Centre for Internet and Society

Odia Wikipedia celebrates 13 years of free knowledge contribution at Bhubaneswar

praskrishna — 2016-06-18T18:18:05Z

Odia Wikipedia, one of the first of several Indian language Wikipedia projects is ready to celebrate 13 glorious years of free knowledge contribution on June 3.

This was published in Orissadiary.com on June 2, 2015. Also see http://odishan.com/14971 (In Odia)

Beginning in 2002 — a year after the world's largest online encyclopedia, the English Wikipedia, was launched — Odia Wikipedia has grown to be the largest content repository in the Odia language available in Unicode on the Internet at https://or.wikipedia.org.

With about 17 active editors (also known as “uikiali”) spread across various parts of India and abroad, and over 8,800 articles, the project has become more than just an encyclopedia. The voluntary editor community has put its efforts into acquiring valuable Creative Commons (CC) licensed content by lobbying copyright holders/authors to relicense copyrighted content under CC licenses.

Date and time: 3 June 2015, 5 pm
Venue: Institute of Physics, Near Apollo Hospital, Bhubaneswar, Odisha
Event details: https://or.wikipedia.org/s/sml

It has also engaged with over 2,000 people by organizing various outreach programs including the globally accredited pedagogic program the Wikipedia Education Program (WEP). For its 13th anniversary the community is planning to release a character-encoding converter that promises to unlock massive amounts of content from government portals as well as journals, newspapers and magazines that have their content in non-Unicode character encoding that prevents user searching and reuse of digital-based content.

May you have any further questions about the project or the event, please reach us in the contact details mentioned below:

Mrutyunjaya Kar, Administrator, Odia Wikipedia (9437112371)
Sailesh Patnaik, Editor, Odia Wikipedia (7537097770)
Subhashish Panigrahi, Programme Officer, Access To Knowledge (CIS-A2K)
subhashish@cis-india.org. 08050515339

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/openness/news/orissa-dairy-june-2-2015-odia-wikipedia-celebrates-13-years-of-free-knowledge-contribution-at-bhubaneswar

How the Odia Wikimedia community is enriching Wikipedia with character encoding technology

subha — 2015-06-14T11:51:46Z

Last year, I wrote about the development of Odia language character encoding converters that the Wikipedia community was working on. These converted text into Unicode, a universal encoding standard. These converters have now been made available for use, just in time for today’s thirteenth anniversary of the Odia Wikipedia.

The original blog post published on Wikimedia Blog is here.

Character encoding is used to represent a collection of characters through an encoding system, and is used in computation, data storage, and transmission of textual data. Fonts in different scripts used to have several different encoding systems before the onset of Unicode.

However, most media outlets—as well as the state government—are still using old encoding systems for Odia. These require the installation of a particular font using the same encoding system to read documents. Unicode makes this much easier, as most modern computers come with Unicode fonts preinstalled.

A character encoding converter is generally used to convert from one encoding system to another. Massive amounts of content, not archived on a regular basis, could now be converted to Unicode and, in turn, provide Wikipedia editors with easily accessible sources to create new articles and enhance existing ones.

The Odia language is spoken by over 40 million people in eastern India, accross various Indian cities, and by expatriates abroad. It is one of the oldest languages in South Asia, and is recognized as a “classical language” by the Indian government. The Odia Wikipedia celebrates its thirteenth anniversary today, June 3.

However, the “classical language” status has not yet boosted knowledge production or use of the language on the Internet. Almost all online newspapers and state publications, such as Odia-language journals, public announcements, and information portals, host their content in various legacy character encodings that do not allow users to easily access and share information. This has, unsurprisingly, proven to be a major hurdle for the small Odia Wikimedia community, who hope to enrich their project with Odia-language citations.

To help solve these problems, the community tried using two encoding converters. These were previously developed by friends from Srujanika, a non-profit based in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, that works on promoting science education in school curricula in the Odia language, as well as the digitization of early Odia literature. These converters became the building blocks on top of which Wikimedian Manoj Sahukar built converters after massively rewriting their code. I was also part of the re-building process, from the initial development of the converters to the design of their interface, and I helped to design handouts teaching new users how to use them.

The community played a major role in promoting the converters on social media. An op-ed in the Odia newspaper Samaja helped to reach out to more people unaware of the uses for Unicode. Many Internet users did not realize that they had been sharing knowledge on their blogs or social media using various legacy encodings, which neither appear in search engines nor allow anyone to share them in an accessible way.

By converting news and articles from newspapers and magazines as test cases, the converters were improved over time. Citing Odia-language sources wasn’t so easy before: making use of any content from a local newspaper could take hours.

From September 2014 to March 2015, a small project ran to convert text from several newspapers and magazines, so that they could be used as citations in articles in the Odia Wikipedia — this is important because, when these sources are not available in Unicode, search engines and Wikipedia users can have difficulty finding them.

Because the converters were hosted separately on Google Drive, it was difficult to have them all in one central place. Odia Wikipedians wanted their Wikipedia to host a single converter, where a user could select the appropriate input encoding. Wikimedian and developer Jnanaranjan Sahu came up with a responsive, wiki-based converter that went live on May 12 and is now available for use. The converter now enables the choice of source encoding from a drop-down menu, and converts the input into Unicode. Issues with this conversion process can be reported via Google Spreadsheet.

Combining five different converters into one, Jnanaranjan says, was a necessary next step in development: “When I found that there are different URLs for different converters, and that the URLs lead to a bunch of different sites, it seemed quite messed up. It would have been difficult for users to locate each of the converters. I thought it would be easier for users if they could find all the encoding converters for Odia on one page on their home wiki. So, I tried to tweak the source code and design this converter.”

He also explains that several newspapers whose news is encoded in older systems are now rich information sources. "Converting them and using the information to add more citations to Wikipedia could help to achieve the dream of every single person being able to contribute more information to the Odia Wikipedia," he says, "so all human knowledge may be available in our language."

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/wikimedia-blog-subhashish-panigrahi-june-4-2015-odia-wikipedia-community-is-enriching-wikipedia-with-character-encoding-technology

Indian government includes open source in RFPs

subha — 2016-06-18T18:18:54Z

The Government of India has implemented a remarkable new policy-level change for open source software (OSS) deployment.

The Ministry of Communication and Information Technology has asked that open source software-based applications be included in Requests for Proposals (RFPs) for all new procurements. Note there is not a plan at this time to replace existing proprietary systems with open source software.

As stated, the policy will "adopt open standards and promote open source and open technologies" in order "to prepare India for a knowledge based transformation into a digitally empowered society and a knowledge economy."

Three major objectives of the new policy for OSS:

To provide a policy framework for rapid and effective adoption of OSS
To ensure strategic control in e-Governance applications and systems from a long-term perspective
To reduce the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) of projects

In addition to adopting open source and open standards, the Indian Government is also emphasizing on opening up the source code without any royalty for the community to use, modify and redistribute the original/modified software. This is compliant with the Creative Commons (CC) licenses.

Proprietary software (labeled as "closed source software" and "CSS" in the policy document) would only be permitted for demonstrated urgent/strategic need or lack of expertise or non-availability of open source software. The suppliers then are not bound to use open source software, though it is preferred over proprietary per this policy change. The policy document also mentions government collaborating with local and international open source communities for software development

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/open-source-subhashish-panigrahi-june-8-2015-indian-govt-includes-open-source-in-rfps

Odia Wikipedia Turning 13 this June 3

subha — 2016-06-18T18:19:22Z

The Odia Wikipedia is turning 13 this June 3. To celebrate this long time of the editor community's tireless effort to make it to the largest Odia-language online encyclopedia an event is being organised in Odisha' capital Bhubaneswar. Centre for Internet and Society's Access To Knowledge (CIS-A2K) is proudly sponsoring for this event. Subhashish Panigrahi and Rahmanuddin Shaik are representing CIS at this event.

Over 20 Wikipedians from various corners of India are participating for a public gathering that is planned on June 3 at the Institute of Physics at 5 pm. A day-long internal meetup for the community in the presence of Wikimedia India and CIS-A2K has been planned that focuses on raising consensus for policy and guidelines for Odia Wikipedia, and planning for the activities ahead in the light of successes and learning from failures from the past.

Promotional Banner

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/openness/events/odia-wikipedia-turning-thirteen

ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଉଇକିପିଡିଆ: ନୂତନ ଯୁଗର ଆରମ୍ଭ

subha — 2016-06-18T18:19:41Z

My op-ed on Odia Wikipedia and its journey of 13 years was published in Odia daily "The Samaja".

୨୦୦୧ ମସିହା, ଇଣ୍ଟରନେଟ ଜରିଆରେ ଭାଷା ସହ ଭାଷାକୁ, ଚଳଣି ସହ ଚଳଣିକୁ, ଲୋକଙ୍କସହ ଲୋକଙ୍କୁ ଯୋଡ଼ିବାର ପଥ ସଳଖ ହେଉଥାଏ । ତେବେ ଆଜିଭଳି ସେତେବେଳକୁ ଇଂରାଜୀ ଭାଷା ଓ ଆମେରିକାର ପତିଆରା ଜଗତରେ କାହିଁରେ କେତେ । ତେଣୁ ଇଣ୍ଟରନେଟରେ ମଧ୍ୟ ଆମେରିକା ଓ ଇଂରାଜୀ ଛାମୁଆ ଥାନଟିକି ମାଡ଼ି ବସିଥାନ୍ତି । ଏ ବେଳକୁ ଆମେରିକାର ଦୁଇ ଯୁବକ ଜିମି ଉଏଲସ ଆଉ ଲାରି ସାଙ୍ଗର ନୂଆ ଏକ କଳ୍ପନା ସହ ପ୍ରକଳ୍ପଟିଏ ଆରମ୍ଭ କଲେ । କଳ୍ପନା ଥିଲା ଅଧିକରୁ ଅଧିକ ଲୋକଙ୍କୁ ଏକ ଏନସାଇକ୍ଲୋପିଡ଼ିଆ ସମ୍ପାଦନା କରିବାର ସୁଯୋଗ ଦେବା । ଏହି ମିଳିତ ସମ୍ପାଦନାରୁ ଯେଉଁ ପ୍ରକଳ୍ପଟି ଜନ୍ମିଲା ସେ ହେଲା ଉଇକିପିଡିଆ । ସେତେବେଳକୁ ଏନ୍‍ସାଇକ୍ଲୋପିଡ଼ିଆ ବ୍ରିଟାନିକା ସବୁ ଲାଇବ୍ରେରି ଆଉ ଏପରିକି ଇଣ୍ଟରନେଟରେ ଗାଦି ମାଡ଼ିବସିଥାଏ, ତା'ପୁଣି ପୁରୁଖା ସମ୍ପାଦକମାନଙ୍କ ସମ୍ପାଦନା ଓ ସଂକଳନରେ ପୁଷ୍ଟ ହୋଇ । ତା' ଆଗରେ କିନ୍ତୁ ଉଇକିପିଡିଆ ସଦମ୍ଭେ ମୁଣ୍ଡ ଟେକିଲା, ଆଉ ୨୦୦୨ବେଳକୁ ଏହା ଜଗତର ବାକି ଭାଷାରେ ମଧ୍ୟ ଆରମ୍ଭ ହେଲା । ଏ ଭାଷା ଭିତରେ ଓଡ଼ିଆ, ପଞ୍ଜାବୀ, ମାଲାୟାଲାମ ଓ ଅହମିୟା ପ୍ରଥମ ଭାରତୀୟ ଭାଷାର ଉଇକିପିଡିଆ ଭାବେ ସାମିଲ ହେଲେ । ନୂଆ ଚାରୋଟି ପ୍ରକଳ୍ପ ସିନା ଆରମ୍ଭ ହେଲା, ହେଲେ କେବଳ ମାଲାୟାଲାମକୁ ଛାଡ଼ି ବାକି ତିନିଟି ଭାଷାରେ ଅଧିକ ଲୋକ ଯୋଡ଼ିହେବା, ନୂଆ ପ୍ରକଳ୍ପ ଲିଖନ, ସମ୍ପାଦନ ଆଦି କାମ ଆଗେଇଲା ନାହିଁ । ଓଡ଼ିଆ ପାଇଁ ଏକ ବିଡ଼ମ୍ବନା ୨୦୧୧ ଯାଏ ଲାଗିରହିଲା । ତେବେ ୨୦୧୧ ବେଳକୁ ଜଣେ କେରଳୀ ଉଇକିଆଳି (ଉଇକିପିଡିଆ ସମ୍ପାଦକ) ସିଜୁ ଆଲେକ୍ସଙ୍କ ଉତ୍ସାହରେ କିଛି ଓଡ଼ିଆ ବେଙ୍ଗାଲୁରୁଠାରେ ଏକାଠି ହେଲେ । ୮ ବର୍ଷ ଧରି ସ୍ଥାଣୁ ହୋଇ ପଡ଼ିଥିବା ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଉଇକିପିଡିଆ ଘରେ ପଢ଼ୁଆଁ ଥର କଲମ ବୁଲିଲା । ଧୀରେଧୀରେ ଅଧିକରୁ ଅଧିକ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଏଥିରେ ଯୋଡ଼ିହେଲେ, ଏ ସମସ୍ତ ଉଇକିଆଳି ନିଜ ଉତ୍ସାହରେ ଆଉ ବିନା ପାରିଶ୍ରମିକରେ ଲେଖିଚାଲିଲେ । ମାସକୁ ମାତ୍ର କେଇ ହଜାର ଲୋକ ଆଗରୁ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଉଇକିପିଡିଆ ପଢ଼ୁଥିଲେ । ଆଜି ସାଢ଼େ ଆଠ ଲକ୍ଷରୁ ଅଧିକ ଲୋକ ଏହାର ମାସିକ ପାଠକ । ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଭାଷାରେ ଇଣ୍ଟରନେଟରେ ଥିବା ବିଶାଳତମ ୱେବସାଇଟ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଉଇକିପିଡିଆ ସମ୍ପୂର୍ଣ୍ଣ ମାଗଣାରେ or.wikipedia.org ରେ ଉପଲବ୍ଧ । ଆଉ ସବୁଠୁ ମଜାର କଥା ହେଉଛି ଏହା କେବେବି ସମ୍ପୂର୍ଣ୍ଣ ନୁହେଁ । ଛପା ବନ୍ଧା ବହିରେ ଏମିତି ନୂଆନୂଆ ଘଟଣା ଛପା ହେବା ବେଳକୁ ବରଷେ ବିତିଯାଏ । ହେଲେ ଉଇକିପିଡିଆରେ ନିମିଷକେ କୌଣସି ବିଷୟ ଜାଣିଥିବା ଲୋକଟିଏ ନୂଆ ଖାତାଟିଏ ଖୋଲି ଏ ଘଟଣାକୁ ଲିପିବଦ୍ଧ କରିପାରେ ।

ତେବେ ସବୁ ଲୋକଙ୍କୁ ଲେଖିବାର ସୁଯୋଗ ଦେଲେ ଅନେକ ଅଦରକାରୀ ଲେଖାରେ ଯେ ଉଇକିପିଡିଆ ଭରୁଥିବା ଏ ଆଶଙ୍କା ଅମୂଳକ ନୁହେଁ । ତେବେ ଉଇକିପିଡିଆ କିଛି ନିୟମାବଳୀ ଭିତରେ କାମ କରେ । ସଭିଙ୍କୁ ଲେଖିବାର ସ୍ୱାଧୀନତା ମିଳିଛି ସତ, କିନ୍ତୁ ଲେଖାଯାକ ଗପ କବିତା କିମ୍ବା ନିଜର ସ୍ତୁତି ନହେଇ କେବଳ ଜ୍ଞାନକୋଷଭିତ୍ତିକ, ଅର୍ଥାତ କୌଣସି ଜଣାଶୁଣା ସ୍ଥାନ, ଘଟଣା କିମ୍ବା ବ୍ୟକ୍ତିବିଶେଷଙ୍କ ଉପରେ ଲେଖାହୁଏ । ପ୍ରାସଙ୍ଗିକତା ନଥାଇ ଲେଖାଯାଉଥିବା ଅନେକ ଅମୂଳକ ଲେଖାକୁ ହଟାଇ ଦେବାରେ ପୁରୁଖା ପରିଚାଳକମାନେ ସଦା ଜାଗତିଆର । ତା'ଛଡ଼ା ଲେଖାରେ ଏକ ଜଣାଶୁଣା ଲେଖକଙ୍କ କିମ୍ବା ପ୍ରକାଶନର ବହି, ପତ୍ରତ୍ରିକା, ଖବରକାଗଜରେ ଆଗରୁ ପ୍ରକାଶିତ ବିଷୟର ଆଧାରରେ ସେ ବହି/ ଖବରକାଗଜର ନାମ ସହ ଉଇକିପିଡିଆ ପ୍ରସଙ୍ଗମାନ ଲେଖାଯାଏ । ତେଣୁ ଆଗରୁ ପ୍ରକାଶିତ ହୋଇନଥିବା, ନିଜର ମୌଳିକ ରଚନା କିମ୍ବା ଗବେଷଣା ଉଇକିପିଡିଆରେ ସ୍ଥାନ ପାଏନାହିଁ । କୌଣସି ଏନସାଇକ୍ଲୋପିଡିଆକୁ ଟିକେ ଆଡ଼େଇ ଦେଖିବା ତା'ହେଲେ ଏକଥା ବୁଝାପଡ଼େ ଯେ କେବଳ ବିଷୟର ପୁଙ୍ଖାନୁପୁଙ୍ଖ ବଖାଣ ଛଡ଼ା କୌଣସି ସାହିତ୍ୟିକ କଳ୍ପନା କିମ୍ବା ବିଶେଷଣର ବିନ୍ୟାସ ସେଥିରେ ନଥାଏ । ଏ ନିୟମଟି ଉଇକିପିଡିଆ ଖୁବ୍‍ କଡ଼ାକଡ଼ି ମାନିଥାଏ । ତେବେ ସ୍ୱେଚ୍ଛାସେବୀଙ୍କ ସମୟ ବି ସୀମିତ । ଆଉ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଉଇକିପିଡିଆ ଭଳି ପ୍ରକଳ୍ପରେ ଉଇକିଆଳି ହାତଗଣତିକୁ ସକ୍ରିୟ ପରିଚାଳକ ମାତ୍ର ଜଣେ କି ଦୁଇ । ଏଣୁ ଆଖିରୁ ଗୋଟେ ଯୋଡ଼େ ଭୁଲ ବାଦପଡ଼ିବା ସ୍ୱାଭାବିକ । ଅଧିକ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ନିଜ ଉତ୍ସାହରେ ଏଥିରେ ଯୋଗଦିଅନ୍ତେ ଯଦି ତାଙ୍କ ସମାଗମରେ ଲେଖାସବୁ ଅଧିକଥର ସମ୍ପାଦିତ ହୁଅନ୍ତା । ଆଉ ସେ ମନ୍ଥନରୁ ଲେଖା ସରସ ଓ ଅଧିକ ତଥ୍ୟସମ୍ବଳିତ ହୁଅନ୍ତା । ତେବେ ଏ ଏକ ଆନ୍ଦୋଳନ । ଉଇକିପିଡିଆ ଭଳି ଏକ ବିଶ୍ୱସ୍ତରୀୟ ପ୍ରକଳ୍ପ ବାବଦରେ ସୁଦୂରରେ ରହିଥିବା ଓଡ଼ିଆଙ୍କୁ ଜଣାଇବାର ଉଦ୍ୟମ ଚିରନ୍ତନ । ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଭାଷାଟିକୁ ଖାଲି ଶାସ୍ତ୍ରୀୟ ମାନ୍ୟତା ଦେଇ ସିଂହାସନରେ ବସାଇଦେଲେ ହେବନାହିଁ, ବ୍ୟାବହାରିକ ସ୍ତରରେ କିପରି ଏହା ଅଧିକ ଲୋକଙ୍କ ହାତପାହାନ୍ତାରେ ପହଞ୍ଚିବ ତା ପାଇଁ ବାଟ କଢ଼ାଇବାକୁ ହେବ । ଇଣ୍ଟରନେଟ ଯୋଗେ ଆମ ଭାଷାରେ ଜାଣିବା ପାଇଁ ଲୋକେ କମ୍ପ୍ୟୁଟର-ମୋବାଇଲ ଆଦିର ବ୍ୟବହାର ନକଲେ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଭାଷା ଯେ ଚିରକାଳ ସେ ଗାଦିରେ ଉଇଓଡ଼ଶଙ୍କ ଜୀବସାର ହୋଇ ରହିଯିବ ।

ଉଇକିପିଡିଆର ଇତିହାସ ଆମ ପୂର୍ଣ୍ଣଚନ୍ଦ୍ର ଭାଷାକୋଷର ଆରମ୍ଭ ସହ ଅନେକାଂଶରେ ମିଶେ । ଭାଷାକୋଷର ସଂକଳକ ଗୋପାଳ ଚନ୍ଦ୍ର ପ୍ରହରାଜ ଥିଲେ ଜଣେ ଓକିଲ । ହେଲେ ଓଡ଼ିଶାର ଅଞ୍ଚଳଅଞ୍ଚଳ ବୁଲି ଶବ୍ଦଖୋଜାର ସଉକ ତାଙ୍କୁ ଏତେ ଘାରିଥିଲା ଯେ ନିଜର ସାଥିମାନଙ୍କୁ ଏକାଠି କରି ଏ କାମଟି ଆରମ୍ଭ କରିଥିଲେ । ଦଳବଦ୍ଧ କାମ ସବୁ ପାଣ୍ଡୁଲିପିର ରୂପ ନେଲା । ପ୍ରହରାଜେ ପୁଣି ଖୋଜିବସିଲେ ତାକୁ ଛପାଇବା ପାଇଁ । ରାଜାଙ୍କ ପୃଷ୍ଠପୋଷକତାରେ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଭାଷାର ବିଶାଳତମ ଲେକ୍ସିକନ ସେଠୁ ଜନମିଲା । କହିବା ବାହୁଲ୍ୟ ଯେ ନିଜେ ଗୋପାଳ ଚନ୍ଦ୍ର ପ୍ରହରାଜ କିମ୍ବା ତାଙ୍କ ସାଥି କେହି ଲେଖକ କିମ୍ବା ସମ୍ପାଦକ ନଥିଲେ । ହେଲେ ୩୦ ଶତକରେ ଛପା ଏ ସଂକଳନରୁ ଅଧିକ ବଡ଼ ଗ୍ରନ୍ଥ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଭାଷାରେ ଆଜି ବି ତିଆରି ହୋଇପାରିନାହିଁ । ଇଚ୍ଛାଶକ୍ତି ଖୁବ୍‍ ଦମ୍ଭିଲା ହେଲେ ସାଧାରଣ ଲୋକ କି ଅସାଧାରଣ କାମ କରିପାରନ୍ତି ତାହା ଉଇକିପିଡିଆ ଓ ପୂର୍ଣ୍ଣଚନ୍ଦ୍ର ଭାଷାକୋଷର ଦୃଷ୍ଟାନ୍ତରୁ ଅନେକ ଶିଖିବାକୁ ମିଳେ ।

ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଉଇକିପିଡିଆରେ ଏବେ ୮୭୦୦ରୁ ଅଧିକ ପ୍ରସଙ୍ଗର ସମ୍ଭାର ଆଉ ଏହା ନିତିନିୟମିତ ୧୫ରୁ ଅଧିକ ଉଇକିଆଳିଙ୍କ ଦେଇ ସମ୍ପାଦିତ । ଏହି ଜୁନ ୩ ତାରିଖରେ ପ୍ରକଳ୍ପଟି ୧୩ ବର୍ଷର କିଶୋରରେ ପରିଣତ ହେଉଛି ।

ସେଣ୍ଟର ଫର ଇଣ୍ଟରନେଟ ଏଣ୍ଡ ସୋସାଇଟି, ବେଙ୍ଗାଲୁରୁ

psubhashish@gmail.com

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/the-samaja-op-ed-subhashish-panigrahi-odia-wikipedia-journey-13-years

Odia Language Wikipedia Page Grows to 800K Page Views A Month

subha — 2016-06-18T18:20:05Z

Odia Wikipedia is one of the first few Indian language Wikipedia projects celebrating such an old age. The Wikimedia community will gather in Odisha's capital of Bhubaneswar on June 3 to celebrate Odia Wikipedia's 13th anniversary.

Get more event details. Click to read the post originally published in Opensource.com on May 31.

The Odia language is spoken by more than 40 million people in the Indian state of Odisha (the 9th largest Indian state by area) and its neighboring states, as well as, the Odia diaspora living outside India. With over 5000 years of literary heritage, the Odia language has been recognized as one of the oldest South Asian languages and has been given the status of a "classical language" by the Indian government.

Odia Wikipedia was launched in 2002—a year after the world's largest online encyclopedia, the English Wikipedia—and has grown to be the largest online content repository for the Odia language in Unicode, and is also the largest online Odia encyclopedia. Odia Wikipedia has 17 active editors (known as uikiali) spread across various parts of India and abroad, and over 8,800 articles. The Odia Wikipedia community is driving progressive digital activities by converting content created with non-standard proprietary encoding systems into Unicode, optimizing the system for search engines, and relicensing copyrighted content into Creative Commons (CC) licenses.

Almost all the newspapers written in the Odia language are available in non-Unicode or other proprietary encoding systems, or as images, making it impossible to account for them in search. The same is the case for state government portals that lack Odia-language content or have content in legacy encoding systems. Today, character encoding converters are hosted on Odia Wikipedia so that the editors can convert other encoding to Unicode; making newspapers and magazines that were unaccessible because of inability to search non-Unicode content available.

Odia Wikipedia has been available in Unicode since 2002, but for nine years it was dormant. Content creation and editor activity began to pick up in 2011 and since has increased at a dramatic rate. Content now covers diverse topics, from medical science to Odia cuisine. Since, it has grown to over 808,834 page views as of March 2015.

Original photo by Subhashish Panigrahi. CC BY-SA 4.0

The Odia Wikimedia community has also organized Wikipedia workshops and Wikipedia Education Programs to relicense copyright encyclopedia content to CC licensed content by negotiating with authors and copyright holders, and by gathering resources from various sources that are were easily accessible.

Going forward we hope to make an impact on the areas slow to change, like the media for the Odia language who have resisted adopting Unicode.

The Odia Wikipedia community hopes to improve and increase the use of the Odia languague online so that users can read and communicate on the Internet in that language. An open and collaborative tool like Odia Wikipedia is a promising avenue for this challenge because it allows anyone to contribute to writing, editing and enriching articles.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/opensource-subhashish-panigrahi-may-31-2015-odia-language-wikipedia-page-grows-to-800k-page-views-a-month

May 2015 Bulletin

nirmita — 2015-07-29T14:29:08Z

Newsletter for the month of May can be accessed below.

Editor’s Note: After seven years of having used Inigo Tech headed by Khairil Yousuf for its email server, CIS shifted recently to Greenhost Projects, founded in 2001 by Mart van Santen and Sacha van Geffen. Greenhost offers a fresh approach to ICT and sustainability and also supports various projects in the fields of education, culture and journalism. While being grateful to Inigo Tech for providing secure services over the years, CIS takes this opportunity to welcome Greenhost on board. During this migration there was a total disruption of service and CIS couldn’t send its monthly bulletins earlier. CIS further apologises for the delay in the June newsletter which will also be sent shortly. From July onwards we will be back on track.

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Highlights
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G3ict and CIS jointly researched and published a report titled Inclusive Financial Services - Global Trends in Accessibility Requirements. The research paper comprises a Foreword and Introduction, four chapters — Barriers to Access for Persons with Disabilities and Diverse Abilities, International Framework, Integrating Accessibility into the System, and State of Practice - Impact of the Convention on Inclusive Finance and Accessibility Efforts around the Globe. Pina D’ Intino from Scotiabank and Mohan Tanksale of Indian Banks Association were also contributors to the report.
During the month NVDA team conducted training in basic computing with use of NVDA and eSpeak in Assamese and Tamil. NVDA team also conducted a 30 Days Summer Course on Basic Computer Competencies and Language Proficiency.

CIS has prepared an analysis of the commonalities in big-ticket patent infringement lawsuits pertaining to mobile devices.

The first public draft of the International Open Data Charter was released at the International Open Data Conference in Ottawa in May. CIS had contributed comments to a previous version of the draft, and also took part in the pre-release meeting of potential stewards of the Charter on May 26 in Ottawa.

The Fibreculture Journal has accepted an abstract from Sumandro Chattapadhyay for its upcoming issue on 'Computing the City.' The paper titled Mathematisation of the Urban and not Urbanisation of Mathematics: Smart Cities and the Primitive Accumulation of Data proposes that production, circulation, and ownership of data must be considered as a central problematique in the discussions of smart cities.

An abstract for a proposed chapter on 'making' in the humanities has been accepted for publication in a volume titled 'Making Humanities Matter'. This is part of a new book series titled 'Debates in the Digital Humanities 2015' to be published by University of Minnesota Press.
Chinmayi Arun has authored a research paper titled Paper-thin Safeguards and Mass Surveillance in India that tells readers of Indian government’s new mass surveillance systems and the threats it has on right to privacy.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), in March 2015 invited comments on its Consultation Paper for the regulation of over-the-top (OTT) services. In an unprecedented wave of public participation, TRAI received over a million e-mails in support of net neutrality. CIS has prepared a note which sets out the law in relation to the unauthorized disclosure of personal information.

Shyam Ponappa’s op-ed titled Stranded Capacities and Greater Expectations in the Business Standard on May 6 highlights India’s infrastructure problems.

► Vacancies at CIS

CIS is seeking applications for:

Intern (Pervasive Technologies Project)

Interns (Other Projects) for its offices in Bangalore and Delhi.

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Accessibility and Inclusion
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Under a grant from the Hans Foundation we are doing two projects. The first project is on creating a national resource kit of state-wise laws, policies and programmes on issues relating to persons with disabilities in India. CIS in partnership with CLPR (Centre for Law and Policy Research) compiled the National Compendium of Policies, Programmes and Schemes for Persons with Disabilities (29 states and 6 union territories). The project was completed, books in English and Hindi were printed and are being sent to ministries, departments, panchayats and NGOs around the country. The publication can be accessed on the project page. The second project is on developing text-to-speech software for 15 Indian languages. The progress made so far in the project can be accessed here.

►NVDA and eSpeak

Monthly Updates

May 2015 Report (Suman Dogra; April 30, 2015).

Training Programmes

eSpeak Tamil Computing with NVDA (Centre for Differently-abled Persons, Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli; May 4 – 8, 2015). Seventeen delegates attended.

Training in Basic Computing with use of NVDA and eSpeak in Assamese (Monfort School, Guwahati; May 9 – 10, 2015). Eleven delegates attended.

Training in the Use of eSpeak for Indian Languages during TOT (Organized by Enable India; May 11 – 20, 2015; Blind Empowerment Association, Kolkata). Twenty-six delegates attended.

Tamil Language (Differently Abled Children Section, District Central Library, Coimbatore; May 25 – 29, 2015). Twenty-one delegates attended.

Training on the Use of eSpeak Hindi on Windows and Android Platforms (Indian Association for the Blind, Delhi; May 28, 2015).

Report on 30 Days Summer Course on Basic Computer Competencies and Language Proficiency (Karna Vidya Technology Centre, Thiru-Vi-Ka, Industrial Estate, Chennai, May 1 – 30, 2015). Twenty delegates attended.

# Blog Entry

Report on the Progress in Manipuri Language Testing (May 10, 2015). This blog post captures the key updates of the work done by CIS team for Manipuri language.

►Other

White Paper

Inclusive Financial Services - Global Trends in Accessibility Requirements (Nirmita Narasimhan; May 3, 2015).

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Access to Knowledge
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As part of the Access to Knowledge programme we are doing two projects. The first one (Pervasive Technologies) under a grant from the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) is for research on the complex interplay between pervasive technologies and intellectual property to support intellectual property norms that encourage the proliferation and development of such technologies as a social good. The second one (Wikipedia) under a grant from the Wikimedia Foundation is for the growth of Indic language communities and projects by designing community collaborations and partnerships that recruit and cultivate new editors and explore innovative approaches to building projects.

Blog Entries

Literature Survey: Patent Landscaping in the Indian Marketplace (Rohini Lakshané; December 31, 2014). This post has been updated.
2015 USTR Report: Old Wine in New Bottle (Anubha Sinha; May 11, 2015).
Call for Participation: Global Congress on Intellectual Property and the Public Interest (Anubha Sinha; May 14, 2015).
National IPR Policy Series: Who is a 'public authority' under the RTI Act? (Nehaa Chaudhari and Devrupa Rakshit; May 21, 2015).
Report: Global Intellectual Property Convention 2015 (Rohini Lakshané; May 22, 2015). Anna Liz Thomas and Nayana Dasgupta assisted with the making of this report.
National IPR Policy Series - CIS Letter to IPR Think Tank (Nehaa Chaudhari; May 26, 2015). CIS acknowledges Varun Baliga and Devrupa Rakshit for their research.
Joining the Dots in India's Big-Ticket Mobile Phone Patent Litigation (Rohini Lakshané; May 31, 2015).

Media Coverage
CIS gave inputs for the following:

One reason startups are moving out of India (Evelyn Fok and Varun Aggarwal; The Times of India; April 10, 2015). This was also mirrored in Economic Times.
Indian businesses crave IP certainty, but better patent values are tempting them overseas (IAM Magazine; April 28, 2015).

►Wikipedia

As part of the project grant from the Wikimedia Foundation we have reached out to more than 3500 people across India by organizing more than 100 outreach events and catalysed the release of encyclopaedic and other content under the Creative Commons (CC-BY-3.0) license in four Indian languages (21 books in Telugu, 13 in Odia, 4 volumes of encyclopaedia in Konkani and 6 volumes in Kannada, and 1 book on Odia language history in English).

Articles

Odia Wikipedia Set to Celebrate 13 Years of Volunteer Contributions (Subhashish Panigrahi; May 13, 2015).
ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଉଇକିପିଡିଆ: ନୂତନ ଯୁଗର ଆରମ୍ଭ (Subhashish Panigrahi; May 31, 2015).
Odia Language Wikipedia Page Grows to 800K Page Views A Month (Subhashish Panigrahi; Opensource.com; May 31, 2015).

►Openness

Blog Entry

International Open Data Charter: First Public Draft (Sumandro Chattapadhyay; May 29, 2015).

Participation in Events

Open Street Map "Mapping Workshop" (Organized by Phandeeyar; Yangon; May 13, 2015). Sumandro Chattapadhyay conducted a workshop. Twenty delegates attended.
What is the Open Data Movement & Why Does it Matter? (Organized by Phandeeyar; Yangon; May 13, 2015). Twenty-five delegates attended. Sumandro Chattapadhyay gave a talk.

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Internet Governance
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As part of its research on privacy and free speech, CIS is engaged with two different projects. The first one (under a grant from Privacy International and International Development Research Centre (IDRC)) is on surveillance and freedom of expression (SAFEGUARDS). The second one (under a grant from MacArthur Foundation) is on studying the restrictions placed on freedom of expression online by the Indian government.

►Privacy

Blog Entry

Paper-thin Safeguards and Mass Surveillance in India (Chinmayi Arun; May 20, 2015).

► Other

Participation in Events

The Transformative Power of Online Activism (Organized by Hertie School of Governance; Berlin; May 4, 2015). Rohini Lakshané was a panelist. The event was part of the re:thinking tomorrow series.
Consilience (Organized by National Law School of India University, Bangalore; May 9 – 10, 2015).

---------------------------------
News & Media Coverage
---------------------------------
CIS gave its inputs to the following media coverage:

Definition of Net Neutrality should be flexible: Pranesh Prakash (Sanjay Vijaykumar; The Hindu; May 10, 2015).
Anti-harassment app wins hackathon for women (Sci Dev Net; May 15, 2015).
Indian music streaming service Gaana hacked, millions of users’ details exposed (Abhimanyu Ghoshal; TNW News; May 28, 2015).
Your phone is a surveillance device, your ISP a surveillance provider…: Pranesh Prakash (Dyanne Coelho; mxmindia.com; May 27, 2015).
Digital India: PM Modi to launch BJP's flagship programme likely in July (Jochelle Mendonca and Neha Alawadhi; Economic Times; May 29, 2015).
Digital India launch likely in July (Jochelle Mendonca and Neha Alawadhi; The Times of India; May 29, 2015).
Only digital sex, please (Prasun Chandhuri and Avijit Chatterjee; The Telegraph; May 31, 2015).

--------------------------------
Researchers at Work
--------------------------------
The Researchers at Work (RAW) programme is an interdisciplinary research initiative driven by contemporary concerns to understand the reconfigurations of social practices and structures through the Internet and digital media technologies, and vice versa. It is interested in producing local and contextual accounts of interactions, negotiations, and resolutions between the Internet, and socio-material and geo-political processes:

Blog Entries

Making in the Humanities – Some Questions and Conflicts (P.P. Sneha; May 22, 2015).
Mathematisation of the Urban and not Urbanisation of Mathematics: Smart Cities and the Primitive Accumulation of Data - Accepted Abstract (Sumandro Chattapadhyay; May 25, 2015).

--------------------------------
Telecom
--------------------------------
CIS is involved in promoting access and accessibility to telecommunications services and resources and has provided inputs to ongoing policy discussions and consultation papers published by TRAI. It has prepared reports on unlicensed spectrum and accessibility of mobile phones for persons with disabilities and also had worked with the USOF to include funding projects for persons with disabilities in its mandate:

Comments

TRAI and the Disclosure of Personal Information (Nehaa Chaudhari and Vidushi Marda; May 10, 2015).

Op-ed

Stranded Capacities & Greater Expectations (Shyam Ponappa; Business Standard; May 6, 2015 and Organizing India Blogspot; May 8, 2015).

Participation in Event

5G Technologies Workshop (Organized by IEEE Communications Society Bangalore Chapter; The Capitol Hotel, Bangalore; May 22 – 23, 2015). Rohini Lakshané attended the workshop.

---------------------------------
About CIS
---------------------------------
The Centre for Internet and Society is a non-profit research organization that works on policy issues relating to freedom of expression, privacy, accessibility for persons with disabilities, access to knowledge and IPR reform, and openness (including open government, FOSS, open standards, etc.), and engages in academic research on digital natives and digital humanities.

► Follow us elsewhere

Twitter: https://twitter.com/CISA2K

Visit us at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Access_To_Knowledge

E-mail: a2k@cis-india.org

► Support Us

Please help us defend consumer / citizen rights on the Internet! Write a cheque in favour of ‘The Centre for Internet and Society’ and mail it to us at No. 194, 2nd ‘C’ Cross, Domlur, 2nd Stage, Bengaluru – 5600 71.

► Request for Collaboration:

We invite researchers, practitioners, and theoreticians, both organisationally and as individuals, to collaboratively engage with Internet and society and improve our understanding of this new field. To discuss the research collaborations, write to Sunil Abraham, Executive Director, at sunil@cis-india.org. To discuss collaborations on Indic language Wikipedia, write to Tanveer Hasan, Programme Officer, at tanveer@cis-india.org.

CIS is grateful to its primary donor the Kusuma Trust founded by Anurag Dikshit and Soma Pujari, philanthropists of Indian origin for its core funding and support for most of its projects. CIS is also grateful to its other donors, Wikimedia Foundation, Ford Foundation, Privacy International, UK, The Hans Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, and IDRC for funding its various projects.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/may-2015-bulletin

How to do GuerillaGLAM

subha — 2015-05-28T15:30:15Z

A proposal titled How to do GuerrillaGLAM" that I had submitted for the Wikimania 2015 has been accepted. I will be presenting this on July 18.

See the details on Wikipedia page. Click to view the programme schedule.

Submission no. 5008

Title of the submission: How to do GuerillaGLAM

Type of submission (discussion, hot seat, panel, presentation, tutorial, workshop): Presentation

Author of the submission: Subhashish Panigrahi

E-mail address: psubhashishgmail.com

Username: psubhashish

Country of origin: India

Affiliation, if any (organisation, company etc.): Centre for Internet and Society, Bengaluru, India

Personal homepage or blog: psubhashish.com

Abstract

Building partnership with GLAM institutions is a great way of funneling the cultural content acquisition and bringing open access to such valuable data. But it is not that easy given the complications each country has in terms of formal agreement, organizational framework, etc. This presentation will detail about the learning curve of institutional partnership building, leveraging personal contacts in small scale GLAM projects and bringing in several indie-projects to cut implication cost, and execute low-cost models.

During this presentation I will present two case studies of contrasting nature: India's first GLAM project at the National Crafts Museum, New Delhi, and various small-scale collaborative projects. Where the first one would have learning from the six months long project, the second one will draw inspirations from many initiatives that have really no cost or low cost implication and less implementation time involved. At times, institutional collaborations become liabilities and labor intensive with low Return on Investment. Training staff and implementing GLAM projects are not always easy and retaining contributors is a challenge. Alternatively GuerrillaGLAM could be thought of when having a Wikimedian-in-Residence is not feasible. This presentation will be useful for those who can mobilize a small team of volunteers equipped with digital camera, access to local cultural institutions and some level of expertise of curating data. Making documentaries and building narratives based on acquired content to creating learning resources and promotional materials will be another aspect of this presentation. building partnerships with many federal or private institutions also needs sustained long-term engagement and volunteer time is not always enough to devote for a long term GLAM project. This presentation will detail about going the guerrilla way to acquire data from GLAM institutions. This will involve low cost models, leveraging various factors, and getting the most out from cultural institutions where collaboration and long term engagement has high cost and time implications.

Track: GLAM Outreach

Length of session (if other than 30 minutes, specify how long): 30 minutes

Will you attend Wikimania if your submission is not accepted?: Yes

Slides or further information (optional)

Special requests

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/how-to-do-guerilla-glam

Odia Wikipedia Set to Celebrate 13 Years of Volunteer Contributions

subha — 2015-08-22T16:54:53Z

Odia Wikipedia, one of the first of several Indian language Wikipedia projects, is ready to celebrate 13 glorious years of free knowledge contribution on June 3.

Read the original post published by Global Voices on May 31, 2015 here. For event details click here: https://or.wikipedia.org/s/sml

With about 17 active editors (also known as “uikiali”) spread across various parts of India and abroad, and over 8,800 articles, the project has become more than just an encyclopedia. The voluntary editor community has put its efforts into acquiring valuable Creative Commons (CC) licensed content by lobbying copyright holders/authors to relicense copyrighted content under CC licenses.

It has also engaged with over 2,000 people by organizing various outreach programs including the globally accredited pedagogic program the Wikipedia Education Program (WEP).

For its 13th anniversary the community is planning to release a character-encoding converter that promises to unlock massive amounts of content from government portals as well as journals, newspapers and magazines that have their content in non-Unicode character encoding that prevents user searching and reuse of digital-based content.

Odia language is spoken by more than 40 million people in the Indian state of Odisha (the 9 ^th largest Indian state by territory), its neighboring states and the Odia diaspora living outside India.

With over 5,000 years of literary heritage, it has been recognized as one of the oldest South Asian languages and has been given the status of a “classical language” by the Indian government.

However, the language has not gathered as much traction in terms of online presence as it might have.

Almost all the online newspapers in Odia are available either in non-Unicode and proprietary encoding systems, or as images. This makes them completely invisible as far as a search engine is concerned.

The same goes for the state government's official portals that either lack Odia-language content or have content in legacy encoding systems. To address these issues, a bunch of character encoding converters that convert text typed using various non-Unicode encoding systems to Unicode are incorporated on Odia Wikipedia.

With this new tool, the community aims at a mass conversion of content from all available sources — from newspapers and magazines to government journals and portals — into Unicode, so this content can be used in order to enrich Odia Wikipedia and generally improve the language's reach online.

Odia Wikipedia was not content-rich until the beginning of 2011, when editor activity began to pick up.

Since then it has expanded its content massively, with topics ranging from the essentials of medical science to the cuisine of Odisha.

The growth in readership of the project is a great example of how content is driving the internet. A project that was virtually unknown a few years back with monthly page views in the low thousands recorded 8,08,834 page views in March 2015 alone.

The Wikimedia community is gathering in Odisha's capital Bhubaneswar this June 3 to celebrate Odia Wikipedia becoming a teenager.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/global-voices-may-31-2015-subhashish-panigrahi-odia-wikipedia-set-to-celebrate-13-years-of-volunteer-contributions

March 2015 Bulletin

praskrishna — 2015-05-12T01:36:18Z

Newsletter for the month of March.

We are happy to share with you the third issue of the CIS newsletter (March 2015). The past editions of the newsletter can be accessed at http://cis-india.org/about/newsletters.

Highlights

In a landmark judgement upholding the freedom of expression, the Supreme Court of India on March 24, 2015 struck down a provision (Section 66 A of the IT Act) which provided the power to arrest anyone for posting offensive comments online. Geetha Hariharan in her blog post captures the happenings which led to the court ruling.

CIS in partnership with Privacy International is doing the GSMA project that seeks to understand different legal and regulatory aspects of security and surveillance in India. The research outputs published thus far are now online in a consolidated blog post.
CIS as part of its RAW programme is inviting abstracts for essays that explore what it means to study Internet(s) in India today.
CIS is pleased to announce that the Researchers at Work (RAW) programme is supporting a new collaborative publishing project led by T.A.J. Residency / SKE Projects and or-bits.com. The first volume of the series titled 'Silicon Plateau' will feature contributions by a group of well-known artists, researchers, and writers.
Sumandro Chattapadhyay's paper titled 'Whose Open Data Community is it? Reflections on the Open Data Ecosystem in India' has been accepted for presentation at the Open Data Research Symposium to be held during the 3rd International Open Data Conference in Ottawa, Canada, on May 28-29 2015.
CIS has been invited to contribute two sections to the Asia Internet History - Third Decade (2001 - 2010) book edited by Dr. Kilnam Chon. The sections will discuss the activities and experiences of civil society organisations in Asia and India, respectively, in national, regional, and global Internet governance processes. Draft outlines of the sections are shared here . Comments and suggestions are invited.

CIS has prepared an open proposal to the Wikimedia Foundation to support its annual plan with USD 208,603.
CIS has prepared a draft work plan for the period July 2015 to June 2016 . This work plan consists of 18 programs across 6 verticals.
On December 24, 2015, Bharti Airtel, one of India's largest telecom players, announced the introduction of a new 'VOIP' usage policy for its mobile users. Tarun Krishnakumar analyses the developments in a blog post.

In his monthly column published in the Business Standard on March 4, 2015, Shyam Ponappa writes "systems and methods for access through elements that provide connectivity - spectrum, fibre-optic cable, coaxial cable, or "twisted-pairs" for ADSL - must be devised in an integrated manner and made available at low cost.
NVDA team as part of its project on developing text-to-speech software in 15 Indian languages has published key updates ofBengali and Assamese language testing.
In the year 2013 Nehaa Chaudhari had worked on a module on IP Rights for UNESCO's Open Access Curriculum. The module was published recently and is available under the CC-BY-SA 3.0 IGO license.

Rohini Lakshané in a blog post chronicles information about big-ticket lawsuits pertaining to mobile technology patents filed in India.

► Vacancies at CIS

CIS is seeking applications for these posts:

Assistant Project Manager : To assist the Project Manager on all tasks relating to the organization of the Fourth Global Congress on Intellectual Property and the Public Interest, which will take place in New Delhi from December 15-17, 2015.
Internship : CIS is providing opportunities for students enrolled in graduate programmes to undertake internship at its offices in Bangalore and Delhi. Eligible candidates are welcome to participate in our internship programme.

----------------------------------------------
Accessibility and Inclusion
----------------------------------------------
Under a grant from the Hans Foundation we are doing two projects. The first project is on creating a national resource kit of state-wise laws, policies and programmes on issues relating to persons with disabilities in India. CIS in partnership with CLPR (Centre for Law and Policy Research) compiled the National Compendium of Policies, Programmes and Schemes for Persons with Disabilities (29 states and 6 union territories). The publication has been finalised and is being printed. The draft chapters and the quarterly reports can be accessed on the project page. The second project is on developing text-to-speech software for 15 Indian languages. The progress made so far in the project can be accessed here.

►NVDA and eSpeak

Monthly Updates

March 2015 Report (Suman Dogra; March 31, 2015).

Language Testing Reports

Assamese Language (Nirmita Narasimhan; March 23, 2015).
Bengali Language (Nirmita Narasimhan; March 24, 2015).

Event Organized

Report on Training on the Use of eSpeak in Hindi with NVDA (Organized by NVDA team; Dr. Shakuntala Mishra National Rehabilitation University, Lucknow; March 16 - 29, 2015).

►Pervasive Technologies

As part of the Pervasive Technologies project, Rohini Lakshané has written a blog entry that chronicles information on big-ticket lawsuits pertaining to mobile technology patents filed in India. As part of broader Access to Knowledge work UNESCO published a module on Intellectual Property Rights, Copyright and Alternative to a Strict Copyright Regime.

Module Units

Intellectual Property Rights - Open Access for Researchers (Nehaa Chaudhari; March 19, 2015, UNESCO). Nehaa worked on a module on Intellectual Property Rights for United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)'s Open Access Curriculum (Curriculum for Researchers) as part of a project for the Commonwealth Educational Media Centre for Asia. UNESCO published the module this year. Nehaa Chaudhari and Varun Baliga were among the Module preparation team. Nehaa Chaudhari was the writer for Units 1, 2 and 3: Understanding Intellectual Property Rights, Copyright and Alternative to a Strict Copyright Regime.

Blog Entries

Mobile App Developer Series: Terms of Agreement - Part IV (Samantha Cassar; March 23, 2015).
Compilation of Mobile Phone Patent Litigation Cases in India (Rohini Lakshané; March 15, 2015).
Interviews with App Developers: Open Source, Community, and Contradictions - Part III (Samantha Cassar; March 24, 2015).
Interviews with App Developers: Name of the Game - Part IV (Samantha Cassar; March 24, 2015).

Participation in Events

Conference on Standards Setting Organisations (SSOs) and FRAND (Organized by MHRD Chair on Intellectual Property Rights, Centre for Intellectual Property Rights and Advocacy (CIPRA), National Law School of India University, Bangalore, in association with Intel Technology India Pvt. Ltd.; Bangalore; March 21-22, 2015). Rohini Lakshané participated in this event.
4th IPR Researchers Confluence (Organized by Shailesh J. Mehta School of Management, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai and National Institute of Industrial Engineering, Mumbai with support from Ministry of Human Resource Development, New Delhi; March 27 - 28, 2015). Maggie Huang presented intermediary findings of the research entitled "India's Music Copyright Management in the Age of Music Streaming".

Media Coverage

The perils of not protecting intellectual property for new ventures (Evelyn Fok and Shonali Advani; Economic Times; March 20, 2015). Sunil Abraham gave his inputs.

►Wikipedia

Announcements

Open Proposal for Funding : CIS has prepared an open proposal for funding for about USD 208,603 from the Wikimedia Foundation. CIS is inviting comments on the proposal. CIS is proposing to contribute to the qualitative and quantitative growth of 12 Wikimedia projects across 9 Indian languages and associated communities, in addition to providing need based support to other Indic communities.
Access to Knowledge Work Plan : CIS has prepared the India Access to Knowledge work plan (July 2015 to June 2016). The work plan consists of 18 programs across 6 verticals. These include eight programs in five language areas, two community strengthening initiatives, five stand-alone Wikimedia projects, creating movement resources, publicity, research and documentation, and general support and service to the movement.

Event Organized

Train the Trainer Program (CEO Centre; Dodda Gubbi; Bangalore; February 26 - March 1; 2015).

Blog Entry

Hindustani Language: We Are Wikipedia (Syed Muzamiluddin; March 27, 2015).

Participation in Event

2nd National Language Conference, Bhubaneswar (Organized by Institute of Odia Studies and Research; Institute of Physics, Bhubaneswar; March 30 - April 2, 2015). Subhashish Panigrahi presented a paper in Odia language in this conference as part of a panel discussion related to Odia language computing.

News and Media Coverage

CIS-A2K team gave its inputs to the following media coverage:

Train the Trainer (Udayavani; March 2, 2015).
More articles for Tulu Wikipedia (The Hindu; March 10, 2015).
GoI body National Mission for Manuscripts has digitised 3 million manuscripts (Sneha Johari; Medianama; March 13, 2015).
Bangla Wiki turns 10 (Sudeshna Banerjee, Showli Chakraborty and Abhinanda Datta; The Telegraph; March 29, 2015).

Events Co-organized

Women's History Month - India (Organized by CIS-A2K and Wikimedia India; India, March 2015). March 8 is International Women's Day, and to celebrate this women in India organized edit-a-thons and meetups to create and expand articles of importance to women in Wikipedia in English and various Indian languages. Online events were organized for these Wikipedias: Bengali , Punjabi , Odia , Marathi , Kannada and Malayalam .

►Openness

Media Coverage

India backs open source software for e-governance projects (originally published by IDG News Service was mirrored on the website ofCIO and PC World; March 29, 2015). Sunil Abraham gave his inputs.

►Freedom of Expression

India's Apex Court in a landmark decision struck down section 66A of the IT Act. The judgment provided great relief for advocates of freedom of speech on the Internet. The development attracted lots of media coverage to which CIS gave its inputs:

Articles

Internet censorship will continue in opaque fashion (Sunil Abraham; The Times of India; March 25, 2015).
Historic day for freedom of speech and expression in India (Vidushi Marda; Bangalore Mirror; March 25, 2015).
India's Supreme Court Axes Online Censorship Law, But Challenges Remain (Subhashish Panigrahi; Global Voices Online; March 25, 2015).
Big win for freedom of speech. Really? (Sunil Abraham; Bangalore Mirror; March 29, 2015).
Three reasons why 66A verdict is momentous (Pranesh Prakash; The Times of India; March 29, 2015).

Blog Entries

What Does Facebook's Transparency Report Tell Us About the Indian Government's Record on Free Expression & Privacy? (Pranesh Prakash; March 17, 2015).
No more 66A! (Geetha Hariharan; March 24, 2015).

· Requests to ICANN: CIS sent ICANN six requests to ICANN regarding ICANN's expenditure on travels and meetings, granular revenue, cyber-attacks on ICANN, ICANN's implementation of the NETmundial principles, complaints under the Ombudsman process, and information regarding revenues received from gTLD auctions. These were prepared by Geetha Hariharan:DIDP Request #7: Globalisation Advisory Groups and DIDP Request #8: ICANN Organogram.

Participation in Events

Tech Law Form @ NALSAR (Organized by NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad; March 7 and 8, 2015). Geetha Hariharan participated as a speaker.
Roundtable on ICANN Accountability (Organized by Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY), National Internet Exchange of India and Centre for Communication Governance, National Law University, Delhi; March 13, 2015).

►Privacy

Research Outputs

CIS in collaboration with Privacy International, UK as part of GSMA project is conducting research to understand different legal and regulatory aspects of security and surveillance in India. The following outputs have been published: Indian Law and the Necessary Proportionate Principles (Elonnai Hickok), Security, Surveillance and Data Sharing Schemes and Bodies in India (Maria Xynou and Elonnai Hickok), Export and Import of Security Technologies in India: QA (Elonnai Hickok), Regulation of CCTV's in India (Elonnai Hickok), Mutual Legal Assistance Treaties (MLATs) and Cross Border Sharing of Information in India (Maria Xynou and Elonnai Hickok), Composition of Service Providers in India (Lovisha Aggarwal), The Surveillance and Security Industry in India - An Analysis of Indian Security Expos (Divij Joshi), An Analysis of News Items and Cases on Surveillance and Digital Evidence in India (Lovisha Aggarwal), Policy Recommendations for Surveillance Law in India and an Analysis of Legal Provisions on Surveillance in India and the Necessary & Proportionate Principles (Maria Xynou), The Surveillance Industry in India (Maria Xynou), and State of Cyber Security and Surveillance in India: A Review of the Legal Landscape (Elonnai Hickok).

Event Organized

Cybersecurity and the Internet of Things (Organized by US Consulate Chennai, Cyber Security & Privacy Foundation and CIS; Hotel Atria, Palace Road, Bangalore; March 19, 2015).

Participation in Events

CONNECTing the Dots: Options for Future Action (Organized by UNESCO; March 3 - 4, 2015; Paris). Elonnai Hickok participated in the event.
Vox Pol Workshop on the Role of Social Media and Internet Companies in Responding to Violent Online Extremism (Organized by VOX-Pol network; March 5-6, 2015).

---------------------------------
News & Media Coverage
---------------------------------

CIS gave its inputs to the following media coverage:

Uploaded and blocked, a daylong battle rages on the web over BBC documentary (Kim Arora; The Times of India; March 6, 2015).
India tops list of content restrictions requests, says Facebook (Neha Alawadhi; Economic Times; March 17, 2015).
If you thought India is a country where freedom of speech and expression are fundamental rights, think twice! (Business Insider; March 17, 2015).
Live Chat: Aadhaar: An identity crisis? (Hindu; March 17, 2015).
Delhi Govt Sets Up WiFi Task Force (Originally published by Press Trust of India; TeleAnalysis; March 18, 2015).
India's plan to offer citizens digital lockers poses a privacy threat, say experts (Scroll.in; March 19, 2015).
Internet becomes vernacular with relaunch of e-bhasha (Ankita Lahiri; Governance Now; March 23, 2015).
Indian Supreme Court Overturns Law Barring 'Offensive Messages' Online (Niharika Mandhana; Wall Street Journal; March 24, 2015).
Supreme Court Strikes Down Section 66A Of IT Act (Indrani Basu and Betwa Sharma; Huffington Post; March 24, 2015).
India's section 66A scrapped: Win for free speech (Prasanto K. Roy; BBC; March 24, 2015).
India's Online Freedom Advocates Hail Court Ruling on Free Speech (Anjana Pasricha; Voice of America; March 24, 2015).
Live Chat: Win for Free Speech (Hindu; March 24, 2015). Geetha Hariharan participated in the live chat.
India's Supreme Court strikes down law that led to Facebook arrests (Annie Gowen; Washington Post; March 24, 2015).
Netizens Rejoice Over SC Ruling to Keep the Net Free (Parina Dhilla; New Indian Express; March 25, 2015).
'A safe Internet and a free Internet can co-exist' (Hindu; March 25, 2015).
India High Court: No Takedown Requests On Social Sites Without Court, Gov't Order (Madhur Singh; Bloomberg BNA; March 25, 2015).
India's Supreme Court strikes down law that led to arrests over Facebook posts (Annie Gowen; Star.com; March 25, 2015).
What the experts said on live chat (Hindu; March 25, 2015). Geetha Hariharan was one of the panelists.
Indian Court Strikes Down Section of Law Punishing Offensive Posts (Nida Najar and Suhasini Raj; NDTV; March 25, 2015).
IT Leaders, Lawyers Welcome SC Ruling on 66A of the IT Act (Cio.in; March 25, 2015).
I dare you, I double dare you: Social media celebrates Sec 66A verdict (Vishakha Saxena; Hindustan Times; March 25, 2015).
Ruling in India shields Web posts (Originally published by Washington Post and mirrored in Boston Globe; March 25, 2015).
The noose tightens on freedom of speech on the Internet (Gabey Goh; Digital New Asia; March 26, 2015). This was also mirrored in Malaymail Online.
SECTION 66A: DELETE (Kumar Anshuman; Open Magazine; March 27, 2015).
SC has set a high threshold for tolerance: Lawrence Liang (Dhamini Ratnam; Livemint; March 28, 2015).
66A DEAD. LONG LIVE 66A! (Soni Mishra; The Week; March 28, 2015).
India's landmark online speech ruling is step toward greater press freedom (Sumit Galhotra; CPJ; March 28, 2015).
You can still get into trouble for online posts: Digital law experts (Kim Arora; The Times of India; March 30, 2015).
'Smack' the Trolls! (Marianne De Nazareth; Citizen; March 31, 2015).

Announcements

Call for Essays: Studying Internet in India : CIS is inviting abstracts for essays that explore what it means to study Internet(s) in India today, the many experiences of Internet(s) in India; its histories and archaeologies; how we use it to read, write, create, relate, learn, and share. Please send abstracts (200 words) to raw@cis-india.org.
Announcing Silicon Plateau #01 : The RAW programme is supporting a new collaborative publishing project led by T.A.J. Residency / SKE Projects and or-bits.com. The first volume of the series titled 'Silicon Plateau' will feature contributions by a group of artists, researchers, and writers, including IOCOSE, Tara Kelton, Anil Menon, Sunita Prasad, Achal Prabhala and Sreshta Rit Premnath, along with contextual writing and documentation material. Here is an excerpt from the editorial note written by Marialaura Ghidini, the co-editor of the volume.
Whose Open Data Community is it? - Accepted Abstract (Sumandro Chattapadhyay; March 31, 2015). The paper 'Whose Open Data Community is it? Reflections on the Open Data Ecosystem in India' has been accepted for presentation at the Open Data Research Symposium to be held during the 3rd International Open Data Conference in Ottawa, Canada, on May 28-29 2015.

Event Organized

Digital Activism in Asia Reader (Organized by CIS; Bangalore; March 6-7, 2015). The project is a collaborative effort of CIS and the Centre for Digital Cultures, Leuphana University, Germany, which aims to bring together local knowledge, debates and conversations around Digital Activism in Asia. The Digital Activism in Asia Reader is expected to be published by the Hybrid Publishing Lab in mid-2015.

Blog Entries

Figures of Learning: The Reader (P.P.Sneha; March 24, 2015).
Civil Society Organisations and Internet Governance in Asia and India - Section Outlines : CIS has been invited to contribute two sections to the Asia Internet History - Third Decade (2001-2010) book edited by Dr. Kilnam Chon.

--------------------------------
Telecom
--------------------------------
CIS is involved in promoting access and accessibility to telecommunications services and resources and has provided inputs to ongoing policy discussions and consultation papers published by TRAI. It has prepared reports on unlicensed spectrum and accessibility of mobile phones for persons with disabilities and also works with the USOF to include funding projects for persons with disabilities in its mandate:

Op-ed

Railway Takeaways for Digital India (Shyam Ponappa; Business Standard and Organizing India Blogspot; March 4, 2015).

Blog Entry

TRAI-ing Times: The Story So Far (Tarun Krishnakumar; March 19, 2015).

► Follow us elsewhere

Twitter: https://twitter.com/CISA2K
Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/cisa2k
Visit us at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Access_To_Knowledge
E-mail: a2k@cis-india.org

► Support Us

Please help us defend consumer / citizen rights on the Internet! Write a cheque in favour of 'The Centre for Internet and Society' and mail it to us at No. 194, 2nd 'C' Cross, Domlur, 2nd Stage, Bengaluru - 5600 71.

► Request for Collaboration:

We invite researchers, practitioners, and theoreticians, both organisationally and as individuals, to collaboratively engage with Internet and society and improve our understanding of this new field. To discuss the research collaborations, write to Sunil Abraham, Executive Director, at sunil@cis-india.org. To discuss collaborations on Indic language Wikipedia, write to T. Vishnu Vardhan, Programme Director, A2K, at vishnu@cis-india.org.

CIS is grateful to its primary donor the Kusuma Trust founded by Anurag Dikshit and Soma Pujari, philanthropists of Indian origin for its core funding and support for most of its projects. CIS is also grateful to its other donors, Wikimedia Foundation, Ford Foundation, Privacy International, UK, Hans Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, and IDRC for funding its various projects.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/march-bulletin-2015

April 2015 Bulletin

praskrishna — 2015-05-31T04:29:24Z

Newsletter for the month of April below.

We are happy to share with you the fourth issue of the Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) newsletter (April 2015). The past editions of the newsletter can be accessed at http://cis-india.org/about/newsletters.

-------------------------------
Highlights
-------------------------------

CIS received 35 engaging abstracts in response to the call for essays on 'Studying Internet in India'. The final essays will be published from June onwards. The ten selected abstracts can be read at http://cis-india.org/raw/studying-internet-in-india-selected-abstracts/ .

CIS submitted its comments to the National Informatics Centre on April 30, 2015 bringing to notice the negligible progress on the front for making Indian government websites conform to the notified standards, and gave recommendations to take the initiatives forward.
Nehaa Chaudhari has prepared a consolidated report that tracks the development of India's National IPR Policy and the requests by CIS to the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion under the RTI Act and responses elicited from the Department.

Institute of Odia Studies and Research organised 2nd National Language Conference beginning on March 30, 2015 and ending on April 2, 2015 at the Institute of Physics, Bhubaneswar. This conference was organised in collaboration with the Department of Tourism and Culture. Subhashish Panigrahi presented a paper in Odia language in this conference as part of a panel discussion related to Odia language computing.

Sunil Abraham's article titled "Shreya Singhal and 66A" was published in Economic and Political Weekly Vol-L No.15. Vidushi Marda helped in doing the research.

Sunil Abraham in an article in DNA titled " Multiple Aspects Need to be Addressed as the Clamour Grows for Network Neutrality " tells readers that there are four violations of Network Neutrality that are considered particularly egregious.

Jyoti Panday prepared an analysis of the Supreme Court judgement in Shreya Singhal and what it does for intermediary liability in India.
In February 2015, CIS had requested DeitY under RTI Act to provide information clarifying the procedures for blocking in India. The response elicited from DeitY has been published.

CIS sent a joint response to the TRAI Consultation Paper on Regulatory Framework for Over-the-top (OTT) services with scholars from Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. The response was sent on March 27, 2015.

► Vacancies at CIS

CIS is seeking applications for:

Internship : CIS is providing opportunities for students enrolled in graduate programmes to undertake internship at its offices in Bangalore and Delhi. Eligible candidates are welcome to participate in our internship programme.

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Accessibility and Inclusion
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Under a grant from the Hans Foundation we are doing two projects. The first project is on creating a national resource kit of state-wise laws, policies and programmes on issues relating to persons with disabilities in India. CIS in partnership with CLPR (Centre for Law and Policy Research) compiled the National Compendium of Policies, Programmes and Schemes for Persons with Disabilities (29 states and 6 union territories). The publication has been finalised and is being printed. The draft chapters and the quarterly reports can be accessed on the project page. The second project is on developing text-to-speech software for 15 Indian languages. The progress made so far in the project can be accessed here.

►NVDA and eSpeak

# Monthly Updates

April 2015 Report (Suman Dogra; April 30, 2015).

# Language Testing Reports

Hindi Language (Nirmita Narasimhan; April 10, 2015).
Gujarati Language (Nirmita Narasimhan; April 16, 2015).
Oriya Language (Nirmita Narasimhan; April 30, 2015).

►Other

# Submission

Comments to the GIGW (Nirmita Narasimhan; April 30, 2015).

# Blog Entries

Methodology: Patent Landscaping in the Indian Mobile Device Market (Rohini Lakshané; November 10, 2014). The list of standards and specifications found in sub-USD-100 Internet-enabled mobile phones sold in India" (Annexure 2 in the post) has been updated .
Conference on Standards Settings Organizations (SSO) and FRAND, NLSIU (Rohini Lakshané; April 5, 2015).
National IPR Policy Series: RTI Requests by CIS to DIPP + DIPP Responses (Nehaa Chaudhari; April 15, 2015).
Pervasive Technologies Project Working Document Series: Literature Review on IPR in Mobile app development (Anubha Sinha; April 29, 2015).

Media Coverage

CIS gave inputs for the following:

One reason startups are moving out of India (Evelyn Fok and Varun Aggarwal; The Times of India; April 10, 2015). This was also mirrored in Economic Times .
Indian businesses crave IP certainty, but better patent values are tempting them overseas (IAM Magazine; April 28, 2015).

►Wikipedia

# Participation in Event

2nd National Language Conference, Bhubaneswar (Organized by Institute of Odia Studies and Research; Institute of Physics; Bhubaneswar; March 30 - April 2, 2015). This conference was organised in collaboration with the Department of Tourism and Culture. Subhashish Panigrahi presented a paper in Odia language in this conference as part of a panel discussion related to Odia language computing.

# Blog Entries

Hindustani Language: We Are Wikipedia (Syed Muzamiluddin; April 10, 2015).
ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଭାଷା ପାଇଁ ଡିଜିଟାଲ ଅସୁବିଧା (Subhashish Panigrahi; April 15, 2015).
Wikipedia Campus at Oxford College (Subhashish Panigrahi; April 28, 2015).

# News and Media Coverage

CIS-A2K team gave its inputs to the following media coverage:

Odia waits for Google Translate debut - Nine Indian languages available (Anwesha Ambaly; Telegraph; April 6, 2015).
Now you can search Google in Kannada, in your handwriting (Apurva Venkat; Bangalore Mirror; April 18, 2015).

►Openness

# Event Co-organized

NASA International Open Data Challenge 2015 (Co-organized by CIS and Team Indus; Bangalore; April 11-12, 2015).

►Freedom of Expression

# Articles

Shreya Singhal and 66A (Sunil Abraham; Economic and Political Weekly Vol-L No.15; April 11, 2015). Vidushi Marda helped in doing the research.
Don't Do Nothing. Take a Stand on Net Neutrality. (T. Vishnu Vardhan; NDTV; April 13, 2015).
Multiple Aspects Need to be Addressed as the Clamour Grows for Network Neutrality (Sunil Abraham; DNA; April 16, 2015).
The Hazards of a Non-neutral Internet (Geetha Hariharan; April 18, 2015). A modified version of the blog entry was published as an article titled " A must for free speech " in the Week.

# Blog Entries

The Supreme Court Judgment in Shreya Singhal and What It Does for Intermediary Liability in India? (Jyoti Panday; April 11, 2015).
DeitY says 143 URLs have been Blocked in 2015; Procedure for Blocking Content Remains Opaque and in Urgent Need of Transparency Measures (Jyoti Panday; April 29, 2015).

# Event

Freedom of Expression in a Digital Age: Effective Research, Policy Formation & the Development of Regulatory Frameworks in South Asia (Organized by Center for Global Communication Studies at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania, Observer Research Foundation and CIS; Observer Research Foundation, New Delhi; April 21, 2015).

# Participation in Event

Financial Express hosts #NetNeutralityDebate: 'Price discrimination can be allowed, but not for the same packet of data' (New Delhi; April 24, 2015). Pranesh Prakash participated in the discussion.

►Privacy

# Participation in Event

Privacy International Network Meeting (Organized by Privacy International, UK; April 22 - 23, 2015). Sunil Abraham attended the meeting.

►Miscellaneous

# Announcement

IIGF Recruitment : The National Internet Exchange of India (NIXI) conducted walk-in interviews on May 16, 2015 at NIXI Jasola office, Flat No. 6B, 6th Floor, Uppals M6 Plaza, New Delhi. NIXI sought candidates to fill the posts of Technology Analyst, Policy Analyst, Research Associate and Executive Assistants.

# Participation in Events

Global Conference on Cyberspace 2015 (Co-organized by Dutch Government, City of the Hague and One Conference; The Hague, Netherlands; April 16 - 17, 2015). Sunil Abraham was a panelist. He also participated in an expert roundtable conference .
CII Digital India Summit (Organized by Confederation of Indian Industries; Taj Mahal Hotel and Pragati Maidan, New Delhi; April 21 and 24, 2015). Pranesh Prakash attended the summit.

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News & Media Coverage
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CIS gave its inputs to the following media coverage:

'Smack' the Trolls! (Marianne De Nazareth; The Citizen; March 31, 2015).
The block heads (Sibi Arasu; Hindu Businessline; April 3, 2015).
Smriti Irani brings back focus on voyeurism prevailing in our country (Amrita Madhukalya; DNA; April 6, 2015).
Surveillance rises, privacy retreats (Namrata Acharya; Business Standard; April 12, 2015).
People voice their support for net neutrality, say Internet a utility not a luxury (IBN Live; April 13, 2015).
Net neutrality: Trai receives over 2 lakh mails (Sandhya Soman and Jayanta Deka; April 14, 2015).
Net neutrality: Debate rages on (Surabhi Aggarwal; Business Standard; April 11, 2015)
Net neutrality debate rages (Lalatendu Mishra and Pradeesh Chandran; The Hindu; April 15, 2015).
Net neutrality: Net activism packs a punch (Sandhya Soman; The Times of India; April 19, 2015).
Net Neutrality debate in India: Here are all the arguments you need to know (Indian Express; April 23, 2015).
Freedom struggle 2.0 (Zara Khan; Hindu; April 25, 2015).
Cry, you nasty trolls (Prasun Chaudhari; The Telegraph; April 26, 2015). Net Neutrality: The argument continues (Deepak Ajwani and Debojyoti Ghosh; Forbes India Magazine; April 29, 2015).

# Blog Entries

Studying Internet in India: Selected Abstracts - CIS received thirty five engaging abstracts in response to the call for essays on 'Studying Internet in India.' The final essays will be published from June onwards. These are the ten selected abstracts: Studying the Internet Discourse in India through the Prism of Human Rights (by Deva Prasad); Indic Scripts and the Internet (by Dibyajyoti Ghosh); The Internet in the Indian Judicial Imagination (by Divij Joshi); Dharmasala Networked (by Laird Brown); WhatsApp Economy (by Maitrayee Deka); Citizens and their Internet (by Purbasha Auddy); The Many Lives and Sites of Internet in Bhubaneswar (by Sailen Routray); Quantity over Quality: Social Media and the New Class System in India (by Sarah McKeever); Governing Speech on the Internet: Transforming the Public Sphere through Policymaking (by Smarika Kumar).

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Telecom
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CIS is involved in promoting access and accessibility to telecommunications services and resources and has provided inputs to ongoing policy discussions and consultation papers published by TRAI. It has prepared reports on unlicensed spectrum and accessibility of mobile phones for persons with disabilities and also works with the USOF to include funding projects for persons with disabilities in its mandate:

# Submission

Response to TRAI Consultation Paper on Regulatory Framework for Over-the-Top (OTT) Services (Pranesh Prakash; March 27, 2015). The response was sent in March but mirrored on our website recently.

► Follow us elsewhere

Twitter: https://twitter.com/CISA2K
Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/cisa2k
Visit us at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Access_To_Knowledge
E-mail: a2k@cis-india.org

► Support Us

► Request for Collaboration:

We invite researchers, practitioners, and theoreticians, both organisationally and as individuals, to collaboratively engage with Internet and society and improve our understanding of this new field. To discuss the research collaborations, write to Sunil Abraham, Executive Director, at sunil@cis-india.org. To discuss collaborations on Indic language Wikipedia, write to T. Vishnu Vardhan, Programme Director, A2K, at vishnu@cis-india.org.

CIS is grateful to its primary donor the Kusuma Trust founded by Anurag Dikshit and Soma Pujari, philanthropists of Indian origin for its core funding and support for most of its projects. CIS is also grateful to its other donors, Wikimedia Foundation, Ford Foundation, Privacy International, UK, Hans Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, and IDRC for funding its various projects.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/april-2015-bulletin

ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଭାଷା ପାଇଁ ଡିଜିଟାଲ ଅସୁବିଧା

subha — 2015-05-27T15:22:31Z

This paper was presented at the 2nd National Language Seminar by CIS-A2K Pogramme Officer Subhashish Panigrahi. In the paper, Panigrahi discusses about the hindrances of mass use of Odia language on the internet and how that is impacting in overall contribution of people in the language.

He further elaborates on the major content repositories like Odia Wikipedia that have the potential to drive the bandwagon of an old and rich language like Odia online which is otherwise ceased because of the lack of contribution. Click to download the file.

"ଭାଷାସବୁ ଭାଷାଙ୍କୁ ମାରନ୍ତିନି; ଭାଷାଭାଷୀମାନେ ମାରନ୍ତି' କହିଥିଲେ ଜଣାଶୁଣା ଭାଷାବିଦ ସାଲିକିକ ମୁଫଉଇନ । ଅନେକ ଡରନ୍ତି ଜଗତରେ ଆଜି ଜିଇଁଥିବା ୬,୭୦୦ଭାଷା ମରିମରି ଆଉ ଶହେବର୍ଷ ପରେ ୨୦୦ ହୋଇସାରିଥିବ । ଭାଷା ତଳେ ଭାଷାର ସମାଧି ଲଭିବାର ମୂକସାକ୍ଷୀ ନିକଟ ଅତୀତ । ଅନେକ ଭାଷା ରାଜଭାଷା, ରାଜନୈତିକ ପୃଷ୍ଠପୋଷକତା ପାଇଥିବା ଭାଷାର ମଙ୍ଗ ଧରିଥିବା ମୁଣ୍ଡିଆଳମାନଙ୍କ ଅଦଉତିରେ ମୁଣ୍ଡଟେକି ଭବିଷ୍ୟତର ଆଲୋକ ଦେଖିାରିନାହାନ୍ତି । ତେବେ ଅନେକ ଭାଷା ଅନାଦରରୁ, ରାଜନୀତିକ ଷଡ଼ଯନ୍ତ୍ର ଶିକାର ହୋଇ ଧୀରେ ଧୀରେ ସାଧାରଣ ବ୍ୟବହାରରୁ ହଜି ଯାଆନ୍ତି । ଶାସ୍ତ୍ରୀୟ ମାନ୍ୟତା ପାଇଲାଣି ଯେବେ ଆମକୁ ଆଉ କୂପମଣ୍ଡୁକ ହୋଇ ନିଜ ଦେଶ ଭିତରେ ବାନ୍ଧି ହୋଇ ରହିଲେ ଚଳିବ ନାହିଁ । ଆମ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଭାଷାର ସ୍ଥିତି ଏବେ ଜଗତ ପୃଷ୍ଠଭୂମିରେ କେଉଁଠି ତା' ବିଚାରିବା ବେଳ ଆସିଲାଣି । ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଭାଷାର ପୁରୁଣାପଣ ଉପରେ ଆଉ କାହାର ସନ୍ଦେହ ନାହିଁ । ତେବେ ସନ୍ଦେହଟି ଆମ ଭାଷାର ବ୍ୟାବହାରିକ ଦିଗ ଉପରେ । ଭାଷାଟି ଲୋକତୁଣ୍ଡରେ ଯେତେ ଅଧିକ କଥିତ ହେବେ ତା' ଖାଦି ସେତେ ବଢ଼ିବ । ପୁଣି ସମାଜର ମୁଣ୍ଡିଆଳମାନେ ଯେବେ ସେ ଭାଷାକୁ ଶାସନ, ବଣିଜ ଆଉ ସବୁଠି ବ୍ୟବହାର କରିବେ ସେ ଭାଷା ସେତେ ବଳୁଆ ହେବ । ଆମ ପାଇଁ ସମାଜର ଉଚ୍ଚ ବର୍ଗର ଲୋକଙ୍କ ଦେଇ ଓଡ଼ିଆ କହାଯିବାଟି ଏକ ବଡ଼ ବାଧକ ହୋଇ ଠିଆ ହୋଇଛି । ଆମ ଚାରିପାଖେ ଅନେକ ଉଞ୍ଚା ଗଛ ହେଲେ ଆମେ ଯେ ଛାଇରେ ଏକଥା କହିବା ବାହୁଲ୍ୟ । ୫୦୦ରୁ ଅଧିକ ବର୍ଷକାଳ ଓଡ଼ିଶା ପରାଧୀନ ହୋଇ ନ ରହନ୍ତା କି ଆମ ଭାଷାର ଯଥେଷ୍ଟ ପରେ ଜନମିଥିବା ନୂଆ ଭାଷାମାନେ ଆମଠୁ ଅଧିକ ବଳୁଆ ହୋଇ ଆମ ଉପରେ ହାକିମାତି ନ ଦେଖାନ୍ତେ । ଏବେ ଓଡ଼ିଶା ଗରିବ ରାଜ୍ୟ ବୋଲି ଯେଉଁ ଅପପ୍ରଚାରଟି କରାଯାଇଛି ଦୀର୍ଘ କେତେ ବର୍ଷ ଧରି ତା' ସକାଶେ ଲୋକଙ୍କ ଭିତରେ ନାହିନଥିବା ହୀନମନ୍ୟତା । ଆଉ ବଲିଉଡ଼ ଭଳି ଅର୍ଥକାରୀ ମିଡ଼ିଆ ପ୍ରଭାବରେ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ମିଡ଼ିଆର ପ୍ରଭାବ ଜନମାନସରେ ଖୁବ କମ ପଡ଼େ । ଏକ କାଳେ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ସିନେମା ଯେଉଁ ବଲିଓଡ଼ ସହିତ ସମତାଳେ ଗତି କରୁଥିଲା ବୋଲି ଆମେ ଆଜି ସିନେମାକୁ ଛି ଛାକର କରୁ ସେ କେବଳ ପ୍ରହେଳିକା । ଯେଉଁମାନେ ହିନ୍ଦୀ ସିନେମା ତିଆରି କରୁଥିଲେ ତା'ର ପ୍ରଭାବ ସିଧାସଳଖ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଓ ବାକି ଭାଷା ଉପରେ ପଡ଼ୁଥିଲା । ଲୁଗା ପିନ୍ଧା ହେଉ କି ସଂଳାପ ସେସବୁରେ ଏକ କୃତ୍ରିମତା ବାରିପଡ଼େ । ତେବେ ଅନେକ ନିଆରା ଚିଜ ସେଥିରେ ଖଞ୍ଜାଥିଲା ଯାହା ଆଜି ଆଉ ନାହିଁ । ଆମ ମିଡ଼ିଆରେ ଏବେ ଖୁବ କମ ଭାଗ ଖାଣ୍ଟି ଓଡ଼ିଆପଣ ଅଛି, ବାକି ସବୁ ହିନ୍ଦୀ ଓ ଅନ୍ୟାନ୍ୟ ମିଡ଼ିଆରୁ ଚୋରାଯାଉଛି । ମିଡ଼ିଆର ବଡ଼ ଦେଖଣାହାରୀ ହେଲେ ଯୁବସମାଜ । ଏଇ କିଛି ବର୍ଷ ଭିତରେ ପ୍ରଚାର ଚାଲିଲା ଯେ ହିନ୍ଦୀ ଭାରତର ରାଷ୍ଟ୍ରଭାଷା ଆଉ ଏହା କହୁଥିବା ଲୋକେ ଆସି ଏବେ ୪୦ ଭାଗରେ ପହଞ୍ଚିଲେଣି । ଏ ମିଛ ପ୍ରହସନ ପାଇଁ ସରକାର କିଛି ପରିମାଣରେ ଦାୟୀ ଆଉ ବାକି ଶ୍ରେୟ ଲାଭଖୋର ବେପାରୀଙ୍କୁ ଯାଏ । ଏମାନେ ହେଲେ ମିଡ଼ିଆକୁ ନେଇ କୋଟି କୋଟି ଟଙ୍କାର ବେପାର କରୁଥିବା ବେପାରିଏ । ଏ ଦେଶେ ଇଂରାଜୀ ଭଳି ଏକ ଆନ୍ତର୍ଜାତୀୟ ସ୍ତରର ଖାଦିଥିବା ଭାଷାକୁ ଆମ ଜାତୀୟତାବାଦର ବିରୋଧୀ, ଉପନିବେଶବାଦର ସ୍ମାରକ କହି କେଇ ଶହ ବର୍ଷ ତଳେ ଆକ୍ରମଣକାରୀ ପାରସିକଙ୍କ ଭାଷାରୁ ତିଆରି ଏକ କୃତ୍ରିମ ଭାଷାକୁ ଲଦିଦିଆଗଲା ଭାରତର ରାଜଭାଷା କରି । ଏହାର ଶିକାର ଉଣାଅଧିକେ ସବୁ ଭାରତୀୟ ଭାଷା ତଥା ଆମ ପଡ଼ୋଶୀ ଦେଶର ଭାଷାଙ୍କ ଉପରେ ପଡ଼ିଛି । ତେଣୁ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ପାଇଁ ପଇସା ଭାଷା ହେବା ଦୂରୁହ ହୋଇପଡ଼ିଛି । ଆମ ଭାଷା ଏବେ କେବଳ ସାହିତ୍ୟ ଭିତରେ ସୀମିତ ବୋଲି ମୋଟାମୋଟି କହିହେବ । ତେବେ ସବୁଠୁ ବଡ଼ ସମସ୍ୟା ଆସି ହେଲାଣି ପିଢ଼ି ଅସମତା, ଆମ ବୁଢ଼ାମାନେ କିଛି ପରିମାଣରେ ଓଡ଼ିଆକୁ ଧରି ରଖିଥିବା ବେଳେ ପିଲାଏ ଫିଙ୍ଗିବା ଆରମ୍ଭିଲେଣି । ଏଥିପାଇଁ ବଡ଼ମାନଙ୍କ ଭୂମିକା ଖୁବ ଅଧିକ । ପିଲାଙ୍କୁ ଇଂରାଜୀ ମିଡ଼ିଅମ ସ୍କୁଲରେ ଛାଡ଼ିଲେ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଯେ ଅଛୁଆଁ ଏମିତି ଏକ ଧାରଣା ଦେବା ପ୍ରତି ଅଭିଭାବକ ପାଖେ ଦେଖିବାକୁ ମିଳେ ।

ଓଡ଼ିଆରେ ଟାଇପ କରିବା:

ମୋବାଇଲ, କମ୍ପୁଟର ଓ ଟାବଲେଟ ଆଦିରେ ସହଜେ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଟାଇପ କରିହେବ । ତେବେ ଗୋଟିଏ କଥା ଜାଣିବାକୁ ପଡ଼ିବ ଯେ ଆକୃତି, ଶ୍ରୀଲିପି, ଲିପ-ଅଫିସ ଆଦି ବ୍ୟବହାର କରି ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଲେଖିଲେ କମ୍ପୁଟରରେ ସେ ଫଣ୍ଟସବୁ ଇନଷ୍ଟଲ ହୋଇଥିଲେ କେବଳ ଜଣେ ପଢ଼ିପାରିବ । ତେବେ ଏସବୁ ପୁରୁ୍ଣାକାଳିଆ ହୋଇଥିବାରୁ ସେଥିରେ ଇମେଲ, ଫେସବୁକ ବା ୱେବସାଇଟ କଲେ ବାକିମାନେ ପଢ଼ିପାରିବେ ନାହିଁ । ଏସବୁ ଫଣ୍ଟରେ ୱେବସାଇଟ କଲେ ଗୁଗୁଲ ସର୍ଚରେ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଆସିବ ନାହିଁ । ଅନେକ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଲେଖା ଇଣ୍ଟରନେଟରେ ଆକୃତି, ଶ୍ରୀଲିପି ଓ ସେ ଧରଣର ଲେଖାରେ ଉପଲବ୍ଧ ହୋଇଥିବାରୁ ସେସବୁ ପାଠକେ ଖୋଜି ପାଉନାହାନ୍ତି । ବାକି ଭାଷାରେ ଉପଲବ୍ଧ ହେଲେ ମଧ୍ୟ କେବଳ ଏହି କାରଣ ସକାଶେ ଗୁଗୁଲ ଏଯାଏ ତା' ସାଇଟରେ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ବିଭାଗଟି ଖୋଲିନାହିଁ । ତେଣୁ ଲେଖାଲେଖିକୁ ଅଧିକ ଲୋକଙ୍କ ପାଖେ ପହଞ୍ଚାଇବାର ସବୁଠୁ ବଡ଼ ବାଟ ହେଲା ଇଉନିକୋଡ଼ । ଏହା ଏକ ବିଶ୍ୱସ୍ତରର ମାନକ ଓ ଜଗତର ସବୁ ଭାଷା ଏହି ମାନକ ସକାଶେ ନିଜ ନିଜ ସହ ଯୋଡ଼ା । କମ୍ପୁଟରରେ ଓଡ଼ିଆରେ ଟାଇପ କରିବା ସହଜ । Windows XP ସର୍ଭିସ ପ୍ୟାକ ୨ ପରେ ଆସିଥିବା ସବୁ ଅପରେଟିଂ ସିଷ୍ଟମରେ (XP service pack 3, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8 ଆଦି) ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଫଣ୍ଟ ଇନଷ୍ଟଲ ହୋଇ ଆସୁଛି । ତେଣୁ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ପଢ଼ିବାରେ କୌଣସି ଅସୁବିଧା ହେବା କଥା ନୁହେଁ । ଇଉନିକୋଡ଼ ଓଡ଼ିଆରେ ଟାଇପ କରିବା ପାଇଁ ମୋଜିଲା ଫାୟାରଫକ୍ସ ବ୍ରାଉଜରରେ http://bitly.com/odiafirefox ଏବଂ ଗୁଗୁଲ କ୍ରୋମ ବ୍ରାଉଜରରେ http://bitly.com/odiachrome ଖୋଲି ସେଠାରେ ଥିବା Addon ଡାଉନଲୋଡ଼ କରିପାରିବେ । ଏସୁବୁକୁ ପ୍ରଥମ ଥର ଇନଷ୍ଟଲ କଲାପରେ ଫେସବୁକ, ମେଲ ଆଦିରେ ଏକ ଫାଙ୍କା ସ୍ଥାନରେ କ୍ଲିକ କଲେ ଛୋଟ କିବୋର୍ଡ଼ ଛବିଟିଏ ଦିଶିବ । ସେ ଛବି ଉପରେ କ୍ଲିକ କରି ପ୍ରଥମେ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଓ ପରେ "ଲେଖନୀ" କିମ୍ବା "ଫୋନେଟିକ" ବାଛି ଓଡ଼ିଆରେ ଟାଇପ କରିହେବ । ଆମେ ନିଜ ନାଁ ଯେମିତି ଇଂରାଜୀ ଅକ୍ଷରରେ ଲେଖୁଛୁ ଠିକ ସେହିଭଳି ଢଙ୍ଗରେ ଓଡ଼ିଆରେ ଟାଇପ କରିହେବ । ଯଥା: "କାମ" ଲେଖିବା ପାଇଁ "kam", "ଆଚାର" ଲେଖିବା ପାଇଁ "achar" ।

ଯଦି ଆଗରୁ ଆକୃତି, ଶ୍ରୀଲିପିରେ କିଛି ଲେଖା ଅଛି ତାକୁ ବ୍ଲଗ, ଇମେଲ, ଫେସବୁକ ଓ ଇଣ୍ଟରନେଟରେ ବାକି ଜାଗାରେ ବ୍ୟବହାର କରିବା ପାଇଁ ଇଉନିକୋଡ଼କୁ ବଦଳାଇବା ବାଟ ଆସିଲାଣି । ଆକୃତି ଲେଖା http://bitly.com/akrutiodia ଓ ଶ୍ରୀଲିପି ଲେଖା http://bitly.com/shreelipi ସାଇଟ ଖୋଲି ଇଉନିକୋଡ଼କୁ ବଦଳାଇ ହେବ । ନିଜ କମ୍ପୁଟରରେ ରାଇଟ କ୍ଲିକ କରି "Save as" ଅପସଙ୍କୁ ଯାଇ ଏ ଦୁଇଟିଯାକ କନଭର୍ଟର ନିଜ କମ୍ପୁଟର ଡେସ୍କଟପରେ ସାଇତିହେବ ଓ ପରେ ବିନା ଇଣ୍ଟରନେଟରେ ମଧ୍ୟ ବ୍ୟବହାର କରିହେବ ।

ମୋବାଇଲରେ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଟାଇପ କରିହେବ କି ନାଁ ତା' ଜାଣିବାର ସହଜ ବାଟଟି ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଉଇକିପିଡ଼ିଆ (or.wikipedia.org) ବା ଆଉ କୌଣସି ଓଡ଼ିଆ ସାଇଟ ଖୋଲି ପରଖିପାରିବେ । ଯଦି ଏକ ମୋବାଇଲରେ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ପଢ଼ିହେଉଛି ତାହେଲେ ଓଡ଼ିଆରେ ଟାଇପ କରିବା ମଧ୍ୟ ସମ୍ଭବ । ଆଣ୍ଡ୍ରଏଡ଼ ପାଇଁ http://bitly.com/indickeyboard ଏବଂ iOS ପାଇଁ http://bitly.com/odiaios ବ୍ୟବହାର କରି ଓଡ଼ିଆରେ ଟାଇପ କରିପାରିବେ ଓ ଫେସବୁକ, ଟୁଇଟର, ଇମେଲ ଆଦିରେ ବ୍ୟବହାର କରିପାରିବେ । ତେବେ ଉଇଣ୍ଡୋଜ ଏବଂ ବ୍ଲାକବେରି ଆଦି ମୋବାଇଲରେ ଓଡ଼ିଆରେ ଟାଇପିଂ ସୁବିଧା ଏଯାଏ ଆସିନାହିଁ ।

ଓଡ଼ିଆରେ ଉଇକିପିଡ଼ିଆ:

ଅନେକେ ଜାଣନ୍ତି ନାହିଁ ଯେ ଓଡ଼ିଆରେ ଉଇକିପିଡ଼ିଆଟିଏ ଅଛି ବୋଲି । ୨୦୦୨ ମସିହାରେ ପ୍ରଥମ ଭାରତୀୟ ଭାଷାର ଉଇକିପିଡ଼ିଆ ଭାବେ ପଞ୍ଜାବୀ, ଅହମିୟା ଓ ମାଳାୟାଳାମ ସହ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଉଇକିପିଡ଼ିଆ ଆରମ୍ଭ ହୋଇଥିଲା । or.wikipedia.org ରେ ଉପଲବ୍ଧ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଉଇକିପିଡ଼ିଆ ୮୬୦୦ରୁ ଅଧିକ ପ୍ରସଙ୍ଗରେ ଭରା । ପାଖାପାଖି ୧୫ ଜଣ ସ୍ୱେଚ୍ଛାସେବୀ ସମ୍ପାଦକ ଏଥିରେ ବିଭିନ୍ନ ବିଷୟରେ ଜ୍ଞାନକୋଷ (ଏନସାଇକ୍ଲୋପିଡ଼ିକ) ଲେଖାମାନ ଲେଖୁଛନ୍ତି । ତେବେ ୨୦୦୨ରୁ ଆରମ୍ଭ ହେଲେ ହେଁ ପାଖାପାଖି ୯ ବର୍ଷ ଧରି ପ୍ରକଳ୍ପଟି ସକ୍ରିୟ ସପାଦକଙ୍କ ଅଭାବେ ନିଶ୍ଚଳ ହୋଇ ପଡ଼ିରହିଥିଲା ଏବଂ ୨୦୧୧ ପରେ ଏଥିରେ ସକ୍ରିୟ ସମ୍ପାଦନା ଆରମ୍ଭ ହୋଇଛି । ମଜାର କଥା ହେଲା ଏଥିରେ ସଭିଙ୍କ ପାଇଁ ସମ୍ପାଦନାର ସୁବିଧା ରହିଛି ଓ ଏକ ପ୍ରସଙ୍ଗକୁ ବହୁ ସମ୍ପାଦକ ମିଶି ସମ୍ପାଦନା କରିଥାନ୍ତି । ତେବେ ନିଜ ମନଗଢ଼ା ବିଷୟ ନ ଲେଖି ଆଗରୁ ପ୍ରକାଶିତ ବିଭିନ୍ନ ପ୍ରତିଷ୍ଠିତ ଖବରକାଗଜ ଓ ପତ୍ରପତ୍ରିକାରେ ପ୍ରକାଶିତ ପ୍ରବନ୍ଧ ଆଦି ଲେଖା ଆଧାରରେ ଏଥିରେ ଲେଖିବା ନିୟମ । ଏଣୁ ଗପ, କବିତା ଭଳି ସୃଜନାତ୍ମକ ସାହିତ୍ୟ ଏଥିରେ ରହିପାରିବ ନାହିଁ ।

ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଉଇକିପାଠାଗାର: ଓଡ଼ିଆରେ ଡିଜିଟାଲ ଲାଇବ୍ରେରି

ପୁରୁଣା ବହିକୁ ଡିଜିଟାଲ ମିଡ଼ିଆରେ ଆଣିବା ପାଇଁ ଏକ ନୂଆ ପ୍ରକଳ୍ପ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଉଇକିପାଠାଗାର । ଏହି ପ୍ରକଳ୍ପଟି or.wikisource.org ରେ ଉପଲବ୍ଧ । ଏଥିରେ ଆଗରୁ ସ୍କାନ ହୋଇଥିବା ବହିଗୁଡ଼ିକ ଆଥରେ ଇଉନିକୋଡ଼କୁ ରୂପାନ୍ତର କରାଯାଉଛି । ଅନେକେ ସ୍ୱେଚ୍ଛାରେ ଅନେକ ଉପାଦେୟ ପୁରୁଣା ବହିର ଲେଖା ଆଉଥରେ ଟାଇପ କରୁଛନ୍ତି । ଫଳରେ ସେ ବହିର ଲେଖାସବୁ ଇଣ୍ଟରନେଟରେ ଖୋଜିଲେ ମିଳିବ ।

ଏମିତି ଅନେକ କାମ ଓଡ଼ିଆରେ ହୋଇସାରିଲାଣି । କିନ୍ତୁ ଆଜି ବି ଆହୁରି ପର୍ବତ ପ୍ରମାଣ କାମ ହେବାକୁ ବାକି । ବ୍ୟକ୍ତିଗତ ମାଲିକାନାରେ ଥିବା ଅନେକ ପୋଥି ଧୀରେ ଧୀରେ ସିନ୍ଦୁରବୋଳା ହୋଇ ଉଇଖିଆ ହୋଇ ଧୀରେ ଧୀରେ ନଷ୍ଟ ହୋଇଯାଉଛନ୍ତି । ଏଭଳି ପୋଥି ପାଠକଙ୍କ ପାଖରେ ଥିଲେ ଲେଖକ ତାହାର ଡିଜିଟାଲ ରୂପ ପାଇଁ ସାହାଯ୍ୟ କରିବାକୁ ଆଗ୍ରହୀ । ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଉଇକିପିଡ଼ିଆରେ ଓଡ଼ିଶା ସମ୍ବନ୍ଧିତ ଅନେକ ଲେଖା ପାଠକମାନେ ତିଆରି କରି ଜଗତର କୋଣ ଅନୁକୋଣରେ ଥିବା ଓଡ଼ିଆଙ୍କୁ ବିଭିନ୍ନ ବିଷୟରେ ଅବଗତ କରାଇପାରିବେ । ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଉଇକିପାଠାଗାରରେ ପୁରୁଣା ବହି, ପାଣ୍ଡୁଲିପି ଓ ପୋଥିର ଡିଜିଟାଲ ରୂପ ପାଇଁ ଓଡ଼ିଆରେ ଟାଇପ କରିବାରେ ପାଠକେ ଅଳପ ଅଳପ ସାହାଯ୍ୟ କଲେ ଇଣ୍ଟରନେଟରୁ ଅନେକେ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ପୁରାତନ ରଚନା ବାବଦରେ ଜାଣିବାକୁ ପାଇବେ । ଅଧିକରୁ ଅଧିକ ଲୋକ ବ୍ଲଗ, ଫେସବୁକ ଆଦିରେ ଓଡ଼ିଆରେ ଟାଇପ କରି କିମ୍ବା ଆକୃତି/ଶ୍ରୀଲିପି ଆଦିରେ ଆଗରୁ ଟାଇପ ହୋଇଥିବା ଲେଖା ବିତରଣ କଲେ ଧୀରେ ଧୀରେ ଅଧିକ ଲୋକ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ପଢ଼ିବାକୁ ପାଇବେ । ଧୀରେ ଧୀରେ ଲୋକେ ଇଣ୍ଟରନେଟରୁ ବିଭିନ୍ନ ବିଷୟ ଜାଣୁଥିବାରୁ ଓଡ଼ିଆରେ ଲେଖା ରହିଲେ ଯାଇ ଲୋକେ ପଢ଼ିବେ ଓ ନିଜେ ଲେଖିବେ ।

ଲେଖକ ପରିଚୟ: ଶୁଭାଶିଷ ପାଣିଗ୍ରାହୀ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ତ‌ଥା ଅନ୍ୟାନ୍ୟ ଭାରତୀୟ ଭାଷାର ଇଣ୍ଟରନେଟରେ ବ୍ୟବ‌ହାର ଉପରେ କାମକରୁଥିବା ଜଣେ ଶିକ୍ଷା-ଗବେଷକ । ଭାଷାର ବ୍ୟାବହାରିକ ଭୂମିରେ ତାଙ୍କର ବିଚରଣ ଓ ଆଧୁନିକ କାରିଗରି ଦ୍ୱାରା ପୁରାତନ ଭାଷାର ବିକାଶ-ଚାରା ରୋପଣ ତାହାଙ୍କ କାମ । ସେ ଅଧୁନା ବେଙ୍ଗାଳୁରୁର ସେଣ୍ଟର ଫର ଇଣ୍ଟରନେଟ ଏଣ୍ଡ ସୋସାଇଟିର ଆକ୍ସେସ ଟୁ ନଲେଜ ପ୍ରୋଗ୍ରାମରେ ଭାରତୀୟ ଭାଷାରେ ଉଇକିପିଡ଼ିଆମାନଙ୍କର ବିକାଶ ଲାଗି କାର୍ଯ୍ୟରତ । ଭାଷା ଓ ସଂସ୍କୃତିର ବିକାଶରେ ଇଣ୍ଟରନେଟର ଭୂମିକା ସମ୍ବନ୍ଧରେ ତାଙ୍କର ପ୍ରବନ୍ଧମାନ ଅନେକ ଖବରକାଗଜ ଓ ବିଶ୍ୱସ୍ତରୀୟ ବ୍ଲଗରେ ପ୍ରକାଶିତ । ସେ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଉଇକିପିଡ଼ିଆ ତଥା ଅନେକ ଉଇକିପିଡ଼ିଆ ସମ୍ବନ୍ଧିତ ବିଶ୍ୱସ୍ତରର ସମୂହର ଏବଂ ମୋଜିଲା ଲୋକାଲାଜେସସନର ସଭ୍ୟ, ଗ୍ଲୋବାଲ

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/odia-language-paper-presented-at-second-national-language-seminar

Odia waits for Google Translate debut - Nine Indian languages available

praskrishna — 2015-05-08T01:27:21Z

Odia getting the "classical" status last year was certainly a proud moment for the people of the state, but, it is yet to feature among the languages available in Google's popular translation service.

The article by Anwesha Ambaly was published in the Telegraph on April 6, 2015. Subhashish Panigrahi was quoted.

Over 90 languages, including nine from India (Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Marathi, Malayalam, Punjabi, Tamil, and Telugu) are part of the service.

Odia, which is spoken by over 45 million people globally, is yet to debut here.

Techies working in the field attribute the reason to the lack of web presence of the language.

"Google has set parameters on the basis of which translations are available. Only those languages that have a wide use on the Internet and have enough online content are included in the list. The online presence of Odia is quite insignificant," said Subhashish Panigrahi, programme officer at Centre for Internet and Society and a regular contributor to Odia Wikipedia.

Among the limited data in Odia available online, Odia Wikipedia and Odia Wikisource have emerged as important reference sources for all kinds of information.

The Odia Wikipedia serves as an online encyclopaedia that was initiated in 2002 and hosts over 8,000 articles in Odia. The Odia Wikisource was launched in the state last year and is run by volunteers and communities. It is a sister concern of Odia Wikipedia that makes rare Odia books available on the Internet.

However, a Google spokesperson said: "We value all Indic languages and search and Gmail are available in 16 Indian languages with more languages to follow"

Recently, the entire Odia Bhagbata by Jagannath Das was made available on Wikisource. Also, Bhubaneswar-based organisation Srujanika, in collaboration with NIT, Rourkela, has digitized over 750 books. But these apart, there are no major online portals available in Odia.

Panigrahi and his contributor friends are presently working at promoting the Google Translate community, which is a platform for language enthusiasts and volunteers interested in improving translation quality for their language or help Google add it to translate.

"To ensure more availability of online content, people should be encouraged to share information on the web. More Odia content on the web will get a wider reach," said the techie.

"We are quite hopeful that the translator would be available in Odia soon."

The universal web-compatible Unicode font for Odia language was developed in 2000. Despite the Unicode standard having been made available over a decade ago, Odia language is not used actively on the Internet.

"We are still stuck to using outdated fonts such as Akruti and Sreelipi for typing text in Odia and most of these are not compatible for using on the Internet. There are thousands of book and articles available in these fonts. Most of the important content available on the government portals also uses the older fonts. Unless content is available in Unicode, it will not be searchable, sharable and reusable on the Internet," said Panigrahi.

One of the earliest websites in Odia was developed by Ganesh Mishra in 1999 for a popular Odia daily. But the website was shut down after six years when the concept of e-paper came into being.

"These days, most of the publishers of Odia newspapers and magazines have come up with e-papers which are nothing but the scanned images of the original pages. But an online search won't display them as results. Online content in Unicode is accessible through search engines," said the website developer.

He said that people have so many alternatives on the Internet that the absence of Odia language is not felt. "Customers often initiate commercial websites in Odia but soon request us to change it to English because it was inconvenient for users," said Mishra.

Some youngsters in the state are coming up with online portals to promote Odia literature. Jyoti Prasad Patnaik, a doctor by profession, has been running an online Odia literary magazine since 2006.

"The Internet is the most powerful medium of communication these days and there could be no better way to popularise our language other than this. When I started out, there were hardly any readers. Today my website has around 5,000 visitors every month. The number is growing slowly and I hope it will increase in the future," said Patnaik.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/openness/news/the-telepgrah-april-6-2015-anwesha-ambaly-odia-waits-for-google-translate-debut-nine-indian-languages-available

February 2015 Bulletin

praskrishna — 2015-03-30T16:09:05Z

It is my distinct pleasure to share with you the second issue of the CIS newsletter (February 2015).

Earlier this year, I joined the Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) as the Research Director. I have been fortunate to periodically work with CIS in various capacities since mid-2012, mostly focusing on the topics of open data, open access, and visual exploration of data. Most importantly perhaps for my present responsibilities, for the last year or so, I have been in communication with various projects teams at CIS and supported their efforts through workshops on research methodologies, and by discussing and co-designing their research questions and approaches.

As the Research Director, I look forward to take these works forward, along with leading the Researchers at Work (RAW) programme, which has been shaped by Prof. Nishant Shah to host an exciting range of critical research initiatives into how the Internet and digital technologies reconfigure social processes and structures, and vice versa. Please keep an eye on the newsletter for further updates from the RAW programme.

Our sincere apologies for the delay in sending out this month's newsletter. We will soon be back in our usual rhythm. The past editions of the newsletter can be accessed at http://cis-india.org/about/newsletters

Sumandro Chattapadhyay
Email: sumandro@cis-india.org

Highlights

Forbes India in an article titled " Minds that (should) matter" names Sunil Abraham as one of the Thinkers who best explain a rapidly-changing India to the world (and the world to India). Errata: This story was shared in the last newsletter but with an error, which is now rectified.

NVDA team organized three workshops during the month for training participants on using eSpeak with NVDA software. The languages covered werePunjabi,Oriya and Hindi.
The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), Government of India invited comments on the First Draft of India's National IPR Policy. CIS sent its comments . CIS commended the DIPP for this initiative and appreciated the opportunity to provide comments on the National IPR Policy.

CIS sent out three different Right to Information (RTI) requests to find out more details about the constitution and working of the IPR Think Tank to draft the first national IPR Policy.
Anubha Sinha analyses the submission to the DIPP by Academia and Civil Society on the draft National IPR Policy from a public interest perspective.
In an Open Letter to the Prime Minister of India, CIS requests the Government of India to initiate the formation of a patent pool of critical mobile technologies and a five per cent compulsory license.
CIS's Access to Knowledge team (CIS-A2K) in collaboration with the Centre for Indian Languages (CILHE) at TISS, Mumbai conducted a two-day workshop at English and Foreign Languages University (EFLU) at Hyderabad on January 28 - 29, 2015. Tejaswini Niranjana captures the developments in a blog post.

Subhashish Panigrahi wrote an op-ed on the endangered languages in India. This was published by Odia daily Samaja on February 21 which is celebrated as the International Mother Language Day.
CIS-A2K team conducted the " Train the Trainer Program" (TTT 2015) at CEO Centre, Dodda Gubbi, Bangalore. About 25 delegates attended the programme.
CIS has joined an international campaign to allow anyone in the world to request whether Britain's intelligence agency GCHQ has illegally spied on them.
On January 30, 2015, Associated Chambers of Commerce & Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) held a consultation on Internet governance. A committee was set up to draft a report on Internet governance, with a focus on issues relevant to India. CIS is represented on the committee, and has provided its preliminary comments to ASSOCHAM .

As part of CIS's inquiry into 'Network Neutrality' in the developing world a set of definitions of the term from different sources was collected and published as a blog post.
Namita A. Malhotra in a blog entry examines the figure of the pornographer, as a mixed media figure entrenched in various networks of knowledge production, circulation and consumption.

Accessibility and Inclusion

Under a grant from the Hans Foundation we are doing two projects. The first project is on creating a national resource kit of state-wise laws, policies and programmes on issues relating to persons with disabilities in India. CIS in partnership with CLPR (Centre for Law and Policy Research) compiled the National Compendium of Policies, Programmes and Schemes for Persons with Disabilities (29 states and 6 union territories). The publication has been finalised and is being printed. The draft chapters and the quarterly reports can be accessed on the project page. The second project is on developing text-to-speech software for 15 Indian languages. The progress made so far in the project can be accessed here.

►NVDA and eSpeak

Monthly Update

February 2015 Report (Suman Dogra; February 28, 2015).

Events Organized

Joint Report on Training of the Use of eSpeak in Hindi with NVDA (Organized by NVDA team; National Association for the Blind, New Delhi, February 5 - 6, 2015 and Blind Relief Association, Delhi, February 13 - 14, 2015).
Report on Training in the use of eSpeak Oriya with NVDA (Organized by NVDA team; Orissa Association for the Blind, Bhubaneswar; February 8 - 10, 2015). Thirty six delegates attended the workshop.
Training of the use of eSpeak Punjabi with NVDA (Organized by NVDA team; Asha Kiran Training Institute, Chandigarh; February 20-21, 2015). The workshop was inaugurated by Shri Tilak Raj, Director, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Government of Punjab.

Access to Knowledge

As part of the Access to Knowledge programme we are doing two projects. The first one (Pervasive Technologies) under a grant from the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) is for research on the complex interplay between pervasive technologies and intellectual property to support intellectual property norms that encourage the proliferation and development of such technologies as a social good. The second one (Wikipedia) under a grant from the Wikimedia Foundation is for the growth of Indic language communities and projects by designing community collaborations and partnerships that recruit and cultivate new editors and explore innovative approaches to building projects.

►Pervasive Technologies

As part of the Pervasive Technologies project, Rohini Lakshané wrote an Open Letter to India's Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi for creation of a patent pool of critical mobile technologies. And as part of broader Access to Knowledge work CIS submitted comments to DIPP on the National IP Policy.

Blog Entries

National IPR Policy Series: CIS Comments to the First Draft of the National IP Policy (Nehaa Chaudhari, Pranesh Prakash and Anubha Sinha; February 4, 2015). Varnika Chawla assisted the team.
RTI Requests - DIPP: Details on constitution and working of IPR Think Tank (Nehaa Chaudhari; February 9, 2015).
Open Letter to Prime Minister Modi (Rohini Lakshané; February 10, 2015). Copies of the open letter were sent to various ministers.
Academia and Civil Society submit critical comments to DIPP on draft National IPR Policy (Anubha Sinha; February 16, 2015).

Participation in Event

India at Leisure: Media, Culture and Consumption in the New Economy (Organized by Jamia University; January 8 - 10, 2015). Maggie Huang attended the event and presented a paper titled "The Future of Music Streaming: Business Practices and Copyright Management in India". The paper was co-authored by Maggie and Amba Kak.

►Wikipedia

Op-ed

Our Endangered Languages (Subhashish Panigrahi; February 21, 2015).

Blog Entries

A Wikipedia Presentation at BITS, Goa (Radhakrishna Arvapally; February 9, 2015). Arvapally was a guest blogger.
Developing Open Knowledge Digital Resources in Indian Languages (Tejaswini Niranjana; February 20, 2015).
Telugu Wikipedia Winter Camp at Andhra Loyola College (Rahmanuddin Shaik; February 26, 2015).

Event Organized

Train the Trainer (Organized by CIS-A2K; CEO Centre, Dodda Gubbi, Bangalore; February 26 - March 1, 2015). Rohini Lakshané took a session on GLAM.

News and Media Coverage

CIS-A2K team gave its inputs to the following media coverage:

More online free content in Telugu Wikipedia soon (A.D.Rangarajan; Hindu, February 16, 2015).
Cultural knowledge needs to be more open (Jen Wike Huger; OpenSource.com; February 18, 2015).
Online Free Content in Telugu Wikipedia (Andhra Jyothy; February 19, 2015).

Announcements

2015 Opensource.com Community Awards : Every year, Opensource.com awards people from our community who have excelled in contributing and sharing stories about open source. Subhashish Panigrahi from the CIS-A2K team won the award under the category 'People's Choice Awards'.
CIS-A2K team also published the Telugu Wikipedia Stats tables. Most metrics have been collected from a partial dump (aka stub dump), which contains all revisions of every article, meta data, but no page content.

Participation in Events

Hindi Wiki Community Baithak (Organized by Wikipedia Community; February 14 - 15, 2015). Subhashish Panigrahi attended the event.
An International Conclave of Odia Language (Organized by the Intellects; February 20 - 21, 2015; Constitutional Club, Rafi Marg, New Delhi). Subhashish Panigrahi participated in the event.

►Openness

Participation in Events

Regional Open Data Agenda-Setting Workshop 2015 (Organized by Open Data Lab, Jakarta Web Foundation; Jakarta; February 4 - 6, 2015). Sunil Abraham was a speaker.
Washington Meet on Open Data (Organized by World Bank; Washington; February 20 - 21, 2015). Sunil Abraham was a speaker and made a presentation on Open Data.

Internet Governance

As part of its research on privacy and free speech, CIS is engaged with two different projects. The first one (under a grant from Privacy International and International Development Research Centre (IDRC)) is on surveillance and freedom of expression (SAFEGUARDS). The second one (under a grant from MacArthur Foundation) is on studying the restrictions placed on freedom of expression online by the Indian goverTnment.

►Privacy

Blog Entries

The Surveillance Industry in India - An Analysis of Indian Security Expos (Divij Joshi; February 19, 2015).
Right to Information (RTI) Requests to BSNL and MTNL Regarding Security Equipment (Maria Xynou; February 25, 2015). CIS had sent RTI requests to MTNL and BSNL in July 2013. MTNL responded recently whereas BSNL has yet to reply.

Announcements

CIS joins Worldwide Campaign to Discover Depth of GCHQ's Illegal Spying (Elonnai Hickok; February 28, 2015). Individuals who wish to take part in this process can sign up at https://www.privacyinternational.org/illegalspying.
Prof. Peng Hwa Ang from Nanyang Technology University visited CIS recently. He had a series of interactions with several researchers at CIS and has prepared a brief visit report. Impressed with the research work of CIS he had discussions with CIS on possible collaborations including publication in more academic journals, collaboration with academic institutions in research projects in Privacy / Data Protection and other areas of Internet Governance. He also discussed on the possible areas where he could contribute to CIS including conduction of training session on writing for academic journals.

►Freedom of Expression

Blog Entries

Requests to ICANN: CIS sent ICANN six requests to ICANN regarding ICANN's expenditure on travels and meetings, granular revenue, cyber-attacks on ICANN, ICANN's implementation of the NETmundial principles, complaints under the Ombudsman process, and information regarding revenues received from gTLD auctions. These were prepared by Geetha Hariharan: DIDP Request #1: ICANN's Expenditures on "Travel & Meetings" ; DIDP Request #2: Granular Revenue/Income Statements from ICANN; DIDP Request #3: Cyber-attacks on ICANN; DIDP Request #4: ICANN and the NETmundial Principles ; DIDP Request #5: The Ombudsman and ICANN's Misleading Response to Our Request ; and DIDP Request #6: Revenues from gTLD auction.

Collection of Net Neutrality Definitions (Tarun Krishnakumar; February 8, 2015). The definitions were compiled by Manoj Kurbet, Maitreya Subramaniam and Tarun Krishnakumar under the guidance of Sunil Abraham.
ICANN accountability, IANA transition and open questions (Geetha Hariharan; February 6, 2015).
Where Does ICANN's Money Come From? We Asked; They Don't Know (Geetha Hariharan; February 9, 2015).
Preliminary Submission on "Internet Governance Issues" to the Associated Chambers of Commerce & Industry of India (Geetha Hariharan; February 12, 2015).

►Miscellaneous

A Selection of Tweets on How to Make Crowdmaps Effectual for Mapping Violence against Women (Rohini Lakshané; February 19, 2015).
Reply to RTI Applications filed with respect to Foreign Contractors and Vendors of IT and Telecommunication Enterprises (Lovisha Aggarwal; February 25, 2015).

Event Co-organized

Digital Security Workshop for Journalists (Organized by CIS and Mumbai Press Club; Mumbai Press Club, Azad Maidan, Mumbai; February 7, 2015). Rohini Lakshané conducted the workshop as part of the Cyber Stewards project.

Upcoming Event

Cybersecurity and the Internet of Things (Organized by US Consulate Chennai, Cyber Security & Privacy Foundation and CIS; Hotel Atria, Palace Road, Bangalore; March 19, 2015).

Participation in Events

Winter School on Privacy, Surveillance and Data Protection (Organized by the Centre for Communication Governance (CCG) in collaboration with the UNESCO Chair on Freedom of Communication and Information at the University of Hamburg and the Hans Bredow; Delhi; January 19 - 23, 2015). Bhairav Acharya was a facilitator. Errata: This was wrongly mentioned in the last newsletter. We have corrected this.
NetGain: Working Together for a Stronger Digital Society (Organized by Ford Foundation; February 11 - 12, 2015).

---------------------------------
News & Media Coverage
---------------------------------
CIS gave its inputs to the following media coverage:

Facebook offers free but limited access to the Internet in India (PC World; February 10, 2015).
Govt may turn to supercomputing for better use of Aadhaar database (Moulishree Srivastava; Livemint; February 10, 2015).
Analytics to help govt read public mood online (Surabhi Talwar; Business Standard; February 10, 2015).
Facebook launches Internet.org in India (Lalatendu Mishra and Sriram Srinivasan; Hindu; February 11, 2015).
Google's war on nude photos goes against user rights (Sahil Mohan Gupta; India Today; February 25, 2015).
Hacking of SIM card by spy agencies raises fears of sensitive documents being leaked (PK Jayadevan and Neha Alawadhi; Economic Times; February 25, 2015).
Delhi government in consultation with Centre to block Uber's Internet address (Harsimran Julka; Economic Times; February 25, 2015).
SC reserves judgement in cases against Section 66A (Shreeja Sen; Livemint; February 26, 2015).

Researchers at Work

The Researchers at Work (RAW) programme is an interdisciplinary research initiative driven by contemporary concerns to understand the reconfigurations of social practices and structures through the Internet and digital media technologies, and vice versa. It is interested in producing local and contextual accounts of interactions, negotiations, and resolutions between the Internet, and socio-material and geo-political processes:

Event Organized

Innovative Infrastructures for Research and Pedagogy in Interdisciplinary Social Sciences and Humanities (Co-organized by Centre for Study of Culture and Society and CIS, Bangalore): The RAW programme organized a consultation to discuss and conceptualise an upcoming project. The project will be hosted by the RAW programme.

Blog Entry

Figures of Learning: The Pornographer (Namita A. Malhotra; February 28, 2015).

About CIS

The Centre for Internet and Society is a non-profit research organization that works on policy issues relating to freedom of expression, privacy, accessibility for persons with disabilities, access to knowledge and IPR reform, and openness (including open government, FOSS, open standards, etc.), and engages in academic research on digital natives and digital humanities.

► Follow us elsewhere

Twitter: https://twitter.com/CISA2K
Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/cisa2k
Visit us at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Access_To_Knowledge
E-mail: a2k@cis-india.org

► Support Us

► Request for Collaboration:

We invite researchers, practitioners, and theoreticians, both organisationally and as individuals, to collaboratively engage with Internet and society and improve our understanding of this new field. To discuss the research collaborations, write to Sunil Abraham, Executive Director, at sunil@cis-india.org. To discuss collaborations on Indic language Wikipedia, write to T. Vishnu Vardhan, Programme Director, A2K, at vishnu@cis-india.org.

CIS is grateful to its primary donor the Kusuma Trust founded by Anurag Dikshit and Soma Pujari, philanthropists of Indian origin for its core funding and support for most of its projects. CIS is also grateful to its other donors, Wikimedia Foundation, Ford Foundation, Privacy International, UK, Hans Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, and IDRC for funding its various projects.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/february-2015-bulletin

Hindustani Language: We Are Wikipedia

syed — 2015-04-10T16:20:07Z

In 2014, the Centre for Internet and Society's Access to Knowledge team (CIS-A2K) embarked on a new social media-based initiative - WeAreWikipedia. The aim of the project was "One Wikimedian every week to tell untold community stories on Twitter".

Read the original published on Wikipedia page here.

Although CIS-A2K has the mandate of promoting Wikimedia Projects only in India, by virtue of the inherent power of Twitter and Internet, the project was able to attract Wikipedians from virtually all parts of the world - India, Cambodia, Israel, USA, and a number of other countries for curating WeAreWikipedia account on Twitter. The enriching outcome was these Wikipedians' expression of community views and as well as their own editing and Wiki World experiences in the form of short and succinct tweets. These messages give a more clear pictures of happenings than tons of blogposts, videos and lengthy articles which we find today scattered over the internet.

In February 2015, I attended the first Hindi Wiki Sammelan Meet in Delhi. This event was also supported by CIS-A2K. It was attended by 15 people, including three administrators of the Hindi Wikipedia: Ashish Bhatnagar, Aniruddha Kumar and Sanjeev Kumar. Also present were two reviewers: Piyush Maurya and my humble self. During the meet, one of the participants, Manish Panday, demonstrated the massive reach and impact of "Twittercasting" the event proceedings. This drew a keen interest from the Hindi Wikipedians with the Hindi Wikipedia admin Ashish Bhatnagar taking the lead in curating the "WeAreWikipedia" shortly after the meet. As his one week of curation came to end, he asked as to who would curate next. I volunteered to be part of this exercise. My CIS ex-colleague Subhashish Panigrahi informed about allocating the week March 2-9 for me, which I agreed.

As a Wikimedian, I made it a point to first showcase the developments within Hindi Wikipedia such as the notable articles written during the week, the discussions on the Hindi transliteration of non-Hindi names/ titles, village pump discussions, etc.I also shared suggestions with some of the Hindi Wikipedians on editing aspects.

A remarkable development during the week was publication of my report on Hindi Wiki Sammelan Meet in Delhi and its Hindi translation by Ashish Bhatnagar on Wikimedia Foundation Blog. I was delighted to post the information of both these developments on Twitter. In fact, Ashish Bhatnagar favorited my Twitterpost about the Hindi translation. . In addition to Hindi Wikipedia, I was also vocal on the developments at the language front such as Kavita Path Pratiyogita (Poetry Competition) by HindiUSA, Unicode converters, Hindi blogs, developments in Urdu and other Indian languages. I also highlighted some of the projects such as Speedydeletion Wikia, Manypedia, blogpost/ online forum discussions on Wikipedia as well as the rise of mobile edits on Indian Wiki projects.

Since March 8 or Women's Day happened during the week, I made many tweets during the week about the commemorative Wikipedia Editathons both in India and abroad, including those in places like Latin America. I also tweeted about important events such GLAM-WIKI 2015 conference, Erasmus Prize 2015 for Wikipedia, Howard University's efforts to fill in Wikipedia’s gaps in Black History, etc.

I was glad to highlight many important issues during my week as a curator. This included the special media attention abroad given to people who edit Wikipedia or Wikimedia projects such as the featured interview of Bryan Henderson in the The Independent. I suggested that there is a need for such an encouraging gesture to the contributors of Wikimedia projects. I remember some of the Wikipedians favoriting this message as they concurred with me. I also stressed on the need to reinforce fresh lease of life in projects such as Devanagari Wikis Monitoring Team as an active team will benefit not just Hindi but all Wiki Projects in Devanagari-based languages.

The most pleasing aspect of my curator experience were the proactive discussions, retweets, favoriting, of many of my messages. I witnessed an instant response when I mentioned how beautifully the bot-assisted Twitter account "PakistanEdits" posts about anonymous edits from Pakistan on English Wikipedia and the need for a similar tool for India. One Wikipedian promised to work on finding a similar solution to this idea. Similarly, my Twitterpost on the time-barred "Hindi Wiki Sammelan" message notification on every page of Bhojpuri Wikipedia was removed instantly. A still surprising reaction was seen only a few days back when a gentleman enquired about how he can contribute to fill the need for Sanskrit text in the online Vietnamese Wikipedia guestbook page - this response comes after a fortnight of my tweet, and two persons had curated the Twitter account during this period.

Thus, I believe that my messages were well received and my interactions with other Twitter-users were friendly, informative and extremely fruitful. A summary of my curator experience is as follows:

Description of Tweets	Number
No of Unique Tweets	148
My Tweets Retweeted	53
My Tweets Favorited	63
My Discussed Tweets	12
Others Tweets I Retweeted	27
Followers+	34
Following+	17
Image Uploads	5

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/hindustani-language-we-are-wikipedia