Centre for Internet and Society

150 Rare Books Get New Lease of Life Online, Courtesy Students

praskrishna — 2014-07-18T06:12:31Z

You might have heard about Samkshepa Vedartham by Clement Pianius, the first book printed in Malayalam but might not have got a chance to read it.

The article by Anila Backer was published in the New Indian Express on July 15, 2014. The Access to Knowledge team at the Centre for Internet and Society (CIS-A2K) supported this Malayalam community event.

Now, you can read the book published in 1772 online through the Malayalam Wiki library (Wiki grandhasala). More than 150 such rare books have been digitised and uploaded by the school students across the state and a few members of the public as part of the digitisation contest jointly hosted by Malayalam Wikipedia community, IT@School, Kerala Sahitya Akademi , Centre for Internet and Society and Swathanthra Malayalam computing.

More than 1,000 students from 137 schools and 234 participants from the public uploaded more than 13,000 pages of rare books such as Hasthalakshana Deepika (1892) by Kadathanattu Udayavarma Thampuran, Madamahee Shashathakam Manipravalam (1908) by Kottaratil Shankunni, Malayazhmayude Vyakaranam (1863) by Rev George Mathan and Divan Shankunni Menon (1922) by C Achutha Menon as part of the competition held during January and February.

Besides, you can also acquire information on the social scenario during different time periods, like the matrilineal system of inheritance, ‘Marumakkathayam’ through the various volumes of old magazines digitised by the students. Magazines such as Mangalodayam and Rasikaranjini are also available in the wiki library. “Books that were not available in Malayalam and those existed only in the German and French libraries were digitised with the contest. The contest was organised to provide the public access to these rare collections,” says IT@School Wayanad district coordinator V J Thomas.

“It also allows one to search for a particular word or topic as well as to copy the content of the book for a research work or other purposes that cannot be done with a scanned copy of a book,” he adds.

“Moreover, it also aims at developing an interest among the students towards Malayalam computing and to make them effectively utilise the scope of Internet, besides improving their reading habit,” he added.

“It has also improved the typing speed of the students and they get familiar with the old fonts in the language also,” he added.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/new-indian-express-july-15-2014-anila-backer-150-rare-books-get-new-lease-of-life-online-courtesy-students

100wikidays: the journey so far

tito — 2017-06-28T10:04:33Z

In this article we'll chat with Bulgarian Wikipedian Vassia Atanassova (User:Spiritia) on the journey of 100wikidays so far, initial difficulties, and participation of Indian Wikipedia communities in the challenge.

100wikidays is a personal Wiki challenge, in which a participant attempts to create at least one new article on Wikipedia, for 100 days in a row. This initiative is a brainchild of Bulgarian Wikipedian Vassia Atanassova (User:Spiritia) and it started on 16 January 2015. As of 22 November 2016, 194 Wikipedians have taken this challenge and 63 of them have successfully completed it. A delighting fact is a large number of Indian Wikipedians have participated in this initiative and successfully completed this challenge. In this blog post we’ll try to focus on the project and its influence on Indian Wikimedians.

Let’s start the conversation with Vassia Atanassova, (User:Spiritia), the editor who started this initiative.

CIS-A2K: First, we congratulate you for the success of 100wikidays. When you started this challenge in January 2015, did you think that one day it would become so big?

Vassia: No, actually I wasn’t completely sure that I myself will be able to complete it. :) The story behind the 100wikidays is that earlier in 2014 I had already tried the so called “100happydays” challenge, in which you prove that 100 days in a row you have found happiness, even in the smallest things, by posting a photo of what made you happy. Needless to say, I failed it, around the 11-th day, which according to statistics happens with 7 out of 10 people. :) So, when in the end of 2014 I got the idea of retrying the challenge, already only knew that happiness was obviously not “my cup of tea” :) so I had to try something I am good in and have more chances for success, like writing in Wikipedia. :) But back then, I didn’t believe that I will be able to finish it myself – it was such a crazy idea – and no, I had never planned it as anything bigger than my own personal challenge. :)

CIS-A2K: Let’s talk about the initial days. What were the difficulties you faced?
Vassia: As I had already failed the happy photography challenge before, I was really nervous in the beginning. The challenge – as the rules of the #100happydays postulate – requires you to make a public commitment and announce your daily progress, and this is very demanding. You commit in front of a community you care for and don’t want to lose your face, or disappoint them. For me, this is half of the difficulty – and half of the magic.

The other half, of course, is to really find the time to create a decent encyclopedic article every day. We are definitely not talking about long featured articles, of course, but decent articles, giving the basic necessary information about a topic, referenced with reliable sources. I am not really eager about the idea of #100stubdays, although, of course, I have also had extremely busy days when I am not able to produce anything longer than a stub.

Thus, one of the first lessons I had to learn from the challenge was how to find the right balance between the inborn perfectionism and the unavoidable time limitations. I think that everyone who commits to the challenge and doesn’t quit it immediately, has such a period of adapting one’s style of contributing, of rearranging life priorities, and stealing from oneself precious time that would otherwise spend with the family, with friends, for other hobbies, or simply for sleeping. Oh, sleeping, how much I started appreciate sleep after the beginning of the challenge! #100wikidays is famous for jokes related with sleep deprivation. :)

CIS-A2K: How did you promote this initiative among the Wikipedia communities around the world?
Vassia: Hmm… I didn’t! It all happened naturally, by word of mouth. It is editors who are promoting it by getting involved in the challenge, I am not doing anything special. 100wikidays is living its own life. :)

In the beginning friends of mine who followed my Facebook wall liked and sometimes commented on the posts with the new articles. It took about one month before the first follower appeared, one of the ex-students in my university course “Wikipedia and Wiki Technologies”, Vladislav Nedelev. About that time I decided to propose the idea of the #100wikidays as a topic for talk at Wikimania. Funny detail is that initially this talk proposal got rejected, and it took weeks before it was reevaluated and approved :)

In the meanwhile, in early March, the next follower, or “victim”, joined, and happily that one was Asaf Bartov, Wikimedia Foundation’s senior officer in emergent Wikimedia communities. He didn’t want to be alone in the trouble :))) so one day he posted on his wall the question “Who will be the first Indian Wikipedian to commit to #100wikidays?” And by the end of the day there were four people (you, Tito, included)!!! And it was amazing, absolutely mindblowing!

Asaf also proposed the idea of the Facebook group and the Meta coordination page, where people report their daily progress. In my opinion, he is the most efficient victims recruiter in the #100wikidays :)

As of today (22 November 2016) we have 194 “victims” from 54 language versions of Wikipedia – and several sister projects like Wikiquote, Wikisource, Wiktionary and Commons and about 1/3 of all who have started it, have also completed it successfully. So, yeah, somehow it really became a global thing :) And real life meetings very much helped for that. Nikola Kalchev’s lightning talk at the Wikimedia Conference in Berlin, my talks at Wikimania in Mexico, at the Central and Eastern European Meetup in Voore, and at WikiLive conference in Belgrade, Alex Stinson’s speech at WikiConference USA 2015, Asaf also. Everyone who has taken the challenge can become its ambassador.

CIS-A2K: Tell us about a few participants who performed really well in this challenge?
Vassia: Oh, there are so many wonderful editors in #100wikidays, so many examples to be followed, people who are trendsetters on their own! Of course, Antanana and Lord Bumbury, who couldn’t stop themselves after the 100-th day, and made more than 220 wikidays in a row, each of them! Armine, who is now doing her 5th run of #100wikidays. Adam Cuerden with his runs of #10commonsdays of restoring old photographs, pixel by pixel! Asaf, Rosiestep, Penny Richards, Patricio, Maor X, and others whose focus is solely on biographies of notable women. Mervat Salman who introduced the #WikiWomenWeeks driving even more attention to this topic. Everyone in the challenge has brought to it something new and unique. And the most beautiful of it all is when ideas spread virally among the #100wikidays community, and people inspire each other with their choice of articles, and the way they communicate them.

CIS-A2K: 100wikidays is a difficult challenge. If someone writes articles for 60 or 70 days in a row, and then for some reason fails to continue, would you call it a failure, or what would be your suggestions?
Vassia: Heh, my favourite question. :) The word “failure” does not exist in my #100wikidays vocabulary. If you quit before the end of the 100 days, or if it takes you more than 100 days to finish, you have still made contributions to Wikipedia and has allowed someone to learn from the free knowledge that you have shared with the world. :) I know, the challenge has rules that really seem to be discouragingly severe. And it is normal that not everybody opts for it. But once you dare to opt, in the FB group you receive enormous support and appreciation – every day, for every new article. Also, among the challenge rules, the last one is “Ignore All Rules”. So, it is only up to you to decide whether a missed day is really a failure or not. My advice to everyone in this situation is: continue as if nothing has happened and no one has noticed :)

CIS-A2K: Several Indian Wikipedia communities participated in 100wikidays. Tell us about the participation of Indian Wikipedians in this challenge.
Vassia: So far, there have been contributors in 9 Indian languages: Punjabi (17), Oriya/Odia (3), Telugu (4), Bengali (3), Tamil (5), Hindi (4), Kannada (1), Malayalam (8). Correct me if I am missing anything. :) The total figure makes Indians the most active participants in the challenge, globally, with Armenia scoring second with 27 editors by now. No less than 13 are the Indian alumni, so far, which is quite of a big percentage of all. And the projects covered are different, not just Wikipedia in all those different languages, but also Wikisource, Wiktionary. This is truly impressive because some of the sister projects, like Wikisource, are really very demanding in terms of human resources and time, and usually not so populated with editors, which makes it even a greater challenge to undertake #100wikidays there. And I can’t but mention the recent notable interest in the challenge, registered in Malayalam Wikipedia. I’d be really very happy to know that the challenge has helped for the substantial growth of their, and generally, to any language version of Wikipedia. :)

Credits

Image source: Wikimedia Commons, license: CC-BY-SA 4.0, author: Kacie Harold

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/100wikidays

100 Konkani Articles Added to Wikipedia in One Day

praskrishna — 2016-02-12T15:17:02Z

This was published in the Times of India.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/a2k/news/100-konkani-articles-added-to-wikipedia-in-one-day

महाराष्ट्र ग्रंथोत्तेजक संस्थेमधील एक हजार ग्रंथ ऑनलाईन

praskrishna — 2015-12-15T07:57:00Z

Coverage of Marathi Wikipedia in Saamna.

A scanned version of the article published in Saamna on October 30 is below:

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/openness/news/92e93993e93093e93794d91f94d930-91794d93090292594b92494d92494791c915-93890293894d92594792e927940932-90f915-93991c93e930-91794d930902925-91192893293e908928

मराठी पुस्तके 'विकिस्रोत' ला, सकाळ

praskrishna — 2015-12-15T07:44:52Z

Marathi Wikipedia media coverage in Sakaal newspaper.

Scanned version of the article published in Sakaal on October 28, 2015:

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/openness/news/92e93093e920940-92a94193894d924915947-93593f91593f93894d93094b924-93293e-93891593e933-1

भाषाई कंप्यूटिंग के मानक बनाने के लिए चेन्नई में हुआ तीसरा फ्यूल जिल्‍ट

praskrishna — 2015-12-15T07:53:31Z

“मूसलाधार बारिश से जूझ रही चेन्नई में तीसरा फ़्यूल ज़िल्ट कॉन्फरेंस 2015 सफलतापूर्वक रविवार 22 नवंबर को संपन्न हुआ। भाषाई कंप्यूटिंग के लिए मानक भाषाई संसाधन और औज़ार बनाने में पिछले सात सालों से जुटी फ़्यूल परियोजना के द्वारा 2013 में आरंभ किए गए इस सम्मेलन के प्रायोजक और आयोजक दुनिया की जानी-मानी कंपनियां मोज़िला, सी-डैक और रेड हैट हैं। इसके पहले के दोनों सम्मेलन पुणे में आयोजित किए गए थे। यह सम्मेलन लोकलाइजेशन क्षेत्र का ओपन सोर्स का सबसे बड़ा सम्मेलन है।”

The article was published in Outlook on November 26, 2015.

तीन दिवसीय यह सम्मेलन 20 नवंबर को चेन्नई के अन्ना विश्वविद्यालय के टैग ऑडिटोरियम में आरंभ हुआ। इसके उद्घाटन सत्र को मोज़िला के लोकलाइजेशन ड्राइवर एक्सेल हेच्ट, आईआईटी मद्रास की प्रोफ़ेसर हेमा मूर्ति, आईआईटी मद्रास के ही हेमचंद्रण कराह और सीडैक के सहायक निदेशक जसजीत सिंह ने संबोधित किया। पहले दिन के शाम के पैनल डिसक्शन में मोज़िला की पेइंग मो और आर्की तथा अवाया के जी. करूणाकर और फ्यूल प्रोजेक्ट के संस्थापक राजेश रंजन के मॉडरेशन में खुली परिचर्चा हुई। पहले दिन के कार्यक्रम में भाषाई कंप्यूटिंग पर काम करने वाले कई जाने-माने विद्वानों ने हिस्सा लिया।

तमिलनाडु के स्थानीय भाषाई तकनीक विशेषज्ञों के अलावा इस सम्मेलन में भारत और नेपाल के विभिन्न भाषा-भाषाई करीब पचास से अधिक लोग उपस्थित हुए। तीन दिवसीय इस सम्मेलन का पहला दिन सभी लोगों के लिए खुला था जबकि अगला दो दिन मोज़िला लोकलाइजेशन हैकाथन का कार्यक्रम चला जिसके लिए सहभागी ख़ास तौर पर आमंत्रित किए गए थे। लोकलाइजेशन स्रोत भाषा से स्थानीय भाषा में किसी उत्पाद को बदलने की पूरी तकनीकी प्रक्रिया को कहा जाता है। इसके अंतर्गत मोज़िला के विभिन्न उत्पादों के लोकलाइजेशन यानी स्थानीयकरण की प्रक्रिया, उसमें सुधार और भविष्य की कार्ययोजना पर विस्तार से चर्चा हुई। पूरे कार्यक्रम का संचालन सी-डैक के तकनीकी अधिकारी चंद्रकांत धूताडमल ने किया।

उद्घाटन सत्र का आरंभ करते हुए फ़्यूल प्रोजेक्ट के संस्थापक राजेश रंजन ने फ़्यूल प्रोजेक्ट के बारे में उपस्थित श्रोताओं को बताया। उन्होंने बताया कि महज सामुदायिक योगदान और कुछ संगठनों की मदद के बदौलत भाषाई संसाधन का यह प्रोजेक्ट दुनिया की भाषाई संसाधन जैसे तकनीकी शब्दावली, स्टाइल गाइड आदि की सबसे बड़ी खुली परियोजना बन गई है। मानक तकनीकी शब्दावली, स्टाइल गाइड, ट्रांसलेशन एसेसमेंट मैट्रिक्स सहित कई महत्वपूर्ण संसाधनों से लैस यह प्रोजेक्ट विश्वव्यापी भाषाई संदर्भ का बड़ा अभिलेख बन गया है। गौरतलब है कि दुनिया की क़रीब 60 भाषाओं के भाषा समुदाय अभी इस परिजोयना से जुड़ी हुई है। मोज़िला के एक्सेल हेच्ट ने भारत में बढ़ रहे इंटरनेट उपयोगकर्ताओं के महत्व को रेखांकित करते हुए बताया कि मोज़िला और इसके खुले मूल्यों की उपस्थिति कितनी इनके लिए कितनी महत्वपूर्ण है। हेमा मूर्ति ने कहा कि अभी भी भाषाई कंप्यूटिंग की स्थिति काफी अच्छी नहीं हुई है और इस क्षेत्र में काफी काम होना बाकी हैं। जसजीत सिंह ने कहा कि कुछ और बड़ी कंपनियों के साथ फ़्यूल का जुड़ाव होना जरूरी है और उन कंपनियों को सामुदायिक रूप से तैयार किए गए संसाधन के महत्व को समझना चाहिए। ‘समानता के चिह्न और डिजिटल मानविकी का विकास’ विषय पर हेमचंद्रण का वक्तव्य बेहद उम्दा रहा। उन्होंने कहा कि डिजिटल मानविकी ने पारंपरिक मानविकी को हैक कर लिया है। उन्होंने कहा कि हमें महज इंटरफेस स्तरीय लोकलाइजेशन से ऊपर उठना चाहिए।

कार्यक्रम में लिब्रेऑफिस के इटालो विग्नोली, हमारा लिनक्स के विकास तारा, इतिहासकार रविकांत और जाने-माने ब्लॉगर रवि रतलामी और कनाडा के अमनदीप सिंह सैनी ने भी अपना वक्तव्य दिया। जहाँ रविकांत ने भाषाई शुद्धतावाद की आलोचना करते हुए सामुदायिक और खुल प्रयासों की उपयोगिता को रेखांकित किया वहीं रतलामी ने आईफोन, एंड्रायड और विंडोज फोन से उदाहरण देते हुए फ़्यूल की अनिवार्यता बताई। अमनदीप ने कनाडा में विभिन्न भाषा-भाषी लोगों के लिए किए गए सरकारी उपायों को बताया और कहा कि कैसे भारत भाषाई एक्सेसिबिलीटी के मामले में पीछे है और इसके कारण यहाँ के लोगों को कितनी समस्याओं का सामना करना पड़ता है। इटली निवासी इटालो ने ओपन डॉक्यूमेंट फॉर्मेट पर चर्चा की और विकास ने हमारा लिनक्स की गतिविधि पर प्रकाश डाला। भाषाई तकनीक विशेषज्ञ बिराज कर्माकर, प्रवीण ए, शुभाशीष पाणिग्रही, वीथिका मिश्रा, प्रवीण सतपुते, चंदन कुमार, राजू विंदाने सहित कई लोगों ने अपना वक्तव्य दिया।

मोज़िला के एक्सेल हेच्ट, पेइंग मो और आर्की के दिशा-निर्देश में अंतिम दो दिन विभिन्न भाषाओं में काम करने वाले लोगों ने व्यापक परिचर्चा के दौरान कई विषयों पर बातें की और उपस्थित लोगों ने मोज़िला की स्वयंसेवी गतिविधियों के भविष्य की कार्ययोजना बनाई।

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/openness/news/92d93e93793e908-91590292a94d92f94291f93f902917-915947-92e93e928915-92c92893e928947-915947-93293f90f-91a94792894d928908-92e947902-939941906-92494093893093e-92b94d92f942932-91c93f93294d200d91f

पीजी जूलॉजी विभाग में एक दिवसीय समागम का आयोजन

praskrishna — 2016-12-20T16:32:41Z

रांची विश्वविद्यालय के पीजी जूलॉजी विभाग में शनिवार को इंटरनेट एक्सेस पर आधारित संगोष्ठी ‘ओपनकॉन हुई। कुलपति डॉ रमेश कुमार पांडेय ने इसकी अध्यक्षता की। कार्यक्रम में डीएसडब्ल्यू डॉ सतीश चंद्र गुप्ता, प्रो संजय मिश्रा, प्रो अभिजीत दत्ता और डॉ बीके सिन्हा मौजूद थे। इसका आयोजन ओपन एक्ससेस इंडिया के सहयोग से किया गया। संगोष्ठी में लगभग 60 प्रतिभागियों ने हिस्सा लिया। कुलपति डॉ रमेश कुमार पांडेय समेत कई प्रतिभागियों ने अपना विकीपीडिया अकाउंट पेज भी खोला।

The article was published in the Hindustan on November 12, 2016.

संगोष्ठी में बतौर रिसोर्स पर्सन सेंटर फॉर फ्यूचर एंड सोसायटी, बंगलुरू के टीटो दत्ता, विकीपीडिया से गंगाधर बधानी मौजूद थे। साथ ही, ऑनलाइन विशेषज्ञों के तौर पर इस्लामिक यूनिवर्सिटी लेबनान की जमीला जाबेर व बंगलुरू की लीना और वृषाली प्रतिभागियों से रू-ब-रू हुईं। इंटनेटर एक्सेस से जुड़ी नवीनतम जानकारियों को पाकर प्रतिभागी खासे उत्साहित थे। उन्होंने शोधकार्य और अध्ययन के लिए इसे बहुत उपयोगी बताया। साथ ही, यह मांग भी की इस तरह के आयोजन नियमित अंतराल पर होते रहने चाहिए। संगोष्ठी में ओपन एक्सेस, ओपन एजुकेशन और ओपन डाटा के विभिन्न पहलुओं पर चर्चा हुई। इसमें विद्यार्थियों, शोधार्थियों और शिक्षाविदों को शोध व प्रोजेक्ट के लिए बेहतर स्रोत विकसित करने के तरीके बताए गए।

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/a2k/news/hindustan-november-12-2016-article-1-opencon-conference-held-at-ru

55 Works of Iconic Indian writer released under Free Licence to benefit Wikisource

vishnu — 2014-11-14T13:29:48Z

Kannada is a language spoken by 40 million people in Karnataka – one of the four southern states of India.The Kannada Wikimedia community, in collaboration with CIS-A2K, are enthusiastic about having almost all of the works of Niranjana re-licensed under CC-BY-SA 4.0 on the occasion of Kannada Rajyotsava.

The original post was published on Wikimedia Blog.

Niranjana was a prolific Indian author and activist, and wrote more than 60 books over the course of his career. These works will be digitized and made available on Kannada Wikisource, allowing Kannada speakers to freely access the diverse set of works. Niranjana’s works give a rich glimpse into social, political, and cultural history of Karnataka from the 1940s to 1990s; they can be used as a potential resource for creating and improving articles on Kannada Wikipedia.

Niranjana (1924-1992) was the pseudonym of Kulkund Shivarao, a prominent Kannada writer of the 20th century and a leading figure in the Progressive Writers’ Movement in Kannada. His prolific output, across nearly five decades, included novels, short stories, plays, biographies, political commentary, and translations. He was a regular columnist in the Kannada newspapers and magazines. Among his achievements as an editor are Jnana Gangotri, a 7-volume encyclopedia for young people, and a 25-volume compilation of the world’s greatest short stories.

A total of 55 Kannada books by Niranjana are re-licensed. “This is the single largest and most comprehensive individual collection of a writer to be released under CC-BY-SA 4.0 in any of the Indian languages so far,” says Kannada Wikimedian Omshivaprakash. Kannada Wikimedians and CIS-A2K have organized a formal event to celebrate Creative Commons efforts to cultivate free and open knowledge online in Kannada; specifically, Kannada Wikisource. It is important to also acknowledge the great initiative shown by Niranjana’s daughter, Dr. Tejaswini Niranjana (also CIS-A2K Advisor), in getting these works released under CC-BY-SA 4.0 licensing.

Dr. Tejaswini Niranjana says, “[Kannada] Wikisource is an excellent free and open knowledge platform for books in Indian languages and I am happy that my father’s works can now be accessed by [all] Kannadigas across the world. Let these writings have innumerable readers. What more could any author want?”

She is determined to release more work under CC licensing, and says, “[I] will be more than glad to get as many Indian works as possible under a free license as this will ensure that a lot of knowledge produced over the past many decades in India can easily be made accessible to the next generation of seekers of knowledge, who are digital natives.”

“This is the the single largest and most comprehensive individual collection of a writer to be released under CC-BY-SA 4.0 in any of the Indian languages so far,” says Omshivaprakash.

“KannadaWikipediaWorkshop 010″ by Pavanaja, under CC-BY-SA-3.0

Tejas Jain, another Kannada Wikimedian, was quick to co-write a blog in Kannada about this content donation. Jain says, “this is a bold step…and will act as motivation for other Kannada writers to release more content under CC-BY-SA 4.0.” He hopes to see “Kannda Wikisource grow as the comprehensive single digital resource for free Kannada books” and address “the fear of loosing the rich print heritage of Kannada to time.”

Omshivaprakash was surprised to realize that there is no article on such a prominent Kannada writer like Niranjana on English Wikipedia.This led to a Facebook discussion, and User Tito Dutta responded swiftly, but needed help with verifiable resources. Omshivaprakash chipped in with resources and a page on Niranjana (needs your Wiki Love) has now been started on English Wikipedia. While this is not a big achievement, it is a simple example of how the (Indian) English Wikipedians could collaborate with Indic Wikimedians in creating India focused content on English Wikipeida and how social media could be used for off-wiki collaboration by Wikimedians. Incidentally Tito and Omshivaprakash became friends on FB during the WMF’s India Community Consultation 2014 which was held recently in Bangalore.

Tejas Jain “This is a bold step[...]and will act as motivation for other Kannada writers to release more content under CC-BY-SA 4.0″

“Tejas Jain” by Visdaviva , under CC-BY-SA-4.0

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/55-works-of-iconic-indian-writer-released-under-free-licence-to-benefit-wikisource

37th SCCR: CIS Statement on the Proposed Treaty for the Protection of Broadcasting Organizations

sinha — 2018-11-29T10:08:46Z

Anubha Sinha, attending the 37th Session of the World Intellectual Property Organization (“WIPO”) Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (“SCCR”) at Geneva from November 26, 2018 to November 30, 2018, made this statement on the Proposed Treaty for the Protection of Broadcasting Organizations on behalf of CIS on Day 1, November 26.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

There still remain concerns about the weak language on limitations and exceptions in the proposed treaty.

The proposed treaty is bound to have adverse effects on legally accepted existing practices of sharing and using online works. Libraries, archives, museums, educational and research institutions, public interest organisations such as Creative Commons, organisations and efforts directed at making orphan works available online - all perform critical roles to advance the progress of society. There is a looming threat on the continuation of their ability to access and to provide the public subsequent access to their collections. Thus, there is a dire need to incorporate robust solutions into the treaty text to not have unintended consequences on the society.

We must also make note of developments such as Facebook acquiring rights to stream La Liga matches in the Indian subcontinent and acquisition of Pandora by a broadcaster (Sirius XM). In such an environment, it is becoming impossible to technically eliminate the role of computer networks insofar as creating the signal and transmitting it is concerned. The treaty still envisages to not benefit those transmissions that occur exclusively on computer networks. In light of new business and technological realities, the deficiencies in the Committee's discussions are already apparent. We urge the committee to work to ensure that the resultant treaty is balanced in letter and spirit, both.

Thank you.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/37th-sccr-cis-statement-on-cis-statement-on-the-proposed-treaty-for-the-protection-of-broadcasting-organizations

37th SCCR: CIS Statement on the Agenda on Limitations and Exceptions

sinha — 2018-11-29T10:20:13Z

Anubha Sinha, attending the 37th Session of the World Intellectual Property Organization (“WIPO”) Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (“SCCR”) at Geneva from November 26, 2018 to November 30, 2018, made this statement on the agenda on limitations and exceptions on behalf of CIS on Day 3, November 28.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

The Centre for Internet and Society is a civil society organisation based in India working on issues of openness and access to knowledge, amongst others.

India is a diverse country with thriving communities working on and promoting access to research, data, archival material, educational material, and developing material to benefit persons with other disabilities. As such, the regional seminars will be an excellent opportunity for such communities to interact with various stakeholders and government delegates; and help formulate concrete principles that should inform the international legal instrument that we hope is developed and discussed soon.

To enable comprehensive and substantive participation and discussions, I urge member states and WIPO to undertake steps to make the regional seminars as inclusive as possible. I request the secretariat and member states to actively work with civil society to identify and invite such community leaders.

Thank you very much.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/37th-sccr-cis-statement-on-the-agenda-on-limitations-and-exceptions

36th SCCR: CIS Statement on the Proposed Treaty for the Protection of Broadcasting Organizations

sinha — 2018-05-28T14:04:53Z

Anubha Sinha, attending the 36th Session of the World Intellectual Property Organization (“WIPO”) Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (“SCCR”) at Geneva from May 28, 2018 to June 1, 2018, made this statement on the Proposed Treaty for the Protection of Broadcasting Organizations on behalf of CIS on Day 1, May 28.

Thank you Mr. Chair

We would like to highlight that some of the existing alternatives to the text of the Broadcasting treaty have serious issues.

Some of the points that bear re-emphasizing are problems with watering down of limitations and exceptions, and the contemplation of a fifty year term of protection without any rationale or justifications.

If you look at the history of the Committee’s deliberations, the limitations and exceptions have been significantly diluted over the years. On the other hand, the ask for increased protections in terms of number of rights, scope and term has only increased.

Further, if the protection extends only to the signal and not to the programmes contained therein, it is not clear as to why a 50 year protection is needed for an ephemeral signal.

Reiterating the words of the Asia-Pacific Group - this matter requires proper balancing from a developmental perspective. I submit that in my opinion, it does not appear that we are anywhere close to achieving that.

Thank you.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/36th-sccr-cis-statement-on-the-proposed-treaty-for-the-protection-of-broadcasting-organizations

36th SCCR: CIS Statement on the Draft Action Plan for Libraries, Archives and Museums

sinha — 2018-05-31T09:47:15Z

Anubha Sinha, attending the 36th Session of the World Intellectual Property Organization (“WIPO”) Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (“SCCR”) at Geneva from May 28, 2018 to June 1, 2018, made this statement on the Draft Action Plan on advancing limitations and exceptions for libraries, archives and Museums on behalf of CIS on Day 3, May 30.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I’m speaking on behalf of the Centre for Internet and Society, India.

Very recently we concluded a qualitative study on archives in India to examine how limitations and exceptions help them in achieving their mission.

We found that the Indian Act goes to the extent of making an exception for preservation for libraries. To make up for unintended gaps in this clause, Indian archives and museums owing to overlapping functions with libraries use this exception within limits – which counts as an ‘implied’ application of the exception, as reported by the ex- registar of the Indian Copyright Office in 2010 to WIPO. Undeniably, an institutional approach has created unintended barriers for other institutions performing the exact same function.

The draft action plan adopts a similar institutional approach in its three different tracks for libraries, archives and museums. As many of the core functions of these institutions overlap, and indeed they may be an archive housed in a library or vice-a-versa, we must change our approach to focus on the functions and not the formal identification of such institutions.

Hence, I submit that the draft action plan be suitably amended to reflect a purposive approach to drafting this treaty, and not create artificial distinctions between institutions that do not reflect reality.

Thank you.

Note: Please find the Draft Action Plan here (SCCR/36/3).

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/36th-sccr-cis-statement-on-the-draft-action-plan-for-libraries-archives-and-museums

36th SCCR: CIS Statement on Limitations and Exceptions Agenda

sinha — 2018-05-31T09:43:08Z

Anubha Sinha, attending the 36th Session of the World Intellectual Property Organization (“WIPO”) Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (“SCCR”) at Geneva from May 28, 2018 to June 1, 2018, made this statement on the Limitations and Exceptions agenda on behalf of CIS on Day 3, May 30.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I’m speaking on behalf of the Centre for Internet and Society, India.

As we move forward on this agenda, we believe that for a true balance to be realised, the rights of all users of copyrighted works will have to be treated on par with those of the rightholders for purposes of access to knowledge. We are disappointed with the state of the limitations and exceptions in the broadcast treaty, that made some progress yesterday (in terms of increasing rights).

Further, as we have submitted earlier, it is our belief that the present international legal framework does not sufficiently address the opportunities presented by new information and communication technologies. We reiterate the need for open ended exceptions and limitations in this area - which should also facilitate smooth cross border exchange of knowledge.

Thank you.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/36th-sccr-cis-statement-on-limitations-and-exceptions-agenda

36th SCCR: CIS Statement on Draft Action Plan for Educational and Research Institutions and Persons with Other Disabilities

sinha — 2018-05-31T09:46:45Z

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I’m speaking on behalf of the Centre for Internet and Society, India.

We have concerns about the plan’s focus on MOOCs and distance learning initiatives. Although they are related to increasing access to education, these initiatives are hardly a substitute for classroom learning – and the primary objective of the treaty should be to improve such classroom teaching, especially for developing countries where ICT penetration remains quite low. Unless the plan also chooses to develop Open Educational Resources as a priority in connection with MOOCs and distance learning initiatives, we suggest that this item in the plan be re-examined in light of other more beneficial action items.

Thank you.

Note: Please find the Draft Action Plan here (SCCR/36/3).

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/36th-sccr-cis-statement-on-draft-action-plan-for-educational-and-research-institutions-and-persons-with-other-disabilities

35th SCCR: CIS' Question to Dr. Rostama on her Study on the Impact of the Digital Environment on Copyright Legislation

sinha — 2017-11-19T07:50:49Z

Anubha Sinha, attending the 35th Session of the World Intellectual Property Organization (“WIPO”) Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (“SCCR”) at Geneva from 13 November, 2017 to 18 November, 2017, posed this question on the agenda 'Other Matters' on behalf of CIS on Day 5, 17 November, 2017.

Thank you for the presentation, Dr. Rostamma.

My question relates to provisions allowing reverse engineering of computer programmes. You mentioned that 81% of member states (with the scope of your study) have exceptions for compilation and interoperability of computer programmes.

Can you comment, qualitatively, on how open/ strict you have found the limitations and exceptions to be in your study? Is there a member state that stands out in its treatment of limitations and exceptions for computer programmers, and/or users of such digital objects?

Answer: I would not like to make any qualitative comments.

Read Dr. Rostamma's study here.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/35th-sccr-cis-question-to-dr-rostama-on-her-study-on-the-impact-of-the-digital-environment-on-copyright-legislation

Centre for Internet and Society

150 Rare Books Get New Lease of Life Online, Courtesy Students

100wikidays: the journey so far

See also

Credits

100 Konkani Articles Added to Wikipedia in One Day

महाराष्ट्र ग्रंथोत्तेजक संस्थेमधील एक हजार ग्रंथ ऑनलाईन

मराठी पुस्तके 'विकिस्रोत' ला, सकाळ

भाषाई कंप्यूटिंग के मानक बनाने के लिए चेन्नई में हुआ तीसरा फ्यूल जिल्‍ट

पीजी जूलॉजी विभाग में एक दिवसीय समागम का आयोजन

55 Works of Iconic Indian writer released under Free Licence to benefit Wikisource

37th SCCR: CIS Statement on the Proposed Treaty for the Protection of Broadcasting Organizations

37th SCCR: CIS Statement on the Agenda on Limitations and Exceptions

36th SCCR: CIS Statement on the Proposed Treaty for the Protection of Broadcasting Organizations

36th SCCR: CIS Statement on the Draft Action Plan for Libraries, Archives and Museums

36th SCCR: CIS Statement on Limitations and Exceptions Agenda

36th SCCR: CIS Statement on Draft Action Plan for Educational and Research Institutions and Persons with Other Disabilities

35th SCCR: CIS' Question to Dr. Rostama on her Study on the Impact of the Digital Environment on Copyright Legislation