Centre for Internet and Society

The Option To Read

radha — 2011-04-02T14:42:26Z

A blog in ‘thinkopotamus’ by Mr. Shreekumar Varma, Chief Guest, Right to Read Campaign’s first road show in Loyola College, Chennai

I was inaugurating the Right to Read Campaign's first Indian "road show" in Loyola College, Chennai, a couple of weeks ago when i realised that what we always take for granted is often a luxury or even impossibility for many others. For example, 70 ml people in India cannot access the printed word. Not because of illiteracy but due to some disability or other--- like blindness, dyslexia, etc. Click on the title of this entry to know more.

When I spoke during the event I said something that's been with me for some time. Calling people mentally challenged or visually challenged-- things like that--- tends to separate them and dump them with insurmountable disadvantage. We are becoming so politically correct in so many things today that we are losing touch with human correctness. I noticed during the event that when the blind spoke, they called themselves "blind" while the sighted called them "visually challenged". I said, in that case we should have sugar-challenged (diabetics), size-challenged, etc. When we realise that we are ALL a blend of advantage and disadvantage, ability and disability, then we can see the vulnerability in others as easily as we see it in ourselves.

I remember, exactly 20 years ago, I was "scribing" for a blind student in MCC, the college where I once studied and was at that time teaching for a year. I was writing the student's exam answers as he dictated. All at once, he stopped and said, "Sir, are you Shreekumar Varma?" Puzzled, I said yes. He told me he'd heard me speak during a programme I'd put together for All India Radio three months earlier, and now he recognised my voice! It was a revelation. The world that we cannot grasp is a bigger world than we think.

20 years later. Here I was at Loyola, kicking off a campaign. Well, I also promised them I'd do everything I could to drive the message home. And I am--- on Facebook, Twitter and "word of mouth".

Soon after that day, I contacted my editor at Harper Collins and brought her and Ms. Nirmita Narasimhan of CIS (centre for internet & society) together. The Copyright Act, unchanged since it was born (two years after me!), still makes it illegal to transform printed works into convenient forms for the disabled. I hope my Maria's Room will be read by many who can't read other books. We are still exploring ways of accomplishing this. The novel will be out in November this year, and will be a source of great satisfaction to me: the cover design is my son's, and everyone would have the option to read it.

Link to the blog

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/the-option-to-read

The disabled also grapple with copyright issues

radha — 2009-12-03T09:34:58Z

An article in The Hindu by Deepa Kurup - 03rd December, 2009

Go beyond Braille to include e-formats in amendment, they tell Government

MOVING AHEAD: Making books legally available in e-format will fuel technology-enabled learning among the blind.

BANGALORE: Young management executive Hari Raghavan, who is visually impaired, runs into a moral obstacle every time he wishes to read a contemporary novel or a management textbook protected under copyright. For, the Indian Copyright Act (1957) does not explicitly allow for conversion and distribution of reading material in alternative formats persons with disability can access.

While a proposed draft amendment to the Act includes a clause that allows for “specialised formats” such as Braille and sign language, it nevertheless ignores the needs of a large section of the disabled. Rights groups are currently lobbying for equal access for people like Mr. Raghavan and others with medical conditions such as cerebral palsy, dyslexia, multiple sclerosis or paralysis. The amendment is legally discriminatory as it requires these people to apply for licences to the Copyright Board, which will finalise licence terms and royalties, explains Rahul Cherian, a copyright lawyer working with Inclusive Planet, a non-governmental organisation working in this sector.

'Use technology’
Mr. Raghavan’s dilemma is precisely what drives the need to modify this clause. An IBM employee set to receive the Empowerment of People with Disability 2009 Award from President Pratibha Patil on Thursday, his blindness was a “deteriorating condition” so he never took to Braille. “Like me, a significant number of the ‘late blind’ use computers and e-formats to read. Making books legally available in e-formats is critical as it will fuel greater technology-enabled learning among the blind,” he says.

In a country where less than 0.5 per cent of printed material is available in e-format, it is imperative that the law makes it easier to access copyrighted works, Mr. Cherian explains. His Right to Read campaign, in association with Bangalore-based Centre for Internet and Society, attempts to address these very issues. “Why should a person with cerebral palsy who cannot hold a book or a dyslexic person having trouble reading print not be treated on a par with someone who uses Braille?” he asks.

Onscreen keyboard
For instance, 26-year-old Deepa Narasimhan suffers from spinal muscular dystrophy. Her condition does not allow her to hold a book or flip through its pages. However she can read text on her computer using an onscreen keyboard. This self-taught graphic designer says in this “technological world” such legislation could change the way she looks at making copies of books. “If there was a legal and easy way for us to get a book converted, it would make a world of difference,” she says. At present she has to scan every page of a textbook for her correspondence course. “I find it difficult to make people understand why I need everything in an e-format. Recognising my condition legally and making a provision for us would really broaden our horizon.”

Link to the original article

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/the-disabled-also-grapple-with-copyright-issues

Techies mapping change

radha — 2011-04-04T06:51:49Z

A group of 40 Bangaloreans, including techies and social activists, are creating digital maps that will be used to bring social change in India - an article in the Bangalore Mirror by Renuka Phadnis - Monday, December 07, 2009.

Here is an example of how technology can be misused and used. A year ago, following the Mumbai blasts, everyone was talking about how terrorists had misused information from Google maps. Now, a group of 40 people in Bangalore including activists and techies, are creating digital maps that will be used to bring social change in India.

Called “Maps for Making Change” the Centre for Internet and Society in Bangalore, a social organisation that studies the connection between the Internet and society, and the NGO Tactical Tech Collective (Bangalore and UK) are creating a map of India that will show hotspots where social change can be brought about.

Individuals working with groups and organisations working for social change across India, including grassroots activists, NGO workers, artists and researchers, sent in 70 high quality and detailed additions to the digital map. These places across India highlighted issues such as: the socio-economic aspects and consequences of the construction of Bangalore’s Metro, fighting for clean rivers, people’s rights to livelihoods in the Himalayas, monitoring the national implementation of Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act (2005), mobilising slum dwellers to engage with Mumbai’s new Development Plan, human rights violations in Kashmir, identifying land where internally displaced people can be resettled in the North East.

“You don’t have to be a professional cartographer. With new technologies such as GPS and the Net, anyone can easily add to digital maps,” says Dr Anja Kovacs, fellow, Centre for Internet and Society, Bangalore.

Bangalore Angle

In a city like Bangalore, the potential of using digital maps is tremendous. For instance, such maps could be used to show which Metro routes and stations Bangaloreans want. Or, it could show how BBMP’s reserved wards are delineated (example, the population profile in Bellandur or Girinagar). The maps could tell us where migrant labour (masons, carpenters, plumbers) enter the city, where they live and where they move on (information that could be useful for Unique Identification Authority of India too!). It can also show where marginalised people live in Bangalore in slums, along railway tracks, by the lakes.

Says Bangalorean techie B V Pradeep, who provided technical support to the map team, “In a map, every person draws what is important to him. One person may draw a mall, another may mark the school and hospital. This map will give visibility to invisible people.”

Bangalorean Rekha Shenoy, who has been involved in rehabilitating earthquake-affected people in Kutch for the past eight years, says, “Such digital maps are a good resource of marking places and social issues that other people know nothing of.”

Any one can access Maps for Making Change. See email list (http://groups.google.co.in/group/maps-for-making-change). The wiki will be up and running in a few days time (maps4change.cis-india.org), said Dr Kovacs. To follow on Twitter, use the hash tag #maps4change.

Link to the original article

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/techies-mapping-change

Tara Textreader, a boon for the visually-challenged

radha — 2011-04-02T14:52:53Z

An article by M Ramya – Times of India, 26th September, 2009

CHENNAI: Mahendran loses track of time as he listens to portions from Romeo and Juliet through Tara. The final year B A (Tamil) student of Loyola College is pleased with the Rs 1.35-lakh Tara Textreader that allows him to access printed material without help and convey information without a scribe. "The Sangeetha software has an Indian accent. So I have no problem accessing material in English," says Mahendran, who has visual disabilities.

Earlier, students like him could not access printed material that hadn't been digitized. Their computer systems could not read material that wasn't pre-recorded. Professor Jerald Inico, a lecturer in the computer science department and faculty in charge of the college's Resource Centre for Differently Abled, says the Textreader need not even be connected to a computer.

He says: "We were trying to come up with a formula to evaluate students with visual disabilities because we felt that when scribes write down the answers for the students some of the content would be lost in translation. The equipment can scan the question paper and read it out and will also allow the student to answer verbally and store it as an audio clip. For students who become blind later in life and have not learnt Braille this is a big help."

Tara, purchased from funds provided by the ministry of social justice and empowerment, can only speak English; now through Sangeetha the college is trying to install a Tamil optical character recognition software.

While the students use Tara to read books now the equipment will be tested for exam evaluation during the April 2010 semester exams. But Mahendran is a bit wary. "If we can use Tara and still get extra time for the exams it will prove beneficial, but if we are given the same time as the others because we are using the textreader it will take time to comprehend what is being read to us and give the appropriate answers."

The college is also supporting a nationwide Right to Read' campaign for persons with print impairments to be launched in Chennai on Saturday. Nirmita Narasimhan, programme manager at the Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) which is one of the organisers of the campaign, says: "Two years ago when we proposed a change in the Copyright Act a clause was incoporated that said that books can be reproduced in formats exclusively for the use of the blind. This limits the reproduction to one or two options and newer technologies cannot be used. It also leaves out people with other disabilities like the dyslexic who also have print impairments. Technology is enabling, but law is disabling. We want to create awareness of the issue through the campaign."

Registration for the campaign begins at 8 am at the college. The CIS, DAISY Forum of India and Bookbole will take the campaign to other cities in the country.

Link to the article in TOI

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/2018right-to-read2019-campaign-launched-fighting-against-copyright-regulations-1

Submission

radha — 2011-08-22T13:13:59Z

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/publications/submission%20to%20the%20DG%20clean%20Nov11th.pdf

Shyam Ponappa

radha — 2009-11-05T10:57:05Z

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

Shyam Ponappa

radha — 2009-10-20T12:23:22Z

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/home-images/Shyam%20Ponappa.jpg

Shanty home

radha — 2011-04-04T06:53:08Z

A nationwide initiative is imploring that you look closely at the greyed-out areas on your GPS maps, says Jaideep Sen in an article in the Time Out Bengaluru Magazine, November 13-26 2009 [Vol 2 Issue 9]

Call up a map of Bangalore city on Google, key in the letters “HAL”, and hit the return key. When the squiggly lines demarcating the area show up, put down the end of your forefinger at the Marathahalli end of the Old Airport Road stretch, and begin tracing your way all the way up to MG Road. It’s an easy route to follow, if you’re merely looking to head from one end of the city to the other, but that isn’t the purpose of this particular exercise, which could well be tried out along all major roadways in any city across India.

As the two Bangalore-based groups Centre for Internet and Society, and Tactical Technology Collective describe it, the attempt of that lingering fingertip is to ascertain the possibilities of creating “maps from the margins and of margins”. While that wouldn’t make immediate sense to most GPS-impelled drivers, what they’re implying is that you look around that route to try and locate and identify the numerous slums, unauthorised settlements and illegal waterways that remain greyed-out along those delineated main roads and prominent residential areas. As co-hosts of a two-month-long nationwide project titled “Maps for Social Change”, the groups are also wagering that you most likely won’t find such expanses on a map. Although, if you were to explore the neighbourhoods of say, HAL, Indira Nagar and Ulsoor, you’d find at least 30 unmarked shanties along that stretch of Old Airport Road alone.

Official figures peg the city’s slum-dwelling population at roughly 10 per cent of an estimated total 5.3 million people, in a little over 200 slums as declared by the Karnataka Slum Clearance Board. While that figure would appear minor in comparison to that of a city like Mumbai, where 60 per cent of approximately 19 million people are said to live in slums, it’s precisely that kind of disparity that this project aims to pin down against latitudinal and longitudinal positions. The purpose, said a note from the groups, is to use “geographical mapping techniques to support struggles for social justice in India”. The end result, it added, could make maps as “tools to fight injustice in society”. To understand that intention, the activists and technology specialists of the two host groups are urging people, and groups involved in social projects especially, to revisit maps and identify possibilities relevant to local campaigns and movements.

“In other countries, there’s a lot of talk about social movements using technology, even in subversive ways, but in India, this hasn’t really taken off,” said Anja (pronounced Anya) Kovacs, a Belgian who has lived in India for eight years, is a member of various campaigns in New Delhi, and is a CIS member spearheading this project. While there are many reasons for Indians to be desisting from technological means, there are many practical applications where mapping techniques can benefit social causes, she insisted.

“One example is to do with people who face displacement caused due to upcoming Special Economic Zones,” explained Kovacs. “The media, at times, portrays people against such models of development as a minority. But if you count the number of people involved in these movements, you’d come up with a mad number, and there are a mad number of struggles going on.” The project, she added, could help place such information on a map, “so that different classes of people could see what the truth actually is”.

The application inviting proposals from groups, individuals and students, begins with an exhortation for people to rethink the concept of maps. “Most of us think of maps as representations of territory,” it states. “But have you wondered why poor people are rarely given prominence, or at times are absent altogether?”

The graphic representation of a map also presents a handy educational medium, added Kovacs. “People working on concerns of sexual harassment, or state repression, public health, water management issues… the possibilities are immense.” Allan Stanley, another CIS member working on the project’s technical aspects, said the aim was to facilitate training, and extend their expertise. “It’s easily doable even for people with little internet experience,” said Stanley. “Where you create mash-ups, with [online photo and video hosting services] Flickr and You Tube, and some overlaid locative work.” At advanced levels, Stanley said that open-map projects could serve to track things like education, and density of schools in areas. Kovacs also spoke of the recent “pink chaddi” campaign, against instances of violence inflicted upon women, where a simple Google map was used to mark locations that attacks were reported from, to highlight the possibility of indicating potentially unsafe urban regions.

Link to original article

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/news/shanty-home

Shadow Search

radha — 2011-04-05T04:28:00Z

CIS in collaboration with NEWS announces an open call for proposals to explore the use of natural-language search algorithms that are able to find people and activities that embody the self-understanding of the kind of art we are seeking without specifically using the word art or a related vocabulary.

In particular this search engine would allow prospectors in the world of information and databases to discover ‘shadow art activities’ that are partially hidden, off-the-radar, stealthy.

The selection procedure will take place over several stages:

15th October 2009 – Call goes out, submissions can be uploaded at n.e.w.s.

15th November 2009 – Closing date for entries

20th November 2009 - Final Round submissions announced

23rd November 2009 – Winner(s) announced

Please send:

A Pseudocode representation

A plain text description no longer than 500 words

If required, you can add a graphical representation along with the text

Please send all entries to: shadow@northeastwestsouth.net

Cash Prize: EURO 1000 (the jury reserves the right not to award the prize if no submission fits the bill)
All submissions will be published online (with the exception of personal details)

To learn more, visit n.e.w.s

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/events/shadow-search

Shadow Search

radha — 2009-10-28T09:04:50Z

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/home-images/Shadow%20Search.jpg

selvam-portrait.jpg

radha — 2009-10-20T12:22:11Z

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

Sagie Chetty- Report

radha — 2011-08-23T03:30:41Z

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/telecom/publications/SC%20Study%20Tour%20Report%202009-11-08%20_2_.pdf

Sagie Chetty

radha — 2009-10-16T05:08:08Z

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/home-images/Sagie%20Chetty..jpg

Right to read for the print impaired and copyright challenges

radha — 2011-11-08T15:56:43Z

The National Institute for the Visually Handicapped (NIVH), Daisy Forum of India (DFI) and Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) together organised an event titled “Right to read for the print impaired and copyright challenges” on behalf of the Visually Impaired (VIP) community of India in New Delhi on 11th November.

The "Right to read for the print impaired and copyright challenges" event was held in honour of the visit of the Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) to India. The main agenda of the meeting was to draw attention to the pressing problems faced by the print impaired community in developing countries such as India.

The meeting began with a welcome address and background to the meeting given by Nirmita. This was followed by two presentations by Dr.Sam Taraporewala from XRCVC and Ms.Shalini Khanna representing NAB India. The focus of these presentations was to brief the guests from the WIPO as well as the representatives from different stakeholder groups in the audience about the present position in India with regard to the availability of books in accessible formats for the visually impaired and the severe barrier posed by the Indian Copyright Act 1957 which impacted the lives of millions of print impaired persons on an everyday basis. These presentations highlighted the fact that barely half a percent of books were made available in different accessible formats in India and that these were mostly study materials for school children. Most of these were also conversions obtained without the permission of copyright holders and organisations in India were stressed in terms of finances and infrastructural support to cater to the needs of a large number of blind persons in India. As a result of this, blind persons have limited or no access to information and cultural content in accessible formats and even the few materials which are available on the internet are not necessarily to persons using screen readers. Consequently persons with print impairments are excluded from participating in the cultural, social and economic life of the country and from becoming creative and productive members of society.

Print Access - Presentation

This was followed by two presentations from members of the publishers’ community, namely Mr.Vivek Mehra, MD and CEO of Sage India and Mr.Manish Arora, Chairman of the Copyright Committee of the Federation of Publishers and Booksellers Association Of India. Both the speakers expressed their willingness to provide books to persons with print impairments, provided that their concerns of leakage and piracy could be adequately addressed. Earlier in a smaller meeting before the event, Mr.Manas Saikia, MD of Cambridge University Press India Pvt Ltd, had made a similar statement and had also announced that CUP India had finally worked out a format for a contract which would be mutually acceptable to both publishers as well as the community and that CUP would be using this contract globally in all countries. He suggested that this contract could be used as a basis by all publishing houses to enter into agreements with the community to facilitate equitable access to blind persons in India.

After this, Dr.Francis Gurry (DG) briefed the audience about the Treaty for the Blind, visually impaired and other reading disabled which is presently tabled before the WIPO by Brazil, Ecuador and Paraguay and the establishment of a stake holders platform as a parallel process to provide a speedy and feasible solution to both the blindness and publisher communities, until such a time that a consensus was reached and an internationally binding agreement in the form of a treaty was arrived at. He expressed a desire to know about the problems being faced by the VIP community in India and to offer assistance from WIPO in any manner which may help to tackle the problems in an interim manner. Some of the ways in which help was solicited was in the manner of financial aid to fund capacity building and other projects and a recommendation was made that WIPO should consider India as a possible location for the pilot project of trusted intermediary soon to be undertaken. It was stressed by the community that India was home to nearly 70 million print impaired persons, had the institutional infrastructure to carry such a project through and could act as a resource to other developing countries.

The community also appraised the DG of an attempt to create a stake holders platform at a national level, which complemented the efforts being undertaken at the international level and asked that India should be kept informed of all developments which took place on this issue in WIPO. The DG in his opening remarks observed that India seemed to be a country which was extremely good at making “frugal innovations” and cited the Nano car as one of many examples. He expressed his belief that India could go a long way in creating cost effective and workable technology solutions for publishers and that it would certainly be worth exploring for WIPO to fund such projects in India.

The VIP community in India had prepared a submission document to the WIPO on the concerns and needs of India in this matter, which was handed over to the DG by Mr.Dipendra Manocha.

The meeting concluded with a Q&A session facilitated by Ambassador Swashpawan Singh (Special advisor to the DG on the VIP issue) and a vote of Thanks by Ms.Anuradha Mohit.

Background to the event

The Right to read is a fundamental human right for all persons in the Information age.

The ability to seek, receive and impart information and ideas is vital to ensuring that all persons are able to participate productively in the cultural, scientific and economic life of the society.

However, despite the undisputed recognition of the importance of this right by countries across the globe, persons who are unable to access printed materials, whether due to a visual, physical or cognitive disability, continue to be starved of knowledge and information which is available to the general public.

For persons who cannot read print, information has to be converted into formats such as Braille, large print, audio, electronic and other formats which they can access using assistive technologies. The World Blind Union estimates that barely 5% of books which get published in developed countries get converted into accessible formats. In developing countries such as India this estimate gets reduced even further to a bare 0.5%. This results in reduced educational and employment opportunities for the nearly 70 million print impaired persons in India, since the lack of information and public communication material severely restricts their socio-cultural involvement. To add to this, materials which are available in electronic formats on web sites are also very often inaccessible due to the failure of web designers and developers to adhere to principles of universal access while creating web sites and content on web sites.

The Copyright laws of countries are responsible for determining whether such conversions for the benefit of visually impaired persons are possible without seeking permissions from copyright holders. Under the Indian Copyright Act 1957, there is no provision under the fair dealing clause which expressly permits conversions into accessible formats for persons who cannot read print. Consequently it is illegal for these persons to scan a book into a computer and read it using a screen reader and to share the same with other blind persons. In effect, this is a curtailment of their fundamental right to read, since they cannot read books in their original printed form and have to necessarily convert them into other formats. While there are nearly 124 countries which have restrictive copyright laws like India which do not make provisions for conversion by the blind, there are about 54 countries including both developed and developing countries which have enabled the necessary legal framework for persons with print impairments to convert and read books. Blind persons in these countries, in addition to converting books for their own use within their country, can also share books with each other. Hence libraries for the blind in these countries constantly circulate materials in accessible formats amongst themselves. Blind persons living in countries like India on the other hand, are unable to undertake conversion or take advantage of already available accessible materials in other countries.

Recognising that this problem needs to be addressed urgently once and for all and that such a solution should come at an international level, the World Blind Union in November 2008, proposed a Treaty before the Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR) of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) titled “the Treaty for the Blind, visually impaired and other reading disabled persons”, which sought to harmonise exceptions and limitations for the visually impaired in the copyright laws of countries across the world so that there could be a free and unimpeded exchange of knowledge across borders. This Treaty is currently proposed by three Latin American Countries- Brazil, Ecuador and Paraguay and is to be discussed at the next meeting of the SCCR in December. At the same time, stakeholders in the treaty (disability organizations and publisher groups) are also trying to address this issue through a stakeholders platform constituted especially for this purpose.

In the light of the ever growing magnitude of this problem in India and the implications that such an international Treaty could have for a country like India, urgent action is required at two levels:

We need to amend the Indian Copyright Act 1957 and incorporate the necessary flexibilities required for print impaired persons to undertake and share accessible books- this will serve to bring the Act in line with the provisions of the Indian Constitution and the UNCRPD (United Nations Convention on Rights of Persons with Disabilities) to which we are a signatory;

India should support the Treaty efforts at the WIPO to harmonise copyright laws at a global level.

The Visually Impaired Community (VIP Community) of India has been fighting this battle for many years and yet blind children are being deprived everyday of vital information which would enable them to pursue education and employment. The community has recently launched a nation wide Right to Read (R2R) Campaign to raise awareness on this issue amongst the public and policy makers.

The Present Event:

The Director General of the WIPO Mr.Francis Gurry, visited India between 11th-13th November , and kindly consented to attend a special event titled, The Right to Read for persons with print impairment and Copyright Challenges” being organized by the VIP community in India in his honour. This meeting intended to serve as a platform for the community to express its views on the Treaty negotiations at the WIPO and to brief the Director General about the efforts being undertaken at the national level to tackle this problem. Attendees were members from different stakeholder communities such as disability organizations, publishers and the government and they all had an opportunity to present their points of view.

Agenda of the seminar on Right to Read and copy right challenges

Date: 11th November
Time: 5:00 P.M.
Duration: One Hour
Venue: Sheraton New Delhi Hotel, District Centre, Saket, New Delhi 110017

Welcome and background of the meeting by Ms.Nirmita Narasimhan (Programme Manager, Centre for Internet and Society)

Challenges in reading books for persons with blindness or low vision by Mr. K. Ramakrishna (General Secretary, National Association for the Blind)
Brief about the copyright challenges to the print impaired community in India By Dr. Sam Taraporevala – Chairman Copy Right and Publisher Relationship Committee, DAISY Forum of India
Publisher’s perspective by Mr. Vivek Mehra (MD/CEO, Sage India)
Presentation from the Federation of Publishers’ & Booksellers’ Associations in India (Chair Legal Committee, FPBAI)
Address by the Director General- WIPO
Introduction to and presentation of the submission document to the DG by Mr.Dipendra Manocha
Questions and Comments from the Deligates- facilitated byAmbassador Swashpawan Singh
Vote of Thanks by Ms. Anuradha Mohit (Director, National Institute for Visually Handicapped, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Govt. of India)
Informal Interaction over tea/coffee.

Video

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/right-to-read-for-the-print-impaired-and-copyright-challenges

Right to Read Campaign, Chennai

radha — 2013-02-04T06:19:31Z

A report on the first road show of the nationwide Right to Read Campaign which was launched at Loyola college, Chennai, on 26th September, 2009.

Right to Read Campaign - An Overview

Fast Facts

At least three hundred million people around the world with sight problems and dyslexia cannot read standard print. India may be home to at least 70 million of these persons.

Globally, a massive 96 percent of books are never made available in formats that persons with print disability can enjoy and in India almost 99% books are unavailable in accessible formats.

Every day millions of adults and children are denied vital information for education, work, daily life as well as being denied the joy of reading a world of books.

The Indian Copyright Act 1957 does not permit conversion and distribution of books in accessible formats to persons with print disabilities.

Problem at hand

Millions of Indians are unable to read printed material due to disabilities. There are technologies available which can help them read print if the material is converted into an alternate format such as large print, audio, Braille or any electronic format. While the Indian constitution guarantees the “right to read” as a fundamental right, the Copyright Act of 1957 does not permit the conversion of books into accessible formats for the benefit of persons with print impairment, as a result of which a “book famine” is created. International conventions that India is a party to specifically require it to amend its copyright laws for the benefit of persons with disabilities and to make available information and material to them on an equal basis as others. Publishers also do not make books available in accessible formats as a result of which less than 0.5% of them are available. As a result, persons with print impairments get excluded from the education system and it impacts their career choices. In addition to this, there are no national policies or action plan to ensure that publications in accessible formats in all Indian languages are available to persons with print disabilities all over the country.

Current situation in India

The Indian Copyright Act, 1957 does not make any provision for the conversion and distribution of books in accessible formats for print impaired persons. Hence organizations serving them have to get permission from copyright holders for conversion. Because of this, other countries do not lend books in accessible formats to print impaired persons in our country.

In the case of books published in India, there are no accessible copies readily available in the market and while many publishers in principle are not averse to giving permission, the unwanted fear of piracy and lack of awareness prevents them from allowing organizations to undertake conversions. Consequently print impaired persons are denied the freedom to choose and read any book which is freely available to the public.

Solution

The Government of India must immediately modify the Indian Copyright Act 1957 to permit conversion and distribution of books in accessible formats to persons with print disabilities.

India should support the Treaty on Copyright and the Reading Disabled being tabled at WIPO's Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights by the Governments of Brazil, Ecuador and Paraguay based on a text originally drafted by a global expert committee under the auspices of the World Blind Union, which is aimed at harmonization of copyright laws at an international level.

Objectives of the Right to Read Campaign

To accelerate change in copyright law

To raise public awareness on the issue

To gather Indian support for the Treaty on Copyright and the Reading Disabled being tabled at WIPO's Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights by the Governments of Brazil, Ecuador and Paraguay based on a text originally drafted by a global expert committee under the auspices of the World Blind Union.

Campaign Managers

Centre for Internet and Society (www.cis-india.org): The Centre for Internet and Society critically engages with concerns of digital pluralism, public accountability and pedagogic practices in the field of Internet and Society, with particular emphasis on South-South dialogues and exchange. In association with the Daisy Forum of India and Bookbole, the CIS is engaged in conducting the Right to Read Campaign supporting the acceleration of amendments in Copyright Law, creating public awareness and by gathering Indian support for the Treaty for the Blind proposed by the World Blind Union at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).

DAISY Forum of India (www.daisyindia.org): DFI is a forum of 75 Not for Profit organizations from India who are involved in production of books and reading materials in accessible formats for persons who cannot read normal print. The DAISY Consortium envisions a world where people with print disabilities have equal access to information and knowledge without delay or additional expense. The DAISY Forum of India endorses this vision and is working towards its realization in India.

Bookbole (www.bookbole.com): Bookbole is a library of books in multiple formats which can be accessed by persons using screen readers. Bookbole allows users to find, share, and manage personal libraries in a very easy fashion. This website has been developed by Inclusive Planet, a social venture involved in creating web based products and services for the differently-abled.

Loyola College (Chennai) (www.loyolacollege.edu/index.html): Loyola College has played an important role in the history of education in India. Founded in 1925 by Rev. Fr. Bertram, S.J., who himself was twice the acting Vice- Chancellor of the Madras University, Loyola College has emerged in the last seventy-five years as a premier educational Institution in the country and it is striving to break new paths in education. One of the major breakthroughs in its history is the autonomous status it received in the year 1978. Situated in the heart of Chennai, and having a large campus of about 98 acres, this institution provides an ideal environment for both teachers and students to enrich themselves intellectually, emotionally and physically by actively participating in the academic and co-curricular activities. Loyola has started several Centres of Excellence such as LIFE, (Loyola Institute of Frontier Energy) Entomology Research Institute, ACE, (Academy for Cumulative Excellence) Culture and Communication, LIVE (Loyola Institute of Vocational Education) and LISOR (Loyola Institute of Industrial and Social Science Research).

Campaign activities

The nationwide Right to Read Campaign seeks to achieve the objective through a series of events like,

Nationwide road-shows
Public rallies
Televised debates
Online petitions
Signature campaigns
Audio-video clips
Stalls where accessibility tools are demonstrated
Submission of a legal paper to the government on international scenario and constitutional compulsions for the amendment of the copyright law.

Social Networks

The Right to read campaign has been active on various social networks like blogs, Twitter and Facebook. The campaign has been well received by the users and is succeeding in raising awareness on the issue.

Media Coverage

Even before its first event, the R2R campaign attracted significant press coverage in both Bangalore and Chennai. For details of the articles on the campaign in various newspapers both before and after the campaign please refer to Annexure A.

Website: www.righttoread.in

This website, dedicated for the Right to Read campaign has details about the issue faced with regard to the copyright law and the objective of the campaign. It has a provision for signing the online petition and declaration forms. It has regular updates on the events being conducted and provides an opportunity to exploit ones creativity by blogging, shooting videos, clicking photos and writing slogans about the campaign. Its major objective is to spread awareness about the campaign.

Launch of Right to Read Campaign

The first roadshow of the R2R campaign was launched at Chennai.

Venue: Loyola College

Date: 26^th September, 2009

Time: 9:30 AM

Topic: Amend copyright law to grant access to reading materials for the print impaired

Agenda

Launch of the campaign

This was the first major event with respect to the Right to Read campaign. A wide range of dignitaries were invited for the launch. The audience included students, social activists and visually challenged people. About 4oo students from 100 colleges around Chennai and 150 NSS volunteers attended from outside and an almost equal number of students participated from within Loyola College to make this a very large gathering of almost 800-1000 persons. The event was organized by the students of Department of Sociology at Loyola College, Chennai in collaboration with the campaign managers.

The Chief Guest of the event was Mr. Shri Kumar Verma, a well known writer, social activist and a professor of creative English and English literature. He spoke about the issue faced by print impaired persons and how apprehensive people are about sharing books in accessible formats as it is a legal infringement. He appreciated the fact that people have recognized the need for attention to this issue. He observed that Loyola College was the most appropriate venue for this event since students are proactively engaged with social issues. He promised to take initiatives and spread awareness about the campaign and expected the same from others.

Other dignitaries who honored the event were Dr. N. Raja Hussain, Program coordinator, NSS, University of Madras; Mr. Dipendra Manocha, Member, Executive Council, World Blind Union and President, Daisy Forum of India; Mr. Chandrasekar, Treasurer, National Association for the Blind; Ms. Nirmita Narasimhan, Programme Manager, CIS and Mr. Rahul Cherian, Policy Head, Inclusive Planet.

They spoke about the need for the amendment and importance of spreading awareness about this burning issue. In her introduction to the campaign, Nirmita explained that it was not a question of just making the books available in particular formats. If people can read books, it will help literacy, education, employment and promote independent living. A majority of the visually impaired population don't pursue courses because they don't have study materials in accessible formats. This is substantiated by looking at the statistics of Delhi University - they have about 1,500 seats reserved for the handicapped. Despite that, in 2008, only 270 students applied and in 2009, only 350 applied. This just goes to show that in addition to making reservations, it is also necessary to provide an enabling reading framework to persons with disabilities by providing materials in accessible formats and a good support system. This statistics served as an eye opener to the audience.

Signature Campaign

The launch was followed by a signature campaign where a huge banner supporting the campaign was signed by the dignitaries and other participants of the event. In addition to this, volunteers were committed to the task of carrying out a signature campaign on paper. Supporters of the campaign were invited to sign on the declaration and to put down their names to volunteer for the campaign or to help out the print impaired in a sustained fashion by specifying the manner in which they would like to contribute.

Rally

The students had organized a rally supporting the need for amendment of the copyright law and to spread awareness about the campaign. 200 students walked around the 97 acre campus with 100 banners carrying slogans like- “Support the Right to Read”, “Change Copyright Law,- free a world of knowledge”, “One Alphabet- several words; one book- several formats “, “Different states, different languages, different cultures- why not different formats? And so on.

Declaration forms

Interested people signed the declaration forms to endorse the campaign by voluntarily engaging themselves in any of the activities like creating awareness among public, gathering public support for The Treaty for the Blind at WIPO, online petitions and promoting the campaign online.
Declaration

Panel Discussion - ‘We the people’

The panel discussion kicked off at 1130 hrs with the Master of the Ceremony introducing the panelists; Mr. Dipendra Manocha, President, The Daisy Forum of India (DFI); Prof. Sivaraman, Professor of English, Presidency College, Chennai and Mr. Vijaykumar, Advocate. Ms. Nirmita Narasimhan, Programme Manager, Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) and Mr. Rahul Cherian, Co-founder and Policy Head, Inclusive Planet, were the moderators of the discussion. A salient point to be noted here was that all the panelists present were totally/partially visually challenged.

The discussion started off with Prof. Sivaraman citing his experiences with access to literature other than printed format since 2004. He shared information on the technology that he had been using to ‘read’ books that were prescribed for the students. These were text books or reference material that had been used over a period of time. However, he also threw light on the shortcomings – that newly published text books or literature were not readily available in accessible formats. It usually takes him a considerable amount of time and effort to get materials in Braille or audio formats and hence it is impossible for him to keep abreast of contemporary literature.

An equally important concern that was raised was that only new books with clear print and paper could be accurately scanned electronically owing to quality of the printed characters as well as deterioration of paper quality over time. Any pictorial representation including figures, charts or graphs and even italicized words present problems during scanning. Thus,

What is most urgently required to solve this problem is a digital library as in the case of USA, where the publishers deposit the electronic files of the books. These can be picked up and converted into any accessible format required for a print impaired person without wasting much time, effort and resources. Taking it a step further, he also put forth his views on the unauthorized access and ill-use that electronic books or e-books are put to. Persons who are not visually challenged can also access such books that are present online without any restrictions. Websites that are designed to be used by the visually challenged specifically state in their Terms of Use that accessing/reading of downloading of e-books are strictly meant for persons with partial/total sight impairment, persons with other forms of disabilities that would prevent them from reading printed material or for persons/aides assisting the above mentioned and that any download made by people other than those mentioned would be treated as infringement of the law. But not many people take these terms seriously and still would download such books that are meant for the visually challenged. Right now, there are no technological/legal measures in place to check this infringement owing to the inability to track the perpetrators identity/location. Since it is almost impossible to restrict the access to e-books to only the visually impaired, this acts as a serious set-back in persuading the government to amend the Copyright Act.

Mr. Vijaykumar continued the discussion, citing Article 14 of the Constitution of India which mandates Equality before law and equal protection for everybody, saying that the fundamental right of Indian citizens – the right to read for everybody has not been upheld in India owing to the restrictions imposed by the Copyright Act of 1957 and that the Copyright Act, by not including any exceptions or provisions, has failed to protect the interests of persons with visual impairment.

Mr. Dipendra Manocha, President, Daisy Forum of India, gave the international and technological perspective to the panel discussion. He explained about the DAISY (Digital Accessible Information System format) format which acts as a standard format to make 1 source document. This can then be used to convert into other accessible formats. He enlightened the crowd about the three factors that would help in solving the problems currently faced by persons with print impairment in India: First, technology such as Laptops or DAISY players and other handheld devices/readers that would assist in translating/reading out aloud e-books. Secondly, creation of e-books in accessible formats, the current high cost-of-conversion of which can be brought down by volunteering and thirdly by bringing in a change in the government policy on Copyright law. Mr. Manocha also informed the audience of how the US Government had amended their copyright law to include provisions for the visually challenged. This has brought down the cost of conversion of printed material into accessible formats to Rs. 2,000 from a whooping Rs. 20,000. He also highlighted the fact that in a developing country like India, it is not feasible to spend Rs. 20,000 for conversion of just one copy.

Answering the question as to what steps the Daisy Forum of India is taking with respect to making accessible formats available to the print-impaired, Mr. Manocha responded by saying that the DFI has been negotiating a deal with Adobe Systems Inc. USA, provider of the .pdf format of e-books, to include an option to Save As Daisy format. Also, providing books in accessible formats at the same cost as that of its printed counterpart was one of the visions of DFI.
When asked by a member of audience if we can take the law in our hands and start uploading/using e-books from the internet, Mr. Manocha again pointed out that it is the duty and responsibility of the Indian govt. to provide equal opportunities to everybody. In case the government fails to do that, citizens can take measures that would help alleviate the pains caused. But such measures should be taken keeping in mind all the stakeholders involved. Large-scale usage of electronic forms of literature would affect the business of authors/publishers. Hurting publishers is never the intention of this campaign. Mr. Manocha, Mr. Vijaykumar and Prof. Sivaraman made it clear that a coordinated effort was required on the part of all the stake-holders viz. the government, the copyright owners (authors, publishers etc.), the persons with print impairment and the organizations representing them, as well as the general public. The amendments to the Copyright Act should take into consideration the interests of all stake holders.

When the floor was opened to questions, the participation from audience was overwhelming. Many of the questions were from print impaired persons in the audience who were students in colleges or represented a disability organization like the National Federation for the Blind (NFB) and so on. Due to paucity of time, the interactive question and answer session was restricted to half an hour post the panel discussion but the audience were invited to discuss further questions with the panelists after the session.

Musical Extravaganza

After some serious food-for-thought, the silence of the convention hall was broken by a musical performance rendered by a Music Band from NFB Chennai. The performance began by two singers rendering a song in praise of the Gods and then went on to lighter numbers like Jai Ho, from the movie Slumdog Millionaire and songs from some Tamil movies, which left the audience speechless.

Vote of Thanks

The volunteers from Loyola College presented the Vote of thanks to all the dignitaries and panelists on stage and also to the audience present in the function after which the National Anthem was played. Later, the guests and the audience proceeded for lunch.

Acknowledgements

We would to like to take this opportunity to specially thank
Rev. Fr. K. Amal SJ (Rector, Loyola College);
Rev. Fr. Albert Muthumalai SJ (Principal, Loyola College);
Dr. S. Alphonse Raj (Vice- Principal & Faculty of Sociology Department, Loyola College);

Prof S. Iyyappan (Co-coordinator, Extension service Department (NSS), Loyola College)
Prof J. Jerald Inico, Faculty Incharge, Resource Center for Differently abled (RCDA);

Prof. Robert Bellarmine (Head, Department of Sociology);
Department of Sociology; students from RCDA; NSS; Students Union;
the teaching and non-teaching staff of Loyola College, who helped in organizing the campaign and without whom the first road show of the nationwide campaign would not have been a grand success that it has been.
We look forward to their continued support in the campaign.

We would also like to thank all the students and guests who came from different parts of the city and participated in the campaign.

Videos

Annexure A

Media Coverage

Details of the articles on the campaign in various newspapers both before and after the campaign are given below:

DNA – Bangalore, 24^th September, 2009

CIS campaign to alter copyright law to favour visually impaired - An article by N T Balanarayan, DNA Bangalore - 24th September, 2009
http://www.dnaindia.com/bangalore/report_cis-campaign-to-alter-copyright-law-to-favour-visually-imapired_1292662

As Indians we enjoy our right to education and to read, but should learning be restricted to books provided in school? What if, some wish to broaden their horizon and learn more, only to realize there are no books available?
That's the situation the visually impaired in India face now. But Bangalore-based Centre for Information and Society (CIS) is out to change it. They're starting a new campaign-- Right to Read--demanding changes in the copyright law so that books can be converted into a medium with which the visually impaired will feel more comfortable.
According to the group, only 0.5% of the books available in India can be accessed in Braille or audio format. Further, the World Blind Union estimates that only five per cent of the total books that get published in developed countries are converted into accessible formats.
According to Nirmita Narasimhan who works with CIS, it's not a question of just making the books available in particular formats. "If people can read books, it will help literacy, education, employment and promote independent living. A majority of the visually impaired population don't pursue courses because they don't have study materials in accessible formats. This is substantiated by looking at the statistics of Delhi University -- they have about 1,500 seats reserved for the handicapped. Despite that, in 2008, only 270 students applied and in 2009, only 350 came forward. This just goes to show that in addition to making reservations, it is also necessary to provide an enabling reading framework to persons with disabilities by providing materials in accessible formats and a good support system," she says.
"Further, it is not necessarily any particular format--with technologies and the prolific use of computers; accessible electronic formats (not being jpeg images which screen readers can't make sense of) are most appreciated. One will find that blind persons are always reaching out to each other for study materials in accessible formats--this varies from materials for board exams to text for competitive exams," she adds.
Through the campaign, a road show scheduled to start on September 26 at Loyola College, Chennai, the group wants changes to be made in the copyright law. The roadshow will be organized in three other metros as well.
The event will comprise presentations, debates and demonstrations along with book reading sessions and stalls where various accessibility tools will be demonstrated.

Times of India, 26^th September, 2009

Tara Textreader, a boon for the visually-challenged – by M Ramya

http://m.timesofindia.com/PDATOI/articleshow/5058157.cms
CHENNAI: Mahendran loses track of time as he listens to portions from Romeo and Juliet through Tara. The final year B A (Tamil) student of Loyola College is pleased with the Rs 1.35-lakh Tara Textreader that allows him to access printed material without help and convey information without a scribe. "The Sangeetha software has an Indian accent. So I have no problem accessing material in English," says Mahendran, who has visual disabilities.
Earlier, students like him could not access printed material that hadn't been digitized. Their computer systems could not read material that wasn't pre-recorded. Professor Jerald Inico, a lecturer in the computer science department and faculty in charge of the college's Resource Centre for Differently Abled, says the Textreader need not even be connected to a computer.
He says: "We were trying to come up with a formula to evaluate students with visual disabilities because we felt that when scribes write down the answers for the students some of the content would be lost in translation. The equipment can scan the question paper and read it out and will also allow the student to answer verbally and store it as an audio clip. For students who become blind later in life and have not learnt Braille this is a big help."
Tara, purchased from funds provided by the ministry of social justice and empowerment, can only speak English; now through Sangeetha the college is trying to install a Tamil optical character recognition software. While the students use Tara to read books now the equipment will be tested for exam evaluation during the April 2010 semester exams. But Mahendran is a bit wary. "If we can use Tara and still get extra time for the exams it will prove beneficial, but if we are given the same time as the others because we are using the textreader it will take time to comprehend what is being read to us and give the appropriate answers."
The college is also supporting a nationwide Right to Read' campaign for persons with print impairments to be launched in Chennai on Saturday. Nirmita Narasimhan, programme manager at the Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) which is one of the organisers of the campaign, says: "Two years ago when we proposed a change in the Copyright Act a clause was incoporated that said that books can be reproduced in formats exclusively for the use of the blind. This limits the reproduction to one or two options and newer technologies cannot be used. It also leaves out people with other disabilities like the dyslexic who also have print impairments. Technology is enabling, but law is disabling. We want to create awareness of the issue through the campaign."
Registration for the campaign begins at 8 am at the college. The CIS, DAISY Forum of India and Bookbole will take the campaign to other cities in the country.

The Hindu – 29^th September, 2009

‘Right to read’ campaign launched
http://www.hindu.com/2009/09/29/stories/2009092957440200.htm
CHENNAI: About 100 National Service Scheme (NSS) volunteers from various colleges in the State kick-started a ‘right to read’ campaign at Loyola College recently. The aim of the campaign is to make books accessible to persons with disabilities.
The speakers, who included the visually challenged, persons with low vision and dyslexia, said the Copyright Act did not allow persons with print impairments to convert reading matter using assistive technologies to accessible formats. Dipendra Manocha, executive committee member of World Blind Union, said: “We need organisations, individuals and volunteers to contribute and create accessible books.”
Nirmitha Narasimhan, programme manager of the Centre for Internet and Society felt access to information would ensure a better contribution by the visually challenged to society. “It is not that weare insensitive. The suggestion for amendments to the Copyright Act has not yet been incorporated,” she said.
Writer Sreekumar Varma, who inaugurated the campaign, recalled his experience as a scribe during his days as a lecturer. C.P. Chandrasekar, treasurer, National Association for the Blind, and Loyola College Principal Albert Muthumalai spoke.

Deccan Herald – 29^th September, 2009

‘Right to Read’ campaign launched - Fighting against copyright regulations – an article by L Subramani.

http://www.deccanherald.com/content/27678/right-read-campaign-launched.html

To highlight the issues faced by persons with print disability – those deprived of Indian books due to unfriendly copyright regulations – a group of organisations launched the Right To Read (R2R) campaign on September 26.
The campaign, jointly launched by the Bangalore-based Centre for Internet and Society (CIS), Daisy Forum of India (DFI), bookbole.com and Inclusive Planet, kickstarted at Loyola College in Chennai on Saturday.
“This campaign was part of the World Blind Union’s (WBU) global campaign,” said Nirmita Narasimhan, Programme Manager, CIS. “We are asking all the organisations to lend their support to our initiative.”
The campaign comes at a time when the Indian government is preparing to consider changes to the copyright law, which it failed to implement two years ago after disability rights campaigners objected to the proposal to make books and other print materials be made in an “exclusive” format.
Nirmita said that this would also be an occasion for activists to urge Government of India to throw its weight behind a WBU treaty tabled at the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) asking for a global copyright regulation that takes into account the needs of persons with print disabilities.
“The treaty is coming up for discussion at Geneva (WIPO's head quarters) in December,” Nirmita said and added: “Right now only three Latin American nations are supporting it. Since India has the largest number of persons with print disability, which includes the visually challenged, persons with autism and children with learning difficulties, our support would likely tilt the balance in favour of the treaty.” Now, the campaign will be gradually taken to other parts of the country, said Rahul Cherian from Inclusive Planet. A signature campaign and distribution of a declaration supporting accommodation of persons with print disability in copyright laws will also be held as part of the campaign.

NDTV – Hindu

The first event was covered by NDTV Hindu and an interview with Rahul Cherian and Nirmita Narasimhan was also telecast on 26^th September. A brief excerpt from the interview can be viewed at:

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/user/ndtvhindu#play/uploads/16/o4sQ-ycaoBw

Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/user/ndtvhindu#play/uploads/15/Q5HCm2evUYE

Deccan Chronicle – 27^th September, 2009

Nirmita Narasimhan, Programme Manager, CIS, speaks at the launch of ‘Right to Read’ campaign. Loyola College in the city on Saturday launched the campaignto amend the Indian Copyright Act, 1957, and give visually challenged and dyslexic people better access to printed books in the form of Braille copy and big prints.

Tamil Murasu

Coverage in the October Issue of: CBR Forum - E- News Bulletin

Report Prepared by

Centre for Internet and Society

www.cis-india.org

29^th September, 2009

Videos

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/right-to-read-campaign-chennai