The Centre for Internet and Society
https://cis-india.org
These are the search results for the query, showing results 41 to 55.
Orientation Program at Kannada University, Hampi
https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/orientation-program-at-kannada-university-hampi
<b>A Kannada Wikipedia Orientation Program was conducted at Kannada University Hampi on 31 August and 1 September 2017.</b>
<p>A Kannada Wikipedia orientation program was conducted at the Kannada University in Hampi recently wherein the participants where introduced to the various Wikimedia projects in Kannada. The participants were doctoral research students of the Dravida Samskruti Adhyayana Kendra of which 5 were male and 1 female.</p>
<p>Working on Wiktionary, the students added 3300 words to their sandboxes, which will be moved to the main space on Wiktionary.</p>
<p>The meta page of the event can be found <a class="external-link" href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/CIS-A2K/Events/Kannada_University_Hampi_Orientation_Program">here</a>.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/orientation-program-at-kannada-university-hampi'>https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/orientation-program-at-kannada-university-hampi</a>
</p>
No publisherGopalakrishna A.CIS-A2KAccess to KnowledgeWikimediaWikipediaOpennessKannada Wikipedia2017-10-24T13:01:25ZBlog EntryMarathi Wikipedia Workshop at MGM Trust's College of Journalism and Mass Communication, Aurangabad
https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/marathi-wikipedia-workshop-at-mgm-trusts-college-of-journalism-and-mass-communication-aurangabad
<b>A Marathi Wikipedia Workshop was recently held at the MGM Trust's College of Journalism and Mass Communication on 11 August 2017.</b>
<p>A Marathi Wikipedia workshop was recently conducted at the MGM Trust's College of Journalism and Mass Communication at Aurangabad. The workshop aimed to introduced Marathi Wikipedia to the students of the college and equip them with the process of editing the same. The workshop was attended by 10 female participants and 15 male participants. </p>
<p>"It was happiest moment for me, when I created new article on Pashmi, [a] species of dog. I added [an] image also." says Shivani Joshi a participant at the workshop. While 21 new editors were introduced to Wikipedia, 60 articles were improved and 15 images added. Another participant, Randhir Patil who added content on water-related articles says, "This content can be used as training material by field workers.</p>
<p>The meta page of the event can be found <a class="external-link" href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Marathi_Wikipedia_Workshop_at_MGM_Trust%27s_College_of_Journalism_and_Mass_Communication,_Aurangabad,_Maharashtra,_India">here</a>.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/marathi-wikipedia-workshop-at-mgm-trusts-college-of-journalism-and-mass-communication-aurangabad'>https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/marathi-wikipedia-workshop-at-mgm-trusts-college-of-journalism-and-mass-communication-aurangabad</a>
</p>
No publisherSubodh KulkarniCIS-A2KAccess to KnowledgeWikimediaWikipediaMarathi WikipediaOpenness2017-10-24T13:18:41ZBlog EntryMarathi Wikipedia - Vishwakosh Workshop for Science writers in IUCAA, Pune
https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/marathi-wikipedia-vishwakosh-workshop-for-science-writers-in-iucaa-pune
<b></b>
<p>A day-long workshop was organised for science writers at [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inter-University_Centre_for_Astronomy_and_Astrophysics Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics], Pune on 7 October, 2017. Eminent astrophysicist-mathematician couple
<span class="" id="text-1">
<a class="link-wiki-add" title="Click to add a new page" href="https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/marathi-wikipedia-vishwakosh-workshop-for-science-writers-in-iucaa-pune/@@wickedadd?Title=en:Jayant Narlikar|Jayant&section=text">
en:Jayant Narlikar|Jayant<sup>[+]</sup></a>
</span>
and
<span class="" id="text-2">
<a class="link-wiki-add" title="Click to add a new page" href="https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/marathi-wikipedia-vishwakosh-workshop-for-science-writers-in-iucaa-pune/@@wickedadd?Title=en:Mangala Narlikar|Mangala Narlikar&section=text">
en:Mangala Narlikar|Mangala Narlikar<sup>[+]</sup></a>
</span>
, and renowned ecologist
<span class="" id="text-3">
<a class="link-wiki-add" title="Click to add a new page" href="https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/marathi-wikipedia-vishwakosh-workshop-for-science-writers-in-iucaa-pune/@@wickedadd?Title=en:Madhav Gadgil|Madhav Gadgil&section=text">
en:Madhav Gadgil|Madhav Gadgil<sup>[+]</sup></a>
</span>
were among the dignitaries present at the event.</p>
<p>The workshop was planned in three sessions. Presentations and discussions were conducted in first session, while second session was focused on actual editing demonstrations on Wikipedia. In the same session the new websites based on different subjects developed by Marathi Vishwakosh were presented. The process of content contribution in text, images, audio and video forms was explained in this session. The third session was to explore networking with Dyanmandals formed by
<span class="" id="text-4">
<a class="link-wiki-add" title="Click to add a new page" href="https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/marathi-wikipedia-vishwakosh-workshop-for-science-writers-in-iucaa-pune/@@wickedadd?Title=:en:Marathi Vishwakosh|Marathi Vishwakosh Nirmiti Mandal&section=text">
:en:Marathi Vishwakosh|Marathi Vishwakosh Nirmiti Mandal<sup>[+]</sup></a>
</span>
. Insisting the expertise of invited authors to contribute the articles in their own chosen fields in a well-structured format, this session will not only train the authors in content generation but also make them understand the expectations of laymen and common readers.</p>
<p>The mete page of the event is <a class="external-link" href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Marathi_Wikipedia_-_Vishwakosh_Workshop_for_Science_writers_in_IUCAA,_Pune">here</a>.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/marathi-wikipedia-vishwakosh-workshop-for-science-writers-in-iucaa-pune'>https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/marathi-wikipedia-vishwakosh-workshop-for-science-writers-in-iucaa-pune</a>
</p>
No publishermanasaraoCIS-A2KAccess to KnowledgeWikimediaWikipediaMarathi WikipediaOpenness2017-12-20T02:42:39ZBlog EntryPraja - Enhancing Democracy Through Access to Open Data: What Are the Roles of Government and Civil Society? (Delhi, Sep 08)
https://cis-india.org/openness/news/praja-enhancing-democracy-through-access-to-open-data-what-are-the-roles-of-government-and-civil-society-delhi-sep-08
<b> Open Government Data (OGD) is widely seen to be a key hallmark of contemporary democratic practice and is often linked to the passing of freedom of information legislation. OGD is a philosophy—and increasingly a set of policies—that promotes transparency, accountability and value creation by making government data available to all. Public bodies produce and commission huge quantities of data and information. By making their datasets available, public institutions become more transparent and accountable to citizens. By encouraging the use, reuse and free distribution of datasets, governments promote business creation and innovative, citizen-centric services. Praja is organising a symposium on "open data and civil society" on Friday, Sep 8, which is supported by European Union and Friedrich Naumann Stiftung fur die Freiheit. Sumandro Chattapadhyay (Research Director) will take part in this event as a speaker in the session on "data centric approach and role of stakeholders in the urban governance ecosystem."</b>
<p> </p>
<h4>Details</h4>
<p><strong>Date:</strong> Friday, September 08 2017, 9:30 am - 5:00 pm</p>
<p><strong>Venue:</strong> Juniper Hall, India Habitat Centre (Entry from Gate 1)</p>
<p><strong>Invitees:</strong> Government representatives, elected representatives, civil society organisation and media representatives.</p>
<p><strong>Event Page:</strong> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/126667714642843/?ref=br_rs">Facebook</a></p>
<h4>Objectives</h4>
<ul><li>To study the intersectionality between transparency, accountability and consumption of data by stakeholders.</li>
<li>To explore opportunities for the civil society to simplify governance through access to data, privacy of stakeholders and to address challenges faced in data collection and analysis.</li></ul>
<h4>Outcomes</h4>
<p>The takeaway from the seminar should be to develop the idea of achieving data literacy. The presenters after a detailed interaction should take away the following from the event:</p>
<ul><li>Reflections on the use of Internet and technology as tools for better governance</li>
<li>Balance the development of open data and the strategies to use this data in terms of ownership and replication of data</li>
<li>Identify data sets which should be prioritised for release in order to maximise public value</li>
<li>Data Accessibility: Capitalize on the demand for democracy and transparency by making open data more accessible to the larger public</li></ul>
<h4>Sessions</h4>
<p>Through sessions, the aim is to specifically investigate the role of civil society and media in this effort. The participants will deliberate on the above-mentioned objectives of the seminar.</p>
<p><strong>Session I:</strong> Praja Foundation Website Launch</p>
<p><strong>Session II:</strong> Data centric approach and role of stakeholders in the urban governance ecosystem</p>
<p><strong>Session III:</strong> Open data-experiences; trends, challenges and opportunities, relationship between governance and data</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/openness/news/praja-enhancing-democracy-through-access-to-open-data-what-are-the-roles-of-government-and-civil-society-delhi-sep-08'>https://cis-india.org/openness/news/praja-enhancing-democracy-through-access-to-open-data-what-are-the-roles-of-government-and-civil-society-delhi-sep-08</a>
</p>
No publishersumandroOpen DataOpen Government DataData RevolutionData GovernanceOpenness2017-09-05T10:57:38ZBlog EntryMarathi Wikipedia Workshop in Sangli, Maharashtra
https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/marathi-wikipedia-workshop-in-sangli-maharashtra
<b>A Marathi Wikipedia workshop was recently held in Sangli, Maharashtra</b>
<p>An introductory Marathi Wikipedia workshop was recently held at CSIBER Trust's V.P. Institute of Management Studies and Research, Sangli, Maharashtra. The workshop aimed to introduce Wikipedia and its sister projects to the participants. </p>
<p>In an effort to implement innovative projects for the students, in March 2017, the institution decided to integrate Wikimedia Projects and academic assignments for capacity building of students and faculty. The implementation started with the <a class="external-link" href="https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/marathi-wikipedia-edit-a-thon-on-environment-management">Wikipedia edit-a-thon on Environment Management</a> at CSIBER Institute in Kolhapur on 30th March. The Institute in Sangli has also adopted the concept for this academic year. This workshop was organised for faculty and selected students who were taught basic editing skills on Wikipedia, searching for the concerned articles, categorisation and translation from other language wikis. Another focus of the workshop was to integrate academic assignments with Wikimedia projects.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/marathi-wikipedia-workshop-in-sangli-maharashtra'>https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/marathi-wikipedia-workshop-in-sangli-maharashtra</a>
</p>
No publisherSubodh KulkarniCIS-A2KAccess to KnowledgeWikimediaWikipediaMarathi WikipediaOpenness2017-08-16T08:40:58ZBlog EntryTelugu Wikisource Workshop
https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/telugu-wikisource-workshop
<b>Recently, a Telugu Wikisource Workshop was conducted in Hyderabad between 22- 23 July, 2017</b>
<p>An introductory <a class="external-link" href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/CIS-A2K/Events/Telugu_Wikisource_Workshop">Wikisource workshop</a> was recently held for Telugu Wikipedians in Hyderabad. This event was held in conjunction with the NTR Trust, an organisation working towards socio-economic change in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.</p>
<div>Wikisource aims to build a library of source texts as well as translations. The workshop held between 22- 23 July was conducted for both existing Wikimedians and those new to the movement. Prior to the workshop, Telugu Wikipedians were consulted and were asked to take part in the event and provide their support. The participants were taught the basics of Wikisource and encouraged to contribute to it. They were given a tutorial on the entire process from uploading the book to completing it as an eBook. They were taught important aspects such as copyright, Creative Commons licenses as this would help them select books to upload on Wikisource.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Says participant Sri Ramamurthy "I am contributing to Telugu Wikisource for a long time, regularly. I could learn how to do some important aspects of Telugu Wikisource like indexing a book and techniques like OCR in this event. This turned out to be a very useful event. As resource persons are from Telugu language and sessions were in Telugu, I could easily and quickly grasp things."</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Ten index pages were created during the event and 193 pages were uploaded onto Telugu Wikisource after the event. The event had only two female participants and eight male participants. CIS-A2K hopes to make more of a concerted effort to bridge this gap in participation between males and females.</div>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/telugu-wikisource-workshop'>https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/telugu-wikisource-workshop</a>
</p>
No publisherPavan SanthoshTelugu WikisourceTelegu WikipediaAccess to KnowledgeWikimediaWikipediaTelugu WikipediaOpenness2017-08-16T08:40:55ZBlog EntryHow It Came To Be: Wiki Loves Uniformed Services
https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/how-it-came-to-be-wiki-loves-uniformed-services
<b></b>
<p align="center">
I'm <u><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Krishna_Chaitanya_Velaga">User:
Krishna Chaitanya Velaga</a></u> from English Wikipedia;
fortunately and unfortunately my user name and my real name share the
same text. I have been contributing to Wikipedia and its sister
projects since December 2014. I work primarily on Indian military
history related topics and articles. Initially, I was focused on
creating articles rather than assessing them. My wiki journey can be
best described in two parts, before and after <u><a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/CIS-A2K/Events/Train_the_Trainer_Program/2017">Train
The Trainer</a></u> 2017.</p>
<p>The latter part
of 2016 proved to be a critical period of my Wiki journey. I was
credited with my first good article, first featured A-class article
and list, first featured list and, several Did You Know credits on
English Wikipedia. Later on, I was awarded the “<u><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Military_history/Awards#Military_history_newcomer_of_the_year">M</a>ilitary
history newcomer of the year</u>” for 2016. I was the first
Indian to receive the award. Additionally, I was selected to be the
“Featured Wikimedian of Month for January 2017” by Wikimedia
India.</p>
<p>As of January
2017, I have been contributing for nearly two years, and as far as I
have observed the military history topic area of India is one of the
most neglected areas. With two well known military historians from
India, Srikar Kashyap Pulipaka <em>(User:StrikeEagle)</em> and Colonel
Ashwin Baindur [retd.] <em>(User: AshLin)</em> on a semi Wiki break, I
was left to be the only regular contributor. In an attempt to
encourage more Wikipedians to work on this area, Indian military
history work group emerged as an initiative by the <u><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Military_history">Military
history project</a></u>. The work group closing in on a year
since its inception, has more than twenty-five members at present. As
the founder of the group, I aspire to incubate the group into an
independent task force under Military history project. One of the
major problems I faced while working on the military history articles
was regarding images. Though the images were accepted on Commons,
they were rejected at advanced levels of assessment i.e. A-class
review, FAC, FLC etc. One of the primary reasons for the problem is
the unclear copyright statement presented on the official websites of
the armed forces and various uniformed services. I had been thinking
for a long while to resolve this issue and TTT provided me with the
path to finds a solution for this. Train the Trainer (TTT) is one of
the best initiatives by Centre of Internet and Society - Access to
Knowledge. It is a three-day residential program to enhance the
trainer in experienced and well established Wikipedians through the
length and breadth of India. Prior to TTT 2017, I have only been
involved in online activities of Wikipedia, predominantly
contributing to Indian military history topics. I hardly knew about
the offline community of Wikipedia i.e. the grant structure of
Wikimedia Foundation, conduction of edit-a-thons, meet-ups, program
affiliates etc. Not only this, but also the Wikipedian contacts I had
were very sparse. Though I was selected to attend TTT 2016, I could
not attend to academic constraints. During TTT, I had rich exposure
to the wider Indian Wikimedia community and that of Indic language
projects. TTT also cleared many of the misconceptions I had of
Wikimedia, some them include the use of Harvard referencing style,
importance of offline events, etc.</p>
<p><a name="_GoBack"></a>
Owing to the experience I decided to act on the problem. There is a
heavy need of images related to the uniformed services. So I
discussed my idea with Ravi Shankar Ayyakannu <em>(User:Ravidreams)</em>,
coordinator of Wiki Loves Food and Manager for Strategic
Partnerships in Asia under Global Reach Team. Initially, I thought of
naming it Wiki Loves Armed Forces, Wiki Loves Security Services etc.
But with an intention to widen the scope, it was named as Wiki Loves
Uniformed services. Once finalized, I started creating necessary
pages and templates on Commons. Simultaneously, I worked on forming
the core team of coordinators and judges. I chose Suyash Dwivedi
<em>(User:Suyash.dwivedi)</em> and Mourya Biswas <em>(User:Mouryan)</em>
to be the Coordinator and Assistant Coordinator respectively, with
myself as the Lead Coordinator. The jury included Col. Ashwin Baindur
[retd.], Diego Delso <em>(User:Poco a poco)</em>, Col. Ravi Shankar
Vasireddy [retd.] <em>(Off-community)</em> and Sirkar Kashyap Pulipaka.
After having done these tasks, I moved on to file a detailed rapid
grant application to the Wikimedia Foundation. The grants team was
very responsive and the grant was approved in a week. This initiative
gained good global support including the foundation’s staff, who
were happy to see a new <em>Wiki Loves</em> initiative budding.
However, till now there aren't as many images as expected. To
increase awareness about the program we’ve decided to implement a
new strategy of conducting photo walks with government permission.
Apart from that we’re also in contact with the Indian Navy to
donate their images to the contest. The deadline may extend for about
a month or so depending upon the stats. Personally, I see great
potential for this project, but the problem is one of Wikipedians'
response. I hope this initiative will be a great success and will be
taken up by fellow Wikimedians from others countries. I conclude by
thanking CIS-A2K for conducting innovative workshops and Wikimedia
India for their support to the project since its inception. I also
thank each and every unacknowledged finger behind this great
initiative.</p>
<p>Krishna Chaitanya
Velaga</p>
<p>Lead Coordinator</p>
<p>Wiki Loves Uniformed
services (India) 2017</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/how-it-came-to-be-wiki-loves-uniformed-services'>https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/how-it-came-to-be-wiki-loves-uniformed-services</a>
</p>
No publisherGuest blogger: Krishna Chaitanya VelagaOpennessWikipediaAccess to KnowledgeWikimedia2017-07-10T04:14:58ZBlog EntryChrist University Wikipedia Education Program Faculty Orientation Report
https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/christ-university-wikipedia-education-program-faculty-orientation-report
<b>Christ University faculty were given an orientation for the upcoming year on the Wikipedia Education Program</b>
<p>Report on Christ University Wikipedia Education Program Faculty Orientation</p>
<p>Participants:</p>
<ul><li>Rathi MT<br /></li><li>Shivaprasad</li><li> Sebastian K A</li><li>Naga Lakshmi</li><li>George Joseph<br /></li></ul>
<p>This <span id="DWT141" class="ZmSearchResult"><span id="DWT179" class="ZmSearchResult">faculty</span></span> training aimed to get more involvement of <span id="DWT143" class="ZmSearchResult"><span id="DWT181" class="ZmSearchResult">faculty</span></span>
in Wikipedia and teach them how to use the Dashboard tool for evaluation
and monitoring of the work done by the students. The following things
which are required for the students to complete their assignments weretaught to the <span id="DWT145" class="ZmSearchResult"><span id="DWT183" class="ZmSearchResult">faculty</span></span> during the orientation; so that students' doubts could be immediately resolved by the faculty: <span id="DWT147" class="ZmSearchResult"><span id="DWT185" class="ZmSearchResult"></span></span></p>
<ul><li>Google forms and sending confirmation emails.</li><li>Linking of email to Wikipedia account( helps to recover the password). <br /></li><li>Basic editing of Wikipedia and Wikisource.</li><li>Enabling of the keyboard if students have disabled in preferences.<br /></li><li>Usage of Visual editor.</li><li>Usage of referencing tool.</li><li>Editing toolbar.</li><li>Dashboard tool.<br /><br /></li></ul>
<p>After the orientation, we were discussing the possible events which we can do for the current year and the <span id="DWT149" class="ZmSearchResult"><span id="DWT187" class="ZmSearchResult">faculty</span></span> was interested in doing the following:</p>
<ul><li> Wikipedia Edit-a-thon for the language <span id="DWT151" class="ZmSearchResult"><span id="DWT189" class="ZmSearchResult">faculty</span></span> of different colleges in Karnataka.</li><li>Hack-a thon with help of computer science department at Christ University.</li><li>Photo walk/Photo contest with the help of media studies Christ University.</li><li>WEP review.</li></ul>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/christ-university-wikipedia-education-program-faculty-orientation-report'>https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/christ-university-wikipedia-education-program-faculty-orientation-report</a>
</p>
No publisherAnanth SubrayAccess to KnowledgeWikipedia Education ProgramWikimediaWikipediaOpenness2017-08-03T04:45:38ZBlog EntryChrist University Wikipedia Education Program Internship
https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/christ-university-wikipedia-education-program-internship
<b></b>
<p id="docs-internal-guid-0f6be479-11df-80e2-bfe1-1c86f83e058d" dir="ltr">CIS-A2K’s Wikipedia Education Program with Christ University, Bangalore is coming to an end after another year of intense classes, certificate courses and an internship at The Centre for Internet and Society. The internship activity in particular has successfully managed to engage students beyond classroom hours. The selection of 12 students for the internship program was based on their penchant for the language as well as their interest in the wiki world.</p>
<p dir="ltr"> </p>
<p dir="ltr">The internship was structured into three stages. Firstly, the students were asked to develop stub articles. The aim of this activity was for students to learn searching skills. As a result, over 1500 articles were developed with qualitative work.</p>
<p dir="ltr"> </p>
<p dir="ltr">Secondly, the students were asked to create new articles from scratch. They searched for the topic on the Wikipedia, ascertained whether the article exists or not and later researched further on the content of the articles. As a result, the students were able to create 1400+ articles</p>
<p dir="ltr"> </p>
<p dir="ltr">Finally, the students were asked to draft policy pages for their respective language Wikipedia. They went through the policy pages in different languages including English and were asked to create similar policy pages for Kannada Wikipedia.</p>
<p dir="ltr"> </p>
<p dir="ltr">Unlike previous years, the activities during the internship program were tailored to suit the individual capabilities of the students, taking into consideration the suggestions from community members. The students were of the opinion that in addition to rekindling their love for the language, the internship program also enabled them to develop their overall knowledge of various subjects. The students felt that their vocabulary and typing skills also improved. However, the students were of the opinion that they could have been taken a level or two higher from article writing and introduced to other Wikimedia projects and topics related to the overall movement. The CIS-A2K WEP Program hopes to incorporate these suggestions for the upcoming year while also trying to increase the number of days of the internship in order not to tax the students.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/christ-university-wikipedia-education-program-internship'>https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/christ-university-wikipedia-education-program-internship</a>
</p>
No publisherManasa Rao and Ananth SubrayCIS-A2KAccess to KnowledgeWikipedia Education ProgramWikimediaWikipediaSanskrit WikipediaOpennessHindi WikipediaKannada Wikipedia2017-07-05T09:33:19ZBlog EntryAsian Athletics Championships 2017 Edit-a-thon
https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/asian-athletics-championships-2017
<b>Odia Wikipedians, in conjunction with Indian Athletics Federation and Sports and Youth Services collaborated to document the 2017 Asian Athletics Championships. Hundreds of photos were uploaded and new Wikipedia content added to inform the event’s fans. </b>
<p>The Asian Athletics Championships is an intra-continental sports event organized bi-annually since 1973. The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_Asian_Athletics_Championships">22nd championship</a> was held in July at the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalinga_Stadium">Kalinga Stadium</a>
in Bhubaneswar, India, where 655 athletes from 41 countries
participated in 21 games. The Odia Wikipedia community worked with the
event organizers in different ways, to document the event on Wikipedia,
by holding edit-a-thons (editing workshops), to improve Wikipedia’s
content about the championships and releasing official photos of the
event under free Creative Commons licenses.</p>
<p>The original plan was for the Indian city of Ranchi, Jharkhand to
host the 2017 athletics, but plans changed 90 days before the event when
Bhubaneswar was selected as a venue instead. Preparing the Kalinga
Stadium and getting ready for the championships in that short period was
a challenge for the organizers. However, the state government of Odisha
stepped in to assist, and as part of that freely shared the event
website content under Creative Commons licenses.</p>
<p>The local Wikipedia community, along with the WikiTungi project in
Bhubaneswar, were invited by R. Vineel Krishna, the State Department’s
Director of Sports and Youth Services, to organize an edit-a-thon for
the Championships. The scope was to improve Wikipedia’s content about
the participating Asian athletes.</p>
<p>Before the event, existing Wikipedia articles provided little
information on the biographies and accomplishments of some of the
participating athletes. Odia Wikipedians collaborated with the Sports
and Youth Services Department of Odisha to bridge the dearth of
information.</p>
<p>Edit-a-thon participants <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Asian_Athletics_Championships_2017_Edit-a-thon">gathered</a> at the office of CSM Technologies, an event partner for the championships. Fifteen Wikimedians from Bhubaneswar and Puri <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/WikiTungi">WikiTungi</a>, with some CSM staff members and new editors participated in the edit-a-thon.</p>
<p> </p>
<p style="text-align: center;" dir="ltr"><img src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/YRYydz-GZkOJTdcgg2-aVfgQs2K8o-m49SqwMzTJ3TsoFJ27d3Wg9JEFZz9bqyi_kxsI6qjExZCLOJcaAERTd1ynbVN7rPy3teBk3pBqnqBeLJk8ioDPD8EBDxPI5rjOqAu4PW8" alt="800px-Panoramic_view_of_Kalinga_Stadium.jpg" height="229" width="602" /></p>
<p style="text-align: center;" dir="ltr">Kalinga Stadium,, Bhubaneswar/ CC-BY-SA 4.0/ Sailesh Patnaik</p>
The collection includes images of the athletes during their Heats,
Semi Finals, Final, and Medal ceremonies of all four days. 127 images
are used in 269 pages on Wikipedia in 27 languages, and many articles
added their first image from this collection. WikiProject <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Women_in_Red">Women in Red</a> used the images in many female athlete articles. The Odia Wikipedia community and the <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/CIS-A2K">Centre for Internet and Society</a> are also planning to work with the <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_Asian_Month">Wikipedia Asian Month</a> competition to use these images to illustrate Wikipedia articles they work on, in their next edition.<a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Victuallers"> Victuallers</a>, one of the volunteers of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Women_in_Red">Women in Red</a> project, identified athlete photos from the <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/category:Images_from_Odisha2017.games">games website collection</a> and used them to illustrate their articles. He has also created new articles of other participating female athletes.
<p> </p>
<p style="text-align: center;" dir="ltr"><img src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/p_FwscNB98RMO6qmWaLfdiYd_tNE73wKvJWd0cn1CmBq9Ult5j1DieulUmX0M1WSQXY83pP-FgRzavBYuR_n8ouBLRPCElmI7cTyQ_uGdA7ZsE_Ul5xItf0j1Z0tFxrX6VFvD78" alt="aac 2.jpg" height="449" width="449" /></p>
<p align="center">Arpitha M. of India in action at the 400m hurdles event/ CC-BY-SA 4.0</p>
<p>The event started with a basic Wikipedia orientation session for new
participants. There was no Wikipedia article for the championships in
Odia language, so participants created it in addition to improving the
English Wikipedia article. Along with that, 10 new articles were
improved and created on both Odia and English Wikipedia. The 2017
Championships page on the English Wikipedia received over <a href="https://tools.wmflabs.org/pageviews/?project=en.wikipedia.org&platform=all-access&agent=user&start=2017-07-03&end=2017-07-09&pages=2017_Asian_Athletics_Championships">100,000 views</a> during the championships week.</p>
<p>“Wikipedia has been the one-stop source of knowledge for me,” says <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Impulsion_gods">Alankar Devta</a>,
an edit-a-thon participant. “It has helped me learn a lot and prepare
for competitions. This is the first time, I got a chance to take part in
any Wikipedia edit-a-thon. Apart from that, the articles about the
athletes taking part in this year’s Championships are of great help for
the readers who may want to search for the athletes with expectations to
find useful information about them.”</p>
<p>Wikimedia community members were offered passes to attend the opening
ceremony and take photos. We spent four hours taking photos of the 41
participating teams, athletes and cultural events. All were <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Opening_Ceremony-_22nd_Asian_Athletics_Championships">uploaded to Wikimedia Commons</a>. Nearly <a href="http://tools.wmflabs.org/glamtools/glamorous.php?doit=1&category=Opening+Ceremony-+22nd+Asian+Athletics+Championships&use_globalusage=1&ns0=1&projects%5Bwikipedia%5D=1">19% of the photos</a> taken at the opening ceremony are used on Wikipedia articles.</p>
<p>A major outcome of the edit-a-thon was releasing the content and
images of the championship’s official website under a Creative Commons
license. 286 images from the websites <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/category:Images_from_Odisha2017.games">were added to Wikimedia Commons</a>, of which 47.2% are used on Wikipedia in several languages.</p>
<p>“I have worked with the Women in Red project since it started,” says <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Victuallers">Victuallers</a>.
“Over the past two years, we have helped raise the percentage [of
female biographies on the English Wikipedia] from 15.5 to 17%. One of
the things that hold us back, though, is that women are less likely to
have images available. It’s, therefore, amazing to find that a major
athletic event has released hundreds of images with a CC BY-SA license.
Participating athletes are all notable and women are fairly well
represented. I have downloaded over 100 pictures and cropped group
photos to create portraits. We’ve been tweeting the new articles and
pictures on <a href="https://twitter.com/WikiWomenInRed">@WikiWomenInRed</a> and trying to encourage all to “one up” the Odisha people. It’s a great success and we need more people to follow suit.”</p>
<p>With such collaborative spirit from the Government institutes, the
Odia community is planning to get more content from Odisha under a free
license. The community has also partnered with the Bhubaneswar
Development Authority, to run a global edit-a-thon named <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Bhubaneswar_Heritage_Edit-a-thon">Bhubaneswar Heritage Editathon</a>, for documenting the culture and heritage monuments of the city.</p>
<p>A version of<a class="external-link" href="https://blog.wikimedia.org/2017/07/28/digest-asia-athletics-championships/"> this blog</a> post appears on the <a class="external-link" href="https://blog.wikimedia.org/2017/07/28/digest-asia-athletics-championships/">Wikimedia Blog</a>, co-authored by Sailesh Patnaik and Jnanaranjan Sahu.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/asian-athletics-championships-2017'>https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/asian-athletics-championships-2017</a>
</p>
No publisherSailesh Patnaik & Jnanaranjan SahuCIS-A2KAccess to KnowledgeWikimediaWikipediaCommonsOdia WikipediaOpenness2017-08-01T05:23:47ZBlog EntryThematic Edit-a-thon at Yashawantrao Chavan Institute of Science, Satara
https://cis-india.org/a2k/thematic-edit-a-thon-at-yashawantrao-chavan-institute-of-science-satara
<b></b>
<p align="center"><br /></p>
<p>A Marathi Wikipedia
edit-a-thon was held at Yashawantrao Chavan Institute of Science,
Satara. The aim of the workshop was to edit and improve articles on
Marathi Wikipedia under the theme "Environment and Local
Biodiveristy". Participants were given an orientation on how to
contribute to Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects. The
Yashawantrao Chavan Institute of Science is housed under the <a href="http://www.erayat.org/" target="_blank">Rayat
Shikshan Sanstha</a>, a century-old organization with the largest
network of schools and colleges across Maharashtra. The management
and local environmental group, Drongo, took the initiative to organize this thematic workshop in Satara, an area rich in terms of
biodiversity in the Western Ghats. Noted ecologist and scientist Prof. Madhavrao Gadgil addressed the workshop as a resource person along with Prof. V.Y. Deshpande of the Institute. A total of 23 members from various
like-minded organizations participated in the workshop.</p>
<p> </p>
<div align="center">
<ul><li><span id="docs-internal-guid-eefaaff2-30fd-2e1a-bf7c-56f91dcde4b8"><img src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/Nv-B5Uxu4VSIKSzWhDMzqJfy-hp7UUIQ_1sLss5IzaE7EzMBbCYyrm1vrdqDb4bNT57TafnROLvtMhLT7ojevVOT2qJVcY9tEB8XCA8svORZQamsl1Bc5QQj-TmNiu12ilYYqsM" alt="YCIS4.jpg" height="401" width="602" /></span></li></ul>
</div>
<p> </p>
<p>Image by <a title="User:सुबोध कुलकर्णी" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:%E0%A4%B8%E0%A5%81%E0%A4%AC%E0%A5%8B%E0%A4%A7_%E0%A4%95%E0%A5%81%E0%A4%B2%E0%A4%95%E0%A4%B0%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%A3%E0%A5%80">सुबोध कुलकर्णी</a>/ CC-BY-SA 4.0<br /><span id="docs-internal-guid-eefaaff2-30fd-2e1a-bf7c-56f91dcde4b8"></span></p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/a2k/thematic-edit-a-thon-at-yashawantrao-chavan-institute-of-science-satara'>https://cis-india.org/a2k/thematic-edit-a-thon-at-yashawantrao-chavan-institute-of-science-satara</a>
</p>
No publisherSubodh KulkarniCIS-A2KAccess to KnowledgeWikimediaWikipediaMarathi WikipediaOpenness2017-07-11T09:35:13ZBlog EntryTallapaka Pada Sahityam is now on Wikisource
https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/tallapaka-pada-sahityam-is-now-on-wikisource
<b></b>
<p><a name="cite_ref-Source_of_his_history_1-0"></a>
Tallapaka Pada Sahityam, a
compilation of over fourteen thousand Telugu compositions is now
available on Wikisource. Tallapaka Annamacharya was a 15th-century
Hindu saint and composer who was renowned for singing in praise of
Lord Venkateswara. The Tallapaka lineage began with him, giving rise
to many bards in the Telugu language from the family. The Tallapaka
Pada Sahityam is a compilation of three generations of Tallapaka
poets: Tallapaka Annamacharya,
Tallapaka Peda Tirumalacharya, and Tallapaka China
Tirumalacharya. This compilation, published by Annamayya Library,
Guntur has been uploaded by the library on Wikisource as part of
their efforts to digitize the library archives. These lyrical works,
dealing with a variety of themes, are of immense literary and
cultural significance to Telugu speakers the world over.</p>
<p>Owing to the large
size of the file donated by the library, the works need to be
separated into 29 volumes. These separated files would be uploaded
and indexed on Commons as well. A Unicode version of the work needs
to be published and proofread in addition to their print version.
Telugu Wikimedians are also exploring the possiblity of re-licensing
recitations of the poems by literary connoisseurs. On 9 June, an orientation of these activities was conducted for long time Telugu Wikipedia, <a title="te:user:శ్రీరామమూర్తి" class="extiw" href="https://te.wikipedia.org/wiki/user:%E0%B0%B6%E0%B1%8D%E0%B0%B0%E0%B1%80%E0%B0%B0%E0%B0%BE%E0%B0%AE%E0%B0%AE%E0%B1%82%E0%B0%B0%E0%B1%8D%E0%B0%A4%E0%B0%BF">te:user:శ్రీరామమూర్తి</a>, who has begun publishing Unicode text and proof-reading on Telugu Wikisource.</p>
<p>The link to the work
is here:</p>
<p><a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4a/Tallapaka_pada_sahityam.pdf">https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4a/Tallapaka_pada_sahityam.pdf</a></p>
<p><br />
<br /></p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/tallapaka-pada-sahityam-is-now-on-wikisource'>https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/tallapaka-pada-sahityam-is-now-on-wikisource</a>
</p>
No publisherPavan SanthoshTelugu WikisourceCIS-A2KAccess to KnowledgeWikimediaWikipediaTelugu WikipediaOpenness2017-07-10T13:44:41ZBlog EntryThematic Edit-a-thon at J.P.Naik Centre for Education & Development, Pune
https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/thematic-edit-a-thon-at-j-p-naik-centre-for-education-development-pune
<b>A Marathi Wikipedia workshop was held at the J.P. Naik Centre for Education and Development in Pune recently. </b>
<div>A
Marathi Wikipedia workshop was conducted in conjunction with VIgyan
Ashram, a social work organization on 9 May, 2017. This was held at the
J.P. Naik Centre for Education and Development. <a class="external gmail-text" href="http://vigyanashram.com/InnerPages/RDES_IBT.aspx" rel="nofollow">Vigyan Ashram</a>
conducts courses on Introduction to Basic Technology (IBT) or Multi
Skill
Foundation Course in various schools for integrating socially
useful productive work with school curriculum. The goal of Wikipedia
edit-a-thon was to attempt to integrate these objectives with
Wikipedia Education Program and develop long term strategies. It also
aims to build resources in the field of appropriate rural technologies
on Marathi Wikipedia and equip its participants with the skills
necessary to contribute to Wikipedia.</div>
<p> </p>
A total of 23 IBT coordinators from 18 schools(of 9 districts) participated in the workshop.
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/thematic-edit-a-thon-at-j-p-naik-centre-for-education-development-pune'>https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/thematic-edit-a-thon-at-j-p-naik-centre-for-education-development-pune</a>
</p>
No publisherSubodh KulkarniCIS-A2KAccess to KnowledgeWikimediaWikipediaMarathi WikipediaOpenness2017-06-07T08:59:43ZBlog EntrySoI’s Open Series Maps Fails to Implement Public Sharing of Govt Data
https://cis-india.org/openness/survey-of-india-open-series-maps-fails-to-implement-public-sharing-of-govt-data
<b>Although it has made the topographic maps or the Open Series Maps available to general public, Survey of India’s (SoI) Nakshe portal will have to go through a variety of litmus test, as the initiative fails to implement the mandates of public sharing of government data using open standards and open license as put forward by the NMP 2005 and NDSAP 2012, says Sumandro Chattapadhyay, Research Director, The Centre for Internet and Society. This interview was published by Geospatial World on May 02, 2017.</b>
<p> </p>
<p>Cross-posted from <a href="https://www.geospatialworld.net/sois-open-series-maps-fails-implement-public-sharing-govt-data/">Geospatial World</a>.</p>
<hr />
<h4>What are your views on the Nakshe Portal initiative from Survey of India?</h4>
<p>It is a most welcome initiative by the Survey of India to realize the mandate of the National Map Policy (NMP) 2005 to publicly distribute “Open Series Maps of scales larger than 1:1 million”. The Survey of India has also drawn from and implemented the mandate of the National Data Sharing and Accessibility Policy (NDSAP) 2012 to make available the shareable and non-sensitive Open Series Maps documents without any necessary fees to access and use them.</p>
<p>The initiative, however, fails to achieve the goal of of public sharing of government data using open standards and open license as put forward by the NMP 2005 and NDSAP 2012. This substantively raises the barrier to access the Open Series Maps data and reduces its possibilities of reuse, especially for commercial innovation, in a very serious way. This undermining of the open data agenda is not only a concern for the Nakshe portal in particular, but also sets a dangerous precedent for future open government data initiatives in India.</p>
<h4>What is your view on the data provided and its usability?</h4>
<p>The Nakshe portal has created several barriers to access and use of the Open Series Maps data, all of which are in violation of the NMP 2005 and NDSAP 2012:</p>
<ul>
<li>
<p>NDSAP 2012 mandates that shareable and non-sensitive government data (such as Open Series Maps) are made public through the data.gov.in portal created under the guidance of the NDSAP 2012. Survey of India may of course decide to publish the Open Series Maps data on the Nakshe portal along with on the data.gov.in portal. Publishing of the data only through the Nakshe portal not only violates the mandate of NDSAP 2012, they make such data much less discoverable.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>NDSAP 2012 allows for “registered access” to open government data. That is, it allows for data to be shared only with users who have registered with the data publishing portal. Making registration only possible via Aadhaar number, however, significantly limits the number of users who can access this data. For example, non-Indian researchers form an important potential sub-section of users of Open Series Maps but they will not be able to access the data. The website neither has a privacy policy that clarifies how these submitted Aadhaar numbers will be stored, protected, and shared (if at all) by the Survey of India.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>NMP 2005 instructs Survey of India to “allow a user to add value to the maps obtained (either in analogue or digital formats) and prepare his own value-added maps”. The Government Open Data License has been recently notified under NDSAP 2012 to guide permitted uses of open government data in India.</p>
<p>The very restricted approach to permitted end-uses of Open Series Maps by the Survey of India neither follow the NMP instruction, nor adopt the Government Open Data License. Data available from Nakshe portal cannot be exported (which is technically an absurd demand due to globally distributed nature of servers), commercialized, or altered. This creates a most serious barrier to using the Open Series Maps data available via the Nakshe portal.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>The Nakshe portal has published geospatial data in PDF format. This is a clear violation of open data practices globally and the NDSAP Implementation Guidelines more specifically, which states that open geospatial data standards, like GML and KML, should be used).</p>
</li></ul>
<h4>Does this fall in line with the larger government aim of having open and accessible data? If not why?</h4>
<p>In a nutshell, the Open Series Maps data being published on the Nakshe portal is neither open (as it does not use open standards to share the data and does not share the data under an open licenses) nor universally accessible (due to the requirement for registration via Aadhaar number).</p>
<h4>What improvements do you suggest in the approach of SoI about the portal?</h4>
<p>I have listed four major conflicts that the Nakshe portal has with the directives and guidelines offered by the NMP 2005 and NDSAP 2012. I sincerely hope that the Survey of India and the Department of Science and Technology will address them soon, as they significantly limit the ability of users to access and use the Open Series Maps data.</p>
<p>These changes will make the Open Series Maps data open, and ensure that the data can be accessed and innovated with by various stakeholders.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/openness/survey-of-india-open-series-maps-fails-to-implement-public-sharing-of-govt-data'>https://cis-india.org/openness/survey-of-india-open-series-maps-fails-to-implement-public-sharing-of-govt-data</a>
</p>
No publishersumandroOpen DataOpen Government DataGeospatial DataOpenness2017-05-04T12:19:01ZBlog EntryComments on the Statistical Disclosure Control Report
https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/comments-on-the-statistical-disclosure-control-report
<b>This submission presents comments by the Centre for Internet and Society, India (“CIS”) on the Statistical Disclosure Control Report published on March 30th by Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation.
</b>
<p><strong id="docs-internal-guid-a12fe2b3-c746-4c1a-0287-1814414668af"><br /></strong></p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify;" dir="ltr">1. PRELIMINARY</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify;" dir="ltr">This submission presents comments by the Centre for Internet and Society, India (“CIS”) on the Statistical Disclosure Control Report published on March 30th by Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;" dir="ltr">CIS is thankful for the opportunity to put forth its views.<br class="kix-line-break" />This submission is divided into three main parts. The first part, ‘Preliminary’, introduces the document; the second part, ‘About CIS’, is an overview of the organization; and, the third part contains the ‘Comments’.<br class="kix-line-break" /><br class="kix-line-break" /></p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify;" dir="ltr">2. ABOUT CIS</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify;" dir="ltr">CIS is a non-profit organisation that undertakes interdisciplinary research on internet and digital technologies from policy and academic perspectives. The areas of focus include digital accessibility for persons with diverse abilities, access to knowledge, intellectual property rights, openness (including open data, free and open source software, open standards, open access, open educational resources, and open video), internet governance, telecommunication reform, freedom of speech and expression, intermediary liability, digital privacy, and cybersecurity.<br class="kix-line-break" /><br /></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;" dir="ltr">CIS values the fundamental principles of justice, equality, freedom and economic development. This submission is consistent with CIS' commitment to these values, the safeguarding of general public interest and the protection of India's national interest at the international level. Accordingly, the comments in this submission aim to further these principles.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify;" dir="ltr">3. Comments</h3>
<h4 style="text-align: justify;" dir="ltr">3.1 General Comments</h4>
<p style="text-align: justify;" dir="ltr">As a non-profit organisation we recognize the importance of the efforts by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) to make the data you collect available to the public in open formats with relevant information about reliability of statistical estimates.</p>
<p><span style="text-align: justify;">We at CIS have recently released a report titled “Information Security Practices of Aadhaar (or lack thereof): A documentation of public availability of Aadhaar Numbers with sensitive personal financial information”. We encountered several central and state government departments collecting socioeconomic data from citizens, linking it with Aadhaar and even publishing them in exportable data formats like EXCEL and MS ACCESS Databases. </span><span style="text-align: justify;">While we understand this issue primarily concerns to Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), the lack of standards around information/statistical disclosure are a general threat to transparency in a democracy and privacy of individuals. </span><span style="text-align: justify;">Going through the report we understand the committee is unable to prescribe a standard for other ministries and departments until they try and pilot these standards within Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation. This delay in prescribing the standards can be really dangerous in the current circumstances of massive data collection by government departments and linking all the databases with a unique identifier, Aadhaar Number. </span><span style="text-align: justify;">At the same time we understand the importance of data dissemination to be carried out and we recommend the following for improving the standards around data disclosure control.</span></p>
<h4 style="text-align: justify;" dir="ltr">3.2 Integrity of Information and Data</h4>
<p style="text-align: justify;" dir="ltr">We agree with the committee that the error rates need to be kept in mind while designing practices to convert raw data. But we request the process of changes being made be actively measured and documented. In case of errors being computed, guidelines can be made to decrease the possibilities of misinterpretation of errors causing loss of integrity of information. Statistics are important for decision making in governance, errors in computations can be biased towards millions of people. Statistical biases are important to be looked into while converting data from its raw format to make sure there are no damage caused by information.</p>
<h4 style="text-align: justify;" dir="ltr">3.3 Data Security</h4>
<p style="text-align: justify;" dir="ltr">One of the important issues around storage and publication of Aadhaar information is the lack of masking standards. With the availability of data from multiple departments, it is possible to reconstruct identification details by linking data from multiple databases. It is recommended to bring masking standards while personally identifiable micro data is being published. There is an urgent need for departments to also look at auditing access to information and tracking sharing of information. It is recommended the department digitally signs all the information and documents being published or shared by them to keep track of who had accessed the information and verifying the authenticity of information.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;" dir="ltr">We request the department to define what exactly is “usage for statistical purposes only” and recommend standards to control and restrict usage of information for this purpose. It is important they design frameworks or mechanisms to allow others to report violations around this. This process should be transparent and documented heavily.</p>
<h4 style="text-align: justify;" dir="ltr">3.4 Anonymization of microdata</h4>
<p style="text-align: justify;" dir="ltr">We recommend the data being collected be anonymized at source to evade the possibility of the accidental disclosure of personally identifiable information. While the current anonymization efforts have been helpful, with steady increase in data mining and classification algorithms and practices it is recommended to evolve the standards around this area.</p>
<h4 style="text-align: justify;" dir="ltr">3.5 Data Dissemination</h4>
<p style="text-align: justify;" dir="ltr">Data dissemination is an important aspect for district statistics officers, we recommend they actively communicate their work through monthly newsletters, quarterly workshops to help improve the conversations around statistics and at the same time engage with the users who would benefit from the data.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;" dir="ltr">We also recommend that data when being published includes metadata of collection, modification, storage and other important information. Also the information needs to be published in open formats which does not require proprietary software to be used to open them. At the same time data should be published in multiple formats like CSV, XLS, PDF,</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;" dir="ltr">The committee also recognizes the need for having data users part of discussions around important decisions and be part of committees. We would like the department to recognize our efforts and consider us for future committee representations.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;" dir="ltr"> </p>
<p style="text-align: justify;" dir="ltr">Thank you for this opportunity and we look forward to work with you in future.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/comments-on-the-statistical-disclosure-control-report'>https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/comments-on-the-statistical-disclosure-control-report</a>
</p>
No publisherSrinivs Kodali and Amber SinhaCall for CommentsDigital AccessOpen DataOpen Government DataData ProtectionData GovernanceAadhaarDigitisationInformation SecurityOpennessInternet GovernanceData Management2019-03-13T00:28:44ZBlog Entry