All Blogs
Mini Workshop on Tools: Wikipedia Monthly Meetup, Hyderabad
Telugu Wikipedia community held its monthly meet-up in Hyderabad on 28 August 2016.
Marathi Wikipedia Edit-a-thon at Sangli, Maharashtra
A Marathi Wikipedia Edit-a-thon was conducted at Willingdon College, Sangli on 18 January, 2017
Digital transitions in the newsroom: How are Indian language papers adapting differently?
In a new report published by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism and Centre for Internet and Society, Zeenab Aneez explores how Indian newsrooms are adapting their workflow and processes to cater to an increasing digital audience and the implications these changes have on how journalists produce news.
Super Cassettes v. MySpace (Redux)
The latest judgment in the matter of Super Cassettes v. MySpace is a landmark and progressive ruling, which strengthens the safe harbor immunity enjoyed by Internet intermediaries in India. It interprets the provisions of the IT Act, 2000 and the Copyright Act, 1957 to restore safe harbor immunity to intermediaries even in the case of copyright claims. It also relieves MySpace from pre-screening user-uploaded content, endeavouring to strike a balance between free speech and censorship. CIS was one of the intervenors in the case, and has been duly acknowledged in the judgment.
Global Governance Futures 2027 - Session 3, New Delhi
The Global Governance Futures program (GGF) initiated by Global Public Policy Institute and supported by Robert Bosch Stiftung brings together young professionals to look ahead ten years and recommend ways to address global challenges. Sumandro Chattapadhyay will join Ankhi Das (Facebook) and Arun Mohan Sukumar (Observer Research Foundation) on Tuesday, January 17, to discuss the "data governance" scenarios developed by the GGF 2027 Fellows.
Social Media Monitoring
We see a trend of social media and communication monitoring and surveillance initiatives in India which have the potential to create a chilling effect on free speech online and raises question about the privacy of individuals. In this paper, Amber Sinha looks at social media monitoring as a tool for surveillance, the current state of social media surveillance in India, and evaluate how the existing regulatory framework in India may deal with such practices in future.
Comments on the Proposed ICANN Community Anti-Harassment Policy
ICANN sought community input on the Proposed ICANN Community Anti-Harassment Policy on 7 November 2016. In response to this the Centre for Internet & Society (CIS) submitted its comments.
Comments on the Report of the Committee on Digital Payments (December 2016)
The Committee on Digital Payments constituted by the Ministry of Finance and chaired by Ratan P. Watal, Principal Advisor, NITI Aayog, submitted its report on the "Medium Term Recommendations to Strengthen Digital Payments Ecosystem" on December 09, 2016. The report was made public on December 27, and comments were sought from the general public. Here are the comments submitted by the Centre for Internet and Society.
Telugu Wikipedia stall at Vijayawada Book Festival
The Telugu Wikipedia community put up a stall at the Vijayawada Book Festival in January, in order to increase reach of the regional language encyclopaedia.
Google-translated Telugu articles prioritisation exercise: January iteration
The January iteration of the Google-translated Telugu articles prioritisation exercise took place online.
Mini TTT and MWT held in Kolkata
A regional version of Train The Trainer and MediaWiki Training was recently conducted in Kolkata.
Digital Native: The Dream of the Cyborg
We have arrived at hybrid realities, where the technological and the human cannot be separated. The digital future we had once imagined is already here.
Adikavi Nannaya University Telugu Wikipedia Workshop
A Telugu Wikipedia introductory workshop was conducted for the students of Adikavi Nannaya University, Rajahmundry between 6- 7 January, 2017.
Orientation & Training session of Jalbiradari Activists
An Orientation & Training session of Jalbiradari Activists was held on 4 January, 2017
New Media, personalisation and the role of algorithms
In his much acclaimed book, The Filter Bubble, Eli Pariser explains how personalisation of services on the web works and laments that they are creating individual bubbles for each user, which run counter to the idea of the Internet as an inherently open place. While Pariser’s book looks at the practices of various large companies providing online services, he briefly touches upon the role of new media such as search engines and social media portals in new curation. Building upon Pariser’s unexplored argument, this article looks at the impact of algorithmic decision-making and Big Data in the context of news reporting and curation.
Mapping of Sections in India’s MLAT Agreements
This set of infographics by Leilah Elmokadem and Saumyaa Naidu maps out and compares the various sections that exist in the 39 MLATs (mutual legal assistance treaty) between India and other countries. An MLAT is an agreement between two or more countries, drafted for the purpose of gathering and exchanging information in an effort to enforce public or criminal laws.
P.P. Sneha - Mapping Digital Humanities in India
It gives us great pleasure to publish the second title of the CIS Papers series. This report by P.P. Sneha comes out of an extended research project supported by the Kusuma Trust. The study undertook a detailed mapping of digital practices in arts and humanities scholarship, both emerging and established, in India. Beginning with an understanding of Digital Humanities as a 'found term' in the Indian context, the study explores the discussion and debate about the changes in humanities practice, scholarship and pedagogy that have come about with the digital turn. Further it inquires about the spaces and roles of digital technologies in the humanities, and by extension in the arts, media, and creative practice today; transformations in the objects and methods of study and practice in these spaces; and the shifts in the imagination of the ‘digital’ itself, and its linkages with humanities practices.
Ongoing Proof-reading Effort by ALC Student Wikimedians in Telugu Wikisource
Student Wikimedians at Andhra Loyola College, Vijayawada formatted and proof-read more than 1,900 folios in Telugu Wikisource during the last few weeks of November (2016). Each day, a group of twenty students uses the lab facility provided by the college after regular classes to make necessary formatting changes and fix spelling mistakes in the folios of books available in Telugu Wikisource. Till date, the student Wikipedians have proofread eight books.
Mapping of India’s Cyber Security-Related Bilateral Agreements
With the rapid spread of cloud computing and the growth of cyber spaces, large masses of information are now easily transmittable transnationally, necessitating the ratification of new agreements and cooperation efforts amongst states in order to secure cyber spaces and regulate exchanges of information. In an attempt to understand the nature and extent of current international collaborative efforts in cyber security, we have compiled the following data regarding India’s cyber security-related bilateral agreements. The intention of this exercise is to offer a dynamic visualization that demonstrates which countries India has collaborated with on cyber security efforts and initiatives. This is an ongoing map that we will be updating as our research continues.
Incident Response Requirements in Indian Law
Cyber incidents have serious consequences for societies, nations, and those who are victimised by them. The theft, exploitation, exposure or otherwise damage of private, financial, or other sensitive personal or commercial data and cyber attacks that damage computer systems are capable of causing lasting harm.
