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Report on the Internet Governance Forum
CIS attended the UN Internet Governance Forum in Hyderabad, December 3-7, 2008.
Workshop on Reforming the International ICT Standardization System
On Day 4, the last day, of the Internet Governance Forum, a workshop was conducted by the Dynamic Coalition on Open Standards on the reforming the international ICT standardisation system. The panellists were Bob Jolliffe of Freedom to Innovate South Africa, Sunil Abraham of the Centre for Internet and Society, Ashish Gautam of IBM India, and Aslam Raffee, Chairperson of the Government IT Officers' Council, OSS Working Group, Republic of South Africa, who moderated the session.
Report on Open Standards for GISW2008
In this report, Sunil Abraham lays out the importance and the policy implications of Open Standards.
DCOS Agreement on Procurement
On December 6, 2008, at the closing of the third Internet Governance Forum in Hyderabad, India, the Dynamic Coalition on Open Standards (DCOS), of which the Centre for Internet and Society is a member, released an agreement entitled the "Dynamic Coalition on Open Standards (DCOS) Agreement on Procurement in Support of Interoperability and Open Standards".
Justice and Difference - the first talk in 'the monster album of feminist stories'
CIS and 'the monster album of feminist stories', in relation to the Rewiring Bodies project by Asha Achuthan, hosted the first of a series of talks on cognizing feminism at the CIS premises on Cunningham Road on 14th November, 2008.
An Open Letter on Internet Governance to the UN Internet Governance Forum
This open letter brings up concerns of democratic deficit in internet governance worldwide, and is addressed to the UN Internet Governance Forum (IGF). It is to be delivered at the IGF's 3rd Annual Meeting at Hyderabad, India, from 3rd to 6th December, 2008. The signatories are Alternative Law Forum, Bangalore, Centre for Internet and Society, Bangalore, Delhi Science Forum, New Delhi, Free Software Foundation - India, IT for Change, Bangalore, and Knowledge Commons, New Delhi.
Accessibility Test Results: Government and Other Popular Websites
The CIS conducted some automated accessibility tests on a few Government web sites, including that of the National Informatics Centre, and on the web sites of some banks, medical and educational institutions. This is a report of the results.
The Accessibility Campaign--Intervention Where and How?
As a follow up to our first meeting on a national policy for accessibility, this blog entry looks at some of the important international and national provisions that deal specifically with accessibility over the internet.
The Future of the Moving Image
All dissimilar technologies are the same in their own way, but all similar technologies are uniquely different. This was probably at the core of the zeitgeist at the international seminar on “The Future of Celluloid” hosted by the Media Lab at the Jadavpur University, Kolkata, at which Nishant Shah, Director - Research CIS, presented a research paper. Practitioners, film makers, artists, theoreticians and academics, blurring the boundaries of both their roles and their disciplines and areas of interest, came together to move beyond convergence theories – to explore the continuities, conflations, contestations and confusions that Internet Technologies have led to for earlier technologies, but specifically for the technology of the moving image.
Launch of Public Juris (An Online Archive of Legal Resources)
Aparna Balachandran, Rochelle Pinto, and Abhijit Bhattacharya announce the launch of Public Juris, an online archive of legal resources.
First Meeting on a National Policy for Web Accessibility
The first meeting to discuss having a national policy for web accessibility to ensure universal and inclusive participation was held at the Centre for Internet and Society's office on 7 November 2008. It was aimed at formulating an action plan to work with the government and other private and public bodies to ensure conformity to accessibility standards for web sites.
of doctors and maps - Snippet two
This may seem like a careless swipe at the volumes of critique of technology. And yet ... I need to know ...
of doctors and maps - Snippet one
The clinic is not what it was. It is highly technologized, flooded with information systems. But what of the relationships it traditionally supported, between patient and doctor?
The Anxiety of the Future and Internet Technologies
Nishant Shah and Sunil Abraham attended the "Writing the Future" conference organised by the Humanities Department at the IIT Delhi, and supported by the CIS and the Kusuma Trust. Nishant made a presentation at the conference entitled "Some Knowledge in Search of Authority: Cyberspace, Collaborations and Confusions".
Writing the Future - IIT Delhi
The First Ever Asia-Pacific Festival of Writing: An internationally-supported event for emerging and established writers, scholars of contemporary literature from Asia and the Pacific, publishers, and all those interested in new writing from the region -- New Delhi and Shimla, India, October 2008
Proposed WIPO Treaty for Improved Access for the Visually Impaired and Reading Disabled
The Centre for Internet and Society is organising a signature campaign in India to lobby Indian government support for the proposed WIPO Treaty for Improved Access for the Visually Impaired and Reading Disabled. Signatories so far include Vidyavriksha, National Association for the Blind (Delhi), Saksham, National Federation for the Blind, Samarthanam (Bangalore), Mitrajyoti (Bangalore), Accessibility, Score Foundation, Alternative Law Forum (Bangalore), Acrodelon Technologies, Barrier Break Technologies and Enable India. This is a call for all Indian organisations and individuals to become part of this global movement to secure the rights to full and complete access and participation of the visually and reading disabled community of the world.
i4D Interview: Social Networking and Internet Access
Nishant Shah, the Director for Research at CIS, was recently interviewed in i4D in a special section looking at Social Networking and Governance, as a lead up to the Internet Governance Forum in December, in the city of Hyderabad.
Meeting on National Policy for e-Access for All
The world over, there is a move towards making the internet more accessible for persons with visual and print disabilities and for elderly persons. Many countries like the USA and UK have adopted legislation to make adherence to web accessibility standards mandatory. In India we are still relatively unaware of the importance of web accessibility. On Nov 7, 2008 at 11:00 am, the Centre for Internet and Society will host a meeting at the CIS office to discuss strategies and a plan of action to launch a campaign for making web content accessibility standards mandatory in India.
Open Access Day celebrated in India
The Centre for Internet and Society, Bangalore and the Centre for Culture, Media and Governance co-organised joint celebrations of Open Access Day in Jamia Millia Islamia campus on the 14th of October 2008. Around 50 people attended the event from different departments in Jamia there were also some participants from the Indian Linux Users Group. CIS also published an Open Access flyer on this day featuring quotations from Sam Pitroda, MS Swaminathan, Peter Suber, Alma Swan, Frederick Noronha, Barbara Kirsop and Samir Brahmachari.
Unpacking technology - beginnings
This is a work-in-progress that seeks to inaugurate a field of critical technology studies with the women-technology relationship as a unique entry point of investigation.
