Centre for Internet & Society

The key mandate of the Access to Knowledge project at CIS (CIS-A2K) is to work towards catalysing the growth of the open knowledge movement in south Asia and in Indic languages. From September 2012, CIS has been actively involved in growing the open knowledge movement in India through a grant received from the Wikimedia Foundation (WMF). The current focus of the CIS-A2K team spans over 5 language areas (Kannada, Konkani, Marathi, Odia, and Telugu), 2 community strengthening initiatives, and 6 stand-alone Wikimedia projects.

CIS-A2K Logo

Mission

The mission of CIS-A2K is to catalyze the growth of open knowledge movement in South Asia and in Indic languages. Within the Wikimedia universe CIS-A2K specifically strives to further grow the Indic and English Wikimedia projects and communities by:

  • supporting and serving the Indian Wikimedia communities in all possible ways;
  • building institutional partnerships;
  • bringing more content under free license;
  • designing and executing projects with community participation;
  • strengthening the Wikimedia volunteers; and
  • fostering and enabling an appropriate legal and technological ecosystem.

 

Work Plans

Work plans and other programme documents can be accessed here:

 

Activities and Feedback

If you have a general proposal/suggestion for Access to Knowledge team you can write on the requests page. If you have appreciations or feedback on our work, please share it on feedback page.

 

Recent Posts

Typography Day 2016 by Prasad Krishna — last modified Apr 24, 2016 03:16 PM
Typography Day was organized for the 9th time at Srishti Institute of Art, Design and Technology, Bangalore in collaboration with the Industrial Design Centre (IDC), Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT Bombay) with support from India Design Association (InDeAs) and Aksharaya.
Odia gets more space in e-world by Prasad Krishna — last modified Apr 24, 2016 02:57 PM
A survey conducted by the Odia Wikipedia community and the Centre for Internet and Society reveals that the online presence of Odia language is gradually increasing.
Blog Entry Introducing Odia Wikipedia to students of Utkal University, Bhubaneswar by Sailesh Patnaik — last modified May 20, 2016 10:52 AM
A four-hour-long workshop was organised at Utkal University, Bhubaneswar, Odisha on February 25, 2016 for the students of Master of Computer Applications (MCA) and Master in Arts, Department of Odia-language.
Blog Entry Celebrating the 13th anniversary of Kannada Wikipedia by Subhashish Panigrahi — last modified May 23, 2016 09:08 AM
The Kannada-language Wikipedia, arguably the largest online encyclopedia in Kannada language, celebrated its 13th anniversary on February 14, 2016 in Mangalore.
Blog Entry Edit-a-thon organised at Christ University Bangalore to celebrate Women’s Day by Ananth Subray — last modified May 20, 2016 01:47 PM
A day-long edit-a-thon was organised at Christ University Bangalore on March 12, 2016 to celebrate the Women’s Day and grow the women-related articles on Kannada Wikipedia.
Blog Entry CIS - A2K Work Plan: July 2016 - June 2017 by Sunil Abraham — last modified Apr 29, 2016 09:36 AM
One of the key mandates of the Access to Knowledge (A2K) program at the Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) is to work towards catalyzing the growth of the free and open knowledge movement in Indic languages. CIS has been a steward of the Wikimedia movement in India since December 2008. Since September 2012, we at CIS-A2K, have been actively involved in growing the movement in India through (i) a grant received from the Wikimedia Foundation (WMF) for the period September 2012 - June 2014, (ii) the FDC Grant received for the period July 2014 - June 2015 and (iii) the FDC Grant received for the period July 2015 - June 2016. Based on the productive experience of working with various Indic Wikimedia communities, CIS-A2K has developed this work plan for July 2016 to June 2017.
BHASHA - Indian Languages Digital Festival by Prasad Krishna — last modified Jun 18, 2016 05:14 PM
Subhashish Panigrahi gave a talk at the Bhasha- India Languages Digital Festival a conference organized by news media YourStory, at New Delhi on March 11, 2016. In the panel "The challenges of making regional language content available on the Web and on mobiles" Panigrahi spoke about some of the challenges in growing the Indian-language Wikipedia projects and the communities.
Blog Entry 8 Challenges In Growing Indian-Language Wikipedias by Prasad Krishna — last modified Jun 18, 2016 05:11 PM
While speaking at BHASHA: Indian Languages Digital Festival, a day-long discourse at New Delhi on Indian languages and their state in new media, especially digital platforms, I touched upon Wikipedia in Indian languages. Most people, in fact, do not even know that Wikipedia exists in many Indian languages.
Blog Entry Eight Challenges That Indian-Language Wikipedias Need to Overcome by Subhashish Panigrahi — last modified Mar 29, 2016 05:05 PM
Even after a decade of existence, Indian language Wikipedias are not yet known to many Indian language speakers. Wikipedia, being the largest available encyclopedia made in the human history, it what it is today because of the hundreds and thousands of volunteer-editors. But while native-language Wikipedias are becoming game-changers in other corners of the world, the scenario in India is skewed. In my experience, here are a number of challenges that Indian-language Wikipedias are currently facing.
Blog Entry 8 Challenges for Improving Indian Language Wikipedias by Subhashish Panigrahi — last modified Mar 29, 2016 05:05 PM
After more than 10 years in existence, the Indian-language Wikipedias still are not known to many Indian language speakers. Wikipedia became the largest encyclopedia in history as a result of thousands of volunteer editors.