The Centre for Internet and Society
https://cis-india.org
These are the search results for the query, showing results 31 to 45.
Punjabi Wikipedia Workshop at Punjabi University, Patiala
https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/punjabi-wikipedia-workshop-at-punjabi-university-patiala
<b>Patiala is the home to the famous Punjabi University. A Wikipedia workshop was organized at the Punjabi University's Punjabi Department on August 16, 2012.
</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">When the veteran Punjabi wikipedian G.S. Guglani agreed to come forward to spread the message of Punjabi wikipedia among Punjabi speakers it opened a way to revive and build the Punjabi Wikipedia community. Once Guglani's support was confirmed we looked for suitable places to conduct the introduction workshop for Punjabi Wikipedia. Guglani himself suggested Patiala, Ludhiana, and Amritsar as the probable places to conduct the Punjabi Wikipedia introduction workshops. Prof. Rajinder Brar, Head of the Punjabi Department agreed to provide full support to conduct a workshop at Patiala. <br /><br />About 30 participants including students and teachers attended the workshop. Guglani played a pivotal role in organizing the workshop. Shiju Alex gave ample support. The workshop began with a welcome message by Prof. Rajinder. Guglani then took the participants through a brief presentation (<a class="external-link" href="http://bit.ly/Rnki2r">http://bit.ly/Rnki2r</a>) and explained the history and current status of Punjabi Wikipedia. To our surprise two of the participants, Satdeep Gill and Paramjeet Singh were already aware about the Punjabi Wikipedia and they had created their accounts sometime back even though they didn't do much editing. The presence of Satdeep and Paramjeet and their previous experience with Punjabi helped us during the course of the workshop. Guglani taught one of the participants to create a user account and do the wiki editing. He showed them Punjabi typing and basic wiki editing.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">This was followed by a question-answer session where the participants asked about typing, editing, referencing and many other contribution related questions. The workshop ended with a small photo session.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">We are happy to share that Satdeep has become quite active after this workshop and as of now is one of the very active users in Punjabi Wikipedia. We are sure his presence will attract more Punjabi people from Patiala to Punjabi Wikipedia.</p>
<p>More pictures of this workshop is available at: <a class="external-link" href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Punjabi_Wikipedia_Workshop-16Aug2012">http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Punjabi_Wikipedia_Workshop-16Aug2012</a></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Note:</b> Although the workshop was conducted prior to the grant period, the report was written in the month of September, and hence, we are featuring this.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/punjabi-wikipedia-workshop-at-punjabi-university-patiala'>https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/punjabi-wikipedia-workshop-at-punjabi-university-patiala</a>
</p>
No publisherShiju Alex and Subhashish PanigrahiOpennessWorkshopAccess to KnowledgeWikimedia2012-10-04T12:18:36ZBlog EntryPromoting GLAM in Goa
https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/promoting-glam-in-goa
<b>We organised an introductory Galleries, Libraries, Archives, Museums (GLAM) session at Goa State Central Library on December 13, 2012. It was well attended by about 45 interested people coming from over 10 different GLAM institutes in Goa. </b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Nitika Tandon from CIS and Debanjan from Pune community led the session about Wikipedia and GLAM activities that have been undertaken by our global community since 2010. The talk instilled a lot of enthusiasm in librarians and curators in Goa to start similar programs in their associated institutes.</p>
<p align="JUSTIFY">Some of the institutes attending the session were: <a class="external-link" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museum_of_Christian_Art">Museum of Christian Art</a>, <a class="external-link" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goa_Chitra_Museum">Goa Chitra</a>, <a class="external-link" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bookworm_Children%27s_Library">Bookworm Library</a>, K.S. Goa State Library, GTL Bicholini, and DFLG District Library. Participants had a lot of interesting questions about starting GLAM projects in English, Marathi and Konkani, starting point of the project, logistical/financial support required to run a GLAM project, etc.</p>
<p align="JUSTIFY"><span><span>To begin with we'll be meeting Victor Hugos Gomes from <a href="http://www.goachitra.com/">Goa Chitra</a> who has shown keen interest to start a GLAM project. Goa Chitra showcases the rich tradition of implements, tools, arts and crafts. Goa Chitra has archived Goa's cultural heritage through documents, books, photographs, handicrafts, electronic recordings, costumes, musical instruments, and artifacts. In the coming weeks we'll be following up with Goa Chitra and more institutions to figure out the possibility of starting new projects in 2013.</span></span></p>
<h3><span><span>Audio </span></span></h3>
<p>Here's an audio recording of the entire event: <a class="external-link" href="http://bit.ly/XEmylE">http://bit.ly/XEmylE</a></p>
<hr />
<table class="listing">
<tbody>
<tr>
<th><img src="https://cis-india.org/home-images/GoaLibrary2.png" alt="Goa Library Lecture" class="image-inline" title="Goa Library Lecture" /></th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><span class="description">A GLAM lecture at Goa Central Library</span></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/promoting-glam-in-goa'>https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/promoting-glam-in-goa</a>
</p>
No publishernitikaAccess to KnowledgeWikimediaWikipediaWorkshopOpenness2013-07-26T11:27:22ZBlog EntryPrivacy Matters - A Public Conference in Chennai
https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/privacy-chennai-report.pdf
<b>This conference was held on August 6, 2011 in Chennai. The report is now online.</b>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/privacy-chennai-report.pdf'>https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/privacy-chennai-report.pdf</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaConferenceWorkshop2011-08-23T10:40:44ZFilePolitical is as Political does
https://cis-india.org/digital-natives/blog/political
<b>The Talking Back workshop has been an extraordinary experience for me. The questions that I posed for others attending the workshop have hounded me as they went through the course of discussion, analysis and dissection. Strange nuances have emerged, certain presumptions have been questioned, new legacies have been discovered, novel ideas are still playing ping-pong in my mind, and a strange restless excitement – the kind that keeps me awake till dawning morn – has taken over me, as I try and figure out the wherefore and howfore of things. I began the research project on Digital Natives in a condition of not knowing, almost two years ago. Since then, I have taken many detours, rambled on strange paths, discovered unknown territories and reached a mile-stone where I still don’t know, but don’t know what I don’t know, and that is a good beginning.</b>
<p> <strong>The researcher in his heaven, all well with the world</strong></p>
<p> This first workshop is not merely a training lab. For me, it was the
extension of the research inquiry, and collaboratively producing some
frames of reference, some conditions of knowing, and some ways of
thinking about this strange, ambiguous and ambivalent category of
Digital Natives. The people who have assembled at this workshop have
identified themselves as Digital Natives as a response to the open call.
They all have practices which are startlingly unique and simultaneously
surprisingly similar. Despite the great dissonance in their
geo-political contexts and socio-cultural orientations, they seem to be
bound together by things beyond the technological.</p>
<p> Each one chose a definition for him/herself that straddles so many
different ideas of how technologies interact with us; there are writers
who offer a subjective position and affective relation to technologies
and the world around them; there are artists who seek to change the
world, one barcode at a time; there are optimist warriors who have waged
battles against injustice and discrimination in the worlds they occupy;
there are explorers who have made meaning out of socio-cultural
terrains that they live in; there are leaders who have mobilized
communities; there are adventurers who have taken on responsibilities
way beyond their young years; there are researchers who have sought
higher grounds and epistemes in the quest of knowledge. The varied
practice is further informed by their own positions as well as their
relationship with the different realities they engage with.</p>
<p> How, then, does one make sense of this babble of diversity? How does
one even begin to articulate a collective identity for people who are
so unique that sometimes they are the only ones in their contexts to
initiate these interventions? Where do I find a legacy or a context that
makes sense of these diversities without conflating or coercing their
uniqueness? This is not an easy task for a researcher, and I have
struggled over the two days to figure out a way in which I can start
develop a knowledge framework through which I can not only bring
coherence to this group but also do it without imposing my questions,
suggestions or agendas on you. And it is only now, at a quarter to dawn,
as I think and interact more with the different digital natives that
things get shapes for me – shapes that are not yet clear, probably
obscured by the blurriness of sleep and the rushed time that we have
been living in the last few days – and I now attempt to trace the
contours if not the details of these shapes.</p>
<p> <strong>Questioning the Question</strong></p>
<p> The first insight for me came from the fact that the Digital Natives
in the workshop talked back – not only to the structures that their
practice engages with, but also the questions that I posed to them.
“What does it mean to be Political?” I has asked on the first day,
knowing well that this wasn’t going to be an easy dialogue. Even after
years of thinking about the Political as necessarily the Personal (and
vice versa), it still is sometimes difficult to actually articulate the
process or the imagination of the Political. It is no wonder that so
many people take the easy recourse of talking about governments,
judiciaries, democracies and the related paraphernalia to talk about
Politics.</p>
<p> I knew, even before I posed the question, that this was going to
lead to confusion, to conditions of being lost, to processes of
destabilising comfort zones. However, what I was not ready for was a
schizophrenic moment of epiphany where I tried to ask myself what I
understood as the Political. And as I tried to explain it to myself, to
explain it to others, to push my own knowledge of it, to understand
others’ ideas and imaginations, I came up with a formulation which goes
beyond my own earlier knowledges. There are five different articulations
of the legacies and processes of the Political that I take with me from
the discussions (some were suggested by other people, some are my
flights of fancy based on our conversations), and it is time to reflect
on them:</p>
<p> <em><strong>Political as dialogue</strong></em></p>
<p> This was perhaps, the easiest to digest because it sounds like a
familiar formulation. To be political is to be in a condition of
dialogue. Which means that Talking Back was suddenly not about Talking
Against or Being Talked To. It was about Talking With. It was a
conversation. Sometimes with strangers. Sometimes with people made
familiar with time. Sometimes with people who we know but have not
realised we know. Sometimes with the self. The power of names, the
strength of being in a conversation – to talk and also to listen is a
condition of the Political. In dialogue (as opposed to a babble) is the
genesis of being political. Because when we enter a dialogue, we are no
longer just us. We are able to detach ourselves from US and offer a
point of engagement to the person who was, till now, only outside of us.</p>
<p> <em><strong>Political as concern</strong></em></p>
<p> This particular idea of the political as being concerned was a
surprise to me. I have, through discourses and practice within gender
and sexuality fields, understood affective relationships as sustaining
political concerns and subjectivities. However, I had overlooked the
fact that the very act of being concerned, what a young digital native
called ‘being burned’ about something that we notice in our immediate
(or extended) environments is already a political subjectivity
formation. To be concerned, to develop an empathetic link to the
problems that we identify, is a political act. It doesn’t always have to
take on the mantle of public action or intervention. Sometimes, just to
care enough, is enough.</p>
<p> <em><strong>Political as change</strong></em></p>
<p> This is a debate that needs more conversations for me. Politics,
Knowledge, Change, Transformation – these are the four keywords (further
complicated by self-society binaries) that have strange permutations
and combination. To Know is to be political because it produces a
subjectivity that has now found a new way of thinking about itself and
how it relates to the external reality. This act of Knowing, thus
produces a change in our self. However, this change is not always a
change that leads to transformation. Knowledge for knowledge’s sake can
often be indulgent. Even when the knowledge produces a significant and
dramatic change, often this change is restricted to the self.</p>
<p> When does this knowing self, which is in a condition of change,
become a catalyst for transformation? When does this knowing-changing
translate into a transformation for the world outside of us? Just to be
in a condition of knowing does not grant the agency required for the
social transformation that we are trying to understand. Where does this
agency come from? How do we understand the genesis and dissemination of
this agency? And what are the processes of change that embody and foster
the Political?</p>
<p> <em><strong>Political as Freedom</strong></em></p>
<p> On the first thought, the imagination of Political as Freedom seemed
to obvious; commonsense and perhaps commonplace. However, I decided put
the two in an epistemological dialogue and realised that there are many
prismatic relationships I had not talked about before I was privy to
these conversations. Here is a non-exhaustive list: Political Freedom,
Politics of Freedom, Free to be Political, Political as Freedom, Freedom
as Political... is it possible to be political without the quest of
freedom? Is the freedom we achieve, at the expense of somebody else’s
Political stance? How does the business of being Political come to be?
Not Why? But How? If Digital Natives are changing the state of being
political what are they replacing? What are they inventing? Where, in
all these possibilities lies Freedom?</p>
<p> <a href="http://northeastwestsouth.net/brief-treatise-despair-meaning-or-pointlessness-everything#comment-2131"><em><strong>Political as Reticence</strong></em></a></p>
<p> We all talked about voice – whose, where, for whom, etc. It was a
given that to give voice, to have voice, to speak, to talk, to talk back
were conditions of political dialogue and subversion, of intervention
and exchange. So many of us – participants or facilitators – talked
about how to speak, what technologies of speech, how to build conditions
of interaction... and then, like the noise in an otherwise seamless
fabric of empowerment came the idea of reticence. Is it possible to be
silent and still be political? If I do not speak, is it always only
because I cannot? What about my agency to choose not to speak? As
technologies – of governance, of self, and of the social constantly
force us to produce data and information, through ledgers and censuses
and identification cards – make speech a normative way of engagement,
isn’t the right of Refusal to Speak, political?</p>
<p> Sometimes, it is necessary to exercise silence as a tool or a weapon
of political resistance. The non-speaking subject holds back and
refuses to succumb to pressures and expectations of a dominant
erstwhile, and in his/her silence, produces such a cacophony of meaning
that it asks questions that the loudest voices would not have managed to
ask.</p>
<p> <strong>The Beginning of a Start; Perhaps also the other way round</strong></p>
<p> These are my first reflections on the conversations we have had over
the two days. I feel excited, inspired, moved and exhilarated as I
carry myself on these flights of ideation, thought and
conceptualisation. It is important for me that these are questions that I
did not think of in a vacuum but in conversation and dialogue with this
varied pool of people who have spent so much of their time and effort
to not only make their work intelligible but also to reflect on the
processes by which we paint ourselves political. I have learned to
sharpen questions of the political that I came with and I have learned
to ask new questions of Digital Natives practice. I don’t have a
definition that explains the work that these Digital Natives do. But I
now have a framework of what is their understanding of the political and
what are the various points of engagement and investment.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/digital-natives/blog/political'>https://cis-india.org/digital-natives/blog/political</a>
</p>
No publishernishantDigital ActivismDigital NativesPoliticalYouthFeaturedCyberculturesDigital subjectivitiesWorkshop2011-08-04T10:30:51ZBlog EntryOpenness, Videos, Impressions
https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/OVSreport
<b>The one day Open Video Summit organised by the Centre for Internet & Society, iCommons, Open Video Alliance, and Magic Lantern, to bring together a range of stakeholders to discuss the possibilities, potentials, mechanics and politics of Open Video. Nishant Shah, who participated in the conversations, was invited to summarise the impressions and ideas that ensued in the day.</b>
<p></p>
<p>The notion of free and open is under great debate even under
that, and I think even when you side with a camp, there are going to be further
splinters. There are many ways of defining the free and open, and I think that the
tension, rather than being resolved, needs to be sustained and creatively
perpetrated to keep an internal checks and balances on not getting carried away
with it. All the groups did indeed circle around this in different,
often tangential ways – that there is need to define, variously and almost
endlessly, in defining the context of the free that we are dealing with.</p>
<p>Open video, in that matter, has gone through different
iterations, and I think it is nice that different stakeholders have defined it
variously, and also looked at the problems that it might lead to. However, for
the sake of synthesis, I am going to let you have your own idea of free and
open but instead look at five key words which have emerged, in my selective
hearing, through the day: <strong>Access, Archive,
Share, Remix, Repurpose</strong>. And it is these five that we need to now
imbricate these concepts across different thematic that emerged in the groups
today.</p>
<p><strong>Access</strong> has been one primary question that almost everybody
dealt with; Access has its legacies in the Open and Free culture movements,
where technological access, dealing with questions of open standards and
content, of bandwidth and infrastructure. More interestingly, in an emerging
information society like India, there are other concerns of language, access,
privilege, bandwidth, education etc. To
contextualise access and to put it into different perspectives is something
that different participants have voiced the need for.</p>
<p><strong>Archive</strong> is a preoccupation with most people because
archiving has close relationships with knowledge and subsequently retrieval and
usage. If knowledge is being digitised so that it is made accessible to
different people, there are older questions of representation, voice,
empowerment, participation, ethics, privacy, ownership etc. Crop up. In
education archiving has to do with the curricula building and knowledge
production. In networking, collaboration and film making, it is the kind of
issues that pad.ma is trying to tackle with. It also leads to notions of
access, distribution etc.</p>
<p><strong>Sharing </strong>is what is almost defining the spirit of the Open
and Free culture movements. There is a need to understand and explore what
sharing means. When does it infringe laws and what kind of regulation needs to
be advocated so that sharing becomes possible. How does one overcome questions
of piracy, stealing, IPR etc? More interestingly, what do we share and who do
we share it with? Tools by which sharing
leads to innovation? How does it lead to new participation and learning
practices and pedagogies? What kind of open distribution models and networks
can be built up?</p>
<p><strong>Remix</strong> has been of great value because it means that you are
being converted into some sort of a stakeholder or a contributor to the
process. Networking and nodes, network-actor, collaborator , peer 2 peer – the
possibility of looking at questions of internet and digital traces is
interesting. Or imagine that the act of sharing is also a remix. Sometimes just
putting it into new contexts, making it available to newer constituencies, etc.
can also be looked upon as remixing. Remix as a knowledge production aesthetic
and mechanics seems to have emerged.</p>
<p><strong>Repurpose </strong>is my additional reading of something that perhaps
needs no mention to this group, but nonetheless needs flagging. The fact
remains, that the technology is not a solution in itself. It is a tool that
enables the solutions which one is seeking for. The processes, paradigms,
protocols and practices are indeed shaped and mediated by technologies and
there are new solution possibilities which are produced. However, there still
seem to be anxieties, concerns, questions and problems which are cropping up
and need to be addressed outside of technology but within technology ecologies.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/OVSreport'>https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/OVSreport</a>
</p>
No publishernishantConferenceOpen StandardsArtWorkshopDigital AccessFLOSSOpen ContentArchivesOpennessOpen InnovationMeetingOpen Access2011-09-22T12:23:13ZBlog EntryOpen Video Summit
https://cis-india.org/events/open-video-summit-1
<b>The Centre for Internet and Society (CIS), iCommons, Open Video Alliance and Magic Lantern are organizing a workshop on December 15, 2009 at TERI, Bangalore</b>
<p><img src="https://cis-india.org/home-images/Open%20Video%20Summit..jpg/image_preview" title="open video summit" height="176" width="400" alt="open video summit" class="image-inline" /></p>
<p>The Centre for Internet and Society (CIS), iCommons, Open Video Alliance and Magic Lantern are organizing a workshop on December 15, 2009.</p>
<p>This workshop in Bangalore—modelled after a similar <a href="http://openvideoalliance.org/wiki/index.php?title=Open_Video_Meeting_at_Yale_Law_School_%2810/31/08%29">meeting</a> in October 2008 at Yale University—draws together experts from tech, art, film, NGOs and business to explore the future of online video.</p>
<p><strong>When</strong>: December 15th, 2009</p>
<p><strong>Where</strong>: The Energy and Resources Institute- Southern Regional Centre</p>
<p>(TERI-SRC)<br />4th Main, 2nd Cross, Domlur II Stage<br />Bangalore- 560071</p>
<p><strong>What</strong>: The Open Video Summit is a one-day workshop to explore issues of intellectual property and telecom policy for video. By inviting experts from different fields to participate in the workshop, we aim to create a <a href="http://openvideoalliance.org/issues">framework</a> for open video in India and to better understand how the online video medium is developing. We also hope to expand the network of researchers who have open video on the radar and to foster international collaborations. We expect between 30-40 participants to attend.</p>
<p>Participants should bring some specialized knowledge or insight about the state of online video to the event. The workshop is highly interactive and its success will depend on the quality and dynamism of our discussions. This workshop will in turn direct iCommons research efforts in the area of online video policy.</p>
<p><strong>Why</strong>: We’re now surrounded by cameras in cellphones, laptops, and everywhere else. Software and storage advances have made video remix an emergent art form. For the first time, huge numbers of people are communicating through video. Video is almost like a new language, a new toolkit for self-expression. This has some pretty profound implications.</p>
<p>But while sites like YouTube have enabled millions of people to broadcast themselves, it offers just a glimpse into the future of the online video medium. Heading into this future, the tools for creating, manipulating, and sharing video must be available to everyone. And while having community-developed, open source versions of these tools is a critical charge, it’s only one part of a larger puzzle. Open video requires that networks and technical, legal and business structures support the ability of huge numbers of individuals to use video in ways that go beyond just watching.</p>
<p>The Open Video Alliance was created to support industry coordination toward an <a href="http://openvideoalliance.org/wiki/index.php?title=Some_principles_for_open_video">open video ecosystem</a>. OVA members develop free and open source software and conduct policy research to support a more participatory video medium. The OVA also coordinates the <a href="http://openvideoalliance.org/open-video-conference/">Open Video Conference</a>, a multi-day summit of thought leaders in business, academia, art, and activism to explore the future of online video. The first OVC was host to over 800 guests, including 150 workshop leaders, panelists and speakers. Over 8,000 viewers tuned in from home to watch the live broadcast.</p>
<p><strong>Meeting Organizers:</strong></p>
<p>The <a href="http://openvideoalliance.org/"><em>Open Video Alliance </em></a>is a coalition of organizations devoted to creating and promoting</p>
<p>free and open technologies, policies, and practices in online video. OVA founding members include Mozilla, the Participatory Culture Foundation, Kaltura, iCommons, and the Yale Information Society Project.</p>
<p><a href="http://icommons.org/"><em>iCommons</em> </a>is a project-based incubator organization dedicated to promoting free culture and the global commons.</p>
<p><a href="https://cis-india.org/"><em>The Centre for Internet and Society</em></a> critically engages with concerns of digital pluralism, public accountability and pedagogic practices, in the field of Internet and Society, with particular emphasis on South-South dialogues and exchange.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.magiclanternfoundation.org/"><em>Magic Lantern Foundation</em> </a>is a non-profit group working with media and human rights.</p>
<p><em>This meeting made possible with the support of the Ford Foundation.</em></p>
<p><strong>Working schedule:</strong></p>
<p>Morning: </p>
<ul><li>Keynote talk and brief discussion<span class="apple-tab-span"></span></li><li>Lightning presentations by selected participants<span class="apple-tab-span"></span></li><li><span class="apple-tab-span"></span>Breakout discussion groups</li></ul>
<p>Afternoon: <span class="apple-tab-span"></span></p>
<ul><li><span class="apple-tab-span"></span>Lunch<span class="apple-tab-span"></span></li><li><span class="apple-tab-span"></span>Breakout discussion groups<span class="apple-tab-span"></span></li><li><span class="apple-tab-span"></span>Plenary discussion to identify focus areas and summarize</li></ul>
<p>Evening: <span class="apple-tab-span"></span></p>
<ul><li><span class="apple-tab-span"></span>Film Screening</li></ul>
<p><strong><em>Space is limited. Please RSVP to <a href="mailto:conference@openvideoalliance.org">conference@openvideoalliance.org</a>, and feel free to contact us with any questions you may have. We look forward to meeting you in Bangalore.</em></strong></p>
<p> <img src="https://cis-india.org/home-images/ff..jpg/image_preview" title="ff" height="150" width="110" alt="ff" class="image-inline" /></p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/events/open-video-summit-1'>https://cis-india.org/events/open-video-summit-1</a>
</p>
No publisherradhaOpen ContentWorkshop2009-12-10T06:21:01ZEventOpen Video Summit
https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/open-video-summit
<b>The Open Video Summit: A one-day workshop to explore issues of intellectual property and telecom policy for video is being organized by The Centre for Internet and Society (CIS), iCommons, Open Video Alliance and Magic Lantern on December 15, 2009 at TERI, Bangalore, from 9am to 6pm.</b>
<p>The Centre for Internet and Society (CIS), iCommons, Open Video
Alliance and Magic Lantern are organizing a workshop on December 15,
2009.</p>
<p>This workshop in Bangalore—modelled after a similar <a href="http://openvideoalliance.org/wiki/index.php?title=Open_Video_Meeting_at_Yale_Law_School_%2810/31/08%29">meeting</a>
in October 2008 at Yale University—draws together experts from tech,
art, film, NGOs and business to explore the future of online video.</p>
<p><strong>When</strong>: December 15th, 2009</p>
<p><strong>Where</strong>: The Energy and Resources Institute- Southern Regional Centre</p>
<p>(TERI-SRC)<br />4th Main, 2nd Cross, Domlur II Stage<br />Bangalore- 560071</p>
<p><strong>What</strong>: The Open Video Summit is a one-day workshop
to explore issues of intellectual property and telecom policy for
video. By inviting experts from different fields to participate in the
workshop, we aim to create a <a href="http://openvideoalliance.org/issues">framework</a> for
open video in India and to better understand how the online video
medium is developing. We also hope to expand the network of researchers
who have open video on the radar and to foster international
collaborations. We expect between 30-40 participants to attend.</p>
<p>Participants should bring some specialized knowledge or insight
about the state of online video to the event. The workshop is highly
interactive and its success will depend on the quality and dynamism of
our discussions. This workshop will in turn direct iCommons research
efforts in the area of online video policy.</p>
<p><strong>Why</strong>: We’re now surrounded by cameras in cellphones,
laptops, and everywhere else. Software and storage advances have made
video remix an emergent art form. For the first time, huge numbers of
people are communicating through video. Video is almost like a new
language, a new toolkit for self-expression. This has some pretty
profound implications.</p>
<p>But while sites like YouTube have enabled millions of people to
broadcast themselves, it offers just a glimpse into the future of the
online video medium. Heading into this future, the tools for creating,
manipulating, and sharing video must be available to everyone. And
while having community-developed, open source versions of these tools
is a critical charge, it’s only one part of a larger puzzle. Open video
requires that networks and technical, legal and business structures
support the ability of huge numbers of individuals to use video in ways
that go beyond just watching.</p>
<p>The Open Video Alliance was created to support industry coordination toward an <a href="http://openvideoalliance.org/wiki/index.php?title=Some_principles_for_open_video">open video ecosystem</a>.
OVA members develop free and open source software and conduct policy
research to support a more participatory video medium. The OVA also
coordinates the <a href="http://openvideoalliance.org/open-video-conference/">Open Video Conference</a>,
a multi-day summit of thought leaders in business, academia, art, and
activism to explore the future of online video. The first OVC was host
to over 800 guests, including 150 workshop leaders, panelists and
speakers. Over 8,000 viewers tuned in from home to watch the live
broadcast.</p>
<p><strong>Meeting Organizers:</strong></p>
<p>The <a href="http://openvideoalliance.org/"><em>Open Video Alliance </em></a>is a coalition of organizations devoted to creating and promoting</p>
<p>free and open technologies, policies, and practices in online video.
OVA founding members include Mozilla, the Participatory Culture
Foundation, Kaltura, iCommons, and the Yale Information Society Project.</p>
<p><a href="http://icommons.org/"><em>iCommons</em> </a>is a project-based incubator organization dedicated to promoting free culture and the global commons.</p>
<p><a href="https://cis-india.org/../../"><em>The Centre for Internet and Society</em></a>
critically engages with concerns of digital pluralism, public
accountability and pedagogic practices, in the field of Internet and
Society, with particular emphasis on South-South dialogues and exchange.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.magiclanternfoundation.org/"><em>Magic Lantern Foundation</em> </a>is a non-profit group working with media and human rights.</p>
<p><em>This meeting made possible with the support of the Ford Foundation.</em></p>
<p><strong>Working schedule:</strong></p>
<p>Morning: </p>
<ul><li>Keynote talk and brief discussion<span class="apple-tab-span"></span></li><li>Lightning presentations by selected participants<span class="apple-tab-span"></span></li><li><span class="apple-tab-span"></span>Breakout discussion groups</li></ul>
<p>Afternoon: <span class="apple-tab-span"></span></p>
<ul><li><span class="apple-tab-span"></span>Lunch<span class="apple-tab-span"></span></li><li><span class="apple-tab-span"></span>Breakout discussion groups<span class="apple-tab-span"></span></li><li><span class="apple-tab-span"></span>Plenary discussion to identify focus areas and summarize</li></ul>
<p>Evening: <span class="apple-tab-span"></span></p>
<ul><li><span class="apple-tab-span"></span>Film Screening</li></ul>
<p><strong><em>Space is limited. Please RSVP to <a href="mailto:conference@openvideoalliance.org">conference@openvideoalliance.org</a>, and feel free to contact us with any questions you may have. We look forward to meeting you in Bangalore.</em></strong></p>
<p> <img class="image-inline" src="../../../../home-images/ff..jpg/image_preview" alt="ff" height="150" width="110" /></p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/open-video-summit'>https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/open-video-summit</a>
</p>
No publisherradhaOpen ContentWorkshop2011-08-18T05:08:54ZBlog EntryOpen Standards Workshop at IGF '09
https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/dcos-workshop-09
<b>The Centre for Internet and Society co-organized a workshop on 'Open Standards: A Rights-Based Framework' at the fourth Internet Governance Forum, at Sharm el-Sheikh. The panel was chaired by Aslam Raffee of Sun Microsystems and the panellists were Sir Tim Berners-Lee of W3C, Renu Budhiraja of India's DIT, Sunil Abraham of CIS, Steve Mutkoski of Microsoft, and Rishab Ghosh of UNU-MERIT.</b>
<p>Sir Tim Berners-Lee started the session with an address on various rights. Rights, he noted can range from being things like the rights to air and water to the right not to have the data carrier you use determine which movie you watch. Then, there are tensions between rights: the right to anonymity can clash with the right to know who posted information on making a bomb. Berners-Lee stated that for 2009, he has chosen to pursue one particular right: the right to government-held data. This data can include everything from where schools are to emergency services such as locations of hospitals. Today, we are talking about standards. </p>
<p>The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is a fifteen-year old body in which all kinds of people come together for purposes of setting standards around the World Wide Web. Thus, everything from HTML, which is used to write Web pages to WCAG, which are guidelines to enable people with disabilities access websites through assistive technologies. W3C conducts its discussions openly: anybody who has a good idea has a right to participate in its discussions -- it does not matter who one works for, who one represents -- what does matter are the ideas one brings to the table. The kinds of standards that W3C deals with are of interest to an immensely wide-ranging group of people. Even ten-year olds have actually expressed their opinions about standards like HTML. All this openness of participation must be guaranteed while ensuring that the processes move forward.</p>
<p>Next spoke Renu Budhiraja of the Department of Information and Technology, which is a part of the Indian government. She started off by hoping that this workshop would be not only a platform to share knowledge, but also to reach consensus on a few matters. Next, she laid out why open standards are extremely important for the Indian government. What citizens want in their interactions with the government are ease of interaction and efficiency. For them it is immaterial whether a certain service is provided by Department A or Department B. Thus we need to move towards a single-window government service for citizens, enabling them to interact easily with the government's various departments. While such an initiative must be centralized for it to be effective, it is crucial that its implementation be decentralized and suited to each district or localities' needs.</p>
<p>There is, understandably, a huge institutional mechanism behind ensuring that these systems are based on open standards. We have expert committees, consisting of academics and knowledgeable bureaucrats, and working groups, which include industry groups. Through these, we have evolved a National Policy on Open Standards, which is currently in a draft stage, but shall be notified soon. This policy outlines the principles based on which particular standards required for governmental functioning are to be chosen or evolved. This document will ensure long-term accessibility to public documents and information, and seamless interoperability of various governmental services and departments. It will also reduce the risk of vendor lock-in and reduce costs, and thus ensure long-term, sustainable, scalable and cost-effective solutions.</p>
<p>Ms. Budhiraja noted that there are a few aspects of the policy that bear discussion in a forum such as the IGF. First is the issue of whether royalty-free is the only choice for innovation. All other things equal, between royalty-free and reasonable and non-discriminatory (RAND) standards, of course royalty-free is to be preferred. But what if a superior technology (JPEG200 vs. JPEG) is RAND? What should the government's position be in such a case? Further, what should the government's position be when in a particular domain a RAND standard is the only option? </p>
<p>Next is the issue of single vs. multiple open standards. When interoperability is what we are aiming at, can multiple standards be recommended as some in the industry are asking us to do? And then is the issue of market maturity. The government sometimes finds itself in a situation where a standard is available, but well-developed products around that standard aren't and there aren't sufficient vendors using that standard. All these issues are of great practical importance when a government works on a policy document on standards.</p>
<p>Next up was Sunil Abraham, Executive Director of the Centre for Internet and Society. His presentation was on open standards as citizens' and consumers' rights. He started off by citing the example of the Smart Card Operating System for Transport Application (SCOSTA) standard, and the implications that the SCOSTA story has on large-scale projects such as the National Unique ID project currently under way in India. SCOSTA, an open standard, was being written off as unimplementable by all the MNC smart card vendors who wished to push RAND standards. IIT Kanpur helped the government develop a working implementation. Within twenty days, the card manufacturers submitted modified cards for compliance testing by NIC. Because of SCOSTA being an open standard, local companies also joined the tender. The cost went down from Rs. 600 per card to Rs. 30 per card. This shows the benefits of open standards as a means of curbing oligopolistic pricing, and working for the benefit of consumers.</p>
<p>From a rights-based perspective, access to the state machinery is a primary right. Citizens should not be required to pirate or purchase software to interact with the state. If e-governance solutions are based on proprietary standards, not all citizens would be equal. The South African example or requiring a particular browser to access the election commission's website shows that in a rather drastic fashion. When intellectual property interferes with governmental needs, governments have not been shy of issuing compulsory licences. This was seen when during the Great War the United States government pooled various flight-related patents and compulsorily licensed them, as well as what we are currently seeing with many Aids-related drugs being compulsorily licensed in developing countries. Thus, there are precedents for such licensing, and governments should explore them in the realm of e-governance. Many countries now have statutes that guarantee the right to government-held information. Government Interoperability Frameworks should take these into account, and mandate all government-to-citizen (G2C) information be transacted via open standards. This must be backed up by a strong accessibility policy to ensure that the governments don't discriminate between their citizens.</p>
<p>Proprietary standards act like pseudo-intellectual property rights, just as DRMs do. They add a layer on top of rights such as copyright, and can prevent the exercise of fair use and fair dealing rights because of an inability to legally negotiate the standards in which the content is encoded in a cost-free manner. In guaranteeing this balance between copyrights and fair dealing rights, free software and alternative IP models play a crucial role. Because of software patents being recognized in a few countries, development of free software which allows citizens to exercise their fair use rights is harmed in all countries.</p>
<p>Steve Mutkoski of Microsoft spoke next and placed the standards debate in a large context. He noted that standards are a technicality that are only a small part of the large issue which is interoperability in e-governance and delivery to citizens. The real challenges are organizational and semantic interoperability. Frequently interoperability is not harmed by technical issues, but by legal and organizational issues. Governments used to work on paper; during the shift to electronic data, they didn't engage in any organizational changes. Thus they continue to function with electronic data the same way that they did with paper-based data. Governments often lack strong privacy policies regarding the data that each of their departments holds. This harms governmental functioning. Additionally, legacy hardware and software have to be catered to by the standards we are talking about: sometimes an open standard just will not work. </p>
<p>Standards don't guarantee interoperability, and there is significant work done on this by noted academics ("Why Standards Are Not Enough To Guarantee End-to-End Interoperability" Lewis et al.; "Difficulties Implementing Standards" Egyedi & Dahanayake; "Standards Compliant, But Incompatible?" Egyedi et al.). Mandated standards lists will not help address interoperability issues between different implementations of the same standard. What would help? Transparency of implementations; collaboration with community; active participation in maintenance of standards, etc., would help. There is a need for continued public sector reform, with a focus on citizen-centric e-governance, and a need to engage with the question of whether government-mandated standards lists lead the market or follow the market.</p>
<p>Rishab Aiyer Ghosh, a senior researcher at UN University, Maastricht, spoke next. He started by noting that technical standards are left to technical experts. That needs to change, which is why discussing open standards at the IGF is important. He next set off a hypothetical: imagine you go to the city council office in Sharm el Sheik, and at the parking lot there it says that your car has to be a Ford if you are to park there; or if the Dutch government insists that you have a Philips TV if you are to receive the national broadcaster's signal. While these might seem absurd, situations like this arise all the time when it comes to the realm of software. Thus, the social effects of open standards are of utmost importance, and not just their technical qualities. Analysing the social effects of open standards takes us back to the economics of technology and technological standards. Technological standards exhibit network externalities: their inherent value is less than the value of others using them. Being the only person in the world with a telephone won't be very useful. Technological standards also exhibit path dependence: once you go with one technological format, it is difficult to change over to another even if that other format is superior to the first. Thus, clearly, standards benefit when there is a 'natural monopoly'. The challenge really arises when faced with the question of how to ensure a monopoly in a technology without the supplier of that technology exhibiting monopolistic tendencies. This can only be done when the technology is open and developed openly, of which the web standards and the W3C are excellent examples. If the technology or the process are semi-open, then because of the few intellectual property rights attached to the technology, some would be better off than others. Just as governments cannot insist on driving a particular make of cars as a prerequisite for access to them, they cannot insist on using a particular proprietary standard as a means of accessing them.</p>
<p>Many interesting questions arose when the floor was thrown open to the audience. "Should governments only mandate a particular standard when it is certain that market maturity exists?" Not really, since governmental decisions also give signals to the market and help direct attention to those standards. It would be best if roadmaps were provided, with particular under-mature standards being designated as "preferred standards", thus helping push industry in a particular direction. Examples where this strategy has borne fruit abound. This is also the strategy found in the Australian GIF. On the issue of multiplicity of standards, Sir Tim was very clear that they have to be avoided at all costs. He gave the example of XSLT and CSS, which are both stylesheet formats. He noted that their domain of operation was very different (with one being for servers and the other for clients), so having two standards with similar functions but different domains of operation does not make them multiple standards. Multiple standards defeat the purpose of the standardization process.</p>
<p>It was noted that governmental choices are of practical importance to citizens. During the Hurricane Katrina emergency, the federal emergency website only worked properly if Internet Explorer was used. How do we move forward? We must move forward by having policies that strike a balance between allowing for the natural evolution of standards and stability. The Government Interoperability Frameworks must be dynamic documents, allowing for categorization between standards and having clear roadmaps to enable industry to provide solutions to the government in a timely fashion. Governments must be strong in order to push industry towards openness, for the sake of its citizens, and not let industry dictate proprietary standards as the solution. Some opined that since there are dozens of domains that governments function in, maintaining lists of standards is a time-consuming process that is not justified, but others rebutted that by noting that for enterprise architectures to work, governments have to maintain such lists internally. Opening up that list to citizens and service providers would not entail greater overheads.</p>
<p><strong>Sunil Abraham talking Open Standards at IGF09</strong></p>
<p>(Video added on December 30, 2009)<br /><br /><br /><a title="<OBJECT>, shockwave-flash@http://www.youtube.com/v/woC_6GddD6A&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&fs=1" class="__noscriptPlaceholder__" href="http://www.youtube.com/v/woC_6GddD6A&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&fs=1">
</a></p>
<div style="float: none; text-align: start;" class="__noscriptPlaceholder__1"><a title="<OBJECT>, shockwave-flash@http://www.youtube.com/v/woC_6GddD6A&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&fs=1" class="__noscriptPlaceholder__" href="http://www.youtube.com/v/woC_6GddD6A&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&fs=1">
<div class="__noscriptPlaceholder__2"> </div>
</a></div>
<a title="<OBJECT>, shockwave-flash@http://www.youtube.com/v/woC_6GddD6A&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&fs=1" class="__noscriptPlaceholder__" href="http://www.youtube.com/v/woC_6GddD6A&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&fs=1">
</a>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/dcos-workshop-09'>https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/dcos-workshop-09</a>
</p>
No publisherpraneshOpen StandardsConsumer RightsDigital GovernanceFair DealingsFLOSSWorkshopOpenness2011-08-23T02:54:03ZBlog EntryOngoing Proof-reading Effort by ALC Student Wikimedians in Telugu Wikisource
https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/ongoing-proof-reading-effort-by-alc-student-wikimedians-in-telugu-wikisource
<b>Student Wikimedians at Andhra Loyola College, Vijayawada formatted and proof-read more than 1,900 folios in Telugu Wikisource during the last few weeks of November (2016). Each day, a group of twenty students uses the lab facility provided by the college after regular classes to make necessary formatting changes and fix spelling mistakes in the folios of books available in Telugu Wikisource. Till date, the student Wikipedians have proofread eight books.</b>
<p style="text-align: left;" dir="ltr">The work was initiated and supported by CIS-A2K members who organized a proofreading workshop of the <a href="https://te.wikisource.org/wiki/%E0%B0%B8%E0%B1%82%E0%B0%9A%E0%B0%BF%E0%B0%95:Bible_Bhashya_Samputavali_Volume_02_Bible_Bodhanalu_P_Jojayya_2003_280_P.pdf">Bible Bhashya Samputavali Volume 06</a> on Telugu Wikisource in Andhra Loyola College during 18 to 20 November 2016. During the workshop, Telugu Wikimedian Gullapalli Nageswara Rao (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Nrgullapalli">User:Nrgullapalli</a>), along with CIS-A2K community advocate Pavan Santhosh helped students to learn about the process of digitizing book in Telugu Wikisource and other formatting aspects involved. In this event, nearly twenty students picked up the skills required to proof-read a book as well as the formatting techniques in Telugu Wikisource. Some students had also started to proof-read three other books that are currently available in Telugu Wikisource.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;" dir="ltr"><img src="https://cis-india.org/ALC_Wikisource_workshop_November_2016.jpg/image_preview" alt="ALC Wikisource Workshop" class="image-inline image-inline" title="ALC Wikisource Workshop" /></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;" dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-876383aa-4f4a-6ed7-5efb-e440c9687414">This event also marked great effort and accomplishment of promoting gender balance and diversity in local community events — as the organizers and institution successfully assured a minimum 50% female participation rate throughout the three days. CIS-A2K member Ting-Yi Chang also gave a short introduction to the participants about the issue in Wikipedia (media) Gender Gap. Students who had previous Wikipedia editing experience at the ALC were also invited to the session, rendering around thirty female audience. The presentation included small brainstorm activities for students to discuss reasons behind the gender asymmetry online and on Wikipedia/media projects, as well as how we as community members can make a difference to help women feel more welcomed.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;" dir="ltr">A follow-up Wikisource session was conducted on 25 and 26 November 2016 for students to learn about the remaining steps in digitization and the OCR tool. Thanks to encouragement and motivation given by Principal Rev. Fr., Dr. Peter Kishore, staff members Prof. Siva Kumari, and Dr. K. Sekhar, the student Wikipedians had started to contribute to Wikisource after class for at least a couple of hours every day. These events and accomplishments show remarkable efforts and dedication from both student Wikimedians and the institutional partner.</p>
<p style="text-align: right;" dir="ltr"><img src="https://cis-india.org/Gender_gap_awareness_session_in_ALC_3.jpg/image_mini" alt="Gender Gap Awareness session in ALC" class="image-inline" title="Gender Gap Awareness session in ALC" /></p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/ongoing-proof-reading-effort-by-alc-student-wikimedians-in-telugu-wikisource'>https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/ongoing-proof-reading-effort-by-alc-student-wikimedians-in-telugu-wikisource</a>
</p>
No publisherPavan Santosh & Ting-Yi ChangTelugu WikisourceCIS-A2KAccess to KnowledgeWikimediaWikipediaWikipedia gender gapWorkshopTelugu Wikipedia2016-12-30T11:00:09ZBlog EntryOdia Wikipedia's 9th Anniversary and Workshop on Application of Odia in Media
https://cis-india.org/news/sambad-e-paper-january-30-2013-odia-wikipedia-workshop-coverage
<b>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.</b>
<hr />
<p>This was published in <a class="external-link" href="http://sambadepaper.com/epapermain.aspx?edcode=10&eddate=1/30/2013%2012:00:00%20AM&querypage=19">Sambad</a> on January 30, 2013.</p>
<hr />
<table class="listing">
<tbody>
<tr>
<th><img src="https://cis-india.org/home-images/Odia.png/@@images/4c970c5f-75ad-435c-8bd7-28554c6d62eb.png" alt="Odia Wikipedia Coverage" class="image-inline" title="Odia Wikipedia Coverage" /><br /></th>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/news/sambad-e-paper-january-30-2013-odia-wikipedia-workshop-coverage'>https://cis-india.org/news/sambad-e-paper-january-30-2013-odia-wikipedia-workshop-coverage</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaOpennessWorkshopWikipediaWikimedia2013-01-31T03:10:05ZNews ItemOdia Wikipedia Community Brings Wikipedia Education Program to IIMC, Dhenkanal
https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/odia-wikipedia-education-program-iimc-dhenkanal
<b>The Odia Wikipedia community collaborated with the Indian Institute of Mass Communication, Dhenkanal and hosted a pilot Odia Wikipedia Education Program. The program began in November 2012 and got over by January 2013. Sixteen student wikipedians signed up and took part in editing more than a dozen articles on Odia Wikipedia.</b>
<p align="JUSTIFY">Odia Wikimedia community is primarily active in three major cities: Bhubaneswar, Cuttack and Nalconagar. There was a sustained growth in the community during August-October 2012 which inspired the comunity to initiate a long term program like <a class="external-link" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Education_program">Wikipedia Education Program</a>. <a class="external-link" href="http://or.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:MKar">Mrutyunjaya Kar</a> from Nalconagar community reached out to several schools in Nalconagar and Phulbani to find a potential institute for such a program. <a class="external-link" href="http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Psubhashish">Subhashish</a> from <a class="external-link" href="http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Access_To_Knowledge">Access To Knowledge</a> team of CIS supported the community for setting up a meeting with Prof. <a class="external-link" href="http://www.iimc.nic.in/mrinal-chatterjee.html">Mrinal Chatterjee</a> and few other faculty members of <a class="external-link" href="http://www.iimc.nic.in/branches-dhenkanal.html">Indian Institute of Mass Communication, Dhenkanal</a> followed by a workshop for the students.</p>
<p align="JUSTIFY">More than 45 students from both Odia and English department took part for the first introductory workshop. A <a class="external-link" href="http://or.wikipedia.org/wiki/ଉଇକିପିଡ଼ିଆ:ଉଇକିପିଡ଼ିଆ_ଶିକ୍ଷା_ପ୍ରକଳ୍ପ/ଭାରତୀୟ_ଜନସଂଚାର_ସଂସ୍ଥାନ,_ଢେଙ୍କାନାଳ-୧">program page</a> was created on Odia Wikipedia for the detailed plan and discussion. 16 out of 45 students showed their interest to take part in the program and signed up on the project page. Teaching assistants Bhagaban and Sucharita supported the students in assessing and suggesting articles. A follow up session was organized in December by the Nalconagar Wiki-Community to teach the students about the typing and basic Wikipedia editing. Students continued to edit their chosen articles. Though initially the program was planned to be run for 3-4 months because of the course structure and exam announcement students requested for the closure of it.</p>
<p align="JUSTIFY">The articles were assessed and wiki-fied by the wikipedians. On January, 26 a celebratory event was organized for the student-wikipedians. Prof. Chatterjee addressed the students about the benefits of contributing to Wikipedia in their mother tongue Odia. Subhashish along with fellow Wikipedians Dr. Subas Rout, Mrutyunjaya Kar, Srikant Kedia and Manoranjan Behera took part in a discussion about “What students can gain by contributing to Odia Wikipedia”.</p>
<p align="JUSTIFY">Contribution details:</p>
<ul>
<li>Number of student participants for introductory session: 45</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Number of students took part in the Wikipedia workshop: 16</li>
<li>Number of students contributed: 12</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Number of mentor wikipedians: 4</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Number of articles edited: 12</li>
</ul>
<p align="JUSTIFY"><strong>Other details:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>More details on <a class="external-link" href="http://or.wikipedia.org/s/cgj">Project</a> page.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Photos, meeting podcasts and videos: <a class="external-link" href="http://bit.ly/YymQkn">http://bit.ly/YymQkn</a></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Podcast of discussion among Odia Wikipedians with Prof. Mrinal Chatterjee and Subhashish Panigrahi</span></li>
</ul>
<p><iframe frameborder="0" height="23" src="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Discussion_about_the_plans_for_Odia_Wikipedia_Education_Program_at_IIMC,_Dhenkanal.ogg?embedplayer=yes" width="300"></iframe></p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/odia-wikipedia-education-program-iimc-dhenkanal'>https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/odia-wikipedia-education-program-iimc-dhenkanal</a>
</p>
No publishersubhaAccess to KnowledgeWikimediaWikipediaWorkshopOpenness2013-08-23T14:01:17ZBlog EntryNational IG Mechanisms – Looking at Some Key Design Issues
https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/national-ig-mechanisms
<b>The Centre for Internet & Society is coorganizing this workshop along with Brazilian Internet Steering Committee, Institute for System Analysis, Russian Academy of Sciences, et.al., at the seventh Internet Governance Forum 2012 in Azerbaijan. The workshop will be held in Conference Room 4, from 2.30 p.m. to 4.00 p.m. Pranesh Prakash is a panelist for this workshop.
</b>
<p><b>Workshop Theme: </b><br />Other <br /><b>Theme Question: </b><br />It is a workshop on national level IG mechanisms, and does not directly address any main theme questions</p>
<h3>Concise Description of Workshop:</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Such is the unique nature of the Internet that its governance often calls for institutional innovations. The proposed workshop will look at a range of national level IG mechanisms across the world. While the discussion will refer to good models and practices in different countries, it will not be organized around simple show-casing of different national IG mechanisms. The discussion will centre around key contexts, requirements, challenges and possibilities. It will be directed towards examining key institutional design issues, functions and outcomes with regard to national level IG mechanisms with the purpose to help countries make appropriate decisions in their specific contexts. Some of these are; - How should the national commons of Internet resources be managed?- What kinds of mechanisms are appropriate for technical matters, what for those that are partly technical and partly social, and what for larger public policy matters, requiring more political responses? - Should there be a common single mechanism to address all the above kinds of issues, or different ones? How to coordinate different mechanisms, and different parts of the national governance machinery dealing with different aspects or kinds of IG issues? - How to ensure meaningful participation of all stakeholders in a manner that focuses on public interest?- How can the surplus from domain name registration fees etc collected by national IG agencies be employed for public interest purposes, especially, for taking up Internet related research.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Organiser(s) Name:</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Centre for Internet and Society, Bangalore - Civil SocietyBrazilian Internet Steering Committee - National level governance bodyInstitute for System Analysis, Russian Academy of Sciences - Academic InsitutionCentre for Community Informatics Research, Development and Training (CCIRDT), Vancouver, BC CANADA - Civil Society Instituto NUPEF , Rio de Janeiro - Civil SocietyIT for Change, Bangalore - Civil Society.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Previous Workshop(s):</h3>
<p>See in the workshops section in IGF 2011IG4D Workshop 183: A Possible Framework for Global Net Neutrality.</p>
<h3>Submitted Workshop Panelists:</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Carlos Afonso, Insituto NUPEF, Board Member, Brazilian Steering CommiteeEmily Taylor, Independent Consultant, Formerly with NOMINETAlice Munya, Chairperson, Kenya Internet Steering CommiteeVictor Tishchenko, Institute of Advanced Systems, Russian Academy of Sciences,Sunil Abraham, Centre for Internet and Society,Moderator, Micheal Gurstein, Centre for Community Informatics Research, Development and Training, Canada.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Name of Remote Moderator(s):</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Ginger Paque</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Read the original published on the IGF website <a class="external-link" href="http://www.intgovforum.org/cms/w2012/proposals">here</a></p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/national-ig-mechanisms'>https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/national-ig-mechanisms</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaEvent TypeWorkshopInternet Governance2012-12-09T00:50:46ZEventMarathi Wikipedia Edit-a-thon at Dalit Mahila Vikas Mandal, Satara
https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/marathi-wikipedia-edit-a-thon-at-dalit-mahila-vikas-mandal-satara
<b></b>
<p>A Marathi Wikipedia Edit-a-thon was conducted at the Dalit Mahila Vikas Mandal in Satara on 4 August 2017. The organisation, working on issues of women's rights, gender, justice and violence against women, was given an introduction to editing on Wikipedia. Voluntary organisation Dalit Mahila Vikas Mandal is eager to implement innovative projects for the students and field activists. It has decided to integrate Wikimedia Projects and training modules for capacity building of students and movement volunteers. To get the overall introduction of Wikimedia Projects and basic skills, this workshop was organised for faculty and selected students. The edit-a-thon was attended by 10 female and 5 male participants. </p>
<p>Sana Patel, a participant emphasises, "I realised the need to contribute gender related content. It is very important to write about women's issues and laws'. The edit-a-thon resulted in 13 new editors discovering Wikipedia for the first time. 20 articles were improved and five images were uploaded. A follow-up workshop on building content on women-related issues has been planned with the Dalit Mahila Vikas Mandal as well as other like-minded organisations in Satara. Onkar Tapase, a participant opines, "as a journalist, I see a great potential to contribute" </p>
<p>The meta page of the event can be found <a class="external-link" href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Marathi_Wikipedia_Edit-a-thon_at_Muktangan_Naw_Vichar_Prerana_Kendra,Satara">here</a>.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/marathi-wikipedia-edit-a-thon-at-dalit-mahila-vikas-mandal-satara'>https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/marathi-wikipedia-edit-a-thon-at-dalit-mahila-vikas-mandal-satara</a>
</p>
No publisherSubodh KulkarniCIS-A2KAccess to KnowledgeWikimediaWikipediaMarathi WikipediaWorkshopMarathi Wikisource2017-10-24T11:52:24ZBlog EntryMarathi Wiki Workshop at Tata Institute of Social Sciences
https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/marathi-wiki-workshop-at-tiss
<b>The Centre for Indian Languages in Higher Education at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai is taking up a number of activities and conducting workshops focusing on Indian languages across cities. A series of workshops in Marathi, Kannada and Bangla have been planned with Wikipedia sessions in each of these events.</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The Marathi workshop was organised on December 8, 2012 at Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS). It was a three-hour workshop.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Following preparations were made before the session:</p>
<div>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Yogesh Khandke and Kartik Nadar from Mumbai community visited the venue three days prior to check technical requirements.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Programme participants were suggested to select a subject of their choice and find sufficient resources to add information during the course of the event. This proved to be extremely helpful and an efficient way. Participants didn't spend any time looking for resources during the event; they were already ready with the content they wanted to add.</li>
<li>Programme participants were requested to create usernames before they came for the session.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">A tailored presentation was made ready.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">A <a href="https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=42765">ticket</a> was raised to release the IP address of TISS computer labs. Despite the ticket being resolved the IP address got blocked after creation of seven accounts. We will be looking deeper into this problem to make sure that we do not face such issue again.</li>
<li>Multiple conference calls were organised between the conductors — Yogesh, Nikita and Nitika.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Details of the event</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The morning session of this workshop focused on digital humanities and social sciences research, and exposed students to different kinds of resources. The afternoon session focused on Wikipedia literacy and Marathi-language computing. There were be about 25 participants (MA and PhD level) and 5 conductors - Yogesh, Nikita, Moksh, Kartik and Nitika.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Nikita gave a brief 40 minutes introduction about Wikipedia using a presentation followed by a hands on session which was led by Yogesh and supported by rest of the conductors. Many of the participants were comfortable with Marathi computing while some were struggling. There were a few participants who were editing in other languages including Hindi and Malayalam. Kartik & Moksh jointly led the session with educating participants about Wikimark ups, page view stats, article and user talk pages. Rest of the conductors pitched in with insightful examples, comments and answers. The participants raised some really interesting questions and were completely involved the workshop. Several participants showed interest to organise similar workshops at other institutes they are connected with.</p>
<ul>
</ul>
</div>
<div id="_mcePaste">
<p class="MsoNormal">—</p>
</div>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/marathi-wiki-workshop-at-tiss'>https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/marathi-wiki-workshop-at-tiss</a>
</p>
No publishernitikaAccess to KnowledgeWikimediaWikipediaWorkshopOpenness2013-02-04T04:55:56ZBlog EntryMaps for Making Change Kicks Off, and You Can Get Involved!
https://cis-india.org/advocacy/other-advocacy/maps-for-making-change-kicks-off-and-you-can-get-involved
<b>A first in India, Maps for Making Change explores the use of geographical mapping techniques to support struggles for social justice in India. On 3 December, the project officially kicks off during a one-day workshop in Delhi. But even if you can not be there with us in Delhi, there are ways to get involved. </b>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/advocacy/other-advocacy/maps-for-making-change-kicks-off-and-you-can-get-involved'>https://cis-india.org/advocacy/other-advocacy/maps-for-making-change-kicks-off-and-you-can-get-involved</a>
</p>
No publisheranjaDigital ActivismPracticeWorkshopResearchers at WorkMaps for Making Change2015-10-05T15:03:39ZBlog Entry