The Centre for Internet and Society
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October 2013 Bulletin
https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/october-2013-bulletin
<b>Our newsletter for the month of October 2013 can be accessed below. </b>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Highlights</h3>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">The National Resource Kit team is pleased to bring you its research for the states of Delhi, Madhya Pradesh and Arunachal Pradesh, and the Union Territory of Daman and Diu.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">The Department of Electronics and Information Technology invited comments on the Framework on the proposed adoption of Open Source Software in E-Governance Systems. CIS gave its feedback. </li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">The Access to Knowledge team in collaboration with the Goa University re-released the Konkani Vishwakosh under Creative Commons License CC-BY-SA-3.0. </li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Sunil Abraham, Pranesh Prakash and Chinmayi Arun participated in the Internet Governance Forum held in Bali, Indonesia from October 21 to 25. Overall CIS spoke in 7 panels. </li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">In an article on Spy Files, Maria Xynou examines the legality of India’s surveillance technologies and their potential connection to India’s central monitoring system.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">A clause-by-clause comments on the Working draft version of the Human DNA Profiling Bill, 2012 was sent to the Ministry of Science and Technology.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">CIS started the first Privacy Watch in India. The map includes data on the UID, NPR and CCTNS schemes, installation of CCTV cameras and the use of drones throughout the country.</li>
</ul>
<h2 style="text-align: justify; ">Accessibility</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">As part of our project (under a grant from the Hans Foundation) on creating a national resource kit of state-wise laws, policies and programmes on issues relating to persons with disabilities in India, we bring you draft chapters for the states of Madhya Pradesh and Arunachal Pradesh, and the union territory of Daman and Diu. With this we have completed compilation of draft chapters for 24 states and 5 union territories. Feedback and comments are invited from readers for the following chapters:</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">National Resource Kit</h3>
<ul>
<li>The <a class="external-link" href="http://bit.ly/1dPoDph">Daman and Diu Chapter</a> (by Anandhi Viswanathan, October 28, 2013).</li>
<li>The <a class="external-link" href="http://bit.ly/1hl4gW4">Arunachal Pradesh Chapter</a> (by CLPR, October 29, 2013).</li>
<li>The <a class="external-link" href="http://bit.ly/17dPn3c">Madhya Pradesh Chapter</a> (by Anandhi Viswanathan, October 30, 2013).</li>
<li>The <a class="external-link" href="http://bit.ly/HU91p9">Delhi Chapter</a> (by Anandhi Viswanathan, October 31, 2013). </li>
</ul>
<p>Note: <i>All of these are early drafts and will be reviewed and updated</i>.</p>
<p><b>Survey (Other Organisation)</b></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a class="external-link" href="http://bit.ly/1dGSsuI">Accessibility of Banks and Financial Services Institutions: A Global Survey</a> (posted by Nilofar Ansher, October 20, 2013). G3ict and Scotiabank, requests senior managers, COO / CEOs, Managing Directors, IT Directors, HR Directors, and accessibility professionals from banks and financial services companies to participate.</li>
</ul>
<p><b>Blog Entry</b></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a class="external-link" href="http://bit.ly/19FSShz">Bengali eSpeak Aids in Disaster Management</a> (by Anirudh Sridhar, October 15, 2013).</li>
</ul>
<h2>Access to Knowledge</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The Access to Knowledge programme addresses the harms caused to consumers and human rights, and critically examines Open Government Data, Open Access to Scholarly Literature, and Open Access to Law, Open Content, Open Standards, and Free/Libre/Open Source Software. We produced a column in the Economic and Political Weekly, submitted our feedback on Framework on Open Source Software Adoption in E-Governance Systems, and conducted 3 Wikipedia workshops:</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Article</b></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a class="external-link" href="http://bit.ly/18ii0GH">The Fight for Digital Sovereignty</a> (by Sunil Abraham, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol-XLVIII No. 42, October 19, 2013).</li>
</ul>
<p><b>Blog Entries</b></p>
<ul>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://bit.ly/16ukO3F">Mobile Phone Patents: Prior Art Survey</a> (by Nehaa Chaudhari, October 23, 2013).</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a class="external-link" href="http://bit.ly/19FxUzz">Ambiguity in the App Store: Understanding India’s emerging IT sector in light of IP</a> (by Samantha Cassar, October 24, 2013).</li>
</ul>
<p><b>Submission</b></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a class="external-link" href="http://bit.ly/1dCOKSS">Feedback on the Framework on OSS Adoption in E-Governance Systems</a> (by Nehaa Chaudhari, October 26, 2013). In September, 2013, the DeitY invited comments on the Framework on the proposed adoption of Open Source Software in E-Governance Systems. CIS gave its feedback.</li>
</ul>
<p><b>Events Participated In</b></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a class="external-link" href="http://bit.ly/18FO6Aa">OSOD 2013: International Workshop on Open Science and Open Data</a> (organised by Indian Statistical Institute, Bangalore, October 7, 2013). Nehaa Chaudhari participated as a panelist and gave a presentation on Government Accessibility and Copyright Conundrum.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a class="external-link" href="http://bit.ly/17RkUq8">National Conference on Opening up by Closing the Circle: Strengthening Open Access in India</a> (co-organised by UNESCO, Central Library, Jawaharlal Nehru University and the Commonwealth Educational Media Centre for Asia, October 21, 2013). Nehaa Chaudhari was a panelist in the discussion on "Why Open Access?". She gave a presentation on 'Pondering Copyright and Recasting Openness'. </li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Note: The following has been done under grant from the Wikimedia Foundation (<a class="external-link" href="http://bit.ly/SPqFOl">http://bit.ly/SPqFOl</a>). As part this project (<a class="external-link" href="http://bit.ly/X80ELd">http://bit.ly/X80ELd</a>), we held 3 Wikipedia workshops in October:</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Event Co-organised </b></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a class="external-link" href="http://bit.ly/19y0EJx">Re-release of Konkani Vishwakosh under CC-BY-SA 3.0</a> (organised by Goa University and CIS-A2K, Goa University Conference Hall, September 26, 2013). Nitika Tandon has blogged about the event.</li>
</ul>
<p><b>Events Organised</b></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a class="external-link" href="http://bit.ly/HIiC30">Workshop on Wikipedia in the Indian Undergraduate Language Classrooms</a> (October 1, 203, Christ University, Bangalore). Dr. U.B. Pavanaja conducted the workshop.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a class="external-link" href="http://bit.ly/1b8MH6a">Train the Trainer — Four-day long Residential Programme</a> (October 3 – 6, 2013, CEO Center, Gubbi, Bangalore. CIS-A2K Team conducted the workshop. Seventeen people participated in the event.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a class="external-link" href="http://bit.ly/1a9m8N2">Konkani Vishwakosh Digitization</a> (Goa University, October 19-20, 2013). CIS-A2K team conducted the workshop. Thirty-seven people participated in the event.</li>
</ul>
<p><b>Events Participated In</b></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a class="external-link" href="http://bit.ly/18Obr2P">Re-sourcing Indian Cinema: Humanities Research, New Archives and Collaborative Knowledge Production</a> (organised by the Centre for Contemporary Studies and the Centre for Study of Culture and Society, October 29, 2013). T. Vishnu Vardhan gave a talk on “Let Cinephiles Collaborate: Pleasures and Perils of Indian Film History on Wikipedia”.</li>
</ul>
<p><b>Media Coverage</b></p>
<p>CIS gave its inputs for the following media coverage:</p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "> <a class="external-link" href="http://bit.ly/1ek8AzW">Mangalore: Konkani writers resolve to form all-India forum at JKS conference</a> (Daijiworld, October 1, 2013).</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a class="external-link" href="http://bit.ly/Hfh7sI">Wikipedia in Indian Languages on Mobile Phones</a> (by Megha Prakash, Sci Dev Net, October 15, 2013).</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a class="external-link" href="http://bit.ly/18J3YlB">कोंकणी विश्वकोश ‘विकिपीडिया’वर</a> (Navprabha Daily, October 22, 2013). A detailed article about the digitalization of Konkani Vishwakosh. </li>
</ul>
<h2>Internet Governance</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">CIS is doing a project (under a grant from Privacy International and International Development Research Centre (IDRC)) on conducting research on surveillance and freedom of expression (SAFEGUARDS). So far we have organised seven privacy round-tables and drafted the Privacy (Protection) Bill. This month we bring you clause-by-clause comments on the Human DNA Profiling Bill, 2012, and a map monitoring privacy in India. As part of its project (funded by Citizen Lab, Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto and support from the IDRC) on mapping cyber security actors in South Asia and South East Asia we did an interview with Anja Kovacs on cyber security. With this we have completed a total of 10 video interviews:</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Internet Governance Forum</b></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Sunil Abraham, Pranesh Prakash and Chinmayi Arun participated in the Internet Governance Forum held in Bali, Indonesia in the month of October. Overall, CIS spoke in 7 panels:</p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a class="external-link" href="http://bit.ly/1ayYuqJ">Charting the Charter: Internet Rights and Principles Online</a> (organised by IRP Coalition, October 22, 2013). Pranesh Prakash was a panelist.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a class="external-link" href="http://bit.ly/17ZzPdf">Fair process frameworks for cross-border online spaces</a> (organised by the Internet & Jurisdiction Project, Civil Society of France, Western Europe and Others Group and Internet & Jurisdiction Project, Civil Society of Germany, Western Europe and Others Group, October 22, 2013). Sunil Abraham and Chinmayi Arun were panelists for this workshop.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a class="external-link" href="http://bit.ly/16OoH6N">Removing Barriers to Connectivity: Connecting the Unconnected</a> (organised by Internet Society and ETNO, October 23, 2013). Pranesh Prakash was a panelist.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a class="external-link" href="http://bit.ly/1av3v2U">FOSS: Smart Choice for Developing Countries</a> (organised by TechNation and Open Source Alliance of Central Asia, October 23, 2013). Sunil Abraham spoke on FOSS and IT Growth Policies in South Asia.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a class="external-link" href="http://bit.ly/17DMHGW">Privacy: from regional regulations to global connections?</a> (organised by Internet Society, Bali, October 24, 2013). Sunil Abraham was one of the panelists.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a class="external-link" href="http://bit.ly/16OtkxD">Human rights, freedom of expression and free flow of information on the Internet</a> (a Focus Session on Openness, October 24, 2013). Pranesh Prakash was a speaker at this event.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a class="external-link" href="http://bit.ly/1bgvkNl">Taking Stock: Emerging Issues - Internet Surveillance</a> (a session on Internet Surveillance, October 25, 2013). Pranesh Prakash made intervention in this session.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a class="external-link" href="http://bit.ly/17DhpzM">Tweets from Bali IGF 2013</a>: To enable research by those who didn't want to mess around with Twitter's APIs, CIS has made available tweets from the IGF as downloadable .CSV files.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Privacy</h3>
<p><b>Magazine Article</b></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a class="external-link" href="http://bit.ly/HiJ5E1">What India can Learn from the Snowden Revelations</a> (by Elonnai Hickok, Yahoo, October 23, 2013). The title of the article was changed in the version published by Yahoo.</li>
</ul>
<p><b>Blog Entries</b></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Concerns Regarding DNA Law (by Bhairav Acharya, October 9, 2013): http://bit.ly/1aoxXM9.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Interview with Big Brother Watch on Privacy and Surveillance (by Maria Xynou, October 15, 2013): http://bit.ly/1cRDMbV.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Interview with Bruce Schneier (by Maria Xynou, October 17, 2013): http://bit.ly/GS6oDX.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">An Interview with the Tactical Technology Collective (by Maria Xynou, October 18, 2013): http://bit.ly/1i1lVNo.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Interview with Dr. Alexander Dix (by Maria Xynou, October 23, 2013): http://bit.ly/1a7dgtQ.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Open Letter to Members of the European Parliament of the Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Committee (by Elonnai Hickok, October 23, 2013): http://bit.ly/17eZntz.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">An Interview with Jacob Kohnstamm (by Elonnai Hickok, October 25, 2013): http://bit.ly/17NcQmD.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Spy Files 3: WikiLeaks Sheds More Light on the Global Surveillance Industry (by Maria Xynou, October 25, 2013): http://bit.ly/1d6EmjD.</li>
</ul>
<p><b>Comments</b></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Re: The Human DNA Profiling Bill, 2012 (by Bhairav Acharya, October 9, 2013). CIS provided clause-by-clause comments on the on the Working Draft version of the Human DNA Profiling Bill: http://bit.ly/17Jpp63.</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Announcement</b></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">The India Privacy Monitor Map (by Maria Xynou with assistance from Srinivas Atreya, October 9, 2013). CIS has started a first of its kind Privacy Watch in India. The map includes data on the UID, NPR and CCTNS schemes, as well as on the installation of CCTV cameras and the use of drones throughout the country: http://bit.ly/19A5mCZ.</li>
</ul>
<p><b>Event Organised</b></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Privacy Round-table, New Delhi (organised by FICCI, DSCI and CIS, FICCI, Federation House, Tansen Marg, New Delhi, October 19, 2013): http://bit.ly/GAsStr. </li>
</ul>
<p><b>Event Participated In</b></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">'Free Speech and Media in South Asia: Human Rights Concerns in a Globalizing World (organised by the Programme in Comparative Media Law and Policy, Centre for Socio-Legal Studies, University of Oxford, in collaboration with the Centre for Media and Governance, National Law University, Delhi, Oxford University, October 25, 2013). Chinmayi Arun spoke about “Privacy and Surveillance in India” in a panel discussion: http://bit.ly/18bRGi5.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Cyber Security</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Laird Brown, a strategic planner and writer with core competencies on brand analysis, public relations and resource management and Purba Sarkar who in the past worked as a strategic advisor in the field of SAP Retail are working in this project:</p>
<ul>
<li>Part 11: An Interview with Anja Kovacs (October 15, 2013): http://bit.ly/15EAZOE.</li>
</ul>
<p><span><b>Other IG Updates</b></span><b><br />Event Organised</b></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Mapping Digital Media: Broadcasting, Journalism and Activism in India (co-organised by Alternative Law Forum, Maraa and CIS, Bangalore International Centre, October 27, 2013). Samantha Cassar has blogged about the event: http://bit.ly/17EVtdw. It was covered by the New Indian Express (http://bit.ly/1dGENE6) and Hindu (http://bit.ly/1bcVUIU) on October 28. </li>
</ul>
<p><b>Events Participated In</b></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Religious Pluralism and the Tensions between Freedom of Expression and Respect for the 'Other’ (organised by Reset-Dialogues on Civilizations project, in cooperation with Jamia Millia Islamia, India Habitat Centre, New Delhi, October 10, 2013). Chinmayi Arun was a speaker at the session on “Democracy and the Tension between Freedom of Speech and Respect for the Other’s Religion, Culture, Identity, India and Europe”: http://bit.ly/194dtI7.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Fragmentation in a Democracy: The Role of Social Movements and the Media (organised by the Observer Research Foundation, Delhi and Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung, Berlin at Observer Research Foundation, New Delhi, October 16, 2013). Sunil Abraham was a panelist in the session on “Impact of Media, Social Media & Technology on Democracy / Governance”: http://bit.ly/17e3PZ9.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Internet, Mobile & Digital Economy Conference (IMDEC) 2013 (organised by FICCI, in association with the Ministry of Communications & IT, Government of India, New Delhi, October 25, 2013). Sunil Abraham participated as a speaker in the session on "The Internet We Want: A Multistakeholder Approach": http://bit.ly/1b8QHDD. </li>
</ul>
<h3><b>New and Media Coverage</b></h3>
<p>CIS<b> </b>gave its inputs to the following media coverage:</p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Decline in web freedom steepest in India: Report (by Javed Anwer, The Times of India, October 3, 2013): http://bit.ly/1cVOJ99.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Google survey: 37% of urban Indian voters are online (by Anuja and Moulishree Srivastava, Livemint, October 8, 2013): http://bit.ly/1gtqqDY.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">The quest for genuine clout on the internet (by Karthik Subramanian, October 13, 2013): http://bit.ly/1b8TdKa.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">India believes in Complete Freedom of Cyber Space: Kapil Sibal (by Elizabeth Roche, Livemint, October 14, 2013): http://bit.ly/1fZgwd1. </li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Location Tracking: Why the Govt-Mobile Manufacturer War Won’t End Soon (by Danish Raza, FirstPost, October 15, 2013): http://bit.ly/HkIvF7.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Bouquets & brickbats for Google's new privacy policy (by Indu Nandakumar, Economic Times, October 18, 2013): http://bit.ly/18Rzkqm.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Bali meet to discuss Internet governance issues (by Moulishree Srivastava, October 22, 2013): http://bit.ly/17I4r3M.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Indian politicians yet to tap voters online: CIS’s Abraham (by Venkatesh Upadhyay, Livemint, October 22, 2013): http://bit.ly/17HRV4s. </li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Beyond the Searchlight (by Debarshi Dasgupta, October 23, 2013): http://bit.ly/17IitlZ.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Nowhere to hide: Govt making your personal details public (by FirstPost editors, FirstPost, October 28, 2013): http://bit.ly/1dGE6KJ.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Your private data may be online, courtesy govt (by Somesh Jha and Surabhi Agarwal, Business Standard, October 29, 2013): http://bit.ly/HpQRMp.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Saving privacy as we knew it (by Somesh Jha and Surabhi Agarwal, Business Standard, October 29, 2013): http://bit.ly/16HNYwu.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">E-governance hopes rise as India crosses 1 billion transactions (by J Srikant, Economic Times, October 29, 2013): http://bit.ly/1cnJIKd.</li>
</ul>
<h2>Digital Humanities</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">CIS is building research clusters in the field of Digital Humanities. The Digital will be used as a way of unpacking the debates in humanities and social sciences and look at the new frameworks, concepts and ideas that emerge in our engagement with the digital. The clusters aim to produce and document new conversations and debates that shape the contours of Digital Humanities in Asia:</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Events Participated In</b></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">GFM 2013 (organized by the University of Luneberg, Germany, October 3 – 5, 2013). Dr. Nishant Shah participated in a panel discussion with Wendy Chun, Tom Levine and Geert Lovink, around 'The End of Bibliographies: New Media and Research'. Nishant also participated as a panelist in a panel discussion on 'Open Up: Pragmatism and Politics of Open Access': http://bit.ly/1f9LCOH.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Digitalization of Culture (organized by Leuphana University, Luneberg, October 8, 2013). Dr. Nishant Shah did an introduction keynote to 1600 undergraduate students. A video of the lecture can be accessed here: http://bit.ly/1enWQPv. </li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">RENEW: The 5th International Conference on the Histories of Media Art, Science and Technology (hosted by RIXC Centre for New Media Culture in Riga in partnership with the Art Academy of Latvia, Stockholm School of Economics in Riga and Danube University’s Center for Image Science, October 8 - 11, 2013). Dr. Nishant Shah was a part of the selection committee for the conference and chaired a session on Network Art on October 9: http://bit.ly/17e41aJ. </li>
</ul>
<p><b>Blog Entry</b></p>
<ul>
<li>A Hitchhikers Guide to the Cyberspace (by Anirudh Sridhar, October 4, 2013): http://bit.ly/1ga8yfH. </li>
</ul>
<h2>Knowledge Repository on Internet Access</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">CIS in partnership with the Ford Foundation is executing a project to create a knowledge repository on Internet and society. This repository will comprise content targeted primarily at civil society with a view to enabling their informed participation in the Indian Internet and ICT policy space. The repository is available at the Internet Institute website: http://bit.ly/1iQT2UB.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Modules</b></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">World Intellectual Property Organisation (by Anirudh Sridhar and Snehashish Ghosh, October 31, 2013). WIPO is a specialized agency of the United Nations which deals with issues related to intellectual property rights throughout the world. Find out more at http://bit.ly/17a8WEk.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">An Interview on Internet Governance with Professor Milton Mueller and Jeremy Malcolm (by Anirudh Sridhar, October 31, 2013). Professor Milton Mueller from the Syracuse University School of Information and Jeremy Malcolm, an Information Technology and Intellectual Property Lawyer, spoke about current issues and debates surrounding internet governance: http://bit.ly/17ix3Ro. </li>
</ul>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>About CIS</b><br />The Centre for Internet and Society is a non-profit research organization that works on policy issues relating to freedom of expression, privacy, accessibility for persons with disabilities, access to knowledge and IPR reform, and openness (including open government, FOSS, open standards, etc.), and engages in academic research on digital natives and digital humanities.</p>
<p><b>Follow us elsewhere</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<ul>
<li>Twitter:<a href="https://twitter.com/CISA2K"> </a><a href="https://twitter.com/CISA2K">https://twitter.com/CISA2K</a></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Facebook group: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/cisa2k">https://www.facebook.com/cisa2k</a></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Visit us at:<a href="https://cis-india.org/"> </a>https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Access_To_Knowledge</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>E-mail: <a href="mailto:a2k@cis-india.org">a2k@cis-india.org</a></li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Support Us</b><br />Please help us defend consumer / citizen rights on the Internet! Write a cheque in favour of ‘The Centre for Internet and Society’ and mail it to us at No. 194, 2nd ‘C’ Cross, Domlur, 2nd Stage, Bengaluru – 5600 71.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Request for Collaboration</b>:<br />We invite researchers, practitioners, and theoreticians, both organisationally and as individuals, to collaboratively engage with Internet and society and improve our understanding of this new field. To discuss the research collaborations, write to Sunil Abraham, Executive Director, at sunil@cis-india.org or Nishant Shah, Director – Research, at nishant@cis-india.org. To discuss collaborations on Indic language wikipedia, write to T. Vishnu Vardhan, Programme Director, A2K, at vishnu@cis-india.org</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><i>CIS is grateful to its donors, Wikimedia Foundation, Ford Foundation, Privacy International, UK, Hans Foundation and the Kusuma Trust which was founded by Anurag Dikshit and Soma Pujari, philanthropists of Indian origin, for its core funding and support for most of its projects</i>.</p>
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For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/october-2013-bulletin'>https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/october-2013-bulletin</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaAccess to KnowledgeDigital NativesTelecomAccessibilityInternet GovernanceOpennessResearchers at Work2014-01-04T04:31:01ZPageWikipedia Training Session @ Tiruvur
https://cis-india.org/news/wikipedia-training-session-tiruvur
<b>A Wikipedia training session was conducted by T. Vishnu Vardhan and Rahmanuddin Shaik at Srivahini College in Tiruvur on December 19, 2013. </b>
<p>About 150 - 200 people attended in each of the two sessions. The event was co-organised by CIS-A2K and the Telugu Wikipedia community.</p>
<table class="plain">
<tbody>
<tr>
<th><img src="https://cis-india.org/home-images/VishnuAddressingstudents5.png" alt="Vishnu at Tiruvur" class="image-inline" title="Vishnu at Tiruvur" /></th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Above: T. Vishnu Vardhan addressing students at the Srivahini college in Tiruvur.</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>The following newspapers covered the event on December 19, 2013:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/home-images/AndhraprabhaAwarenessonWikipedia.png" class="internal-link">Awareness on Wikipedia, Andhraprabha</a>, December 19, 2013 </li>
<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/home-images/EEnaduWikipediaHelpsspreadKnowledge.png" class="internal-link">Wikipedia Helps Spread Knowledge</a>, Eenadu, December 19, 2013</li>
<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/home-images/SakshiThemanyusesofWikipedia.png" class="internal-link">The Many Uses of Wikipedia</a>, Sakshi, December 19, 2013</li>
<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/home-images/PrajasakthiAwarenessonWikipedia.png" class="internal-link">Awareness on Wikipedia</a>, Prajasakthi, December 19, 2013</li>
</ul>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/news/wikipedia-training-session-tiruvur'>https://cis-india.org/news/wikipedia-training-session-tiruvur</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaAccess to KnowledgeWikimediaWikipediaTelugu WikipediaOpenness2014-01-09T09:52:42ZNews ItemPlan for open access to science research
https://cis-india.org/news/the-hindu-july-22-2014-renuka-phadnis-plan-for-open-access-to-science-research
<b>The policy is open to comments from the public till July 25.
</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The article by Renuka Phadnis was <a class="external-link" href="http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/plan-for-open-access-to-science-research/article6235389.ece">published in the Hindu</a> on July 22, 2014. T. Vishnu Vardhan gave his inputs.</p>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Ever felt frustrated while reading a science research journal online, only to see the message “to continue reading, subscribe now”? That may soon change.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The Department of Science and Technology and the Department of Biotechnology (DBt) under the Ministry of Science and Technology have drafted a policy that says publicly-funded scientific work published in science journals must adhere to open access (OA) norms, enabling anyone to read online content on science research for free.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">OA is an initiative of Open Archives Initiative (OAI), an organisation which works for greater reach and free access to online science research funded by public money.</p>
<p class="body" style="text-align: justify; ">T. Vishnu Vardhan, Programme Director, Access to Knowledge, Centre for Internet and Society, Bangalore, which assisted DST in drawing up the draft policy, said that in the absence of OA norms, commercial publishers were making money with content generated by scientists who used public funds for research.</p>
<p class="body" style="text-align: justify; ">However, those sceptical of the DST initiative are asking whether availability on the Net is equivalent to “public domain”. Concerns have also been raised about the quality of content provided through OA, as honing raw research material into scholarly journals requires rigour that commands a cost. Ramakrishna Ramaswamy, Fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences, Hyderabad, said it was much more important to make reliable information available to the public, at a reasonable charge, because “the price of keeping it free has a cost”. The draft of the DBT-DST Open Access Policy is open to comments from the public till July 25.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/news/the-hindu-july-22-2014-renuka-phadnis-plan-for-open-access-to-science-research'>https://cis-india.org/news/the-hindu-july-22-2014-renuka-phadnis-plan-for-open-access-to-science-research</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaOpennessAccess to Knowledge2014-07-25T07:07:15ZNews ItemIndian Govt looks to provide free access to publicly-funded research works
https://cis-india.org/news/medianama-july-23-2014-riddhi-mukherjee-indian-govt-looks-to-provide-free-access-to-public-funded-research-works
<b>Sunil Abraham gave his inputs to the blog entry published in Medianama on July 23, 2014.</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Department of Biotechnology (DBT) and Department of Science and Technology (DST), under the Ministry of Science and Technology recently <a href="http://dbtindia.nic.in/docs/DST-DBT_Draft.pdf">released</a> (pdf) the draft of what is termed as Open Access Policy and has invited comments from the public until July 25, reports <a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/India-to-create-free-access-to-scientific-work-online/articleshow/38818160.cms">The Times of India</a>. Comments can be submitted to madhan@dbt.nic.in.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The objective of this policy is to provide unrestricted access to research work funded by the departments. The draft states that since all funds disbursed by DBT and DST are public funds, it is important that the information and knowledge generated through the use of these funds are made publicly available as soon as possible.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">As per the draft, DBT/DST will be creating a central repository wherein grantees can either publish their papers in an open-access journal or post the final accepted manuscript to an online repository. This includes papers funded by the two departments in 2012-13 as well as review articles invited by DBT/DST or author initiated that received funding from these departments.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The draft suggests that the full text of the research paper and metadata of all research projects fully or partially funded by DBT/DST or the projects that utilised infrastructure built with the support of DBT/DST will have to be made publicly available, failing which they wouldn’t be considered for future grants or fellowship opportunities among others.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The department believes that providing free access to these publications through gratis open access repository will enable increasing the distribution of these publications and will ensure that these research can be read and built upon.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Copyright of research papers</b>: The draft also sheds light on copyright issues. It states that research work produced by a scientist as an employee of a government body or private institution the copyright would remain with the respective government body or private institution. However, following the final acceptance of the paper by any journal, it has to be deposited in an open access repository within a period of one week.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The author of the research paper will retain the right to reproduce, distribute, publicly perform, and publicly display the article in any medium for non-commercial purposes. They can also prepare derivative works from the article, and authorise others to make any non-commercial use of the article with credit.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Implications</b>: This is a godsend for students, teachers and institutions that don’t have the means to purchase expensive academic journals. Sunil Abraham, executive director of Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) told TOI that the idea is that taxpayers shouldn’t pay twice to access research funded by taxpayers’ money.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Earlier developments in Open Data</b></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">In August 2013 the Department of School Education and Literacy, Ministry of Human Resource Development, the Central Institute of Educational Technology (CIET), and National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) had <a href="http://www.medianama.com/2013/08/223-indian-govt-launches-open-repository-for-school-education/">launched an initiative</a> called <a href="http://nroer.in/home/">National Repository of Open Educational Resources</a> (NROER). The objective was to provide free educational resources to school students under the Creative Common license.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The Union Cabinet had <a href="http://pib.nic.in/newsite/erelease.aspx?relid=80197">cleared</a> the DST formulated <a href="http://www.dst.gov.in/NDSAP.pdf">National Data Sharing and Accessibility Policy</a> (NPDSA) back in February 2012. <a href="http://dst.gov.in/nsdi.html">NPDSA</a> was supposed to increase accessibility and ease sharing of non-sensitive data amongst the registered users and their availability for scientific, economic and social developmental purposes. However, very little has been reported on how NPDSA was utilised since then.</p>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Click to read the article <a class="external-link" href="http://www.medianama.com/2014/07/223-government-open-access-policy/">published in Medianama here</a>.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/news/medianama-july-23-2014-riddhi-mukherjee-indian-govt-looks-to-provide-free-access-to-public-funded-research-works'>https://cis-india.org/news/medianama-july-23-2014-riddhi-mukherjee-indian-govt-looks-to-provide-free-access-to-public-funded-research-works</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaOpennessOpen AccessAccess to Knowledge2014-07-28T05:34:37ZNews ItemKannada Wikipedia Presentation
https://cis-india.org/news/kannada-wikipedia-presentation-vijayavani-coverage
<b>The following is a scanned copy of the media coverage for the Kannada Wikipedia presentation at the Kannada Science Writers workshop at Gulbarga on July 29,2014, in Gulbarga edition of Vijayavani Kannada daily, dated July 30.</b>
<table class="listing">
<tbody>
<tr>
<th><img src="https://cis-india.org/home-images/VijayavaniGulbargaJuly302014.jpg" alt="Vijayavani" class="image-inline" title="Vijayavani" /></th>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/news/kannada-wikipedia-presentation-vijayavani-coverage'>https://cis-india.org/news/kannada-wikipedia-presentation-vijayavani-coverage</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaAccess to KnowledgeWikimediaWikipediaOpennessKannada Wikipedia2014-08-06T09:57:48ZNews ItemGoogle Policy Fellowship Programme: Call for Applications
https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/google-policy-fellowship-call-for-applications-2013
<b>The Centre for Internet & Society (CIS) is inviting applications for the Google Policy Fellowship programme. Google is providing a USD 7,500 stipend to the India Fellow, who will be selected by July 1, 2013.</b>
<p align="JUSTIFY">The <a href="http://www.google.com/policyfellowship/">Google Policy Fellowship</a> offers successful candidates an opportunity to develop research and debate on the fellowship focus areas, which include Access to Knowledge, Openness in India, Freedom of Expression, Privacy, and Telecom, for a period of about ten weeks starting from July 7, 2013 upto October 1, 2013. CIS will select the India Fellow. Send in your applications for the position by June 15, 2013.</p>
<p align="JUSTIFY">To apply, please send to<a href="mailto:google.fellowship@cis-india.org"> google.fellowship@cis-india.org</a> the following materials:</p>
<ol>
<li>
<p align="JUSTIFY"><b>Statement of Purpose</b>: A brief write-up outlining about your interest and qualifications for the programme including the relevant academic, professional and extracurricular experiences. As part of the write-up, also explain on what you hope to gain from participation in the programme and what research work concerning free expression online you would like to further through this programme. (About 1200 words max).</p>
</li>
<li>
<p align="JUSTIFY"><b>Resume</b></p>
</li>
<li>
<p align="JUSTIFY"><b>Three references</b></p>
</li>
</ol>
<h2>Fellowship Focus Areas</h2>
<p align="JUSTIFY"><b>Access to Knowledge</b>: Studies looking at access to knowledge issues in India in light of copyright law, consumers law, parallel imports and the interplay between pervasive technologies and intellectual property rights, targeted at policymakers, Members of Parliament, publishers, photographers, filmmakers, etc.</p>
<ul>
<li>
<p align="JUSTIFY"><b>Openness in India</b>: Studies with policy recommendations on open access to scholarly literature, free access to law, open content, open standards, free and open source software, aimed at policymakers, policy researchers, academics and the general public.</p>
</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>
<p align="JUSTIFY"><b>Freedom of Expression</b>: Studies on policy, regulatory and legislative issues concerning censorship and freedom of speech and expression online, aimed at bloggers, journalists, authors and the general public.</p>
</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>
<p align="JUSTIFY"><b>Privacy</b>: Studies on privacy issues like data protection and the right to information, limits to privacy in light of the provisions of the constitution, media norms and privacy, banking and financial privacy, workplace privacy, privacy and wire-tapping, e-governance and privacy, medical privacy, consumer privacy, etc., aimed at policymakers and the public.</p>
</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>
<p align="JUSTIFY"><b>Telecom</b>: Building awareness and capacity on telecommunication policy in India for researchers and academicians, policymakers and regulators, consumer and civil society organisations, education and library institutions and lay persons through the creation of a dedicated web based resource focusing on knowledge dissemination.</p>
</li>
</ul>
<h2 align="JUSTIFY">Frequently Asked Questions</h2>
<p align="JUSTIFY"><b>What is the Google Policy Fellowship program?</b></p>
<p align="JUSTIFY">The Google Policy Fellowship program offers students interested in Internet and technology related policy issues with an opportunity to spend their summer working on these issues at the Centre for Internet and Society at Bangalore. Students will work for a period of ten weeks starting from June 1, 2013. The research agenda for the program is based on legal and policy frameworks in the region connected to the ground-level perceptions of the fellowship focus areas mentioned above.</p>
<ul>
<li>
<p align="JUSTIFY"><b>I am an International student can I apply and participate in the program? Are there any age restrictions on participating?</b></p>
<p align="JUSTIFY">Yes. You must be 18 years of age or older by January 1, 2013 to be eligible to participate in Google Policy Fellowship program in 2013.</p>
</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>
<p align="JUSTIFY"><b>Are there citizenship requirements for the Fellowship?</b></p>
<p align="JUSTIFY">For the time being, we are only accepting students eligible to work in India (e.g. Indian citizens, permanent residents of India, and individuals presently holding an Indian student visa. Google cannot provide guidance or assistance on obtaining the necessary documentation to meet the criteria.</p>
</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>
<p align="JUSTIFY"><b>Who is eligible to participate as a student in Google Policy Fellowship program?</b></p>
<p align="JUSTIFY">In order to participate in the program, you must be a student. Google defines a student as an individual enrolled in or accepted into an accredited institution including (but not necessarily limited to) colleges, universities, masters programs, PhD programs and undergraduate programs. Eligibility is based on enrollment in an accredited university by January 1, 2013.</p>
</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>
<p align="JUSTIFY"><b>I am an International student can I apply and participate in the program?</b></p>
<p align="JUSTIFY">In order to participate in the program, you must be a student (see Google's definition of a student above). You must also be eligible to work in India (see section on citizen requirements for fellowship above). Google cannot provide guidance or assistance on obtaining the necessary documentation to meet this criterion.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p align="JUSTIFY"><b>I have been accepted into an accredited post-secondary school program, but have not yet begun attending. Can I still take part in the program?</b></p>
<p align="JUSTIFY">As long as you are enrolled in a college or university program as of January 1, 2013, you are eligible to participate in the program.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p align="JUSTIFY"><b>I graduate in the middle of the program. Can I still participate?</b></p>
<p align="JUSTIFY">As long as you are enrolled in a college or university program as of January 1, 2013, you are eligible to participate in the program.</p>
</li>
</ul>
<h3 class="western">Payments, Forms, and Other Administrative Stuff</h3>
<p class="western"><b>How do payments work?</b></p>
<p align="JUSTIFY">Google will provide a stipend of USD 7,500 equivalent to each Fellow for the summer.</p>
<ul>
<li>
<p align="JUSTIFY">Accepted students in good standing with their host organization will receive a USD 2,500 stipend payable shortly after they begin the Fellowship in June 2013.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p align="JUSTIFY">Students who receive passing mid-term evaluations by their host organization will receive a USD 1,500 stipend shortly after the mid-term evaluation in July 2013.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p align="JUSTIFY">Students who receive passing final evaluations by their host organization and who have submitted their final program evaluations will receive a USD 3,500 stipend shortly after final evaluations in August 2013.</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p align="JUSTIFY">Please note: <i>Payments will be made by electronic bank transfer, and are contingent upon satisfactory evaluations by the host organization, completion of all required enrollment and other forms. Fellows are responsible for payment of any taxes associated with their receipt of the Fellowship stipend</i>.</p>
<p align="JUSTIFY"><b>*</b>While the three step payment structure given here corresponds to the one in the United States, disbursement of the amount may be altered as felt necessary.</p>
<p class="western"><b>What documentation is required from students?</b></p>
<p align="JUSTIFY">Students should be prepared, upon request, to provide Google or the host organization with transcripts from their accredited institution as proof of enrollment or admission status. Transcripts do not need to be official (photo copy of original will be sufficient).</p>
<p class="western"><b>I would like to use the work I did for my Google Policy Fellowship to obtain course credit from my university. Is this acceptable?</b></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Yes. If you need documentation from Google to provide to your school for course credit, you can contact Google. We will not provide documentation until we have received a final evaluation from your mentoring organization.</p>
<h2 style="text-align: justify; ">Host Organizations</h2>
<p class="western"><b>What is Google's relationship with the Centre for Internet and Society?</b></p>
<p align="JUSTIFY">Google provides the funding and administrative support for individual fellows directly. Google and the Centre for Internet and Society are not partners or affiliates. The Centre for Internet and Society does not represent the views or opinions of Google and cannot bind Google legally.</p>
<h2 align="JUSTIFY">Important Dates</h2>
<p><b>What is the program timeline?</b></p>
<table class="listing">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>June 15, 2013</td>
<td>Student Application Deadline. Applications must be received by midnight. <br /></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>July 1, 2013</td>
<td>Student applicants are notified of the status of their applications. <br /></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>July 2013</td>
<td>Students begin their fellowship with the host organization (start date to be determined by students and the host organization); Google issues initial student stipends. <br /></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>August 2013 <br /></td>
<td>Mid-term evaluations; Google issues mid-term stipends. <br /></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>October 2013</td>
<td>Final evaluations; Google issues final stipends. <br /></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/google-policy-fellowship-call-for-applications-2013'>https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/google-policy-fellowship-call-for-applications-2013</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaFreedom of Speech and ExpressionOpennessInternet GovernanceAccess to Knowledge2013-05-17T01:01:47ZBlog EntryDesign!Public (6th Edition)
https://cis-india.org/openness/news/design-public-6th-edition
<b>The sixth edition of Design Public conceptualized and hosted by CivicLabs, an initiative of the Center for Knowledge Societies was held at Vihara Innovation Campus, New Delhi. Sumandro Chattapadhyay was a panelist.</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The event created a platform through which urban administrators could engage with a wide range of expertise representing innovation, public policy, development, technology and entrepreneurship. The event brought together leading global and Indian practitioners representing these fields, to share and exchange best practices, learnings, approaches and philosophies in an attempt to chart a way forward for an ecosystem for civic innovation for India’s cities.</p>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: justify; ">For more information see the <a class="external-link" href="http://www.designpublic.in/">Design Public website</a>. Also see the <a class="external-link" href="http://designpublic.in/blogs/">blog post</a> by Khusbhoo Dixit on this.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/openness/news/design-public-6th-edition'>https://cis-india.org/openness/news/design-public-6th-edition</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaOpenness2015-11-30T02:11:45ZNews ItemAccess to Knowledge Bulletin — May 2013
https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/access-to-knowledge-bulletin-may-2013
<b>In this issue of our newsletter for 2013, we are pleased to bring you updates about the open exhibition held at our office for celebrating five years of our existence, Access to Knowledge work plan (2013-14), and the revised budget (September 2012 - February 2013).</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Wikimedia Foundation, beginning from September 1, 2012, awarded the Centre for Internet & Society (CIS) a two-year grant of INR 26,000,000 to support and develop free knowledge in India. Consequently, Wikimedia Foundation’s India Program became the <a href="https://cis-india.org/a2k/access-to-knowledge-program-plan" target="_blank">Access to Knowledge (A2K) program</a> of CIS. In this newsletter, we are pleased to bring you updates about the recently concluded exhibition organised in our offices in Bangalore and Delhi and share with you the feedback to the Access to Knowledge work plan from the wikipedia community.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The <a href="http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Access_To_Knowledge/Team" title="Access To Knowledge/Team">A2K team</a> consists of three members based in Bangalore: <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/people/our-team">T. Vishnu Vardhan</a>, <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/people/our-team">Dr. U.B. Pavanaja</a> and <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/people/our-team">Subhashish Panigrahi</a> and one member <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/people/our-team">Nitika Tandon</a> in Delhi. <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/people/our-team">Noopur Raval</a>, Programme Officer left the organisation on April 24, 2013. Archives of our newsletters are <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/" target="_blank">here</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Wikipedians from various communities can request for outreach programs, technical bugs, logistics-merchandize and media, public relations and communications at <a href="http://bit.ly/TOcXId" target="_blank">http://bit.ly/TOcXId</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/events/celebrating-5-years-of-cis"><strong>Celebrating 5 Years of CIS</strong></a><br />CIS is now 5 years old and we recently celebrated this by holding an open exhibition in our offices in Bangalore and Delhi from May 20 to 23, showcasing our work and accomplishments over the five year period. We had about 170 visitors coming in to our office. Renowned artists like Tara Kelton, Kiran Subbaiah, Navin Thomas, Abhishek Hazra and Sharath Chandra Ram exhibited their work. The four-day event attracted press coverage: <a href="https://cis-india.org/news/bangalore-mirror-vandana-kamath-may-18-2013-ngo-invites-public-to-peruse-its-accounts">Bangalore Mirror</a> (May 18, 2013), <a href="https://cis-india.org/news/dna-india-may-19-2013-subir-ghosh-a-lifetime-of-five-years-on-the-internet">DNA</a> (May 19, 2013), <a href="https://cis-india.org/news/the-hindu-may-22-2013-cis-highlights-changes-ushered-in-by-the-internet">Hindu</a> (May 22, 2013), <a href="https://cis-india.org/news/prajavani-may-24-2013-report-on-pavanaja-talk-at-cis">Prajavani</a> (May 23, 2013), <a href="https://cis-india.org/news/udayavani-may-25-2013-report-on-cis-5-years-celebration">Udayavani</a> (May 25, 2013) and <a href="https://cis-india.org/news/bangalore-mirror-vandana-kamath-may-31-2013-shooting-cyber-cafes-before-they-die">Bangalore Mirror</a> (May 31, 2013). <a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/events/celebrating-5-years-of-cis">Download all the posters that were part of the exhibition here</a>.</p>
<p><strong>Announcements</strong></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/resources/access-to-knowledge-work-plan">Access to Knowledge Work Plan</a> (April 2013 - June 2014): CIS has announced its detailed plan with projection of outcomes and expected impact of the A2K programme activities. The document has been made in consultation with various stakeholders and keeping in mind the objectives, opportunities and challenges faced by each of the Indian language Wikimedia projects. Feel free to share any feedback.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">WMF-A2K Revised Budget (draft) and Utilization (September 2012 - February 2013): In our effort to increase transparency with the working of CIS-A2K programme, we are <a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WMF-A2K_Grant_Budget_and_Utilization_Sept12_-Feb13.pdf">sharing</a> with you the A2K Programme Budget along with the utilization for the above period. The proposed revisions to the budget along with some notes are <a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WMF-A2K_Revised_Budget_%28draft%29_and_Utilization_Sept_12-Feb_13.pdf">here</a>.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/a2k/blog/cis-tiss-mou" class="external-link">CIS Signs MOU with TISS</a>: has signed a MoU with TISS as part of which we will collaboratively work towards building Digital Knowledge Partnerships with select higher education institutions.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">India Access to Knowledge IRC can be accessed here: <a href="http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Access_To_Knowledge/IRC/13th_May">May 13, 2013</a> (All Language Discussion) and <a href="http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Access_To_Knowledge/IRC/26th_May">May 26, 2013</a> (Odia Language Discussion).</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Blog Entries</strong></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/blog/odia-wikipedia-needs-assessment">Odia Wikipedia: Needs Assessment</a> (by Subhashish Panigrahi, May 11, 2013).</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/blog/access-to-knowledge-work-plan-synopsis-of-feedback-by-wikipedians">Access to Knowledge Work Plan: Synopsis of Feedback by Wikipedians</a> (by Nitika Tandon, May 20, 2013).</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/blog/wikipedia-introductory-session">Wikipedia Introductory Session organized for Data and India portal consultants</a> (by Subhashish Panigrahi, May 30, 2013).</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/blog/my-first-wikipedia-training-workshop" class="external-link">My First Wikipedia Training Workshop – Theatre Outreach Unit</a>, University of Hyderabad (by T. Vishnu Vardhan, June 19, 2013). </li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Events Organised</strong></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/events/kannada-wikipedia-workshop-udupi-april-29-2013">Kannada Wikipedia Workshop</a> (April 29, 2013, Govinda Pai Research Centre, MGM College Udupi). Dr. U.B. Pavanaja led the workshop and gave a talk on Kannada Wikipedia</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Event Participated</strong></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/kannada-irc-meet-may-7-2013">Kannada IRC Meet</a> (organised by the Wikipedia Community, May 7, 2013). Dr. U.B. Pavanaja participated in this.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Upcoming Event</strong></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/events/digital-humanities-for-indian-higher-education">Digital Humanities for Indian Higher Education</a> (co-organised in collaboration with HEIRA-CSCS, Tumkur University, CILHE-TISS and CCS (IISc), Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, July 13, 2013).</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Press Coverage</strong></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/prajavani-may-24-2013-report-on-pavanaja-talk-at-cis">Report on CIS 5 Years Celebration</a> (Prajavani, May 23, 2013). Prajavani published a report of Dr. U.B. Pavanja’s talk “From Palm Leaf to Tablet – Journey of Kannada”.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/udayavani-may-25-2013-report-on-cis-5-years-celebration">Report on CIS 5 Years Celebration</a> (Udayavani, May 25, 2013). Udayavani published a report of the evening programme hosted as part of the Centre for Internet and Society's 5 year celebrations in its Bangalore edition.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/hmtv-may-30-2013-wikipedia-and-telegu-wikipedians">A Feature on Wikipedia and Telegu Wikipedians</a> (HMTV, May 30 – 31, 2013). T. Vishnu Vardhan is quoted in this half an hour feature on Wikipedia and Telugu Wikipedians. </li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/wikipedia-live-phone-in-programme">Wikipedia Live Phone-in Programme</a> (HMTV, June 1, 2013). T. Vishnu Vardhan speaks about Telegu Wikipedia in the discussion that was telecasted live.</li>
</ul>
<h2><a href="http://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/">About CIS</a></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">CIS was registered as a society in Bangalore in 2008. As an independent, non-profit research organisation, it runs different policy research programmes such as Accessibility, Access to Knowledge, Openness, Internet Governance, and Telecom. The policy research programmes have resulted in outputs such as the <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/advocacy/accessibility/blog/e-accessibility-handbook">e-Accessibility Policy Handbook for Persons with Disabilities</a> with ITU and G3ict, and <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/digital-natives/front-page/blog/dnbook">Digital Alternatives with a Cause?</a>, <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/digital-natives/front-page/blog/position-papers">Thinkathon Position Papers</a> and the <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/digital-natives/front-page/blog/digital-natives-with-a-cause-a-report">Digital Natives with a Cause? Report</a> with Hivos, etc. We have conducted policy research for the Ministry of Communications & Information Technology, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, etc., on <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/a2k/blog/cis-analysis-july2011-treaty-print-disabilities">WIPO Treaties</a>, <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/a2k/blog/analysis-copyright-amendment-bill-2012">Copyright Bill</a>, <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/internet-governance/front-page/blog/cis-feedback-to-nia-bill">NIA Bill</a>, etc.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">CIS is accredited as an observer at WIPO. CIS staff participates in the Standing Committee for Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR) meetings regularly held in Geneva, and participate in the discussions and comments on them from a public interest perspective. Our Policy Director, Nirmita Narasimhan won the <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/accessibility/blog/national-award">National Award for Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities</a> from the Government of India and also received the <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/news/nirmita-nivh-award">NIVH Excellence Award</a>.</p>
<p><strong>Follow us elsewhere</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Get short, timely messages from us on <a href="https://twitter.com/cis_india">Twitter</a></li>
<li>Join the CIS group on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/groups/28535315687/">Facebook</a></li>
<li>Visit us at <a href="https://cis-india.org/">http://cis-india.org</a></li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><strong>Support Us</strong><br />Please help us defend consumer / citizen rights on the Internet! Write a cheque in favour of ‘The Centre for Internet and Society’ and mail it to us at No. 194, 2nd ‘C’ Cross, Domlur, 2nd Stage, Bengaluru – 5600 71.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><strong>Request for Collaboration</strong><br />We invite researchers, practitioners, and theoreticians, both organisationally and as individuals, to collaboratively engage with Internet and society and improve our understanding of this new field. To discuss the research collaborations, write to Sunil Abraham, Executive Director, at <a href="mailto:sunil@cis-india.org">sunil@cis-india.org</a> or Nishant Shah, Director – Research, at <a href="mailto:nishant@cis-india.org">nishant@cis-india.org</a></p>
<p><i>CIS is grateful to its donors, Wikimedia Foundation, Ford Foundation, Privacy International, UK, Hans Foundation and the Kusuma Trust which was founded by Anurag Dikshit and Soma Pujari, philanthropists of Indian origin, for its core funding and support for most of its projects.</i></p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/access-to-knowledge-bulletin-may-2013'>https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/access-to-knowledge-bulletin-may-2013</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaOpennessWikipediaAccess to KnowledgeWikimedia2013-07-04T04:17:49ZPageKannada Wikipedia Workshop at Hasan (Coverage in Prajavani)
https://cis-india.org/news/prajavani-june-5-2013-kannada-wikipedia-workshop-coverage
<b>Dr. U.B. Pavanaja conducted a workshop in Hasan on June 4, 2013. Prajavani carried a report on June 5, 2013.</b>
<table class="listing">
<tbody>
<tr>
<th>
<p style="text-align: center; "><img src="https://cis-india.org/home-images/PVHasan.png" alt="Prajavani (June 5, 2013)" class="image-inline" title="Prajavani (June 5, 2013)" /></p>
</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>A Kannada Wikipedia workshop was conducted in Hasan by Dr. U.B. Pavanaja on June 4, 2013. Above is the report published by Prajavani in Kannada.</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/news/prajavani-june-5-2013-kannada-wikipedia-workshop-coverage'>https://cis-india.org/news/prajavani-june-5-2013-kannada-wikipedia-workshop-coverage</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaOpennessWikipediaAccess to KnowledgeWikimedia2013-07-02T07:05:25ZNews ItemKannada Wikipedia Workshop at Hasan (Coverage in Samyukta Karnataka)
https://cis-india.org/news/samyukta-karnataka-june-5-2013-kannada-wikipedia-workshop-coverage
<b>Dr. U.B. Pavanaja conducted a workshop in Hasan on June 4, 2013. Samyukta Karnataka published a report of the workshop on June 5, 2013.</b>
<table class="listing">
<tbody>
<tr>
<th><img src="https://cis-india.org/home-images/SamyuktaKarnataka.png" alt="Samyukta Karnataka Report" class="image-inline" title="Samyukta Karnataka Report" /></th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Above is the report in Kannada of the workshop conducted in Hasan on June 4, 2013.</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/news/samyukta-karnataka-june-5-2013-kannada-wikipedia-workshop-coverage'>https://cis-india.org/news/samyukta-karnataka-june-5-2013-kannada-wikipedia-workshop-coverage</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaOpennessWikipediaAccess to KnowledgeWikimedia2013-07-02T07:16:11ZNews ItemWiki Rahasya: Panel Discussion on Suvarna News
https://cis-india.org/news/suvarna-news-june-13-2013-wiki-rahasya-panel-discussion
<b>Dr. U.B.Pavanaja participated in a panel discussion around Wikipedia in general and about Kannada Wikipedia in specific. This was telecast by Suvarna News 24x7 (Kannada) TV channel on June 13, 2013.</b>
<h3>Videos</h3>
<p><b>Part 1 </b></p>
<p><iframe frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/HeGts72SxiI" width="320"></iframe></p>
<hr />
<p><b>Part 2 </b></p>
<p><iframe frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/s6txDACzK8c" width="320"></iframe></p>
<hr />
<p><b>Part 3 </b></p>
<p><iframe frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/VjQNQ9pKORg" width="320"></iframe></p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/news/suvarna-news-june-13-2013-wiki-rahasya-panel-discussion'>https://cis-india.org/news/suvarna-news-june-13-2013-wiki-rahasya-panel-discussion</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaAccess to KnowledgeWikimediaWikipediaVideoOpenness2013-07-02T16:36:11ZNews ItemAccess to Knowledge Bulletin — March 2013
https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/access-to-knowledge-bulletin-march-2013
<b>In the third issue of our newsletter for 2013, we are pleased to bring you updates from the Indic Wikipedia Visualisation project, reports of events organised in Goa, and press coverage of the Kannada Wikipedia Workshop held in Mysore.</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The <a href="http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Access_To_Knowledge/Team" target="_blank" title="Access To Knowledge/Team">A2K team</a> consists of four members based in Delhi: <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/people/our-team" target="_blank">T. Vishnu Vardhan</a>, <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/people/our-team" target="_blank">Nitika Tandon</a>, <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/people/our-team" target="_blank">Subhashish Panigrahi</a> and <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/people/our-team" target="_blank">Noopur Raval</a>, and one member <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/people/our-team" target="_blank">Dr. U.B. Pavanaja</a> who is working from Bangalore office.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Wikipedians from various communities can request for outreach programs, technical bugs, logistics-merchandize and media, public relations and communications at <a href="http://bit.ly/TOcXId" target="_blank">http://bit.ly/TOcXId</a>.</p>
<h3>Indic Wikipedia Visualisation Project</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/blog/indic-wikipedia-visualisation-project-visualising-basic-parameters">Visualising Basic Parameters</a> (by Sajjad Anwar and Sumandro Chattapadhyay, March 26, 2013): Sajjad and Sumandro bring you a visualisation of the growth of Indic Wikipedia in this first post on Indic Wikipedia Visualisation project. </li>
</ul>
<h3>Events Organised</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/blog/wikipedia-session-at-bits-goa">Introductory Wikipedia session at BITS Goa</a> (organised by CIS, Birla Institute of Technology & Science, Pilani, Goa, March 7, 2013). The Access to Knowledge team was invited by Nikhil Dixit from BITS to organise a Wikipedia editing session. Nitika Tandon led the editing session.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/events/kannada-wikipedia-workshop">Kannada Wikipedia Workshop</a> (organised by CIS, Institution of Engineers, JLB Road, Mysore, March 24, 2013). Dr. U.B. Pavanaja led the event.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Events Co-organised</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/blog/wiki-womens-day-in-goa">Wiki Women's Day in Goa</a> (organised by the Wikimedia India Chapter and CIS, Nirmala Institute of Education, Panaji, Goa, March 8, 2013). Nitika Tandon participated in this workshop held on International Working Women's Day, and shares the developments in this report.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/events/wikipedia-workshop-for-kannada-science-writers">Wikipedia Workshop for Kannada Science Writers</a> (organised by Wikimedia Chapter India, Karnataka Rajya Vijnana Parishath and CIS, Karnataka Rajya Vijnana Parishath Conference Hall, Banashankari 2nd Stage, Bangalore, March 17, 2013). Dr. U.B. Pavanaja participated in the event.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Upcoming Event (Co-organised)</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/events/telegu-wiki-mahotsavam-2013">Telugu Wiki Mahotsavam 2013</a> (co-organised with the Telegu Wikipedia community, Hyderabad, April 9 to 11, 2013). Vishnu Vardhan is participating in this event as a speaker. A public event will be held on April 11 from 5.00 p.m. to 8.00 p.m. at Golden Threshold (Sarojini Naidu's house) in Hyderabad.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Events Participated In</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/wikipedia-womens-workshop-bangalore-2013">Wikipedia Women's Workshop Bangalore 2013</a> (organised by Wikimedia India, Servelots Infotech, Jayanagar, Bangalore, March 8, 2013). The event was covered by <a href="https://cis-india.org/news/wikipedia-womens-workshop-bangalore-2013">Kannada Prabha</a> on March 9, 2013. Dr. U.B. Pavanaja participated in the event.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/wikipedia-at-avenir">Wikipedia at Avenir</a> (organised by the Wikipedia community, Netaji Subhash Engineering College, Kolkata, West Bengal, March 11, 2013). CIS supported the event.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Event Report from Other Organisations</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Wikipedia Community members helped the Higher Education Innovation and Research Applications Programme (HEIRA) of CSCS Bangalore organize a day-long workshop on ‘Digital Literacy’ at Ahmednagar College, Ahmednagar, Maharasthra on January 17, 2013. Tanveer Hasan of HEIRA shares with us the developments in <a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/blog/ahmednagar-marathi-wikipedia-workshop-report">this report</a>.</p>
<h3>Media Coverage</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/kannada-wikipedia-workshop-report-in-prajavani">Kannada Wikipedia Workshop, Mysore</a> (Prajavani, March 25, 2013).</li>
</ul>
<h2><a href="http://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/">About CIS</a></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">CIS was registered as a society in Bangalore in 2008. As an independent, non-profit research organisation, it runs different policy research programmes such as Accessibility, Access to Knowledge, Openness, Internet Governance, and Telecom. The policy research programmes have resulted in outputs such as the <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/advocacy/accessibility/blog/e-accessibility-handbook">e-Accessibility Policy Handbook for Persons with Disabilities</a> with ITU and G3ict, and <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/digital-natives/front-page/blog/dnbook">Digital Alternatives with a Cause?</a>, <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/digital-natives/front-page/blog/position-papers">Thinkathon Position Papers</a> and the <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/digital-natives/front-page/blog/digital-natives-with-a-cause-a-report">Digital Natives with a Cause? Report</a> with Hivos, etc. We have conducted policy research for the Ministry of Communications & Information Technology, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, etc., on <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/a2k/blog/cis-analysis-july2011-treaty-print-disabilities">WIPO Treaties</a>, <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/a2k/blog/analysis-copyright-amendment-bill-2012">Copyright Bill</a>, <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/internet-governance/front-page/blog/cis-feedback-to-nia-bill">NIA Bill</a>, etc.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">CIS is accredited as an observer at WIPO. CIS staff participates in the Standing Committee for Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR) meetings regularly held in Geneva, and participate in the discussions and comments on them from a public interest perspective. Our Policy Director, Nirmita Narasimhan won the <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/accessibility/blog/national-award">National Award for Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities</a> from the Government of India and also received the <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/news/nirmita-nivh-award">NIVH Excellence Award</a>.</p>
<h3>Follow us elsewhere</h3>
<ul>
<li>Get short, timely messages from us on <a href="https://twitter.com/cis_india">Twitter</a></li>
<li>Join the CIS group on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/groups/28535315687/">Facebook</a></li>
<li>Visit us at <a href="https://cis-india.org/">http://cis-india.org</a></li>
</ul>
<h3>Support Us</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Please help us defend consumer / citizen rights on the Internet! Write a cheque in favour of ‘The Centre for Internet and Society’ and mail it to us at No. 194, 2nd ‘C’ Cross, Domlur, 2nd Stage, Bengaluru – 5600 71.</p>
<h3>Request for Collaboration</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">We invite researchers, practitioners, and theoreticians, both organisationally and as individuals, to collaboratively engage with Internet and society and improve our understanding of this new field. To discuss the research collaborations, write to Sunil Abraham, Executive Director, at <a href="mailto:sunil@cis-india.org">sunil@cis-india.org</a> or Nishant Shah, Director – Research, at <a href="mailto:nishant@cis-india.org">nishant@cis-india.org</a></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><i>CIS is grateful to its donors, Wikimedia Foundation, Ford Foundation, Privacy International, UK, Hans Foundation and the Kusuma Trust which was founded by Anurag Dikshit and Soma Pujari, philanthropists of Indian origin, for its core funding and support for most of its projects.</i></p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/access-to-knowledge-bulletin-march-2013'>https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/access-to-knowledge-bulletin-march-2013</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaOpennessWikipediaAccess to KnowledgeWikimedia2013-04-15T16:47:20ZPageKP Rao feted
https://cis-india.org/news/deccan-herald-april-10-2013-kp-rao-feted
<b>KP Rao who had designed fonts for Indian languages including Kannada and devised the first phonetic keyboard driver for Indian languages, was felicitated at a programme organised at Sahyadri College of Engineering and Management on Tuesday, reports DHNS from Mangalore.</b>
<hr />
<p>This was published by Deccan Herald on April 10, 2013. Dr. U.B.Pavanaja was quoted.</p>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Speaking after the felicitation, he said the biggest challenge in those days was to display and print the characters of our languages.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The computers used and spoke only one language. The system of putting in Indic text phonetically was his invention and all keyboard softwares for Indian languages use this method.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Kannada wikipedia editor UB Pavanaja said Rao had created a mechanism for feeding Indic characters into computers. Later, he released a free software for Kannada called 'Sediyapu,' he said.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Below is a scanned version of the report published in the Deccan Herald:</p>
<table class="listing">
<tbody>
<tr>
<th><img src="https://cis-india.org/home-images/copy_of_DHMangaloreApril102013.png/@@images/61a75e85-0a7e-475b-ad67-ef5a464dcf4a.png" alt="Deccan Herald Article" class="image-inline" title="Deccan Herald Article" /><br /></th>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/news/deccan-herald-april-10-2013-kp-rao-feted'>https://cis-india.org/news/deccan-herald-april-10-2013-kp-rao-feted</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaOpennessWikipediaWikimedia2013-04-15T16:47:29ZNews ItemAccess to Knowledge Bulletin — April 2013
https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/access-to-knowledge-bulletin-april-2013
<b>In the third issue of our newsletter for 2013, we are pleased to bring you updates from the Indic Wikipedia Visualisation project, reports of events organised in Kolkata, Cuttack and Bhubaneswar.</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Wikimedia Foundation, beginning from September 1, 2012, awarded the Centre for Internet & Society (CIS) a two-year grant of INR 26,000,000 to support and develop free knowledge in India. Consequently, Wikimedia Foundation’s India Program became the <a href="https://cis-india.org/a2k/access-to-knowledge-program-plan" target="_blank">Access to Knowledge (A2K) program</a> of CIS. In the third issue of our newsletter for 2013, we are pleased to bring you updates from the Indic Wikipedia Visualisation project, reports of events organised in Goa, and press coverage of the Kannada Wikipedia Workshop held in Mysore.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The <a href="http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Access_To_Knowledge/Team" target="_blank" title="Access To Knowledge/Team">A2K team</a> consists of three members based in Delhi: <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/people/our-team" target="_blank">T. Vishnu Vardhan</a>, <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/people/our-team" target="_blank">Nitika Tandon</a> and <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/people/our-team" target="_blank">Subhashish Panigrahi</a> and one member <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/people/our-team" target="_blank">Dr. U.B. Pavanaja</a> who is working from Bangalore office. <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/people/our-team" target="_blank">Noopur Raval</a>, Programme Officer (Access to Knowledge) has resigned. April 24, 2013 was her last working day. Archives of our newsletters are <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/" target="_blank">here</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Wikipedians from various communities can request for outreach programs, technical bugs, logistics-merchandize and media, public relations and communications at <a href="http://bit.ly/TOcXId" target="_blank">http://bit.ly/TOcXId</a>.</p>
<p><b>Indic Wikipedia Visualisation Project</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<ul>
<b> </b>
<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/blog/indic-wikipedia-visualisation-project-visualising-page-views-and-project-pages">Indic Wikipedia Visualisation Project #2: Visualising Page Views and Project Pages</a>.</li>
</ul>
<p><b>Guest Blog</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<ul>
<b> </b>
<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/blog/indian-wiki-women-history-month">Indian WikiWomen celebrate Women’s History Month</a> (by Netha Hussain, April 29, 2013).</li>
</ul>
<p><b>Event Organised</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<ul>
<b> </b>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/events/kannada-wikipedia-workshop-udupi-april-29-2013">Kannada Wikipedia Workshop</a> (April 29, 2013, Govinda Pai Research Centre, MGM College Udupi). Dr. U.B. Pavanaja led the workshop and gave a talk on Kannada Wikipedia.</li>
</ul>
<p>Events Co-organised</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The following events were organised in the month of March but reports were written during the month of April. Vishnu Vardhan and Subhashish Panigrahi held meetings with wikipedians:</p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/wiki-meet-up-kolkata">Kolkata Wiki Community Meetup</a> (organised by CIS and Kolkata Wiki Community, March 14, 2013). </li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/blog/odia-wikipedia-cuttack-community-meetup-march-16-2013">Odia Wikipedia - Cuttack Community Meetup</a> (organised by CIS and Odia Wiki Community, Cuttack, March 16, 2013).</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/blog/odia-wikipedia-meet-up-bhubaneswar-march-17-2013">Odia Wikipedia – Bhubaneswar Community Meetup</a> (organised by CIS and Odia Wiki Community, Bhubaneswar, March 17, 2013). </li>
</ul>
<p>The following event was organised in the month of April. We will be publishing the report soon:</p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/events/telegu-wiki-mahotsavam-2013">Telugu Wiki Mahotsavam 2013</a> (organised by Telugu Wikipedia Community and CIS, Hyderabad, April 9 – 11, 2013). Vishnu Vardhan was one of the trainers at the Wikipedia Academy at Centre for Good Governance on April 9, 2013. Vishnu Vardhan spoke about the Access to Knowledge work in one of the sessions of Wikimedia Meeting with Media Heads on April 10, 2013. Vishnu Vardhan gave a talk on A2K’s plans for the growth of Telegu Wikipedia in 2013-14 at the Telegu Wikipedia general meeting on April 11, 2013. Vishnu Vardhan also gave a talk about Access to Knowledge in the digital era at the Wiki Chaitanya Vedika on April 11, 2013.</li>
</ul>
<h2><a href="http://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/">About CIS</a></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">CIS was registered as a society in Bangalore in 2008. As an independent, non-profit research organisation, it runs different policy research programmes such as Accessibility, Access to Knowledge, Openness, Internet Governance, and Telecom. The policy research programmes have resulted in outputs such as the <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/advocacy/accessibility/blog/e-accessibility-handbook">e-Accessibility Policy Handbook for Persons with Disabilities</a> with ITU and G3ict, and <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/digital-natives/front-page/blog/dnbook">Digital Alternatives with a Cause?</a>, <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/digital-natives/front-page/blog/position-papers">Thinkathon Position Papers</a> and the <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/digital-natives/front-page/blog/digital-natives-with-a-cause-a-report">Digital Natives with a Cause? Report</a> with Hivos, etc. We have conducted policy research for the Ministry of Communications & Information Technology, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, etc., on <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/a2k/blog/cis-analysis-july2011-treaty-print-disabilities">WIPO Treaties</a>, <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/a2k/blog/analysis-copyright-amendment-bill-2012">Copyright Bill</a>, <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/internet-governance/front-page/blog/cis-feedback-to-nia-bill">NIA Bill</a>, etc.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">CIS is accredited as an observer at WIPO. CIS staff participates in the Standing Committee for Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR) meetings regularly held in Geneva, and participate in the discussions and comments on them from a public interest perspective. Our Policy Director, Nirmita Narasimhan won the <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/accessibility/blog/national-award">National Award for Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities</a> from the Government of India and also received the <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/news/nirmita-nivh-award">NIVH Excellence Award</a>.</p>
<p><b>Follow us elsewhere</b></p>
<ul>
<li>Get short, timely messages from us on <a href="https://twitter.com/cis_india">Twitter</a></li>
<li>Join the CIS group on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/groups/28535315687/">Facebook</a></li>
<li>Visit us at <a href="https://cis-india.org/">http://cis-india.org</a></li>
</ul>
<p>Support Us</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Please help us defend consumer / citizen rights on the Internet! Write a cheque in favour of ‘The Centre for Internet and Society’ and mail it to us at No. 194, 2nd ‘C’ Cross, Domlur, 2nd Stage, Bengaluru – 5600 71.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Request for Collaboration</b><br />We invite researchers, practitioners, and theoreticians, both organisationally and as individuals, to collaboratively engage with Internet and society and improve our understanding of this new field. To discuss the research collaborations, write to Sunil Abraham, Executive Director, at <a href="mailto:sunil@cis-india.org">sunil@cis-india.org</a> or Nishant Shah, Director – Research, at <a href="mailto:nishant@cis-india.org">nishant@cis-india.org</a></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><i>CIS is grateful to its donors, Wikimedia Foundation, Ford Foundation, Privacy International, UK, Hans Foundation and the Kusuma Trust which was founded by Anurag Dikshit and Soma Pujari, philanthropists of Indian origin, for its core funding and support for most of its projects.</i></p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/access-to-knowledge-bulletin-april-2013'>https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/access-to-knowledge-bulletin-april-2013</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaOpennessWikipediaAccess to KnowledgeWikimedia2013-05-29T10:57:49ZPageApril 2013 Bulletin
https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/april-2013-bulletin
<b>The Centre for Internet & Society (CIS) welcomes you to the fourth issue of its newsletter for the year 2013. In this issue we bring you an overview of our research programs, updates of events organised by us, events we participated in, news and media coverage, and videos of some of our recent events.</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/events/celebrating-5-years-of-cis"><b>Celebrating 5 Years of CIS</b></a><br />We at the Centre for Internet and Society celebrate 5 years of existence with an exhibition showcasing our work and accomplishments over this time. The exhibition will be held concurrently at both our Bangalore and Delhi offices from May 20 to 24, 2013, from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.</p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/google-policy-fellowship-call-for-applications-2013">Google Policy Fellowship</a></b><br />CIS is inviting applications for the Google Policy Fellowship programme. Google is providing a USD 7,500 stipend to the India fellow who will be selected by July 1, 2013. Fellowship focus areas include Access to Knowledge, Openness in India, Freedom of Expression, Privacy, and Telecom Send in your applications for the position by June 15, 2013.</p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<p><b>Jobs</b><br /> CIS invites applications for the posts of <a href="https://cis-india.org/jobs/vacancy-for-developer">Developer</a> (NVDA Screen Reader Project), and <a href="https://cis-india.org/jobs/programme-officer-internet-governance">Programme Officer</a> (Internet Governance). To apply send your resume to <a href="mailto:sunil@cis-india.org">sunil@cis-india.org</a> and <a href="mailto:pranesh@cis-india.org">pranesh@cis-india.org</a>. CIS also invites applications for the post of <a href="https://cis-india.org/jobs/programme-officer-pilot-projects-access-to-knowledge">Programme Officer</a> (Access to Knowledge, Pilot Projects). To apply for this position send your resume to <a href="mailto:vishnu@cis-india.org">vishnu@cis-india.org</a>.</p>
<hr />
<h2><a href="https://cis-india.org/accessibility">Accessibility</a></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">CIS is doing two projects in partnership with the <b>Hans Foundation</b>. One is to create a national resource kit of state-wise laws, policies and programmes on issues relating to persons with disabilities in India and another is for developing a screen reader and text-to- speech synthesizer for Indian languages. CIS is also working with the World Blind Union and many other organisations to develop a Treaty for the Visually Impaired helped by the WIPO:</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>National Resource Kit for Persons with Disabilities</b><br />Anandhi Viswanathan from CIS and Manojna Yeluri from the Centre for Law and Policy Research are working in this project. Draft chapters have been published. Feedback and comments are invited from readers for the chapters on Himachal Pradesh, Goa, Jammu and Kashmir and Rajasthan:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/national-resource-kit-himachal-pradesh-call-for-comments">The Himachal Pradesh Chapter</a> (by Anandhi Viswanathan, April 30, 2013).</li>
<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/national-resource-kit-goa-call-for-comments">Goa Chapter</a> (by Anandhi Viswanathan, April 30, 2013).</li>
<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/national-resource-kit-jammu-kashmir-call-for-comments">The Jammu & Kashmir Chapter</a> (by Anandhi Viswanathan, April 30, 2013).</li>
<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/national-resource-kit-rajasthan-call-for-comments">The Rajasthan Chapter</a> (by Manojna Yeluri, April 30, 2013).</li>
</ul>
<p>Note: <i>All of these are early drafts and will be reviewed and updated</i>.</p>
<p><b>Events Organised</b></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/girls-in-ict-day-mithra-jyothi">Girls in ICT Day</a> (April 25, 2013, Mitra Jyothi Auditorium, HSR Layout, Bangalore). Dr. U.B. Pavanaja gave a talk on Social Media and Kannada Language for Women with Disabilities. Sara Morais wrote an event report.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/accessibility/events/global-accessibility-awareness-day-2013">Global Accessibility Awareness Day</a> (May 9, 2013, TERI, Southern Regional Centre, Domlur, Bangalore).</li>
</ul>
<p><b>Announcement</b></p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/cis-itu-d-sector-membership">CIS Gets ITU-D Sector Membership</a>: CIS has become a sector member of ITU-D.</li>
</ul>
<hr />
<h2><a href="https://cis-india.org/about/a2k">Access to Knowledge</a> and <a href="https://cis-india.org/openness">Openness</a></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The Wikimedia Foundation <a href="https://cis-india.org/a2k/access-to-knowledge-program-plan">awarded</a> CIS a two year grant of INR 26,000,000 to support and develop the growth of Indic language communities and projects by community collaborations and partnerships. This is being carried out by the Access to Knowledge team based in Delhi. CIS is also doing a project (Pervasive Technologies) on examining the relationship between production of pervasive technologies and intellectual property. CIS also promotes openness including open government data, open standards, open access, and free/libre/open source software through its Openness programme.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/a2k/access-to-knowledge-program-plan"><b>Wikipedia</b></a><br />Beginning from September 1, 2012, Wikimedia Foundation <a href="https://cis-india.org/a2k/access-to-knowledge-program-plan">awarded</a> CIS a two-year grant of INR 26,000,000 to support and develop free knowledge in India. The <a href="http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Access_To_Knowledge/Team" title="Access To Knowledge/Team">A2K team</a> consists of four members based in Delhi: <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/people/our-team">T. Vishnu Vardhan</a>, <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/people/our-team">Nitika Tandon</a> and <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/people/our-team">Subhashish Panigrahi</a>, and one team member <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/people/our-team">Dr. U.B. Pavanaja</a> who is working from Bangalore office. <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/people/our-team">Noopur Raval</a>, Programme Officer has left the organisation. April 24, 2013 was her last working day.</p>
<p><b>Indic Wikipedia Visualisation Project</b></p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/blog/indic-wikipedia-visualisation-project-visualising-page-views-and-project-pages">Indic Wikipedia Visualisation Project #2: Visualising Page Views and Project Pages</a>.</li>
</ul>
<p><b>Blog Entries</b></p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/blog/indian-wiki-women-history-month">Indian WikiWomen celebrate Women’s History Month</a> (by Netha Hussain, April 29, 2013).</li>
<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/blog/konkani-wikipedia-analysis">Analysis of Konkani Wikipedia: Facts & Challenges</a> (by Nitika Tandon, April 30, 2013).</li>
<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/blog/odia-wikipedia-needs-assessment">Odia Wikipedia: Needs Assessment</a> (by Subhashish Panigrahi, April 30, 2013).</li>
</ul>
<p><b>Event Organised</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<ul>
<b> </b>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/events/kannada-wikipedia-workshop-udupi-april-29-2013">Kannada Wikipedia Workshop</a> (April 29, 2013, Govinda Pai Research Centre, MGM College Udupi). Dr. U.B. Pavanaja led the workshop and gave a talk on Kannada Wikipedia.</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Events Co-organised</b><br />The following events were organised in the month of March but reports were written during the month of April. Vishnu Vardhan and Subhashish Panigrahi held meetings with wikipedians:</p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/wiki-meet-up-kolkata">Kolkata Wiki Community Meetup</a> (organised by CIS and Kolkata Wiki Community, March 14, 2013). </li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/blog/odia-wikipedia-cuttack-community-meetup-march-16-2013">Odia Wikipedia - Cuttack Community Meetup</a> (organised by CIS and Odia Wiki Community, Cuttack, March 16, 2013).</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/blog/odia-wikipedia-meet-up-bhubaneswar-march-17-2013">Odia Wikipedia – Bhubaneswar Community Meetup</a> (organised by CIS and Odia Wiki Community, Bhubaneswar, March 17, 2013). </li>
</ul>
<p>The following event was organised in the month of April. We will be publishing the report soon:</p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/events/telegu-wiki-mahotsavam-2013">Telugu Wiki Mahotsavam 2013</a> (organised by Telugu Wikipedia Community and CIS, Hyderabad, April 9 – 11, 2013). Vishnu Vardhan was one of the trainers at the Wikipedia Academy at Centre for Good Governance on April 9, 2013. Vishnu Vardhan spoke about the Access to Knowledge work in one of the sessions of Wikimedia Meeting with Media Heads on April 10, 2013. Vishnu Vardhan gave a talk on A2K’s plans for the growth of Telegu Wikipedia in 2013-14 at the Telegu Wikipedia general meeting on April 11, 2013. Vishnu Vardhan also gave a talk about Access to Knowledge in the digital era at the Wiki Chaitanya Vedika on April 11, 2013.</li>
</ul>
<p><b>Other </b><a href="https://cis-india.org/a2k"><b>Access to Knowledge</b></a><b> Updates</b></p>
<p><b>WIPO</b></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/a2k/blog/cis-intervention-eu-blocking-wipo-treaty-for-blind">CIS Intervention on the Treaty for the Visually Impaired at SCCR/SS/GE/2/13</a> (Geneva, April 18 – 20, 2013). Pranesh Prakash participated in the session and spoke about the rights of the visually impaired.</li>
</ul>
<hr />
<h2><a href="https://cis-india.org/about/internet-governance">Internet Governance</a></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The Internet Governance programme conducts research around the various social, technical, and political underpinnings of global and national Internet governance, and includes online privacy, freedom of speech, and Internet governance mechanisms and processes. Currently, CIS is doing a project with <b>Privacy International</b>, London to facilitate research and events around surveillance, and freedom of speech and expression.</p>
<p><b>Information Technology</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<ul>
<b> </b>
<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/it-amendment-act-69-a-rules-draft-and-final-version-comparison">IT (Amendment) Act, 2008, 69A Rules: Draft and Final Version Comparison</a> (by Jadine Lannon, April 27, 2013).</li>
<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/indian-telegraph-act-419-a-rules-and-it-amendment-act-69-rules">Indian Telegraph Act, 1885, 419A Rules and IT (Amendment) Act, 2008, 69 Rules</a> (by Jadine Lannon, April 28, 2013).</li>
<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/it-amendment-act-69-rules-draft-and-final-version-comparison">IT (Amendment) Act, 2008, 69 Rules: Draft and Final Version Comparison</a> (by Jadine Lannon, April 30, 2013).</li>
<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/it-amendment-act-69-b-draft-and-final-version-comparison">IT (Amendment) Act, 2008, 69B Rules: Draft and Final Version Comparison</a> (by Jadine Lannon, April 30, 2013).</li>
</ul>
<p><b>Resources</b><br />The below rules were published recently:</p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/resources/it-procedure-and-safeguards-for-interception-monitoring-and-decryption-of-information-rules-2009">Information Technology (Procedure and Safeguards for Interception, Monitoring and Decryption of Information) Rules, 2009</a></li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/resources/it-procedure-and-safeguard-for-monitoring-and-collecting-traffic-data-or-information-rules-2009">Information Technology (Procedure and safeguard for Monitoring and Collecting Traffic Data or Information) Rules, 2009</a></li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/resources/indian-telegraph-act-section-419-a-rules">Rules Under Section 419A of the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885</a></li>
</ul>
<p><b>Newspaper Column</b></p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/indian-express-april-6-2013-nishant-shah-off-the-record">Off the Record</a> (by Nishant Shah, Indian Express, April 6, 2013).</li>
</ul>
<p><b>Privacy</b></p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/indias-big-brother-the-central-monitoring-system">India´s ´Big Brother´: The Central Monitoring System</a> (CMS) (by Maria Xynou, April 8, 2013).</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Events Organised</b><br />Maria Xynou gives an overview of the discussions and recommendations from the privacy round tables held in Delhi and Bangalore:</p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/report-on-the-first-privacy-round-table-meeting">A Privacy Round Table in Delhi</a> (organized by CIS and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, FICCI Federation House, Tansen Marg, New Delhi, April 3, 2013).</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/report-on-the-2nd-privacy-round-table">A Privacy Round Table in Bangalore</a> (organized by CIS and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Jayamahal Palace, Jayamahal Road, Bangalore, April 20, 2013).</li>
</ul>
<p><b>Announcements</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<ul>
<b> </b>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">2nd Expert Committee meeting on draft 'Human DNA Profiling Bill 2012': The Department of Biotechnology has constituted an Expert Committee to discuss various issues of this Bill in detail. Sunil Abraham has been nominated as one of the members of this Committee. A meeting of this Expert Committee has been scheduled for May 13, 2013 under the Chairmanship of Dr. T. S. Rao, Adviser, DBT.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Chinmayi Arun is one of the international experts supporting the Internet & Jurisdiction project, a global multi-stakeholder dialogue process.</li>
</ul>
<p><b>Upcoming Events</b></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/events/privacy-round-table-chennai">A Privacy Round Table in Chennai</a> (co-organised with Data Security Council of India and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Residency Towers, Sir Thyagaraja Road, T Nagar, Chennai, May 18, 10.30 a.m. to 4.00 p.m.).</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/events/consilience-2013-law-technology-committee-nls-bangalore">Consilience – 2013</a> (National Law School of India University, Bangalore, May 26 – 27, 2013).</li>
</ul>
<p><b>Other Event Hosted</b></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/events/a-talk-by-marialaura-ghidni">Or-bits.com — A Talk by Marialaura Ghidini</a> (CIS, Bangalore, April 19, 2013). Marialaura Ghidini gave a talk abou the creation and activities of or-bits.com, a web-based curatorial platform that she founded in 2009.</li>
</ul>
<h3>News and Media</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/the-hindu-april-1-2013-prashant-jha-clarify-and-define-terms-in-it-rules-panel-tells-govt">Clarify and define terms in IT rules, panel tells govt</a>. (by Prashant Jha, Hindu, April 1, 2013).</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/privacy-surgeon-simon-davies-april-9-2013-india-takes-its-first-serious-step-toward-privacy-regulation">India takes its first serious step toward privacy regulation – but it may be misguided</a> (Privacy Surgeon, April 9, 2013).</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/ndtv-video-april-11-2013-the-social-network-regulating-social-media-unrealistic-impossible-necessary">Regulating Social Media: Unrealistic, Impossible, Necessary?</a> (NDTV, April 11, 2013). Pranesh Prakash participated in a discussion on social media aired on NDTV.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/hindustan-times-zia-haq-april-12-2013-social-media-may-influence-160-lok-sabha-seats-in-2014">Social media may influence 160 LS seats in 2014</a> (by Zia Haq, Hindustan Times, April 12, 2013).</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/wall-street-journal-april-15-2013-r-jai-krishna-vote-will-social-media-impact-the-election">Vote: Will Social Media Impact the Election?</a> (by R. Jai Krishna, Wall Street Journal, April 15, 2013).</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/d-w-april-15-2013-untangling-the-web-of-indias-ungovernable-net">Untangling the web of India's 'ungovernable' Net</a> (Deutsche Welle, April 15, 2013).</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/gni-annual-report-mentions-cis">CIS in GNI Annual Report</a> (April 25, 2013). CIS gets mentioned in GNI Annual Report. Sunil Abraham is quoted in it. </li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/india-together-april-27-2013-satarupa-sen-bhattacharya-is-free-speech-an-indian-value">Is free speech an Indian value?</a> (by Satarupa Sen Bhattacharya, India Together, April 27, 2013).</li>
</ul>
<hr />
<h3><a href="https://cis-india.org/telecom/knowledge-repository-on-internet-access">Knowledge Repository on Internet Access</a></h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">CIS in partnership with the Ford Foundation is executing a project on Internet Access. It covers the history of the internet, technologies involved, principle and values of internet access, broadband market and universal access and will touch upon various polices and regulations which has an impact on internet access and bodies and mechanism which are responsible for formulation policies related to internet access. The blog posts and modules will be published in a new website: <a href="http://www.internet-institute.in">www.internet-institute.in</a>.</p>
<p><b>Upcoming Event</b><br />We are hosting an “Institute on Internet and Society” with the support of Ford Foundation India, which is to be held from June 8, 2013 to June 14, 2013. Call for registration and relevant details have been <a href="http://www.internet-institute.in/">announced</a>.</p>
<p>The following units have been published:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/telecom/knowledge-repository-on-internet-access/internet-infrastructure">Internet Infrastructure</a> (by Srividya Vaidyanathan, April 30, 2013).</li>
<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/telecom/knowledge-repository-on-internet-access/isp-introduction">Internet Service Provider – Introduction</a> (by Srividya Vaidyanathan, April 30, 2013).</li>
</ul>
<hr />
<h3><a href="https://cis-india.org/about/telecom">Telecom</a></h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">CIS is involved in promoting access and accessibility of telecommunications services and resources and has provided inputs to ongoing policy discussions and consultation papers published by TRAI. It has prepared reports on unlicensed spectrum and accessibility of mobile phones for persons with disabilities and also works with the USOF to include funding projects for persons with disabilities in its mandate:</p>
<p><b>Newspaper Column</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<ul>
<b> </b>
<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/telecom/blog/organizing-india-blogspot-shyam-ponappa-april-4-2013-prioritizing-communications-energy">Prioritizing Communications & Energy</a> (by Shyam Ponappa, Business Standard and Organizing India Blogspot, April 4, 2013).</li>
</ul>
<p><b>Blog Entry</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<ul>
<b> </b>
<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/telecom/open-citizen-radio-networks-to-race-for-.radio-gtld">From Open Citizen Radio Networks to the Race for .RADIO gTLD</a> (by Sharath Chandra Ram, April 30, 2013).</li>
</ul>
<p><b>Event Participated</b></p>
<ul>
<li>Broadband Policy Course (organised by Lirne Asia, Bangalore, April 5 – 6, 2013). Nirmita Narasimhan and Snehashish Ghosh attended the course.</li>
</ul>
<hr />
<h2 style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/">About CIS</a></h2>
<p>The Centre for Internet and Society is a non-profit research organization that works on policy issues relating to freedom of expression, privacy, accessibility for persons with disabilities, access to knowledge and IPR reform, and openness (including open government, FOSS, open standards, etc.), and engages in academic research on digital natives and digital humanities.<br /> <b>Follow us elsewhere</b></p>
<ul>
<li>Get short, timely messages from us on <a href="https://twitter.com/cis_india">Twitter</a></li>
<li>Join the CIS group on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/groups/28535315687/">Facebook</a></li>
<li>Visit us at <a href="https://cis-india.org/">http://cis-india.org</a></li>
</ul>
<p><b>Support Us</b><br />Please help us defend consumer / citizen rights on the Internet! Write a cheque in favour of ‘The Centre for Internet and Society’ and mail it to us at No. 194, 2nd ‘C’ Cross, Domlur, 2nd Stage, Bengaluru – 5600 71.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Request for Collaboration</b><br />We invite researchers, practitioners, and theoreticians, both organisationally and as individuals, to collaboratively engage with Internet and society and improve our understanding of this new field. To discuss the research collaborations, write to Sunil Abraham, Executive Director, at <a href="mailto:sunil@cis-india.org">sunil@cis-india.org</a> or Nishant Shah, Director – Research, at <a href="mailto:nishant@cis-india.org">nishant@cis-india.org</a></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><i>CIS is grateful to its donors, Wikimedia Foundation, Ford Foundation, Privacy International, UK, Hans Foundation and the Kusuma Trust which was founded by Anurag Dikshit and Soma Pujari, philanthropists of Indian origin, for its core funding and support for most of its projects.</i></p>
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For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/april-2013-bulletin'>https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/april-2013-bulletin</a>
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No publisherpraskrishnaAccess to KnowledgeDigital NativesTelecomAccessibilityInternet GovernanceDigital HumanitiesCISRAWOpenness2013-05-31T08:07:38ZPage