All Blogs
Wikimedia Education SAARC Conference 2019
Christ University in association with the Centre for Internet & Society's Access to Knowledge team (CIS-A2K) organized a conference, from 20 - 22 June 2019, at Christ University, Bengaluru. Forty-nine Wikimedians from four countries (Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, and India) participated in the event.
Unpacking video-based surveillance in New Delhi
Aayush Rathi and Ambika Tandon presented at an international workshop on 'Urban Data, Inequality and Justice in the Global South', on 14 June 2019, at the University of Manchester. The agenda for the workshop and the slides from the presentation by Aayush and Ambika are available below.
Staying silent about cyberbullying is no longer an option
Cyberbullying is the dangerous new normal.
Karavali Wikimedians at All India Radio, Mangaluru
This blog is about the experience of visiting All India Radio Mangaluru station as a part of the Karavali Wikimedians outreach program.
Call for Design Interns
CIS is seeking graphic design interns to create communication material (information and data visualizations, publication layouts, presentations, etc.) for our projects. The intern will assist our researchers in presenting their research in accessible and easy-to-understand forms, as well as design social media collaterals. They will be working with a multi-disciplinary team across two cities, and be supervised by a designer.
Data bleeding everywhere: a story of period trackers
This is an excerpt from an essay by Sadaf Khan, written for and published as part of the Bodies of Evidence collection of Deep Dives. The Bodies of Evidence collection, edited by Bishakha Datta and Richa Kaul Padte, is a collaboration between Point of View and the Centre for Internet and Society, undertaken as part of the Big Data for Development Network supported by International Development Research Centre, Canada.
5G Aspirations and Realities
What the government can do for 5G and Digital India with a Systems Approach.
What is Wikimedia Education SAARC Conference?
The Wikimedia Education SAARC conference is on 20th June 2019. A conference for Wikimedians, Wikimedia education leaders, educators and researchers engaged with Open Education and free knowledge movement.
MoU between PAH Solapur University & CIS-A2K
CIS-A2K is working in collaboration with PAH Solapur University, Solapur in Maharashtra on Wikimedia projects. The Mass Communication and Journalism departments are involved in content generation on Marathi Wikipedia & Commons.
The Huawei bogey
India needs to prove company aids Chinese government, or risk playing into US hands.
Picking ‘Wholes’ - Thinking in Systems Workshop
A System's Thinking masterclass was conducted by Dinesh Korjan on 27th and 28th May in the CIS Delhi office.
Should India adopt Plan S to realise Open Access to Public-funded Scientific Research?
Timely and affordable access to scientific research remains a problem in this digital day and age. Around three decades ago, the radical response that emerged was making public-funded scientific research “open access”, i.e. publishing it on the Web without any legal, technical or financial barriers to access and use such research. Several Indian public research institutions also adopted open access mandates and built self-archiving digital tools, however, the efforts haven’t yielded much. Most countries including India, continue to struggle with implementing open access. The latest international initiative (created in Europe) to remedy this problem is Plan S. Plan S is has been positioned as a strategy to implement immediate open access to scientific publications from 2021 – which India is considering adopting. This article unpacks the disorderly growth of open access in India, and discusses the gap between the Plan's vision and current Indian scenario in some respects.
Wikisource Workshop at Vigyan Ashram, Pabal
The Centre for Internet & Society's Access to Knowledge team (CIS-A2K) organized a workshop in collaboration with Vigyan Ashram, Pabal on May 25-26, 2019 at Pabal. Total 12 participants attended sessions during this two days workshop. The basic skills in digitisation, uploading on Commons and Wikisource process were imparted in the workshop. Jayanta Nath was the facilitator.
Open Data and Land Ownership
In this chapter of the recently published volume on State of Open Data, Tim Davies and Sumandro Chattapadhyay discuss how the lessons from the land ownership field highlight the political nature of data, and illustrate the importance of politically aware interventions when creating open data standards, infrastructure, and ecosystems. State of Open Data, edited by Tim Davies, Stephen B. Walker, Mor Rubinstein, and Fernando Perini, is published by African Minds and International Development Research Centre, Canada.
Can data ever know who we really are?
This is an excerpt from an essay by Zara Rahman, written for and published as part of the Bodies of Evidence collection of Deep Dives. The Bodies of Evidence collection, edited by Bishakha Datta and Richa Kaul Padte, is a collaboration between Point of View and the Centre for Internet and Society, undertaken as part of the Big Data for Development Network supported by International Development Research Centre, Canada.
Project Tiger 2019 Coordinator position open
To contribute to support, and coordinate of the work of the Project Tiger, we are looking for a creative, dedicated individual to join the team as a coordinator. Please note that women, especially those from socioeconomically marginalized communities, and women who are returning to work after a hiatus will be given preference.
Digital Native: Three things we need to realise about what TikTok is doing to us
Fifteen seconds is all that will take for TikTok to own you.
CIS-A2K Communication Officer position
The Centre for Internet & Society (CIS) is seeking applications only from prospective candidates who identify themselves as women, for the position of Programme Officer (Communications, the position is also known as Communication Officer), to support its Access to Knowledge (CIS-A2K) Programme. The job application is open to women only because we feel that a woman communications person will contribute more towards bridging the gender gap in the Wikimedia movement by emphasising on gender-sensitive communication apart from contributing internally for bringing a gender balance in the team.
Wikidata Advisor (Consultant) position open
The Access to Knowledge team of the Centre for Internet and Society is seeking applications for the position of Wikidata Advisor (consultant), to support its Access to Knowledge (CIS-A2K) Programme.
Announcement of a Three-Region Research Alliance on the Appropriate Use of Digital Identity
Omidyar Network has recently announced its decision to invest in establishment of a three-region research alliance — to be co-led by the Institute for Technology & Society (ITS), Brazil, the Centre for Intellectual Property and Information Technology Law (CIPIT) , Kenya, and the CIS, India — on the Appropriate Use of Digital Identity. As part of this Alliance, we at the CIS will look at the policy objectives of digital identity projects, how technological policy choices can be thought through to meet the objectives, and how legitimate uses of a digital identity framework may be evaluated.
