The Centre for Internet and Society
https://cis-india.org
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Mapping Content on Gender and Sexuality in Indian Languages
https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/research-mapping-content-on-gender-and-sexuality-in-indian-languages
<b>This research study explores content production processes on gender and sexuality in Indian languages, its digital documentation and factors that affect its availability and use on open access platforms. The research was undertaken by Yashashwini Srinivas, with editorial inputs by Puthiya Purayil Sneha, and Torsha Sarkar. This research was part of short-term studies undertaken at the CIS-A2K programme 2021-22.</b>
<p>Read the report on Wikimedia Meta-Wiki <a class="external-link" href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Research:Mapping_Content_on_Gender_and_Sexuality_in_Indian_Languages">here</a>.</p>
<hr />
<h2>Introduction</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Mapping Content on Gender and Sexuality in Indian languages is a research project that studies the content production process on gender and sexuality in Indian languages and challenges it with its digital documentation. It examines the diverse nature of content creation on these topics, processes of its digitalisation and related challenges that contribute to the disparity in its availability and use on open knowledge platforms such as Wikimedia projects, and potential strategies to address the same.<br /><br />Through conversations with individuals and institutions working on gender, sexuality and allied topics like feminism, with a focus on women, non-binary and LGBTQIA+ related content, the study explores various aspects of content creation across multiple Indian languages, its access and use. Based on analysing this data and drawing on ongoing work within the mainstream discourse on gender and sexuality, the report offers a set of observations on ways to address challenges related to the gender gap in the content creation process on open knowledge platforms.</p>
<h2 style="text-align: justify;">Context and Methods</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Collaborative knowledge production platforms such as Wikimedia projects have recognised the existence of a <a title="Gender gap" href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Gender_gap">gender gap and bias</a> across its projects, understood largely as disparities in participation by and content related to women and, by extension, individuals across diverse gender and sexual identities. As observed in global literature as well as by work done by Indian language communities (with a focus largely on women Wikimedians), the gap is a result of various infrastructural and socio-cultural factors, including limited access to devices and the internet; balancing professional, domestic and volunteer work; lack of technical capacity-building and communication skills; limited presence in leadership positions, and the need for safe and healthy working environments among others. Several efforts have been made globally and in Indian language communities to address these challenges.<br /><br />The issue of the gender gap, or indeed the challenges identified, are not unique to Wikimedia projects alone but are reflective of gender disparities in the public sphere and across the internet more broadly. Key learning from previous work in this space has been the need to connect these conversations and efforts to bridge the gender gap with the wider public discourse related to content creation on gender and sexuality online and in Indian languages. This study aimed to map such content with perspectives drawn from diverse gender and sexual identities. Importantly, it sought to understand better some of the infrastructural and cultural factors that shape creating such content and making it publicly available in diverse languages.<br /><br />This study was done across four Indian languages - Kannada, Marathi, Tamil, and Telugu (while English remained inevitable), focusing on content under two sub-themes– a. Cultural History and b. Feminist Production/Publication. The respondents in the study included organisations and individuals working in the areas of gender, sexuality and allied areas like feminist interventions and publishing, with a focus on writers, translators, artists, and multi-format content creators and curators. The study adopted a qualitative approach and comprised 19 semi-structured interviews (including four focused group discussions with organisations). Owing to the pandemic, all interactions for this study were done through telephonic conversation, email and virtual conferencing. These interactions have helped us understand the process of content creation in these areas. These problems manifest as gendered disparities in engagement with online platforms and potential solutions to address the same.</p>
<h2 style="text-align: justify;">Key Research Areas</h2>
<p>The three major thematic areas this research study focused on are as follows.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Nature of the Knowledge Produced</strong><br />Content production on gender and sexuality in Indian languages spans several areas, including education, activism, advocacy and rights and justice, to name a few, given the location of much early writing in this space within the women’s rights and several other social movements in India. Important observations on the nature of this content by respondents include the emergence of a feminist critique across fields and disciplines, active interventions in the public discourse around gender and sexuality and the need for an intersectional approach to the process of content production. The growth of content in Indian languages and their increased availability on online platforms is also an important step towards addressing the predominance of Anglocentric and academic perspectives in these areas of research and work.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Digital Spaces, and movement of Content from Paper to Pixel</strong><br />The cohort of the participants of this study has pointed out the evolution of the internet and digital tools from a luxury to a necessity but also acknowledged the widespread disparity in their access and use. However, the interesting outcome of this has been the transformation of traditional publishing methods and the emergence of cost-efficient space to produce content in various formats (like on social media) which fosters wider dissemination and engagement. However, increasing digital content production also comes with the need for advancements in digital literacy, resources and infrastructure. Digitalisation and open access to content on gender and sexuality in Indian languages is, therefore, a resource-intensive process, with related challenges such as copyright restrictions and technical limitations to access and use of Indian language content etc.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Indian Languages</strong><br />The content creation process on gender and sexuality in Indian languages is complex given the country's diversity. Still, socio-cultural factors continue to determine the growth and use of languages, often resulting from asymmetries of power amongst diverse communities. This includes the marginalisation of certain forms of language use and content production processes that are not seen as within the ambit of dominant languages. Further, the lack of a gender-neutral vocabulary across many Indian languages and the significant challenges in the translation are important issues that emerged in this space. While the translation of content on gender and sexuality into Indian languages from English and other foreign languages is challenging due to the lack of a gender-neutral and conceptual vocabulary, as noted earlier; the lack of reverse translations and limitations within publishing and wider circulation of content are some of the factors that continue to affect work in this space.</p>
<h2 style="text-align: justify;">Learnings</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify;">The learnings from this study outline the many challenges in content production on gender and sexuality, especially in Indian languages and its availability in digital spaces. These include the need to recognise that gendered disparities result from asymmetries of power, thus calling for a more critical outlook and intersectional approach towards the processes of content production (and related work such as translation, digitisation and archiving). They also offer several strategies and best practices drawn from observations by the respondents to address some of these gaps in content creation and circulation to ensure sustainable knowledge production ecosystems.<br /><br />These include the dire need to bridge technical and infrastructural gaps, facilitate visibility and engagement with content through collaborations with key institutions and individuals in this space, and capacity-building through developing pedagogy and tools. Further, there is a need to diversify the approach towards creating and sourcing content and creating safe working environments by developing redressal mechanisms for marginalised and vulnerable communities. As Wikimedia projects constitute a major part of the digital knowledge ecosystem and have been working towards more diversity and inclusion across their projects, a sustained approach to bridge these gaps may be adopted in the Indian context. This would contribute immensely to efforts to bridge the gender gap across Wikimedia projects and in the larger digital public sphere.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/research-mapping-content-on-gender-and-sexuality-in-indian-languages'>https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/research-mapping-content-on-gender-and-sexuality-in-indian-languages</a>
</p>
No publisherYashashwini SrinivasCIS-A2KAccess to KnowledgeWikimediaWikipediaA2K ResearchOpen Content2022-10-21T13:03:20ZBlog EntryDigitisation of O Bharat, a bilingual biweekly published in Goa from 1912 to 1949
https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/digitisation-of-o-bharat
<b>The digitization project of O Bharat, a historic biweekly published between 1912 to 1949 in Goa was completed through collaboration of different organizations. The trustees of Bharatkar Hegde Desai Trust initiated the project in collaboration with Marathi department of Goa University, Bhakti Dnyan Marg Sanstha and Goa Central Library. The Centre for Internet and Society's Access to Knowledge Programme facilitated the project with technical and financial assistance. Two local students scanned 12000 pages in 8 days. The year wise volumes of O Bharat are now freely available on Wikimedia Commons in the form of archive.</b>
<table class="plain">
<tbody>
<tr>
<th><img src="https://cis-india.org/home-images/OBharatPortuguese.jpg" alt="O Bharat Portuguese" class="image-inline" title="O Bharat Portuguese" /></th><th><img src="https://cis-india.org/home-images/copy_of_OBharatMarathi.jpg" alt="O Bharat Marathi" class="image-inline" title="O Bharat Marathi" /></th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Above: Front page of O Bharat in Portuguese</td>
<td>Above: Front page of O Bharat in Marathi</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<h3>Context</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">It all started like this. During the Wikimedia session at Goa University in October 2021, it was realised that there is very little documentation about the ‘Goa Liberation Struggle’ on Wikimedia projects. So, in the meeting Prof. Vinay Madgaonkar from the Marathi language department took the lead to develop a project around this theme.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The exhaustive list of freedom fighters, major incidents in history, the places related with struggle, monuments and memorials was prepared. The next day, to have a glimpse of the situation on ground, we toured a few places and <a class="text external" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Monuments_and_memorials_in_Goa">monuments in South Goa</a>. As we were shocked to see the sorry state of the memorials, we came across a monument of Govind Pundalik Hegde Desai known as Bharatkar (an editor of O Bharat), in a lush green forest near Quepem village. Being curious to know about the history of O Bharat publication, Prof. Vinay introduced us to the grandson of Bharatkar, Adv. Khagendra Desai who founded <a class="text external" href="http://www.bharatkar.info/" rel="nofollow">Bharatkar Hegde Desai Trust</a>, non-profit organisation in Goa to archive the works of Bharatkar.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">As both of us share the same vision, CIS-A2K partnered with Bharatkar Hegde Desai Trust, to relicense and digitise freedom fighter Bharatkar’s ‘O Bharat,’ a Marathi-Portuguese bilingual weekly, currently housed at <a class="text external" href="http://centrallibrary.goa.gov.in/" rel="nofollow">Goa Central Public Library</a>.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">About the 36 Year Run of ‘O Bharat’ upto India’s Independence</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Freedom fighter, social reformer and journalist 'Bharat'kar Govind Pundalik Hegde Desai, (7th Nov 1885 - 15th Aug 1949), started 'O Bharat' (in Portuguese) or 'Bharat' (in Marathi) on 6th November 1912. For 36 years thereafter, Bharatkar courageously protested the Portuguese occupation, relentlessly advocated radical and progressive social reforms and doggedly championed the cause of an independent and sovereign Indian Goa.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Partnerships</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The partnerships with various stakeholders were developed after a <a class="text external" href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/CIS-A2K/Events/Digitisation_review_and_partnerships_in_Goa">series of discussions</a> and official communications. The Bharatkar Hegde Desai Trust obtained official permissions from the State Government departments for the access of O Bharat volumes in the library. Goa Central Public Library provided access to the bound volumes of O Bharat and permission to scan them. Another local organisation, Bhakti Dnyan Marg Sanstha in association with Goa University Marathi Department identified few students for the digitisation.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Digitisation process and launch on Wikimedia Commons</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The trustees of Bharatkar Hegde Desai Trust relicensed the two volumes of selected editorials published in 2018 and the whole O Bharat issues into CC-BY-SA 4.0. We conducted digitisation training with Prof. Vinay Madgaonkar and students, Shravani Parab and Shridhar Raut, from Goa University to scan 12000 pages in 8 days. The officials of Goa Central Public Library cooperated in access to original volumes and in the process of digitisation. The Chief Minister of Goa inaugurated the <a class="text external" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:O_Bharat">project on Wikimedia Commons</a> on India’s 75th Independence day, 15 August 2022. The year wise volumes of ‘O Bharat’ are now freely accessible to anyone in the world at any time anywhere. The uploading of the volumes is in progress.</p>
<h3>Media links</h3>
<p>The event of launching digitised content on Wikimedia was very well received by the people in Goa. The researchers, students, readers and journalists will have this reference value content while exploring the history of Goa. Various national and local media published the news covering all the aspects of this archive. The links are given below -</p>
<ul>
<li><a class="text external" href="https://epaper.dainikgomantak.com/FlashClient/Show_Story_IPad.aspx?storySrc=http://epaper-sakal-application.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/DainikGomantakEpaperData/DainikGomantak/GOA/2022/08/18/Main/DainikGomantak_Goa_2022_08_18_Main_DA_013/588_1306_1362_2406.jpg&uname=" rel="nofollow">News in Gomantak</a></li>
<li><a class="text external" href="https://epaper.navhindtimes.in/" rel="nofollow">News in Navhind Times</a></li>
<li><a class="text external" href="http://epaper.thegoan.net/m5/3564268/Goan-Varta/Goan-Varta#page/3/1" rel="nofollow">News in Goan Varta</a></li>
<li><a class="text external" href="http://epaper.navprabha.com/" rel="nofollow">News in Navprabha</a></li>
</ul>
<hr />
<p>This was originally published on <a class="external-link" href="https://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/GLAM/Newsletter/September_2022/Contents/India_report">Wikimedia Blog</a> in September 2022</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/digitisation-of-o-bharat'>https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/digitisation-of-o-bharat</a>
</p>
No publishersubodhCIS-A2KAccess to KnowledgeWikimediaGLAMWikipediaA2K ResearchOpen ContentOpenness2022-10-11T14:53:58ZBlog EntryDigitisation of O Bharat, a bilingual biweekly published in Goa from 1912 to 1949
https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/digitisation-o-bharat
<b>It all started like this. During the Wikimedia session at Goa University in October 2021, it was realised that there is very little documentation about the ‘Goa Liberation Struggle’ on Wikimedia projects. So, in the meeting Prof. Vinay Madgaonkar from the Marathi language department took the lead to develop a project around this theme.</b>
<h3><img src="https://cis-india.org/home-images/Bharat.png" alt="Bharat" class="image-inline" title="Bharat" /></h3>
<h3>Context</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><span>The exhaustive list of freedom fighters, major incidents in history, the places related with struggle, monuments and memorials was prepared. The next day, to have a glimpse of the situation on ground, we toured a few places and </span><a class="text external" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Monuments_and_memorials_in_Goa">monuments in South Goa</a><span>. As we were shocked to see the sorry state of the memorials, we came across a monument of Govind Pundalik Hegde Desai known as Bharatkar (an editor of O Bharat), in a lush green forest near Quepem village. Being curious to know about the history of O Bharat publication, Prof. Vinay introduced us to the grandson of Bharatkar, Adv. Khagendra Desai who founded </span><a class="text external" href="http://www.bharatkar.info/" rel="nofollow">Bharatkar Hegde Desai Trust</a><span>, non-profit organisation in Goa to archive the works of Bharatkar.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">As both of us share the same vision, CIS-A2K partnered with Bharatkar Hegde Desai Trust, to relicense and digitise freedom fighter Bharatkar’s ‘O Bharat,’ a Marathi-Portuguese bilingual weekly, currently housed at <a class="text external" href="http://centrallibrary.goa.gov.in/" rel="nofollow">Goa Central Public Library</a>.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">About the 36 Year Run of ‘O Bharat’ upto India’s Independence</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Freedom fighter, social reformer and journalist 'Bharat'kar Govind Pundalik Hegde Desai, (7th Nov 1885 - 15th Aug 1949), started 'O Bharat' (in Portuguese) or 'Bharat' (in Marathi) on 6th November 1912. For 36 years thereafter, Bharatkar courageously protested the Portuguese occupation, relentlessly advocated radical and progressive social reforms and doggedly championed the cause of an independent and sovereign Indian Goa.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Partnerships</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The partnerships with various stakeholders were developed after a <a class="text external" href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/CIS-A2K/Events/Digitisation_review_and_partnerships_in_Goa">series of discussions</a> and official communications. The Bharatkar Hegde Desai Trust obtained official permissions from the State Government departments for the access of O Bharat volumes in the library. Goa Central Public Library provided access to the bound volumes of O Bharat and permission to scan them. Another local organisation, Bhakti Dnyan Marg Sanstha in association with Goa University Marathi Department identified few students for the digitisation.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Digitisation process and launch on Wikimedia Commons</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The trustees of Bharatkar Hegde Desai Trust relicensed the two volumes of selected editorials published in 2018 and the whole O Bharat issues into CC-BY-SA 4.0. We conducted digitisation training with Prof. Vinay Madgaonkar and students, Shravani Parab and Shridhar Raut, from Goa University to scan 12000 pages in 8 days. The officials of Goa Central Public Library cooperated in access to original volumes and in the process of digitisation. <span>The Chief Minister of Goa inaugurated the </span><a class="text external" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:O_Bharat">project on Wikimedia Commons</a><span> on India’s 75th Independence day, 15 August 2022. The year wise volumes of ‘O Bharat’ are now freely accessible to anyone in the world at any time anywhere. The uploading of the volumes is in progress.</span></p>
<h3>Media links</h3>
<p>The event of launching digitised content on Wikimedia was very well received by the people in Goa. The researchers, students, readers and journalists will have this reference value content while exploring the history of Goa. Various national and local media published the news covering all the aspects of this archive. The links are given below -</p>
<ul>
<li><a class="text external" href="https://epaper.dainikgomantak.com/FlashClient/Show_Story_IPad.aspx?storySrc=http://epaper-sakal-application.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/DainikGomantakEpaperData/DainikGomantak/GOA/2022/08/18/Main/DainikGomantak_Goa_2022_08_18_Main_DA_013/588_1306_1362_2406.jpg&uname=" rel="nofollow">News in Gomantak</a></li>
<li><a class="text external" href="https://epaper.navhindtimes.in/" rel="nofollow">News in Navhind Times</a></li>
<li><a class="text external" href="http://epaper.thegoan.net/m5/3564268/Goan-Varta/Goan-Varta#page/3/1" rel="nofollow">News in Goan Varta</a></li>
<li><a class="text external" href="http://epaper.navprabha.com/" rel="nofollow">News in Navprabha</a></li>
</ul>
<hr />
<p><span>This was originally published on </span><a class="external-link" href="https://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/GLAM/Newsletter/September_2022/Contents/India_report">Wikimedia Blog</a><span> in September 2022</span></p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/digitisation-o-bharat'>https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/digitisation-o-bharat</a>
</p>
No publishersubodhCIS-A2KAccess to KnowledgeWikimediaWikipediaA2K ResearchOpen ContentOpenness2022-10-11T13:11:15ZBlog EntryWIPO SCCR 42: Statement by CIS on the Limitations and Exceptions Agenda Item
https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/wipo-sccr-42-statement-by-cis-on-the-limitations-and-exceptions-agenda-item
<b>Anubha Sinha delivered a statement on behalf of CIS, on day 3 of the 42nd WIPO SCCR session on the Limitations and Exceptions Agenda Item.</b>
<p> </p>
<p>Thank you, Mr. Chair.</p>
<p>I’m speaking on behalf of the Centre for Internet and
Society, India.</p>
<p>The Proposal by the African Group for a Draft work program
on Exceptions and Limitations has the potential to address issues faced in the
domains of access to information, culture and education, keeping in mind that
there have been systemic shifts in the knowledge ecosystem since pandemic,
which will endure in the long term as well.</p>
<p>In India, researchers at public and private institutions in
both in science and social science disciplines over the period of 2020-2021,
submitted to a court of law that they faced serious challenges in remotely accessing
research, especially journal articles during the pandemic.In the same vein, a study by the Confederation of Open
Access Repositories found that copyright and licensing were an impediment to discovery of, and access to, COVID-19 research outputs, inhibiting research
collaborations.</p>
<p>At WIPO, in the past few years, numerous exercises such as action
plans and regional seminars implemented by this committee recognised
limitations and exceptions for education and research as a priority. Digital Preservation emerged as a consensual solution that
could be acted on - as identified in the regional seminar report as well.</p>
<p>We believe that the Proposal by the African Group for a
Draft work program on Exceptions and Limitations effectively prioritises these
actionable aspects without prejudging the outcome of the negotiations on the
limitations and exceptions agenda. Hence, we look forward to member states
making progress by constructively considering and acting on the way forward
laid in the Proposal.</p>
<p>Thank you.</p>
<p></p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/wipo-sccr-42-statement-by-cis-on-the-limitations-and-exceptions-agenda-item'>https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/wipo-sccr-42-statement-by-cis-on-the-limitations-and-exceptions-agenda-item</a>
</p>
No publishersinhaLimitations & ExceptionsAccess to KnowledgeWIPO2022-05-12T08:41:01ZBlog EntryWIPO SCCR 42: Statement by CIS on the Protection of Broadcasting Organisations Agenda Item
https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/wipo-sccr-42-statement-by-cis-on-the-protection-of-broadcasting-organisations-agenda-item
<b>Anubha Sinha delivered a statement on behalf of CIS, on day 2 of the 42nd WIPO SCCR session on the Protection of Broadcasting Organisations Agenda Item. </b>
<p> </p>
<p>Thank you, Mr. Chair.</p>
<p>I’m speaking on behalf of the Centre for Internet and
Society, India.</p>
<p>Mr. Chair we would like to congratulate you and the
vice-chair on your election.</p>
<p>The current draft text of the WIPO Broadcasting
Organisations treaty carries a rather weak framework of limitations and exceptions,
when we consider the long duration of protection of twenty years that has been
proposed.</p>
<p>The limitations and exceptions are not aligned to the
ongoing discussions on the L&E agenda, where there is an agreement evolving
amongst many member states to revisit and revise limitations and exceptions for
purposes of preservation, online and cross-border uses, and research for
benefit of education, research, libraries, archives and museums.</p>
<p>The framework does not rise to these standards, and also
makes enacting of limitations and exceptions in national law optional.</p>
<p>Seen from this perspective, the draft text of the WIPO
Broadcasting Organisations treaty is neither a balanced treaty nor a modern
one.</p>
<p>Thank you.</p>
<p> </p>
<p></p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/wipo-sccr-42-statement-by-cis-on-the-protection-of-broadcasting-organisations-agenda-item'>https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/wipo-sccr-42-statement-by-cis-on-the-protection-of-broadcasting-organisations-agenda-item</a>
</p>
No publishersinhaBroadcast TreatyLimitations & ExceptionsAccess to Knowledge2022-05-10T14:38:48ZBlog EntryWikimedia Wikimeet India 2021/Report
https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/wikimedia-wikimeet-india-2021-report
<b>In March 2020, the whole world came to a standstill. What many deemed as a regular ‘flu’ turned out to be the pandemic that brought everyone to their knees. The things that we always did, we could no longer do them. We were all confined to our homes with no choice but to work online. Hanging out with friends, attending weddings, and being a part of the conferences and seminars suddenly became a part of the past. We started using the word unprecedented a lot. </b>
<p align="center"><strong><i>“If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change!”</i></strong></p>
<p align="right">- <strong><i>Wayne Dyer</i></strong></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><span>For the last many months, we have been getting used to this new ‘normal’. Students and teachers are getting accustomed to the classes and tests happening online. What people thought was impossible, has now become possible. No one could have guessed that birthday parties, gatherings, even marriages would be conducted online. We have now got used to being part of webinars, sessions, and conferences online. A2K is not an exception to this. We planned and conducted a national meet named ‘</span><a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Wikimeet_India_2021/Program">Wikimedia Wikimeet India </a><a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Wikimeet_India_2021/Program">202</a><span>1’.</span></p>
<p align="center"><strong><i>“Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success!” </i></strong></p>
<p align="right">- <strong><i>Henry Ford</i></strong></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><strong>Background:</strong><span> We, at A2K, have organised many such training sessions and conferences like </span><a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/CIS-A2K/Events/Train_the_Trainer_Program">Train the Trainer</a><span>, </span><a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/CIS-A2K/Events/MediaWiki_Training">Media Wiki Training</a><span>, </span><a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/CIS-A2K/Events/Wiki_Advanced_Training/2018">Advanced Wiki Training</a><span>. But due to COVID restrictions it was not possible to organise such an event offline this year. So this year, we decided to organise a virtual meet for the Wikimedians of India. This meet was planned and conducted especially for the Wikimedians who are already working or are interested in working on Wikimedia projects that deal with Indian content.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Our main <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Wikimeet_India_2021">objectives</a> behind organising this meet were to celebrate the work done by Wikimedians of India, to provide an online platform for wiki-learning and skill-share, to support discussions and interactions, to give training on important and relevant topics, and explore the medium of online training and wiki-event for future use.</p>
<p>After all the planning, our three-day event of Wikimedia Wikimeet took place from 19 February to 21 February, 2021.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><strong><span>Community Engagement:</span></strong> We decided to organise this meet as there seemed to be a scarcity in volunteer’s and user’s contribution. Moreover, we have always believed in giving back to the community. So, we took an initiative to keep the community engaged. Our goal was to encourage volunteers and users to come forward and take lead in Wikimedia activities. To make it easy for our volunteers and the users to select their area of interest, we started <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Wikimeet_India_2021/Request_for_Comments">Request for Comments</a> and <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Wikimeet_India_2021/Get_involved">Community Engagement</a>. It is a forum where open discussions can take place about and where participants can share their knowledge, expertise, and experience. The tasks that were conducted under this were Logo Design, Translation, and Knowledge on Hybrid / Blended Learning Model.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><strong><span>Modes of Promotion:</span></strong> This event would not have been a success if not for our participants. We began promoting the event by using our India Mailing list. Our next step was to publicise the event on our social media channels and pages and also in messenger groups. We sent bulk messages on Indic Village Pumps announcing that the Wikimedia Wikimeet was about to take place. Our next step was to start a fortnightly <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Wikimeet_India_2021/Newsletter">newsletter</a> about the event. It was started to notify the people of updates. We encouraged our users to sign up for the newsletter so they would get immediate updates. This way, our volunteers and users knew what was happening with regard to the event and they also came to know what was about to happen in the coming 15 days.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Another thing we did was to put up a <a href="https://diff.wikimedia.org/2020/11/05/wikimedia-wikimeet-india-2021-lets-focus-on-why/">blogpost</a> on Diff about our event. Our blogpost stated the importance of organising such an event. We have also discussed the background ideas in the same post. Our next <a href="https://diff.wikimedia.org/2020/11/11/wikimedia-wikimeet-india-2021-entering-the-design-stage/">blogpost</a> dealt with the ‘how’ of our event. In it, we discussed the ideas of designing the event. Total 5 <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Wikimeet_India_2021#Footnotes">blogposts</a> were written and put up. Another article named <a href="https://diff.wikimedia.org/2021/06/18/charaiveti-01-wikimedia-wikimeet-and-beyond-ideas-and-opinions/">Wikimedia Wikimeet and Beyond: Ideas and Opinions</a> was written and posted a few months later.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><strong><span>Organisation Methodology:</span></strong> Every great journey begins with one step. With that in mind, we first decided on the organisation methodology. The team tried its best to maintain transparency from planning and organisation till the execution and the end of the meet. This was the first ever large scale meet that we were planning to organise. Thus, some of the <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Wikimeet_India_2021/Resources">resources</a> came in handy in our planning stage. To mention a few, we took inspiration and guidance from <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Celtic_Knot_Conference_2020">Celtic Knot Conference</a>, <a href="https://sites.google.com/stanford.edu/ld42020/track-descriptions?authuser=0">LD4 Conference</a>, <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_CEE_Online_Meeting_2020">Wikimedia CEE Online Meeting</a>, <a href="https://summit.creativecommons.org/">Creative Commons Global Summit</a>, <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/ItWikiCon/2020">Italy Wiki Conference</a>, <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/WikiCite/2020_Virtual_conference">Wikicite Virtual Conference</a>, and <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Strategy/Wikimedia_movement/2018-20/Transition/Global_Conversations">Wikimedia Strategy Global Conversation</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Next step the core team took was to appoint a program committee. The main function of this <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Wikimeet_India_2021/Program">program committee</a> was to select important submissions and presentations. Following are the 5 members of our program committee:</p>
<p><a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Kiril_Simeonovski">Kiril Simeonovski</a>: He is the founding member of <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Macedonia">Wikimedia Macedonia</a> and <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Shared_Knowledge">Shared Knowledge</a> and has been the president of Shared Knowledge since 2014.</p>
<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Netha_Hussain">Netha Hussain</a>: She has been a volunteer in the Wikimedia Movement since 2010. Nowadays she mostly works in English WIkipedia and Wikidata, but she is also active in Commons, Metawiki, and <a href="https://ml.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%B4%89%E0%B4%AA%E0%B4%AF%E0%B5%8B%E0%B4%95%E0%B5%8D%E0%B4%A4%E0%B4%BE%E0%B4%B5%E0%B5%8D:Netha_Hussain">Malayalam Wikipedia</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Shyamal">Shyamal</a><span>: He is interested in the natural history of India, environmental consciousness in general, and history of science, especially biology.</span></p>
<p><a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Mahir256">Mahir256</a><span>: He is an </span><a>administrator</a><span> on Wikidata, an </span><a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Meta:Administrators">administrator</a><span> on </span><a href="https://bn.wikisource.org/wiki/%E0%A6%89%E0%A6%87%E0%A6%95%E0%A6%BF%E0%A6%B8%E0%A6%82%E0%A6%95%E0%A6%B2%E0%A6%A8:%E0%A6%AA%E0%A7%8D%E0%A6%B0%E0%A6%A7%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%A8_%E0%A6%AA%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%A4%E0%A6%BE">Bengali Wikisource</a><span>, and has a native understanding of English language.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Bodhisattwa">Bodhisattwa</a><span>: He has been a volunteer editor in different Wikimedia projects since 2012. He is mostly active on Bengali Wikisource, Wikimedia Commons, and Wikidata. He is also a part-time coordinator at the </span><a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/CIS-A2K">Center for Internet and Society - Access to Knowledge</a><span>.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">It was necessary for the participants of this event to register prior to the event. A <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Wikimeet_India_2021/Registration">registration form</a> was open and made available for the duration of a month. After the deadline of this registration form, another special registration form with criteria was given to the participants. The participants were then selected according to the criteria.</p>
<p>The event took place on <a href="https://zoom.us/">Zoom</a>. We used the official Zoom account of the Center for Internet and Society. The main reason behind registrations was to avoid zoom-bombing. The eligible participants were given the link to join the event.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Wikimedia Wikimeet was a three - day long event. We tried our best to accommodate all the presenters, moderators, attendees, and participants. Time was set according to them. This was a national level event but we were able to involve a few experienced international experts. So we had to take the Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) as well as the Indian Standard Time (IST) into consideration so that the volunteers, participants, and experts could all attend all the sessions and could engage in fruitful discussions.</p>
<p><strong><span>Selection of Presentations and Sessions:</span></strong> We received 44 submissions for this event and eventually after discussions 29 were selected to be featured in the event. A committee was given the task to select the submissions based on the topics that are crucial to Indic editors. We also had willing participants from the Wikimedia Foundation as presenters to acquaint the members of Indian community and volunteers with the important topics and issues.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">We also invited international guests and experts to speak to our Indian Wikimedian community about the topics that are relevant currently and would be crucial for Indic writers and editors in future. We invited the experts from France to talk about their <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Wikimeet_India_2021/Submissions/Lingua_Libre_-_record_your_language">Lingua Libre</a> project. We also invited the team to talk about Strategy. Our keynote speakers were also invited for this event.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><strong><span>Event:</span></strong> After taking all the submissions into consideration, our program committee made a <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Wikimeet_India_2021/Program">program schedule</a> for the three-day event. The tracks that were selected by the program committee for the presentations were: Growth of Wikimedia communities and partnerships, Information on technical Aspects and tools, Strategy of Wikimedia movement, GLAM & Content copyrights, etc.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Other than that, we tried to follow the <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Wikimeet_India_2021/Friendly_space_policy/en">Friendly Space Policy</a> completely. All the rules of the said policy were cleared before the event. The team tried its best to remove the language barrier for our Non-English speakers. We urged the Wikimedians to translate their content in their language for their respective communities. This practice was followed by quite a few Indic Wikimedians.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><strong>30 sessions</strong> were planned in all. Every session had a separate Etherpad link. As this was a virtual event, this facility was provided for the participants as well as the experts to interact during and after the session. Due to shortage of time, the notes and questions were made on the Etherpad. Experts and presenters wrote their answers on the Etherpad as well. All the sessions and presentations were recorded and are now available to everyone on the Commons under the name <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Wikimedia_Wikimeet_India_2021">Wikimedia Wikimeet India 2021</a>.</p>
<p>During this three-day event, around 200 participants joined in at different times. Out of the <strong>30 presentations</strong>, 18 presenters were from India and the remaining were international presenters.</p>
<p>Day 1 (Friday, 19 February, 2021):</p>
<p>There were 9 presentations on Day 1 of the event. After the introduction by <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Titodutta">Tito Dutta</a>, the keynote speech was delivered by Asaf Bartov (<a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Ijon">Ijon</a>). This was attended by <a href="https://etherpad.wikimedia.org/p/wmwmopeningspeech">86</a> participants.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">After the keynote speech, <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Diptanshu_Das">Dipantshu Das</a> shed a light on ‘<a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Wikimeet_India_2021/Submissions/Attracting_experts_to_contribute_to_Wikimedia_movement">Attracting experts to contribute to Wikimedia’</a>. He highlighted that it was the need of the hour. And this work would greatly help communities in India. He talked about urging academicians to contribute to Wikipedia more openly.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Next presentation was made by Sudhanshu Gautam and <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:AMuigai_(WMF)">Angie Muigai</a>. They talked about ‘<a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Wikimeet_India_2021/Submissions/Growing_Wikipedia%E2%80%99s_reach_in_India_with_a_new_Wikipedia_app">Growing Wikipedia’s reach in India with a new Wikipedia app</a>’ in their presentation, they talked about the importance of making Wikipedia mobile friendly with the increase of internet users in India. They mentioned that there was an opportunity to provide ideas to increase the readership.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The next two presentations under the growth track were: ‘<a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Wikimeet_India_2021/Submissions/Help_your_community_grow">Help your community grow</a>’ and ‘<a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Wikimeet_India_2021/Submissions/Help_your_community_grow">Introducing newcomers from Wikisource to Wikipedia: A case study from Hindi Wikipedia’</a>. The first session was a 20 minutes long presentation followed by a conversation and it was beneficial to welcome and retain new users to Wikipedia and also increase the quality of new users’ edits. The second presentation shed some light on how to retain the new users and volunteers once they join the community after attending sessions and workshops.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">On day 1, there were three presentations about the partnerships: ‘<a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Wikimeet_India_2021/Submissions/Engaging_with_partners_in_the_movement!_WMF%27s_approach">Engaging with partners in the movement! WMF's approach</a>’, ‘GLAM Mapping leads to Wikimedian in Residence’, and ‘Discover Structured Data on Commons for you and your partners’.</p>
<p>In the first presentation, <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:PDas_(WMF)">Praveen Das</a> underlined the importance of working with various partners from different fields for mutual growth.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Next presenter <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:%E0%A4%86%E0%A4%B0%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%AF%E0%A4%BE_%E0%A4%9C%E0%A5%8B%E0%A4%B6%E0%A5%80">Arya Joshi</a> talked about the GLAM mapping research conducted by CIS - A2K and her work with Raja Dinkar Kelkar Museum, Pune. She talked about offline and online documentation of work and creating new opportunities for research.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The final presentation of the day was Discover Structured Data on Commons for you and your partners by <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Alicia_Fagerving_(WMSE)">Alicia Fagerving</a>. In this session, the presenter gave recommendations to make optimum use of the <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Structured_data">Structured Data on Commons (SDC)</a> to improve workflow. This presentation was followed by a workshop where the participants edited SDC and then there was a discussion.</p>
<p>Day 2 (Saturday, 20 February, 2021):</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Day 2 began with a special morning session and keynote speech by <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Katherine_(WMF)">Katherine Maher</a> and <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Katherine_(WMF)">Amanda Keton</a>. In her <a href="https://etherpad.wikimedia.org/p/wmwmd02special">speech</a>, Katherine highlighted how Indian community is important to the Wikimedia movement. She also talked about the growth of emerging communities. Groups and Wikimedians who have been doing good work were also recognised. She talked about relaunching the Grant strategy. It was a fruitful session with comments and question - answers.</p>
<p>After the keynote address, there were 3 presentations that dealt with the technical aspect and issues.</p>
<p>The first talk was about <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Wikimeet_India_2021/Submissions/Gadgets_and_tools_for_a_Wikipedia_Editor">Gadgets and tools for a Wikipedia Editor</a> by <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Ranjithsiji">Ranjith Siji</a>. He introduced and explained different kinds of scripts and tools required to edit and browse Wikipedia.</p>
<p>The second session was a 60 minute long workshop followed by a conversation about <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Wikimeet_India_2021/Submissions/Transforming_Data_from_the_Web_with_OpenRefine">Transforming Data from the Web with OpenRefine</a>. It was conducted by <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Gnoeee">Gnoeee</a> and <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Ranjithsiji">Ranjith Siji</a>. This was a basic level training given to the new users of <a href="https://openrefine.org/">OpenRefine</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The last technical presentation was <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Wikimeet_India_2021/Submissions/Writing_UserScripts_and_gadgets">Writing UserScripts and gadgets</a> by <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Jayprakash12345">Jay Prakash</a>. In his session, the presenter imparted basic to intermediate level training on writing user scripts and explaining how to use it as a gadget on Wiki.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The last 4 sessions of the day dealt with Strategy. The first presentation ‘<a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Wikimeet_India_2021/Submissions/An_update_from_the_Sustainability_Initiative">An update from the Sustainability Initiative</a>’ in this category was made by <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Gnom">Gnom</a> from Germany. He gave an update on the <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Sustainability_Initiative">Sustainability Initiative</a>. His talk consisted of an update on current developments around environmental sustainability in the Wikimedia movement.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Next presentation named ‘<a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Wikimeet_India_2021/Submissions/Grants_in_2021_-_What_is_the_process%3F">Grants in 2021 - What is the process?</a>’ was by <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:THasan_(WMF)">Tanveer Hasan</a>. As a part of the Community Resources team, the presenter shared a process update and gathered feedback on how to improve the strategy relaunch process.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Next presentation titled ‘<a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Wikimeet_India_2021/Submissions/Movement_Strategy_and_South_Asia">Movement Strategy and South Asia</a>’ was done by <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Anna_Torres_(WMAR)">Anna Torres</a>, <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Hillun_Vilayl_Napis_(WMID)">Hillun Vilayl Napis</a>, <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Kayusyussuf">Kayode Yussuf</a>, <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:THasan_(WMF)">Tanveer Hassan</a>, <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:MPourzaki_(WMF)">Mehrdad Pourzaki</a>, <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:RMerkley_(WMF)">Ryan Merkley</a>, and <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:KVaidla_(WMF)">Kaarel Vaidla</a>. In this session, all the presenters talked about the initiatives that are most relevant and important in 2021 in communities of South Asia.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The last session of the day was ‘<a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Wikimeet_India_2021/Submissions/Distributed_leadership_and_global_decision-making_-_the_Interim_Global_Council">Distributed leadership and global decision-making - the Interim Global Council’</a>. It was delivered by <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:MPourzaki_(WMF)">Mehrdad Pourzaki</a>, <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:RMerkley_(WMF)">Ryan Merkley</a>, and <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:KVaidla_(WMF)">Kaarel Vaidla</a>. They talked about global decision making and distributed leadership. Their aim was to acquaint the South Asian communities to the conversations, possibilities, and updates.</p>
<p>Day 3 (Sunday, 21 February, 2021):</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The last day of the event was dedicated to ‘<a href="https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q42375">International Mother Language Day</a>’. The day began with 2 consecutive sessions by <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Diptanshu_Das">Dipantshu Das</a> named ‘<a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Wikimeet_India_2021/Submissions/Copyright,_Copyleft,_and_Wikimedia_movement">Copyright, Copyleft, and Wikimedia movement</a>’ and ‘<a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Wikimeet_India_2021/Submissions/Building_a_diamond_open_access_journal_on_Wikimedia_platform">Building a diamond open access journal on Wikimedia platform</a>’. In the first session, the presenter talked about the importance of intellectual property rights and copyright to the Wikimedia movement. In the second session, the presenter talked about the importance of having diamond open access journals especially in India as the article processing charges for open access journals can be very high in India due to conversion rates.</p>
<p>Next session was a workshop conducted by <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Jayanta_(CIS-A2K)">Jayanta Nath</a> on <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Wikimeet_India_2021/Submissions/Wikisource_Workshop_-_Basic">Wikisource</a>. Another workshop was conducted at the same time by <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Rangan_Datta_Wiki">Rangan Datta</a> on <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Wikimeet_India_2021/Submissions/Wikivoyage_Workshop">Wikivoyage</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Next 4 presentations on Day 3 were community based. The first presentation in this series was titled <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Wikimeet_India_2021/Submissions/Internship_Program_in_Tamil_Wiki_Projects">‘Internship Program in Tamil Wiki Projects</a>’ and was delivered by <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Neechalkaran">Neechalkaran</a>. It was a knowledge sharing session on the internship program for college students.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The second presentation was made by <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Subodh_(CIS-A2K)">Subodh Kulkarni</a> and the title was ‘<a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Wikimeet_India_2021/Submissions/Re-licensing_and_Digitisation_process_in_Maharashtra">Re-licensing and Digitisation process in Maharashtra</a>’. The presenter explained the relicensing process taking place in Maharashtra Marathi community, authors, copyright holders, and organisations.</p>
<p>The third session was conducted by <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Ziko">Ziko</a> and was named ‘<a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Wikimeet_India_2021/Submissions/Rules_that_every_wiki_needs">Rules that every wiki needs</a>’. In this session, the presenter introduced the topic ‘law and rules every wiki needs’.</p>
<p>The last session in the Community category was ‘<a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Wikimeet_India_2021/Submissions/100wikidays">100wikidays</a>’ and it was conducted by <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Ssgapu22">Sangram Senapati</a>. In this session, the presenter shared his story of writing an article for Wiki each and every day for 100 days.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The last four presentations of the day were dedicated to language. In the session titled ‘<a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Wikimeet_India_2021/Submissions/Servants_Of_Knowledge_initiative_for_Digital_Archiving_Kannada_%26_other_Indic_language_content">Servants Of Knowledge initiative for Digital Archiving Kannada & other Indic language content</a>’, <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Omshivaprakash">Omshivprakash</a> talked about the impact of digitisation of art, history, and culture on language preservation. He primarily talked about the Kannada language.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Next session was on ‘<a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Wikimeet_India_2021/Submissions/Spell4Wiki_-_Audio_upload_tool_for_Wikimedia_commons_%26_Multilingual_dictionary_based_on_Wiktionary">Spell4Wiki - Audio upload tool for Wikimedia commons & Multilingual dictionary based on Wiktionary</a>’ by <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Manimaran96">Manimaran</a>. In this presentation, he introduced the Spell4wiki app. He also described the features and benefits of using the said app.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Next session was conducted by invited guest experts from France. The session was about ‘<a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Wikimeet_India_2021/Submissions/Lingua_Libre_-_record_your_language">Lingua Libre - record your language</a>’ and ‘<a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Wikimeet_India_2021/Submissions/Lingua_Libre_bot_and_recording_wizard">Lingua Libre bot and recording wizard’</a>. It was conducted by <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Ad%C3%A9la%C3%AFde_Calais_WMFr">Adélaïde Calais</a>, <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Poslovitch">Poslovitch</a>, and <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Yug">Yug</a>. Lingua Libre is a website created by Wikimedia France to record vocabulary. Its aim is to build a collaborative and multilingual bank. In the session, the two tools used in the Lingua Libre project, the Record Wizard and the Lingua Libre Bot, were also introduced.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The last session before the closing keynote speech was ‘<a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Wikimeet_India_2021/Submissions/Section_Translation:_New_Ways_to_Contribute_on_Mobile_Devices">Section Translation: New Ways to Contribute on Mobile Devices’</a>. It was presented by <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Aaharoni-WMF">Amir Aharoni</a>, <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:NGkountas_(WMF)">NGkountas</a>, and <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pginer-WMF">Pau Giner</a>. The presenters talked about the content translation extension. Further, they talked about two new features that are to be deployed that can be used by more people in many countries and languages.</p>
<p>The closing keynote speech was given by <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Tarunno">Tarunno</a>. He spoke about ‘<a href="https://etherpad.wikimedia.org/p/wmwmclosingspeech">International Mother Language Day - The love for Language and a sound of silence</a>’ The event ended with a closing session by Tito Dutta.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><strong><span>Hurdles we faced:</span></strong> At the beginning, we found it difficult to form a team to organise the event. Due to the pandemic, we were unsure about approaching the wikimedians and were also worried about the participation. As it was a virtual event, the internet was the most important factor in it. Many participants and volunteers faced problems due to low internet connectivity.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><strong><span>Our achievements:</span></strong> This was the first ever national level virtual event conducted in India by A2K. We were able to create a platform for the wikimedians to interact. Though it was initially a national event, we were able to get international guests as well.</p>
<p>We received positive feedback and precious suggestions from the participants. Following are some quotes:</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">“Productive, helpful sessions. Was very helpful to me personally. Good effort by all involved. If I were to suggest improvements, Would have liked slots for conversations, and networking sessions. A "state of nation" like updates by projects would have helped too. “</p>
<p>“Thanks a lot again, this was a very good event.</p>
<p>Online events are not the same as physical ones but it was still very interesting and useful.”</p>
<p>“I was a presenter and presented a workshop on Wikivoyage. It was a nice program and I'm looking forward to more such virtual and physical events.”</p>
<p>We also received some feedback videos that were an appreciation for A2K. Following are a couple of links:</p>
<p><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wikimedia_Wikimeet_India_2021_%E2%80%93_message_from_Manavpreet_Kaur.webm">Manavpreet Kaur</a></p>
<p><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wikimeet_India_2021followup_message_from_Mehrdad_Pourzaki.webm">Mehrdad Pourzaki</a></p>
<p>We also received audio feedback from <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WikiMeet-2021-Comment.ogg">Ashwin Bandur</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><strong><span>What’s next?!</span></strong>: After all the stumbles and hurdles and achievements we had in Wikimedia Wikimeet India 2021, we have already started planning for Wikimedia Wikimeet India 2022. Tito Dutta has <a href="https://diff.wikimedia.org/2021/06/18/charaiveti-01-wikimedia-wikimeet-and-beyond-ideas-and-opinions/">written</a> about the planning for next year’s meet.</p>
<p align="center"><strong><i>“It is not knowledge, but the act of learning, not possession but the act of getting there, which grants the greatest enjoyment.” </i></strong></p>
<p align="right">- <strong><i>Carl Friedrich Gauss</i></strong></p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/wikimedia-wikimeet-india-2021-report'>https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/wikimedia-wikimeet-india-2021-report</a>
</p>
No publisherNitesh Gill and Tito DuttaCIS-A2KAccess to KnowledgeWikimediaWikipediaMalayalam Wikipedia2021-08-20T14:01:55ZBlog EntryJune and July Newsletter
https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/june-july-2021-newsletter
<b>The newsletter presents the work done in the months of June and July 2021.</b>
<h3>Announcements</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">We are pleased to announce the launch of a <strong>seminar series</strong> to showcase research around digital rights and technology policy, with a focus on the Global South. The CIS seminar series will be a venue for researchers to share works-in-progress, exchange ideas, identify avenues for collaboration, and curate research. It will also seek to mitigate the impact of Covid-19 on research exchange, and foster collaborations among researchers and academics from diverse geographies. For more details on the first session, <strong>on Information Disorders</strong>, and to register, click here: [<a href="https://4jok2.r.ag.d.sendibm3.com/mk/cl/f/5rYRQ0U6yOrzlX_5e9iqnD_UB7xRMkmO8EVgecX5S9vDUhOLzn5WpJ0OxgmH2vkh7APoOqCGaRVN7fbP4hfGnUPT63lb2O87rMGdk4RE4xpKcYzABQ2MhfjmOr_3FkIJtbxITjKFXrZRVlI-An9WPxyiN-QtsOJjpxV0baaFxLqDmy_TnlrW_FLKnXYXkTNBbxlIifakqN_m9fPpBaaaMJF_KetoeIUtNQIoHYTtcIQhNoelJ8-I28gyVM1-9w61Ew">link</a>]</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">We are also hiring for two full time remote positions:</p>
<ul>
<li>Research Associate: Access to Knowledge Programme: Apply by <strong>August 13</strong> [<a href="https://4jok2.r.ag.d.sendibm3.com/mk/cl/f/tn9z7DynIuxWFSSRGmZ50s_HYg65AwLX75HcYf9qBiEJsrkj6teE0WzDGHWCezRU7S0d4Li9WxClerez9wuhwJFHRpki4ynQYqrFoAh7dKnqJKulAW_7VyZIrgxsBri_sYFlGanbqT0IW-9HdYDbVbqyjvgAUl06_OlaHwOMDzO833kR5cT3BwaLUSDOhZqfFvwVNZav-DBH1q9Kr9bWXdtPe_g_wDm-PW3lMxudyF7SKkCLrGceKAec1QiU">link</a>]</li>
<li>Communication Designer: Apply by <strong>August 20</strong> [<a href="https://4jok2.r.ag.d.sendibm3.com/mk/cl/f/lskNSP_MjDCNYOT2PmiuZiGB29gga3crwxuXyJYEF8rdPYDDerNnNYnnCV-GG8rdnyqkxU4eJofgQXU1-iS2IPRRGRRtBXXEaUSVB3mioQNSRwwIecWmm2TIFkfi2fAL7grkxRKKKAX2PG87TiWk8hdmOUqcqtEX9dqbsudTQ3xgmZOio5BOC4GL6mxMzN_9Q5_YzOzZxSZzpT7SMm1J_HASTKNuUktcaESwbMV7PO5sPic41ymaDT8">link</a>]</li>
</ul>
<h3>Cybersecurity, Privacy, and Emerging Technology</h3>
<ol>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Following the MCA notification <strong>mandating disclosures of crypto currency</strong> holdings by companies, Aryan Gupta, in an issue brief, discusses the policy landscape in the United States of America, United Kingdom, and Japan with particular emphasis upon <strong>definition, accounting practices, and taxation, with respect to crypto currencies.</strong> [<a href="https://4jok2.r.ag.d.sendibm3.com/mk/cl/f/IapPj_hXCzk7v6Hf21yy36-Sz8hRKHv8zkjWHYoTB7Tu5pnKDAw25QMx5zjerDAadU3BAHF2npDH_q9m81nhsGEbEBQqfWIksFuU7FqAIoREOxap2dkrtGy-X49B1okL_K-zz4zOgG1nyg6ct03r-xSZw_C94Cc8MzubQ2tzmsZjEYGRlxHywlK8a7988SepnX7wbWd2aDt6rhgDNxSBU6AJh3DeygvFctc-wWW9F-Q5e81ADlC9Xei9IoYdHlJrbvOMikdM2WlvJLzb0vnVlDJqd_7x4B7_XdshOYFQ4YRljV4O">link</a>]</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">We submitted comments in response to the Supreme Court E-committee’s draft vision document of <strong>phase III of the E-courts project</strong>. Aman Nair, Arinjay Vyas, Pallavi Bedi and Garima Saxena submitted their general comments and recommendations, and comparatively analysed the <strong>integration of digital technology into the judiciary in both South Asia and Africa</strong>. [<a href="https://4jok2.r.ag.d.sendibm3.com/mk/cl/f/a-ADiN4WA0-BN9-GzZs_TH-rDZ6m1ii-4HzEzLfXdwVXmGyrIYBcuU7EMPd865oDaqEYSihJoqjxTyuC4usIwryJorATCH47YWEUlUAXce8b2TudJcdAsWryfDvls0WhJFQ9TTw4Bt5ZPfdDmToylNX9ECLuOvO851uSycsDHetWiQhQXaDELUcbQKXBZEbhxtFos2ugg4PHwLXNhwM9iKMb1Q-4OuONy6YcnpFcB3fVUeLvWVp4aBEngQVUnvfLfeVdMvGWNoDk">link</a>]</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Google’s new Privacy Sandbox platform promises to <strong>preserve anonymity when serving tailored advertising</strong>. But does this new framework help users in any way? Maria Jawed’s analysis reveals that Google’s gambit to <strong>reorient the ad-tech ecosystem under the garb of privacy</strong>, ultimately ends up undermining it. [<a href="https://4jok2.r.ag.d.sendibm3.com/mk/cl/f/pwRhJ3bFqQSxSMBZ-qNYKO59aoQ95F8ro9x-8vBy2QDQiBpNFb-qLH4I8Ph-o65OT_bJnNcMoJzFBig6nxqFFcT7qtvR0b6bakvkH4pQRJalgbpLCylKEblBaFkiAudZPamJaz7XIeQ3mMQNQcnk9jxhjGW4yu6YFB8-h_G4nYcZg9lJCj35EZMG-bdl79YR6VEUb9jVxmNFoDXuTiUBCHjeSqP8yqPgHS40nzZgSqD7JMoGiSPT6G7K1xwQUBQLKzlCjKGGoaioxOOWS7qw8BrAQtuKIc4xxRvos-IkyJUA0g1W8wUqjNK7NvYR">link</a>]</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Pandemic technology is taking a toll on data privacy, especially in the absence of any legal framework; these tools are being used for purposes beyond managing the pandemic. In an article published in the <i>Deccan Herald</i>, Aman Nair and Pallavi Bedi argue that <strong>India’s digital response to the pandemic</strong> has stoked concerns that surveillance could pose threats to the privacy of the personal data collected. [<a href="https://4jok2.r.ag.d.sendibm3.com/mk/cl/f/Aye_SwuSiE165Jg5KCM8Xlu9VfO971hqjgMyX4Gv278-mjdbOrJ-pT_WYUbbFG0344IvZPu_ZqcvDp0hcVjfGVaWGAhKvBZDinhfhGSD7VvAE53bWwBah-W8vKt_3F0VP70pUKqESr5WztG-fPEOtB94MghogG528WknuMCtyA29jFZg7JvA2Qy1mR4MHAwQq2tJjvzyA_woJHqaQ2zW9at0DVmsSszAoApTe76XUE-ZoPMUtpNXT464bp-CYx1vY0jeFHyECbR6gHkoBNl-h4pwjkz2i9yOaOntXmNuf1kTX2ARhZpiMNjSmnYMf_5K_vEoGzQK0w1N6CuYG9dHLX2l">link</a>]</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">In a piece for <i>The Wire</i>, Aman Nair analyses <strong>Tether, a lesser known crypto currency</strong> that is at the heart of a $3 trillion market. Issued by Tether Limited, Tether forms the foundation for modern day crypto trading and could potentially be one of the <strong>biggest schemes in financial history</strong>. [<a href="https://4jok2.r.ag.d.sendibm3.com/mk/cl/f/YKCj-XnMRae1xKW-I5Vc2QZ531_WbOyKyzDAaHwXjqatVsRL9KTiy0LW50cP7Thc5zIV1vTZpRlnJuXzfYGNyOH92MtVSacioSMhehA-8TpG62qt1HMjOndXVcukp5TrJ_Z4jhyr_B0qg7hItuk5fJ9-Kw1Hh-SiRjvYGdVX_ZD2dY8NxTfKn4f7GnqP2bzHT3HWNO9yPzA6KfVPSawYFVLyyIf46leO7oJ5SIKyT4MawaPTtu9FDH5nfhMMgdm9YIFYIkuc12ZF8vargG4gMd608s5mt8kg1hpub4d3pi3o">link</a>]</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">India has 500 million internet users — over a third of its total population — making it the country with the <strong>second largest number of internet users</strong> after China. With this comes several kinds of digital threats that an average digital consumer in India must regularly contend with. Pranav M.B. attempts to identify the <strong>existing state of digital safety in India</strong>, with a report that maps digital threats in the country. [<a href="https://4jok2.r.ag.d.sendibm3.com/mk/cl/f/7DnN6eodtvhnJdNwrTh3BU4_wJCm2_Ct9eG7-nmis2QkS4qgiiX4--Qa0TTqxqJqUNHmn3xnedwSoNGVRd0smQAgaFGQ1PLpfwVhmYPO4vaXGiF0dkcRjZTHk1W5mCRTZ4CpIx2zKt4yn1WKAy3dIBxa-xnoEQMUY4YrZRqeQr1M_JwHV3KmHWG2J1CgmXUdY13h6bQ9QEDL16a5G-eN6zH8ttyLM2kXF30BnXgkAL11Sl_vZs9AdeR_UoDQJKObf3BEoq8">link</a>]</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Since last year, there have been regular questions around the <strong>anti-competitive practices</strong> of digital platforms. After 46 US states filed an antitrust case against Facebook along with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in December 2020, Kamesh Shekar analyzed these developments in a blog post. [<a href="https://4jok2.r.ag.d.sendibm3.com/mk/cl/f/svyv1CoITzbqrsIl54oOKHsVb5xbZsOjr-IIfJndIFs4FbasMTa8xPr308vsVz_owTEDCl52kc-B-8gqND7dedFPmINs25UkG8kwkeYNcktOKUUty9Zms5UqyAXnyBUFkrbccLYTL8X7DtYXy9UCoLj6i9kGiUgJyNR_ePM-32LsWT2dzMRvY3MLjtyTTeWzqv1kPYcud-kpCxX9zMid4KJZIY7fJSLCsCPiXvrcc5RjQ6wO8SxOlNzRwDLztrG9MlWjBAOom4m32Hc3Az86wUcL5h_dTnpcqiHVCjudMiD2Wz9hKAcXbBF-mMlrTS61GXYC3B9PEMLilqy1XdCSLA">link</a>]</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Recently, the Indian government mandated <strong>online messaging providers to enable identification of originators of messages on their platforms</strong>. In an academic paper for the <i>NUJS Law Review</i>, Gurshabad Grover, Tanaya Rajwade and Divyank Katira conduct a legal and constitutional analysis of this ‘traceability’ requirement, how it can be implemented, and how these methods come with serious costs to usability, security, and privacy. [<a href="https://4jok2.r.ag.d.sendibm3.com/mk/cl/f/7VVDI4qoefdH1M0wYht5ypELl3sgVp1Sbz2TM_DsnX0l0o2wb-2Jq0wob7as43ltZn6ZssVx21Kb6WNIz16SwxuNYxLMwFaVL7Yqu-8eX3FzktAgtzePud71Rw38aDqYPUcb7aIzIkcrEgohiTTqr4KBZglu-g5Vc21w3pwXDKyjSXh_jk_8EIqLlZ2GF5ItEZspJwQGD9VzftHVEmz5AdqcK0Zcar_OOU9nGP8JrckN9xehbcAxzJ9V7lbKaLa6fVq_xbwLO2UqdClq7XIpCoUf9EgkKQ">link</a>]</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">The National Digital Health Mission: Health Data Management Policy seeks to establish a digital health ecosystem by creating a <strong>unique health identity</strong> (UHID) for every Indian citizen. Pallavi Bedi points out that hasty implementation of the policy without adequate safeguards not only risks the <strong>privacy and security of medical data</strong>, but also undermines trust in the system leading to low uptake. [<a href="https://4jok2.r.ag.d.sendibm3.com/mk/cl/f/I2XtCVqE0YUtaHHNBuG2SqhPciFDA8vAFssL8OFfrAIIw4IF4i0pC5aKw-bZofPUZI2o59tp6OVhScUGULq-yqLWvlZRi8AvmUhsS6gOvkWJJnC3Jpjyu5u2I2wysy-Q4Kt4TAOMgvcyr49ledwzRKHEo0lsRhQdFZ4VJMq10oyuB5bMF0vIWCJ3VqXUrb41hRJI5OUhxzXiGZmznPSy0p-gua0i5SvyeIn-uZTQjOFvdP5He9mT3HSsaw">link</a>]</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">In our comments to the proposed amendments to the <strong>Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) Rules, 2020</strong>, our analysis focuses on eight points: Definitions and Registration, Compliance, Data Protection and Surveillance, Flash Sales, Unfair Trade Practices, Jurisdictional Issues with Competition Law, Compliance with International Trade Law and Liabilities of Marketplace E-commerce Entities. [<a href="https://4jok2.r.ag.d.sendibm3.com/mk/cl/f/KsxrVD9CtofFFSJKNnNl4rbZSQJxomJbHYtB6gaF-CJrz6NTc3iLI__BZ3Af7DRwDzklM6bD3o3OU8Z9g2llAOWtrNsQdWfxmaky4BZfyHArp59Ciryun36-inqvCvTtCz4MfM_SxYe7DWZQjbigMwPTuyM1nTjfuZZESbCU0kHL5uxK09aQvMmYUfBPfBjrUuCPSnz1q_SHSOh38kHHRw6JdIuOl-FX_Fu_pSAFCPpBCjmoqiyRpWbgQQw3C8dbSnJ9sMWXbopXwWS99f4vPqMGK6Tn7w6tWJqmQa8hA3wAQsH8wJgl315nOQ">link</a>]</li>
</ol>
<h3>Freedom of Expression, Intermediary Liability and Information Disorders</h3>
<ol>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">The recent “Infodemic” clearly shows that <strong>disinformation costs people’s lives</strong>. CIS, and the Global Disinformation Index have published a report that examines <strong>the risk of disinformation on digital news platforms in India</strong>, creating an index that is intended to serve donors and stakeholders with a neutral assessment of news sites that they can utilise to defund disinformation. [<a href="https://4jok2.r.ag.d.sendibm3.com/mk/cl/f/oAbyvMS6qTJApmJnnokcclFKfhiXT90qwxve7vAzjNgoVJE7zL3znp9z-jVBaY_A_UghvzrqrbzPyQ8MWgNOqFX_zmz-LXX_QXxpTHcJCq0iQbudFAskKA4MQbW9ipPMHHkvCZ4sjD9YJ-f76ZHCOVs8aTp09SRza6UxxFqz2Lf-wyXOBkjjnSojLEnIzg_6Xyg-MV80GnR0MyptpLT6Ox44jMpuKSDNkziRqXdVFv2UiHFPUq5_kQFItEunUPazzjbXiO6aT6InqGhlHTpBpFR1ojSmP1YOtTCl7efQ-b_jHIbk-BBXDoDE4JF-TskvA8NvEln98dD-0ADQRopsvLp9XWDGiQ">link</a>]</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Torsha Sarkar, Gurshabad Grover, Raghav Ahooja, Pallavi Bedi and Divyank Katira examine the legality and constitutionality of the <strong>Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021</strong>, highlighting potential benefits and harms that may arise from the rules, and making recommendations to retain the rules within constitutional bounds, and retain consistency with human rights based approaches to content regulation. [<a href="https://4jok2.r.ag.d.sendibm3.com/mk/cl/f/xeCVOWx8opFVXsJsk8tGp7BqtYUkK2zovJDarS6GLbKTR6VL0JLLSA-ap81tloriYQLLg6Cv1HxAws110HUv2UUabdK0aCbOvdeL2AtTWGD4zL7LEsC1gAIHyvP5DCYWo8flbZwKL0UNrMa-Bp8mmAOPTNTaHHyHjt6SyvidPNrc2nvjuwWNDsgPITp_PBAYDBmfwu02GfVr14URroyiEeqExwha0b0RlSPhrunshSDIXND6-AaBkVuGJ8VdnE-bMD7FHdAa559EsTcyhmnPiIYanR9fmV6UQHb7Q65yD7jENV3-lbzRCkAjki09Qvia1nxacxBIWHb-w3_PlbB7GkJXbl8_qVZHEWhyzTnAxVoGA-je-7W-x-eFOetThpo">link</a>]</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">The passage of the <strong>Intermediary Liability Rules, 2021</strong>, has also formalized the legal requirement for the utilization of automated tools in content moderation. In a blog-post for the <i>KU Leuven’s Centre for IT and IP (CITIP) Blog</i>, Shweta Mohandas and Torsha Sarkar analyze the requirement in light of concerns of freedom of expression of Internet users. [<a href="https://4jok2.r.ag.d.sendibm3.com/mk/cl/f/kfCCqzfLNuv79Hdeo_EA2wt5o0LRgortN3TKK_wup26r0wlpxdBW0C-m_IDPDssS9Ie8vuBmq3TrK6Bo0jfGRs1qD89TEU2wzVysBv9kAjUiosw2pXQiNir2ylQAnNBxnwyCe_qibQIf9UOGjlvP8d8iB1XZ1QPqQUl_yHKFDrPUme0OS2EUpis_rSoVy1ZOfH-GGHo7iNYRMcqqjbmCKtfZjmLvWY86v2Zk2EjLPXr8OA">link</a>]</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Our comments to the <strong>Cinematograph (Amendment) Bill, 2021</strong>, authored by Tanvi Apte, Anubha Sinha, and Torsha Sarkar, examine the <strong>constitutionality and legality of the Bill</strong> and whether the proposed amendments are compatible with established constitutional principles, precedents, previous policy positions and existing law. [<a href="https://4jok2.r.ag.d.sendibm3.com/mk/cl/f/Ao1Sghs95JSFnpzMq8bTUYQ0z1F6uZOfg6M2Stt2ceVvCf4b0iB_3f-Yx7uywoASrATvOSS6uPYTVbP8x_JLqoD9QfvjD5soYvlNJBd87FuNyxqAb4wQ8cjOuN7B44pRo65xvX9K29eBGFp7fgv-AD_ok80j4SXnAZ6LrYClxPiHC48fiisVOW7McLfsFpLtUsns1u6MIG_7FMAKNY0GHFxa5xs3lM21mrhkEcC6I7sbimtF0jmOkid5nzYbcOrtQ5ZsvrdxSRllmmOy">link</a>]</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Tanvi Apte and Torsha Sarkar, in a submission to the <strong>Facebook Oversight Board</strong> in Case 2021-008-FB-FBR: Brazil, Health Misinformation and Lockdowns, answer questions set out by the Board which concerned a post made by a Brazilian sub-national health official, and raised questions on <strong>health misinformation and enforcement of Facebook's community standards</strong>. [<a href="https://4jok2.r.ag.d.sendibm3.com/mk/cl/f/h-QObkDu8td1bmkfzIEHJlAmS10MohQnXiyqHQKNEnQkEpvkdTxLkKV3yJO7CcTJGDcS0kRQVTDEE8KNbb-551uGYLiaV3wFoxJ9tGnvMBaqvtPgYgxZbnAMOowSxN7gQJTqSOZwzMVQtSbr449f6KC0Bb208ApIh2a8OX_HCRwn2BYpoTvqUfeyFZyp2qoyW5LbeAe9P-JTlFrDaB7oFBXvTHvlJfTRrT6ZeLlkQqA_RqMOga71-sxDIxBo0vvn-9r28DcTePg3p659lJ0CWQMCXiz4tY1p3cLrJgKl3K3fjignnvexZpNwk91paBQ_Bia2DDUxc1Vxmvci1p3AASg3FtYqL5l1">link</a>]</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">In an essay for the <i>Indian Journal of Law and Technology (IJLT)</i>, Torsha Sarkar analyzes issues rising out of the recent <strong>litigation between Trump and Twitter</strong>. Torsha examines intermediary liability issues under American law, and draws parallel for India, in light of the ongoing litigation around the suspension of advocate Sanjay Hegde’s Twitter account. [<a href="https://4jok2.r.ag.d.sendibm3.com/mk/cl/f/JxA_S2DzStQUHeEVzf9_Df15_QnK0WHgMEjaaCqNjLmfXPAS4teU_fvrDtG9R4OwwOzWYiAXWPE3QFaxOZvJ5VCHuwincnLyGpYpWME0K5x8CJwyW0vUhC-stExhsSV_5pLmEtfaVyzcGRaXsJ4jGnLWnrADSdYzpPjUTPAb6hKDDL5BBjLjzvRt14_y3_9RNos99UKlpOCv9UFR6gC6cmOQmqte1UICPRw54oI7TUMC8TfPow-JZGmeA8lmMtODPi5dPN91euSX0g">link</a>]</li>
</ol>
<h3>Copyright & Access to Knowledge</h3>
<ol>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">The Indian Parliamentary Standing Committee on Commerce’s report weighs on several aspects of the <strong>Indian IPR system and issues of protection and enforcement</strong>. In a blog post, Anubha Sinha summarily notes the observations and recommendations of the Committee on the Copyright Act, 1957 which stand to impact <strong>access to knowledge</strong>. [<a href="https://4jok2.r.ag.d.sendibm3.com/mk/cl/f/20Alo2_Tse_JJBXG7sp9tp3Jf_qIUy2ksAvhoVH4heonMxDYRQK4nweCNF8LP29mpKvznQC8vljEX7TCv-Wb6SQREV5ph4uYOVIgz4wf36MaGTw8T5dkCxjqttA5V1tzNxdpfKi1WqQJKSFJ3o9Eog0uVFhHd3wXaYwiukkD3WHoDeYkOSZR_DYTGlm6nebmtCjaRRhTqwGMPYkZsKxM2td9xO2GBfP-J5R8llhxsrl1MvaUyiRBLIASh1l_KNpvCtlix-3Hot2VozymMTWyPG15W6s">link</a>]</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">The 41st edition of the Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR) organized by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) was held from 28 June to 1 July. Anubha Sinha participated in the event as a speaker and delivered statements on the <strong>Protection of Broadcasting Organisations</strong> [<a href="https://4jok2.r.ag.d.sendibm3.com/mk/cl/f/VysBbmMrMfJH2U5C8TeeVWtBq8wqBadivgBYyh26sNYegYdfaR4Tg_G6v1FqMgyVD6KAm3Z1tKWm256qR0VlPwGircBtmecePp2_-24cYoFWCoDH5v_5MuytzvKUIHkSlZ4cXN9CtUZ9t-92oeqAe5qm_CDhT0Xu7G5OZKn1_9s56JlL7E9FiWa0U5l2PYeonXi9H026DNWNaOPHQ8nvvYlmvIcTkwvKWQ">link</a>], and on <strong>Limitations and Exceptions</strong> [<a href="https://4jok2.r.ag.d.sendibm3.com/mk/cl/f/TBrEeBXDldm7nDPpsENoKMft-G03I54LhjmedXzSkg1RPImWfwqhCZ7bwXpwsXbIuVvOLd7G0RtA7PgCDKqHKcYjWzHr1K8Dd8oSUYIasd8N_tlEiMedkl8eTmoz5Cm_cLV8NlYLzIbsrHCxZhhPUApqXJprQ39qHf89pyRS2Zcw1HUYW8d-rVWobmlbW4MVr0EvBz0gbWpz3NLbh9W71pVK1VN9j-ge--ine3yx-uSoyel8qUGs0mPqw0NXp0nEUnIP32r3qHvdjzEbz4Ynagm2ww">link</a>]. Readers can access the notes from Day 1 [<a href="https://4jok2.r.ag.d.sendibm3.com/mk/cl/f/W_H8QjZ4FUv92dhzAdWKRTS508l6DEy7YOb8mnsf-ZzcQeMZe8TCW3XG5Fs7j1BO678zXMJn5jZiXL2eI4ZVNjrE6Sz8XcQs5fJ4z1EZSQTr-vMsaJsroyckdwmtQnOepz5KMLPZl4OnPm6ERcnJGBCVp6v7PZgpxVBGp5PR9Fo4e_TncX2qm_q_aB_e9s3I2vp8PReJJVYoEl53xIqWKkBqXlWk2RbqOQ">link</a>], Day 2 [<a href="https://4jok2.r.ag.d.sendibm3.com/mk/cl/f/DRaLcVvuB-VfY7fjrVtjA5hPHTFt2KwIt2hsH4mjuuYlzJLCv5r9O3R5-4Rg72Bhvw3kMYaowZuZorJN8DXJjhf5NABvf519ig4SyCsIUri4mXWjDA1lmCHY_Oe1WfTq_VLVxwOb4XYp8VVnKIIcgAg1kseXVSENaugyRZI3otS_IUn_zNwEkw2PdFEojqryYcf5kiEADKQ5sRuVH8WB9pncRKgCvpOfFA">link</a>], and Days 3 & 4 [<a href="https://4jok2.r.ag.d.sendibm3.com/mk/cl/f/dTkOebRyoXNDfdFetpwM6-mmRSpH7gwM1RL-SJmGMrbF25H9Y4-lo-nQ8HINcrM1eUmX9nqvpmoL26wsIsbAhOJ3MQygMDJpTQc-RNGk07WOUyH4GFUuejBJzsRBkQn44CEDxkcSQBzyLQHGjKakTPDRFszrjnLqD3e9jXfs77ie7wKRazrFjyssNPscxSg8xmrcfv89klVCo-Ts6ApD6nuRi3t0nndX2DAQ_hw_WlYLCgfmyw">link</a>].</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">The CIS Access to Knowledge team published a comparative analysis of two prominent Wikimedia initiatives, <strong>Wikipedia Asian Month</strong> and <strong>Project Tiger</strong>, to understand prevailing challenges and opportunities, and strategies to address the same. Nitesh Gill in a two-part report outlines the research questions and methods of this study [<a href="https://4jok2.r.ag.d.sendibm3.com/mk/cl/f/HZI5YNgRhNViR9DS-ewrTbGX-5PkynXGEMDr5kfCauCk2OYuygd2I3Da7Tp1kyhG1Oboc0MxIelbvOqpVQHHq0JVRgbyEVMPZiTWPhQENwnv_pfOR8KYHZzzLKv7Tc-iFk6qBgCCDSbnwjmA7sfiC3FDHFvqzbEGlMMUIg1XvcRNu6fFBWe2S1W5lsdZD00dY0r-w8o3IkzCSbKwHqJMld7CQvl48lpzGHtKFreKT_MiB33iis0Fehz-nrz7DlT-k2GLTpwScqX4DcHrLjWb7A">link</a>], and then presents some of the observations and learnings [<a href="https://4jok2.r.ag.d.sendibm3.com/mk/cl/f/bdLNf3_CCDaXpSzzhYF_2ThcU-LuTFb6k6HDcZ_4myjIWm-GlwXcDVQweGpaYjKKt4NmMol-HxoPucMx6w3-HC4QUmPULVJ882x8AMHaRehpgFh9t8cYPB6VPyjXNgcbzjSfOQXE6GpUDhrGYYg6KTmuH6t7F1qlOcoc_qlglL4vz5yCBL8Ri03yfZZVcfheY5Ly5lUb3WSZMpsO1u6n6KaRC_YFemwGu0sWsWgjW-XPRSNAyxHKeGLlUS7eN7wNvx-iLCLb2-VhEtN64QZHaxUd724J8Fg5">link</a>].</li>
</ol>
<h3>Labour and Social Justice</h3>
<ol>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">In a flagship report on <strong>domestic and care workers on digital platforms</strong>, Aayush Rathi and Ambika Tandon argue that digital platforms are complicit in discriminating against workers on the basis of their identities, and that domestic workers continue to remain in precarious positions without any legal recognition or support. This work was jointly authored between the Centre for Internet and Society and the Domestic Workers’ Rights Union. [<a href="https://4jok2.r.ag.d.sendibm3.com/mk/cl/f/sm3NIXtD7ClOE3mjbw6fg2ZvZB0TI3dh6rnb4vb6Hv0Ev_VwikRY-XOESwuw3-Gfglvi7OHT5l-PthXPf2rn3UDbiRRE3jaRzidnzl5uPs6ZqdtktRRVINgR3CCtZ-grN_QKqZN9KefjfMYgB7klWARTLAkZbSsKmoyrLiIZ0XMVXkYWu_F1do2eH73g_cTDDyKJiQiq9wWsbLzwjsEWoZ1uR0H2wqUp1ZOfkEyfkTbU0YojEnLVenrB-X7HDp812pjRMqHbw1qAskYpol6w_Tca">link</a>]</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">The ongoing pandemic has raised very valid questions of <strong>access and infrastructure in India</strong>, especially during a time when the Internet and digital technologies are essential, and in many ways the ‘new normal’. P.P. Sneha and Anasuya Sengupta write in <i>Seminar Magazine</i>, outlining some key <strong>challenges in digitalisation and representation of non-dominant/marginalised languages</strong> on the Internet, through reflections on two recent projects related to languages and the Internet. [<a href="https://4jok2.r.ag.d.sendibm3.com/mk/cl/f/iWhSEkwBqINHVVX-zy-cEtFRkWyCSoGeumeW2KNYU8gylOUgjNWiIceMev9vAcoTdrNvCoBtuZKcHSmrG3oEZ5Wypr7VRmrecPMNbuxUDoIF4FJGIlzAPeQ8dpdyeeHeQqANiU3oUN2xKTpRQ5Tin8PUoWRfMm5YXh_iougUbkun-Tq6NSjRkmvbiWXeZyphO9R44QWTrxDm2wWOdlCh2reGxocxbpNMzDPlGmxnA18sMsFi73SksnR9lQh76ylSM2iIYr3ptZk61DznsmUdfr0BK-GQL7HcD4M">link</a>]</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">With the onset of the national lockdown on 24th March 2020 in response to the outbreak of COVID-19, the fate of millions of migrant workers was left uncertain. In addition, lack of enumeration and registration of migrant workers became a major obstacle for all state governments and the Central Government to channelize relief and welfare measures. Ankan Barman compiled a report to <strong>qualitatively assess health conditions of migrant workers and access to welfare</strong> during the first COVID-19 lockdown, in three host-states, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Haryana. [<a href="https://4jok2.r.ag.d.sendibm3.com/mk/cl/f/hU5-1FD3nbo69KurjQmXES36QSFtRZSHr4FuCzsscEMQOUOZD523Cc-iKliMQQWvm7AFZQ2JJtrcPhNeqoAS7ASS2X0_c9D3D_yvS9IuqLpt_xHpSUdVxnh85ZSVlSr07zj4mucQogJy6c2ZHw6zgQAmLQGkcl4xr__txUaycSpVKrqmHcBb3RBw2YkBTvxRfFnll2FcPmmfFYhGf1_SGM1baLyoZscYZ96h-AB1tHzg4Lao2KfFIhJ-RxHtC67r1nytTWNCRy8pY4QWmx2g-kBw0EAD4vl94LmPX10tdqmvBreDz3xxfN4o9h0OHfEzZARXb2dQFnHltqvRjPq5msyzW69oXuZZsDs0pcS6yYA">link</a>]</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Between July to November 2019, Indian Federation of App-based Transport Workers (IFAT) and International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) conducted 2,128 surveys across six major cities: Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi NCR, Hyderabad, Jaipur, and Lucknow, to determine the occupational health and safety of app-based transport workers. Findings from the survey have been compiled as a report which <strong>reveals the complete absence of social security and protection of workers in a digital platform economy.</strong> [<a href="https://4jok2.r.ag.d.sendibm3.com/mk/cl/f/J4FjrBD647MV8lneM-mPFxr7IWwYeETEgk17OI3lDkqNVRmfoRqhmAs1CqZXDQx-MyEntGeO7vOMUu6lslvGQbMg4Pp6Gvpz7GaUrXiOXti7YGBNPHMzLCP3BsDeYstDOYNs6Rry3eMUvPI-mV1kh6aNGWf_WlBXjwoevFZdwmt660vTJbRaUGuI1Cc45TFmp3ur5qDJNg3vaTXElkuEvo7Dz9rPcEHOTDNy-k2LW3cX9mOB_QNC5yt4sy0CCWvf-2yHAYa_2j6pVmVx2PwbbSrfMfSdK0-WL1PSZpcAHlqcRVU05C5Js__byzmLjmWUKO-kMbw">link</a>]</li>
</ol>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/june-july-2021-newsletter'>https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/june-july-2021-newsletter</a>
</p>
No publisherpranavInternet GovernanceResearchers at WorkCopyrightAccess to Knowledge2021-08-10T15:57:16ZPageMarch - May Newsletter
https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/march-may-2021-newsletter
<b></b>
<h3>Cybersecurity, and Emerging Technology</h3>
<ol>
<li><strong>Doctrinal clarity</strong> and <strong>institutional coherence</strong> are essential for a robust cybersecurity posture. Arindrajit Basu and Pranesh Prakash analyze this in an opinion piece in <em>The Hindu</em>. [<a href="https://4jok2.r.ag.d.sendibm3.com/mk/cl/f/mkAIQo7C4IZmt9JYL5DoADKYnQqxm9fka-gdBSvoA81rsg6GEgy07tjzn0qNQvz4PxT4dYB5ZeNQ1Bbi1ubYUR0z6z8dy3e5FK9grxNzzgZSO0IUwVPm8behwp6dBjhS3_xc9_d4Bz234TH-U0qMpqF9sJzKUGtQ7MZi0hnzsUaVhsA2VGsqoSC3xrrr1cD9ZX8AlcPmIR3uj5moIhV9EfHcU2EHOQqhu6OCGcfuUBS-tgGe1iBvbOikAjEWMJin4Q61Rd8p31vaLtqTwVe2uw">link</a>]</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">U.S. and Indian decisions about <strong>Huawei</strong> have implications not just for their separate relations with China, but the <strong>U.S.-India bilateral</strong> as well. Arindrajit Basu and Justin Sherman co-authored an article in <em>The Diplomat</em> examining Huawei’s role in India [<a href="https://4jok2.r.ag.d.sendibm3.com/mk/cl/f/M0GGHsg5EtZWdtPNqwbeCiMiN7elnvi6aLYTpAVn0gw7se-z20XDgj6jfb79INZxyFmGtDXDcD0pf_RfRo3K_RyXEav9HKy_gV1G8nDVPhoN8Kp2G9-NLUeUCXxW6WYbiyyWDZdKwxzd4PsyoxybVKoJ9XH7JhsVFDPhN0ySqc8Mi6MD0zq8q_CRT9dDkdCC2queRjZdcOr4eoC8YPjU-LVpaxJGge0rOaPrYmM3oe__OoIjvA">link</a>]</li>
<li>In an article for <em>The Wire</em>, Aman Nair points out that India might miss out on <strong>NFT (non-fungible tokens)</strong> which is set to become a mainstay in the modern digital zeitgeist. [<a href="https://4jok2.r.ag.d.sendibm3.com/mk/cl/f/wKv_Gt32QSHdLE3-ykqX_8DMhA2QohVdjXJn-C65rBN_0nsI9LCIhp3WrANkb-8cDzw1rSkKGrJ0gyPwV_p9aqBIOu3ioMRLjQmVdwMwcVH6nVHELvDJiebOfI5HgW0DS2jvjYUGiFNuBE4y5k7D6hcdEnmRXZ0cGaM-VT0qPJcw28gDhe7eJcg_rmvGhHbJBm_h0VnZfNJyjqZ8CFoiIU0z3QaGDqk16_gOlCYYR98VTEehLBYUs8ymz6Fggw">link</a>]</li>
<li>Arindrajit Basu and Andre Barrinha co-wrote for the <em>EU Cyber Direct</em>, <strong>on outer space diplomacy in the 1960s</strong> and why cyber (security) diplomacy isn’t quite progressing as well or as fast. [<a href="https://4jok2.r.ag.d.sendibm3.com/mk/cl/f/Ud7YZJn5YKOmIROHOUMyLVB-69aNwlb-FParRXYStS_vdQ3SDwErMwxNQlu8iFNnUlSI5lejtsIHgERXyVY3xzTjRGyNP9_sR-uAyfxusTZlSMU3qNs5OPlSJfRErWBEkj_TiT2y1QQwZH8brbn6P8H4S1rDBX1QFICDOe5HjYF2GOdrgzwA1vaeJB6YrFcn2BUNmpsDD4f0mKwcYkCVVFCYgOtbj1-59CoswRfSqgA">link</a>]</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Arindrajit Basu, Irene Poetranto and Justin Lau co-wrote an article for <em>Carnegie Endowment for International Peace</em> which captures some <strong>concerns with the United Nations OEWG process</strong> dealing with cyber norms and the absence of discussion at the forum on key issues. [<a href="https://4jok2.r.ag.d.sendibm3.com/mk/cl/f/G-0Ok05_UomEqWTkmsuUXGq9V-i2zMa0ul5zzkfLKC8Rj5rCGsl12lrJl7tfGzORBxTOYoVPoLUlHF_KaD2z05TyeW3cQDqaxvlhUDxfr2Z9n64Lbe1_p8FYKFvLXrsNVAoEbxsCbOncqzkKgVebcxHe_HF5Murx9aVk6Ps9ik34I4Sj3y26-_Nj98iLwMPZO0rs8hYNZbvsjcUbyGxm6G5xlfjakhy-UsjioXEGdz7zQdV6O_FCG1BoP1Rvm8fPxvdK1JEbGkedHgwk9ENn9na2J6I">link</a>]</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">In an article for the <em>Observer Research Foundation</em>, Arindrajit Basu writes about how India must avoid getting its <strong>data policy</strong> caught up in tired existing machinations and instead forge <strong>a new path that prioritizes Indian strategic interests</strong>. [<a href="https://4jok2.r.ag.d.sendibm3.com/mk/cl/f/eZHdtXVJIePupyeXaX8RUlkusvtOgHe4VHCDeiVpkTS0P4ji1lGib5cqvQX0nGf5iIx6vb52mwWtd9Z5G5z71_dGvd89c5xn2JyZ-f9cdOWTAsHKRwxo_Tk2Kp7Dfb4JEi4r2Sd5r3dHPc3YmRMYLseDLnESCpmxnPkbX5y1sMitN5OUu4x1ydiYZxfB3FKVZjnnXSCAmB2yPWS7pL4cGcVWpJ1PqBoqPAvvs_Ofqyg58K7inxfax-5tIPk5wyLsEARP92qYgPo">link</a>]</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Aman Nair, Arinjay Vyas, Pallavi Bedi, and Garima Saxena authored a <strong>response to the Supreme Court E-committee’s draft vision document of phase III of the E-courts project</strong>. This response recommends consideration be given to the digital and gender divide, and lack of clarity in the document on several data-related aspects. [<a href="https://4jok2.r.ag.d.sendibm3.com/mk/cl/f/eLr3hXFonL5hfAUH5ux5zoQcTrY2PxRDO9kflkNqtcUObBbYWm-vqp7v4Ex0g_o7YtCokB315adj-1k_QwDebJ1k9G626m1MGuTYmlfKdwSVl7mYsfna4Dy96z8Eb7iJ7gtcZZF8s5JQCGN1ux3PiYvgDrxbs3MeXeZizpIZsm9OsPvCGzvC5HbxkhfdFG2B6853ajax3xofJRcucZ2Jc1AFEg5iAVrwiopY0SFIb99XHRESaUFEP9KYNs2bC1nAXaAW4AU7OPG_">link</a>]</li>
</ol>
<h3>Privacy</h3>
<ol>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">The proposed <i>Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019</i> is being deliberated by the Joint Parliamentary Committee and is expected to be tabled in the Monsoon Session of Parliament. Pallavi Bedi and Amber Sinha co-authored a white paper to examine the <strong>personal data implications on welfare delivery models in India</strong> and to suggest ways to operationalise key provisions. [<a href="https://4jok2.r.ag.d.sendibm3.com/mk/cl/f/_Gjo4q_RVbTa0sA8X1FOhYiB4McMtr_8JgcG33Uf9nXIX9VsXvDxzVvYABfOz-DyVN14iCoyotGqfkjezyNjJFt4RsiYkw6m0UFNhGd9NYLj3fkrn8IfKwI3YJtO9-FrkgMxcCOTc1PdedlPXPGO2cafHCYUaLhHNMXIepnX2L2KC-mG_-l0Fjx5m-GvmP6GcXg1eyOyNZjrCL8eFWzyCT9XVDv8afLm2D3F0l-28tz-MwSJRRqc4vIjV0PCykM6NXQ">link</a>]</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Shweta Mohandas authored an article for <i>Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law Student Research Review (RSRR)</i><span>. In this article, which forms a part of RSRR’s ‘</span><i>Excerpts from Experts Blog Series</i><span>,’ Shweta examines whether </span><strong>Indian data protection legislation can act as a check on growing workplace surveillance</strong><span>. [</span><a href="https://4jok2.r.ag.d.sendibm3.com/mk/cl/f/5X-z4Ay91QvhUYmdHomWwzdgLp7eCubPpwLyaH1H0MWiyiQfU9PIIQSg2Nshk2mfLJYrb65hiGIj3xyuffXiDnOu9lbwfFsrQCL6D5DnQ9HkvOoZHcq3_Kgf9NVKSAX7tv-aqy00L3jjJtbWbvfaqwnagmdUVSLEP9E7S6s-UTBvO-KCO82DhWELF0Od6dhVrbr0WvVi980IX67IkCiSNaKwpuNwSXuYS9bgD0s">link</a><span>]</span></li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Aman Nair and Arindrajit Basu examine the changes in the context of <strong>data sharing between WhatsApp and Facebook as being an anticompetitive action in violation of the Indian Competition Act, 2002</strong><span>. Having previously </span><a href="https://4jok2.r.ag.d.sendibm3.com/mk/cl/f/u35U0gu1I7Y81i6OYu20wN7zgiA4FxKWowVPgk7Gmafn69IJLoZapqrfCSWui33Sh0ntbkPajjtW_p35C3qMoCP5xcrC2dHSO3DX9MZ7uFNbJZ-p_NRBv5bOZ_1jKeH2KYBYohqWlZ83VVG3CDvNl1AK_4xmNrr9L578OragYyJQo2U93bxHbLw1fnLc1CPWqkfZvcmydFo1HGyNBeFpRqiTVn6ytQjyAiUw2Gisx7itlxVHmb_QCuSd0T8nD47U4UBH_i_dg6PN5R4PcjU">examined</a><span> the implications of WhatsApp’s changes to its privacy policy in 2021, this issue brief is the second output of the series examining the effects of the changes. [</span><a href="https://4jok2.r.ag.d.sendibm3.com/mk/cl/f/jOUH-SfgRCjdp9DORlyEL16nnyJ_ogGha0d2DdYJGcRnBOiZt6F3SuhZzZYX8t1umpAtId1_80WNiW3Y6CgGDA-TYQ2hORCBWeOvvoPphGzr0DfCy_6tD8QQMzgb3mCm1GXECkmJM_kTL9kfRrj8GVpe3DHJ7_jX3pKBQx9HHWKqkgftY_8wTG6zCG4J8HZC-1Hv66BsR1didil6DVh-HtetydLcMzlikdBj4bvxTjzFRAoLvsyeBH9PaoDRJuUXTYR5-8BcE8ITu2TyiOyc_ME2kuDJ3DJiE4PDeNHutpTJyuc7lqwp-g">link</a><span>]</span></li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">In a blog-post, Pallavi Bedi provides recommendations for the <strong>Covid vaccine intelligence network (Co-Win) platform</strong><span>. She says that as a first step it is essential that Co-Win has a separate dedicated privacy policy which conforms to the internationally accepted privacy principles and enumerated in the Personal Data Protection Bill. [</span><a href="https://4jok2.r.ag.d.sendibm3.com/mk/cl/f/o19mW5Vyy3giilmnC_ef5khZu85qA-A3uDr687psJN0UhAkPY43mYt7Jaw7cXwy0NJK7ky9IvnklXsGPIME4bYH2cCVK_NeXEhZK-N6RRRSSDFUG33BpdaFtUD3cqIxrsEV_-ILCXF4SDN3IBmJFKeJDBFZA4bLuUWEzsAhBQbnFcbGuITTNq74cViuBSO-p09OT9-AtzOUgce0Brhta6YmU5iSmpMGW2XWhWTw3ueesRR_8fjDkF7XoLDGCMmkdjvAeyfbCIee0z-30EbUN5sbLzCCHVUHmuYVPzqtLeV8">link</a><span>]</span></li>
</ol>
<h3>Freedom of Expression, and Intermediary Liability</h3>
<ol>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">In February, the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) had issued draft rules for <strong>regulation of digital influencers</strong>, with an aim to <em>“understand the peculiarities of [online] advertisements and the way consumers view them,”</em> as well as to ensure that: <em>“consumers must be able to distinguish when something is being promoted with an intention to influence their opinion or behaviour for an immediate or eventual commercial gain.”</em> Torsha Sarkar and Shweta Mohandas respond with comments and recommendations to the rules. [<a href="https://4jok2.r.ag.d.sendibm3.com/mk/cl/f/nP6_NZer0OIQv_bMG6p9Vzx-uTdYi17sYHl0xdFjMYzEzv9xmTvSG73K8_7sq4J6NPdQ5sNA5eaQvAwMHBrYkAt2mGFF9SLlrCSfNZ3K6rpRyst36jbtHpdD3_Pc9ukKdBW3_lhiGpISLi7H2TBa0BumRk2JV3PFdUBH6R3kk0ywJuvcHeJJWxAsnyydYY2s2_iRpo5Sc0MvHbC8vlDCoI6mtuL0_PC6B2eL0G8wZqbtwYYM2hNO-DfobKXJV16nfGC8GxASmN2FmH07pif0Cn5xSXoeadfmwb-Fox-B03UAn-0THELMM1beVubJWnOAOrPXoA5JIZ7CQe5x3g">link</a>]</li>
</ol>
<h3>Copyright, and Access to Knowledge</h3>
<ol>
<li> Anubha Sinha explains what the draft national science, technology and innovation policy means for <strong>open access to scientific literature</strong> for Indians. This article was published in <em>The Wire Science</em>. [<a href="https://4jok2.r.ag.d.sendibm3.com/mk/cl/f/CJjg4ihUvxLz1chJKcO03n5_Ydr9rvEDH_kFGYPs7_aijAvgsioqcqvZU0n41Ly6CNagHY1Upc0-3eCPsdo3GxXWC6baFyPSXImgs7tRy-Tio7TdRDS1qHU9i5YghNVjsoIunFozlrsutZGnXjXNF6Ce04lDrZ0g0dOdBIDt-InCeubeq35RnbIj3Qb2jdf2vwlkcAeyC925K6WeyzPM7sGUAVmMH1wKu9pmN-bgHJfNRodxOWODiF_o5vmu6g25UP6IdunHwUKorudI_0RopdHXBA">link</a>] </li>
<li> In an article published in <em>Info Justice</em>, Anubha Sinha provides a summary of the progress of the <strong>copyright infringement suit against Sci-Hub and LibGen</strong> in India. [<a href="https://4jok2.r.ag.d.sendibm3.com/mk/cl/f/Jg1NJZxuFnR-Srq0Tz1RS3XZZ17cL4JxJFlOY2g12wpoHPIxsc-lW18hjUe7sg309BNiO1i0V_yLGaQsQiAzILlWe2zd3ctx4dTTFvyFbs_Ds1w3W91GNEdoWszaryWzeKs-ZSDZYR1IPZa4ZGXpOrd21RiKK6InuJVXGZRN6WJzmgdBr4ZWre9-NP3AxduZDFnzXrjfCho6iDPhS7CuR8ZW4bFCwkmvCr70-yTDLLkT2DUmkB-caRfvMxukUyr1fjilhp-3vJwEt1gHi0HP-kpyx3wac8mjFxSCbsVg-5AiRMti">link</a>] </li>
</ol>
<h3>Digital Cultures, and Social Justice</h3>
<ol>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">In a research paper, Noopur Raval offers critical historical insights from the fields of international development, anthropology, and postcolonial history to caution against both the possible harms of <strong>gender disaggregated datafication</strong>, as well as the consequences of <strong>non-participatory datafication of women</strong>. [<a href="https://4jok2.r.ag.d.sendibm3.com/mk/cl/f/WmB3X2tO_c8hEDCY-QCDD1tTPBIEB7Gt4bFRLY7mNCB3X5sRuV6npbW4eIX8ta-lGod2fia1v8ZTxZurtXczkJQbBg5ckgKRSG3eYKfG9ntQ5qRKVkq12g9YEmZ1eP1raJjh5p5aHQ-0MhUsQafyvBQpzVEdDK9ZJecvYAq3GyD42aSWkS0iQ17sS9WCDchDhFQn20CS7MAEmZm6rM0yymmNBqTHRR7GuKxP3edQqiMTblOufA4mhx62YuIgqn_mRv5uOPqxevVBmTtlTTyMmZihFccK">link</a>]</li>
<li>Kaarika Das, a research scholar at NIEPA and Sravya C, a researcher in the Humanizing Automation project at IIIT Bangalore published <strong>a study on migrants in India's Gig Economy</strong>. [<a href="https://4jok2.r.ag.d.sendibm3.com/mk/cl/f/H6Jr3Xykf4-nxghqRxErQtEVs4TH-l3S2LVhiXIisAPDyUCm6fiWyLGCI_V9jrofmSaX7B1sFEjjVvhsqbNcHpKz6_ztX9o6ZMp-BRrke6HgLScE3FYxJKKFhtGyp_w_xUwJu1jybdsltHMKm1oNjRgYm4Z_hbpUTmJlK72raCD6jC7VjvTmuJmIGZLFa1J18o0IoImVO8VLqbV_lUigTVBNQWqZsgl_TyjYf3a6H8oLBlG4fo3jIXAsU5S2aySLzNO9u46C1Zv5g-D3wc6jChAhrMcOtcp2NNeEOJRw_n-nzYNrfVNwwLKdIOY">link</a>]</li>
<li>Sameet Panda and Vipul Kumar wrote a blog for <em>Privacy International</em> pointing the <strong>failures in the digitisation of India’s food security programme</strong> in light of the <strong>exclusion of married women of Odisha</strong>. [<a href="https://4jok2.r.ag.d.sendibm3.com/mk/cl/f/czsORnDtqHr4eMfKxD9huAqfK9BfJ_oZWslVsCoG63dJQwSqFhMbQzBgtolMXmsnvl3TuEaSJXOIWWc6z-EcMaMSfZwAZR6Tixu7KVE3u343x0qCePCh6k_Mbyo1ckxpCdq6R4M2f8b-8PdxHsW1OzgIALcgF63n63DmmmP3krIGfTsWj-kO03xSa6lho6qrFDnEQeDW6zuMc8mHf-o34ogIveNxvYoa_gtPEag390DefdFa5not77SmRSLeLd-oAFxkcQ_jrSEiEnyjD9UNdb0COOFbk8KlrD2y7SBM27_5U_oRY1tHFTDIpBT3z4k">link</a>]</li>
<li>Shreya Ghosh, a research scholar at the Centre for Political Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi authored an article in <em>EPW</em> on <strong>access to welfare and health for women during the initial phase of the pandemic</strong>. [<a href="https://4jok2.r.ag.d.sendibm3.com/mk/cl/f/WrUVPoWi-5LlI7z8_qy9HVtjyDoIgjSdclz7-wdA1OV2tG7GWSuUQ-F31hf1TpaGumhcxYeQJE9vqj1LRYpoKJfaHyCQHx_Dnt8PcNB2eEvQAbtHEdjAZLIu6Pno55XvtCJ33EBRdNRU-tu0Tt8j_lXT_nSChepY18OpIu69PUGNBI7Lsp6pkOo4LXhtUKdImoitU_-lBg1-paVePznLYRWL7bhk5rm_OrIsJPZuKbEnew8kXTwbDvjUgZbD">link</a>]</li>
<li>Ambika Tandon and Aayush Rathi in a research paper, <strong>“Fault lines at the Front lines”</strong> analyze the <strong>changing employment conditions for domestic workers</strong> in the growing platform economies of South and Southeast Asia. By analyzing different platform designs and comparing regulations in <strong>India, Indonesia, Pakistan and Vietnam</strong>, the authors present a thorough picture of the situation for domestic workers in the new economy. [<a href="https://4jok2.r.ag.d.sendibm3.com/mk/cl/f/kPMoaM42DpjpGxHbzGnAXycfRBu9fPzVJ6jQoyePUjDKKV9KMz8HDo8M3h5fDoOFAynoCq8ARyzHdBIkACBBy8eWHRWjcbXslejcnZZIn2LP-BsWh_Sr4FMl2AWDTQktt8tlZAZ2PcTfL_KE1sYJD1d4522v3eLvu_QUX8LCXvuznSIusIe7e_vFu3MNdylOuSIK_-L61Uin8gAEZ-eO4DDwYaE42Uc0">link</a>]</li>
<li>In a blog post published by <em>Ethical Source</em>, Ambika Tandon throws light on <strong>artificial intelligence and allied technologies</strong> that form part of <strong>Industry 4.0</strong> in the future of work. [<a href="https://4jok2.r.ag.d.sendibm3.com/mk/cl/f/Hrd-w4fWPa8ThFlmr-Zw_-LR96KsoFTBchzDQ8QwDJALcjcwz1fCn49RAws3-xmNATUZIYUaSQT4nJxodQvSgrzlzKXEOdj64Sx8aRvtkyPaolpAml7hSDcczWdPJPaZISxUxCl9S1DHnfujOulrLkdqgEf1xPsWSQk_TQZJU4dOE7Vnqm_pmCnFVs_WLo4yQ2P00Td3VYd78HikHsyLC3yqju4">link</a>]</li>
<li>Ambika Tandon and Aayush Rathi authored a chapter titled <strong>“Care in the Platform Economy: Interrogating the Digital Organisation of Domestic Work in India”</strong> in a book titled <em>“The Gig Economy: Workers and Media in the Age of Convergence.”</em> [<a href="https://4jok2.r.ag.d.sendibm3.com/mk/cl/f/-vxAl0-OSphrFabwlh8Ir2yhdE_cYeWryiSavWFOByLbxWzlndVfgl1K0awHZjD1J6LmUbu2OaoCgNKL3Dcozv_hQ9WEi1MeQdSRmT1kKProU_9fJexLKPbw80T69AfzXMtjpfX_6zYPpWohxsh1xxOwK86Vs5S_x73hOG7hhuQxFfy4VF4co0Ls2jX-Wi7-L4pf-SBVBekVFuObAI6dOsUwWyywiSYldGbFbxxPfyVegmZuKMtD4bBycNBw_B__X1IogiPK5fj0851hxFM4eo5Wl2s0dZY37-UhpKL4xS0gLZI9UozMux7JbmzM4jpZT1AAGGCNlYb4DM3_Alf0YHI1KQ">link</a>]</li>
</ol>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/march-may-2021-newsletter'>https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/march-may-2021-newsletter</a>
</p>
No publisherpranavInternet GovernanceCopyrightAccess to Knowledge2021-08-08T15:45:45ZPageStanding Committee's recommendations are at odds with Access to Knowledge
https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/standing-committees-recommendations-are-at-odds-with-access-to-knowledge
<b>The Indian Parliamentary Committee's report weighs on several aspects of the Indian IPR system and issues of protection and enforcement. This blog post summarily notes the observations and recommendations of the Committee on the Copyright Act, 1957 which stand to impact access to knowledge. The primary issue dealt with was the claim that copyright exceptions were affecting the publishing industry and authors. The recommendations include narrowing of copyright exceptions, barring digital storage and copying, promotion of libraries, and adopting the Berne Convention as the benchmark on limitations and exceptions. </b>
<p>Last week, the Rajya Sabha <strong>Parliamentary Standing Committee on Commerce</strong> (Committee) tabled its <a class="external-link" href="https://rajyasabha.nic.in/rsnew/Committee_site/Committee_File/ReportFile/13/141/161_2021_7_15.pdf">review of the IPR regime in India</a>. The Committee had initiated work in October, 2020, and during the process consulted with law firms, industry associations, and government departments.</p>
<p>The Committee agreed with the contention of the stakeholders that limitations
and exceptions contained in section 52(1) of the Copyright Act, 1957 were
having a detrimental impact on the publishing industry and authors. In addition, the Department of Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) also presented its “corrective measures” to narrow down section 52(1)(i) of the
Copyright Act – the copyright exception that had been the bone of contention in
the <a class="external-link" href="https://eifl.net/blogs/course-packs-education-ruled-legal-india">DU photocopying case</a>. They included 1) permitting only the making of print
copies of literary works which are available in libraries at government-owned
educational institutions, to “avoid any commercial gains from the work of
publishers”; 2) quantitatively restricting the reproduction (in cases of books)
to ten percent of the total number of pages of the book; and alarmingly also 3)
barring the storage of material in the form of scanned or digital formats.</p>
<div>
The Committee further expressed its concerns about the conflict between
copyright holders and educational institutions caused by section 52(1)
of the Act. Section 52(1) is the provision that contains limitations and exceptions. The Committee suggested that the protection of books and works be
balanced against public accessibility of works at an affordable rate. In its
recommendation, it directed the DPIIT to amend section 52(1) to ‘facilitate’ a
fair and equitable ecosystem of literary culture. The measures suggested are: <br /><br /></div>
<ul><li>Permitting the copying of works only in government-owned educational institutions and storing it in libraries
for easy access to students; </li><li>
Imposing
limitations on unrestricted copying of books and literary works and storage of copied
works in digital formats;</li><li>
Promotion of
establishing of community libraries and upgrading existing libraries in the country
for easy access to works of foreign publishers which are exorbitantly priced
and difficult to access;</li><li>National
Mission on Library, a venture of Central Government to strengthen the library
system, should be implemented at the earliest;</li><li>
DPIIT
to undertake a study of the Berne Convention to inform the copyright regime,
and the Berne Convention should be referred to in matters of limitations and
exceptions in the country.</li></ul>
<div> </div>
<p>Separately,
the report also makes certain recommendations in respect of registration of
copyright societies and treating internet/ digital streaming platforms as broadcasters
for purposes of section 31D license.</p>
<p>The recommendations to narrow copyright exceptions and limit digital uses of works are very concerning. It appears that the recommendations shift the financial burden of
ensuring access to educational material on public libraries, yet at the same
time, restrict the permissible uses of works in libraries.</p>
<p>Since
2020, both government and Parliament have conducted separate consultations on
the IPR regime without hearing all stakeholders. In the case of the consultation
exercise initiated by DPIIT, details still have not been made public. In the
Parliament’s case, it is concerning that key stakeholders and beneficiaries on education and research such as institutions, libraries, teachers, researchers etc. have not been consulted. Neither the substantive part nor the minutes discuss any research or evidence on the issues. As <a class="external-link" href="https://www.bloombergquint.com/law-and-policy/a-parliamentary-standing-committee-report-that-challenges-the-fine-balances-within-the-ip-system">noted </a>by
Prof. Scaria, this is hardly a balanced exercise and the report is nowhere
close to the level of rigor and depth expected from a Parliamentary Standing
Committee.</p>
<p></p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/standing-committees-recommendations-are-at-odds-with-access-to-knowledge'>https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/standing-committees-recommendations-are-at-odds-with-access-to-knowledge</a>
</p>
No publishersinhaLibrariesParliamentLimitations & ExceptionsAccess to Knowledge2021-07-28T09:31:53ZBlog EntryWIPO SCCR 41: Notes from Day 3 and Day 4
https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/wipo-sccr-41-notes-from-day-3-and-day-4-1
<b>Day 3 and 4 saw the presentation of four studies conducted by external experts on music markets in various regions in the world and one study on rights of stage directors of theatrical productions. Day 4 saw member states sharing their positions on a proposal for creation of two rights 1) rights of stage directors of stage productions and 2) public lending right.
The Chair also presented the draft summary of the session upon its conclusion, on Day 4. This blog post shares the specific text under the broadcasting and limitations and exceptions agenda items, relevant from an access to knowledge perspective.</b>
<p><span id="docs-internal-guid-87c772fa-7fff-1080-c67b-c3cde12e0f29">1. On the issue of transparency and inclusivity in informal work on the 'protection of broadcasting organisations' agenda item, that emerged on <a class="external-link" href="https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/wipo-sccr-41-notes-from-day-1">Day 1</a>, the Chair summarised:</span></p>
<p><span id="docs-internal-guid-87c772fa-7fff-1080-c67b-c3cde12e0f29">" </span><span id="docs-internal-guid-87c772fa-7fff-1080-c67b-c3cde12e0f29"><span id="docs-internal-guid-c9f5266b-7fff-0158-ea0e-f92bc8fc953c">The chair and vice chair and will take the views expressed during the session on the modalities of the informal work into consideration, including the need to uphold the principles of transparency and inclusivity."</span></span></p>
<p><span id="docs-internal-guid-87c772fa-7fff-1080-c67b-c3cde12e0f29">2. An 'information session' on impact of COVID was proposed by the Asia-pacific group on <a class="external-link" href="https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/wipo-sccr-41-notes-from-day-2">Day 2</a>, the Chair summarised:<br /></span></p>
<p><span id="docs-internal-guid-87c772fa-7fff-1080-c67b-c3cde12e0f29"></span><span id="docs-internal-guid-87c772fa-7fff-1080-c67b-c3cde12e0f29">" The Committee requested the Secretariat to organise 1/2 day information session, footnote 1, the text of the footnote is as follows. The reference to half day is based on a meeting day with two three-hour sessions, in case SCCR/42 has truncated meeting days with single daily meeting sessions of up to three hours, the information session could take place during one entire day. </span></p>
<p><span id="docs-internal-guid-87c772fa-7fff-1080-c67b-c3cde12e0f29">So, back to the sentence after the footnote. I will repeat, the Committee requested the Secretariat to organise 1/2 day information session on the topic of the impact of COVID-19 on the <strong>cultural, creative and educational ecosystem including copyright, related rights and limitations and exceptions</strong> during the week of the 42nd session of the Committee. During the session following presentations from experts, member states will have the opportunity to exchange views and experiences. This process will be guided by a holistic and balanced approach. The information session will be separated from the rest of the agenda during the 42nd session."</span></p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/wipo-sccr-41-notes-from-day-3-and-day-4-1'>https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/wipo-sccr-41-notes-from-day-3-and-day-4-1</a>
</p>
No publishersinhaBroadcast TreatyLimitations & ExceptionsAccess to KnowledgeWIPO2021-07-08T14:51:23ZBlog EntryWIPO SCCR 41: Notes from Day 2
https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/wipo-sccr-41-notes-from-day-2
<b>Member states delivered opening statements and deliberated on the scope, direction, and progress of work on the limitations and exceptions agenda. This blog post summarises positions and contentions around: 1) Information Session on impact COVID 2) Creating a binding limitations and exceptions international instrument 3) Work Plan under the L&E agenda 4) Conducting regional consultations as per the report on regional seminars and international conference on limitations and exceptions. </b>
<p>There was a strong consensus on the fact that COVID had adversely affected actors and beneficiaries involved with the copyright system, but there was less consensus on which stakeholders and beneficiaries to focus on as a priority, and which next steps and remedies should be considered. The gamut of stakeholders under the limitations and exceptions agenda item includes authors, publishers, creative cultural industries, educational and research institutions, persons with disabilities, libraries, museums, and archives, licensing societies, and users’ rights advocates.</p>
<h2>Agenda Item: Limitations and Exceptions<br /></h2>
<h3>1. Conducting an Information Session on impact of COVID <br /></h3>
<p>Bangladesh (on behalf of Asia-Pacific group) proposed an information session on the copyright framework in the format of presentations from experts and relevant stakeholders as well as exchange of views among them at the next SCCR (SCCR42) to understand the impact on COVID-19, especially as developing countries, with a view of rights, related rights and exceptions and limitations. It noted the lack of international settings that could have enabled a collaborative approach during COVID-19 to handling the impact on education, research, culture and knowledge.</p>
<p>Pakistan, Indonesia, and Iran supported the proposal. South Africa backed both the proposal and the regional consultations along with a preference for completing them in a time bound manner by the next SCCR. Belarus was in support as well.</p>
<p>Georgia (on behalf of the CEBS group) was in favour of an information session for evaluating an all-round impact of the pandemic which was not only from a limitations and exceptions viewpoint. In a similar vein, USA suggested that the information session be holistic in its framing – all parts of the copyright system should be taken into consideration. UK (on behalf of Group B) stated that it would prefer to examine a formal proposal document on such a session first, that should adopt a ‘holistic approach’.</p>
<p>Towards the end, Indonesia questioned whether the idea of a ‘holistic’ information session equally focused on rights and related rights could even be counted or considered as a next step in the limitations and exceptions (“<strong>L&E</strong>”) agenda item.</p>
<h3>2. Working towards a binding international L&E instrument <br /></h3>
<p>Georgia (on behalf of the CEBS group) stuck to its position of 1) taking an evidence-based approach on the way forward for the L&E agenda and preference to 2) exchanging national best practices instead of creating a binding treaty. Ecuador was also in favour of exchanging best practices. UK (on behalf of group B) was in favour of providing technical assistance to countries, and the EU and USA maintained their position against an international instrument.</p>
<p>Bangladesh (on behalf of Asia-Pacific group) stated that COVID had forced a rethink of role of copyright in ensuring access to educational and resource materials as well as protecting the rights of the creators of the copyrighted works, in situations such as the pandemic. The absence of an international instrument on limitations and exceptions has been widely felt in this context.</p>
<p>Pakistan stated that a baseline international instrument was necessary and would be useful for looking at one’s own national law. South Africa (on behalf of Asia-Pacific group) Indonesia reminded everyone that work under this agenda item should proceed under the 2012 mandate of developing a legal instrument on limitations and exceptions. Iran also expressed its support for a norm-setting instrument.</p>
<h3>3. Work Plan under the L&E agenda <br /></h3>
<p>South Africa said that a clear way forward for limitations and exceptions was necessary, and that way forward should not be limited to the views and steps mentioned in the <a class="external-link" href="https://www.wipo.int/meetings/en/doc_details.jsp?doc_id=515597">report on the regional seminars and international conference on limitations and exceptions ("<strong>report</strong>")</a>. It also supported the 2012 mandate on developing an international instrument on limitations and exceptions.</p>
<p>UK (on behalf of group B) stated that access to knowledge should not inhibit the remunerative rights to authors and performers. Ecuador said that it supported narrow limitations and exceptions that comply with the Berne three-step test.</p>
<p>Russia suggested the creation of a set of “general principles” underpinning this agenda item, to set a base standard agreed by everyone and begin work from that point. It noted that it was crucial to resolve the issues of cross-border sharing, legal uncertainty between countries, and digital preservation. It added that the principles could become the guiding principles for national legislation as well. <br />Pakistan, noting the COVID impact, stated that cross-border cooperation or international norm-setting could be useful. Brazil stated that there was a consensus on preservation and cross-border issues, and room for further discussions on limitations and exceptions for ‘persons with other disabilities’ under this agenda item. Chile added that international guidelines were desirable at least in the area of education, libraries, and archives.</p>
<p>In the end, Indonesia in its statement reminded everyone that there was still no concrete work plan (under this agenda) on the table. This despite the draft report indicating issues such as preservation, online uses, cross-border uses, and safe harbour as feasible for discussion on next steps. The report had also recommended formation of expert groups to study these issues further (para 400 of the report (SCCR42/2)) It added that while it was aligned to the 2012 mandate (of producing a legal instrument), the work plan could include a joint recommendation.</p>
<h3>4. Regional Consultations (as per <a class="external-link" href="https://www.wipo.int/meetings/en/doc_details.jsp?doc_id=515597">report's recommendation</a>) <br /></h3>
<p>China endorsed the regional consultation. EU supported regional consultations, noting that COVID had impacted creative cultural industries as well. Pakistan stated that it was important for the consultations to include beneficiaries of this agenda item.</p>
<p>UK (on behalf of Group B) questioned whether holding regional consultations were necessary during a pandemic, and later added that the regional consultations and information session exercises should not be executed together.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/wipo-sccr-41-notes-from-day-2'>https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/wipo-sccr-41-notes-from-day-2</a>
</p>
No publishersinhaLimitations & ExceptionsAccess to KnowledgeWIPO2021-07-08T14:55:30ZBlog EntryWIPO SCCR 41: Statement by CIS on the Protection of Broadcasting Organisations Agenda Item
https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/wipo-sccr-41-statement-by-cis
<b>Anubha Sinha delivered a statement on behalf of CIS, on day 1 of the 41st WIPO SCCR session on the Protection of Broadcasting Organisations Agenda Item.</b>
<p>Thank you, Mr. Chair.</p>
<p>I'm speaking on behalf of the Centre for Internet and Society, India.</p>
<p>In the Asia-Pacific region, where there exists a deep digital divide in many countries, radio and TV broadcasting was instrumental in meeting quality education requirements during the pandemic. It would be invaluable and forward-looking for an international broadcasting treaty to have adequate limitations and exceptions for another emergency scenario such as COVID019. I urge the Committee to deliberate more deeply on this aspect.</p>
<p>Thank you.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/wipo-sccr-41-statement-by-cis'>https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/wipo-sccr-41-statement-by-cis</a>
</p>
No publishersinhaBroadcast TreatyLimitations & ExceptionsAccess to Knowledge2021-06-29T13:19:47ZBlog EntryWIPO SCCR 41: Statement by CIS on Limitations and Exceptions Agenda Item
https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/wipo-sccr-41-statement-by-cis-on-limitations-and-exceptions-agenda-item
<b>Anubha Sinha delivered a statement on behalf of CIS, on day 2 of the 41st WIPO SCCR session, on the limitations and exceptions agenda item.</b>
<p>Thank you Mr. Chair. </p>
<p>I’m speaking on behalf of the Centre for Internet and Society, India. </p>
<p>The pandemic has hit the world hard, and developing countries even harder. The committee should urgently lead the way on developing concrete solutions in the domain of limitations and exceptions that are timely and meaningful. Useful suggestions have already been offered by member states in the nature of tools that could enhance cross-border cooperation and international norm setting. This could take the form of guidelines, model laws, and the like. </p>
<p>Further, the regional consultations should have proper representation and give proper weightage to views of beneficiaries of this agenda item. WIPO should also plan to institute measures to enable proper participation, in view of the digital divide</p>
<p dir="ltr">It should further be borne in mind that there exists wide socio-economic disparity in the region, and there has traditionally been a strong reliance by students and researchers on knowledge generated in foreign countries. Thus a lack of international harmonisation of limitations and exceptions disproportionately affects developing countries. These limitations and exceptions need to urgently address cross-border uses, online uses, and digital preservation to create the maximum developmental impact.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Thank you.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/wipo-sccr-41-statement-by-cis-on-limitations-and-exceptions-agenda-item'>https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/wipo-sccr-41-statement-by-cis-on-limitations-and-exceptions-agenda-item</a>
</p>
No publishersinhaLimitations & ExceptionsAccess to KnowledgeWIPO2021-06-29T13:20:59ZBlog EntryA Comparative Study of Article Creation Campaigns on Wikipedia - Part II
https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/a-comparative-study-of-wikimedia-article-creation-campaigns-in-india-part-ii
<b>This is a short report on a comparative analysis of two prominent Wikimedia initiatives, Wikipedia Asian Month and Project Tiger, to understand prevailing challenges and opportunities, and strategies to address the same. The report has been authored by Nitesh Gill with inputs from Suswetha Kolluru, and editorial oversight and support by Puthiya Purayil Sneha. This is part of a series of short-term studies undertaken by the CIS-A2K team in 2019–2020. </b>
<p class="discreet"><a class="external-link" href="https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/a-comparative-study-of-wikimedia-article-creation-campaigns-in-india">Part </a>I of this report outlined the research questions and methods of this study. Part II presents some of the observations and learnings. </p>
<h3>Observations and Analysis</h3>
<p>Wikipedia Asian Month and Project Tiger are pilot projects and both are equally popular among Indian communities. They are similar projects but also have some unique aspects. Communities connect with each-other but in different ways. For example, as noted by an organiser, Sailesh Patnaik, WAM has the following objectives: “ a) Supporting Small Wikipedia communities around the world (majorly Asian Language Wikipedias) b) Providing support to small local communities, to encourage growth and development c)Increase the cooperation among the Wikimedia communities and affiliates in Asia, d)Enriching Asian related culture, content, and enjoyment on Wikimedia projects.”</p>
<p>Meenakshi Nandini, a Malaylam Wikimedian notes, “The Project Tiger contest gave me some best experiences. Through this project, I got support in the form of laptop and Internet access. That is very useful for me. In my view, it is a competition between the communities rather than individuals. I saw that participants wrote more articles in the Project tiger contest than in any other events.But, WAM helped to create more relevant and high-quality content than Project tiger.”</p>
<p>Some common aspects for the both projects are below:</p>
<h3>Motivation</h3>
<p dir="ltr">WAM is one of the initial projects to give a boost to volunteers across the world. Most of the editors are focussed on initiatives in their own languages, and WAM offered a common platform for Asian communities to work together on a project. According to the interviews of community members, the love for their languages inspired them to participate as well as create content in regional languages, communicate to other community members etc. </p>
<p dir="ltr">As community member SangappaDyamani notes , “To enrich Kannada wiki articles, [I’m] happy to represent kn wiki in such an event, we can meet new editors, learn new tech used in other wiki etc.” </p>
<p dir="ltr">Communities or community members began to take part in WAM when they had less opportunities or less ideas to grow their local Wikipedias. After this project began, communities or individuals have been motivated for their Wikipedia’s growth, and engaging more with regional languages and knowing about Asia or Asian culture. Many Indic languages were searching for a platform and WAM gave them a common platform to engage and create content in their regional languages. All interviews indicated the same point that it was a new idea and as every Indic language was developing at the time, this idea influenced most of the languages.</p>
<p dir="ltr">As community member, Ramajit Tudu observes, “As our Santali Wikipedia [went live], we all had lots of excitement to cover all types of the article[s] but prior to that we had articles on the regional topic only. At that time some of the other community members suggested we should take part in this editathon (WAM) and we felt It was a very nice campaign, it is an exchange and sharing of information among the Wikipedians of Asia. Knowing about the person, place and subject about your own continent other than your own country and putting them in your own language is always an interesting job. In the year 2018, I was one of the coordinators and Jury for WAM - Santali language. As our community was growing in the year 2019 others were the co-ordinator and jury but still, I had contributed by participating in the editathon. Besides these, I support the editathon by creating the project page in Santali language.”</p>
<p dir="ltr"> Similarly,there are quite a number of motivational factors for volunteers who have been actively participating in Project Tiger. Firstly, it gives an opportunity to create several important and relevant articles that relate to their language Wikipedia that are presently missing. Secondly, in order to keep up the momentum among participants throughout the competition, it is designed in two phases and there is friendly competition between all the Indic communities that participated to secure the top position. The third and final motivational factor is cash prizes, in the form of Amazon vouchers, for top 3 individual contributors from each community and a three day <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Project_Tiger_Training_2018">offline Wiki workshop</a> for all the active and major contributors from top performing communities.</p>
<p dir="ltr">“When it comes to a competition (between communities), there is a different kind of zeal and there are cash prizes too for extra motivation” says User:Jagmit Brar from the Punjabi community who created more than 1000 articles under Project Tiger in both the iterations.</p>
<p dir="ltr">These motivation factors have definitely been a major reason why the contest witnessed immense engagement and reach among the Indian communities. </p>
<h3><br /></h3>
<h3>Communication and Collaboration</h3>
<p dir="ltr">Communication is an important aspect of running these long duration editathons. So, the model is to engage local organizers and participants with early invitations. The team started contacting Asian communities a month before the start of the campaign. </p>
<p dir="ltr">According to Rupika, the Communication and Media officer of WAM “One of the most difficult things about any project is when it is a new project and they are just trying to [let the] community know about the project. But for projects that are popular and well-established like Wikipedia Asian Month and Wiki Loves Monuments, they don’t have to work that much hard. But we do make sure that our efforts with local organisers are complete. So, we ask them to create a page a month or two before that project starts.” </p>
<p dir="ltr">The discussion started from the mailing lists. Thereafter, mass messages were dropped on all the village pumps and local organisers started discussion with their community members. A new meta page was designed for every iteration. After the notifying and instructions, interested communities add their names and make sure to participate in this project. The model of engaging the communities is through social media channels, emails or on-wiki. The central-notice is a more beneficial method for informing Wikimedia about WAM and also writing blogs for the updates on progress of the project. </p>
<p dir="ltr">Also Wikipedia Asian Month’s primary objective was to collaborate with all the Asian countries as well as others to increase content related to Asia on Wikipedia. It started after a proper discussion and this collaboration was a huge experiment for organisers as well editors. The volunteers interviewed in the course of this study expressed that they are glad with the collaboration of different communities across the world on this campaign.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Collaboration is one of the main features which defines the objective of WAM. It helps the small communities to grow systematically and do something for their regional Wikipedias and learn from other international and national communities.WAM started with 40 plus communities and at present, the number of participating communities is over 70 due to its collaborative nature. Through its five iterations, many Wikipedia communities have been linked to each other and know about each other’s histories and culture etc. ‘Mourya Biswas, a Bengali wikimedian notes’, “Personally, organising WAM was a great deal of a learning experience as well with regard to how to go about organising an editathon with so many people contributing from across different parts of the world. I had hitherto very little experience on organising online editathons. A few tools were absolutely new to me. In the subsequent editathons that I have organised since then, I've learnt to use a few tools to coordinate, support and manage the editathon even more efficiently.”</p>
<p dir="ltr">Similarly communication engagement is an effective step of Project Tiger as well. Organisers announce the project on India mailing list then approach communities via village pumps so that they are aware of when the project will commence. Communities remain engaged with the project till three months. The communication channels include social media, emails and phone-calls. Jury members regularly remain in touch with organisers. Editors also communicate regularly with recipients of hardware support. </p>
<p dir="ltr">Project Tiger, as a contest, needs collaborative efforts in order to be a successful engagement with the communities, and the emphasis was on regular communication and discussions that resulted in strengthening the community further.</p>
<p dir="ltr">“We had Whatsapp groups with all the volunteers participating in the contest to strategise, resolve doubts, share ideas in order to create as many good quality articles as possible”, observes User:Parvathi Sridharan from Tamil Wiki community.</p>
<p dir="ltr">This contest/project not only saw engaging participation from existing and experienced volunteers, but also from many new ones. This contest has paved a way for new and enthusiastic people who were interested in contributing to Wikipedia. One way this happened is also through offline Wiki workshops conducted as part of outreach.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;" dir="ltr">“This contest was a good chance to show how people in India are improving the access to knowledge across India and to the world. Many communities which were unnoticed came out during this PT writing contest and showed their community strength.” notes User:Gnoeee, from the Malayalam community who had contributed to English and Malayalam Wikipedia during Project Tiger 1.0</p>
<h3><br /></h3>
<h3>Culture</h3>
<p>WAM encourages cultural exchange by mediating online connections between communities and helping them learn about unique aspects of their respective countries and languages. During this project, Asian communities generate articles/content on their local Wikipedias, and also have an opportunity to find their cultural interests and ways to understand other cultures.</p>
<p>As noted by Saliesh Patnaik, an Odia Wikipedian who is also the social media head for WAM, “This project also encourages cultural exchange within the community with the help of a month-long edit-a-thon which promotes the creation or improvement of the Wikipedia content about Asia except for their (the participant’s) own country.” </p>
<p dir="ltr">“Wikipedia Asian Month is the one of the first kinds of campaigns not just in Asia but in the entire movement to involve so many small communities in this wide level. That individually has allowed so many different communities to grow and help them to learn how to systematically and structurally work together. Project Tiger and other contests came [in the later stages] which really got communities involved. But when WAM started in 2015 it was the first contest where people participated internationally.” The editors’ enthusiasm towards WAM proves that they are interested in creating content across cultures and establishing their links with other non-Indian communities. </p>
<p>Just like WAM, Project Tiger also encourages cultural exchange and bridging cultural gaps. Through this project, Indic communities got a platform to connect with each other. During this contest, communities generate their own regional list regarding important articles for their local Wikipedias. Communities have the opportunity to contact other fellow Wikimedians from Indic languages. They talked to each other through existing groups to solve their issues which they faced during the contest. </p>
<p>During the training period for the winner and runner up community, there was a possibility to exchange their thoughts and ideas. Due to that on-ground activity, Wikimedians played their roles enthusiastically and got more motivated with other stories, experiences and cultural aspects like cuisine. This is the way cultural exchange happened via Project Tiger.</p>
<p><strong><br /></strong></p>
<h3>Grant Process</h3>
<p>While projects under the Wikimedia movement are primarily run on the strength and interests of its volunteer community, there are specific aspects which require funding and support from collaborators such as the Wikimedia Foundation (WMF). For major events, the Wikimedia project needs a grant, depending on time duration and objectives. Similarly, WAM, while not being a very high budget event, is supported by a <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Project/Rapid">rapid grant</a> from the foundation. This rapid grant supports the work on purchasing and sending postcards, certificates, T-shirts, stickers & pins, advertisements on social media (Facebook, Twitter), infrastructure (AirTable membership, G-Suite subscription, etc.), <a href="https://asianmonth.wiki/">domain</a>, and the time of volunteers who are engaged in this work. </p>
<p>For Project Tiger, CIS-A2K gets a grant from the Wikimedia Foundation. Selected applicants from any Indic language get hardware support which covers chromebooks/laptops and internet connectivity. Apart from it, during the contest Amazon vouchers were also given to the participants from each community who got the 1st, 2nd and 3rd rank for all the three months. These prizes are fixed for every month. There are also prizes for an overall winner community, and a runner up, which is in the form of a training session after the writing contest. </p>
<h3><br /></h3>
<h3>Appreciation</h3>
<p dir="ltr">A token of appreciation is provided to participants, which is important to aid efforts. Under WAM, this appreciation is divided into two parts : Postcards & Certificates and Brand Ambassador. Postcards are given to those participants who created at least five articles about an Asian country. The postcards are sent by the same countries in appreciation of the contributors’ participation. This is a way to encourage new leadership and new editors. Certificates are also part of this appreciation, as a recognition of active participation and the importance of their work. As Aliva Sahoo, Odia Wikimedia, notes “When I wrote articles in 2016 I created a good number of articles. And that time I was happier because I got 4 or 5 postcards from different countries. My other community members also received postcards. That time I felt motivated to get postcards and I decided to create more articles next time and will collect more postcards. I think this kind of appreciation encourages volunteers and makes them happy.</p>
<p dir="ltr"><span style="text-align: center;">The second form of appreciation is the Wikipedia Asian Month Ambassador. This is an honour from WAM to a Wikipedian who creates the most number of articles on their respective Wikipedia. In every iteration of WAM, ambassadors are chosen depending on the number and quality of contributions. By adding an element of competition, and using a title that does not suggest the same, the ambassador initiative plays a very important role in the event to enable more contributions. In the end, we have Wikipedians who are willing to receive other postcards by contributing 30-50 articles (relatively high quality according to our rules), which makes this event very successful and effective” Rupika Sharma, notes.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr">In Project Tiger as well, as a token of appreciation to all the top performing participants, prizes were given to the top 3 editors who created the most number of articles from each community, every month in the 3 month contest. Appreciation was given in the form of a cash prize during the first iteration of the Project. After receiving a lot of feedback about this, gift vouchers are given in the second iteration instead of cash prizes.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Apart from this, merchandise such as stickers and t-shirts to other top contributors is also a practice that’s followed. The overall winner, runner up communities and few other top contributors and juries from remaining communities later attend a three day workshop as part of the Project Tiger community prize, on the topics of their preference. </p>
<h3><br /></h3>
<h3>Fountain tool</h3>
<p dir="ltr">The Fountain tool was developed for reviewing the articles of Wikipedia Asian Month, and is used only when the contests are running. “I made the first prototype during the first Wikipedia Asian Month in 2015. We, the jury members, were flooded with articles that needed to be evaluated fairly quickly and so I thought that I can automate 90% of the jury workflow” notes fountain tool developer Le Loy. In this tool, bytes and words are fixed according to the project. For example, in the Wikipedia Asia Month a minimum of 3000 bytes are fixed as per the criteria of evaluation for WAM. This is therefore a useful tool for the contests. It is a tool which helps a lot to collect statistics of specific projects on Wikipedia. After talking to Le Loy, we can reach the conclusion that the tool is not limited to a particular language, and it can be used for any kind of event on Wikipedia. </p>
<p dir="ltr">Project Tiger also uses the Fountain tool to review articles submitted in this contest. It was easy for the participants to submit the articles and also for the jury to pick up an unreviewed article and review it based on the number of bytes, or if the article was actually submitted in the time period mentioned in the contest rules and so on. This tool has definitely made the jury process more efficient and smooth.</p>
<p dir="ltr"> </p>
<h3>Diversity and Bridging gaps</h3>
<p dir="ltr">Cultural diversity is an important aspect of the sustenance of the Wikimedia movement itself, and bridging different cultural gaps is an important aspect of this effort. </p>
<p dir="ltr">After checking all past statistics of WAM, we found that WAM focused on content related to Asia only but it didn't pay much attention to content by and about persons across diverse gender and sexual identities, including marginalised groups. Sailesh Patnaik & Rupika Shrama, WAM organiser notes that there have been some efforts in this area, saying “We work with more than 50 different language communities on Wikipedia, and have also collaborated with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Women_in_Red">Women in Red</a> to bridge the gender gap in our projects.” There is however a need for ongoing work in this space. </p>
<p dir="ltr">Project Tiger has its own strategy behind diversity and bridging gaps. Both events maintain their diversity as per required rules and areas. One of the major reasons why volunteers find a hindrance in dedicating time for Wikimedia and its projects is the lack of facilities like a laptop or even a proper internet connection. This is why laptops and internet stipends provided during the first phase of the contest have a monumental effect on the contest and also in contributions to not just Project Tiger, but also many other Wiki projects in general. Several volunteers contribute articles via mobile phones in spite of the difficult/complex editing environment. Without this support, there is a chance that Wikipedia can lose some of its most promising volunteers.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Project Tiger also tries to bridge a gender gap. For example, the criteria for hardware support also includes ensuring a certain percentage of women applicants are selected. The coordinators have also tried to specifically engage women participants during the contest. Before opening the applications for hardware support, PT core team set criteria for eligibility. On the other hand, one rule always highlighted that 33% women can get laptop or internet connectivity due to their past contribution. This is an effort to engage women in the Wikimedia movement. </p>
<p><strong><br /></strong></p>
<h3><span style="text-align: justify;">Limitations and Barriers </span></h3>
<p style="text-align: justify;" dir="ltr">Despite the success of these long running programmes, its true that there still remain some barriers and limitations, as illustrated below: </p>
<p><span style="text-align: justify;">Wikipedia Asian Month</span></p>
<ul><li style="list-style-type: disc;" dir="ltr">
<p style="text-align: justify;" dir="ltr">WAM has largely remained a stable programme, but it would be a good thing to see how new aspects could be introduced in the programme. The process is the same every year because after finishing the first iteration the core team didn’t take any feedback, suggestions or concerns from the individuals for the next step, which is a major barrier to growing and planning something new for the next level. As Odia Wikimedian Aliva Sahoo notes, “From 2016 to 2019, WAM was the same and there was nothing new, but I am not sure if during 2020, they changed something because I didn’t participate this year.” According to participant’s comments or WAM rules & guidelines changes in the structure could be introduced. “When the same project is happening again and again then the novelty will reduce. We should make some changes from time to time to engage the people” notes Punjabi Wikimedian, Satdeep Gill.</p>
</li><li style="list-style-type: disc;" dir="ltr">
<p style="text-align: justify;" dir="ltr">The project actively makes an effort in trying to work with more communities every year but also collaborate with other projects such as Women in Red, which is aimed at creating more content by and about women. WAM itself has not been able to promote women leaders and women content as well due to its design which focuses on promoting content. </p>
</li><li style="list-style-type: disc;" dir="ltr">
<p style="text-align: justify;" dir="ltr">Follow-up on receipt of appreciation postcards etc. should be done diligently.There have also been instances where appreciation postcards have been delayed or not sent which affects the motivations of contributors in engaging with the project further. A few contributors did not receive their appreciation from senders, which has led to some negativity. At least after two iterations of any project, contributors or Wiki projects demand for something new. For example, during the beginning of the project, participants got the Wikipedia Asian Month ambassador tags and that was an honour for them. But volunteers seem to be looking for a change and they want to look forward to the project. A Malayalm Wikimedian, Meenakshi Nandini, noted, “However the prizes are not getting to most of the participants, especially the WAM prizes. Even me also didn’t receive most of the event prizes. So we couldn’t tell the participants that you will definitely get these prizes. I won two times as a "Wikipedia Asian Ambassador". But is there any importance or benefit for that honor?”</p>
</li><li style="list-style-type: disc;" dir="ltr">
<p style="text-align: justify;" dir="ltr">During the WAM, the focus was only on article creation but not on the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Content_assessment">quality of articles</a>. It is important therefore to accord more attention to the quality of the content being created, which would help in the long-term sustenance of the project and is better aligned with the larger objectives of the movement. </p>
</li></ul>
<p><span style="text-align: justify;"><br /></span></p>
<h3><span style="text-align: justify;">Project Tiger</span></h3>
<ul><li style="list-style-type: disc;" dir="ltr">
<p style="text-align: justify;" dir="ltr">Project Tiger happened only in two iterations, but has its limitations and challenges as well. The participants or volunteers who participated in Project Tiger had some concerns on the Google article lists. Contributors felt Google should suggest only those articles which are important for their Wikipedias as priority. The PT core team was not properly able to convince participants as to why the Google list is important and editors were also not fully aware of the same, which led to some mismatch in expectations from the project.</p>
</li><li style="list-style-type: disc;" dir="ltr">
<p style="text-align: justify;" dir="ltr">Due to hardware support and gift vouchers, most participants are motivated to contribute more, But on the other hand, it changes the whole process of contribution in the Wikimedia movement. Cash prizes or gift vouchers showed a less than satisfactory result, thereby leading to a rethinking of how best to motivate contributors.. But for a few editors hardware support and prizes are a lot. A few users who were editing from phones got laptops just because of the project which has helped their contributions. </p>
</li><li style="list-style-type: disc;" dir="ltr">
<p style="text-align: justify;" dir="ltr">The manner of addressing the gender gap in the project has also been a point of contention. The possibility is, some participants feel that women only get laptops or internet support due to their gender identity. The process of such quotas may be debatable going forward, and so a clear rationale and process may be developed to encourage participation by women and individuals across the spectrum of gender and sexual identities. </p>
</li><li style="list-style-type: disc;" dir="ltr">
<p style="text-align: justify;" dir="ltr">One major concern from jury members was that participants did not work on quality but quantity. Reviewers and readers are facing problems with machine translated articles submitted during Project Tiger. The PT team tried to solve the issue of quality during the second iteration, but did not work well, and jury members faced the same difficulty this time as well. </p>
</li><li style="list-style-type: disc;" dir="ltr">
<p style="text-align: justify;" dir="ltr">A common challenge noted by Satdeep Gill (for both projects) is that “Contributors focus mainly on increasing the article count and the maintenance work lags behind. We need to focus on this as well.”</p>
</li></ul>
<h3><strong><br /></strong>Learnings</h3>
<p>Both projects have had more than one iteration so far, and have managed to create interest and engagement within Indian language communities in working collaboratively and building content. They have also had a fair number of challenges and limitations as well, as illustrated by the interviews. For instance, there has been a difficulty in measuring the quality of articles, the way that quantity is tracked. So there is a need to develop metrics to capture and work on quality of content. A related point is with reference to a lack of capacity building within communities, which would enable them to collaborate and contribute better. There have also been some challenges with logistics, and ensuring that participants receive their prizes during Wikipedia Asian Month. This would need more communication and careful coordination of efforts. There is also a need to keep participants engaged over a long time, and repeating the same structure of the project every year may also lead to a lack of interest or innovation. The project actively makes an effort in trying to work with more communities every year but also collaborate with other projects such as Women in Red, which is aimed at creating more content by and about women. WAM itself has not been able to promote women leaders and women content as well due to its design which focuses on promoting content. The projects therefore need to work in a progressive manner, building on feedback from participants and adapting to the evolving needs and interests of the communities. </p>
<p>These difficulties are also faced by Project Tiger. Google should focus on lists according to the needs of communities, in discussion with the PT team.For example, the core team should track volunteers' contributions after getting the support because anyone can make 500 or 1000 edits for getting a laptop. The core team should find people from the communities who need this support and will contribute proactively. Project Tiger’s process transparency is appreciated, but with the same transparency the infrastructure distribution process should be different from now. Also it should encourage or discuss with communities about proactive women’s participation during the project. PT should run a Bridging Gender Gap campaign, where communities should play a role to engage women as organisers from each community and should make a strategy for the same. This project needs to work on a strategy for building and sustaining quality as well which is important for growth of Indic Wikipedias.</p>
<p><span style="text-align: justify;">So, not every project is perfect, every project has some achievements and some limitations. Therefore, WAM and Project Tiger are also the same, it achieves its goals but also carries some failures. But there is a possibility to make changes to both projects.</span></p>
<p><strong><br /></strong></p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify;">Conclusion </h3>
<p style="text-align: justify;" dir="ltr">Wikipedia Asian Month is an International project which started in 2015. It is a low budget project, and gives a common platform to Asian as well as Non-Asian communities to participate over the course of a month. When WAM started most of the communities were excited to do something for their languages, and this was a big initial motivation for the project. The communities want to continue with WAM because they feel like this is one of the projects which started at that time when communities wanted something to engage themselves with Wikipedias. Every year most of the communities participate in it for sure, although the people who work on the projects may differ. Project Tiger is a pilot project which is a three-month-long contest. This project provides an opportunity to communities to work together. After the success of the Indic languages contest [Project Tiger] in 2018, two more countries, (<a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Proyek_Saraswati/Kompetisi">Project Saraswati</a> and <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Project_GLOW/Project_Al-Ma%27refa">Project Al-Ma'refa</a>), also organised a similar project under different names. Due to Project Tiger, thousands of articles were created or developed by volunteers about important, most searched for topics suggested by Google, as well as those important to respective Indic language Wikipedias. Infra-structure support pays attention to volunteers' hard work and encourages them to work to share free knowledge. These projects therefore go a long way in enriching local language content, and keeping volunteer communities interested and engaged with their respective Wikipedias. </p>
<p style="text-align: justify;" dir="ltr">You may also read the full report on Wikimedia Meta-Wiki<a class="external-link" href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Research:A_Comparative_Analysis_of_Article_Creation_Campaigns_on_Wikipedia"> here. </a></p>
<p><strong><br /><br /></strong></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;" dir="ltr"> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/a-comparative-study-of-wikimedia-article-creation-campaigns-in-india-part-ii'>https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/a-comparative-study-of-wikimedia-article-creation-campaigns-in-india-part-ii</a>
</p>
No publishersneha-ppA2K ResearchAccess to Knowledge2021-06-11T10:54:37ZBlog EntryUpdate on Publisher’s Copyright Infringement Suit Against Sci-Hub and LibGen in India
https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/update-on-publisher2019s-copyright-infringement-suit-against-sci-hub-and-libgen-in-india
<b>Anubha Sinha provides a summary of the progress of the copyright infringement suit against Sci-Hub and LibGen in India. This article was first published in InfoJustice on March 8, 2021. </b>
<p>This blog post is an update on the copyright infringement suit filed
against Sci-Hub and LibGen in the Delhi High Court by Elsevier Ltd,
Wiley India, and American Chemical Society.</p>
<p>In the first hearing in December, while the court ordered Sci-Hub to
stop making new unauthorised uploads of the publishers’ content, it
allowed the existing links to stay on, noting it was not urgent to
remove content relating to decade-long infringing activity. LibGen did
not appear before the court.</p>
<p>Indian science and academia realise that their right to research is
at stake. In January, several Indian scientists and advocacy
organisations applied to intervene in the case, to persuade the court to
not issue an interim or permanent injunction for dynamic blocking of
the websites.</p>
<p><a href="https://twitter.com/rsidd120/status/1347227162395303939">One</a>
of the written submissions (filed by twenty scientists and a public
health advocacy organisation) states that the two websites are the <em>only</em>
access to educational and research materials for a big community of
Indian researchers, scientists, teachers and students. And these have
become indispensable during the pandemic.</p>
<p>This submission also highlights the position of leading science academies in the country – who in 2019 had <a href="http://www.insaindia.res.in/pdf/Publication_of_Literature.pdf">advocated</a>
for making public-funded research openly accessible, as well as
recognition of the affordability and availability problem in India’s <a href="https://science.thewire.in/the-sciences/the-sti-policy-proposes-a-transformative-open-access-approach-for-india/">current draft</a>
science, innovation, and technology policy. It shares analyses of the
monopolistic barriers in academic publishing and extractive pricing, and
their crippling impact in the Indian context.</p>
<p>They further argue that since the use of the websites is for
research, which expressly falls within the ambit of statutory fair
dealing, the charge of copyright infringement is not sustained. Nor have
the publishers shown that Sci-Hub or LibGen users exploit the material
for commercial gains. Additional legal support has been drawn from the
DU photocopying judgment, Article 8(1) of the TRIPS Agreement, and
jurisprudence around website-blocking in India.</p>
<p>In the hearing that followed, the judge noted that the issues in the
case were ‘a matter of public importance’; hence, the court would hear
all interested parties before issuing any new orders. LibGen still
remained unrepresented, with the court noting that it had not been
served properly yet.</p>
<p>At the time of writing this, Sci-Hub had filed its written statement
(not publicly accessible yet). Alexandra Elbakyan has separately shared
some thoughts on the case in an interview <a href="https://science.thewire.in/the-sciences/interview-alexandra-elbakyan-sci-hub-elsevier-academic-publishing-open-access/">here</a>.</p>
<p>Given the gamut of contentions, the case judgment will have
implications for Indian copyright aspects such as: meaning of the
statutory exemption for research and scope of fair dealing, and bar on
circumventing technological protection measures – all while having to
toe the WIPO Internet treaties, Berne Convention, and the TRIPS
Agreement. Hopefully, these will be grounded in reflections on
exploitative state of academic publishing system, duties of academic
publishers, and distinction between piracy and sharing online.</p>
<p>The judgment will add to the state of our learning and research
needs, and how copyright policy can support that, as this is the first
time Sci-Hub and LibGen have been taken to court in a developing
country.</p>
<p><em>Note:</em> For an in-depth analysis of the social dimensions of the matter, please read this <a href="https://osf.io/6yph7/">document</a> prepared by Like-Minded IP Teachers’ Working Group on Intellectual Property and Public Interest.</p>
<p>Access the article on InfoJustice <a class="external-link" href="http://infojustice.org/archives/42977">here</a>.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/update-on-publisher2019s-copyright-infringement-suit-against-sci-hub-and-libgen-in-india'>https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/update-on-publisher2019s-copyright-infringement-suit-against-sci-hub-and-libgen-in-india</a>
</p>
No publishersinhaLimitations & ExceptionsCopyrightAccess to KnowledgeCourt Case2021-04-28T17:28:47ZBlog Entry