Centre for Internet and Society

Centre for Study of Culture and Society seeks Programme Associate

praskrishna — 2010-04-26T06:22:35Z

The Higher Education Cell, Centre for Study of Culture and Society is looking for a Programme Associate to help develop e-content and conduct training programmes for projects under its Social Justice and Networked Higher Education Initiatives.

The job profile is as follows:

Coordinating activities for the generation of e-content ( in the form of digital course modules) to be offered at the Master’s level;
Liaising with partner institutions, universities and/or research centres to set up structures for e-tutoring and dissemination of courseware;
Working closely with colleges in three states, helping to conduct training workshops in web and multimedia technologies for undergraduate students and teachers;
Building and sustaining e-learning communities.

The candidate should be under 35 years of age and have good knowledge of computer applications and web technologies. Ability to communicate effectively with undergraduate students is a pre-requisite. The job is based in Bangalore but involves a fair amount of travel within the country. Experience in teaching/research in the higher education sector would be an additional qualification.

Consolidated honorarium will be in the range of 18,000-20,000 per month commensurate with experience. Send in applications in soft copy and hard copy along with an updated CV to:

Dr. Tejaswini Niranjana
Higher Education Cell
CSCS
827, 29th Main
Poornaprajna Layout
Uttarahalli
Bangalore 560061

Deadline: April 30, 2010. Shortlisted candidates will be interviewed in person. Those who have applied earlier need not apply

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/position-announcement

When Copyright Goes Bad

praskrishna — 2011-08-04T04:37:21Z

A part of the Access to Knowledge Project, this short film by Consumers International is available on DVD and online at A2Knetwork.org/film.

For centuries, copyright law has existed to protect creative production whilst promoting public access. But the digital age is challenging this balance and fundamentally changing how we produce, access and distribute content. Suddenly, copyright rules no longer do what they are supposed to do. They have gone bad.

This is a film about how copyright has become one of the most important consumer issues of the digital age; why corporate lobbying risks criminalising the actions of hundreds of thousands of people; and what the future holds for the fight for fairer copyright laws.

When Copyright Goes Bad is an introduction to the renegotiation of copyright and is for anyone interested in how copyright is affecting consumers. It features some of the key players in the copyright debate, including: Fred Von Lohmann - Electronic Frontier Foundation; Michael Geist - University of Ottawa Law School; Jim Killock - Open Rights Group; and Hank Shocklee - Co-founder of Public Enemy.

Quotes from When Copyright Goes Bad

“People have realised that copyright affects them every day and the direction that we’ve seen over the last few years really troubles them. That’s why so many people are speaking out.” Michael Geist

“In the U.S, over 35,000 Americans were targeted for lawsuits for downloading music. In ten years time, everyone will look back at that as incredibly unjust and ridiculous. No-one thinks that suing music fans one at a time is the business model of the future.” Fred Von Lohmann

“The industry is trying to demonise consumer behaviour. They’re trying to create the idea that it’s a moral debate: is downloading something wrong or right? Is it theft or not? These are the wrong questions and they will only ever produce the wrong answers.” Jim Killock

Making copyright, right

When Copyright Goes Bad is being released under a Creative Commons (CC) licence, which means it’s free to copy and adapt, as long as content is attributed and the same CC licence is used.
We will also be making available extended interviews with all the contributors, as well as with other experts not featured in the film, under the same CC licence at A2Knetwork.org/film. By providing access in this way we are allowing others to go on and create further work around the issue.

View it on youtube

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/when-copyright-goes-bad

April 2010 Bulletin

praskrishna — 2012-08-13T04:51:19Z

Greetings from the Centre for Internet and Society! We bring you updates of our research, events and news for the month of April 2010.

News Updates

Worries voiced over ID Project
The Government of India's Unique Identification (UID) Project came under flak at a workshop organised jointly by the Citizen Action Forum (CAF), the People's Union of Civil Liberties - Karnataka, the Alternative Law Forum and the Centre for Internet and Society - An article in The Hindu - 17th April.
http://cis-india.org/news/worries-voiced-over-id-project

UID: A debate on the Fundamental Rights
UID: A debate on the Fundamental Rights - was jointly organized by the Citizen Action Forum, People's Union for Civil Liberties - Karnataka, Alternative Law Forum and the Centre for Internet and Society on April 16th at IAT, Queens Road, Bangalore - An article in the Prajavani news paper - April 17th.
http://cis-india.org/news/uid-a-debate-on-fundamental-rights

UID is an invasion of Privacy: Experts
The Nandan Nilekani headed Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) came in for much criricism at the first of a series of debates on the issue organised in the city on Friday - Deccan Chronicle, April 17th.
http://cis-india.org/news/uid-is-an-invasion-of-privacy-experts

Experts debate on UID and rights
Bangalore, Apr 16, DHNS: A debate on ‘UID and Fundamental Rights’ organised by several city-based organisations, discussed the social, ethical issues, economic and legal issues that accompanies the UID.
http://cis-india.org/news/experts-debate-on-uid-and-rights

Amendment to Copyright Act opposed
A report on the press conference held on 15th April, at the Press Club, Bangalore: The Hindu
http://cis-india.org/news/amendment-to-copyright-act-opposed

They fight for the visually challenged
Times News Network - A report on the press conference held at the Press Club, Bangalore on 15th April, 2010.
http://cis-india.org/news/they-fight-for-the-visually-challenged

Digital Natives Research Project Coordinator
The Centre for Internet and Society, Bangalore, in collaboration with Hivos Netherlands, is looking for a Research Project Coordinator to help develop a knowledge network and coordinate international workshops for the project "Digital Natives with a Cause?"
http://cis-india.org/news/research-coordinator

Expel or not? That is the question
The decision of an international school to expel 14 students for their alleged ‘promiscuous’ behaviour has led to much debate and discussion.
http://cis-india.org/news/expel-or-not

Nokia eyes GeNext to tap mobile email mkt
Finnish handset giant banks on youth to be in the technology race
http://cis-india.org/news/nokia-eyes-genNext

Research

Critical Point of View: Videos
The Second event for the Critical Point of View reader on Wikipedia was held in Amsterdam, by the Institute of Network Cultures and the Centre for Internet and Society. A wide range of scholars, academics, researchers, practitioners, artists and users came together to discuss questions on design, analytics, access, education, theory, art, history and processes of knowledge production. The videos for the full event are now available for free viewing and dissemination.

Colour Me Political
What are the tools that Digital Natives use to mobilise groups towards a particular cause? How do they engage with crises in their immediate environments? Are they using their popular social networking sites and web 2.0 applications for merely entertainment? Or are these tools actually helping them to re-articulate the realm of the political? Nishant Shah looks at the recent Facebook Colour Meme to see how new forms of political participation and engagement are being initiated by young people across the world.
http://cis-india.org/research/dn/dn2

Meet the Web 2.0 Suicide Machine
Digital Natives live their lives differently. But sometimes, they also die their lives differently! What happens when we die online? Can the digital avatar die? What is digital life? The Web 2.0 Suicide machine that has now popularly been called the 'anti-social-networking' application brings some of these questions to the fore. As a part of the Hivos-CIS "Digital Natives with a Cause?" research programme, Nishant Shah writes about how Life on the Screen is much more than just a series of games.
http://cis-india.org/research/dn/dn1

Digital Natives with a Cause?
Digital Natives With A Cause? - a product of the Hivos-CIS collaboration charts the scholarship and practice of youth and technology with a specific attention for developing countries to create a framework that consolidates existing paradigms and informs further research and intervention within diverse contexts and cultures.
http://cis-india.org/research/dn/dnrep

Advocacy

Accessibility

e-Accessibility: A Wiki Project
Envisaged and funded by the National Internet Exchange of India, and executed by the Centre for Internet and Society, a Wiki site pertaining to issues of disability and e-accessibility has recently been launched.
http://cis-india.org/advocacy/accessibility/blog/e-accessibility-a-wiki-project

Copyright Law as a tool for Inclusion
Can Copyright Law be used as a tool for Inclusion? Rahul Cherian examines this in his blog on copyright.
http://cis-india.org/advocacy/accessibility/blog/copyright-law-as-tool-for-inclusion

Web Accessibility as a Government Mandate?
Is Web accessibility just a Government Mandate? Should private sites be ignored? Wesolowski examines this in light of the steps taken by ictQATAR to make its website accessible to W3C standards, and hopes that Qatar and eventually all other Arab nations will follow suit and make Web accessibility much more of a mandate.
http://cis-india.org/advocacy/accessibility/blog/web-accessibility-government-mandate

Intellectual Property

When Copyright Goes Bad
A part of the Access to Knowledge Project, this short film by Consumers International is available on DVD and online at A2Knetwork.org/film.
http://cis-india.org/advocacy/ipr/blog/when-copyright-goes-bad

Openness

Research Project on Open Video in India
Open Video Alliance and the Centre for Internet and Society are calling for researchers for a project on open video in India, its potentials, limitations, and recommendations on policy interventions.
http://cis-india.org/advocacy/openness/blog/open-video-research

Does the Social Web need a Googopoly?
While the utility of the new social tool Buzz is still under question, the bold move into social space taken last week by the Google Buzz team has Gmail users questioning privacy implications of the new feature. In this post, I posit that Buzz highlights two privacy challenges of the social web. First, the application has sidestepped the consensual and contextual qualities desirable of social spaces. Secondly, Google’s move highlights the increasingly competitive and convergent nature of the social media landscape.
http://cis-india.org/advocacy/openness/blog/does-the-social-web-need-a-googopoly

The (in)Visible Subject: Power, Privacy and Social Networking
In this entry, I will argue that the interplay between privacy and power on social network sites works ultimately to subject individuals to the gaze of others, or to alternatively render them invisible. Individual choices concerning privacy preferences must, therefore, be informed by the intrinsic relationship which exists between publicness/privateness and subjectivity/obscurity.
http://cis-india.org/advocacy/openness/blog/the-in-visible-subject-power-privacy-and-social-networking

Internet Governance

Does the Safe-Harbor Program Adequately Address Third Parties Online?
While many citizens outside of the US and EU benefit from the data privacy provisions the Safe Harbor Program, it remains unclear how successfully the program can govern privacy practices when third-parties continue to gain more rights over personal data. Using Facebook as a site of analysis, I will attempt to shed light on the deficiencies of the framework for addressing the complexity of data flows in the online ecosystem.
http://cis-india.org/advocacy/igov/blog/does-the-safe-harbor-program-adequately-address-third-parties-online

Sense and censorship
Sunil Abraham examines Google's crusade against censorship in China in wake of the attacks on its servers in this article published in the Indian Express.
http://cis-india.org/advocacy/igov/blog/sense-and-censorship

Report on the Fourth Internet Governance Forum for Commonwealth IGF
This report by Pranesh Prakash reflects on the question of how useful is the IGF in the light of meetings on the themes of intellectual property, freedom of speech and privacy.
http://cis-india.org/advocacy/igov/blog/report-on-fourth-IGF

Telecom

The Right Ring Tone
Focus on improving service quality with a strong partner, and not on one-shot stake sales, says Shyam Ponappa in his article published in the Business Standard on April 1, 2010.
http://cis-india.org/advocacy/telecom/blog/ring-tone

Other Advocacy

Maps for Making Change Wiki Now Open to the Public
Since December 2009, CIS has been coordinating and nurturing the Maps for Making Change project, organised in collaboration with Tactical Tech. During the past four months, participants have been on a challenging yet fertile and inspiring journey that is now slowly coming to an end. Would you like to know more about what has happened in the time that has passed? The Maps for Making Change wiki is a good place to start.
http://cis-india.org/advocacy/others/maps-for-making-change-wiki-now-open-to-the-public

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/april-2010-bulletin

Unique Identity (UID) Project: A Debate on Fundamental Rights

praskrishna — 2011-04-05T04:08:17Z

A half day workshop on unique identity number and fundamental rights is being held on Friday, 16 April, 2010 at the Institute of Agricultural Technologists in Bangalore. The event is being co-organised by Citizen Action Forum, People's Union for Civil Liberties - Karnataka, Slum Janandolana – Karnataka, Alternative Law Forum and the Centre for Internet and Society.

In the past eight to ten months, there has been much talk about the introduction of the Unique Identification for all Indian residents, i.e., the UID. The scheme proceeds from the standpoint that solving the problem of identity will result in the fixing of many other social and economic problems. However, seen against the backdrop of work on a National Population Registry, the National Intelligence Grid and other schemes that focus on the collection of data on individuals, the potential dangers to privacy and other civil liberties need to be discussed along with the stated benefits of the UID project. Given that the key laws relating to the project are not yet enacted, this is a timely exercise and an opportunity to influence change.

While the project has been hailed as a 'gamechanger' and a welfare measure, many have expressed growing concerns about the UID and its implications for ordinary citizens. Many questions are being asked about the nature, status and aims of the scheme and its implementing authority. Countries such as the UK, Australia and the USA have found similar measures unworkable with serious probability of abuse. The cost of the UID scheme is estimated at several thousand crores of rupees. Given the risks that plague identity schemes generally, we felt the need to engage the larger public in an open debate about the UID and its proposed scope, implementation, benefits and risks. The UID would affect every citizen. How it would affect each individual is something everyone should consider before deciding how to engage with the government on this issue. With the viewpoint of different panelists, we hope to provide as much information as is available now to you and take the debate forward to make the spectrum of issues transparent. The organizers listed below would like to provide a platform to kickstart a healthy, open discussion about the potential benefits and pitfalls of the scheme. This event has been jointly organized by the Citizen Action Forum, People's Union for Civil Liberties-Karnataka, the Alternative Law Forum, and the Centre for Internet and Society.

Agenda

Social/Ethical Panel- 2:30-3:30 pm
Lead Presentation	Usha Ramanathan, Centre for the Study of Developing Societies
Panelist 1	Ashok Kamat, Pratham Books
Panelist 2	Dr. Dominic, Bangalore University
Moderator	Prof. Trilochan Sastry, IIM-B
Economics Panel- 3:30-4:30 pm
Lead Presentation	R. Ramakumar, Tata Institute of Social Sciences
Panelist 1	Mathew Thomas, Citizens Action Forum
Panelist 2	Nandana Reddy , Concerned for Working Children[*]
Moderator	Rajeev Gowda, IIM-B
Legal Panel- 4:30-5:30 pm
Lead Presentation	B K Chandrashekar, former Minister of Information, INC
Panelist 1	AN Jayaram, Former Additional Solicitor General of India and Advocate General
Panelist 2	Malavika Jayaram, Centre for Internet & Society
Panelist 3	AR Nizamuddin, Former Director General of Police
5:30-6:00 pm- Wrap-up moderated by Vinay Sreenivasa and close with tea, coffee and snacks

[*] = To be confirmed

Please contact/RSVP at

Ajoy Kumar / Radha Rao

Centre for Internet and Society

No.194, 2nd 'C' Cross,

Domlur 2nd Stage,

Bangalore 560071

P: +91 80 25350955

W: www.cis-india.org

E: ajoy@cis-india.org, radha@cis-india.org

M: +919845492122

Videos

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/events/unique-identity-project

Digital Natives Research Project Coordinator

praskrishna — 2011-04-02T12:48:41Z

The Centre for Internet and Society, Bangalore, in collaboration with Hivos Netherlands, is looking for a Research Project Coordinator to help develop a knowledge network and coordinate international workshops for the project "Digital Natives with a Cause?"

The job profile is as follows:

Coordinating international workshops in liaison with regional partners to produce content for a book mapping technology mediated interventions by young people in different parts of the world.
Developing a knowledge network of stakeholders in emerging Information Societies in the Global South, to document debates, discussions and ideas in the field of Digital Natives.
Working closely with academic researchers, scholars, and practitioners in the development sector to develop content for an international website on Digital Natives.
Supervise and coordinate the production of the Digital Natives research in print and digital content.
Strategise and execute dissemination, design and collaboration strategies for developing the Digital Natives research areas.
Supervising intellectual and financial logistics for the project.

The candidate should be below 35 years of age and have fluent familiarity with digital platforms, trends, fashions and activities. Excellent communication and planning skills and the ability to work sensitively with partners in different countries and contexts are expected.

Candidates with an advanced degree in Sociology, Culture Studies, Communication and Management, with experience in international programme/project management within the development sector or those working in the field of youth-politics/youth-technology with experience in international collaborative projects will be given preference.

The job is based in Bangalore but requires a fair amount of international travel for logistical and substantial coordination. The position will open in May and is full-time. The position will be supported by two Project Associates who shall be selected in consultation with the Research Project Coordinator.

Consolidated consultation fees will be in the range of 34,000 -- 45,000 Rupees per month commensurate with experience. International travel and per diem will be provided based on established CIS standards.

Send in applications in SOFT COPY ONLY, along with an updated CV and samples of writing or project deliverables to nishant@cis-india.org by the 25th of April 2010. The Digital Natives with a Cause? Report is available on the CIS website for further reference at http://www.cis-india.org/publications/cis/nishant/dnrep.pdf/view

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/research-coordinator

Expel or not? That is the question

praskrishna — 2011-04-02T12:48:28Z

The decision of an international school to expel 14 students for their alleged ‘promiscuous’ behaviour has led to much debate and discussion.

The International School Bangalore (TISB) said the students were caught in ‘compromising positions’ on several occasions. They did not heed the school’s repeated warnings to desist from such behaviour, school authorities said.

The authorities said they had enough ‘evidence’, collected from social networking sites, to support their claim. The students would not be allowed on the campus anymore. They would, however, be allowed to take the exam in May, the authorities said.

The students have denied the charges. Many boarding institutions said that policing students was not the right approach.

Some of the widely used measures to keep a check on students include monitoring social networking sites, banning laptops on campuses, not allowing students to lock room doors, having security guards patrol campuses and insisting on house masters accompanying students to any part of the campus or hostel after school hours.

“There is no point in expelling students for such an activity,” M Srinivasan, principal, GEAR School, said. “If the students had been indulging in such activities often, what were the school authorities doing till now? There is no point making rules if you cannot enforce them. Clearly, there was a lacuna in the system,” he said.

Many schools said they keep a tab on the online activities of students. “The IT department at the school tracks the Facebook accounts of students,” Bishwajeet Bhattacharya, public relations officer, Trio World School, said. “Trio also has a presence on Facebook. The administration has appointed officials to monitor what is being posted online regarding Trio,” he said. The officials also look for objectionable materials.

Authorities, however, admitted that it was difficult to check all the online activities. “It is impossible to monitor all the social networking sites. You can use evidence from online sites, but why go to that extreme? The children are on your campus, their behaviour on campus is what you should be concerned about,” Srinivasan said.

“At the hostel, dorm wardens conduct room checks every hour,” Chenraj Jain, chairman, Jain Group of Institutions, said. “We don’t police the students. Instead, we adopt a more holistic approach,” he said.

The grey area

The International School Bangalore (TISB) said it had expelled the 14 students after collecting “enough evidence”
from social networking sites about their inappropriate behaviour. The question is: does online content have
legal validity?

Experts believe it falls in the grey area. “India does not have any specific law that restricts users from joining social networking sites just because they are below a certain age,” Sunil Abraham, executive director of the Centre for Internet and Society, Bangalore, said. “Many other countries have such laws,” he said.

“If the pictures said to be posted by the students were legal (devoid of vulgarity) and were just posted on a personal profile and not on a college group, then the school was not right in expelling them,” he said. “Students are entitled to privacy and schools shouldn’t be intruding into their privacy. If the school had used snooping software to monitor the students’ online activities, then that is also wrong,” he said. “It’s a different story if one of their classmates had forwarded the pictures to the teacher,” he added.

For link to the original story

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/expel-or-not

Nokia eyes GeNext to tap mobile email mkt

praskrishna — 2011-04-02T12:48:01Z

Finnish handset giant banks on youth to be in the technology race

In a booming market, the rich as well as the poor might like to shrink the Internet--at least while on the go.

To woo 20-something, jet-set executives and the man on the street with no computer, cellphone firm Nokia has begun to boost its mobile email market.

By targeting business users, in competition with other handheld service providers like BlackBerry, Nokia's 'all-new' E63 model has a whole range of business and personal mail and media options built in, said Viral Oza, the Finnish firm's India head of media and online marketing on Tuesday.

Unrelated, earlier mobile operator MTS launched a prepaid service with free surfing for websites like Yahoo and Wikipedia.

Airtel and BSNL also have introduced affordable Internet plans.

Oza said his company targets people aged below 25, a population segment expected to grow from the current share of 47 per cent to 55 per cent by 2016. "It is a generation that has grown with technology, entering professions, at the same time wanting to keep in touch with their friends," he said. So they get corporate mail, personal media and chatting in future. The firm is set to launch its instant messaging, Ovi Chat, in India soon, he added.

Meanwhile, there are also downloadable free email solutions, including 'pushmail', which are compatible with scores of other models, Oza said.

Pushmail that allows real-time delivery without logging in and collecting (pulling) mail manually is a boon to executives on the move. You can get icons for your Microsoft Exchange, Gmail and Yahoo on your handset--and even link your mobile to your office mail server.

At the same time, first-time email user can register with the free Ovi Mail--without using a computer. Ovi--meaning door in Finnish--is Nokia's Internet services brand that covers games, music, maps and messaging.

Observers see this as part of the technology trend in the country. Mobile email users are growing at 96 per cent a year to cross 50 million by 2014, experts note. Only six per cent of the mobile users have email access on their handsets, while 78 per cent would like to have it, Oza pointed out.

"For most of our people mobile phone will be the only way to access the Internet," said Sunil Abraham, executive director of the Centre for Internet and Society here. As opposed to personal computers, cellphones are cheap, sharable, portable and are easily chargeable.

However, Abraham noted that Nokia, a pioneer in userfriendly and innovative cellphone interfaces, now has lagged behind in the tech race and has to catch up with better and more creative features.

"You have to make it all simple and accessible," he said.

Growing from its device market, Nokia is now moving more into the Internet arena in direct competition with players like Microsoft, Yahoo, Google and Apple. Experts note that the battle among handset makers, portals and mobile telephony operators will intensify this year as economies are recovering after the slowdown.

Read the original story in India Today

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/nokia-eyes-genNext

March 2010 Bulletin

praskrishna — 2012-08-13T05:02:42Z

Greetings from the Centre for Internet and Society! We bring you updates of our research, news, and events for the month of March 2010 in this bulletin.

News Updates

An Open Answer to Office
OpenOffice with its new features is giving Microsoft Word tough competition, says Deepa Kurup in this article published in The Hindu.
http://cis-india.org/news/open-office

Upcoming Events

CPOV: Wikipedia Research Initiative
The second WikiWars conference will be held in Amsterdam from 26 to 27 March 2010
http://cis-india.org/research/conferences/conference-blogs/cpov

CI Global Meeting on A2K
CIS is a co-sponsor of the Consumers International Meeting on A2K to be held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on April 21 and 22, 2010.
http://cis-india.org/events/ci-global-meeting-a2k

Research

India Game Developer Summit Bangalore 2010
The India Game Developer Conference held at Nimhans Convention Centre on the 27th of February, 2010 was attended by Arun Menon who is working on The Gaming and Gold Project at The Centre for Internet and Society. The Developer forum brought together game developers from different sectors of the Game Production Cycle, with hardware manufacturers like Nvidia demonstrating their latest 3d technology and Software developers like Crytek and Adobe demonstrating the latest in developer tools for creating and editing games on multiple platforms.
http://cis-india.org/research/cis-raw/histories/gaming/india-game-developer-summit-in-bangalore-2010

10 Legendary Obscene Beasts
Nishant Shah analyses a peculiar event of vandalism which has now become the core of free speech and anti-censorship debates in mainland China. Looking at the structure of user generated knowledge websites and the specific event on the Chinese language encyclopaedia, 'Baidu Baike', he shows how, in cities where spaces of political spectacle and public protest are quickly diminishing, the Internet has become a tool for producing new public spaces of demonstration and protest.
http://cis-india.org/research/grants/ISShanghai/itcity4

WikiWars - A report
In this blog, Nishant Shah analyses about the WikiWars, the first of the three events held in Bangalore on January 12 and 13.
http://cis-india.org/research/conferences/conference-blogs/wwrep

Telecom

Understanding Spectrum
What is spectrum and how do government and commercial decisions on this scientific phenomenon affect public facilities and costs? Shyam Ponappa examines this in his latest blog published in the Business Standard on March 4, 2010.
http://cis-india.org/advocacy/telecom/blog/understanding-spectrum

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/march-2010-bulletin

The First IJLT-CIS Lecture Series on Jurisdictional Issues in Cyberspace

praskrishna — 2011-04-05T04:12:05Z

The IJLT-CIS Lecture Series will be held at the National Law School of India University in Bangalore on 3 April, 2010.

The Indian Journal of Law and Technology (IJLT) is the law and technology journal of the National Law School of India University, Bangalore. The Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) is a leading research organisation devoted to the study of the Internet and its interface with the society. The IJLT-CIS Annual Law Lecture Series is an effort to promote a better understanding about crucial legal issues pertaining to the Internet and other emerging technologies.

The core theme of the lecture is Jurisdictional Issues in Cyberspace. Hon'ble Dr. Justice S. Muralidhar (Judge, Delhi High Court) shall be the Chief Guest and the first speaker. The other speakers are Amit Sachdeva (Advocate, Delhi High Court), Aditya Sondhi (Advocate, Karnataka High Court) and Dr. Lorna E. Gillies (Lecturer in Law, University of Leicester).

The Lecture Series is open to all law students and the general public. There are no charges or fees applicable to participants. However, all participants are requested to register through an e-mail to “editorialboard@ijlt.in”. All student participants shall be provided certificates of participation.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/events/ijlt-cis-lecture

Critical Point of View: WikiWars II

praskrishna — 2011-04-05T04:12:17Z

The Centre for Internet and Society (Bangalore), in collaboration with the Institute of Network Cultures (Amsterdam) is hosting the second Critical Point of View (WikiWars) conference in Amsterdam on March 26 and 27, 2010. In this two day event that seeks to engage with different aspects of Wikipedia across different disciplines and practices, we invite students, researchers, Wikipedians and interested stakeholders to come and join us at WikiWars.

WikiWars brings together more than forty scholars, students, practitioners, artists and experts who have been critically reflecting upon the emergence of Wikipedia in various contexts of education, politics, resistance, art theory and practice, knowledge production, learning, pedagogy and new and alternative forms of interaction and community building.

Dates: 26th, 27th March, 2010.

Venue: Public Library Amsterdam

Programme for the event has International and National delegates presenting in panels on Wiki-Theory, Encyclopedia Histories, Wiki Art, Wikipedia Analytics, Designing Debates and Global Issues and Outlooks.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/events/wikiwars-amsterdam

CI Global Meeting on A2K

praskrishna — 2011-04-05T04:08:06Z

CIS is a co-sponsor of the Consumers International Meeting on A2K

The Consumers International Global Meeting on A2K 2010 is to be held at the Holiday Villa hotel in Subang, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on 21 and 22 April 2010.

The meeting will bring together CI members and other NGOs from around the world to discuss and collaborate on issues of access to knowledge (A2K) and communications rights. Highlights will include the launch of the Consumers International IP Watch List for 2010, the launch of CI's new film on A2K, and a preview of the results of our access barrier survey.

Don't miss the most important day on the A2K calendar for the global consumer movement!

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/events/ci-global-meeting-a2k

An open answer to Office

praskrishna — 2011-04-02T13:38:15Z

OpenOffice with its new features is giving Microsoft Word tough competition, says Deepa Kurup in this article published by The Hindu on March 14, 2010.

The decade-old OpenOffice was the Free and Open Source riposte to Microsoft's Office that has entrenched itself in the office productivity suite segment.

Originally a proprietary software application that was open-sourced by Sun Microsystems, OpenOffice has come a long way, with the release of its new-improved version 3.2. Today, having crossed 300 million downloads — a third of this over the last year — this community project is among the most successful stand-alone Open Source products.

Data legacy and incompatibility issues, as a majority of office software was already using proprietary applications, and widespread piracy, retarded early growth. Constantly competing with MS Office, it got better with successive iterations, though it has not quite caught up. The latest version, Office 2010, is due for release and offers browser versions of Word, Excel and PowerPoint, across the PC, mobile phone and browser.

Open Office 3.2

The most in-your-face improvements of Open Office 3.2 Writer are the reduced start-up time (down by 46 per cent, it claims) and more features on Calc, its spreadsheet programme. It offers improved compatibility with proprietary file formats, including password-protected files, and increased compliance with Open Document Format (ODF) standards that have now been adopted by several countries.

Why Open Office?

For starters. OpenOffice is free — as in free beer and freedom/liberty, to roughly borrow the famous Richard Stallman analogy for Free Software. So when MS Office 2007 for home users costs Rs 3,000, and between Rs.14,000 and Rs.17,000 for professionals, OpenOffice is free.

Though the frills and fancies are missing in the user interface, including simple features like a thesaurus, for a regular user what OpenOffice offers is basic and adequate.

As for the “freedom” it offers, OpenOffice has driven localisation in a big way. Sunil Abraham, director of the Centre for Internet and Society, points out that its support for language computing is key. OpenOffice is available in 26 Indian languages (led by the CDAC's BharateeyaOO team and independent FOSS communities), years before proprietary options were available. Even today, Microsoft's Office Suite offers 12 languages, while OpenOffice offers dictionaries, thesaurus, spelling and grammar check.

Though it has not been widely adopted in the way it is in Europe, there are some success stories, Mr. Abraham says. For instance, the Delhi Government and the Electronics Corporation of Tamil Nadu are migrating to OpenOffice.

New acquisition

With proprietary giant Oracle recently acquiring Sun Microsystems, the FOSS community that has contributed reams of code to Sun's Open Source project — like OpenOffice, OpenSolaris, and more importantly MySQL — is apprehensive. But with no competing Office products, there is little reason for Oracle to kill OpenOffice. Michael Bemmer, general manager of Global Business Unit, asserts OpenOffice will remain Open Source and free. “The Oracle Office product family will be the first desktop-to-web-to-mobile solution centred on the ODF document standard — running on any platform, any device.”

Link to the original article in the Hindu

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/open-office

Web Accessibility as a Government Mandate?

praskrishna — 2011-08-17T08:46:13Z

Is Web accessibility just a Government Mandate? Should private sites be ignored? Wesolowski examines this in light of the steps taken by ictQATAR to make its website accessible to W3C standards, and hopes that Qatar and eventually all other Arab nations will follow suit and make Web accessibility much more of a mandate.

Most web developers know that they should make their websites accessible to persons with disabilities, such as including captions for videos to assist the hearing impaired, designing navigation so it can be done through a keypad as opposed to a mouse and including descriptive captions for the blind. But too often developers choose fancy design over accessibility. In some countries though, accessibility is no longer an option!

In a recent white paper published by my friends at G3ict (thank you again for taking me to see the Center for the Visually Impaired when I was in Atlanta last June – inspiring!), web accessibility is examined from a policy perspective. The white paper’s editor, Nimita Narasimhan from The Center for Internet and Society in Bangalore, India, examines web accessibility policies in 15 countries and the EU in terms of scope of policies and the type of policy. Scope refers to how comprehensive a policy. Type refers to the level of enforcement in place for the policy, ranging from being only suggested guidelines to legislative mandates.

Not surprisingly, few countries currently have a high scope and high policy enforcement level (see chart below), but more and more countries are adopting guidelines and are trending towards real enforcement. The white paper notes that W3C has already developed comprehensive guidelines for countries to use, but that in countries that do not use a Latin-based language, such as here in the Gulf, the guidelines often need to be customized to fit specific online language needs.

I found it interesting how so many countries are adopting Web accessibility standards, but also how rarely they seem to have any legislative mandate behind them. In many of the countries that do have a legislative mandate, web accessibility is often tied to a broader piece of legislation dealing with persons with disabilities in general. May be this is the way for more countries to go. I also found it interesting how most legislation makes Web accessibility mandatory only for government sites, but ignores any private sites – this seems to me to very much limit the impact.

In Qatar, we are still at the early stages. ictQATAR has made its website accessible to W3C standards and has encouraged other government agencies and organizations to follow suit. This is clearly just a first step and hopefully Qatar and other Arab countries will start to make web accessibility much more of a mandate.

For original article on Digital Qatar

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/web-accessibility-government-mandate

Narrative and Gameplay in Role Playing Games

praskrishna — 2012-03-13T10:43:48Z

Not all games tell stories but narratives, gameplay, and their relational attributes are a relevant shift observed in the gaming scene, Arun Menon finds out.

This article, the second in a three-part series, examines the elements of role playing games (RPGs), the narrative versus gaming, and the questions of centrality of narratives in RPGs. It focuses and reviews the debates surrounding narratives and gameplay in RPGs.

The section looks at:

Narrative versus gameplay and games as the antithesis of narrative, interactivity and gameplay. The debates of the ludologists and the narratologists; and
Interactivity and narrative, the mechanics of the game not independent to the narrative.

Narrative versus Gameplay

The narrative vs. gameplay debate has been raging for a few years in media scholarship particularly relating to the (video) gaming industry. Where once the narrative was considered the antithesis of gameplay, there is a noticeable shift towards the former. Developers across genres are incorporating the narrative as an essential element of their products, so much so that a few of them brand themselves as the developer with a difference.

The extremely relevant shift, since the incorporation is not limited to RPGs alone, and a merger or hybridization of different genres. Academicians as well as gamers have called for a diversification of genres so that a gamer may be exposed to a broad possibility of experiences. The movement, although, seems to be in the opposite direction with hybridization of genres but without losing out on possibilities of creating multiple experiences. The Ludologists and the Narratologists differ on gaming, storytelling, and narrative structures and its working within these spaces.

Narrative: The Antithesis of Gameplay

Jesper Juul argues that computer games are not narratives and rather narratives in computer games isolates the ‘computer game-ness’. (I interpret Juul’s computer game-ness as gameplay, can also be read as the mechanics of the game). Juul’s comments are similar to many Ludologists who argue for a focus on the mechanics of gameplay rather than the study of games as media for storytelling as is done by the Narratologists. The focus on the mechanics of the game is derived from the argument that the experience of the game does not solely rest with the experience of the story. Often the narrative limits gameplay and character progression (which includes quest progression where applicable). Reading whole games as entire narratives may be problematic. Narratives may be present in minimal quantities localized within the game. Narrative structures are altogether another medium used to deliver the story. As Jenkins notes:

"Game designers don't simply tell stories. They design worlds and sculpt spaces. It is no accident, for example, that game design documents have historically been more interested in issues of level design than plotting or character motivation."

The delivery of the story through interactive game worlds create a certain process for the narrative to play out. Readings of the narrative alone without the mechanics of gameplay and its contribution would be incomplete. Henry Jenkins seems to term designers more in terms of narrative architects rather than just storytellers. Narratives within games do not conform to the classical modes of narratives, which are used when reading/interpreting games. Such a reading becomes problematic because of the heavy handed import of theory without proper application. A certain amount of incorporation of theory without sufficient examination of the process (or the architecture in Jenkins words) through which the story is told.

Interactivity and Narrative

Interactivity is the process where the game’s world responds to the player and the choices made by the player. The structure is so set up that in addition to the narrative, interactivity allows a certain response/consequence. The consequence or response of the game world does two things: a) increase the potential for an immersive environment where the gamer emotionally engages with the game and b) there are separate plot lines depending entirely on choices made by the player. For example in an epic fantasy RPG, I can ally with the good hero or the bad hero and have different choices and content that follows dependent on this and the following moral decisions. Interactivity is determined by contribution of the player (engagement with the game world, and the subsequent choices in character development/progression) and the narrative is often construed as the one set by the developer and therefore, has credible authorship (questions of authorship of the developer and the co-authorship of the player) and as such both (interactivity and narrative) are different from each other.

As noted by Henry Jenkins in his article Game Design as Narrative Architecture there is a need to acknowledge a few basic points when talking about narratives and storytelling in games. Often when talking about narratives the discussion tends to meander into irrelevant areas locating a narrative in every game where most probably none exists, narrative and storytelling are not intrinsic to the game and not all games tell stories. In one where A throws a ball to B (either can be the player or the NPC [NPC stands for non-player character(s), often found within the game, and does not necessarily have to be graphically coded in text based games. An example of this would be Eternal Duel]), the ball is not expected to bounce up and down, narrating its history and its present predicament, pleading the players character to venture out on a righteous quest [Inspired by Markku Eskelinen “… if I throw a ball at you, I don’t expect you to drop it and wait until it starts telling stories”]. It is then important to see that these aspects are limited to specific instances and specific products which in this case would be RPGs. To quote Jenkins:

"You say narrative to the average gamer and what they are apt to imagine is something on the order of a choose-your-own adventure book, a form noted for its lifelessness and mechanical exposition rather than enthralling entertainment, thematic sophistication, or character complexity."

The conceptualization of what a narrative is and how it operates within games need to be rethought since classical influences still dictate theorizations of what narratives (in games) are. The application of film theory to videogames has no doubt led to game studies being influenced particularly in areas of immersive structures and storytelling through comparison to other media.

However, such is its literal interpretation that often ‘the lenses’ used to examine a phenomenon irrevocably colours the reading. The study of a narrative does not mean that storytelling is featured above other aspects of gameplay and the experience of the playthrough is not limited to the experience of the story alone. Immersiveness necessarily does not depend only on the story but also on the fact that a story plays a relevant part in the immersiveness experienced in a role playing game. The operation of narratives in a role playing game would be far more extensive than in any of the other genres.

The ‘role-play’ in RPG involves stories on the character and its present predicament with snapshots of the past which fall into place through progression. Such a model may be observed in Bioshock. The epic fantasy genres allow more freedom largely because the central narrative, if there is one at all, is a loose structure that allows progression any one way. Progression here may be linked to moral choices that the reader makes and the characterization that the reader creates. For instance in Dragon Age: Origins a point comes when the character meets an NPC ‘Sten’ [An NPC character, who murdered an entire family including the children] who agrees to join the group and battle Darkspawn. There are points in the dialogue when Sten argues that death is his redemption and the character depending on how the player has created and visualized the character has to make a choice to either kill Sten for his crime, allow him to join the party, or just leave him caged to be a bait for Darkspawn attacks. This opportunity of making moral choices also affects gameplay and content. Including or excluding Sten in the party means access to different content.

This is where the relational aspects of interactivity and narrative play a part. Two gamers making similar choices will have different experiences based largely on those choices. Dialogue choices, character choices, events in different orders and so forth make up for different playthrough experiences for different individuals even if convergent plotlines are encountered.

Most games do have narrative aspirations. Jenkins argues that game narratives seek to tap into the emotional residues of narrative experiences in other mediums. As such there is an effort to create immersive environments (Immersive environments denote the emotional engagement/investment of the reader/gamer in the game world). Often it is not sufficiently translated into experience. All narratives would be, in this framework, a set of attempts to link with other narratives even as a baser residual or experiential form. Residual narratives are the memories of alternate predecessor narratives engaged by the gamer in the same or other mediums. For example, The Tales of Middle Earth (T.O.M.E) would be more accessible for a gamer, who has read Tolkein and watched the movies. This can also be seen in RPG formats. On a careful examination, most plotlines have some similarity with Dungeons and Dragons, one of the first and successful RPGs. There is a possibility of multiple narratives operating in the same game, experienced through an interactive mode. This is noticed in some of the new releases such as Neocore [The developers of ‘King Arthur: The Role Playing Wargame] and Bioware.

Bioware is the developer of Mass Effect and Mass Effect2, both modern RPGs with revolutionary design. Revolutionary in terms of ability to carry over a narrative into the second release by importing a saved game and observing the consequences of actions taken in the previous game, as well as cater to new players by allowing creation of new characters and entirely new interactive, responsive narratives. The same company also designed Dragon Age: Origins, which is a more traditional RPG in terms of storyline and characterizations. The Traditional RPGs follow the set models that have similarities to J. R. R. Tolkeins fictionalized world and the RPG precursor dungeons and dragons. As mentioned earlier this translates into multiple/different experiences with consecutive engagement with the same game. Since, the possibility of multiple narratives operating within the same game, through interactivity, is noticed in new releases by developers such as Neocore and to an extent in Bioware.

To conclude, narratives in games have been conceptualized and read through different perspectives. An emphasis on the mechanics of the game is relevant with any approach to the narrative in the game. Since, the narrative is not independent of the architecture that delivers it, it is important to acknowledge that narratives in games require completely different approaches.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/raw/histories-of-the-internet/blogs/gaming-and-gold/narrative-and-gameplay

Indians Get Particular about Online Marriage

praskrishna — 2011-04-04T06:48:58Z

The article quotes Nishant Shah's views on online behaviour of people seen elsewhere in the world.

From the overweight and transsexuals to people with HIV and those supposedly afflicted by negative planetary positions, the Internet dating game in India increasingly has a website for everyone.

And with Valentine's Day on Sunday, the specialist sites are seeing a rise in hits.

"There's always an increase in activity around this time of year," said Megha Singhal, who with her sister runs a portal for larger lonely hearts -- www.overweightshaadi.com.

"Valentine's Day is still a big deal here. Everyone wants a date," the 21-year-old economics student told AFP from New Delhi.

Marriage -- or "shaadi" in Hindi -- remains a cornerstone of society in conservative India, with hundreds of matchmaking sites concentrating on finding their members suitable life partners rather than casual dates.

Long-established portals like www.shaadi.com, www.bharatmatrimony.com and www.jeevansathi.com offer general searches. Would-be brides and grooms can be selected by age, caste, religion, language or where they live.

But Singhal and others say that niche matrimonial sites can often be more effective.

Yazdi Tantra, a computer consultant in Mumbai, runs www.theparsimatch.com, one of a number of websites for the dwindling community of followers of the ancient Zoroastrian faith.

"Essentially, Parsis like to marry within the community. It saves time rather than trawling through other multicultural sites to get a profile," he said.

Sanjeev Pahwa, head of the New Delhi-based firm Strikeone Advertising, said targeting niche groups made business sense as he realised smaller start-ups like his couldn't compete with the major players.

The result was www.bposhaadi.com, for call centre workers working unsociable hours, and www.govtshaadi.com, targeting state sector employees looking for love.

Another came about from the belief in Indian astrology that a Manglik -- a person born when Mars was in an inauspicious position in the skies -- is a bad match for marriage but that two Mangliks can cancel out its negative effects.

Now, www.manglikshaadi.com has more than 14,000 members, he said.

Since starting five years ago, Pahwa has introduced more sites, including for people with disabilities and the over 30s, who have preferred to further their careers before getting married.

Elsewhere, there are sites for hijras -- transsexuals and transvestites commonly known in India as eunuchs -- people with HIV and those who shun the officially banned, but still widely practised, dowry system.

Satya Naresh, who set up www.idontwantdowry.com, said the site is helping to break down traditional attitudes and a practice that can place an intolerable financial strain on families.

"We've been very successful in changing the mindset of people and hope it continues," he said from the southern city of Hyderabad.

For these Internet entrepreneurs, web access in India -- although still small at about 14 percent for broadband connections -- is good news for those looking for love.

"The Internet does make the access to a pool of suitable people much easier than matrimony in other times," said Singhal.

Nishant Shah, director of research at the Centre for Internet and Society, based in the IT hub of Bangalore, said the phenomenon reflected online behaviour already seen elsewhere in the world.

"As more and more people are going online they're going to replicate tight and personalised communities which are very local and bound by existing structures at the same time as trying to look more globally," he explained.

"The matrimonial sites are fairly indicative of that. We find people not going on to general websites but very narrow ones.

"It's not just matrimonial sites. Facebook, for example, looks like a very large community of users but when you look at friend networks you realise people connect in small and specialist networks.

"It reflects the old idea of 'birds of a feather stick together'."

For link to the original article

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/indians-online-marriage

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Web Accessibility as a Government Mandate?

Narrative and Gameplay in Role Playing Games

Narrative versus Gameplay

Indians Get Particular about Online Marriage