Centre for Internet and Society

Access to Knowledge Bulletin — May 2013

praskrishna — 2013-07-04T04:17:49Z

In this issue of our newsletter for 2013, we are pleased to bring you updates about the open exhibition held at our office for celebrating five years of our existence, Access to Knowledge work plan (2013-14), and the revised budget (September 2012 - February 2013).

Wikimedia Foundation, beginning from September 1, 2012, awarded the Centre for Internet & Society (CIS) a two-year grant of INR 26,000,000 to support and develop free knowledge in India. Consequently, Wikimedia Foundation’s India Program became the Access to Knowledge (A2K) program of CIS. In this newsletter, we are pleased to bring you updates about the recently concluded exhibition organised in our offices in Bangalore and Delhi and share with you the feedback to the Access to Knowledge work plan from the wikipedia community.

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. Noopur Raval, Programme Officer left the organisation on April 24, 2013. Archives of our newsletters are here.

Wikipedians from various communities can request for outreach programs, technical bugs, logistics-merchandize and media, public relations and communications at http://bit.ly/TOcXId.

Celebrating 5 Years of CIS
CIS is now 5 years old and we recently celebrated this by holding an open exhibition in our offices in Bangalore and Delhi from May 20 to 23, showcasing our work and accomplishments over the five year period. We had about 170 visitors coming in to our office. Renowned artists like Tara Kelton, Kiran Subbaiah, Navin Thomas, Abhishek Hazra and Sharath Chandra Ram exhibited their work. The four-day event attracted press coverage: Bangalore Mirror (May 18, 2013), DNA (May 19, 2013), Hindu (May 22, 2013), Prajavani (May 23, 2013), Udayavani (May 25, 2013) and Bangalore Mirror (May 31, 2013). Download all the posters that were part of the exhibition here.

Announcements

Access to Knowledge Work Plan (April 2013 - June 2014): CIS has announced its detailed plan with projection of outcomes and expected impact of the A2K programme activities. The document has been made in consultation with various stakeholders and keeping in mind the objectives, opportunities and challenges faced by each of the Indian language Wikimedia projects. Feel free to share any feedback.
WMF-A2K Revised Budget (draft) and Utilization (September 2012 - February 2013): In our effort to increase transparency with the working of CIS-A2K programme, we are sharing with you the A2K Programme Budget along with the utilization for the above period. The proposed revisions to the budget along with some notes are here.
CIS Signs MOU with TISS: has signed a MoU with TISS as part of which we will collaboratively work towards building Digital Knowledge Partnerships with select higher education institutions.
India Access to Knowledge IRC can be accessed here: May 13, 2013 (All Language Discussion) and May 26, 2013 (Odia Language Discussion).

Blog Entries

Odia Wikipedia: Needs Assessment (by Subhashish Panigrahi, May 11, 2013).
Access to Knowledge Work Plan: Synopsis of Feedback by Wikipedians (by Nitika Tandon, May 20, 2013).
Wikipedia Introductory Session organized for Data and India portal consultants (by Subhashish Panigrahi, May 30, 2013).
My First Wikipedia Training Workshop – Theatre Outreach Unit, University of Hyderabad (by T. Vishnu Vardhan, June 19, 2013).

Events Organised

Kannada Wikipedia Workshop (April 29, 2013, Govinda Pai Research Centre, MGM College Udupi). Dr. U.B. Pavanaja led the workshop and gave a talk on Kannada Wikipedia

Event Participated

Kannada IRC Meet (organised by the Wikipedia Community, May 7, 2013). Dr. U.B. Pavanaja participated in this.

Upcoming Event

Digital Humanities for Indian Higher Education (co-organised in collaboration with HEIRA-CSCS, Tumkur University, CILHE-TISS and CCS (IISc), Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, July 13, 2013).

Press Coverage

Report on CIS 5 Years Celebration (Prajavani, May 23, 2013). Prajavani published a report of Dr. U.B. Pavanja’s talk “From Palm Leaf to Tablet – Journey of Kannada”.
Report on CIS 5 Years Celebration (Udayavani, May 25, 2013). Udayavani published a report of the evening programme hosted as part of the Centre for Internet and Society's 5 year celebrations in its Bangalore edition.
A Feature on Wikipedia and Telegu Wikipedians (HMTV, May 30 – 31, 2013). T. Vishnu Vardhan is quoted in this half an hour feature on Wikipedia and Telugu Wikipedians.
Wikipedia Live Phone-in Programme (HMTV, June 1, 2013). T. Vishnu Vardhan speaks about Telegu Wikipedia in the discussion that was telecasted live.

About CIS

CIS was registered as a society in Bangalore in 2008. As an independent, non-profit research organisation, it runs different policy research programmes such as Accessibility, Access to Knowledge, Openness, Internet Governance, and Telecom. The policy research programmes have resulted in outputs such as the e-Accessibility Policy Handbook for Persons with Disabilities with ITU and G3ict, and Digital Alternatives with a Cause?, Thinkathon Position Papers and the Digital Natives with a Cause? Report with Hivos, etc. We have conducted policy research for the Ministry of Communications & Information Technology, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, etc., on WIPO Treaties, Copyright Bill, NIA Bill, etc.

CIS is accredited as an observer at WIPO. CIS staff participates in the Standing Committee for Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR) meetings regularly held in Geneva, and participate in the discussions and comments on them from a public interest perspective. Our Policy Director, Nirmita Narasimhan won the National Award for Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities from the Government of India and also received the NIVH Excellence Award.

Follow us elsewhere

Get short, timely messages from us on Twitter
Join the CIS group on Facebook
Visit us at http://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

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/access-to-knowledge-bulletin-may-2013

Analysis of Konkani Wikipedia: Facts & Challenges

nitika — 2013-05-08T02:26:36Z

Nitika Tandon, in this blog post, provides an analysis of the Konkani Wikipedia. She reflects on the challenges faced by Konkani Wikipedia and identifies four possible solutions.

Konkani is a language spoken primarily by people living in Goa and in the neighbouring states on the western coast of India (also known as the Kokan belt) – some pockets in Maharashtra, Karnataka and Kerala. All of these neighbouring states are places where speakers from Goa may have migrated over the past five centuries (Garry, 2001).[1] Each region has a different dialect, pronunciation style, vocabulary, tone and sometimes, significant differences in grammar.

The total number of Konkani speakers seems to have remained remarkably stable for over a century. This is borne out by the census reports over the years. The Census Department of India, 2001 figures put the number of Konkani speakers in India as 2,489,015. Out of these, around 6 lakh were in Goa, 7 lakh in Karnataka, 3 lakh in Maharashtra, 6 lakh in Kerala and rest live outside of India, either as expatriates or citizens of other countries (NRIs).[2]

Goa has a high literacy rate of 87.4 per cent.[3] Goa is also in one of the top three states/union territories with highest computer density. In Goa, about 31.1 per cent of households use computers while 12.7 per cent of households use computers with internet.[4]

Konkani Wikipedia is currently in its incubation stage with very few editors. About 86 articles have been added but much work needs to be done 1) to push it as a live Wikipedia project and 2) to improve quality and quantity of articles. Konkani Wikipedia promotes editing in all scripts (Roman, Devanagari, Kannada) equally.

Challenges faced by Konkani Wikipedia

Konkani Wikipedia has grown meagerly in the past 7 years ever since the inception of the project (in 2006). It is still an extremely small project with barely 86 articles. The project received maximum number of edits in 2007-2008 and since then the level of activity has been gradually decreasing with negligible edits in 2012-2013.
There are handful of volunteers who have ever edited on Konkani Wikipedia and they too seem to have lost interest/inclination to sustain their edits. There are only 16 editors who have total of 10 edits or more on Konkani Wikipedia. In addition, no virtual/physical meeting of any kind has ever been organised by/for the volunteers. No outreach event had also been organised for Konkani Wikipedia until Dec 2012.[5]
Problem of usage of multiple scripts in Konkani Wikipedia aggravates the massive challenges the project currently faces. Konkani does not have a unique script of its own and hence scripts of the other languages native to the regions are used. Konkani speakers are spread across different states and they use multiple scripts like Kannada, Devanagari, Roman and Perso-Arabic scripts. There is no one/common script - Konkani thus has a unique distinction of being written in four scripts.
Multiple script issue ties in with some religious aspects as well. The Goan Hindus use the Devanagari script in their writings while the Goan Christians use the Roman script. The Saraswats of Karnataka use the Devanagari script in North Kanara district and the Kannada script in Udupi and South Kanara. Malayalam script is used in Kerala, but now there is a move to use the Devanagari script.

Because of these reasons and more Konkani Wikipedia has struggled to grow since its inception. It has been in the incubation stage for the past 7 years with an extremely small number of volunteers.

Fact Sheet

Parameters	Number
No. of scripts used in current incubation project	3 (Roman, Devanagari, Kannada)
No. of articles in Devnagri script	52
No. of articles in Roman script	32
No. of articles in Kannada script	2
No. of system messages translated in Devnagari script	126 (including 30 core messages)
No. of system messages translated in Roman script	500
No. of system messages translated in Kannada script	0
No. of editors with more than 10 edits	16
No. of editors with less than 10 edits	32
No. of articles	86
No. of redirects	4
No. of revisions	1113 (including 254 minor edits)

Multiple script issue faced by Konkani Wikipedia

Developing of Konkani Wikipedia faces a problem of usage of multiple scripts. Enabling the users to access and edit all articles in different scripts is the main problem faced by this wiki.

Similar challenge faced by other wikis: Similar problem was faced by Kashmiri Wikipedia which used Pasho, Sharada and Devanagari scripts. Punjabi has the Gurmukhi and Shahmukhi scripts, of which the former is used in India and the latter in Pakistan. Chinese language has two major writing systems; simplified and traditional Chinese. Other Wikipedias that have faced similar challenge are Uyghur, Azerbaijani, Korean Wikipedia, etc.

Possible solutions: Let’s look at what are the possible solutions to this problem of multiple scripts, how some of these language Wikipedias have tackled this in the past, and what might or might not work for Konkani Wikipedia in particular.

Possible Solution 1: Automatic conversion system.

A plug-in could be built into the server end of language Wikipedia to automatically transliterate content from one script into another.
Other Wikis using this solution are Chinese, Serbian, Kazakh, Kurdish Wikipedias. To give an example, Automatic conversion system has been running successfully on Chinese Wikipedia since 2004 and has been well received by the community. In addition to Chinese Wikipedia, Chinese Wiktionary, Wikiquote, and Wikibooks also have the conversion systems.
Automatic transliteration from one script to another might not work for Konkani Wikipedia, as there are dialectical differences and also there is no ready tool available for to convert one script to another. (transliterating between Roman to Devanagari or Roman to Kannada script etc.).

Possible Solution 2: Partial automatic conversion system.

A plug-in could be used that can transliterate one script to at least another; out of all the writing systems used.
Other Wikis using this solution are Tajik, Uzbek, Gan Wikipedia. To give an example, Tajik Wikipedia currently has auto-converting system for two of the writing systems (Cyrillic - Latin) but not into Perso-Arabic.
This could be a possible solution for Konkani Wikipedia if the community decides that they’d like to have transliteration tools installed at least for the Indian scripts.

Possible Solution 3: Multiple writing system

Have multiple articles in different scripts about the same topic. For example, have multiple articles about India in Konkani Wikipedia - one in Devanagari script, another in Roman script and yet another in Kannada script.
Some of the other wikis considering to adopt multiple writing system in the near future are Korean and Javanese Wikipedia.
This could be the short term solution for Konkani Wikipedia. It is something that is currently being used in Konkani Wikipedia in incubation and might also prove to be one of the best solutions for live Konkani Wikipedia project.

Possible Solution 4: Create separate wikis for each script

Create separate wikis for each script, at least those which prove to be active.
Separate wikis were created for Punjabi-Gurmukhi and Punjabi-Shahmukhi.
This could potentially be the long term solution for Konkani Wikipedia i.e. to have different Wikis for each active writing system - Konkani-Roman, Konkani-Devanagari and Konkani-Kannada. If there is an intersted active community to create content for a particular script; we could push that to a new project in due course of time. As things stand, the Roman script has been active in the recent past, followed by Devanagari and Kannada in that order.

Mitigation or consensus building: The community needs to reach consensus on how to deal with this issue. The best short term solution seems to be having multiple writing systems in the same Konkani Wikipedia project. However, in the long run we could evaluate the option of creating separate wikis for each script, at least those which prove to be active.

[1]. Garry, Jane, & Rubino, Carl. (Ed.). (2001). Facts about the world's languages: an encyclopedia of the world's major languages, past and present. New York & Dublin: A New England Publishing Associates Book.

[2]. http://bit.ly/RNVq53

[3]. http://bit.ly/13gBsoo

[4]. http://bit.ly/JUUjJ6

[5]. http://bit.ly/12eY4Dn

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/konkani-wikipedia-analysis

April 2013 Bulletin

praskrishna — 2013-05-31T08:07:38Z

The Centre for Internet & Society (CIS) welcomes you to the fourth issue of its newsletter for the year 2013. In this issue we bring you an overview of our research programs, updates of events organised by us, events we participated in, news and media coverage, and videos of some of our recent events.

Celebrating 5 Years of CIS
We at the Centre for Internet and Society celebrate 5 years of existence with an exhibition showcasing our work and accomplishments over this time. The exhibition will be held concurrently at both our Bangalore and Delhi offices from May 20 to 24, 2013, from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Google Policy Fellowship
CIS is inviting applications for the Google Policy Fellowship programme. Google is providing a USD 7,500 stipend to the India fellow who will be selected by July 1, 2013. Fellowship focus areas include Access to Knowledge, Openness in India, Freedom of Expression, Privacy, and Telecom Send in your applications for the position by June 15, 2013.

Jobs
CIS invites applications for the posts of Developer (NVDA Screen Reader Project), and Programme Officer (Internet Governance). To apply send your resume to sunil@cis-india.org and pranesh@cis-india.org. CIS also invites applications for the post of Programme Officer (Access to Knowledge, Pilot Projects). To apply for this position send your resume to vishnu@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 is for developing a screen reader and text-to- speech synthesizer for Indian languages. CIS is also working with the World Blind Union and many other organisations to develop a Treaty for the Visually Impaired helped by the WIPO:

National Resource Kit for Persons with Disabilities
Anandhi Viswanathan from CIS and Manojna Yeluri from the Centre for Law and Policy Research are working in this project. Draft chapters have been published. Feedback and comments are invited from readers for the chapters on Himachal Pradesh, Goa, Jammu and Kashmir and Rajasthan:

The Himachal Pradesh Chapter (by Anandhi Viswanathan, April 30, 2013).
Goa Chapter (by Anandhi Viswanathan, April 30, 2013).
The Jammu & Kashmir Chapter (by Anandhi Viswanathan, April 30, 2013).
The Rajasthan Chapter (by Manojna Yeluri, April 30, 2013).

Note: All of these are early drafts and will be reviewed and updated.

Events Organised

Girls in ICT Day (April 25, 2013, Mitra Jyothi Auditorium, HSR Layout, Bangalore). Dr. U.B. Pavanaja gave a talk on Social Media and Kannada Language for Women with Disabilities. Sara Morais wrote an event report.
Global Accessibility Awareness Day (May 9, 2013, TERI, Southern Regional Centre, Domlur, Bangalore).

Announcement

CIS Gets ITU-D Sector Membership: CIS has become a sector member of ITU-D.

Access to Knowledge and Openness

The Wikimedia Foundation awarded CIS a two year grant of INR 26,000,000 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.

Wikipedia
Beginning from September 1, 2012, Wikimedia Foundation awarded CIS a two-year grant of INR 26,000,000 to support and develop free knowledge in India. The A2K team consists of four members based in Delhi: T. Vishnu Vardhan, Nitika Tandon and Subhashish Panigrahi, and one team member Dr. U.B. Pavanaja who is working from Bangalore office. Noopur Raval, Programme Officer has left the organisation. April 24, 2013 was her last working day.

Indic Wikipedia Visualisation Project

Indic Wikipedia Visualisation Project #2: Visualising Page Views and Project Pages.

Blog Entries

Indian WikiWomen celebrate Women’s History Month (by Netha Hussain, April 29, 2013).
Analysis of Konkani Wikipedia: Facts & Challenges (by Nitika Tandon, April 30, 2013).
Odia Wikipedia: Needs Assessment (by Subhashish Panigrahi, April 30, 2013).

Event Organised

Kannada Wikipedia Workshop (April 29, 2013, Govinda Pai Research Centre, MGM College Udupi). Dr. U.B. Pavanaja led the workshop and gave a talk on Kannada Wikipedia.

Events Co-organised
The following events were organised in the month of March but reports were written during the month of April. Vishnu Vardhan and Subhashish Panigrahi held meetings with wikipedians:

Kolkata Wiki Community Meetup (organised by CIS and Kolkata Wiki Community, March 14, 2013).
Odia Wikipedia - Cuttack Community Meetup (organised by CIS and Odia Wiki Community, Cuttack, March 16, 2013).
Odia Wikipedia – Bhubaneswar Community Meetup (organised by CIS and Odia Wiki Community, Bhubaneswar, March 17, 2013).

The following event was organised in the month of April. We will be publishing the report soon:

Telugu Wiki Mahotsavam 2013 (organised by Telugu Wikipedia Community and CIS, Hyderabad, April 9 – 11, 2013). Vishnu Vardhan was one of the trainers at the Wikipedia Academy at Centre for Good Governance on April 9, 2013. Vishnu Vardhan spoke about the Access to Knowledge work in one of the sessions of Wikimedia Meeting with Media Heads on April 10, 2013. Vishnu Vardhan gave a talk on A2K’s plans for the growth of Telegu Wikipedia in 2013-14 at the Telegu Wikipedia general meeting on April 11, 2013. Vishnu Vardhan also gave a talk about Access to Knowledge in the digital era at the Wiki Chaitanya Vedika on April 11, 2013.

Other Access to Knowledge Updates

WIPO

CIS Intervention on the Treaty for the Visually Impaired at SCCR/SS/GE/2/13 (Geneva, April 18 – 20, 2013). Pranesh Prakash participated in the session and spoke about the rights of the visually impaired.

Internet Governance

The Internet Governance programme conducts research around the various social, technical, and political underpinnings of global and national Internet governance, and includes online privacy, freedom of speech, and Internet governance mechanisms and processes. Currently, CIS is doing a project with Privacy International, London to facilitate research and events around surveillance, and freedom of speech and expression.

Information Technology

IT (Amendment) Act, 2008, 69A Rules: Draft and Final Version Comparison (by Jadine Lannon, April 27, 2013).
Indian Telegraph Act, 1885, 419A Rules and IT (Amendment) Act, 2008, 69 Rules (by Jadine Lannon, April 28, 2013).
IT (Amendment) Act, 2008, 69 Rules: Draft and Final Version Comparison (by Jadine Lannon, April 30, 2013).
IT (Amendment) Act, 2008, 69B Rules: Draft and Final Version Comparison (by Jadine Lannon, April 30, 2013).

Resources
The below rules were published recently:

Newspaper Column

Off the Record (by Nishant Shah, Indian Express, April 6, 2013).

Privacy

India´s ´Big Brother´: The Central Monitoring System (CMS) (by Maria Xynou, April 8, 2013).

Events Organised
Maria Xynou gives an overview of the discussions and recommendations from the privacy round tables held in Delhi and Bangalore:

A Privacy Round Table in Delhi (organized by CIS and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, FICCI Federation House, Tansen Marg, New Delhi, April 3, 2013).
A Privacy Round Table in Bangalore (organized by CIS and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Jayamahal Palace, Jayamahal Road, Bangalore, April 20, 2013).

Announcements

2nd Expert Committee meeting on draft 'Human DNA Profiling Bill 2012': The Department of Biotechnology has constituted an Expert Committee to discuss various issues of this Bill in detail. Sunil Abraham has been nominated as one of the members of this Committee. A meeting of this Expert Committee has been scheduled for May 13, 2013 under the Chairmanship of Dr. T. S. Rao, Adviser, DBT.
Chinmayi Arun is one of the international experts supporting the Internet & Jurisdiction project, a global multi-stakeholder dialogue process.

Upcoming Events

A Privacy Round Table in Chennai (co-organised with Data Security Council of India and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Residency Towers, Sir Thyagaraja Road, T Nagar, Chennai, May 18, 10.30 a.m. to 4.00 p.m.).
Consilience – 2013 (National Law School of India University, Bangalore, May 26 – 27, 2013).

Other Event Hosted

Or-bits.com — A Talk by Marialaura Ghidini (CIS, Bangalore, April 19, 2013). Marialaura Ghidini gave a talk abou the creation and activities of or-bits.com, a web-based curatorial platform that she founded in 2009.

News and Media

Clarify and define terms in IT rules, panel tells govt. (by Prashant Jha, Hindu, April 1, 2013).
India takes its first serious step toward privacy regulation – but it may be misguided (Privacy Surgeon, April 9, 2013).
Regulating Social Media: Unrealistic, Impossible, Necessary? (NDTV, April 11, 2013). Pranesh Prakash participated in a discussion on social media aired on NDTV.
Social media may influence 160 LS seats in 2014 (by Zia Haq, Hindustan Times, April 12, 2013).
Vote: Will Social Media Impact the Election? (by R. Jai Krishna, Wall Street Journal, April 15, 2013).
Untangling the web of India's 'ungovernable' Net (Deutsche Welle, April 15, 2013).
CIS in GNI Annual Report (April 25, 2013). CIS gets mentioned in GNI Annual Report. Sunil Abraham is quoted in it.
Is free speech an Indian value? (by Satarupa Sen Bhattacharya, India Together, April 27, 2013).

Knowledge Repository on Internet Access

CIS in partnership with the Ford Foundation is executing a project on Internet Access. It covers the history of the internet, technologies involved, principle and values of internet access, broadband market and universal access and will touch upon various polices and regulations which has an impact on internet access and bodies and mechanism which are responsible for formulation policies related to internet access. The blog posts and modules will be published in a new website: www.internet-institute.in.

Upcoming Event
We are hosting an “Institute on Internet and Society” with the support of Ford Foundation India, which is to be held from June 8, 2013 to June 14, 2013. Call for registration and relevant details have been announced.

The following units have been published:

Internet Infrastructure (by Srividya Vaidyanathan, April 30, 2013).
Internet Service Provider – Introduction (by Srividya Vaidyanathan, April 30, 2013).

Telecom

CIS is involved in promoting access and accessibility of 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

Prioritizing Communications & Energy (by Shyam Ponappa, Business Standard and Organizing India Blogspot, April 4, 2013).

Blog Entry

From Open Citizen Radio Networks to the Race for .RADIO gTLD (by Sharath Chandra Ram, April 30, 2013).

Event Participated

Broadband Policy Course (organised by Lirne Asia, Bangalore, April 5 – 6, 2013). Nirmita Narasimhan and Snehashish Ghosh attended the course.

About CIS

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

Get short, timely messages from us on Twitter
Join the CIS group on Facebook
Visit us at http://cis-india.org

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

Access to Knowledge Bulletin — April 2013

praskrishna — 2013-05-29T10:57:49Z

In the third issue of our newsletter for 2013, we are pleased to bring you updates from the Indic Wikipedia Visualisation project, reports of events organised in Kolkata, Cuttack and Bhubaneswar.

Wikimedia Foundation, beginning from September 1, 2012, awarded the Centre for Internet & Society (CIS) a two-year grant of INR 26,000,000 to support and develop free knowledge in India. Consequently, Wikimedia Foundation’s India Program became the Access to Knowledge (A2K) program of CIS. In the third issue of our newsletter for 2013, we are pleased to bring you updates from the Indic Wikipedia Visualisation project, reports of events organised in Goa, and press coverage of the Kannada Wikipedia Workshop held in Mysore.

The A2K team consists of three members based in Delhi: T. Vishnu Vardhan, Nitika Tandon and Subhashish Panigrahi and one member Dr. U.B. Pavanaja who is working from Bangalore office. Noopur Raval, Programme Officer (Access to Knowledge) has resigned. April 24, 2013 was her last working day. Archives of our newsletters are here.

Wikipedians from various communities can request for outreach programs, technical bugs, logistics-merchandize and media, public relations and communications at http://bit.ly/TOcXId.

Indic Wikipedia Visualisation Project

Indic Wikipedia Visualisation Project #2: Visualising Page Views and Project Pages.

Guest Blog

Indian WikiWomen celebrate Women’s History Month (by Netha Hussain, April 29, 2013).

Event Organised

Kannada Wikipedia Workshop (April 29, 2013, Govinda Pai Research Centre, MGM College Udupi). Dr. U.B. Pavanaja led the workshop and gave a talk on Kannada Wikipedia.

Events Co-organised

The following events were organised in the month of March but reports were written during the month of April. Vishnu Vardhan and Subhashish Panigrahi held meetings with wikipedians:

Kolkata Wiki Community Meetup (organised by CIS and Kolkata Wiki Community, March 14, 2013).
Odia Wikipedia - Cuttack Community Meetup (organised by CIS and Odia Wiki Community, Cuttack, March 16, 2013).
Odia Wikipedia – Bhubaneswar Community Meetup (organised by CIS and Odia Wiki Community, Bhubaneswar, March 17, 2013).

The following event was organised in the month of April. We will be publishing the report soon:

Telugu Wiki Mahotsavam 2013 (organised by Telugu Wikipedia Community and CIS, Hyderabad, April 9 – 11, 2013). Vishnu Vardhan was one of the trainers at the Wikipedia Academy at Centre for Good Governance on April 9, 2013. Vishnu Vardhan spoke about the Access to Knowledge work in one of the sessions of Wikimedia Meeting with Media Heads on April 10, 2013. Vishnu Vardhan gave a talk on A2K’s plans for the growth of Telegu Wikipedia in 2013-14 at the Telegu Wikipedia general meeting on April 11, 2013. Vishnu Vardhan also gave a talk about Access to Knowledge in the digital era at the Wiki Chaitanya Vedika on April 11, 2013.

About CIS

Follow us elsewhere

Get short, timely messages from us on Twitter
Join the CIS group on Facebook
Visit us at http://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.

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

Indian WikiWomen celebrate Women’s History Month

Netha Hussain — 2013-04-29T09:21:45Z

March 2013 was a busy month for women Wikimedians in India, as we conducted various events, such as edit-a-thons and workshops to celebrate the presence of women in Wikimedia projects. The women Wikimedians, members of the Wikimedia India Chapter and the Access to Knowledge Team, brainstormed about the possible events, which we wanted to conduct to encourage women to participate and to increase the quality of articles related to Indian women in Wikipedias in English and the Indian languages.

This is a guest post by Netha Hussain, a Wikipedia contributor from India who regularly contributes to Malayalam Wikipedia, among other projects. The blog post was originally published on the Wikimedia Foundation page.

We decided to conduct the workshops and meetups in various Indian cities, in addition to online edit-a-thons. We created a co-ordination page on English Wikipedia and added suggestions for articles to edit. We invited participants to join the edit-a-thon by spreading the word on mailing lists, social media networks and blogs. The Times of India published a feature about the event, which attracted many newbies to participate in it. We also created separate pages for offline events taking place in parallel, and we added a summary of the events to the main page. The participants of the edit-a-thon signed up on the co-ordination page, where we also added the details and status of Women’s History Month events happening in various Indian language Wikipedias.

The inaugural event took place on International Women’s Day (March 8) at Nirmala Institute of Education, Goa. Out of 100 participants who attended the event, 90 were female. Veteran Wikimedians Rohini and Nitika conducted a basic Wikipedia editing workshop. The event also set off the two-day long online edit-a-thon in which fourteen editors participated. Among those who participated in the program were homemakers, students and professionals. Rohini took charge as the Chairperson of the special interest group (SIG) for Gendergap at the Wikimedia Chapter India on the day of the workshop (March 8). She plans to conduct more workshops for women in the future.

Organizers subsequently held a series of events at two venues in Bengaluru and one in Ernakulam. Experienced Wikimedians Pavithra and Nikita Belavate led the workshops in Bengaluru. The workshop also served as an occasion for editors living in and around Bengaluru to meet. The Ernakulam event was aimed at increasing the participation of women in Malayalam Wikipedia and was led by Wikimedian Ditty Mathew. Around 40 women participated in the three edit-a-thons. A Wikipedia Academy with 9 participants was conducted in Hyderabad. Led by Anupama Srinivas, the last of all events took place on 30 March, 2012, in Chennai.

Nikita, who led the Bangalore event, said she was filled with happiness watching the exuberance in the eyes of women participants who edited and saved their edits live on Wikipedia. “This year’s Women’s History month makes me once again believe in the power of women and honing it by empowering them, Wikiwomenising them,” said Nikita.


Participants of the Bangalore workshop organized by FSMK

Vishnu Vardhan, the Program Director of the Access to Knowledge team, was with the WikiWomen throughout the editathon, connecting people, planning events and urging them to contribute. He encouraged his mother, wife and female cousins to contribute to Wikipedia.

“I wish more of us took the initiative of involving the women in our life to share their knowledge on Wikipedia and truly make the Wikipedias the sum of all human knowledge,” he said. Harriet, one of the key organizers of the women’s day events, believes that the Indian Wikimedia community has gained momentum in favor of bridging the gender gap because of this event. She urged the Indian community to follow this success and to increase the participation of women in the Wikimedia movement. Though she could not attend the events in person, she ensured her participation in the edit-a-thon by arranging the logistics, monitoring the coordination page and suggesting changes.

The events had good participation from men as well. Among the 14 participants who signed up on English Wikipedia, 5 were men. In Malayalam Wikipedia, 18 out of the 26 participants who signed up for the online edit-a-thon were men. Dileep Unnikrishan, a male participant of the edit-a-thon, and a fan of Wikipedia, participated in the Ernakulam event because he was curious to find out how Wikipedia works. With women participants, he edited three articles and found it exciting to “be a part of the movement that has brought about a knowledge revolution in the world. The best thing I noticed about Wiki is that it has a peer-to-peer way of organization, which makes it warm and welcoming to newbies like me,” said Dileep.

The Indian WikiWomen are planning to conduct similar events in the future to increase the participation of women in Wikipedia and its sister projects. We are hopeful we will bridge the gender gap in the Indian Wikimedia community by conducting outreach programs, increasing awareness about free knowledge programs among women and conducting action-oriented events targeting women.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/indian-wiki-women-history-month

A Kannada Wikipedia Workshop in Udupi

praskrishna — 2013-04-26T06:29:15Z

The Access to Knowledge team at the Centre for Internet and Society is organizing a Kannada wikipedia workshop at the MGM college in Udupi. Govinda Pai Research Centre, MGM College Udupi is sponsoring the event.The workshop will begin at 10.00 a.m. and end by 5.00 p.m. Dr. U.B.Pavanaja will give a talk on Kannada wikipedia.

The workshop will cover the following topics:

What is Wikipedia?
Who edits Wikipedia?
How does Wikipedia work?
HOW TO EDIT?
What can I edit?
Why to contribute to Wikipedia
Kannada specific topics
Brief on Creative Commons
Hands-on

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/openness/events/kannada-wikipedia-workshop-udupi-april-29-2013

CIS Intervention on the Treaty for the Visually Impaired at SCCR/SS/GE/2/13

pranesh — 2013-04-25T11:57:02Z

The informal session and special session of the Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights was organised by WIPO in Geneva from April 18 to April 20, 2013. Pranesh Prakash participated in the session and spoke about the rights of the visually impaired. An abridged version of this was read out during the meeting on Saturday, April 20, 2013, at 22:15 due to time restrictions.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I represent the Centre for Internet and Society, a policy research organization based in India. India, as everyone who has been attending these SCCR meetings since 2008 would know, has the world's largest population of blind and visually impaired persons. Two of my colleagues at CIS — Nirmita Narasimhan and Anandhi Viswanathan — are blind, and another one of my CIS colleagues who passed away recently (and whose tireless efforts were remembered here at WIPO recently with a minute of silence) — Rahul Cherian — spent many years working extensively on policy issues related to persons with disabilities, and in particular worked here in WIPO as part of Inclusive Planet, and with the World Blind Union. Hence, this issue is not an abstract one for us, but a very real one.

I commend the delegates here for taking some steps forward during this meeting. However, very disappointingly, with those few steps forward, we have seen a few things we had taken as settled being opened up again, and many steps being taken backward. The already-onerous requirements and procedures laid down in this treaty are seen by a few countries as not being onerous enough. Blind people, it is believed, might 'wrongly' take advantage of these provisions. Worse yet, there is a fear that sighted persons might take advantage of these provisions relating to the blind.

The absurdity of these fears somehow seems to have escaped the notice of many involved in these discussions. There is nothing in these provisions that would convert infringement by sighted people — even if under the pretence of this treaty — magically into lawful acts. And, indeed, there are multifarious ways of infringing copyright without such resort to this treaty. Yet, these very same onerous requirements (such as the "commercial availability" requirement) and bureaucratic processes will unrealistically increase transaction costs for the visually impaired and render infructuous the very purpose of this treaty. Those delegations who are unrelenting on these issues seem to living in a bizarre world where sighted infringers deviously use exceptions granted in an international copyright treaty to engage in piracy; a bizarre world where scanners and the Internet have not been invented. And by refusing to acknowledge these ground realities, they are merely forcing the blind into wearing eye-patches and being 'pirates'.

In particular, I would like to deplore the stand taken by the European Union, being represented here by the European Commission, whose actions run contrary to the call made in May 2011 by the European Parliament to "to address the ‘book famine’ experienced by visually impaired and print-disabled people". This is despite the European Parliament having reminded "the Commission and Member States of their obligations under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities to take all appropriate measures to ensure that people with disabilities enjoy access to cultural materials in accessible formats, and to ensure that laws protecting IPR do not constitute an unreasonable or discriminatory barrier to access by people with disabilities to cultural materials". The EU, and a few countries of Group B, including the United States, have been slowly bleeding this treaty to death through over-legislation and bureaucracy.

The United States' and EU's stand on technological protection measures, if accepted, would mean that publishers will technologically be able to prevent the blind from enjoying accessible works, even when they can't do so legally on the basis of copyright law. The European Union's stand on all issues has been extraordinarily harmful, and seems to have an aim to make this treaty as unwieldy and unworkable as possible. They seem to regard the Berne Appendix as their model in this regard: an international agreement that exists on paper for the benefit of developing countries, but because of its bureaucratic processes is little used, and is widely regarded as a failure.

Here is what it boils down to: when it comes to the economic rights of copyright owners, current international law insists that there be no formalities, yet when it comes to the human rights of visually impaired person to access information — a right specifically guaranteed to them under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities — some delegates in this room wish to ensure as many formalities as possible.

The rights of the visually impaired are being buried under unnecessary and complicated requirements and bureaucratic practices. This injustice must stop: the delegates here have the power to do so. And if the EU does not wish to be viewed as villains by all persons with print disabilities and all persons with conscience, it should stop trying to make this an ineffectual treaty. Many have quipped that this is fast becoming "A Treaty for Rightholders Against Persons with Visual Impairments and Print Disabilities" or alternatively "A Treaty for Morally Impaired Persons and Persons with Ethical Disabilities". That is an international shame.

Having colonized much of the world into using English, French, and Spanish, these European countries along with the USA are now in a position to be both culturally dominant and to refuse to sign up to this treaty if it helps blind persons outside of the EU and the USA who seek access to texts in these languages. These remnants of colonialism must be stamped out.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/cis-intervention-eu-blocking-wipo-treaty-for-blind

Mixed Reactions Among Participants In WIPO Talks On Treaty For The Blind

praskrishna — 2013-04-25T08:08:47Z

At the close of this week’s negotiating session for an international treaty on copyright exceptions for blind and visually impaired persons, some governments, including upcoming host Morocco, expressed disappointment in the outcome of a three-day drafting session, as it left so much for the diplomatic conference. But most said they are optimistic that solutions can be found.

The article by William New was published in Intellectual Property Watch on April 22, 2013. CIS is quoted.

An informal session of the WIPO Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR) was held from 18-20 April. The diplomatic conference (top-level political negotiation) will be held in Marrakesh, Morocco from 17-28 June. The session concluded a draft treaty text with numerous areas lacking agreement (IPW, WIPO, 22 April 2013).

A delegate from Morocco said at the meeting closing that he had “mixed feelings” about the outcome of the three days and was “somewhat disappointed” by the inability to remove brackets in text, signifying areas of disagreement.

“Marrakesh will be the last chance” to agree on this treaty, he warned. “There will be no room for mistakes. In Marrakesh, we will be in front of the entire international community.” Even with pressure from creators and artists, the membership must persist with this “humanitarian gesture,” he said, adding, “We must conclude, in Marrakesh, a treaty.”

A delegate from Honduras, speaking on behalf of the Group of Latin American and Caribbean countries (GRULAC), cited concern about a “backward trend” occurring in the talks, increasing the risk of failure in Morocco.

The Egyptian delegate said the results “make us worried” for Marrakesh, as new proposals are still coming up at this late stage. “We are going with many difficulties,” he said, stressing the importance of the humanitarian side “rather than the cost and gain criterion.”

But Algeria, on behalf of the African Group, praised the treaty as “an excellent basis for Marrakesh.” Nigeria, which was active on the part of the African Group, also restated the commitment to accomplish a treaty that will be “meaningful to those who need it,” as well as to creators. “The interests are competing but not irreconcilable,” the delegate said.

The United States said the aim is to have a treaty that will lead to a solution for the blind while protecting the “world’s authors.” But there are “simply too many brackets and too many options for us to be comfortable,” he said, so everyone should be prepared to show flexibility.

Rights Holders’ Concern for Protection

Rights holders such as publishers whose works will be exported have sought to explain their concern about a treaty whose purpose would be to allow copyrighted content to circulate freely. Among their concerns is that the accessible formats may be usable by sighted readers and may make it back upstream to developed country markets. They also are viewing the approximately 280 million blind and visually impaired persons worldwide as a potential market.

The International Publishers Association said they are fully committed to a treaty that will address the problem and work on the ground, and that the only accusations of bad faith have come from NGOs, not member states. The international publishers’ community wants access for visually impaired persons, “not only on paper but in reality,” he said.

A representative of the Association of American Publishers told Intellectual Property Watch that negotiators were close to a consensus document two years ago but that industry concerns had gradually increased its complexity. He said publishers “have never opposed this treaty,” and that nothing is stopping nations from adopting limitations and exceptions at the national level. More than 50 countries already have some form of limitations and exceptions, he said, while others consider that it would “politically useful” to have a treaty saying that adoption of such limitations and exceptions is an international norm.

Publishers also understand the need for flexibility for countries to adopt such provisions in suitable ways to their national systems. But in order to agree, publishers wanted it clear that such provisions adhere to international laws, including the 3-step test, which places strict conditions on the use of the limitations and exceptions. Also, this instrument must include a mechanism for accountability, a process for dealing with an authorised entity that is not complying.

“The objectives of this treaty can be attained within the established international framework,” he said.

In creating the first-ever treaty on exceptions to copyright, representatives of a range of rights holders sought to ensure that it will not harm to their existing system. In the hallways of WIPO, they expressed concern that this treaty not set a precedent of exceptions that would erode copyright. Concern over precedent led lobbyists to come not only from the publishing industry but also the film industry.

A representative of the International Video Federation implied that even if a deal is struck on a treaty, governments won’t ratify it if they do not like what it says. The treaty “needs incentives for as many ratifications as possible,” he said, and addressing commercial availability is one way to offer an incentive.

Any instrument needs to provide as much certainty as possible, he added. Fair use and fair practices are not a familiar notion in international copyright law and should not be mentioned in this treaty, he said, adding that members are “absolutely free” to do what they want on fair use.

A Motion Picture Association representative said at closing that the industry has “unambiguous support” for the treaty, but that it rejects what it sees as “attempts to roll back” other treaties. “Attempts to hijack” the treaty talks “cannot be tolerated,” he said.

A Knowledge Ecology International (KEI) representative responded that this was “hypocritical” of the MPA as it has “hijacked the political process to turn this into some kind of ACTA exercise,” referring to the controversial Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement negotiated a couple of years ago.

NGO Concerns about Lost Focus

As described by the World Blind Union (WBU), which contributed to the initial treaty concept, the new treaty is expected to: “Allow specialist organisations to make accessible copies of books in all signatory countries; Make it legal to send accessible books across national borders; Still respect copyright law: it is not an attack on publishers!; Make more books available for blind people.”

But the WBU raised alarm at the close of this week’s session. Fred Schroeder, first vice president of the WBU, said in the statement, “The purpose of this treaty is to ensure access to books for blind people and help end the ‘book famine’ we face. WBU is alarmed that some of the negotiators have focused their efforts almost exclusively on crafting language around copyright protections that have nothing to do with the ability of authorized entities to produce books for the blind and visually impaired.”

“The shift away from a treaty for the blind to a treaty focussed on rights holder protections has taken up precious negotiating time which should be directed at ensuring a treaty that makes it possible for materials to be shared internationally,” he said. “For example, the negotiators have spent considerable time talking about the concept of commercial availability when, in practice, there is no reason why an authorized entity would spend its limited resources to duplicate works in formats that already exist.” A WBU representative noted in the plenary meeting earlier that the treaty is about exceptions and does not require restating details of existing treaties and rights but rather just could make reference.

An Indian delegate asked, “Is this a WIPO treaty on access to published works for [visually impaired persons], or a WIPO treaty on the protection of the 3-step test?” He said the treaty is critical for India, which has 40 percent of the world’s blind and visually impaired people. The treaty would give the important cross-border access to accessible format books and work as a stimulus for Indian publishers to publish in those formats as well.

Jonathan Band, a Washington, DC attorney speaking on behalf of the Library Copyright Alliance, told negotiators that there are now possibly 10 references to the 3-step test in the draft text, and only one indirect reference to the principle of fair use and fair dealing. But those latter principles are found in some 45 national laws, making it a widely adopted norm, he said. Overall, the treaty has become far too complicated for countries to use, and has strayed from the original idea of having a simple template and structure.

A representative of the Center for Internet and Society (CIS) in India, said: “There is nothing in these provisions that would convert infringement by sighted people under the pretence of this treaty magically into lawful acts. And, indeed, there are multifarious ways of infringing copyright without such resort to this treaty. Yet, these very same onerous requirements (such as the “commercial availability” requirement) and bureaucratic processes will unrealistically increase transaction costs for the visually impaired and render infructuous the very purpose of this treaty.

The CIS representative cast particular blame on the European Union for going against the demands of the European Parliament to address the ‘book famine’ of the blind and visually impaired, and to live up to international obligations on disabilities. “The EU, and a few countries of Group B, including the United States, have been slowly bleeding this treaty to death through over-legislation and bureaucracy.”

“Here is what it boils down to,” he continued. “[W]hen it comes to the economic rights of copyright owners, current international law insists that there be no formalities, yet when it comes to the human rights of visually impaired person to access information – a right specifically guaranteed to them under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities – some delegates in this room wish to ensure as many formalities as possible.”

The representative of KEI told negotiators that for the “non-Berne” clause, they would be better off to use the World Trade Organization Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) than Berne. He said TRIPS is more balanced, recognises the first-sale doctrine (which says copyright expires after sale of the item), and has other flexibilities. KEI also said in its closing remarks that the purpose of the treaty is to help visually impaired people, and anyone outside the treaty is subject to copyright law already.

A WBU representative told negotiators that the treaty must have a practical application for solving the lack of materials for blind people, especially in developing countries. “We are here to solve a human rights problem,” he said. “Our goal is not a treaty, but rather a treaty that will solve access” to published works.

As one delegate put, members will feel pressure to do whatever it takes to conclude a treaty because whoever stands in the way of this effort for blind people “will be branded as a villain.”

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/ip-watch-william-new-april-22-2013-mixed-reactions-among-participants-in-wipo-talks-on-treaty-for-the-blind

Comments to the MHRD on WIPO Broadcast Treaty (March 2013)

pranesh — 2013-04-23T06:39:36Z

The Centre for Internet and Society would like to make the following comments on the draft legal text of SCCR/24/10 (Working Document for a Treaty on the Protection of Broadcasting Organizations) at the stakeholders meeting to be held on March 21, 2013.

Article 1 – Preamble: The draft legal text of SCCR/24/10 (“Treaty”) in the Preamble should in clear terms capture the intent of the WIPO General Assembly as to the object of the Treaty. The SCCR reiterated the General Assembly’s mandate for a signal based approach treaty for the protection of broadcasting and cablecasting organizations. In this regard, the SCCR in its report to the 50th Session of the WIPO General Assembly (Oct. 1-9, 2012) noted:

“The Committee reaffirmed its commitment to continue work on a signal based approach, consistent with the 2007 General Assembly mandate, towards developing an international treaty to update the protection of broadcasting and cablecasting organizations in the traditional sense. The Committee also agreed to recommend to the WIPO General Assembly that the Committee continue its work toward a text that will enable a decision on whether to convene a diplomatic conference in 2014.” [emphasis added]

Therefore it is submitted that the Preamble should at the very outset establish that the Treaty aims at
- protection of a related right and a signal based approach is adopted to protect such a related right
- protection of the broadcasting and cablecasting organizations in the traditional sense.
Article 2 – General Principles: It is submitted that the Development Agenda under TRIPS should be declared as general principle under the Treaty where as a balance must be struck between the rights of the broadcasting organizations and the larger public interest.
Article 5 – Definitions: The Treaty in its current form proposes alternatives to the definitions. On a general observation, it is submitted that the alternatives are unsatisfactory and waivers from the WIPO General Assembly mandate to adopt a signal based approach.

In precise terms, the definition section attributes a broad definition to the “broadcast” and fails to define the means of broadcast. The alternative to 5(b) does reintroduce the phrase, “general public” instead of “public”, as anything lesser would not constitute a broadcast as it was in the Article 5 of the March, 2007 draft non-paper, but fails to adopt a signal based approach by adding the words, “and specific program”.

Similarly definition of “retransmission” under the Alternative A for Article 5 clause (d) uses the words, “transmission by any means” which is again in conflict with the signal based approach.

Apart from the instances mentions above there are many other inconsistencies in the definition section and therefore it is submitted that none of the alternatives to the definition section can be implements within the mandate of the General Assembly.
Article 6 – Scope of Application: We agree with the Alternative A of Article 6, insofar as the alternative to clause 1 is adopted.
Article 9 – Protection for Broadcasting Organizations: In reference to Alternative A for Article 9 it is submitted that the public performance of broadcast signals should not be covered. In many countries, especially lower-income countries, shared viewing of televisions and shared listening to radio are culturally established and it should not be equated with signal theft, which should be the primary focus of this Treaty. Further, free-to-air TV and radio channels and state-sponsored TV and radio channels depend on advertisements and other forms of income, not subscriber payments. Given this, there is no reason why public performance, the wrongfulness of which is very business-model dependent, should be included in this treaty.

We strongly suggest that Alternative B to Article 9 should struck down as it is in contravention of the mandate of the WIPO General Assembly to adopt a signal based approach for the development of the text of the Treaty. There cannot be any fixation or post fixation rights be given to the broadcasting organization if a signal based approach is adopted for the Treaty.
Article 10 – Limitations and Exception: The limitations and exceptions should be mandatory as well, as not balancing limitations and exceptions with the rights granted to the broadcasters would be violating the spirit of the WIPO Development Agenda.

Further, it will also in contravention of Article 3 of the Treaty in its current form. The UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expression recognizes the principles of equitable access and openness and balance. It also mandates implementation of “measures aimed at enhancing diversity of the media, including through public service broadcasting.

It is also reiterated that, reasons for providing exceptions for over broadcast rights are not the same as those for copyright. For instance, a country may wish to make exceptions to signal protection for cases such as broadcast of a national sport, as India has done with the Sports Broadcasting Signals (Mandatory Sharing with Prasar Bharati) Act. This might well afoul of the three-step test proposed in Article 7(2), especially as it says “provide for the same or further limitations or exceptions...”.

Furthermore, a country may wish to limit the application of broadcasters rights for national broadcasters (whose programming is paid for by taxpayers, and thus should be available to them), but may not be able to do so under the provisions of Article 7(2). Thus, Article 10(2) should be deleted, and Article 10(1) should be expanded to include issues of national interest and for free-to-air broadcast signals.
Article 11 – Term of Protection: As submitted earlier by CIS, it is reiterated that no term of protection should be provided. As was noted by the US government in its response to the draft non-paper, it is questionable “whether a 20-year term of protection is consistent with a signal-based approach”. The Brazilian delegation also states: “Article 13 [of the previous draft treaty] should be deleted. A twenty-year term of protection is unnecessary. The agreed “signal-based” approach to the Treaty implies that the objected of protection is the signal, and therefore duration of protection must be linked with the ephemeral life of the signal itself.” Thus, a term is only needed if we stray away from a signal-based approach. As we do not wish to do so, there should be no term of protection.
Article 12 – Protection of Encryption and Rights Management Information: From our previous submission on this issue we reiterate that, No separate right to prevent unauthorized “decryption” should be granted, since signal-theft is already a crime. For instance, this provision would also cover decrypting an unauthorized retransmission without authorization from the retransmitter. This provides the unauthorized retransmitter rights, even though s/he has no right to retransmit. This leads to an absurd situation.

As stated by the Brazilian government with respect to the April 2007 non-paper:
“[Article 10 of the draft non-paper and Article 9 of the non-paper] is inconsistent with a “signal-based approach”. It creates unwarranted obstacles to technological development, to access to legitimate uses, flexibilities and exceptions and to access to the public domain. It does not focus on securing effective protection against an illicit act, but rather creates new exclusive rights so that they cover areas unrelated with the objective of the treaty, such as control by holder of industrial production of goods, the development and use of encryption technologies, and private uses. The prohibition of mere decryption of encrypted signals, without there having been unauthorized broadcasting activity, is abusive.”

If even the provision is to be retained, it should not grant the broadcasters any rights over and above that which is otherwise granted by the law, thus the following line is over-broad: “that are not authorized by the broadcasting organizations concerned or are not permitted by law.”

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/comments-on-wipo-broadcast-treaty

Indic Wikipedia Visualisation Project #2: Visualising Page Views and Project Pages

Sajjad Anwar and Sumandro Chattapadhyay — 2013-04-22T13:37:08Z

In this blog post, we bring you a visualisation of the page views statistics and the project specific pages that we created last month. The page views indicate the number of unique visits the Wikipedia project concerned has received in one month.

Unlike the basic parameters that we discussed last month, we received the Page Views data only from January 2008 onwards. The project-specific pages allow the user to see all the different variables related to a Indic language Wikipedia project in one page, thus giving a general overview of the activities in that project and their inter-relationships. Instead of comparing multiple projectsn, as in the calendar charts and motion chart discussed in the last post, the project-specific pages focus on understanding one Wikipedia project in detail.

Page Views

The data came in a structure that is useful for human-readability of the data but not so much for visualisation. The first column contained the date value (01/01/2008, 01/02/2008, and so on), followed by a column for each Indic Wikipedia project (Assamese, Bhojpuri, and so on) and one for the total Page Views across projects for the month concerned. The original data file can be accessed here. We re-formatted this data to the following column structure: the first column gives the date value, the second column gives the language of the Wikipedia project, and the third column gives the Page Views value. Further, the Page Views file contained data for 2013 that are not available for any other variables (like Total Articles, Total Editors etc.). So we decided to remove the 2013 values from the Page Views file for easier comparison with other variables. The data file that we finally used for the visualisation can be accessed here.

Calendar (Heatmap) Chart

The first chart that we created was the calendar (heatmap) chart discussed in detail in the last post. For the Page View variable we only had data form 2008. We plotted it as calendar-like heatmap to allow quick cross-project comparisons of trends in readership. The chart can be accessed here.

Project Pages

So far, we have been visualising the data from an overall perspective, constantly asking the question: "How does project A compare to project B?". The Project pages sheds light from a different angle: "How did project A get to this point?". Each of the projects are visualised in isolation around the basic parameters to understand how they have changed/evolved over the years. We wanted to keep this as simple as possible and decided to use straight forward line charts. This also ensures that the patterns are clearly evident. On the right corner of the navigation bar is the project selector. You can search or pick a project and the page will load the charts specific to that project. Each project has a different page, this makes it easier for you to share the project that you are interested in. The chart employs filtering and dynamic scales. Dynamic scales are important because not all the projects have the same rate of growth.

Readership Dashboard

We were not satisfied with creating only the calendar heatmap chart for Page Views. Being a very important variable for anybody trying to understand activities on Indic Wikipedia projects, we wanted to create a more detailed visualisation for the variable. While the project-specific pages do allow for comparing Page Views for a certain Indic Wikipedia with its other variables (such as Total Articles), we wanted to make that comparison even easier. Hence we decided to make a chart combining a line graph showing the movement of Page View for a project across the years and bar graphs showing a separate variable for the same project. Thus we created the Readership Dashboard. The dashboard has two controls: project selector and the parameter selector buttons. Selecting a project from the dropdown will update the line chart showing the movement of page views. Hover over the line graph points to see the date of observation and the corresponding value. The bars behind the line represent the selected parameters. Click on the parameter buttons to load different parameters as the background bar graph. Hover over the bars to see the date and the value. The bar graph is carefully aligned to the line chart such that the visualisation reflects the relation in movement of both. However, please note that the vertical scale of the line graph and the bar graphs are not the same.

Sajjad Anwar is a programmer based in Bangalore. Sumandro Chattapadhyay is a researcher based in Delhi. They often work together.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/indic-wikipedia-visualisation-project-visualising-page-views-and-project-pages

Report of Wiki Workshop in Mangalore

praskrishna — 2013-04-16T06:14:42Z

A wikipedia workshop was organized in Sahyadri College of Engineering and Management, Mangalore on April 9, 2013. Dr. U.B. Pavanaja participated in the workshop. Prajavani's Mangalore edition published a report about the felicitation to K.P. Rao and about the wikipedia workshop.

Below is the report published in Prajavani on April 10, 2013.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/prajavani-mangalore-edition-april-10-2013-report-of-wikipedia-workshop

Telugu Wiki Mahotsavam 2013

praskrishna — 2013-04-08T04:43:00Z

The Telugu Wikipedia Community is organizing the Telegu Wiki Mahotsavam from April 9 to 11, 2013 in Hyderabad. The Access to Knowledge team at the Centre for Internet and Society is supporting and co-organizing the event.

A public event will be held on April 11 from 5.00 p.m. to 8.00 p.m. at Golden Threshold (Sarojini Naidu's house) in Hyderabad. The main event page, which is in Telugu, is here.

The following activities are scheduled:

April 9, 2013: Wikipedia Academy at Centre for Good Governance, Hyderabad (Vishnu Vardhan will be one of the trainers.
April 10, 2013: Wikimedia Meeting with Media Heads. (In one of the sessions Vishnu Vardhan will talk about CIS-A2K work).
April 11, 2013: Telugu Wikipedia General body meeting (Vishnu Vardhan has been asked by Telugu SIG to speak about A2K's plans for the growth of Telugu Wikipedia during 2013-14), Telugu Wikipedia Academy (Vishnu Vardhan will be one of the Trainers), and Wiki Chaitanya Vedika ((A public event), Vishnu has been asked by the Telugu Wiki Community to talk about 'Access to Knowledge' in the digital era).

వికీపీడియా:సమావేశం/తెలుగు వికీపీడియా మహోత్సవం 2013

మన తెలుగు వికీపీడియా గురించి మన తెలుగు వాళ్ళకి తెలుసా? ఎంతమందికి తెలుసు....?

తెలుగు వికీపీడియా

ఈ ప్రశ్నకి ‘చాలా తక్కువ మందికి’ అన్న జవాబు వెంటనే వస్తుంది. వికీపీడియా తెలుగులో ఒకటి ఉందన్న విషయమే తెలియనప్పుడు కొత్తవాళ్ళు ఎలా వస్తారు...? తెలుగు వికీపీడియా అభివృద్ధి ఎలా సాధ్యమవుతుంది...? ఈ సమస్యను అధిగమించాలంటే – ఒక మంచి కార్యక్రమము నిర్వహించడంతోబాటు... దినపత్రిక, ఎలక్ట్రానిక్ మీడియాల లో ప్రముఖంగా ప్రచారం పొందగలిగి నప్పుడు మాత్రమే తెవికీ గురించి కొన్ని వేల మందికి ఏకకాలంలో తెలుస్తుంది. తద్వారా – మన రాష్ట్రంలో, మన దేశంలో, ఇతర దేశాలలో ఉన్న తెలుగు ప్రజలకు చేరువ కాగలుగుతాం...! ఇదే ‘తెలుగు వికీపీడియా సర్వ సభ్య సమావేశం’ ముఖ్య ఉద్దేశ్యం...!

ఈ ఉగాది 'తెలుగు వికీ ఉగాది'
తెలుగు వికీపీడియా అభివృద్ధికి మనం అందరం కృషి చేస్తూనే ఉన్నాం. రేపటి తరానికి ఖచ్చితమైన సమాచారాన్ని అందివ్వాలన్న సదుద్దేశ్యంతో నిస్వార్ధంగా కృషి చేస్తున్న మనం అందరం ఒకసారి కలిస్తే ఎంత బాగుంటుందో కదా...! అదీ, తెలుగు ఉగాదినాడు కలిస్తే చెప్పలేనంత సంతోషంగా ఉంటుంది. అందుకే - ఈ ఉగాదిని 'తెలుగు వికీ ఉగాది'గా జరుపుకుందాం.

ఇది సర్వసభ్యసమావేశం, శిక్షణ కార్యక్రమము మరింకా..
వికీని తెలుగు ప్రజలకు పరిచయం చేయడం, తెవికీ విస్తృత అభివృద్ధికి కృషి చెయ్యడం - ఈ ' సర్వ సభ్య సమావేశం ’ ప్రధాన లక్ష్యం. అందరం కలిస్తే లక్ష్య సాధన మరింత సులభమవుతుంది. తెవికీ అక్షర సుసంపన్నమవుతుంది. దీనిలో భాగంగా వికీఅకాడమీ ద్వారా శిక్షణ చైతన్యవేదిక ద్వారా మరింతమందికి తెవికీ పరిచయం చేయటం జరుగుతుంది

33 సంవత్సరాలు జర్నలిస్టుగా అనుభవం ఉన్న మల్లాది కామేశ్వరరావు గారు ప్రతిపాదించగా ఇతర సభ్యులు మద్దతునివ్వగా ఈ ప్రతిపాదన రూపుదిద్దుకుంటున్నది.

ఈ సమావేశం ఉగాది రోజున మన రాజధాని నగరంలో జరపాలని భావిస్తున్నాం . ఈ సమావేశం తెలుగు వికీపీడియాకు ప్రత్యేక గుర్తింపు కలిగిస్తుందని పలువురు సభ్యులు భావిస్తున్నారు. తెవికీ సభ్యులలో సరి కొత్త ఉత్సాహం కలిగించి ఒక అభివృద్ధికి దోహదం ఔతుంది. సమావేశంలో పాల్గొనడానికి సభ్యులు తమ అంగీకారం క్రింది విభాగాలలో తెలియచేయాలని కోరడమైనది.

విజయ నామ ఉగాది 'తెలుగు వికీపీడియా మహోత్సవం' ఆహ్వాన కమిటీ

తెలుగు వికీపీడియా మహోత్సవం 2013

థియేటర్ ఔట్రీచ్ యూనిట్ లోగో

అధ్యక్షులు : రహ్మానుద్దీన్
కార్యదర్శి : Malladi kameswara rao
కోశాధికారి : Rajasekhar1961

సిద్ధతా కార్యక్రమ వివరాలు

వికీపీడియా ముందస్తు సమావేశాలు – 2013 కార్యక్రమ రూపం:

మార్చి 17 : మొదటగా హైదరాబాద్ వికీపీడియా సంపాదకుల కార్యవర్గ సమావేశం
మార్చి 24 : హైదరాబాద్ వికీపీడియా నిర్వాహకుల సమావేశం
మార్చి 31 : కార్యనిర్వహణ పురోగతి గురించి పరిశీలించడం.
ఏప్రిల్ 7 : కార్యనిర్వహణ పురోగతి మరియు బాధ్యతల సమీక్ష

మహోత్సవం కార్యక్రమ ప్రణాళిక

వికీపీడియా తెలుగు మహోత్సవం, మహోత్సవ ముందస్తు వికీఅకాడెమీ

తేదీ ఏప్రిల్ 9
సమయం : మ. 2 గం॥ నుండి సాయంత్రం 5:30 గం॥ వరకు
వేదిక : సీజీజీ శిక్షణా నిలయం, జూబిలీ హిల్స్

వికీపీడియా - ప్రసార మాధ్యమాల(మీడియా) సదస్సు

తేది:ఏప్రిల్ 10
సమయం : 10 am to 1:00 pm
ప్రదేశం : :::గోల్డెన్ త్రెషోల్డ్, అబిడ్స్, హైదరాబాదు

గోల్డెన్ త్రెషోల్డ్, మహోత్సవానికి వేదిక

వికీ పరిచయం

కార్యక్రమ అంశాలు

ఉ. 10.00 - 10.30 --- మీడియా ప్రముఖులతో పరిచయాలు

ఉ. 10.30 - 11.30 --- వికీపీడియా పరిచయం

కార్యక్రమ నిర్వాహకులు : అభిజిత్, పెద్ది రామారావు

మల్లాది కామేశ్వర రావు : ముందుమాట ( సమావేశానికి ఆహ్వానం)
విష్ణువర్ధన్, ప్రాజెక్ట్ డైరెక్టర్ cis A2K: అంతర్జాలంలో సమాచార విప్లవం - వికీపీడియా పాత్ర
అర్జునరావు,వికీమీడియా ఇండియా చాప్టర్ మాజీ అద్యక్షులు : భారతదేశంలో వికీపీడియా అభివృద్ధి
చంద్రకాంతరావు, వికీపీడియా నిర్వాహకులు : తెలుగు వికీపీడియా ప్రస్థానం .........(నిర్ధారణ కావలసి ఉంది)
సుజాత,వికీపీడియా నిర్వాహకులు : వికీపీడియా - మహిళల పాత్ర
రహ్మానుద్దీన్, వికీమీడియా ఇండియా చాప్టర్ తెలుగుశాఖ అద్యక్షులు : వికీపీడియా - ఉన్నత సాంకేతికత
రామకృష్ణ రామస్వామి, హైదరాబాద్ విశ్వవిద్యాలయం వైస్ ఛాన్సిలర్ : వికీపీడియా ఆవశ్యకత .......... (నిర్ధారణ కావలసి ఉంది)
-----వీడియో ప్రదర్శన
-----వెన్న నాగార్జున సందేశం ..............(నిర్ధారణ కావలసి ఉంది)

ఉ. 11.30 - 11.45 టీ విరామం
వికీ -మీడియా చర్చాగోష్ఠి: ఉ. 11.30 - 1.00

చర్చాంశం : జ్ఞానసమాజఅభివృద్ధిలో మీడియా, వికీపీడియా పరస్పర సహకారం

సమన్వయకర్త : బండారు శ్రీనివాసరావు, పాత్రికేయులు, విమర్శకులు
సహకారం : పెద్ది రామారావు
వికీపీడియా నుంచి చర్చలో పాల్గొనేవారు

విష్ణువర్ధన్, ప్రాజెక్ట్ డైరెక్టర్ cis A2K
అర్జునరావు,వికీమీడియా ఇండియా చాప్టర్ మాజీ అద్యక్షులు
చంద్రకాంతరావు, వికీపీడియా నిర్వాహకులు (నిర్ధారణ కావలసి ఉంది)
సుజాత, వికీపీడియా నిర్వాహకులు
రహ్మానుద్దీన్, వికీమీడియా ఇండియా చాప్టర్ తెలుగుశాఖ అద్యక్షులు

మీడియా నుంచి చర్చలో పాల్గొనేవారు : మీడియా ప్రముఖులు
......(నిర్ధారించాలి)

వందన సమర్పణ : డా. రాజశేఖర్, వికీపీడియా నిర్వాహకులు
మీడియా సమావేశ విషయ సేకరణ, సమాచార నమోదు - గుళ్ళపల్లి నాగేశ్వరరావు

మ. 1.00 - 2:00 --- భోజనం

వికీపీడియన్ల క్షేత్ర దర్శనం

తేది:ఏప్రిల్ 10

మ. 3-00 -సా 6:00: ఒక ప్రింటు మీడియా (విశాలాంధ్ర దినపత్రిక) మరియు ఎలక్ట్రానిక్ మీడియా (హెచ్.ఎం.టీ.వి.) కార్యాలయం సందర్శన

వికీపీడియన్ల ఇష్టా గోష్టి

తేది:ఏప్రిల్ 10

సమయం : రాత్రి : 7-00 గంటల నుంచి 8-30

ప్రదేశం : :::గోల్డెన్ త్రెషోల్డ్, అబిడ్స్, హైదరాబాదు

కార్యక్రమ అంశాలు

తెలుగు వికీపీడియా చేపట్టే కొత్త ప్రాజెక్టులపై వికీ అధికారుల, నిర్వాహకుల చర్చ - ఇష్టా గోష్టి

కార్యక్రమ సమన్వయ కర్తలుగా చంద్రకాంతరావు, సుజాత గార్లు వ్యవహరించాలని సమావేశం ప్రతిపాదిస్తున్నది. ( నిర్ధారించవలసిందిగా విన్నపం.)

వికీపీడియన్ల సర్వ సభ్య సమావేశం

తేది:ఏప్రిల్ 11

సమయం : ఉదయం : 9-00 గంటల నుంచి మధ్యాహ్నం 02:00 వరకు

ప్రదేశం : :::గోల్డెన్ త్రెషోల్డ్, అబిడ్స్, హైదరాబాదు

సభనిర్వహణ:చావా కిరణ్, వీవెన్ ( నిర్ధారించవలసివుంది)

కార్యక్రమ అంశాలు

ఉ. 9.00 - 10.00 --- తెవికీ సభ్యుల పరిచయాలు, అల్పాహారం

ఉ. 10.00 - 10.15 --- సౌమ్యన్, వికీమీడియా భారతదేశం చాప్టర్ ఎగ్జిక్యూటివ్ మేనేజర్ : వికీమీడియా భారతదేశం కార్యకలాపాలు

ఉ. 10.15-10.30 --సిఐఎస్ ఎ2కె కార్యకలాపాలు. విష్ణు, ఎ2కె ప్రోగ్రామ్ డైరెక్టరు

ఉ. 10.30-11.00 --మహోత్సవ సందేశాలు

ఉ. 11.00-11.15 -- భారత ప్రగతి ద్వారం నిర్వహణ అనుభవాలు. కథిరేశన్, నార్నె శ్రీనివాసరావు, India Development Gateway

ఉ. 11.15-11.30 --టీ విరామం

ఉ 11.30-11.45 -- ఆర్కీవ్.ఆర్గ్ వికీపీడియా సహకారం... ఆనంద్ చిట్టిపోతు, ఆర్కీవ్.అర్గ్ ఉద్యోగి (స్కైప్ ద్వారా)

ఉ 11.45-12.15 వికీపీడియా అభివృద్ధికి ఎ2కె ప్రణాళిక

ఉ 12.15-12.30 స్పందనలు,ప్రాధాన్యతల నిర్ణయం, సభ్యులు

ఉ 12.30 -13.00 మహోత్సవం సిఫారసులు

మ. 1.00 - 2.00 --- భోజనం

ప్రాథమిక వికీ అకాడమీ|ఉన్నత వికీ అకాడమీ

కార్యక్రమ అంశాలు

మ. 2.00 - 3.00 --- ఉన్నత వికీసంపాదకత్వ విషయాలు.

హాట్కేట్, ట్వింకిల్ ఉపకరణాలు, 10ని..... అర్జున
పై వికీపీడియాబాటు తో పని, 20ని ... రహ్మనుద్దీన్
<<అనువైనవి చేర్చండి>>

మ. 3.00-4:00 --సమిష్ఠికృషి

హాట్కేట్ తో వర్గీకరణ,... 20ని, సమన్వయకర్త ....
ఇంగ్లీషు అంతరవికీలింకులు చేర్చుట..20ని సమన్వయకర్త ...
<<అనువైనవి చేర్చండి>>
అనుభవాలు పంచుకొనుట.. 5 ని

ప్రాథమిక వికీపీడియా:తెవికీ అకాడమీ సమావేశ అధ్యక్షుడు:<చొరవ తీసుకొనే సభ్యుని పేరు చేర్చండి> సమావేశ ఉపాధ్యక్షుడు: <చొరవ తీసుకొనే సభ్యుని పేరు చేర్చండి>	ఉన్నత వికీ అకాడమీ సమావేశ అధ్యక్షుడు:<చొరవ తీసుకొనే సభ్యుని పేరు చేర్చండి> సమావేశ ఉపాధ్యక్షుడు: <చొరవ తీసుకొనే సభ్యుని పేరు చేర్చండి>
తేది:ఏప్రిల్ 11 సమయం : మధ్యాహ్నం : 1-30 గంటల నుంచి సాయంత్రం 04:00 వరకు
ప్రదేశం : ....గది,గోల్డెన్ త్రెషోల్డ్, అబిడ్స్, హైదరాబాదు	ప్రదేశం:....గది, గోల్డెన్ త్రెషోల్డ్, అబిడ్స్, హైదరాబాదు
కార్యక్రమ అంశాలు మ 1:30 -2:00 నమోదు మ. 2.00 - 4.00 పాఠం: 1గం॥ వికీపీడియా చరిత్ర మరియు సింహావలోకనం.10ని.. < వక్త పేరు> కంప్యూటర్ లో తెలుగు కీబోర్డులు ..15ని..< వక్త పేరు> వికీపీడియా విధానాలు-మార్గదర్శకాలు...30ని.. <వక్తపేరు> వికీపీడియా ప్రయోగశాల: 1గం॥ వికీపీడియా లో వెతుకుట వికీపీడియా దిద్దుబాటు వికీపీడియా ప్రయోగశాల (ఇసుకపెట్టె) ను ఉపయోగించడం కరపత్రాలు(నెట్ లో) Welcome to Wikipedia (వికీపీడియాకు స్వాగతం), Wikipedia Article quality (వికీపీడియా వ్యాస-నాణ్యత)

వికీ చైతన్య వేదిక

తేది:ఏప్రిల్ 11

సమయం : సాయంత్రం: 04-30 గంటల నుంచి రాత్రి 08:00 వరకు

ప్రదేశం : :::గోల్డెన్ త్రెషోల్డ్, అబిడ్స్, హైదరాబాదు

పాల్గొనే వారు:వికీపై ఆసక్తి గలవారందరు

కార్యక్రమ అంశాలు

సా. 04:30-05:00 పాల్గొనేవారి నమోదు

సా. 5.00 - 8.00 --కార్యక్రమం

మల్లాది కామేశ్వర రావు : స్వాగతం: సమావేశం నేపథ్యం
ముఖ్య అతిధి

మంగళగిరి ఆదిత్య ప్రసాద్, ఆకాశవాణి హైదరాబాద్ స్టేషన్ డైరెక్టర్ : అంతరించి పోతున్న తెలుగు అక్షరం

జ్యోతి ప్రజ్వలన ................. అతిధులు

అమరనాథ్ రెడ్డి, CEO, IEG- Govt of AP : (నిర్ధారణ కావలసి ఉంది)
పెద్ది రామారావు, ప్రాజెక్ట్ కో ఆర్డినేటర్, ధియేటర్ ఔట్రిచ్ యూనిట్ : వికీపీడియా - నాటకకళ
బండారు శ్రీనివాసరావు, పాత్రికేయులు, విమర్శకులు : అక్షరాన్ని కాపాడుకుందాం

వక్తలు

సౌమ్యన్, కార్యనిర్వాహక మేనేజర్ వికీమీడియా భారతదేశం, వికీమీడియా భారతదేశం అవలోకనం, (నిర్థారించాలి)
రహ్మానుద్దీన్, వికీమీడియా ఇండియా చాప్టర్ తెలుగు విశేష అభిరుచి జట్టు అధ్యక్షులు : తెలుగు వికీపీడియా పరిచయం.
చంద్రకాంతరావు, వికీపీడియా నిర్వాహకులు : దిద్దుబాట్లు, సూచనలు - (నిర్ధారణ కావలసి ఉంది)
సుజాత, వికీపీడియా నిర్వాహకులు : వికీపీడియా - దిద్దుబాట్లు ఎలా చేయాలి
వీవెన్, వికీపీడియా నిర్వాహకులు : అంతర్జాలంలో తెలుగు
జె.వి.ఆర్.కె.ప్రసాద్, వికీపీడియా నిర్వాహకులు : విక్షనరీ
పాలగిరి రామకృష్ణా రెడ్డి, వికీపీడియా సభ్యులు : వికీపీడియాలో సైన్స్ ప్రాముఖ్యత
విశ్వనాధ్ బి.కె, వికీపీడియా నిర్వాహకులు : భారతీయ సంస్కృతి , పుణ్యక్షేత్రాలు
డా. రాజశేఖర్, వికీపీడియా నిర్వాహకులు : వికీపీడియా - నిన్న, నేడు, రేపు ... వైద్యం
విష్ణువర్ధన్, ప్రాజెక్ట్ డైరెక్టర్ cis A2K : విజ్ఞాన విషయాలను పంచుకుందాం.
అనంతరం ఆహ్వానితులకు మరియు వికీపీడియన్లకు ప్రశంసా పత్రాల, మెమెంటోల ప్రదానం
జాతీయ గీతంతో వందన సమర్పణ

దారిఖర్చులు మరియు విడిది

హైదరాబాదుకు బయటనుండి వచ్చు వికీపీడియన్లకు ప్రయాణ మరియు వసతి సౌకర్యం:

హైదరాబాదుకు బయటనుండి సమావేశానికి హాజరుకావాలనుకొంటున్న వికీపీడియా సభ్యులకు ప్రయాణ మరియు వసతి సౌకర్యము (ఇద్దరు లేక ఎక్కువ మంది రూము పంచుకొనే ప్రాతిపదికన) కల్పించటానికి (రైలు ఎసి టు టైర్ చార్జీలకు లోబడి అయిన ఖర్చులకు) Access to Knowledge-CIS, బెంగుళూరు వారు పరిమిత నిధులు కేటాయించారు. డిసెంబరు 31, 2012 నాటికి తెలుగు వికీప్రాజెక్టులు అన్నిటిలో కలిపి కనీసం 50 (ఏభై) మార్పులు చేసినవారు దీనికి అర్హులు. ఈ సౌకర్యం "మొదలు వచ్చినవారికి ముందు" ప్రాతిపదికన ఇవ్వబడుతుంది. ఆసక్తిగల సభ్యులు త్వరగా ఈ పేజీలోని ' తప్పక హాజరవుతున్న సభ్యుల ' విభాగంలో మీ పేరు(వికీ సంతకం ద్వారా) మరియు ఊరు నమోదు చేసుకొనమని కోరడమైనది. వికీ "సభ్యులు టికెట్టు మూలప్రతి (original) ఇస్తూ ఖర్చుధృవపత్రం (voucher) పై సంతకం చేయవలసి వుంటుంది. ఇది CIS-A2K ఆడిటర్ వారి నిభంధన కావున సభ్యులు మన్నించాలని అభ్యర్దన.

సమావేశం నిర్వాహకులు

Malladi kameswara rao (చర్చ) 06:49, 14 మార్చి 2013 (UTC)
Bhaskaranaidu (చర్చ) 10:42, 14 మార్చి 2013 (UTC)]]
జె.వి.ఆర్.కె.ప్రసాద్ (చర్చ) 10:58, 14 మార్చి 2013 (UTC) (కొంతవరకు చేయగలను/కొన్ని పనులకు వాడుకొనగలరు)
Rajasekhar1961 (చర్చ) 05:21, 15 మార్చి 2013 (UTC)
రహ్మానుద్దీన్ (చర్చ) 21:00, 16 మార్చి 2013 (UTC)
<<పైన మీసంతకం చేర్చండి>>

సహాయం

వికీమీడియా భారతదేశం
సి.ఐఎస్. ఎ2కె
థియేటర్ ఔట్రీచ్ యూనిట్

సమావేశంలో పాల్గొనే సభ్యులు

సమావేశంలో పాల్గొనడానికి ఆసక్తి ఉన్న సభ్యులు ఈ జాబితాలో మీ పేరును(వికీసంతకంద్వారా), (ఊరునుహైద్రాబాదు బయటనుండి వస్తున్నట్లయితే) చేర్చండి.

తప్పక పాల్గొనేవారు

t.sujatha (చర్చ) 05:06, 13 మార్చి 2013 (UTC), చెన్నై
Rajasekhar1961 (చర్చ) 06:11, 13 మార్చి 2013 (UTC)
జె.వి.ఆర్.కె.ప్రసాద్, విజయవాడ. (చర్చ) 06:11, 13 మార్చి 2013 (UTC)(అననుకూల స్థితి, పరిస్థితులలో తప్ప, హాజరులో మార్పు ఉండదు.)
Malladi kameswara rao (చర్చ) 06:49, 14 మార్చి 2013 (UTC)
Bhaskaranaidu (చర్చ) 10:39, 14 మార్చి 2013 (UTC)
విశ్వనాధ్ (చర్చ) 07:35, 14 మార్చి 2013 (UTC)
kbssarma
విష్ణు (చర్చ)04:15, 15 మార్చి 2013 (UTC)
రహ్మానుద్దీన్ (చర్చ) 21:00, 16 మార్చి 2013 (UTC)
సుమంత్
Pranayraj1985 (చర్చ)
పవి (చర్చ) 04:49, 25 మార్చి 2013 (UTC)
అర్జున (చర్చ) 23:19, 27 మార్చి 2013 (UTC), బెంగుళూరు
rajachandra(చర్చ) 10:19, 30 మార్చి 2013 (UTC), చెన్నై
బండి. శ్రీనివాస్
పాలగిరి (చర్చ) 04:04, 1 ఏప్రిల్ 2013 (UTC)
విజయ్
cbrao (చర్చ) 06:55, 2 ఏప్రిల్ 2013 (UTC)]]
Maheshbandaru (చర్చ) 10:52, 2 ఏప్రిల్ 2013 (UTC)
YVSREDDY (చర్చ) 16:02, 5 ఏప్రిల్ 2013 (UTC)
Malkum (చర్చ) 20:06, 5 ఏప్రిల్ 2013 (UTC)
S.K.Pasalapudi,Rajahmundry,(తప్పక హాజరు)
ప్రసాదు (చర్చ) 15:13, 6 ఏప్రిల్ 2013 (UTC)

బహుశా పాల్గొనేవారు

పోటుగాడు అదేరోజు వేరొక ముఖ్యమైన పని ఉన్నది. వీలును బట్టి పాల్గొంటాను.
కూచిమంచిప్రసాద్ పాల్గొనడానికి ప్రయత్నిస్తానుకూచిమంచిప్రసాద్ (చర్చ) 17:38, 14 మార్చి 2013 (UTC)
Mylaptops (నేను బంజారా హిల్స్ రోడ్డు నెం 1 లో, సాక్షి ఆఫీసు వెనుక ఉంటున్నాను. వాహన సౌకర్యం లేదు. అయినా ఆదివారం పాల్గొనటానికి ప్రయత్నిస్తాను.(భూపతిరాజు రమేష్ రాజు) (Mylaptops (చర్చ) 07:31, 15 మార్చి 2013 (UTC))
రాధాక్రిష్ణ (చర్చ) 14:17, 25 మార్చి 2013 (UTC)
వాడుకరి:డా.రామక పాండురంగశర్మ(తప్పక పాల్గొనే ప్రయత్నం చేస్తాను)

పాల్గొనటానికి వీలుకానివారు: గమనిక: సమావేశానికి వీలుకాని సభ్యులు/నిర్వాహకులు/అధికారులు తమ సందేశాన్ని వీడియో/ఆడియో/టెక్స్టు ఈ వికీపీడియా:సమావేశం/2013 తెవికీసమావేశం/సభ్యుల అభినందనలు ఇంకా సూచనలు విభాగంలో చేర్చండి. వాటిని సమావేశం సమయంలో అందరికీ తెలియజేస్తాము.

ఖాదర్ - హైదరాబాదు వెలుపల ఉండటం వలన హాజరుకాలేక పోతున్నాను.
శశి (చర్చ) 20:53, 15 మార్చి 2013 (UTC)బెంగుళూరు లో ఉండటం వలన, ఉగాదికి సెలవు లేకపోవటం వలన హాజరు కాలేను.
కె. వి. రమణ. చర్చ 13:58, 16 మార్చి 2013 (UTC) (వ్యక్తిగత పనుల వల్ల హాజరు కాలేను)
వైజాసత్య (చర్చ) 21:40, 16 మార్చి 2013 (UTC) (నేను ఆంధ్రదేశంలో లేకపోవటం వలన)
Nrahamthulla (చర్చ) 07:12, 17 మార్చి 2013 (UTC)(వ్యక్తిగత పనుల వల్ల హాజరు కాలేను)
Tsnpadma (చర్చ) 11:19, 23 మార్చి 2013 (UTC) (వ్యక్తిగత పనుల వల్ల హాజరు కాలేను)
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వర్గాలు: వికీపీడియా	వికీపీడియా సమావేశాలు

ఈ పేజీకి 03:58, 8 ఏప్రిల్ 2013న చివరి మార్పు జరిగినది.
పాఠ్యం క్రియేటివ్ కామన్స్ అట్రిబ్యూషన్/షేర్-అలైక్ లైసెన్సు క్రింద లభ్యం; అదనపు షరతులు వర్తించవచ్చు. మరిన్ని వివరాలకు వాడుక నియమాలను చూడండి.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/openness/events/telegu-wiki-mahotsavam-2013

Odia Wikipedia - Bhubaneswar Community Meetup (March 17, 2013)

subha — 2013-04-30T03:52:05Z

The Access to Knowledge team from the Centre for Internet and Society and the Odia Wikipedia community held a meetup in Bhubaneswar on March 17, 2013. Vishnu Vardhan and Subhashish Panigrahi participated in this meet-up.


A picture of Wikipedians from the Bhubaneswar meetup held on March 17, 2013

The aim of this meetup was to discuss the current state of Odia Wikipedia and understand the community building strategies for this year. Wikipedians shared their motivation and experience for editing Wikipedia. Challenges, plans and new project ideas were discussed. A new project on articles about the Villages, Pachayats, Blocks of Odisha was decided to be rolled as a key project by the community. This would be useful to generate large volume of useful content on places of Odisha and involve new wikipedians from various places to contribute to articles of the their places.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/odia-wikipedia-meet-up-bhubaneswar-march-17-2013

Odia Wikipedia - Cuttack Community Meetup (March 16, 2013)

subha — 2013-07-17T06:40:11Z

A meetup of Odia wikipedians was organised by the Access to Knowledge team of the Centre for Internet and Society and the Odia wikipedia community on March 16, 2013. Vishnu Vardhan and Subhashish Panigrahi participated in the meetup.


Participants from the Wikipedia meetup held on March 16, 2013

Recently Centre for Internet and Society's Access To Knowledge Programme members T. Vishnu Vardhan and Subhashish Panigrahi met Odia Wikipedians in Cuttack to discuss about the current state of Odia Wikipedia and understand the community building strategies. Five active wikipedians from Cuttack and one from Bhubaneswar joined and discussed about various challenges the community is facing. New project ideas were discussed. Wikipedians also shared their stories and motivation. A new project on articles about the Villages, Pachayats, Blocks of Odisha was decided to be rolled as a key project on this day.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/odia-wikipedia-cuttack-community-meetup-march-16-2013

Access to Knowledge Bulletin — March 2013

praskrishna — 2013-04-15T16:47:20Z

In the third issue of our newsletter for 2013, we are pleased to bring you updates from the Indic Wikipedia Visualisation project, reports of events organised in Goa, and press coverage of the Kannada Wikipedia Workshop held in Mysore.

The A2K team consists of four members based in Delhi: T. Vishnu Vardhan, Nitika Tandon, Subhashish Panigrahi and Noopur Raval, and one member Dr. U.B. Pavanaja who is working from Bangalore office.

Wikipedians from various communities can request for outreach programs, technical bugs, logistics-merchandize and media, public relations and communications at http://bit.ly/TOcXId.

Indic Wikipedia Visualisation Project

Visualising Basic Parameters (by Sajjad Anwar and Sumandro Chattapadhyay, March 26, 2013): Sajjad and Sumandro bring you a visualisation of the growth of Indic Wikipedia in this first post on Indic Wikipedia Visualisation project.

Events Organised

Introductory Wikipedia session at BITS Goa (organised by CIS, Birla Institute of Technology & Science, Pilani, Goa, March 7, 2013). The Access to Knowledge team was invited by Nikhil Dixit from BITS to organise a Wikipedia editing session. Nitika Tandon led the editing session.
Kannada Wikipedia Workshop (organised by CIS, Institution of Engineers, JLB Road, Mysore, March 24, 2013). Dr. U.B. Pavanaja led the event.

Events Co-organised

Wiki Women's Day in Goa (organised by the Wikimedia India Chapter and CIS, Nirmala Institute of Education, Panaji, Goa, March 8, 2013). Nitika Tandon participated in this workshop held on International Working Women's Day, and shares the developments in this report.
Wikipedia Workshop for Kannada Science Writers (organised by Wikimedia Chapter India, Karnataka Rajya Vijnana Parishath and CIS, Karnataka Rajya Vijnana Parishath Conference Hall, Banashankari 2nd Stage, Bangalore, March 17, 2013). Dr. U.B. Pavanaja participated in the event.

Upcoming Event (Co-organised)

Telugu Wiki Mahotsavam 2013 (co-organised with the Telegu Wikipedia community, Hyderabad, April 9 to 11, 2013). Vishnu Vardhan is participating in this event as a speaker. A public event will be held on April 11 from 5.00 p.m. to 8.00 p.m. at Golden Threshold (Sarojini Naidu's house) in Hyderabad.

Events Participated In

Wikipedia Women's Workshop Bangalore 2013 (organised by Wikimedia India, Servelots Infotech, Jayanagar, Bangalore, March 8, 2013). The event was covered by Kannada Prabha on March 9, 2013. Dr. U.B. Pavanaja participated in the event.
Wikipedia at Avenir (organised by the Wikipedia community, Netaji Subhash Engineering College, Kolkata, West Bengal, March 11, 2013). CIS supported the event.

Event Report from Other Organisations

Wikipedia Community members helped the Higher Education Innovation and Research Applications Programme (HEIRA) of CSCS Bangalore organize a day-long workshop on ‘Digital Literacy’ at Ahmednagar College, Ahmednagar, Maharasthra on January 17, 2013. Tanveer Hasan of HEIRA shares with us the developments in this report.

Media Coverage

Kannada Wikipedia Workshop, Mysore (Prajavani, March 25, 2013).

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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

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