As this year comes to a close, here are a few things that stood out for me.
1) Open science: Every journal and publication worth its salt opened up their articles around COVID-19 for free reading from behind paywalls. Every government opened up varied health care data which enabled some great visualisations.
2) Open/Accessible world-class AI: The likes of Andrew Ng and Yann LeCun had already made their AI classes accessible to everyone. And now one can build full fledged AI applications using open frameworks like Tensorflow, PyTorch and CNTK.
3) Interactive web pages: Thanks to the kind and type of data around COVID-19, many news outlets realised the best way to present the data is via interactive pages. Every international print publication of repute today produces at least one brilliant graphics/interactive/visual explainers every month. Videos now seem to be passe for presenting such information today.
4) Online NEWS: As TV and print news became noise, opinion and one-sided, small independent NEWS websites boomed. Many of them now have started producing brilliant video and audio content and putting it up on YouTube and the like. Many of the journals produced great podcasts, video interviews, explainers and explainers.
5) AYUSH: After “fomite transmission” brought panic buying for hand washes, sanitisers and a new category called vegetable wash, immunity booster brought back the age old tradition of Ayurveda and the dubious Homeopathy into limelight. Chyawanprash was the first product to have an RCT, followed by a hastily done one for a Coronil. Now, every thing with a twig or leaf or root calls itself Ayurvedic and sells.
