...

editor, particularly active on

Konkani __NOTOC__ Konkani may refer to: Language * Konkani language is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in the Konkan region of India. * Konkani alphabets, different scripts used to write the language **Konkani in the Roman script, one of the scripts used to ...

Wikipedia, and was named English Wikipedia's Editor of the Week in March 2020.

Online ventures

Together with Partha Pratim Sarkar of

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

, Noronha co-founded BytesForAll. He is a supporter of copyleft-based models for sharing digital information and resources, with some 6000+ photographs, mainly related to Goa, available on his Flickr page.

Involvement with FOSS movement

Noronha is a supporter of free software, and is actively involved in chronicling its growth in India and other Asian countries. His articles on Free Software have been published in

Linux Journal ''Linux Journal'' (''LJ'') is an American monthly technology magazine originally published by Specialized System Consultants, Inc. (SSC) in Seattle, Washington since 1994. In December 2006 the publisher changed to Belltown Media, Inc. in Hous ...

and

Free Software Magazine ''Free Software Magazine'' (also known as ''FSM'' and originally titled ''The Open Voice'') is a Web site that produces a (generally bi-monthly) mostly free-content online magazine about free software. It was started in November 2004 by Austral ...

. He has also participated in a study on FLOSS in the 'developing' countries (2003–04) in

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

. He has been a member of the panel deciding on the FSF Award for the Advancement of Free Software and The Manthan-AIF Award 2006. He has also spoken at many FOSS conferences, including

FOSS.IN FOSS.IN, previously known as Linux Bangalore, was an annual free and open source software (FOSS) conference, held in Bangalore, India from 2001 to 2012. From 2001 to 2004, it was known as Linux Bangalore, before it took on a new name and wider focu ...

in 2006.

Goa 1556

On 20 June 2007, Noronha founded the alternate publishing house ''Goa 1556''. As of 2018, it had published over 100 books in print and ebook form. All authors of books published are Goan and the topics published range from Goan history to

Goan cuisine Goan cuisine consists of regional foods popular in Goa, an Indian state located along India's west coast on the shore of the Arabian Sea. Rice, seafood, coconut, vegetables, meat, bread, pork and local spices are some of the main ingredients in ...

References

External links

Frederick Noronha's site
Archived
Goa 1556 Official website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Noronha, Frederick 1963 births Living people Journalists from Goa Journalists from São Paulo People from Panaji Writers from North Goa district Indian Wikimedians