Centre for Internet and Society

ICTs for Improving Agriculture and Rural Livelihoods

radha — 2011-10-21T06:48:23Z

CIS is co-hosting a talk by Mr. Michael Riggs (FAO) covering the topic on Information and Communication Technology and e-Agriculutre and how Rural Livelihoods and Agriculture can benefit from ICTs.

CIS is co-hosting a lecture on ICT for improving Agriculture and Livelihood in the Rural areas, by Mr. Michael Riggs, who is currently an Officer (Knowledge and Information Management) with the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations), Rome.

Brief Introduction of Mr. Michael Riggs:
As FAO's Information and Knowledge Management Officer, Mr. Riggs is resposible for initiating and managing collaborations with partners around the Asia-Pacific region to improve sustainable development through the application of modern information and technology. Mr. Riggs has championed the regional e-Agriculture community (www.e-agriculture.org) and also manages the regional implementation of FAO's internal knowledge and information exchange strategies, particularly preserving institutional memory and adopting standards for digital information exchange.

Prior to his current post with the FAO, Mr. Riggs has held the following positions:

Information Management Specialist with FAO
Information Dissemination and Management consultant at APHCA
Director, New Business Development at Green Cross Corporation.

Mr. Riggs has advanced degrees in both economics and organizational management and specialises in:

Knowledge sharing methods and tools
Catalyzing communities of practice and international collaboration
Conceptualizing and communicating new ideas
Information surveys
Building individual and organizational capacity in ICT4D

VIDEO

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/events/icts-for-improving-agriculture-and-rural-livelihoods

ICT, transaction cost and development: The flip side

radha — 2013-02-05T08:56:35Z

A presentation by Prof. Pradoshnath at CIS, Bangalore on Nov 25th, 2009 from 3.30pm to 5pm

Abstract

The main observation is that the connectivity matters if and only if it connects the right way. The danger of being at the flip side looms large, if connected wrong way.

The conclusion is based on a rigorous theoretical understanding of the role of network technology in general and ICT in particular for augmenting the process of social and economic transformation. The theoretical framework also allows us to discover the danger of flip side of the network technology, and tells us that it is not always hunky-dory between ICT (or any network technology for that matter) and social and economic backwardness. Colonial plundering was possible through the adoption of network technologies in colonies.

ICT is believed to contribute to economic development by reducing the transaction and information cost associated with any economic activities. Transaction cost arises when transactions are made away from the market. There are two streams of arguments here; one, that suggests minimisation of transaction cost as means towards economic efficiency, and the other that considers the act of transactions away from the market is actually the process of value creation of a capitalist enterprise. We argue that both the arguments can be synchronised by partitioning the transaction costs in two broad components of production activities, namely, production (the value creation component, where in lies profit) and procurement. It is in the latter component where transaction cost can be minimised for efficiency, whereas in case of former transaction cost is created by a value creating capitalist enterprise. In reality both the processes are concurrent, and one complements the other.

It is this comprehensive perspective that enables us a fresh look at the ongoing programmes, and, therefore a general observation that ICTisation in less developed economies in effect make market operations friendlier for the capitalist ventures or inroads in the marginal economies, and create new varieties of distortions in the system. We call this distortion – the flip side of ICTisation, because in the absence of factors that enable make use of connectivity for economic and social gains, the marginalised population of a marginal economy runs the risk of falling in to a new dynamics of exploitation.

Profile of Prof. Pradosh Nath

An economist working on issues related to applications of science and technology for social and economic development. He is a scientist at National Institute of Science Technology and Development Studies (NISTADS), New Delhi. At present affiliated to the Centre for Culture Media and Governance, Jamia Millia University, New Delhi as Senior Research Fellow, ICSSR, New Delhi. His present research interest is in the area of application of ICT for social and economic development of the marginal economies. He has published widely in both national and international journals. He has co-authored two books and edited another. He has worked as consultant for IDRC, Canada, WAITRO, Copenhagen, Denmark, and ITU, Geneva. He has been the coordinator of the WAITRO sponsored international programme on ‘Knowledge management for R&D organisation’ conducted in different countries in Asia and Africa.

Videos

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/events/ict-transaction-cost-and-development-the-flip-side

ICT, transaction cost and development: The flip side

radha — 2011-08-20T22:56:05Z

Prof. Pradoshnath from NISTADS was at CIS, Bangalore on Nov 25th, 2009 and gave a presentation on ICT, transaction cost and development: The flip side. His bio and the abstract of the talk are given in this blog.

Abstract

The main observation is that the connectivity matters if and only if it connects the right way. The danger of being at the flip side looms large, if connected wrong way.

Profile of Prof. Pradosh Nath

Videos

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/advocacy/other-advocacy/talk-by-prof-pradoshnath

ICT for Agriculture and Rural Livelihood.

radha — 2009-09-17T09:23:29Z

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/home-images/ICT%20and%20rural%20Livelihood..-jpg.jpg

ICT for Agriculture and Rural Livelihood

radha — 2009-09-17T09:22:19Z

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/home-images/ICT%20and%20rural%20Livelihood..jpg

Highest wiki taker

radha — 2011-04-02T15:04:18Z

Bangaloreans are beginning to debate if Wikipedia is a reliable source of info, reports Shweta Taneja. TimeOut Bangalore, published an article on the upcoming WikiWars event that the Centre for Internet and Society is organising in January 2010. Nishant Shah, Director Research, was interviewed for his views and ideas about the event and the rise of Wikipedia as a global knowledge production system.

Link to the original article on the Time Out site.

“When we use the term Wikipedia, most of us mean the English version of it,” said Hari Prasad Nadig, a 26-year-old software professional. “It’s only in the last couple of years that even editors [of the popular online encyclopaedia] have started working on regional languages.” Nadig is one of several wiki editors who, much like the encyclopaedists in Isaac Asimov’s Foundation series, are dedicated to putting together unbiased and objective information about India in English and other languages. Authenticity and accuracy of information being a subject of serious contention, Wikipedia flags dubious-sounding articles and invites editors from across the world to ‘cleanup the article to meet its quality standards’.

Nadig started as an editor for English Wiki on topics related to Kannada and Karnataka five years ago, but soon saw the need for articles and pages in regional languages. While the new Kannada and Sanskrit Wikipedias have been online for a few months now, Nadig also found himself making note of several problems that they had begun to face – the biggest being an affair commonly referred to as “WikiWars”, fought over the need to keep information accurate. To discuss such issues, and to present problems being faced by regional language Wiki groups like Nadig’s, the city’s Centre for Internet and Society, which has become a centre for Wikipedians to meet every month, has announced plans to host a conference called WikiWars in January 2010 (in association with the Institute of Network Cultures, Amsterdam), for which the registrations open this fortnight.

“The open structure of Wikipedia has led to warring factions when it comes to the content on important issues,” explained Nishant Shah, Director-Research at CIS. For example, when Bangalore was renamed Bengaluru, there was a quick succession of edit-wars, he said, where the proponents and critiques of the move constantly kept editing and changing the information provided by other parties. “In the absence of an editorial board, these wars create the neutral point of view that assures objectivity in content,” he said.

The event WikiWars will aim to bring together perspectives, approaches, experiences and stories on such concerns, he added. “The platform is not only for active Wikipedians, but also for people who have the ability to critically examine Wikipedia.”

Nadig explained that several writers and administrators work to protect the Wiki pages, so that no unauthorised changes can be made. But many of these writers are yet closed to the ideas of online communities and concepts of user-generated content. “The subject should be open to changes by others – that is the democratic way,” he said. Like in any open system, there is a pressing need to look at Wikipedia holistically, and what it means for different groups of people. Shah agreed, “On one hand, people swear by this peer-to-peer system of knowledge production and sharing, looking at it as a symbol of the information revolution. On the other hand, people question the validity and authority of the Wikipedia to serve as a global system of referencing, questioning the lack of structure in the system.”

Nadig further explained that the concerns are most relevant to new initiatives like the regional language Wikis. “The numbers of articles on the Kannada Wiki have now crossed 6,000 pages,” he observed. But most of the problems that Nadig’s facing are because most regional language editors tend to treat the Wikipedia as a print medium rather than a dynamic online one. “People still do not understand how the Wikipedia works, and tend to treat a page like traditional media – where once printed, it cannot be changed, edited or questioned,” he explained. He added that there is a shortage of good editors as well, who can actively question and participate in projects: “Many people need the technological ability to edit, and understand how Kannada functions online.” To improve the technical skills of editors, Nadig also works offline, conducting hands-on training sessions. He now holds sessions for newbie Wikipedians, and trains them to use programs for editing and writing in regional languages.

But the main impediment for regional Wikis is that the community is broken into sub-groups, said Nadig. “If you want to work with the government and other organisations, you need a formal setup for Wikipedia, which can approach and actively engage them,” he said. Shah is hoping that the WikiWars conference will address this concern, including other issues like economic practices based around Wikipedia, the nature of freedom in usage, for instance in oral histories and unconfirmed information sources, and the space for dissent in the medium. He added that the event will aim to build a “knowledge network” that will start larger discussions, and also work to create public awareness.

Registrations for WikiWars are now open.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/highest-wiki-taker

Handy Origins of the winds of change

radha — 2011-04-02T14:59:01Z

A seminar in Bangalore revealed how mobile technology is being harnessed across India to bring about development and social change, reports Shrabonti Bagchi - DNA (6th Sept, 2009)

The Internet, for all the celebrated changes it has made in our lives, still had limited penetration in our country with about 80 million, largely urban and prosperous users. This severely limits its viability as a vehicle of development and social change. The mobile phone, on the other hand, has 400 million users in the country, and has undoubtedly become the first mode of communication in India to gain almost universal reach, cutting across barriers of location, region, community and social classes.
“The mobile phone has unprecedented penetration into classes of society that were largely unconnected with the outside world till now,” said Sunil Abraham, executive director of the Centre for Internet and Society, which along with Mobile Monday Bangalore, the Bangalore chapter of a global community of wireless industry professionals, organised a seminar, “Mobile Technology 4 Social Change”, in the city recently.
The idea for the event came from one of the co-organizers, Mobileactive.org, which is a network of NGOs interested in taking advantage of the mobile telephony revolution to bring about changes, informed Abraham.
Attended by NGOs, non-profit organisations, researchers, donors, and of course, mobile application developers, the seminar intended to throw open doors of communication between these varied groups of people.
Take the case of IFFCO Kisan Sanchar Limited (IKSL), for instance. This farmers’ co-operative formed under the aegis of fertiliser manufacturer IFFCO has tied up with cellular service provider Airtel to develop a special SIM card which enables users to receive voice and text messages everyday containing nuggets of information about various farming practices. It has around 2,75,000 subscribers in Karnataka alone, informs IKSL state manager G Raghunatha, and has made a huge difference to the lives of farmers.
A similar case is related by Subbaih Arunachalam who is involved with the MS Swaminathan Research Foundation, which has tied up with Tata Tele-services and Qualcomm and telecom developer Astute to create special GPS-enabled mobile phones (costing less than Rs.3, 000) that helps fishermen track weather reports, send out emergency messages in case they are lost at sea, etc., and also engage in price-point discussions with local wholesalers.
Several NGOs have also been quick to utilise the advantage of the versatility and ease-of-use of the mobile phone to disseminate vital information. Sreekanth Rameshaiah, director of Bangalore-based NGO Mahiti, spoke of an endeavour started by his group in Calcutta called My SME News which targets small and micro enterprises, sending out customised information for 11 micro-industries through text messages in the local language. They also plan to launch a voice platform soon.
Mobile payments brand mChek started an initiative on similar lines in Bangalore. The company uses its SMS-based mobile payment technology, which is embedded on all new Airtel and Docomo SIM cards, to enable slum dwellers to access banking and explore micro-finance options through micro-finance institution Grameen Koota.
Valerie Rozycki, head of strategic initiatives at mChek, said, “Access to low-cost banking over the mobile and being enabled with safe ways to save and convenient ways to make payments is life-changing for these customers. This is a sustainable business model to serve the un-banked and under-banked. So, these services will continue to thrive."

Let’s raise our mobile phones to that.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/handy-origins-of-the-winds-of-change

GCOS 2009

radha — 2011-04-02T14:44:10Z

The Global Conference on Open Source, held on 26th and 27th of October, 2009 at the Shangri-La Hotel, Jakarta, Indonesia was organized by AOSI (Asosiasi open Source Indonesia) and was supported by the State Ministry of Research and Technology and the Ministry Communication Information Technology.

Open Source Cegah Pembajakan Dorong Kemandirian

KabarIndonesia - Free Open Source Sofware-FOSS akan menghapus jejak Indonesia dari ranah pembajakan software propriety yang dari pengguna komputer di Indonesia diperkirakan hanya 4% menggunakan software legal.

"Dari kreatifitas para pengembang software, tak hanya kebutuhan office dan grafis saja, namun kedepan akan sangat memungkinkan bahwa hanya dengan FOSS keseluruhan pekerjaan bidang multimedia dan animasi bisa dikerjakan dengan berkualitas" kata Andi S. Boediman, pendiri International Design School sambil memberikan contoh bahwa film animasi
Big Bug Bunny adalah salah satu animasi yang dibuat dengan software open source blender.

Senada dengan Andi S. Boediman, adalah Gustaff Hariman Iskandar, pendiri komunitas kreatif Commonroom Bandung, Open source adalah solusi bagi pembajakan software propriety. Meskipun Gustaff juga memberikan catatan, bahwa jika open source mau jadi tuan rumah di Indonesia, maka harus ada peningkatan kecepatan akses internet, karena dalam pemakaian software open source, dibutuhkan koneksi internet yang stabil untuk mengupdate program yang dipakai.

Gustaff memberikan pandangan, bahwa di kalangan komunitas kreatif di Bandung, pemakaian software bajakan sudah lumrah terjadi meskipun kini sudah banyak yang menggunakan sofware asli ataupun memanfaatkan FOSS. Dan ajang global Conference on Open Source-GCOS adalah salah satu program yang menurutnya harus menjadi momentum untuk 'membebaskan' masyarakat dari 'penjajahan' dominasi software berlicensi yang tentunya mahal bagi UKM.

GCOS-Global Conference on Open Source yang digelar 26-27 Oktober lalu, mendapat apresiasi laur biasa dengan mendatangkan tamu dan pembicara dari berbagai negara. Sunil Abraham misalnya, pembicara pada asal India untuk sesi Making Opensource The Driver for Development, merasa terkesan dengan sambutan masyarakat dan pemerintah Indonesia yang luar biasa, bahkan telah terbentuk komunitas open source di Indonesia yang cukup besar sehingga dapat menyelenggarakan GCOS. Sunil, juga bangga dapat berbicara di forum internasional bersama pembicara lain yang menurutnya seperti berbicara di India, karena disini juga berhadapan dengan problem dan karakteristik masyarakat yang hampir sama, butuh software murah untuk saving cost.

Open Source adalah sebuah fenomena, yang menurut Direktur Aptel ICT Depkominfo, Amalia Abdulah, bukan lagi alternative tapi pilihan. Dan kepentingan pemerintah adalah memfasilitasi, mendorong pemakaian software legal yang sesuai kemampuan daya beli masyarakat, bahkan gratis seperti free opensource software-FOSS.

Pasca surat edaran Menpan bulan maret 2009 lalu, sudah ada sekitar 100 lebih pemerintah daerah yang mengajukan permohonan untuk menggunakan open source dan Depkominfo Bersama KNRT [Kementerian Negara Riset dan
Teknologi] mengadakan pelatihan SDM mulai dari mengoperasikan software untuk perkantoran, sesuai kebutuhan administrative pemerintahan.

Apa yang dilakukan dalam sinergi Depkominfo, KNRT, Depdiknas, Men PAN adalah sebuah komitmen, bahkan tertuang dalam program dimana pada Desember 2011 ditargetkan pengaplikasian open source di seluruh jajaran instansi dapat terwujud. Keinginan pemerintah tersebut bukan pula tanpa dasar, dengan isu utama dalam open source adalah low cost, mencegah
terjadinya pembajakan software, dan mampu memberikan keuntungan bagi Negara. KNRT misalnya yang secara bertahap mengaplikasikan open source sejak 2005, telah menghemat biaya pembelian licensi sebesar 40% dan bisa ditingkatkan menjadi 60%.

Ternyata tak hanya menjawab kebutuhan kalangan UKM yang ingin berhemat memangkas biaya operasional namun tetap berada pada jalur legal, ternyata juga memberikan kontribusi penghematan anggaran bagi pemerintah Negara berkembang seperti Indonesia.

Dengan memanfaatkan software open source yang bersifat terbuka dan bebas untuk dikembangkan, seharusnya juga menjadi motivasi bagi bangsa indonesia untuk menjadi pemain utama dalam pengembangan software yang dibutuhkan dunia teknologi informasi, yang apada akhirnya dapat mencerdaskan kehidupan bangsa.

Pemerintah yang telah memulai aplikasi open source meski hanya berbekal surat edaran Men PAN, mungkin perlu meningkatkan komitmen dan dedikasinya dengan penerbitan regulasi lebih mengikat dan ’memaksa’ yang didalamnya tak hanya berisi himbauan, namun juga proteksi.

Dan jika Depkominfo dan Depdiknas dapat bersinergi melalui program pendidikan open source, akan menjadi awal yang baik memperkenalkan dan mengajarkan open source sebagai sebuah wujud kemandirian bangsa yang tak lagi terjajah secara teknologi.

Betty Alisjahbana dari AOSI [Asosisi Open Source Indonesia] dan Lolly Amalia selaku Direktur Sistem Informasi Ditjen Aptel Depkominfo, kedua belah pihak telah saling bertemu visi dengan 'keroyokan' melaksanakan GCOS secara bersama-sama, diantara kedua pihak telah ada kesepakatan saling membantu aplikasi Open Source di seluruh Indonesia.

Untuk mengatasi kendala profesionalitas AOSI dalam memberikan layanan sebagaimana tuntutan kebutuhan saat ini, Betty bahkan sedang dalam proses mengorganisir kekuatan-kekuatan di dalam AOSI untuk bernaung didalam sebuah payung badan usaha profesional, jadi bukan lagi komunitas penghobi open source saja.

Lebih jauh pandangan Onno W Purbo, penggiat open source, free open source software [FOSS] harus menjadikan Indonesia sebagai 'Knowledge Based Society', menggunakan pengetahuannya untuk bisa berkarya. Dari pihak pemerintah, telah dicontohkan oleh Kementrian Riset dan Teknologi (KNRT) dalam penerapan eGovernment secara menyeluruh dalam rangka
meningkatkan kualitas layanan publik secara efektif dan efisien untuk meminimalisir korupsi di lingkungan pemerintahan.

Dalam bincang-bincang dengan Ditjen Aplikasi dan Telematika Depkominfo Ashwin Sasongko, ia mengandaikan Free Open Source Software seperti air mineral yang bisa diambil gratis dari pegunungan, tapi distribusi dan pengemasannya bayar.

Sun Microsystems melaporkan perkembangan potensi pengguna FOSS, sejak tahun 2008 telah terjaring komunitas OSS dari Java dengan lebih dari 15.000 pengguna dan hampir 10.000 pengadopsi pemula penggunaan OSS dari 150 perguruan tinggi serta 70 sekolah menengah. Tampaknya, aktifitas AOSI yang menyebarkan ribuan komputer dengan aplikasi FOSS ke
sekolah-sekolah mulai terlihat hasilnya.

FOSS hadir menjadi solusi di tengah upaya menekan pembajakan software proprietary dengan memasyarakatkan software legal ,di sisi lain juga membangun susasana kompetitif di tengah usaha untuk membangun kemandirian bangsa.

Link to original article

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/gcos-2009

G3ict-White Paper

radha — 2011-08-22T13:17:44Z

G3ict -White Paper

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/publications/Web%20Accessibility%20Policy%20Making-%20G3ict%20White%20Paper-%20CIS%20Bangalore-%20India%202009.pdf

G3ict and CIS in collboration

radha — 2011-08-17T08:44:56Z

The G3ict and Centre for Internet and Society, India (www.cis-india.org) are collaborating on a white paper comparing internet accessibility policies and legislative frameworks in 15 countries across the world.

The paper seeks to identify initiatives which different countries have taken to make the internet more accessible. Countries chosen for the study include both developed and developing countries having very comprehensive legislations like USA and Germany, as well as countries having less detailed policies which are both low in scope of coverage as well as applicability like Portugal. The study will map the policies against several criteria such as their scope of coverage (only the internet or including electronic accessibility), applicability (only to the Government or to both the public and private sector), efficacy of the monitoring mechanism, provision for review, penalty in case of non compliance and so on.

Based on the findings of the study, the paper will identify generic options which policy makers could adopt to address the specific needs of their countries. This study will also form part of the larger tool kit for policy makers which G3ict is jointly publishing with the ITU.

The paper will be peer reviewed by experts in different countries to ensure that information which is given in the study is accurate and up to date. The paper will be published on the G3ict website in the first week of October and will be open for review by interested experts.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/g3ict-and-cis-in-collboration

Free Culture Roadshow

radha — 2011-04-05T04:20:44Z

The Free Culture Roadshow from 07th December, 2009 to 22nd December, 2009: A presentation on The Right to Share and The Promise of Open Video.

CIS in association with different institutions across India invites you to join in the Free Culture Roadshow: A presentation on The Right to Share and The Promise of Open Video.

The Co-hosts, Dates and the Venues for the Talk are given below:

Co-Host: Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay
Date: 07th December, 2009 from 10am to 2pm
Venue – IIT-B, Mumbai
Co-Host: Centre for Media and Cultural Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Bombay
Date: 07th December, 2009 from 4.30pm to 7pm
Venue – TISS, Mumbai
Co-Host: Department of Media Sciences, CEGC, Anna University, Chennai
Date: 08th December, 2009 from 9.30am
Venue – Seminar Hall, Dept. Of Media Sciences, Anna University, Chennai
Co-Host: Dept. Of Management Studies, IIT-M, and BodhBridge Espl.
Date: 09th December, 2009 from 9.30am to 01.30pm
Venue – Central Lecture Theatre, Indian Institute of Technology, Madras.
Co-Host: Dept. Of Journalism, Mount Carmel College, Bangalore
Date: 14th December, 2009 from 10am to 01pm
Venue – Golden Jubilee Hall, Bangalore
Co-Host: National Law School, Bangalore
Date: 17th December, 2009 from 2.30pm onwards
Venue – National Law School, Bangalore
Co-Host: Faculty of Architecture, Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology, Ahmedabad
Date: 18th December, 2009 from 4pm to 7pm
Venue – Auditorium, CEPT
Co- Host: Magic Lantern Foundation
Date: 20th December, 2009 from 9am to 1pm
Venue - Conference Room 2, India International Centre, Max Mueller Marg, New Delhi
Co-Host: The Media Lab, Jadavpur University, Kolkata
Date: 22nd December, 2009 from 11.30am to 3.30pm
Venue – Jadavpur University, Kolkata

A Brief Abstract of the two discussions and the profile of the speakers are given below:

The Right to Share: What Does Copying Have to Do with Freedom?

The Internet has unleashed the potential to communicate and collaborate like never before, and the result has been an unprecedented flow of culture and information. Millions of individuals are now sharing and creating culture: copying, cutting, remixing, and participating in new and different ways.
Sometimes this activity is transformative. Sometimes it's straight copying. In either case, there is a clear connection between this sharing of culture and personal freedom.
This talk will explore how various conceptions of "freedom" have shaped the social movements for free software, free culture, and free knowledge, and how this ideology has manifested itself in real action. It will connect theory with practice, exploring the cultural innovations and political changes that have spawned forth from these movements. Lastly, it will make the case that the broad-based availability, accessibility, and abundance of culture is a good thing for our global society.

Speaker Profile:

Elizabeth Stark is a leader in the global free culture movement. She is a Fellow at the Yale Information Society Project and a Lecturer in Computer Science at Yale University. A graduate of Harvard Law School, Stark founded the Harvard Free Culture Group and served on the board of directors of Students for Free Culture. While at Harvard, she was Editor-at-Large of the Harvard Journal of Law & Technology, and worked on using new media to promote human rights with the Harvard Advocates for Human Rights. Elizabeth has worked extensively with the Berkman Center for Internet & Society and has taught courses in Cyberlaw, Digital Copyright, Technology and Politics, and Electronic Music. She recently produced the inaugural Open Video Conference in NYC, garnering over 8000 viewers across the web. Elizabeth regularly gives talks around the world on free culture, and has collaborated with myriad organizations on promoting shared knowledge and the open web.

The Revolution Will Be Recorded, Remixed, and Redistributed: The Promise of Open Video

Between news, cinema, television, and documentary film, we find ourselves swimming in a sea of moving images. This has been the story of the 20th century. Yet in this age, the tools for creating and sharing video are becoming widely distributed in the hands of millions of individuals. Desktop video editing software is pervasive; webcams and video-equipped mobile phones abound. Video now belongs to everyone. It is becoming a powerful medium for self-expression, a kind of cultural currency.
How will this phenomenon change the Internet? How will it change society? What questions persist for the architecture of the Internet, and how will public policy address this ultimately political transformation? This talk sets forth a vision of networked video as a truly participatory medium, one that will power the next 10 years of innovation on the web. Dean Jansen and Ben Moskowitz introduce some core technologies for open video, and the obstacles they face on the road to mass adoption.

Speaker Profiles:

Dean Jansen is a Free Culture activist and guerrilla artist based in New York. He attended Harvard University and was a leader in the Harvard Free Culture Group. Dean assisted in teaching media studies and law courses at MIT and Harvard, and has organized numerous academic conferences.
He currently serves as outreach director at the non-profit Participatory Culture Foundation, makers of the Miro internet TV player. His art projects can be viewed at www.notthemessiah.net.

Ben Moskowitz is general coordinator at the Open Video Alliance, a coalition to democratize the moving image. Ben co-founded the UC Berkeley chapter of Students for Free Culture and taught a seminar on the politics of piracy at Berkeley's School of Information.
He currently serves on the board of directors of the international organization Students for Free Culture, dedicated to promoting access to knowledge, technological freedom, and participatory culture.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/events/free-culture-roadshow

ff

radha — 2009-11-19T07:05:44Z

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/home-images/ff..jpg

Fellows

radha — 2021-11-26T05:22:19Z

Rahul Cherian

Rahul was a lawyer, disability policy activist and a co-founder of Inclusive Planet Centre for Disability and Policy. He was one of the experts who drafted the Treaty for the Visually Impaired currently being negotiated at the World Intellectual Property Organization. His areas of expertise included disability law, intellectual property law and technology law. He was also the co-founder of www.inclusiveplanet.com, the world's largest social network for persons with visual impairment.

Rahul was on the legal expert panel constituted by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment to give input on the new disability law, was instrumental in conceptualizing and executing a national Right to Read Campaign to bring about changes in copyright law to enable persons with disabilities access copyrighted work on an equal basis with persons without disabilities, helped the State of Kerala draft a plan document with a vision to ensure that by the year 2025 persons with disabilities are completely integrated into mainstream society.

Rahul Cherian passed away on February 7, 2013 due to an illness.

Click for Rahul's detailed profile. [PDF, 195 Kb]

Malavika Jayaram

Malavika is the inaugural Executive Director of the Digital Asia Hub. Prior to her relocation to Hong Kong, she spent three years as a Fellow at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University, focused on privacy, identity, biometrics and data ethics, and eight years in London, with the global law firm Allen & Overy in the Communications, Media & Technology group and as Vice President and Technology Counsel at Citigroup. While a partner at Jayaram & Jayaram in India previously, she was one of 10 Indian lawyers selected for The International Who’s Who of Internet e-Commerce & Data Protection Lawyers directory for 2012 and 2013. In August 2013, she was voted one of India’s leading lawyers – one of only 8 women to be featured in the “40 under 45” survey conducted by Law Business Research, London.

A graduate of the National Law School of India, Malavika has an LL.M. from Northwestern University School of Law, Chicago. She taught India’s first course on information technology and law in 1997, and as Adjunct Faculty at Northwestern more recently: part of the Master of Science in Law program bridging STEM subjects and the law. She has been a Fellow with the Centre for Internet & Society, India, since 2009 where she helped start their privacy program. She was a Visiting Scholar at the Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania, and has had fellowships at the University of Sydney and the Institute for Technology & Society, Rio de Janeiro. She is on the Advisory Board of the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC).

Chanuka Wattegama

Chanuka is an independent policy researcher and consultant with expertise in telecom policy and regulations, ICT for Development, Development Economics, Disaster Risk Reduction and Development Evaluation. An Electronics Engineer by profession, he graduated from the National Institute of Technology, Karnataka and obtained his Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree from the University of Colombo.

In the past he worked as a Senior Research Manager at LIRNEasia, an Asian think tank on policy and regulation and as a Program Specialist ICT4D at the United Nations Development Program and was posted in Colombo Regional Centre’s Millennium Development Goals (MDG) initiative. His focus was to use Information and Communication Technology for poverty reduction and achievement of the MDGs.

As a researcher, he co-authored the Sri Lankan chapters for the books Cyber Communities of Asia (AMIC, Singapore), Media in Asia (Sage Publications, New Delhi), Internet in Asia (AMIC, Singapore) and Digital Review of Asia Pacific (APDIP, Orbicom and IDRC). He was the lead researcher for Sri Lanka in a nine-country study on ICT for Human Development in Asia, by UNDP and is also a regular writer and commentator on ICT issues in the Sri Lankan media. He founded Pariganaka, the largest selling ICT magazine in Sri Lanka with a circulation of more than 40,000 copies where he worked as a consultant editor. He is a two-time recipient of the Science Writer of the Year Award, presented annually by the Sri Lanka Association for the Advancement of Science.

Selvam Velmurugan

Selvam is the founder of eMoksha.org, a non-partisan non-profit focused on enabling stronger democracies through increased citizen awareness and participation. In 2009, eMoksha.org helped launch VoteReport, a citizen-driven election monitoring platform - in India, Lebanon, and Afghanistan - and FixOurCity, a local civic-management platform in Chennai.

Prior to founding eMoksha.org, Selvam was an internet technologist with more than 12 years of experience in building and managing distributed web-scale systems. During his 10-year stint at Amazon, he devised complex search indexing and querying algorithms, setup the Chennai Development Center, and managed critical platform components for Amazon Web Services. During that time, he took an active role in several non-profit and community efforts, notably being a core member of the Tsunami Relief team at Amazon enabling collection of over $15 million in relief funds.

Selvam holds an MS in CS from University of Georgia and BS in CS from College of Engineering, Guindy. He also holds a Diploma in Film-making from University of Washington. Currently, he lives in Seattle with his wife and two kids.

Nirmita Narasimhan

Nirmita is a Policy Director with the Centre for Internet and Society, working in the areas of policy research and advocacy related to technology access for persons with disabilities. She was involved in drafting the Indian National Universal Electronic Accessibility Policy and also worked closely with different departments of the Government of India to bring accessibility into their policies and programmes. Nirmita has authored several reports on accessibility which are being used by policymakers worldwide. She has also presented papers on ICT and Accessibility at international fora like the IGF and is the Director, Global Reports, for G3ict. She has also participated in the World Blind Union Treaty negotiations at WIPO. Nirmita has won several awards for her work, including the National Award for Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, which she received from the President of India in December 2010. Her educational background includes degrees in Law, German and Music.

List of volumed edited by Nirmita:

e-Accessibility Policy Handbook for Persons with Disabilities, in collaboration with the G3ict (Global Initiative for Inclusive Information Communication Technologies) and ITU (International Telecommunications Union), and sponsored by the Hans Foundation
Universal Service for Persons with Disabilities: A Global Survey of Policy Interventions and Good Practices, in collaboration with the G3ict.
Accessibility of Government Websites in India: A Report, supported by the Hans Foundation.

Read Nirmita's detailed resume.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/about/people/fellow

FAO

radha — 2009-08-24T06:22:56Z

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/home-images/FAOemblem_en.gif

Experts debate on UID and rights

radha — 2011-04-02T12:32:54Z

Bangalore, Apr 16, DHNS: A debate on ‘UID and Fundamental Rights’ organised by several city-based organisations, discussed the social, ethical issues, economic and legal issues that accompanies the UID.

Noted law researcher Usha Ramanathan said that according to available information, UID would tap into National Population Registry and gather data and biometrics of the whole population. “UID by itself would not result in profiling, but will act as a bridge between silos of information that will help profile the individual,” she noted.

She also said that lack of answers for issues that were raised six months ago were disturbing. “It is not just about privacy, but the power of the state as the UID will be feeding off many registers,” she added.

Speaking on the economics side of it, R Ramkumar from the Tata Institute for Social Sciences, Mumbai, said claims of financial inclusion or elimination of corruption in Public Distribution System and the rural employment guarantee scheme was not enough justification. “Service delivery cannot justify the violation of freedom. It is a misplaced emphasis on benefits of technology,” he remarked.

He criticised the government’s thinking that technology could substitute social transformation, commenting that technology could only aid social development in the presence of conducive circumstances and it would be erroneous to assume a linear relationship between development of technology and development of society.

Col Thomas Mathews of the Citizens Action Forum said that UID could not prevent corruption as technology has to be used by people and new ways would be devised to deprive deserving people of the services.

Link to the original article

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/experts-debate-on-uid-and-rights