STARS (Studies in Tamil Studio Archives and Society)

STARS (Studies in Tamil Studio Archives and Society) has since 2015 been building a physical and digital archive of Tamil studio photography from the 1880s up to the 1980s. The exhibition "Ephemeral. New Futures for Passing Images" curated by Rahaab Allana (Alkazi Foundation) included images from the STARS physical archive held at the IFP.

Installation of Solar panels at the IFP

The IFP's heritage building is now equipped with some of the most technologically advanced equipment for managing its energy requirements. The recent retrofit undertaken included replacement of 66 hp of inefficient air conditioning and replacing it with a smarter 52 Hp Layout using Variable refrigerant Flow technology (VRF), resulting in lower energy and power demand.

The IFP is now also home to a state-of-the-art non penetrable 25 KW Solar plant with Solar Edge generation system which delivers highest efficiency. The plant produces an average of 100 Units of energy every day and with a peak energy production of 139 Units a day. The plant since installation has saved 3879 Kgs of CO2 .

Publishing on the OpenEdition platform

Since its founding in 1954, the French Institute of Pondicherry (IFP) has published several hundred scientific books, monographs and collective works as part of its research activity. The distribution of these books has been restricted until now due to their paper format and limited print-run. However, today it is possible to compensate for this through electronic/online distribution.

To ensure better distribution and visibility of the books -- many of which are out of print -- the IFP is partnering with OpenEdition Books (https://books.openedition.org), an international platform for the electronic distribution of books in humanities and social sciences. Once the IFP's books are distributed on OpenEdition Books in open access, they will get a new lease of life and will help in the dissemination of research carried out at the IFP. The model proposed by OpenEdition makes it possible to reconcile free access dissemination in html (without any geographical, technical or financial barriers) with the commercial distribution of detachable formats (pdf, epub) to university libraries and individual clients via an electronic bookshop.

The titles were chosen for their scientific interest and the technical feasibility of putting them online. The full process of uploading should take about a year.