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New Contexts and Sites of Humanities Practice in the Digital (Paper)
The ubiquitous presence of the ‘digital’ over the couple of decades has brought with it several important changes in interdisciplinary forms of research and knowledge production. Particularly in the arts and humanities, the role of digital technologies and internet has always been a rather contentious one, with more debate spurred now due to the growth of fields like humanities computing, digital humanities (henceforth DH) and cultural analytics. Even as these fields signal several shifts in scholarship, pedagogy and practice, portending a futuristic imagination of the role of technology in academia and practice on the one hand, they also reflect continuing challenges related to the digital divide, and more specifically politics around the growth and sustenance of the humanities disciplines. A specific criticism within more recent debates around the origin story of DH in fact, has been its Anglo-American framing, drawing upon a history in humanities computing and textual studies, and located within a larger neoliberal imagination of the university and academia. While this has been met with resistance from across different spaces, thus calling for more diversity and representation in the discourse, it is also reflective of the need to trace and contextualize more local forms of practice and pedagogy in the digital as efforts to address these global concerns. This essay by Puthiya Purayil Sneha draws upon excerpts from a study on the field of DH and related practices in India, to outline the diverse contexts of humanities practice with the advent of the digital and explore the developing discourse around DH in the Indian context.
Comments on the Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference Regulations
This submission presents comments by the Centre for Internet & Society, India (“CIS”) on the Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference Regulations which was released to the public by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on 29th May 2018 for comments and views.
Comments on the Draft Digital Communications Policy
This submission presents comments by the Centre for Internet & Society, India (“CIS”) on the Draft Digital Communications Policy which was released to the public by the Department of Telecommunications of the Ministry of Communications on 1st May 2018 for comments and views.
NITI Aayog Discussion Paper: An aspirational step towards India’s AI policy
The National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence — a discussion paper on India’s path forward in AI, is a welcome step towards a comprehensive document that reflects the government's AI ambitions. The 115-page discussion paper attempts to be an all encompassing document looking at a host of AI related issues including privacy, security, ethics, fairness, transparency and accountability.
Why NPCI and Facebook need urgent regulatory attention
The world’s oldest networked infrastructure, money, is increasingly dematerialising and fusing with the world’s latest networked infrastructure, the Internet.
Network Disruptions Report by Global Network Initiative
Around 70% of all known shutdowns in the world took place in India in 2017. The same year Telecom Authority of India (TRAI) released the “Temporary Suspension of Internet Services” giving State and Central Government officials the power to terminate Internet services as per the guidelines.
Comments on the Draft National Policy on Official Statistics
This submission presents comments by the Centre for Internet & Society, India (“CIS”) on the Draft National Policy on Official Statistics which was released to the public by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation on 17th May 2018 for comments and views.
Digital Native: Web of Wander
The idea of travel as a way of expanding our horizon has now been made redundant.
CIS contributes to ABLI Compendium on Regulation of Cross-Border Transfers of Personal Data in Asia
The Asian Business Law Institute, based in Singapore published a compendium on “Regulation of cross-border transfer of personal data in Asia”. This was part of an exercise to explore legal convergence around issues such as data protection, enforcement of foreign judgments and principle of restructuring in Asia.
36th SCCR: CIS Statement on Draft Action Plan for Educational and Research Institutions and Persons with Other Disabilities
Anubha Sinha, attending the 36th Session of the World Intellectual Property Organization (“WIPO”) Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (“SCCR”) at Geneva from May 28, 2018 to June 1, 2018, made this statement on the Proposed Treaty for the Protection of Broadcasting Organizations on behalf of CIS on Day 4, May 31.
36th SCCR: CIS Statement on the Draft Action Plan for Libraries, Archives and Museums
Anubha Sinha, attending the 36th Session of the World Intellectual Property Organization (“WIPO”) Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (“SCCR”) at Geneva from May 28, 2018 to June 1, 2018, made this statement on the Draft Action Plan on advancing limitations and exceptions for libraries, archives and Museums on behalf of CIS on Day 3, May 30.
36th SCCR: CIS Statement on Limitations and Exceptions Agenda
Anubha Sinha, attending the 36th Session of the World Intellectual Property Organization (“WIPO”) Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (“SCCR”) at Geneva from May 28, 2018 to June 1, 2018, made this statement on the Limitations and Exceptions agenda on behalf of CIS on Day 3, May 30.
Design Concerns in Creating Privacy Notices
The purpose of privacy notices and choice mechanisms is to notify users of the data practices of a system, so they can make informed privacy decisions.
NGOs circulate letter at WIPO SCCR/36 raising serious concerns about draft Broadcasting Treaty
At the 36th Meeting of the Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR) at the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), negotiations on the Broadcasting Treaty continue - this time with a sense of urgency to present results of the 20 year negotiations to the UN General Assembly, scheduled in September this year. There remain long-pending issues within the Treaty, which have largely been ignored or weakly acknowledged by the Committee. In view of the threats that this Treaty poses to Access to Knowledge and the mission of educators, archivists, researchers, libraries and creators, NGOs at WIPO (including CIS) have circulated the letter below.
36th SCCR: CIS Statement on the Proposed Treaty for the Protection of Broadcasting Organizations
Anubha Sinha, attending the 36th Session of the World Intellectual Property Organization (“WIPO”) Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (“SCCR”) at Geneva from May 28, 2018 to June 1, 2018, made this statement on the Proposed Treaty for the Protection of Broadcasting Organizations on behalf of CIS on Day 1, May 28.
DIDP Request #30 - Employee remuneration structure at ICANN
We have requested ICANN to disclose the employee pay structure at ICANN with specific enquiries about the payment across the institutional hierarchy, gender, and region.
Indian Intermediary Liability Regime: Compliance with the Manila Principles on Intermediary Liability
This report assesses the compliance of the Indian intermediary liability framework with the Manila Principles on Intermediary Liability, and recommends substantive legislative changes to bring the legal framework in line with the Manila Principles.
Indian Women and Craft Edit-a-thon
A two-day long edit-a-thon aimed to archive the Women achievers in the field of art and craft on Kannada Wikipedia was held with the help of Srishti Institute and Janastu on 8th March and 25th March 2018.
India's Data Protection Framework Will Need to Treat Privacy as a Social and Not Just an Individual Good
The idea that technological innovations may compete with privacy of individuals assumes that there is social and/or economic good in allowing unrestricted access to data. However, it must be remembered that data is potentially a toxic asset, if it is not collected, processed, secured and shared in the appropriate way.
