Centre for Internet and Society

Now you can search Google in Kannada, in your handwriting

praskrishna — 2015-05-09T08:29:52Z

All you need to do is to make changes in settings on your phone or tablet.

The article by Apurva Venkat was published in Bangalore Mirror on April 18, 2015. Dr. U.B.Pavanaja was quoted.

Do you often have trouble searching for those Kannada words on Google? You don't know the English word for it and Google does not seem to understand when you type the Kannada word with English spelling. Well, now you can input your search requests on Google in your own handwriting, and that too in Kannada.

Google has come up with a third way to input your search requests after typing and voice recognition. The latest input methods recognises your handwriting and gives you a result. The new method allows you to input in 82 different languages, one of which is Kannada.

As you write in Kannada, your handwritten words would be converted to text in the search box. To start using the new feature, all you need to do is, go to your Google settings on your phone or tablet and enable handwriting. Then go to the setting and turn off 'use system language'. You will get an option of 82 languages. Choose the language you want to input your search item in. Once you have enabled the option on the lower right of the Google screen on your phone, you will see a handwriting option. Once you click on that, you can start writing what you want to search anywhere on your screen. The Google Handwriting Input can recognise 20 distinct scripts.

Wondering how effectively it will recognise the alphabets and numbers that look similar? The search giant has come up with a solution for that as well. If there is a confusion, it will give you options of the all the similar-looking alphabets and numbers on the bottom of the page. (eg 0 and o). A partial overlap of words is also supported by Google.

The Google Research Team said, "Google Handwriting Input works with both printed and cursive writing input with or without a stylus. Beyond text input, it also provides a fun way to enter hundreds of emojis by drawing them (simply press and hold the 'enter' button to switch modes). Google Handwriting Input works with or without an Internet connection." The feature can be used on any Android phone or tablet that works on 4.0.3.

UB Pavanaja, programme manager in Indian languages, Centre of Internet and Society, Bengaluru, said, "The new method of input is a very good initiative specially introducing it in Indian languages. The input method currently available to use for Indian languages are not very user friendly. It involves long pressing of buttons etc handwriting recognition will make it easier especially for people on the move."

Pavanaja has tried out the new input system and found it good. He said, "However, there are a few lags. For example, Ne is not recognised and a few more alphabets as well. However, with any new technology a small number of bugs are expected. This should be improved when more and more people start using it and giving feedbacks."

Another programmer from the city Thejesh GN feels that the new method will increase the local language communication online. Thejesh, said," All recognition is perfect. The input method is very useful as before one use to use Phonetic keyboard but here anyone and everyone can write in Kannada and take advantage of the new tool."

Google Handwriting Input even predicts your next word in Kannada. Beluru Sudarshan, a blogger from the city, felt that the whole input system is fantastic. When he tried the app, he noticed that the input system also predicts in Kannada, which is very useful. Belluru, said, "Even on a really small screen on my smartphone, it recognised all the Kannada alphabets very well. The input will surely much better on a tab or pen tablet. The errors in handwriting input are also human errors that occur due to human gestures which cannot be avoided. Overall, it works very well."

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/openness/news/bangalore-mirror-apurva-venkat-april-18-2015-now-you-can-search-google-in-kannada-in-your-handwriting

Better intellectual property values luring Indian startups abroad

praskrishna — 2015-04-16T01:49:02Z

Prime Minister Narendra Modi says Make in India. But anyone who wants to, finds that their intellectual property is valued much more if the patent is filed in the US, or anywhere else, but India.

The article by Evelyn Fok and Varun Aggarwal was published in the Economic Times on April 10, 2015. Sunil Abraham is quoted.

Take the case of BITS Pilani graduate Sriram Kanuni, for instance, who decided to come back to India after spending 12 years with SAP in Germany. His family thought he was out of his mind, but he wanted to work for India and primarily serve Indian clients.

His core vision hasn't wavered five years down the line, but he has been forced to move a large part of his company's intellectual property (IP) to the US, just to get a better valuation for his next round of funding. And his is not an isolated case. "Global investors seem to value companies with patents in the US much higher. Therefore, it makes more sense to shift patents out of India, in case you're looking to raise money or exit the company," Kanuni, who is the CEO and co-founder of Arteria Technologies, said. Major Indian startups such as Flipkart, Myntra and ZipDial, which have either raised over a billion dollars or exited, already have their IPs outside the country. Experts say that is one of the reasons that attracted investors.

"If a company with its IP in India is acquired by an international firm, and post acquisition the buyer wishes to transfer the IP to a different jurisdiction, such transfer would need to be at a fair value decided by the government and the company is taxed at the rate of 34% on that," one of the bankers who was part of a large exit told ET.

"For tech-centric companies where the value of IP would comprise over 70-80% of their value, such high taxes can possibly make them unattractive for potential investors," they added. With better valuation and exits in mind, startups are moving out their innovation to countries such as Singapore and the US, leaving behind very little intellectual property that the country can proudly call its own.

Investor concerns over IP are well founded. "Indian courts aren't uniform when it comes to developing jurisprudence around copyright and patent infringement," explained Sunil Abraham, executive director of Bengaluru based research organization Centre for Internet and Society.

"There is a high chance that a judge who doesn't understand the details would give an injunction. Then the loss of six months, etc., can be quite expensive, because in six months' time your competitor might eat into all of your market," he said.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/a2k/news/economic-times-april-10-2015-evelyn-fok-varun-aggarwal-better-intellectual-property-values-luring-indian-startups-abroad

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

National IPR Policy Series: RTI Requests by CIS to DIPP + DIPP Responses

nehaa — 2015-04-26T08:47:00Z

In earlier blog posts, we have discussed the development of India’s National IPR Policy (“the Policy”); comments by the Centre for Internet and Society (“CIS”) to the IPR Think Tank before the release of the first draft of the Policy and CIS’ comments to the IPR Think Tank in response to the first draft of the Policy. Continuing our National IPR Policy Series, this article documents our requests to the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (“DIPP” / “the Department”) under the Right to Information (“RTI”) Act, 2005 and the responses of the Department.

View the PDF here.

Details of RTI Requests Filed by CIS

In February, 2015, CIS had filed three RTI requests with the DIPP. The first request was four-pronged, seeking information related to first, the process followed by the Department in the creation of the IPR Think Tank; second, details and documents of a meeting held to constitute the Think Tank; third, details and documents of all/multiple meetings held to constitute the Think Tank; fourth, details of a directive/directives received from any other Government Ministry/authority directing the constitution of the Think Tank and fifth, the process of shortlisting the members of the Think Tank by the DIPP.

In our second RTI request, first, we requested details of the process followed by the Think Tank in the formulation of the Policy; second, we requested all documents relating to a meeting held for the formulation of the Policy; third, we requested all documents held for multiple meetings for the creation of the Policy and fourth, we requisitioned all suggestions and comments received by the Think Tank from stakeholders before the release of the Policy, that is, those suggestions/comments received in November, 2014.

In our third RTI request, also filed on also filed in February, 2015, we had asked the DIPP to indicate all suggestions and comments received by the IPR Think Tank from different stakeholders in response to the first draft of the National IPR Policy (to have been submitted on or before January 30, 2015 as per DIPP’s Public Notice).

Responses by DIPP to CIS' RTI Requests

The DIPP replied to our three RTI requests in multiple stages. At first, in a letter dated 12 February, 2015, we were directed to resubmit our application , seemingly because we hadn’t addressed the Postal Money Order to the correct authority, and were directed to do the same. Funnily enough, we received three other responses – one for each of our RTI requests (the first of these is not dated; the second one is dated 19 February, 2015 and then revised to 26 February, 2015; and the third is also dated 26 February, 2015).

The First Response: On the Constitution of the Think Tank

In the first of their responses to these requests, the Department has grouped our queries into five questions and provided a point-wise response to these questions, as under:

Please indicate in detail the process followed by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion for the constitution for an IPR Think Tank to draft the National Intellectual Property Rights Policy under Public Notice No. 10 (22)/2013 –IPR-III dated November 13, 2014 (sic).

In its response the Department notes that it convened an interactive meeting on IPR issues which was chaired by the Minister for Commerce and Industry (Independent Charge), i.e., Ms. Nirmala Sitharaman. As per the Department’s response, this meeting was held on 22 September, 2014 (“the Meeting”) and was aimed at discussing issues related to IPRs, including finalization of the Terms of Reference for IPR Think-Tank proposed to be established (sic.) The Department also notes that representatives from various Ministries/Departments, Member of various Expert Committees constituted by the Department, besides IP experts and other Legal Practitioners (sic) were invited to the meeting. The Department then states that the composition of the Think Tank was decided on the basis of the discussions held in the department after the said interactive Meeting (sic).

If there was a meeting held to decide on the same, please include all necessary documents including the minutes of the meeting, records, documents, memos, e-mails, opinion, advices, press releases, circulars, orders etc in which the constitution of the aforesaid mentioned IPR Think Tank was decided (sic).

The Department has attached the Minutes of the Meeting held on 22 September, 2014 (“the Minutes”) and states that there were no documents or papers that were circulated at this meeting and that the participants were asked to present their views on various IP issues at this meeting.

Excerpts from the Minutes

The Secretary of the Department (Shri Amitabh Kant) refers to a (then) recent announcement made by the Minister of State for Commerce and Industry (“the Minister”) on the formulation of the National IPR Policy and the establishment of an IPR Think Tank and states that the meeting had been convened to discuss on various IPR issues with IP experts and legal practitioners so that it would provide essential inputs to the policy needs of the department (sic). The Minutes report that Mr. Kant further stated that the objective of the department was to have a world class IP system and that this included a comprehensive National IPR Policy and which takes care of various issues like IP creation, protection, administration and capacity building (sic). He is also reported to have said that such a stakeholder interaction was important for the government to seek inputs.

The Minister is reported to have said that the purpose of the meeting was to constitute an IP Think Tank that would regularly provide inputs to all IP policy needs of this department as well as advice government in disparate legal aspects (sic). The Minutes also report her to have said that the department would finalize an IP policy within ninety days of the Meeting, based on the inputs of the participants.

According to the Minutes, various issues emerged from the discussion. Inter alia, these include first, that the proposal to constitute the Think Tank was a welcome measure, along the lines of similar initiatives taken by Australia, South Kora, the United Kingdom and the United States of America; second, that in order to remove misconceptions held by foreign stakeholders about IP enforcement in India, there was a need to highlight judgments of Indian courts that were favorable to foreign stakeholders and MNCs; third, that the national policies on telecom, manufacturing and IP ought to be integrated; fourth, that the focus of the Policy should be increase in creation of IP including commercialization of IP and strengthening human capital and IP management and fifth, that empirical studies should be conducted to examine the feasibility of Utility Models protection, that there was a need to revise the law on Geographical Indications and that the Policy should include protection for traditional knowledge and guidelines for publicly funded research.

The Minister is then said to have identified six major areas during the discussion, including IP institution, legislation, implementation, public awareness, international aspects and barriers in IP growth as areas to be covered under the Policy.

Who attended the Meeting?

Attached with the Minutes was also a list of participants who attended the Meeting. Out of the thirty six attendees, I have not been able to locate a single individual or organization representing civil society. Participants include representatives from various government departments and ministries, including inter alia, the DIPP, the Department of Commerce, the Ministry of External Affairs, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, the Copyright Division from the Department of Higher Education of the Ministry of Human Resources Development, the Office of the Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trademarks and the Ministry of Culture. The Meeting was also attended by representatives of corporations and industry associations, including FICCI, CII and Cadila Pharmaceuticals; in addition to representatives from law firms including Luthra and Luthra, K&S Partners and Inventure IP and academics including, inter alia, faculty from the Asian School of Business, Trivandrum, Indian Law Institute, Delhi, Tezpur University, Assam, National Law University, Delhi, NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad, the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras and the National Law School of India University, Bangalore.

If there were multiple meetings held for the same please provide all necessary documents including the minutes of all such meetings, records, documents, memos, e-mails, opinions, advices, press releases, circulars, orders etc. for all such meetings held (sic).

The Department answered, “No”; which I’m taking to mean that there weren’t other meetings held for the formulation of the Think Tank or the Policy. This is interesting, because the Minutes (referred to earlier) speak of another inter-ministerial meeting including IP experts and legal practitioners slated to be held around the 10^th of October, 2014, to discuss the framework of the Policy.

If a directive or directives were received by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion from any other government body to constitute such a think tank, please provide a copy of such a directive received by the DIPP from any Government authority, to constitute such a Think Tank (sic).

The Department answered, “No”; which I’m taking to mean that there was no communication received by the Department to constitute this Think Tank.

Please indicate in detail the process of shortlisting the members of the IPR Think Tank by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion or any other body that was responsible for the same (sic).

The Department replied that the answer to this was the same as that to the first question.

The Second Response: The Drafting of the Policy

The second of the Department's responses to our requests came in the form of separate responses to each of our four questions, as under:

Please indicate in detail the process followed by the IPR Think Tank constituted by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion via Public Notice No. 10 (22)/2013-IPR-III dated November 13, 2014 while framing the first draft of the National IPR Policy dated Dec. 19, 2014 (sic).

The Department stated that the IPR Think Tank conducted its meetings independently without any interference from the Department. The Department then stated that the Think Tank had received comments from stakeholders via a dedicated email id and conducted the interactive meeting with stakeholders while framing the draft on the National IPR Policy.

If there was a meeting held to decide on the same, please include all necessary documents including the minutes of the meeting, records, documents, memos, e-mails, opinion, advices, press releases, circulars, orders, suggestions etc. related to drafting of such National IPR Policy Think Tank chaired by Justice Prabha Sridevan (sic).

The Department replied that since the IPR Think Tank had decided its process by themselves (sic), the Department do not have the minutes of the meeting etc. conducted by the IPR Think Tank (sic). It attached with its reply a copy of the press releases announcing the composition of the Think Tank and asking stakeholders to submit comments to the first draft of the Policy.

If there were multiple meetings held for the same, please provide all necessary documents including the minutes of all such meetings, records, documents, memos, e-mails, opinions, advices, press releases, circulars, order suggestions etc. for all such meetings held (sic).

The Department replied that the response to this was the same as that to the earlier question above.

Please provide all the suggestions and comments received by the IPR Think Tank from stakeholders after the DIPP issued Public Notice No. 10/22/2013-IPR-III dated 13.11.2014 asking for suggestions and comments on or before November 30, 2014 (sic).

The Department replied that the comments and suggestions were received by the Think Tank directly and that therefore, the Department was not in a position to provide the same.

The Third Response: Stakeholder Comments

In its third and final response to our requests, the DIPP replied to our query as under:

Please indicate all the suggestions and comments received by the IPR Think Tank by different stakeholders on or before January 30, 2015 on its first draft of the National Intellectual Property Policy submitted by the IPR Think Tank on December 19, 2014.

The Department said that the suggestions and comments on the draft on National IPR Policy have been received by the IPR Think Tank directly. As such this Department is not in a position to provide the same (sic.).

Observation on the DIPP's Responses

Prima facie, the responses by the Department are rather curious, leading to a range of oddities and unanswered questions.

Who Will Watch the IPR Think Tank

In its response to our first RTI request, the Department quite clearly stated that it decided the composition of the IPR Think Tank based on discussions in a meeting that it convened, which was also chaired by the Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, the parent ministry of the DIPP. In the same response, the Department also stated that it had not received any directive from any other ministry/government department directing the constitution of the IPR Think Tank, leading to the conclusion that this decision was taken by the DIPP/the Ministry of Commerce and Industry itself. Subsequently however, the Department justified its refusal to furnish us with documents leading to the development of the first draft of the National IPR Policy (contained in our second RTI request) by stating that the IPR Think Tank conducted its business without any interference from the Department, and that the Department did not have access to any of the submissions made to the IPR Think Tank or any of the internal minutes of the meetings etc. that were a part of the process of drafting the IPR Policy.

Various press releases by the DIPP have stated that it has constituted the IPR Think Tank, and that the purpose of the IPR Think Tank would be to advise the Department on IPR issues. Visibly, the Department intends for the IPR Think Tank to play an active role in shaping India’s IP law and policy, including suggesting amendments to laws wherever necessary. It is concerning therefore that on the question of accountability of the IPR Think Tank, the DIPP remains silent. It may be argued perhaps, that the IPR Think Tank constitutes a ‘public authority’ under Section 2(h)(d) of the Right to Information Act, 2005 (“RTI Act”). In that case, the IPR Think Tank would have to fulfill, inter alia, all of the obligations under Section 4 of the RTI Act as well as designate a Public Information Officer. Alternatively, given that the IPR Think Tank has been constituted by the DIPP and performs functions for the DIPP, the Public Information Officer of the DIPP would have to furnish all relevant information under the RTI Act (including the information that we sought in our requests, which was not provided to us).

Who are the Stakeholders

Even a preliminary look at the list of participants at the Meeting (based on which the Department constituted the IPR Think Tank) reveals that not all stakeholders have been adequately represented. I haven’t been able to spot any representation from civil society and other organizations that might be interested in a more balanced intellectual property framework that is not rights-heavy. The following chart (based on a total sample size of 36 participants, as stated in the list of participants provided to us by the DIPP) will help put things in perspective.

What Could've Been Done?

Setting aside arguments on its necessity, let us for the moment assume that this drafting of the National IPR Policy is an exercise that needed to have been undertaken. We must now examine what might possibly be the best way to go about this.

In 2014, the World Intellectual Property Organization (“WIPO”) (based on whose approach the Policy seems to have been based- at least in part), produced a detailed Methodology for the Development of National Intellectual Property Strategies, outlining a detailed eight step process before a National IP Policy was implemented in a Member State. While this approach is one to be followed by the WIPO and might not be entirely suited to India’s drafting exercise, specific sections on the national consultation process as well as the drafting and implementation of national intellectual property strategies might prove to be a decent starting point.

(More on this in an upcoming article).d

Where Do We Go From Here?

The DIPP’s responses have left me with more questions, probably the subject of more RTI requests. Is the IPR Think Tank a public authority for the purposes of the Right to Information Act, 2005? To whom should questions of informational accountability of the IPR Think Tank be addressed, if there is no information available on the IPR Think Tank, and the DIPP claims to have no access to it? Do we need to re-examine the draft National IPR Policy given that there has been inadequate representation of all stakeholders? What were the suggestions made by different stakeholders, and (how) have these been reflected in the first draft of the Policy? Was there an evaluation exercise conducted before the first draft of the Policy was released in order to better inform the formulation of the Policy?

We will be looking at these and other questions as they arise, and sending some of these to the DIPP in the form of RTI requests. (Watch the blog for more).

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/national-ipr-policy-series-rti-requests-by-cis-to-dipp-dipp-responses

DIPP RESPONSE TO CIS (THIRD) RTI REQUEST - FEBRUARY, 2015

nehaa — 2015-04-14T18:16:52Z

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/dipp-response-to-cis-third-rti-request-february-2015

DIPP RESPONSE TO CIS (SECOND) RTI - FEBRUARY, 2015

nehaa — 2015-04-14T18:14:18Z

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/dipp-response-to-cis-second-rti-february-2015

DIPP RESPONSE TO CIS (SECOND) RTI REQUEST - FEBRUARY, 2015

nehaa — 2015-04-14T17:58:50Z

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/dipp-response-to-cis-second-rti-request-february-2015

DIPP RESPONSE TO CIS (FIRST) RTI - FEBRUARY, 2015

nehaa — 2015-04-14T17:42:43Z

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/dipp-response-to-cis-first-rti-february-2015

DIPP RESPONSE TO CIS RTI - IMPROPER PAYMENT - FEBRUARY, 2015

nehaa — 2015-04-14T17:35:58Z

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/dipp-response-to-cis-rti-improper-payment-february-2015

CIS RTI REQUEST TO DIPP - NUMBER 3 - FEBRUARY, 2015

nehaa — 2015-04-14T17:28:53Z

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/cis-rti-request-to-dipp-number-3-february-2015

CIS RTI REQUEST TO DIPP - NUMBER 2 - FEBRUARY, 2015

nehaa — 2015-04-14T17:22:37Z

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/cis-rti-request-to-dipp-number-2-february-2015

CIS RTI REQUEST TO DIPP - NUMBER 1 - FEBRUARY, 2015

nehaa — 2015-04-14T17:17:53Z

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/cis-rti-request-to-dipp-number-1-february-2015

Patterns of Gender Aggression and Harassment in Open Tech and Open Culture Communities Online

rohini — 2015-06-01T02:13:14Z

Report on the talk delivered by me at Adacamp held in Montreal, Canada on April 13-14, 2015.

Link to the original blog post published on Wikimedia blog can be accessed here.

I received a grant from the Wikimedia Foundation to participate in Adacamp. While the talk was pegged on my experience of working on Wikipedia's Gender gap in India, the content is equally relevant for other, open online projects, especially those that value the anonymity of its users. The talk ended with a discussion on how to identify and combat these patterns. It was a collaborative talk delivered along with Gretchen McCulloch who spoke on Wikipedia's Gender gap and Fandom. Credits to session rapporteur and participant Maja Frydrychowicz.

Gender disparity among Wikipedia's editors is well-known and well-documented.[1] [2] A survey conducted by the Wikimedia Foundation in 2011 pegged the number of female contributors to the English-language Wikipedia at 9%.[3] Several outreach, advocacy, and capacity-building efforts have been made to bridge Wikipedia's glaring gender imbalance. In the openness domain, other projects and initiatives have been making similar efforts to bring more women into the fold. To cite an example, the Outreach Program for Women endeavours to recruit more female coders in the world of open source software.

While the narrative of few women being online has changed, more in some parts of the world than in others, the next barriers of making them stay online and establishing an active presence, remain. Wikipedia, like many other open communities, has a high drop-out rate of female contributors. Many female contributors maintain identities that do not give away their gender or practise self-censorship in order to continue to be a part of the community. Several studies conducted in the past few years have attributed the gender gap to numerous reasons -- women have less time left after fulfilling their tasks at home and work; antagonistic exchanges are emotionally draining; in households where there is only one Internet-enabled device, women have access to it for a shorter time; and so on. A blog post by Sue Gardner former executive director of the Wikimedia Foundation, pithily lays out why women don't edit Wikipedia.

One of the ways that outreach and advocacy can work towards retaining more contributors and enabling them to participate more fruitfully is by identifying patterns of aggression and harassment that are directed, subtly or otherwise, at them owing to their gender or sexual orientation.

What are some of the significant patterns that cause a contributor to censor themselves or leave, even if they have just joined?

Hostile environment, antagonistic exchanges: These word clouds[4][5] display name-calling experienced by female users on Wikipedia. Wikipedia's editorial model stands on building consensus and collaboration but the spirit of debate often gives way to slings and arrows, many of which would violate Wikipedia's policy of being civil to other contributors (WP:Civil) and one of the five pillars of the crowdsourced encyclopedia. Facing hostility can be emotionally draining, especially for a new contributor, and reason enough for them to avoid contributing to certain topics, to censor themselves, or to leave the platform. Verbal violence and use of language considered unacceptable as per the community rules, is one form of harassment/ violence that is relatively easy to spot and call out, and is not uncommon.
Mansplaining: is more insidious than outright hostile behaviour. The intent is not constructive criticism but to humiliate the recipient, make them feel that do not belong in the space, or drive them underground. It involves the use of what Wikipedia terms "weasel words", and dismissive and condescending speech. It is difficult to address because it is less perceptible, difficult to differentiate from advise or feedback given in good faith (WP: AssumeGoodFaith), and does not violate the guideline of not attacking newbies but explaining the matter to them (WP:DontBiteTheNewbies).
Deletionism: is the practice of reverting edits or deleting/ nominating for deletion entire pages, projects, or other content out of relatively strict adherence to policies. Deletionism is often difficult to tell apart from very strict adherence to standards. Policies are open to interpretation, and deletionists justify their position by applying certain policies and contexts that favour their stance. In the context of issues pertaining to gender or sexuality, a pattern to look out for is the same user, IP address, or an apparent sockpuppet reverting edits, making edits, and defending them in a way that makes the article less gender-sensitive and disproportionately skewed away or towards a certain gender or orientation.
Subtle Powerplay/ Microaggressions: find their way into discussion boards, mailing lists and other areas of debate and discussion. A study done by the Internet Democracy Project in India documents some of the remarks that leave women feeling they are unwelcome, that do not belong in the space, or that they are an 'imposter'. "People will not be outright abusive towards you, which is a lot I face in my job. When someone does not want you to be a part of their community, they will not abuse you because they get banned for it. They will goad and nudge you in ways to tell and make sure that you are not welcome. So they will ask you, 'Oh, so when did you learn JavaScript?' knowing that you don’t know JavaScript. Just to make you feel that only those who have learnt JavaScript have the right to be there [in the forum].”

One of the factors that inadvertently aids some of these patterns is the kind of sources that are considered reliable on Wikipedia (WP:RS). Newspapers, magazines, websites, books, and journals are considered acceptable references. These sources tend to reflect existing gender biases and structures of power. Studies conducted on the content published by newspapers, for example, have shown that news coverage about men is much higher than that about women.

As most of the attendees of the talk were not very well-acquainted with the intricacies of Wikipedia's Gender gap, I went on to explain some topics that were not explicitly related to the subject of the talk.

Initiatives to improve diversity and encourage new contributors on Wikipedia

Beginner-friendly groups such as The Tea House and the Welcoming Committee
Special Interest Groups (SIGs)
The Gender gap project
Edit-a-thons geared towards increasing gender-sensitive content on Wikipedia and correcting content with gender bias
Wikipedia tries to foster positive feedback through barnstars, Wikilove, and marking a good edit with a “thank you” or a heart icon.

How existing editors can work towards increasing diversity and encouraging new editors

Help get more women mentioned in references or citations in Wikipedia articles.
Add information about women in biographies (e.g. add the mother's name or female spouse's name in a biography article.)
One of the traits of communities that do have many women on them is that a lot of positive interaction happens in response to contributions.
Teachers can obtain support for getting students to edit Wikipedia as part of a class project.

Strategies to recruit more women editors (individuals who self-identify as women, transwomen, genderqueer, genderfluid)

Aim outreach efforts towards women who blog, or already have a presence online.
Persuade existing editors to encourage women in their family and social groups to start contributing. In the case of existing male editors, it works as the two-pronged strategy of sensitising men while empowering women.
Organise outreach events where the organisers and participants are all women/ individuals who largely self-identify as women.
Organise outreach events with gender-sensitive male editors.

Questions-Answers

What is needed to meet Wikipedia's notability criterion?

A: There are different requirements depending on the subject of the article: a book, a work of art, a public figure, an artist, a writer, and so on. There are stricter requirements for biography articles, especially those of living people. Being famous does not necessarily mean being notable in the Wikipedia context. Notability requirements end up being gendered; Wikipedia replicates the biases that are present in the offline world due to its reference structure (WP:RS)

There were several general questions from the attendees about editing Wikipedia, and about Wikipedia policies and best practices. These were answered by McCulloch and me in the last 15 to 20 minutes of the talk.

References

[1]. Define Gender Gap? Look Up Wikipedia's Contributor List, Naom Cohen, January 30, 2011.

[2]. WP:Clubhouse? An Exploration of Wikipedia's Gender Imbalance, Shyong (Tony) K. Lam, Anuradha Uduwage, Zhenhua Dong, Shilad Sen, David R.Musicant, Loren Terveen, John Riedl, 2011

[3]. Women and Wikimedia survey, 2011

[4]. Research: Communicating on Wikipedia while female

[5]. Women and Wikimedia survey, 2011, Name-calling on English Wikipedia

[6]. Women and Online Abuse, Internet Democracy Project, 2013

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/patterns-of-gender-aggression-and-harassment-in-open-tech-and-open-culture-communities-online

One reason startups are moving out of India

praskrishna — 2015-05-08T01:46:01Z

Prime Minister Narendra Modi says Make in India. But anyone who wants to, finds that their intellectual property is valued much more if the patent is filed in the US, or anywhere else, but India.

The article by Evelyn Fok and Varun Aggarwal was published in the Times of India on April 10, 2015. Sunil Abraham gave his inputs.

"Global investors seem to value companies with patents in the US much higher. Therefore, it makes more sense to shift patents out of India, in case you're looking to raise money or exit the company," Kanuni, who is the CEO and co-founder of Arteria Technologies, said.

Major Indian startups such as Flipkart, Myntra and ZipDial, which have either raised over a billion dollars or exited, already have their IPs outside the country. Experts say that is one of the reasons that attracted investors.

"If a company with its IP in India is acquired by an international firm, and post acquisition the buyer wishes to transfer the IP to a different jurisdiction, such transfer would need to be at a fair value decided by the government and the company is taxed at the rate of 34% on that," one of the bankers who was part of a large exit told ET.

"For tech-centric companies where the value of IP would comprise over 70-80% of their value, such high taxes can possibly make them unattractive for potential investors," they added.

With better valuation and exits in mind, startups are moving out their innovation to countries such as Singapore and the US, leaving behind very little intellectual property that the country can proudly call its own.

"You would want to incorporate somewhere with a respected reputation for maintaining legal protection when it comes to copyright and trademarks, especially with global licensees or partners," said Sharad Devarajan, co-founder and CEO of character entertainment company Graphic India, which is incorporated in Singapore.

"Incorporation in a country like the US where potential for M&A is higher, especially for core technology startups, will generally make it more attractive to potential buyers as it avoids a lot of legal and financial paperwork," said Brij Bhasin, India investment lead of Japanese venture capital firm Rebright Partners.

Investor concerns over IP are well founded. "Indian courts aren't uniform when it comes to developing jurisprudence around copyright and patent infringement," explained Sunil Abraham, executive director of Bengaluru-based research organization Centre for Internet and Society.

"There is a high chance that a judge who doesn't understand the details would give an injunction. Then the loss of six months, etc, can be quite expensive, because in six months' time your competitor might eat into all of your market," he said.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/a2k/news/the-times-of-india-april-10-2015-evelyn-fok-and-varun-aggarwal-one-reason-startups-are-moving-out-of-india

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