Centre for Internet and Society

A Telegu Wiki Meetup @ CIS

SJ Veera (Telugu Wikipedian) — 2013-09-01T11:30:18Z

Telugu Wikipedians had their monthly meetup at the Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) in Bangalore on Saturday, July 13, 2013, 2.00 p.m. to 5.00 p.m.

Telugu Wikipedians Arjuna, Ravichandra, Sasi and Rahmanuddin participated in the meetup. Telugu lecturer Gudipati Narayana and Haribabu on behalf of Bengaluru Telugu Tejam also attended the event. Dr. T. Ramakrishna, who translated Aurobindo Ghosh's "Savitri" to Telugu was the chief guest for this meetup. This is the second monthly Telugu Wikipedia workshop in Bangalore.

An Introduction to Telugu Wiki

The workshop began with the mutual introduction and thereafter the participants were briefed about content creation and editing of articles. A practical demonstration was given by creating an article on Bengaluru Telugu Tejam. Arjuna, Ravichandra, Rahmanuddin and Sasi responded to the queries from the participants and clarified their doubts.

Introduction to Savitri

Dr. T. Ramakrishna thereafter gave a presentation of Aurobindo's book "Savitri". He spoke in length about Aurobindo Ghosh, his contributions to the freedom movement of India, and a brief background about Savitri, an epic poem in blank verse based upon a theology from the Mahabharata. Dr. Ramakrishna said that Sri Aurobindo who was a great spiritual leader and a yogi conveyed the message that religion and culture in India are not interlinked or interrelated. He also said that the characters in the present story tells to mankind how to increase spiritual energy.

Telugu Wikipedia Issues and Projects

The following were some of the observations and decisions taken at this meetup:

It was decided to complete the "Telugu Famous Personalities" as soon as possible so that new projects could be taken up.
Narayana has promised to make a plan to train Telugu lecturers and students on Telugu Wikipedia and to release it very soon to TE-Wikipedia
Rahmanuddin proposed to increase participation in Telugu Writers Meetings and Internet Meetings which are held across the globe so that the awareness on TE-Wiki can be increased
Arjuna requested to look into the plans which would answer the issues raised in Telugu Wikipedian Meet
Dr. Ramakrishna felt that more pressure should be brought on the Government of India to increase the usage of Telugu Wiki Mahotsavam.
After completing the current priorities, projects related to Bangalore should be taken up.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/telegu-wiki-meet-up-july-13-2013

Stress on posting articles on Kannada Wikipedia

praskrishna — 2013-08-02T06:27:52Z

A workshop to be held on CPDPS premises on August 6.

This article by R Krishna Kumar was published in the Hindu on August 2, 2013. Dr. U.B. Pavanaja is quoted.

For those with knowledge of Kannada and basic computer skills, here is an opportunity for posting articles in Kannada on the collaborative and free Wikipedia and facilitate the growth of Kannada online.

To help interested people learn the process of posting their articles on Wikipedia, the Centre for Proficiency Development Placement Service (CPDPS) of the University of Mysore will conduct a one-day workshop on August 6 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The workshop will be conducted on the CPDPS premises, Manasagangotri, and is being conducted by U.B. Pavanaja of the Centre for Internet and Society, Bangalore.

Niranjana Vanalli, Director, CPDPS, told The Hindu that though Kannada has got the classical language tag and several Kannada writers have got the Jnanpith, Kannada is among the least represented language on Wikipedia in terms of articles in Indian languages, and this workshop is a small step towards correcting these lacunae.

According to Mr. Pavanaja of CIS, Bangalore, though Kannada Wikipedia was launched in June 2003 and this year marks the 10th anniversary of the launch of the website, there are only 14,500 articles in Kannada.

This is in contrast to nearly 1,00,000 Hindi articles, 52,000 Telugu articles about 52,000 articles in Tamil, 25,000 in Bengali and 30,000 articles in Malayalam in the Wikipedia. There are over 4.6 million articles in English. German and French are close to English and so it is not merely Kannada but all Indian languages that are lagging behind, said Mr. Pavanaja.

However, there is scope for improvement as 13 lakh people visit the Kannada Wikipedia website every month. It definitely means that many people are interested in reading articles in Kannada online, so there is scope for posting more articles for their benefit.

Interestingly Wikipedia, which was launched in January 2001, has articles in 22 Indian languages and 256 languages around the world. There are over 3 crore articles and the number is growing by the day.

There are other significant aspects to the contribution of Indians to the development of Wikipedia. While Kannadigas have taken to the enrichment of Wikipedia in English their contribution to the enrichment of the Kannada section has been abysmal. Incidentally, there are nearly 16 lakh editors of Wikipedia all over the world of which about 5,500 are Indians and of them 3,300 edit and contribute regularly in English. The remaining 2,200 contribute in Indian languages.

According to Mr. Pavanaja, roughly 2 crore Indians regularly visit the Wikipedia site but very few are either contributing or editing.

“Indians were definitely taking advantage of Wikipedia as it gets more than 2 crore hits every year. But the number of Indians contributing to enrich the content is less, more so for Kannada”, he added. Mr. Vanalli, who is a professor in the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Mysore, pointed out that it was ironical that the Kannada was the only Indian language to have an encyclopaedia of its own – Kannada Vishwakosha – published by the University of Mysore. But when it comes to the online collaborative project of Wikipedia, Kannada is lagging behind and this should be reversed.

The workshop will introduce to the participants the features of Wikipedia, and give hands-on demonstration on how to edit and contribute articles. Participants can bring articles of their choice for editing and posting on Wikipedia. For details, contact Director of CPDPS on 0821-2419337/405 or email omegauom@gmail.com for registration.

The workshop will introduce participants to features of Wikipedia, and give demonstration on how to edit and contribute articles

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/hindu-r-krishna-kumar-august-2-2013-stress-on-posting-articles-on-kannada-wikipedia

Wikipedia boom in vernacular languages

praskrishna — 2013-08-12T04:29:28Z

The number of Wikipedia entries in vernacular languages has grown substantially in the last eight months

This article by Divya Saboo was published in DNA on August 1, 2013. The Centre for Internet and Society is mentioned.

In the last eight months, the number of Wikipedia entries in vernacular languages has grown substantially, says a Bangalore-based Centre for Internet and Society.

Wikipedia, the world's largest encyclopedia, where anyone can write and publish, was mainly written in the English language until a few years ago. There is a sudden boom of interest in regional languages on the internet because browsers now support Indian language scripts. Thus, people are now more interested in typing in their mother-tongues. Interestingly, this initiative is fueled by diaspora.

Mahit Gar, who has been working with the Marathi Language Wikipedia, said, “Since the last one year, we have concentrated on improving the quality of the content more. We are ranked #20. There are also some new editing facilities that are being introduced by the Wikimedia Foundation (WMS). We can now write in Marathi as well. 40 per cent of the people can type Marathi well but the rest still find it difficult to do so. The rural people interact mostly with Marathi."

He adds, "We have had this sudden boom because in 2011, we had some conferences with the English Wikipedia team and we talked about how people are not able to communicate without their mother tongues in place. Also, we don't spam. Most people love their mother tongue so they don't touch the content inappropriately (this is not the case with the English Wikipedia).”

Tinu Cherian Abraham who was on the Wikimedia India Chapter talks about how an NRI's love for Malyalam kick-started the project. There are people from all walks of life involved in this project. The collective passion for knowledge of a visually challenged editor of Hindi Wikipedia along with an elderly contributor from Kerala, has aided him in forgetting his ailments.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/dna-august-1-2013-divya-saboo-wikipedia-boom-in-vernacular-languages

Wikipedia boom in Marathi, Malayalam and other desi languages

praskrishna — 2013-08-01T05:28:28Z

A vibrant vernacular Wikipedia seems to be taking root in India. In the last eight months, the number of Wikipedia entries has grown substantially in 20 Indian languages, says a study by the Bangalore-based Centre for Internet and Society (CIS).

The article by Sandhya Soman was published in the Times of India on August 1, 2013. T. Vishnu Vardhan is quoted.

Wiki, the world's largest online encyclopaedia where anyone can write and edit articles, didn't have much content in vernacular till a few years ago. According to the study, Wikis in Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada and Hindi have added thousands of new articles on various subjects from September 2012 to April 2013. A few of these pages were viewed more during this period. Marathi, which had 30 lakh page views per month previously, had another 10 lakh visitors, while Bengali Wikipedia had 14 lakh page views.

While Malayalam Wiki took the top position with an enviable team of 100 plus editors, the number Hindi, Marathi and Sanskrit editors came down. "Marathi has 40,000 articles. But most editors in Mumbai prefer to work on English. Pune has more Marathi editors,' says T Vishnu Vardhan, programme director, Access to Knowledge project at CIS.

"In the last two years, the demand for knowledge in Indian languages has grown as we have moved to the motto of 'roti, kapda and internet'," says Vardhan.

One of the reasons for growth is that many browsers now support Indian language scripts. But this was not the case in early 2000. Though many wanted to read and type in their own language, there was no browser support, says Shiju Alex, blogger and Malayalam Wiki editor. Moreover, many didn't know how to type in their mother tongues.

But once Indian languages were encoded in Unicode, the fonts became accessible. "There was no need to write Malayalam in English and people started blogging in their mother tongues," says Alex. According to Vardhan, communities with better literacy rates seem to have taken the lead online.

"Telugu Wiki is stronger as internet penetration in Andhra Pradesh is higher than in places where Bhojpuri or Assamese is spoken."

As with most online language initiatives, the Wiki movement was also fuelled by the diaspora. Tinu Cherian Abraham, a former board member of the Wikimedia India chapter, talks about how an NRI's love for Malayalam kick-started the project.

But now there are many Wiki foot soldiers in India, including a blind editor of Hindi Wikipedia and an elderly contributor from Kerala whose passion for free knowledge has helped him forget his ailments.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/times-of-india-august-1-2013-sandhya-soman-wikipedia-boom-in-marathi-malayalam-other-desi-languages

Wikipedia Gains Massive Traffic Thanks To Vernacular Languages

praskrishna — 2013-08-19T04:18:24Z

The blog post was published in Before It's News on August 1, 2013. T. Vishnu Vardhan is quoted.

Click to read the original published in Before It's News

Non-profit Wikimedia Foundation, the parent company of knowledge-based article collating platform Wikipedia seems to be receiving enhanced traction on the portal from India. The reason for this upswing in activity is apparently its decision to expand the scope of the portal via multiple Indian Languages, revealed a recent study by the Bangalore-based Center for Internet and Society (CIS).

A while back Wikipedia, sensing the need of non-English speaking /understanding audience had opened its doors for about 18 Indian Languages. The main attractions seemed to be articles penned down in Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam & Kannada, which managed to attract a lot of writers who have come forth & added “thousands” of new articles in these & other native languages, all within a span of 8 months ranging from September 2012 to April 2013.

Interestingly, the study reveals that though a lot of pages did get created, many of these articles did not enjoy equally massive visitor count. However, when Wikipedia subsequently extended the support to Marathi & Bengali, the reader-count picked up. Started just a few months back, about 40,000 articles written in Marathi have been getting 30 Lakh visitors & these pages have collectively managed to add another 10 Lakh monthly visitors, while Bengali articles has been steadily getting about 14 Lakh Page Views per month.

Wikipedia seems to have undoubtedly fueled the consumption of online content. It has proven that people actually craved for knowledge in the native language, but didn’t have a proper platform. However, there were a few technological hurdles as well. Web Browsers, in their formative stages, simply didn’t have the capability of pulling, processing & displaying languages or alphabets other than English. Additionally, having been used to type in English-only keyboards, penning information-laden articles in native languages did have a long & steep learning curve.

Thankfully, such petty, but pestering issues seem to have been ironed out & creation, publication & consumption of content in local languages has evidently picked-up steam. Now the writers, who are fondly called ‘Wiki foot soldiers’ have been forwarding the crusade of offering free knowledge to anyone interested & numbers at both the end is growing healthily.

Judging by the appetite for online content in their local avatar, T Vishnu Vardhan, Program Director, Access to Knowledge Project, CIS has aptly summarized the current state of altered necessities. He says “In the last two years, the demand for knowledge in Indian languages has grown as we have moved to the motto of ‘roti, kapda and internet” What do you think?

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/beforeitnews-august-1-2013-wikipedia-gains-massive-traffic-thanks-to-vernacular-languages

A Kannada Wikipedia Workshop at Sagara

pavanaja — 2014-03-25T08:51:36Z

On Sunday, July 28, 2013, a day-long Kannada Wikipedia workshop was conducted at Sagara, Shimoga Dist, Karnataka by the Centre for Internet and Society's Access to Knowledge (CIS-A2K) team. In this post, I share with you the happenings from the workshop.

Video

Some months ago, I got a phone call from Chinmaya M Rao from Sagara, Shimoga District requesting me to conduct a Kannada Wikipedia workshop at Sagara. He informed me that there are quite a good number of writers in that area who are interested in adding content to Kannada Wikipedia but don't know how to. Many telephonic discussions followed, many dates were considered, changed, iterated and finally the workshop was organised on Sunday, July 28, 2013. The programme was inaugurated by Shri Kagodu Thimmappa, Speaker of the current Legislative Assembly of Karnataka. Famous Kannada writer Naa D'Souza was the chief guest. Shri G.T. Shridhar Sharma, President of Kannada Times Media World, presided over the function. The programme was jointly organised by CIS and Kannada Times Media World, Sagara.

	Speaking after inaugurating the workshop, Shri Kagodu Thimmappa said "the basic knowledge of technology has become important as one could get ample, accurate information on various topics, and current affairs of the world in a minute all languages, including Kannada. It is the onus of the people of the sate to preserve and promote the use of Kannada language." (Deccan Herald, Shimaga edition, July 30, 2013). Naa D'Souza mentioned how earlier knowledge was the monopoly of some particular sections of the society and how technology has transformed knowledge into an asset of all the people irrespective of caste, race, religion, region and financial status.
Seen above is a picture of Shri Kagodu Thimmappa inagurating the workshop

I then gave a brief introduction to Wikipedia and Kannada Wikipedia. There are many encylopaedias in Kannada but very few are regularly updated. They are seldom digitised. People who add content to Kannada Wikipedia are in search of authentic information. These are available in many encylopaedias brought in by various academies, associations and universities funded by the Government of Karnataka. People of the state have a right on these content. I requested Shri Kagodu Thimmappa to bring them under the Creative Commons License so that the active Kannada Wikipedians can make use of them to add content into Kannada Wikipedia. Shri Kagodu Thimmappa promised to look into this.

After the inauguration, the actual presentation by me started at a cybercafe run by Istam Computers. It was raining heavily. Participants walked for 5 minutes in heavy rain to reach the venue. The presentation went on till lunch time. The place was very congested. One participant, B. V. Ravindranath, who is a practicing Chartered Accountant at Sagara, offered his place to conduct the hands-on workshop. Hence, all participants went to the new venue which was quite comfortable. Participants did the hands-on editing of Wikipedia till 7.30 p.m. Eleven persons participated in the workshop and edited actively. Some were seen editing Kannada Wikipedia regularly after the workshop.
Dr. U.B. Pavanaja is seen sharing a light moment with participants from the workshop in the above picture.

After the inauguration, the actual presentation by me started at a cybercafe run by Istam Computers. It was raining heavily. Participants walked for 5 minutes in heavy rain to reach the venue. The presentation went on till lunch time. The place was very congested. One participant, B. V. Ravindranath, who is a practicing Chartered Accountant at Sagara, offered his place to conduct the hands-on workshop. Hence, all participants went to the new venue which was quite comfortable. Participants did the hands-on editing of Wikipedia till 7.30 p.m. Eleven persons participated in the workshop and edited actively. Some were seen editing Kannada Wikipedia regularly after the workshop.

Dr. U.B. Pavanaja is seen sharing a light moment with participants from the workshop in the above picture.

An active Kannada Wikipedian, B S Chandrashekhar from Sagara, who has more than 4500 edits on Kannada Wikipedia to his credit was felicitated during the inauguration function. He is 79 years old. Despite his old age, he actively paticipated in the workshop till the end and learnt many intricacies which he was otherwise unaware of.

In the end, I would like to personally thank Chinmay Rao and G. T. Shridhar Sharma of Kannada Times who toiled a lot in organising the wokrshop. Also thanks to B. V. Ravindranath, CA, who provided the venue for the hands-on workshop.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/openness/kannada-wiki-workshop-at-sagara

July 2013 Bulletin

praskrishna — 2013-08-21T09:30:32Z

Our newsletter for the month of July 2013 can be accessed below.

The Centre for Internet & Society (CIS) welcomes you to the seventh issue of its newsletter for the year 2013. In this issue we bring you a report on the Institute on Internet and Society held in the month of June, comments submitted by us to the Office of the Controller General of Patents Designs and Trademarks on the draft guidelines on computer related inventions, report from the fifth privacy roundtable meeting held in Kolkata, updates from Kannada Wikipedia workshops held in Hubli and Sagara, a report on Digital Humanities for higher education, media coverage, and information on our forthcoming events.

Archives of our newsletters are here. Our policies on Ethical Research Guidelines, Non-Discrimination and Equal Opportunities, Privacy, Terms of Website Use and Travel can be accessed here.

Jobs
CIS is inviting applications for the posts of Developer (NVDA Screen Reader Project). To apply for this post, send in your resume to Nirmita Narasimhan (nirmita@cis-india.org). CIS is also seeking applications for the post of Policy Associate (Internet Governance). To apply send your resume to Sunil Abraham (sunil@cis-india.org) and Pranesh Prakash (pranesh@cis-india.org).

Accessibility

CIS is doing two projects in partnership with the Hans Foundation. One is to create a national resource kit of state-wise laws, policies and programmes on issues relating to persons with disabilities in India and another for developing a screen reader and text-to- speech synthesizer for Indian languages:

National Resource Kit for Persons with Disabilities
CIS and the Centre for Law and Policy Research (CLPR) are working in this project. Draft chapters have been published. Feedback and comments are invited from readers for the chapters on Punjab, Uttarakhand, Maharashtra and Chandigarh:

The Punjab Chapter (by Anandhi Viswanathan, July 31, 2013).
The Uttarakhand Chapter (by Anandhi Viswanathan, July 31, 2013).
The Chandigarh Chapter (by CLPR, July 31, 2013).
The Maharashtra Chapter (by Anandhi Viswanathan, July 31, 2013).

Note: All the chapters published on the website are early drafts and will be reviewed and updated.

Access to Knowledge and Openness

The Wikimedia Foundation has given a grant to CIS to support and develop the growth of Indic language communities and projects by community collaborations and partnerships. This is being carried out by the Access to Knowledge team based in Delhi. CIS is also doing a project (Pervasive Technologies) on examining the relationship between production of pervasive technologies and intellectual property. CIS also promotes openness including open government data, open standards, open access, and free/libre/open source software through its Openness programme.

Access to Knowledge (Previously IP Reforms)

Comments

Comments on the Draft Guidelines for Computer Related Inventions (by Puneeth Nagaraj, July 31, 2013). The comments were submitted to the office of the Controller General of Patents Designs & Trademarks, Mumbai on July 26, 2013.

Event Participated

An International Conference on Interface between Intellectual Property and Competition Law (organized by ASSOCHAM, July 12, 2013). Nehaa Chaudhari participated in the conference and shares select notes in a blog post.

Access to Knowledge (Wikipedia)
The A2K team consists of three members based in Bangalore: T. Vishnu Vardhan, Dr. U.B. Pavanaja and Subhashish Panigrahi and one team member Nitika Tandon who is working from Delhi office.

Event Organised

A Kannada Wikipedia Workshop (organized by CIS-A2K team, July 21, 2013, Hubli). Dr. U.B. Pavanaja gave training to the participants on Wikipedia. Leading newspapers like the Times of India, Vijaya Karnataka, Deccan Herald, VijayaVani, Prajavani, Samyukta Karnataka and HosaDiganta covered the event. Scanned versions of the published articles can be viewed here.
A Kannada Wikipedia Workshop at Sagara (organized by CIS-A2K team, Sagara, July 28, 2013). Dr. U.B. Pavanaja gave a talk on Wikipedia and Kannada Wikipedia.

Event Co-organised

Telugu Wiki Academy at Centre for Good Governance (organized by CIS-A2K and Telegu Wikipedia Community, Centre for Good Governance, Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad, April 9, 2013). T. Vishnu Vardhan participated in this event.

Note: The event was organized in April but report got published only in July.

Event Participated

Free Software (organized by Free Software Movement of Karnataka in partnership with Jnana Vikas Institute of Technology, Bidadi, July 24, 2013). Dr. U.B. Pavanaja made a presentation on Wikipedia.

Ongoing Event

A Workshop on Posting Articles in Kannada on Wikipedia (organised by the Centre for Proficiency Development Placement Service, University of Mysore, CPDPS premises, Manasagangotri, August 6, 2013). Dr. U.B. Pavanaja is conducting a workshop. The announcement was made in an article by R. Krishna Kumar in the Hindu on August 2, 2013.

Press Coverage

Konkani Wikipedia next? (by Diana Fernandes, OHeralO, July 27, 2013). T. Vishnu Vardhan is quoted.

Openness

Events Organised

Delhi: Digital Activism in Europe (The Sarai Programme, Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, New Delhi, July 8, 2013). Bernadette Längle gave a talk about the hacker scene and digital activism in Europe, with a focus on the Chaos Computer Club.
Open Hardware Lab: Play & Invent + Bonus Film Screening (CIS, Bangalore, August 4, 2013). There was a film screening of Theremin: An Electronic Odyssey at the event.

Internet Governance

CIS began two projects earlier this year. The first one on facilitating research and events on surveillance and freedom of expression is with Privacy International and support from the International Development Research Centre, Canada. The second one on mapping cyber security actors in South Asia and South East Asia is with the Citizen Lab, Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto and support from the International Development Research Centre, Canada:

SAFEGUARDS Project
Events Organised

Delhi: Learn to Secure Your Online Communication! (IIC, DU Campus, Delhi, July 6, 2013). A cryptoparty was held in Delhi.
Dharamsala: Learn to Secure Your Online Communication! (Dharamsala, July 13, 2013). A cryptoparty was held in Dharamsala. This was also covered in an article published in the Caravan on August 1, 2013.
Privacy Roundtable Meeting (co-organized by CIS, DSCI, and FICCI, Kolkata, July 13, 2013). An event report was written by Maria Xynou.
The Hackers Way of Reshaping Policies (CIS, Bangalore, August 2, 2012). Bernadette Langle gave a talk on privacy.

Events Participated In

Biometrics or bust? India's Identity Crisis (organised by the Oxford Internet Institute, Oxford University Press, July 2, 2013). Malavika Jayaram participated as a speaker on UID and Privacy.
DSCI Best Practices Meet 2013 (organized by DSCI, Anna Salai, Chennai, July 12, 2013). Kovey Coles attended the meeting.
Achieve Cyber Security Together (organized by the Confederation of Indian Industries, Chennai, July 13, 2013). Kovey Coles attended this event.

Ongoing / Upcoming Events

The Phishing Society: Why 'Facebook' is more dangerous than the Government Spying on You - A Talk by Maria Xynou (CIS, Bangalore, August 7, 2013). Maria Xynou will give a talk on phishing society.
Learn to Protect your Online Activities! (ACJ - Asian College of Journalism, Second Main Road (Behind M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation), Taramani, Chennai, August 7, 2013).
Privacy Meeting: Brussels – Bangalore (CIS, Bangalore, August 14, 2013). Gertjan Boulet and Dariusz Kloza will give a talk on privacy.
Privacy Round Table, New Delhi (co-organised with FICCI and DSCI, FICCI, Federation House, Tansen Marg, New Delhi, August 24, 2013).

Columns

How Surveillance Works in India (by Pranesh Prakash, New York Times, July 10, 2013).
Can India Trust Its Government on Privacy? (by Pranesh Prakash, New York Times, July 11, 2013).
Parsing the Cyber Security Policy (by Chinmayi Arun, The Hoot, and cross-posted in Free Speech Initiative, July 13, 2013).

Blog Entries

The Difficult Balance of Transparent Surveillance (by Kovey Coles, July 10, 2013).
Moving Towards a Surveillance State (by Srinivas Atreya, July 15, 2013).
More than a Hundred Global Groups Make a Principled Stand against Surveillance (by Elonnai Hickok, July 31, 2013).
The Audacious ‘Right to Be Forgotten’ (by Kovey Coles, July 31, 2013).

Interview

An Interview with Reijo Aarnio: Maria Xynou conducted an interview with Reijo, the Finnish Data Protection Ombudsman.

Media Coverage

Google brings tabs to sneak advertisements into your inbox (by Indu Nandakumar, Economic Times, July 30, 2013). Sunil Abraham is quoted.
How the world’s largest democracy is preparing to snoop on its citizens (by Leslie D' Monte and Joji Thomas Philip, July 3, 2013). Sunil Abraham is quoted.
Geeks have a solution to digital surveillance in India: Cryptography (by Joanna Lobo, DNA, July 7, 2013). Pranesh Prakash is quoted.
India's centralised snooping system facing big delays (by Phil Muncaster, The Register, July 9, 2013). CIS is mentioned in this article.
India’s Central Monitoring System: Security can’t come at cost of privacy (by Danish Raza, FirstPost, July 10, 2013). Sunil Abraham is quoted.
Is CMS a Compromise of Your Security? (by Rohin Dharmakumar, Forbes India magazine, July 12, 2013). Sunil Abraham is quoted.
Snooping technology: Will CMS work in India? (by Pierre Fitter, FirstPost, July 17, 2013). Pranesh Prakash is quoted.
सावधान आपके प्रोफ़ाइल पर है पुलिस की नज़र! (by Parul Aggarwal, BBC, July 18, 2013). Pranesh Prakash is quoted.
Your life's an open Facebook (by Shikha Kumar, DNA, July 21, 2013). Sunil Abraham is quoted.
Concerns over central snoop (by Aloke Tikku, Hindustan Times, June 28, 2013). Sunil Abraham is quoted.
Your telco could help spy on you (by Joji Thomas Philip, Leslie D'Monte and Shauvik Ghosh, LiveMint, July 30, 2013). Sunil Abraham is quoted.

DNA Profiling Bill
A sub-committee has been constituted as per the recommendations of the Expert Committee of DNA Profiling Bill. The sub-committee will have a meeting in Hyderabad on August 6, 2013. Sunil Abraham is one of the members of the sub-committee.

Cyber Stewards Project
Laird Brown, a strategic planner and writer with core competencies on brand analysis, public relations and resource management and Purba Sarkar who in the past worked as a strategic advisor in the field of SAP Retail are working in this project.

Video Interviews

Part 3: Interview with Eva Galperin (July 10, 2013).
Part 4: Interview with Marietje Schaake (July 11, 2013).
Part 5: Interview with Amelia Andersdotter (July 12, 2013).
Part 6: Interview with Lhadon Tethong (July 15, 2013).
Part 7: Interview with Jochem de Groot (July 18, 2013).
Part 8: Interview with Jeff Moss (July, 23, 2013).

Cyber Security
Blog Entries

India's National Cyber Security Policy in Review (by Jonathan Diamond, July 31, 2013).
Guidelines for the Protection of National Critical Information Infrastructure: How Much Regulation? (by Jonathan Diamond, July 31, 2013).

Free Speech, Expression and Censorship
Column

You Have the Right to Remain Silent (by Nishant Shah, July 22, 2013).

Event Participated In

Connaught Summer Institute on Monitoring Internet Openness and Rights (organized by the Munk School of Global Affairs, Bloor Street West, July 23, 2013). Malavika Jayaram participated in this event and spoke on "India's Civil Liberties Crisis: Digital Free Will in Free Fall".

Knowledge Repository on Internet Access

CIS in partnership with the Ford Foundation is executing a project to create a knowledge repository on Internet and society. This repository will comprise content targeted primarily at civil society with a view to enabling their informed participation in the Indian Internet and ICT policy space. The repository is available at www.internet-institute.in.

Event Organised

Institute on Internet and Society: Event Report (supported by Ford Foundation, Golden Palms Resort, Bangalore, June 8 – 14, 2013). Pranesh Prakash, Bernadette Längle, Vir Kamal Chopra, AK Bhargava, Ananth Guruswamy, Archana Gulati, Chakshu Roy, Elonnai Hickok, Gaurab Raj Upadhaya, Helani Galpaya, Michael Ginguld, Dr. Nadeem Akhtar, C. Nandini, Dr. Nirmita Narasimhan, Dr. Nishant Shah, Parminder Jeet Singh, Ravikiran Annaswamy, Dr. Ravina Aggarwal, Satyen Gupta, Dr. Subbiah Arunachalam, Sunil Abraham, Tulika Pandey and T. Vishnu Vardhan were speakers at the event. The presentations and videos can now be accessed in this report.

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:

Newspaper Column

Building Up vs Tearing Down (by Shyam Ponappa, July 3, 2013, originally published in the Business Standard, and also mirrored in Organizing India Blogspot).

Digital Humanities

We are building research clusters in the field of Digital Humanities. The Digital will be used as a way of unpacking the debates in humanities and social sciences and look at the new frameworks, concepts and ideas that emerge in our engagement with the digital. The clusters aim to produce and document new conversations and debates that shape the contours of Digital Humanities in Asia.

Event Co-organised

Digital Humanities for Indian Higher Education (co-organised by HEIRA, CSCS, Tumkur University, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai and CIS, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, July 13, 2013).

Event Organised

Digital Humanities Talk (CIS, Bangalore, July 31, 2013). Sara Morais gave a talk on the advantages and problems in doing digital humanities work.

Event Participated In

Political Economy, Activism and Alternative Economic Strategies (organized by the International Institute of Social Studies, Erasmus University of Rotterdam, The Hague, July 9 – 13, 2013). Nishant Shah presented his paper on paper on Citizen Action in the Time of Network.

Blog Entries

Designing Change? Gatekeepers in Digital Humanities (by Sara Morais, July 2, 2013).
Towards Critical Tool-building (by Sara Morais, July 12, 2013).

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.

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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 or Nishant Shah, Director – Research, at nishant@cis-india.org

CIS is grateful to its donors, Wikimedia Foundation, Ford Foundation, Privacy International, UK, Hans Foundation and the Kusuma Trust which was founded by Anurag Dikshit and Soma Pujari, philanthropists of Indian origin, for its core funding and support for most of its projects.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/july-2013-bulletin

Comments on the Draft Guidelines for Computer Related Inventions

puneeth — 2013-08-02T08:27:03Z

The Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) submitted the below comments to the office of the Controller General of Patents Designs & Trademarks, Mumbai on July 26, 2013.

July 26, 2013

To,
The Office of the Controller General of Patents, Designs & Trade Marks
Bhoudhik Sampada Bhavan,
Antop Hill, S. M. Road,
Mumbai - 400 037

Subject: Comments on the Draft Guidelines for Computer Related Inventions
The Centre for Internet and Society (“CIS”) would like to commend the Office of Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks (“Controller General”) for preparing and inviting comments on the Draft Guidelines on Computer Related Inventions (“Guidelines”). With respect to the Guidelines, CIS would like to submit the following comments:

Background

The patent examiner is the most important link in the chain of patent law as he/she acts as the gatekeeper to defend the boundaries of patent law. This is especially so in the case of CRIs as the debate is centered on the question of the subject matter of patents. We are in full agreement with the position of excluding computer programs per se from patent protection. Especially given that they already qualify for protection under both copyright and trademark law. The question of patenting CRIs is problematic as such inventions have a high rate of obsolence. To avoid this, CRIs need to meet a higher standard during patent examination. It is in this interest that CIS presents the following comments on the Guidelines.

Scope of Section 3(k) , paragraph 2.4:
"Therefore, the re-instatement of the original phraseology of section 3 (k) clearly indicates that the legislature intended to retain the original scope of exclusion and did not approve its widening under this sub-section as attempted through the ordinance."

The Guidelines correctly identify the position of law as regards Section 3(k) and the evolution of the provision through the 2002 and 2004 amendments. However, it does not explain the meaning of the provision with regard to the way it applies to patent examination. The meaning of Section 3(k) is to exclude the grant of patents for computer programs per se based on the subject matter test.

So, the proposition here is that if a patent application were to fall in the category of nonpatentable subject matter, the patent should not be awarded. This should be made clearer for the benefit of prospective patent applicants and examiners. Our submission is that the explanation to Section 3(k) should include the subject matter test.
Definition of “per se”, paragraph 3.11:
The term “per se” is not defined in Indian statutes and hence, for interpretation of this term, the general dictionary meaning may be used.

In our comment on the 2010 Patent Manual, we had asked for clarification on the meaning of the phrase “per se” in Section 3(k).[1] While the Guidelines attempt to clarify the meaning, referring to the dictionary meaning of the phrase creates numerous issues. The phrase per se was first used in the European Patent Convention and the Proposed EU Directive on CRIs where per se was taken to mean on the face of it.

When similar phraseology was used in the Indian Act, some groups felt that this should be interpreted similarly rather than to mean by itself. The Guidelines do refer to the latter meaning. But the issue is with the use of the phrase in the provision and its cumulative meaning. So, it would help if the Guidelines, while explaining the meaning of the phrase also clarify that 3(k) means computer programs by themselves.
Definitions of “algorithm”, “software”, “hardware” and “firmware”, paragraph 3
Once again the Guidelines make reference to the Oxford Dictionary while defining these words. It is understandable that there is some difficulty in defining them as there are no statutes that explicitly define these words. However, the definitions in the Dictionary pertain to general usage and the implications of these words can change based on context. In this regard, it would be useful for the patent examiner to consult an expert while dealing with the usage of these terms or at least use a technical dictionary that defines these words as per their usages in that particular field.
Claims concerning CRIs- subject matter, paragraph 4
This Section correctly identifies the categories under which claims are made in patent applications for CRIs. However, even before making such categories, the applications must be tested on the question of subject matter. As pointed out earlier, if an invention falls outside defined subject matter, it should not be granted a patent.

The number of patents filed has gone up by almost 50% this year[2] and there is a need to dispose off, applications in a speedy but efficient manner. It must also be noted that there have been many cases where business methods and algorithms have been passed off as inventions and granted patents. [3] In order to avoid such errors and reduce transaction costs, it would help to carry out a preliminary subject matter evaluation at the outset.
Examination Procedure, paragraph 5
The examination procedure of patent applications relating to CRIs is common with other inventions to the extent of considering novelty, inventive step and industrial applicability.

The Guidelines suggest that CRIs can be tested on the same standards as other inventions on the above three questions. However, CRIs differ from other inventions. Most CRIs are an incremental innovation on existing CRIs. Many CRIs also become obsolete in a very short time. In the field of data storage for instance, the first CD was invented in 1982, DVD in 1995 and the flash drive in 1999. While each of these inventions was far superior to their predecessor, the time between each incremental innovation has drastically reduced.

If an invention can become obsolete in as little as 2 years, it would make little sense to grant monopoly rights for 20 years. So even if a CRI passes the three tests of novelty, inventive step and industrial applicability, it needs to be evaluated from the perspective of its possible obsolence. In such a scenario, the examiner should look at the history of innovation in that particular field to ascertain that the invention does not become obsolete in a short time.

Inventive Step, paragraph 5.3
(ja) "inventive step" means a feature of an invention that involves technical advance as compared to the existing knowledge or having economic significance or both and that makes the invention not obvious to a person skilled in the art;

The Guidelines quote Section 2(ja) of the Patents Act and refer to the IPAB decision in the Enercon case to explain the meaning of inventive step. But, the meaning of certain terms, like “technical advance” and “person skilled in the art” is unclear.

With respect to “technical advance”, one could infer the meaning from (4) of the quote from the Enercon case (citing Windsurfing and Pozzoli) which reads:
Imputing to a normally skilled but unimaginative addressee what was common general knowledge in the art at the priority date

However, as Prof. NS Gopalakrishnan notes, the standards for what is an inventive step differs based on the industry.[4] For instance, the pharmaceutical industry has a relatively lower standard for inventiveness when compared to other industries.[5] Given the unique nature of CRIs, it is important to clarify to what the standard for inventiveness or the “technical advance” is in this case.

In the same respect, the meaning of “person skilled in the arts” also needs explanation in relation to CRIs. This is especially so since the patentable subject matter as per the Guidelines are software attached to a hardware device. As per the case of Schlumberger v. EMGS[6] before the English Court of Appeals, in case of inventions which involve the “marriage of skills”, a person skilled of arts can be a team of persons. The case also held that the person who judges sufficiency and the person from whose standpoint nonobviousness is judged are different. Given the range of areas that are involved in CRIs, a person skilled of art would have no set description and would more often than not be a team of people.
Ordering of paragraphs 5.4.5 to 5.4.7
These paragraphs deal with the subject matter test. Paragraphs 5.4.5 and 5.4.6 deal with computer programs and the implications of the use of the phrase “per se”. Paragraph 5.4.7 deals with business method, mathematical method and other excluded patents as per law. As argued earlier, the subject matter evaluation needs to be made in the first instance. So a patent examiner must be made aware of the exclusions at first and then the exception or the dilution of such exclusion. These paragraphs seem to accomplish this in the reverse order. For greater clarity we propose that the paragraphs be ordered as: 5.4.7, 5.4.5 followed by 5.4.6.
Flow Chart Showing Procedure of Examination, paragraph 9
The flow chart shows a step by step process of examining CRIs. However, the subject matter determination is done towards the end. There is debate on whether there should be a set order for examining patents. However, in the case of CRIs there must be an exception as the statute explicitly prohibits certain types of patents (business method, algorithm etc). As argued earlier, in order to reduce transaction costs, the subject matter test must be made at the very beginning. There should at least be a preliminary determination as to Section 3(k) to reject patent applications for those inventions that can easily be classified under this provision.

[1]. See http://cis-india.org/a2k/blog/cis-submission-draft-patent-manual-2010 (Accessed on 23rd July, 2013).

[2]. See http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/news/science/number-of-patent-applications-up-nearly-50-thisyear/
article4508058.ece (Accessed on 23rd July, 2013).

[3]. See for business method patents granted in India: http://spicyipindia.blogspot.in/2013/01/guest-post-whyare-
business-method.html (Accessed on 19th July, 2013).

[4]. NS Gopalakrishnan and TG Agitha, “Principles of Intellectual Property” (1st ed. 2009), at 91.

[5]. Ibid.

[6]. [2010] EWCA Civ 819.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/comments-on-draft-guidelines-for-computer-related-inventions

Access to Knowledge Bulletin — June & July 2013

praskrishna — 2013-10-04T10:52:46Z

A2K newsletter for the months of June and July, 2013.

Indian Language Wikipedia Statistics April to September 2013 (by T. Vishnu Vardhan; Nitika Tandon and Subhashish Panigrahi June 30, 2013): The Access to Knowledge team carried out quantitative analysis to identify trends and growth patterns in Indian Language Wikipedias over the time period from September 2012 to April 2013. Though it is difficult for the A2K programme to take direct credit for the growth or lack of it the programme's support has been one of the key factors in impacting the growth of the Wikimedia projects and communities in India since the commencement of the project. Primary focus areas of the statistics are: growth of articles, Active editors, Monthly growth of new editors, Monthly pageviews and New editors statistics from outreach events organized or supported by A2K programme. Link: http://cis-india.org/a2k/blog/indian-language-wikipedia-statistics

Workshops

Wikipedia editing workshop for participants from 10 civil society institutions from across India at the Institute of Internet and Society, Bangalore (Organized by the A2K team members T. Vishnu Vardhan and Subhashish Panigrahi, June 9, 2013)
A 'Kannada' Wikipedia Workshop for Bloggers (organized by CIS-A2K Team, Suchitra, Bengaluru, June 23, 2013). Dr. U.B. Pavanaja conducted the workshop. Link: http://cis-india.org/openness/blog/kannada-wikipedia-workshop-bloggers
Digital Humanities for Indian Higher Education (co-organised by HEIRA-CSCS, Tumkur University, CILHE-TISS and CCS, Indian Institute of Science, July 13, 2013). Link: http://cis-india.org/openness/events/digital-humanities-for-indian-higher-education
A Kannada Wikipedia Workshop (organized by CIS-A2K team, July 21, 2013, Hubli). Dr. U.B. Pavanaja gave training to the participants on Wikipedia. Leading newspapers like Times of India, Vijaya Karnataka, Deccan Herald, VijayaVani, Prajavani, Samyukta Karnataka and HosaDiganta covered the event. Scanned versions of the published articles can be viewed here (http://cis-india.org/openness/blog/hubli-workshop-press-coverage.zip). Link: http://cis-india.org/openness/blog/kannada-wikipedia-workshop-at-hubli
Telugu Wikipedia Training Workshop (organized by CIS-A2K Team in collaboration with Telugu Jati Nava Nirmana Samstha, Hyderabad, July 21, 2013). Dr. Rajasekhar (Telugu WP admin) and T. Vishnu Vardhan conducted the workshop. Link: http://bit.ly/13Z00Ue
A Kannada Wikipedia Workshop at Sagara (organized by CIS-A2K team, Sagara, July 28, 2013). Dr. U.B. Pavanaja gave a talk on Wikipedia and Kannada Wikipedia. Link: http://cis-india.org/openness/kannada-wiki-workshop-at-sagara ● Odia Wikipedia Training Workshop at the Veer Surendra Sai University of Technology (Organized by Odia Wikipedian Gorvachove Pothal and supported by CIS-A2K programme, July 26, 2013). Event link: http://or.wikipedia.org/s/gqw
Telugu Wiki Academy at Centre for Good Governance (co-organised by A2K team and Telugu Wikipedia community, Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad, April 9, 2013). T. Vishnu Vardhan was a speaker at this event. Link: http://cis-india.org/openness/blog/telegu-wiki-academy-at-centre-for-good-governance

Meetups

First Telugu Wiki Meetup @ CIS, Bangalore (co-organised by Telugu Wikipedia community and A2K on June 2, 2013). S.J. Veera conducted the meet-up. Link: http://cis-india.org/openness/blog/telegu-wiki-meet-up-at-cis-june-2-2013
Second monthly Telugu Wiki Meetup @ CIS, Bangalore (co-organized by Telugu Wikipedia community and A2K on July 13, 2013). Event link: http://goo.gl/zVueaO
Telugu Wikipedia Meetup @ Theatre Outreach Unit, Hyderabad (co-organised by TE WP community, ToU and A2K on July 21, 2013). T. Vishnu Vardhan spoke on Copyright-Creative Commons and Wikipedia. Link: http://bit.ly/14ctSxr

Upcoming / Ongoing Events

A Workshop on Posting Articles in Kannada on Wikipedia (organised by the Centre for Proficiency Development Placement Service, University of Mysore, CPDPS premises, Manasagangotri, August 6, 2013). Dr. U.B. Pavanaja will conduct a workshop. The announcement (http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-karnataka/stress-on-posting-articles-on-kannada-wikipedia/article4980552.ece) was made in an article by R. Krishna Kumar in the Hindu on August 2, 2013. Link: http://cis-india.org/news/hindu-r-krishna-kumar-august-2-2013-stress-on-posting-articles-on-kannada-wikipedia
Wikipedia Training workshop for students at the St. Xavier College, Goa Wikipedia
Training workshop for students from Library Science Department at the Goa University, Goa Wikipedia
Training workshop for students from Konkani language Department at the Goa University, Goa

Events Participated

Free Software (organized by Free Software Movement of Karnataka in partnership with Jnana Vikas Institute of Technology, Bidadi, July 24, 2013). Dr. U.B. Pavanaja presented about Wikipedia in this event. Link: http://cis-india.org/news/free-software
Institute of Internet and Society, Bangalore (participated by A2K team, T. Vishnu Vardhan presented about “Building Knowledge Bases and Platforms via Mass Collaboration on the Internet” Presentation Link: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Building_Knowledge_Bases_and_Platforms_via_Mass_Collaboration_on_the_Internet.pdf, Event Link: http://cis-india.org/telecom/knowledge-repository-on-internet-access/institute-on-internet-and-society

Media Coverage (including videos)

A Feature on Wikipedia and Telugu Wikipedians (HMTV, May 30-31, 2013). Watch the video: http://cis-india.org/news/hmtv-may-30-2013-wikipedia-and-telegu-wikipedians

Wikipedia Live Phone-in Programme (HMTV, June 1, 2013). T. Vishnu Vardhan took part in a one hour live phone-in programme on Wikipedia. Video: http://cis-india.org/news/wikipedia-live-phone-in-programme

Wiki donors (by Akhila Seetharaman, TimeOut Bengaluru, June 21, 2013). T. Vishnu Vardhan and Dr. U.B. Pavanaja are quoted. Link: http://cis-india.org/news/timeout-bengaluru-akhila-seetharaman-june-21-2013-wiki-donors

Kannada Wikipedia Workshop at Hasan (Prajavani, June 5, 2013). Dr. U.B. Pavanaja conducted the workshop on June 4, 2013. Link: http://cis-india.org/news/prajavani-june-5-2013-kannada-wikipedia-workshop-coverage

Kannada Wikipedia Workshop at Hasan (Samyukta Karnataka, June 5, 2013). Dr. U.B.Pavanaja conducted the workshop on June 4, 2013. Link: http://cis-india.org/news/samyukta-karnataka-june-5-2013-kannada-wikipedia-workshop-coverage

Kannada Wikipedia Workshop at Hasan (Vijaya Karnataka, June 5, 2013). Dr. U.B.Pavanaja conducted the workshop on June 4, 2013. Link: http://cis-india.org/news/vijaya-karnataka-june-5-2013-report-of-kannada-wikipedia-workshop-in-hasan

Wiki Rahasya: Panel Discussion (Suvarna News, June 13, 2013). Dr. U.B.Pavanaja participated in a panel discussion around Wikipedia in general and about Kannada Wikipedia in specific. Link: http://cis-india.org/news/suvarna-news-june-13-2013-wiki-rahasya-panel-discussion

Blog Entry

Wikipedia Visual Editor (by Nitika Tandon, June 27, 2013). Link: http://cis-india.org/openness/blog/visual-editor.pdf/view

My First Wikipedia Training Workshop – Theatre Outreach Unit, University of Hyderabad (Organized by A2K team, attended by T. Vishnu Vardhan) Link: http://cis-india.org/openness/blog/my-first-wikipedia-training-workshop Wikimedia Foundation has funded A2K to anchor the growth of Wikimedia movement in India. The A2K team consists of three members based in Bangalore: T. Vishnu Vardhan, Dr. U.B. Pavanaja and Subhashish Panigrahi and one member Nitika Tandon in Delhi. Archives of our newsletters can be accessed here (http://cis-india.org/about/newsletters). Wikipedians from various communities can request for outreach programs, technical bugs, logistics-merchandize and media, public relations and communications at http://bit.ly/TOcXId.

About CIS

Follow us elsewhere

Twitter: https://twitter.com/CISA2K
CIS group on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/cis.india
Visit us at: https://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 or Nishant Shah, Director – Research, at nishant@cis-india.org.

To discuss collaborations on Indic language wikipedia, write to T. Vishnu Vardhan, Programme Director, A2K, at vishnu@cis-india.org

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/access-to-knowledge-bulletin-june-july-2013

Konkani Wikipedia next?

praskrishna — 2013-08-01T08:32:37Z

A quarter of the world’s Konkani speakers live in Goa. Which is why it should cheer us up to know that a Konkani Wikipedia is being shaped up. But unless more and more of us contribute, the project might never go online.

This article by Diana Fernandes was published in OHeraldO, the largest circulated English daily in Goa, on July 27, 2013. T. Vishnu Vardhan is quoted.

Konkani has never had its own Wikipedia site like Hindi (hi.wikipedia.org) or Sanskrit (sn.wikipedia.org). So the good news is that efforts are underway since 2006, the bad news is it hasn’t made any progress in the last seven years.

The Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) is however hoping to change this. As part of the project being funded by the Wikipedia Foundation, San Francisco, CIS through their Access to Knowledge (A2K) programme plan to bring to life a full fledged Konkani Wikipedia site with the Devanagari script.

But Vishnu Vardhan, programme director, is quick to add, "This is no way trying to resolve the script issue. We are simply creating a place where people from the Konkani speaking community can contribute as well as read Konkani online."

Considering the complexity of the language, which is also written in Kannada, Malayalam and Perso Arabic, Konkani has many obstacles to over come before this project reaches fruition.

A balanced and practical approach of developing the content on the Konkani Wikipedia will be focused upon, say the organisers. For this, the A2K will look at generating content and build a community around the official Konkani script — Devanagari. Though they will also accept any other script, which will either be translated into the Devanagari script or remain as it is.

Speaking about the workshop, Vardhan says Goa was the perfect launch pad for the project. Among the 24 lakh Konkani speaking population around the world, Goa accounts for 6 lakh, the highest.

The CIS plans to have free lectures around the state to any interested group of people to spread the news of contributing articles related to famous personality, place, a cultural aspect, religion, history or sociology. But then comes the task of which script do people contribute in.

The current incubator has 52 Devanagari, 32 Romi and 2 Kannada articles. The project received its maximum number of edits in 2007 08 and has been reducing over the subsequent years.

The aim of the project is to get more articles. "Presently, we are telling people to simply contribute articles, whether in Devanagari or Romi. But since Devanagari is the state approved script, it is preferred in that script."

Vardhan believes that removing it from the incubation stage and having a live Wikipedia site will be a start. But for which he says, a community is necessary.

"Wikipedia is a community website and without one, there would be no exchange of information," he says. At present, the incubator has 86 articles but the aim is to increase this number with as many articles as possible.

Once armed with enough articles to go live, Vardhan says, the engineering department at Wikipedia can be approached about creating a multiple script converter that converts any of the scripts into any other desired one. The problem however is that there isn’t enough motivation and interest in the language itself.

"Only if the team at Wikipedia (US) sees the demand for different scripts in Konkani will they consider the multiple script converters," says Vardhan.

A similar challenge was faced by other wikis, like the Kashmiri Wikipedia, which used Pashto, Sharada and Devanagari scripts. Punjabi had the Gurmukhi script used in India and the Shahmukhi script that’s used in Pakistan. Solutions to them included an automatic converter, multiple writing system and creating separate wikis for each script.

CIS has also organised a Kannada workshop in Udupi for a Kannada Wikipedia. The other languages that the Wikipedia Foundation has asked them to work on are Telugu, Odia, and Bengali.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/oheraldo-july-27-2013-diana-fernandes-konkani-wikipedia-next

ଓଡିଆ ଉଇକିପିଡ଼ିଆର କର୍ମଶାଳା ଅନୁଷ୍ଠିତ ହୋଇଯାଇଛି ବୀର ସୁରେନ୍ଦ୍ର ସାଏ ବୈଷୟିକ ବିଶ୍ୱବିଦ୍ୟାଳୟ, ବୁର୍ଲାରେ

praskrishna — 2013-08-05T08:25:47Z

Odishan.com covered the Wikipedia event organized at Veer Surendra Sai University of Technology, Burla on July 26 and 27, 2013.

Click to read the original published in Odishan.com.

ସମ୍ବଲପୁରର ବୁର୍ଲାଠାରେ ଥିବା ‘ବୀର ସୁରେନ୍ଦ୍ରସାଏ ବୈଷୟିକ ବିଶ୍ୱବିଦ୍ୟାଳୟ(ଭିସୁଟ)’ ର ଗୋଲ୍ଡ଼େନ ଜୁବୁଲୀ ସେମିନାର ହଲ ପରିସରରେ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଉଇକିପିଡ଼ିଆ ସମ୍ବନ୍ଧରେ ଏକ କର୍ମଶାଳା ଅନୁଷ୍ଠିତ ହୋଇଯାଇଛି । ବିଶ୍ୱବିଦ୍ୟାଳୟର ୧୦୦ରୁ ଉର୍ଦ୍ଧ୍ୱ ଛାତ୍ରଛାତ୍ରୀ ଏହି କର୍ମଶାଳାରେ ଭାଗ ନେଇ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଉଇକିପିଡ଼ିଆ ବ୍ୟବହାର ସଂପର୍କରେ ଜ୍ଞାନ ଅର୍ଜନ କରିଥିଲେ । ବିଶ୍ୱବିଦ୍ୟାଳୟର ପୁରାତନ ଛାତ୍ର ତଥା ସକ୍ରିୟ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଉଇକିଆଳି ଗୋର୍ବାଚୋଭ ପୋଥାଳଙ୍କ ତତ୍ୱାବଧାନରେ ଏହି କର୍ମଶାଳା ଆୟୋଜିତ ହୋଇଥିଲା ଏବଂ ଉପସ୍ଥିତ ସମସ୍ତଙ୍କୁ ଉଇକିପିଡ଼ିଆ ସଂପର୍କରେ ସବିଶେଷ ବିବରଣୀ ପ୍ରଦାନ କରାଯାଇଥିଲା । ସେ କହିଥିଲେ ଯେ, ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଉଇକିପିଡ଼ିଆ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଭାଷାରେ ଇଣ୍ଟରନେଟ୍‌ରେ ଉପଲବ୍ଧ ଏକ ଖୋଲା ଜ୍ଞାନକୋଷ । ଏହାକୁ ବ୍ୟବହାର କରି ଜଣେ କିପରି ନିଜର ଗବେଷଣା ଦକ୍ଷତା ବିକାଶ ଓ ମାଗଣା ଜ୍ଞାନର ବିତରଣ କରିପାରିବ, ସେହି ବିଷୟରେ ଆଲୋଚନା କରିଥିଲେ । ଏହା ବ୍ୟତୀତ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଉଇକିପିଡ଼ିଆର ଇତିହାସ, ଆଭିମୁଖ୍ୟ, ଉଇକିପିଡ଼ିଆରେ ବର୍ତ୍ତମାନ ଚାଲୁଥିବା ବିଭିନ୍ନ ପ୍ରକଳ୍ପ ବିଷୟରେ ସବିଶେଷ ଆଲୋଚନା କରିଥିଲେ ଓ କହିଥିଲେ ଓଡ଼ିଆରୁ ଦୂରେଇ ଯାଉଥିବା ଲୋକଙ୍କୁ ଓଡ଼ିଆମୁଖୀ କରାଇବାର ଏହା ଅନ୍ୟତମ ପ୍ରଚେଷ୍ଟା । ଶ୍ରୀ ପୋଥାଳ ନିଜର ବକ୍ତବ୍ୟ ଦେଇ ସାରିବା ପରେ ଉଇକିପିଡ଼ିଆ ସମ୍ବନ୍ଧରେ ଛାତ୍ରଛାତ୍ରୀଙ୍କର ବିଭିନ୍ନ ପ୍ରଶ୍ନର ଉତ୍ତର ଦେଇଥିଲେ । ଏହା ପରେ କର୍ମଶାଳରେ ସେ ଉଇକିପିଡିଆରେ ନୂତନ ପ୍ରସଙ୍ଗ ଲେଖିବା, ସମ୍ପାଦନା କରିବା, ଆଧାର ଦେବା ଇତ୍ୟାଦିର ପ୍ରଶିକ୍ଷଣ ଦେଇ ଏକ ଗଣ-ସମ୍ପାଦନା ଆୟୋଜନ କରିଥିଲେ । କର୍ମଶାଳାରେ ବିଶ୍ୱବିଦ୍ୟାଳୟର ପ୍ରାଧ୍ୟାପକ ଡ. ଅମରନାଥ ନାୟକ, ଡ଼ ବିଭୂତି ଭୂଷଣ ପାଣି, ଡ଼. ଅକ୍ଷୟ କୁମାର ପଟ୍ଟନାୟକ, ଡ. ଜ୍ୟୋତି ରଞ୍ଜନ ମହାନ୍ତି ପ୍ରମୁଖ ଉପସ୍ଥିତ ଥିଲେ । କର୍ମଶାଳାର ସଫଳ ପରିଚାଳନା ପାଇଁ ଛାତ୍ର ପ୍ରତିନିଧି ଅବିନାଶ କୁମାର ପୁହାଣ, ସୁପ୍ରଜ୍ଞାନ ପଟ୍ଟନାୟକ, ସୁଭମ ସାହୁ, ସୋମ୍ୟଶ୍ରୀ ଋତୁପର୍ଣ୍ଣୋ ସାହୁ, ଅନନ୍ୟା ସୃଷ୍ଟି ଶତପଥୀ ସାହାଯ୍ୟ କରିଥିଲେ ।

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/odishan-july-27-2013-coverage-of-odia-wikipedia-workshop

Odia Wikipedia Workshop at VSSUT, Burla (Coverage in the Sambad)

praskrishna — 2013-08-19T08:51:59Z

An Odia Wikipedia workshop was organized on July 26 and 27, 2013 at Veer Surendra Sai University of Technology, Burla. The Sambad (Sambalpur edition) covered the event.


Below is a scanned version of the news published in the Sambad on July 27, 2013:

Click below for more details:

Link to event page: http://bit.ly/14VdEdG (CIS has been credited for financial support).
Link to the report on mailing lists: http://bit.ly/1eWsKyl

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/odia-wikipedia-workshop-at-vssut-coverage-in-sambad

ଉଇକିପିଡ଼ିଆ:ମେଳଣ/ବୁର୍ଲା (ସମ୍ବଲପୁର)

praskrishna — 2013-08-05T08:04:07Z

There was a news coverage on The Sambad, Sambalpur edition about the Odia Wikipedia workshop organized on July 26 and 27, 2013 at Veer Surendra Sai University of Technology, Burla.

The Centre for Internet and Society has been credited for financial support. Click to see the report on the mailing list.

ସମ୍ବଲପୁରର ବୁର୍ଲାଠାରେ ଥିବା "ବୀର ସୁରେନ୍ଦ୍ରସାଏ ବୈଷୟିକ ବିଶ୍ୱବିଦ୍ୟାଳୟ"ରେ ୨୬ ଓ ୨୭ ଜୁଲାଇ ୨୦୧୩ (ଶୁକ୍ରବାର, ଶନିବାର) ଦିନ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଉଇକିପିଡ଼ିଆର ଏକ କର୍ମଶାଳା ଅନୁଷ୍ଠିତ ହୋଇଯାଇଛି ।

କର୍ମଶାଳାର ବିଷୟବସ୍ତୁ

ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଉଇକିପିଡ଼ିଆର ଉପ‌ଯୋଗିତା
ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଉଇକିପଡ଼ିଆରେ ସାଧାରଣ ସମ୍ପାଦନା
ମୁକ୍ତ ଜ୍ଞାନ ବିତରଣର ଉପାଦେୟତା
"ଉଇକିପ୍ରକଳ୍ପ ଓଡ଼ିଶାର ସ୍ଥାନ" ଗଣ-ସମ୍ପାଦନା

କର୍ମଶାଳା ବିବରଣୀ

ଆର୍ଥିକ ସହାୟତା

କାର୍ଯ୍ୟକ୍ରମର ସଫଳ ପରିଚାଳନା ନିମନ୍ତେ "ସେଣ୍ଟର ଫର ଇଣ୍ଟରନେଟ ଏଣ୍ଡ ସୋସାଇଟି - ଆକ୍ସେସ ଟୁ ନଲେଜ" ତରଫରୁ ଟ.୨,୦୦୦/- ର ଆର୍ଥିକ ସହାୟତା ପ୍ରଦାନ କରାଯାଇଥିଲା ।

ଯୋଗଦେଇଥିବା ପୁରୁଖା ଉଇକିଆଳି

ଗୋର୍ବାଚୋଭ ପୋଥାଳ

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/coverage-of-odia-wikipedia-workshop-in-sambad-july-26-27-2013

Whats & Hows of Wiki

praskrishna — 2013-10-25T07:00:23Z

The Kings School students of class 10 were blessed to have Nitika Tandon & Subhashish Panigrahi of Wikipedia Foundation to conduct a workshop on the whats & hows of Wiki, creating & editing Wiki pages, etc. Our students also got a hands on experience, and they edited the Bibinca page on Wiki.

This was published in the King's School Portal on July 26, 2013. Nitika Tandon and Subhashish Panigrahi are quoted.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/the-kings-school-july-26-2013-whats-and-hows-of-wiki

Free Software

praskrishna — 2013-07-31T08:50:41Z

To spread awareness on free software and its philosophy, Free Software Movement of Karnataka (FSMK) in partnership with Jnana Vikas Institute of Technology, Bidadi, organized a 9-days workshop between July 20 and 28 at the Institute campus near Bidadi to focus on free software is real freedom to compute.

Click to read the news by M.K. Madhusoodan published in the Times of India on July 20, 2013. For more pictures, click here

Dr. U.B. Pavanaja participated in the workshop and made a presentation about Wikipedia for the participants on July 24, 2013.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/free-software