Centre for Internet and Society

Panaji: DKA organizes two day Konkani Wikipedia workshop

praskrishna — 2013-11-18T08:33:09Z

In order to showcase Romi Konknni on a global platform, Dalgado Konknni Akademi (DKA) organized a two day Konkani Wikipedia workshop November 16 and November 17 for Romi Konknni writers in collaboration with Centre for Internet and Society’s Access to Knowledge Programme, Bangalore.

This was published in Daijiworld.com on November 18, 2013.

The workshop which was held at Krishnadas Shama Central Library was attended by 30 Romi Konknni writers including editors of Romi Konknni periodicals.

The workshop was conducted by enthusiastic Nitika Tandon, Goa incharge and Programme Manager of Centre for Internet and Society’s Access to Knowledge Programme.

Among those who attended the Romi Konknni Wikipedia Workshop were young writers Nevena Furtado, Frank Fernandes, Venisha Fernandes, Anselmo Fernandes, tiatrist Mario Menezes, Konkani scholar and researcher Fr Pratap Naik, besides editor of ‘Gulab’ and ‘The Goan Review’ Fausto V da Costa, newly appointed editor of ‘Vavraddeancho Ixtt’ Fr Eusebio Gomes and editor of ‘Amcho Avaz’ weekly Tomazinho Cardozo.

DKA President Premanand A Lotlikar while welcoming the participants explained the importance of building up Romi Konknni Wikipedia. Treasurer Walter Menezes proposed the vote of thanks, and secretary Jose Salvador Fernandes co-ordinated the two days workshop.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/daijiworld-november-18-2013-dka-organizes-two-day-konkani-wikipedia-workshop

ಕನ್ನಡದ ಆನ್‌ಲೈನ್ ವಿಶ್ವಕೋಶ ದುರ್ಬಲ

praskrishna — 2013-11-20T07:30:24Z

An article about the tenth Kannada Wikipedia published in Vijaya Karnataka on November 19.

Read the article published in Vijaya Karnataka on November 19, 2013.

-ಕನ್ನಡ ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯಕ್ಕೆ ಹತ್ತು, ಸೋದರ ಭಾಷೆಗಳ ಮುಂದೆ ಕನ್ನಡ ಹಿಂದೆ-

* ಎಸ್. ಕುಮಾರ್, ಬೆಂಗಳೂರು
ಹತ್ತು ವರ್ಷಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಬರಿ 14,202 ಲೇಖನಗಳು! ಇದು ಕನ್ನಡ ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯದ ಸಾಧನೆ. ಕನ್ನಡದಲ್ಲಿ ಮಾಹಿತಿಯನ್ನು ಕಲೆಹಾಕುವ ಹುರುಪಿನೊಂದಿಗೆ ಆರಂಭವಾದ ಕನ್ನಡ ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯಾ ಈಗ ದಕ್ಷಿಣ ಭಾರತದಲ್ಲಿ ಕೊನೆಯ ನಾಲ್ಕನೇ ಸ್ಥಾನದಲ್ಲಿದೆ.

ಇಂಗ್ಲಿಷಿನ ಅತಿದೊಡ್ಡ ಆನ್‌ಲೈನ್ ವಿಶ್ವಕೋಶವಾಗಿ ಜನಪ್ರಿಯವಾದ ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯಾ ಹತ್ತು ವರ್ಷಗಳ ಹಿಂದೆ ಭಾರತೀಯ ಭಾಷೆಗಳಲ್ಲೂ ವಿಶ್ವಕೋಶ ಆರಂಭಿಸಿತು. ಆದರೆ ಕನ್ನಡ ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯಾ ದಕ್ಷಿಣ ಭಾರತದ ಇತರೆ ಭಾಷೆಗಳಿಗೆ ಹೋಲಿಸಿದರೆ ಇದು ಅತ್ಯಂತ ಬಡವಾಗಿರುವ ವಿಶ್ವಕೋಶವಾಗಿಯೇ ಉಳಿದಿದೆ. ತಮಿಳಿನ ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯ 56 ಸಾವಿರ ಲೇಖನಗಳನ್ನು ಹೊಂದಿದ್ದರೆ, ತೆಲುಗು 53 ಸಾವಿರ ಲೇಖನಗಳನ್ನು ಹೊಂದಿದೆ. ಮಲಯಾಳಂ, ಮರಾಠಿ ಭಾಷೆಗಳು ಕನ್ನಡ ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯಾಕ್ಕಿಂತ ಹೆಚ್ಚಿನ ಅಂದರೆ 40 ಸಾರ ಲೇಖನಗಳನ್ನು ಒಳಗೊಂಡಿವೆ. ಭಾರತೀಯ ಭಾಷೆಗಳ ಪೈಕಿ ಅತಿಹೆಚ್ಚು ಲೇಖನಗಳನ್ನು ಹೊಂದಿರುವು ಹಿಂದಿ ಭಾಷೆಯ ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯ. ಸುಮಾರು ಒಂದು ಲಕ್ಷ ಲೇಖನಗಳನ್ನು ಹೊಂದಿದ್ದು, ಅತ್ಯಂತ ಕ್ರಿಯಾಶೀಲವಾಗಿ ಸಂಪಾದನೆಗೊಳ್ಳುತ್ತದೆ.

ಸಾರ್ವಜನಿಕರೇ ಇದಕ್ಕೆ ಮಾಹಿತಿಗಳನ್ನು ಅಪ್‌ಲೋಡ್ ಮಾಡಬಹುದು ಹಾಗೂ ಸಂಪಾದಿಸಬಹುದು. ಕೆಲವು ಆಸಕ್ತರು ಜತೆಗೂಡಿ ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯಾಗಳನ್ನು ಕಲೆಹಾಕುತ್ತಿದ್ದಾರೆ. ಸದ್ಯ ಕನ್ನಡ ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯಾಕ್ಕೆ 400 ಒಟ್ಟು ಸಂಪಾದಕರಿದ್ದಾರೆ. ಈ ಪೈಕಿ 41 ಮಂದಿ ಮಾತ್ರ ಸಕ್ರಿಯರು. ತಿಂಗಳಿಗೆ 2000 ಸಾರ ಲೇಖನಗಳು ಸಂಪಾದನೆಯಾಗುತ್ತವೆ. ಆದರೆ ಸೇರ್ಪಡೆಯ ಪ್ರಮಾಣ ಕಡಿಮೆ. ಇಷ್ಟಾಗಿಯೂ ಕನ್ನಡ ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯಾಕ್ಕೆ ತಿಂಗಳಿಗೆ 14 ಲಕ್ಷ ಭೇಟಿಗಳಿವೆ.

ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿ ತಂಡದಿಂದ ವಿಶ್ವಕೋಶವನ್ನು ಲೇಖನಗಳಿಂದ ಸಮೃದ್ಧಗೊಳಿಸುವ ನಡೆದಿದೆ. ಆದರೆ ಅದಕ್ಕೆ ಸಿಕ್ಕಪ್ರತಿಕ್ರಿಯೆ ನಿರಾಶೆ ಹುಟ್ಟಿಸುವಂಥದ್ದು. ಕಳೆದ ಮಾರ್ಚ್ ನಿಂದ ಮತ್ತೆ ಅಭಿಯಾನ ಆರಂಭವಾಗಿದ್ದು ಆಸಕ್ತರನ್ನು ಸಂಪಾದಕರನ್ನಾಗಿ ಮಾಡುವ ಪ್ರೇರೇಪಿಸುವ ಕೆಲಸವನ್ನು ತಂಡ ಮಾಡುತ್ತಿದೆ.

ಸಾಫ್ಟ್‌ವೇರ್ ವಲಯದ ಮಂದಿ ಒಂದಿಷ್ಟು ಸಮಯವನ್ನು ಇದಕ್ಕೆ ನೀಡುತ್ತಾರೆ ಹೊರತು, ಸಾಹಿತಿಗಳು, ಉಪನ್ಯಾಸಕರು, ವಿವಿಧ ಕ್ಷೇತ್ರಗಳ ತಜ್ಞರು ಆಸಕ್ತಿ ತೋರುವುದಿಲ್ಲ ಎನ್ನುತ್ತದೆ ಕನ್ನಡ ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯ ತಂಡ. ಕನ್ನಡ ಬ್ಲಾಗ್ ಬರಹಗಾರರು ಒಂದಿಷ್ಟು ಆಸಕ್ತಿ ತೋರಿದರೂ ಲೇಖನಗಳ ಸಂಖ್ಯೆ ಗಣನೀಯವಾಗಿ ಹೆಚ್ಚುತ್ತದೆ. ಪ್ರಕಟಿತ ಲೇಖನಗಳನ್ನು ಇಲ್ಲಿ ಪ್ರಕಟಿಸಬಹುದು.ಅದಕ್ಕೂ ಆಸಕ್ತಿ ತೋರುವುದಿಲ್ಲ ಎನ್ನುತ್ತದೆ ತಂಡ.

ಕನ್ನಡಿಗರ ನಿರಾಸಕ್ತಿ
ಕನ್ನಡ ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯದ ಹಿರಿಯ ಸಂಪಾದಕರಲ್ಲಿ ಒಬ್ಬರಾದ ಯು ಬಿ ಪವನಜ ಅವರು ''ಕನ್ನಡಿಗರಿಗೆ ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ನಿರಾಸಕ್ತಿ ಇದೆ ಎನ್ನುತ್ತಾರೆ. ಕನ್ನಡ ಸಾಹಿತಿಗಳಾದರೂ ಅಷ್ಟೆ. ಕನ್ನಡ ಭಾಷೆಯ ಬೆಳವಣಿಗೆ ಅಂದರೆ ಬರೀ ಸಾಹಿತ್ಯದ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ಮಾತಾನಾಡುವುದು ಎನ್ನುವ ಭಾವನೆ ಬೆಳೆಸಿಕೊಂಡಿದ್ದಾರೆ. ಅದರಾಚೆಗೂ ಕನ್ನಡ ಬೆಳೆಯಬೇಕಿದೆ. ಆಗ ಮಾತ್ರ ಭಾಷೆ ಜೀವಂತವಾಗುತ್ತದೆ,'' ಎನ್ನುತ್ತಾರೆ.

''ಆರಂಭ ಹಂತದಲ್ಲಿ ತಂಡದಲ್ಲಿದ್ದ ಗುಂಪುಗಾರಿಕೆ ಮತ್ತು ಹೆಚ್ಚುಗಾರಿಕೆಯೇ ಕನ್ನಡ ವಿಶ್ವಕೋಶ ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯ ಬಡವಾಗಲೂ ಕಾರಣ,'' ಎಂದು ತಂಡದ ಸದಸ್ಯರೊಬ್ಬರು ಹೇಳುತ್ತಾರೆ.

ನಮಗೆ ಗೊತ್ತಿರುವುದನ್ನು ಬರೆಯುತ್ತೇವೆ ಎಂಬ ಭಾವನೆಯಿಂದ ಕೂಡಿದ್ದ ತಂಡ ಇನ್ನೊಬ್ಬರನ್ನು ವಿಶ್ವಾಸಕ್ಕೆ ತೆಗೆದುಕೊಳ್ಳದೇ ಇದ್ದದ್ದು ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯಕ್ಕೆ ಹರಿದು ಬರಬಹುದಿದ್ದ ಲೇಖನಗಳ ಪ್ರಮಾಣವನ್ನು ತಗ್ಗಿಸಿತೇನೊ ಎಂದು ಅವರು ಅನುಮಾನ ವ್ಯಕ್ತಪಡಿಸುತ್ತಾರೆ.

ಅತಿ ಹಿರಿಯ ಸಂಪಾದಕರು
ಎಚ್ ಆರ್ ಲಕ್ಷ್ಮಿ ವೆಂಕಟೇಶ್, ಮುಂಬಯಿ
ಬಿ ಎಸ್ ಚಂದ್ರಶೇಖರ್, ಸಾಗರ

ಅತಿ ಕಿರಿಯ ಸಂಪಾದಕ
ಯಜ್ಞೇಶ್, 9ನೇ ವಿದ್ಯಾರ್ಥಿ, ಮೈಸೂರು
-----

ಕನ್ನಡ ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯ ಮಾಹಿತಿ ಸಮಗ್ರವಾಗಿರುವುದಿಲ್ಲ. ಇರುವ ಮಾಹಿತಿ ಕೂಡ ತಪ್ಪಿನಿಂದ ಕೂಡಿದೆ. ವಾಕ್ಯರಚನೆ ಸರಿ ಇಲ್ಲ. ಕನ್ನಡ ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯಾ ಇದ್ದೂ ಇಲ್ಲದಂತೆ.
* ಎಚ್ ಎಂ ನಿರಂಜನ, ಇಂಗ್ಲಿಷ್ ಉಪನ್ಯಾಸಕರು, ಹೊಸಪೇಟೆ

ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ಅನೇಕರಿಗೆ ಗೊತ್ತಿಲ್ಲ. ಬರಹಗಾರರಿಗೆ ಈ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ತಾಂತ್ರಿಕ ಮಾಹಿತಿ ಇಲ್ಲ. ಹೀಗಾಗಿ ಸಮೃದ್ಧವಾಗಿ ಬೆಳೆಯಬಹುದಾಗಿದ್ದ ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯ ಸೊರಗಿದೆ. ಈಗ ಮಾಹಿತಿ ನೀಡುವ ಪ್ರಯತ್ನ ನಡೆಯುತ್ತಿದೆ.
* ಟಿ. ಜಿ. ಶ್ರೀನಿಧಿ, ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯ ಸಂಪಾದಕ

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/vijaya-karnataka-kannada-wikipedia-november-19-2013

ಕನ್ನಡ ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯಕ್ಕೆ ಈಗ ದಶಮಾನೋತ್ಸವ. ಅದರ ಪ್ರಯುಕ್ತ ಒಂದು ಆಚರಣೆ

praskrishna — 2013-11-20T08:58:30Z

Coverage of the ten years of celebrations in Kannada Wikipedia on Avadhi website.

ಸ್ಥಳ: ಎಚ್.ಎನ್. ಮಲ್ಟಿಮೀಡಿಯ ಹಾಲ್, ನ್ಯಾಶನಲ್ ಕಾಲೇಜು, ಬಸವನಗುಡಿ

ದಿನಾಂಕ: ನವಂಬರ್ ೧೭, ೨೦೧೩

ಸಮಯ: ೦೯:೩೦ ರಿಂದ ೧೩:೦೦

ಕಾರ್ಯಕ್ರಮ ವಿವರ :

೯:೩೦-೧೦:೦೦ ನೋಂದಣಿ

೧೦:೦೦ ರಿಂದ ೧೧:೦೦ ಸಭಾ ಕಾರ್ಯಕ್ರಮ

ಸ್ವಾಗತ ಗೀತೆ – ಲಕ್ಷ್ಮಿ ಚೈತನ್ಯ

ಸ್ವಾಗತ ಮತ್ತು ನಿರ್ವಹಣೆ – ಡಾ. ಎ. ಸತ್ಯನಾರಾಯಣ

ಪ್ರಸ್ತಾವನೆ – ಡಾ. ಯು. ಬಿ. ಪವನಜ

ಮುಖ್ಯ ಅತಿಥಿಗಳ ಮಾತು

ಡಾ. ಯು. ಆರ್. ಅನಂತಮೂರ್ತಿ

ನಾಡೋಜ ಪ್ರೊ.ಜಿ. ವೆಂಕಟಸುಬ್ಬಯ್ಯ

ರವಿ ಹೆಗಡೆ, ಸಮೂಹ ಸಂಪಾದಕ, ಉದಯವಾಣಿ

ಹತ್ತು ವರ್ಷದಲ್ಲಿ ಉತ್ತಮ ಕೆಲಸ ಮಾಡಿದ ಪ್ರಮುಖ ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯನ್ನರುಗಳಿಗೆ ಮತ್ತು

ನಿರ್ವಾಹಕರುಗಳಿಗೆ ಸ್ಮರಣಿಕೆ ನೀಡಿಕೆ

ಧನ್ಯವಾದ ಸಮರ್ಪಣೆ

೧೧:೦೦ – ೧೧:೧೫ – ಚಹಾ

೧೧:೧೫-೧೨:೦೦

ಕನ್ನಡ ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯ ಪ್ರಾತ್ಯಕ್ಷಿಕೆ – ಓಂಶಿವಪ್ರಕಾಶ

ಕ್ರಿಯೇಟಿವ್ ಕಾಮನ್ಸ್ – ಕಿರಣ್ ರವಿಕುಮಾರ

ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯನ್ನರುಗಳ ಮಾತು

೧೨:೦೦-೧೩:೦೦ – ಕನ್ನಡ ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯ ಸಂಪಾದನೋತ್ಸವ (edit-a-thon)

ಲೇಖನಗಳನ್ನು ಸಿದ್ಧ ಮಾಡಿಕೊಂಡು ಬಂದು ಲೇಖನ ಸೇರಿಸುವುದು.

ಎಲ್ಲರೂ ಬರುತ್ತೀರಿ ತಾನೆ? ಹಾಗೆಯೇ ಸಾಧ್ಯವಿದ್ದವರು ಲ್ಯಾಪ್‌ಟಾಪ್, ಇಂಟರ್‌ನೆಟ್

ಡಾಂಗಲ್ ಮತ್ತು ಒಂದು ಸಿದ್ಧಪಡಿಸಿದ ಲೇಖನ ತಂದು ಕೊನೆಯ ಸಂಪಾದನೋತ್ಸವದಲ್ಲಿ

ಪಾಲ್ಗೊಳ್ಳಬೇಕಾಗಿ ವಿನಂತಿ.

ಬರುವವರು ದಯವಿಟ್ಟು ಈ ಪುಟದಲ್ಲಿ ನೋಂದಾಯಿಸಿಕೊಳ್ಳಿ -

https://kn.wikipedia.org/wiki/ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯ:ಸಮ್ಮಿಲನ/ದಶಮಾನೋತ್ಸವ

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/avadhi-website-november-16-2013-kannada-wikipedia-10-years-celebration

10th anniversary of Kannada wikipedia

praskrishna — 2013-11-20T09:03:30Z

Kannada wikipedia is celebrating its 10th anniversary on November 17.

The article by ND Shiva Kumar was published in the Times of India on November 15, 2013. Dr. U.B. Pavanaja is quoted.

Kannada wikipedia has 15,369 articles (as of September 2013) and attracts 14 lakh visitors a month. It undergoes 2,000 edits a month.

The wikipedia boom among the Indian languages started in 2003. Initially, the growth was very slow and it reached 1,000 articles only by 2006. Even today, the situation isn't great.

Among the Indian languages, Hindi tops the list with one lakh articles, Tamil has 56,000, Telugu 53,000 and Marathi 40,000. Kannada is ahead of only Oriya and Punjabi.

Kannada has a total of 400 editors, of which 41 are active and 7 very active. The two highest contributors are non-techies and they are around 80 years - H R Lakshmivenkatesh from Mumbai and B S Chandrashekar from Sagar.

Wikipedian U B Pavanaja says it has gained momentum recently and the future looks bright.

The 10th anniversary programme on November 17 will be held from 9.30 am to 1.30 pm at H N Multimedia Hall, National College, Basavanagudi, Bangalore. Guests of honour will be Dr U R Ananthamurthy and Prof G Venkatasubbaiah.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/the-times-of-india-november-15-2013-nd-shiva-kumar-tenth-anniversary-of-kannada-wikipedia

Wikimedia Diversity Conference

praskrishna — 2013-12-02T06:40:02Z

T.Vishnu Vardhan participated in the conference organized by the German Wikipedia community in Berlin (GLS Campus) on November 9 and 10, 2013. He presented on So Many Languages- Challenges and Opportunities for the Wikimedia Movement in India and also led a Round-up session on Geographic diversity and Language pluralism on Wikimedia.

This was published on the meta page of Wikipedia.

Vishnu's presentation can be accessed here.
A brief discussion of the round-up session can be seen here.
All the videos can be watched here.

Video

Wikimedia Diversity Conference 2013: Interview - T Vishnu Vardhan from Wikimedia Deutschland on Vimeo.

Why a Diversity Conference?

Representing the world's knowledge is the mission of the global Wikimedia movement. But we are still in our infancy. Many languages and cultures are not adequately represented in the different Wikimedia projects, many people shy away from participating in our projects and sharing their knowledge with the world. Particularly striking is the low proportion of women. To gain this knowledge and commitment, both to increase the pool of knowledge in the Wikimedia projects and to enable a heterogeneous, colourful, diverse community, is the goal of our work.

Wikimedia Deutschland is planning to make "Diversity" the topic of an international conference in Berlin. Here we will gather to exchange findings, methods, and approaches for incorporating more gender diversity in Wikimedia projects, and for considering gender diversity within the wider context of diversity in general (language, culture, projects, etc).

New technological innovations such as VisualEditor can have an impact on the formation and composition of authorship, and community projects like Teahouse or WikiWomen's Collaborative have been successfully aimed at supporting diverse contributors. Let's gather to share information about what's working and what's not in current initiatives, consider the impact of technical and community developments, and connect in order to turn ideas into action.

Goals of the Conference

Establish a sustainable dialogue with collaborators in Wikimedia Chapters, the Wikimedia Foundation and the international communities to frame the issue of diversity in the context of Wikimedia.

We aim to build a shared understanding of what diversity means for Wikimedia projects and why it is important.
Connect, multiply and create successful initiatives for increasing gender and other types of diversity in Wikimedia.

We aim to turn ideas into action.

Focus of the conference

We are very happy to see all your ideas and it seems that many Wikipedians, Wikimedians and interested people are highly engaged in thinking about many aspects concerning diversity in Wikipedia. This is great!

To help us organize sessions and accomplish our goals of developing a shared understanding and set of actions for improving diversity, we intend to focus this first conference on two aspects of diversity:

Gender diversity - the gender gap, LGBT initiatives
Geographic diversity - the global south, linguistic and economic diversity

We hope that future events will be organized to focus more specifically on other important diversity aspects like age, education, and disabilities.

Timeline

application for scholarships/submission of proposals August 20 - September 20, 2013
official registration August 20 - October 20, 2013
note of acceptance: by October 4, 2013
agenda finalized: end of October 2013
conference: November 9 - November 10, 2013

Background Information

In 2013, Wikimedia Deutschland initiated a research and development project "Diversity for Wikipedia" that develops possible courses of action towards more gender diversity. Within the project, gender diversity guidelines, gender diversity action plans and designs are developed. It will implement specific actions aimed at enhancing a welcoming culture, diversity awareness among Wikipedians and participation of female editors. In a co-operation with Beuth University, digital web-based educational material with a focus on gender topics will be developed.

Within the framework of developing a diversity concept about what diversity in Wikipedia really means, we will organise this conference to further develop our existing approaches and to elaborate on new ideas. By the end of this year, the project will be in an advanced state and we are looking forward to discuss the different worldwide initiatives with the international communities, Wikimedia Chapters and the Wikimedia Foundation.

Contact

Julia Kloppenburg. You can reach Julia via her user page or via e-mail. For general enquiries and questions concerning scholarships you can contact the organising team at: diversity@wikimedia.de Feel free to get in touch!

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/wikimedia-diversity-conference

Indian Govt to Build Machine Translation System for 22 Indic Languages

praskrishna — 2013-12-11T07:14:35Z

National Translation Mission is preparing a Machine Translation System (MTS) to instantly translate texts from vernacular Indian languages to English, reports New Indian Express.

Brindaalakshmi's article was published by Medianaama on November 14, 2013. CIS memorandum of understanding with Goa University is mentioned.

The report states that scientific and technical terminologies are being developed in 69 disciplines of study in 22 languages as part of this project. Apparently, 25,000 to 30,000 lexicons have been identified in each subject to create the MTS.

Speaking at a media event, Prof V Saratchandran Nair, Director of National Translation Mission said that the project is being initiated to help students who have done their schooling in vernacular languages but have to study in English during college. He also added that only Tamil currently has translated materials in all 69 disciplines, while Oriya has it in 49 disciplines. In contrast, there is no science material available in Santhali, Manipuri and Konkani languages.

National Translation Mission is a Government of India initiative that intends to establish translation as an industry and facilitate higher education by making available translated study material for students. The program also trains translators in different languages. Interestingly, the website states that it will not replicate the efforts of other organisations like C-DAC, TDIL that are also involved in creating indic support for computers and services. However, it seeks to build technology to directly translate a sentence typed in English into an Indian language. When we checked, we noticed that the website also offers dictionaries and other resources for translators.

Other efforts to provide indic support: In September 2013, the Goa university had entered into a three year memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) for building the Konkani Wikipedia. As part of this partnership, Goa University will be uploading the four volumes of Konkani encyclopedia. This could be a good start to building a repository of translated works for science in Konkani.

In July 2013, Technology Development for Indian Languages Programme (TDIL) of DeitY (Department of Electronics and IT) had developed Urdu language fonts and keyboard drivers for Windows and Android.

In June 2013, DeitY had also created a repository of fonts for all 22 constitutionally recognized languages through TDIL. These fonts are available as a CD that can be procured from TDIL or the entire suite can also be downloaded from the TDIL website.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/medianama-november-14-2013-brindaalakshmi-indian-govt-to-build-machine-translation-system-for-22-indic-languages

Kannada Wikipedia Workshop at Alvas Vishva Nudisiri Virasat

praskrishna — 2013-12-31T09:48:19Z

The Access to Knowledge team from the Centre for Internet and Society conducted a workshop at Moodabidre from December 19 to 22, 2013.

Dr. U.B. Pavanaja gave a presentation about Kannada Wikipedia and also conducted a workshop on Kannada Wikipedia as a parallel track. He spoke about Kannada and IT in general and also about Kannada Wikipedia. The event was covered by Prajavani (December 22), Hosadigantha (December 22), and Deccan Herald (December 22). Scanned copies of these are reproduced below:


Above: A report published by Prajavani


Above: Article by Guruprasad TN about Kannada Wikipedia, Dr. Pavanaja is quoted.


Above: Article in Hosadigantha. Dr. Pavanaja is quoted.

Also there was a report published by Udayavani on December 24, 2013. This can be accessed here: http://bit.ly/1cjwIyD.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/kannada-wikipedia-workshop-alvas-vishva-nudisiri-virasat

Access to Knowledge Bulletin — October 2013

praskrishna — 2014-01-04T12:04:56Z

The Access to Knowledge (Wikipedia) newsletter for the month of October 2013:

Train the Trainer Program
Wikipedians, about 20 of them, from 10 different cities, speaking 8 different languages, joined together for the first ever four days "Train the Trainer Program" organised by the Centre for Internet and Society's Access to Knowledge (CIS-A2K) team in Bangalore from October 3 to 6, 2013. CIS-A2K organised the residency training program to build capacities amongst different language Wikimedia communities. A good diversity of Wikipedians from various language communities such as Bengali, Gujarati, Sanskrit, Malayalam, Hindi, Marathi, Telugu, Odia, came over for the event. Two prominent reasons identified for organizing the event were the limitations of a virtual sphere and the limited number of Wikipedians leading outreach activities. Seventeen people participated in the event: http://bit.ly/18hjw0n

► Events Organised
Workshop on Wikipedia in the Indian Undergraduate Language Classrooms (October 1, 203, Christ University, Bangalore). Dr. U.B. Pavanaja conducted the workshop: http://bit.ly/HIiC30.
వికీపీడియా:సమావేశం/బెంగుళూరు/అక్టోబర్ (UTC, Bangalore, October 12, 2013). T. Vishnu Vardhan gave a talk: http://bit.ly/1hpmXrt.
Konkani Vishwakosh Digitization (Goa University, October 19-20, 2013). CIS-A2K team conducted the workshop. Thirty-seven people participated in the event: http://bit.ly/1a9m8N2. Nitika Tandon shares a detailed blog post on the re-release of Konkani Vishwakosh under CC License: http://bit.ly/1cm9wBH.
► Event Participated In
Re-sourcing Indian Cinema: Humanities Research, New Archives and Collaborative Knowledge Production (organised by the Centre for Contemporary Studies and the Centre for Study of Culture and Society, October 29, 2013). T. Vishnu Vardhan gave a talk on “Let Cinephiles Collaborate: Pleasures and Perils of Indian Film History on Wikipedia”: http://bit.ly/18Obr2P.
► Media Coverage
CIS gave its inputs for the following media coverage:

Mangalore: Konkani writers resolve to form all-India forum at JKS conference (Daijiworld, October 1, 2013): http://bit.ly/1ek8AzW.
Wikipedia in Indian Languages on Mobile Phones (by Megha Prakash, Sci Dev Net, October 15, 2013): http://bit.ly/Hfh7sI.
कोंकणी विश्‍वकोश ‘विकिपीडिया’वर (Navprabha Daily, October 22, 2013). A detailed article about the digitalization of Konkani Vishwakosh: http://bit.ly/18J3YlB.

Wikimedia Foundation has funded A2K to anchor the growth of Wikimedia movement in India. The A2K team consists of six members, four based in Bangalore: T. Vishnu Vardhan, Dr. U.B. Pavanaja, Subhashish Panigrahi and Muzammiluddin Syed, one member Nitika Tandon in Delhi and one Advisor Dr. Tejaswini Niranjana. Archives of our newsletters can be accessed here (http://cis-india.org/about/newsletters). Wikipedians from various communities can request for outreach programs, technical bugs, logistics-merchandize and media, public relations and communications at http://bit.ly/TOcXId.

About CIS

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

Follow us elsewhere

Twitter: https://twitter.com/CISA2K
CIS group on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/cis.india
Visit us at: https://cis-india.org

Support Us
Please help us defend consumer / citizen rights on the Internet! Write a cheque in favour of ‘The Centre for Internet and Society’ and mail it to us at No. 194, 2nd ‘C’ Cross, Domlur, 2nd Stage, Bengaluru – 5600 71.

Request for Collaboration:
We invite researchers, practitioners, and theoreticians, both organisationally and as individuals, to collaboratively engage with Internet and society and improve our understanding of this new field. To discuss the research collaborations, write to Sunil Abraham, Executive Director, at sunil@cis-india.org or Nishant Shah, Director – Research, at nishant@cis-india.org. To discuss collaborations on Indic language wikipedia, write to T. Vishnu Vardhan, Programme Director, A2K, at vishnu@cis-india.org

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

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

Privacy, Free/Open Source, and the Cloud

elonnai — 2012-03-22T05:50:10Z

A look into the questions that arise in concern to privacy and cloud computing, and how open source plays into the picture.

Introduction

Cloud computing, in basic terms, is internet-based computing where shared resources and services are taken from the primary infrastructure of the internet and provided on demand. Cloud computing creates a shared network between major corporations like Google, Microsoft, Amazon and Yahoo. In this way, cloud systems are related to grid computing systems/service- oriented architectures, and create the potential for the entire I.T. infrastructure to be programmable. Because of this, cloud computing establishes a new consumption and delivery standard for IT services based on the internet. It is a new consumption and delivery model, because it is made up of services delivered through common centers and built on servers which act as a point of access for the computing needs of consumers. The access points facilitate the tailoring and delivering of targeted applications and services to consumers. Details are taken from the users, who no longer need to have an understanding of, or control over the technology infrastructure in the cloud that supports their desired application.

There are both corporate and consumer implications for such a system. For example, according cloud computing lowers the barriers to entry for corporations and new services. It also enables innovative enterprise in locations where there is an insufficient supply of human or other resources through the provision of inexpensive hardware, software, and applications. The consumer, in turn, is provided with information that he or she is projected to be interested in based on information he or she has already “consumed.” Thus, for example: Google has the ability to monitor a person’s consuming habits through searches and to reduce those habits to a pattern which selects applications to display – and consumption of those reinforces the pattern.

Privacy Concerns:

Though cloud computing can be a useful tool for consumers, corporations, and countries, cloud computing poses significant privacy concerns for all actors involved. For the consumer, a major concern is that future business models may rely on the use of personal data from consumers of cloud services for advertising or behavioral targeting. This concern brings to light the fundamental problem of cloud computing which is that consumers consent to the secondary use of their personal data only when they are signing up for services, and that “consent” is almost automatically generated. How can the cloud assure users that their private data will be properly protected? It is true that high levels of encryption can be (and are) used, and that many companies also take other precautionary measures, but protective measures vary, and the secondary sources that gain access to information may not protect it as well as the initial source. Moreover, even strong protection measures are vulnerable to hackers. As well, what happens if a jurisdiction, like the Indian government, gains access to information about a foreign national? India still does not have a comprehensive data protection law, nor does it have many forms of redress for violations of privacy. How is that individuals information protected?

These questions give rise to other privacy concerns with respect to the data that is circulated and stored on the cloud, which are the questions of territory, sovereignty, and regulation. Many of these were brought up at the Internet Governance Forum, which took place on the 16th of September including: Which jurisdiction has authority in cases of dispute or digital crime? If you lose data or your data is damaged, stolen, or manipulated, where do you go? Is the violation enforced under local laws, and, if so, under the law of the violator or the law of the violated? If international law, who can access the tribunals, and which tribunals have this jurisdiction? What if a person's data is replicated in two data centres in two different countries? Are the data subject to scrutiny by the officials of all three? Is there a remedy against abuse by any of them? Does it matter whether the country in which the data centre resides does not require a warrant for government access? And how will a consumer know any of that up front? As a corollary, if content is being sent to one country but resides on a data centre in another country, whose data protection standards apply? For example, certain governments in Europe require data retention for limited amount of time for purposes for law enforcement, but other countries may allow retention of data for shorter or longer periods of time.

How are privacy, free/open source, and the cloud related ?

Eben Moglen, a professor from Columbia law school, and founder and chairman of the Software Freedom Law Center who spoke on cloud computing, privacy, and free/open software at the Indian Institute for science on Thursday September 25, had another solution to the privacy concerns that arise out of the cloud. His lecture explains how the internet has moved from a tool that once promoted equality between people – no servants and no masters – to a tool that reinforces social hierarchies. The reinforcement of these hierarchies is directly related to the language used and communication facilitated between the computer and the individual. Professor Moglen describes how initially, when computers were first introduced to the public, humans spoke directly to computers, and computers responded directly to humans. This open, two-way communication changed when Microsoft, Apple, and IBM removed the language between humans and computers and created proprietary software based on a server-client computing relationship. By removing the language between humans and computers, these corporations dis-empowered individuals. Professor Moglen used this as a springboard to address the privacy concerns that come up in cloud computing. Privacy at its base is the ability of an individual to control access to various aspects of self, such as decisional, informational, and locational. In having the ability to control these factors, privacy consists of a relation between a person and another person or an entity. Professor Moglen postulated that free/open access to code would make the internet an environment where choices over that relationship were still in the hands of an individual, and, among other protections, the individuals could build up their desired levels of privacy.

Is free/open software the solution?

Eben Moglen's solution to the many privacy concerns that arise out of cloud computing is the application and use of free software/open source by individuals. Unlike some applications on the cloud, open source is free, and once an individual has access to the code, that person can control how a program functions, including how a program uses personal information, and thus the person would be able to protect their privacy. Of course, this presumes that the consumer of the internet is sophisticated enough to access and manipulate code. But even putting that presumption aside, is the ability to write code enough to protect data (will help you protect data better – add more security)? Perhaps if a person could create his own server and bypass the cloud, but this does not seem like an ideal (or practical) solution. Though free/open source is an important element that should be incorporated into cloud computing, free/open source depends on open standards. According to Pranesh Prakash, in his presentation at the Internet Governance Forum, the role of standards in ensuring interoperability is critical to allowing consumers to choose between different devices to access the cloud, to choose between different software clients, and to shift between one service and another. This would include moving information, both the data and the metadata, from one cloud to another. Clouds would need to be able to talk to one another to enable data sharing, and open source is key to this, though it is important to note that if one uses free/open source, they must set up their own infrastructure.

Conclusion

Even though Moglen believes that free/open source software brings freedom and provides the solution to protect an individual’s privacy in the context of cloud computing, he was not speaking to the specific context of India. To do that, it is important to expand the definitions that one uses of free/open source and privacy, and then to contextualize them. Looking closely at the words “free/open source,” they are not limited to access to a software's code, even though that is free/open source’s base. For the ideology of free/open source to work, access to code is just a key to the puzzle. A person, community, culture and state must understand the purpose of free/open source, know how to use it, and know how it can be applied in order for it to be transformative, liberating, and protective. There needs to be a shared understanding that free/open source is not just about being able to change code, but about a shared commitment to sharing code and making it transparent and accessible. In the United States and other countries, free/open source did not just enter into American society and immediately fix issues of privacy by bringing freedom, as it seems Professor Moglen is suggesting free/open source will do in India. Though Professor Moglen promises freedom and privacy protection through free/open source, perhaps this is not an honest appraisal of the technology. Free/open source, if not equally accessed or misapplied, protects neither freedom nor privacy. As noted above, even if a person has access to code, he can protect data only to a certain extent. Thus, he might think that he has created a privacy wall around information that actually is readily accessible. In other words, free/open source cannot be the only answer to freedom, but instead a piece to a collective answer.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/privacy/privacy-cloud-computing

First Odia Wikipedia Education Program concludes at IIMC, Dhenkanal

praskrishna — 2013-01-29T06:42:53Z

The first Odia Wikipedia Education program ended yesterday at Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC), Dhenkanal with distribution of certificates to the participants.

This report by OdishaDiary bureau, Dhenkanal was published on Sunday, January 27, 2013.

Odia Wikipedia (or.wikipedia.org) is a free online encyclopedia in Odia language which everyone can edit. It is an open source project and the content is available online for free. This three month education program included three workshops to educate students of IIMC about typing in Odia, collecting sources to write articles, writing the articles on Odia Wikipedia and then geting them evaluated by faculty members and wikipedians.

The program was initiated in November and run until January end. During this time 16 students took part and wrote about 12 articles on various topics, starting from the articles of local importance to eminent personalities.

We are very keen on getting more students on board to edit Wikipedia which they read and use everyday. This could be one opportunity for them to showcase their writing abilities and documentation skill. I'd like to invite the Wikipedia team to help us install Odia Unicode fonts and continue such a program for the students again”, says Professor Mrinal Chatterjee.

This program was supported by Centre for Internet and Society, a grantee of Wikimedia Foundation.

“This was the first pilot Education Program ever done for Odia Wikipedia and I'm overwhelmed with the kind of support from the college faculty and the enthusiasm of the students will bring us back soon,” expresses Subhashish Panigrahi, Programme Officer , Centre for Internet and Society. “This was a great learning experience for us and I'd surely continue contributing to Odia Wikipedia. Had it been little longer I could have contributed more on Mass Communication and Journalism.

Odia Wikipedian Mrutyunjya Kar who took a central part in organizing the project and conducting workshops in the institute calls it a great start and a stepping stone for a long term program. Odia Wikipedians Manoranjan Behera, Srikant Kedia and Dr. Subas Rout were part of the education programme as resource persons.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/orissa-diary-january-27-2013-first-odia-wikipedia-education-program-concludes-at-iimc

Odia Wikipedia's 9th Anniversary and Workshop on Application of Odia in Media

praskrishna — 2013-01-31T03:10:05Z

The Centre for Internet & Society in collaboration with Odia-Wikipedia and Academy for Media Learning organized a workshop on January 29, 2013. This was covered in Sambad on January 30, 2013.

This was published in Sambad on January 30, 2013.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/sambad-e-paper-january-30-2013-odia-wikipedia-workshop-coverage

January 2013 Bulletin

praskrishna — 2013-06-11T11:56:35Z

We at the Centre for Internet & Society (CIS) wish you all a great year ahead and welcome you to the first issue of our newsletter for the year 2013. This issue brings you an overview of our research programs, events organised and participated, news and media coverage, and videos of recent events.

Jobs

CIS is seeking applications for the posts of Programme Officer (Access to Knowledge — Indic Language Initiatives), Developer (NVDA Project), Programme Officer (Access to Knowledge and Openness), and Programme Officer (Internet Governance). To apply send your resume to sunil@cis-india.org and pranesh@cis-india.org. For our Privacy project, we are seeking applications for the post of Researcher, Technology/Security Expert, Graphic Designer as well as for internships. To apply for these posts, please send in your resume to Elonnai Hickok (elonnai@cis-india.org).

Accessibility

CIS is carrying out two projects in partnership with the Hans Foundation. The first one is to create a national resource kit of state-wise laws, policies and programmes on issues relating to persons with disabilities in India and the second one is for developing a screen reader and text to speech synthesizer for Indian languages. We are also working with the World Blind Union to develop the Treaty for Improved Access for Blind, Visually Impaired and other Reading Disabled Persons, and assisting in the negotiations at WIPO:

National Resource Kit for Persons with Disabilities

Anandhi Viswanathan from CIS and Manojna Yeluri from the Centre for Law and Policy Research are working in this project. Shruti Ramakrishnan has left the project. Draft chapters have been published. Feedback and comments are invited from readers for the chapter on Haryana:

The Haryana Chapter (by Anandi Viswanathan, January 31, 2012): The state implements the provisions under the central laws, particularly the Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act 1995 and the National Trust for Welfare of Persons with Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Mental Retardation and Multiple Disabilities Act 1999.

Submission / Notification

Making Public Libraries Accessible to People with Disabilities (by Rahul Cherian, January 23, 2013): CIS was one of the 20 disability rights groups that wrote to the Ministry of Culture.
Government of Madhya Pradesh initiates ICT Accessibility in Public Communication (by Nirmita Narasimhan, January 31, 2013): CIS with Daisy Forum of India member Arushi in Bhopal submitted a request for a notification mandating that all communication by the Government of Madhya Pradesh should be accessible to persons with disabilities.

Report

Accessible Broadcasting in India (by Srividya Vaidyanathan, January 11, 2013): The abridged version of ITU’s report "Making Television Accessible" which was initially put up for comments last year has been updated once again.

Blog Entry

Linking Commercial Availability and Exceptions in the Treaty for Visually Impaired/Persons with Disabilities (by Rahul Cherian, January 23, 2013).

Access to Knowledge

In partnership with the International Development Research Centre we are doing a project on Pervasive Technologies examining the relationship between production of pervasive technologies and intellectual property. The Wikimedia Foundation’s India Program to support and develop free knowledge in India is now being executed by us. We are also supporting the Iraq government in developing an eGovernment Interoperability Framework:

Wikipedia

Beginning from September 1, 2012, Wikimedia Foundation has awarded CIS a two-year grant of INR 26,000,000 to support and develop free knowledge in India. The A2K team consists of four members based in Delhi: T. Vishnu Vardhan, Nitika Tandon, Subhashish Panigrahi and Noopur Raval.

New Project Director

T. Vishnu Vardhan is the new Programme Director-Access to Knowledge at CIS. Vishnu has over the last 11 years worked in various capacities as researcher, grant manager, teacher, project consultant, information architect and translator. Vishnu managed the Art, Crafts and Culture portfolio of Sir Ratan Tata Trust and also worked as Research Coordinator at the Centre for the Study of Culture and Society.

New Distinguished Fellow at CIS

Tejaswini Niranjana, a Senior Fellow at the Centre for the Study of Culture and Society (CSCS), Bangalore, and Visiting Professor at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai is joining our team as an Adviser to the 'Access to Knowledge' project. She will guide the A2K team in expanding the Indian language Wikipedias and in increasing the number of active editors through strategic partnerships with Higher Education institutions across India.

Reports

Access to Knowledge Report — September to December 2012 (by Noopur Raval, January 31, 2013): The report covers an overview of the activities done by the Access to Knowledge team under the grant provided by the Wikimedia Foundation from September 2012 to December 2012.
Indic Language Wikipedias — Statistical Report — 2012 (by Shiju Alex, January 21, 2013): A statistical update of the Indic language Wikipedias for the year 2012 providing perspectives on the health of various Indic language communities as well as the state of various Indic language wikipedias.

Wiki Event Reports
CIS organised a series of Wiki workshops in Goa in the month of December 2012, we bring you the reports from those events.

Note: The workshops were held in the month of December 2012 but the reports were published only in the month of January.

Two-day Wiki Workshop in Goa University: An Introduction (by Nitika Tandon, January 15, 2013).
Wikipedia in St. Xavier's College, Mapusa, Goa (by Nitika Tandon, January 19, 2013).
Bringing Konkani Encyclopedia in Public Domain (by Nitika Tandon, January 22, 2013).
Promoting GLAM in Goa (by Nitika Tandon, January 24, 2013).
Konkani in Wikipedia Incubator — Taking it to the Next Level (by Nitika Tandon, January 25, 2013).

CIS also organised a Wiki workshop in Ghaziabad:

A Wiki Workshop at Raj Kumar Goel Institute of Technology, Ghaziabad (RKGIT, Ghaziabad, January 17, 2013).

Wiki Event Participated

Celebrating the success of Wikipedia in Wikipedia Summit Pune 2013 (organized by Wikipedia Club, Pune, January 12 – 13, 2013). Subhashish Panigrahi participated in the event.

Wikipedia News Coverage

First Odia Wikipedia Education Program concludes at IIMC, Dhenkanal (Odisha Diary Bureau, Dhenkanal, January 27, 2013).
Odia Wikipedia's 9th Anniversary and Workshop on Application of Odia in Media (Sambad, January 30, 2013).

Wiki Events Organised

Odia Education Program (Indian Institute of Mass Communication, Dhenkanal, Orissa, January 26, 2013).
Odia Wikipedia 9th Anniversary Celebration (Academy of Media Learning, Samantha Vihar, Bhubaneswar, Orissa, January 29, 2013).

Pervasive Technologies

The Pervasive Technologies project carries out research on the intellectual property implicated in the hardware, software and content available in low-cost mobile devices.The long-term outcome of this project is to create a legitimate, legal space for these technologies to exist on the Indian market.

Events Participated

Pervasive Technologies: Access to Knowledge in the Market Place — A Presentation by Sunil Abraham (FGV Law School, Rio de Janeiro, December 15, 2012).
Fifth International IPR Conference (GIPC 2013) (organised by ITAG Business Solutions, Hotel Lalit Ashok, Bangalore, January 30, 2013): Snehashish Ghosh made a presentation on the Pervasive Technologies Project.

Other Openness Updates

Blog Posts / Columns

The Violence of Knowledge Cartels (by Nishant Shah, Hybrid Publishing Lab, January 17, 2013).
Remembering Aaron Swartz, Taking Up the Fight (by Nishant Shah, DML Central, January 24, 2013).

Interview

Aaron Swartz: The First Martyr of the Free Information Movement: Prabir Purkayastha interviewed Lawrence Liang on Newsclick, January 19, 2013. The video is published.

Media Coverage

Bangalore hackers write code as tribute to Aaron Swartz (by Deepa Kurup, Hindu, January 21, 2013. Sunil Abraham is quoted.

HasGeek
HasGeek creates discussion spaces for geeks and has organised conferences like the Fifth Elephant, Droidcon India 2011, Android Camp, etc. HasGeek is supported by CIS and works out from CIS office in Bengaluru.
Event Organized Aaron Swartz Memorial Hacknight (CIS, Bangalore, January 19 – 20, 2013): Aaron’s collaborators such as Anand Chitipothu and A S L Devi participated in the event.

Internet Governance

With Privacy International, London we signed an agreement to facilitate the implementation of activities related to surveillance and freedom of speech and expression. In this month we have blog posts on data retention, international principles of surveillance and human rights and comparitive analysis of Indian legislation vis-à-vis draft of the International Principles on Surveillance of Communications by Ellonai Hickok, and columns by Sunil Abraham and Nishant Shah:

Privacy Research

Data Retention in India (by Elonnai Hickok, January 30, 2013): The post provides an insight into the data retention mandates from the Government of India and data retention practices by service providers.
Draft International Principles on Communications Surveillance and Human Rights (by Elonnai Hickok, January 16, 2013): These principles were developed by Privacy International and the Electronic Frontier Foundation and seek to define an international standard for the surveillance of communications.
A Comparison of Indian Legislation to Draft International Principles on Surveillance of Communications (by Elonnai Hickok, January 31, 2013): The principles, first drafted in October 2012 and developed subsequently seek to establish an international standard for surveillance of communications in the context of human rights. CIS is contributing feedback to the drafting of the principles.

Columns/Op-eds

Web of Sameness (by Nishant Shah, Indian Express, January 18, 2013).
TV versus Social Media: The Rights and Wrongs (by Sunil Abraham, The Tribune, January 20, 2013).

Statement

Statement of Solidarity on Freedom of Expression and Safety of Internet Users in Bangladesh (by Pranesh Prakash, January 15, 2013): This is a statement on the violent attack on blogger Asif Mohiuddin by the participants to the Third South Asian Meeting on the Internet and Freedom of Expression.

Blog Entries

No Civil Society Members in the Cyber Regulations Advisory Committee (by Pranesh Prakash, January 10, 2013).
Five Frequently Asked Questions about the Amended ITRs (by Chinmayi Arun, January 28, 2013): The author discusses the five major questions that have been the subject of debate after the World Conference on International Telecommunications 2012 (WCIT).

Upcoming Event

DML Conference 2013 (co-organised by CIS and Digital Media & Learning Research Hub Central, Sheraton Chicago Hotel & Towers - Chicago, Illinois, March 14 – 16, 2013).

Event Organized

An Introduction to Bitfilm and Bitcoin – A Discussion by Aaron Koenig (CIS, Bangalore, January 23, 2013): Aaron Koenig, Managing Director, Bitfilm Networks of Hamburg, Germany gave a talk.

Events Participated

Panel Discussion on E-Commerce at NLSIU (organised by National Law School of India University, Bangalore, January 7, 2013). Pranesh Prakash was a panelist.
Mobile Broadband: Leveraging for Business Transformation (Chancery Pavilion, Bangalore, January 9, 2013): Sunil Abraham was a panelist in this event.
Third South Asian Meeting on the Internet and Freedom of Expression (organized by Internet Democracy Project, Voices for Interactive Choice & Empowerment and Global Partners & Associates, Dhaka, January 14 – 15, 2013): Pranesh Prakash moderated the session on "Understanding cyber security and surveillance in South Asia”.
Is Freedom of Expression under Threat in the Digital Age? (organized by Editors Guild of India, Index on Censorship and Sage, India International Centre, New Delhi, January 15, 2013): Sunil Abraham was a panelist at this event.
7th India Digital Summit 2013 (organised by Internet and Mobile Association of India, Lalit Hotel, New Delhi, January 16 – 17, 2013): Sunil Abraham was the moderator for Plenary Session 3: Discussion on Social Media – Freedom, Moderation or Regulation.

Upcoming Event

9th International Asian Conference (organised by ITechLaw, February 14 – 15, 2013): Sunil Abraham will be participating as a panelist in the session on “Censorship of Online Content”.

Media Coverage

2012 in Review: Biometric ID Systems Grew Internationally...and So Did Concerns about Privacy (by Rebecca Bowe, Right Side News, January 1, 2013)
Cool Jobs | Parmesh Shahani, Head, Godrej India Culture Lab (LiveMint, January 4, 2013).
Clash of the cyberworlds (by Latha Jishnu, Dinsa Sachan and Moyna, Down to Earth, January 15, 2013 issue). Pranesh Prakash is quoted.
Is freedom of expression under threat in digital age? (originally published by Indo Asian News Service, January 16, 2013 and also covered in the Business Standard, Vancouver Desi, DNA, and Tech2). Sunil Abraham is quoted.
Is freedom of expression under threat in the digital age? (by Mahima Kaul, Index on Censorship, January 18, 2013).
Internet Freedom in India – Open to Debate (by Kirsty Hughes, Index on Censorship, January 22, 2013). CIS research on censorship is quoted.
Cyber security, surveillance and the right to privacy: country perspectives (by Richa Kaul Padte, Internet Democracy Project).
Surveillance Camp: Privatized State Surveillance (by Katitza Rodriguez, Electronic Frontier Foundation, January 28, 2013). Elonnai Hickok is quoted.
An innovative concept comes to the fore (Deccan Herald, January 29, 2013).

Internet Access – Knowledge Repository
In partnership with Ford Foundation, CIS was tasked to produce and disseminate modules on various aspects of telecommunications including policy, regulations, infrastructure and market. However, as on November 9, 2012 there was a change in the mandate of the project. Currently, we are working on building a knowledge repository on “Internet Access”. This new repository will cover the history of the internet, technologies involved, principle and values of internet access, broadband market and universal access. It will also touch upon various polices and regulations which has an impact on internet access and bodies and mechanism which are responsible for such policy formulation. For this purpose we will be hosting a new website: www.internet-institute.in.
We are also organizing an “Institute on Internet and Society” in collaboration with the Ford Foundation India, which is to be held from June 8, 2013 to June 14, 2013. Call for registrations and relevant details will be soon announced on our website.

Telecom

While the potential for growth and returns exist for telecommunications in India, a range of issues need to be addressed. One aspect is more extensive rural coverage and the other is a countrywide access to broadband which is low. Both require effective and efficient use of networks and resources, including spectrum.:

Column by Shyam Ponappa

What's Needed Is User-Centric Design, Not Good Intentions (by Shyam Ponappa, Business Standard, January 3, 2013 and Organizing India Blogpost, January 6, 2013).

Event(s) Participated

21^st Convergence Conference Conference India 2013 (organized by Exhibitions India Group, January 16 – 17, 2013, Pragati Maidan, New Delhi). Snehashish Ghosh participated in the event.

Digital Humanities

From 2012 to 2015, the Researchers At Work series is focusing on building research clusters in the field of Digital Humanities. We organised the first Habits of Living workshops in Bangalore last year. The next workshop is being held in Brown University:

Habits of Living Workshop

Habits of Living: Networked Affects, Glocal Effects (organised by CIS and Brown University, March 21 – 23, 2013, Brown University, Rhode Island). Nishant Shah will be speaking at this event.

About CIS
CIS was registered as a society in Bangalore in 2008. As an independent, non-profit research organisation, it runs different policy research programmes such as Accessibility, Access to Knowledge, Openness, Internet Governance, and Telecom. The policy research programmes have resulted in outputs such as the e-Accessibility Policy Handbook for Persons with Disabilities with ITU and G3ict, and Digital Alternatives with a Cause?, Thinkathon Position Papers and the Digital Natives with a Cause? Report with Hivos, etc. We have conducted policy research for the Ministry of Communications & Information Technology, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, etc., on WIPO Treaties, Copyright Bill, NIA Bill, etc.
CIS is accredited as an observer at WIPO. CIS staff participates in the Standing Committee for Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR) meetings regularly held in Geneva, and participate in the discussions and comments on them from a public interest perspective. Our Policy Director, Nirmita Narasimhan won the National Award for Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities from the Government of India and also received the NIVH Excellence Award.

Follow us elsewhere

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

Support Us

Please help us defend consumer / citizen rights on the Internet! Write a cheque in favour of ‘The Centre for Internet and Society’ and mail it to us at No. 194, 2nd ‘C’ Cross, Domlur, 2nd Stage, Bengaluru – 5600 71.

Request for Collaboration

We invite researchers, practitioners, and theoreticians, both organisationally and as individuals, to collaboratively engage with Internet and society and improve our understanding of this new field. To discuss the research collaborations, write to Sunil Abraham, Executive Director, at sunil@cis-india.org or Nishant Shah, Director – Research, at nishant@cis-india.org

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

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

Wiki Meet-up in Bangalore: Talk by Vishnu Vardhan

praskrishna — 2013-02-11T06:22:56Z

Vishnu Vardhan, Director of Access to Knowledge team at CIS has been invited by the Bangalore SIG Chair. Vishnu will speak on the Access to Knowledge (Wikipedia) project. The talk is scheduled for February 25, 2013 at 2.00 p.m. in Bangalore.

Agenda

Wikimedia Projects
Access to Knowledge by Mr.Vishnu Vardhan, Director A2K, CIS
Guest Talk by Mr.Joe Justice, Founder WikiSpeed & Mr.Vibhu Srinivasan, MD, Solutions IQ
Audience address by Chief Guest, Mr.KS Viswanath, Vice President, Industry Initiatives, NASSCOM
Networking

KS Viswanath

Mr. K.S. Viswanathan, Vice President, Industry Initiatives, NASSCOM, has around 32 years of general management and leadership experience in the Indian business context, building key executive relationships and a strong customer capital in diverse business environment. His extensive work experience in the IT industry and social sector comprises of developing and executing operational strategies, managing customer engagement programs, and establishing models for customer acquisition and retention. Over the span of his career, Mr. Viswanathan has held strategic & leadership positions at Wipro, Dell, Azim Premji Foundation and Hilleman Laboratories. As the Head for India geography at Wipro Infotech (2003-2008), he led the positive transformation of and business landscape for Wipro in India. He was the first country manager for Dell in India in 2000 and was instrumental in establishing Dell’s direct business model in India. Mr. Viswanathan is a graduate from Birla Institute of Technology and Science (1979 batch). He holds a MBA in marketing from PSG College of Technology (1981 batch).

Vishnu Vardhan

Vishnu Vardhan is the Programme Director-Access to Knowledge at CIS since February 2013. His experience spans across academics, industry (media) and not-for-profit sectors. Over the last 11 years he has worked in various capacities as researcher, grant manager, teacher, project consultant, information architect and translator. Prior to joining CIS, Vishnu managed the Art, Crafts and Culture portfolio of the Sir Ratan Tata Trust (SRTT); where had spent 5 years in project conceptualization, management and assessment of quality and impact in the not-for-profit sector. Vishnu managed more than 30 projects and funds to the tune of Rs. 160 million. He also anchored SRTT’s automation and knowledge management activities. Vishnu worked as Research Coordinator at Centre for the Study of Culture and Society (CSCS), Bangalore where he a) coordinated the online M.A. in Cultural Studies; b) managed the Library Fellowship programme; c) conceptualized and coordinated national and international workshops and short-term courses in Media and Cultural Studies; and d) helped in building academic institutional partnerships. Vishnu is a superannuated doctoral candidate at the Centre for Media Research, University of Ulster and CSCS, Bangalore.

Joe Justice

Joe Justice (@WIKISPEED) Founder, CEO, WikiSpeed Joe's team tied for 10th place in the mainstream class of the 2010 Progressive Insurance Automotive X Prize, a $10 million challenge for 100+ MPG automobiles. WIKISPEED now uses agile processes to solve problems for social good. Joe has spoken to audiences at TEDx, Denver University, University of California Berkley, Google, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Rotary International, and others about social web application development, project methodology, and agile best practices. He is CEO of WIKISPEED and works at SolutionsIQ, a leading provider of Agile consulting, certified training, coaching, development, and Agile talent services, where he helps clients leverage Agile project management and team development methods to deliver solutions more reliably.

Vibhu Srinivasan

Vibhu Srinivasan (@vibhu_s) Managing Director, SolutionsIQ India Vibhu Srinivasan is an Entrepreneur, Agile Coach, Technologist and currently heads SolutionsIQ India. Vibhu has an extensive technology, process, and consulting background allowing him to work with a diverse set of clients and teams. Vibhu has been practicing agile practices since 1997 (officially called Agile only in 2001).He brings to his consulting, deep rooted passion and practices gained by working in the trenches with hundreds of developers on real projects. He is very passionate about software development and can code in multiple languages. He has helped many teams in their quest for agility. He is a CTO of a early stage start up in Seattle and has an MBA in strategic management from school of business Madison. He has a very solid understanding of building large scale scalable systems having participated in various roles over the years, most recently chief architect for a game, Lead for virtualization product at Microsoft and CTO of his own start-up. He has worked in financial, gaming, visualization domains to name a few. An entrepreneur by choice he is always busy building a company/product and is currently in India heading Solutions IQ a premier provider of Agile consulting and development services in the US.

Participants

Intended Audience

Anyone interested in Wikipedia (user, contributor or curious about it). Wikipedians from any part of India or the world and anyone who is interested in Wikipedia! Meetup is open to members of all Wikimedia projects and Wikipedians from all languages. All are welcome, and we are especially interested in seeing newcomers to join the experienced Wikipedians/Wikimedians. If you are interested in coming, please add your name below.

The full details can be accessed on the Wikipedia page

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/wiki-meet-up-bangalore

A Report of the Odia Wikipedia Workshop held in KMBB College of Engineering, Bhubaneswar

praskrishna — 2012-12-07T22:37:59Z

(By Debapriya Priyadashi Chakra) Sambad, Odisha's most widely read and largest circulated daily, on November 19, 2012, published an article about the Odia Wikipedia workshop organized in KMBB College of Engineering, Bhubaneswar, Odisha.

Read a detailed report about this workshop.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/report-of-odia-wikipedia-workshop-in-sambad

A Report of Odia Wikipedia Workshop at IIT, Kharagpur

praskrishna — 2012-12-05T05:20:38Z

The Samaja, Odia daily, Kolkata edition, on December 3, 2012, published an article about the Odia Wikipedia Workshop organized in IIT, Kharagpur, West Bengal.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/report-of-odia-wikipedia-workshop-in-iit-kharagpur

Centre for Internet and Society

Panaji: DKA organizes two day Konkani Wikipedia workshop

ಕನ್ನಡದ ಆನ್‌ಲೈನ್ ವಿಶ್ವಕೋಶ ದುರ್ಬಲ

ಕನ್ನಡ ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯಕ್ಕೆ ಈಗ ದಶಮಾನೋತ್ಸವ. ಅದರ ಪ್ರಯುಕ್ತ ಒಂದು ಆಚರಣೆ

10th anniversary of Kannada wikipedia

Wikimedia Diversity Conference

Video

Why a Diversity Conference?

Goals of the Conference

Focus of the conference

Timeline

Background Information

Contact

Indian Govt to Build Machine Translation System for 22 Indic Languages

Kannada Wikipedia Workshop at Alvas Vishva Nudisiri Virasat

Access to Knowledge Bulletin — October 2013

About CIS

Privacy, Free/Open Source, and the Cloud

Introduction

Privacy Concerns:

How are privacy, free/open source, and the cloud related ?

Is free/open software the solution?

Conclusion

First Odia Wikipedia Education Program concludes at IIMC, Dhenkanal

Odia Wikipedia's 9th Anniversary and Workshop on Application of Odia in Media

January 2013 Bulletin

Accessibility

National Resource Kit for Persons with Disabilities

Access to Knowledge

Wikipedia

Pervasive Technologies

Other Openness Updates

HasGeek

Internet Governance

Internet Access – Knowledge Repository

Telecom

Digital Humanities

About CIS

Follow us elsewhere

Support Us

Request for Collaboration

Wiki Meet-up in Bangalore: Talk by Vishnu Vardhan

Agenda

KS Viswanath

Vishnu Vardhan

Joe Justice

Vibhu Srinivasan

Participants

Intended Audience

A Report of the Odia Wikipedia Workshop held in KMBB College of Engineering, Bhubaneswar

A Report of Odia Wikipedia Workshop at IIT, Kharagpur