The Centre for Internet and Society
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WIPO SCCR 24 Post-lunch Text (July 25, 2012)
https://cis-india.org/a2k/2012-07-25_sccr24_post-lunch.txt
<b>This is an unedited rough transcript of the discussions at SCCR 24, which was live-streamed and made available by WIPO.</b>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/a2k/2012-07-25_sccr24_post-lunch.txt'>https://cis-india.org/a2k/2012-07-25_sccr24_post-lunch.txt</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaAccess to KnowledgeWIPO2012-07-31T12:34:00ZFileWIPO SCCR 24 Post-lunch Text (July 24, 2012)
https://cis-india.org/a2k/2012-07-24_sccr24_post-lunch.txt
<b>This is an unedited rough transcript of the discussions at SCCR 24, which was live-streamed and made available by WIPO.</b>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/a2k/2012-07-24_sccr24_post-lunch.txt'>https://cis-india.org/a2k/2012-07-24_sccr24_post-lunch.txt</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaAccess to KnowledgeWIPO2012-07-31T12:13:25ZFileWIPO SCCR 24 Post-lunch Text (July 20, 2012)
https://cis-india.org/a2k/2012-07-20-sccr24-post-lunch.txt
<b>This is a rough transcript of the WIPO-SCCR discussions.</b>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/a2k/2012-07-20-sccr24-post-lunch.txt'>https://cis-india.org/a2k/2012-07-20-sccr24-post-lunch.txt</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaCopyrightAccess to KnowledgeWIPO2012-07-25T03:34:22ZFileWIPO SCCR 24 Post-lunch Text (July 19, 2012)
https://cis-india.org/a2k/2012-07-19-sccr24-post-lunch.txt
<b>This is a rough transcript of the WIPO-SCCR discussions.</b>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/a2k/2012-07-19-sccr24-post-lunch.txt'>https://cis-india.org/a2k/2012-07-19-sccr24-post-lunch.txt</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaCopyrightAccess to KnowledgeWIPO2012-07-25T03:33:29ZFileWIPO Regional Seminar on Copyright Limitations and Exceptions
https://cis-india.org/a2k/news/wipo-regional-seminar-on-copyright-limitations-and-exceptions
<b>Anubha Sinha participated in the WIPO “Regional Seminar for the Asia Pacific Group on Libraries, Archives, Museums and Educational & Research Institutions in the Field of Copyright”, which was held on April 29 and 30, 2019, in Singapore. The event was co-organized by Intellectual Property Office of Singapore, Singapore Cooperation Programme and WIPO. </b>
<p>More info on the programme <a class="external-link" href="https://www.wipo.int/meetings/en/doc_details.jsp?doc_id=433213">here</a>.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/a2k/news/wipo-regional-seminar-on-copyright-limitations-and-exceptions'>https://cis-india.org/a2k/news/wipo-regional-seminar-on-copyright-limitations-and-exceptions</a>
</p>
No publisherAdminAccess to KnowledgeWIPO2019-05-04T02:23:57ZNews ItemWIPO Regional Seminar on Copyright Limitations and Exceptions
https://cis-india.org/a2k/news/wipo-regional-seminar-on-copyright-limitations-and-exceptions-1
<b>Anubha Sinha participated in the WIPO “Regional Seminar for the Asia Pacific Group on Libraries, Archives, Museums and Educational & Research Institutions in the Field of Copyright”, which was held on April 29 and 30, 2019, in Singapore.
</b>
<p>For more info about the event, <a class="external-link" href="https://www.wipo.int/meetings/en/doc_details.jsp?doc_id=433213">click here</a></p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/a2k/news/wipo-regional-seminar-on-copyright-limitations-and-exceptions-1'>https://cis-india.org/a2k/news/wipo-regional-seminar-on-copyright-limitations-and-exceptions-1</a>
</p>
No publisherAdminCopyrightAccess to KnowledgeWIPO2019-06-05T13:34:54ZNews ItemWIPO reaches agreement on treaty for blind
https://cis-india.org/news/livemint-pankaj-mishra-june-26-2013-wipo-reaches-agreement-on-treaty-for-blind
<b>Officials at the World Intellectual Property Organisation have reached an agreement to provide wider access to books for the visually impaired in different countries, a long-pending demand of the World Blind Union and activist groups. </b>
<hr />
<p>The article by Pankaj Mishra was <a class="external-link" href="http://www.livemint.com/Politics/zirXp3IC1rTtAFOd2O4fYL/WIPO-reaches-agreement-on-treaty-for-blind.html">published in Livemint</a> on June 26, 2013. Sunil Abraham is quoted.</p>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: justify; ">If officially approved, the treaty will help distribution of specially formatted books for the blind and visually impaired in different countries by removing copyright law hurdles. For instance, US-based Bookshare, which is an online library for people with sight disabilities, has about 200,000 books in its collection, but only about 75,000 of them can be distributed in the UK because of copyright restrictions.</p>
<p class="mceContentBody documentContent" style="text-align: justify; ">According to the Intellectual Property Watch website that track international policy on the subject, the agreement was reached over the weekend in Marrakesh, Morocco, where a conference to facilitate access to published books for people with sight disabilities is being held.</p>
<p class="mceContentBody documentContent" style="text-align: justify; ">“The text, which has not been presented to the conference plenary, nor adopted yet, also addresses the issue known as ‘the Berne gap’, which refers to countries which are not part of international treaties governing copyright, such as the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, the World Trade Organization Agreement on Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), and the WIPO Copyright Treaty,” the website said in a report on 24 June.</p>
<p class="mceContentBody documentContent" style="text-align: justify; ">According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), India has 63 million visually impaired people, of whom about 8 million are blind.</p>
<p class="mceContentBody documentContent" style="text-align: justify; ">Experts such as <span class="person"><a href="http://www.livemint.com/Search/Link/Keyword/Sunil%20Abraham">Sunil Abraham </a></span>of the Centre for Internet and Society said Indian negotiators played a crucial role in pushing for these amendments.</p>
<p class="mceContentBody documentContent" style="text-align: justify; ">“India’s copyright law after the latest amendment has a very robust exception for the disabled. It is disability neutral and works neutral. We must applaud the Indian negotiators for exporting Indian best practice to global copyright policy. India continues to be a leader in WIPO when it comes to protecting the public interest and facilitating access to knowledge,” said Abraham.</p>
<p class="mceContentBody documentContent" style="text-align: justify; ">The treaty, which promotes sharing the books in any format for the blind or visually impaired, is expected to alleviate the “book famine” experienced by many of the WHO-estimated 300 million people suffering from such disability in the world, Intellectual Property Watch said.</p>
<p class="mceContentBody documentContent" style="text-align: justify; ">“The treaty however is both disability specific, i.e. the visually impaired, and works specific, mostly targeted at ending the book famine,” Abraham said.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/news/livemint-pankaj-mishra-june-26-2013-wipo-reaches-agreement-on-treaty-for-blind'>https://cis-india.org/news/livemint-pankaj-mishra-june-26-2013-wipo-reaches-agreement-on-treaty-for-blind</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaIntellectual Property RightsCopyrightAccess to KnowledgeWIPO2013-07-01T09:59:29ZNews ItemWIPO Delegates Hear Concerns of NGOs on Exceptions for Libraries
https://cis-india.org/a2k/news/ip-watch-catherine-saez-december-19-2014-wipo-delegates-hear-concerns-of-ngos-on-exceptions-for-libraries
<b>As World Intellectual Property Organization member states launched into discussions on exceptions and limitations to copyright for the benefit of libraries and archives this week, non-governmental organisations were given the opportunity to present their views on the issue. They delivered vibrant, sometimes contradictory, statements on the opportunity for a treaty to preserve exceptions in the international copyright system. </b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The 26th session of the WIPO Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR) is taking place from 16-20 December. After two days devoted to the protection of broadcasting organisations, the focus of the next two days has been on a potential international instrument providing exceptions and limitations for libraries and archives.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">In their general statements, countries remained faithful to their known positions. Developing countries generally underlined the necessity of achieving a balanced international copyright system and their wish to establish a legally binding instrument, and developed countries were of the view that the existing international copyright system already provides exceptions which could be used by libraries and archives.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The African Group said the countries in the group: find it difficult to set up and understand the existing limitations and exceptions; believe an international legally binding instrument would enable them to understand better how they can provide exceptions and limitations for libraries and archives; and consider that it would provide a mechanism for cross-border exchange for such entities.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The European Union clearly stated that its member countries were not willing to consider a legally binding instrument, and said that exceptions and limitations for libraries and archives did not require the same kind of action that was taken in favour of visually impaired people, referring to the recently adopted <a href="http://www.wipo.int/meetings/en/doc_details.jsp?doc_id=245323">Marrakesh Treaty</a> to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons Who Are Blind, Visually Impaired, or Otherwise Print Disabled.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Developed countries, in particular those in the European Union, did not always stand in favour of a treaty providing exceptions and limitations to copyright for visually impaired people. In the discussion on libraries and archives, developed countries are in favour of sharing national experiences rather than establishing binding new norms.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The United States said it was not in support of norm-setting through treaty provisions. The delegate also said exceptions and limitations should be consistent with other member state obligations, including the so-called three step test.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The notion of three-step test haunted the discussions leading to the Marrakesh Treaty. It stems originally from <a href="http://www.wipo.int/treaties/en/ip/berne/trtdocs_wo001.html#P140_25350">Article 9(2)</a> of the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works (<a href="http://www.ip-watch.org/2013/06/14/test-of-political-flexibility-in-final-lap-for-wipo-treaty-for-the-blind/"><i>IPW</i>, WIPO, 14 June 2013</a>) and provides conditions for reproduction.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">A large number of non-governmental organisations took the floor on 18 December, with stark differences in the approach of the issue of exceptions and limitations to copyright for libraries and archives.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Industry, Creators: International Instrument Superfluous</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The industry, such as the International Federation of Film Producers, the Motion Picture Association (MPA), The International Association of Editors (IPA), the International Video Federation (IVF), the Ibero-Latin-American Federation of Performers (FILAIE), and the International Association of Scientific, Technical and Medical Publishers (STM), said that the existing international copyright framework already provides exceptions and limitations, and national legislations can be develop to address issues met by libraries and archives.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">FILAIE said that it was in support of the Marrakesh Treaty but that a balance between society and the rights holders should be maintained. The IPA said there is no need for change in the international law, and suggested active legislative assistance to WIPO member states by the secretariat.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">IVF concurred and said effective technical assistance in implementing the existing international copyright framework should be a focus of the SCCR.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The International Federation of Reproduction Rights Organisation (IFRRO), in <a href="http://www.ifrro.org/content/ifrro-statement-wipo-sccr-26-18-december-2013">its statement</a>, also said the current international conventions adequately provide for the establishment of relevant library exceptions in national legislation, such as reproduction for preservation proposals. The sharing of experiences ” both in the wording of library and archive exceptions and practical solutions seems to IFRRO to be the most appropriate way to enhance the performance of library and archive services,” the representative said.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">“Exceptions and limitations are already part of the toolkit of existing treaties,” the representative for the International Federation of Actors and the International Federations of Musicians said. The international normative framework is providing “a coherent and flexible structure with just recognition of the contribution of creators to the information society and knowledge society, and the establishment of exceptions and other mechanisms providing access for the public to creative content,” he said.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The International Authors Forum concurred with the idea that existing provisions contain sufficient flexibility and asked that WIPO member states “will take advantage of the opportunity provided by the WIPO texts for adequate remuneration for the authors in accordance with the three-step test.”</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Libraries, Archive Underline Inadequacies, Support Treaty</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Libraries and archivists have a different view of the issue and reported on problems as they experience them on the ground.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The German Library Association cited a new study published by the European Commission (<a href="http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/copyright/docs/studies/131216_study_en.pdf">Study on the application of Directive 2001/29/EC on copyright and related rights in the information society</a> [pdf]), and said it “paints a dire picture of the adequacy of the Directive for exceptions for libraries in the European Union in the digital environment.”</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">In particular, the representative said, it “identifies a lack of cross-border application of exceptions for libraries and a patchwork of national laws as preventing libraries from fulfilling their functions,” in particular presenting cross-border issues, he said.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">“There is a high level of international copyright protection,” he said, but “there is no such uniformity of limitations.” To act legally, he said, “library staff has to know about the limitations and exception, not only in their own country, the country of origin, but also in the country of destination of its service.”</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The Canadian Library Association said it came to WIPO “to ensure a basic copyright framework is made available to libraries everywhere, and not just in Canada to deliver essential information services, and so that other communities can benefit from the same societal and economic impacts as we have in Canada.”</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Even in Canada, the representative said, libraries’ activities are under threat, “as increased restrictions such as technology group protection measures and licensing terms and conditions degrade the environment in which we work, leaving libraries changing our role to simple market access intermediaries for publishers.”</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">For Electronic Information for Libraries, an international framework establishing basic standards is necessary to avoid increasing inequalities in public knowledge. “We recognise the theory that the international copyright framework provides legal space to ensure meaningful limitations and exceptions,” the representative said, “But when the reality is different, and the gap between countries is widening, intervention is required to ensure the integration of key public interest concepts into the international framework.”</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions also underlined the disparity in national exceptions and limitations making it impossible for libraries to “competently fulfil our role as intermediaries between rights holders and users.”</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Archives</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The International Council of Archives (CIA) said a legally binding instrument will enable cross-border for non-commercial research purposes. The Societies of American Archivists said “current law prevents us from using the barrier-breaking technology to reach the shared goals of archives and copyright law, that is, expanding knowledge and creating new works.”</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">“The United States, for instance, has some library and archives exceptions, but they are inadequate and woefully out of date,” the representative said, listing a number of actions that are not permitted, such as preserving backup copies of digitised materials. “As for fair use, it is often subject to costly litigation leaving too many archives hesitant to put material online,” he said.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Civil Society</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Knowledge Ecology International underlined the increasing role of contracts in eroding exceptions in countries which have statutory exceptions. “We notice,” the representative said, “that the groups that oppose the library treaty are strong supporters of treaties for broadcast organisations.”</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The Center for Internet and Society (India) supported an international instrument, in particular from the perspective of developing and least-developed countries. It would serve two main purposes, the representative said. On the one hand, it would protect copyrighted works, and on the other, it would provide greater access to these materials, and allow the dissemination of knowledge, culture and information, in accordance with the WIPO Development Agenda.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The SCCR Chair, Martin Moscoso, director of the Peru Copyright Office, encouraged member states to take the NGOs statements into account.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <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'>https://cis-india.org/a2k/news/ip-watch-catherine-saez-december-19-2014-wipo-delegates-hear-concerns-of-ngos-on-exceptions-for-libraries</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaIntellectual Property RightsAccess to KnowledgeWIPO2014-12-27T14:40:05ZNews ItemWIPO Broadcast Treaty- SCCR 26 : Proposals Introduced
https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/wipo-broadcast-treaty-sccr-proposals-introduced
<b>India and the United States introduced proposals for discussion at the ongoing session of the SCCR.</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">At the ongoing session of the 26th SCCR, India and the United States have introduced proposals for discussion:</p>
<ol>
<li>India introduced <a href="https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/indias-proposal.zip" class="internal-link">this proposal</a> for Article 5 (Definitions)</li>
<li>India introduced <a href="https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/article-6" class="internal-link">this proposal</a> for Article 6 (Scope of Application)</li>
<li>Japan introduced <a href="https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/explanatory-note-on-article-6-bis" class="internal-link">this proposal</a> as Article 6 bis</li>
<li>India introduced <a href="https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/beneficiaries-of-protection.pdf" class="internal-link">this proposal </a>for Article 7 (Beneficiaries of Protection)</li>
<li>India introduced <a href="https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/protection-of-broadcasting-rights.pdf" class="internal-link">this proposal </a>for Article 9 (Protection for Broadcasting Organizations)</li>
<li>The United States introduced a <a href="https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/proposal-for-discussion.pdf" class="internal-link">Proposal for Discussion</a> for Article 9 (Protection for Broadcasting Organizations). The delegation was keen to clarify that this was <i>not</i> a “US Proposal”; but merely a “Proposal for Discussion”</li>
</ol>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/wipo-broadcast-treaty-sccr-proposals-introduced'>https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/wipo-broadcast-treaty-sccr-proposals-introduced</a>
</p>
No publishernehaaAccess to KnowledgeWIPO2013-12-30T15:48:59ZBlog EntryWill the Copyright Law Help the Starving Artist?
https://cis-india.org/news/will-copyright-help-starving-artist
<b>By law, producers are no longer allowed to keep all the royalties to songs, lyrics or other works of arts. Now, these rights will have to be shared with the artist who created them.</b>
<p><a class="external-link" href="http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2012/05/28/will-the-copyright-law-help-the-starving-artist/">This article by Margherita Stancati was published in the Wall Street Journal on May 28, 2012</a>. Pranesh Prakash is quoted in this.</p>
<p>"I remember when Ustad Bismillah Khan" – a legendary Indian classical musician – "came to me and said that he did not have money to pay his rent," Indian Human Resources Minister Kapil Sibal <a class="external-link" href="http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_bollywood-cheers-as-lok-sabha-passes-copyright-bill_1692466">recently told Parliament</a>.</p>
<p>At the time, Mr. Sibal said he solved the problem by writing him a check.</p>
<p>The government hopes that changes introduced to India’s 1957 Copyright Act will allow composers and other artists to do away with such acts of charity. Parliament passed the bill amending the copyright act last week.</p>
<p>By law, producers are no longer allowed to keep all the royalties to songs, lyrics or other works of arts. Now, these rights will have to be shared with the artist who created them.</p>
<p>Earlier, "artists would typically give all the rights to the producer. It was called a work for hire," says Anish Dayal, a Supreme Court lawyer who specializes in media and entertainment legislation.</p>
<p>The <a class="external-link" href="http://164.100.24.219/BillsTexts/RSBillTexts/PassedRajyaSabha/copy-E.pdf">amendments</a> to the act means that "even if they want to give rights to producers, they can’t," adds Mr. Dayal.</p>
<p>The way the law phrases this is a little confusing. An amendment to section 18 of the act says that authors of literary or musical works featured in movies shall "receive royalties to be shared on an equal basis" with others who have copyright over the work (such as producers.) It’s not clear whether "equal basis" means 50% or whether it depends on the number of people with whom the royalties are shared.</p>
<p>The amended law also makes it compulsory for radio and broadcasters to pay royalties every time they air a recording.</p>
<p>The biggest impact of these changes will be on India’s film industry, especially on the lyricists and composers of Bollywood music, who have long lobbied for rights over their work.</p>
<p>Before the amendments were given a green light, <a class="external-link" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2_dw7OmS2U&feature=youtu.be">Bollywood lyricist Javed Akhtar described the condition artists worked in as "bonded labor</a>." Recently addressing lawmakers in the upper house of Parliament, where he holds an honorary seat, Mr. Akhtar shared a long list of cases of famed Indian musicians and composers who lived and died in penury. He named Shailendra, a popular 1950s Hindi lyricist, and Omkar Prasad Nayyar, a composer of movie scores.</p>
<p>For Paromita Vohra, a Mumbai-based documentary filmmaker, said changes to the law mark a first step towards making art production “more equal” by giving artists more rights over their work. "It’s about time," says Ms. Vohra, who last year made a <a class="external-link" href="http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2011/02/10/the-partners-in-copyright-crime/">film on copyright in the world of art</a>.</p>
<p>"Those who have the money are more powerful than those who make the arts. The act recognizes this, it addresses a power balance," she adds, describing this as a "philosophical change" in the law.</p>
<p>But she says this alone is not enough. "Lawyers are good at circumventing the law," she claims. Still, artists willing to fight for their rights "now have the law to fall back on," she adds.</p>
<p>Stronger labor unions, Ms. Vohra says, would make it easier for artists to make the most of the new legislation. "When that happens, I think the law will be very helpful."</p>
<p>Not all were pleased with the changes on royalties. <a class="external-link" href="http://entertainment.in.msn.com/bollywood/article.aspx?cp-documentid=250070212">Adarsh Gupta of Saregama</a>, a music production company, said the law is "extremely unfair to the film and music industry" and that it paves the way to litigation.</p>
<p>Other changes introduced in the act include tighter regulations on cover versions, including a clause that raises the time period after which covers are legally allowed from two to five years.</p>
<p>Critics say these restrictions are excessive and at odds with art produced in the digital era.</p>
<p>"This ignores present-day realities," Pranesh Prakash of the Centre for Internet & Society wrote in his <a href="https://cis-india.org/a2k/blog/analysis-copyright-amendment-bill-2012" class="external-link">analysis of the amended copyright bill</a>. He used the example of the hit tune Kolaveri Di, which was covered countless times. "The singers and producers of those unlicensed versions could be jailed under the current India Copyright Act, which allows even non-commercial copyright infringers to be put behind bars," he adds.</p>
<p>The act also removes copyright requirements for Braille or for other works of art adapted for people with disabilities.</p>
<p>What the amended law does not include is a clause that many in the <a class="external-link" href="http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2011/01/13/is-the-copyright-bill-bad-for-indian-readers/">Indian publishing industry feared may have made them redundant</a>. The proposed amendment would have allowed non-Indian publishing houses distribute their books in India, removing the territorial exclusivity of local publishers. This clause did not make it in the final version of the law.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/news/will-copyright-help-starving-artist'>https://cis-india.org/news/will-copyright-help-starving-artist</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaCopyrightAccess to Knowledge2012-05-29T03:46:23ZNews ItemWill domain dot भारत spur the growth of Indian languages on the internet?
https://cis-india.org/openness/news/scroll-in-rohan-venkataramakrishnan-will-domain-dot-bharat-spur-the-growth-of-Indian-languages-on-the-internet
<b>Modi's effort to promote the use of Hindi and e-governance has given hope to those who want to see more vernacular content online, but many challenges have to be overcome.</b>
<p>Rohan Venkataramakrishnan's blog post was <a class="external-link" href="http://scroll.in/article/676475/Will-domain-dot-%E0%A4%AD%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%B0%E0%A4%A4--spur-the-growth-of-Indian-languages-on-the-internet">published in Scroll.in</a> on August 29, 2014. Sunil Abraham gave his inputs.</p>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: justify; ">For most of its short history, the internet has been the English speaker’s playground. Though English is the world’s third-most spoken language (after Mandarin and Spanish), it is by far the most commonly used language on the internet. If you wanted to make sense of most of what’s on the World Wide Web, you had to be able to read and write English.<br /><br />This is slowly changing. The <a href="http://www.medianama.com/2014/07/223-bharat-domain-hindi/" target="_blank">launch of Devanagari script web addresses</a> on Sunday, allowing people to use .भारत domain names, was another step in the slow effort to bring about a multilingual Web. Already, Indian languages like Hindi – one of the most commonly-spoken languages on Earth – lag far behind. The move gels well with the new government’s effort to promote the use of Hindi, and its push to increase digital services available to all citizens. The next few years could well see a spurt in vernacular content online.<br /><br />But first many challenges have to be overcome. “At present, not a single Indian language figures in the top 10 languages prevalent on the Internet, though Chinese, Arabic and Russian feature in the list,” said a<a href="http://www.mckinsey.com/%7E/media/mckinsey%20offices/india/pdfs/online_and_upcoming_the_internets_impact_on_india.ashx" target="_blank"> McKinsey report</a> on the internet's impact on India. “The next wave of internet adoption in India will be dominated by local language speakers, which underscores the need for much more content and applications to be offered in local languages.”<br /><br /><b>Vernacular internet</b><br /><a href="http://qz.com/96054/english-is-no-longer-the-language-of-the-web/">Early studies </a>of the internet attempted to quantify how much of the web was in English. A 1997 estimate put the number at 80% of all websites, while the Online Computer Library’s study in 2003 concluded that 72% of all online content was in English. Today that number is much lower.</p>
<table class="plain">
<tbody>
<tr>
<th><img src="https://cis-india.org/home-images/LanguageUsage.png" alt="Language Usage" class="image-inline" title="Language Usage" /></th>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>W3Techs, which conducts surveys of the internet, now estimates that about 55% of content on the Internet is in English, followed by German, Russian and Japanese. Indian languages don’t crack the top 35.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The analysis is by its nature imprecise. The internet is vast and mostly uncharted. Estimates suggest search engines have indexed only 40% of Web content, leaving much off the mainstream radar. Measuring language becomes even harder because, in the early years, when fonts were harder to render, most non-English content on the internet was spelt out in Roman letters.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Indian Wiki<br />T</b>he rise of multilingual scripts has changed that, and made it easier to evaluate the diversity of the internet. Yet even the best approach relies more on sampling than measurement. There is one section of the Web, however, that does allow for comparisons of absolute numbers.<b></b></p>
<table class="plain">
<tbody>
<tr>
<th><img src="https://cis-india.org/home-images/copy2_of_WikipediaArticles.png" alt="Wikipedia Articles" class="image-inline" title="Wikipedia Articles" /></th>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Relative to other tongues, Indian language-articles still comprise a minuscule portion of Wikipedia. English, Spanish and French are perhaps expected, but even languages like Vietnamese have nearly 10 times the number of pages that Hindi does. Waray-Waray, the fifth-most commonly spoken language in the Philippines, appears to be an outlier because of an automated translation method that creates pages in that language.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Hindi content has been growing on the internet encyclopedia, from no pages in 2003 to more than one lakh in 2011, but it still falls far behind the languages that are spoken as commonly as it, like Spanish and Arabic, let alone those with much smaller reach. Of course in many countries English is not spoken at all, so Internet users need web pages in their own language. In India, because of the language-class association, the majority of Internet users are at least conversant in English.</p>
<table class="plain">
<tbody>
<tr>
<th><img src="https://cis-india.org/home-images/HindiPages.png" alt="Hindi Pages" class="image-inline" title="Hindi Pages" /></th>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Obstacle Course</b><br />The impediments to further growth are all too apparent. For one, internet infrastructure still <a href="http://www.medianama.com/2014/08/223-namaindic-a-summary/">leaves much to be desired</a>. Though India has the third-largest internet user-base in the world, only 10% of the country is actually online. Even by 2015, when internet access is expected to reach 28% of the population, the equivalent rural figure is likely to be just 9%, according to estimates.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">“A lot of the core infrastructure that is necessary for language computing is missing,” said Sunil Abraham, executive director of the Centre for Internet & Society. “There’s no mandate by the government that these languages must be supported, no comprehensive dictionaries, no thesauri, no machine translation capabilities, no optical character recognition capabilities. Because our market is so insignificant for proprietary software makers, they haven’t done enough to develop these. Meanwhile, the free software community is too small and mostly English-speaking.”</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The government has launched some initiatives in this regard, like a National Translation Mission aimed at machine translating text from English into Indic languages, as well as banks of fonts that are free to use. But Abraham said that while the government is clear this should be a priority area, it underestimates the scale of the problem.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">“We need large scale investment by the government into each language,” he said. “We’re looking at maybe even Rs 100 crore per language, to bring each of our traditional languages into the internet age.”</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/openness/news/scroll-in-rohan-venkataramakrishnan-will-domain-dot-bharat-spur-the-growth-of-Indian-languages-on-the-internet'>https://cis-india.org/openness/news/scroll-in-rohan-venkataramakrishnan-will-domain-dot-bharat-spur-the-growth-of-Indian-languages-on-the-internet</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaWikipediaInternet GovernanceAccess to Knowledge2014-09-08T05:50:11ZNews ItemWikiwomen’s Meetup at St. Agnes College Explores Potentials and Plans of Women Editors in Mangalore, Karnataka
https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/wikiwomen2019s-meetup-at-st-agnes-college-explores-potentials-and-plans-of-women-editors-in-mangalore-karnataka
<b>Karnataka is known for its diverse linguistic cultures. Aside from Kannada, many are native speakers of Konkani, Tulu, and other languages. A small Wikiwomen's meetup was held on Saturday, August 27th at St. Agnes College, Mangalore, to invite female Wikipedians from the region. Many of them were new to the online encyclopedia but demonstrated strong interest in learning and contributing more Indic language content online.</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">A <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Meetup/Mangaluru/WikiWomen/1">Wikiwomen’s meetup</a> was held at St. Agnes College on August 27<sup>th</sup> in the hope to strengthen the bonding and communication between female Wikipedians in Mangalore. Attendees of the meetup on Saturday included five Kannada Wikipedian, one Konkani Wikipedian, one from the recently gone live Tulu Wikipedia, and Ting-Yi Chang from the CIS A2K team. Two of the Kannada Wikipedians are staff and faculty members of the College’s library and Department of Kannada respectively. Both were brought into Wikipedia by <a href="http://cis-india.org/openness/kannada-wikipedia-edit-a-thon-in-st-agnes-college-mangaluru-to-bridge-gender-gap-in-wikipedia">edit-a-thons</a> held on the college campus in the last few months</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The meetup started off with a round of brief self-introduction and an inspiring introductory presentation by Dhanalakshimi K T, a St. Agnes commerce student who had successfully organized the last two women’s edit-a-thons on her campus.</p>
<blockquote>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">“<i>Wikipedia is a great tool for knowledge sharing. When we edit in our own languages, people from outside of the city who don’t speak English can learn things more easily online.... It is the respect and passion I have for my language."</i></p>
</blockquote>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The presentation also touched upon some feasible benefits that editors gains through participating in Wikipedia/media projects: improvement in writing and research skills, nurturing a critical thinking habit when reading texts and doing research, learnings from collaborative work experience, improvement in language and communication skills, etc. One of the participants later mentioned that with the hobby of editing Wikipedia, she began actively researching in her interested topics. Even in occasions when she had no time to actually update the content onto Wikipedia, the knowledge she gained throughout the research process has already enriched her and broadened her horizon of the subject.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The second half of the presentation consists of an introduction to the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Five_pillars">5 pillars rules</a> and some other advice of Wikipedia editing. Participants who were newcomers showed great interest and actively raised questions surrounding the use of different editing tools including the infobox templates, translation tools, useful markups, and personal sandboxes.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">When being asked about the barriers they have faced so far in editing Wikipedia, most agreed that time issues do prevent them sometimes as their offline commitments (work, family, school) can take priority over it. However, most participants also concluded that “those who are truly interested will eventually find the time.” On the other hand, access to internet and facilities has not been reported as a barrier in their cases, but all agreed that it can be for many other women. Awareness was emphasized as a crucial factor when trying to bring in more women to Wikipedia. One of the student participants shared her experience,</p>
<blockquote>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><i>“Some people may have never heard of Wikipedia before; some misunderstood its use and potential… when I talked about Kannada Wikipedia with my peers, first they thought it was some website for Kannada stories writing…. But when I explained to them what it is and how we can edit, they were all very excited and very much wanted to try."</i></p>
</blockquote>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">In the latter discussion of the meetup, participants talked about the tentative event plans for the next few months. Two sessions were suggested to be held by November, 2016. One as a workshop for the newcomers and the other as an editing event for more experienced female Wikipedians. All participants, old and new, are really excited to strengthen the bonding between Wikiwomens in Mangalore. Some suggested there should be more casual meetups every few weeks to help them communicate more and plan upcoming community events, including an ongoing event that can be held in March, 2017 for the International Women’s Day and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiWomen%27s_History_Month">Wikiwomen’s History Month</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The meetup continued with more discussion on various language Wikipedias’ development. As an experienced Wikipedian and an actively outreaching community member, participant Harriet Vidyasagar explained the complexity in Konkani Wikipedia, which contains five scripts, and the importance of those scripts in Konkani language’s history and culture. All participants agreed that seeing their mother tongues’ scripts online and creating more content to make their culture and language visible are a great source of happiness and a motivation for them to continue editing. The session ended with exchange of contacts and group pictures.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/wikiwomen2019s-meetup-at-st-agnes-college-explores-potentials-and-plans-of-women-editors-in-mangalore-karnataka'>https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/wikiwomen2019s-meetup-at-st-agnes-college-explores-potentials-and-plans-of-women-editors-in-mangalore-karnataka</a>
</p>
No publishertingCIS-A2KAccess to KnowledgeGenderKonkani WikipediaKannada WikipediaEvent2016-09-01T14:39:53ZBlog EntryWikiTungi: Bhubaneswar City Wiki Community Turns 1
https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/wikitungi-bhubaneswar-city-wiki-community-turns-1
<b>The Odia Wikipedia’s WikiTungi is an attempt at building a community of Wikimedians at the city level.</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><span id="docs-internal-guid-7bfb0247-7d33-566f-91d8-e4047130feac">The </span><span>tungi</span><span>, named after an ancient practice in Odia that involves passing on knowledge of the scriptures, is a city based Wikipedia community that helps Wikimedians around the city to meet and learn from their shared experiences. The Tungi meetups and events are organised with the help of the volunteers.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><span><span id="docs-internal-guid-7bfb0247-7d33-b5e9-5c1e-17b27fccb38e">The Odia community's WikiTungi is based out of two cities, Puri and Bhubaneswar. While Wikimedians in Puri conduct meetups bi-monthly, Bhubaneswar Wikimedians meet once a month. In every meetup, Wikimedians exchange their resources with each other, helping address their doubts and queries regarding their problems and projects.</span></span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><span><span><span id="docs-internal-guid-7bfb0247-7d34-16e3-912c-aa6120f95cef">This February marks the first anniversary of the Bhubaneswar WikiTungi. The WikiTungi members from the city meet every second Sunday of the month. To commemorate the first anniversary of this novel effort, nine community members from the Bhubaneswar Tungi met for a celebratory dinner at a local restaurant on 9 February 2017 <span id="docs-internal-guid-7bfb0247-7d34-673d-162f-178a5fc58e14">and toasted to the dedication of the volunteers.</span></span></span></span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><span><span><span><span><span id="docs-internal-guid-7bfb0247-7d34-be27-1a02-5d78514ab1d1">The community discussed various ideas (listed below) and the ways in which they can be implemented in the regular WikiTungi meetups. Members of the community also showed their interest in organising the third edition of WikiConference India in Bhubaneswar to bring Wikipedia to more people across the state of Odisha. During the community meetup, Tungi members came up with few ideas to implement it as a best practice in the Wikipedia movement.</span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p dir="ltr" id="docs-internal-guid-7bfb0247-7d34-f76a-dfb4-7a2b6a1e50da"><span>Some of them are listed here:</span></p>
<ul id="docs-internal-guid-7bfb0247-7d35-314a-ea43-3452ecb0710b">
<li dir="ltr" style="list-style-type:disc; ">
<p dir="ltr"><span>The Tungi members will invite one of the global community leaders for a Skype or hangout session.</span></p>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="list-style-type:disc; ">
<p dir="ltr"><span> Discuss the best practice from the global community and discuss them with the community.</span></p>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="list-style-type:disc; ">
<p dir="ltr"><span>Updating the minutes of the meeting and sharing them with the other community members.</span></p>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="list-style-type:disc; ">
<p dir="ltr"><span>Updating the Learning and Evaluation team about the new learning of the community every month.</span></p>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="list-style-type:disc; ">
<p dir="ltr"><span>The community will also send postcards as a souvenirs to the participants of the global community for the online sessions.</span></p>
</li>
</ul>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/wikitungi-bhubaneswar-city-wiki-community-turns-1'>https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/wikitungi-bhubaneswar-city-wiki-community-turns-1</a>
</p>
No publishersaileshCIS-A2KOdia WikipediaAccess to Knowledge2017-02-27T01:42:11ZBlog EntryWikisource:Internship Project at New Law College, Pune
https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/wikisource-internship-project-at-new-law-college-pune
<b>This Wiki - internship project is being conducted for New Law College (Pune),under the guidance of Prof.Dr.Mukund Sarda, Dean and Principal of NLC by CIS A2K as part of this project at en wikisource; teams of students will acomplish proof reading, validation, compilation annotation etc. of Indian Laws and to begin with Copyright laws and Intellectual property laws at Portal:Copyright law/Copyright law of India.</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Next /intermittant stages of a (internship) project, may be conducted on <a class="extiw" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/" title="w:">english wikipedia</a> for case studies part, and for questions answers, research etc on <a class="extiw" href="https://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Main_Page" title="wikiversity:Main Page">english wikiversity</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Wikisource:WikiProject" title="Wikisource:WikiProject">WikiProject</a> is dedicated to posting and organizing pages for <a href="https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Category:Laws_of_India" title="Category:Laws of India">Acts of the Indian Parliament</a> and other Indian legislation. Present collaboration :<a href="https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Portal:Copyright_law/Copyright_law_of_India" title="Portal:Copyright law/Copyright law of India">Intellectual Property Acts</a>:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Index:Indian_Copyright_Act_1957.djvu" title="Index:Indian Copyright Act 1957.djvu">Index:Indian Copyright Act 1957.djvu</a> (<a class="text external" href="https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Special:RecentChangesLinked/Index:Indian_Copyright_Act_1957.djvu">related Recent Changes</a>)</li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Index:Patents_Act_1970_%28India%29.pdf" title="Index:Patents Act 1970 (India).pdf">Index:Patents Act 1970 (India).pdf</a> (<a class="text external" href="https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Special:RecentChangesLinked/Index:Patents_Act_1970_%28India%29.pdf">related Recent Changes</a>)</li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Index:Trade_Marks_Act_%28India%29,_1999.djvu" title="Index:Trade Marks Act (India), 1999.djvu">Index:Trade Marks Act (India), 1999.djvu</a> (<a class="text external" href="https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Special:RecentChangesLinked/Index:Trade_Marks_Act_%28India%29,_1999.djvu">related Recent Changes</a>)</li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Index:Geographical_Indications_of_Goods_%28Registration_and_Protection%29_Act,_1999.djvu" title="Index:Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999.djvu">Index:Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999.djvu</a> (<a class="text external" href="https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Special:RecentChangesLinked/Index:Geographical_Indications_of_Goods_%28Registration_and_Protection%29_Act,_1999.djvu">related changes</a>)</li>
</ul>
<p><img src="https://cis-india.org/home-images/WikisourceCertificate.png" alt="Wikisource Certificate" class="image-inline" title="Wikisource Certificate" /></p>
<p>More information on <a class="external-link" href="https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Wikisource:Internship_project_at_New_Law_College,_Pune">Wikimedia Blog</a></p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/wikisource-internship-project-at-new-law-college-pune'>https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/wikisource-internship-project-at-new-law-college-pune</a>
</p>
No publishersubodhCIS-A2KAccess to KnowledgeWikimediaWikipediaWikisource2017-03-28T15:37:09ZBlog EntryWikisource Workshop at Vigyan Ashram, Pabal
https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/subodh-kulkarni-may-26-2019-wikisource-workshop-at-vigyan-ashram
<b>The Centre for Internet & Society's Access to Knowledge team (CIS-A2K) organized a workshop in collaboration with Vigyan Ashram, Pabal on May 25-26, 2019 at Pabal. Total 12 participants attended sessions during this two days workshop. The basic skills in digitisation, uploading on Commons and Wikisource process were imparted in the workshop. Jayanta Nath was the facilitator.</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Active members of Wikisource at Vigyan Ashram have expressed their interest in learning advanced skills on VP. Previously, they have scanned & uploaded 50+ books on Commons, OCR'd 10,000+ pages and proofread few pages. This team wants to learn advanced skills in processing scanned books, metadata linking with Wikidata, Wikisource - proofreading & layout skills, tools etc. The institution has also planned to integrate proofreading activity with the Unicode/FOSS training courses, so that the students will be involved in next academic year. The primary objectives of the workshop were:</p>
<p>To impart :</p>
<ul>
<li>Basic orientation to Wikisource</li>
<li>Understanding of Wikisource work flow</li>
<li>Skills required from scanning to OCR of book</li>
<li>skills for Proof-reading, transclusion methods</li>
</ul>
<h3>Agenda</h3>
<ul>
<li>Introduction to Wikisource - features, scope and future potential</li>
<li>Wikisource work flow - explanation of different stages</li>
<li>Upload tools and Copyrights</li>
<li>OCR4Wikisource and Indic OCR</li>
<li>Proofreading methods and Tools required</li>
<li>Wikisource tools, gadgets</li>
<li>Transclusion methods</li>
<li>Wikidata linkage</li>
</ul>
<h3>Day 1</h3>
<p id="_mcePaste" style="text-align: justify; ">Day one started with training on Scanning and post processing methods. The expert trainer explained various programmes to clean files & make the pdf of book. He also reviewed the previous work done at Vigyan Ashram and gave important suggestions. All the participants scanned 20 pages and processed them for practise. Then copyright issues and various licenses were discussed with some examples on Commons. The big size books were uploaded by chunkedupload tool. This will be useful in future as it reduces time and space also. <span>After the uploading session, the basics of Wikisource project were explained by Jayanta Nath. He demonstrated proof-reading methods and the related tools, gadgets required. Some scripts for proof-reading are not imported in Marathi Wikisource. The need analysis was done to identify basic minimum templates and gadgets. </span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><span>The participants learned to make their common.js pages to install the scripts. The hands-on activity was done by distributing the pages of one book for all the members. </span><span>Day one started with training on Scanning and post processing methods. The expert trainer explained various programmes to clean files & make the pdf of book. He also reviewed the previous work done at Vigyan Ashram and gave important suggestions. All the participants scanned 20 pages and processed them for practise. Then copyright issues and various licenses were discussed with some examples on Commons. </span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><span>The big size books were uploaded by chunkedupload tool. This will be useful in future as it reduces time and space also.After the uploading session, the basics of Wikisource project were explained by Jayanta Nath. He demonstrated proof-reading methods and the related tools, gadgets required. Some scripts for proof-reading are not imported in Marathi Wikisource. The need analysis was done to identify basic minimum templates and gadgets. The participants learned to make their common.js pages to install the scripts. The hands-on activity was done by distributing the pages of one book for all the members.</span></p>
<h3><span>Day 2</span></h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">On the second day, three active Wikimedians and one new member from Pune joined group at Vigyan Ashram. After the recap of first day activity, the review of status of Marathi Wikisource was taken. The practise session for proof-reading & layout of pages continued till lunch break. In the second half, final process of transclusion was explained in detail. The participants also learnt about the various methods for different forms of books. The final layout for reading the books on Wikisource and formats for downloading the books were also discussed.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">In the last session, the future plan of Wikisource activity was discussed. The organisation has decided to involve all the trainees in this activity to enhance the skills as well as knowledge. The active community members have planned to spread the awareness about the Wikisource in the society for more content donation and increasing editor base.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Follow-up</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Consistent activity for the new trainees is planned with trained team at the institute. Scanning of rare and re-licensed books from libraries is in progress. This activity will be scaled up in near future.</p>
<hr />
<p><a class="external-link" href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/CIS-A2K/Events/Wikisource_Workshop_at_Vigyan_Ashram,_Pabal_(25-26_May_2019)">The blog post was originally published on Wikimedia Blog</a></p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/subodh-kulkarni-may-26-2019-wikisource-workshop-at-vigyan-ashram'>https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/subodh-kulkarni-may-26-2019-wikisource-workshop-at-vigyan-ashram</a>
</p>
No publishersubodhWikimediaWikipediaAccess to Knowledge2019-06-23T03:26:53ZBlog Entry