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Designing Domestic Work Platforms
https://cis-india.org/raw/apc-cis-divyansha-sehgal-yathrath-designing-domestic-work-platforms
<b>This research was conducted by The Center for Internet and Society (CIS) with funding from Association for Progressive Communication (APC) through the Feminist Internet Research Network (FIRN), supported by International Development Research Centre (IDRC). The authors are deeply grateful to the platform workers who talked to us and shared their experiences of finding work through Urban Company. Their responses shaped our research and their insights guided the creation of this final report.</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), there are between 20 million and 80 million workers engaged in domestic work in India. Domestic work has traditionally been an informal sector with customers and workers depending on local and community networks to be connected with each other. Over the last few years, digital platforms have gained ground in connecting domestic workers with tech-savvy urban dwellers.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">These platforms promise customers the ease and convenience of moving yet another aspect of their lives online, while they promise to give workers more flexibility, control over their time and increased earnings.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">However, we show that this introduction of technology brings with itself the same problems that haunt other sectors of platform-mediated gig work. On-demand platforms seek to exert control over most points of the service delivery process, including job distributions, client selection, worker pay and performance evaluation, all the while relegating workers to an independent contractor status.</p>
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<p>Click to download the <b><a href="https://cis-india.org/raw/designing-domestic-work-platforms/at_download/file" class="external-link">full report</a></b></p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/raw/apc-cis-divyansha-sehgal-yathrath-designing-domestic-work-platforms'>https://cis-india.org/raw/apc-cis-divyansha-sehgal-yathrath-designing-domestic-work-platforms</a>
</p>
No publisherDivyansha Sehgal and YathrathResearchers at WorkRAW BlogDomestic Work2022-08-13T06:31:47ZBlog EntryDeconstructing Digital Natives: Young People, Technology and the New Literacies
https://cis-india.org/digital-natives/young-people-technology-new-literacies
<b>Nishant Shah was invited to do a book review of a new anthology 'Deconstructing Digital Natives', edited by Michael Thomas. The review was published in Routledge's Journal of Children and Media on July 18, 2012. </b>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><em>Deconstructing Digital Natives: Young People, Technology and the New Literacies</em> is an anthology that revisits the debates and scholarship that have arisen around youth and technology in the last decade or so. It is a timely intervention that invites some of the most influential scholars who have contributed to and shaped the discourse around “digital natives” to come and revisit their original ideas from the last decade. The term “digital native” probably bears witness to the strident discourses that, more often than not, fall into the trap of exotically glorifying or despairingly vilifying young peoples’ engagement with digital technologies. As Buckingham points out in his foreword to the book, these conversations either take up the language of a “generation gap [that] entails a narrative of transformation and even of rupture, in which fundamental continuities between the past and the future have been destroyed” or they guise themselves in an “almost utopian view of technology—a fabulous story about technology liberating and empowering young people, enabling them to become global citizens, and to learn and communicate and create in free and unfettered ways” (p. ix). The essays seek a point of departure from these tried and tested arguments in order to provide a “balanced view” on the topic. And so we have a distinguished author list from the world of digital natives scholarship, coming together not only to ponder on their own contributions to the field and how those ideas need to be upgraded, but also to provide new contexts, concepts, and frameworks to understand who, or indeed, what, is a “digital native,” often in tension with their earlier work.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">In its ambition of revisiting existing debates and providing a “research-based approach by presenting empirical evidence and argument from international researchers in the field,” the book succeeds unevenly (p. xi). Despite its efforts to chart a point of departure, some of the essays end up falling into some usual traps. For example, despite the fact that the oldest digital natives are probably in their thirties, they are thought of as being young. They are defined only as “students” within formal learning institutions without looking at the radical potential of learning outside organized education, embedded in their everyday practices. The digital natives remain an object of research and the peer-to-peer structures that are supposed to shape them, but do not feature in the methodologies of researching them. This notwithstanding, the essays still offer a historical and social perspective on the debates around digital natives in certain developed pockets of the world.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">In the first section, “Reflecting on the Myth,” Thomas’ essay “Technology, Education and the Discourse of the Digital Native” introduces a tension between the techno-euphorists and the “digital luddites,” which replays itself through the rest of the contributions. While Thomas places himself between “technoevangelism” and “technoskepticism,” Prensky, who coined the term “Digital Natives” in 2001, then introduces to us a new binary of “digitally wise” and “digitally dumb” (p. 4). Prensky reviews the responses that his opposition of “digital natives” and “digital immigrants” have produced over the last decade and emphasizes that his coinage was at the level of a metaphor, and was not to be taken seriously. Prensky agrees that the earlier opposition might be discarded because it evokes too many simple responses based on skills with technology. Digital wisdom, for Prensky, is in the ways in which digital technologies enhance the human brain “to anticipate second- and third-order effects to which the unaided mind may be blind” as the world becomes too complex for the “unenhanced human brain” to cope with it (p. 23). Typically, Prensky’s argument creates a dichotomy of those who can (and will) and those who will be outside of this web of digital enhancements. His analysis tries to complicate the idea of human wisdom by looking at questions of ethics and agency, but the final formulations appear cliche´d, merely re-creating the older tensions rather than thinking through them. Jones’ following essay on the “Net Generation” is more persuasive, where he argues for dismissing the idea that “nature of certain technologies . . . <em>has affected the outlook of an entire age cohort</em> in advanced economies” and instead should unpack how “new technologies emerging with this generation have particular characteristics that <em>afford certain types of social engagement</em>” (p.42).</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">In the second section, titled “Perspectives,” the essays take up two different tones.The first is about looking at digital literacy, skill, and fluency in everyday practices of digital natives, and how they shape our contemporary and future sociopolitical and cultural landscapes. Banaji, in exploring the EU Civic Web Project, echoes Jones’ ideas. The presumptions within education about an entire generation as “born with technologies” has consequences in the field of civic action, where programs for citizen action are designed with expectations that the young people will have core digital competencies and literacy. She does not push that argument further, but in her study of the two Scottish e-initiatives, one can see the promise of a radical reconstruction of civic engagement movements, where the young participants are not going to be satisfied as mere participators, and will demand a space for their voice to be heard.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Takahashi’s essay on the <em>oyaubibunka</em> (“thumb culture”) mobile generations in Japan stands alone in its analysis of an Asian context—though many might argue that Japan, with its developed economy, can hardly be counted as a typically “Asian” perspective. Takahashi is rooted, both in practice and discourse, in youth and technology in Japan, where the youth often experience close-knit community experiences through mobile interfaces, in their otherwise alienated modern habitats. Almost as a response to Turkle’s Alone Together (2011), Takahashi shows how collaborative and cocreation cultures ranging from the mobile novels on Mixi to everyday interaction on Social Networking Systems is bringing in new kinds of social spaces of belonging. The essay, however, resists simply celebrating this space and works in complex ideas of freedom, control, risks, and the tensions between traditionalization and modernity in Japan.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Zimic and Dalin, writing from a similar heavily connected Nordic region, pose a different set of questions in their essay, “Actual and Perceived Online Participation Among Young People in Sweden.” For Zimic and Dalin, in a space where connectivity can be taken for granted, the further question to ask is not whether digital natives participate online or not, but whether they participate in ways that are expected of “a digital citizen in the information age” (p. 137). Through empirical data and case studies, the essay shows the different kinds of activities that youth engage with and also concludes that though engaging in civic issues is important to the young people’s sense of belonging to participatory cultures, using the Internet does not provide an “automatic guarantee” toward participation, and “assistance is required in order to engage them in relevant activities” (p. 148).</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">The second set of essays in this section all cluster around the digital native as a student. Locating the digital native within educational institutions, they look at the ways in which the ideas of learning, pedagogy and engagement with the text are changing with the rise of digital technologies. Levy and Michael look at two case studies involving students in Australian high schools, to “facilitate a deeper understanding of products and processes in multimodal text construction,” which they think is core to interactive communication technology literacy skills (p. 85). The data is rigorous and rich, but the conclusions are a bit of a disappointment: digital natives need to better manage their time and resources and they need to learn traditional skills in order to cope with their educational environment.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">The trend of an exciting hypothesis and conclusion, which do not necessarily leave you with anything more than what you already knew, continues in this section. Erstad sets out on a journey to see how digital literacy posits challenges to educating the digital generation and ends by suggesting that the digital divide should address questions of “how to navigate in the information jungle on the Internet, to create, to communicate, and so forth” (p. 114). Similarly, Kennedy and Judd want to unravel the mystery of why “students, who are so clearly familiar and apparently adept with Internet tools, are at times so poor at using the Internet academically” (p. 119). Through empirical research and interaction with students, they end up making an argument against the Googlization of everything (Vaidhyanathan, 2011), suggesting that “satisficing strategies” of information search, defined by a need for instant gratification and not looking beyond the first information sets, has produced “a generation of students that has grown up with Google [who] may over-value expediency when locating and selecting appropriate scholarly information” (p. 132). On similar trends, Levy proposes to question the assumption of whether all “young children are inherently ‘native’ users of digital technology” for implications on our future pedagogy within the new textual landscape (p. 152). The case studies and the frameworks built are interesting, but they reveal nothing more than the claim that the essay begins with by Marsh et al. (2005) and Bearne et al. (2007) that “young children are immersed in ‘digital practices’ from an early age and that they often develop skills in handling screen texts even when they are not exposed directly to computers at their own homes” (Levy, 2011, p. 163). The implication is clear: change our schools to accommodate for these new textual practices and help children capitalize on their digital competence and develop “digital wisdom.” But it is a recommendation that has been around for at least a decade, if not more.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">The third and concluding section of the book, “Beyond Digital Natives,” is possibly the most promising part of the book. Bennett and Maton seek to look beyond “nuanced versions of the idea” and move the debate on to firmer grounds of how the rise of the digital natives is going to affect the policies around educational technology” (p. 169). They engage with a body of work that is specifically oriented toward building empirical evidence-based frameworks for understanding the potential role of technology in education. With a fine conceptual tool that makes distinctions between access and usage, they systemically dismiss the “academic moral panic” that characterizes conversations around youth-technology-change.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">For Bennett and Maton, the object of inquiry is not the digital native but the body of discourse that surrounds this particular entity—and they make a plea for research rather than imaginings, showing how the influential work in the area has been plagued by unsupported claims, unevidenced observations, and futuristic imaginations, which paint a poetic picture of digital natives but offer very little in terms of furthering the argument. It is also noteworthy that they do not flinch from critiquing the colleagues who also feature in the same book, as an idealizing and homogenizing group that has shown “diversity rather than conformity” (p. 181).</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Palfrey and Gasser, whose <em>Born Digital</em> (2008) has been the guide for lay readers to understand the nuances and complexities of the area, in their essay, begin by acknowledging that “digital natives” is an awkward term. However, they argue, it is still a term that resonates deeply with parents and educators, and that this resonance should not be taken lightly by researchers. Their decision was to use this term, albeit with caution and discretion, strategically to refer to a small subset of young people and the gamut of relationships and engagements they have with digital technologies. The suggestion is to use the term and in every usage, look at the unevennesses and awkwardness it creates, thus actually unpacking an otherwise opaque relationship which is reduced to “usage” or “access.” Their concerns are more about the quality of information and access, infrastructure for critical literacy and digital fluency, and making legible these everyday practices to larger implications for a future that they posit is bright and hopeful.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><em>Deconstructing Digital Natives</em> is an interesting revisit of a term that has grown in different ways through the first decade of the new millennium. However, the book still remains located in the same geopolitics in which the early discourse of digital natives were grounded—developed, privileged locations where connectivity, affordability, and ubiquitous digital literacy are taken for granted—reminiscent of the frantic cries one hears in piracy markets in Bangkok, “same, same, but different.” The revisiting does not seem to feel the need to explore other contexts. A few essays talk about factoring in local and contextual information in understanding digital natives, but the scholarship reinforces the idea of how technologies shape and are shaped by identities in some parts of the world, and that these identities can be heralded as universally viable, with a little nuancing.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">The questions that have emerged in this discourse in the recent years, remain ignored. What does a digital native look like in the Global South? Can we have new concepts and frameworks which emerge from these contexts? Is it possible to produce accounts in languages and ideas that are embedded in everyday practices rather than forcing them to become legible in existing vocabularies? One would hope that the next book that deconstructs digital natives would also deconstruct the prejudices, presumptions, and methodological processes that are embedded in this field.</p>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>References</strong></p>
<ol>
<li>Bearne, E., Clark, C., Johnson, A., Manford, P., Motteram, M., & Wolsencroft, H. (2007). Reading on screen. Leicester: UKLA.</li>
<li>Marsh, J., Brookes, G., Hughes, J., Ritchie, L, Roberts, S., & Wright, K. (2005). <em>Digital beginnings: Young children’s use of popular culture, media and new technologies</em>. Sheffield: Literacy Research Centre, University of Sheffield.</li>
<li>Palfrey, J., & Gasser, U. (2008). <em>Born digital</em>. New York, NY: Basic Books.</li>
<li>Turkle, S. (2011). <em>Alone together: Why we expect more from technology and less from each other</em>, NY. New York: Basic Books.</li>
<li>Vaidhyanthan, S. (2011). <em>The Googlization of everything: (And why we should worry)</em>. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.</li>
<hr /></ol>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><span class="visualHighlight">Nishant Shah is the Director-Research at the Bangalore-based Centre for Internet and Society. He is the principal researcher for a Global South inquiry into digital natives and sociopolitical change, and recently edited four-volume book, Digital AlterNatives with a Cause?, which is available as a free download at <a href="https://cis-india.org/digital-natives/blog/dnbook" class="external-link">http://cis-india.org/digital-natives/blog/dnbook</a>. Correspondence to: Nishant Shah, Centre for Internet and Society, Bangalore, India. E-mail: nishant@cis-india.org</span></p>
<ul>
<li><span class="visualHighlight">Download the file (originally published by Taylor & Francis) <a href="https://cis-india.org/digital-natives/deconstructing-digital-natives" class="internal-link">here</a> [PDF, 66 Kb]</span></li></ul>
<ul>
<li><span class="visualHighlight">Read the original published by Taylor & Francis <a class="external-link" href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17482798.2012.697661">here</a></span></li></ul>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/digital-natives/young-people-technology-new-literacies'>https://cis-india.org/digital-natives/young-people-technology-new-literacies</a>
</p>
No publishernishantFeaturedResearchers at WorkBook ReviewDigital Natives2015-04-24T11:51:06ZBlog EntryDecolonizing the Internet’s Languages 2019 - From Conversations to Actions
https://cis-india.org/raw/dtil-2019-from-conversations-to-actions
<b>Whose Knowledge? is organising the Decolonizing the Internet's Languages 2019 gathering in London on October 23-24 — with a specific focus on building an agenda for action to decolonize the internet’s languages. Puthiya Purayil Sneha is participating in this meeting with scholars, linguists, archivists, technologists and community activists, to share the initial findings towards the State of the Internet’s Language Report (to be published in 2020) being developed by Whose Knowledge?, Oxford Internet Institute, and the CIS.</b>
<p> </p>
<h4>Event page: <a href="https://whoseknowledge.org/initiatives/decolonizing-the-internet/" target="_blank">URL</a></h4>
<h4>Agenda: <a href="https://github.com/cis-india/website/raw/master/docs/WK_DTIL2019_Agenda.pdf">Download</a> (PDF)</h4>
<p> </p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/raw/dtil-2019-from-conversations-to-actions'>https://cis-india.org/raw/dtil-2019-from-conversations-to-actions</a>
</p>
No publishersneha-ppLanguageDecolonizing the Internet's LanguagesResearchDigital KnowledgeResearchers at Work2019-11-01T17:53:40ZBlog EntryDecember 2018 Newsletter
https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/december-2018-newsletter
<b>We at the Centre for Internet & Society (CIS) wish you all a great year ahead and welcome you to the twelfth issue of its newsletter (December) for the year 2018: </b>
<h3><b>Highlights</b></h3>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li>CIS <a href="https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/cis-signs-mou-with-odia-virtual-academy">signed a MoU</a> with Odia Virtual Academy to work on drafting an open content policy for the state, to promote use of Wikimedia projects by various user types and to ensure sustainability of Wikimedia projects, and to facilitate development of relevant free and open source software projects. This partnership between OVA and CIS will be carried out from December 2018 to November 2019.</li>
<li>Natalia Khaniejo, in a <a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/natalia-khaniejo-december-31-2018-economics-of-cybersecurity">four-part report</a> has attempted to document the various approaches that are being adopted by different stakeholders towards incentivizing cybersecurity and the economic challenges of implementing the same. The literature review was edited by Amber Sinha.</li>
<li>Arindrajit Basu, Karan Saini, Aayush Rathi and Swaraj Barooah <a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/arindrajit-basu-karan-saini-aayush-rathi-and-swaraj-paul-barooah-december-23-mapping-cyber-security-in-india-infographic">created an infographic</a> which has mapped the key stakeholder, areas of focus and threat vectors that impact cybersecurity policy in India. The authors have stated that broadly policy-makers should concentrate on establishing a framework where individuals feel secure and trust the growing digital ecosystem.</li>
<li>In April 2018 European Union issued the proposal for a new regime dealing with cross border sharing of data and information by issuing two draft instruments, an E-evidence Regulation (“Regulation”) and an E-evidence Directive (“Directive”), (together the “E-evidence Proposal”). Vipul Kharbanda <a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/vipul-kharbanda-december-23-2018-european-e-evidence-proposal-and-indian-law">has analysed</a> how service providers based in India whose services are also available in Europe would be affected by these proposals.</li>
<li>Feminist research methodology is a vast body of knowledge, spanning across multiple disciplines including sociology, media studies, and critical legal studies. A <a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/ambika-tandon-december-23-2018-feminist-methodology-in-technology-research">literature review by Ambika Tandon</a> aims to understand key aspects of feminist methodology across these disciplines, with a particular focus on research on technology and its interaction with society.</li>
<li>CIS and design collective Design Beku came together <a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/paromita-bathija-padmini-ray-murray-and-saumyaa-naidu">for a workshop on Illustrations</a> and Visual Representations of Cybersecurity. The authors Paromita Bathija, Padmini Ray Murray, and Saumyaa Naidu have stated that images play a vital role in the public’s perception of cybercrime and cybersecurity. </li>
<li>A list of selected sessions and papers for the Internet Researchers' Conference 2019 (IRC19) <a href="https://cis-india.org/raw/irc19-list-selected-sessions-papers">has been published</a>. IRC19 will be held in Lamakaan, Hyderabad, from Jan 30 to Feb 1, 2019.</li>
</ul>
<h3><b>Articles</b></h3>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/arindrajit-basu-hindu-businessline-december-24-2018-private-public-partnership-for-cyber-security">Private-public partnership for cyber security</a> (Arindrajit Basu; Hindu Businessline; December 24, 2018).</li>
<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/newslaundry-elonnai-hickok-vipul-kharbanda-shweta-mohandas-and-pranav-bidare-december-27-2018-is-the-new-interception-order-old-wine-in-a-new-bottle">Is the new ‘interception’ order old wine in a new bottle?</a> (Elonnai Hickok, Vipul Kharbanda, Shweta Mohandas and Pranav M. Bidare; Newslaundry.com; December 27, 2018).</li>
<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/raw/indian-express-nishant-shah-december-30-2018-digital-native-system-needs-a-robot">Digital Native: System Needs a Reboot</a> (Nishant Shah; Indian Express; December 30, 2018).</li>
</ul>
<h3><b>Media Coverage</b></h3>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/deccan-herald-rajitha-menon-december-6-2018-many-sites-bypass-porn-ban">Many sites bypass porn ban</a> (Rajitha Menon; Deccan Herald; December 6, 2018).</li>
<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/economic-times-rahul-sachitanand-december-9-2018-how-data-privacy-and-governance-issues-have-battered-facebook">How data privacy and governance issues have battered Facebook ahead of 2019 polls</a> (Rahul Sachitanand; Economic Times; December 6, 2018).</li>
<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/bloomberg-quint-december-16-2018-is-aadhaar-essential-to-achieve-error-free-electoral-rolls">Is Aadhaar Essential To Achieve Error-Free Electoral Rolls?</a> (Bloomberg Quint; December 16, 2018).</li>
<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/scroll-abhishek-dey-december-22-2018-centres-order-on-computer-surveillance-threatens-right-to-privacy">Centre’s order on computer surveillance threatens right to privacy, experts say</a> (Abhishek Dey; Scroll.in; December 22, 2018).</li>
<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/scroll-nehaa-chaudhari-and-tuhina-joshi-december-23-2018-centres-order-on-computer-surveillance-is-backed-by-law-but-the-law-lacks-adequate-safeguards">Centre’s order on computer surveillance is backed by law – but the law lacks adequate safeguards</a> (Nehaa Chaudhari and Tuhina Joshi; Scroll.in; December 23, 2018).</li>
<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/vpn-compare-david-spencer-december-24-2018-ten-government-agencies-can-now-snoop-on-peoples-internet-data">Ten Indian government agencies can now snoop on people’s internet data</a> (David Spenser; VPN Compare; December 24, 2018).</li>
<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/new-indian-express-keerthana-sankaran-december-26-2018-big-brother-is-here-amid-snooping-row-govt-report-says-monitoring-system-practically-complete">Big Brother is here: Amid snooping row, govt report says monitoring system 'practically complete'</a> (Keerthana Sankaran; New Indian Express; December 26, 2018).</li>
<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/the-print-december-28-2018-mha-snoop-order-bid-to-amend-it-rules-china-like-clampdown-or-tracking-unlawful-content">MHA snoop order & bid to amend IT rules: China-like clampdown or tracking unlawful content?</a> (Fatima Khan; The Print December 28, 2018).</li>
<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/hindustan-times-dipanjan-sinha-december-29-2018-the-dark-side-of-future-tech">The dark side of future tech: Where are we headed on privacy, security, truth? </a>(Dipanjan Sinha; Hindustan Times; December 29, 2018).</li>
<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/nehaa-chaudhari-asian-age-december-30-2018-constitutionality-of-mha-surveillance-order">The constitutionality of MHA surveillance order</a> (Nehaa Chaudhari; Asian Age; December 30, 2018).</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b><a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k">Access to Knowledge</a></b></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Our Access to Knowledge programme currently consists of two projects. The Pervasive Technologies project, conducted under a grant from the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), aims to conduct research on the complex interplay between low-cost pervasive technologies and intellectual property, in order to encourage the proliferation and development of such technologies as a social good. The Wikipedia project, which is under a grant from the Wikimedia Foundation, is for the growth of Indic language communities and projects by designing community collaborations and partnerships that recruit and cultivate new editors and explore innovative approaches to building projects.</p>
<h3><b>Wikipedia</b></h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">As part of the <a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/access-to-knowledge-program-plan">project grant from the Wikimedia Foundation</a> we have reached out to more than 3500 people across India by organizing more than 100 outreach events and catalysed the release of encyclopaedic and other content under the Creative Commons (CC-BY-3.0) license in four Indian languages (21 books in Telugu, 13 in Odia, 4 volumes of encyclopaedia in Konkani and 6 volumes in Kannada, and 1 book on Odia language history in English).</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Blog Entries</b></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/punjabi-wikisource-training-workshop-patiala">Punjabi Wikisource Training Workshop, Patiala</a> (Jayanta Nath; December 6, 2018).</li>
<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/indic-wikisource-community-consultation-2018">Indic Wikisource Community Consultation 2018</a> (Jayanta Nath; December 8, 2019).</li>
<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/cis-signs-mou-with-odia-virtual-academy">CIS Signs MoU with Odia Virtual Academy</a> (Sailesh Patnaik; December 19, 2018).</li>
</ul>
<h3><b>Openness</b></h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Our work in the Openness programme focuses on open data, especially open government data, open access, open education resources, open knowledge in Indic languages, open media, and open technologies and standards - hardware and software. We approach openness as a cross-cutting principle for knowledge production and distribution, and not as a thing-in-itself.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Guest Lecture</b></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/news/lecture-on-open-access-and-open-content-licensing-at-icar-short-course">Lecture on Open Access and Open Content Licensing at ICAR (short course)</a> (Organized by ICAR-Indian Institute of Horticultural Research (IIHR) a constituent establishment of Indian Council of Agricultural Research; November 13 - 22, 2018). Anubha Sinha delivered a lecture.</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b><a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance">Internet Governance</a></b></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">As part of its research on privacy and free speech, CIS is engaged with two different projects. The first one (under a grant from Privacy International and IDRC) is on surveillance and freedom of expression (SAFEGUARDS). The second one (under a grant from MacArthur Foundation) is on restrictions that the Indian government has placed on freedom of expression online.</p>
<h3><b>Privacy</b></h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Guest Lecture</b></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/teaching-at-shristi-interlude">Teaching at Shristi Interlude</a> (Organised by Shristi; Bangalore; December 7, 2018). Shweta Mohandas participated as a mentor.</li>
</ul>
<h3><b>Gender </b></h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Research Paper</b></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/ambika-tandon-december-23-2018-feminist-methodology-in-technology-research">Feminist Methodology in Technology Research: A Literature Review</a> (Ambika Tandon with contributions from Mukta Joshi; research assistance by by Kumarjeet Ray and Navya Sharma; design by Saumyaa Naidu; December 23, 2018).</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Blog Entry</b></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/intermediary-liability-and-gender-based-violence">Event Report on Intermediary Liability and Gender Based Violence </a>(Akriti Bopanna; edited by Ambika Tandon; December 20, 2018).</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Participation in Event</b></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/international-network-on-feminist-approaches-to-bioethics-2018">International Network on Feminist Approaches to Bioethics 2018</a> (Co-organized by Feminist Approaches to Bioethics and Sama; St. John's Medical College; Bangalore; December 3 - 5, 2018). Aayush Rathi and Ambika Tandon were speakers at the event.</li>
</ul>
<h3><b>Cyber Security</b></h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Research Papers</b></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/vipul-kharbanda-december-23-2018-european-e-evidence-proposal-and-indian-law">European E-Evidence Proposal and Indian Law</a> (Vipul Kharbanda; December 23, 2018).</li>
<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/natalia-khaniejo-december-31-2018-economics-of-cybersecurity">Economics of Cybersecurity: Literature Review Compendium</a> (Natalia Khaniejo; edited by Amber Sinha; December 31, 2018).</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Infographic</b></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/arindrajit-basu-karan-saini-aayush-rathi-and-swaraj-paul-barooah-december-23-mapping-cyber-security-in-india-infographic">Mapping cybersecurity in India: An infographic</a> (information contributed by Arindrajit Basu, Karan Saini, Aayush Rathi and Swaraj Barooah; designed by Saumyaa Naidu; December 23, 2018).</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Blog Entry</b></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/paromita-bathija-padmini-ray-murray-and-saumyaa-naidu">A Critical Look at the Visual Representation of Cybersecurity</a> (Paromita Bathija, Padmini Ray Murray, and Saumyaa Naidu; December 11, 2018).</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Participation in Event</b></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/india-china-tech-forum">India-China Tech Forum 2018</a> (Organised by ORF and Peking University at the Ji Xianlin Centre for India-China Studies; Mumbai; December 11 - 12, 2018). Arindrajit Basu was a speaker.</li>
</ul>
<h3><b>Artificial Intelligence </b></h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Participation in Event</b></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/future-tech-and-future-law">Future Tech and Future Law</a> (Organised by Dept. of IT & BT, Government of Karnataka; Palace Grounds; Bangalore; November 29 - December 1, 2018). Arindrajit Basu was a speaker.</li>
<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/unescap-and-google-ai-december-13-bangkok-ai-for-social-good-summit">AI for Social Good Summit</a> (Co-organised by Google AI and United Nations ESCAP; Bangkok; December 13, 2018).</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b><a href="http://cis-india.org/raw">Researchers at Work</a></b></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The Researchers at Work (RAW) programme is an interdisciplinary research initiative driven by an emerging need to understand the reconfigurations of social practices and structures through the Internet and digital media technologies, and vice versa. It aims to produce local and contextual accounts of interactions, negotiations, and resolutions between the Internet, and socio-material and geo-political processes:</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Selected Papers</b></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/raw/irc19-list-selected-sessions-papers">Internet Researchers' Conference 2019</a> (IRC19): #List - Selected Sessions and Papers (P.P. Sneha; January 2, 2019).</li>
</ul>
<hr size="2" style="text-align: justify; " width="100%" />
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>----------------------------------- </b><br /> <a href="http://cis-india.org/">About CIS</a> <br /> <b>----------------------------------- </b><br /> The Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) is a non-profit organisation that undertakes interdisciplinary research on internet and digital technologies from policy and academic perspectives. The areas of focus include digital accessibility for persons with disabilities, access to knowledge, intellectual property rights, openness (including open data, free and open source software, open standards, open access, open educational resources, and open video), internet governance, telecommunication reform, digital privacy, and cyber-security. The academic research at CIS seeks to understand the reconfigurations of social and cultural processes and structures as mediated through the internet and digital media technologies.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">► Follow us elsewhere</p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li>Twitter:<a href="http://twitter.com/cis_india"> http://twitter.com/cis_india</a> </li>
<li>Twitter - Access to Knowledge: <a href="https://twitter.com/CISA2K">https://twitter.com/CISA2K</a> </li>
<li>Twitter - Information Policy: <a href="https://twitter.com/CIS_InfoPolicy">https://twitter.com/CIS_InfoPolicy</a></li>
<li>Facebook - Access to Knowledge:<a href="https://www.facebook.com/cisa2k"> https://www.facebook.com/cisa2k</a> </li>
<li>E-Mail - Access to Knowledge: a2k@cis-india.org </li>
<li>E-Mail - Researchers at Work: raw@cis-india.org </li>
<li>List - Researchers at Work: <a href="https://lists.ghserv.net/mailman/listinfo/researchers">https://lists.ghserv.net/mailman/listinfo/researchers</a></li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">► Support Us</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Please help us defend consumer and citizen rights on the Internet! Write a cheque in favour of 'The Centre for Internet and Society' and mail it to us at No. 194, 2nd 'C' Cross, Domlur, 2nd Stage, Bengaluru - 5600 71.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">► Request for Collaboration</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">We invite researchers, practitioners, artists, and theoreticians, both organisationally and as individuals, to engage with us on topics related internet and society, and improve our collective understanding of this field. To discuss such possibilities, please write to Sunil Abraham, Executive Director, at sunil@cis-india.org (for policy research), or Sumandro Chattapadhyay, Research Director, at sumandro@cis-india.org (for academic research), with an indication of the form and the content of the collaboration you might be interested in. To discuss collaborations on Indic language Wikipedia projects, write to Tanveer Hasan, Programme Officer, at tanveer@cis-india.org.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><i>CIS is grateful to its primary donor the Kusuma Trust founded by Anurag Dikshit and Soma Pujari, philanthropists of Indian origin for its core funding and support for most of its projects. CIS is also grateful to its other donors, Wikimedia Foundation, Ford Foundation, Privacy International, UK, Hans Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, and IDRC for funding its various projects</i>.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/december-2018-newsletter'>https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/december-2018-newsletter</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaResearchers at WorkInternet GovernanceAccess to Knowledge2019-01-08T16:15:38ZPageDecember 2017 Newsletter
https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/december-2017-newsletter
<b></b>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><span>Dear readers,</span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Previous issues of the newsletters can be <a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/about/newsletters">accessed here</a>.</p>
<hr style="text-align: justify; " />
<table class="plain">
<tbody>
<tr>
<th>Highlights</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Shruthi Anand <a class="external-link" href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/artificial-intelligence-literature-review">wrote a report</a> that seeks to map the development of Artificial Intelligence both generally and in specific sectors culminating in a stakeholder analysis and contributions to policy making.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">CIS made a submission to the Department of Industrial Planning and Promotion on December 7, 2017. CIS also <a class="external-link" href="https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/submission-to-dipp-at-meeting-with-ip-stakeholders">offered its assistance on other matters aimed at developing a suitable policy framework for SEPs and FRAND in India</a>, and, working towards sustained innovation, manufacture and availability of mobile technologies in India.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">The Office of the Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trademarks held a meeting with IP stakeholders on December 7, 2017, chaired by the Secretary, DIPP, to take suggestions on improving procedures and functioning of the Office. <a class="external-link" href="https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/cis-submissions-to-dipp-and-cgptdm-at-meeting-with-ip-stakeholders">Anubha Sinha attended the meeting and requested the DIPP to improve compliance of uploading Form 27s by patentees and ensure proper enforcement of related provisions within the Indian Patent Act, 1970</a>.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">A Kannada Wikipedia orientation workshop was held at the Entrepreneurship Centre, SID, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru on 26 November, 2017. The <a class="external-link" href="https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/kannada-wikipedia-orientation-workshop-at-iisc-bengaluru">day long event was aimed at adding content to Kannada Wikimedia projects</a> on topics such as ecology, environment, wildlife and sciences of Karnataka.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Shyam Ponappa <a class="external-link" href="https://cis-india.org/telecom/blog/business-standard-december-6-2017-shyam-ponappa-the-tragedy-of-the-unused-commons">wrote an article on the tragedy of commons</a> in the Business Standard on December 6, 2017.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Just like porn is not real life, all news is not real news. It’s time, therefore, to come of age in the 18th year of this century, wrote Nishant Shah in an article in the <a class="external-link" href="https://cis-india.org/raw/indian-express-nishant-shah-december-31-2017-digitial-native-the-age-of-consent">Indian Express</a> on December 31, 2017.</li>
</ul>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>CIS wrote the following articles:</p>
<ul>
<li><a class="external-link" href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/the-wire-amber-sinha-">New Recommendations to Regulate Online Hate Speech Could Pose More Problems Than Solutions</a> (Amber Sinha; Wire; October 14, 2017). <i>This was published in the month of December on the CIS website</i>.</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/asian-age-amber-sinha-december-3-2017-">Breeding misinformation in virtual space</a> (Amber Sinha; Asian Age; December 3, 2017).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/the-wire-amber-sinha-december-1-2017-inclusive-co-regulatory-approach-possible-building-indias-data-protection-regime">India’s Data Protection Regime Must Be Built Through an Inclusive and Truly Co-Regulatory Approach</a><span> (Amber Sinha; Wire; December 1, 2017).</span></li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="https://cis-india.org/raw/indian-express-nishant-shah-december-3-2017-digital-native-memory-card-is-full">Digital native: Memory card is full</a> (Nishant Shah; Indian Express; December 3, 2017).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/should-aadhaar-be-mandatory">Should Aadhaar be mandatory?</a> (Amber Sinha; Deccan Herald; December 9, 2017).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="https://cis-india.org/raw/indian-express-nishant-shah-december-31-2017-digitial-native-the-age-of-consent">Digital native: The age of consent</a> (Nishant Shah; Indian Express; December 31, 2017).</li>
</ul>
<p><span>CIS in the News:</span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<div id="_mcePaste"><a class="external-link" href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/aadhaar-linking-deadline-approaches-here-are-all-the-myths-and-facts">Aadhaar linking deadline approaches: Here are all the myths and facts</a> (Business Today; December 7, 2017).</div>
</li>
<li>
<div id="_mcePaste"><a class="external-link" href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/the-hindu-peerzada-abrar-december-9-2017-checks-and-balances-needed-to-mass-surveillance-of-citizens-say-experts">Checks and balances needed for mass surveillance of citizens, say experts</a> (Hindu; December 9, 2017).</div>
</li>
<li>
<div id="_mcePaste"><a class="external-link" href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/masking-personal-data-to-protect-privacy-crucial-for-india-say-experts">Masking personal data to protect privacy crucial for India, say experts</a> (Deepti Govind; Livemint; December 11, 2017).</div>
</li>
<li>
<div id="_mcePaste"><a class="external-link" href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/factor-daily-sriram-sharma-december-12-2017-paranoid-about-state-surveillance-here-s-the-fd-guide-to-living-in-the-age-of-snoops">Paranoid about state surveillance? Here’s the FD Guide to living in the age of snoops</a> (Sriram Sharma; Factor Daily; December 12, 2017).</div>
</li>
<li>
<div id="_mcePaste"><a class="external-link" href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/deadline-for-linking-bank-accounts-with-aadhaar-to-be-extended-to-31-march">Deadline For Linking Bank Accounts With Aadhaar To Be Extended To 31 March</a> (Komal Gupta and Ramya Nair; Livemint; December 14, 2017).</div>
</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><strong>-----------------------------------</strong><br /><a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k">Access to Knowledge</a> <br /><strong>----------------------------------- </strong><br />Our Access to Knowledge programme currently consists of two projects. The Pervasive Technologies project, conducted under a grant from the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), aims to conduct research on the complex interplay between low-cost pervasive technologies and intellectual property, in order to encourage the proliferation and development of such technologies as a social good. The Wikipedia project, which is under a grant from the Wikimedia Foundation, is for the growth of Indic language communities and projects by designing community collaborations and partnerships that recruit and cultivate new editors and explore innovative approaches to building projects.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">►Copyright & Patent</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><strong>Submission</strong></p>
<ul>
<li><a class="external-link" href="https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/submission-to-dipp-at-meeting-with-ip-stakeholders">Submission to DIPP at Meeting with IP Stakeholders</a> (Anubha Sinha; December 12, 2017).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/cis-submissions-to-dipp-and-cgptdm-at-meeting-with-ip-stakeholders">CIS' Submission to DIPP and CGPDTM at meeting with IP Stakeholders</a> (Anubha Sinha; December 13, 2017).</li>
</ul>
<p>►Openness</p>
<div style="text-align: justify; ">Our work in the Openness programme focuses on open data, especially open government data, open access, open education resources, open knowledge in Indic languages, open media, and open technologies and standards - hardware and software. We approach openness as a cross-cutting principle for knowledge production and distribution, and not as a thing-in-itself.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify; "></div>
<div style="text-align: justify; "><span>►</span>Wikipedia</div>
<div style="text-align: justify; "><strong>Blog Entries</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify; ">
<ul>
<li><a class="external-link" href="https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/christ-university-wikipedia-education-program-internship-1">Christ University Wikipedia Education Program Internship</a> (Manasa Rao; December 11, 2017).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/wikipedia-orientation-program-at-rotary-club-of-salem">Wikipedia Orientation Program at Rotary Club of Salem</a> (Manasa Rao; December 11, 2017).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/nichole-saad-from-the-wikimedia-foundation-visits-christ-university">Nichole Saad from the Wikimedia Foundation visits Christ University</a> (Manasa Rao; December 17, 2017).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/kannada-wikipedia-orientation-workshop-at-iisc-bengaluru">Kannada Wikipedia Orientation Workshop at IISc, Bengaluru</a> (A. Gopalakrishna; December 19, 2017).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/wikimedia-technical-workshop-at-savitribai-phule-pune-university">Wikimedia Technical Workshop at Savitribai Phule Pune University</a> (Manasa Rao; December 19, 2017).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/marathi-wikipedia-workshop-for-sandarbh-science-magazine-writers">Marathi Wikipedia workshop for Sandarbh Science magazine writers</a> (Manasa Rao; December 19, 2017).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/marathi-wikipedia-vishwakosh-workshop-for-science-writers-in-iucaa-pune">Marathi Wikipedia - Vishwakosh Workshop for Science writers in IUCAA, Pune</a> (Manasa Rao; December 20, 2017).</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify; "></div>
<div style="text-align: justify; "><strong>-----------------------------------</strong><span style="text-align: justify; "> </span>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance">Internet Governance</a> <br /><strong>-----------------------------------</strong></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">As part of its research on privacy and free speech, CIS is engaged with two different projects. The first one (under a grant from Privacy International and IDRC) is on surveillance and freedom of expression (SAFEGUARDS). The second one (under a grant from MacArthur Foundation) is on restrictions that the Indian government has placed on freedom of expression online.</p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><span>►</span>Free Speech & Expression</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><strong>Blog Entries</strong></p>
<ul>
<li><a class="external-link" href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/it-hurts-them-too">It Hurts Them Too</a> (Mir Farhat; December 19, 2017).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/internet-shutdowns-a-modern-day-siege">Internet Shutdowns: A Modern-day Siege</a> (Ayswarya Murthy; December 19, 2017).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/days-to-derail-work-of-two-generations">Days to Derail Work of Two Generations?</a> (Mahesh Kumar Shiva; December 19, 2017).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/sorry-business-closed-until-internet-is-back-on">Sorry, Business Closed until Internet is Back On</a> (Nalanda Tambe; December 19, 2017).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/stock-brokers-dont-love-an-internet-shutdown">Stock Brokers Don't Love an Internet Shutdown</a> (Binita Parikh; December 19, 2017).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/was-there-an-unofficial-internet-shutdown-in-bhu-ntpc">Was there an Unofficial Internet Shutdown in BHU & NTPC?</a> (Saurabh Sharma; December 19, 2017).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/how-media-beat-the-shutdown-in-darjeeling">How Media beat the Shutdown in Darjeeling</a> (Manish Adhikary; December 19, 2017).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/internet-and-the-police-tool-to-some-trash-to-others">Internet and the Police: Tool to Some, Trash to Others</a> (Manoj Kumar; December 19, 2017).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/business-woes-from-saharanpurs-internet-ban">Business Woes from Saharanpur's Internet Ban</a> (Mahesh Kumar Shiva; December 19, 2017).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/amid-unrest-in-the-valley-students-see-a-dark-wall">Amid Unrest in the Valley, Students See a Dark Wall</a> (Aakash Hassan; December 19, 2017).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/the-rising-stars-in-music-loath-losing-their-only-platform">The Rising Stars in Music Loath Losing their Only Platform</a> (Umar Shah and Mir Farhat; December 19, 2017).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/internet-and-banking-a-trust-broken">Internet and Banking: A Trust Broken</a> (Roshan Gupta; December 19, 2017).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/online-or-offline-protest-goes-on">Online or Offline, Protest Goes On</a> (Junaid Nabi Bazaz; December 19, 2017).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/digital-banking-dreams-interrupted">Digital Banking Dreams: Interrupted</a> (Safeena Wani; December 19, 2017).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/will-darjeeling-regain-the-trust-of-tourists">Will Darjeeling Regain the Trust of Tourists?</a> (Roshan Gupta; December 20, 2017).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/silence-on-the-dera-front">Silence on the Dera Front</a> (Sat Singh; December 20, 2017).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/isps-in-kashmir-grappling-with-mounting-losses-amid-recurrent-shutdowns">ISPs in Kashmir Grappling with Mounting Losses Amid Recurrent Shutdowns</a> (Safina Wani; December 20, 2017).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/taxes-in-the-time-of-internet-shutdown">Taxes in the Time of Internet Shutdown</a> (Avijit Sarkar; December 20, 2017).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/every-town-had-its-jio-dara">Every Town had its Jio Dara</a> (Ayswarya Murthy; December 20, 2017).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/education-and-employment-opportunities-tossed-out-of-the-window">Education and Employment Opportunities Tossed out of the Window</a> (Roshan Gupta; December 20, 2017).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/darjeeling2019s-e-commerce-crumbles-after-100-days-sans-internet">Darjeeling’s e-commerce Crumbles after 100 days sans Internet</a> (Avijit Sarkar; December 20, 2017).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/e-administration-efforts-are-lame-ducks-without-internet">E-administration Efforts are Lame Ducks without Internet</a> (Amit Kumar and Sat Singh; December 20, 2017).</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><br />►Privacy</p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><strong>Blog Entries</strong></p>
<ul>
<li><a class="external-link" href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/artificial-intelligence-literature-review">Artificial Intelligence - Literature Review</a><span> (Shruthi Anand; edited by Amber Sinha and Udbhav Tiwari with research assistance by Sidharth Ray; December 16, 2017).</span></li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/ai-and-healthcare-in-india-looking-forward">AI and Healthcare in India: Looking Forward</a> (Shweta Mohandas; edited by Roshni Ranganathan; December 16, 2017).</li>
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<p style="text-align: justify; "><span>Participation in Event</span></p>
<ul>
<li><a class="external-link" href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/figi-symposium-2017">FIGI Symposium 2017</a> (Organized by Telecommunication Standardization Bureau (TSB) of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), jointly with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the World Bank and the Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructure (CPMI) and support of the Government of India; November 29 - December 1, 2017; Bangalore). Elonnai Hickok participated in the symposium and spoke in the "Security, Infrastructure, and Trust" working group on big data and privacy in DFS.</li>
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<div><span style="text-align: justify; "><strong><strong>-----------------------------------</strong></strong><span style="text-align: justify; "> </span>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><strong><a href="http://cis-india.org/telecom">Telecom</a> <br /><strong>----------------------------------- </strong><br /></strong><span>CIS is involved in promoting access and accessibility to telecommunications services and resources, and has provided inputs to ongoing policy discussions and consultation papers published by TRAI. It has prepared reports on unlicensed spectrum and accessibility of mobile phones for persons with disabilities and also works with the USOF to include funding projects for persons with disabilities in its mandate:</span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><strong>Article </strong></p>
<ul>
<li><a class="external-link" href="https://cis-india.org/telecom/blog/business-standard-december-6-2017-shyam-ponappa-the-tragedy-of-the-unused-commons">The tragedy of the unused commons</a> (Shyam Ponappa; Business Standard; December 6, 2017).</li>
</ul>
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<p style="text-align: justify; "><span>-----------------------------------<br /></span><a href="http://cis-india.org/">About CIS<br /></a><span>----------------------------------- </span></p>
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<p>The Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) is a non-profit organisation that undertakes interdisciplinary research on internet and digital technologies from policy and academic perspectives. The areas of focus include digital accessibility for persons with disabilities, access to knowledge, intellectual property rights, openness (including open data, free and open source software, open standards, open access, open educational resources, and open video), internet governance, telecommunication reform, digital privacy, and cyber-security. The academic research at CIS seeks to understand the reconfigurations of social and cultural processes and structures as mediated through the internet and digital media technologies.</p>
<p>► Follow us elsewhere</p>
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<li>List - Researchers at Work: <a href="https://lists.ghserv.net/mailman/listinfo/researchers">https://lists.ghserv.net/mailman/listinfo/researchers</a></li>
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<p>► Support Us</p>
<div>Please help us defend consumer and citizen rights on the Internet! Write a cheque in favour of 'The Centre for Internet and Society' and mail it to us at No. 194, 2nd 'C' Cross, Domlur, 2nd Stage, Bengaluru - 5600 71.</div>
<p>► Request for Collaboration</p>
<div>
<p>We invite researchers, practitioners, artists, and theoreticians, both organisationally and as individuals, to engage with us on topics related internet and society, and improve our collective understanding of this field. To discuss such possibilities, please write to Sunil Abraham, Executive Director, at sunil@cis-india.org (for policy research), or Sumandro Chattapadhyay, Research Director, at sumandro@cis-india.org (for academic research), with an indication of the form and the content of the collaboration you might be interested in. To discuss collaborations on Indic language Wikipedia projects, write to Tanveer Hasan, Programme Officer, at <a>tanveer@cis-india.org</a>.</p>
<div><em>CIS is grateful to its primary donor the Kusuma Trust founded by Anurag Dikshit and Soma Pujari, philanthropists of Indian origin for its core funding and support for most of its projects. CIS is also grateful to its other donors, Wikimedia Foundation, Ford Foundation, Privacy International, UK, Hans Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, and IDRC for funding its various projects</em>.</div>
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For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/december-2017-newsletter'>https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/december-2017-newsletter</a>
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No publisherpraskrishnaAccess to KnowledgeTelecomAccessibilityInternet GovernanceResearchers at Work2018-03-17T11:12:26ZPageDecember 2016 Newsletter
https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/december-2016-newsletter
<b>Welcome to the December 2016 newsletter of the Centre for Internet and Society (CIS). </b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Dear readers,</p>
<p>Wishing you a happy and prosperous New Year. As the New Year unfolds we are glad to bring you developments from the last month of the year gone by for your reference. Thank you for reading the Centre for Internet and Society's (CIS) December 2016 newsletter.</p>
<p>Previous issues of the newsletters can be <a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/about/newsletters">accessed here</a>.</p>
<hr style="text-align: justify; " />
<table class="grid listing" style="text-align: justify; ">
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<th>Highlights</th>
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<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Telugu Theatre scholar Pranay Raj Vangari <a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/pranay-raj-record-in-100-days-100-articles">created a record by completing a challenge</a> that is famous worldwide in Wikimedia community - "100 Days-100 Articles". </li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Rohini Lakshané attended the 25th session of the World Intellectual Property Organization Standing Committee on the Law of Patents held in Geneva from December 12 - 15, 2016 and made a statement on <a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/25th-session-of-the-wipo-scp-statement-on-future-work">Future Work</a>. She also submitted a statement on the <a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/twenty-fifth-session-of-wipo-scp-statement-on-assessment-of-inventive-step">Assessment of Inventive Step</a> to Secretariat for the WIPO Standing Committee for the Law of Patents, Twenty Fifth Session.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">CIS <a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/cis-inputs-to-the-working-group-on-enhanced-cooperation-on-public-policy-issues-pertaining-to-the-internet-wgec">submitted inputs to the Working Group on Enhanced Cooperation on Public Policy Issues Pertaining to the Internet</a> (WGEC) on 15 December 2016. The WGEC sought inputs on two questions that will guide the next meeting of the Working Group which is scheduled to take place on the 26-27 January 2017. </li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Udbhav Tiwari <a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/the-wire-udbhav-tiwari-december-15-2016-curious-case-of-poor-security-in-indian-twitterverse">wrote an article on the technical, legal and jurisdictional issues around the recent Twitter and email hacks</a> claimed by the ‘Legion Crew’, and what can targeted entities do to better protect themselves. </li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Amber Sinha <a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/deep-packet-inspection-how-it-works-and-its-impact-on-privacy">wrote a blog entry</a> that focuses on network management, in general, and deep packet inspection, in particular and how it impacts the privacy of users. </li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">CIS is <a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/papers/mapping-digital-humanities-in-india">pleased to bring you the second title of the CIS Papers series</a>. This report by P.P. Sneha comes out of an extended research project supported by the Kusuma Trust. The study undertook a detailed mapping of digital practices in arts and humanities scholarship, both emerging and established, in India. </li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Zeenab Aneez <a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/raw/indian-newspapers-digital-transition">wrote a report that examines the digital transition underway at three leading newspapers in India</a>, the Dainik Jagran in Hindi, English-language Hindustan Times, and Malayala Manorama in Malayalam. Our focus is on how they are changing their newsroom organisation and journalistic work to expand their digital presence and adapt to a changing media environment.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">CIS <a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/telecom/blog/cis-submission-trai-note-on-interoperable-scalable-public-wifi">made a submission on the Consultation Note on Model for Nation-wide Interoperable and Scalable Public Wi-Fi Networks</a> published by the TRAI on November 15, 2016. Our analysis of the solution proposed in the Note, in brief, is that there is no need of a solution for non-existing interoperability problem for authentication and payment services for accessing public Wi-Fi networks.</li>
</ul>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p><b>CIS in the news:</b></p>
<ul>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/economic-times-december-1-2016-neha-alawadhi-lack-of-clarity-about-cashless-and-online-transactions-makes-digital-payments-more-worrisome">Lack of clarity about cashless and online transactions makes digital payments more worrisome </a>(Neha Alawadhi; Economic Times; December 1, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/news/story-weaver-december-1-2016-pooja-saxena-changing-the-typographic-landscape-of-a-country">Changing the typographic landscape of a country: one letter at a time</a> (Pooja Saxena; Storyweaver; December 1, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/business-standard-december-2-2016-alnoor-peermohammed-no-laws-in-india-to-protect-customers-if-they-lose-money-during-digital-transactions">No laws in India to protect customers if they lose money during digital transactions </a>(Alnoor Peermohamed; Business Standard; December 2, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/indian-express-december-2-2016-fake-narendra-modi-apps-aplenty-but-it-is-up-to-users-to-protect-themselves">Fake Narendra Modi apps aplenty, but it’s up to users to protect themselves</a> (Indian Express; December 2, 2016). Also see Nandini Yadav's blog post in <a class="external-link" href="http://www.bgr.in/news/beware-of-the-fake-narendra-modi-app-on-google-play-store/">BGR</a> on December 3, 2016.</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/hindu-samarth-bansal-december-5-2016-your-digital-wallet-can-be-a-pickpocket">Your digital wallet can be a ‘pickpocket’</a> (The Hindu; December 5, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/news/et-telecom-december-7-2016-most-popular-smartphone-apps-inaccessible-to-disabled-study">Most popular smartphone apps inaccessible to disabled: Study</a> (ET Telecom; December 7, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/news/new-indian-express-december-7-2016-regina-gurung-english-gottila-job-illa">English gottila,job illa</a> (Regina Gurung; Indian Express; December 7, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/statesman-december-7-2016-smriti-sharma-vasudeva-bumpy-road-ahead-for-rfid-tags-in-vehicles">Bumpy road ahead for RFID Tags in vehicles</a> (Smriti Sharma Vasudeva; Statesman; December 7, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/indias-tech-policy-entrepreneurs">India's Tech Policy Entrepreneurs</a> (Rohin Dharmakumar; The Ken; December 8, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/business-standard-alnoor-peermohamed-december-10-2016-vijay-mallya-cries-foul-after-his-twitter-and-email-accounts-are-hacked">Vijay Mallya cries foul after his Twitter and email accounts are hacked</a> (Alnoor Peermohamed; Business Standard; December 10, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/news/namaste-telangana-december-11-2016-article-on-wikipedia">విజ్ఞాన నిధి వికీపీడియా.. </a>(Namaste Telangana; December 11, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/news/andhra-bhoomi-december-11-2016-article-on-wikipedia">వికీపీడియాతో విజ్ఞాన విప్లవం</a> (Andhra Bhoomi; December 11, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/news/namaste-telangana-december-11-2016-wikipedia-is-a-newspaper">Wikipedia is a Newspaper</a> (Namaste Telangana; December 11, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/news/andhra-jyoti-december-12-2016-telugu-wikipedians-are-creating-knowledge-revolution">Wikipedian Pavan Santhosh says Telugu Wikipedians are creating Knowledge revolution</a> (in Telugu) (Andhra Jyoti; December 12, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/news/vijaya-karnataka-december-18-2016-wikipedia-event-in-mangalore">Wikipedia Event in Mangalore</a> (Vijaya Karnataka; December 18, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/scroll-in-vinita-govindarajan-shrutisagar-yamunan-with-power-phone-and-internet-services-affected-chennai-is-still-recovering-from-cyclone-vardah">With power, phone and internet services affected, Chennai is still recovering from Cyclone Vardah</a> (Vinita Govindarajan and Sruthisagar Yamunan; Scroll.in; December 20, 2016).</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/news/hindustan-november-12-2016-article-1-opencon-conference-held-at-ru">पीजी जूलॉजी विभाग में एक दिवसीय समागम का आयोजन</a> (Hindustan, December 20, 2016).</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/scroll-m-rajshekhar-how-private-companies-are-using-aadhaar-to-deliver-better-services-but-theres-a-catch">How private companies are using Aadhaar to try to deliver better services (but there's a catch)</a> (M. Rajshekhar; Scroll.in; December 22, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/new-indian-express-december-27-2016-christin-philip-mathew-it-hub-karnataka-ranks-12-in-e-deals">‘IT hub’ K’taka ranks No 12 in e-deals</a> (Christin Philip Mathew; New Indian Express; December 27, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/the-national-december-31-2016-samanth-subramanian-indias-ruling-party-takes-online-abuse-to-a-professional-level">India’s ruling party takes online abuse to a professional level</a> (Samanth Subramanian; December 31, 2016).</li>
</ul>
<ul>
</ul>
<p>CIS members published the following articles:</p>
<ul>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/raw/indian-express-december-4-2016-nishant-shah-digital-native-the-view-from-my-bubble">Digital native: The View from My Bubble</a> (Nishant Shah; Indian Express; December 4, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/raw/indian-newspapers-digital-transition">Indian Newspapers' Digital Transition</a> (Zeenab Azeez; Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism; December 9, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/giswatch-december-9-2016-sunil-abraham-and-vidushi-marda-digital-protection-of-traditional-knowledge-questions-raised-by-traditional-knowledge-digital-library-in-india">The Digital Protection of Traditional Knowledge: Questions Raised by the Traditional Knowledge Digital Library in India </a>(Sunil Abraham and Vidushi Marda; GIS Watch; December 9, 2016)</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/the-wire-udbhav-tiwari-december-15-2016-curious-case-of-poor-security-in-indian-twitterverse">The Curious Case of Poor Security in the Indian Twitterverse </a>(Udbhav Tiwari; The Wire; December 17, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/pranay-raj-record-in-100-days-100-articles">Pranay Raj record in 100 days-100 articles</a> (Pavan Santhosh; Andhra Jyoti; December 17, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/raw/indian-express-december-18-2016-digital-native-people-like-us">Digital Native: People Like Us</a> (Nishant Shah; Indian Express; December 18, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/100-days-100-articles-wikipedian-from-motkur-created-record-in-telugu-wikipedia">వంద రోజులు.. వంద వ్యాసాలు - తెలుగు వికీపీడియాలో మోత్కూరు యువకుని రికార్డు </a>(100 Days...100 Articles: Wikipedian from Motkur created record in Telugu Wikipedia) (Pavan Santhosh; Andhra Jyoti; December 18, 2016).</li>
</ul>
<p><b>Jobs</b></p>
<p>CIS is seeking applications for:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/jobs/policy-officer-cyber-security">Policy Officer (Cyber Security)</a> </li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/jobs/senior-policy-officer-cyber-security">Senior Policy Officer (Cyber Security)</a> </li>
</ul>
<ul>
</ul>
<ul>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">-------------------------------------<br /><a href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility">Accessibility & Inclusion</a> <br /> ------------------------------------- <br /> India has an estimated 70 million persons with disabilities who don't have access to read printed materials due to some form of physical, sensory, cognitive or other disability. As part of our endeavour to make available accessible content for persons with disabilities, we are developing a text-to-speech software in 15 languages with support from the Hans Foundation. The progress made so far in the project can be accessed <a href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/resources/nvda-text-to-speech-synthesizer">here</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Event Co-organized</b></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/events/international-accessibility-summit-shaastra-2017">International Accessibility Summit of Shaastra 2017</a> (Organized by CIS and IIT, Madaras; December 31 - January 3, 2017). Nirmita Narasimhan was a panel moderator.</li>
</ul>
<p><b>Participation in Event</b></p>
<ul>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/news/best-practices-in-digital-accessibility">Best Practices in Digital Accessibility</a> (Organized by IIM, Bangalore; December 19, 2016). Nirmita Narasimhan was a panelist. </li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>----------------------------------- </b><br /><a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k">Access to Knowledge</a> <br /><b> ----------------------------------- </b><br />Our Access to Knowledge programme currently consists of two projects. The Pervasive Technologies project, conducted under a grant from the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), aims to conduct research on the complex interplay between low-cost pervasive technologies and intellectual property, in order to encourage the proliferation and development of such technologies as a social good. The Wikipedia project, which is under a grant from the Wikimedia Foundation, is for the growth of Indic language communities and projects by designing community collaborations and partnerships that recruit and cultivate new editors and explore innovative approaches to building projects.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">►Copyright and Patent</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Statements</b></p>
<ul>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/twenty-fifth-session-of-wipo-scp-statement-on-assessment-of-inventive-step">25th Session of the WIPO SCP: Statement on Assessment of Inventive Step </a>(Rohini Lakshané; December 15, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/25th-session-of-the-wipo-scp-statement-on-future-work">25th Session of the WIPO SCP: Statement on Future work</a> (Rohini Lakshané; December 16, 2016).</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Participation in Event</b></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/news/7th-emerging-markets-finance-conference">7th Emerging Markets Finance Conference</a> (Organized by Finance Research Group in association with Vanderbilt Law School; Mumbai; December 15, 2016). Anubha Sinha was a panelist.</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">►Wikipedia</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">As part of the <a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/access-to-knowledge-program-plan">project grant from the Wikimedia Foundation</a> we have reached out to more than 3500 people across India by organizing more than 100 outreach events and catalysed the release of encyclopaedic and other content under the Creative Commons (CC-BY-3.0) license in four Indian languages (21 books in Telugu, 13 in Odia, 4 volumes of encyclopaedia in Konkani and 6 volumes in Kannada, and 1 book on Odia language history in English).</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Blog Entries</b></p>
<ul>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/freedominfeb">Freedom in Feb — an awareness increasing campaign</a> (Tito Dutta; December 8, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/a-shortcut-to-freedom">A Shortcut to Freedom</a> (Tito Dutta; December 14, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/marathi-wikipedia-edit-a-thon-in-kolhapur">Marathi Wikipedia Edit-a-thon in Kolhapur</a> (Subodh Kulkarni; December 16, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/ongoing-proof-reading-effort-by-alc-student-wikimedians-in-telugu-wikisource">Ongoing Proof-reading Effort by ALC Student Wikimedians in Telugu Wikisource</a> (Pavan Santosh and Ting-Yi Chang; December 30, 2016).</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">►Openness</p>
<div style="text-align: justify; ">Our work in the Openness programme focuses on open data, especially open government data, open access, open education resources, open knowledge in Indic languages, open media, and open technologies and standards - hardware and software. We approach openness as a cross-cutting principle for knowledge production and distribution, and not as a thing-in-itself.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify; "></div>
<div style="text-align: justify; "><b>Submission</b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify; ">
<ul>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/comments-on-draft-national-policy-on-software-products">Comments on the Draft National Policy on Software Products </a>(Anubha Sinha, Rohini Lakshané, and Udbhav Tiwari; December 11, 2016).</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify; ">
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>----------------------------------- </b><br /><a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance">Internet Governance</a> <br /><b> -----------------------------------</b></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">As part of its research on privacy and free speech, CIS is engaged with two different projects. The first one (under a grant from Privacy International and IDRC) is on surveillance and freedom of expression (SAFEGUARDS). The second one (under a grant from MacArthur Foundation) is on restrictions that the Indian government has placed on freedom of expression online.</p>
<p>►Privacy</p>
<p><b>Blog Entries</b></p>
<ul>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/privacy-and-security-implications-of-public-wi-fi-a-case-study">Privacy and Security Implications of Public Wi-Fi - A Case Study</a> (Vanya Rakesh; December 9, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/habeas-data-in-india">Habeas Data in India</a> (Vipul Kharbanda and edited by Elonnai Hickok; December 10, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/workshop-report-uidai-and-welfare-services-august-27-2016">Workshop Report - UIDAI and Welfare Services: Exclusion and Countermeasures</a> (Vanya Rakesh; December 14, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/enlarging-the-small-print">Enlarging the Small Print: A Study on Designing Effective Privacy Notices for Mobile Applications</a> (Meera Manoj; December 14, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/protection-of-privacy-in-mobile-phone-apps">Protection of Privacy in Mobile Phone Apps</a> (Hitabhilash Mohanty and Edited by Leilah Elmokadem; December 15, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/iso-iec-jtc-1-sc-27-working-group-meetings-a-summary">ISO/IEC JTC 1 SC 27 Working Group Meetings - A Summary</a> (Vanya Rakesh; December 16, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/deep-packet-inspection-how-it-works-and-its-impact-on-privacy">Deep Packet Inspection: How it Works and its Impact on Privacy </a>(Amber Sinha; December 16, 2016).</li>
</ul>
<p><b>Participation in Events</b></p>
<ul>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/industry-consultation-panel-on-data-retention-dsci">Industry Consultation Panel on Data Retention - DSCI</a> (Organized by Data Security Council of India; New Delhi; November 23, 2016). <i>This was mirrored on the website on December 6, 2016</i>. Udbhav Tiwari was a panelist.</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/dsci-nasscom-annual-information-security-summit-2016">11th DSCI-NASSCOM Annual Information Security Summit 2016</a> (Organized by DSCI and NASSCOM; December 14, 2016). Udbhav Tiwari was a panelist.</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/workshop-on-center-for-it-and-society">Workshop on Center for IT and Society</a> (Organized by IIT, Delhi; December 20, 2016). Amber Sinha attended the event.</li>
</ul>
<p>►Free Speech & Expression</p>
<p><b>Blog Entries</b></p>
<ul>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/isis-and-recruitment-using-social-media-2013-roundtable-report">ISIS and Recruitment using Social Media – Roundtable Report</a> (Vidushi Marda, Aditya Tejus, Megha Nambiar and Japreet Grewal; December 15, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/cis-inputs-to-the-working-group-on-enhanced-cooperation-on-public-policy-issues-pertaining-to-the-internet-wgec">Inputs to the Working Group on Enhanced Cooperation on Public Policy Issues Pertaining to the Internet (WGEC)</a> (Sunil Abraham and Vidushi Marda, with inputs from Pranesh Prakash; December 17, 2016).</li>
</ul>
<p><b>Participation in Event</b></p>
<ul>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/myanmar-digital-rights-forum">Myanmar Digital Rights Forum</a> (Organized by Phandeeyar, You Can Do IT, Engage Media and Myanmar Centre for Responsible Business with support from the Embassy of Sweden; December 14 - 15, 2016). Sunil Abraham was a speaker.</li>
</ul>
<p>►Big Data</p>
<p><b>Participation in Events</b></p>
<ul>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/decoding-the-digital-winter-school-at-iiit-bangalore">"Decoding the Digital" </a>(Organized by Centre for IT and Public Policy at IIIT; Bangalore; December 12 - 14, 2016). Vanya Rakesh attended the event.</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/files/european-studies-guest-lecture/view">The EU and Free Flows of Data - Data Protection, Trade and Law Enforcement</a> (Organized by the Department of European Studies; Bangalore; December 14, 2016). Ameila Andersdotter gave a talk.</li>
</ul>
<p><b>Blog Entry</b></p>
<ul>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/technology-behind-big-data">The Technology behind Big Data</a> (Geethanjali Jujjavarapu and Udbhav Tiwari; December 1, 2016).</li>
</ul>
<p>►Cyber Security</p>
<p><b>Blog Entries</b></p>
<ul>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/major-security-flaw-namo-app">Developer team fixed vulnerabilities in Honorable PM's app and API</a> (Bhavyanshu Parasher; December 4, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/incident-response-requirements-in-indian-law">Incident Response Requirements in Indian Law</a> (Vipul Kharbanda; December 28, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/india-cyber-security-bilateral-agreements-map-dec-2016">Mapping of India’s Cyber Security-Related Bilateral Agreements</a> (Leilah Elmokadem and Saumyaa Naidu; December 29, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/india-mlat-agreements-sections-map-dec-2016">Mapping of Sections in India’s MLAT Agreements</a> (Leilah Elmokadem and Saumyaa Naidu; December 31, 2016).</li>
</ul>
<p><b>Event Organized</b></p>
<ul>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/events/multistakeholder-consultation-on-encryption">Multistakeholder Consultation on Encryption</a> (Organized by CIS with ORF and Takshashila Institution; TERI, Bangalore; December 17, 2016).</li>
</ul>
<p><b>----------------------------------- <br /><a href="http://cis-india.org/telecom">Telecom</a> <br /> ----------------------------------- <b><br /> </b></b>CIS is involved in promoting access and accessibility to telecommunications services and resources, and has provided inputs to ongoing policy discussions and consultation papers published by TRAI. It has prepared reports on unlicensed spectrum and accessibility of mobile phones for persons with disabilities and also works with the USOF to include funding projects for persons with disabilities in its mandate:</p>
<p>Submission</p>
<ul>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/telecom/blog/cis-submission-trai-note-on-interoperable-scalable-public-wifi">CIS Submission to TRAI Consultation Note on Model for Nation-wide Interoperable and Scalable Public Wi-Fi Networks</a> (Japreet Grewal, Pranesh Prakash, Sharath Chandra, Sumandro Chattapadhyay, Sunil Abraham, and Udbhav Tiwari, with expert comments from Amelia Andersdotter; December 12, 2016).</li>
</ul>
<p><b>-----------------------------------</b><br /><a href="http://cis-india.org/raw">Researchers at Work</a> <br /><b> ----------------------------------- </b><br /> The Researchers at Work (RAW) programme is an interdisciplinary research initiative driven by an emerging need to understand the reconfigurations of social practices and structures through the Internet and digital media technologies, and vice versa. It aims to produce local and contextual accounts of interactions, negotiations, and resolutions between the Internet, and socio-material and geo-political processes:</p>
<p><b>Research Paper</b></p>
<ul>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/papers/mapping-digital-humanities-in-india">Mapping Digital Humanities in India</a> (P.P. Sneha; December 30, 2016).</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>----------------------------------- </b><br /><a href="http://cis-india.org/">About CIS</a> <br /><b> ----------------------------------- </b><br /> The Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) is a non-profit organisation that undertakes interdisciplinary research on internet and digital technologies from policy and academic perspectives. The areas of focus include digital accessibility for persons with disabilities, access to knowledge, intellectual property rights, openness (including open data, free and open source software, open standards, open access, open educational resources, and open video), internet governance, telecommunication reform, digital privacy, and cyber-security. The academic research at CIS seeks to understand the reconfigurations of social and cultural processes and structures as mediated through the internet and digital media technologies.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">► Follow us elsewhere</p>
<div style="text-align: justify; ">
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li> Twitter:<a href="http://twitter.com/cis_india"> http://twitter.com/cis_india</a> </li>
<li> Twitter - Access to Knowledge: <a href="https://twitter.com/CISA2K">https://twitter.com/CISA2K</a> </li>
<li> Twitter - Information Policy: <a href="https://twitter.com/CIS_InfoPolicy">https://twitter.com/CIS_InfoPolicy</a></li>
<li> Facebook - Access to Knowledge:<a href="https://www.facebook.com/cisa2k"> https://www.facebook.com/cisa2k</a> </li>
<li> E-Mail - Access to Knowledge: <a>a2k@cis-india.org</a> </li>
<li> E-Mail - Researchers at Work: <a>raw@cis-india.org</a> </li>
<li> List - Researchers at Work: <a href="https://lists.ghserv.net/mailman/listinfo/researchers">https://lists.ghserv.net/mailman/listinfo/researchers</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">► Support Us</p>
<div style="text-align: justify; ">
<div style="text-align: justify; ">Please help us defend consumer and citizen rights on the Internet! Write a cheque in favour of 'The Centre for Internet and Society' and mail it to us at No. 194, 2nd 'C' Cross, Domlur, 2nd Stage, Bengaluru - 5600 71.</div>
</div>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">► Request for Collaboration</p>
<div style="text-align: justify; ">
<p style="text-align: justify; ">We invite researchers, practitioners, artists, and theoreticians, both organisationally and as individuals, to engage with us on topics related internet and society, and improve our collective understanding of this field. To discuss such possibilities, please write to Sunil Abraham, Executive Director, at sunil@cis-india.org (for policy research), or Sumandro Chattapadhyay, Research Director, at sumandro@cis-india.org (for academic research), with an indication of the form and the content of the collaboration you might be interested in. To discuss collaborations on Indic language Wikipedia projects, write to Tanveer Hasan, Programme Officer, at <a>tanveer@cis-india.org</a>.</p>
<div style="text-align: justify; "><i>CIS is grateful to its primary donor the Kusuma Trust founded by Anurag Dikshit and Soma Pujari, philanthropists of Indian origin for its core funding and support for most of its projects. CIS is also grateful to its other donors, Wikimedia Foundation, Ford Foundation, Privacy International, UK, Hans Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, and IDRC for funding its various projects</i>.</div>
</div>
</div>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/december-2016-newsletter'>https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/december-2016-newsletter</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaAccess to KnowledgeTelecomAccessibilityInternet GovernanceResearchers at Work2017-01-28T12:02:23ZPageDecember 2015 Bulletin
https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/december-2015-bulletin
<b>Our newsletter for the month of December 2015 is below.</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The Centre for Internet & Society (CIS) is happy to share the twelfth issue of CIS newsletter (December 2015). Previous editions of the newsletter can be accessed at <a href="http://cis-india.org/about/newsletters">http://cis-india.org/about/newsletters</a>.</p>
<table class="grid listing">
<tbody>
<tr>
<th>
<h3>Highlights</h3>
</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li>The <a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/press-release-india-to-host-4th-global-congress-on-intellectual-property-and-the-public-interest">4th edition of the Global Congress</a> themed around "Three Decades of Openness, Two Decades of TRIPS" was organized in New Delhi from December 15 - 17, 2015. The largest ever in Asia, the Congress was jointly organised by CIS, NLU-D, Open A.I.R., CREATe, Columbia University and American University.</li>
<li>Nehaa Chaudhari <a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/4th-global-congress-on-ip-and-the-public-interest-statement-of-conclusion-for-the-ip-and-development-track">summarized the developments of the 4th Global Congress on IP and the Public Interest in a blog post</a> that was originally published on the Global Congress blog.</li>
<li>Sunil Abraham wrote a blog entry stating the <a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/cis-position-on-net-neutrality">institutional position of CIS on the Net Neutrality</a> discussion going on in India.</li>
<li>Catch News interviewed Sunil Abraham about the recent advertisement by Facebook titled <a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/facebook-shares-10-key-facts-about-free-basics-heres-whats-wrong-with-all-10-of-them"> "What Net Neutrality Activists won't Tell You or, the Top 10 Facts about Free Basics" </a> . Sunil argued against the validity of all the 'top 10 facts'.</li>
<li>Odia author and cultural historian Jagannath Prasad Das <a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/discover-bhubaneswar-30-books-of-odia-author-and-historian-jagannath-prasad-das-to-come-online-on-odia-wikisource"> has recently permitted 30 volumes of his notable works to be re-license under an open license (Creative Commons Share-Alike 4.0 or CC-BY-SA 4.0) </a> . Subhashish Panigrahi wrote a blog post on this in Discover Bhubaneswar, a web portal in Odisha.</li>
<li>CIS has established institutional partnerships with University of Mysore and Guru G Learning Labs for furthering Wikipedia growth. Tanveer Hasan <a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/analysis-of-institutional-partnerships-university-of-mysore-and-guru-g-learning-lab">analyses the developments and lists out the possible future plans</a> in this regard.</li>
<li>CIS along with Observer Research Foundation, Centre for Global Communication Studies, Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania, and Internet Policy Observatory <a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/events/net-neutrality-across-south-asia"> organized an event in New Delhi on Net Neutrality across South Asia </a> .</li>
<li>Today the quantity of data being generated is expanding at an exponential rate. From smartphones and televisions, trains and airplanes, sensor-equipped buildings and even the infrastructures of our cities, data now streams constantly from almost every sector and function of daily life, <a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/benefits-and-harms-of-big-data">stated Scott Mason in a blog post</a>.</li>
<li>The Government of India is in the process of developing 100 smart cities in India which it sees as the key to the country's economic and social growth. Vanya Rakesh <a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/smart-cities-in-india-an-overview">gave an overview of the Smart Cities project currently underway in India in a blog post</a>.</li>
<li>For the second part of the Smart City podcast series, Sruthi Krishnan and Harsha K from Fields of View spoke with Sumandro Chattapadhyay on data, people, and smart cities. <a href="http://cis-india.org/raw/fov-podcast-data-people-and-smart-cities">Fields of View has produced and shared the recording</a>.</li>
<li>An extended survey of digital initiatives in arts and humanities practices in India was undertaken last year. The 'mapping digital humanities in India' enquiry began with the term 'digital humanities' itself, as a 'found' name for which one needs to excavate some meaning, context, and location in India at the present moment. P.P Sneha published the <a href="http://cis-india.org/raw/reading-from-a-distance-data-as-text">third</a>,<a href="http://cis-india.org/raw/the-infrastructure-turn-in-the-humanities">fourth</a>, and <a href="http://cis-india.org/raw/living-in-the-archival-moment">fifth</a> sections of the study this month.</li>
<li>The RAW programme has initiated a new annual conference series titled Internet Researchers' Conference (IRC). The <a href="http://cis-india.org/raw/irc16-call">first edition of the Conference</a>, organised around the theme of "studying internet in India" will be held in Delhi in February 2016</li>
</ul>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>----------------------------------------------<br /><a href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility">Accessibility and Inclusion<br /></a>----------------------------------------------</b></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Under a grant from the Hans Foundation we are doing a project on developing text-to-speech software for 15 Indian languages. The progress made so far in the project can be accessed <a href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/resources/nvda-text-to-speech-synthesizer">here</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">►NVDA and eSpeak</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Monthly Updates</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">● <a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/december-2015-report">December 2015 Report</a> (Suman Dogra; December 31, 2015).</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>-----------------------------------------------------------<br /><a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k">Access to Knowledge<br /></a>-----------------------------------------------------------</b><br />As part of the Access to Knowledge programme we are doing two projects. The first one (Pervasive Technologies) under a grant from the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) is for research on the complex interplay between pervasive technologies and intellectual property to support intellectual property norms that encourage the proliferation and development of such technologies as a social good. The second one (Wikipedia) under a grant from the Wikimedia Foundation is for the growth of Indic language communities and projects by designing community collaborations and partnerships that recruit and cultivate new editors and explore innovative approaches to building projects.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">►Copyright and Patent</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Blog Entries</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/abuse-of-dominant-position-in-indian-competition-law-a-brief-guide">Abuse of Dominant Position in Indian Competition Law: A Brief Guide </a> (Sarthak Sood; December 9, 2015).</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/gcip2015-notes-from-the-inaugural-session">GCIP2015: Notes from the Inaugural Session</a> (Spadika Jayaraj; SpicyIP; December 14, 2015).</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/gcip-day-1-session-3-challenges-in-re-articulating-public-interest">GCIP Day 1 Session 3: Challenges in Re-Articulating Public Interest </a> (Spadika Jayaraj; SpicyIP; December 17, 2015).</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/gcip-15-day-2-discussions-on-health-technology-innovation-and-access">GCIP 15 Day 2: Discussions on Health Technology, Innovation and Access </a> (Spadika Jayaraj; SpicyIP; December 17, 2015).</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/guidelines-for-examination-of-computer-related-inventions-in-abeyance">Guidelines for Examination of Computer Related Inventions in abeyance </a> (Anubha Sinha; Anubha Sinha; December 21, 2015).</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/4th-global-congress-on-ip-and-the-public-interest-statement-of-conclusion-for-the-ip-and-development-track">4th Global Congress on IP and the Public Interest: Statement of Conclusion for the IP and Development track </a> (Nehaa Chaudhari; December 25, 2015). <i>This was also published on the Global Congress Blog</i>.</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Event Organized</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/call-for-participation-global-congress-on-intellectual-property-and-the-public-interest">Global Congress on Intellectual Property and the Public Interest </a> (Organized by National Law University, Delhi, American Assembly, Columbia University, Open A.I.R., American University, and CIS; New Delhi, December 15 - 17, 2015).</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Participation in Event</p>
<ul>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/news/code-session">CODE Session</a> (Organized by IDRC; December 17, 2015; New Delhi). Nehaa Chaudhari and Anubha Sinha participated in the event.</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Media Coverage</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/news/nlsiu-conference-on-access-to-copyrighted-works-for-persons-with-disability-an-enriching-experience">NLSIU Conference on Access to Copyrighted Works for Persons with Disability: An enriching experience </a> (Abolee Vaidya and Nuhar Bansal; SINAPSE; December 14, 2015). <i> This is an event report on a one-day national conference on the 'Access to Copyrighted Works for Persons with Disability' for which Pranesh Prakash was a speaker </i> .</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">►Wikipedia</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">As part of the <a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/access-to-knowledge-program-plan">project grant from the Wikimedia Foundation</a> we have reached out to more than 3500 people across India by organizing more than 100 outreach events and catalysed the release of encyclopaedic and other content under the Creative Commons (CC-BY-3.0) license in four Indian languages (21 books in Telugu, 13 in Odia, 4 volumes of encyclopaedia in Konkani and 6 volumes in Kannada, and 1 book on Odia language history in English).</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Articles</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/discover-bhubaneswar-30-books-of-odia-author-and-historian-jagannath-prasad-das-to-come-online-on-odia-wikisource">30 Books of Odia Author and Historian Jagannath Prasad Das to Come Online on Odia Wikisource </a> (Subhashish Panigrahi; Discover Bhubaneswar; December 4, 2015).</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/sambada-rabibara-subhashish-panigrahi-december-6-2015-odia-wikisource">ଓଡ଼ିଆ</a> <a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/sambada-rabibara-subhashish-panigrahi-december-6-2015-odia-wikisource"> </a> <a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/sambada-rabibara-subhashish-panigrahi-december-6-2015-odia-wikisource"> ଉଇକିପାଠାଗାର </a> (Subhashish Panigrahi; Sambad; December 6, 2015).</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Blog Entries</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/wikimedia-blog-subhashish-panigrahi-december-3-open-access-in-marathi-language-expands-by-thousand-books">Open access in the Marathi language expands by a thousand books </a> (Subhashish Panigrahi and Abhinav Garule; December 3, 2015). <i>This was published on Wikimedia Blog</i>.</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/guru-g-learning-labs-and-cis-a2k-institutional-partnership">Guru-G Learning Labs and CIS A2K Institutional Partnership </a> (Tanveer Hasan; December 3, 2015).</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/community-prioritisation-content-donation-kannada-wikisource">Community Prioritisation of Content Donation: Kannada Wikisource </a> (Tanveer Hasan; December 5, 2015).</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/analysis-of-institutional-partnerships-university-of-mysore-and-guru-g-learning-lab">Analysis of Institutional Partnerships: University of Mysore and Guru G Learning Labs </a> (Tanveer Hasan; December 5, 2015).</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/department-of-tourism-studies-christ-university-st-aloysius-college">Touch Point Report: Department of Tourism Studies, Christ University and St. Aloysius College, Mangalore </a> (Tanveer Hasan; December 5, 2015).</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/ttt-2015">TTT 2015</a> (Tanveer Hasan; December 5, 2015).</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/kannada-wikipedia-editathon-at-mangaluru">Kannada Wikipedia Editathon at Mangaluru</a> (Dr. U.B. Pavanaja; December 29, 2015).</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Events Organized</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://cis-india.org/openness/discussion-on-bringing-peshwa-culture-on-marathi-wikipedia">Talk on bringing 1000 books about the culture of Maharashtra on Marathi Wikipedia </a> (The Energy and Resources Institute; Bangalore; December 1, 2015). Avinash Chaphekar, Joint Secretary, Maharashtra Granthottejak Sanstha gave a talk.</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/openness/odia-wikimedia-community-meetup-at-cuttack">Odia Wikimedia community meetup</a> (Organized by Odia Wikipedia Community and CIS; Cuttack; December 3, 2015).</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/events/sau-dhuni-teen-project-december-edit-a-thon-at-womens-studies-centre-university-of-pune">Sau Dhuni Teen Project: December Edit-a-thon </a> (Women's Studies Centre, University of Pune; December 3, 2015).</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Participation in Events</b></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/news/telugu-wikipedia-day-2015-photo-walk">Telugu Wikipedia Day 2015, Photo Walk</a> (Organized by Telugu Wikipedians; Dr. YSR State Archaeological Museum, Hyderabad; December 13, 2015). Pavan Santhosh attended the event. One of the popular Telugu news channel TV9 covered the event and telecasted the same. <a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/news/telugu-wikipedia-day-2015-eenadu-coverage">Eenadu published a special item on photo walk</a> on December 13, 2015.</li>
<li>English Wikipedia and the Telugu Wikipedia joint meetup and edit-a-thon (Organized by Wikipedia community; Golden Threshold, Hyderabad; December 20, 2015). The event was covered in<a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/news/english-wikipedia-and-the-telugu-wikipedia-joint-meetup-and-edit-a-thon-sakshi">Sakshi</a> and <a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/news/english-wikipedia-and-the-telugu-wikipedia-joint-meetup-and-edit-a-thon-andhra-jyoti">Andhra Jyoti</a>.</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Media Coverage</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">CIS gave its inputs to the following media coverage:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/news/post-more-articles-on-kannada-wikipedia">Post More Articles on Kannada Wikipedia</a> (Indian Express; Mangaluru edition; December 12, 2015).</li>
</ul>
<p>A Kannada Wikipedia Editathon was conducted in Mangalore on December 10, 2015. The following are the media coverage for the same:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/news/kannada-wikipedia-editathon-udayavani-coverage">Kannada Wikipedia Editathon</a> (Udayavani; December 7, 2015).</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/news/kannada-wikipedia-editathon-vijayavani">Kannada Wikipedia Editathon</a> (Vijayavani; December 11, 2015).</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/news/kannada-wikipedia-editathon-vijaya-karnataka">Kannada Wikipedia Editathon</a> (Vijaya Karnataka; December 11, 2015).</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/news/kannada-wikipedia-editathon-in-mangalore-udayavani">Kannada Wikipedia Editathon</a> (Udayavani; December 11, 2015).</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/news/kannada-wikipedia-prajavani-mangal">Kannada Wikipedia Editathon</a> (Prajavani; December 10, 2015).</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/news/kannada-wikipedia-editathon-in-prajavani">Kannada Wikipedia Editathon</a> (Prajavani; December 13, 2015).</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>-----------------------------------------------<br /><a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance">Internet Governance<br /></a>-----------------------------------------------</b><br />As part of its research on privacy and free speech, CIS is engaged with two different projects. The first one (under a grant from Privacy International and International Development Research Centre (IDRC)) is on surveillance and freedom of expression (SAFEGUARDS). The second one (under a grant from MacArthur Foundation) is on studying the restrictions placed on freedom of expression online by the Indian government.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">►Free Speech and Expression</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Interview</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/facebook-shares-10-key-facts-about-free-basics-heres-whats-wrong-with-all-10-of-them">Facebook shares 10 key facts about Free Basics. Here's what's wrong with all 10 of them </a> (Shweta Sengar; Catch News; December 24, 2015).</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Blog Entry</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/cis-position-on-net-neutrality">CIS's Position on Net Neutrality</a> (Sunil Abraham; December 4, 2015).</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Event Organized</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/events/net-neutrality-across-south-asia">Net Neutrality across South Asia</a> (Organized by Observer Research Foundation, Centre for Global Communication Studies, Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania, Internet Policy Observatory and CIS; New Delhi; December 12, 2015).</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Participation in Event</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/consultation-on-understanding-the-freedom-of-expression-online-and-offline">Consultation on "Understanding the Freedom of Expression Online and Offline" </a> (Organized by Digital Empowerment Foundation and Association for Progressive Communications; YMCA, New Delhi; December 10, 2015). Jyoti Panday was a speaker at this event.</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">►Big Data</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Blog Entry</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/benefits-and-harms-of-big-data">Benefits and Harms of "Big Data"</a> (Scott Mason; December 30, 2015).</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">►Cyber Security</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Blog Entry</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/ground-zero-summit">Ground Zero Summit</a> (Amber Sinha; December 22, 2015).</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Participation in Events</b></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://cis-india.org/telecom/news/second-regional-conference-on-connectivity-for-all-future-technologies-markets-and-regulation">Second Regional Conference on Connectivity for All: Future Technologies, Markets and Regulation </a> (Organized by International Telecommunications Society, IIMA IDEA Telecom Centre of Excellence and Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad; New Delhi; December 13 - 15, 2015). Sunil Abraham was a panelist.</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Event Organized</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/events/bangalore-chapter-meet-dsci">Bangalore Chapter Meet - DSCI</a> (CIS, Bangalore; December 1, 2015). CIS hosted the Bangalore Chapter Meet of DSCI. Pronab Mohanty, Inspector General of Police gave a talk on Cybercrimes. Sunil Abraham presented the outcome of his study "Anonymity in Cyberspace".</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">►Privacy</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Blog Entries</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/uid-research">UID Research</a> (Vanya Rakesh; December 2, 2015).</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/dna-research">DNA Research</a> (Vanya Rakesh; December 2, 2015).</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/privacy-policy-research">Privacy Policy Research</a> (Vanya Rakesh; December 2, 2015).</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/sectoral-privacy-research">Sectoral Privacy Research</a> (Vanya Rakesh; December 2, 2015).</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/security-research">Security Research</a> (Vanya Rakesh; December 3, 2015).</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/eight-key-privacy-events-in-india-in-the-year-2015">Eight Key Privacy Events in India in the Year 2015 </a> (Amber Sinha; December 31, 2015).</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Participation in Events</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<ul>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/kick-off-meeting-for-the-politics-of-data-project">Kick Off Meeting for the Politics of Data Project</a> (Organized by Tactical Tech; Phnom Penh; December 7-8, 2015). Amber Sinha participated in the event.</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/unbundling-issues-of-privacy-data-security-identity-matrics-for-financial-inclusion">Unbundling Issues of Privacy, Data Security, Identity Matrics, for Financial Inclusion </a> (Organized by Indicus Foundation and MicroSave; December 10, 2015; Metropolitan Hotel and Spa, New Delhi). Sunil Abraham was a speaker.</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">►Miscellaneous</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Blog Entry</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/smart-cities-in-india-an-overview">Smart Cities in India: An Overview</a> (Vanya Rakesh; December 21, 2015).</li>
</ul>
<p><br /><b>Participation in Event</b></p>
<ul>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/elite-capture-of-governance-in-bangalore">Elite Capture of Governance</a> (Organized by Forum for Urban Governance and Commons; December 16, 2015; Bangalore). Vanya Rakesh participated in the event.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>--------------------------------<br /><a href="http://cis-india.org/telecom">Telecom</a><br />--------------------------------</b><br />CIS is involved in promoting access and accessibility to telecommunications services and resources and has provided inputs to ongoing policy discussions and consultation papers published by TRAI. It has prepared reports on unlicensed spectrum and accessibility of mobile phones for persons with disabilities and also works with the USOF to include funding projects for persons with disabilities in its mandate:</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Articles</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/telecom/blog/the-free-basics-debate-trai-has-a-point-in-imposing-temporary-ban-on-net-neutrality">The Free Basics debate: Trai has a point in imposing temporary ban on net neutrality </a> (Sunil Abraham; FirstPost; December 24, 2015).</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/telecom/blog/millions-of-indians-slam-facebooks-2018free-basics2019-app">Millions of Indians Slam Facebook's 'Free Basics' App </a> (Subhashish Panigrahi; December 29, 2015).</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>--------------------------------<br /><a href="http://cis-india.org/raw">Researchers at Work</a><br />--------------------------------</b><br />The Researchers at Work (RAW) programme is an interdisciplinary research initiative driven by contemporary concerns to understand the reconfigurations of social practices and structures through the Internet and digital media technologies, and vice versa. It is interested in producing local and contextual accounts of interactions, negotiations, and resolutions between the Internet, and socio-material and geo-political processes:</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Upcoming Events</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/raw/ai-hype-cycles-and-artistic-subversions">A.I. Hype Cycles and Artistic Subversions</a> (CIS, Bangalore; January 22, 2016). Gene Kogan will give a talk.</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/raw/irc16-call">First Edition of Internet Researchers' Conference</a> (IRC) 2016 - Studying Internet in India: Call for Sessions (Organized by CIS; New Delhi; February 25 - 27, 2016).</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Blog Entries</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/raw/raw-lecture-01-nishant-shah-video">RAW Lecture #01: Nishant Shah on 'Stories and Histories of Internet in India' - Video </a> (P.P. Sneha; December 1, 2015).</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/raw/fov-podcast-data-people-and-smart-cities">FOV Podcast - Data, People, and Smart Cities</a> (Sumandro Chattapadhyay; December 2, 2015).</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/raw/reading-from-a-distance-data-as-text">Reading from a Distance - Data as Text</a> (P.P. Sneha; December 7, 2015).</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/raw/the-infrastructure-turn-in-the-humanities">The Infrastructure Turn in the Humanities</a> (P.P. Sneha; December 7, 2015).</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/raw/living-in-the-archival-moment">Living in the Archival Moment</a> (P.P. Sneha; December 14, 2015).</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>---------------------------------<a href="http://cis-india.org/news"><br />News & Media Coverage<br /></a>---------------------------------</b></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">CIS gave its inputs to the following media coverage:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/india2019s-net-neutrality-debate-is-unique-and-complex">India's net neutrality debate is unique and complex </a> (Pratap Vikram Singh; Governance Now; December 14, 2015).</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/business-standard-anita-babu-december-23-2015-start-up-india-turns-the-heat-on-facebook-free-basics">Start-up India turns the heat on Facebook Free Basics </a> (Anita Babu; Business Standard; December 22, 2015).</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/a-scam-masquerading-as-santa">A Scam Masquerading as Santa</a> (Apurva Venkat & Vandana Kamath; Bangalore Mirror; December 25, 2015).</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/facebook-goes-out-all-guns-blazing-in-push-for-free-basics-net-neutrality-advocates-cry-foul">Facebook goes out all guns blazing in push for Free Basics, Net neutrality advocates cry foul </a> (IBN Live; December 29, 2015).</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/ndtv-bhuma-shrivastava-december-30-2015-foreign-media-on-zukerberg-india-backlash">Foreign Media on Zuckerberg's India Backlash </a> (Bhuma Shrivastava; NDTV; December 30, 2015).</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/mark-zuckerberg2019s-india-backlash-imperils-vision-for-free-global-web">Mark Zuckerberg's India backlash imperils vision for free global web </a> (Bhuma Shrivastava; Livemint; December 30, 2015).</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>---------------------------------<br /><a href="http://cis-india.org/">About CIS<br /></a>---------------------------------</b><br />The Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) is a non-profit organisation that undertakes interdisciplinary research on internet and digital technologies from policy and academic perspectives. The areas of focus include digital accessibility for persons with diverse abilities, access to knowledge, intellectual property rights, openness (including open data, free and open source software, open standards, open access, open educational resources, and open video), internet governance, telecommunication reform, digital privacy, and cyber-security. The academic research at CIS seeks to understand the reconfigurations of social and cultural processes and structures as mediated through the internet and digital media technologies.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">► Offices</p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li>Bengaluru - No. 194, 2nd 'C' Cross, Domlur, 2nd Stage, Bengaluru, 560071. <a href="https://www.google.com/maps/place/Centre+for+Internet+and+Society/@12.9644512,77.6374907,19z/data=%214m6%211m3%213m2%211s0x3bae141bb474ca25:0xe88eda6c81771517%212sDomlur+Bus+Stop%213m1%211s0x0000000000000000:0x88cd9bce9a1aa4d8?hl=en"> </a> <a href="https://www.google.com/maps/place/Centre+for+Internet+and+Society/@12.9644512,77.6374907,19z/data=%214m6%211m3%213m2%211s0x3bae141bb474ca25:0xe88eda6c81771517%212sDomlur+Bus+Stop%213m1%211s0x0000000000000000:0x88cd9bce9a1aa4d8?hl=en"> Location on Google Map </a> .</li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li>Delhi - First floor, B 1/8, Hauz Khas, near G Block market, after Crunch, New Delhi, 110016.<a href="http://j.mp/cis-delhi"> </a> <a href="http://j.mp/cis-delhi">Location on Google Map</a>.</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">► Follow Us</p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li>Twitter:<a href="http://twitter.com/cis_india"> http://twitter.com/cis_india</a></li>
<li>Twitter - Access to Knowledge:<a href="https://twitter.com/CISA2K"> https://twitter.com/CISA2K</a></li>
<li>Facebook - Access to Knowledge:<a href="https://www.facebook.com/cisa2k"> https://www.facebook.com/cisa2k</a></li>
<li>E-Mail - Access to Knowledge: <a href="mailto:a2k@cis-india.org">a2k@cis-india.org</a></li>
<li>E-Mail - Researchers at Work: <a href="mailto:raw@cis-india.org">raw@cis-india.org</a></li>
<li>List - Researchers at Work: <a href="https://lists.ghserv.net/mailman/listinfo/researchers">https://lists.ghserv.net/mailman/listinfo/researchers</a></li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">► Support Us</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Please help us defend consumer / citizen rights on the Internet! Write a cheque in favour of 'The Centre for Internet and Society' and mail it to us at No. 194, 2nd 'C' Cross, Domlur, 2nd Stage, Bengaluru, 560 071.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">► Request for Collaboration</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">We invite researchers, practitioners, artists, and theoreticians, both organisationally and as individuals, to engage with us on topics related internet and society, and improve our collective understanding of this field. To discuss such possibilities, please write to Sunil Abraham, Executive Director, at sunil@cis-india.org (for policy research), or Sumandro Chattapadhyay, Research Director, at sumandro@cis-india.org (for academic research), with an indication of the form and the content of the collaboration you might be interested in. To discuss collaborations on Indic language Wikipedia projects, write to Tanveer Hasan, Programme Officer, at <a href="mailto:tanveer@cis-india.org">tanveer@cis-india.org</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">CIS is grateful to its primary donor the Kusuma Trust founded by Anurag Dikshit and Soma Pujari, philanthropists of Indian origin for its core funding and support for most of its projects. CIS is also grateful to its other donors, Wikimedia Foundation, Ford Foundation, Privacy International, UK, Hans Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, and IDRC for funding its various projects.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/december-2015-bulletin'>https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/december-2015-bulletin</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaAccess to KnowledgeTelecomAccessibilityInternet GovernanceResearchers at Work2016-01-13T14:07:01ZPageDecember 2014 Bulletin
https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/december-2014-bulletin
<b>The Centre for Internet & Society (CIS) wishes you a very happy new year and welcomes you to the twelfth issue of the newsletter (December 2014). </b>
<h2 style="text-align: justify; ">Highlights</h2>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li> CIS prepared a <a href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/availability-and-accessibility-of-government-information-in-public-domain">policy brief</a> that identifies the problem areas with the current work flow being used to publish documents and proposes suitable modifications to make them easy to locate, authentic and accessible.</li>
<li>NVDA team conducted two workshops. The first one was held at the Hyderabad Central University <a href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/telugu-e-speak-training-with-nvda-december-2014">for reading and writing in Telugu</a>. The second one was held at the Blind Empowerment Foundation in Kolkata <a href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/bangla-e-speak-training-with-nvda-december-2014">for reading and writing in Bangla</a>. </li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li> Nehaa Chaudhari participated in the 29<sup>th</sup> WIPO-SCCR held in Geneva from December 8 to 12, 2014 and on behalf of CIS gave statements on <a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/wipo-sccr-29-cis-intervention-on-proposed-treaty-for-protection-of-broadcasting-organizations"> the Proposed Treaty for the Protection of Broadcasting Organizations </a> , <a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/cis-statement-on-limitations-and-exceptions-for-education-teaching-research-institutions-and-persons-with-disabilities"> Limitations and Exceptions for Education, Teaching, Research Institutions and Persons with Disabilities </a> , made a <a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/wipo-sccr-29-cis-second-brief-intervention-on-broadcast-treaty"> brief pointed intervention on the Broadcast Treaty </a> , and briefly interviewed Prof. Crews on his <a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/cis-intervention-questions-to-prof-kenneth-crews-on-limitations-and-exceptions-for-libraries-and-archives"> Updated Study on Limitations and Exceptions for Libraries and Archives </a> . </li>
<li> Nehaa Chaudhari <a href="https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/the-broadening-of-definitions-in-the-proposed-broadcast-treaty-compared-to-other-international-conventions"> analyses the broadening of definitions/concepts in the Proposed Broadcast Treaty </a> versus those in pre-existing international instruments.</li>
<li>Maggie Huang, an intern at CIS as part of the Pervasive Technologies projects conducted interviews with fabless semiconductor industry professionals in Taiwan. The findings are highlighted in two separate blog entries. The first one <a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/interviews-with-semi-conductor-industry-part-3"> explores some of their views on the current intellectual property system </a> and the second <a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/interviews-with-semiconductor-industry-part-4"> explores the tension between market forces and governmental intervention in providing access to mobile technology </a> .</li>
<li>Tejaswini Niranjana, a distinguished fellow at CIS <a href="http://cis-india.org/openness/blog/the-hindu-december-6-2014-tejaswini-niranjana-beyond-the-language-tussle">wrote an op-ed in the Hindu</a> telling readers to see the ongoing Sanskrit versus German controversy as a welcome opportunity to discuss the real and persistent problems of our education system. </li>
<li> Vidushi Marda and Bhairav Acharya have co-authored a <a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/identifying-aspects-of-privacy-in-islamic-law">white pape</a>r that seeks to identify aspects of privacy in Islamic Law and demonstrate that the notion of privacy was recognized and protected in traditional Islamic law. </li>
<li> Ashna Ashesh and Bhairav Acharya have <a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/loading-constructs-of-privacy-within-classical-hindu-law">produced a white paper</a> seeks to locate privacy in Classical Hindu Law, and by doing so, displace the notion that privacy is an inherently 'Western' concept that is the product of a modernist legal system. </li>
<li> Vipul Kharbanda authored a <a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/relationship-between-privacy-and-confidentiality">white paper</a> establishing the relationship between privacy and confidentiality. </li>
<li> Geetha Hariharan in a <a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/is-india2019s-website-blocking-law-constitutional-2013-i-law-procedure"> blog entry examines the constitutional validity of Section 69A </a> and the Blocking Rules. </li>
<li> Shyam Ponappa in an <a href="http://cis-india.org/telecom/blog/organizing-india-blogspot-shyam-ponappa-december-4-2014-a-roadmap-for-digital-india"> article published by the Business Standard </a> writes that India's current policies for telecommunications don't serve our interests and tells readers what must change. </li>
</ul>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility">Accessibility and Inclusion</a></h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Under a grant from the Hans Foundation we are doing two projects. The first project is on creating a national resource kit of state-wise laws, policies and programmes on issues relating to persons with disabilities in India. CIS in partnership with CLPR (Centre for Law and Policy Research) compiled the National Compendium of Policies, Programmes and Schemes for Persons with Disabilities (29 states and 6 union territories). The publication has been finalised and is being printed. The draft chapters and the quarterly reports can be accessed on the <a href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/resources/national-resource-kit-project">project page</a>. The second project is on developing text-to-speech software for 15 Indian languages. The progress made so far in the project can be accessed <a href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/resources/nvda-text-to-speech-synthesizer">here</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">►NVDA and eSpeak</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Monthly Update</b></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li> <a href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/december-2014-nvda-report.pdf">December 2014 Report</a> (Suman Dogra; December 30, 2014). </li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Events Organized</b></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li> <a href="https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/telugu-e-speak-training-with-nvda-december-2014">Telugu eSpeak Training with NVDA</a> (Organized by NVDA team; Hyderabad Central University, Hyderabad; December 1-2, 2014). </li>
<li> <a href="https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/bangla-e-speak-training-with-nvda-december-2014">Bangla eSpeak training with NVDA</a> (Organized by NVDA team; Blind Empowerment Foundation, Kolkata; December 19-20, 2014). </li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Upcoming Event</b></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li> <a href="https://cis-india.org/accessibility/events/training-in-e-speak-malayalam">Training in Use of eSpeak with Malayalam</a> (Co-organized by CIS, DAISY Forum of India and Chakshumathi Assistive Technology Centre; Trivandrum; January 24 - 25, 2015, Trivandrum). </li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">►Other</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Blog Entry</b></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li> <a href="https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/availability-and-accessibility-of-government-information-in-public-domain"> Availability and Accessibility of Government Information in Public Domain </a> (Sunil Abraham, Nirmita Narasimhan, Beliappa, and Anandhi Viswanathan; December 9, 2014). </li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Participation in Event</b></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li> <a href="https://cis-india.org/accessibility/news/first-meeting-of-high-level-committee-on-national-policy-on-universal-electronic-accessibility"> First meeting of the high level committee on National Policy on Universal Electronic Accessibility </a> (Organized by the Department of Electronics and Information Technology; December 30, 2014; New Delhi). Sunil Abraham participated in this meeting. </li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Media Coverage</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<b> </b>
<li><b> </b><a href="https://cis-india.org/accessibility/news/e-gov-reach-december-15-2014-geetanjali-minhas-when-technology-is-able-but-mindset-is-not"><b> </b>When technology is able but the mindset is not </a> (Governance Now; December 1-15 issue). Sunil Abraham and Nirmita Narasimhan gave their inputs. </li>
</ul>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k">Access to Knowledge</a></h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">As part of the Access to Knowledge programme we are doing two projects. The first one (Pervasive Technologies) under a grant from the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) is for research on the complex interplay between pervasive technologies and intellectual property to support intellectual property norms that encourage the proliferation and development of such technologies as a social good. The second one (Wikipedia) under a grant from the Wikimedia Foundation is for the growth of Indic language communities and projects by designing community collaborations and partnerships that recruit and cultivate new editors and explore innovative approaches to building projects.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">►Pervasive Technologies</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">As part of the Pervasive Technologies project, Maggie Huang conducted interviews with fabless semiconductor industry professionals in Taiwan. The findings from the samples are highlighted in four part series. The third and fourth parts have been published:</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Blog Entries</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<b> </b>
<li><b> </b><a href="https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/interviews-with-semi-conductor-industry-part-3"><b> </b>[Open] Innovation and Expertise > Patent Protection & Trolls in a Broken Patent Regime </a> (Maggie Huang; December 26, 2014). </li>
<li> <a href="https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/copyright-management-in-age-of-mobile-music"> "Copyright Management in the Age of Mobile Music" - Living Methodology Document </a> (Maggie Huang; December 26, 2014). </li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">►Other</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Blog Entries</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Nehaa Chaudhari attended the 29<sup>th</sup> WIPO-SCCR held in Geneva from December 8 to 12. The following are the outputs:</p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li> <a href="https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/wipo-sccr-29-cis-intervention-on-proposed-treaty-for-protection-of-broadcasting-organizations"> 29th Session of the WIPO SCCR: CIS Intervention on the Proposed Treaty for the Protection of Broadcasting Organizations </a> (Nehaa Chaudhari; December 9, 2014). </li>
<li> <a href="https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/wipo-sccr-29-cis-second-brief-intervention-on-broadcast-treaty"> 29th Session of the WIPO SCCR: CIS- 2nd (brief) Intervention on the Broadcast Treaty </a> (Nehaa Chaudhari; December 11, 2014). </li>
<li> <a href="https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/the-broadening-of-definitions-in-the-proposed-broadcast-treaty-compared-to-other-international-conventions"> The Broadening of Definitions in the Proposed Broadcast Treaty Compared to Other International Conventions </a> (Nehaa Chaudhari; December 11, 2014). </li>
<li> <a href="https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/cis-intervention-questions-to-prof-kenneth-crews-on-limitations-and-exceptions-for-libraries-and-archives"> 29th Session of the WIPO SCCR: CIS Intervention: Questions to Prof. Kenneth Crews on his Updated Study on Limitations and Exceptions for Libraries and Archives </a> (Nehaa Chaudhari; December 14, 2014). </li>
<li> <a href="https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/cis-statement-on-limitations-and-exceptions-for-education-teaching-research-institutions-and-persons-with-disabilities"> 29th Session of the WIPO SCCR: Statement on the Limitations and Exceptions for Education, Teaching, Research Institutions and Persons with Disabilities </a> (Nehaa Chaudhari; December 20, 2014). </li>
<li> <a href="https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/protection-of-broadcasting-organisations-under-proposed-broadcast-treaty"> Protection of Broadcasting Organisations under the Proposed Treaty as Compared to Other International Conventions </a> (Nehaa Chaudhari; December 21, 2014). </li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Participation in Event</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<b> </b>
<li><b> </b><a href="https://cis-india.org/a2k/news/kei-10-december-2014-the-broadcasting-treaty-a-solution-in-search-of-a-problem"><b> </b>Save the Date - 10 December 2014: The Broadcasting Treaty: A Solution in Search of a Problem? </a> (Organized at WIPO; December 10, 2014). Nehaa Chaudhari was a speaker at this side event. The details were originally published by Knowledge Ecology International. </li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Media Coverage</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<b> </b>
<li><b> </b><a href="https://cis-india.org/a2k/news/knowledge-ecology-international-sccr-29-public-interest-organizations-statements-regarding-the-broadcasting-treaty"><b> </b>SCCR 29: Public Interest Organizations Statements regarding the Broadcasting Treaty </a> (Knowledge Ecology International; December 9, 2014). </li>
<li> <a href="https://cis-india.org/a2k/news/knowledge-ecology-international-sccr-29-december-11-2014-libraries-archives-public-interest-ngos-q-a-with-dr-crews"> SCCR 29 Libraries, Archives and Public Interest NGOs in Q&A with Dr. Crews </a> (Knowledge Ecology International; December 11, 2014). </li>
<li> <a href="https://cis-india.org/a2k/news/ip-watch-catherine-saez-december-18-2014-wipo-study-on-copyright-exceptions-stimulates-broad-discussion-with-author"> At WIPO, Study On Copyright Exceptions Stimulates Broad Discussion With Author </a> (Catherine Saez; December 18, 2014). </li>
<li> <a href="https://cis-india.org/a2k/news/ip-watch-catherine-saez-december-19-2014-wipo-delegates-hear-concerns-of-ngos-on-exceptions-for-libraries"> WIPO Delegates Hear Concerns of NGOs on Exceptions for Libraries (Catherine Saez; IP Watch </a> ; December 19, 2014). </li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">►Wikipedia</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">As part of the <a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/access-to-knowledge-program-plan">project grant from the Wikimedia Foundation</a> we have reached out to more than 3500 people across India by organizing more than 100 outreach events and catalysed the release of encyclopaedic and other content under the Creative Commons (CC-BY-3.0) license in four Indian languages (21 books in Telugu, 13 in Odia, 4 volumes of encyclopaedia in Konkani and 6 volumes in Kannada, and 1 book on Odia language history in English).</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Newspaper Article</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<b> </b>
<li><b> </b><a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/blog/the-hindu-december-6-2014-tejaswini-niranjana-beyond-the-language-tussle"><b> </b>Beyond the Language Tussle </a> (Tejaswini Niranjana; The Samaja, November 17, 2014). </li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Blog Entries</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<b> </b>
<li><b> </b><a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/blog/odia-wikisource-campus-project-at-kiss"><b> </b>Odia Wikisource campus project at Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences </a> (Subhashish Panigrahi; December 3, 2014). </li>
<li> <a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/blog/publications-under-creative-commons-license"> Several Publications Now Available under Creative Commons License </a> (Subhashish Panigrahi; December 28, 2014). </li>
<li> <a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/blog/odia-wikisource-workshop-new-delhi-december-14-2014">Odia Wikisource workshop at New Delhi</a> (Subhashish Panigrahi; December 30, 2014). <i>The event was organized by CIS in collaboration with "The Intellects" on December 14</i>. </li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>News and Media Coverage</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">CIS-A2K team gave its inputs to the following media coverage:</p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li> <a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/news/article-in-dhatri">Odia Wikipedia</a> (Dhatri; December 1, 2014). </li>
<li> <a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/news/odiapua-december-1-2014-article-on-odia-wikipedia">Odia Wikipedia</a> (Odiapua; December 1, 2014). </li>
<li> <a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/news/new-indian-express-december-5-2014-diana-sahu-access-to-rare-books-made-easy"> Access to Rare Books Made Easy </a> (Diana Sahu; Indian Express; December 5, 2014). </li>
<li> <a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/news/hindu-businessline-december-13-2014-tulu-wikipedia-gets-some-push"> Tulu Wikipedia gets some push </a> (Hindu Businessline; December 13, 2014). </li>
<li> <a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/news/kannada-prabha-december-14-2014-tulu-wikipedia-presentation">Tulu Wikipedia</a> (Kannada Prabha; December 14, 2014). </li>
<li> <a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/news/tulu-wikipedia-december-15-2014-coverage-in-vijaya-karnataka">Tulu Wikipedia</a> (Vijaya Karnataka; December 15, 2014). </li>
<li> <a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/news/tulu-wikipedia-coverage-in-vijayavani">Tulu Wikipedia</a> (VijayaVani; December 27, 2014). </li>
<li> <a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/news/the-hans-india-december-31-2014-works-of-veerasalingam-pantulu-on-web"> Works of Veerasalingam Pantulu on web </a> (Hans India; December 31, 2014). </li>
<li> <a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/news/sakshi-december-31-2014-wiki-winter-camp">Wiki Winter Camp - Coverage in Sakshi</a> (Sakshi; December 31, 2014). </li>
<li> <a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/news/eenadu-december-31-wiki-winter-camp">Wiki Winter Camp - Coverage in Eenadu</a> (Eenadu; December 31, 2014). </li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Event Co-organized</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<b> </b>
<li><b> </b><a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/events/odia-wikisource-sabha-2014">Odia Wikisource Sabha 2014</a> (Co-organized by CIS-A2K and Odia Wikimedia Community; November 28, 2014). Subhashish Panigrahi participated in the event. </li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Participation in Events</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<b> </b>
<li><b> </b><a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/news/ict-for-development">ICT for Development</a> (Organized by Christ University; December 3, 2014). Dr. U.B. Pavanaja was a speaker at this event. </li>
<li> <a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/news/swatantra-2014-icfoss-december-18-20-2014-fifth-international-free-software-conference-in-kerala"> Swatantra 2014: Fifth International Free Software Conference, Kerala </a> (Organized by ICFOSS, Govt. of Kerala; Hotel Hycinth by Sparsa, Trivandrum; December 18 - 20, 2014). T. Vishnu Vardhan chaired a session on Wikimedia and Access to Knowledge in India and Rahimanuddin Shaik co-presented on Making DLI Accessible. </li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">►Openness</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Blog Entry</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<b> </b>
<li><b> </b><a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/blog/department-of-science-and-technology-department-of-biotechnology-adopt-open-access-policy"><b> </b>Department of Science and Technology & Department of Biotechnology adopt Open Access Policy </a> (Anubha Sinha; December 29, 2014). </li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Participation in Events</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<b> </b>
<li><b> </b><a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/news/omidyar-network-december-11-2014-tech-for-citizen-engagement-2014"><b> </b>Tech for Citizen Engagement 2014 </a> (Organized by Omidyar Network; New Delhi; December 11, 2014). Sunil Abraham was a speaker in the session "Rules of Engagement: Emerging Trends in Citizen Outreach". </li>
<li> <a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/news/swatantra-2014-icfoss-december-18-20-2014-fifth-international-free-software-conference-in-kerala"> Swatantra 2014: Fifth International Free Software Conference, Kerala </a> (Organized by ICFOSS, Govt. of Kerala; Hotel Hycinth by Sparsa, Trivandrum; December 18 - 20, 2014). Prof. Subbiah Arunachalam was a speaker and made a presentation on Open Science. </li>
</ul>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance">Internet Governance</a></h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">►Privacy</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">As part of our Surveillance and Freedom: Global Understandings and Rights Development (SAFEGUARD) project with Privacy International we are engaged in enhancing respect for the right to privacy in developing countries. During the month we published the following blog entries:</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>White Papers</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<b> </b>
<li><b> </b><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/loading-constructs-of-privacy-within-classical-hindu-law"><b> </b>Locating Constructs of Privacy within Classical Hindu Law </a> (Ashna Ashesh and Bhairav Acharya; December 29, 2014). </li>
<li> <a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/relationship-between-privacy-and-confidentiality"> Relationship between Privacy and Confidentiality </a> (Vipul Kharbanda; December 30, 2014). </li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Blog Entry</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<b> </b>
<li><b> </b><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/identifying-aspects-of-privacy-in-islamic-law"><b> </b>Identifying Aspects of Privacy in Islamic Law </a> (Vidushi Marda and Bhairav Acharya; December 14, 2014). </li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Upcoming Events</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<b> </b>
<li><b> </b><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/events/security-governments-data-technology-policy"><b> </b>Security, Governments, and Data: Technology and Policy </a> (Co-organized by CIS and the Observer Research Foundation; January 8, 2015; New Delhi). </li>
<li> <a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/cpdp-2015">CPDP 2015</a> : The eighth international conference on computers, privacy and data protection will be held in Brussels from January 21 to 23, 2015. CIS is a moral supporter of CPDP. </li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Event Organized</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<b> </b>
<li><b> </b><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/events/security-and-surveillance-optimizing-security-human-rights"><b> </b>Security and Surveillance: A public discussion on Optimizing Security while Safeguarding Human Rights </a> (CIS; December 19, 2014). </li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">►Free Speech</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Under a grant from the MacArthur Foundation, CIS is doing research on the restrictions placed on freedom of expression online by the Indian government and contribute studies, reports and policy briefs to feed into the ongoing debates at the national as well as international level. As part of the project we bring you the following outputs:</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Blog Entries</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<b> </b>
<li><b> </b><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/cis-receives-information-on-icanns-revenues-from-domain-names-fy-2014"><b> </b>ICANN reveals hitherto undisclosed details of domain names revenues </a> (Geetha Hariharan; December 8, 2014). </li>
<li> <a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/ianas-revolving-door"> Revolving Door Analysis: IANA Stewardship Transition Coordination Group </a> (Lakshmi Venkataraman; December 10, 2014). </li>
<li> <a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/is-india2019s-website-blocking-law-constitutional-2013-i-law-procedure"> Is India's website-blocking law constitutional? - I. Law & procedure </a> (Geetha Hariharan; December 11, 2014). </li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">►Other</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Participation in Event</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<b> </b>
<li><b> </b><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/national-seminar-cyber-security-and-cyber-laws"><b> </b>National Seminar on Cyber Security & Cyber Laws - Issues and Concerns </a> (Organized by the Advanced Centre for Research, Development & Training in Cyber Laws & Forensics; National Law School of India University, Bangalore; December 27 - 28, 2014). Sharath Chandra Ram was part of a plenary session on "Multi-Disciplinary Challenges in Ensuring Cyber Security". </li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Blog Entries</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<b> </b>
<li><b> </b><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/overview-constitutional-challenges-on-itact"><b> </b>Overview of the Constitutional Challenges to the IT Act </a> (Pranesh Prakash; December 15, 2014). </li>
<li> <a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/reply-to-rti-filed-with-bsnl-regarding-network-neutrality-and-throttling"> Reply to RTI filed with BSNL regarding Network Neutrality and Throttling </a> (Tarun Krishnakumar; December 22, 2014). </li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">--------------------------------- <br /> <b><a href="http://cis-india.org/news">News & Media Coverage</a> </b><br /> --------------------------------- <br /> CIS gave its inputs to the following media coverage:</p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li> <a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/livemint-december-5-2014-moulishree-srivastava-india-sees-biggest-improvement-in-internet-freedom"> India sees biggest improvement in Internet freedom, says report </a> (Moulishree Srivastava; Livemint; December 5, 2014). </li>
<li> <a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/ibn-live-december-8-2014-are-cab-apps-safe">Are Cab Apps safe?</a> (IBN Live; December 8, 2014). </li>
<li> <a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/economic-times-december-10-2014-athira-a-nair-frndineed-an-app-for-passenger-safety"> FrndiNeed; an app for passengers' safety </a> (Athira A. Nair; Economic Times; December 10, 2014). </li>
<li> <a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/medianama-december-22-2014-thank-you-to-our-2014-sponsors"> Thank You To Our 2014 Sponsors </a> (Medianama; December 22, 2014). </li>
<li> <a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/business-standard-december-26-2014-anita-babu-why-india-failed-to-discover-the-isis-twitter-handle"> Why did India fail to discover the ISIS Twitter handle? </a> (Anita Babu; Business Standard; December 26, 2014). </li>
<li> <a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/the-hindu-december-28-2014-ajai-sreevatsan-targeting-surveillance"> Targeting surveillance </a> (Ajai Sreevatsan; The Hindu; December 28, 2014). </li>
<li> <a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/the-hindu-businessline-december-31-2015-s-ronendra-singh-"> Centre blocks 32 websites for security reasons, restores some later </a> (S. Ronendra Singh; Hindu Businessline; December 31, 2014). </li>
<li> <a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/ndtv-december-31-2014-dot-reportedly-orders-blocking-of-32-websites-including-github-archiveorg-sourceforge"> DoT Reportedly Orders Blocking of 32 Websites Including GitHub, Archive.org, SourceForge </a> (NDTV; December 31, 2014). </li>
<li> <a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/livemint-december-31-2014-moulishree-srivastava-govt-blocks-32-websites"> Govt blocks 32 websites, including Vimeo and Github </a> (Moulishree Srivastava; Livemint; December 31, 2014). </li>
<li> <a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/ib-times-jeff-stone-december-31-2014-sites-blocked-in-india-for-anti-india-content-from-isis"> Vimeo, DailyMotion, Pastebin Among Sites Blocked In India For 'Anti-India' Content From ISIS </a> (Jeff Stone; IB Times; December 31, 2014). </li>
<li> <a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/times-of-india-anupam-saxena-december-31-2014-pastein-dailymotion-github-blocked-after-dot-order"> Pastebin, Dailymotion, Github blocked after DoT order: Report </a> (Anupam Saxena; The Times of India; December 31, 2014). </li>
</ul>
<h3><a href="http://cis-india.org/telecom">Telecom</a></h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">CIS is involved in promoting access and accessibility to telecommunications services and resources and has provided inputs to ongoing policy discussions and consultation papers published by TRAI. It has prepared reports on unlicensed spectrum and accessibility of mobile phones for persons with disabilities and also works with the USOF to include funding projects for persons with disabilities in its mandate:</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Newspaper Column</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
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<li><b> </b><a href="https://cis-india.org/telecom/blog/organizing-india-blogspot-shyam-ponappa-december-4-2014-a-roadmap-for-digital-india"><b> </b>A Road Map for Digital India </a> (Shyam Ponappa; Business Standard; December 3, 2014 and Organizing India Blogspot; December 4, 2014). </li>
</ul>
<h3><a href="http://cis-india.org/raw/digital-humanities">Digital Humanities</a></h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">CIS is building research clusters in the field of Digital Humanities. The Digital will be used as a way of unpacking the debates in humanities and social sciences and look at the new frameworks, concepts and ideas that emerge in our engagement with the digital. The clusters aim to produce and document new conversations and debates that shape the contours of Digital Humanities in Asia:</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Blog Entry</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
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<li><b> </b><a href="https://cis-india.org/raw/the-spaces-of-digital">The Spaces of Digital</a> (P.P.Sneha; December 30, 2014). </li>
</ul>
<h2><a href="http://cis-india.org/">About CIS</a></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The Centre for Internet and Society is a non-profit research organization that works on policy issues relating to freedom of expression, privacy, accessibility for persons with disabilities, access to knowledge and IPR reform, and openness (including open government, FOSS, open standards, etc.), and engages in academic research on digital natives and digital humanities.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">► Follow us elsewhere</p>
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<li> Twitter:<a href="https://twitter.com/CISA2K"> </a><a href="https://twitter.com/CISA2K">https://twitter.com/CISA2K</a> </li>
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<li> E-mail: <a href="mailto:a2k@cis-india.org">a2k@cis-india.org</a> </li>
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<p style="text-align: justify; ">► Support Us</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Please help us defend consumer / citizen rights on the Internet! Write a cheque in favour of 'The Centre for Internet and Society' and mail it to us at No. 194, 2nd 'C' Cross, Domlur, 2nd Stage, Bengaluru - 5600 71.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">► Request for Collaboration:</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">We invite researchers, practitioners, and theoreticians, both organisationally and as individuals, to collaboratively engage with Internet and society and improve our understanding of this new field. To discuss the research collaborations, write to Sunil Abraham, Executive Director, at sunil@cis-india.org. To discuss collaborations on Indic language Wikipedia, write to T. Vishnu Vardhan, Programme Director, A2K, at <a href="mailto:vishnu@cis-india.org">vishnu@cis-india.org</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><i> CIS is grateful to its primary donor the Kusuma Trust founded by Anurag Dikshit and Soma Pujari, philanthropists of Indian origin for its core funding and support for most of its projects. CIS is also grateful to its other donors, Wikimedia Foundation, Ford Foundation, Privacy International, UK, Hans Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, and IDRC for funding its various projects. </i></p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/december-2014-bulletin'>https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/december-2014-bulletin</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaAccess to KnowledgeTelecomAccessibilityInternet GovernanceOpennessResearchers at Work2015-01-12T16:56:54ZPageDatafication of the Public Distribution System in India
https://cis-india.org/raw/datafication-of-the-public-distribution-system-in-india
<b>In this study, we look into the datafication of social protection schemes with a special focus on the Public Distribution System in India. Proponents of datafication claim that the benefits will reach the right person and curb leakages through the automation and digitisation of all PDS processes. Aadhaar is the most important link in the datafication; supporters claim that it makes technology people-centric. This study looks at the status of PDS datafication and its impact on the delivery of the scheme in Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand. We also try to understand to what extent the stated objective of portability has been met and how far the challenges faced by the rights holders of the PDS have been resolved. </b>
<p>Read the full report <a href="https://cis-india.org/raw/datafication-of-the-public-distribution-system-in-india-pdf" class="internal-link">here</a>.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/raw/datafication-of-the-public-distribution-system-in-india'>https://cis-india.org/raw/datafication-of-the-public-distribution-system-in-india</a>
</p>
No publisherSameet PandaRAW ResearchFeaturedResearchers at WorkRAW Blog2024-02-12T12:07:40ZBlog EntryData Lives of Humanities Text
https://cis-india.org/raw/data-lives-of-humanities-text
<b>The ‘computational turn’ in the humanities has brought with it several questions and challenges for traditional ways of engaging with the ‘text’ as an object of enquiry. The prevalence of data-driven scholarship in the humanities offers several challenges to traditional forms of work and practice, with regard to theory, tools, and methods. In the context of the digital, ‘text’ acquires new forms and meanings, especially with practices such as distant reading. Drawing upon excerpts from an earlier study on digital humanities in India, this essay discusses how data in the humanities is not a new phenomenon; concerns about the ‘datafication’ of humanities, now seen prominently in digital humanities and related fields is actually reflective of a longer conflict about the inherited separation between humanities and technology. It looks at how ‘data’ in the humanities has become a new object of enquiry as a result of several changes in the media landscape in the past few decades. These include large-scale digitalization and availability of corpora of materials (digitized and born-digital) in an array of formats and across varied platforms, thus leading to also a steady prevalence of the use of computational methods in working with and studying cultural artifacts today. This essay also explores how reading ‘text as data’ helps understand the role of data in the making of humanities texts and redefines traditional ideas of textuality, reading, and the reader.</b>
<p> </p>
<h4>This essay by Puthiya Purayil Sneha was published in <em>Lives of Data: Essays on Computational Cultures from India</em> (2020) edited by Sandeep Mertia, with a Foreword by Ravi Sundaram as part of the Series on Theory on Demand by Institute of Network Cultures, Amsterdam.</h4>
<h4>Read the open access book <a href="https://networkcultures.org/blog/publication/lives-of-data-essays-on-computational-cultures-from-india/" target="_blank">here</a>.</h4>
<p> </p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/raw/data-lives-of-humanities-text'>https://cis-india.org/raw/data-lives-of-humanities-text</a>
</p>
No publishersneha-ppResearchResearchers at WorkPublicationsDigital Humanities2020-12-23T13:07:43ZBlog EntryData Infrastructures and Inequities: Why Does Reproductive Health Surveillance in India Need Our Urgent Attention?
https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/data-infrastructures-inequities-reproductive-health-surveillance-india
<b>In order to bring out certain conceptual and procedural problems with health monitoring in the Indian context, this article by Aayush Rathi and Ambika Tandon posits health monitoring as surveillance and not merely as a “data problem.” Casting a critical feminist lens, the historicity of surveillance practices unveils the gendered power differentials wedded into taken-for-granted “benign” monitoring processes. The unpacking of the Mother and Child Tracking System and the National Health Stack reveals the neo-liberal aspirations of the Indian state. </b>
<p> </p>
<p><em>The article was first published by <a href="https://www.epw.in/engage/article/data-infrastructures-inequities-why-does-reproductive-health-surveillance-india-need-urgent-attention" target="_blank">EPW Engage, Vol. 54, Issue No. 6</a>, on 9 February 2019.</em></p>
<hr />
<h3><strong>Framing Reproductive Health as a Surveillance Question</strong></h3>
<p>The approach of the postcolonial Indian state to healthcare has been Malthusian, with the prioritisation of family planning and birth control (Hodges 2004). Supported by the notion of socio-economic development arising out of a “modernisation” paradigm, the target-based approach to achieving reduced fertility rates has shaped India’s reproductive and child health (RCH) programme (Simon-Kumar 2006).</p>
<p>This is also the context in which India’s abortion law, the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act, was framed in 1971, placing the decisional privacy of women seeking abortions in the hands of registered medical practitioners. The framing of the MTP act invisibilises females seeking abortions for non-medical reasons within the legal framework. The exclusionary provisions only exacerbated existing gaps in health provisioning, as access to safe and legal abortions had already been curtailed by severe geographic inequalities in funding, infrastructure, and human resources. The state has concomitantly been unable to meet contraceptive needs of married couples or reduce maternal and infant mortality rates in large parts of the country, mediating access along the lines of class, social status, education, and age (Sanneving et al 2013).</p>
<p>While the official narrative around the RCH programme transitioned to focus on universal access to healthcare in the 1990s, the target-based approach continues to shape the reality on the ground. The provision of reproductive healthcare has been deeply unequal and, in some cases, in hospitals. These targets have been known to be met through the practice of forced, and often unsafe, sterilisation, in conditions of absence of adequate provisions or trained professionals, pre-sterilisation counselling, or alternative forms of contraception (Sama and PLD 2018). Further, patients have regularly been provided cash incentives, foreclosing the notion of free consent, especially given that the target population of these camps has been women from marginalised economic classes in rural India.</p>
<p>Placing surveillance studies within a feminist praxis allows us to frame the reproductive health landscape as more than just an ill-conceived, benign monitoring structure. The critical lens becomes useful for highlighting that taken-for-granted structures of monitoring are wedded with power differentials: genetic screening in fertility clinics, identification documents such as birth certificates, and full-body screeners are just some of the manifestations of this (Adrejevic 2015). Emerging conversations around feminist surveillance studies highlight that these data systems are neither benign nor free of gendered implications (Andrejevic 2015). In continual remaking of the social, corporeal body as a data actor in society, such practices render some bodies normative and obfuscate others, based on categorisations put in place by the surveiller.</p>
<p>In fact, the history of surveillance can be traced back to the colonial state where it took the form of systematic sexual and gendered violence enacted upon indigenous populations in order to render them compliant (Rifkin 2011; Morgensen 2011). Surveillance, then, manifests as a “scientific” rationalisation of complex social hieroglyphs (such as reproductive health) into formats enabling administrative interventions by the modern state. Lyon (2001) has also emphasised how the body emerged as the site of surveillance in order for the disciplining of the “irrational, sensual body”—essential to the functioning of the modern nation-state—to effectively happen.</p>
<h3><strong>Questioning the Information and Communications Technology for Development (ICT4D) and Big Data for Development (BD4D) Rhetoric</strong></h3>
<p>Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and data-driven approaches to the development of a robust health information system, and by extension, welfare, have been offered as solutions to these inequities and exclusions in access to maternal and reproductive healthcare in the country.</p>
<p>The move towards data-driven development in the country commenced with the introduction of the Health Management Information System in Andhra Pradesh in 2008, and the Mother and Child Tracking System (MCTS) nationally in 2011. These are reproductive health information systems (HIS) that collect granular data about each pregnancy from the antenatal to the post-natal period, at the level of each sub-centre as well as primary and community health centre. The introduction of HIS comprised cross-sectoral digitisation measures that were a part of the larger national push towards e-governance; along with health, thirty other distinct areas of governance, from land records to banking to employment, were identified for this move towards the digitalised provisioning of services (MeitY 2015).</p>
<p>The HIS have been seen as playing a critical role in the ecosystem of health service provision globally. HIS-based interventions in reproductive health programming have been envisioned as a means of: (i) improving access to services in the context of a healthcare system ridden with inequalities; (ii) improving the quality of services provided, and (iii) producing better quality data to facilitate the objectives of India’s RCH programme, including family planning and population control. Accordingly, starting 2018, the MCTS is being replaced by the RCH portal in a phased manner. The RCH portal, in areas where the ANMOL (ANM Online) application has been introduced, captures data real-time through tablets provided to health workers (MoHFW 2015).</p>
<p>A proposal to mandatorily link the Aadhaar with data on pregnancies and abortions through the MCTS/RCH has been made by the union minister for Women and Child Development as a deterrent to gender-biased sex selection (Tembhekar 2016). The proposal stems from the prohibition of gender-biased sex selection provided under the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostics Techniques (PCPNDT) Act, 1994. The approach taken so far under the PCPNDT Act, 2014 has been to regulate the use of technologies involved in sex determination. However, the steady decline in the national sex ratio since the passage of the PCPNDT Act provides a clear indication that the regulation of such technology has been largely ineffective. A national policy linking Aadhaar with abortions would be aimed at discouraging gender-biased sex selection through state surveillance, in direct violation of a female’s right to decisional privacy with regards to their own body.</p>
<p>Linking Aadhaar would also be used as a mechanism to enable direct benefit transfer (DBT) to the beneficiaries of the national maternal benefits scheme. Linking reproductive health services to the Aadhaar ecosystem has been critiqued because it is exclusionary towards women with legitimate claims towards abortions and other reproductive services and benefits, and it heightens the risk of data breaches in a cultural fabric that already stigmatises abortions. The bodies on which this stigma is disproportionately placed, unmarried or disabled females, for instance, experience the harms of visibility through centralised surveillance mechanisms more acutely than others by being penalised for their deviance from cultural expectations. This is in accordance with the theory of "data extremes,” wherein marginalised communities are seen as living on the extremes of data capture, leading to a data regime that either refuses to recognise them as legitimate entities or subjects them to overpolicing in order to discipline deviance (Arora 2016). In both developed and developing contexts, the broader purpose of identity management has largely been to demarcate legitimate and illegitimate actors within a population, either within the framework of security or welfare.</p>
<h3><strong>Potential Harms of the Data Model of Reproductive Health Provisioning</strong></h3>
<p>Informational privacy and decisional privacy are critically shaped by data flows and security within the MCTS/RCH. No standards for data sharing and storage, or anonymisation and encryption of data have been implemented despite role-based authentication (NHSRC and Taurus Glocal 2011). The risks of this architectural design are further amplified in the context of the RCH/ANMOL where data is captured real-time. In the absence of adequate safeguards against data leaks, real-time data capture risks the publicising of reproductive health choices in an already stigmatised environment. This opens up avenues for further dilution of autonomy in making future reproductive health choices.</p>
<p>Several core principles of informational privacy, such as limitations regarding data collection and usage, or informed consent, also need to be reworked within this context.<sup>[1]</sup> For instance, the centrality of the requirement of “free, informed consent” by an individual would need to be replaced by other models, especially in the context of reproductive health of rape survivors who are vulnerable and therefore unable to exercise full agency. The ability to make a free and informed choice, already dismantled in the context of contemporary data regimes, gets further precluded in such contexts. The constraints on privacy in decisions regarding the body are then replicated in the domain of reproductive data collection.</p>
<p>What is uniform across these digitisation initiatives is their treatment of maternal and reproductive health as solely a medical event, framed as a data scarcity problem. In doing so, they tend to amplify the understanding of reproductive health through measurable indicators that ignore social determinants of health. For instance, several studies conducted in the rural Indian context have shown that the degree of women’s autonomy influences the degree of usage of pregnancy care, and that the uptake of pregnancy care was associated with village-level indicators such as economic development, provisioning of basic infrastructure and social cohesion. These contextual factors get overridden in pervasive surveillance systems that treat reproductive healthcare as comprising only of measurable indicators and behaviours, that are dependent on individual behaviour of practitioners and women themselves, rather than structural gaps within the system.</p>
<p>While traditionally associated with state governance, the contemporary surveillance regime is experienced as distinct from its earlier forms due to its reliance on a nexus between surveillance by the state and private institutions and actors, with both legal frameworks and material apparatuses for data collection and sharing (Shepherd 2017). As with historical forms of surveillance, the harms of contemporary data regimes accrue disproportionately among already marginalised and dissenting communities and individuals. Data-driven surveillance has been critiqued for its excesses in multiple contexts globally, including in the domains of predictive policing, health management, and targeted advertising (Mason 2015). In the attempts to achieve these objectives, surveillance systems have been criticised for their reliance on replicating past patterns, reifying proximity to a hetero-patriarchal norm (Haggerty and Ericson 2000). Under data-driven surveillance systems, this proximity informs the preexisting boxes of identity for which algorithmic representations of the individual are formed. The boxes are defined contingent on the distinct objectives of the particular surveillance project, collating disparate pieces of data flows and resulting in the recasting of the singular offline self into various 'data doubles' (Haggerty and Ericson 2000). Refractive, rather than reflective, the data doubles have implications for the physical, embodied life of individual with an increasing number of service provisioning relying on the data doubles (Lyon 2001). Consider, for instance, apps on menstruation, fertility, and health, and wearables such as fitness trackers and pacers, that support corporate agendas around what a woman’s healthy body should look, be or behave like (Lupton 2014). Once viewed through the lens of power relations, the fetishised, apolitical notion of the data “revolution” gives way to what we may better understand as “dataveillance.”</p>
<h3><strong>Towards a Networked State and a Neo-liberal Citizen</strong></h3>
<p>Following in this tradition of ICT being treated as the solution to problems plaguing India’s public health information system, a larger, all-pervasive healthcare ecosystem is now being proposed by the Indian state (NITI Aayog 2018). Termed the National Health Stack, it seeks to create a centralised electronic repository of health records of Indian citizens with the aim of capturing every instance of healthcare service usage. Among other functions, it also envisions a platform for the provisioning of health and wellness-based services that may be dispensed by public or private actors in an attempt to achieve universal health coverage. By allowing private parties to utilise the data collected through pullable open application program interfaces (APIs), it also fits within the larger framework of the National Health Policy 2017 that envisions the private sector playing a significant role in the provision of healthcare in India. It also then fits within the state–private sector nexus that characterises dataveillance. This, in turn, follows broader trends towards market-driven solutions and private financing of health sector reform measures that have already had profound consequences on the political economy of healthcare worldwide (Joe et al 2018).</p>
<p>These initiatives are, in many ways, emblematic of the growing adoption of network governance reform by the Indian state (Newman 2001). This is a stark shift from its traditional posturing as the hegemonic sovereign nation state. This shift entails the delayering from large, hierarchical and unitary government systems to horizontally arranged, more flexible, relatively dispersed systems.<sup>[2]</sup> The former govern through the power of rules and law, while the latter take the shape of self-regulating networks such as public–private contractual arrangements (Snellen 2005). ICTs have been posited as an effective tool in enabling the transition to network governance by enhancing local governance and interactive policymaking enabling the co-production of knowledge (Ferlie et al 2011). The development of these capabilities is also critical to addressing “wicked problems” such as healthcare (Rittel and Webber 1973).<sup>[3]</sup> The application of the techno-deterministic, data-driven model to reproductive healthcare provision, then, resembles a fetishised approach to technological change. The NHSRC describes this as the collection of data without an objective, leading to a disproportional burden on data collection over use (NHSRC and Taurus Glocal 2011).</p>
<p>The blurring of the functions of state and private actors is reflective of the neo-liberal ethic, which produces new practices of governmentality. Within the neo-liberal framework of reproductive healthcare, the citizen is constructed as an individual actor, with agency over and responsibility for their own health and well-being (Maturo et al 2016).</p>
<h3><strong>“Quantified Self” of the Neo-liberal Citizen</strong></h3>
<p>Nowhere can the manifestation of this neo-liberal citizen can be seen as clearly as in the “quantified self” movement. The quantified self movement refers to the emergence of a whole range of apps that enable the user to track bodily functions and record data to achieve wellness and health goals, including menstruation, fertility, pregnancies, and health indicators in the mother and baby. Lupton (2015) labels this as the emergence of the “digitised reproductive citizen,” who is expected to be attentive to her fertility and sexual behaviour to achieve better reproductive health goals. The practice of collecting data around reproductive health is not new to the individual or the state, as has been demonstrated by the discussion above. What is new in this regime of datafication under the self-tracking movement is the monetisation of reproductive health data by private actors, the labour for which is performed by the user. Focusing on embodiment draws attention to different kinds of exploitation engendered by reproductive health apps. Not only is data about the body collected and sold, the unpaid labour for collection is extracted from the user. The reproductive body can then be understood as a cyborg, or a woman-machine hybrid, systematically digitising its bodily functions for profit-making within the capitalist (re)production machine (Fotoloulou 2016). Accordingly, all major reproductive health tracking apps have a business model that relies on selling information about users for direct marketing of products around reproductive health and well-being (Felizi and Varon nd).</p>
<p>As has been pointed out in the case of big data more broadly, reproductive health applications (apps) facilitate the visibility of the female reproductive body in the public domain. Supplying anonymised data sets to medical researchers and universities fills some of the historical gaps in research around the female body and reproductive health. Reproductive and sexual health tracking apps globally provide their users a platform to engage with biomedical information around sexual and reproductive health. Through group chats on the platform, they are also able to engage with experiential knowledge of sexual and reproductive health. This could also help form transnational networks of solidarity around the body and health (Fotopoulou 2016).</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">This radical potential of network-building around reproductive and sexual health is, however, tempered to a large extent by the reconfiguration of gendered stereotypes through these apps. In a study on reproductive health apps on Google Play Store, Lupton (2014) finds that products targeted towards female users are marketed through the discourse of risk and vulnerability, while those targeted towards male users are framed within that of virility. Apart from reiterating gendered stereotypes around the male and female body, such a discourse assumes that the entire labour of family planning is performed by females. This same is the case with the MCTS/RCH.</p>
<p>Technological interventions such as reproductive health apps as well as HIS are based on the assumption that females have perfect control over decisions regarding their own bodies and reproductive health, despite this being disproved in India. The Guttmacher Institute (2014) has found that 60% of women in India report not having control over decisions regarding their own healthcare. The failure to account for the husband or the family as stakeholder in decision-making around reproductive health has been a historical failure of the family planning programme in India, and is now being replicated in other modalities. This notion of an autonomous citizen who is able to take responsibility of their own reproductive health and well-being does not hold true in the Indian context. It can even be seen as marginalising females who have already been excluded from the reproductive health system, as they are held responsible for their own inability to access healthcare.</p>
<h3><strong>Concluding Remarks</strong></h3>
<p>The interplay that emerges between reproductive health surveillance and data infrastructures is a complex one. It requires the careful positioning of the political nature of data collection and processing as well as its hetero-patriarchal and colonial legacies, within the need for effective utilisation of data for achieving developmental goals. Assessing this discourse through a feminist lens identifies the web of power relations in data regimes. This problematises narratives of technological solutions for welfare provision.</p>
<p>The reproductive healthcare framework in India then offers up a useful case study to assess these concerns. The growing adoption of ICT-based surveillance tools to equalise access to healthcare needs to be understood in the socio-economic, legal, and cultural context where these tools are being implemented. Increased surveillance has historically been associated with causing the structural gendered violence that it is now being offered as a solution to. This is a function of normative standards being constructed for reproductive behaviour that necessarily leave out broader definitions of reproductive health and welfare when viewed through a feminist lens. Within the larger context of health policymaking in India, moves towards privatisation then demonstrate the peculiarity of dataveillance as it functions through an unaccountable and pervasive overlapping of state and private surveillance practises. It remains to be seen how these trends in ICT-driven health policies affect access to reproductive rights and decisional privacy for millions of females in India and other parts of the global South.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/data-infrastructures-inequities-reproductive-health-surveillance-india'>https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/data-infrastructures-inequities-reproductive-health-surveillance-india</a>
</p>
No publisherAayush Rathi and Ambika TandonBig DataData SystemsPrivacyResearchers at WorkInternet GovernanceResearchBD4DHealthcareSurveillanceBig Data for Development2019-12-30T16:44:32ZBlog EntryData for Governance, Governance of Data, and Data Anxieties
https://cis-india.org/raw/data-for-governance-governance-of-data-and-data-anxieties
<b>The Center for International Media Assistance (CIMA) organised a panel discussion on 'The Data Explosion – How the Internet of Things will Affect Media Freedom and Communication Systems?' at Deutsche Welle's Global Media Forum 2016, held in Bonn, Germany during June 13-15, 2016. Sumandro Chattapadhyay was invited as one of the panelists.</b>
<p> </p>
<h2>Introduction to the Panel</h2>
<p>The emerging Internet of Things (IoT) will result in a vast network of Internet-connected devices that generate enormous volumes of data about human behavior and interactions. This data explosion will potentially reshape how media organizations both collect and report news, while at the same time fundamentally shifting how communications networks are organized worldwide. Yet currently most of the discussion about the IoT has focused on its spread in developed countries via the popularization of Internet-connected consumer devices.</p>
<p>In this panel we will discuss how the IoT may develop differently in the Global South and how it could present either a threat to open access to data and information, or an opportunity to improve media systems worldwide. We will also examine the impact of the data explosion in developing countries and what mechanisms need to be created in order to ensure the huge new mountain of data is used and governed responsibly.</p>
<p>The discussants were Carlos Affonso Souza (Director, <a href="http://itsrio.org/en/">Institute for Technology and Society</a> of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), Lorena Jaume-Palasi (Director for Communications, <a href="http://www.eurodig.org/">European Dialogue on Internet Governance, or EuroDIG</a>, Switzerland), and Sumandro Chattapadhyay (Research Director, the Centre for Internet and Society, India); and the conversation was led by Mark Nelson (Senior Director, <a href="http://www.cima.ned.org/">Center for International Media Assistance, or CIMA</a>, USA).</p>
<p><em>Source: <a href="http://www.dw.com/en/the-data-explosion-how-the-internet-of-things-will-affect-media-freedom-and-communication-systems/a-19116102">Deutsche Welle</a></em>.</p>
<p> </p>
<h2>Audio Recording</h2>
<iframe src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/269045180&color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false" frameborder="no" scrolling="no" height="166" width="100%"></iframe>
<p> </p>
<h2>Things/Writings I have Mentioned</h2>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://aqicn.org/map/world/">Air Pollution in World: Real-time Air Quality Index Visual Map</a>.</li>
<li><a href="http://openenvironment.indiaopendata.com/#/airowl/">India Open Data Association - AirOwl</a>.</li>
<li><a href="http://openenvironment.indiaopendata.com/#/dashboard/">India Open Data Association - Open Environment Data Project</a>.</li>
<li><a href="http://scroll.in/article/805909/in-rajasthan-there-is-unrest-at-the-ration-shop-because-of-error-ridden-aadhaar">Anumeha Yadav - 'In Rajasthan, there is ‘unrest at the ration shop’ because of error-ridden Aadhaar'</a>.</li>
<li><a href="http://thewire.in/2016/05/16/before-geospatial-bill-a-long-history-of-killing-the-map-in-order-to-protect-the-territory-36453/">Sumandro Chattapadhyay and Adya Garg - 'Before Geospatial Bill: A Long History of Killing the Map in Order to Protect the Territory'</a>.</li>
<li><a href="http://savethemap.in/">Save the Map</a>.</li></ul>
<p> </p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/raw/data-for-governance-governance-of-data-and-data-anxieties'>https://cis-india.org/raw/data-for-governance-governance-of-data-and-data-anxieties</a>
</p>
No publishersumandroDigital NewsGeospatial Information Regulation BillUIDData SystemsDigital KnowledgeResearchAadhaarResearchers at Work2016-07-03T05:59:48ZBlog EntryData bleeding everywhere: a story of period trackers
https://cis-india.org/raw/sadaf-khan-data-bleeding-everywhere-a-story-of-period-trackers
<b>This is an excerpt from an essay by Sadaf Khan, written for and published as part of the Bodies of Evidence collection of Deep Dives. The Bodies of Evidence collection, edited by Bishakha Datta and Richa Kaul Padte, is a collaboration between Point of View and the Centre for Internet and Society, undertaken as part of the Big Data for Development Network supported by International Development Research Centre, Canada.</b>
<p> </p>
<h4>Please read the full essay on Deep Dives: <a href="https://deepdives.in/data-bleeding-everywhere-a-story-of-period-trackers-8766dc6a1e00" target="_blank">Data bleeding everywhere: a story of period trackers</a></h4>
<h4>Sadaf Khan: <a href="http://mediamatters.pk/the-team/" target="_blank">Media Matters for Democracy</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/nuqsh" target="_blank">Twitter</a></h4>
<hr />
<p>...By now there are a number of questions buzzing around my head, most of them unasked. Are users comfortable with so much of their data being collected? Are there really algorithms that string together all this data into medically-relevant trends? How reliable can these trends be when usage is erratic? Are period tracking apps pioneering, fundamental elements of a future where medical aid is digital and reliable data is inevitably linked to the provision of medical services? And if so, are privacy and health soon to become conflicting rights?</p>
<p>I also want to find out how users understand data collection and privacy before giving apps consent to utilize their data and information as they will. Hareem says she gives apps informed consent. ‘If my data becomes a part of the statistics aiding medical research, why not? There is no harm in it. I am getting a good service, and if my data helps create a better understanding as a part of a larger statistical pool, they are welcome to use it.’</p>
<p>But is she really sure that this information will be used only as anonymised data for medical research? ‘Look at the kind of information that is being collected,’ she answers. ‘Dates, mood, consistency of mucus, basal temperature. What kind of use does one have for this data?’</p>
<p>Naila, in turn, says: ‘Honestly, I have never really thought about what happens to the data the application collects. Obviously I enter detailed information about my cycle and my moods and my sex life. But a), my account is under a fake name and b), even if it wasn’t, who would have any use for stuff like when my period starts and ends and what my mood or digestive system is like at any given moment?’</p>
<p>In fact, this sentiment is shared among all the women interviewed for this piece — what use would anyone have for this data?</p>
<p>As users, we often imagine our own data as anonymised within a huge dataset. But as users, we don’t have enough information about how our data is being used — or will be used in future. The open and at times vague language of a platform’s terms and conditions allows menstrual apps to use data in ways that I may not know of. Some apps continue to hold customer data even after an account is deleted. Even though I may technically ‘agree’ to the terms and conditions, is this fully informed consent?</p>
<p>One of the big concerns around this kind of medical information being collected is the potential for collaborations with big pharmaceuticals and other health service providers. With apps sitting on a goldmine of users’ fertility and health information, health service providers might mine their data for potential consumers and reach out directly to them. While this is like any targeted marketing campaign, the fact that the advertiser is likely to be offering medical services to women suffering from infertility and are at their most vulnerable, raises totally different ethical concerns.</p>
<p>And these apps and their businesses might grow in directions that users haven’t taken into consideration. Take Ovia’s health feature for companies to buy premium services for their employees. While the gesture is packaged as a goodwill one, it also means that an employer has access to extremely private and intimate medical information about their women employees. And while the data set is anonymised, it is still possible to figure out the identity of users based on specific information. For example, how many women in any company are pregnant at any given time?...</p>
<p>Pregnant a year after my miscarriage, I initially downloaded multiple apps in a bid to find a good fit. I don’t know which one of these was in communication with Facebook. But almost immediately, my Facebook timeline started becoming littered with ads for baby stuff — clothes, shoes bibs, prams, cribs, ointments for stretch marks, maternity wear, the works.</p>
<p>It makes me think of those old school clockwork-style videos. You drop a ball and off it goes: making dominos fall, knocking over pots and pans, setting in motion absurd, synchronized mechanisms. Similarly, I drop my data and watch it hurtle into my life, on to other platforms, off to vendors. Maybe to stalkers? To employers? Who knows.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/raw/sadaf-khan-data-bleeding-everywhere-a-story-of-period-trackers'>https://cis-india.org/raw/sadaf-khan-data-bleeding-everywhere-a-story-of-period-trackers</a>
</p>
No publishersumandroBodies of EvidenceResearchers at WorkResearchFeaturedPublicationsBD4DBig Data for Development2019-12-06T05:03:09ZBlog EntryD:Coding Digital Natives
https://cis-india.org/digital-natives/d-coding-digital-natives
<b>Nishant Shah was invited for a public talk at the University of California, Los Angeles. He presented the work done on Digital Natives and spoke about questions of participation and resistance. The talk has been featured in the YouTube channel.</b>
<p>Nishant spoke about the ways by which technology revolution and change has been characterised through the question of voice (how technology has enabled for alternative voices to emerge as ways by which they can be heard), question of amplification (what 10 years ago might have been local phenomena are becoming global spectacles) and the question of power (what really happens when voice and amplification comes to an end). <br /><br />Nishant said that in the last three years of revolutions we have also now witnessed this extraordinary thing where lot of promises were made of different kinds of revolution but which never materialised in terms of what they intended to. Citizen action happens but it doesn’t lead into anything concrete. One of the examples from India was the Anna Hazare’s campaign or India’s fight against corruption. There was this immense amount of campaign on the corruption in Indian bureaucracy and political society... the only instance of mass mobilisation that we saw in India in recent times apart from the cricket series...and how the campaign in seven short months has totally disappeared from public discourse.</p>
<p>For more, watch the <strong>video</strong> now:</p>
<iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/YvY__z3jN7M" frameborder="0" height="315" width="420"></iframe>
<p> </p>
<p>Date: March 9, 2012<br />Time: 12 to 1 p.m.<br />Venue: Library Conference Center Presentation Room, University of California</p>
<a class="external-link" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvY__z3jN7M">Follow the video on YouTube</a>
<p> </p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/digital-natives/d-coding-digital-natives'>https://cis-india.org/digital-natives/d-coding-digital-natives</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaVideoResearchers at WorkDigital Natives2015-05-08T12:30:14ZBlog EntryCyber Fears: What scares Digital Natives and those around them
https://cis-india.org/digital-natives/blog/cyber-fears-what-scares-digital-natives-and-those-around-them
<b>Societies around the world are quickly digitising
...Twitter....
...Facebook...
...Wireless accessible everywhere...
“Digital Natives” are those who have figured how to use these technologies to their full potential
But even they have real fears.
If you are a Digital Native, are related to one or work with/alongside with one come share your fears with us!
Blogathon: Many people bloging together at the same time on a shared topic
Date: Monday April 18th, 2011
On http://digitalnatives.in
</b>
<p>This is the 2nd blogathon of the "Digital Natives with a Cause?" project. <br /><br />A
blogathon is an event where people from all over the world blog about a
shared topic together, at the same time, giving an interesting
cross-cultural snapshot of the issue at hand. <br /><br />We all have
dreams, hopes and aspirations. What are you afraid of? in your personal
life? in your practice? in your politics? or in your ideology?<br /><span class="text_exposed_hide"></span><span class="text_exposed_show"><br />As a young person using digital technologies - what scares you? <br /><br />As someone who is related to a digital native - what scares you? <br /><br />As someone who works with/along digital natives - what scares you? <br /><br />Let's
find out from 1st person accounts what scares young digital people,
what scares their relatives and what scares their co-workers and team
mates. Let's move beyond the stereotypes, the sensationalism and the
mystery which surrounds this exciting concept, the "Digital Native".
Tell us what you think!<br /><br />come share your thoughts along with people from all over the world. <br /><br />Blog together as one in the 2nd blogathon of "Digital Natives with a Cause?". <br /><br />Sample fears: <br /><br />If you are a digital native: <br />Are
you scared of censorship or being denied access to the internet? are
you scared of being stereotyped as geeky or nerdy? are you scared of the
expectations society puts on you? Are you afraid of revealing too much
of yourself online? are you simply afraid that the power might go out in
the middle of the day? <br /><br />If you are the parent / relative of a digital native: <br />Popular
depictions paint older generations as paranoid of the access enjoyed by
digital natives. Is this really true? is it true for you? are you
afraid of what a digital native might be doing online? are you afraid of
new technologies themselves? Do you have any fears that are not being
articulated by current dialogues? <br /><br /><br />If you work with digital natives:<br />
Are you afraid of the easy at which young people use digital
technologies? are you afraid they might be under utilizing the potential
of these tools? <br /></span></p>
<p><br /><span class="text_exposed_show"></span><strong>Date: Monday April 18th, 2011<br />On http://digitalnatives.in<br />email: digitalnatives@cis-india.org<br />or check out the FB event: http://tinyurl.com/6h6vfmy</strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
<p>Check out the <a href="https://cis-india.org/digital-natives/blog/uploads/Cyber%20fears.pdf" class="internal-link" title="Cyber fears poster">Cyber fears poster</a><br /><span class="text_exposed_show"></span></p>
<p><span class="text_exposed_show"><br /></span></p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/digital-natives/blog/cyber-fears-what-scares-digital-natives-and-those-around-them'>https://cis-india.org/digital-natives/blog/cyber-fears-what-scares-digital-natives-and-those-around-them</a>
</p>
No publishertettnerResearchers at WorkDigital Natives2015-05-15T11:45:05ZBlog Entry