The Centre for Internet and Society
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Odia Wikipedia celebrates 13 years of free knowledge contribution at Bhubaneswar
https://cis-india.org/openness/news/orissa-dairy-june-2-2015-odia-wikipedia-celebrates-13-years-of-free-knowledge-contribution-at-bhubaneswar
<b>Odia Wikipedia, one of the first of several Indian language Wikipedia projects is ready to celebrate 13 glorious years of free knowledge contribution on June 3. </b>
<p style="text-align: justify;">This was <a class="external-link" href="http://www.orissadiary.com/CurrentNews.asp?id=59414">published in Orissadiary.com</a> on June 2, 2015. Also see <a href="http://odishan.com/14971">http://odishan.com/14971</a> (In Odia)</p>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: justify;">Beginning in 2002 — a year after the world's largest online encyclopedia, the English Wikipedia, was launched — Odia Wikipedia has grown to be the largest content repository in the Odia language available in Unicode on the Internet at https://or.wikipedia.org. <br /><br />With about 17 active editors (also known as “uikiali”) spread across various parts of India and abroad, and over 8,800 articles, the project has become more than just an encyclopedia. The voluntary editor community has put its efforts into acquiring valuable Creative Commons (CC) licensed content by lobbying copyright holders/authors to relicense copyrighted content under CC licenses.<br /><br />Date and time: 3 June 2015, 5 pm<br />Venue: Institute of Physics, Near Apollo Hospital, Bhubaneswar, Odisha<br />Event details: https://or.wikipedia.org/s/sml<br /><br />It has also engaged with over 2,000 people by organizing various outreach programs including the globally accredited pedagogic program the Wikipedia Education Program (WEP). For its 13th anniversary the community is planning to release a character-encoding converter that promises to unlock massive amounts of content from government portals as well as journals, newspapers and magazines that have their content in non-Unicode character encoding that prevents user searching and reuse of digital-based content.<br /><br />May you have any further questions about the project or the event, please reach us in the contact details mentioned below:<br /><br />Mrutyunjaya Kar, Administrator, Odia Wikipedia (9437112371)<br />Sailesh Patnaik, Editor, Odia Wikipedia (7537097770)<br />Subhashish Panigrahi, Programme Officer, Access To Knowledge (CIS-A2K)<br />subhashish@cis-india.org. 08050515339</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/openness/news/orissa-dairy-june-2-2015-odia-wikipedia-celebrates-13-years-of-free-knowledge-contribution-at-bhubaneswar'>https://cis-india.org/openness/news/orissa-dairy-june-2-2015-odia-wikipedia-celebrates-13-years-of-free-knowledge-contribution-at-bhubaneswar</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaCIS-A2KOdia Wikipedia2016-06-18T18:18:05ZNews ItemTalk on bringing 1000 books about the culture of Maharashtra on Marathi Wikipedia
https://cis-india.org/openness/discussion-on-bringing-peshwa-culture-on-marathi-wikipedia
<b>Maharashtra Granthottejak Sanstha, a Pune based non-profit that was founded in Justice Mahadev Govind Ranade and colleagues in 1894, has recently announced to digitise their 1000 volumes of books centred around Peshwa culture. A discussion about digitising these books and making them available online on Marathi Wikisource is being organised on December 1 at the Energy Resources Institute(TERI), Bengaluru. Avinash Chaphekar, Joint Secretary of MGS will be addressing this talk.</b>
<p>Books published by Maharashtra Granthottejak Sanstha (MGS) vastly cover the Peshwa culture of Maharashtra apart from many other significant aspects of the history of Maharashtra. The books will be digitised on the Marathi-language Wikisource (<a class="external-link" href="https://mr.wikisource.org">mr.wikisource.org</a>) by the Marathi Wikimedia community. Marathi Wikisource is a sister project of <a class="external-link" href="https://mr.wikipedia.org">Marathi Wikipedia</a> and is a free online Marathi-language library. Started in 2012, it currently houses about 800 volumes of Marathi books.</p>
<p>MGS was founded in Pune by Justice M. G. Ranade, Dr. Ramkrishna Bhandarkar and Lokamanya Tilak in 1894. Earlier known Deccan Vernacular Translation Society, it was renamed as Maharashtra Granthottejak Sanstha in 1948. The Society has a collection of invaluable literary treasure like 100 yrs old rare literary work and manuscripts, Peshwa diaries and records, Justice Ranade's correspondence, 30 thesis on various subjects and many different domains. These collections make the institution a great place for study and research. Maharashtra Granthottejak Sanstha (MGS) celebrated its 121st anniversary recently at Pune, MGS donated 1000 books for Marathi Wikisource so that the books could be digitised and be made available for millions of Marathi readers. Avinash Chaphekar, Joint Secretary of the organisation who will be addressing the talk that is being organised by the Centre for Internet and Society, Bengaluru.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/openness/discussion-on-bringing-peshwa-culture-on-marathi-wikipedia'>https://cis-india.org/openness/discussion-on-bringing-peshwa-culture-on-marathi-wikipedia</a>
</p>
No publishersubhaMarathi WikipediaAccess to KnowledgeMarathi Wikisource2020-05-02T16:39:00ZEventAnnual Report 2015-2016
https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/files/annual-report-2015-2016
<b></b>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/files/annual-report-2015-2016'>https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/files/annual-report-2015-2016</a>
</p>
No publisherAdmin2017-09-20T01:35:54ZFileSeptember 2016 Newsletter
https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/september-2016-newsletter
<b>Welcome to the September 2016 newsletter of the Centre for Internet and Society (CIS). </b>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Dear readers,</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Thank you for reading the Centre for Internet and Society's September newsletter. The past month was notable for the media presence that various CIS members had. Dr. Nirmita Narasimhan continued our work looking at the inaccessibility of everyday electronics with a piece in the Huffington Post about mobile applications and their low usability for persons with disabilities.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Ting-Yi Chang continued her research into the gender gap in Wikipedia, with a series of blog posts looking at the various movements and discoveries she has made about the Indian and the global context.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">We are also happy to announce that CIS, in partnership with the Centre for Information Technology and Public Policy, will organize the second Internet Researchers' Conference next year.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Previous issues of the newsletters can be <a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/about/newsletters">accessed here</a>.</p>
<hr style="text-align: justify;" />
<table style="text-align: justify;" class="grid listing">
<tbody>
<tr>
<th>Highlights</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify;">CIS in partnership with Centre for Information Technology and Public Policy will <a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/raw/irc17-call">organize the second Internet Researchers' Conference</a> (IRC17) from March 3 - 5, 2017 at the International Institute of Information Technology in Bengaluru. It is a free and open conference. Sessions must be proposed by teams of two or more members on or before Friday, October 21, 2016. All submitted session proposals will go though an open review process, followed by each team that has proposed a session being invited to select ten sessions of their choice to be included in the Conference agenda. Final sessions will be chosen through these votes, and be announced on January 2, 2017.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">In an <a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/huffington-post-september-22-2016-nirmita-narasimhan-mobile-apps-are-excluding-millions-of-indians-who-want-to-use-them">article published in the Huffington Post</a>, Nirmita Narasimhan threw light on the fact that mobile applications which today form an essential part of our lives such as booking cabs, ordering groceries, making payments online, or simply connecting to friends are still excluding millions of people in India particularly the visually impaired who want to use them. </li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Rohini Lakshané has published a methodology to <a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/methodology-statements-of-working-form-27-of-indian-mobile-device-patents" target="_blank">answer the research questions</a> pertaining to working statements of mobile technology patents in India, also known as Form 27, using the granted patents from the landscape. <br /></li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">In furtherance to the Wikimedia Foundation’s 2011 editor survey which revealed gender imbalance on online encyclopaedia, Ting-Yi Chang in a <a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/another-5-years-what-have-we-learned-about-the-wikipedia-gender-gap-and-what-has-been-done-part-1">blog post series (of three parts)</a> has summarized the movements and discoveries about Wikipedia gender gap on both local (India) and global scales. </li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">In an <a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/openness/dna-september-17-2016-subhashish-panigrahi-software-freedom-day-importance-of-free-and-open-source-software">article published in the DNA</a>, Subhashish Panigrahi has explained the concepts of FOSS, Free Software, Open Source, and FLOSS in light of the Software Freedom Day celebrated every year. </li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Pranesh Prakash in a response note to Unique Identification Authority of India’s (UIDAI) reply to Hans Verghese Mathews' article titled “Flaws in the UIDAI Process” (EPW, March 12, 2016) has noted that UIDAI do not illustrate the extent to which the false positive identification rates is expected to grow—neither in their initial paper, nor in their rebuttal to Mathews—whereas Mathews provides a method of estimating the increase of false positive identification rates. The article by Pranesh was <a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/glaring-errors-in-uidai-rebuttal-epw">published in the Economic & Political Weekly</a>.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">CIS <a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/telecom/blog/cis-submission-to-trai-consultation-on-proliferation-of-broadband-through-public-wifi-networks">made a submission to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India</a> (TRAI) on Proliferation of Broadband through Public WiFi Networks. Through comments prepared by Sunil Abraham, Sharath Chandra Ram, Vidushi Marda, and Thejaswi Melarkode, CIS pointed out that Wi-Fi, a radio transceiver must be deregulated further to bridge India's digital divide.</li></ul>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>CIS in the news:</strong></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify;">
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/talking-point-futile-battle-against-torrents">Talking Point: Futile Battle Against Torrents</a> (Deccan Herald; September 1, 2016)</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/hindustan-times-aloke-tikku-september-7-2016-despite-sc-order-thousands-booked-under-scrapped-sec-66a-of-it-act">Despite SC order, thousands booked under scrapped Sec 66A of IT Act</a> (Aloke Tikku; Hindustan Times; September 7, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/scroll.in-mayank-jain-september-12-2016-the-digilocker-was-supposed-to-cut-down-paperwork">The DigiLocker was supposed to cut down paperwork but less than 0.1% of Indians are using it</a> (Mayank Jain; Scroll.in; September 12, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/livemint-september-13-2016-shreeja-sen-how-does-govt-track-all-its-legal-cases">How does the government track all its legal cases?</a> (Shreeja Sen; Livemint; September 13, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/mint-pressnews-september-13-2016-kit-o-connell-spacex-explosion-slows-facebook-israeli-efforts-to-control-online-content">SpaceX Explosion Slows Facebook & Israeli Efforts To Control Online Content</a> (Kit O' Connell; Mint Press News; September 13, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/business-standard-alnoor-peermohammed-september-14-2016-indias-aadhaar-mandate-for-smartphone-makers-may-rile-global-firms">India's Aadhaar mandate for smartphone makers may rile global firms</a> (Alnoor Peermohammed; Business Standard; September 14, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/news/spicy-ip-september-19-2016-prof-colleen-v-chien-and-prof-jorge-l-contreras-made-in-india-innovation-policy">“Made in India” Innovation Policy</a> (Prof. Collen Chien and Prof. Contreras; SpicyIP; September 19, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/the-week-sushil-kambampati-september-21-2016-india-is-unprepared-for-future-cyber-attacks">Is India Prepared for a Cyber Attack?</a> Suckfly And Other Past Responses Say No (Sushil Kambampati; September 21, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/news/livemint-september-23-2016-vidhi-choudhary-to-embed-a-tweet-or-not">To embed a tweet or not?</a> (Vidhi Choudhary; Livemint; September 23, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/business-standard-september-24-apurva-venkat-and-moulishree-srivastava-whasapp-ruling-experts-seek-privacy-law">WhatsApp ruling: Experts seek privacy law</a> (Apurva Venkat and Moulishree Srivastava; Business Standard; September 24, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/times-of-india-september-25-2016-manju-vi-when-the-war-is-on-whatsapp">When the war’s on WhatsApp</a> (Manju V.; The Times of India; September 25, 2016).</li></ul>
<p><strong><br />CIS members wrote the following articles</strong></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify;">
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/india-today-september-1-2016-pranesh-prakash-internet-rights-and-wrongs">Internet Rights and Wrongs</a> (Pranesh Prakash; India Today; September 1, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/telecom/blog/business-standard-september-1-2016-shyam-ponappa-digital-india-needs-these-policy-changes">Digital India Needs These Policy Changes</a> (Shyam Ponappa; Business Standard and Organizing India Blogspot; September 1, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/glaring-errors-in-uidai-rebuttal-epw">Glaring Errors in UIDAI's Rebuttal</a> (Pranesh Prakash; Economic & Political Weekly; Vol. 51, Issue No. 36; September 3, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/raw/indian-express-september-3-2016-nishant-shah-quarter-life-crisis-the-world-wide-web-turns-25-this-year">Quarter Life Crisis: The World Wide Web turns 25 this year</a> (Nishant Shah; Indian Express; September 3, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/global-voices-september-5-2016-subhashish-panigrahi-indians-ask-is-visiting-a-torrent-site-really-a-crime">Indians Ask: Is Visiting a Torrent Site Really A Crime?</a> (Subhashish Panigrahi; Global Voices; September 5, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/ammanudi-september-6-2016-making-telugu-suitable-for-internet">Making Telugu Suitable for Internet</a> (Rahmanuddin Shaik; Ammanudi; September 6, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/spicy-ip-september-7-2016-anubha-sinha-where-is-the-regional-comprehensive-economic-partnership-headed">Where is the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Headed?</a> (Anubha Sinha; Spicy IP; September 12, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/openness/dna-september-17-2016-subhashish-panigrahi-software-freedom-day-importance-of-free-and-open-source-software">Software Freedom Day: The Importance of Free and Open Source Software</a> (Subhashish Panigrahi; DNA; September 17, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/samaja-september-17-2016-subhashish-panigrahi-let-us-write-our-code-in-our-own-hands">ଆମ ହାତେ ଆମ କୋଡ୍ ଲେଖିବା</a> (Subhashish Panigrahi; Samaja; September 17, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/openness/global-voices-september-17-2016-subhashish-panigrahi-it-is-september-and-that-means-it-is-time-for-software-freedom-day">It's September, and That Means It's Time for Software Freedom Day</a> (Subhashish Panigrahi; Global Voices; September 17, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/raw/indian-express-nishant-shah-september-18-2016-who-owns-your-phone">Who Owns Your Phone?</a> (Nishant Shah; Indian Express; September 18, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/huffington-post-september-22-2016-nirmita-narasimhan-mobile-apps-are-excluding-millions-of-indians-who-want-to-use-them">Mobile Apps Are Excluding Millions Of Indians Who Want To Use Them</a> (Nirmita Narasimhan; Huffington Post; September 22, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/the-wire-anubha-sinha-september-23-2016-delhi-high-court-ruling-against-publishers-is-a-triumph-for-knowledge">Delhi High Court’s Ruling Against Publishers is a Triumph For Knowledge</a> (Anubha Sinha; September 23, 2016).</li></ul>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Jobs</strong></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">CIS is presently seeking applications for the following positions</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/jobs/policy-officer-cyber-security">Policy Officer (Cyber Security)</a> </li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/jobs/senior-policy-officer-cyber-security">Senior Policy Officer (Cyber Security)</a> </li>
<li><a class="internal-link" href="http://cis-india.org/jobs/cis-a2k-programme-officer">Programme Officer (Communications)</a> </li>
<li><a class="internal-link" href="http://cis-india.org/jobs/intern-for-pervasive-technologies-project">Intern (Pervasive Technologies Project)</a> - Application accepted throughout the year</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/jobs/internship">Internship</a> - Application accepted throughout the year</li>
<li><a class="internal-link" href="http://cis-india.org/jobs/seeking-survey-participants-for-research-on-musician-livelihood">Survey Participants for Research on Musician Livelihood</a></li></ul>
<p style="text-align: justify;">-------------------------------------<br /><a href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility">Accessibility & Inclusion</a> <br /> ------------------------------------- <br /> India has an estimated 70 million persons with disabilities who don't have access to read printed materials due to some form of physical, sensory, cognitive or other disability. As part of our endeavour to make available accessible content for persons with disabilities, we are developing a text-to-speech software in 15 languages with support from the Hans Foundation. The progress made so far in the project can be accessed <a href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/resources/nvda-text-to-speech-synthesizer">here</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">►NVDA and eSpeak</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Monthly Report</strong></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify;">
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/september-2016-report.pdf">September 2016 Report</a> (Suman Dogra; August 31, 2016).</li></ul>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>----------------------------------- </strong><br /><a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k">Access to Knowledge</a> <br /><strong> ----------------------------------- </strong><br />Our Access to Knowledge programme currently consists of two projects. The Pervasive Technologies project, conducted under a grant from the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), aims to conduct research on the complex interplay between low-cost pervasive technologies and intellectual property, in order to encourage the proliferation and development of such technologies as a social good. The Wikipedia project, which is under a grant from the Wikimedia Foundation, is for the growth of Indic language communities and projects by designing community collaborations and partnerships that recruit and cultivate new editors and explore innovative approaches to building projects.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">►Copyright and Patent</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Blog Entry</strong></p>
<ul>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/methodology-statements-of-working-form-27-of-indian-mobile-device-patents">Methodology: Statements of Working (Form 27) of Indian Mobile Device Patents</a> (Rohini Lakshané; September 14, 2016).</li></ul>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Participation in Events</strong></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/news/workshop-on-innovation-economic-development-and-ip-in-india-and-china">Workshop on Innovation, Economic Development and IP in India and China</a> (Organised by the Singapore Management University, O.P. Jindal Global University, and Renmin University of China; New Delhi; September 27 - 28, 2016). Anubha Sinha made a presentation on Investigating Limits to Innovation and Peer Production in India's Mobile Apps Economy. Rohini Lakshané made a presentation on Exploring Open Hardware in Mass Produced Mobile Phones. </li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/news/law-and-economy-policy-conference-2016">Law and Economy Policy Conference 2016</a> (Organized by National Institute of Public Finance and Policy and Institute of New Economic Thinking; India Habitat Centre, New Delhi; September 28 - 30, 2016). Sunil Abraham served as a discussant on the "Towards a privacy framework for India" session of this conference.</li></ul>
<p style="text-align: justify;">►Wikipedia</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">As part of the <a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/access-to-knowledge-program-plan">project grant from the Wikimedia Foundation</a> we have reached out to more than 3500 people across India by organizing more than 100 outreach events and catalysed the release of encyclopaedic and other content under the Creative Commons (CC-BY-3.0) license in four Indian languages (21 books in Telugu, 13 in Odia, 4 volumes of encyclopaedia in Konkani and 6 volumes in Kannada, and 1 book on Odia language history in English).</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Blog Entries</strong></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/wikiwomen2019s-meetup-at-st-agnes-college-explores-potentials-and-plans-of-women-editors-in-mangalore-karnataka">Wikiwomen’s Meetup at St. Agnes College Explores Potentials and Plans of Women Editors in Mangalore, Karnataka</a> (Ting-Yi Chang; September 1, 2016).</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/openness/a-workshop-to-improve-telugu-wikipedia-articles-on-nobel-laureates">A workshop to improve Telugu Wikipedia articles on Nobel laureates</a> (Pavan Santhosh; September 12, 2016).</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Another 5 Years: What Have We Learned about the Wikipedia Gender Gap and What Has Been Done? (<a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/another-5-years-what-have-we-learned-about-the-wikipedia-gender-gap-and-what-has-been-done-part-1">Part 1</a>, <a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/another-5-years-what-have-we-learned-about-the-wikipedia-gender-gap-and-what-has-been-done-part-2">Part 2</a> and <a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/another-5-years-what-have-we-learned-about-the-wikipedia-gender-gap-and-what-has-been-done-part-3">Part 3</a>; Ting-Yi Chang; September 18, 2016).</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/openness/software-freedom-day">ସଫ୍ଟଓଏର ସ୍ୱାଧୀନତା ଦିବସ: ଆମ ହାତେ ଆମ କୋଡ଼ ଲେଖିବା</a> (Subhashish Panigrahi; September 18, 2016). The blog post was mirrored in <a class="external-link" href="https://odia.yourstory.com/read/b3b56fd08a/-?c=16">Your Story</a>, <a class="external-link" href="http://www.odishastory.com/odia/2016/09/software-freedom/">Odisha Story</a> and <a class="external-link" href="http://aajiraodisha.org/software-freedom/">Aajira Odisha</a> on September 17, 2016. The originally published piece can be <a class="external-link" href="http://psubhashish.com/post/150524560200/sfd">accessed here</a>.</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/openness/campaign-for-relicensing-copyrighted-books-under-creative-commons-licenses">Campaign for relicensing copyrighted books under Creative Commons licenses</a> (Pavan Santhosh S. & Subhashish Panigrahi; September 20, 2016).</li></ul>
<p style="text-align: justify;">►Openness</p>
<div style="text-align: justify;">Our work in the Openness programme focuses on open data, especially open government data, open access, open education resources, open knowledge in Indic languages, open media, and open technologies and standards - hardware and software. We approach openness as a cross-cutting principle for knowledge production and distribution, and not as a thing-in-itself.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Submission</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<ul>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/openness/comments-on-the-telangana-state-open-data-policy-2016">Comments on the Telangana State Open Data Policy 2016</a> (Sumandro Chattapadhyay; September 1, 2016).</li></ul>
<p><strong>Participation in Event</strong></p>
<ul>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/openness/news/fuel-gilt-conference-2016">Fuel Gilt Conference 2016</a> (Organized by Fuel Project; New Delhi; September 24 - 25, 2016). Subhashish Panigrahi participated and made a presentation.</li></ul>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;"> </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>----------------------------------- </strong><br /><a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance">Internet Governance</a> <br /><strong> -----------------------------------</strong></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">As part of its research on privacy and free speech, CIS is engaged with two different projects. The first one (under a grant from Privacy International and IDRC) is on surveillance and freedom of expression (SAFEGUARDS). The second one (under a grant from MacArthur Foundation) is on restrictions that the Indian government has placed on freedom of expression online.</p>
<p>►Privacy</p>
<p><strong>Participation in Events</strong></p>
<ul>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/study-tour-on-future-of-privacy-in-age-of-big-data">The Future of Privacy in the Age of Big Data</a> (Organized by Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom; September 3 - 10, 2016; Berlin and Hamburg). Vanya Rakesh was one of the participants from South Asia.</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/litd-17-committee-bureau-of-indian-standards-meeting">LITD 17 Committee, Bureau of Indian Standards Meeting</a> (Organized by Bureau of Indian Standards; September 23, 2016; Bengaluru). Vanya Rakesh attended the meeting. </li></ul>
<p>►Big Data</p>
<p><strong>Participation in Event</strong></p>
<ul>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/young-scholars-programme-cpr-south-2016">Young Scholars' Programme, CPRSouth 2016</a> (Organized by Communication Policy Research South; September 6 - 7, 2016; Zanzibar). Rohini Lakshané participated in this programme. </li></ul>
<p>►Cyber Security</p>
<p><strong>Participation in Event</strong></p>
<ul>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/cyfy-2016-the-india-conference-on-cyber-security-and-internet-governance-4th-edition">CYFY 2016 - The India Conference on Cyber Security and Internet Governance</a> (Organized by Observer Research Foundation; September 28 - 30, 2016; New Delhi). Sunil Abraham was a speaker.</li></ul>
<p><strong><strong>----------------------------------- <br /></strong><a href="http://cis-india.org/telecom">Telecom</a> <br /><strong> ----------------------------------- </strong><br /> </strong>CIS is involved in promoting access and accessibility to 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>Submission</p>
<ul>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/telecom/blog/cis-submission-to-trai-consultation-on-proliferation-of-broadband-through-public-wifi-networks">TRAI Consultation on Proliferation of Broadband through Public WiFi Networks</a> (Sunil Abraham, Sharath Chandra Ram, Vidushi Marda, and Thejaswi Melarkode; September 1, 2016). Shyam Ponappa and Arjun Venkatraman provided inputs.</li></ul>
<p><strong>-----------------------------------</strong><br /><a href="http://cis-india.org/raw">Researchers at Work</a> <br /><strong> ----------------------------------- </strong><br /> The Researchers at Work (RAW) programme is an interdisciplinary research initiative driven by an emerging need to understand the reconfigurations of social practices and structures through the Internet and digital media technologies, and vice versa. It aims to produce local and contextual accounts of interactions, negotiations, and resolutions between the Internet, and socio-material and geo-political processes:</p>
<p><strong>Event Organized</strong></p>
<ul>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/raw/7-ways-to-con-fuse-the-internet-with-analogy-intergalactic-mix-talk-by-surfatial-september-26-6-pm">7 Ways to Con/fuse the Internet with Analogy (Intergalactic Mix) - Talk by Surfatial</a> (CIS, Bangalore; September 26, 2016). Surfatial, a trans-local collective that works with text and sound gave a talk about their essay.</li></ul>
<p><strong>Blog Entries</strong></p>
<ul>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/raw/iirc-reflections-on-irc16">IIRC: Reflections on IRC16</a> (Sumandro Chattapadhyay; September 6, 2016)</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/raw/irc17-call">Internet Researchers' Conference 2017</a> (IRC17) - Call for Sessions (Sumandro Chattapadhyay; September 23, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/raw/blog_how-green-is-the-internet-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly">How Green is the Internet? The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly</a> (Aishwarya Panicker; September 23, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/raw/blog_mobilizing-online-consensus-net-neutrality-and-the-india-subreddit">Mobilizing Online Consensus: Net Neutrality and the India Subreddit</a> (Sujeet George; September 27, 2016).</li></ul>
<p><strong>Participation in Event</strong></p>
<ul>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/raw/sequoia-india-designathon-2016">Designathon 2016 </a>(Organized by Sequoia India; Bangalore; September 10 - 11, 2016). </li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/raw/iiit-delhi-workshop-on-center-for-it-and-society">Workshop on Center for IT and Society</a> (Organized by IIIT, Delhi; September 17, 2016). Sumandro Chattapadhyay participated in the event.</li></ul>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>----------------------------------- </strong><br /><a href="http://cis-india.org/">About CIS</a> <br /><strong> ----------------------------------- </strong><br /> The Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) is a non-profit organisation that undertakes interdisciplinary research on internet and digital technologies from policy and academic perspectives. The areas of focus include digital accessibility for persons with disabilities, access to knowledge, intellectual property rights, openness (including open data, free and open source software, open standards, open access, open educational resources, and open video), internet governance, telecommunication reform, digital privacy, and cyber-security. The academic research at CIS seeks to understand the reconfigurations of social and cultural processes and structures as mediated through the internet and digital media technologies.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">► Follow us elsewhere</p>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<ul style="text-align: justify;">
<li> Twitter:<a href="http://twitter.com/cis_india"> http://twitter.com/cis_india</a> </li>
<li> Twitter - Access to Knowledge: <a href="https://twitter.com/CISA2K">https://twitter.com/CISA2K</a> </li>
<li> Twitter - Information Policy: <a href="https://twitter.com/CIS_InfoPolicy">https://twitter.com/CIS_InfoPolicy</a></li>
<li> Facebook - Access to Knowledge:<a href="https://www.facebook.com/cisa2k"> https://www.facebook.com/cisa2k</a> </li>
<li> E-Mail - Access to Knowledge: <a>a2k@cis-india.org</a> </li>
<li> E-Mail - Researchers at Work: <a>raw@cis-india.org</a> </li>
<li> List - Researchers at Work: <a href="https://lists.ghserv.net/mailman/listinfo/researchers">https://lists.ghserv.net/mailman/listinfo/researchers</a></li></ul>
</div>
<p style="text-align: justify;">► Support Us</p>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">Please help us defend consumer and 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.</div>
</div>
<p style="text-align: justify;">► Request for Collaboration</p>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<p style="text-align: justify;">We invite researchers, practitioners, artists, and theoreticians, both organisationally and as individuals, to engage with us on topics related internet and society, and improve our collective understanding of this field. To discuss such possibilities, please write to Sunil Abraham, Executive Director, at sunil@cis-india.org (for policy research), or Sumandro Chattapadhyay, Research Director, at sumandro@cis-india.org (for academic research), with an indication of the form and the content of the collaboration you might be interested in. To discuss collaborations on Indic language Wikipedia projects, write to Tanveer Hasan, Programme Officer, at <a>tanveer@cis-india.org</a>.</p>
<div style="text-align: justify;"><em>CIS is grateful to its primary donor the Kusuma Trust founded by Anurag Dikshit and Soma Pujari, philanthropists of Indian origin for its core funding and support for most of its projects. CIS is also grateful to its other donors, Wikimedia Foundation, Ford Foundation, Privacy International, UK, Hans Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, and IDRC for funding its various projects</em>.</div>
</div>
</div>
<ul style="text-align: justify;"></ul>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/september-2016-newsletter'>https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/september-2016-newsletter</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaNewsletter2017-02-06T12:51:22ZPageThe Intellects holds 2nd International Conclave of Odia Language
https://cis-india.org/a2k/news/odisha-news-february-22-2016-intellects-holds-second-international-conclave-of-odia-language
<b>The Intellects, a Delhi-based progressive forum of intellectuals, held the 2nd International Conclave of Odia Language at the India International Centre in New Delhi today.</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Subhashish Panigrahi participated in the event and won an award. Look for the coverage by Odisha News <a class="external-link" href="http://www.odishanewsinsight.com/events/the-intellects-holds-2nd-international-conclave-of-odia-language/">here</a>.</p>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The seminar had the title of ‘Aamari Bhasha Pathe’. The conclave was inaugurated by eminent Novelist and Writer Dr. Bibhuti Pattnaik and Rajya Sabha MP Baishnab Charan Parida among others. In the inaugural session, the speakers, including Shri Baishnab Parida, Dr. Natabar Satpathy, Dr. Amarendra Khatua, Poet Sankarshan Parida, Dr. Iti Samanta, Smt. Mamata Mohapatra, Mr. Subhasish Panigrahi stressed on the need of promotion of Odia language and its development on the global arena. They highlighted various angles of Odia language, its history and the challenges it faced apart from outlining the modalities to give it a big boost.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">In the second leg, a Poets’ Conference was held. Dr. Jagannath Prasad Das, Dr. Amarendra Khatua, Poet Sankarshan Parida, Dr. Anita Panda, Poet Gajanan Mishra, Smt. Yashodhara Mishra, Poet Manas Ranjan Mohapatra and many other recited poems.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">In the last leg, Kendra Sahitya Akademi President, Dr. Vishwanath Tiwari and Sir Mark Tully (former Bureau Chief of BBC, New Delhi), graced the occasion among others. Several eminent personalities were honoured and received the awards from The Intellects.</p>
<p><strong>Ama Gourav Samman</strong> – Shri Bibhuti Pattnaik</p>
<p><strong>Amari Bhasha Pathe Samman:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Shri Baishnab Parida</li>
<li>Dr. Amarendra Khatua</li>
<li>Smt. Kunu Dash</li>
<li>Dr. Iti Samanta</li>
<li>Dr. Natabar Satpathy</li>
<li>Shri Gajanan Mishra</li>
<li>Shri Sankarshan Parida</li>
<li>Smt. Mamata Mohapatra</li>
<li>Shri Kulamani Biswal</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Yuva Prerana Samman:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Shri Subhasish Panigrahi</li>
<li>Shri Manoranjan Mohanty</li>
<li>Shri Subhranshu Panda</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Swabhimani Odia Sanghthan Samman:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Biswajit Dash (IPROCH)</li>
<li>Sanjeev Mohanty (Odisha Forum)</li>
<li>Bijaya Kumar Dash (Sukha Dukha Prakashan)</li>
</ul>
<p>Shri Debendra Rout, Chairman of The Intellects and Parambrahma Tripathy, Secretary (Literature), The Intellects, organised the event successfully with all their hard efforts.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/a2k/news/odisha-news-february-22-2016-intellects-holds-second-international-conclave-of-odia-language'>https://cis-india.org/a2k/news/odisha-news-february-22-2016-intellects-holds-second-international-conclave-of-odia-language</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaCIS-A2KWikipediaAccess to Knowledge2016-02-27T05:35:17ZNews ItemDocumentation and Wikipedia Contribution — A One Day Workshop
https://cis-india.org/openness/events/documentation-and-wikipedia-contribution
<b>On November 14, the CIS-A2K team is organizing a one day orientation workshop on 'Documentation and Wikipedia Contribution' at the Kalinga Institute of Social Studies (KISS), Bhubaneswar from 10.30 a.m. to 5.00 p.m.</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">ଉଇକିପିଡ଼ିଆ ରୁ</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">ଭୁବନେଶ୍ୱରସ୍ଥିତ ଆଦିବାସୀ ଆବାସିକ ଅନୁଷ୍ଠାନ KISS (କଳିଙ୍ଗ ଇନଷ୍ଟିଚୁଟ ଅଫ ସୋସିଆଲ ଷ୍ଟଡିଜ)ଠାରେ ଏଠାକାର ଶିକ୍ଷକ ଓ ସ୍ନାତକୋତ୍ତର ଛାତ୍ରଛାତ୍ରୀମାନେ ଆଦିବାସୀମାନଙ୍କର ଭାଷା, ଚଳଣି ଓ ଜନଜୀବନ ବାବଦରେ ଅନେକ ଗବେଷଣାଭିତ୍ତିକ ପ୍ରସଙ୍ଗ ଏକାଧିକ ଭାଷାରେ ଲେଖିବାର ଏକ ପ୍ରକଳ୍ପ ଆରମ୍ଭ କରାଯାଇଛି । ପ୍ରାରମ୍ଭିକ ପର୍ଯ୍ୟାୟରେ ଏହି ନଥିକରଣ ତିନୋଟି ଭାଷାରେ (ଓଡ଼ିଆ, ଇଂରାଜୀ ଓ ହିନ୍ଦୀ)ରେ କରାଯାଇ KISS ୱେବସାଇଟରେ ଉପଲବ୍ଧ କରାଯିବ । ଏହି ପ୍ରସଙ୍ଗସମୂହ ଜ୍ଞାନକୋଷ ପରିସରରେ ଥିବାରୁ ଏସବୁକୁ ଉଇକିକରଣ କରି ଉଇକିପିଡ଼ିଆର ପ୍ରସଙ୍ଗସବୁକୁ ସମୃଦ୍ଧ କରିବା ନିମନ୍ତେ ଏହି ଏହି କର୍ମଶାଳାର ଆୟୋଜନ କରାଯାଇଛି । ନଭେମ୍ବର ୧୪ (ଗୁରବାର) ଦିନ ସକାଳ ୧୧:୦୦ ରେ ଅନୁଷ୍ଠିତ ହେବାକୁ ଥିବା ଏହି କର୍ମଶାଳାରେ ୧୨ ଜଣ ଶିକ୍ଷକ ଓ ୩୨ ଜଣ ସ୍ନାତକୋତ୍ତର ଯୋଗଦେଇ ଓଡ଼ିଆରେ ଟାଇପ କରିବା ଓ ଉଇକିପିଡ଼ିଆ ବାବଦରେ ତାଲିମ ଗ୍ରହଣ କରିବେ ।</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Click to read the full details published on the Wiki <a class="external-link" href="https://or.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%AC%89%E0%AC%87%E0%AC%95%E0%AC%BF%E0%AC%AA%E0%AC%BF%E0%AC%A1%E0%AC%BC%E0%AC%BF%E0%AC%86:%E0%AC%95%E0%AC%B0%E0%AD%8D%E0%AC%AE%E0%AC%B6%E0%AC%BE%E0%AC%B3%E0%AC%BE/%E0%AC%AD%E0%AD%81%E0%AC%AC%E0%AC%A8%E0%AD%87%E0%AC%B6%E0%AD%8D%E0%AD%B1%E0%AC%B0/%E0%AD%AD">meta page here</a>.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/openness/events/documentation-and-wikipedia-contribution'>https://cis-india.org/openness/events/documentation-and-wikipedia-contribution</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaAccess to KnowledgeWikimediaWikipediaOdia WikipediaOpennessEvent2013-11-12T04:20:37ZEventOdia Loves Wikipedia
https://cis-india.org/news/rising-voices-april-10-2014-odia-loves-wikipedia
<b>Odia is a 2,500 year old language native to the area of Odisha (formerly known as Orissa). The language has recently gained the status of an Indian classical language. </b>
<p>The article by Laura Morris was published in <a class="external-link" href="https://rising.globalvoicesonline.org/blog/2014/04/10/odia-loves-wikipedia/">Rising Voices</a> on April 10, 2014. Subhashish's article on Odia Wikipedia is mentioned.</p>
<hr />
<p>Recently, the<span> Odia Wikimedia community met to celebrate the language's new status in Bhubaneswar. </span></p>
<p><span>The following is an excerpt from a <a href="https://blog.wikimedia.org/2014/04/08/odisha-dibasa-2014-14-books-released-under-cc-license/#more-28290">recent article</a> on the Wikimedia Foundation blog, by <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Psubhashish">Subhashish Panigrahi</a>, sharing information about the Odia WIki community:</span></p>
<blockquote>
<p><span>14 copyrighted books have been re-licensed under the Creative Commons license and the digitization project on </span><a href="https://wikisource.org/wiki/Main_Page/%E0%AC%93%E0%AC%A1%E0%AC%BC%E0%AC%BF%E0%AC%86">Odia WikiSource</a><span> was formally initiated by an indigenous educational institute, the Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS) [...] </span><span>KISS is going to digitize some of these books and make them available on Odia Wikisource.</span></p>
<p>An OpenType Odia Unicode font, “<a href="http://www.odialanguage.com/Odia_fonts.html">Odia OT Jagannatha</a>” designed by Sujata Patel from <a href="http://odialanguage.com/">Odialanguage.com</a> was released under the OFL license. This is the first Odia OpenType font that the community actively tested.</p>
<p>A new Odia offline input tool called <a href="https://github.com/majnun1337/jquery.ime-Offline-input">“TypeOdia”</a> by Wikipedian <a href="https://or.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:TWO%5E0">Manoj Sahukar</a> was also released for public distribution. DVDs containing the font, the input tool, Odia language dictionaries, offline Odia Wikipedia in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiwix">Kiwix</a>, <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Odia_Wikipedia_learning_guide.pdf">Wikipedia editing guide</a>, ISCII to Unicode font converter, various free and open source software packages and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubuntu_%28operating_system%29">Ubuntu operating system</a> [...]</p>
<p>A large majority of Odia publications are not available on the internet and readers are devoid of easy accessibility. [Dr. Debiprasanna Pattanayak] discussed the process of digitization for preserving valuable books that are out of print and the old palm leaf manuscripts [...]</p>
</blockquote>
<p><span><span>The Odia fonts can be <a href="http://www.odialanguage.com/Odia_fonts.html">downloaded for free</a>. The developers of the font <a href="http://odialanguage.com/">say</a>: </span></span></p>
<blockquote class="quoted"><span><span><span>We advocate for the use of Odia language in true spirit, in the domain of day-to-day administration, justice delivery, apart from the field of teaching. Besides, we have undertaken the project for developing Odia lexicon,with inclusion of typical odia version of technical words ,so as to avoid dependence on English language.</span></span></span></blockquote>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/news/rising-voices-april-10-2014-odia-loves-wikipedia'>https://cis-india.org/news/rising-voices-april-10-2014-odia-loves-wikipedia</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaWikimediaWikipediaOdia WikipediaAccess to Knowledge2014-04-14T09:56:20ZNews ItemIntellectuals stresses on need for revival of Bhagabat Tungi in Odisha villages as knowledge hub
https://cis-india.org/news/odisha-diary-april-22-2014-intellectuals-stresses-on-need-for-revival-of-bhagabat-tungi-in-odisha-villages-as-knowledge-hub
<b>Odia Intellectuals stresses on need for revival of Bhagabat Tungi in Odisha villages as knowledge hub. This was expressed by the intellectuals at a seminar organized by ‘The Intellects’ at Tyagaraj Nagar Jaggnath Mandir, New Delhi.</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The article was <a class="external-link" href="http://orissadiary.com/CurrentNews.asp?id=49382">published in Odishadiary</a> on April 22, 2014. Subhashish Panigrahi is quoted.</p>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: justify; ">It should be noted that The Intellects a Delhi based organization of Odia intellectuals and Shree Jagannath Mandir & Odisha Art And Cultural Center have come together to organize a seminar on the subject “Relevance Of Bhagabat Tungi In The Evolution Of Odia Language From Budha Era To Digital Age”.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The conference was about the discussion over creative platform for future development of Odia language and literature. Delegates were drawn from diverse areas to provide more interdisciplinary insight in to issues and challenges that are in from of Odia language to march ahead in the new age of computer.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The seminar was attended by Rajya Sabha MP Baisnab Parida, Dr. Subash Pani, Dr. Bhagaban Prakash, researcher Subrat Prusti, writer and lawyer Biraja Mohapatra, journalist and Odiakart.com founder Sahasranshu Mahapatra, Subhashish Panigrahi- Programme Officer at the Centre for Internet and Society and The Intellects chairman Shri Devendra Rout.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The program was attended by who is who of Delhi Odias like OdiaRadio Founder, Sitanshu Mohapatra, Journalist Asit Ranjan Mishra, OdishaDiary (www.orissadiary.com) founder Prachee Naik, The Intellects members Smrutidhara Rout, Anasuya Sahoo, Aditya Mohanty, Nirmal Dhal, Sangram Dhar, Sanjaya Parida, Pankajamala Sarangi, Premanda Swain, lawyer Sanjeeb Kumar Mohanty, Tarun Samantray, Dr. Anita Panda, Prof. Saudamini Barik, Jayaram Samal, Indubhushan Lenka, Kamdev Biswal of Tyagraj Nagar Jaggnath Temple and others.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">This program was attended by nearly 600 Odias living across the national capital region. The Intellects also organsing 7-days BHAGABAT SANDHYA will also be organized at the premises of Shree Jagannath Mandir, Tyagraj Nagar, New Delhi from 21st April to 27 April 2014 in an effort to spread the noble principles of the SHREEMAD BHAGABAT.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/news/odisha-diary-april-22-2014-intellectuals-stresses-on-need-for-revival-of-bhagabat-tungi-in-odisha-villages-as-knowledge-hub'>https://cis-india.org/news/odisha-diary-april-22-2014-intellectuals-stresses-on-need-for-revival-of-bhagabat-tungi-in-odisha-villages-as-knowledge-hub</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaWikimediaWikipediaOdia WikipediaAccess to Knowledge2014-05-06T07:03:49ZNews ItemAugust 2016 Newsletter
https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/august-2016-newsletter
<b>Welcome to the August 2016 newsletter of the Centre for Internet and Society (CIS).</b>
<p>Dear readers,</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Thank you for reading the Centre for Internet and Society's August newsletter. The past month for us was a very exciting one. We supported and attended Wiki Conference 2016 in Chandigarh, which was a great opportunity to see the variety and scope of various Wiki projects across the country. The Tulu language Wikipedia also went live during this period, making it the 23<sup>rd</sup> Wiki in a South Asian language.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">We continued our work on telecom with our submission to TRAI on broadband proliferation across the country. We also continued to provide inputs to the media on a range of issues related to UIDAI and online streaming and piracy, e-accessibility and our continuing Wiki work.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">We also published two articles on the inaccessibility of public and private phone apps, and the social impact of this, in FactorDaily. I was also honoured to receive the <a href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/news/nirmita-narasimhan-gets-ncpedp-mphasis-universal-design-award">NCPEDP-Mphasis Universal Design Award</a>in the "Persons with Disabilities" category.</p>
<p>All in all, a very productive month. We at CIS look forward to many more to come.</p>
<p>- <i>Nirmita Narasimhan<br /></i></p>
<hr />
<p>Previous issues of the newsletters can be <a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/about/newsletters">accessed here</a>.</p>
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<table class="plain">
<tbody>
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<th>Highlights</th>
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<td>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Dr. Nirmita Narasimhan got the <a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/news/nirmita-narasimhan-gets-ncpedp-mphasis-universal-design-award">NCPEDP-Mphasis Universal Design Award</a> in the "Persons with Disabilities" category. Shri Krishan Pal Gurjar, Hon'ble Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment presided over the event, in the presence of Som Mittal, Jury Chair and Chariman, NCPEDP, Dr. Meenu Bhambhani, VP & Head - Corporate Social Responsibility, Mphasis Ltd, and Javed Abidi, Honorary Director NCPEDP, several corporates and winners.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Tulu language Wikipedia became the <a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/global-voices-august-28-2016-subhashish-panigrahi-meet-the-newly-born-tulu-wikipedia-the-23-in-south-asian-language">latest entrant in the family of 294 world-language Wikipedia projects</a> after the project went live from Wikimedia Incubator earlier this month. The project waited as long as eight years in the Incubator before becoming the 23rd South Asian language Wikipedia.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/opensource.com-subhashish-panigrahi-august-5-2016-largest-wikipedia-gathering-in-south-asia-kicks-off">Wiki Conference India 2016</a>, the largest gathering of contributors to Wikipedia and its sister projects in South Asia was held in Chandigarh from August 5-7, 2016. CIS supported this event. Sunil Abraham was a panelist.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Information Technology, Electronics & Communications Department of the Government of Telangana released the first public draft of the Telangana State Open Data Policy 2016, and sought comments from various stakeholders in the state and outside. <a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/openness/comments-on-the-telangana-state-open-data-policy-2016">CIS submitted its comments</a>.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">CIS wrote an article analyzing India’s alignment with the recommendations of the report of the Group of Governmental Experts. <a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/policy-brief-on-the-report-of-the-un-group-of-governmental-experts-on-ict">This policy brief</a> attempts to articulate the major policy actions that may be considered by India to further incorporate and implement the principles enunciated in the Report.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">CIS <a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/telecom/blog/cis-submission-to-trai-consultation-on-proliferation-of-broadband-through-public-wifi-networks">submitted comments to TRAI Consultation on Proliferation of Broadband</a> through Public WiFi Networks. The comments were prepared by Sunil Abraham, Sharath Chandra Ram, Vidushi Marda, and Thejaswi Melarkode.Shyam Ponappa and Arjun Venkatraman provided advice. </li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">As part of the 'Studying Internet in India' series, Abhimanyu Roy <a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/raw/the-curious-incidents-on-matrimonial-websites-in-india">has explored</a> the curious interplays between the arranged marriage market in India the rise of matrimonial sites such as Jeevansathi.com and Shaadi.com.</li>
</ul>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>CIS in news:</b></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">CIS gave inputs to the following media coverage:</p>
<ul>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/bangalore-citizen-matters-august-2-2016-akshatha-why-experts-are-worried-about-aadhaar-based-authentication">Why experts are worried about Aadhaar-based authentication</a> (Citizen Matters; August 2, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/apps-can-give-personal-information-to-strangers">Apps can give personal information to strangers</a> (Mebin John; New Indian Express; August 8, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/deccan-chronicle-koustav-das-august-9-2016-indian-companies-need-to-boost-encryption-adoption-rate">Indian companies need to boost encrpytion adoption rate: experts</a> (Koustav Das; Deccan Chronicle; August 9, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/economic-times-august-10-2016-gulveen-aulakh-neha-alawadhi-implementing-indian-languages-in-feature-phones-will-be-difficult">Implementing Indian languages in feature phones will be difficult</a> (Gulveen Aulakh and Neha Alawadhi; Economic Times; August 10, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/economic-times-august-10-2016-neha-alawadhi-gulveen-aulakh-aadhaar-enabled-smartphones-will-ease-money-transfer">Aadhaar-enabled smartphones will ease money transfer</a> (Neha Alawadhi and Gulveen Aulakh; Economic Times; August 10, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/business-insider-august-10-2016-and-now-aadhaar-enabled-smartphones-for-easy-verification-and-money-transfer">And now, Aadhaar-enabled smartphones for easy verification and money transfer</a> (Business Insider; August 10, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/deccan-chronicle-krishna-makwana-august-14-2016-rational-internet-laws-essential-to-fulfil-indias-digital-goals">Rational Internet laws essential to fulfil India’s digital goals</a> (Krishna Makwana; Deccan Chronicle; August 14, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-karnataka/using-technology-to-address-issues/article8987393.ece">Using technology to address issues</a> (The Hindu; August 14, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/first-post-tech-2-august-15-2016-asheeta-regidi-responses-to-trai-consultation-paper-on-free-data-contain-some-good-suggestions">Responses to Trai’s consultation paper on free data contain some good suggestions</a> (Asheeta Regidi; First Post's Tech 2; August 15, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/business-standard-august-22-2016-accessing-pirated-content-might-lead-to-prison-term-and-rs-3-lakh-fine">Accessing pirated content might lead to prison term & Rs 3-lakh fine</a> (Alnoor Peermohammed; Business Standard; August 22, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/first-post-august-23-2016-seetha-extending-aadhaar-to-more-areas-is-a-hare-brained-idea-it-should-be-dropped">Extending Aadhaar to more areas is a hare-brained idea, it should be dropped</a> (Seetha; First Post; August 23, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/the-telegraph-august-26-2016-festival-scan-on-social-media">Festival scan on social media</a> (The Telegraph; August 26, 2016).</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/talking-point-futile-battle-against-torrents">Talking Point: Futile Battle Against Torrents</a> (Deccan Herald; August 30, 2016).</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>CIS members wrote the following articles:</b></p>
<ul>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/us-copyright-law-faces-constitutional-challenge">US Copyright law faces constitutional challenge</a> (Anubha Sinha; Spicy IP; August 5, 2016).</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/global-voices-august-5-2016-subhashish-panigrahi-south-asia-largest-wikimedia-conference-kicks-off-in-india">South Asia's Largest Wikimedia Conference Kicks Off in India</a> (Subhashish Panigrahi; Global Voices; August 5, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/opensource.com-subhashish-panigrahi-august-5-2016-largest-wikipedia-gathering-in-south-asia-kicks-off">The largest Wikipedia gathering in South Asia kicks off</a> (Subhashish Panigrahi; Opensource.com; August 5, 2016).</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/raw/blog_do-i-want-to-say-happy-bday">Do I Want to Say Happy B’day?</a> (Nishant Shah; Indian Express; August 7, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/3-copyright-tips-for-students-and-educators">3 Copyright Tips for Students and Educators</a> (Subhashish Panigrahi; Opensource.com; August 16, 2016).</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/samaja-subhashish-panigrahi-august-21-2016-ocr-works-and-using-it">ଓଡ଼ିଆ ପାଇଁ ଓସିଆର: ଛପା ଲେଖାର ଛବିରୁ ଡିଇଟାଲ ଲେଖା</a> (Subhashish Panigrahi; Samaja; August 21, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/preserving-languages-and-cultures-in-india-the-birth-of-the-tulu-wikipedia">Preserving Languages and Cultures in India: The Birth of the Tulu Wikipedia</a> (Subhashish Panigrahi; August 26, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/global-voices-august-28-2016-subhashish-panigrahi-meet-the-newly-born-tulu-wikipedia-the-23-in-south-asian-language">Meet the Newly Born Tulu Wikipedia, the 23rd in a South Asian Language!</a> (Subhashish Panigrahi; August 28, 2016).</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/factor-daily-august-31-2016-nirmita-narasimhan-we-tested-18-government-apps-most-are-not-fully-accessible-to-disabled">We Tested 18 Government Apps, and Most are not Fully Accessible to the Disabled</a> (Nirmita Narasimhan; Factor Daily; August 31, 2016).</li>
<li><a href="http://factordaily.com/accessibility-in-technology-in-india/">The moral imperative and business case for accessibility in technology</a> (Nirmita Narasimhan; Factor Daily; August 30, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/hindustan-times-vidushi-marda-august-31-2016-we-truly-are-the-product-being-sold">We Truly are the Product being Sold</a> (Vidushi Marda; Hindustan Times; August 31, 2016).</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">-------------------------------------<br /><a href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility">Accessibility & Inclusion</a> <br /> ------------------------------------- <br /> India has an estimated 70 million persons with disabilities who don't have access to read printed materials due to some form of physical, sensory, cognitive or other disability. As part of our endeavour to make available accessible content for persons with disabilities, we are developing a text-to-speech software in 15 languages with support from the Hans Foundation. The progress made so far in the project can be accessed <a href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/resources/nvda-text-to-speech-synthesizer">here</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">►NVDA and eSpeak</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Monthly Report</b></p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/august-report-2016" class="internal-link">August 2016 Report</a> (Suman Dogra; August 31, 2016).</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">►Other</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Award</b></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/news/nirmita-narasimhan-gets-ncpedp-mphasis-universal-design-award">Nirmita Narasimhan gets NCPEDP-Mphasis Universal Design Award</a>: NCPEDP-Mphasis Universal Design Awards were given away in the capital on August 14, 2016. Nirmita Narasimhan got the award in the "Persons with Disabilities" category. </li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Participation in Events</b></p>
<ul>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/news/bridging-the-digital-divide">Bridging the Digital Divide</a> (Organized by Wipro; Bangalore; August 25, 2016). Nirmita Narasimhan spoke on digital accessibility at this All Hands Meet.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/news/universal-design-accessibility-conclave">Universal Design & Accessibility Conclave</a> (Organized by IIMA in collaboration with Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment; Ahmedabad; August 27, 2016). Nirmita Narasimhan was a speaker.</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Media Coverage</b></p>
<ul>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/news/dataquest-august-5-2016-an-india-where-the-disabled-have-a-choice">An India Where the Disabled have a Choice</a> (Dataquest; August 5, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/news/livemint-august-9-2016-sachi-p-mampatta-amritha-pillay-ritika-mazumdar-how-indias-top-firms-are-faring-in-employing-women-and-persons-with-disabilities">How India’s top firms fare in employing women and persons with disabilities</a> (Sachin P. Mampatta, Amritha Pillay and Ritika Mazumdar; Livemint; August 9, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/news/the-hindu-august-14-2016-using-technology-to-address-issues">Using technology to address issues</a> (Hindu; August 14, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://www.indiaprwire.com/pressrelease/information-technology/20160816421442.htm">NCPEDP-Mphasis Universal Design Awards given away in the capital</a> (India PR Wire; August 15, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://www.thehansindia.com/posts/index/Education&Careers/2016-08-17/NCPEDP-Mphasis-Universal-Design-Awards-given-away-in-the-capital/248919">NCPEDP-Mphasis Universal Design Awards given away in the capital</a> (Hans India; August 17, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/news/your-story-sourav-roy-august-31-2016-india-has-a-long-road-ahead-in-becoming-a-disabled-friendly-country">India has a long road ahead in becoming a disabled-friendly country</a> (Sourav Roy; Your Story; August 31, 2016).</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>----------------------------------- </b><br /><a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k">Access to Knowledge</a> <br /><b> ----------------------------------- </b><br />Our Access to Knowledge programme currently consists of two projects. The Pervasive Technologies project, conducted under a grant from the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), aims to conduct research on the complex interplay between low-cost pervasive technologies and intellectual property, in order to encourage the proliferation and development of such technologies as a social good. The Wikipedia project, which is under a grant from the Wikimedia Foundation, is for the growth of Indic language communities and projects by designing community collaborations and partnerships that recruit and cultivate new editors and explore innovative approaches to building projects.</p>
<p>►Copyright and Patent</p>
<p><b>Participation in Event</b></p>
<ul>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/news/international-conference-on-innovation-for-shared-prosperity">International Conference on Innovation for Shared Prosperity</a> (Organized by O.P. Jindal Global University and Jindal Initiative on Research in IP & Competition; August 20 and 21, 2016; New Delhi). Rohini Lakshane attended the conference.</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">►Wikipedia</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">As part of the <a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/access-to-knowledge-program-plan">project grant from the Wikimedia Foundation</a> we have reached out to more than 3500 people across India by organizing more than 100 outreach events and catalysed the release of encyclopaedic and other content under the Creative Commons (CC-BY-3.0) license in four Indian languages (21 books in Telugu, 13 in Odia, 4 volumes of encyclopaedia in Konkani and 6 volumes in Kannada, and 1 book on Odia language history in English).</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Blog Entries</b></p>
<ul>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/tools-orientation-for-telugu-wikimedians-at-hyderabad">Tools orientation for Telugu Wikimedians of Hyderabad</a> (Pavan Santhosh S; August 1, 2016).</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/wikiconference-india-2016-submission-how-to-better-tell-your-wikimedia-community-story-using-media-as-a-tool">WikiConference India 2016 Submission: How to better tell your Wikimedia Community Story using Media as a Tool</a> (Subhashish Panigrahi; August 17, 2016).</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/wikiconference-india-2016-submission-we-men-women-collective-learning-in-bridging-indic-wikipedia-gender-gaps">WikiConference India 2016 Submission: We, Men, Women: Collective Learning in Bridging Indic Wikipedia Gender Gaps</a> (Elisa Chang; August 17, 2016).</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/wikiconference-india-2016-submission-gender-gap-in-indian-language-wikipedias-2013-projects-outreach-and-outcome">WikiConference India 2016 Submission: Gender Gap in Indian Language Wikipedias – Projects, Outreach and Outcome</a> (Dr. U.B. Pavanaja; August 17, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/community-digest-tulu-wikipedia-goes-live-after-eight-years-in-incubator-news-in-brief">Community Digest: Tulu Wikipedia Goes Live after Eight Years in Incubator; News in Brief</a> (Subhashish Panigrahi and Ting-Yi Chang; August 24, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/wikiwomen2019s-meetup-at-st-agnes-college-explores-potentials-and-plans-of-women-editors-in-mangalore-karnataka">Wikiwomen’s Meetup at St. Agnes College Explores Potentials and Plans of Women Editors in Mangalore, Karnataka</a> (Ting Yi-Chang; August 31, 2016).</li>
</ul>
<ul>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Events Organized</b></p>
<ul>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/news/the-signpost-august-18-2016-pete-forsyth-and-tony-focus-on-india">Focus on India—WikiConference produces new apps; state government adopts free licenses</a> (Organized by by the Community of Wikimedians in India, supported by Wikimedia India and CIS; August 5 - 7, 2016; Chandigarh).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/events/wikipedia-wikimeetup-at-bangalore">Wikipedia WikiMeetup at Bangalore</a> (CIS, Bangalore; August 14, 2016).</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Participation in Events</b></p>
<ul>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/news/wikiconference-india-2016">WikiConference India 2016</a> (Organized by Community of Wikimedians in India; August 5 - 7, 2016; Chandigarh). Sunil Abraham was a speaker.</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/news/tulu-wikipedia-conference-in-mangaluru">Tulu Wikipedia Conference in Mangaluru</a> (Organized by Times of Kudla; August 13 - 14, 2016; Malki, Mangaluru). Dr. U.B. Pavanaja gave a presentation on Tulu Wikipedia. </li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Media Coverage</b></p>
<ul>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/news/indo-asian-news-service-ndtv-august-4-2016-wiki-conference-india-2016-starts-friday-in-chandigarh">WikiConference India 2016 Starts Friday in Chandigarh</a> (Indo Asian News Service and NDTV; August 4, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/news/tulu-wikipedia-goes-live">Tulu Wikipedia Goes 'Live'</a> (Wikimedia Blog; August 5, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/news/business-standard-august-6-2016-india-23-regional-wikipedia-in-tulu-goes-live">India's 23rd regional Wikipedia, in Tulu, goes live</a> (IANS and Business Standard; August 6, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/news/hindu-raviprasad-kamila-august-7-2016-after-eight-years-tulu-wikipedia-goes-live">After eight years, Tulu Wikipedia goes live</a> (Raviprasad Kamila; Hindu; August 7, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/news/huffington-post-august-7-2016-naina-chaturvedi-in-tulu-indias-23-regional-wikipedia-goes-live">In Tulu, India's 23rd Regional Wikipedia Goes Live</a> (Naina Chaturvedi; Huffington Post; August 7, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/news/asianet-suvarna-news-august-7-2016-tulu-wikipedia-goes-live">ತುಳು ಭಾಷೆಯಲ್ಲೂ ಬಂತು ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯ</a> (Asianet Suvarna News; August 7, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/news/ccm-august-8-2016-ranu-p-india-23-regional-wikipedia-launches">India's 23rd Regional Wikipedia Launches</a> (CMM.net; August 8, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/news/mumbai-news-august-8-2016-tulu-wikipedia-goes-live">ತುಳು ಭಾಷೆಗೆ ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯ ಮನ್ನಣೆ!</a> (Mumbai News World; August 8, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/news/medianama-august-9-2016-vivek-pai-wikipedia-launches-in-tulu-23rd-indic-language">Wikipedia launches in Tulu, its 23rd Indic language</a> (Vivek Pai; Medianama; August 9, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/news/telugu-wikipedia-articles-on-punjab-media-coverage">Telugu Wikipedians create Articles on Punjab in Telugu Wikipedia</a> (Sakshi; August 11, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/news/telugu-wikipedia-articles-on-punjab-media-coverage">Telugu Wikipedians create Articles on Punjab in Telugu Wikipedia</a> (Eenadu; August 11, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/news/mid-day-anju-maskeri-august-21-2016-tulu-gets-official-wikipedia-page-but-mumbai-linguists-say-more-is-needed">Tulu gets official Wikipedia page, but Mumbai linguists say more is needed</a> (Anju Maskeri; Mid-Day; August 21, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/news/press-coverage-about-punjab-edit-a-thon-telugu-wikipedia-success">Punjab edit-a-thon & Telugu Wikipedia success</a> (Andhra Jyothi; August 26, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/news/data-xgen-launches-paid-hindi-email-service">Data Xgen launches paid Hindi email service</a> (Sneha Johari; Medianama; August 29, 2016).</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">►Openness</p>
<div style="text-align: justify; ">Our work in the Openness programme focuses on open data, especially open government data, open access, open education resources, open knowledge in Indic languages, open media, and open technologies and standards - hardware and software. We approach openness as a cross-cutting principle for knowledge production and distribution, and not as a thing-in-itself.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify; "></div>
<div style="text-align: justify; "><b>Submission</b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify; ">
<ul>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/openness/comments-on-the-telangana-state-open-data-policy-2016">Comments on the Telangana State Open Data Policy 2016</a> (Anubha Sinha and Sumandro Chattapadhyay; August 31, 2016).</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify; ">
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>----------------------------------- </b><br /><a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance">Internet Governance</a> <br /><b> -----------------------------------</b></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">As part of its research on privacy and free speech, CIS is engaged with two different projects. The first one (under a grant from Privacy International and IDRC) is on surveillance and freedom of expression (SAFEGUARDS). The second one (under a grant from MacArthur Foundation) is on restrictions that the Indian government has placed on freedom of expression online.</p>
<p>►<b>Privacy</b></p>
<p><b>Blog Entries</b></p>
<ul>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/policy-brief-on-the-report-of-the-un-group-of-governmental-experts-on-ict">Policy Brief on the Report of the UN Group of Governmental Experts on ICT</a> (Elonnai Hickok and Vipul Kharbanda; August 23, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/report-on-understanding-aadhaar-and-its-new-challenges">Report on Understanding Aadhaar and its New Challenges</a> (Sumandro Chattapadhyay, Elonnai Hickock Vanya Rakesh and Japreet Grewal; August 31, 2016).</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Event Organized</b></p>
<ul>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/events/uidai-and-welfare-services-exclusion-and-countermeasures-aug-27">UIDAI and Welfare Services: Exclusion and Countermeasures</a> (Institution of Agricultural Technologists; Bangalore; August 27, 2016).</li>
</ul>
<p><b>Participation in Events</b></p>
<ul>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/igf-academy-regional-workshop">IGF Academy Regional Workshop</a> (Organized by LIRNE Asia; Colombo; August 4, 2016). Sunil Abraham made a presentation.</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/public-panel-discussion-digitalisation-for-social-change">Public Panel Discussion: Digitalisation for Social Change</a> (Co-organized by Mount Carmel College, Bangalore and Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, India Office; Bangalore; August 22, 2016). Sunil Abraham was a panelist.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>----------------------------------- <br /></b><a href="http://cis-india.org/telecom">Telecom</a> <br /><b> ----------------------------------- </b><br /> CIS is involved in promoting access and accessibility to 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 style="text-align: justify; "><b>Submission</b></p>
<ul>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/telecom/blog/cis-submission-to-trai-consultation-on-proliferation-of-broadband-through-public-wifi-networks">Submission to TRAI Consultation on Proliferation of Broadband through Public WiFi Networks</a> (Sunil Abraham, Sharath Chandra Ram, Vidushi Marda, and Thejaswi Melarkode; August 28, 2016).</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>-----------------------------------</b><br /><a href="http://cis-india.org/raw">Researchers at Work</a> <br /><b> ----------------------------------- </b><br /> The Researchers at Work (RAW) programme is an interdisciplinary research initiative driven by an emerging need to understand the reconfigurations of social practices and structures through the Internet and digital media technologies, and vice versa. It aims to produce local and contextual accounts of interactions, negotiations, and resolutions between the Internet, and socio-material and geo-political processes:</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Blog Entries</p>
<ul>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/raw/blog_101-ways-of-starting-an-isp-no-53-conversation-content-weird-fiction">101 Ways of Starting an ISP:* No. 53 - Conversation, Content and Weird Fiction</a> (Surfatial; August 3, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/raw/the-curious-incidents-on-matrimonial-websites-in-india">The Curious Incidents on Matrimonial Websites in India</a> (Abhimanyu Roy; August 30, 2016).</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>----------------------------------- </b><br /><a href="http://cis-india.org/">About CIS</a> <br /><b> ----------------------------------- </b><br /> The Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) is a non-profit organisation that undertakes interdisciplinary research on internet and digital technologies from policy and academic perspectives. The areas of focus include digital accessibility for persons withdisabilities, access to knowledge, intellectual property rights, openness (including open data, free and open source software, open standards, open access, open educational resources, and open video), internet governance, telecommunication reform, digital privacy, and cyber-security. The academic research at CIS seeks to understand the reconfigurations of social and cultural processes and structures as mediated through the internet and digital media technologies.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">► Follow us elsewhere</p>
<div style="text-align: justify; ">
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li> Twitter:<a href="http://twitter.com/cis_india"> http://twitter.com/cis_india</a> </li>
<li> Twitter - Access to Knowledge: <a href="https://twitter.com/CISA2K">https://twitter.com/CISA2K</a> </li>
<li> Twitter - Information Policy: <a href="https://twitter.com/CIS_InfoPolicy">https://twitter.com/CIS_InfoPolicy</a></li>
<li> Facebook - Access to Knowledge:<a href="https://www.facebook.com/cisa2k"> https://www.facebook.com/cisa2k</a> </li>
<li> E-Mail - Access to Knowledge: <a>a2k@cis-india.org</a> </li>
<li> E-Mail - Researchers at Work: <a>raw@cis-india.org</a> </li>
<li> List - Researchers at Work: <a href="https://lists.ghserv.net/mailman/listinfo/researchers">https://lists.ghserv.net/mailman/listinfo/researchers</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">► Support Us</p>
<div style="text-align: justify; ">
<div style="text-align: justify; ">Please help us defend consumer and 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.</div>
</div>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">► Request for Collaboration</p>
<div style="text-align: justify; ">
<p style="text-align: justify; ">We invite researchers, practitioners, artists, and theoreticians, both organisationally and as individuals, to engage with us on topics related internet and society, and improve our collective understanding of this field. To discuss such possibilities, please write to Sunil Abraham, Executive Director, at sunil@cis-india.org (for policy research), or Sumandro Chattapadhyay, Research Director, at sumandro@cis-india.org (for academic research), with an indication of the form and the content of the collaboration you might be interested in. To discuss collaborations on Indic language Wikipedia projects, write to Tanveer Hasan, Programme Officer, at <a>tanveer@cis-india.org</a>.</p>
<div style="text-align: justify; "><i>CIS is grateful to its primary donor the Kusuma Trust founded by Anurag Dikshit and Soma Pujari, philanthropists of Indian origin for its core funding and support for most of its projects. CIS is also grateful to its other donors, Wikimedia Foundation, Ford Foundation, Privacy International, UK, Hans Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, and IDRC for funding its various projects</i>.</div>
</div>
</div>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/august-2016-newsletter'>https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/august-2016-newsletter</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaNewsletter2016-10-02T02:09:36ZPageOdia Wikipedia 9th Anniversary Celebration
https://cis-india.org/openness/events/odia-wikipedia-9th-anniversary-celebration
<b>The Centre for Internet & Society, New Delhi is celebrating the ninth anniversary of Odia Wikipedia. The event is being held at Academy of Media Learning, M-6, Samanta Vihar in Bhubaneswar from 10.30 a.m. to 12.30 p.m.</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><span><span class="fsl"> ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଉଇକିପିଡ଼ିଆ, ଅନଲାଇନରେ ଉପଲବ୍ଧ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଭାଷାର ଏକ ମୁକ୍ତ ଜ୍ଞାନକୋଷର ୯ମ ବାର୍ଷିକ ଜନ୍ମତିଥି ୨୯ ଜାନୁଆରୀରେ ଭୁବନେଶ୍ଵରର ଏକାଡେମି ଅଫ ମିଡ଼ିଆ ଲର୍ଣ୍ଣିଙ୍ଗରେ ଅପରାହ୍ଣ ୪ ଘଟିକା ସମୟରେ ଅନୁଷ୍ଠିତ ହେବାକୁ ଯାଉଛି । ଏହି ଅବସରରେ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଉଇକିପିଡ଼ିଆ ପରିବାର ଆପଣମାନଙ୍କୁ ଏହି କାର୍ଯ୍ୟକ୍ରମରେ ଭାଗ ନେଇ ଏହାକୁ ସାଫଲ୍ୟମଣ୍ଡିତ କରିବାକୁ ଅନୁରୋଧ କରୁଛି ।</span></span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><span><span class="fsl">ଏଥିରେ ଆମେ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଉଇକିପିଡ଼ିଆର ଉପଯୋଗୀତା, ଏହାର ବ୍ୟବହାର ଓ ଆପଣ କିପରି ଏଥିରେ ଭାଗ ନେଇପାରିବେ ଓ ଜ୍ଞାନ ବିତରଣର ଏହି ମହାପ୍ରବାହ ସାମିଲ ହୋଇପାରିବେ ସେ ବାବଦରେ ଜାଣିପାରିବେ । ଏଥିରେ ଭାଗ ନେବା ପାଇଁ ଏହି ଅନଲାଇନ ଫର୍ମଟିକୁ ଭରନ୍ତୁ: <a href="http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fgoo.gl%2Fq5vnA&h=FAQEgTac3&s=1" rel="nofollow nofollow" target="_blank">http://goo.gl/q5vnA</a></span></span></p>
<h3><span class="mw-headline" id=".E0.AC.AE.E0.AD.82.E0.AC.B3_.E0.AC.AA.E0.AD.8D.E0.AC.B0.E0.AC.B8.E0.AC.99.E0.AD.8D.E0.AC.97_.28Agenda.29">Agenda</span></h3>
<ul>
<li>Introducing Wikipedia</li>
<li>Celebrating Odia Wikipedia's 9th birthday!</li>
<li>Current status of Odia Wikipedia and <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://or.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%AC%89%E0%AC%87%E0%AC%95%E0%AC%BF%E0%AC%AA%E0%AC%BF%E0%AC%A1%E0%AC%BC%E0%AC%BF%E0%AC%86:Wikiprojects" title="ଉଇକିପିଡ଼ିଆ:Wikiprojects">WikiProjects</a></li>
<li>Press meet</li>
</ul>
<h3>Organizers</h3>
<p><a href="http://or.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%AC%AC%E0%AD%8D%E0%AD%9F%E0%AC%AC%E0%AC%B9%E0%AC%BE%E0%AC%B0%E0%AC%95%E0%AC%BE%E0%AC%B0%E0%AD%80:Odisha1" title="ବ୍ୟବହାରକାରୀ:Odisha1">ମନୋରଞ୍ଜନ ବେହେରା<br />ଶ୍ରୀକାନ୍ତ କେଡ଼ିଆ<br /><b></b></a><b><a href="http://or.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%AC%AC%E0%AD%8D%E0%AD%9F%E0%AC%AC%E0%AC%B9%E0%AC%BE%E0%AC%B0%E0%AC%95%E0%AC%BE%E0%AC%B0%E0%AD%80:Psubhashish" title="ବ୍ୟବହାରକାରୀ:Psubhashish"><span>ସୁଭାସିସ<span>ପାଣିଗାହି</span></span></a></b><b><a href="http://or.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%AC%AC%E0%AD%8D%E0%AD%9F%E0%AC%AC%E0%AC%B9%E0%AC%BE%E0%AC%B0%E0%AC%95%E0%AC%BE%E0%AC%B0%E0%AD%80:Psubhashish" title="ବ୍ୟବହାରକାରୀ:Psubhashish"><span><span></span></span></a></b></p>
<ul>
</ul>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Register for this event <a class="external-link" href="http://bitly.com/bbsrwiki">here</a></p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/openness/events/odia-wikipedia-9th-anniversary-celebration'>https://cis-india.org/openness/events/odia-wikipedia-9th-anniversary-celebration</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaOpennessWikipediaEventWikimedia2013-01-24T09:52:13ZEventSubhashish
https://cis-india.org/home-images/copy_of_Subhashish.jpg
<b>Subhashish Panigrahi</b>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/home-images/copy_of_Subhashish.jpg'>https://cis-india.org/home-images/copy_of_Subhashish.jpg</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishna2015-02-05T14:24:51ZImageSubhashish
https://cis-india.org/home-images/Subha.jpg
<b>Subhashish</b>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/home-images/Subha.jpg'>https://cis-india.org/home-images/Subha.jpg</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishna2014-08-13T00:43:33ZImageSouvenir Article
https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/subhashish-panigrahi-article-in-souvenir.pdf
<b></b>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/subhashish-panigrahi-article-in-souvenir.pdf'>https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/subhashish-panigrahi-article-in-souvenir.pdf</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishna2014-07-07T06:56:34ZFileOpenGLAM at Wikimania 2014
https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/open-glam-august-27-2014-subhashish-panigrahi-open-glam-at-wikimania-2014
<b>GLAM activities in the last two months have been quite happening! </b>
<p id="stcpDiv" style="text-align: justify; ">Subhashish Panigrahi's blog post was <a class="external-link" href="http://openglam.org/2014/08/27/openglam-at-wikimania-2014/">published on OpenGLAM</a> website on August 27, 2014.</p>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: justify; ">After <a href="http://2014.okfestival.org/">Open Knowledge Festival</a> in Berlin, OpenGLAM members and other GLAM contributors met again during <a href="http://wikimania2014.wikimedia.org/">Wikimania London</a>, the official annual event of the Wikimedia movement focused on what people are making with wikis and open content. There were GLAM talks, workshops, discussions and brown bag talks: in this blog I’ll go into some of the highlights, but you can find <b>an overview of all GLAM & Free culture submissions <a href="https://wikimania2014.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:GLAM_%26_Free_Culture_submissions">here</a>. <br /></b></p>
<h3>Best practices for the evaluation of GLAM-Wiki cooperation</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">A GLAM-Wiki evaluation workshop was organized by Beat Estermann, Maarten Brinkerink and Wikimedia Foundation’s Program Evaluation specialist Jaime Anstee to assess the impact of the past GLAM projects and to create a road map by placing evaluation parameters in place for institutional collaboration. From the GLAM wiki residency project at <a href="https://wikimedia.org.uk/">Wikimedia UK</a>, Jonathan Cardy presented the <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/beatestermann/wikimania-2014-glam-uk-evaluation">evaluation process</a> needed in place for <a href="http://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikipedian_in_Residence">Wikipedia-in-Residence</a> programs. <a href="https://www.wikimedia.de/">Wikimedia Deutschland</a> (WMDE)’s Lilli Iliev shared information about the evaluation practices WMDE has put in place in order to implement small to large scale GLAM projects in Germany. While working with various cultural institutions in Germany, they focused on qualitative aspects of the content acquired, on goal oriented programs like “GLAM on Tour”, and on mass outreach by popular media and post campaign impact measuring. Four groups were then formed to work on particular GLAM projects, how they plan to evaluate tangible output and measure return on investments.</p>
<h3 id="stcpDiv">Have you heard?</h3>
<p id="stcpDiv" style="text-align: justify; ">In the scope of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Voice_intro_project">Wikipedia Voice Intro Project</a> that he founded, Andy Marbett (<a href="http://pigsonthewing.org.uk/">http://pigsonthewing.org.uk</a>) spoke about the beauty of having recordings of notable people where they not just pronounce their names in their native languages, but introduce themselves with their dates and places of birth. With BBC’s collaboration, this project has grew to an avenue on Wikipedia to enrich biography-articles. This is indeed a project that has run absolutely in zero cost and aims at making Wikimedians meet their stars and document their voices for ever on the Internet. The full video of the talk is available below.</p>
<h2 style="text-align: justify; ">Video</h2>
<table class="listing">
<tbody>
<tr>
<th><iframe frameborder="0" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/MsVocfSDwwQ?feature=player_embedded" width="440"></iframe></th>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/open-glam-august-27-2014-subhashish-panigrahi-open-glam-at-wikimania-2014'>https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/open-glam-august-27-2014-subhashish-panigrahi-open-glam-at-wikimania-2014</a>
</p>
No publishersubhaOpennessWikipediaAccess to KnowledgeWikimedia2014-10-06T05:09:19ZBlog EntryIndic Language Wikipedias as Open Educational Resources
https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/open-education-working-group-may-27-2014-subhashish-panigrahi-indic-language-wikipedias-as-open-educational-resources
<b>The Open Education Working Group sees supporting multilingual activities such as translation to and from languages which are not often used as one of its key future roles. Subhashish Panigrahi’s post while dwelling upon the growth of Indic Wikimedia communities critically examines Wikipedia as an educational resource. </b>
<p>The article by Subhashish Panigrahi was <a class="external-link" href="http://education.okfn.org/indic-language-wikipedias-as-open-educational-resources/">published in Open Education Working Group website</a> on May 27, 2014.</p>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Psubhashish">Subhashish Panigrahi</a> is an an educator and open source activist based in Bangalore, India. He is a long time Wikimedian and is involved in many activism and policy level debates around open education. Currently he is working at the <a href="https://cis-india.org/">Centre for Internet and Society’s Access To Knowledge</a> program where he is working on designing implementation projects for catalyzing growth of Indic Wikimedia communities and content acquisition.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">In the past, he has worked on building partnership with universities, language research organizations, government departments, GLAM institutions and individuals for bringing more scholarly and encyclopedic content on language, culture and history under free licenses. He is excited about experimenting on new methodologies in education, building interactive educational resources and bringing knowledge producing institutions, resourceful experts and scholars under one roof. He has been involved in various language related conferences and spoken in both policy and implementation discourses around open knowledge and open source.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Since the inception of four Indic language Wikipedias: <a href="http://as.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%A6%AC%E0%A7%87%E0%A6%9F%E0%A7%81%E0%A6%AA%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%A4">Assamese</a>, <a href="http://ml.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%B4%AA%E0%B5%8D%E0%B4%B0%E0%B4%A7%E0%B4%BE%E0%B4%A8_%E0%B4%A4%E0%B4%BE%E0%B5%BE">Malayalam</a>, <a href="http://or.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%AC%AA%E0%AD%8D%E0%AC%B0%E0%AC%A7%E0%AC%BE%E0%AC%A8_%E0%AC%AA%E0%AD%83%E0%AC%B7%E0%AD%8D%E0%AC%A0%E0%AC%BE">Odia</a> and <a href="http://pa.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%A8%AE%E0%A9%81%E0%A9%B1%E0%A8%96_%E0%A8%B8%E0%A8%AB%E0%A8%BC%E0%A8%BE">Punjab</a> in 2002, the focus of Wikimedia Foundation has been diverse in many aspects.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Wikipedia’s focus oriented from Latin to non-Latin projects which was high-risk but revolutionary specifically in four of the aforementioned languages besides the other language Wikipedias that came a little later. It is quite obvious that the number of contributors to the Indic language Wikimedia projects were very few. Indic input in Unicode standard was less popular. Wikipedia struggled back then and still continues to struggle in terms of getting voluntary contributions and quality content because of these reasons.</p>
<hr />
<table class="listing">
<tbody>
<tr>
<th><img src="https://cis-india.org/home-images/AssameseWikipedia.png" alt="Assamese Wikipedia" class="image-inline" title="Assamese Wikipedia" /></th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Above: A screen shot of Assamese Wikipedia page</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: justify; ">In its initial phase of community building the language projects faced difficulties in teaching people about typing in their own scripts. It was a painful exercise – starting from scratch to building language input tools and tutorials, conducting outreach for mass-awareness and educating them of the importance of building content for their future generation and other such activities. Today, about 12 out of the 20 Indic language Wikipedias are active in terms of growth in the size of the contributor community and quality content. However, since the available resources are more or less limited in general and also lacking more in regional languages, there has been dependence on text books as useful educational resources. There is a complete dearth of peer reviewed journals and research documents in Indic languages. If there are some, they have not been digitized and some of the digitized resources are not available in accessible formats. With this there is a need to rethink about the potential to open Wikipedia up for more contribution from the academia and researcher communities.</p>
<hr />
<table class="listing">
<tbody>
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<th><img src="https://cis-india.org/home-images/copy_of_OdiaWikipedia.png" alt="Odia Wikipedia" class="image-inline" title="Odia Wikipedia" /></th>
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<td>Odia Wikipedia workshop, IIMC, Dhenkanal 18-19 November 2013 [Source Wikmedia Commons]</td>
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<p style="text-align: justify; ">Conventionally educational resources are created by subject experts in a limited time frame and reviewed for factual accuracy. Wikipedia, on the contrary could be edited by anyone at any point of time and the content is ever changing. Many-a-times stub class articles get created. Not all of the articles are also of good quality. All of these result in a mixed spectrum of articles of varied quality. So, the entire Wikipedia, per se cannot be taken as OER.. It is quite challenging to get dedicated volunteers to devote their time to enhance the quality and keep the articles updated.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The ever changing nature of Wikipedia could be a potential opportunity to look at it as an educational resource that is more dynamic and upgradable in nature. Some of the subjects such as science or humanities in our education syllabi have content that is perpetually true in nature. If well written, then these kind of articles could be taken as OER as these do not need constant change. However, many other study programs including the applied disciplines are not up to date because of the conventional mode of education. There is a need to revamp the educational system and bring a more dynamic and informative system. Wikipedia, for sure will be a good platform for specific areas of education like these. However, this could be attained only if there are a group of contributors while implementing mass-scale <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Education_program">WikipediaEducation Programs</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">While working with two different batches of masters students of journalism at <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Institute_of_Mass_Communication,_Dhenkanal">Indian Institute of MassCommunication at Dhenkanal</a> in Odisha, I experienced the multitude of such fast pace of information flow that does not exist in many other disciplines. In general, people working on current issues of the world remain in a high information zone. If such talents could be tapped by bringing Wikipedia into their zone of action, then something great could be leveraged. Similarly, many researchers and people that are involved in work related documentation could be tapped when looking at specific subject areas for creating a subset of educational resource building exercise from Wikipedia.</p>
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<th><img src="https://cis-india.org/home-images/Chhatabasa.png" alt="Chatasabha" class="image-inline" title="Chatasabha" /></th>
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<td>Screenshot of the Chatasabha which is a help desk on Odia Wikipedia</td>
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<p style="text-align: justify; ">The drawback in the existing text book compilation process is that a fixed number of people might make it a monotonous process. Things like visual appeal and user experience, the layers of reuse, remix and reproduction that Wikipedia offers will be lacking. The process of bringing Indic language Wikipedias into the curricula also unleashes the opportunity of creating an inclusive community of experts and passively absorbing information from the existing resources including books that are currently the only educational resources. The constant discourse that a language or academic community that are subsets of a Wikipedia community, cross-pollination of ideas, information, experiments from inter-related and interdisciplinary collectives adds many additional layers of complexity to the way information get on to Wikipedia. This very complexity makes it stand out as a completely different system altogether that learns, changes the ways of approach, preserves learning and presents itself is an institution.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">So far, most of the Indic languages Wikipedias are the largest reservoirs of knowledge despite the challenges of sustaining the contributing community. To take them to a new level needs the risk of allowing potential vandals of taking it to the larger audience as a contributor and taking to the knowledge seeking mass as an Open Educational Resource. As Wikipedia itself, this would be another happening journey if the challenges and mistakes are accepted. Otherwise, bringing the right balance and opening up the existing system might just take centuries and that is alarming for this society that cannot wait inside the cocoon of being completely perfect but outdated and afford to walk slower.</p>
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For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/open-education-working-group-may-27-2014-subhashish-panigrahi-indic-language-wikipedias-as-open-educational-resources'>https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/open-education-working-group-may-27-2014-subhashish-panigrahi-indic-language-wikipedias-as-open-educational-resources</a>
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No publishersubhaOpennessWikipediaAccess to KnowledgeWikimedia2014-06-04T03:32:57ZBlog Entry