Centre for Internet & Society

Institute for Internet & Society 2014, Pune

Last month, activists, journalists, researchers, and members of civil society came together at the 2014 Institute for Internet & Society in Pune, which was hosted by CIS and funded by the Ford Foundation. The Institute was a week long, in which participants heard from speakers from various backgrounds on issues arising out of the intersection of internet and society, such as intellectual property, freedom of expression, and accessibility, to name a few. Below is an official reporting summarizing sessions that took place.

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Indian Wikimedia community coordinates Women’s History Month

Posted by Jeph Paul and Netha Hussain at Mar 06, 2014 11:49 AM |

The Indian Wikimedia community is pleased to invite you to participate in Women’s History Month events, 2014. We started off with a pre-event Wikipedia workshop at Roshni Nilaya School of Social Work, in Mangalore on the 26th of February.

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Odia Language's Presence in Digital Media and Wikipedia's Role

Posted by Subhashish Panigrahi at Mar 05, 2014 11:20 AM |

କମ୍ପ୍ୟୁଟରରେ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଭାଷା (Odia language in computer) is an essay published in Odia newspaper "The Samaja's Sunday supplement" on March 2. It is about the journey of Odia language in the digital era and the challenges faced during digitization of books and manuscripts.

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First Urdu Wikipedia Workshop at Maulana Azad National Urdu University, Hyderabad

First Urdu Wikipedia Workshop at Maulana Azad National Urdu University, Hyderabad

Posted by Syed Muzammiluddin at Mar 04, 2014 10:50 PM |

During the second week of February, Centre for Internet and Society (CIS), Bangalore received a call from Dr Faheemuddin, Assistant Professor, Department of Translation Studies, Maulana Azad National Urdu University, Hyderabad requesting an Urdu Wikipedia Workshop in University. We were informed of special interest of Dr Zafaruddin , Head, Department of Translation studies in holding the event as any effort aimed at expanding the Urdu Wikipedia will benefit the Urdu language community across the world.

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Tewiki 10th Anniversary

Tewiki 10th Anniversary

Posted by Rahmanuddin Shaikh at Feb 15, 2014 09:00 PM |

Tewiki 10th anniversary celebration 2014, started on February 15 in Vijayawada at Kakaraparti Bhavanarayana College. It was co-organized by the Centre for Internet and Society's Access to Knowledge (CIS-A2K) team and the Telugu Wikipedia community. Ch.Arjuna Rao expressed his happiness on Telugu Wikipedias completion of 10 years and 55000 articles in Telugu on the inauguration of decade celebrations.

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Can Judges Order ISPs to Block Websites for Copyright Infringement? (Part 3)

Posted by Ananth Padmanabhan at Feb 14, 2014 05:13 AM |

In a three-part study, Ananth Padmanabhan examines the "John Doe" orders that courts have passed against ISPs, which entertainment companies have used to block dozens, if not hundreds, of websites. In this, the third and concluding part, he looks at the Indian law in the Copyright Act and the Information Technology Act, and concludes that both those laws restrain courts and private companies from ordering an ISP to block a website for copyright infringement.

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Can Judges Order ISPs to Block Websites for Copyright Infringement? (Part 2)

Posted by Ananth Padmanabhan at Feb 05, 2014 05:10 PM |

In a three-part study, Ananth Padmanabhan examines the "John Doe" orders that courts have passed against ISPs, which entertainment companies have used to block dozens, if not hundreds, of websites. In this, the second part, he looks at the law laid down by the U.S. Supreme Court and the Delhi High Court on secondary and contributory copyright infringement, and finds that those wouldn't allow Indian courts to grant "John Doe" orders against ISPs.

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Odia Wikipedia: Three Years of Active Contributions Gives Life to a Ten Year Old Project

Odia Wikipedia: Three Years of Active Contributions Gives Life to a Ten Year Old Project

Posted by Subhashish Panigrahi at Jan 31, 2014 09:00 PM |

Odia Wikipedia has carved its mark as the largest online encyclopedia in Odia language that is edited by a volunteer editor community.

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The Game of IPR: Insights from the 6th Global Intellectual Property Convention in Hyderabad

Posted by Samantha Cassar at Jan 31, 2014 09:30 AM |

IP practitioners and IP creators were among the 1700 participants to gather at the Hyderabad International Convention Centre earlier this month. Here, CIS had the opportunity of listening in on perspectives around the “Optimization of economic value of innovation & IPR in the global market” while attending numerous talks and sessions that were held over the course of the convention’s three days.

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Open Letter to the Vatican: Request for Holy See to Comment on IPR

Due to the Holy See’s demonstrated pro-access position to medicines and published materials for persons with disabilities, the Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) requested for His Excellency, Archbishop Silvano M. Tomasi, to also consider copyrights, patents or IPR more generally, as the Holy See’s Permanent Observer at WIPO. We strongly encourage other organizations and civil society groups to modify this letter, as needed, and to contact the Holy See Mission to the United Nations (and WIPO) in Geneva in order to help us prompt His Excellency to contribute to the international dialogue on IPR.

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Can Judges Order ISPs to Block Websites for Copyright Infringement? (Part 1)

Posted by Ananth Padmanabhan at Jan 30, 2014 11:00 AM |

In a three-part study, Ananth Padmanabhan examines the "John Doe" orders that courts have passed against ISPs, which entertainment companies have used to block dozens, if not hundreds, of websites. In this part, he looks at the theory behind John Doe orders and finds that it would be wrong for Indian courts to grant "John Doe" orders against ISPs.

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Wikipedia Editing as Assessment Tool in the Indian Higher Education Classroom

Posted by Dr. Tejaswini Niranjana, Ashwin Kumar A.P. and T. Vishnu Vardhan at Jan 30, 2014 06:10 AM |

Getting students to create and edit Wikipedia entries in English and Indian languages can be a comprehensive assessment tool at the Bachelor’s and Master’s levels. Both levels of higher education require the demonstration of the ability to present knowledge in encyclopaedic form, which can be done by a good review of relevant literature and the showcasing of key arguments in the field.

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Wikipedia at Forefront in Christ University

Posted by Syed Muzammiluddin at Jan 29, 2014 02:00 PM |

Wikipedia has entered Indian undergraduate language classroom in Christ University, Bangalore. Recently the Access to Knowledge team from the Centre for Internet and Society (CIS-A2K) organized a series of events in Christ University. This blog post provides a brief analysis of the outcome.

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WikiSangamotsavam 2013 brings Indian Wikimedians together

WikiSangamotsavam 2013 brings Indian Wikimedians together

Posted by Netha Hussain and Subhashish Panigrahi at Jan 14, 2014 10:00 PM |

WikiSangamotsavam, the annual conference of Malayalam Wikimedians, took place in Alappuzha, Kerala from December 21 to 23, 2013. The conference brought together around 200 Wikimedians and well-wishers from all over India.

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CIS-A2K, KIIT University and Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences sign MoUs

Posted by Subhashish Panigrahi at Jan 11, 2014 10:50 PM |

KIIT University, Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences and the Centre for Internet and Society's Access to Knowledge team (CIS-A2K) have entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoUs) for furthering Odia Wikipedia.

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CIS-A2K: Work Accomplished on Konkani Wikipedia

The Centre for Internet and Society’s Access to Knowledge (CIS-A2K team) is pleased to share with you the key accomplishments about the work it accomplished on Konkani Wikipedia from September to December 2013 in this report. In accordance with the Centre for Internet and Society’s Access to Knowledge Program’s (CIS-A2K) Konkani Work Plan 2013-14 the program has invested time and effort to build Konkani Wikimedia community and projects.

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Telugu Wikipedia completes 10 years

Telugu Wikipedia completes 10 years

Posted by Rahmanuddin Shaikh at Dec 31, 2013 04:15 AM |

Telugu Wikipedia completed 10 years on December 10, 2013. Several training sessions, aka Wiki Academies, were planned by the Telugu Wikipedia community to mark the occasion.

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CIS Statement on Limitations and Exceptions for Education, Teaching and Research Institutions and Persons with Other Disabilities

Posted by Nehaa Chaudhari at Dec 20, 2013 09:10 PM |
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Nehaa Chaudhari on behalf of the Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) made this statement at the WIPO-SCCR on December 20, 2013.

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WIPO Broadcast Treaty- SCCR 26 : Proposals Introduced

Posted by Nehaa Chaudhari at Dec 17, 2013 10:00 PM |
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India and the United States introduced proposals for discussion at the ongoing session of the SCCR.

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Pooja Tople on Wikimedia Projects

Posted by Nitika Tandon at Dec 17, 2013 10:00 AM |

The Centre for Internet and Society's Access to Knowledge team (CIS-A2K) in collaboration with the Goa University is working to build Konkani Wikipedia. As part of this program it organised the Konkani Vishwakosh Digitization Program recently.

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