The Centre for Internet and Society
https://cis-india.org
These are the search results for the query, showing results 151 to 165.
Changing the typographic landscape of a country: one letter at a time
https://cis-india.org/a2k/news/story-weaver-december-1-2016-pooja-saxena-changing-the-typographic-landscape-of-a-country
<b>My interest in designing typefaces in Indian scripts grew out of years of disappointment with the way most Hindi books I came across looked. Apart from a few exceptions, they looked like poor cousins of English books. Whether it was a children’s story book or a novel or magazine, there was usually the same drab typeface. </b>
<p>The blog post by Pooja Saxena was <a class="external-link" href="https://storyweaver.org.in/blog_posts/95-changing-the-typographic-landscape-of-a-country-one-letter-at-a-time">published in Storyweaver</a> on December 1, 2016.</p>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Some letters didn’t look like what we were taught in school, on others the matras (vowel marks) didn’t arch at the right places. Overall, the books and the letters inside them had an air of neglect. They looked old and completely unexciting. When I first learned that designing typefaces was a real job, I thought here was the opportunity to change all that.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/story-weaver-e2e-production/ckeditor_assets/pictures/254/content/cambay.jpg" /></p>
<p><b>Cambay, Devanagari typeface designed by Pooja Saxena for Google Fonts </b></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Changing the typographic landscape of a country as diverse as India is not a one-woman job, but every now and then a project comes by that has the potential to make a small difference. Two years ago, as a result of a conversation with <a href="http://psubhashish.com/">Subhashish Panigrahi</a>, the <a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k">Access to Knowledge</a> programme at the <a href="http://cis-india.org">Centre for Internet and Society</a> commissioned a Ol Chiki typeface family. The Ol Chiki script, about which I knew precious little at the time, is used to write the language Santali, which is spoken by over six million people in India and its neighbouring countries. At the time that we started working on this project, there was no Unicode compliant typeface available in the script, making it impossible for it to be used on computers and cellphones, and online in a consistent and future-proof way. We hoped to change that by designing a small, but useful typeface family (it comes in regular, bold and italics) along with input methods and keyboard layouts that would allow a person to type Ol Chiki text easily.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/story-weaver-e2e-production/ckeditor_assets/pictures/256/content/gurugomke.jpg" /></p>
<p><b>Guru Gomke, Ol Chiki typeface designed by Pooja Saxena with research inputs from Shubhashish Panigrahi,for the A2K Programme at the Centre for Internet and Society. </b></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">This project was especially challenging because not only was Ol Chiki a completely unfamiliar script to me and Subhashish, but there was limited material available for us to consult. While designing a typeface in a script one reads and/or writes, or is at least familiar with, one’s experience with those letters can act as a guide. By writing them and seeing them printed in different fonts, in many people’s handwriting — some good, some bad — and on hand painted signs, one develops an instinct for identifying which parts of a letter make it recognisable. That way we know what parts of the letter can be exaggerated, and what others can be played down without compromising legibility. For an unfamiliar script, this visual vocabulary and the traditionally correct way of writing letters must be learned. Manuscripts, printed documents, handwriting manuals and samples, metal type, linguistic information about the script, feedback from native readers — all form parts of a puzzle that needs to be put together to design a competent typeface.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The story of Ol Chiki script is fascinating. The script is less than a century old, and was devised by Pandit Raghunath Murmu, who wanted to create a script that could accommodate all the features of the Santali language — something that the scripts used to write Santali so far had failed to do. Legend has it that he based the design of the letters on objects commonly found in the everyday environment of the Santals. Even though the script was created between 1920 – 1940, the Santal community has many myths about how it was created. One says that the script came to be at the time when the Earth itself was created, another says that the script was given as a divine gift to a learned man, Pandit Raghunath Murmu. It is after Pandit Raghunath Murmu, who is reverentially called Guru Gomke, that the Ol Chiki typeface that I designed was named. You can find out more about the Ol Chiki typeface and input methods project <a href="https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Project_Ol_chiki">here</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/story-weaver-e2e-production/ckeditor_assets/pictures/255/content/coovumartfestival.jpg" /></p>
<p><b>Custom lettering for the Tamil branding of the Coovum Art Festival, designed by Pooja Saxena </b></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">If you’re interested in Indian type design and le ering, consider following the work of these exceptional designers — Noopur Datye, one of the co-founders of type design collective, <a href="https://ektype.in">Ek Type</a>, who has designed custom typefaces TV channels like LifeOK; <a href="https://kimyagandhi.wordpress.com/">Kimya Gandhi</a>, who is partner at Mota Italic, and recently designed an inventive Devanagari handwriting font; or <a href="https://twitter.com/lipopsicle">Lipi Raval</a>, whose flamboyant Gujarati typeface <a href="https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Mogra?sort=date">Mogra</a> is a complete head-turner.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/a2k/news/story-weaver-december-1-2016-pooja-saxena-changing-the-typographic-landscape-of-a-country'>https://cis-india.org/a2k/news/story-weaver-december-1-2016-pooja-saxena-changing-the-typographic-landscape-of-a-country</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaWikimediaCIS-A2KWikipediaAccess to Knowledge2016-12-20T16:06:51ZNews ItemDecember 2015 Bulletin
https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/december-2015-bulletin
<b>Our newsletter for the month of December 2015 is below.</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The Centre for Internet & Society (CIS) is happy to share the twelfth issue of CIS newsletter (December 2015). Previous editions of the newsletter can be accessed at <a href="http://cis-india.org/about/newsletters">http://cis-india.org/about/newsletters</a>.</p>
<table class="grid listing">
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<h3>Highlights</h3>
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<li>The <a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/press-release-india-to-host-4th-global-congress-on-intellectual-property-and-the-public-interest">4th edition of the Global Congress</a> themed around "Three Decades of Openness, Two Decades of TRIPS" was organized in New Delhi from December 15 - 17, 2015. The largest ever in Asia, the Congress was jointly organised by CIS, NLU-D, Open A.I.R., CREATe, Columbia University and American University.</li>
<li>Nehaa Chaudhari <a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/4th-global-congress-on-ip-and-the-public-interest-statement-of-conclusion-for-the-ip-and-development-track">summarized the developments of the 4th Global Congress on IP and the Public Interest in a blog post</a> that was originally published on the Global Congress blog.</li>
<li>Sunil Abraham wrote a blog entry stating the <a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/cis-position-on-net-neutrality">institutional position of CIS on the Net Neutrality</a> discussion going on in India.</li>
<li>Catch News interviewed Sunil Abraham about the recent advertisement by Facebook titled <a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/facebook-shares-10-key-facts-about-free-basics-heres-whats-wrong-with-all-10-of-them"> "What Net Neutrality Activists won't Tell You or, the Top 10 Facts about Free Basics" </a> . Sunil argued against the validity of all the 'top 10 facts'.</li>
<li>Odia author and cultural historian Jagannath Prasad Das <a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/discover-bhubaneswar-30-books-of-odia-author-and-historian-jagannath-prasad-das-to-come-online-on-odia-wikisource"> has recently permitted 30 volumes of his notable works to be re-license under an open license (Creative Commons Share-Alike 4.0 or CC-BY-SA 4.0) </a> . Subhashish Panigrahi wrote a blog post on this in Discover Bhubaneswar, a web portal in Odisha.</li>
<li>CIS has established institutional partnerships with University of Mysore and Guru G Learning Labs for furthering Wikipedia growth. Tanveer Hasan <a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/analysis-of-institutional-partnerships-university-of-mysore-and-guru-g-learning-lab">analyses the developments and lists out the possible future plans</a> in this regard.</li>
<li>CIS along with Observer Research Foundation, Centre for Global Communication Studies, Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania, and Internet Policy Observatory <a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/events/net-neutrality-across-south-asia"> organized an event in New Delhi on Net Neutrality across South Asia </a> .</li>
<li>Today the quantity of data being generated is expanding at an exponential rate. From smartphones and televisions, trains and airplanes, sensor-equipped buildings and even the infrastructures of our cities, data now streams constantly from almost every sector and function of daily life, <a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/benefits-and-harms-of-big-data">stated Scott Mason in a blog post</a>.</li>
<li>The Government of India is in the process of developing 100 smart cities in India which it sees as the key to the country's economic and social growth. Vanya Rakesh <a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/smart-cities-in-india-an-overview">gave an overview of the Smart Cities project currently underway in India in a blog post</a>.</li>
<li>For the second part of the Smart City podcast series, Sruthi Krishnan and Harsha K from Fields of View spoke with Sumandro Chattapadhyay on data, people, and smart cities. <a href="http://cis-india.org/raw/fov-podcast-data-people-and-smart-cities">Fields of View has produced and shared the recording</a>.</li>
<li>An extended survey of digital initiatives in arts and humanities practices in India was undertaken last year. The 'mapping digital humanities in India' enquiry began with the term 'digital humanities' itself, as a 'found' name for which one needs to excavate some meaning, context, and location in India at the present moment. P.P Sneha published the <a href="http://cis-india.org/raw/reading-from-a-distance-data-as-text">third</a>,<a href="http://cis-india.org/raw/the-infrastructure-turn-in-the-humanities">fourth</a>, and <a href="http://cis-india.org/raw/living-in-the-archival-moment">fifth</a> sections of the study this month.</li>
<li>The RAW programme has initiated a new annual conference series titled Internet Researchers' Conference (IRC). The <a href="http://cis-india.org/raw/irc16-call">first edition of the Conference</a>, organised around the theme of "studying internet in India" will be held in Delhi in February 2016</li>
</ul>
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<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>----------------------------------------------<br /><a href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility">Accessibility and Inclusion<br /></a>----------------------------------------------</b></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Under a grant from the Hans Foundation we are doing a project on developing text-to-speech software for 15 Indian languages. The progress made so far in the project can be accessed <a href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/resources/nvda-text-to-speech-synthesizer">here</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">►NVDA and eSpeak</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Monthly Updates</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">● <a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/december-2015-report">December 2015 Report</a> (Suman Dogra; December 31, 2015).</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>-----------------------------------------------------------<br /><a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k">Access to Knowledge<br /></a>-----------------------------------------------------------</b><br />As part of the Access to Knowledge programme we are doing two projects. The first one (Pervasive Technologies) under a grant from the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) is for research on the complex interplay between pervasive technologies and intellectual property to support intellectual property norms that encourage the proliferation and development of such technologies as a social good. The second one (Wikipedia) under a grant from the Wikimedia Foundation is for the growth of Indic language communities and projects by designing community collaborations and partnerships that recruit and cultivate new editors and explore innovative approaches to building projects.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">►Copyright and Patent</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Blog Entries</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/abuse-of-dominant-position-in-indian-competition-law-a-brief-guide">Abuse of Dominant Position in Indian Competition Law: A Brief Guide </a> (Sarthak Sood; December 9, 2015).</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/gcip2015-notes-from-the-inaugural-session">GCIP2015: Notes from the Inaugural Session</a> (Spadika Jayaraj; SpicyIP; December 14, 2015).</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/gcip-day-1-session-3-challenges-in-re-articulating-public-interest">GCIP Day 1 Session 3: Challenges in Re-Articulating Public Interest </a> (Spadika Jayaraj; SpicyIP; December 17, 2015).</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/gcip-15-day-2-discussions-on-health-technology-innovation-and-access">GCIP 15 Day 2: Discussions on Health Technology, Innovation and Access </a> (Spadika Jayaraj; SpicyIP; December 17, 2015).</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/guidelines-for-examination-of-computer-related-inventions-in-abeyance">Guidelines for Examination of Computer Related Inventions in abeyance </a> (Anubha Sinha; Anubha Sinha; December 21, 2015).</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/4th-global-congress-on-ip-and-the-public-interest-statement-of-conclusion-for-the-ip-and-development-track">4th Global Congress on IP and the Public Interest: Statement of Conclusion for the IP and Development track </a> (Nehaa Chaudhari; December 25, 2015). <i>This was also published on the Global Congress Blog</i>.</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Event Organized</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/call-for-participation-global-congress-on-intellectual-property-and-the-public-interest">Global Congress on Intellectual Property and the Public Interest </a> (Organized by National Law University, Delhi, American Assembly, Columbia University, Open A.I.R., American University, and CIS; New Delhi, December 15 - 17, 2015).</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Participation in Event</p>
<ul>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/news/code-session">CODE Session</a> (Organized by IDRC; December 17, 2015; New Delhi). Nehaa Chaudhari and Anubha Sinha participated in the event.</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Media Coverage</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/news/nlsiu-conference-on-access-to-copyrighted-works-for-persons-with-disability-an-enriching-experience">NLSIU Conference on Access to Copyrighted Works for Persons with Disability: An enriching experience </a> (Abolee Vaidya and Nuhar Bansal; SINAPSE; December 14, 2015). <i> This is an event report on a one-day national conference on the 'Access to Copyrighted Works for Persons with Disability' for which Pranesh Prakash was a speaker </i> .</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">►Wikipedia</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">As part of the <a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/access-to-knowledge-program-plan">project grant from the Wikimedia Foundation</a> we have reached out to more than 3500 people across India by organizing more than 100 outreach events and catalysed the release of encyclopaedic and other content under the Creative Commons (CC-BY-3.0) license in four Indian languages (21 books in Telugu, 13 in Odia, 4 volumes of encyclopaedia in Konkani and 6 volumes in Kannada, and 1 book on Odia language history in English).</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Articles</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/discover-bhubaneswar-30-books-of-odia-author-and-historian-jagannath-prasad-das-to-come-online-on-odia-wikisource">30 Books of Odia Author and Historian Jagannath Prasad Das to Come Online on Odia Wikisource </a> (Subhashish Panigrahi; Discover Bhubaneswar; December 4, 2015).</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/sambada-rabibara-subhashish-panigrahi-december-6-2015-odia-wikisource">ଓଡ଼ିଆ</a> <a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/sambada-rabibara-subhashish-panigrahi-december-6-2015-odia-wikisource"> </a> <a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/sambada-rabibara-subhashish-panigrahi-december-6-2015-odia-wikisource"> ଉଇକିପାଠାଗାର </a> (Subhashish Panigrahi; Sambad; December 6, 2015).</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Blog Entries</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/wikimedia-blog-subhashish-panigrahi-december-3-open-access-in-marathi-language-expands-by-thousand-books">Open access in the Marathi language expands by a thousand books </a> (Subhashish Panigrahi and Abhinav Garule; December 3, 2015). <i>This was published on Wikimedia Blog</i>.</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/guru-g-learning-labs-and-cis-a2k-institutional-partnership">Guru-G Learning Labs and CIS A2K Institutional Partnership </a> (Tanveer Hasan; December 3, 2015).</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/community-prioritisation-content-donation-kannada-wikisource">Community Prioritisation of Content Donation: Kannada Wikisource </a> (Tanveer Hasan; December 5, 2015).</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/analysis-of-institutional-partnerships-university-of-mysore-and-guru-g-learning-lab">Analysis of Institutional Partnerships: University of Mysore and Guru G Learning Labs </a> (Tanveer Hasan; December 5, 2015).</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/department-of-tourism-studies-christ-university-st-aloysius-college">Touch Point Report: Department of Tourism Studies, Christ University and St. Aloysius College, Mangalore </a> (Tanveer Hasan; December 5, 2015).</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/ttt-2015">TTT 2015</a> (Tanveer Hasan; December 5, 2015).</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/kannada-wikipedia-editathon-at-mangaluru">Kannada Wikipedia Editathon at Mangaluru</a> (Dr. U.B. Pavanaja; December 29, 2015).</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Events Organized</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://cis-india.org/openness/discussion-on-bringing-peshwa-culture-on-marathi-wikipedia">Talk on bringing 1000 books about the culture of Maharashtra on Marathi Wikipedia </a> (The Energy and Resources Institute; Bangalore; December 1, 2015). Avinash Chaphekar, Joint Secretary, Maharashtra Granthottejak Sanstha gave a talk.</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/openness/odia-wikimedia-community-meetup-at-cuttack">Odia Wikimedia community meetup</a> (Organized by Odia Wikipedia Community and CIS; Cuttack; December 3, 2015).</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/events/sau-dhuni-teen-project-december-edit-a-thon-at-womens-studies-centre-university-of-pune">Sau Dhuni Teen Project: December Edit-a-thon </a> (Women's Studies Centre, University of Pune; December 3, 2015).</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Participation in Events</b></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/news/telugu-wikipedia-day-2015-photo-walk">Telugu Wikipedia Day 2015, Photo Walk</a> (Organized by Telugu Wikipedians; Dr. YSR State Archaeological Museum, Hyderabad; December 13, 2015). Pavan Santhosh attended the event. One of the popular Telugu news channel TV9 covered the event and telecasted the same. <a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/news/telugu-wikipedia-day-2015-eenadu-coverage">Eenadu published a special item on photo walk</a> on December 13, 2015.</li>
<li>English Wikipedia and the Telugu Wikipedia joint meetup and edit-a-thon (Organized by Wikipedia community; Golden Threshold, Hyderabad; December 20, 2015). The event was covered in<a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/news/english-wikipedia-and-the-telugu-wikipedia-joint-meetup-and-edit-a-thon-sakshi">Sakshi</a> and <a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/news/english-wikipedia-and-the-telugu-wikipedia-joint-meetup-and-edit-a-thon-andhra-jyoti">Andhra Jyoti</a>.</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Media Coverage</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">CIS gave its inputs to the following media coverage:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/news/post-more-articles-on-kannada-wikipedia">Post More Articles on Kannada Wikipedia</a> (Indian Express; Mangaluru edition; December 12, 2015).</li>
</ul>
<p>A Kannada Wikipedia Editathon was conducted in Mangalore on December 10, 2015. The following are the media coverage for the same:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/news/kannada-wikipedia-editathon-udayavani-coverage">Kannada Wikipedia Editathon</a> (Udayavani; December 7, 2015).</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/news/kannada-wikipedia-editathon-vijayavani">Kannada Wikipedia Editathon</a> (Vijayavani; December 11, 2015).</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/news/kannada-wikipedia-editathon-vijaya-karnataka">Kannada Wikipedia Editathon</a> (Vijaya Karnataka; December 11, 2015).</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/news/kannada-wikipedia-editathon-in-mangalore-udayavani">Kannada Wikipedia Editathon</a> (Udayavani; December 11, 2015).</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/news/kannada-wikipedia-prajavani-mangal">Kannada Wikipedia Editathon</a> (Prajavani; December 10, 2015).</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/news/kannada-wikipedia-editathon-in-prajavani">Kannada Wikipedia Editathon</a> (Prajavani; December 13, 2015).</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>-----------------------------------------------<br /><a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance">Internet Governance<br /></a>-----------------------------------------------</b><br />As part of its research on privacy and free speech, CIS is engaged with two different projects. The first one (under a grant from Privacy International and International Development Research Centre (IDRC)) is on surveillance and freedom of expression (SAFEGUARDS). The second one (under a grant from MacArthur Foundation) is on studying the restrictions placed on freedom of expression online by the Indian government.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">►Free Speech and Expression</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Interview</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/facebook-shares-10-key-facts-about-free-basics-heres-whats-wrong-with-all-10-of-them">Facebook shares 10 key facts about Free Basics. Here's what's wrong with all 10 of them </a> (Shweta Sengar; Catch News; December 24, 2015).</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Blog Entry</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/cis-position-on-net-neutrality">CIS's Position on Net Neutrality</a> (Sunil Abraham; December 4, 2015).</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Event Organized</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/events/net-neutrality-across-south-asia">Net Neutrality across South Asia</a> (Organized by Observer Research Foundation, Centre for Global Communication Studies, Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania, Internet Policy Observatory and CIS; New Delhi; December 12, 2015).</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Participation in Event</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/consultation-on-understanding-the-freedom-of-expression-online-and-offline">Consultation on "Understanding the Freedom of Expression Online and Offline" </a> (Organized by Digital Empowerment Foundation and Association for Progressive Communications; YMCA, New Delhi; December 10, 2015). Jyoti Panday was a speaker at this event.</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">►Big Data</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Blog Entry</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/benefits-and-harms-of-big-data">Benefits and Harms of "Big Data"</a> (Scott Mason; December 30, 2015).</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">►Cyber Security</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Blog Entry</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/ground-zero-summit">Ground Zero Summit</a> (Amber Sinha; December 22, 2015).</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Participation in Events</b></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://cis-india.org/telecom/news/second-regional-conference-on-connectivity-for-all-future-technologies-markets-and-regulation">Second Regional Conference on Connectivity for All: Future Technologies, Markets and Regulation </a> (Organized by International Telecommunications Society, IIMA IDEA Telecom Centre of Excellence and Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad; New Delhi; December 13 - 15, 2015). Sunil Abraham was a panelist.</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Event Organized</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/events/bangalore-chapter-meet-dsci">Bangalore Chapter Meet - DSCI</a> (CIS, Bangalore; December 1, 2015). CIS hosted the Bangalore Chapter Meet of DSCI. Pronab Mohanty, Inspector General of Police gave a talk on Cybercrimes. Sunil Abraham presented the outcome of his study "Anonymity in Cyberspace".</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">►Privacy</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Blog Entries</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/uid-research">UID Research</a> (Vanya Rakesh; December 2, 2015).</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/dna-research">DNA Research</a> (Vanya Rakesh; December 2, 2015).</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/privacy-policy-research">Privacy Policy Research</a> (Vanya Rakesh; December 2, 2015).</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/sectoral-privacy-research">Sectoral Privacy Research</a> (Vanya Rakesh; December 2, 2015).</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/security-research">Security Research</a> (Vanya Rakesh; December 3, 2015).</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/eight-key-privacy-events-in-india-in-the-year-2015">Eight Key Privacy Events in India in the Year 2015 </a> (Amber Sinha; December 31, 2015).</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Participation in Events</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<ul>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/kick-off-meeting-for-the-politics-of-data-project">Kick Off Meeting for the Politics of Data Project</a> (Organized by Tactical Tech; Phnom Penh; December 7-8, 2015). Amber Sinha participated in the event.</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/unbundling-issues-of-privacy-data-security-identity-matrics-for-financial-inclusion">Unbundling Issues of Privacy, Data Security, Identity Matrics, for Financial Inclusion </a> (Organized by Indicus Foundation and MicroSave; December 10, 2015; Metropolitan Hotel and Spa, New Delhi). Sunil Abraham was a speaker.</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">►Miscellaneous</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Blog Entry</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/smart-cities-in-india-an-overview">Smart Cities in India: An Overview</a> (Vanya Rakesh; December 21, 2015).</li>
</ul>
<p><br /><b>Participation in Event</b></p>
<ul>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/elite-capture-of-governance-in-bangalore">Elite Capture of Governance</a> (Organized by Forum for Urban Governance and Commons; December 16, 2015; Bangalore). Vanya Rakesh participated in the event.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>--------------------------------<br /><a href="http://cis-india.org/telecom">Telecom</a><br />--------------------------------</b><br />CIS is involved in promoting access and accessibility to telecommunications services and resources and has provided inputs to ongoing policy discussions and consultation papers published by TRAI. It has prepared reports on unlicensed spectrum and accessibility of mobile phones for persons with disabilities and also works with the USOF to include funding projects for persons with disabilities in its mandate:</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Articles</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/telecom/blog/the-free-basics-debate-trai-has-a-point-in-imposing-temporary-ban-on-net-neutrality">The Free Basics debate: Trai has a point in imposing temporary ban on net neutrality </a> (Sunil Abraham; FirstPost; December 24, 2015).</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/telecom/blog/millions-of-indians-slam-facebooks-2018free-basics2019-app">Millions of Indians Slam Facebook's 'Free Basics' App </a> (Subhashish Panigrahi; December 29, 2015).</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>--------------------------------<br /><a href="http://cis-india.org/raw">Researchers at Work</a><br />--------------------------------</b><br />The Researchers at Work (RAW) programme is an interdisciplinary research initiative driven by contemporary concerns to understand the reconfigurations of social practices and structures through the Internet and digital media technologies, and vice versa. It is interested in producing local and contextual accounts of interactions, negotiations, and resolutions between the Internet, and socio-material and geo-political processes:</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Upcoming Events</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/raw/ai-hype-cycles-and-artistic-subversions">A.I. Hype Cycles and Artistic Subversions</a> (CIS, Bangalore; January 22, 2016). Gene Kogan will give a talk.</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/raw/irc16-call">First Edition of Internet Researchers' Conference</a> (IRC) 2016 - Studying Internet in India: Call for Sessions (Organized by CIS; New Delhi; February 25 - 27, 2016).</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Blog Entries</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/raw/raw-lecture-01-nishant-shah-video">RAW Lecture #01: Nishant Shah on 'Stories and Histories of Internet in India' - Video </a> (P.P. Sneha; December 1, 2015).</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/raw/fov-podcast-data-people-and-smart-cities">FOV Podcast - Data, People, and Smart Cities</a> (Sumandro Chattapadhyay; December 2, 2015).</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/raw/reading-from-a-distance-data-as-text">Reading from a Distance - Data as Text</a> (P.P. Sneha; December 7, 2015).</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/raw/the-infrastructure-turn-in-the-humanities">The Infrastructure Turn in the Humanities</a> (P.P. Sneha; December 7, 2015).</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/raw/living-in-the-archival-moment">Living in the Archival Moment</a> (P.P. Sneha; December 14, 2015).</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>---------------------------------<a href="http://cis-india.org/news"><br />News & Media Coverage<br /></a>---------------------------------</b></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">CIS gave its inputs to the following media coverage:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/india2019s-net-neutrality-debate-is-unique-and-complex">India's net neutrality debate is unique and complex </a> (Pratap Vikram Singh; Governance Now; December 14, 2015).</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/business-standard-anita-babu-december-23-2015-start-up-india-turns-the-heat-on-facebook-free-basics">Start-up India turns the heat on Facebook Free Basics </a> (Anita Babu; Business Standard; December 22, 2015).</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/a-scam-masquerading-as-santa">A Scam Masquerading as Santa</a> (Apurva Venkat & Vandana Kamath; Bangalore Mirror; December 25, 2015).</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/facebook-goes-out-all-guns-blazing-in-push-for-free-basics-net-neutrality-advocates-cry-foul">Facebook goes out all guns blazing in push for Free Basics, Net neutrality advocates cry foul </a> (IBN Live; December 29, 2015).</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/ndtv-bhuma-shrivastava-december-30-2015-foreign-media-on-zukerberg-india-backlash">Foreign Media on Zuckerberg's India Backlash </a> (Bhuma Shrivastava; NDTV; December 30, 2015).</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/mark-zuckerberg2019s-india-backlash-imperils-vision-for-free-global-web">Mark Zuckerberg's India backlash imperils vision for free global web </a> (Bhuma Shrivastava; Livemint; December 30, 2015).</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>---------------------------------<br /><a href="http://cis-india.org/">About CIS<br /></a>---------------------------------</b><br />The Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) is a non-profit organisation that undertakes interdisciplinary research on internet and digital technologies from policy and academic perspectives. The areas of focus include digital accessibility for persons with diverse abilities, access to knowledge, intellectual property rights, openness (including open data, free and open source software, open standards, open access, open educational resources, and open video), internet governance, telecommunication reform, digital privacy, and cyber-security. The academic research at CIS seeks to understand the reconfigurations of social and cultural processes and structures as mediated through the internet and digital media technologies.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">► Offices</p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li>Bengaluru - No. 194, 2nd 'C' Cross, Domlur, 2nd Stage, Bengaluru, 560071. <a href="https://www.google.com/maps/place/Centre+for+Internet+and+Society/@12.9644512,77.6374907,19z/data=%214m6%211m3%213m2%211s0x3bae141bb474ca25:0xe88eda6c81771517%212sDomlur+Bus+Stop%213m1%211s0x0000000000000000:0x88cd9bce9a1aa4d8?hl=en"> </a> <a href="https://www.google.com/maps/place/Centre+for+Internet+and+Society/@12.9644512,77.6374907,19z/data=%214m6%211m3%213m2%211s0x3bae141bb474ca25:0xe88eda6c81771517%212sDomlur+Bus+Stop%213m1%211s0x0000000000000000:0x88cd9bce9a1aa4d8?hl=en"> Location on Google Map </a> .</li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li>Delhi - First floor, B 1/8, Hauz Khas, near G Block market, after Crunch, New Delhi, 110016.<a href="http://j.mp/cis-delhi"> </a> <a href="http://j.mp/cis-delhi">Location on Google Map</a>.</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">► Follow Us</p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li>Twitter:<a href="http://twitter.com/cis_india"> http://twitter.com/cis_india</a></li>
<li>Twitter - Access to Knowledge:<a href="https://twitter.com/CISA2K"> https://twitter.com/CISA2K</a></li>
<li>Facebook - Access to Knowledge:<a href="https://www.facebook.com/cisa2k"> https://www.facebook.com/cisa2k</a></li>
<li>E-Mail - Access to Knowledge: <a href="mailto:a2k@cis-india.org">a2k@cis-india.org</a></li>
<li>E-Mail - Researchers at Work: <a href="mailto:raw@cis-india.org">raw@cis-india.org</a></li>
<li>List - Researchers at Work: <a href="https://lists.ghserv.net/mailman/listinfo/researchers">https://lists.ghserv.net/mailman/listinfo/researchers</a></li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">► Support Us</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">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, 560 071.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">► Request for Collaboration</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">We invite researchers, practitioners, artists, and theoreticians, both organisationally and as individuals, to engage with us on topics related internet and society, and improve our collective understanding of this field. To discuss such possibilities, please write to Sunil Abraham, Executive Director, at sunil@cis-india.org (for policy research), or Sumandro Chattapadhyay, Research Director, at sumandro@cis-india.org (for academic research), with an indication of the form and the content of the collaboration you might be interested in. To discuss collaborations on Indic language Wikipedia projects, write to Tanveer Hasan, Programme Officer, at <a href="mailto:tanveer@cis-india.org">tanveer@cis-india.org</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">CIS is grateful to its primary donor the Kusuma Trust founded by Anurag Dikshit and Soma Pujari, philanthropists of Indian origin for its core funding and support for most of its projects. CIS is also grateful to its other donors, Wikimedia Foundation, Ford Foundation, Privacy International, UK, Hans Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, and IDRC for funding its various projects.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/december-2015-bulletin'>https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/december-2015-bulletin</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaAccess to KnowledgeTelecomAccessibilityInternet GovernanceResearchers at Work2016-01-13T14:07:01ZPageAccess to Knowledge Bulletin — April 2013
https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/access-to-knowledge-bulletin-april-2013
<b>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.</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">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 <a href="https://cis-india.org/a2k/access-to-knowledge-program-plan" target="_blank">Access to Knowledge (A2K) program</a> 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.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The <a href="http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Access_To_Knowledge/Team" target="_blank" title="Access To Knowledge/Team">A2K team</a> consists of three members based in Delhi: <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/people/our-team" target="_blank">T. Vishnu Vardhan</a>, <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/people/our-team" target="_blank">Nitika Tandon</a> and <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/people/our-team" target="_blank">Subhashish Panigrahi</a> and one member <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/people/our-team" target="_blank">Dr. U.B. Pavanaja</a> who is working from Bangalore office. <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/people/our-team" target="_blank">Noopur Raval</a>, Programme Officer (Access to Knowledge) has resigned. April 24, 2013 was her last working day. Archives of our newsletters are <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/" target="_blank">here</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Wikipedians from various communities can request for outreach programs, technical bugs, logistics-merchandize and media, public relations and communications at <a href="http://bit.ly/TOcXId" target="_blank">http://bit.ly/TOcXId</a>.</p>
<p><b>Indic Wikipedia Visualisation Project</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<ul>
<b> </b>
<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/blog/indic-wikipedia-visualisation-project-visualising-page-views-and-project-pages">Indic Wikipedia Visualisation Project #2: Visualising Page Views and Project Pages</a>.</li>
</ul>
<p><b>Guest Blog</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<ul>
<b> </b>
<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/blog/indian-wiki-women-history-month">Indian WikiWomen celebrate Women’s History Month</a> (by Netha Hussain, April 29, 2013).</li>
</ul>
<p><b>Event Organised</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<ul>
<b> </b>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/events/kannada-wikipedia-workshop-udupi-april-29-2013">Kannada Wikipedia Workshop</a> (April 29, 2013, Govinda Pai Research Centre, MGM College Udupi). Dr. U.B. Pavanaja led the workshop and gave a talk on Kannada Wikipedia.</li>
</ul>
<p>Events Co-organised</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">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:</p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/wiki-meet-up-kolkata">Kolkata Wiki Community Meetup</a> (organised by CIS and Kolkata Wiki Community, March 14, 2013). </li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/blog/odia-wikipedia-cuttack-community-meetup-march-16-2013">Odia Wikipedia - Cuttack Community Meetup</a> (organised by CIS and Odia Wiki Community, Cuttack, March 16, 2013).</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/blog/odia-wikipedia-meet-up-bhubaneswar-march-17-2013">Odia Wikipedia – Bhubaneswar Community Meetup</a> (organised by CIS and Odia Wiki Community, Bhubaneswar, March 17, 2013). </li>
</ul>
<p>The following event was organised in the month of April. We will be publishing the report soon:</p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/events/telegu-wiki-mahotsavam-2013">Telugu Wiki Mahotsavam 2013</a> (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.</li>
</ul>
<h2><a href="http://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/">About CIS</a></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">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 <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/advocacy/accessibility/blog/e-accessibility-handbook">e-Accessibility Policy Handbook for Persons with Disabilities</a> with ITU and G3ict, and <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/digital-natives/front-page/blog/dnbook">Digital Alternatives with a Cause?</a>, <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/digital-natives/front-page/blog/position-papers">Thinkathon Position Papers</a> and the <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/digital-natives/front-page/blog/digital-natives-with-a-cause-a-report">Digital Natives with a Cause? Report</a> 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 <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/a2k/blog/cis-analysis-july2011-treaty-print-disabilities">WIPO Treaties</a>, <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/a2k/blog/analysis-copyright-amendment-bill-2012">Copyright Bill</a>, <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/internet-governance/front-page/blog/cis-feedback-to-nia-bill">NIA Bill</a>, etc.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">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 <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/accessibility/blog/national-award">National Award for Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities</a> from the Government of India and also received the <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/news/nirmita-nivh-award">NIVH Excellence Award</a>.</p>
<p><b>Follow us elsewhere</b></p>
<ul>
<li>Get short, timely messages from us on <a href="https://twitter.com/cis_india">Twitter</a></li>
<li>Join the CIS group on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/groups/28535315687/">Facebook</a></li>
<li>Visit us at <a href="https://cis-india.org/">http://cis-india.org</a></li>
</ul>
<p>Support Us</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">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.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Request for Collaboration</b><br />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 <a href="mailto:sunil@cis-india.org">sunil@cis-india.org</a> or Nishant Shah, Director – Research, at <a href="mailto:nishant@cis-india.org">nishant@cis-india.org</a></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><i>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.</i></p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/access-to-knowledge-bulletin-april-2013'>https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/access-to-knowledge-bulletin-april-2013</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaOpennessWikipediaAccess to KnowledgeWikimedia2013-05-29T10:57:49ZPageOdisha: Wikipedia workshop at IIMC, Dhenkanal
https://cis-india.org/news/odisha-diary-september-30-2013-odisha-wikipedia-workshop-at-iimc
<b>Wikipedia workshop was held at the Indian Institute of Mass Communication, Dhenkanal, on Monday. The workshop was inaugurated by Head of IIMC, Dhenkanal, Dr Mrinal Chatterjee. </b>
<p id="stcpDiv" style="text-align: justify; ">This post was <a class="external-link" href="http://orissadiary.com/CurrentNews.asp?id=44498">published in Odisha Diary</a> on September 30, 2013.</p>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Inaugurating the workshop, Dr Chatterjee said, “We are always sourcing knowledge from Wikipedia. So now it becomes our duty to enrich it by writing articles for Wikipedia.”</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">He specifically asked Odiya Journalism students to write more in Odia Wikipedia as there is less content in Odia as compared to other Indian languages.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Subhashish Panigrahi, Program Officer, Access to Knowledge, Centre for Internet Society, coordinated the entire event along with members of Odia Wikipedia, Dr Subas Chandra Rout, Mrutyunjaya Kar and Sasanka Sekhar Das. They provided hands-on training about editing, styles and techniques of writing on Wikipedia to the students.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">“Anybody can write and edit available articles on Wikipedia,” Panigrahi said while encouraging students to volunteer for Wikipedia.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Not only Odiya and English, students were also encouraged to contribute articles in various other Indian languages. Students of both Odiya and English Journalism were present during the day-long workshop.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Odiya Wikipedia team are planning to organise a series of workshop with IIMC, Dhenkanal in coming months.<br /><br /></p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/news/odisha-diary-september-30-2013-odisha-wikipedia-workshop-at-iimc'>https://cis-india.org/news/odisha-diary-september-30-2013-odisha-wikipedia-workshop-at-iimc</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaAccess to KnowledgeWikimediaWikipediaOdia WikipediaOpenness2013-10-03T10:15:25ZNews Item8 Challenges for Improving Indian Language Wikipedias
https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/open-source-march-28-2016-subhashish-panigrahi-8-challenges-for-improving-indian-language-wikipedias
<b>After more than 10 years in existence, the Indian-language Wikipedias still are not known to many Indian language speakers. Wikipedia became the largest encyclopedia in history as a result of thousands of volunteer editors.</b>
<p>The article was originally published in <a class="external-link" href="http://thewire.in/2016/03/17/eight-challenges-that-indian-language-wikipedias-need-to-overcome-25062/">the Wire</a> on March 17, 2016 and later mirrored on <a class="external-link" href="https://opensource.com/life/16/3/8-challenges-improving-indian-language-wikipedias">Opensource.com </a>on March 28, 2016.</p>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: justify;">Whereas native-language Wikipedias are becoming game changers in other corners of the world, the scenario in India is skewed. While speaking at the "<a href="http://indianlanguagefestival.com/2016/#event-agenda">BHASHA: Indian Languages Digital Festival</a>," a day-long discourse at New Delhi on Indian languages and their state in the new media (especially on the digital platforms), I <a href="https://soundcloud.com/psubhashish/bhasha-indian-languages-digital-festival">shared</a> challenges that Indian language Wikipedias are facing.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify;">1. Language communities</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Many native Indian language speakers do not know how to search online using language typed in their script. Because Google's home page does not display their language script as an option, people often think that their language does not exist on the Internet. Google now has nine Indian languages. But this does not stop a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santali_language">Santali</a> or <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meithei_language">Manipuri</a> speaker from searching in Unicode <a href="http://www.alanwood.net/unicode/ol-chiki.html">Ol chiki</a> (script for Santali) or in <a href="http://www.wikiwand.com/en/Meithei_script">Unicode Meithei</a> (script for Manipuri). Google and other search engines will display content in any script on the Internet, but not knowing this keeps many people off the Internet, which also means off of Wikipedia.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify;">2. Wikipedia's editor community</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Wikipedia is created by people like you and me. From writing to editing, everything happens voluntarily. Many people do not understand that they can correct mistakes and help improve Wikipedia articles. The Wikipedia editor communities for several Indian languages are really small. Although these languages are spoken by millions of people, only a <a href="https://opensource.com/life/16/2/why-its-essential-grow-indian-language-wikipedias">handful of editors</a> contribute in editing the Wikipedia in these languages. As of January 2016, the <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hindi_Wikipedia_stats_January_2016.png">Hindi Wikipedia</a> had only 89 editors, whereas Hindi falls right behind English on the list of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_languages_by_number_of_native_speakers">top languages by number of native speakers</a>.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify;">3. Language input in computer</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify;">A majority of people in India <a href="http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2012-01-17/news/30635792_1_indian-languages-indic-computer">do not</a> know <a href="https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Universal_Language_Selector">how to type</a> in their own language. Also, there is little documentation for users to learn about language input. Even though many government-run schools in India are seeing more computers and have Internet access, native language input and several other <a href="http://www.newindianexpress.com/cities/bengaluru/Government-Schools-Fail-to-Log-into-Computers/2015/11/17/article3132258.ece">basic computer training</a> are not widely taught in schools in all states. Free software for language input is available, and the <a href="https://www.aclweb.org/anthology/W/W11/W11-3501.pdf">challenges of typing in Indian languages</a> (PDF) that existed in the past are mostly resolved.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify;">4. Language input in mobile devices</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify;">With more than <a href="http://www.trai.gov.in/WriteReadData/PressRealease/Document/PR-TeleSubData_Oct_2015.pdf">1 billion people in India</a> (PDF) with mobile phones, the 15% Internet penetration rate will soon grow at a faster pace. This growth and tough competition is compelling telecom service providers to <a href="http://www.mobiletor.com/bsnl-to-drop-3g-internet-rates-by-50-percent-the-tariff-wars-continue/">drop data charges</a>, which will help more Indians get access to the Internet. If these people are not educated about native language input, then they will be <a href="http://www.livemint.com/Opinion/Nz7KxIkmUJdacebMwzzcOJ/English-the-Web-and-digital-caste.html">stuck inside an English-centric Internet</a> rather than being able to navigate in their own languages. Many Indians who have smartphones need full Indian language support—and especially built-in input methods—to contribute in their own language Wikipedia.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify;">5. Low availability of Indian-language content on the Internet</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/research/files/papers/2015/02/13-digital-divide-developing-world-west/west_internet-access.pdf">Lack of native language content on the Internet</a> is a barrier to accessing knowledge. For example, let's look at my state Odisha. The Kerala (Indian state) government's <a href="https://www.keralatourism.org/languages/">official tourism portal</a> is available in Odia and other Indian languages, but the Odisha government's tourism portal has <a href="http://www.odishatourism.gov.in/">no information</a> in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odia_language">Odia language</a> today. Our languages are largely neglected <em>in our own states</em>.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify;">6. Mismatch of conventional and new media</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Many conventional media houses still use non-standard variants of ASCII/ISCII script encoding systems instead of adopting the <a href="http://unicode.org/faq/indic.html">Unicode</a> standard. As a global standard, Unicode can help unify the world and has been available for Indian languages for almost 25 years. But many of our print media have failed to adopt this, and many popular Indian-language newspapers still aren't available in Unicode.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify;">7. Lack of open access</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Much information online, including content created by the government, is under copyright licensing. The pay-wall gardens and copyright restrictions keep information closed and prevents people from sharing content. Wikipedia content, on the other hand, is available under <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Text_of_Creative_Commons_Attribution-ShareAlike_3.0_Unported_License">Creative Commons Share-Alike licensing</a>, which allows anyone to use the content (and even distribute commercial copies of it). The idea of opening up content under free licenses can help information reach countless additional people.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify;">8. Accessibility</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify;">India has more than <a href="http://www.entwb.com/public-patients/general-information/deafness">60-million people</a> with hearing impairments. Many people with physical disabilities need good <a href="http://www.nvaccess.org/">text-to-speech</a> and speech-to-text engines. And these software solutions must be free, so that anyone, regardless of their finances, can contribute to Wikipedia in their own languages.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/open-source-march-28-2016-subhashish-panigrahi-8-challenges-for-improving-indian-language-wikipedias'>https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/open-source-march-28-2016-subhashish-panigrahi-8-challenges-for-improving-indian-language-wikipedias</a>
</p>
No publishersubhaWikimediaCIS-A2KWikipediaAccess to Knowledge2016-03-29T17:05:15ZBlog EntryOER16: Open Culture
https://cis-india.org/openness/news/oer16-open-culture
<b>The 7th Open Educational Resources Conference, OER16: Open Culture, will be held on April 19 and 20, 2016 at the University of Edinburgh. The event is organized by Association for Learning Technology.</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">As a part of the programme committee, Subhashish Panigrahi is currently reviewing the submissions for the 7th Open Educational Resources Conference, "OER16: Open Culture" that is being organised during April 19 and 20, 2016 at University of Edinburgh, UK. See the details of the Programme Committee <a class="external-link" href="https://oer16.oerconf.org/about/programme-committee/">here</a>. Download a PDF of the <a href="http://oer16.oerconf.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2015/11/OER16-Flyer-1.0-digital.pdf">flyer for OER16</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The vision for the conference is to focus on the value proposition of embedding open culture in the context of institutional strategies for learning, teaching and research. The conference will be chaired by Melissa Highton, Director of Learning, Teaching and Web Services at the University of Edinburgh, and Lorna Campbell, OER Liaison at the University of Edinburgh and EDINA Digital Education Manager.</p>
<p><span>OER16 will focus on:</span></p>
<ul>
<li><span> </span><span>The strategic advantage of open and creating a culture of openness.</span></li>
<li><span> </span><span>Converging and competing cultures of open knowledge, open source, open content, open practice, open data and open access.</span></li>
<li><span> </span><span>Hacking, making and sharing.</span></li>
<li><span> </span><span>The reputational challenges of openwashing.</span></li>
<li><span> </span><span>Openness and public engagement.</span></li>
<li><span> Innovative approaches to opening up cultural heritage collections for education.</span></li>
</ul>
<p><b>Follow #oer16 to keep up to date with all conference news. Register for the event <a class="external-link" href="http://go.alt.ac.uk/OER16-Registration">Now</a>.<br /></b></p>
<ul>
</ul>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/openness/news/oer16-open-culture'>https://cis-india.org/openness/news/oer16-open-culture</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaOpen Educational ResourcesOpenness2016-01-30T06:53:26ZNews ItemAccess to Knowledge Bulletin — June & July 2013
https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/access-to-knowledge-bulletin-june-july-2013
<b>A2K newsletter for the months of June and July, 2013.</b>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Indian Language Wikipedia Statistics April to September 2013 (by T. Vishnu Vardhan; Nitika Tandon and Subhashish Panigrahi June 30, 2013): The Access to Knowledge team carried out quantitative analysis to identify trends and growth patterns in Indian Language Wikipedias over the time period from September 2012 to April 2013. Though it is difficult for the A2K programme to take direct credit for the growth or lack of it the programme's support has been one of the key factors in impacting the growth of the Wikimedia projects and communities in India since the commencement of the project. Primary focus areas of the statistics are: growth of articles, Active editors, Monthly growth of new editors, Monthly pageviews and New editors statistics from outreach events organized or supported by A2K programme. Link: <a href="https://cis-india.org/a2k/blog/indian-language-wikipedia-statistics" class="moz-txt-link-freetext">http://cis-india.org/a2k/blog/indian-language-wikipedia-statistics</a></p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Workshops</h3>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li>Wikipedia editing workshop for participants from 10 civil society institutions from across India at the Institute of Internet and Society, Bangalore (Organized by the A2K team members T. Vishnu Vardhan and Subhashish Panigrahi, June 9, 2013)</li>
<li>A 'Kannada' Wikipedia Workshop for Bloggers (organized by CIS-A2K Team, Suchitra, Bengaluru, June 23, 2013). Dr. U.B. Pavanaja conducted the workshop. Link: <a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/blog/kannada-wikipedia-workshop-bloggers" class="moz-txt-link-freetext">http://cis-india.org/openness/blog/kannada-wikipedia-workshop-bloggers</a></li>
<li>Digital Humanities for Indian Higher Education (co-organised by HEIRA-CSCS, Tumkur University, CILHE-TISS and CCS, Indian Institute of Science, July 13, 2013). Link: <a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/events/digital-humanities-for-indian-higher-education" class="moz-txt-link-freetext">http://cis-india.org/openness/events/digital-humanities-for-indian-higher-education</a></li>
<li>A Kannada Wikipedia Workshop (organized by CIS-A2K team, July 21, 2013, Hubli). Dr. U.B. Pavanaja gave training to the participants on Wikipedia. Leading newspapers like Times of India, Vijaya Karnataka, Deccan Herald, VijayaVani, Prajavani, Samyukta Karnataka and HosaDiganta covered the event. Scanned versions of the published articles can be viewed here (<a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/blog/hubli-workshop-press-coverage.zip" class="moz-txt-link-freetext">http://cis-india.org/openness/blog/hubli-workshop-press-coverage.zip</a>). Link: <a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/blog/kannada-wikipedia-workshop-at-hubli" class="moz-txt-link-freetext">http://cis-india.org/openness/blog/kannada-wikipedia-workshop-at-hubli</a></li>
<li>Telugu Wikipedia Training Workshop (organized by CIS-A2K Team in collaboration with Telugu Jati Nava Nirmana Samstha, Hyderabad, July 21, 2013). Dr. Rajasekhar (Telugu WP admin) and T. Vishnu Vardhan conducted the workshop. Link: <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://bit.ly/13Z00Ue">http://bit.ly/13Z00Ue</a></li>
<li>A Kannada Wikipedia Workshop at Sagara (organized by CIS-A2K team, Sagara, July 28, 2013). Dr. U.B. Pavanaja gave a talk on Wikipedia and Kannada Wikipedia. Link: <a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/kannada-wiki-workshop-at-sagara" class="moz-txt-link-freetext">http://cis-india.org/openness/kannada-wiki-workshop-at-sagara</a> ● Odia Wikipedia Training Workshop at the Veer Surendra Sai University of Technology (Organized by Odia Wikipedian Gorvachove Pothal and supported by CIS-A2K programme, July 26, 2013). Event link: <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://or.wikipedia.org/s/gqw">http://or.wikipedia.org/s/gqw</a></li>
<li>Telugu Wiki Academy at Centre for Good Governance (co-organised by A2K team and Telugu Wikipedia community, Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad, April 9, 2013). T. Vishnu Vardhan was a speaker at this event. Link: <a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/blog/telegu-wiki-academy-at-centre-for-good-governance" class="moz-txt-link-freetext">http://cis-india.org/openness/blog/telegu-wiki-academy-at-centre-for-good-governance</a> </li>
</ul>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Meetups</h3>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li> First Telugu Wiki Meetup @ CIS, Bangalore (co-organised by Telugu Wikipedia community and A2K on June 2, 2013). S.J. Veera conducted the meet-up. Link: <a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/blog/telegu-wiki-meet-up-at-cis-june-2-2013" class="moz-txt-link-freetext">http://cis-india.org/openness/blog/telegu-wiki-meet-up-at-cis-june-2-2013</a></li>
<li>Second monthly Telugu Wiki Meetup @ CIS, Bangalore (co-organized by Telugu Wikipedia community and A2K on July 13, 2013). Event link: <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://goo.gl/zVueaO">http://goo.gl/zVueaO</a> </li>
<li>Telugu Wikipedia Meetup @ Theatre Outreach Unit, Hyderabad (co-organised by TE WP community, ToU and A2K on July 21, 2013). T. Vishnu Vardhan spoke on Copyright-Creative Commons and Wikipedia. Link: <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://bit.ly/14ctSxr">http://bit.ly/14ctSxr</a> </li>
</ul>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Upcoming / Ongoing Events</h3>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li>A Workshop on Posting Articles in Kannada on Wikipedia (organised by the Centre for Proficiency Development Placement Service, University of Mysore, CPDPS premises, Manasagangotri, August 6, 2013). Dr. U.B. Pavanaja will conduct a workshop. The announcement (<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-karnataka/stress-on-posting-articles-on-kannada-wikipedia/article4980552.ece">http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-karnataka/stress-on-posting-articles-on-kannada-wikipedia/article4980552.ece</a>) was made in an article by R. Krishna Kumar in the Hindu on August 2, 2013. Link: <a href="https://cis-india.org/news/hindu-r-krishna-kumar-august-2-2013-stress-on-posting-articles-on-kannada-wikipedia" class="moz-txt-link-freetext">http://cis-india.org/news/hindu-r-krishna-kumar-august-2-2013-stress-on-posting-articles-on-kannada-wikipedia</a></li>
<li>Wikipedia Training workshop for students at the St. Xavier College, Goa Wikipedia</li>
<li>Training workshop for students from Library Science Department at the Goa University, Goa Wikipedia</li>
<li>Training workshop for students from Konkani language Department at the Goa University, Goa </li>
</ul>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Events Participated</h3>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li>Free Software (organized by Free Software Movement of Karnataka in partnership with Jnana Vikas Institute of Technology, Bidadi, July 24, 2013). Dr. U.B. Pavanaja presented about Wikipedia in this event. Link: <a href="https://cis-india.org/news/free-software" class="moz-txt-link-freetext">http://cis-india.org/news/free-software</a></li>
<li>Institute of Internet and Society, Bangalore (participated by A2K team, T. Vishnu Vardhan presented about “Building Knowledge Bases and Platforms via Mass Collaboration on the Internet” Presentation Link: <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Building_Knowledge_Bases_and_Platforms_via_Mass_Collaboration_on_the_Internet.pdf">http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Building_Knowledge_Bases_and_Platforms_via_Mass_Collaboration_on_the_Internet.pdf</a>, Event Link: <a href="https://cis-india.org/telecom/knowledge-repository-on-internet-access/institute-on-internet-and-society" class="moz-txt-link-freetext">http://cis-india.org/telecom/knowledge-repository-on-internet-access/institute-on-internet-and-society</a></li>
</ul>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Media Coverage (including videos)</h3>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li>A Feature on Wikipedia and Telugu Wikipedians (HMTV, May 30-31, 2013). Watch the video: <a href="https://cis-india.org/news/hmtv-may-30-2013-wikipedia-and-telegu-wikipedians" class="moz-txt-link-freetext">http://cis-india.org/news/hmtv-may-30-2013-wikipedia-and-telegu-wikipedians</a></li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li>Wikipedia Live Phone-in Programme (HMTV, June 1, 2013). T. Vishnu Vardhan took part in a one hour live phone-in programme on Wikipedia. Video: <a href="https://cis-india.org/news/wikipedia-live-phone-in-programme" class="moz-txt-link-freetext">http://cis-india.org/news/wikipedia-live-phone-in-programme</a></li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li>Wiki donors (by Akhila Seetharaman, TimeOut Bengaluru, June 21, 2013). T. Vishnu Vardhan and Dr. U.B. Pavanaja are quoted. Link: <a href="https://cis-india.org/news/timeout-bengaluru-akhila-seetharaman-june-21-2013-wiki-donors" class="moz-txt-link-freetext">http://cis-india.org/news/timeout-bengaluru-akhila-seetharaman-june-21-2013-wiki-donors</a></li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li>Kannada Wikipedia Workshop at Hasan (Prajavani, June 5, 2013). Dr. U.B. Pavanaja conducted the workshop on June 4, 2013. Link: <a href="https://cis-india.org/news/prajavani-june-5-2013-kannada-wikipedia-workshop-coverage" class="moz-txt-link-freetext">http://cis-india.org/news/prajavani-june-5-2013-kannada-wikipedia-workshop-coverage</a></li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li>Kannada Wikipedia Workshop at Hasan (Samyukta Karnataka, June 5, 2013). Dr. U.B.Pavanaja conducted the workshop on June 4, 2013. Link: <a href="https://cis-india.org/news/samyukta-karnataka-june-5-2013-kannada-wikipedia-workshop-coverage" class="moz-txt-link-freetext">http://cis-india.org/news/samyukta-karnataka-june-5-2013-kannada-wikipedia-workshop-coverage</a></li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li>Kannada Wikipedia Workshop at Hasan (Vijaya Karnataka, June 5, 2013). Dr. U.B.Pavanaja conducted the workshop on June 4, 2013. Link: <a href="https://cis-india.org/news/vijaya-karnataka-june-5-2013-report-of-kannada-wikipedia-workshop-in-hasan" class="moz-txt-link-freetext">http://cis-india.org/news/vijaya-karnataka-june-5-2013-report-of-kannada-wikipedia-workshop-in-hasan</a></li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li>Wiki Rahasya: Panel Discussion (Suvarna News, June 13, 2013). Dr. U.B.Pavanaja participated in a panel discussion around Wikipedia in general and about Kannada Wikipedia in specific. Link: <a href="https://cis-india.org/news/suvarna-news-june-13-2013-wiki-rahasya-panel-discussion" class="moz-txt-link-freetext">http://cis-india.org/news/suvarna-news-june-13-2013-wiki-rahasya-panel-discussion</a></li>
</ul>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Blog Entry</h3>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li>Wikipedia Visual Editor (by Nitika Tandon, June 27, 2013). Link: <a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/blog/visual-editor.pdf/view" class="moz-txt-link-freetext">http://cis-india.org/openness/blog/visual-editor.pdf/view</a></li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li>My First Wikipedia Training Workshop – Theatre Outreach Unit, University of Hyderabad (Organized by A2K team, attended by T. Vishnu Vardhan) Link: <a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/blog/my-first-wikipedia-training-workshop" class="moz-txt-link-freetext">http://cis-india.org/openness/blog/my-first-wikipedia-training-workshop</a> Wikimedia Foundation has funded A2K to anchor the growth of Wikimedia movement in India. The A2K team consists of three members based in Bangalore: T. Vishnu Vardhan, Dr. U.B. Pavanaja and Subhashish Panigrahi and one member Nitika Tandon in Delhi. Archives of our newsletters can be accessed here (<a href="https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/" class="moz-txt-link-freetext">http://cis-india.org/about/newsletters</a>). Wikipedians from various communities can request for outreach programs, technical bugs, logistics-merchandize and media, public relations and communications at <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://bit.ly/TOcXId">http://bit.ly/TOcXId</a>.</li>
</ul>
<hr />
<h2 style="text-align: justify; ">About CIS</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">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.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Follow us elsewhere</b></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b> </b></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li>Twitter: <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://twitter.com/CISA2K">https://twitter.com/CISA2K</a></li>
<li>CIS group on Facebook: <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/cis.india">https://www.facebook.com/groups/cis.india</a></li>
<li>Visit us at: <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://cis-india.org">https://cis-india.org</a></li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Support Us</b><br />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.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Request for Collaboration</b><br />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.</p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li>To discuss the research collaborations, write to Sunil Abraham, Executive Director, at <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:sunil@cis-india.org">sunil@cis-india.org</a> or Nishant Shah, Director – Research, at <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:nishant@cis-india.org">nishant@cis-india.org</a>.</li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li>To discuss collaborations on Indic language wikipedia, write to T. Vishnu Vardhan, Programme Director, A2K, at <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:vishnu@cis-india.org">vishnu@cis-india.org</a> </li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><i>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</i>.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/access-to-knowledge-bulletin-june-july-2013'>https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/access-to-knowledge-bulletin-june-july-2013</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaOpennessWikipediaAccess to KnowledgeWikimedia2013-10-04T10:52:46ZPageFebruary 2015 Bulletin
https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/february-2015-bulletin
<b></b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">It is my distinct pleasure to share with you the second issue of the CIS newsletter (February 2015).</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Earlier this year, I joined the Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) as the Research Director. I have been fortunate to periodically work with CIS in various capacities since mid-2012, mostly focusing on the topics of open data, open access, and visual exploration of data. Most importantly perhaps for my present responsibilities, for the last year or so, I have been in communication with various projects teams at CIS and supported their efforts through workshops on research methodologies, and by discussing and co-designing their research questions and approaches.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">As the Research Director, I look forward to take these works forward, along with leading the Researchers at Work (RAW) programme, which has been shaped by Prof. Nishant Shah to host an exciting range of critical research initiatives into how the Internet and digital technologies reconfigure social processes and structures, and vice versa. Please keep an eye on the newsletter for further updates from the RAW programme.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Our sincere apologies for the delay in sending out this month's newsletter. We will soon be back in our usual rhythm. The past editions of the newsletter can be accessed at <a href="http://cis-india.org/about/newsletters">http://cis-india.org/about/newsletters</a></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Sumandro Chattapadhyay <br /> Email: <a href="mailto:sumandro@cis-india.org">sumandro@cis-india.org</a></p>
<hr />
<h2 style="text-align: justify; ">Highlights</h2>
<ul>
<li>Forbes India in an article titled " <a href="http://forbesindia.com/article/special/minds-that-%28should%29-matter/39289/2">Minds that (should) matter</a>" names Sunil Abraham as one of the Thinkers who best explain a rapidly-changing India to the world (and the world to India). <i>Errata: This story was shared in the last newsletter but with an error, which is now rectified.</i></li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li>NVDA team organized three workshops during the month for training participants on using eSpeak with NVDA software. The languages covered were<a href="https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/report-on-training-of-use-of-e-speak-punjabi-nvda">Punjabi</a>,<a href="https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/report-on-training-in-use-of-e-speak-oriya-with-nvda">Oriya</a> and <a href="https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/training-on-use-of-espeak-hindi-nvda">Hindi</a>.</li>
<li>The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), Government of India invited comments on the First Draft of India's National IPR Policy. <a href="https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/national-ipr-policy-series-cis-comments-to-the-first-draft-of-the-national-ip-policy"> CIS sent its comments </a> . CIS commended the DIPP for this initiative and appreciated the opportunity to provide comments on the National IPR Policy. </li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li> CIS sent out <a href="https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/rti-requests-dipp-details-on-constitution-and-working-of-ipr-think-tank"> three different Right to Information (RTI) requests </a> to find out more details about the constitution and working of the IPR Think Tank to draft the first national IPR Policy. </li>
<li> Anubha Sinha <a href="https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/academia-and-civil-society-submit-critical-comments-to-dipp-on-draft-national-ipr-policy"> analyses the submission </a> to the DIPP by Academia and Civil Society on the draft National IPR Policy from a public interest perspective. </li>
<li> In an <a href="https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/open-letter-to-prime-minister-modi">Open Letter to the Prime Minister of India</a>, CIS requests the Government of India to initiate the formation of a patent pool of critical mobile technologies and a five per cent compulsory license.</li>
<li>CIS's Access to Knowledge team (CIS-A2K) in collaboration with the Centre for Indian Languages (CILHE) at TISS, Mumbai <a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/blog/developing-open-knowledge-digital-resources-in-indian-languages">conducted a two-day workshop</a> at English and Foreign Languages University (EFLU) at Hyderabad on January 28 - 29, 2015. Tejaswini Niranjana captures the developments in a blog post. </li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li> Subhashish Panigrahi wrote an <a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/blog/our-endangered-languages">op-ed on the endangered languages in India</a>. This was published by Odia daily Samaja on February 21 which is celebrated as the International Mother Language Day. </li>
<li> CIS-A2K team conducted the " <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Access_To_Knowledge/Events/Train_the_Trainer_Program/2015">Train the Trainer Program</a>" (TTT 2015) at CEO Centre, Dodda Gubbi, Bangalore. About 25 delegates attended the programme. </li>
<li> CIS has <a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/cis-joins-worldwide-campaign-to-discover-depth-of-gchq-illegal-spying"> joined an international campaign </a> to allow anyone in the world to request whether Britain's intelligence agency GCHQ has illegally spied on them.</li>
<li>On January 30, 2015, Associated Chambers of Commerce & Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) held a consultation on Internet governance. A committee was set up to draft a report on Internet governance, with a focus on issues relevant to India. CIS is represented on the committee, and has provided its <a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/preliminary-submission-on-internet-governance-issues-to-assocham"> preliminary comments to ASSOCHAM </a> . </li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li> As part of <a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/collection-of-net-neutrality-definitions">CIS's inquiry into 'Network Neutrality'</a> in the developing world a set of definitions of the term from different sources was collected and published as a blog post. </li>
<li> Namita A. Malhotra in a <a href="https://cis-india.org/raw/figures-of-learning-the-pornographer">blog entry</a> examines the figure of the pornographer, as a mixed media figure entrenched in various networks of knowledge production, circulation and consumption. </li>
</ul>
<h3><a href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility">Accessibility and Inclusion </a></h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Under a grant from the Hans Foundation we are doing two projects. The first project is on creating a national resource kit of state-wise laws, policies and programmes on issues relating to persons with disabilities in India. CIS in partnership with CLPR (Centre for Law and Policy Research) compiled the National Compendium of Policies, Programmes and Schemes for Persons with Disabilities (29 states and 6 union territories). The publication has been finalised and is being printed. The draft chapters and the quarterly reports can be accessed on the <a href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/resources/national-resource-kit-project">project page</a>. The second project is on developing text-to-speech software for 15 Indian languages. The progress made so far in the project can be accessed <a href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/resources/nvda-text-to-speech-synthesizer">here</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">►NVDA and eSpeak</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Monthly Update</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<b> </b>
<li><b> </b><a href="https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/nvda-e-speak-report-february-2015.pdf">February 2015 Report</a> (Suman Dogra; February 28, 2015). </li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Events Organized</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<b> </b>
<li><b> </b><a href="https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/training-on-use-of-espeak-hindi-nvda"><b> </b>Joint Report on Training of the Use of eSpeak in Hindi with NVDA </a> (Organized by NVDA team; National Association for the Blind, New Delhi, February 5 - 6, 2015 and Blind Relief Association, Delhi, February 13 - 14, 2015). </li>
<li> <a href="https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/report-on-training-in-use-of-e-speak-oriya-with-nvda"> Report on Training in the use of eSpeak Oriya with NVDA </a> (Organized by NVDA team; Orissa Association for the Blind, Bhubaneswar; February 8 - 10, 2015). Thirty six delegates attended the workshop. </li>
<li> <a href="https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/report-on-training-of-use-of-e-speak-punjabi-nvda"> Training of the use of eSpeak Punjabi with NVDA </a> (Organized by NVDA team; Asha Kiran Training Institute, Chandigarh; February 20-21, 2015). The workshop was inaugurated by Shri Tilak Raj, Director, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Government of Punjab. </li>
</ul>
<h3><a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k">Access to Knowledge</a></h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">As part of the Access to Knowledge programme we are doing two projects. The first one (Pervasive Technologies) under a grant from the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) is for research on the complex interplay between pervasive technologies and intellectual property to support intellectual property norms that encourage the proliferation and development of such technologies as a social good. The second one (Wikipedia) under a grant from the Wikimedia Foundation is for the growth of Indic language communities and projects by designing community collaborations and partnerships that recruit and cultivate new editors and explore innovative approaches to building projects.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">►Pervasive Technologies</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">As part of the Pervasive Technologies project, Rohini Lakshané wrote an Open Letter to India's Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi for creation of a patent pool of critical mobile technologies. And as part of broader Access to Knowledge work CIS submitted comments to DIPP on the National IP Policy.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Blog Entries</b></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li> <a href="https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/national-ipr-policy-series-cis-comments-to-the-first-draft-of-the-national-ip-policy"> National IPR Policy Series: CIS Comments to the First Draft of the National IP Policy </a> (Nehaa Chaudhari, Pranesh Prakash and Anubha Sinha; February 4, 2015). Varnika Chawla assisted the team. </li>
<li> <a href="https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/rti-requests-dipp-details-on-constitution-and-working-of-ipr-think-tank"> RTI Requests - DIPP: Details on constitution and working of IPR Think Tank </a> (Nehaa Chaudhari; February 9, 2015). </li>
<li> <a href="https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/open-letter-to-prime-minister-modi">Open Letter to Prime Minister Modi</a> (Rohini Lakshané; February 10, 2015). Copies of the open letter were sent to various ministers. </li>
<li> <a href="https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/academia-and-civil-society-submit-critical-comments-to-dipp-on-draft-national-ipr-policy"> Academia and Civil Society submit critical comments to DIPP on draft National IPR Policy </a> (Anubha Sinha; February 16, 2015). </li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Participation in Event</b></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li> <a href="https://cis-india.org/a2k/news/india-at-leisure">India at Leisure: Media, Culture and Consumption in the New Economy</a> (Organized by Jamia University; January 8 - 10, 2015). Maggie Huang attended the event and presented a paper titled "The Future of Music Streaming: Business Practices and Copyright Management in India". The paper was co-authored by Maggie and Amba Kak. </li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">►Wikipedia</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">As part of the <a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/access-to-knowledge-program-plan">project grant from the Wikimedia Foundation</a> we have reached out to more than 3500 people across India by organizing more than 100 outreach events and catalysed the release of encyclopaedic and other content under the Creative Commons (CC-BY-3.0) license in four Indian languages (21 books in Telugu, 13 in Odia, 4 volumes of encyclopaedia in Konkani and 6 volumes in Kannada, and 1 book on Odia language history in English).</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Op-ed</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<b> </b>
<li><b> </b><a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/blog/our-endangered-languages">Our Endangered Languages</a> (Subhashish Panigrahi; February 21, 2015). </li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Blog Entries</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<b> </b>
<li><b> </b><a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/blog/a-wikipedia-presentation-at-goa">A Wikipedia Presentation at BITS, Goa</a> (Radhakrishna Arvapally; February 9, 2015). Arvapally was a guest blogger. </li>
<li> <a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/blog/developing-open-knowledge-digital-resources-in-indian-languages"> Developing Open Knowledge Digital Resources in Indian Languages </a> (Tejaswini Niranjana; February 20, 2015). </li>
<li> <a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/blog/telugu-wikipedia-winter-camp-at-andhra-loyola-college"> Telugu Wikipedia Winter Camp at Andhra Loyola College </a> (Rahmanuddin Shaik; February 26, 2015). </li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Event Organized</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<b> </b>
<li><b> </b><a href="http://cis-india.org/openness/events/train-the-trainer-program">Train the Trainer</a> (Organized by CIS-A2K; CEO Centre, Dodda Gubbi, Bangalore; February 26 - March 1, 2015). Rohini Lakshané took a session on GLAM. </li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>News and Media Coverage</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">CIS-A2K team gave its inputs to the following media coverage:</p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li> <a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/news/the-hindu-february-16-2015-ad-rangarajan-more-online-free-content-in-telugu-wikipedia-soon"> More online free content in Telugu Wikipedia soon </a> (A.D.Rangarajan; Hindu, February 16, 2015). </li>
<li> <a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/news/opensource-feburary-18-2015-jen-wike-huger-cultural-knowledge-needs-to-be-more-open"> Cultural knowledge needs to be more open </a> (Jen Wike Huger; OpenSource.com; February 18, 2015). </li>
<li> <a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/news/andhra-jyothy-february-16-2015-online-free-content-in-telugu-wikipedia"> Online Free Content in Telugu Wikipedia </a> (Andhra Jyothy; February 19, 2015). </li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Announcements</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<b> </b>
<li><b> </b><a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/news/opensource-2015-award-winners">2015 Opensource.com Community Awards</a> : Every year, Opensource.com awards people from our community who have excelled in contributing and sharing stories about open source. Subhashish Panigrahi from the CIS-A2K team won the award under the category 'People's Choice Awards'. </li>
<li> CIS-A2K team also <a href="http://stats.wikimedia.org/EN/TablesWikipediaTE.htm">published the Telugu Wikipedia Stats tables</a>. Most metrics have been collected from a partial dump (aka stub dump), which contains all revisions of every article, meta data, but no page content. </li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Participation in Events</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<b> </b>
<li><b> </b><a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/blog/how-the-first-time-face-to-face-interaction-helped-india-hindi-wikipedia-community"><b> </b>Hindi Wiki Community Baithak </a> (Organized by Wikipedia Community; February 14 - 15, 2015). Subhashish Panigrahi attended the event. </li>
<li> <a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/news/international-conclave-odia-language">An International Conclave of Odia Language</a> (Organized by the Intellects; February 20 - 21, 2015; Constitutional Club, Rafi Marg, New Delhi). Subhashish Panigrahi participated in the event. </li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">►Openness</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Participation in Events</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<b> </b>
<li><b> </b><a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/news/region-open-data-workshop-2015">Regional Open Data Agenda-Setting Workshop 2015</a> (Organized by Open Data Lab, Jakarta Web Foundation; Jakarta; February 4 - 6, 2015). Sunil Abraham was a speaker. </li>
<li> <a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/news/washington-meeting-on-open-data-principles">Washington Meet on Open Data</a> (Organized by World Bank; Washington; February 20 - 21, 2015). Sunil Abraham was a speaker and made a presentation on Open Data. </li>
</ul>
<h3><a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance">Internet Governance</a></h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">As part of its research on privacy and free speech, CIS is engaged with two different projects. The first one (under a grant from Privacy International and International Development Research Centre (IDRC)) is on surveillance and freedom of expression (SAFEGUARDS). The second one (under a grant from MacArthur Foundation) is on studying the restrictions placed on freedom of expression online by the Indian goverTnment.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">►Privacy</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Blog Entries</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<b> </b>
<li><b> </b><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/surveillance-industry-in-india-analysis-of-indian-security-expos"><b> </b>The Surveillance Industry in India - An Analysis of Indian Security Expos </a> (Divij Joshi; February 19, 2015). </li>
<li> <a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/rti-requests-to-bsnl-mtnl-regarding-security-equipment"> Right to Information (RTI) Requests to BSNL and MTNL Regarding Security Equipment </a> (Maria Xynou; February 25, 2015). CIS had sent RTI requests to MTNL and BSNL in July 2013. MTNL responded recently whereas BSNL has yet to reply. </li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Announcements</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<ul>
<li>CIS joins Worldwide Campaign to Discover Depth of GCHQ's Illegal Spying (Elonnai Hickok; February 28, 2015). Individuals who wish to take part in this process can sign up at <a href="https://www.privacyinternational.org/illegalspying">https://www.privacyinternational.org/illegalspying</a>.</li>
<li>Prof. Peng Hwa Ang from Nanyang Technology University visited CIS recently. He had a series of interactions with several researchers at CIS and has prepared a <a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/peng-hwa-trip-report.pdf">brief visit report</a>. Impressed with the research work of CIS he had discussions with CIS on possible collaborations including publication in more academic journals, collaboration with academic institutions in research projects in Privacy / Data Protection and other areas of Internet Governance. He also discussed on the possible areas where he could contribute to CIS including conduction of training session on writing for academic journals.</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">►Freedom of Expression</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Blog Entries</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<b> </b>
<li>Requests to ICANN: CIS sent ICANN six requests to ICANN regarding ICANN's expenditure on travels and meetings, granular revenue, cyber-attacks on ICANN, ICANN's implementation of the NETmundial principles, complaints under the Ombudsman process, and information regarding revenues received from gTLD auctions. These were prepared by Geetha Hariharan: <a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/didp-request-1-icanns-expenditures-on-travel-meetings"> DIDP Request #1: ICANN's Expenditures on "Travel & Meetings" </a> ; <a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/didp-request-2">DIDP Request #2: Granular Revenue/Income Statements from ICANN</a>; <a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/didp-request-3-cyber-attacks-on-icann">DIDP Request #3: Cyber-attacks on ICANN</a>; <a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/didp-request-4-icann-and-the-netmundial-principles"> DIDP Request #4: ICANN and the NETmundial Principles </a> ; <a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/didp-request-5-the-ombudsman-and-icanns-misleading-response-to-our-request-1"> DIDP Request #5: The Ombudsman and ICANN's Misleading Response to Our Request </a> ; and <a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/didp-request-6-revenues-from-gtld-auctions">DIDP Request #6: Revenues from gTLD auction</a>. </li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li> <a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/collection-of-net-neutrality-definitions">Collection of Net Neutrality Definitions</a> (Tarun Krishnakumar; February 8, 2015). The definitions were compiled by Manoj Kurbet, Maitreya Subramaniam and Tarun Krishnakumar under the guidance of Sunil Abraham. </li>
<li> <a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/icann-accountability-iana-transition-and-open-questions"> ICANN accountability, IANA transition and open questions </a> (Geetha Hariharan; February 6, 2015). </li>
<li> <a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/where-does-icann2019s-money-come-from-we-asked-they-don2019t-know"> Where Does ICANN's Money Come From? We Asked; They Don't Know </a> (Geetha Hariharan; February 9, 2015). </li>
<li> <a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/preliminary-submission-on-internet-governance-issues-to-assocham"> Preliminary Submission on "Internet Governance Issues" to the Associated Chambers of Commerce & Industry of India </a> (Geetha Hariharan; February 12, 2015). </li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">►Miscellaneous</p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li> <a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/gender-it-february-19-2015-selection-tweets-how-make-crowdmaps-effectual-mapping-violence-against-women"> A Selection of Tweets on How to Make Crowdmaps Effectual for Mapping Violence against Women </a> (Rohini Lakshané; February 19, 2015). </li>
<li> <a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/reply-to-rti-applications-with-respect-to-foreign-contractors-and-vendors-of-it-and-telecommunication-enterprises"> Reply to RTI Applications filed with respect to Foreign Contractors and Vendors of IT and Telecommunication Enterprises </a> (Lovisha Aggarwal; February 25, 2015). </li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Event Co-organized</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<b> </b>
<li><b> </b><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/events/digital-security-workshop-for-journalists"><b> </b>Digital Security Workshop for Journalists </a> (Organized by CIS and Mumbai Press Club; Mumbai Press Club, Azad Maidan, Mumbai; February 7, 2015). Rohini Lakshané conducted the workshop as part of the Cyber Stewards project. </li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Upcoming Event</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<b> </b>
<li><b> </b><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/events/talk-on-cybersecurity-and-internet-of-things"><b> </b>Cybersecurity and the Internet of Things </a> (Organized by US Consulate Chennai, Cyber Security & Privacy Foundation and CIS; Hotel Atria, Palace Road, Bangalore; March 19, 2015). </li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Participation in Events</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<b> </b>
<li><b> </b><a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/winter-school-on-privacy-surveillance-data-protection"><b> </b>Winter School on Privacy, Surveillance and Data Protection </a> (Organized by the Centre for Communication Governance (CCG) in collaboration with the UNESCO Chair on Freedom of Communication and Information at the University of Hamburg and the Hans Bredow; Delhi; January 19 - 23, 2015). Bhairav Acharya was a facilitator. <i>Errata: This was wrongly mentioned in the last newsletter. We have corrected this</i>. </li>
<li> <a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/net-gain-working-together-for-stronger-digital-society"> NetGain: Working Together for a Stronger Digital Society </a> (Organized by Ford Foundation; February 11 - 12, 2015). </li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">--------------------------------- <br /> <a href="http://cis-india.org/news">News & Media Coverage</a> <br /> --------------------------------- <br /> CIS gave its inputs to the following media coverage:</p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li> <a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/pc-world-john-riberio-february-10-2015-facebook-offers-free-but-limited-access-to-the-internet-in-india"> Facebook offers free but limited access to the Internet in India </a> (PC World; February 10, 2015). </li>
<li> <a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/livemint-february-10-2015-moulishree-srivastava-govt-may-turn-to-supercomputing-for-better-use-of-aadhaar-database"> Govt may turn to supercomputing for better use of Aadhaar database </a> (Moulishree Srivastava; Livemint; February 10, 2015). </li>
<li> <a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/business-standard-february-20-2015-surabhi-agarwal-analytics-to-help-govt-read-public-mood-online"> Analytics to help govt read public mood online </a> (Surabhi Talwar; Business Standard; February 10, 2015). </li>
<li> <a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/hindu-lalatendu-mishra-sriram-srinivasan-february-11-2015-hindu-facebook-launches-internet-org-in-india"> Facebook launches Internet.org in India </a> (Lalatendu Mishra and Sriram Srinivasan; Hindu; February 11, 2015). </li>
<li> <a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/india-today-february-25-2015-sahil-mohan-gupta-google-war-on-nude-photos-goes-against-user-rights"> Google's war on nude photos goes against user rights </a> (Sahil Mohan Gupta; India Today; February 25, 2015). </li>
<li> <a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/economic-times-jayadevan-pk-neha-alawadhi-february-25-2015-hacking-of-sim-card-by-spy-agencies-raises-fears-of-sensitive-documents-being-leaked"> Hacking of SIM card by spy agencies raises fears of sensitive documents being leaked </a> (PK Jayadevan and Neha Alawadhi; Economic Times; February 25, 2015). </li>
<li> <a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/economic-times-harsimran-julka-february-25-2015-delhi-government-in-consultation-with-centre-to-block-ubers-internet-address"> Delhi government in consultation with Centre to block Uber's Internet address </a> (Harsimran Julka; Economic Times; February 25, 2015). </li>
<li> <a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/livemint-shreeja-sen-february-26-2015-sc-reserves-judgment-in-cases-against-section-66a"> SC reserves judgement in cases against Section 66A </a> (Shreeja Sen; Livemint; February 26, 2015). </li>
</ul>
<h3><a href="https://cis-india.org/raw">Researchers at Work</a></h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The Researchers at Work (RAW) programme is an interdisciplinary research initiative driven by contemporary concerns to understand the reconfigurations of social practices and structures through the Internet and digital media technologies, and vice versa. It is interested in producing local and contextual accounts of interactions, negotiations, and resolutions between the Internet, and socio-material and geo-political processes:</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Event Organized</b></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li>Innovative Infrastructures for Research and Pedagogy in Interdisciplinary Social Sciences and Humanities (Co-organized by Centre for Study of Culture and Society and CIS, Bangalore): The RAW programme organized a consultation to discuss and conceptualise an upcoming project. The project will be hosted by the RAW programme. </li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Blog Entry</b></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li> <a href="https://cis-india.org/raw/figures-of-learning-the-pornographer">Figures of Learning: The Pornographer</a> (Namita A. Malhotra; February 28, 2015). </li>
</ul>
<h2><a href="http://cis-india.org/">About CIS</a></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">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.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">► Follow us elsewhere</p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li> Twitter:<a href="https://twitter.com/CISA2K"> </a><a href="https://twitter.com/CISA2K">https://twitter.com/CISA2K</a> </li>
<li> Facebook group: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/cisa2k">https://www.facebook.com/cisa2k</a> </li>
<li> Visit us at:<a href="https://cis-india.org/"> </a> <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Access_To_Knowledge">https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Access_To_Knowledge</a> </li>
<li> E-mail: <a href="mailto:a2k@cis-india.org">a2k@cis-india.org</a> </li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">► Support Us</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">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.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">► Request for Collaboration:</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">We invite researchers, practitioners, and theoreticians, both organisationally and as individuals, to collaboratively engage with Internet and society and improve our understanding of this new field. To discuss the research collaborations, write to Sunil Abraham, Executive Director, at sunil@cis-india.org. To discuss collaborations on Indic language Wikipedia, write to T. Vishnu Vardhan, Programme Director, A2K, at <a href="mailto:vishnu@cis-india.org">vishnu@cis-india.org</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><i> CIS is grateful to its primary donor the Kusuma Trust founded by Anurag Dikshit and Soma Pujari, philanthropists of Indian origin for its core funding and support for most of its projects. CIS is also grateful to its other donors, Wikimedia Foundation, Ford Foundation, Privacy International, UK, Hans Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, and IDRC for funding its various projects. </i></p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/february-2015-bulletin'>https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/february-2015-bulletin</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishna2015-03-30T16:09:05ZPageNetizen Report: The EU Wrestles With Facebook Over Privacy
https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/global-voices-february-11-2016-netizen-report
<b>Global Voices Advocacy's Netizen Report offers an international snapshot of challenges, victories, and emerging trends in Internet rights around the world. </b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The blog post published in Global Voices on February 11, 2016 quotes Pranesh Prakash and Subhashish Panigrahi.</p>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: justify; ">In the latest development in the negotiations between the United States and European Union over data transfer rules, Reuters reports France’s data protection authority gave Facebook<a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-facebook-france-privacy-idUSKCN0VH1U1"><span> </span><span>three months to stop tracking</span></a> non-users’ Web activity without their consent, and ordered Facebook to cease some transfers of personal data to the United States or face fines. In response, Facebook asserted it does not use the now-defunct<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Safe_Harbor_Privacy_Principles"><span> </span><span>Safe Harbor</span></a> agreement to move data to the United States and instead has set up alternative legal structures to keep its data transfers in line with EU law. Despite this, Facebook was forced last year to<a href="http://venturebeat.com/2016/02/08/french-data-privacy-regulator-to-facebook-you-have-3-months-to-stop-tracking-non-users/"><span> </span><span>stop tracking Belgian non-users</span></a> after it was taken to court by the Belgian regulator. Last week, the United States and European Union agreed upon a new legal framework to replace Safe Harbor, but as it is not yet operational, several European data protection authorities are still deciding whether data transfers should be restricted.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; "><strong>Big Blow for Facebook’s Free Basics</strong></h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Indian regulators <a href="http://inbministry.blogspot.in/2016/02/telecom-regulatory-authority-of-india.html"><span>officially banned “differential pricing”</span></a>or discriminatory tariffs placed on data services depending on their content. This means that Internet users in India are guaranteed equal access to any website they want, regardless of how they connect to the Internet, <a href="https://advox.globalvoices.org/2016/02/09/a-good-day-for-the-internet-everywhere-india-bans-differential-data-pricing/"><span>ays Global Voices’ Subhashish Panigrahi</span></a>. The decision is a particular blow to Facebook’s Free Basics application, which uses differential pricing mechanisms to make accessing Facebook, WhatsApp and a limited number of other websites free to users who do not pay for mobile data plans. Though Facebook promotes the program as a means to increasing digital access, it has come under backlash in India and a number of other countries. Internet policy expert <a href="https://twitter.com/pranesh/status/696732814083907584?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"><span>Pranesh Prakash emphasized</span></a>that though the ruling is a win for open access in India, these efforts must continue until India is truly and equally connected.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; "><strong>Google’s new scheme to combat online extremism </strong></h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">In an effort to combat groups like ISIS that recruit online, Google has launched a<a href="http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/feb/02/google-pilot-extremist-anti-radicalisation-information"><span>pilot scheme</span></a>to point users who search for extremist terms toward anti-radicalization links. It announced the new effort on February 2 at a<a href="http://data.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/committeeevidence.svc/evidencedocument/home-affairs-committee/countering-extremism/oral/28376.html"><span> meeting</span></a> with the U.K. Home Affairs Select Committee on Countering Extremism. Representatives of Twitter and Facebook were also challenged by members of Parliament on their role in combatting the spread of terrorist material. Twitter<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/06/technology/twitter-account-suspensions-terrorism.html"><span> announced</span></a>that it had suspended 125,000 accounts associated with extremism since mid-2015 in response to pressure from the US government. However, as the New York Times’ Mike Isaac notes, “these companies must walk a fine line between bearing responsibility for their platforms and avoiding becoming the arbiter of what constitutes free speech.”</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; "><strong>What’s going to happen to Ukraine’s database of ‘explicit content’?</strong></h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The Ukrainian censorship body, National Expert Commission for Protection of Public Morality, dissolved last year, but its<a href="https://globalvoices.org/2016/02/05/ukrainian-censors-explicit-content-database-is-up-for-grabs/"><span> legacy lives on</span></a> as a database of “explicit content” that no one in the government seems to know what to do with. The database includes a sizeable amount of content “containing elements of sexual nature and erotica,” but the commission was also well known for its <a href="http://www.mediaite.com/tv/ukraine-govt-wants-to-ban-spongebob-promotes-homosexuality/"><span>attempt to ban</span></a> Spongebob Squarepants, Shrek, and Teletubbies. Users have suggested the team responsible for dissolving the commission make the content more widely available, so they can see where taxpayers’ money went.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; "><strong>How to protect yourself from government hacking</strong></h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Hacking human rights workers, journalists, and NGOs has become <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/campaigns/2016/01/brief-history-of-government-hacking-human-rights-organizations/"><span>common practice </span></a>for governments around the world, according to Amnesty International’s Morgan Marquis-Boire and Electronic Frontier Foundation’s Eva Galperin. In a post for Amnesty International, the two provide a brief history of government hacking and give suggestions for NGOs and human rights organizations to protect themselves.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; "><strong>Taking on Russia’s invasive surveillance </strong></h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Two Russian Internet service providers are taking the Federal Security Service to court to<a href="https://advox.globalvoices.org/2016/02/03/isps-take-kremlin-to-court-over-online-surveillance/"><span> challenge the surveillance system</span></a> employed by Russian federal police to spy on Internet use. ISPs play a critical role in making surveillance possible, by installing expensive equipment that provides police access—making this case a significant affront to Russia’s invasive surveillance apparatus.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; "><strong>Telegram in Iran</strong></h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Messaging app Telegram’s <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/feb/08/telegram-the-instant-messaging-app-freeing-up-iranians-conversations?CMP=share_btn_tw"><span>growing influence</span></a> is being characterized as a major factor in the dissemination and spread of information leading up to Iran’s Feb. 26 parliamentary elections, but <a href="https://globalvoices.org/2015/08/28/is-telegrams-compliance-with-iran-compromising-the-digital-security-of-its-users/"><span> the platform</span></a>’s susceptibility to state manipulation is also becoming more apparent. After the arrest of former BBC journalist Bahman Doroshafaei, the government<a href="https://motherboard.vice.com/read/iran-telegram-account-bbc-journalist"><span> took over his Telegram account</span></a> and started to message his contacts. Some believe this was an effort to extract sensitive information or to distribute spyware. Fatemeh Shams, a friend of Doroshafaei, posted the following warning to her Facebook account:</p>
<blockquote style="text-align: justify; ">
<p>Someone has been talking to me for two hours from Bahman's hacked Telegram account and now is chatting with my friends with my account..If anyone messaged you on Telegram [from my account] please ignore it. I've lost access to my account.</p>
</blockquote>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><em><strong>Mahsa Alimardani, </strong><a href="https://advocacy.globalvoicesonline.org/author/ellery-roberts-biddle/"><strong><span>Ellery Roberts Biddle</span></strong></a><strong>, Hae-in Lim and</strong><a href="https://advocacy.globalvoicesonline.org/author/sarahbmyers/"><strong><span> Sarah Myers West</span></strong></a> <strong>contributed to this report.</strong></em></p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/global-voices-february-11-2016-netizen-report'>https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/global-voices-february-11-2016-netizen-report</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaInternet GovernancePrivacy2016-02-27T07:39:01ZNews ItemOdia Wikipedia 10th anniversary at Indian Institute of Mass Communication, Dhenkanal
https://cis-india.org/events/odia-wikipedia-tenth-anniversary-indian-institute-of-mass-communication-dhenkanal
<b>The Centre for Internet and Society's Access to Knowledge team along with the Odia Wikipedia community invite you to the 10th anniversary of Odia Wikipedia at the Indian Institute of Mass Communication in Dhenkanal on January 29, 2014 from 10.00 a.m. to 4.00 p.m.</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><span><span class="fsl">ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଉଇକିପିଡ଼ିଆ, ଅନଲାଇନରେ ଉପଲବ୍ଧ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଭାଷାର ସର୍ବବୃହତ ମୁକ୍ତ ଜ୍ଞାନକୋଷର ୧୦ମ ବାର୍ଷିକ ଜନ୍ମତିଥି ୨୯ ଜାନୁଆରୀରେ ଢେଙ୍କାନାଳର ଭାରତୀୟ ଜନସଂଚାର ସଂସ୍ଥାନରେ ପୂର୍ବାହ୍ଣ ୧୧ ଘଟିକା ସମୟରେ ଅନୁଷ୍ଠିତ ହେବାକୁ ଯାଉଛି । ଏହି ଅବସରରେ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଉଇକିପିଡ଼ିଆ ପରିବାର ଆପଣମାନଙ୍କୁ ଏହି କାର୍ଯ୍ୟକ୍ରମରେ ଭାଗ ନେଇ ଏହାକୁ ସାଫଲ୍ୟମଣ୍ଡିତ କରିବାକୁ ଅନୁରୋଧ କରୁଛି ।<br /> <br /> ଏଥିରେ ଆମେ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଉଇକିପିଡ଼ିଆର ଉପଯୋଗୀତା, ଏହାର ବ୍ୟବହାର ଓ ଆପଣ କିପରି ଏଥିରେ ଭାଗ ନେଇପାରିବେ ଓ ଜ୍ଞାନ ବିତରଣର ଏହି ମହାପ୍ରବାହରେ ସାମିଲ ହୋଇପାରିବେ ସେ ବାବଦରେ ଜାଣିପାରିବେ ।</span></span></p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/events/odia-wikipedia-tenth-anniversary-indian-institute-of-mass-communication-dhenkanal'>https://cis-india.org/events/odia-wikipedia-tenth-anniversary-indian-institute-of-mass-communication-dhenkanal</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaAccess to KnowledgeWikimediaWikipediaOdia WikipediaOpennessEvent2014-01-30T12:06:21ZEventMay 2016 Newsletter
https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/may-2016-newsletter
<b>Welcome to the May 2016 newsletter of the Centre for Internet and Society (CIS). </b>
<p> </p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Early last year, thanks to the fund raising efforts of a friend of CIS - Suhail Kazi, we received Rs. 1.9 lakhs as donations from 19 individuals. In January this year, we set up an online giving feature on our website which would ease the donation process, but we haven’t got a single donation so far! Today, we are unable to find a single donor who is interested in our Accessibility, Telecom, or RAW programmes. In other words, we need your support. Would you to consider making a small donation to CIS? <strong>Click <a href="http://imojo.in/CISDonations">here</a> to donate.</strong></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Previous issues of the newsletters can be <a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/about/newsletters">accessed here</a>.</p>
<table class="grid listing">
<tbody>
<tr>
<th>Highlights</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify;">CIS along with 20 other organisations <a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/accessible-ict-procurement">petitioned the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment, Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Information Technology</a> to bring in accessibility considerations within the draft Procurement Bill.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Pavishka Mittal <a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/raw/rbi-consultation-paper-on-p2p-lending-legality-and-implications">wrote a blog post</a> on the legality and implications of the Reserve Bank of India's proposed classification of Peer-to-Peer lending companies as non-banking financial institutions.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">The sixth section of our extended survey of digital initiatives in the practice of arts and humanities in India is <a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/raw/new-modes-and-sites-of-humanities-practice">now online</a>. The final report will be published serially, and will comprise seven sections in total.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">CIS <a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/raw/call-for-essays-studying-internet-in-india-2016">invites abstracts for essays that explore how we study the Internet in India today</a>. Please send the abstracts (no more than 200 words) to <a>raw@cis-india.org</a> by <strong>Sunday, June 12, 2016</strong>. CIS will select up to 10 abstracts and announce them on <strong>Monday, June 20, 2016</strong>.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">CIS filed RTI applications seeking information from institutes such as <a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/mhrd-ipr-chair-series-information-received-from-iim-bangalore">IIM Bangalore</a>; <a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/mhrd-ipr-chair-series-information-received-from-nlu-jodhpur">NLU Jodhpur</a>; <a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/mhrd-ipr-chair-series-information-received-from-nlsiu">NLSIU</a>; <a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/mhrd-ipr-chair-series-information-received-from-iit-kanpur">IIT Kanpur</a>; <a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/mhrd-ipr-chair-series-information-received-from-iit-kharagpur">IIT Kharagpur</a>; <a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/mhrd-ipr-chair-series-information-received-from-nalsar">NALSAR</a>; <a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/mhrd-ipr-chair-series-information-received-from-nujs">NUJS</a>; <a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/mhrd-ipr-chair-series-information-received-from-delhi-university">Delhi University</a>; and <a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/mhrd-ipr-chair-series-information-received-from-iim-ahmedabad">
<div>IIM Ahmedabad.</div>
</a></li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Sumandro Chattapadhyay and Adya Garg <a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/openness/protecting-the-territory-killing-the-map">wrote an article for the Wire</a> in which they analyzed the draft Geospatial Information Regulation Bill, 2016. They argue that the Bill seems to be undoing various economic and humanitarian efforts, and hindering other opportunities offered by maps.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">CIS <a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/comments-on-the-draft-new-icann-bylaws">sent its comments on the Draft New ICANN By-Laws</a> in which it observed that the draft by-laws are overwrought and that rather than producing a broad constitutional document for ICANN the by-laws read like the worst of governmental regulations and create more problems than they solve.</li></ul>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<h3><a href="http://cis-india.org/news">CIS in the News</a></h3>
<p style="text-align: justify;">CIS gave inputs to the following media coverage:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/news/exercise-to-correct-articles-in-tulu-wikipedia-begins">Exercise to correct articles in Tulu Wikipedia begins</a> (The Hindu; April 28, 2016). This was mirrored on CIS website on May 1, 2016.</li></ul>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/news/mathrubhumi-may-1-2016-thiruvananthapuram-to-host-wikipedia-workshop-on-may-4-5">T’puram to host Wikipedia workshop on May 4, 5</a> (Mathrubhumi; May 1, 2016).</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/news/the-times-of-india-may-5-2016-spread-awareness-through-malayalam-wikipedia">Spread awareness through Malayalam Wikipedia: Gadgil</a> (The Times of India; May 5, 2016).</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/news/new-indian-express-may-6-2016-promoting-online-content-through-wiki-malayalam">Promoting Online Content Through 'Wiki Malayalam'</a> (New Indian Express; May 6, 2016).</li></ul>
<ul>
<li>
<div style="text-align: justify;"><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/the-newsminute-may-6-2016-why-indias-attempt-to-polic-digital-maps-and-satellite-images-is-a-dumb-idea">Why India’s attempt to police digital maps and satellite images is a ‘dumb’ idea </a>(News Minute; May 6, 2016).</div>
</li>
<li>
<div style="text-align: justify;"><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/openness/news/economic-times-aman-sharma-neha-alawadhi-may-9-2016-google-apple-and-microsoft-may-need-licence-for-satellite-mapping-in-india">Google, Apple and Microsoft may need licence for satellite mapping in India</a> (Aman Sharma and Neha Alawadhi; Economic Times; May 9, 2016).</div>
</li>
<li>
<div style="text-align: justify;"><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/hindu-businessline-may-10-2016-varun-aggarwal-geospatial-info-regulation-bill-will-hurt-start-ups-small-firms">Geospatial Info Regulation Bill will hurt start-ups, small firms</a> (Varun Aggarwal; Hindu BusinessLine; May 10, 2016).</div>
</li>
<li>
<div style="text-align: justify;"><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/why-the-new-government-policy-mandating-panic-buttons-on-phones-isn2019t-going-to-protect-women">Why The New Government Policy Mandating Panic Buttons On Phones Isn’t Going To Protect Women</a> (The Ladies Finger; May 14, 2016).</div>
</li>
<li>
<div style="text-align: justify;"><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/voice-of-america-may-17-2016-anjana-pasricha-india-proposed-map-law-prompts-outcry">India's Proposed Map Law Prompts Outcry</a> (Anjana Pasricha; Voice of America; May 17, 2016).</div>
</li>
<li>
<div style="text-align: justify;"><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/the-quint-rohit-pathak-may-21-2016-suckly-attacks-national-stock-exchange-tech-vendor-among-others">Suckfly Attacks National Stock Exchange Tech Vendor, Among Others</a> (Rohit Pathak; The Quint; May 21, 2016).</div>
</li>
<li>
<div style="text-align: justify;"><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/voice-of-america-may-27-2016-india-seeks-to-limit-use-of-maps-and-satellite-images">India Seeks to Limit Use of Maps and Satellite Images</a> (Anjana Pasricha; Voice of America; May 27, 2016).</div>
</li>
<li>
<div style="text-align: justify;"><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/news/the-times-of-india-may-29-2016-how-tech-brings-self-reliance-to-students-with-disabilities">How tech brings self-reliance to students with disabilities</a> (The Times of India; May 29, 2016).</div>
</li></ul>
<div style="text-align: justify;"> </div>
<p style="text-align: justify;">CIS members wrote the following pieces:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/huffington-post-subhashish-panigrahi-january-25-2016-why-its-essential-to-grow-indian-language-wikipedias">Why It's Essential To Grow Indian-Language Wikipedias</a> (Subhashish Panigrahi; Huffington Post; February 2016). The post was mirrored in <a href="https://globalvoices.org/2016/02/26/why-its-essential-to-grow-indian-language-wikipedias/">Global Voices</a>. The post was translated <a href="https://el.globalvoices.org/2016/05/33834">into Greek</a> by Maria Souli. It was translated <a href="https://es.globalvoices.org/2016/03/26/la-importancia-de-cultivar-las-wikipedias-sobre-los-idiomas-de-la-india/">into Spanish</a> by Daniela Diaz and <a href="https://ru.globalvoices.org/2016/04/20/47945/">into Russian</a> by GV Russian.</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/indian-express-april-3-2016-nishant-shah-a-large-byte-of-your-life">A Large Byte of Your Life</a> (Nishant Shah; Indian Express; April 3, 2016). This was mirrored on the website recently.</li></ul>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/open-source-april-15-2016-a-four-year-action-packed-experience-with-wikipedia">A four year, action-packed experience with Wikipedia</a> (Sailesh Patnaik; Opensource.com; April 15, 2016). This was mirrored on CIS website recently.</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/indian-express-nishant-shah-april-17-2016-online-censorship-on-the-rise">Online Censorship on the Rise: Why I Prefer to Save Things Offline</a> (Nishant Shah; Indian Express; April 17, 2016). This was mirrored on the website recently.</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/indian-express-nishant-shah-may-8-2016-facebook-a-platform-with-little-less-sharing-of-personal-information">Facebook: A Platform with Little Less Sharing of Personal Information</a> (Nishant Shah; Indian Express; May 8, 2016). </li></ul>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/wikimedia-blog-may-9-2016-bangla-translations-odia-womens-history">Wikipedia’s 15th birthday inspires Bangla translators; Odia-language Women’s History Month edit-a-thons</a> (Nahid Sultan and Shailesh Patnaik; Wikimedia Blog; May 9, 2016).</li></ul>
<ul>
<li>
<div style="text-align: justify;"><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/identity-of-the-aadhaar-act-supreme-court-and-the-money-bill-question">Identity of the Aadhaar Act: Supreme Court and the Money Bill Question</a> (Sumandro Chattapadhyay and Vanya Rakesh; The Wire; May 9, 2016).</div>
</li>
<li>
<div style="text-align: justify;"><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/criminal-defamation-and-the-supreme-court2019s-loss-of-reputation">Criminal Defamation and the Supreme Court’s Loss of Reputation</a> (Bhairav Acharya; The Wire; May 14, 2016).</div>
</li>
<li>
<div style="text-align: justify;"><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/the-wire-may-16-2016-sumandro-chattapadhyay-and-aditya-garg-before-geospatial-bill-a-long-history-of-killing-the-map-in-order-to-protect-the-territory">Before Geospatial Bill: A Long History of Killing the Map in Order to Protect the Territory</a> (Sumandro Chattapadhyay and Adya Garg; The Wire; May 16, 2016).</div>
</li>
<li>
<div style="text-align: justify;"><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/openness/protecting-the-territory-killing-the-map">Protecting the Territory, Killing the Map</a> (Sumandro Chattapadhyay; The Wire; May 17, 2016).</div>
</li>
<li>
<div style="text-align: justify;"><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/gender-it-rohini-lakshane-may-19-2016-womens-safety-there-is-an-app-for-that">Women's Safety? There is an App for That</a> (Rohini Lakshané; Gender IT.org; May 19, 2016).</div>
</li></ul>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/b07b23b4db1fb30b28b47b1fb30b47-b13b21b3cb3fb06-b0fb28b38b3eb07b15b4db32b2ab3fb21b3cb3fb06-b09b07b15b3fb2ab3fb21b3cb3fb06-b2cb3fb15b3eb36-b2ab3eb07b01-b0fb15b3eb20b3f-b39b47b32b47-b2ab41b30b40b30-b1bb3eb24b4db30b1bb3eb24b4db30b40">ଇଣ୍ଟରନେଟରେ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଏନସାଇକ୍ଲୋପିଡ଼ିଆ "ଉଇକିପିଡ଼ିଆ" ବିକାଶ ପାଇଁ ଏକାଠି ହେଲେ ପୁରୀର ଛାତ୍ରଛାତ୍ରୀ</a> (Subhashish Panigrahi; YourStory Odia, May 20, 2016).</li></ul>
<ul></ul>
<ul>
<li>
<div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/dna-may-22-2016-subhashish-panigrahi-celebrating-13-years-of-kannada-language-wikipedia">Celebrating 13 Years of the Kannada-language Wikipedia</a> (Subhashish Panigrahi; DNA; May 22, 2016).</div>
</li>
<li>
<div style="text-align: justify;"><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/modi2019s-new-intellectual-property-rights-policy-will-only-benefit-players-with-deep-pockets">Modi’s New Intellectual Property Rights Policy Will Only Benefit Players with Deep Pockets</a> (Anubha Sinha; May 28, 2016).</div>
</li></ul>
<p style="text-align: justify;">-------------------------------------<br /><a href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility">Accessibility & Inclusion</a> <br /> ------------------------------------- <br /> India has an estimated 70 million persons with disabilities who don't have access to read printed materials due to some form of physical, sensory, cognitive or other disability. As part of our endeavour to make available accessible content for persons with disabilities, we are developing a text-to-speech software in 15 languages with support from the Hans Foundation. The progress made so far in the project can be accessed <a href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/resources/nvda-text-to-speech-synthesizer">here</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">►NVDA and eSpeak</p>
<ul>
<li>
<div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/May%20Report%202016.pdf" class="external-link">May 2016 Report</a></div>
</li></ul>
<p>►Other</p>
<ul>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/accessible-ict-procurement">Accessible ICT Procurement</a> (Pranesh Prakash; May 9, 2016).</li></ul>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>----------------------------------- </strong><br /><a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k">Access to Knowledge</a> <br /><strong> ----------------------------------- </strong><br />Our Access to Knowledge programme currently consists of two projects. The Pervasive Technologies project, conducted under a grant from the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), aims to conduct research on the complex interplay between low-cost pervasive technologies and intellectual property, in order to encourage the proliferation and development of such technologies as a social good. The Wikipedia project, which is under a grant from the Wikimedia Foundation, is for the growth of Indic language communities and projects by designing community collaborations and partnerships that recruit and cultivate new editors and explore innovative approaches to building projects.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">►Pervasive Technologies</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Blog Entries </strong></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">CIS gathered information from various educational institutions in response to several RTI applications. All of these have been published as different blog posts:</p>
<ul>
<li>
<div style="text-align: justify;"><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/mhrd-ipr-chair-series-information-received-from-jnu">MHRD IPR Chair Series: Information Received from JNU</a> (Nehaa Chaudhari; May 15, 2016).</div>
</li>
<li>
<div style="text-align: justify;"><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/mhrd-ipr-chair-series-information-received-from-iit-kharagpur">MHRD IPR Chair Series: Information Received from IIT, Kharagpur</a> (Nehaa Chaudhari; May 15, 2016).</div>
</li>
<li>
<div style="text-align: justify;"><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/mhrd-ipr-chair-series-information-received-from-nalsar">MHRD IPR Chair Series: Information Received from NALSAR</a> (Nehaa Chaudhari; May 15, 2016).</div>
</li>
<li>
<div style="text-align: justify;"><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/mhrd-ipr-chair-series-information-received-from-nujs">MHRD IPR Chair Series: Information Received from NUJS</a> (Nehaa Chaudhari; May 15, 2016).</div>
</li>
<li>
<div style="text-align: justify;"><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/mhrd-ipr-chair-series-information-received-from-delhi-university">MHRD IPR Chair Series: Information Received from Delhi University</a> (Nehaa Chaudhari; May 15, 2016).</div>
</li>
<li>
<div style="text-align: justify;"><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/mhrd-ipr-chair-series-information-received-from-iim-ahmedabad">MHRD IPR Chair Series: Information Received from IIM, Ahmedabad</a> (Nehaa Chaudhari; May 17, 2016).</div>
</li>
<li>
<div style="text-align: justify;"><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/mhrd-ipr-chair-series-information-received-from-iim-bangalore">MHRD IPR Chair Series: Information Received from IIM, Bangalore</a> (Nehaa Chaudhari; May 21, 2016).</div>
</li>
<li>
<div style="text-align: justify;"><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/mhrd-ipr-chair-series-information-received-from-nlu-jodhpur">MHRD IPR Chair Series: Information Received from NLU, Jodhpur</a> (Nehaa Chaudhari; May 26, 2016).</div>
</li>
<li>
<div style="text-align: justify;"><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/mhrd-ipr-chair-series-information-received-from-nlsiu">MHRD IPR Chair Series: Information Received from NLSIU</a> (Nehaa Chaudhari; May 27, 2016).</div>
</li>
<li>
<div style="text-align: justify;"><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/mhrd-ipr-chair-series-information-received-from-iit-kanpur">MHRD IPR Chair Series: Information Received from IIT, Kanpur</a> (Nehaa Chaudhari; May 31, 2016).</div>
</li></ul>
<p><em>Nisha S. Kumar assisted in the preparation of all these documents.</em></p>
<p>Participation in Event</p>
<ul>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/news/national-conference-on-competition-ipr-in-ict-telecom-mobile-sets">National Confererence on Competition & IPR in ICT, Telecom and Mobile Sets</a> (Organized by CMAI; May 18, 2016; Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi). Rohini Lakshané and Anubha Sinha attended this conference.</li></ul>
<p>Other Blog Entry</p>
<ul>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/sectoral-innovation-councils-intellectual-property-rights-2013-rti-requests-dipp-responses">Sectoral Innovation Councils on Intellectual Property Rights – RTI Requests + DIPP Responses</a> (Nehaa Chaudhari and Saahil Dama; May 21, 2016).</li></ul>
<p>►Wikipedia</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">As part of the <a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/access-to-knowledge-program-plan">project grant from the Wikimedia Foundation</a> we have reached out to more than 3500 people across India by organizing more than 100 outreach events and catalysed the release of encyclopaedic and other content under the Creative Commons (CC-BY-3.0) license in four Indian languages (21 books in Telugu, 13 in Odia, 4 volumes of encyclopaedia in Konkani and 6 volumes in Kannada, and 1 book on Odia language history in English).</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Blog Entries</strong></p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/openness/images-and-links-matter-quality">Images and Links Matter Quality</a> (Rahmanuddin Shaik; May 4, 2016).</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/nvvchar-1500-dyk">Indian English Wikipedian Nvvchar completes 1500 Did You Know articles</a> (Tito Dutta; May 9, 2016).</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/kannada-wikipedias-13-year-old-journey-of-knowledge-sharing">Celebrating the 13th anniversary of Kannada Wikipedia</a> (Subhashish Panigrahi; May 19, 2016). Ananth Subray contributed to this blog.</li></ul>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>----------------------------------- </strong><br /><a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance">Internet Governance</a> <br /><strong> -----------------------------------</strong></p>
<p>As part of its research on privacy and free speech, CIS is engaged with two different projects. The first one (under a grant from Privacy International and IDRC) is on surveillance and freedom of expression (SAFEGUARDS). The second one (under a grant from MacArthur Foundation) is on restrictions that the Indian government has placed on freedom of expression online.</p>
<p>►Freedom of Expression</p>
<p><strong>Submission and Comment</strong></p>
<ul>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/comments-on-draft-electronic-health-records-standards">Comments on Draft Electronic Health Records Standards</a> (Amber Sinha; May 28, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/comments-on-the-draft-new-icann-bylaws">Submission by the Centre for Internet and Society on Draft New ICANN By-laws</a> (Pranesh Prakash, Vidushi Marda, Udbhav Tiwari and Swati Muthukumar with inputs from Sunil Abraham; May 30, 2016).</li></ul>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Blog Entry</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>
<div style="text-align: justify;"><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/criminal-defamation-remains-and-so-does-the-debate">Criminal Defamation Remains and so does the Debate</a> (Japreet Grewal; May 19, 2016).</div>
</li></ul>
<div style="text-align: justify;"> </div>
<p>►Privacy</p>
<p><strong>Blog Entry</strong></p>
<ul>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/privacy-issues-with-drm">Privacy Issues with DRM</a> (Jalaj Pandey; May 3, 2016).</li></ul>
<p>Event Organized</p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/events/understanding-aadhaar-and-its-new-challenges-may-26-27-2016">Understanding Aadhaar and its New Challenges</a> (Organized by Centre for Studies in Science Policy, JNU and CIS; May 26 - 27, 2016; New Delhi). The event was supported by the Centre for Communication Governance at NLU Delhi, Free Software Movement of India, Knowledge Commons, PEACE, and Center for Advancement of Public Understanding of Science & Technology.</li></ul>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>----------------------------------- <br /></strong><a href="http://cis-india.org/raw">Researchers at Work</a> <br /><strong> ----------------------------------- </strong><br /> The Researchers at Work (RAW) programme is an interdisciplinary research initiative driven by an emerging need to understand the reconfigurations of social practices and structures through the Internet and digital media technologies, and vice versa. It aims to produce local and contextual accounts of interactions, negotiations, and resolutions between the Internet, and socio-material and geo-political processes:</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Announcement</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>
<div style="text-align: justify;"><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/raw/call-for-essays-studying-internet-in-india-2016">Call for Essays: Studying Internet in India</a> (Sumandro Chattapadhyay; May 20, 2016).</div>
</li></ul>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Blog Entries</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>
<div style="text-align: justify;"><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/raw/new-modes-and-sites-of-humanities-practice">New Modes and Sites of Humanities Practice</a> (P.P. Sneha; May 19, 2016).</div>
</li>
<li>
<div style="text-align: justify;"><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/raw/rbi-consultation-paper-on-p2p-lending-summary">RBI Consultation Paper on P2P Lending: Summary</a> (Pavishka Mittal; May 18, 2016).</div>
</li>
<li>
<div style="text-align: justify;"><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/raw/rbi-consultation-paper-on-p2p-lending-legality-and-implications">RBI Consultation Paper on P2P Lending: Legality and Implications</a> (Pavishka Mittal; May 23, 2016).</div>
</li>
<li>
<div style="text-align: justify;"><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/raw/rbi-consultation-paper-on-p2p-lending">RBI Consultation Paper on P2P Lending: Data Security and Privacy Concerns</a> (Vipul Kharbanda; May 31, 2016).</div>
</li></ul>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>----------------------------------- </strong><br /><a href="http://cis-india.org/">About CIS</a> <br /><strong> ----------------------------------- </strong><br /> The Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) is a non-profit organisation that undertakes interdisciplinary research on internet and digital technologies from policy and academic perspectives. The areas of focus include digital accessibility for persons with diverse abilities, access to knowledge, intellectual property rights, openness (including open data, free and open source software, open standards, open access, open educational resources, and open video), internet governance, telecommunication reform, digital privacy, and cyber-security. The academic research at CIS seeks to understand the reconfigurations of social and cultural processes and structures as mediated through the internet and digital media technologies.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">► Follow us elsewhere</p>
<div>
<ul style="text-align: justify;">
<li> Twitter:<a href="http://twitter.com/cis_india"> http://twitter.com/cis_india</a> </li>
<li> Twitter - Access to Knowledge: <a href="https://twitter.com/CISA2K">https://twitter.com/CISA2K</a> </li>
<li> Twitter - Information Policy: <a href="https://twitter.com/CIS_InfoPolicy">https://twitter.com/CIS_InfoPolicy</a></li>
<li> Facebook - Access to Knowledge:<a href="https://www.facebook.com/cisa2k"> https://www.facebook.com/cisa2k</a> </li>
<li> E-Mail - Access to Knowledge: <a>a2k@cis-india.org</a> </li>
<li> E-Mail - Researchers at Work: <a>raw@cis-india.org</a> </li>
<li> List - Researchers at Work: <a href="https://lists.ghserv.net/mailman/listinfo/researchers">https://lists.ghserv.net/mailman/listinfo/researchers</a></li></ul>
<div style="text-align: justify;"> </div>
</div>
<p style="text-align: justify;">► Support Us</p>
<div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">Please help us defend consumer and 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.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;"> </div>
</div>
<p style="text-align: justify;">► Request for Collaboration</p>
<div>
<p style="text-align: justify;">We invite researchers, practitioners, artists, and theoreticians, both organisationally and as individuals, to engage with us on topics related internet and society, and improve our collective understanding of this field. To discuss such possibilities, please write to Sunil Abraham, Executive Director, at sunil@cis-india.org (for policy research), or Sumandro Chattapadhyay, Research Director, at sumandro@cis-india.org (for academic research), with an indication of the form and the content of the collaboration you might be interested in. To discuss collaborations on Indic language Wikipedia projects, write to Tanveer Hasan, Programme Officer, at <a>tanveer@cis-india.org</a>.</p>
<div style="text-align: justify;"> </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;"><em>CIS is grateful to its primary donor the Kusuma Trust founded by Anurag Dikshit and Soma Pujari, philanthropists of Indian origin for its core funding and support for most of its projects. CIS is also grateful to its other donors, Wikimedia Foundation, Ford Foundation, Privacy International, UK, Hans Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, and IDRC for funding its various projects</em>.</div>
</div>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/may-2016-newsletter'>https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/may-2016-newsletter</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaNewsletter2016-06-10T19:34:10ZNews ItemHow the Odia Wikimedia community is enriching Wikipedia with character encoding technology
https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/wikimedia-blog-subhashish-panigrahi-june-4-2015-odia-wikipedia-community-is-enriching-wikipedia-with-character-encoding-technology
<b>Last year, I wrote about the development of Odia language character encoding converters that the Wikipedia community was working on. These converted text into Unicode, a universal encoding standard. These converters have now been made available for use, just in time for today’s thirteenth anniversary of the Odia Wikipedia.</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The original blog post published on Wikimedia Blog <a class="external-link" href="https://blog.wikimedia.org/2015/06/03/odia-wikipedia/">is here</a>.</p>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Character_encoding" title="w:Character encoding">Character encoding</a> is used to represent a collection of characters through an encoding system, and is used in computation, data storage, and transmission of textual data. Fonts in different scripts used to have several different encoding systems before the onset of Unicode.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">However, most media outlets—as well as the state government—are still using old encoding systems for Odia. These require the installation of a particular font using the same encoding system to read documents. Unicode makes this much easier, as most modern computers come with Unicode fonts preinstalled.<br /><br />A character encoding converter is generally used to convert from one encoding system to another. Massive amounts of content, not archived on a regular basis, could now be converted to Unicode and, in turn, provide Wikipedia editors with easily accessible sources to create new articles and enhance existing ones.<br /><br />The Odia language is spoken by over 40 million people in eastern India, accross various Indian cities, and by expatriates abroad. It is one of the oldest languages in South Asia, and is recognized as a “classical language” by the Indian government. The Odia Wikipedia celebrates its thirteenth anniversary today, June 3.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">However, the “classical language” status has not yet boosted knowledge production or use of the language on the Internet. Almost all online newspapers and state publications, such as Odia-language journals, public announcements, and information portals, host their content in various legacy character encodings that do not allow users to easily access and share information. This has, unsurprisingly, proven to be a major hurdle for the small <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odia_Wikipedia" title="w:Odia Wikipedia">Odia Wikimedia</a> community, who hope to enrich their project with Odia-language citations.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">To help solve these problems, the community tried using <a href="https://bitbucket.org/rebati/rebati/downloads">two encoding converters</a>. These were previously developed by friends from Srujanika, a non-profit based in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, that works on promoting science education in school curricula in the Odia language, as well as the digitization of early Odia literature. These converters became the building blocks on top of which Wikimedian <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/or:%E0%AC%AC%E0%AD%8D%E0%AD%9F%E0%AC%AC%E0%AC%B9%E0%AC%BE%E0%AC%B0%E0%AC%95%E0%AC%BE%E0%AC%B0%E0%AD%80:TWO%5E0" title="w:or:ବ୍ୟବହାରକାରୀ:TWO^0">Manoj Sahukar</a> built converters after massively rewriting their code. I was also part of the re-building process, from the initial development of the converters to the design of their interface, and I helped to design handouts teaching new users how to use them.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The community played a major role in promoting the converters on social media. An <a href="http://cis-india.org/openness/blog/article-on-akruti-unicode-converter-in-samaja">op-ed</a> in the Odia newspaper <i>Samaja</i> helped to reach out to more people unaware of the uses for Unicode. Many Internet users did not realize that they had been sharing knowledge on their blogs or social media using various legacy encodings, which neither appear in search engines nor allow anyone to share them in an accessible way.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">By converting news and articles from newspapers and magazines as test cases, the converters were improved over time. Citing Odia-language sources wasn’t so easy before: making use of any content from a local newspaper could take hours.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">From September 2014 to March 2015, a small project ran to convert text from several newspapers and magazines, so that they could be used as citations in articles in the Odia Wikipedia — this is important because, when these sources are not available in Unicode, search engines and Wikipedia users can have difficulty finding them.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Because the converters were hosted separately on <a href="https://22bc339da9ca3e2462414546a715752e4c2c5e0d.googledrive.com/host/0B5rBGd680WZFemVLa3RxY0preE0/">Google Drive</a>, it was difficult to have them all in one central place. Odia Wikipedians wanted their Wikipedia to host a single converter, where a user could select the appropriate input encoding. Wikimedian and developer <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Jnanaranjan_sahu" title="User:Jnanaranjan sahu">Jnanaranjan Sahu</a> came up with a responsive, wiki-based converter that went live on May 12 and is <a href="https://or.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%AC%89%E0%AC%87%E0%AC%95%E0%AC%BF%E0%AC%AA%E0%AC%BF%E0%AC%A1%E0%AC%BC%E0%AC%BF%E0%AC%86:%E0%AC%9F%E0%AD%81%E0%AC%B2/%E0%AC%8F%E0%AC%A8%E0%AC%95%E0%AD%8B%E0%AC%A1%E0%AC%BC%E0%AC%BF%E0%AC%99%E0%AD%8D%E0%AC%97_%E0%AC%95%E0%AC%A8%E0%AC%AD%E0%AC%B0%E0%AD%8D%E0%AC%9F%E0%AC%B0" title="or:ଉଇକିପିଡ଼ିଆ:ଟୁଲ/ଏନକୋଡ଼ିଙ୍ଗ କନଭର୍ଟର">now available</a> for use. The converter now enables the choice of source encoding from a drop-down menu, and converts the input into Unicode. Issues with this conversion process can be reported <a href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1_rLp0ijsf5j87v_8wiwGATnXQBg_ktIfXAt_D6wHx9U/edit#gid=0">via Google Spreadsheet</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Combining five different converters into one, Jnanaranjan says, was a necessary next step in development: “When I found that there are different URLs for different converters, and that the URLs lead to a bunch of different sites, it seemed quite messed up. It would have been difficult for users to locate each of the converters. I thought it would be easier for users if they could find all the encoding converters for Odia on one page on their home wiki. So, I tried to tweak the source code and design this converter.”</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">He also explains that several newspapers whose news is encoded in older systems are now rich information sources. "Converting them and using the information to add more citations to Wikipedia could help to achieve the dream of every single person being able to contribute more information to the Odia Wikipedia," he says, "so all human knowledge may be available in our language."</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/wikimedia-blog-subhashish-panigrahi-june-4-2015-odia-wikipedia-community-is-enriching-wikipedia-with-character-encoding-technology'>https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/wikimedia-blog-subhashish-panigrahi-june-4-2015-odia-wikipedia-community-is-enriching-wikipedia-with-character-encoding-technology</a>
</p>
No publishersubha2015-06-14T11:51:46ZBlog EntryMarch 2016 Bulletin
https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/march-2016-bulletin
<b>CIS Newsletter for the month of March 2016 is here.</b>
<p style="text-align: justify;">The Centre for Internet & Society (CIS) is happy to share its March 2016 newsletter. Previous issues of the newsletters can be accessed at <a href="http://cis-india.org/about/newsletters">http://cis-india.org/about/newsletters</a>.</p>
<hr style="text-align: justify;" />
<table style="text-align: justify;" class="grid listing">
<tbody>
<tr>
<th>Highlights</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify;">CIS published and circulated two press releases on March 11 and 15, 2016, as the Lok Sabha passed the Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Bill, 2016: '<a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/press-release-aadhaar-11032016-the-law-cannot-fix-what-technology-has-broken">The Law cannot Fix what Technology has Broken!</a>' and '<a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/press-release-aadhaar-15032016-the-new-bill-makes-aadhaar-compulsory">The New Bill Makes Aadhaar Compulsory!</a>'</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">CIS submitted <a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/list-of-recommendations-on-the-aadhaar-bill-2016">an initial list of recommendations to the Members of Parliaments</a> to highlight the aspects of the Bill that require immediate attention. The recommendations were prepared by Amber Sinha, Sumandro Chattapadhyay, Sunil Abraham, and Vanya Rakesh.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">In an article titled <a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/epw-27-february-2016-hans-varghese-mathews-flaws-in-uidai-process">Flaws in the UIDAI Process published in the Economic and Political Weekly</a>, Hans Varghese Mathews. He stated that the Government of India is engaged upon biometrically identifying the entire population of India. An experiment performed at an early stage of the programme has allowed us to estimate the chance of a false positive: and from that to estimate the proportion of duplicands. For the current population of 1.2 billion the expected proportion of duplicands is 1/121, a ratio which is far too high.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Vipul Kharbanda <a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/analysis-of-aadhaar-act-in-context-of-shah-committee-principles">wrote an analysis of Aadhaar Act in the context of Justice A.P. Shah Committee Principles</a>. The analysis has thrown light on the substantial aspects of the Act in relation to privacy concerns which have been raised by a number of experts.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Pooja Saxena and Amber Sinha produced two infographics that 1) <a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/aadhaar-bill-2016-evaluated-against-the-national-privacy-principles">evaluate the Aadhaar Bill 2016 against the National Privacy Principles</a>, and 2) <a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/vulnerabilities-in-the-uidai-implementation-not-addressed-by-the-aadhaar-bill-2016">highlight the vulnerabilities in the UIDAI implementation process not addressed by the Aadhaar Bill, 2016</a>.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">CIS has initiated the CIS Papers series with a fascinating exploration of <a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/papers/ebola-a-big-data-disaster">humanitarian use of big data and its discontents</a> by Sean McDonald, FrontlineSMS, in the context of utilisation of Call Detail Records for public health response during the Ebola crisis in Liberia.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">With the objective to sensitize and impart the skillset in handling NVDA – the Screen Reader and the usage of BookShare Online Library for the print disabled to the Special Educators, Karna Vidya Technology Centre in collaboration with Computer and Internet Society <a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/report-on-nvda-with-e-speak-and-bookshare-online-library">conducted a one-day workshop</a> on February 27, 2016. 48 special educators participated and benefited from the workshop.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">An article titled 8 Challenges In Growing Indian-Language Wikipedias by Subhashish Panigrahi was first published in <a class="external-link" href="http://www.huffingtonpost.in/subhashish-panigrahi-/8-of-many-challenges-in-g_b_9457704.html">Huffington Post</a> on March 19, 2016. This was cross-posted in <a class="external-link" href="http://www.medianama.com/2016/03/223-indic-wikipedia-growth-slow-subhashish-panigrahi/">Medianama</a> titled as Multiple key factors preventing Indic Wikipedia growth on March 21, 2016.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">CIS has published a <a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/report-of-the-30th-session-of-the-wipo-sccr-by-the-centre-for-internet-society">report on the 30th Session of WIPO-SCCR</a> giving an analysis of the Broadcast Treaty Negotiations and the Negotiations on International Instrument for Exceptions and Limitations for Libraries and Archives. </li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Anubha Sinha wrote an essay titled <a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/digital-asia-hub-the-good-life-in-asias-21-st-century-anubha-sinha-fueling-the-affordable-smartphone-revolution-in-india">Fueling the Affordable Smartphone Revolution in India</a> as part of the <a class="external-link" href="http://www.digitalasiahub.org/thegoodlife/">The Good Life in Asia's Digital 21st Century essay collection</a>. She stated that smartphones have emerged as the exemplar of mankind's quest for shrinking technologies. They embody the realization of a simple premise – that computing devices would do more and cost less. This realization has been responsible for modern society's profound transformations in communication, governance, and knowledge distribution. </li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Rohini Lakshané wrote an analysis of the patent landscape in a research paper titled <a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/patents-and-mobile-devices-in-india-an-empirical-survey">Patents and Mobile Devices in India: An Empirical Survey</a>. The paper has indicated that although India has the second-largest wireless subscriber base in the world, with more than 150 mobile device vendors, it has, until recently, remained relatively unaffected by the global smartphone wars.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">The Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, has constituted a National Expert Committee for developing a draft National Geospatial Policy (NGP) to provide appropriate guidelines for collection, analysis, use, and distribution of geospatial information across India, and to assure data availability, accessibility and quality. A pre-drafting consultation meeting for the NGP was organised in Delhi on February 3, 2016. <a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/openness/consultation-on-national-geospatial-policy-03022016">Anubha Sinha attended the meeting</a>. </li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">The glue that allows infrastructures to link and operate efficiently is standards as they make technologies interoperable and efficient tells Vanya Rakesh in a blog entry titled <a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/adoption-of-standards-in-smart-cities-way-forward-for-india">Adoption of Standards in Smart Cities - Way Forward for India</a>.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">P.P. Sneha <a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/raw/studying-digital-creative-industries-in-india-initial-questions">wrote a blog post </a> which <a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/raw/studying-digital-creative-industries-in-india-initial-questions">studies the digital creative industries in India</a> while examining some initial questions. She stated that the term ‘creative industries’ has been around for a while now, but with the advent of the digital, and with interest from different sectors, especially with a focus on policy and economic development, it would be essential to critically examine the discourse around the term, and see where it may be changing to open up new possibilities, particularly for the arts, humanities and design.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">CIS strongly <a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/cis-statement-on-sexual-harrasment-at-icann55">condemns the acts of sexual harassment that took place against one of its representatives</a> Padmini Baruah during ICANN 55 in Marrakech. It is completely unacceptable that an event the scale of an ICANN meeting does not have in place a formal redressal system, a neutral point of contact or even a policy for complainants who have been put through the ordeal of sexual harassment. ICANN cannot claim to be inclusive or diverse if it does not formally recognise a specific procedure or recourse under such instances. </li></ul>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p style="text-align: justify;">-------------------------------------- <br /><strong><a href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility">Accessibility & Inclusion</a></strong> <br /> ------------------------------------- <br /> India has an estimated 70 million persons with disabilities who don't have access to read printed materials due to some form of physical, sensory, cognitive or other disability. As part of our endeavour to make available accessible content for persons with disabilities we are developing a text-to-speech software in 15 languages with support from the Hans Foundation. The progress made so far in the project can be accessed <a href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/resources/nvda-text-to-speech-synthesizer">here</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">►NVDA and eSpeak</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">The workshops were conducted earlier but published recently on our website:</p>
<ul>
<li>
<div style="text-align: justify;"><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/report-on-espeak-with-nvda-screen-reader-and-assistive-technology-for-visually-challenged">Report on eSpeak with NVDA Screen Reader and Assistive Technology for Visually Challenged</a> (Organized by National Association for the Blind, New Delhi, Centre for Differently Abled Persons, Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli, and CIS; January 21, 2016; Tiruchirappalli).</div>
</li>
<li>
<div style="text-align: justify;"><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/report-on-nvda-with-e-speak-and-bookshare-online-library">Report on NVDA with E-Speak and BookShare Online Library</a> (Organized by Karna Vidya Technology Centre, Computer and Internet Society, and CIS; February 27, 2016; Chennai).</div>
</li></ul>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>----------------------------------- <br /><a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k">Access to Knowledge</a> <br /> ----------------------------------- <br /></strong>As part of the Access to Knowledge programme we are doing two projects. The first one (Pervasive Technologies) under a grant from the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) is for research on the complex interplay between pervasive technologies and intellectual property to support intellectual property norms that encourage the proliferation and development of such technologies as a social good. The second one (Wikipedia) under a grant from the Wikimedia Foundation is for the growth of Indic language communities and projects by designing community collaborations and partnerships that recruit and cultivate new editors and explore innovative approaches to building projects.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">►Pervasive Technologies</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Article</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>
<div style="text-align: justify;"><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/digital-asia-hub-the-good-life-in-asias-21-st-century-anubha-sinha-fueling-the-affordable-smartphone-revolution-in-india">Fueling the Affordable Smartphone Revolution in India</a> (Anubha Sinha; The Good Life in Asia's 21st Century Essay Collection; March 16, 2016).</div>
</li></ul>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Blog Entries</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>
<div style="text-align: justify;"><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/report-of-the-30th-session-of-the-wipo-sccr-by-the-centre-for-internet-society">Report of the 30th Session of the WIPO SCCR by the Centre for Internet & Society</a> (edited by Nehaa Chaudhari with assistance from Nisha S.K., Aarushi Bansal, Amulya P., and Saahil Dama; March 16, 2016).</div>
</li>
<li>
<div style="text-align: justify;"><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/dataset-patent-landscape-of-mobile-device-technologies-in-india">Dataset: Patent Landscape of Mobile Device Technologies in India</a> (Rohini Lakshané; March 31, 2016).</div>
</li></ul>
<ul>
<li>
<div style="text-align: justify;"><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/patents-and-mobile-devices-in-india-an-empirical-survey">Patents and Mobile Devices in India: An Empirical Survey </a>(Rohini Lakshané; March 31, 2016)</div>
</li></ul>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<p style="text-align: justify;">►Wikipedia</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">As part of the <a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/access-to-knowledge-program-plan">project grant from the Wikimedia Foundation</a> we have reached out to more than 3500 people across India by organizing more than 100 outreach events and catalysed the release of encyclopaedic and other content under the Creative Commons (CC-BY-3.0) license in four Indian languages (21 books in Telugu, 13 in Odia, 4 volumes of encyclopaedia in Konkani and 6 volumes in Kannada, and 1 book on Odia language history in English).</p>
<p><strong>Articles</strong></p>
<ul>
<li> <a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/the-wire-march-17-2016-subhashish-panigrahi-eight-challenges-that-indian-language-wikipedias-need-to-overcome">Eight Challenges That Indian-Language Wikipedias Need to Overcome</a> (Subhashish Panigrahi; The Wire; March 17, 2016). A version of the article was also mirrored by <a href="https://opensource.com/life/16/3/8-challenges-improving-indian-language-wikipedias">Opensource.com </a>on March 28, 2016.</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/huffington-post-march-19-2016-subhashish-panigrahi-8-challenges-in-growing-indian-language-wikipedias">8 Challenges In Growing Indian-Language Wikipedias</a> (Subhashish Panigrahi; Huffington Post; March 19, 2016). This was cross-posted in Medianama titled as <a href="http://www.medianama.com/2016/03/223-indic-wikipedia-growth-slow-subhashish-panigrahi/">Multiple key factors preventing Indic Wikipedia growth</a> on March 21, 2016.</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/open-source-march-28-2016-subhashish-panigrahi-8-challenges-for-improving-indian-language-wikipedias">8 Challenges for Improving Indian Language Wikipedias</a> (Subhashish Panigrahi; Opensource.com; March 28, 2016). The article was originally published in <a href="http://thewire.in/2016/03/17/eight-challenges-that-indian-language-wikipedias-need-to-overcome-25062/">the Wire</a> on March 17, 2016 and later mirrored on <a href="https://opensource.com/life/16/3/8-challenges-improving-indian-language-wikipedias">Opensource.com </a>on March 28, 2016.</li></ul>
<p><strong>Participation in Event</strong></p>
<ul>
<li> <a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/news/bhasha-indian-languages-digital-festival">BHASHA-Indian Languages Digital Festival</a> (Organized by news media YourStory; March 11, 2016; New Delhi). Subhashish Panigrahi gave a talk in the panel “The challenges of making regional language content available on the Web and on mobiles.</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/news/8th-iba-international-conference">8th IBA International Conference</a> (Organized by Indus Business Academy; March 24 - 26, 2016; Bangalore). Dr. U.B. Pavanaja gave a talk on Democratizing of Knowledge Access- Case of Regional Language Wikipedia.</li></ul>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;"><strong>----------------------------------- <br /></strong> <strong><a href="http://cis-india.org/openness">Openness</a> <br /> -----------------------------------</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">Our work in the Openness programme focuses on open data, especially open government data, open access, open education resources, open knowledge in Indic languages, open media, and open technologies and standards - hardware and software. We approach openness as a cross-cutting principle for knowledge production and distribution, and not as a thing-in-itself.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;"> </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Submission</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;"><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/openness/consultation-on-national-geospatial-policy-03022016">Consultation on 'National Geospatial Policy' - Notes and Submission</a> (Anubha Sinha; March 29, 2016)</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;"> </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;"> </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;"><strong>----------------------------------- <br /></strong> <strong><a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance">Internet Governance</a> <br /> -----------------------------------</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;"> </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">As part of its research on privacy and free speech, CIS is engaged with two different projects. The first one (under a grant from Privacy International and International Development Research Centre (IDRC) is on surveillance and freedom of expression (SAFEGUARDS). The second one (under a grant from MacArthur Foundation) is on studying the restrictions placed on freedom of expression online by the Indian government.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;"> </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">►Big Data</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Article</strong></div>
<ul>
<li>
<div style="text-align: justify;"><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/the-wire-march-21-2016-vanya-rakesh-too-clever-by-half-strengthening-indias-smart-cities-plan-with-human-rights-protection">Too Clever By Half: Strengthening India’s Smart Cities Plan with Human Rights Protection</a> (Vanya Rakesh; The Wire; March 22, 2016).</div>
</li></ul>
<div style="text-align: justify;"> </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Blog Entry</strong></div>
<ul>
<li>
<div style="text-align: justify;"><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/adoption-of-standards-in-smart-cities-way-forward-for-india">Adoption of Standards in Smart Cities - Way Forward for India</a> (Vanya Rakesh; March 19, 2016).</div>
</li></ul>
<div><br />►Freedom of Expression</div>
<div><strong>Statements</strong></div>
<ul>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/sexual-harassment-at-icann">Sexual Harassment at ICANN</a> (Padmini Baruah; March 18, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/cis-statement-on-sexual-harrasment-at-icann55">CIS' Statement on Sexual Harassment at ICANN55 </a>(Vidushi Marda; March 21, 2016).</li></ul>
<div> </div>
<div>►Privacy</div>
<div><strong>Submission</strong></div>
<ul>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/list-of-recommendations-on-the-aadhaar-bill-2016">List of Recommendations on the Aadhaar Bill, 2016 - Letter Submitted to the Members of Parliament </a>(Amber Sinha, Sumandro Chattapadhyay, Sunil Abraham, and Vanya Rakesh; March 16, 2016).</li></ul>
<div><strong>Articles</strong></div>
<ul>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/epw-27-february-2016-hans-varghese-mathews-flaws-in-uidai-process">Flaws in the UIDAI Process</a> (Hans Varghese Mathews; Economic & Political Weekly, Journal, Vol. 51, Issue No. 9, February 27, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/livemint-march-7-2016-pranesh-prakash-aadhaar-still-too-many-problems">Aadhaar: Still Too Many Problems</a> (Pranesh Prakash; Livemint; March 7, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/aadhaar-bill-fails-to-incorporate-suggestions-by-the-standing-committee">Aadhaar Bill fails to incorporate suggestions by the Standing Committee </a>(Amber Sinha; The Wire; March 10, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/dna-amber-sinha-march-10-2016-are-we-losing-right-to-privacy-and-freedom-of-speech-on-indian-internet">Are we Losing the Right to Privacy and Freedom of Speech on Indian Internet?</a> (Amber Sinha; March 10, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/hindustan-times-amber-sinha-pranesh-prakash-march-12-2016-privacy-concerns-overshadow-monetary-benefits-of-aadhaar-scheme">Privacy Concerns Overshadow Monetary Benefits of Aadhaar Scheme </a>(Pranesh Prakash and Amber Sinha; Hindustan Times; March 12, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/the-quint-march-31-2016-nehaa-chaudhari-will-aadhaar-act-address-indias-dire-need-for-a-privacy-law">Will Aadhaar Act Address India’s Dire Need For a Privacy Law?</a> (Nehaa Chaudhari; Quint; March 31, 2016).</li></ul>
<div> </div>
<div><strong>Blog Entries</strong></div>
<ul>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/a-comparison-of-the-2016-aadhaar-bill-and-the-2010-nidai-bill">A comparison of the 2016 Aadhaar Bill, and the 2010 NIDAI Bill</a> (Vanya Rakesh; March 9, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/aadhaar-bill-2016-niai-bill-2010-text-comparison">Aadhaar Bill 2016 & NIAI Bill 2010 - Comparing the Texts</a> (Sumandro Chattapadhyay; March 9, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/the-new-aadhaar-bill-in-plain-english">The New Aadhaar Bill in Plain English</a> (Amber Sinha, Vanya Rakesh and Vipul Kharbanda; March 11, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/an-urgent-need-for-the-right-to-privacy">An Urgent Need for the Right to Privacy</a> (Sumandro Chattapadhyay; March 16, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/press-release-aadhaar-11032016-the-law-cannot-fix-what-technology-has-broken">The Law cannot Fix what Technology has Broken!</a> (Japreet Grewal and Sunil Abraham; March 16, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/press-release-aadhaar-15032016-the-new-bill-makes-aadhaar-compulsory">The New Bill Makes Aadhaar Compulsory!</a> (Amber Sinha; March 16, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/analysis-of-aadhaar-act-in-context-of-shah-committee-principles">Analysis of Aadhaar Act in the Context of A.P. Shah Committee Principles </a>(Vipul Kharbanda; March 17, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/vulnerabilities-in-the-uidai-implementation-not-addressed-by-the-aadhaar-bill-2016">Vulnerabilities in the UIDAI Implementation Not Addressed by the Aadhaar Bill, 2016</a> (Pooja Saxena and Vipul Kharbanda; March 21, 2016).</li></ul>
<p><strong>Participation in Events</strong></p>
<ul>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/gni-industry-dialogue-learning-session-human-rights-impact-assessments-and-due-diligence-in-the-ict-sector">GNI-Industry Dialogue Learning Session: Human Rights Impact Assessments and Due Diligence in the ICT sector</a> (Organized by Global Network Initiative; March 11, 2016; Washington D.C.). Elonnai Hickok attended the event.</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/rightscon-silicon-valley-2016">RightsCon Silicon Valley 2016</a> (Organized by RightsCon; Mission Bay Conference Center in San Francisco, California; March 30 - April 1, 2016).</li></ul>
<div> </div>
<div><strong> </strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;"><strong>----------------------------------- <br /></strong><a href="http://cis-india.org/telecom"><strong>Telecom</strong></a><strong> <br /> ----------------------------------- <br /></strong> CIS is involved in promoting access and accessibility to telecommunications services and resources and has provided inputs to ongoing policy discussions and consultation papers published by TRAI. It has prepared reports on unlicensed spectrum and accessibility of mobile phones for persons with disabilities and also works with the USOF to include funding projects for persons with disabilities in its mandate:</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;"> </div>
<ul></ul>
<div><strong>Op-ed</strong></div>
<ul>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/telecom/blog/connectivity-lets-apply-what-we-know">Connectivity: Let's Apply What We Know</a> (Shyam Ponappa; Business Standard; March 2, 2016).</li></ul>
<div> </div>
<div> </div>
<div><strong>Submission</strong></div>
<ul>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/telecom/blog/trai-consultation-on-differential-pricing-for-data-services">TRAI Consultation on Differential Pricing for Data Services - Post-Open House Discussion Submission</a> (Sumandro Chattapadhyay; March 30, 2016). </li></ul>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>----------------------------------- <br /></strong><a href="http://cis-india.org/raw"><strong>Researchers at Work</strong></a><strong> <br /> ----------------------------------- <br /></strong> The Researchers at Work (RAW) programme is an interdisciplinary research initiative driven by contemporary concerns to understand the reconfigurations of social practices and structures through the Internet and digital media technologies, and vice versa. It is interested in producing local and contextual accounts of interactions, negotiations, and resolutions between the Internet, and socio-material and geo-political processes:</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Blog Entry</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>
<div style="text-align: justify;"><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/raw/studying-digital-creative-industries-in-india-initial-questions">Studying Digital Creative Industries in India: Initial Questions</a> (P.P. Sneha; March 17, 2016).</div>
</li></ul>
<p style="text-align: justify;">----------------------------------- <br /><a href="http://cis-india.org/news">News & Media Coverage</a> <br /> -----------------------------------</p>
<div style="text-align: justify;">CIS gave inputs to the following media coverage:</div>
<ul>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/motherboard-march-4-2016-joseph-cox-crypto-wars-are-global">The Crypto Wars Are Global </a>(Joseph Cox; Motherboard; March 4, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/livemint-march-8-2016-shreeja-sen-govt-narrative-on-aadhaar-has-not-changed-in-last-six-years-sunil-abraham">Govt narrative on Aadhaar has not changed in the last six years: Sunil Abraham </a>(Shreeja Sen; Livemint; March 8, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/livemint-march-9-2016-shreeja-sen-aadhaar-govt-will-not-compromise-on-national-security">Aadhaar: Govt will not compromise on national security</a> (Shreeja Sen; Livemint; March 9, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/governance-now-march-9-2016-taru-bhatia-hard-to-broad-ban">Hard to broad ban! </a>(Taru Bhatia; Governance Now; March 9, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/scroll.in-anumeha-yadav-march-24-2016-seven-reasons-why-parliament-should-debate-the-aadhaar-bill-and-not-pass-it-in-a-rush">Seven reasons why Parliament should debate the Aadhaar bill </a>(and not pass it in a rush) (Anumeha Yadav; March 11, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/business-standard-sahil-makkar-march-12-2016-aadhaar-is-actually-surveillance-tech-sunil-abraham">Aadhaar is actually surveillance tech: Sunil Abraham</a> (Sahil Makkar; Business Standard; March 12, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/new-indian-express-march-14-2016-will-only-legal-backing-for-aadhaar-suffice">Will Only Legal Backing For Aadhaar Suffice?</a> (Indian Express; March 14, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/reuters-march-16-2016-sanjeev-miglani-and-manoj-kumar-indias-billion-member-biometric-database-raises-privacy-fears">India's billion-member biometric database raises privacy fears </a>(Sanjeev Miglani and Manoj Kumar; March 16, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/a-scheme-in-india-to-help-the-poor-raises-privacy-concerns">A scheme in India to help the poor raises privacy concerns </a>(John Ribeiro; IDG News Service and CSO; March 16, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/gov-now-pratap-vikram-singh-17032016-why-aadhaar-is-baseless">Pratap Vikram Singh - Why Aadhaar is Baseless?</a> (Governance Now; March 17, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/hindustan-times-march-17-2016-aloke-tikku-forget-privacy-aadhaar-bill-gives-too-much-power-to-the-executive">Forget privacy, Aadhaar Bill gives too much power to the executive </a>(Aloke Tikku; Sunil Abraham; March 17, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/voice-of-america-anjana-pasricha-march-18-2016-in-india-biometric-data-storage-sparks-demands-for-privacy-laws">In India, Biometric Data Storage Sparks Demands for Privacy Laws</a> (Anjana Pasricha; Voice of America; March 18, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/bangalore-mirror-jayanthi-madhukar-sowmya-rajaram-march-20-2016-dead-and-clicking">Dead and Clicking</a> (Jayanthi Madhukar and Sowmya Rajaram; Bangalore Mirror; March 20, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/tech-dirt-march-22-2016-india-still-trying-to-turn-optional-aadhaar-identification-number-into-mandatory-national-identity-system">India Still Trying To Turn Optional Aadhaar Identification Number Into A Mandatory National Identity System</a> (TechDirt; March 22, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/the-wire-march-23-2016-reetika-khera-debate-five-aadhaar-myths-that-dont-stand-up-to-scrutiny">Debate: Five Aadhaar Myths that Don’t Stand Up to Scrutiny </a>(Reetika Khera; March 23, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/scroll.in-march-24-2016-rajshekhar-anumeha-yadav-how-the-govt-gains-when-private-companies-use-aadhaar">How the government gains when private companies use Aadhaar</a> (M. Rajshekhar and Anumeha Yadav; March 24, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/ndtv-march-20-2016-making-aadhaar-mandatory-gamechanger-for-governance">Making Aadhaar Mandatory: Gamechanger For Governance?</a> (NDTV; March 24, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/the-wire-march-24-2016-icann-sexual-harassment-case-highlights-lack-of-procedure-at-global-internet-body">ICANN Sexual Harassment </a>Case Highlights Lack of Procedure at Global Internet Body (Wire; March 24, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/the-hindu-business-line-march-25-2016-bhavya-dore-securing-internets-future">Securing the internet’s future</a> (Hindu Businessline; March 25, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/the-times-of-india-march-25-2016-kim-arora-on-google-maps-jnu-top-result-in-search-for-anti-national">On Google Maps, JNU top result in search for 'anti-national'</a> (Kim Arora; The Times of India; March 25, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/bangalore-mirror-march-30-2016-kavita-patil-woman-alleges-harassment-at-major-international-conference">Woman Alleges Harassment at Major International Conference </a>(Kavita Patil; Bangalore Mirror; March 30, 2016).</li></ul>
<p><strong>----------------------------------- <br /><a href="http://cis-india.org/">About CIS</a> <br /> ----------------------------------- </strong><br /> The Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) is a non-profit organisation that undertakes interdisciplinary research on internet and digital technologies from policy and academic perspectives. The areas of focus include digital accessibility for persons with diverse abilities, access to knowledge, intellectual property rights, openness (including open data, free and open source software, open standards, open access, open educational resources, and open video), internet governance, telecommunication reform, digital privacy, and cyber-security. The academic research at CIS seeks to understand the reconfigurations of social and cultural processes and structures as mediated through the internet and digital media technologies.</p>
<div style="text-align: justify;">► Follow us elsewhere</div>
<ul style="text-align: justify;">
<li> Twitter:<a href="http://twitter.com/cis_india"> http://twitter.com/cis_india</a> </li>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">► Support Us</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">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.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">► Request for Collaboration</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">We invite researchers, practitioners, artists, and theoreticians, both organisationally and as individuals, to engage with us on topics related internet and society, and improve our collective understanding of this field. To discuss such possibilities, please write to Sunil Abraham, Executive Director, at sunil@cis-india.org (for policy research), or Sumandro Chattapadhyay, Research Director, at sumandro@cis-india.org (for academic research), with an indication of the form and the content of the collaboration you might be interested in. To discuss collaborations on Indic language Wikipedia projects, write to Tanveer Hasan, Programme Officer, at <a>tanveer@cis-india.org</a>.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;"> </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;"><em>CIS is grateful to its primary donor the Kusuma Trust founded by Anurag Dikshit and Soma Pujari, philanthropists of Indian origin for its core funding and support for most of its projects. CIS is also grateful to its other donors, Wikimedia Foundation, Ford Foundation, Privacy International, UK, Hans Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, and IDRC for funding its various projects</em>.</div>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong> </strong></p>
<div style="text-align: justify;"><strong><strong> </strong></strong></div>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/march-2016-bulletin'>https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/march-2016-bulletin</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaNewsletter2016-04-13T08:05:42ZPageOpen access in the Marathi language expands by a thousand books
https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/wikimedia-blog-subhashish-panigrahi-december-3-open-access-in-marathi-language-expands-by-thousand-books
<b>As the Maharashtra Granthottejak Sanstha (MGS) celebrated its 121st anniversary recently, the organization re-licensed 1000 books under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license so that the books could be digitized and be made available on the Marathi Wikisource for millions of Marathi readers.</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">This was published in <a class="external-link" href="https://blog.wikimedia.org/2015/12/03/open-access-marathi-language/">Wikimedia Blog</a> on December 3, 2015.</p>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: justify; ">As the <i><a href="http://granthottejak.org/about.html">Maharashtra Granthottejak Sanstha</a></i> (MGS) celebrated its 121st anniversary recently, the organization re-licensed 1000 books under the <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA 4.0</a> license so that the books could be digitized and be made available on the <a href="https://mr.wikisource.org/wiki/%E0%A4%AE%E0%A5%81%E0%A4%96%E0%A4%AA%E0%A5%83%E0%A4%B7%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%A0">Marathi Wikisource</a> for millions of Marathi readers.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-1"><a href="https://blog.wikimedia.org/2015/12/03/open-access-marathi-language/#cite_note-1">[1]</a></sup></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">MGS is a non-profit organization working for the preservation of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maharashtra" title="en:Maharashtra">Maharashtra’s</a> linguistic and cultural heritage. It was founded in Pune, India in 1894. Being an important archive for the preservation of many hundreds of years old manuscripts and historical artifacts from the Peshwa era, the institution is open to public for study and research.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">During the four-day anniversary celebration, the <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/CIS-A2K" title="CIS-A2K">Centre for Internet Society’s Access to Knowledge program</a> (CIS-A2K)—an organization that supports the Wikimedia movement in India—opened a Wikipedia stall there where Marathi Wikimedians were present. Around 600 people visited the stall and learned about the news of MGS’s book donation.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Many active and new Marathi Wikimedians were present at the exhibition stall along with Abhinav Garule from the CIS-A2K program to share the incredible work Marathi Wikipedia and Wikimedia community at large are doing. Autographs of eighteen notable writers who received awards from Sanstha for different genres of writings were collected for uploading to the Wikipedia pages about them. While meeting the authors, Wikimedians also approached them to relicense some of their works under Creative Commons licenses so that they could be digitized on Wikisource and/or enrich Wikipedia—and some of the authors expressed a good deal of interest in opening up their books for Wikisource.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Some of the major books donated are <i>Peshwa Rojnishi</i> (diary of <i>Peshwa</i>), <i>Benjamin Franklin Charitra</i> (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Autobiography_of_Benjamin_Franklin"><i>The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin</i></a>), <i>Kekavali</i>, <i>S M Paranjape Charitra</i> (autobiography), <i>Letters Exchanged between the Sanstha and the British Government</i>, <i>Shinde Gharanyacha Padmamay Itihas</i> (manuscript), and <i>Marathwadyatil Arvachin Marathi Vangmay</i> (modern Marathi literature from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marathwada" title="w:Marathwada">Marathwada</a>, a region in Maharashtra) are some of the popular books read by Marathi speakers that are going to be part of the books donated by the organization.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">We reached out to Avinash Chaphekar, the joint secretary of the organization, to know more about the state of book publication and readership.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Subhashish Panigrahi (SP): Could you share your ideas of opening these invaluable books for Wikisource? How they are going to be useful for the online readers to learn about the Peshwas?</b></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Avinash Chaphekar (AC): These books are of historical importance and contain information that needs to reach more people; they cover topics that are rarely covered well anywhere else. Right after India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi recommended the autobiography of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Franklin" title="en:Benjamin Franklin">Benjamin Franklin</a>, as it contains a lot of messages for a common person, a lady walked up to and asked if she could read it in Marathi. Be it such autobiographies or a poetry book like “Kekavali”, such books that were published by the MGS should not be kept closed—many readers are searching for them. We donated 800 of these old books to the Marathi Wikisource because we don’t have large presence in the media or the Internet, so how would any reader who does not know us buy a book? If these books are available online, they can at least find and read them.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>SP: Where do you think there is gap between publishers and readers today? Many Marathi books get published every year and if you search on the Internet, which many people today do, you would hardly find much.</b></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>AC</b>: Online readership is increasing every day, but when you look at Marathi readers, the majority of them are still buying books. During the exhibitions here (even this year!), there is always quite a rush to buy books. Only the youth and tech-savvy people read online. But most people we meet say that they feel more comfortable holding and reading physical books. Moreover, there is no concrete research validating that most of the youngsters here are accessing information only online. I still feel reading books in a conventional way by holding books in your hands will continue to exist as there is some kind of satisfaction that lies in it.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>SP: Did you know that we are going to get these books retyped, meaning that readers will not just be able to read them in their smartphones or computers but they could use the text for republishing the same books in the future? How do you think such a model will be useful for publishers?</b></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>AC</b>: At the MGS, we don’t have funds to republish these books, and publishers are not ready to do it no matter how historically valuable the books are—even an incredibly valuable reference book called <i>Marathi Grantha Nirmiti Watchal</i> (the history of creation of Marathi books in Marathi), authored by SG Tulpule and published by us in 1973. This book has detailed information about Marathi publications, even those that existed before printing technology existed. As many such books are not being reprinted, we cannot leave the remaining few copies to perish. Let them go online and reach millions of people.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/wikimedia-blog-subhashish-panigrahi-december-3-open-access-in-marathi-language-expands-by-thousand-books'>https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/wikimedia-blog-subhashish-panigrahi-december-3-open-access-in-marathi-language-expands-by-thousand-books</a>
</p>
No publisherSubhashish Panigrahi and Abhinav GaruleOpennessMarathi WikipediaCIS-A2KAccess to Knowledge2016-01-03T11:26:49ZBlog EntryOdia Wikipedia to Digitise 14 Books
https://cis-india.org/news/daily-pioneer-state-editions-bhubaneswar-odia-wikipedia-to-digitise-14-books
<b>On the occasion of the 79th Odisha Day (Utkal Divas) on April 1, the Odia Wikipedia has decided to take up a new project for digitisation of 11 books of eminent Odia author Dr Jagannath Mohanty.</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">This <a class="external-link" href="http://www.dailypioneer.com/state-editions/bhubaneswar/odia-wikipedia-to-digitise--14-books.html">article was published in the Pioneer</a> on March 30, 2014. Subhashish Panigrahi is quoted.</p>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: justify; ">According to Programme Officer (Access to Knowledge) of Centre for Internet and Society Bengaluru Subhasis Panigrahi, the Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS) would take up the digitisation project where KISS students would type them on WikiSource, a sister project of Wikipedia.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">These books include children’s literature, travelogues and biographical essays penned by Dr Mohanty.Digitisation of three more books, two in Odia Jati, Jagruti O Pragati (on people and culture of Odisha) and Bhasa O Jatiyata in Odia (based on research on Odia language), and an English book Classical Odia (on the literary heritage of Odia) will be also be inaugurated on this day.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">All these digitised books will be made available on the Internet with open access through free licences. More than 5,000 pages will be digitised in these two projects.Several public and private organisations have started making serious efforts after Odia got the classical language status recently.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">To discuss the need for many new tools and technological advancement, a seminar will be held at Jayadev Bhawan here on March 29. Prof Udayanath Sahu and writers Asit Mohanty and Dr Lenin Mohanty will discuss about spell check for Odia, use of Odia language in the media and tools for typing in Odia.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/news/daily-pioneer-state-editions-bhubaneswar-odia-wikipedia-to-digitise-14-books'>https://cis-india.org/news/daily-pioneer-state-editions-bhubaneswar-odia-wikipedia-to-digitise-14-books</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaOpennessWikipediaAccess to KnowledgeWikimedia2014-03-31T14:29:43ZNews Item