The Centre for Internet and Society
https://cis-india.org
These are the search results for the query, showing results 681 to 695.
Access To Knowledge/Programme Plan
https://cis-india.org/a2k/access-to-knowledge-program-plan
<b>Pursuant to the announcement made on July 30, 2012 and as reflected in the FAQ accompanying the announcement, the India Program will become a project of the Access to Knowledge (A2K) program of the Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) an established non-profit organisation working in India whose own goals and objectives are in close alignment with that of the Wikimedia movement.</b>
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<h2>Context to the CIS A2K programme plan</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Between 80 to 120 million Indians have Internet access, and by 2015 that number is expected to increase to 237 million. Correspondingly, between 400 and 700 million Indians have mobile phones, and the number that have mobile-data access to the Internet is increasing exponentially. India is a country with tremendous knowledge resources to contribute to humankind. While the majority off Indians face income-related technological barriers against accessing and contributing to the global storehouse of knowledge, there are a significant number of people in the country who have both the capacity and ability to do both.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">For the Wikimedia movement, India represents a largely untapped opportunity to dramatically expand our impact and move toward our vision of a world where everyone can freely share in – and contribute to - the sum of human knowledge. Although the Indian population makes up about 20% of humanity, Indians account for only 4.7% of global Internet users, and India represents only 2.0% of global pageviews and 1.6% of global page edits on Wikimedia's sites. Despite such a disproportionately small presence on Wikimedia, English Wikipedia, our flagship project, ranks in the top ten of the most visited websites in India. We also have Wikipedia projects in 20 Indic languages, which will become increasingly important as the next 100 million Indians to come onto the Internet, given that they are likely to be increasingly using the Internet in languages other than English. Demographically, Indic languages represent a good growth opportunity since estimates suggest only about 150 million of the total Indian population of 1.2 billion have working fluency in English.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">In 2010, the Wikimedia movement developed its first strategic plan and set India as a priority geography for growth and investment. At the conclusion of the strategy process, the Wikimedia Foundation created a Global Development team that immediately started laying the groundwork for the India Program. In 2012, the strategic plan was updated and revised to reflect experiences from the initial phase of the India Program and changed realities on the ground.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Objectives</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Support 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 (e.g. donations of encyclopaedias and other useful texts, education partnerships and other institutional partnerships) Support India-focused efforts to improve quality of India-relevant content on Indic language and English Wikimedia projects (e.g. university outreach, institutional partnerships and India-relevant thematic contribution campaigns) Drive and complement access to free knowledge across India through alternative technological means (e.g. mobile-based Wikipedia and offline Wikipedia) Help the Indian community and chapter share experiences and tell their stories to the wider Indian and global communities within the Wikimedia movement Generate and document lessons from activities in India that can inform the work of Indian communities and similar programs in other countries Support the Wikimedia community on an on-going basis as and when needed and possible, and by cross-pollinating ideas, encouraging volunteer initiatives and transferring best practices. Partner with formal and informal groupings within the Wikimedia movement in India, for example, the Wikimedia India chapter, language communities, WikiProject India, etc.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Impact</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">In measuring impact, it is important to differentiate between outputs and outcomes. Desired outputs of the CIS-A2K programme are described in more detail in the sections that follow, and are likely to be re-callibrated, given the customised, changing and experimental nature of the work. Outcomes, on the other hand, relate to expected/desirable impacts that the work seeks to achieve. Both outputs and outcomes can only be achieved through a cooperative effort involving the CIS-A2K programme team, the Wikimedia India chapter, the Wikimedia community, and the other important community groupings that exist online and offline. In other words, the goals can be met if<br /><br /><b>Desired outputs</b>:<br />To expand the Indian editing community to 5,000 active editors by June 2015, with at least 1,000 active editors in the Indic language projects. To enable the building of Wikipedia projects (and sister projects such as Wiktionary and Wikisource) while keeping in mind reasonable quality, and have 5 Indic language Wikipedias reaching 50,000 articles, and 5 more reaching 25,000 articles, while also enabling 5 Indic language communities to have 100 active editors, and 5 more to have 50 active editors. To expand Wikipedia readership to 100 million unique visitors per month by June 2015. To ensure Wikipedia is accessible to all literate Indians through mobile and/or offline platforms. To expand the base of India-related articles on English Wikipedia from 115,000 to 165,000 by June 2015, and to halve India-related stubs in the same period.<br /><br /><b>Desired outcomes</b>:<br />Foster a strong relationship with and within the Indian Wikimedia community through transparency and communication, and by providing support for community-led activities and facilitating community participation and ownership Expand the Indic language editing community and build interest in Indic language Wikimedia projects Grow high-quality Wikipedia projects (and sister projects such as Wiktionary and Wikisource) Expand Wikipedia readership in India including on mobile and offline platforms Grow India-focused articles across Wikimedia projects.</p>
<h2 style="text-align: justify; ">Program goals</h2>
<h3><b>Catalyst Project Approach</b></h3>
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<p>The India Program started out as a partnership with the Indian Wikimedia community, which includes the Wikimedia India chapter. The initiative was intended as a means through which the Wikimedia Foundation can help the community grow, improve and expand the projects. This was an experimental effort, as the Wikimedia movement does not have a set of proven programs that can guarantee the growth of a community or project and the India Program was the first catalyst project being undertaken by the movement (further efforts have since got underway in the Middle-East and Brazil). Subsequent to the India Program becoming a project of CIS' A2K program, the aim is to identify pilots that work in achieving impact goals. This will be useful for sustaining the long-term success of the projects and will provide guidance for the development of other languages.</p>
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<p><img class="thumbimage" height="300" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/51/Wikimedia_Catalyst_Programs.pdf/page1-400px-Wikimedia_Catalyst_Programs.pdf.jpg" width="400" /></p>
<p>Catalyst Project Approach</p>
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<p style="text-align: justify; ">Specifically, the A2K Team will focus on testing pilots that tackle the following challenges:</p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Building editor communities of sufficient critical size to accelerate and sustain growth in Indic languages</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Connecting the Wikimedia community to new networks, building awareness of the Wikimedia projects and how they work</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Building partnerships with educational and other groups to encourage new users to join the community as editors and content contributors</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Encouraging editors of English Wikipedia in India, and strengthening coverage of India-relevant topics therein</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Reaching communities with limited Internet connectivity to create access to Wikipedia's educational content</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The A2K team will answer the following general questions in its pilot work that will help inform program design in India and in other geographies where the Wikimedia movement is active:</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Editing growth: Are there certain types of proactive programming that work well in garnishing editorship in India? Indic languages and English: Is there a difference in strategies/opportunities for growth between Indic language communities and the EN:WP community in India? Program evaluation: Why are the programs in India successes or failures? Pilot testing and learning: Why do some program pilots succeed and others struggle? Community partnership: What is the best way to partner with the community in the individual pilots and the overall program? Ability to replicate in India: What are the features/programs that have succeeded and can succeed elsewhere in India? Ability to replicate internationally: What is replicable from the India experience? What are the cultural factors that should be accounted for before expanding? Capacity: Is it possible to maintain the program's activities within the volunteer community or is staff capacity needed? Return on Investment: Is the financial investment justified by the results of the program? Scale: Are pilots that are being tested scalable within a particular community, and adoptable by other language communities?</p>
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<h2 style="text-align: justify; ">Current year plan - July 2012-June 2013</h2>
<h3>General community support and communications</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The A2K team will provide support to the Indian Wikimedia community, which includes the Wikimedia India chapter, on various community-led activities, including outreach events across the country, meetups, contests, conferences, and connections to GLAMs and other institutions. This support will extend to all formal and informal groupings within the Wikimedia movement. Henceforth, requests of support from the community and the chapter will be managed transparently and publicly so that the A2K team can meet expectations, keeping in mind that not all community events will seek A2K program support, and that the A2K program will not always be able to support all requests made. In general, community support is intended to solve a problem or help or add to an existing community or chapter initiative; the A2K team will provide any level of reasonable help as needed.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The A2K team will also provide services to the community with regard to intra- and inter-community communications--most visibly through the quarterly Indian community newsletter, Wikipatrika, and also through direct efforts to cross-pollinate ideas and make connects between projects. The team will support the community to tell its story on the global Wikimedia blog, Wikimedia.in, Wikipedia Village pumps and use all available channels to reach out to the community. The team also will build a formal public relations plan that will advocate the values of the movement and encourage new editors. In all cases, the communication efforts will be such that they stay in facilitation/support mode, allowing full ownership and participation by the community.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Indic language community building</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The India Program began work on Indic language community building in October 2011. This area is a top priority of the A2K team, as Wikimedia's reach in India will always be limited by language barriers. The Indic language projects remain small, with the most successful having fewer than 50,000 articles and fewer than 100 active editors on a monthly basis. The primary challenge is to strengthen communities to build and sustain each Indic language project. To date, community building has focused on working closely with some really small but promising project communities (some with fewer than five editors) to help them take the initial steps to expand their communities. This will entail supporting the organization and design of outreach events, projects and pilots to aid the community in catalyzing activity. See Indic Language projects for more info on recent and current activities.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Over the next year, Indic community building will continue to focus on deep engagement with 7-10 Indic project communities, with the addition of systematic digital outreach pilots focused on encouraging new editor engagement. Digital outreach represents a powerful channel to invite and encourage new editors, especially given the increasing readership of various projects in India. The current reader base is the most logical place to foster new editors. A combination of geo-targeted banners, linking to online tutorials and other training material, supported by online help points such as the Teahouse, will be piloted in an Indic language and then rolled out to other languages as well as the English Wikipedia community in India. Digital outreach will be conducted in partnership with the Wikimedia Foundation's newly established Editor Growth and Contribution Program.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Community building will be done by:</p>
<ol>
<li>Encouraging communication between editors through establishing connections between editors, facilitating meet-ups and encouraging on-wiki discussions on talk pages or forums such as village pumps</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Organising collaboration amongst editors through Wikiprojects that are either subject-specific or task-specific (an example of this process can be seen in the Wikiproject to create and improve articles of the 80 most-read medical topics on English Wikipedia that is now active in 5 different Indic languages--Assamese, Bangla, Odia, Telugu and Marathi)</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Cross-pollinating ideas across communities by sharing experiences and success (or otherwise) stories in relevant forums such as the various village pumps, as illustrated in this example for Hindi</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Supporting Indic language community events such as the Malayalam conference, Sangamothsavam, held at Kollam in May 2012. The A2K team will also offer support to larger events such as Wikiconference, the national conference of Wikimedians in India, but this will be a secondary focus as priority will be placed on Indic-specific activities.</li>
</ol>
<h3>Content addition/donation in Indic languages</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Though the A2K team will work with Indian content in all languages, particular emphasis will be placed on generating and improving content in Indic languages. The team will work to find content that is relevant and useful to the Wikimedia movement that is (a) already in the public domain and (b) contributed to the movement under an acceptable copyright license. Such content will include, but not be limited to, dictionaries, thesauruses, encyclopedias and any other encyclopedia-like compilations. The rationale for making content addition/donation a key part of the A2K program work (with the full consent and engagement of the relevant Wikimedia communities involved) is that many smaller Wikipedias need a 'shot in the arm' of content to create sufficient momentum in the projects. In English and other European-language Wikipedias, bot-created content (an integral part of the growth of these Wikipedias in their early years) was possible because sufficient electronic/digital resources existed at the time outside of Wikipedia. For many Indic languages (and indeed, India-related topics in any language), the same is not necessarily true, and content addition/donation may be seen as a necessary intervention--it can be likened to performing the work of a bot in the physical world, with physical texts.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">A precedent for content addition/donation exists in the gift of an encyclopedia that the government of the state of Kerala contributed to the Wikimedia movement in December 2008. The gift was received by Jimmy Wales on behalf of the movement and is in the process of being integrated to Malayalam Wikipedia.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">New editor cultivation with campaigns on Indian topic areas on English Wikipedia</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">English Wikipedia is a global resource of nearly 4 million articles. However, only around 115,000 articles (or less than 2.9%) of all articles directly cover topics of relevance in India, and 60,000 of those articles are stubs or articles of poor quality. There is a tremendous opportunity to deepen contributions on India-related topics including areas such as Indian history, geography, law, public policy, politics, art, culture, contributions to the sciences, popular culture, etc.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Over the coming year, in partnership with the Indian Wikipedia community, the Wikimedia India chapter, other groupings (such as WikiProject India) and appropriate national or regional institutions, the CIS A2K team develop campaigns to promote contribution to Wikipedia on specific topic areas. The initial campaigns will involve focused pilots to develop approaches to supporting and cultivating new editors with strong content knowledge. Partnerships will be explored with interest groups outside the existing Wikimedia community to document and celebrate these interests, which could be anything Indian, from efforts that fall under the work of Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums (GLAMs), like handicrafts and art, to movies, cricket, history, etc.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Pilot programs</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">In general, the bulk of the work of the A2K program team will be to run controlled and well-designed pilot programs with the full engagement of the communities involved. These will be developed and carried out in addition to projects focusing on goals A to D. The A2K team will actively design and implement new pilots on the basis of desired impacts and stated goals as outlined through this document. To borrow a phrase from the software development world, the idea behind these pilots will be to continually ensure better design, better engagement and therefore greater chances of success, and to maintain a healthy degree of innovation and experimentation that will allow us, in some cases, to 'fail fast, fail early'.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Built in to the program structure is a speedy evaluation of these pilots that will enable us to document learnings from less successful projects and expand and scale-up more successful attempts. For instance, the India Program, in partnership with the Global Education Program, conducted a pilot project between June-November 2011 with three universities in Pune. The pilot aimed to generate useful content for English Wikipedia and provide lessons for the future growth of education programs within India. The project failed to generate useful content and created significant costs for a variety of reasons, but a thorough evaluation of the pilot was conducted and reported on publicly, and many lessons were learned that will inform future strategies of projects in the same genre. For example, in the coming years, subsequent phases will identify scalable approaches to working with professors and students while taking into account the limitations that were evident in the first attempt; focus will be placed on shifting the design away from English Wikipedia toward Indic languages; work will only be added to Indic language Wikipedias or English Wikipedia if it is of an acceptable quality; students’ training will be made more rigorous; greater and more consistent support from Campus Ambassadors will be provided; and any subsequent project phases will be discussed with the community/ies involved in order to ensure greater community participation in the project right from the outset.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">In another instance, the India Program team began two small projects on Facebook in April focused on supporting new editors in English and cultivating community connections and new editors in Odia, as part of a social media pilot. Through these projects, we have learned that social media requires considerable efforts on the part of not just a program team, but instead a whole community. Consequently, in order to succeed, the A2K team will continue to actively engage in the space, and work towards making a cohesive, productive social media space across platforms that is driven and populated by community members, including the chapter, who are already using social media as an extension of their Wikimedia work. One potential pilot project that can work with broad community involvement is an India-focused virtual apprenticeship, building on the Teahouse project.</p>
<h2 style="text-align: justify; ">Approach to measuring results and evaluation</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">As the work that is being done by the A2K team is of an experimental nature, it is critical that there are clear objectives, robust program design, strong measurement techniques, rigorous documentation, ongoing performance improvement, constant community capacity building and periodic rigorous outside evaluation. Every substantive initiative of the A2K team will have associated pilot designs which will be publicly and regularly developed with and reported to the community. These measures will serve to achieve five objectives:</p>
<ol>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Increased transparency with the community and chapter so that there is both visibility as well as ownership (and more active involvement of as wide a cross-section of community members as possible)</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Discipline of detailed program design to improve the odds of success--especially in the context of the uncharted waters of virtually everything the India Program will be undertaking--with a clear understanding that for any set of experiments, there will be failure and success, though effort will be put towards decreasing failure and increasing success</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Facilitation of transfer of capability and best practices within a community, across Indic languages and with communities beyond the India-centric ones</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Accountability to community and donors so that a prudent balance is maintained between impact and resources</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Fostering of a spirit of learning and continuous improvement, which can only happen if there is detailed and public documentation, communication and training, and an understanding and acceptance that failures will happen with any given set of experiments and that the important thing is to minimise them as well as learn from them.</li>
</ol>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The <a href="http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Access_To_Knowledge/Team" title="Access To Knowledge/Team">A2K team</a> will be supported by a team of five people who will be employees of CIS out of offices in Delhi and Bangalore. The team will be managed by a Programme Director, and consist of individuals working on participation, Indic languages, communication and community and programme support.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Budget</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The first year of operations will be supported by a grant from WMF to be administered by CIS for a total of INR 11,000,000. The budget will be spent on team salaries, travel, community events, merchandise for volunteers, and other services as needed.</p>
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<p>Read the original <a class="external-link" href="http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Access_To_Knowledge/Programme_Plan#Context_to_the_CIS_A2K_programme_plan">published</a> by the Wikimedia Foundation.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/a2k/access-to-knowledge-program-plan'>https://cis-india.org/a2k/access-to-knowledge-program-plan</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaOpennessWikipediaAccess to Knowledge2012-09-30T13:25:14ZBlog EntryWikipedia comes to Hyderabad!
https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/wikipedia-hyderabad-report
<b>This post is a report on the series of Wikipedia meets organized in the city of Hyderabad on September 29-30, 2012. These workshops were a a part of the larger effort to help Wikipedia contributors in the same city to meet each other and strengthen the local community. </b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The city of Hyderabad is not only an IT hub but also home to many English and Indian language Wikipedians. In a recent series of weekend workshops and meet-ups conducted within the city, I had the opportunity to interact with many of them. We conducted a Wikipedia workshop at BITS-Pilani, Hyderabad, an Odia Wikipedia workshop as well as a general Wikipedia workshop for people interested in contributing to all language Wikipedias. I would like to convey my gratitude to the Computer Science department students at BITS, Hyderabad, Odia Wikipedians Swetapadma and Amaresh and English Wikipedians Tausif and Abhijith for making these events happen despite festivities and protests in the city.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">To provide a brief report on the events, the BITS-Pilani, Hyderabad workshop was organized as a general introduction to Wikipedia. The event was organized with the support of the Computer Science department at the college and saw a presence of more than 60 students. It was 2 hour session where 6 students created their Wikipedia user accounts and entered their names on the BITS project page. They were also shown how Wikis work – live and global.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Students were encouraged to make changes to their college article and they discovered how to view recent changes, page views and other functions. It was a particularly informative session because majority of the group did not know that Wikipedia articles are written by common people from all walks of life! The session ended with a proposal to start a Wiki club for their college. The Odia Wikipedia meetup organized on the same day registered 11 participants while the general meetup on the next day had over 20 participants. In all three workshops, the majority of participants were not aware how one could contribute to Wikipedia articles.</p>
<h3>Next steps:</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">It was great to see existing Wikipedians discuss the idea of having a Hyderabad SIG (special interest group) to conduct regular meetings, workshops, photo walks and more! Since the participants have shared their email-IDs, we will stay in touch and inform them about upcoming Telugu and English editing workshops. Students at BITS-Pilani, Hyderabad have also requested a Wikipedia workshop and hackathon for their upcoming techfest this month. A Telugu Wikipedia workshop has been proposed for the second week of October.</p>
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<p>For more information on how to conduct a Wikipedia workshop in your city, you could contact <a href="mailto:noopur@cis-india.org">noopur@cis-india.org</a></p>
<hr />
<p>There was newspaper coverage about this event:</p>
<ul>
<li>Wiki Meetup, <a class="external-link" href="http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-metroplus/drumming-session/article3943855.ece">Hindu</a>, September 28, 2012</li>
</ul>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/wikipedia-hyderabad-report'>https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/wikipedia-hyderabad-report</a>
</p>
No publishernoopurAccess to KnowledgeWikimediaWikipediaWorkshopOpenness2013-02-13T11:40:06ZBlog EntryPunjabi Wikipedia Workshop at Amritsar
https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/punjabi-wikipedia-workshop-at-amritsar
<b>After Ludhiana and Patiala we came to Amritsar, which we all know is home to the Golden Temple and the spiritual centre of Sikh religion, to introduce Punjabi Wikipedia. The workshop was held at the Spring Dale Senior School, Amritsar on August 17, 2012.</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">When we decided to conduct a Punjabi Wikipedia introduction workshop at Amritsar, the location was an issue. We tried to contact many institutes (mostly colleges) over phone. We couldn't get the permission. Finally, Punjabi Wikipedian G.S. Guglani directly approached the <a class="external-link" href="http://www.springdaleeducation.com/">Spring Dale senior school </a>management with the request for a space to do the Punjabi Wikipedia introduction workshop. Spring Dale is a famous English medium school in Amritsar. The school principal, Rajiv Sharma not only agreed to host the workshop but also made arrangements to bring selected students and teachers from eight other schools in Amritsar to join the workshop. Actually this was a bonus for us since we asked just a meeting place to host our workshop but not only we got the meeting place, we got assured participation from eight other schools and the permission to use the computer lab to conduct the hands-on wiki editing session.</p>
<div style="text-align: justify; ">Nearly 50 participants including students and teachers from eight different schools apart from the students and teachers of Spring Dale School attended the workshop. One of the active and long-time Punjabi Wikipedian Guglani Gurdip Singh lead the workshop with the active support from Shiju and Subhasish.</div>
<p style="text-align: justify; "> </p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The event started with a formal opening talk in Punjabi by a student of Spring Dale. The Principal of the Spring Dale Senior School Rajiv Sharma introduced the guests to the audience and briefed the participants about the workshop. Guglani took the participants through a brief presentation (<a class="external-link" href="http://bit.ly/Rnki2r">http://bit.ly/Rnki2r</a>) and explained the history and current status of Punjabi Wikipedia.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Few participants were invited to create user account in Punjabi Wikipedia. Guglani demonstrated Punjabi typing and basic wiki editing. There was a question-answer session where participants asked about typing, editing, referencing and many other contribution related questions.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "> </p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><img alt="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/21/Punjabi_Wikipedia_Workshop-17Aug2012-10.JPG" class="decoded" height="671" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/21/Punjabi_Wikipedia_Workshop-17Aug2012-10.JPG" width="894" /></p>
<p style="text-align: center; "><i>Participants asking questions in the Question-Answer session</i></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">After a short break and students and teachers gathered in the computer lab. Booklets containing Punjabi typing scheme were distributed among the participants. Guglani, Shiju, and Subha supported them with editing various articles in Punjabi. As none of the students was exposed to Punjabi typing before they took much interest to type Punjabi. We were able to see the surprise in the eyes of the students and teachers when Narayam converted the typed words to Gurumukhi Punjabi. However, all the present typing tools integrated to Punjabi Wikipedia have some issues. After getting inputs from users I logged some bugs to enhance it. Bug 1 (<a class="external-link" href="https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=39523">Phonetic keymap update</a>), Bug 2 (<a class="external-link" href="https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=39218">My Best Keyboard update</a>). Hope WMF developers will look into it.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">At the end of the session email addresses were exchanged for future communication. New wikipedians were given pointers to stay in touch and ask questions when they face problems with editing.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">This workshop involving school childern was really a very good experince for us. I would like to thank the Spring Dale Senior School management for the warm hospitality that they extended to us. We are touched. I could see the possibility of doing programs there.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">After conducting three workshops for Punjabi (two workshops (Luhiana and Patiala) involving college students and one workshop (Amritsar) involving school children), I am sure there is bright future ahead for the Punjabi Wikipedia if community can come forward to build the community further. <a class="external-link" href="http://shijualex.wordpress.com/2012/02/16/indic-language-wikipedias-statistical-report-2011/">From the statistical report of last year</a> we can see that it was only Guglani editing Punjabi Wikipedia. Now Guglaniji and Surinder came forward to build it and we have around 6-7 active users now. For a language with almost 3 crore speakers 7 active users is not an encouraging number. So we need to have more programs to build it further. Hope community will be able to come forward for that.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">More pictures of this workshop is available at: <a class="external-link" href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Punjabi_Wikipedia_Workshop-17Aug2012">http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Punjabi_Wikipedia_Workshop-17Aug2012</a></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Note:</b> Although the workshop was conducted prior to the grant period, the report was written in the month of September, and hence, we are featuring this.</p>
<div style="text-align: justify; "></div>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/punjabi-wikipedia-workshop-at-amritsar'>https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/punjabi-wikipedia-workshop-at-amritsar</a>
</p>
No publisherShiju AlexOpennessAccess to KnowledgeWikimedia2012-10-04T16:11:34ZBlog EntrySeptember 2012 Bulletin
https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/september-2012-bulletin
<b>Welcome to the newsletter of September 2012 from the Centre for Internet & Society (CIS). The present issue features a second analysis by Snehashish Ghosh on the latest list of sites blocked by the Indian government from August 18, 2012 to August 21, 2012, a research on the issues of internet governance by Smarika Kumar, publication of a report on Accessibility of Government websites in India by Nirmita Narasimhan, Mukesh Sharma and Dinesh Kaushal, the Access to Knowledge programme plan and updates from the Wikipedia community in India on Indic languages, updates from the Habits of Living workshop organised in Bengaluru, the events connected to the visits of international DNA experts, Helen Wallace and Jeremy Gruber in India, and introduce you to our Access to Knowledge team members. </b>
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<h3>Announcements</h3>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: justify; "><span class="visualHighlight"><b>Office in Delhi</b></span><br />CIS now has an office with a five-member team for the Access to Knowledge programme in Delhi at G 15, top floor, behind Hauz Khas G Block Market, Hauz Khas, New Delhi 110016, Ph: + 91 11 26536425.</p>
<hr />
<p><span class="visualHighlight"><b>New Team Members</b></span></p>
<hr />
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/about/people/staff/cis-staff">Nitika Tandon</a>: Nitika Tandon is a Program Officer with CIS. She has an MBA from Rotterdam School of Management, Netherlands and is a recipient of Dean's Fund Scholarship Program, Erasmus University.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/about/people/staff/cis-staff">Shiju Alex</a>: Shiju Alex is a Consultant. His background is technical writing and he is interested in Indic language computing and community building for Indic language Wiki projects. Presently he works out of CIS office in Bengaluru.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/about/people/staff/cis-staff">Subhashish Panigrahi</a>: Subhashish Panigrahi is a Programme Officer to CIS's Access to Knowledge programme and works out of CIS's Delhi office. His background is Business Development in Corporate Communications. He works on designing and implementing programs to provide on-wiki and off-wiki support for new editors.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/about/people/staff/cis-staff">Noopur Raval</a>: Noopur Raval is working as Consultant - Communications for the Access to Knowledge team at CIS. Having previously worked in the media, she is currently pursuing her M.Phil in Cinema Studies from JNU, New Delhi.</li>
</ul>
<p><b> </b></p>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Jobs</b><br />CIS is seeking applications from interested candidates for the posts of <a href="https://cis-india.org/jobs/research-manager">Research Manager</a>, <a href="https://cis-india.org/jobs/vacancy-for-researcher-accessibility">Researcher/Editor</a>, and <a href="https://cis-india.org/jobs/programme-officer-internet-governance">Programme Officer – Internet Governance</a>. To apply for these posts send your resume to Sunil Abraham (<a href="mailto:sunil@cis-india.org">sunil@cis-india.org</a>) with three references. Archives of our bulletins can be <a href="http://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/">found here</a>. Click to read the newsletter on our website.</p>
<hr />
<h2><a href="https://cis-india.org/accessibility">Accessibility</a></h2>
<hr />
<p>India has an estimated 70 million disabled persons who are unable to read printed materials due to some form of physical, sensory, cognitive or other disability. The disabled need accessible content, devices and interfaces facilitated via copyright law and electronic accessibility policies:<br /><b>Featured Research</b></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/accessibility/accessibility-of-government-websites-in-india">Accessibility of Government Websites in India: A Report</a> (by Nirmita Narasimhan, Mukesh Sharma and Dinesh Kaushal, September 26, 2012): This is a report on the accessibility of government websites in India. It was published in cooperation with the Hans Foundation. The report consists of an executive summary, introduction, methodology, findings and recommendations and interpretation and recommendations. Examples of errors are given as appendices. </li>
</ul>
<p><b>Project</b></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/accessibility/creating-a-national-resource-kit-for-persons-with-disabilities">Creating a National Resource Kit for Persons with Disabilities: An Introduction</a> (by Anandhi Viswanathan, September 28, 2012): CIS is engaged in a two-and-a-half year project starting from August 2012 to create a national resource kit of state-wise laws, policies and programmes on issues relating to persons with disabilities in India. This project is supported by the Hans Foundation. The Resource Kit will be brought out in both English and Hindi and disseminated to policy makers from panchayat to ministry levels throughout India. Anandhi gives an introduction to the project in this blog entry.</li>
</ul>
<p><b>Blog Entries</b></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/accessibility/wipo-treaty-for-the-visually-impaired">WIPO Treaty for the Visually Impaired — Moving from a Treaty on Paper to a Treaty that is Workable on the Ground</a> (by Rahul Cherian, September 28, 2012): After many years of hard lobbying by the World Blind Union, it appears that the WIPO Treaty on limitations and exceptions for visually impaired persons/persons with print disabilities (TVI) could become a reality next year. </li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/accessibility/breaking-news-on-electronic-accessibility">Breaking News on Electronic Accessibility</a> (by Rahul Cherian, September 28, 2012): The Parliamentary Standing Committee constituted to study the Electronic Delivery of Services Bill has in its report explicitly recognized the concept of electronic accessibility and reasonable accommodation. This is the first time in the country that these two concepts have been reflected at the level of a Parliamentary Standing Committee in relation to a non-disability specific law.</li>
</ul>
<hr />
<h2><a href="https://cis-india.org/a2k">Access to Knowledge</a></h2>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The Access to Knowledge programme addresses the harms caused to consumers, developing countries, human rights, and creativity/innovation from excessive regimes of copyright, patents, and other such monopolistic rights over knowledge:</p>
<p><b>Submission</b></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/a2k/feedback-to-draft-copyright-rules-2012">Feedback to Draft Copyright Rules, 2012</a> (by Pranesh Prakash, September 29, 2012): submitted its written comments on the Draft Copyright Rules, 2012 to Mr. G.R. Raghavender, Registrar of Copyrights & Director (BP&CR), Ministry of Human Resource Development. Pranesh does a detailed analysis and provides recommendations on Rules 8,9,10, 29(6), 34(2), 37, 71(3), 72, 74(1), 74(6), 75, and 79 (3) and (4).</li>
</ul>
<p><b>Projects</b></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/a2k/access-to-knowledge-program-plan">Access To Knowledge/Programme Plan</a>: Pursuant to the announcement made on July 30, 2012 of a 22 months ‘grant’ (beginning from September 1, 2012 to July 31, 2014) of upto INR 26,000,000 and as reflected in the FAQ accompanying the announcement, the Wikimedia Foundation’s India Program will become a project of the Access to Knowledge (A2K) program of CIS. The prime objective is to support 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 and supporting India-focused efforts to improve the quality of India-relevant content on Indic languages and English Wikimedia projects.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/a2k/pervasive-technologies-access-to-knowledge-in-the-market-place">Pervasive Technologies: Access to Knowledge in the Marketplace</a> (by Jadine Lannon, September 25, 2012): Jadine Lannon gives an introduction to the new A2K research initiative. Pervasive technologies have flooded the Indian market and are changing the ways in which the average Indian accesses knowledge but very little is understood about these technologies, particularly when it comes to their legality. CIS hopes to do a research that aims to understand how pervasive technologies interact with Intellectual Property laws and what can be done to protect these technologies from being labelled “illegal” and eradicated from the Asian market.</li>
</ul>
<p><b>Event Participated</b></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/info-justice-public-events-flexibility-network">Meeting of the Global Network on Flexible Limitations and Exceptions</a> (organised by American University Washington College of Law, Washington D.C., September 12 to 15, 2012).</li>
</ul>
<hr />
<h2><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance">Internet Governance</a></h2>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The Internet Governance programme conducts research around the various social, technical, and political underpinnings of global and national Internet governance, and includes online privacy, freedom of speech, and Internet governance mechanisms and processes:</p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<p><b>Featured Research</b></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/issues-in-internet-governance">An Introduction to the Issues in Internet Governance</a> (by Smarika Kumar, September 23, 2012): Smarika provides a detailed analysis to the issues that we face in Internet Governance today. She tries to canvass the controversies in the areas of internet governance that broadly focus around the institutional structures to govern the internet, discusses the evolution of these models against the historical background of internet governance and then proceeds to present the criticisms of each of these models with an emphasis on the interests of the regular internet user.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/analyzing-the-latest-list-of-blocked-sites-communalism-and-rioting-edition-part-ii">Analyzing the Latest List of Blocked Sites (Communalism and Rioting Edition) Part II</a> (by Snehashish Ghosh, September 25, 2012): Snehashish Ghosh does a further analysis of the leaked list of the websites blocked by the Indian Government from August 18, 2012 till August 21, 2012 (“leaked list”). This analysis was <a href="http://www.medianama.com/2012/09/223-analyzing-the-latest-list-of-blocked-sites-communalism-rioting-edition-part-ii/">re-posted</a> by Medianama on September 26, 2012.</li>
</ul>
<p><b>Columns</b></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/www-deccan-chronicle-sep-16-2012-sunil-abraham-the-five-monkeys-and-ice-cold-water">The Five Monkeys & Ice-cold Water</a> (by Sunil Abraham, Deccan Chronicle, September 16, 2012): “The Indian government provides leadership, both domestically and internationally, when it comes to access to knowledge.”</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/www-the-hindubusinessline-op-ed-sep-1-2012-chinmayi-arun-sms-block-as-threat-to-free-speech">SMS Block as Threat to Free Speech</a> (by Chinmayi Arun, Hindu Business Line, September 1, 2012): If you could text just one or two people in a day, who would you choose? Many of us have had to make this choice thanks to the order limiting us to five texts a day. Short Message Service (SMS) is not used primarily to send staccato messages like the telegraph was.</li>
</ul>
<p><b>Media Coverage</b></p>
<ul>
<p class="callout"><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/dna-india-sep-27-2012-dilnaz-boga-censorship-makes-india-fall-two-places-on-global-internet-freedom-chart">Censorship makes India fall two places on global internet freedom chart</a> (by Dilnaz Boga, Daily News & Analysis, September 27, 2012). Pranesh Prakash’s analysis on blocked websites is quoted.</p>
<p class="callout" style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/www-livemint-september-25-2012-surabhi-agarwal-pitroda-seeks-to-put-govt-information-in-public-domain">Pitroda seeks to put govt information in public domain</a> (by Surabhi Agarwal, LiveMint, September 25, 2012): “One government bureaucrat available on Twitter for a fixed period doesn’t make up for the non-existence of the government on social media…they (government) should be available all the time.” — Sunil Abraham.</p>
<p class="callout" style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/www-livemint-com-sep-19-2012-surabhi-agarwal-govt-plans-inter-ministerial-panel-on-internet-policy">Govt plans inter-ministerial panel on Internet policy</a> (by Surabhi Agarwal, LiveMint, September 19, 2012): ““The thumb rule with governance, be it international or national, is that coordination policy formulation bodies is a good idea, but we can’t damn or praise them over the process...We have to see what coordination results out of the body.” — Sunil Abraham.</p>
<p class="callout" style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/www-times-of-india-sept-16-2012-atul-sethi-mind-of-the-millennium-teen">Mind of the millennium teen</a> (by Atul Sethi, The Times of India, September 16, 2012): “We live in accelerated times...The breathlessness of our times is evident in everything — from the kind of movies we make to the ways in which our news and information travel. At the end of the day, our younger generations are also products of our times.”— Nishant Shah.</p>
<p class="callout" style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/www-firstpost-com-sep-6-2012-china-outranks-india-in-worlds-first-ever-web-index">China outranks India in world’s first ever web index</a> (First Post, September 6, 2012): ““The Internet today doesn’t work according to the idealistic principles of openness, and democracy of information that Berners-Lee envisioned for it, and in India in particular, although the Internet has helped us rethink what the government can do, the attitude is that that Internet can only be used in ways that the government sees fit.” — Nishant Shah.</p>
<p class="callout" style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/www-livemint-com-surabhi-agarwal-sep-4-2012-need-a-strategy-to-deal-with-web-issues">Need a standard strategy to deal with Web issues: Chandrasekhar</a> (by Surabhi Agarwal, LiveMint, September 4, 2012). Pranesh Prakash’s analysis on blocked websites is quoted.</p>
<p class="callout" style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/cis-india.org/news/www-tehelka-com-kunal-majumder-tehelka-magazine-vol-9-issue-36-sep-8-2012-political-war-on-the-web">Political war on the web</a> (by Kunal Majumder, Tehelka Magazine, Vol 9, Issue 36, September 8, 2012): “The fact remains none of the blockings were politically motivated.” — Pranesh Prakash.</p>
<p class="callout" style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/www-the-hindu-com-shalini-singh-sep-4-2012-govt-to-hold-talks-with-stakeholders-on-internet-censorship">Government to hold talks with stakeholders on Internet censorship</a> (by Shalini Singh, The Hindu, September 4, 2012). Pranesh Prakash’s analysis on blocked websites is quoted.</p>
<p class="callout" style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/www-tehelka-com-vol-9-issue-36-sep-8-2012-shougat-dasgupta-the-state-and-the-rage-of-the-cyber-demon">The state. And the rage of the cyber demon</a> (by Shougat Dasgupta, Tehelka, Vol 9, Issue 36, September 8, 2012): “While some people may see Twitter as akin to friends talking in the pub, others use the service as a bulletin board.” — Pranesh Prakash.</p>
<p class="callout" style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/www-business-standard-rohit-pradhan-sep-1-2012-watch-out-for-fettered-speech">Watch out for fettered speech</a> (by Rohit Pradhan, Business Standard, September 1, 2012). Pranesh Prakash is quoted.</p>
</ul>
<p><b>Events Organised</b></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><span class="visualHighlight">DNA Profiling Bill</span><br />International DNA experts Helen Wallace from GeneWatch UK, and Jeremy Gruber from the Council for Responsible Genetics from the United States visited Bengaluru and Delhi and shared their experience in DNA sampling and gave feedback to the DNA Profiling Bill. Meetings were conducted with lawyers and the plaintiff in the Pascal Mazurier's rape case and with VR Sudarshan and Hormis Tharakan. There was a coverage of the event in <a href="https://cis-india.org/news/cadcbecb0ca4caf-ca1cbfc8eca8ccdc8e-caaccdcb0cabcb2cbfc82c97ccd-caecb8cc2ca6cc6caf-cb8cb3cc1ca8c9f">Kannada media</a>. Public lectures were organised in Bengaluru and Delhi:</p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/uk-dna-database-and-european-court-of-human-rights-lessons-that-india-can-learn-from-mistakes">UK DNA Database and the European Court of Human Rights: Lessons that India can Learn from Its Mistakes</a> (organised by CIS and Alternative Law Forum, September 24, 2012): Helen Wallace from GeneWatch, UK and Jeremy Gruber from the Council for Responsible Genetics in the United States gave a public lecture.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/the-dna-profiling-bill-developing-best-practices">The DNA Profiling Bill: Developing Best Practices</a> (India International Centre, New Delhi, September 27, 2012): International experts Helen Wallace from GeneWatch UK, and Jeremy Gruber from the Council for Responsible Genetics from the United States gave a public lecture. Elonnai Hickok participated in the event.</li>
</ul>
<p><b>Blog Entry</b></p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/public-meeting-on-dna-profiling-bill">A Public Meeting on DNA Profiling Bill in Delhi</a> (by Elonnai Hickok, September 29, 2012): Elonnai has blogged about the public lecture delivered by Dr. Helen Wallace, Jeremy Gruber and Dr. Anupuma Raina.</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Upcoming IGF Events</b><br />At the seventh annual IGF meeting to be held in Baku, Azerbaijan in November 2012, CIS is organising one workshop:</p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/national-ig-mechanisms">National IG Mechanisms – Looking at Some Key Design Issues</a> (co-organising with Brazilian Internet Steering Committee, Institute for System Analysis, Russian Academy of Sciences, et.al., November 8, 2012 from 2.30 p.m. to 4.00 p.m.</li>
</ul>
<p>Sunil Abraham will be a panelist in the following workshop:</p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/new-trends-in-industry-self-governance">New Trends in Industry Self-Governance</a> (organised by Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford, UK and Media Change & Innovation Division, IPMZ, University of Zurich, Switzerland and Nominet, UK, November 7, 2012 from 4.30 p.m. to 6.00 p.m).</li>
</ul>
<p>CIS fellow Malavika Jayaram is a panelist for these workshops:</p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/intgovforum-cms-w2012-proposals">Civil rights in the digital age, about the impact the Internet has on civil rights</a> (organised by ECP on behalf of the IGF-NL, November 7, 2012, 4.30 p.m. to 6.00 p.m.).</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/intgovforum-cms-w2012-proposals-governing-identity-on-the-internet">Governing Identity on the Internet</a> (organised by Brenden Kuerbis, Citizen Lab and Christine Runnegar, Internet Society, November 8, 2012, 11.00 a.m. to 12.30 p.m.).</li>
</ul>
<p><b>Events Participated</b></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/second-freedom-online-conference-in-nairobi">Second Freedom Online Conference</a> (organised by the Ministry of Information and Communications, Republic of Kenya in partnership with the government of Netherlands at UN complex in Gigiri, Nairobi, September 6 and 7, 2012). Pranesh Prakash was a panelist in the session on Access to Internet: Challenges and Opportunities. </li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/multi-stakeholder-discussion-on-indias-position-in-the-un-for-un-cirp">Multi-stakeholder Discussion on India’s Position in UN for Internet Governance UN Committee for Internet Related Policies</a> (Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry, New Delhi, September 19, 2012): Sunil Abraham was a panelist.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/seventh-meeting-of-group-of-experts-sept-18-2012-under-chairmanship-of-justice-shah">Seventh Meeting of the Group of Experts on Privacy Issues under the Chairmanship of Justice AP Shah</a> (Committee Room No. 228, Yojana Bhawan, Sansad Marg, New Delhi): Sunil Abraham participated in this meeting. This was the final meeting of the series.</li>
</ul>
<p><b>Talk</b></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Talk at Yale University (New Haven, September 19, 2012): Pranesh Prakash gave a talk on censorship, intermediary liability, and the way forward. </li>
</ul>
<p><b>Video</b></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/conference-apnic-net-aug-28-2012-internet-governance-plenary">Internet Governance Plenary</a> (August 28, Tokyo, Japan): Sunil Abraham was a panelist along with Ang Peng Hwa, Paul Wilson, Duangthip Chomprang and Raul Echeberria at this event organised by APNIC on August 28, 2012. Kuo Wei Wu, CEO, National Information Infrastructure Enterprise Promotion Association (NIIEPA) was the moderator. </li>
</ul>
<hr />
<h2><a href="https://cis-india.org/about/openness">Openness</a></h2>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The 'Openness' programme critically examines alternatives to existing regimes of intellectual property rights, and transparency and accountability. Under this programme, we study Open Government Data, Open Access to Scholarly Literature, Open Access to Law, Open Content, Open Standards, and Free/Libre/Open Source Software:<b><br />Featured Research</b></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/indic-language-wikipedias-statistical-report-jan-june-2012">Indic Language Wikipedias – Statistical Report</a> (January – June 2012) (by Shiju Alex, September 25, 2012): Shiju Alex provides a compilation of the statistical update of the Indic language Wikipedias from January to June 2012. He provides perspectives on the health of various Indic language communities as well as the state of various Indic language Wikipedias during the period.</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Workshop Reports</b><br />Although most of the following workshops were conducted prior to the grant period, the report for all of these was written in the month of September, and hence, we are featuring these.</p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/first-punjabi-wikipedia-workshop">The First Punjabi Wikipedia Workshop</a> (by Shiju Alex and Subhashish Panigrahi, September 27, 2012): This post is about the first Punjabi Wikipedia workshop held in Ludhiana, Punjab on July 28, 2012. Surinder Wadhawan, a Mumbai based Wikipedian played an important role in designing this workshop and introducing Punjabi Wikipedia to the Punjabi speakers. Long-term Punjabi wikipedian G.S.Guglani also joined this workshop. The event was covered in the <a href="http://bit.ly/UMrDvs">Tribune</a>, <a href="http://bit.ly/UMrNTn">Hindustan Times</a>, <a href="http://bit.ly/UZhoT8">Punjab Infoline</a>, and <a href="http://bit.ly/OcMANc">YesPunjab.com</a>. </li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/blog/punjabi-wikipedia-workshop-at-punjabi-university-patiala">Punjabi Wikipedia Workshop at Punjabi University, Patiala</a> (by Shiju Alex and Subhashish Panigrahi, September 28, 2012): A Wikipedia workshop was organized at the Punjabi University's Punjabi Department on August 16, 2012. Veteran Punjabi wikipedian G.S. Guglani came forward to spread the message of Punjabi Wikipedia among Punjabi speakers.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/blog/punjabi-wikipedia-workshop-at-amritsar">Punjabi Wikipedia Workshop at Amritsar</a> (by Shiju Alex and Subhashish Panigrahi, September 30, 2012): The workshop was held at the Spring Dale Senior School, Amritsar on August 17, 2012. Nearly 50 participants including students and teachers from eight different schools apart from the students and teachers of Spring Dale School attended the workshop. One of the active and long-time Punjabi Wikipedian Guglani Gurdip Singh led the workshop with the active support from Shiju and Subhasish.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/report-of-the-wikipedia-workshop-in-british-library">Wikipedia Workshop in British Library, Chandigarh</a> (by Subhashish Panigrahi, September 27, 2012): A Wikipedia workshop was organized in Chandigarh by the British Library over two days on August 24 and 25, 2012. Bipin Kumar, Head of British Library and Christina, Deputy Manager had pivotal roles in designing this workshop with support from Piyush, a wikipedian. The session on Day 1 was conducted by Subhashish Panigrahi and the session on Day 2 was conducted by Subhashish and Piyush.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/kannada-wiki-workshop-tumkur-university">Kannada Wiki Workshop at Tumkur University</a> (Tumkur, Karnataka, September 15, 2012): This was the first Kannada Wikipedia workshop at Tumkur. Prof. Ashwin Kumar from the Department of English, Tumkur University and Kannada wikipedians, Om Shiva Prakash, Hareesh, Tejus and Pavithra played vital roles in organising this workshop. Shiju Alex participated in this workshop. About 30 participants including students and teachers participated in this workshop.</li>
</ul>
<p><b>Blog Entries</b></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/editor-growth-and-contribution-on-telegu-wikipedia">Editor Growth & Contribution Program on Telugu Wikipedia</a> (by Nitika Tandon, September 29, 2012): Nitika Tandon tells us about the Editor Growth & Contribution Program on Telegu Wikipedia, how it will run, its necessity and the future steps.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/blog/wikipedia-hyderabad-report">Wikipedia comes to Hyderabad!</a> (by Noopur Raval, September 30, 2012): A series of Wikipedia meetings were organized in Hyderabad on September 29 and 30, 2012. These workshops were a part of the larger effort to help Wikipedia contributors in the same city to meet each other and strengthen the local community. There was coverage about this event in the <a href="http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-metroplus/drumming-session/article3943855.ece">Hindu</a> on September 28, 2012.</li>
</ul>
<p><b>Event Organised</b></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/thinking-with-data">Thinking with Data@CIS</a> (CIS, Bengaluru, September 16 – 18, 2012): The course offered at the National Institute of Advanced Studies was screened in CIS office.</li>
</ul>
<table class="vertical listing">
<tbody>
<tr>
<th>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>HasGeek</b></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">HasGeek creates discussion spaces for geeks and has organised conferences like the <a href="http://fifthelephant.in/2012/">Fifth Elephant</a>, <a href="http://droidcon.in/2011">Droidcon India 2011</a>, <a href="http://androidcamp.hasgeek.com/">Android Camp</a>, etc. HasGeek is supported by CIS and works out from CIS office in Bengaluru. The following event was organised by HasGeek in the month of September:</p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/cartonama-conference">Cartonama Conference</a> (TERI Complex, Bengaluru, September 22, 2012). The event was organised by HasGeek with support from CIS.</li>
</ul>
</th>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p> </p>
<hr />
<h2><a href="https://cis-india.org/digital-natives">Digital Natives</a></h2>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Digital Natives with a Cause? examines the changing landscape of social change and political participation in light of the role that young people play through digital and Internet technologies, in emerging information societies. Consolidating knowledge from Asia, Africa and Latin America, it builds a global network of knowledge partners who critically engage with discourse on youth, technology and social change, and look at alternative practices and ideas in the Global South:</p>
<p><b>Newspaper Column</b></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/digital-natives/www-indianexpress-com-one-zero">One. Zero.</a> (Nishant Shah, Indian Express, September 16, 2012): “The digital world is the world of twos. All our complex interactions, emotional negotiations, business transactions, social communication and political subscriptions online can be reduced to a string of 1s and 0s, as machines create the networks for the human beings to speak.”</li>
</ul>
<hr />
<h3><a href="https://cis-india.org/digital-natives/pathways">Pathways to Higher Education</a></h3>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The Pathways Project to Higher Education is a collaboration between the Higher Education Innovation and Research Applications at the Centre for the Study of Culture and Society and CIS. The project is supported by the Ford Foundation and works with disadvantaged students in nine undergraduate colleges in Maharashtra, Karnataka and Kerala, to explore relationships between Technologies, Higher Education and the new forms of social justice in India. Training workshops were organised in the month of September at Xaviers in Mumbai on September 6, 2012 and in Newman College, Thodupuzha from September 17 to 20, 2012. Each workshop had 25-30 undergraduate students from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds. They were trained to use digital technologies in order to think through problems of social justice.</p>
<hr />
<h2><a href="https://cis-india.org/raw">Researchers at Work</a></h2>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: justify; ">From 2012 to 2015, the RAW series will build research clusters in the field of Digital Humanities. The Habits of Living: Global Networks, Local Affects is a global collaborative project to renew the conceptual power of networks. It concentrates on changing the habits of living. The Department of Modern Culture and Media at Brown University is an important locus.</p>
<p>CIS organised the Habits of Living Workshop in Bangalore from September 26 to 29, 2012. Jadine Lannon and Alok Vaid-Menon live blogged about the event:</p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/raw/digital-humanities/blogs/habits-of-living/habits-of-living-live-blog-introduction" class="external-link">Habits of Living Thinkathon - Day 1 Live Blog: Introduction</a> (by Jadine Lannon, September 26, 2012).</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/raw/digital-humanities/blogs/habits-of-living/habits-of-living-day-1-pecha-kucha" class="external-link">Habits of Living Thinkathon - Day 1 Live Blog: PechaKucha</a> (by Jadine Lannon, September 27, 2012).</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/raw/digital-humanities/blogs/habits-of-living/habits-of-living-globalising-lady-gaga" class="external-link">Habits of Living Thinkathon - Day 1 Live Blog: Globalising Lady GaGa</a> (by Alok Vaid-Menon, September 27, 2012).</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/raw/digital-humanities/blogs/habits-of-living/habits-of-living-day-2-water-in-india" class="external-link">Habits of Living Thinkathon - Day 2 Live Blog: Deepak Menon on Water in India</a> (by Jadine Lannon, September 27, 2012).</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/raw/digital-humanities/blogs/habits-of-living/habits-of-living-day-2-technology-and-feminism" class="external-link">Habits of Living Thinkathon - Day 2 Live Blog: On Technology and Affective Indian Feminism(s)</a> (by Alok Vaid-Menon, September 27, 2012).</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/raw/digital-humanities/blogs/habits-of-living/habits-of-living-radhika-gajjala-lectures-on-e-philanthropy" class="external-link">Habits of Living Thinkathon - Day 2 Live Blog: Radhika Gajjala Lectures on e-Philanthropy</a> (by Jadine Lannon, September 27, 2012).</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/raw/digital-humanities/habits-of-living-thinkathon-day-3-live-blog-joshua-neeves-on-media-archipelagos">Habits of Living Thinkathon - Day 3 Live Blog: Joshua Neves on Media Archipelagos</a> (by Jadine Lannon, September 26, 2012).</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/raw/digital-humanities/blogs/habits-of-living/habits-of-living-day-4-finding-and-funding-the-masses" class="external-link">Habits of Living Thinkathon - Day 4 Live Blog: Finding and Funding the Masses</a> (by Alok Vaid-Menon, September 26, 2012).</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/raw/digital-humanities/blogs/habits-of-living/habits-of-living-day-3-exhibition-space" class="external-link">Habits of Living Thinkathon - Day 3 Live Blog: Akansha Rastogi's Performance on Exhibition Space</a> <br />(by Jadine Lannon, September 30, 2012).</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/raw/digital-humanities/blogs/habits-of-living/habits-of-living-day-4-wendy-chun-on-friends" class="external-link">Habits of Living Thinkathon - Day 4 Live Blog: Wendy Chun on Friends</a> (by Jadine Lannon, September 30, 2012).</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/raw/digital-humanities/blogs/habits-of-living/habits-of-living-day-4-amateur-photography" class="external-link">Habits of Living Thinkathon - Day 4 Live Blog: Namita Malhotra on Amateur Pornography</a> (by Jadine Lannon, September 30, 2012).</li>
</ul>
<hr />
<h2><a href="https://cis-india.org/telecom">Telecom</a></h2>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: justify; ">While the potential for growth and returns exist for telecommunications in India, a range of issues need to be addressed. One aspect is more extensive rural coverage and the other is a countrywide access to broadband which is low. Both require effective and efficient use of networks and resources, including spectrum:</p>
<h3><a href="https://cis-india.org/telecom/telecom-knowledge-repository/knowledge-and-capacity-around-telecom-policy">Building Knowledge and Capacity around Telecommunication Policy in India</a></h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Ford Foundation has given a grant of USD 2,00,000 to CIS to build expertise in the area of telecommunications in India. The knowledge repository deals with these modules: Introduction to Telecommunications, Telecommunications Infrastructure and Technologies, Government of India Regulatory Framework for Telecom, Telecommunication and the Market, Universal Access and Accessibility, The International Telecommunications Union and other international bodies, Broadcasting, Emerging Topics and Way Forward. Dr. Surendra Pal, Satya N Gupta, Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, Payal Malik, Dr. Rakesh Mehrotra and Dr. Nadeem Akhtar are the expert reviewers.</p>
<p><span class="visualHighlight">The following are the new outputs:</span></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/telecom/telecom-knowledge-repository/associations-regulating-broadcasting-in-india">Associations Regulating Broadcasting in India</a> (by Srividya Vaidyanathan, September 11, 2012): Broadcast regulation in India is currently an intricate web, with multiple agencies involved in formulating and implementing policy, drafting and enforcing legislation.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/home-1/telecom/telecom-knowledge-repository/optical-fibre">Optical Fibre</a> (by Srividya Vaidyanathan, September 11, 2012): This unit tells us what is optical fibre, the types of optical fibres, how does an optical fibre work, fibre-optic relay system, and why are optical fibres uses in telecommunication systems.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/home-1/telecom/telecom-knowledge-repository/direct-to-home">Direct to Home</a> (by Srividya Vaidyanathan, September 18, 2012): This unit tells us about Direct to home television, its history, how it works, the programming, its advantages and disadvantages are discussed in this module.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/home-1/telecom/telecom-knowledge-repository/cable-tv">Cable Television</a> (by Srividya Vaidyanathan, September 18, 2012): This unit brings you the history and evolution of cable television in India, talks about other cable based services, cable television digitization rule and the end consumer in India.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/home-1/telecom/telecom-knowledge-repository/private-fm">Private FMs</a> (Commercial, Campus and Community Radios) (by Srividya Vaidyanathan, September 24, 2012): This unit introduces us to AM and FM, tells us the role of private FMs including what is a community radio and what is a campus radio.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/telecom/telecom-knowledge-repository/types-of-radio-broadcasting-in-india">Types of Radio Broadcasting in India</a> (by Srividya Vaidyanathan, September 28, 2012): This unit tells us what is radio broadcasting, takes us through the history of radio broadcasting in India, explains what is AM and FM in the Indian context.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/home-1/telecom/telecom-knowledge-repository/air-and-its-operations">A History of All India Radio and Its Operations</a> (by Srividya Vaidyanathan, September 29, 2012): This module gives us a picture of the history of All India Radio and its operations. </li>
</ul>
<p><b>Newspaper Column</b></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/telecom/organizing-india-blogspot-in-shyam-ponappa-sep-5-2012-changing-our-game">Changing Our Game</a> (by Shyam Ponappa, Business Standard, September 5, 2012): “Adopting 'co-ordination models' like the Stag Hunt could reduce contention and improve outcomes.” This was re-posted in <a href="http://organizing-india.blogspot.in/2012/09/changing-our-game.html">Organizing India blogspot</a>.</li>
</ul>
<p><b>Event Participated</b></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://www.mach.com/en/News-Events/Events/Insights/Insights-India-2012">Insights India 2012</a> (organised by MACH, Bangalore, September 26 – 28, 2012): Snehashish Ghosh and Srividya Vaidyanathan participated in this event.</li>
</ul>
<hr />
<h2><a href="https://cis-india.org/about/">About CIS</a></h2>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: justify; ">CIS was registered as a society in Bangalore in 2008. As an independent, non-profit research organisation, it runs different policy research programmes such as Accessibility, Access to Knowledge, Openness, Internet Governance, and Telecom. Over the last four years our policy research programmes have resulted in outputs such as the <a href="https://cis-india.org/advocacy/accessibility/blog/e-accessibility-handbook">e-Accessibility Policy Handbook for Persons with Disabilities</a> with ITU and G3ict, and <a href="https://cis-india.org/digital-natives/front-page/blog/dnbook">Digital Alternatives with a Cause?</a>, <a href="https://cis-india.org/digital-natives/front-page/blog/position-papers">Thinkathon Position Papers</a> and the <a href="https://cis-india.org/digital-natives/front-page/blog/digital-natives-with-a-cause-a-report">Digital Natives with a Cause? Report</a> with Hivos. With the Government of India we have done policy research for Ministry of Communications & Information Technology, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, etc., on <a href="https://cis-india.org/a2k/blog/cis-analysis-july2011-treaty-print-disabilities">WIPO Treaties</a>, <a href="https://cis-india.org/a2k/blog/analysis-copyright-amendment-bill-2012">Copyright Bill</a>, <a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/front-page/blog/cis-feedback-to-nia-bill">NIA Bill</a>, etc.</p>
<p>CIS is an accredited NGO at WIPO and has given policy briefs to delegations from various countries, our Programme Manager, Nirmita Narasimhan won the <a href="https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/national-award">National Award for Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities</a> from the Government of India and also received the <a href="https://cis-india.org/news/nirmita-nivh-award">NIVH Excellence Award</a>.</p>
<hr />
<p><b>*Follow us elsewhere*</b></p>
<hr />
<ul>
<li>Get short, timely messages from us on Twitter</li>
<li>Join the CIS group on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/groups/28535315687/">Facebook</a></li>
<li>Visit us at <a href="https://cis-india.org/">http://cis-india.org</a></li>
</ul>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: justify; "><i>CIS is grateful to its donors, Wikimedia Foundation, Ford Foundation, Privacy International, UK, Hans Foundation and the Kusuma Trust which was founded by Anurag Dikshit and Soma Pujari, philanthropists of Indian origin, for its core funding and support for most of its projects.</i></p>
<hr />
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/september-2012-bulletin'>https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/september-2012-bulletin</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaAccess to KnowledgeDigital NativesTelecomAccessibilityInternet GovernanceCISRAWOpenness2012-10-09T06:48:33ZPageAccess to Knowledge — September 2012 Bulletin
https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/access-to-knowledge-september-2012-bulletin
<b>This is the first newsletter from the Access to Knowledge team of CIS in Delhi. The issue introduces you to the CIS Access to Knowledge program, the team members in Delhi and reports from Workshops conducted by the Wikipedia community.</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Beginning from September 1, 2012, Wikimedia Foundation has awarded CIS a two-year grant of upto INR 26,000,000 to support and develop free knowledge in India:</p>
<hr />
<h3><a href="https://cis-india.org/a2k/access-to-knowledge-program-plan">Access to Knowledge Programme</a></h3>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li>The Wikimedia Foundation’s India Program has become the Access to Knowledge (A2K) programme of CIS. </li>
</ul>
<hr />
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">CIS Office in Delhi</h3>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li>The <a href="http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Access_To_Knowledge/Team" title="Access To Knowledge/Team">A2K team</a> consists of four members: <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/people/our-team">Nitika Tandon</a>, <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/people/our-team">Shiju Alex</a>, <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/people/our-team">Subhashish Panigrahi</a> and <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/people/our-team">Noopur Raval</a>.</li>
</ul>
<hr />
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Statistical Report</h3>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/indic-language-wikipedias-statistical-report-jan-june-2012">Indic Language Wikipedias – Statistical Report</a> (January – June 2012) (by Shiju Alex). The data for this report and analysis are based on the statistical data published at <a href="http://stats.wikimedia.org">http://stats.wikimedia.org</a>.</li>
</ul>
<hr />
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Wikipedia Workshops</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><span class="visualHighlight"><b>Note</b>: Although most of these workshops were conducted prior to the grant period, the reports for all of these were written during September, hence we are featuring these:</span></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/first-punjabi-wikipedia-workshop">The First Punjabi Wikipedia Workshop</a> (by Shiju Alex and Subhashish Panigrahi, September 27, 2012). </li>
<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/blog/punjabi-wikipedia-workshop-at-punjabi-university-patiala">Punjabi Wikipedia Workshop at Punjabi University, Patiala</a> (by Shiju Alex and Subhashish Panigrahi, September 28, 2012).</li>
<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/blog/punjabi-wikipedia-workshop-at-amritsar">Punjabi Wikipedia Workshop at Amritsar</a> (by Shiju Alex and Subhashish Panigrahi, September 30, 2012).</li>
<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/report-of-the-wikipedia-workshop-in-british-library">Wikipedia Workshop in British Library, Chandigarh</a> (by Subhashish Panigrahi, September 27, 2012).</li>
<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/kannada-wiki-workshop-tumkur-university">Kannada Wiki Workshop at Tumkur University</a> (Tumkur, Karnataka, September 15, 2012).</li>
<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/blog/wikipedia-hyderabad-report">Wikipedia comes to Hyderabad!</a> (by Noopur Raval, September 30, 2012). There was coverage in the <a href="http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-metroplus/drumming-session/article3943855.ece">Hindu</a> on September 28, 2012.</li>
</ul>
<hr />
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Blog Entry</h3>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/editor-growth-and-contribution-on-telegu-wikipedia">Editor Growth & Contribution Program on Telugu Wikipedia</a> (by Nitika Tandon, September 29, 2012).</li>
</ul>
<hr />
<h2><a href="https://cis-india.org/">About CIS</a></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">CIS was registered as a society in Bangalore in 2008. As an independent, non-profit research organisation, it runs different policy research programmes such as <a href="https://cis-india.org/accessibility">Accessibility</a>, <a href="https://cis-india.org/a2k">Access to Knowledge</a>, <a href="https://cis-india.org/openness">Openness</a>, <a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance">Internet Governance</a>, and <a href="https://cis-india.org/telecom">Telecom</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><i> </i></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><i>CIS is grateful to its donors, Wikimedia Foundation, Ford Foundation, Privacy International, UK, Hans Foundation and the Kusuma Trust which was founded by Anurag Dikshit and Soma Pujari, philanthropists of Indian origin, for its core funding and support for most of its projects.</i></p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Follow us elsewhere</h3>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li>Get short, timely messages from us on <a href="https://twitter.com/cis_india">Twitter</a></li>
<li>Join the CIS group on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/groups/28535315687/">Facebook</a></li>
<li>Visit us at <a href="https://cis-india.org/about/">http://cis-india.org</a></li>
</ul>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/access-to-knowledge-september-2012-bulletin'>https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/access-to-knowledge-september-2012-bulletin</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaAccess to KnowledgeWikimediaWikipediaOpennessNewsletter2012-12-14T06:18:01ZPageEditor Growth & Contribution Program on Telugu Wikipedia
https://cis-india.org/openness/editor-growth-and-contribution-on-telegu-wikipedia
<b>Nitika Tandon tells us about the Editor Growth & Contribution Program on Telegu Wikipedia, how it will run, its necessity and the future steps. </b>
<h3>What is Editor Growth & Contribution Program on Telugu Wikipedia?</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Editor Growth & Contribution Program is an online outreach program that will help raise the number of active editors on Telugu Wikipedia. The program will provide an entrance point for newcomers to Wikipedia, enabling them to contribute to its contents and share the knowledge they possess, while participating and communicating with existing Wikipedia community members. Such a program will serve as a compliment to off-wiki outreach activities already underway.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Some of the Telugu Wikipedians like Arjuna, Dr. Rajshekhar, Sujatha are in the initial stage of discussing the possibility and ways of running an Editor Growth & Contribution Program on Telugu Wikipedia.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">How will the program run?</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The idea is to run outreach banners using the local site notice on Telugu Wikipedia for three consecutive months. These banners will be in the form of short bios/stories of Telugu Wikipedians who agree to be featured in the editor campaign. Most Wikipedia visitors are unaware of the fact that regular folks write articles on Wikipedia and not scholars or paid writers. These personal stories from active Wikipedians could feature their motivation to contribute, their passion for building and developing Wikipedia, their early experience with Wikipedia as an editor, their invitation to site visitors to become Wikipedia editors, etc. Such personal stories will add a human touch to Wikipedia and will help new visitors related to real life stories. <br /><br />Each of these banners will link to a landing page. The landing page will start with a question at its top saying “What would you like to do in Wikipedia?” followed by six buttons each listing an answer to this question, and linking to the corresponding tutorial page. These six buttons will be: create your username, create your userpage, edit an existing article (fix a typo), add a reference, create a new article, and send a message.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Landing page will be designed in a simple way to avoid any visual distraction for the visitor. Each button will provide a detailed graphical explanation on how to perform each of those actions. To understand the workings of the program in greater detail please <a class="external-link" href="http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Access_To_Knowledge/Outreach_Programs/Editor_Growth_&_Contribution_Campaign">click here</a> (this program design is just a rough draft and may change as required).</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Why Telugu Wikipedia?</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">As per <a class="external-link" href="http://stats.wikimedia.org/EN/TablesWikipediaTE.htm">Wikimedia Stats</a> Telugu speaking population is around 8 crore. Telugu Wikipedia has about 18 lakh page views per month and 21 active editors (5+ edits in a month). In a community with such large numbers of speakers but extremely low number of Wikipedia editors, there seems to be a lot of scope and opportunity to increase Wikipedia's reach and awareness amongst Telugu speaking population and more so amongst reader of Telugu Wikipedia to start improving and expanding Wikipedia articles and foster the growth of Telugu Wikipedia community.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><img src="https://cis-india.org/home-images/Telegu.jpg" alt="Telegu Wikipedia" class="image-inline" title="Telegu Wikipedia" /></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><i>Telugu Wikipedia at a glance July 2012</i></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Number of speakers of other Dravidian languages like Kannada, Malayalam and Tamil is relatively low but have higher number of page views and active editors as compared to Telugu as seen in the table on the right. KA, ML and TA Wikipedia communities have run different programs over time to increase it's reach, spread more awareness and invite new editors. Some of these programs were TamilWiki Media Contest, Tamil Wikipedia Contribution Campaign, Malayalam Wikipedia Education Program, Kannada Medical Project, etc. Telugu Wikipedia requires a similar high impact project that can help them grow their community.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><img src="https://cis-india.org/home-images/languages.jpg" alt="Indic Languages" class="image-inline" title="Indic Languages" /></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><i>Comparison of Telugu Wikipedia with other langauge Wikipedias</i>.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Cross pollinating ideas</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Tamil and Arabic Wikipedia communities have already experimented with Editor Growth & Contribution Program and have produced amazing results. Ravi from Tamil Wikipedia and Haitham from Arabic Wikipedia were actively involved in running the contribution programs on their respective language Wikipedias and have offered help to run similar project on Telugu Wikipedia and provide regular guidance and support.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Next steps ahead</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Strong community support will be required to run such a program. The larger Telugu Wikipedia community will plan a meet up sometime in October in Hyderabad to take this program forward. Special thanks to Dr. Rajshekhar who has offered to organise this meet-up.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/openness/editor-growth-and-contribution-on-telegu-wikipedia'>https://cis-india.org/openness/editor-growth-and-contribution-on-telegu-wikipedia</a>
</p>
No publisherNitika TandonOpennessAccess to KnowledgeWikimedia2012-09-29T12:13:04ZBlog EntryPunjabi Wikipedia Workshop at Punjabi University, Patiala
https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/punjabi-wikipedia-workshop-at-punjabi-university-patiala
<b>Patiala is the home to the famous Punjabi University. A Wikipedia workshop was organized at the Punjabi University's Punjabi Department on August 16, 2012.
</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">When the veteran Punjabi wikipedian G.S. Guglani agreed to come forward to spread the message of Punjabi wikipedia among Punjabi speakers it opened a way to revive and build the Punjabi Wikipedia community. Once Guglani's support was confirmed we looked for suitable places to conduct the introduction workshop for Punjabi Wikipedia. Guglani himself suggested Patiala, Ludhiana, and Amritsar as the probable places to conduct the Punjabi Wikipedia introduction workshops. Prof. Rajinder Brar, Head of the Punjabi Department agreed to provide full support to conduct a workshop at Patiala. <br /><br />About 30 participants including students and teachers attended the workshop. Guglani played a pivotal role in organizing the workshop. Shiju Alex gave ample support. The workshop began with a welcome message by Prof. Rajinder. Guglani then took the participants through a brief presentation (<a class="external-link" href="http://bit.ly/Rnki2r">http://bit.ly/Rnki2r</a>) and explained the history and current status of Punjabi Wikipedia. To our surprise two of the participants, Satdeep Gill and Paramjeet Singh were already aware about the Punjabi Wikipedia and they had created their accounts sometime back even though they didn't do much editing. The presence of Satdeep and Paramjeet and their previous experience with Punjabi helped us during the course of the workshop. Guglani taught one of the participants to create a user account and do the wiki editing. He showed them Punjabi typing and basic wiki editing.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">This was followed by a question-answer session where the participants asked about typing, editing, referencing and many other contribution related questions. The workshop ended with a small photo session.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">We are happy to share that Satdeep has become quite active after this workshop and as of now is one of the very active users in Punjabi Wikipedia. We are sure his presence will attract more Punjabi people from Patiala to Punjabi Wikipedia.</p>
<p>More pictures of this workshop is available at: <a class="external-link" href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Punjabi_Wikipedia_Workshop-16Aug2012">http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Punjabi_Wikipedia_Workshop-16Aug2012</a></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Note:</b> Although the workshop was conducted prior to the grant period, the report was written in the month of September, and hence, we are featuring this.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/punjabi-wikipedia-workshop-at-punjabi-university-patiala'>https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/punjabi-wikipedia-workshop-at-punjabi-university-patiala</a>
</p>
No publisherShiju Alex and Subhashish PanigrahiOpennessWorkshopAccess to KnowledgeWikimedia2012-10-04T12:18:36ZBlog EntryWikipedia Workshop in British Library, Chandigarh
https://cis-india.org/openness/report-of-the-wikipedia-workshop-in-british-library
<b>A Wikipedia workshop was organized in Chandigarh by the British Library over two days on August 24 and 25, 2012. Bipin Kumar, Head of British Library and Christina, Deputy Manager had pivotal roles in designing this workshop with support from Piyush, a wikipedian. </b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The session on Day 1 was conducted by Subhashish Panigrahi and the session on Day 2 was conducted by Subhashish and Piyush.</p>
<h2 style="text-align: justify; ">Day 1: Introductory Session</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">There was news coverage about <a class="external-link" href="https://plus.google.com/111646825844146884911/posts/Yy9xGd9kV14">this session</a> in the Hindustan Times. Members of the British Library (members above 16 years) were informed about the event through the British Council's <a class="external-link" href="http://www.britishcouncilonline.org/events/besuccessful_event_details.aspx?EventID=776">mailing list</a>. About 32 participants attended this session on Day 1. These included people from different age groups and backgrounds. Amazingly there were more elderly folks than the youngsters! Most of them were from Ludhiana, Mohali and Panchkula (Mohali and Panchkula are two nearby cities).</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Subhashish gave the welcome address and asked the participants to introduce themselves and speak about their Wikipedia experience and interaction as a user. Many of them asked questions in the beginning itself which was quite beneficial as we got to spending some time to know each other. The participants were taken through the presentation by questioning about "Who edits Wikipedia and why they edit it", and since the participants continued asking a lot of questions in between, the intro session was longer. Most of them were still not believing that Wikipedia articles could be edited by common men like them. So Subhashish decided to do some vandalism. One of the participants volunteered for creating her user account, and the year when Chandigarh was declared as being the "cleanest city" of India was changed. She then corrected it. Subhashish explained how experienced editors correct such mistakes. The participants were briefed about a few formatting options like bold, italics, hyperlinking and creating heading levels, etc., and showed the "help" tab through which they could learn more. Majority of them had doubts about the credibility and they brought examples of many articles having wrong information. So the rest of the session was spent discussing about the low visibility being one of the reasons of articles with wrong information and how more editor contribution is essential for articles in the Indian context. The participants were also shown articles with "cleanup / more citations needed" maintenance tags and told how they could be improved.</p>
<hr />
<h2 style="text-align: justify; ">Day 2: Editing Workshop</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Ten participants from the previous day (including a sports-blogger, a techie, four students, a ELT trainer, a pediatrician and a lady from Ludhiana who created her user account on Day 1 and brought her father for Day 2) came over for this workshop. There were four new student participants as well. Subhashish and Piyush spoke briefly about what is intended for the editing session. All the participants created their user accounts. Some of the participants helped the ones who were new to create their user accounts. The participants chose various articles including articles of local importance such as Banka Bihari Temple in Chandigarh, paratha (few of the participants raising queries on why it is not spelt "paraNtha", Assam tea, and so on.</p>
<table class="invisible">
<tbody>
<tr>
<th><img alt="File:Wikipedia workshop-Chandigarh-25 August 2012.jpg" height="480" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f9/Wikipedia_workshop-Chandigarh-25_August_2012.jpg" width="640" /></th>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: center; ">Figure 1: Above is a picture of participants doing Wiki editing</p>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The audience listened patiently and asked interesting questions like "what is there for me", "what we are going to do next", etc. They all gathered together for a photoshoot, discussed on setting a wiki club to stay connected and agreed to continue editing after the session is over. The participants were also excited to hear that the <a class="external-link" href="http://http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Club_Chandigarh">Chandigarh British Library Wikipedia Club</a> would be India's third Wikipedia club.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><img alt="File:Wikipedia workshop-Chandigarh.jpg" height="600" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7c/Wikipedia_workshop-Chandigarh.jpg/800px-Wikipedia_workshop-Chandigarh.jpg" width="800" /></p>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: center; ">Figure 2: Above is a picture of the participants on Day 2</p>
<hr />
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Meeting with British Library Staff</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">After the session got over there was a meeting with British library's Deputy Manager Christina and IT Head Varinder. We were joined by a columnist from Tribune and one participant. We explained how the wiki club will function and how it would help them as well. Being a library they could involve many of their members in this. A woman editor from Ludhiana has showed interest for conducting workshops in her town. There was a sports-blogger and techie who explained how the local blogger community (over 125+ bloggers) meet up regularly and blog actively. This is a community we could explore more to promote Wikipedia amongst techies. We found that the British Library was quite open to ideas and showed interest for this collaborative model. The participants also asked about defining positions for the wiki club so that people having different interest could take up the lead for different activities.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Post event steps:</b></p>
<ul>
<li>Emails with thanks and appreciating their interest were sent to the participants.</li>
<li>Formal opening of the club was done on <a class="external-link" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Club_Chandigarh">Wikipedia</a> and participants and new editors have been informed.</li>
<li>Help/support desk on <a class="external-link" href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/WikiClubChandigarh">Facebook</a> was set up to provide online support.</li>
<li>Press releases were sent to newspapers.</li>
<li>Distributing work among new editors has begun.</li>
<li>Discussion for next meetup and keeping them updated on regular basis is being implemented.</li>
</ul>
<p>Meetings were also held with the curator of Chandigarh museum and with Sheetal Prakash, former professor in Public Administration at Punjab University who could help us in reaching out to Punjabi media.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Note:</b> Although the workshop was conducted prior to the grant period, the report was written in the month of September, and hence, we are featuring this.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/openness/report-of-the-wikipedia-workshop-in-british-library'>https://cis-india.org/openness/report-of-the-wikipedia-workshop-in-british-library</a>
</p>
No publisherSubhashish PanigrahiOpennessAccess to KnowledgeWikimedia2012-10-04T12:08:03ZBlog EntryThe First Punjabi Wikipedia Workshop
https://cis-india.org/openness/first-punjabi-wikipedia-workshop
<b>For those who might not be aware, Punjabi Wikipedia is one of the first Indic Wikipedias where community started editing way back in 2002. However, after the initial few edits all activities got stopped and it was inactive over the last decade. Recently we conducted a few workshops that led to the revival of Punjabi Wikipedia. This post is about the first Punjabi Wikipedia workshop held in Ludhiana, Punjab on July 28, 2012.</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Surinder Wadhawan, a Mumbai based Wikipedian played an important role in designing this workshop and introducing Punjabi Wikipedia to the Punjabi speakers. The interest and enthusiam showed by Surinder encouraged long-time Punjabi wikipedian G.S.Guglani to join this workshop.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">About 25 participants came over for this workshop. The College of Computer and Information Technology (CCIT) supported in hosting this event.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Sarabjit Singh, CEO of the organization introduced the invited guests and explained briefly about the session. Surinder thereafter made a presentation explaining the basics of Wikipedia editing. Guglani, one of the old and active editors of Punjabi Wikipedia talked about the Punjabi Wikipedia and its present situation. He then invited one of the participants and helped her creating her user account and edit an article. Janmeja Singh, a Punjabi language researcher spoke about unicode standards and the importance of Wikipedia for Punjabi language. Gurjeet Singh, another new wikipedian demonstrated Punjabi typing using commonly used keyboards with Roman characters for those who were not aware of typing in Punjabi.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">We then started the editing session. Out of them 15 new editors (of which 13 were female) edited various articles. We showed them the typing support page (<a class="external-link" href="http://bit.ly/Uw8WaV">http://bit.ly/Uw8WaV</a>) on Punjabi Wikipedia and distributed the same in printed form (<a class="external-link" href="http://bit.ly/Rk9wde">http://bit.ly/Rk9wde</a>). Guglani, Subhashish and Surinder helped editors with basic editing and referencing. New Wikipedians were also informed about the Punjabi Wikipedia Facebook page (<a class="external-link" href="http://on.fb.me/Pr7tBE">http://on.fb.me/Pr7tBE</a><a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/PunjabiWikipedia" target="_blank"></a>).</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><img alt="File:1st Punjabi Wikipedia Workshop-9.jpg" height="600" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/98/1st_Punjabi_Wikipedia_Workshop-9.jpg/800px-1st_Punjabi_Wikipedia_Workshop-9.jpg" width="800" /></p>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: center; ">Above is a picture of all the participants from the Punjabi Wikipedia workshop</p>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The workshop was covered in Signpost (<a class="external-link" href="http://bit.ly/SSvUYh">http://bit.ly/SSvUYh</a>). There was some media coverage as well:</p>
<ul>
<li>Daily Ajit: <a class="external-link" href="http://bit.ly/OWPozC">http://bit.ly/OWPozC</a></li>
<li>The Tribune: <a class="external-link" href="http://bit.ly/UMrDvs">http://bit.ly/UMrDvs</a></li>
<li>Hindustan Times: <a class="external-link" href="http://bit.ly/UMrNTn">http://bit.ly/UMrNTn</a></li>
<li>PunjabInfoline: <a class="external-link" href="http://bit.ly/UZhoT8">http://bit.ly/UZhoT8</a></li>
<li>YesPunjab.com: <a class="external-link" href="http://bit.ly/OcMANc">http://bit.ly/OcMANc</a></li>
</ul>
<p>Photos: <a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:First_Punjabi_Wikipedia_Workshop,_Ludhiana" target="_blank">http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:First_Punjabi_Wikipedia_Workshop,_Ludhiana</a></p>
<p><b>Note:</b> Although the workshop was conducted prior to the grant period, the report was written in the month of September, and hence, we are featuring this.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/openness/first-punjabi-wikipedia-workshop'>https://cis-india.org/openness/first-punjabi-wikipedia-workshop</a>
</p>
No publisherShiju Alex and Subhashish PanigrahiOpennessAccess to KnowledgeWikimedia2012-10-04T12:16:44ZBlog EntryIndic Language Wikipedias – Statistical Report: January – June 2012
https://cis-india.org/openness/indic-language-wikipedias-statistical-report-jan-june-2012
<b>The following is a compilation of the statistical update of the Indic language Wikipedias from January to June 2012. The author provides perspectives on the health of various Indic language communities as well as the state of various Indic language Wikipedias during the period.</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The period of analysis is editor contributions between January 1, 2012 and June 30, 2012. (Read <a href="http://shijualex.wordpress.com/2012/02/16/indic-language-wikipedias-statistical-report-2011/" target="_blank">last year’s report here</a>). The data for this report and analysis are based on the statistical data published at <a class="external-link" href="http://stats.wikimedia.org">http://stats.wikimedia.org</a>. Thanks to Erik Zachte for compiling all this information.</p>
<p>Some of the important points from this report are:</p>
<ul>
<li>As always Indic wikipedia communities that are focused on community building had done well. Progress is slow but the results are steady and sustainable.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">The communities that have made substantial progress in community building are Urdu, Oriya, Assamese, and Malayalam. (among this, for Urdu Wikipedia most of the activity is from Pakistan). The most recent entry to this club is Punjabi which will show up in the statistics of next few months.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Providing adequate support for newbies is very much required after each outreach. But many communities are failing here. This is affecting the conversion rate even though many outreach activities are happening across the country,</li>
<li>As seen in the past the readership of Indic language wikipedias is still growing up.</li>
</ul>
<p>This report is presented in the following sequence.</p>
<ol>
<li>Community</li>
<li>Content</li>
<li>Readership</li>
</ol>
<h2>Community</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">As community is the backbone of every Indic language Wikipedia, it is important that the respective language wiki communities give adequate importance to community building. Many language communities are still not understanding the importance of building the community. To achieve the goal of building free knowledge database in the respective language we need participation from maximum number of speakers of the respective language. The following table gives information on two important parameters about the community in the respective language Wikipedia:</p>
<ul>
<li>Number of users who had 100 or more edits in a month (high active Wikipedians)</li>
<li>Number of users who had at least 5 or more edits a month (active Wikipedians)</li>
</ul>
<p><img class="wp-image-337 size-full" height="518" src="http://shijualex.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/users.png?w=640&h=518" title="2012 Jan-June user growth" width="640" /></p>
<p style="text-align: center; "><span class="visualHighlight">User growth in Indic language Wikipedias during 2012 January-June</span></p>
<p>Some of the important information that we can make out from this table are:</p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">The number of high active editors (editors with more than 100 edits per month) are the backbone of each language wikipedia. Apart from doing normal article editing they are the users maintaining the wiki. Tamil and Malayalam continue to be on the top spot with almost 24 active users . Marathi, Gujarati, Oriya, Punjabi, and Urdu also showed growth in the number of high active users.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Assamese Wikipedia is showing a reduction in the number of high active users even though its number of active users increased. This means that Assamese Wikipedia requires some more current active users to take up the role of wiki adminship and similar leadership roles.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">The number of active users (editors with more than 5 edits per month) give an overview of the overall activity in wikipedia. Here also Malayalam and Tamil continue to be on the top. Some of the languages that showed notable growth in the number of active users are Urdu, Oriya, and Assamese. As we know there are lot of community building activities happening in both Oriya and Assamese. Along with community building activities both the communities are making sure they are providing sufficient support to newbies using various options. And there efforts are showing up in the form of community strength.</li>
<li>The number of active members in Odia has increased to 25 which means community has grown 3 times over the past 6 months.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">The number of wiki editors per million for most Indic languages is still below 1. This shows that awareness about Indic language wiki projects is still an issue for most Indic Wikipedias. From this statistics (<a href="http://stats.wikimedia.org/EN/Sitemap.htm" target="_blank">http://stats.wikimedia.org/EN/Sitemap.htm</a>), we can see that for Sanskrit the number of editors per million speakers has become <b>280</b> which is one of the highest in the world. No other Indic language Wikipedia is near Sanskrit in this parameter. Malayalam comes second with 3 editors per million and Assamese and Bishnupriya Manipuri comes third with 2 editors per million. Tamil is in the fourth place with 1 editor. For all other Indic languages the number of editors per million population is below 1. This shows that still the penetration of respective language Wikipedia among the speakers of a language is very low. We need more outreach programs to reach the speakers of the respective language.</li>
</ul>
<h2>Content</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The number of articles is an important parameter which has misguided some wiki communities. However, it is a very important parameter if communities are increasing the number of articles in a way helpful to the readers of the wiki.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><img class="wp-image-341 size-full" src="http://shijualex.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/articles.png?w=640" title="Article growth during 2012 January - June" /></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Hindi continues to be on the top spot with 1,02,902. During the past 6 months almost 2000 articles got added to Hindi Wikipedia.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Telugu Wikipedia crossed the 50,000 article milestone is one of the major accomplishments during this period. I remember reading the news about Telugu Wikipedia crossing the <a href="http://crossroads.veeven.com/2007/06/26/telugu-wikipedia-reaches-30000-articles/" target="_blank">30,000 article milestone in June 2007 </a>which shows that it took almost 5 years to reach 50,000 article milestone. As pointed out by <a href="http://crossroads.veeven.com/2012/03/15/telugu-wikipedia-50000-articles/" target="_blank">User:Veeven in his blog post</a> (about Telugu Wikipedia crossing the 50,000 articles), Telugu Wikipedia needs more support from Telugu speaking population to build the free knowledge project in Telugu. The current number of active users in Telugu Wikipedia is not showing justice to the huge speaker base (more than 8 crores) of Telugu.</li>
<li>Another major milestone was Assamese Wikipedia crossing the 1,000 article milestone.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Tamil and Malayalam are the two language wikipedias that added most number of articles during this time period. Both the language wikipedias added close to 3000 articles.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Sindhi, Newari (Nepal Bhasha) and Bishnupriya language wikipedias showed reduction in the number of articles. There are 2 reasons for this:</li>
</ul>
<ol>
<li>There is no active community to add new articles (see the first table for the number of active users) </li>
<li>Spam/vandalism pages were deleted by stewards/global sysops.</li>
</ol>
<h2>Readers (Pageview)</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Number of people visiting the website continue to increase for all Indic language wikipedias and the total visits for all Indic language wikipedias combined is close to 4 crore now.<br /><br />Please note that the information available in the below table is the total visits (page views) for a language wikipedia for a month from all the platforms combined. It includes visits by readers and editors. This is NOT the list of <b>Number of Unique Visitors</b> to the website.</p>
<p>(The number of readers shown in the below table is in lakhs)</p>
<p><img alt="Growth of Readers during January 2012 - June 2012" class="wp-image-344 size-full aligncenter" src="http://shijualex.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/readers.png?w=640" title="Growth of Readers during January 2012 - June 2012" /></p>
<p>(The <b>Number of Readers</b> shown in the above table is in lakhs)</p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">For most of the Indic languages readership has gone up. For Assamese and Odia it almost doubled.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Among big languages unlike the number of active users when it comes to readers most Indic languages are doing justice to its speaking population volume. So even though many of our speakers are not editing the respective language wikipedia they are reading it. Bengali and Telugu are two languages that behaves different here which shows that awareness is very low for both the languages.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">As the Indic language support in smart phones and different OSs is in better position now, I am sure the readership is going to increase further in future.</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Still a major percentage of our speakers (I mean speakers who has access to internet) doesn’t know that there is a Wikipedia exists in their own mother language and they not using it is a big issue. If our reader base is not increasing it will affect the community growth also. Hope things will improve as at least few language communities are involved in various awareness and outreach programs.</p>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: left; "><i>Originally posted at</i> <a class="external-link" href="http://shijualex.wordpress.com/2012/09/24/indic-language-wikipedias-statistical-report-2012-january-2012-june/">http://shijualex.wordpress.com/2012/09/24/indic-language-wikipedias-statistical-report-2012-january-2012-june/</a></p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/openness/indic-language-wikipedias-statistical-report-jan-june-2012'>https://cis-india.org/openness/indic-language-wikipedias-statistical-report-jan-june-2012</a>
</p>
No publisherShiju AlexOpennessAccess to KnowledgeWikimedia2012-09-28T15:41:31ZBlog EntryKannada Wiki Workshop at Tumkur University
https://cis-india.org/openness/kannada-wiki-workshop-tumkur-university
<b>Tumkur University, Karnataka hosted a Kannada Wiki Workshop on September 15, 2012. This was the first Kannada Wikipedia workshop at Tumkur. </b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Prof. Ashwin Kumar from the Department of English, Tumkur University and Kannada wikipedians, Omshivaprakash, Hareesh, Tejus and Pavithra played vital roles in organising this workshop.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">About 30 participants including students and teachers participated in this workshop. Students were mostly from the Department of English and Library Science.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The workshop began at 10.30 a.m. Prof. Ashwin Kumar gave the welcome address and spoke about the importance of Kannada Wikipedia. Thereafter, Om Shiva Prakash made a presentation on "Introduction to Wikipedia and Kannada Wikipedia". This was followed by the "Editing Session". The university had provided 10 computers for the session. Harish and Tejas lead the editing session with the rest of the team supporting the students to do the "wiki editing". The session went upto 2.00 p.m. since the participants showed keen interest. As there were some restrictions associated with the "username creation" only "six" students were able to create their wiki username.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a class="external-link" href="http://bit.ly/UsuqFv"><img alt="ಚಿತ್ರ:Tumkur University Kannada Wiki Workshop.jpg" height="533" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ea/Tumkur_University_Kannada_Wiki_Workshop.jpg" width="800" /></a></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><i>Seen above: Participants from the Kannada Wiki Workshop held in Tumkur University</i>. For more pictures, visit <a class="external-link" href="http://bit.ly/UsuqFv">http://bit.ly/UsuqFv</a></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The Kannada Wikipedia community is holding talks with the university officials to begin a Kannada Wikipedia education program. These types of initiatives will attract more Kannada speaking people to Kannada Wiki related activities.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/openness/kannada-wiki-workshop-tumkur-university'>https://cis-india.org/openness/kannada-wiki-workshop-tumkur-university</a>
</p>
No publisherShiju AlexOpennessWikimedia2012-10-16T12:35:10ZBlog EntryAugust 2012 Bulletin
https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/august-2012-bulletin
<b>Welcome to the newsletter issue of August 2012 from the Centre for Internet & Society (CIS). The present issue features an analysis of the latest list of sites blocked by the Indian government from August 18, 2012 to August 21, 2012, the India Report for Consumers International IP Watchlist 2012, and press coverage related to the recent North East exodus.</b>
<h2><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance">Internet Governance</a></h2>
<p>The Internet Governance programme conducts research around the various social, technical, and political underpinnings of global and national Internet governance, and includes online privacy, freedom of speech, and Internet governance mechanisms and processes:</p>
<h3><b>Special Section on Freedom of Expression</b></h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">We usually cover Freedom of Expression under Internet Governance. However, in the month of August there has been much discussion regarding the North East exodus from Bangalore and the blocking of a number of websites by the Indian government from August 18 to 21, 2012. This special section covers reportage and original content from CIS:</p>
<p><b>Featured Research</b></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/analysing-blocked-sites-riots-communalism">Analysing Latest List of Blocked Sites</a> (Communalism & Rioting Edition) (by Pranesh Prakash): Pranesh Prakash did a preliminary analysis on a leaked list of the websites blocked from August 18, 2012 till August 21, 2012 by the Indian government. There were a total of 309 specific items (those being URLs, Twitter accounts, img tags, blog posts, blogs, and a handful of websites) that were blocked. In this analysis, Pranesh examines why these have been blocked, are the blocks legitimate, are there any egregious mistakes, why the whole list hasn’t been put up, why can one access items that are supposed to be blocked, what should the government have done, etc. The analysis was quoted/cross-posted in the following places: <a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2012/08/25/opinion-indias-clumsy-twitter-gamble/">Wall Street Journal</a> (August 25, 2012), <a href="http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article3812819.ece">The Hindu</a> (August 24, 2012), <a href="http://www.livemint.com/2012/08/23210529/How-ISPs-block-websites-and-wh.html?atype=tp">LiveMint</a> (August 24, 2012), <a href="http://globalvoicesonline.org/2012/08/24/india-strong-reactions-to-social-media-censorship/">Global Voices</a> (August 24, 2012), <a href="http://bit.ly/PZN75N">Outlook</a> (August 23, 2012), <a href="http://www.firstpost.com/tech/epic-fail-how-india-compiled-its-banned-list-of-websites-427522.html">FirstPost.India</a> (August 23, 2012), <a href="http://ibnlive.in.com/news/haphazard-censorship-leaked-list-of-blocked-sites/284592-11.html">IBN Live</a> (August 23, 2012), <a href="http://newsclick.in/india/analysing-latest-list-blocked-sites-communalism-rioting-edition">News Click</a> (August 23, 2012), <a href="http://www.medianama.com/2012/08/223-india-internet-blocks/">Medianama</a> (August 23, 2012) and <a href="http://kafila.org/2012/08/23/an-analysis-of-the-latest-round-of-internet-censorship-in-india-communalism-and-rioting-edition-pranesh-prakash/">KAFILA</a> (August 23, 2012).</li>
</ul>
<p><b>Columns</b></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/www-deccan-herald-aug-26-2012-to-regulate-net-intermediaries-or-not-is-the-question">To regulate Net intermediaries or not is the question</a> (by Sunil Abraham, Deccan Herald, August 26, 2012): “Given the disruption to public order caused by the mass exodus of North-Eastern Indians from several cities, the government has had for the first time in many years, a legitimate case to crackdown on Internet intermediaries and their users.”</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/www-first-post-com-aug-25-2012-nishant-shah-social-media-sms-are-not-why-ne-students-left-bangalore">Social media, SMS are not why NE students left Bangalore</a> (by Nishant Shah, First Post, August 25, 2012): “I woke up one morning to find that I was living in a city of crisis. Bangalore, where the largest public preoccupations to date have been about bad roads, stray dogs, and occasionally, the lack of night-life, the city was suddenly a space that people wanted to flee and occupy simultaneously.”</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/down-to-earth-org-nishant-shah-aug-24-2012-what-lurks-beneath-the-network">What lurks beneath the Network</a> (by Nishant Shah, Down to Earth, August 24, 2012): “There is a series of buzzwords that have become a naturalised part of discussions around digital social media—participation, collaboration, peer-2-peer, mobilisation, etc. Especially in the post Arab Spring world (and our own home-grown Anna Hazare spectacles), there is this increasing belief in the innate possibilities of social media as providing ways by which the world as we know it shall change for the better. Young people are getting on to the streets and demanding their rights to the future.”</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/www-tehelka-com-sunil-abraham-august-23-2012-censoring-the-internet">Censoring the Internet: A brief manual</a> (by Sunil Abraham, Tehelka, August 23, 2012): “Blocking websites on the Internet should be proportionate to harm they intend. However, the government of India's approach is against the principles of natural justice.”</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/www-livemint-com-chinmayi-arun-aug-20-2012-perils-of-hactivism">The Perils of 'Hactivism'</a> (by Chinmayi Arun, LiveMint, August 20, 2012): “Civil disobedience includes accepting the penalty for breaking the law. Untraceable hackers are far removed from this ethic.”</li>
</ul>
<p><b>Foreign Media Coverage</b></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/www-washington-post-rama-lakshmi-august-20-2012-india-blocks-more-than-250-web-sites-for-inciting-hate-panic">India blocks more than 250 Web sites for inciting hate, panic</a> (by Rama Lakshmi, Washington Post on August 20, 2012): “A blanket ban does not necessarily lead to a reduction in the circulation of rumors because people become more vulnerable in a communication vacuum.”— Sunil Abraham.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/www-the-globe-and-mail-stephanie-nolen-august-23-2012-indias-ethnic-clashes-intensify-within-social-media-maelstrom">India’s ethnic clashes intensify within social-media maelstrom</a> (by Stephanie Nolen, Globe Mail, August 23, 2012): “Now for a change, the government has legitimate grounds to censor speech...but they’ve cried wolf on so many occasions before.” — Sunil Abraham.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/afr-com-aug-24-2012-mark-magnier-india-limits-social-media-after-civil-unrest">India limits social media after civil unrest</a> (by Mark Magnier, Australian Financial Review, August 24, 2012): “Before, the government’s had no grounds for censorship, it was only acting on the bruised egos of bureaucrats and officials... this time, it’s got a legitimate right given the disruption of public order. But it hasn’t done so very effectively.” — Sunil Abraham.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/wsj-com-jai-krishna-and-rumman-ahmed-aug-23-2012-new-delhi-expands-curbs-on-web-content">New Delhi Expands Curbs on Web Content</a> (by R Jai Krishna and Rumman Ahmed, Wall Street Journal, August 23, 2012): “The government's move to block several Twitter handles is a clear case of administrative overreach...This action means citizens are less likely to believe that the government can use its powers responsibly.” — Sunil Abraham.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/www-livemint-com-aug-24-2012-surabhi-agarwal-govt-in-line-of-fire-over-web-censorship">Govt in line of fire over web censorship</a> (by Surabhi Agarwal, Livemint, August 24, 2012): “Both Kanchan Gupta and Swapan Dasgupta seem to be having a right wing ideology, but while the former’s account is blocked the latter’s is not...The difference is on the kind of content which has been posted.” — Pranesh Prakash.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/in-reuters-com-david-lalmalsawma-aug-24-2012-indias-social-media-crackdown-reveals-clumsy-govt-machinery">India's social media crackdown reveals clumsy govt machinery</a> (by David Lalmalsawma, Reuters, August 24, 2012): Pranesh Prakash’s analysis is quoted.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/hosted-2-ap-org-aug-24-2012-internet-expert-criticizes-indian-cyber-blockades">Internet expert criticizes Indian cyber blockades</a> (by Muneeza Naqvi, Associated Press, August 24, 2012): “The government has gone overboard and many of its efforts are legally questionable.” — Pranesh Prakash. This was also covered in <a href="http://www.businessweek.com/ap/2012-08-24/internet-expert-criticizes-indian-cyber-blockades">Bloomberg Businessweek</a> (August 24, 2012), <a href="http://www.khaleejtimes.com/kt-article-display-1.asp?xfile=data/international/2012/August/international_August802.xml&section=international">Khaleej Times</a> (August 24, 2012), <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/internet-expert-criticizes-indian-cyber-blockades-17071588#.UDr2TdbibFs">ABC News</a> (August 24, 2012), <a href="http://seattletimes.com/html/businesstechnology/2018980504_apasindiacybercensorship.html" target="_blank">Seattle Times</a> (August 24, 2012), <a href="http://www.vancouversun.com/mobile/news/world-news/Internet+expert+criticizes+India+cyber+blockades+wake+ethnic/7139293/story.html">Vancouver Sun</a> (August 24, 2012), <a href="http://www.kansascity.com/2012/08/24/3776866/internet-expert-criticizes-indian.html" target="_blank">Kansas City</a>. (August 24, 2012), <a href="http://www.timescolonist.com/technology/Internet+expert+criticizes+India+cyber+blockades+wake+ethnic/7139293/story.html" target="_blank">Times Colonist</a> (August 24, 2012), <a href="http://www.mercedsunstar.com/2012/08/24/2494805_internet-expert-criticizes-indian.html">Merced Sun-Star</a> (August 24, 2012), <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/internet-expert-criticizes-indian-cyber-123930580.html">Yahoo News</a> (August 24, 2012), <a href="http://www.sanluisobispo.com/2012/08/24/2197739_internet-expert-criticizes-indian.html">SanLuisObispo.com</a> (August 24, 2012), <a href="http://www.terrorismwatch.org/2012_08_19_archive.html">Terrorism Watch</a> (August 25, 2012), <a href="http://www.sci-tech-today.com/story.xhtml?story_id=84590">Sci-Tech Today</a> (August 26, 2012).</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/www-livemint-com-aug-24-2012-gopal-sathe-how-isps-block-websites-and-why-it-doesnt-help">How ISPs block websites and why it doesn’t help</a> (by Gopal Sathe, Livemint, August 24, 2012): “Even though many of the items on that list do deserve (in my opinion) to be removed [...] the people and companies hosting the material should have been asked to remove it, instead of ordering the ISPs to block them.” — Pranesh Prakash.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/wsj-com-aug-25-2012-rumman-ahmed-r-jai-krishna-indias-internet-curbs-under-legal-cloud">India’s Internet Curbs Under Legal Cloud</a> (by Rumman Ahmed and R Jai Krishna, Wall Street Journal, August 26, 2012):” The four orders that were sent to the ISPs don’t say under which section or under what power these orders are being sent...They were sent without invoking any statute or without invoking any law.” — Pranesh Prakash.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/www-ny-times-aug-25-2012-gardiner-harris-after-violence-in-india-a-crackdown-online">After Violence in India, a Crackdown Online</a> (by Gardiner Harris, New York Times, August 25, 2012): “I don’t see this as politically motivated censorship...I see this as gross ineptitude by the government.” — Pranesh Prakash.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/http-www-google-com-hostednews-afp-inde-la-tentative-de-controler-i-internet-est-illegale">Inde: la tentative de contrôler l'internet est "illégale</a>" (Agence France Presse, August 24, 2012): Pranesh Prakash is quoted.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/www-china-post-aug-24-2012-india-threatens-action-against-twitter-for-ethnic-violence-rumors">India threatens action against Twitter for ethnic violence 'rumors'</a> (originally posted by Ben Sheppard in AFP and published in the China Post, August 25, 2012): Pranesh Prakash’s analysis is quoted.</li>
<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/www-ciol-com-aug-23-2012-blocked-websites">Blocked websites: Where India flawed</a> (CIOL, August 23, 2012): Pranesh Prakash’s analysis is quoted.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/global-voices-online-org-aparna-ray-aug-24-2012india-social-media-censorship-to-contain-cyber-terrorism">India: Social Media Censorship to Contain ‘Cyber-Terrorism'?</a> (by Aparna Ray, Global Voices, August 24, 2012): Pranesh Prakash’s analysis is quoted.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/gulf-today-aug-25-2012-delhi-defends-internet-blocking">Delhi defends Internet blocking</a> (Gulf Today, August 25, 2012): “The officials who are trusted with this don’t know the law or modern technology well enough.” — Pranesh Prakash.</li>
<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/www-ibi-times-co-uk-gianluca-mezzofiore-aug-24-2012-india-blocks-news-website-pages-for-spreading-fear-over-assam-violence">India Blocks News Website Pages for 'Spreading Fear' over Assam Violence</a> (by Gianluca Mezzofiore, International Business Times, August 24, 2012): “The government's highest priority should have been to counter the rumours and it did a really bad job of that.” — Pranesh Prakash.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/www-gulf-daily-news-com-aug-25-2012-internet-clamp-outrage">Internet clamp outrage</a> (Gulf Daily, August 25, 2012): Pranesh Prakash is quoted.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/in-reuters-com-devidutta-tripathy-satarupa-bhattacharjya-aug-24-2012-india-faces-twitter-backlash">India faces Twitter backlash over Internet clampdown</a> (by Devidutta Tripathy and Satarupa Bhattacharjya, Reuters, August 24, 2012): “This isn't about political censorship. This is about the government not knowing how to do online regulation properly.” — Pranesh Prakash.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/afp-com-aug-23-2012-indian-govt-defends-internet-blocking">Indian government defends Internet blocking</a> (AFP, August 23, 2012): “I hope that this fiasco shows the folly of excessive censorship and encourages the government to make better use of social networks and technology to reach out to people.” — Pranesh Prakash. This was cross-posted in the following: <a href="http://www.thenational.ae/lifestyle/spectre-of-violence-justified-internet-blocking-indian-officials-say">The National</a> (August 25, 2012), <a href="http://news.ph.msn.com/sci-tech/indian-govt-defends-internet-blocking" target="_blank">MSN News</a> (August 24, 2012), <a href="http://www.starafrica.com/en/news/detail-news/view/india-warns-twitter-over-ethnic-violence-249196.html" target="_blank">StarAfrica.com</a> (August 24, 2012), <a href="http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/international/india-defends-internet-censorship/540161" target="_blank">Jakarta Globe</a> (August 24, 2012).</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/www-ft-com-aug-24-2012-james-crabtree-tim-bradshaw-criticism-mounts-over-india-censorship">Criticism mounts over India censorship</a> (by James Crabtree in Mumbai and Tim Bradshaw in San Francisco, Financial Times, August 24, 2012): “I am not questioning their original motives, but I do think this is excessive and incompetent censorship.” — Pranesh Prakash.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/www-forbes-com-mark-bergen-aug-29-2012-facebooks-delicate-dance-with-delhi-on-censorship">Facebook's Delicate Dance With Delhi On Censorship</a> (by Mark Bergen, Forbes, August 29, 2012): “Perhaps the Indian government has wasted, frittered away goodwill...It has cried ‘wolf’ so many times that this time the internet intermediaries are not taking them as seriously as they should.” — Sunil Abraham.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/www-nytimes-vikas-bajaj-aug-21-2012-internet-analysts-question-indias-efforts-to-stem-panic">Internet Analysts Question India’s Efforts to Stem Panic</a> (by Vikas Bajaj, New York Times, August 21, 2012): “The Internet intermediaries are responding slowly because now they have to trawl through their networks and identify hate speech.” — Sunil Abraham. This was cross-posted in <a href="http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/internet-analysts-question-india-s-efforts-to-stem-panic-257760">NDTV</a> on August 22, 2012. A version of this article appeared in print on August 22, 2012, on page B4 of the New York edition with the headline: Internet Moves by India to Stem Rumors and Panic Raise Questions.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/articles-latimes-com-mark-magnier-aug-23-2012-india-limits-social-media-after-civil-unrest">India limits social media after civil unrest</a> (by Mark Magnier, Los Angeles Times, August 23, 2012 and cross-posted in <a href="http://www.channel6newsonline.com/2012/08/after-civil-unrest-indian-government-places-limits-social-media/">Channel 6 News</a> on August 24, 2012): Sunil Abraham is quoted.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/www-voanews-com-aug-21-2012-anjana-pasricha-india-debates-misuse-of-social-media">India Debates Misuse of Social Media</a> (by Anjana Pasricha, Voice of America, August 21, 2012 and re-posted in <a href="http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2012/08/22/2012082200496.html">Chosunilbo</a> on September 4, 2012): “Social media websites and other Internet intermediaries should have been asked by the government to run banner advertising or some other form of messaging that revealed the lack of truth in the rumors that were circulating.” — Sunil Abraham.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/frenchtribune-com-bruce-totolos-aug-22-2012-officials-raise-questions-over-indian-governments-efforts">Officials Raise Questions over Indian Government’s Efforts</a> (by Bruce Totolos, French Tribune, August 22, 2012). “The government acted appropriately, but without sufficient sophistication.” — Sunil Abraham.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/www-upi-com-aug-24-2012-india-seeks-a-tighter-grip-on-social-media">India seeks a tighter grip on social media</a> (United Press International, August 24, 2012): Pranesh Prakash is quoted.</li>
</ul>
<p><b>National Media Coverage</b></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/economic-times-aug-24-2012-internet-expert-pranesh-prakash-criticizes-indian-cyber-blockades">Internet expert Pranesh Prakash criticizes Indian cyber blockades</a> (Economic Times, August 24, 2012): Pranesh Prakash is quoted.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/times-of-india-aug-24-2012-govt-orders-blocking-of-300-specific-urls-including-16-twitter-accounts">Govt orders blocking of 300 specific URLs including 16 Twitter accounts</a> (Times of India, August 23, 2012): “The blocking of many of the items on the list are legally questionable and morally indefensible, even while a large number of the items ought to be removed.” — Pranesh Prakash.</li>
<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/tech-2-in-com-ne-exodus">NE exodus: List containing 309 blocked URLs leaks online</a> (tech 2, August 23, 2012): Pranesh Prakash's analysis is quoted.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/www-hindustantimes-com-aug-24-2012-govt-cracks-down-on-twitter">Govt cracks down on Twitter</a> (Hindustan Times, August 24, 2012): “The blocking was done without due process of law...the government should have engaged with the social media platforms since a majority — 217 out of 310 — of the block orders were aimed at Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter.” — Pranesh Prakash.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/www-hindustantimes-com-aug-24-2012-twitter-users-hit-back-at-govt-ban">Twitter users hit back at government ban</a> (originally posted in Reuters and carried in the Hindustan Times, August 24, 2012): “This isn't about political censorship. This is about the government not knowing how to do online regulation properly.” — Pranesh Prakash.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/www-hindustan-times-aug-26-2012-when-goi-blocks-twitterati-fly-off-their-handles">When #GOIBlocks, twitterati fly off their ‘handles’</a> (Hindustan Times, August 26, 2012). Pranesh Prakash’s tweet is quoted.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/www-the-hindu-aug-26-v-sridhar-regulating-the-internet-by-fiat">Regulating the Internet by fiat</a> (by V Sridhar, Hindu, August 26, 2012): Pranesh Prakash’s analysis is quoted.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/economic-times-aug-26-2012-twitter-handles">Twitter handles: How and why govt erred and what it can do to be smarter & more effective</a> (by TV Mahalingam and Shantanu Nandan Sharma, Economic Times, August 26, 2012): “Perhaps, for the first time, the <a href="http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/topic/Indian-government">Indian government</a> had legitimate reasons to censor speech.” — Sunil Abraham.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/tech2-in-com-som-isps-block-wordpress-domain-across-india">Some ISPs block Wordpress domain across India</a> (tech 2, August 25, 2012): Pranesh Prakash’s analysis is quoted.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/www-the-hindu-com-aug-24-2012-details-emerge-on-govt-blockade-of-websites">Details emerge on government blockade of websites</a> (Hindu, August 24, 2012): Pranesh Prakash’s analysis is quoted.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/www-indolink-com-india-faces-twitter-backlash">India faces Twitter backlash over Internet clampdown</a> (INDOLink, August 25, 2012): Pranesh Prakash is quoted.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/www-pbs-org-aug-28-2012-simon-roughneen-india-blocks-facebook-twitter-mass-texts-in-response-to-unrest">India Blocks Facebook, Twitter, Mass Texts in Response to Unrest</a> (by Simon Roughneen, Media Shift, August 28, 2012): “In the older forms of governance, which were imagined through a broadcast model, the government was at the center of the information wheel, managing and mediating what information reached different parts of the country. In the [peer-to-peer] world, where the government no longer has that control, it is now trying different ways by which it can reinforce its authority and centrality to the information ecosystem. Which means that there is going to be a series of failures and models that don't work.” — Nishant Shah.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/tech-2-in-com-aug-30-2012-tata-photon-unblocks-wordpress">Tata Photon unblocks Wordpress.com</a> (by Rohini Lakshane, tech 2, August 30, 2012): “This is not the first time an ISP has gone overboard in implementing censorship, be it copyright issues, piracy or inflammatory content. In 2006, the government had <a href="http://pib.nic.in/newsite/erelease.aspx?relid=18954">chastised ISPs</a> for over-censoring content and blocking unintended websites and pages...ISPs have numerous grouses against the government. They do not possess the technical capabilities to implement the government's orders, at times, whether about surveillance or censorship.” — Pranesh Prakash.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/www-merinews-com-wahid-bukhari-august-23-2012-northeast-exodus">Northeast exodus: Is there a mechanism to pre-screen social media content?</a> (by Wahid Bukhari, Merinews.com, August 23, 2012): “Given the amount of content uploaded on the larger social networks, pre-screening content is just not possible, while removal upon complaint is. They don't have editors like newspapers do; importantly, they shouldn't.” — Pranesh Prakash.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/www-ibnlive-in-com-haphazard-censorship-leaked-list-of-blocked-sites">Haphazard censorship? Leaked list of blocked websites in India</a> (IBN Live, August 23, 2012): Pranesh Prakash’s analysis is quoted.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/articles-economictimes-indiatimes-com-govt-asks-twitter-to-block-fake-pmo-india-accounts-site-fails-to-respond">Government asks Twitter to block fake 'PMO India' accounts; site fails to respond</a> (Economic Times, August 23, 2012): Sunil Abraham is quoted.</li>
</ul>
<p><b>Videos</b></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/ibn-live-com-shows-ftn-aug-21-2012-is-it-time-to-regulate-social-media">FTN: Is it time to regulate social media?</a> (IBN Live, August 21, 2012): Sunil Abraham, Pavan Duggal, A Mukherji and Nikhil Pahwa spoke to CNN-IBN Deputy Editor Sagarika Ghose in Face the Nation episode that was telecasted in IBNLive on August 21, 2012. Sunil said “if one looks at the initial orders that the government sent these intermediaries those were very broad instructions. The order was addressed to all intermediaries under the IT Act.” Watch the <a href="http://ibnlive.in.com/shows/Face+the+Nation/284279.html">full video</a> on IBN Live.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/www-ndtv-com-aug-23-2012-govt-vs-tweeple-has-clampdown-hit-free-speech">Govt vs Tweeple: Has clampdown hit free speech?</a> (NDTV, August 23, 2012): Has the Government crossed the line by ordering the blocking of several Twitter accounts, many belonging to prominent journalists? The debate was featured in NDTV on August 23, 2012. Sunil Abraham spoke to Sonia Singh of NDTV. Sunil said that “we should focus on designing of the censorship regime in the country and the lack of compliance with the principles of natural justice.” Watch the <a href="http://www.ndtv.com/video/player/india-decides-9/govt-vs-tweeple-has-clampdown-hit-free-speech/243830?vod-mostpopular">full video</a> on NDTV.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/www-ndtv-com-we-the-people-aug-26-2012-is-the-govt-caught-in-the-censorship-web">Is the govt caught in the 'censorship' web?</a> (NDTV, August 26, 2012): In “We the People” Pranesh Prakash responded to Barkha Dutt’s question on what does a government do in a time of social unrest. See the <a href="http://www.ndtv.com/video/player/we-the-people/is-the-govt-caught-in-the-censorship-web/244248">full debate</a> on NDTV.</li>
</ul>
<p><b>Events Organised</b></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/role-of-us-tech-companies-in-govt-surveillance">Role of the US Tech Companies in Government Surveillance: A Lecture by Christopher Soghoian</a> (CIS, Bangalore, August 27, 2012): Christopher Soghoian gave a lecture on the role companies play in assisting government surveillance.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/iacs-summer-school-2012">The Asian Edge: 2012 Inter-Asia Cultural Studies Society Summer School</a>: The 2nd Biannual Inter Asia Cultural Studies (IACS) Summer School was hosted in Bangalore by CIS and the Centre for the Study of Culture and Society.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/biometric-identification">Biometric Identification: Specified Error, Accuracy and Efficiency, Considered for the Operations of the UIDAI — A Talk by Hans Varghese Mathews</a> (CIS, Bangalore, August 17, 2012): Hans Varghese Mathews gave a public lecture on biometric identification.</li>
</ul>
<p><b>Events Participated</b></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/sixth-meeting-of-sub-groups-on-privacy-issues">Sixth Meeting of the two Sub-Groups on Privacy Issues under the Chairmanship of Justice AP Shah</a> (Committee Room No. 228, Yojana Bhawan, Sansad Marg, New Delhi, August 31, 2012): Sunil Abraham participated in the meeting.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://conference.apnic.net/34/program/inet-gov-plenary">APNIC 34 Conference</a> (Phnompenh, Cambodia, August 23 – 31, 2012): Sunil Abraham was a panelist along with Ang Peng Hwa, Paul Wilson, Duangthip Chomprang and Raul Echeberria in the session on Internet Governance Plenary. The event was organised by APNIC.</li>
</ul>
<p><b>Events Hosted</b></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://www.meetup.com/Bangalore-Designers/events/70796372/">Meetup for Bangalore's designers</a> (CIS, Bangalore, August 11, 2012): CIS hosted the meet-up in Bangalore.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Visit by students from Hindustan University, Chennai (CIS, Bangalore, August 16, 2012): Sunil Abraham and Elonnai Hickok gave a lecture to students from the Hindustan University.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Interface Intimacies (TERI Complex, Bangalore, August 18 – 20, 2012): CIS conducted a research workshop with Audrey Yue and Namita Malhotra.</li>
</ul>
<p><b>Upcoming Events</b></p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/thinking-with-data">Thinking with Data@CIS</a> (CIS, Bangalore, September 16 – 18, 2012): The Thinking with Data course offered at the National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS) will be screened at CIS, Bangalore. The screening will be followed by online discussions with the faculty through Skype or Google+ Hangouts. Screening starts from September 12.</li>
<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/cartonama-conference">Cartonama Conference</a> (MLR Convention Centre, JP Nagar, Bangalore, September 22, 2012): The Cartonama Conference is centred around geospatial data, mapping and location based services. HasGeek supported by CIS is organising this event.</li>
<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/uk-dna-database-and-european-court-of-human-rights-lessons-that-india-can-learn-from-mistakes">UK DNA Database and the European Court of Human Rights</a>: Lessons that India can Learn from Its Mistakes (Alternative Law Forum, Infantry Road, Shivaji Nagar, Bangalore, September 24, 2012): CIS in collaboration with Alternative Law Forum invites the public to a talk with international experts, Helen Wallace from GeneWatch, UK and Jeremy Gruber from the Council for Responsible Genetics in the United States.</li>
</ul>
<hr />
<h2><a href="https://cis-india.org/telecom">Telecom</a></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">While the potential for growth and returns exist for telecommunications in India, a range of issues need to be addressed. One aspect is more extensive rural coverage and the other is a countrywide access to broadband which is low. Both require effective and efficient use of networks and resources, including spectrum:</p>
<p><a href="https://cis-india.org/telecom/telecom-knowledge-repository/knowledge-and-capacity-around-telecom-policy" class="external-link"><b>Building Knowledge and Capacity around Telecommunication Policy in India</b></a></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Ford Foundation has given a grant of USD 2,00,000 to CIS to build expertise in the area of telecommunications in India. The knowledge repository deals with these modules: Introduction to Telecommunications, Telecommunications Infrastructure and Technologies, Government of India Regulatory Framework for Telecom, Telecommunication and the Market, Universal Access and Accessibility, The International Telecommunications Union and other international bodies, Broadcasting, Emerging Topics and Way Forward. Dr. Surendra Pal, Satya N Gupta, Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, Payal Malik, Dr. Rakesh Mehrotra and Dr. Nadeem Akhtar are the expert reviewers.</p>
<p><span class="visualHighlight">The following are the new outputs:</span></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/telecom/telecom-knowledge-repository/auctioning-and-allocation-of-spectrum">Auctioning and Allocation of Spectrum</a> (by Snehashish Ghosh): Auction of spectrums was introduced in the telecommunication market after the failure of the administrative process of allocating spectrum. Auctions use a price mechanism to allocate spectrum. Auction of spectrum can be used to increase efficiency and earn maximum revenue.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/telecom/telecom-knowledge-repository/trai-act-1997">The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Act, 1997</a> (by Snehashish Ghosh): The main objective of the TRAI Act was to establish the TRAI and the Telecom Dispute Settlement Appellate Tribunal. Snehashish also touches upon the amendment to the TRAI Act, government control over TRAI, scheme of the TRAI Act, constitution of TRAI, its powers and functions, grounds and procedures for appeal to the tribunal, etc.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/telecom/telecom-knowledge-repository/broadband-wireless-access">Broadband Wireless Access – Standards</a> (by Jürgen Kock): Jürgen tells us about the broadband wireless access standards, why we need technical standards, who define BWA standards, WiMAX standards and long term evolution.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/telecom/telecom-knowledge-repository/mesh-networks">Mesh Networks</a> (by Ravikiran Annaswamy): Ravikiran tells us the definition of Mesh Networks, its importance, applications and the things to explore in future.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/telecom/telecom-knowledge-repository/national-telecom-policy">National Telecom Policy, 2012</a> (by Snehashish Ghosh): The National Telecom Policy, 2012 was approved by the Union Cabinet on May 31, 2012. Snehashish tells us about the vision of the National Telecom Policy, 2012, its background, the strategies (broadband rural telephony and universal service obligation fund), licensing, convergence and value-added services, spectrum management, etc.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/telecom/telecom-knowledge-repository/new-telecom-policy-1999">New Telecom Policy, 1999</a> (by Snehashish Ghosh): The New Telecom Policy, 1999 was formulated on the basis of the report of Group on Telecommunication. In this unit, Snehashish talks about the objectives of the Policy, its targets, the new category of service providers, role of the regulator, other mandates to the Policy, amendment to the New Telecom Policy, 1999, etc.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/telecom/telecom-knowledge-repository/national-telecom-policy-1994">National Telecom Policy, 1994</a> (by Snehashish Ghosh): The National Telecom Policy, 1994 was formulated for the purpose of opening up the Indian markets for foreign direct investment as well as domestic investment in the telecom sector. Snehashish throws light on the objectives of the National Telecom Policy, 1994, the status of telecom services prior to the implementation of the aforesaid Policy; value added services, hardware and technological aspects, basic services, and outcomes of the National Telecom Policy.</li>
</ul>
<p><b>Column in Business Standard</b></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/telecom/http-organizing-india-blogspot-in-aug-2-2012-shyam-ponappa-decision-analysis-for-interest-rates">Decision Analysis for Interest Rates - II</a> (Shyam Ponappa, Business Standard, August 2, 2012): “India needs to make practical choices that prioritise growth. This is the second column. The previous column was published in the Business Standard on July 5, 2012. It explained how lower interest rates could improve growth by increasing net profits.”</li>
</ul>
<hr />
<h2 style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/a2k">Access to Knowledge</a></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The Access to Knowledge programme addresses the harms caused to consumers, developing countries, human rights, and creativity/innovation from excessive regimes of copyright, patents, and other such monopolistic rights over knowledge:</p>
<p><b>Key Research</b></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/a2k/consumers-international-ip-watchlist-report-2012">Consumers International IP Watchlist 2012 — India Report</a> (by Pranesh Prakash): The India Report for Consumers International IP Watchlist 2012 was published on the A2K Network website. According to the report, India's Copyright Act is a relatively balanced instrument that recognises the interests of consumers through its broad private use exception, and by facilitating the compulsory licensing of works that would otherwise be unavailable. However, the compulsory licensing provision have not been utilized so far, because of both a lack of knowledge and more importantly because of the stringent conditions attached to them.</li>
</ul>
<p><b>Press Coverage</b></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/www-businessworld-in-jaya-bhattacharji-rose-august-9-copyright-law">Copyright Law: More Than a Moral Obligation</a> (by Jaya Bhattacharji Rose, Businessworld, August 9, 2012): “So far, things have worked well because sepia-tinted photographs have generally become part of the public domain. But now, only photographs by photographers who died before 1951 are part of the public domain. This has shrivelled up the public domain in photographs since it is even more difficult to trace the photographer...than to estimate the age of a photograph, determining whether a photograph is in the public domain is laden with uncertainty. The use of historical photos in books (and Wikipedia) will be badly affected.”— Pranesh Prakash.</li>
</ul>
<hr />
<h2><a href="https://cis-india.org/accessibility">Accessibility</a></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">India has an estimated 70 million disabled persons who are unable to read printed materials due to some form of physical, sensory, cognitive or other disability. The disabled need accessible content, devices and interfaces facilitated via copyright law and electronic accessibility policies:</p>
<p><b>Blog Entry</b></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/accessibility/ring-side-view">Ring Side View: Update on WIPO Negotiations on the Treaty for the Visually Impaired</a> (by Rahul Cherian): As the negotiations between Member States progressed it became clear that the United States and the European Union were blocking the Treaty while everybody else was pushing hard for the Treaty. The United States and the European Union were pushing for some form of non-binding instrument that would be more in the nature of a recommendation. Further coverage of this is at <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/26/blind-treaty-2012_n_1706543.html">Huffington Post</a> and in the <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/2012/jul/30/us-eu-blocking-treaty-blind-books">Guardian</a>.</li>
</ul>
<hr />
<h2><a href="https://cis-india.org/digital-natives">Digital Natives</a></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Digital Natives with a Cause? examines the changing landscape of social change and political participation in light of the role that young people play through digital and Internet technologies, in emerging information societies. Consolidating knowledge from Asia, Africa and Latin America, it builds a global network of knowledge partners who critically engage with discourse on youth, technology and social change, and look at alternative practices and ideas in the Global South:</p>
<p><b>Public Talk</b></p>
<ul>
<li>Decoding Digital Natives (Mudra Institute of Communications, Ahmedabad, August 31, 2012): Nishant Shah gave a public lecture.</li>
</ul>
<hr />
<h2><a href="https://cis-india.org/about/openness">Openness</a></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The 'Openness' programme critically examines alternatives to existing regimes of intellectual property rights, and transparency and accountability. Under this programme, we study Open Government Data, Open Access to Scholarly Literature, Open Access to Law, Open Content, Open Standards, and Free/Libre/Open Source Software:</p>
<p><b>Event Hosted</b></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/bangalore-force-com-cloud-apps-developer-meetup-event">Bangalore Force.com August Meetup</a> (CIS, Bangalore, August 19, 2012): John Barnes, CTO Model Metrics gave a lecture at the event organised by Bangalore Force.com.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/technology-evangelists-religious-evangelists">Technology Evangelists and Religious Evangelists — A Talk by Katherine Sydenham</a> (CIS, Bangalore, August 10, 2012): Katherine Sydenham from the University of Michigan School gave a lecture.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/data-driven-journalism-data-literacy-and-open-govt">Data-Driven Journalism, Data Literacy & Open Government — Talk at CIS</a> (CIS, Bangalore, August 1, 2012): The event was co-organised by Open Knowledge Foundation and CIS. Lucy Chambers and Laura Newman gave an informal talk on ‘Data-Driven Journalism, Data Literacy, and Open Government'.</li>
</ul>
<p><b>CIS is hiring</b><br /> *<a href="https://cis-india.org/jobs">Jobs</a>*<br /> CIS is seeking applications from interested candidates for the following posts:</p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/jobs/research-manager">Research Manager</a>: CIS is seeking an individual, full-time, for a period of 12 months, beginning from October 2012. The Research Manager is expected to contribute to conceptualising, managing and executing research projects in the field of Internet and Society, build knowledge networks of researchers towards collaborative and open knowledge production and dissemination, developing and executing the monitoring and evaluation processes for humanities and social sciences based research, supporting and managing academic, popular and hybrid publishing projects from existing and new research and initiate innovative and creative areas and methodologies of studying the Internet and its practices in India and the larger Global South, to develop key research clusters and networks. Send in your applications to <a href="mailto:admin@cis-india.org">admin@cis-india.org</a>.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/jobs/vacancy-for-researcher-accessibility">Researcher/Editor</a> (Accessibility): CIS is hiring for the full-time position of a researcher for its accessibility programme. The job will entail working on researching on national and international policies and best practices in the field of accessibility of information and technology for persons with disabilities. To apply, please send your CV and three examples of writing to <a href="mailto:nirmita@cis-india.org">nirmita@cis-india.org</a></li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/jobs/vacancy-for-programme-director">Programme Director – Access to Knowledge</a>: CIS is seeking a Programme Director for its New Delhi office. The Programme Director will manage CIS’s Access to Knowledge programme which is funded by the Wikimedia Foundation, to support the growth of Wikipedia and its sister projects and to advance access to free knowledge in India. The Programme Director will partner with the large Wikimedia community in India to focus on Indic and English languages and will manage a team of four staff members.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/jobs/programme-officer-internet-governance">Programme Officer – Internet Governance</a>: CIS is seeking an individual with a strong background in legal research and policy work to be part of its internet governance (IG) programme. The candidates must have good knowledge of Indian and international law on freedom of expression and privacy, demonstrable research skills, have strong communication skills and be media savvy with the ability to convey complex legal issues clearly to a general audience, open to travel and work independently.</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">To apply for the posts of Programme Director and Programme Officers, please send your resume to Sunil Abraham (<a href="mailto:sunil@cis-india.org">sunil@cis-india.org</a>) or Pranesh Prakash (<a href="mailto:pranesh@cis-india.org">pranesh@cis-india.org</a>) with three references.</p>
<hr />
<h2><a href="https://cis-india.org/about/">About CIS</a></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">CIS was registered as a society in Bangalore in 2008. As an independent, non-profit research organisation, it runs different policy research programmes such as Accessibility, Access to Knowledge, Openness, Internet Governance, and Telecom. Over the last four years our policy research programmes have resulted in outputs such as the <a href="https://cis-india.org/advocacy/accessibility/blog/e-accessibility-handbook">e-Accessibility Policy Handbook for Persons with Disabilities</a> with ITU and G3ict, and <a href="https://cis-india.org/digital-natives/front-page/blog/dnbook">Digital Alternatives with a Cause?</a>, <a href="https://cis-india.org/digital-natives/front-page/blog/position-papers">Thinkathon Position Papers</a> and the <a href="https://cis-india.org/digital-natives/front-page/blog/digital-natives-with-a-cause-a-report">Digital Natives with a Cause? Report</a> with Hivos. With the Government of India we have done policy research for Ministry of Communications & Information Technology, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, etc., on <a href="https://cis-india.org/a2k/blog/cis-analysis-july2011-treaty-print-disabilities">WIPO Treaties</a>, <a href="https://cis-india.org/a2k/blog/analysis-copyright-amendment-bill-2012">Copyright Bill</a>, <a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/front-page/blog/cis-feedback-to-nia-bill">NIA Bill</a>, etc.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">CIS is an accredited NGO at WIPO and has given policy briefs to delegations from various countries, our Programme Manager, Nirmita Narasimhan won the <a href="https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/national-award">National Award for Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities</a> from the Government of India and also received the <a href="https://cis-india.org/news/nirmita-nivh-award">NIVH Excellence Award</a>.</p>
<hr />
<h3><b>Follow us elsewhere</b></h3>
<ul>
<li>Get short, timely messages from us on Twitter</li>
<li>Join the CIS group on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/groups/28535315687/">Facebook</a></li>
<li>Visit us at <a href="https://cis-india.org/">http://cis-india.org</a></li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><i>CIS is grateful to its donors, Ford Foundation, Privacy International, UK, Hans Foundation and the Kusuma Trust which was founded by Anurag Dikshit and Soma Pujari, philanthropists of Indian origin, for its core funding and support for most of its projects.</i></p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/august-2012-bulletin'>https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/august-2012-bulletin</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaAccess to KnowledgeDigital NativesTelecomAccessibilityInternet GovernanceCISRAWOpenness2012-09-11T14:53:44ZPageBangalore Force.com August Meetup
https://cis-india.org/openness/bangalore-force-com-cloud-apps-developer-meetup-event
<b>Following the India Salesforce Platform Developer Hands-On Workshop in July, Bangalore Force.com is organizing monthly meetups in Bangalore, starting in August. The first meeting will be held at the Centre for Internet & Society in Bangalore on Sunday, August 19, 2012 from 2.00 p.m. to 5.00 p.m. John Barnes will be speaking on the occasion. </b>
<h3>John Barnes</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">John Barnes, CTO Model Metrics will be the first speaker for this meetup. John has been working with Force.com and Salesforce.com since 2005. He is a frequent speaker at global conferences on Cloud Computing and Mobility (Dreamforce, Adobe MAX, Interop, Cloud Connect, Enterprise 2.0). You can follow his blogs <a class="external-link" href="http://www.modelmetrics.com/author/jbarnes/">here</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">John will give an overview of the Force.com platform, benefits of Force.com, Heroku, etc., and an overview of the Social Enterprise. Siddhesh Kabe, Sr. Developer, Salesforce.com, will follow up with demos and hands-on coding.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/openness/bangalore-force-com-cloud-apps-developer-meetup-event'>https://cis-india.org/openness/bangalore-force-com-cloud-apps-developer-meetup-event</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaOpennessEvent Type2012-08-09T13:59:50ZEventJuly 2012 Bulletin
https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/july-2012-bulletin
<b>Welcome to the newsletter issue of July 2012 from the Centre for Internet & Society (CIS). The present issue features a constitutional analysis of the Information Technology (Intermediaries' Guidelines) Rules notified in April 2011, an analysis of the Indian Draft DNA Profiling Act and CIS statement on Exceptions and Limitations for Libraries and Archives made at WIPO.</b>
<h3><a href="https://cis-india.org/jobs">Jobs</a></h3>
<p>CIS is seeking applications from interested candidates for the following posts:</p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/jobs/research-manager">Research Manager</a>: CIS is seeking an individual, full-time, for a period of 12 months, beginning from October 2012. The Research Manager is expected to contribute to conceptualising, managing and executing research projects in the field of Internet and Society, build knowledge networks of researchers towards collaborative and open knowledge production and dissemination, developing and executing the monitoring and evaluation processes for humanities and social sciences based research, supporting and managing academic, popular and hybrid publishing projects from existing and new research and initiate innovative and creative areas and methodologies of studying the Internet and its practices in India and the larger Global South, to develop key research clusters and networks. Send in your applications by September 5, 2012 to <a href="mailto:admin@cis-india.org">admin@cis-india.org</a>.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/jobs/vacancy-for-programme-director">Programme Director – Access to Knowledge</a>: CIS is seeking a Programme Director for its New Delhi office. The Programme Director will manage CIS’s Access to Knowledge programme which is funded by the Wikimedia Foundation, to support the growth of Wikipedia and its sister projects and to advance access to free knowledge in India. The Programme Director will partner with the large Wikimedia community in India to focus on Indic and English languages and will manage a team of four staff members. </li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/jobs/programme-officer-access-to-knowledge-and-openness">Programme Officer – Access to Knowledge and Openness</a>: CIS is seeking an individual with a strong background in policy research and advocacy to be part of its Openness and Access to Knowledge programmes. The candidates must have knowledge of Indian and international law on copyright, demonstrable research skills, public-speaking skills, open to travel and work independently. </li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/jobs/programme-officer-internet-governance">Programme Officer – Internet Governance</a>: CIS is seeking an individual with a strong background in legal research and policy work to be part of its internet governance (IG) programme. The candidates must have good knowledge of Indian and international law on freedom of expression and privacy, demonstrable research skills, have strong communication skills and be media savvy with the ability to convey complex legal issues clearly to a general audience, open to travel and work independently. </li>
</ul>
<p>To apply for the posts of Programme Director and Programme Officers, please send your resume to Sunil Abraham (<a href="mailto:sunil@cis-india.org">sunil@cis-india.org</a>) or Pranesh Prakash (<a href="mailto:pranesh@cis-india.org">pranesh@cis-india.org</a>) with three references.</p>
<h2><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance">Internet Governance</a></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The Internet Governance programme conducts research around the various social, technical, and political underpinnings of global and national Internet governance, and includes online privacy, freedom of speech, and Internet governance mechanisms and processes:</p>
<h3>Featured Research</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/constitutional-analysis-of-intermediaries-guidelines-rules">Constitutional Analysis of the Information Technology (Intermediaries' Guidelines) Rules, 2011</a> (by Ujwala Uppaluri): Ujwala Uppaluri provides a constitutional analysis of the Information Technology (Intermediaries' Guidelines) Rules notified in April 2011, and examines its compatibility with Articles 14, 19, 21 of the Constitution of India.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/indian-draft-dna-profiling-act">Overview and Concerns Regarding the Indian Draft DNA Profiling Act</a> (by GeneWatch UK & the Council for Responsible Genetics, US): The 2007 DNA Profiling Bill pending before the Parliament attempts to create an ambitious centralized DNA bank that would store DNA records of virtually anyone who comes within any proximity to the criminal justice system. The Bill contains provisions limiting access to and use of information contained in the database, and provides for the deletion of a person’s DNA profile upon their acquittal.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Columns</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/internet-censorship">Internet Censorship: Anonymous Can’t be Just Harmful Hackers</a> (Nishant Shah, FirstPost, July 13, 2012): If there was ever an interesting time for people concerned with freedom of speech and expression to live in, it is now, and it is definitely in India. It has been a series of battles the last couple of years, where a slightly out-dated government machinery has been trying to control and contain the burgeoning online spaces, only to be put in their place by the new-age tech-ninjas that have risen as the new heroes in our digital times.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/open-letter-to-hillary-clinton">Open letter to Hillary Clinton on Internet Freedom</a> (Sunil Abraham, Thinking Aloud, July 17, 2012): Sunil Abraham’s open letter to Hillary Clinton was based on a presentation made during a panel discussion at a Google sponsored conference titled Internet at Liberty 2012 in Washington DC on May 24, 2012. <i>The present article published in Thinking Aloud is an updated version of the blog entry published by CIS earlier this year</i>.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Event Report</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/medical-privacy-conference-report">Privacy Matters — Medical Privacy</a> (Yashwantrao Chavan Academy of Development Administration, Pune, June 30, 2012): Privacy India in partnership with the Indian Network for People living with HIV/AIDS, CIS, IDRC, and Society in Action Group with support from London-based Privacy International, held a public discussion on "Medical Privacy". Elonnai Hickok introduced the draft book Privacy in India: A Policy Guide that Privacy India had been compiling. The participants discussed medical privacy in India, the legal aspects of medical privacy, Supreme Court views on medical negligence, confidentiality and privacy, best practices on medical privacy in various health settings, etc.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Ongoing Event</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/iacs-summer-school-2012">The Asian Edge: 2012 Inter-Asia Cultural Studies Society Summer School</a>: The 2nd Biannual Inter Asia Cultural Studies (IACS) Summer School is being hosted in Bangalore, India by CIS and the Centre for the Study of Culture and Society. The IACS Summer School brings together South and East Asian experts from different disciplines as faculty for graduate and advanced research students to engage with key issues of larger social, cultural and political concerns in cultural studies in Asia. </li>
</ul>
<h3>Upcoming Event</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/role-of-us-tech-companies-in-govt-surveillance">Role of the US Tech Companies in Government Surveillance: A Lecture by Christopher Soghoian</a> (Centre for Internet and Society, 194, 2-C Cross, Domlur Stage II, Bangalore (Near Domlur Club and the TERI Complex)): Your internet, phone and web application providers are all, for the most part, in bed with US and other foreign government agencies. They all routinely disclose their customers' communications and other private data to law enforcement and intelligence agencies. Worse, firms like Google and Microsoft specifically log data in order to assist the government — How? — Find out — Christopher Soghoian will give a lecture on the role companies play in assisting government surveillance.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Events Organised</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/consumer-privacy-delhi">Privacy Matters — Consumer Privacy</a> (India International Centre, New Delhi, July 7, 2012): Privacy India, in partnership with the Centre for Internet & Society, International Development Research Centre, Society in Action Group and Privacy International, invite you to a public conference focused on discussing the challenges and concerns to consumer privacy in India.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/has-geek-presents-the-fifth-elephant">The Fifth Elephant</a> (NIMHANS Convention Centre, Bangalore, July 27 and 28, 2012): The event was organised by HasGeek and supported by CIS. The first day covered the technology track and talks from business and industry were held on the following day.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Events Participated</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/speak-easy">Speak Easy: Citizenship, Freedom of Expression and Online Governance</a> (American Centre, Kasturba Gandhi Marg, Connaught Place, New Delhi, July 31, 2012): Chinmayi Arun, a Fellow at CIS spoke at this event organised by the YP Foundation, Youth Ki Awaaz, Change.Org and RTI Anonymous.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/session-m4-international-public-policy-and-internet-governance-issues-pertaining-to-the-internet">Asia Pacific Regional Internet Governance Forum 2012</a> (Aoyama Campus, Aoyama Gakuin University, Tokyo, July 20, 2012). Sunil Abraham was a speaker in the session on international public policy and internet governance issues pertaining to the internet. The event was organised by APrIGF.Asia. </li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/fifth-meeting-of-two-sub-groups-on-privacy">Fifth Meeting of the two Sub-Groups on Privacy Issues under the Chairmanship of Justice AP Shah</a> (New Delhi, July 22, 2012): Sunil Abraham participated in this meeting held under the Chairmanship of Justice A.P. Shah, former Chief Justice of Delhi High Court.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/fourth-meeting-of-sub-groups-on-privacy-issues">Fourth Meeting of the two Sub-Groups on Privacy Issues under the Chairmanship of Justice AP Shah</a> (Committee Room No. 228, Yojana Bhawan, Planning Commission, New Delhi, July 9, 2012): Sunil Abraham participated in the fourth meeting on privacy issues under the Chairmanship of Justice A.P. Shah, former Chief Justice of Delhi High Court.</li>
</ul>
<h3>News & Media Coverage</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/a-net-of-hatred">A Net of Hatred</a> (Samar Khurshid, Hindustan Times, July 14, 2012): “The problem is...that internet conversations become extreme. Liberals don’t get embroiled in heated arguments while fundamentalists, dedicated to extreme ideologies, tend to win out." Web censorship...is in vain as the net is too vast to control.”— Pranesh Prakash.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/post-website-attack">Post-website attack, cops hot on pursuit of Anonymous hackers</a> (The Times of India, July 11, 2012): “Anonymous consists of a large bunch of activists who gained some credibility in India after they organised offline protests. But this operation doesn't serve any purpose and brings down their credibility as details of those who filed complaints have been revealed.” — Pranesh Prakash.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/kids-on-facebook">The kids are all on Facebook</a> (Shikha Kumar, Daily News & Analysis, July 8, 2012): “Children’s interaction online should always be under parental supervision. Censorship and control is not the responsibility of the government, but of parents.” — Sunil Abraham.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/freedom-debate-takes-a-new-course">Freedom debate takes a new course</a> (Deepa Kurup, The Hindu, July 1, 2012): “Under Indian copyright law, ISPs cannot be liable for copyright infringement committed by their users. So while it is good that the court clarified that its order was limited in its scope, it is possible to read even this as going far beyond that which is allowed under the law.” — Pranesh Prakash.</li>
</ul>
<h2><a href="https://cis-india.org/a2k">Access to Knowledge</a></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The Access to Knowledge programme addresses the harms caused to consumers, developing countries, human rights, and creativity/innovation from excessive regimes of copyright, patents, and other such monopolistic rights over knowledge:</p>
<h3>WIPO</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">CIS participated at the 24<sup>th</sup> session of the WIPO Standing Committee on Copyrights and Related Rights held in Geneva from July 16 to 25, 2012. The outcomes are listed below:</p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/a2k/india-opening-statement-sccr24-tvi">India's Opening Statement on the Treaty for the Visually Impaired at SCCR 24</a>: The opening statement of the Indian delegation was delivered by G.R. Raghavender on July 19, 2012. The statement called upon all countries to conclude textual work on the treaty and call for a Diplomatic Conference to finalize it.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/a2k/blog/cis-statement-sccr24-treaty-visually-impaired">CIS's Statement on the Treaty for the Visually Impaired</a>: Pranesh Prakash read out CIS statement on July 20, 2012.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/a2k/blog/cis-statement-sccr24-broadcast-treaty">CIS's Statement on the WIPO Broadcast Treaty</a>: Pranesh Prakash read out CIS statement specifically on the Chair's Non Paper on the Protection of Broadcasters which was released on July 23, 2012.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/a2k/blog/cis-statement-sccr24-libraries-archives">CIS's Statement on Exceptions & Limitations for Libraries and Archives</a>: Pranesh Prakash delivered the statement on the issue of exceptions and limitations for libraries and archives on July 25, 2012.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/a2k/wipo-sccr24-discussions-transcripts">Transcripts of Discussions at WIPO</a>: The proceedings were live streamed. Copies of the unedited transcripts are hosted for archival purposes.</li>
</ul>
<h3>International Press Coverage</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/us-support-sought-for-treaty-to-allow-blind-people-access-to-copyrighted">U.S. support sought for treaty to allow blind people access to copyrighted works</a> (Rama Lakshmi, Washington Post, July 24, 2012): “The vast majority of visually disabled people live in poor, developing countries where very little money is spent on converting books into accessible formats, while they are much more readily available elsewhere...The treaty would end the book famine that they currently face.” — Pranesh Prakash.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/us-and-eu-blocking-treaty">US and EU blocking treaty to give blind people access to books</a> (Paige McClanahan, The Guardian, July 30, 2012): “We in developing countries have found our voice and we are not going to back down. When people are demanding their basic rights, no power in the world is strong enough to stop them getting what they want.”— Rahul Cherian.</li>
</ul>
<h3>National Press Coverage</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/eu-stalls-treaty-talks-to-allow-copyright-waiver-for-print-disabilities">EU stalls treaty talks to allow copyright waiver for print disabilities</a> (The Hindu, Priscilla Jebaraj, July 25, 2012): “[The treaty] would allow organisations working for the blind to import and export accessible works without seeking the copyright holder's permission, since very little money is spent in developing countries on converting books into accessible formats, while they are much more readily available elsewhere.” — Pranesh Prakash.</li>
</ul>
<h2><a href="https://cis-india.org/accessibility">Accessibility</a></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">India has an estimated 70 million disabled persons who are unable to read printed materials due to some form of physical, sensory, cognitive or other disability. The disabled need accessible content, devices and interfaces facilitated via copyright law and electronic accessibility policies:</p>
<p><b>Blog Entry</b></p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://cis-india.org/accessibility/accessibility-audit-of-govt-websites">Accessibility of Government Websites in India — Test Results</a> </li>
</ul>
<h2><a href="https://cis-india.org/openness">Openness</a></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The 'Openness' programme critically examines alternatives to existing regimes of intellectual property rights, and transparency and accountability. Under this programme, we study Open Government Data, Open Access to Scholarly Literature, Open Access to Law, Open Content, Open Standards, and Free/Libre/Open Source Software:</p>
<p><b>Blog Entries</b></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/unpacking-openness">Unpacking Openness: From Seemingly Transparent to Definitely Opaque</a>: Nishant Shah was in Netherlands recently and as part of his trip had given a public lecture to an audience at Kennisland. One of the respondents wrote a small write-up of the talk. This was originally <a href="http://www.kennisland.nl/filter/opinies/unpacking-openness-from-seemingly-transparent-to-definitely-opaqu">published</a> on the Kennisland website on July 25, 2012.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/blog/2012-conference-on-trends-in-knowledge-information-dynamics">2012 Conference on Trends in Knowledge Information Dynamics</a> (by Rebecca Schild): The 2012 Conference on Trends in Knowledge Information Dynamics convened a panel on Open Access. There was consensus amongst the panelist that the “big question” facing the open access movement no longer remains "if" or "why" open access, but rather "how" open access. The panel proved instructive for shifting the discussion away from ideology towards concrete questions facing the open access agenda and its implementation.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/openness/open-government-data-commitments-best-practices">Open Government Data</a> (by Pranesh Prakash): Pranesh Prakash provides an analysis of the chapter that CIS published in this report with Transparency & Accountability Initiative.</li>
</ul>
<hr />
<h3 style="text-align: left; ">Grant Award</h3>
<hr />
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/wikimedia-foundation-awards-grant-to-cis">Wikimedia Foundation awards grant to Centre for Internet and Society to expand Access to Knowledge in India</a>: Wikimedia Foundation has approved a grant to the Centre for Internet and Society to expand their Access to Knowledge program in India. This information was <a href="http://blog.wikimedia.org/2012/08/01/wikimedia-foundation-awards-grant-to-centre-for-internet-and-society-to-expand-access-to-knowledge-in-india/">published</a> by Barry Newstead, Chief Global Development Officer on the Wikimedia Foundation website on August 1, 2012.</li>
</ul>
<h2><a href="https://cis-india.org/digital-natives">Digital Natives</a></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Digital Natives with a Cause? examines the changing landscape of social change and political participation in light of the role that young people play through digital and Internet technologies, in emerging information societies. Consolidating knowledge from Asia, Africa and Latin America, it builds a global network of knowledge partners who critically engage with discourse on youth, technology and social change, and look at alternative practices and ideas in the Global South:</p>
<h3>Book Review</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/digital-natives/young-people-technology-new-literacies">Deconstructing Digital Natives: Young People, Technology and the New Literacies</a>: 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.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Digital Natives Newsletter</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/digital-natives/citizen-activism-the-past-decade">Citizen Activism the Past Decade</a>: The deadline for contribution to the Digital Natives newsletter expires on August 15. Nilofar Ansher gives a list of topics that contributors can explore in this blog entry.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Columns</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/digital-natives/across-borders">Across Borders</a> (Nishant Shah, Indian Express, July 5, 2012): “Digital Natives are not only a mobile-wielding generation, but also a mobile generation. They are fluid, not necessarily tied to the geographies of their origin, and often imagine themselves, as travelling across different networks and systems, like the information traffic on the internet. This dislocation of the fixity of where we are from and who we are is one of the most exciting results of the digital turn.”</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/digital-natives/revisiting-techno-euphoria">Revisiting Techno-euphoria</a> (Nishant Shah, DML Central, July 5, 2012): “The gadgets and tools we use are, actually, only material manifestations of the digital — which operates at the level of a paradigm or a context, through which we are slowly reshaping the material, social, and cultural notions of who we are and how we connect to the world around us.”</li>
</ul>
<h3>Event Participated</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/istr-conference">10th International ISTR Conference</a> (Universita Degli Studi Di Siena, Italy, July 10 – 13, 2012): Nishant Shah was a panelist in the session, "Theoretical Grounding of Civic Driven Change". He gave a public lecture on Beyond Normative Citizenships: Exploring the ‘New’ in Digital Activism.</li>
</ul>
<h2><a href="https://cis-india.org/telecom">Telecom</a></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">While the potential for growth and returns exist for telecommunications in India, a range of issues need to be addressed. One aspect is more extensive rural coverage and the other is a countrywide access to broadband which is low. Both require effective and efficient use of networks and resources, including spectrum:</p>
<h3>Building Knowledge and Capacity around Telecommunication Policy in India</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Ford Foundation has given a grant of USD 200,000 to CIS to build expertise in the area of telecommunications in India. The following are the latest outputs:</p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/telecom/telecom-knowledge-repository/fixed-line-telephones" class="external-link">Fixed Line Telephones</a> (by Jürgen Kock): This module discusses the features and the various stages of the development of fixed line telephones, its early history, the basic principle of a fixed line telephone system, plain old telephone service, digital telephones, cordless phones to today's features of fixed line telephones.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/telecom/telecom-knowledge-repository/video-communication" class="external-link">Different Forms of Video Communication</a> (by Tina Mani): In this module, Tina Mani takes us through some of the common forms of video communication such as video calling, video conferencing, telepresence and video sharing.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/telecom/telecom-knowledge-repository/broadband-policy-2004" class="external-link">Broadband Policy, 2004</a> (by Snehashish Ghosh): In this module, Snehashish Ghosh tells us that the Policy was laid down by the Government of India in order to realize the potential of broadband services. It aimed at enhancing the quality of life by implementation of tele-education, tele-medicine, e-governance, entertainment, etc. </li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/telecom/telecom-knowledge-repository/cable-television-networks-regulation-act" class="external-link">Cable Television Networks Regulation Act, 1955</a> (by Snehashish Ghosh): In this module, Snehashish examines the purpose of the legislation, the persons affected by it, the administrative bodies which come under the Act, the penalties (including the consequences in case of non-compliance), appeal process and the debates surrounding the legislation.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/telecom/telecom-knowledge-repository/indian-wireless-telegraphy-act" class="external-link">The Indian Wireless Telegraphy Act, 1933</a> (by Snehashish Ghosh): In this module, Snehashish Ghosh throws light on the main objective of the Act — that of regulating the possession of wireless telegraphy apparatus.</li>
</ul>
<h3>RTI Application</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/telecom/dot-response-to-rti-on-use-of-dpi-technology-by-isps">Use of DPI Technology by ISPs — Response by the Department of Telecommunications</a> : Smiti Mujumdar on behalf of CIS filed requests under the Right to Information with the Department of Telecommunications, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, BSNL and MTNL, asking a number of questions related to the use of Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) technology by Internet Service Providers (ISP) in India and corresponding regulations. A scanned version of the response from the Department of Telecommunications is <a href="https://cis-india.org/telecom/use-of-dpi-technology-by-isps.pdf">hosted online</a>.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Column in Business Standard</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://cis-india.org/telecom/decision-analysis">Decision Analysis for Interest Rates</a> (Shyam Ponappa, Business Standard, July 5, 2012): The discipline of systematic evaluation through applying process-flow and decision analysis — in this example, of financial logic — can help make reasoned, practical decisions, whether for interest rates, or for resolving issues in power supply, or in telecommunications, spectrum and broadband. </li>
</ul>
<hr />
<h2 style="text-align: justify; ">About CIS</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">CIS was registered as a society in Bangalore in 2008. As an independent, non-profit research organisation, it runs different policy research programmes such as Accessibility, Access to Knowledge, Openness, Internet Governance, and Telecom. Over the last four years our policy research programmes have resulted in outputs such as the <a href="https://cis-india.org/advocacy/accessibility/blog/e-accessibility-handbook">e-Accessibility Policy Handbook for Persons with Disabilities</a> with ITU and G3ict, and <span><a href="https://cis-india.org/digital-natives/front-page/blog/dnbook">Digital Alternatives with a Cause?</a></span>, <a href="https://cis-india.org/digital-natives/front-page/blog/position-papers">Thinkathon Position Papers</a> and the <a href="https://cis-india.org/digital-natives/front-page/blog/digital-natives-with-a-cause-a-report">Digital Natives with a Cause? Report</a> with Hivos. With the Government of India we have done policy research for Ministry of Communications & Information Technology, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, etc., on <a href="https://cis-india.org/a2k/blog/cis-analysis-july2011-treaty-print-disabilities">WIPO Treaties</a>, <a href="https://cis-india.org/a2k/blog/analysis-copyright-amendment-bill-2012">Copyright Bill</a>, <a href="https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/front-page/blog/cis-feedback-to-nia-bill">NIA Bill</a>, etc.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">CIS is an accredited NGO at WIPO and has given policy briefs to delegations from various countries, our Programme Manager, Nirmita Narasimhan won the <a href="https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/national-award">National Award for Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities</a> from the Government of India and also received the <span><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/nirmita-nivh-award">NIVH Excellence Award</a></span>.</p>
<p><b>Follow us elsewhere</b></p>
<ul>
<li>Get short, timely messages from us on Twitter</li>
<li>Join the CIS group on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/groups/28535315687/">Facebook</a></li>
<li>Visit us at <a href="https://cis-india.org/">http://cis-india.org</a></li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><i>CIS is grateful to its donors, Ford Foundation, Privacy International, UK, Hans Foundation and the Kusuma Trust which was founded by Anurag Dikshit and Soma Pujari, philanthropists of Indian origin, for its core funding and support for most of its projects.</i></p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/july-2012-bulletin'>https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/july-2012-bulletin</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaAccess to KnowledgeDigital NativesTelecomAccessibilityInternet GovernanceOpenness2012-10-09T11:46:15ZPageWikimedia Foundation awards grant to Centre for Internet and Society to expand Access to Knowledge in India
https://cis-india.org/news/wikimedia-foundation-awards-grant-to-cis
<b>We are pleased to announce that the Wikimedia Foundation has approved a grant to the Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) in Bangalore to expand their Access to Knowledge program in India.</b>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: justify; ">This information was <a class="external-link" href="http://blog.wikimedia.org/2012/08/01/wikimedia-foundation-awards-grant-to-centre-for-internet-and-society-to-expand-access-to-knowledge-in-india/">posted</a> by Barry Newstead, Chief Global Development Officer on the Wikimedia Foundation website on August 1, 2012.</p>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The grant enables CIS, an established institution with valuable relationships and capabilities, to work with the Wikimedia community of volunteers in India to expand upon <a class="external-link" href="http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Program">Wikimedia’s Indic language free knowledge projects</a>, including Wikipedia in Indic languages. In addition, the grant aims to generate improvements in India-relevant free knowledge in Wikimedia’s English projects and wider distribution of Wikimedia’s free knowledge within India.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">CIS is a leading research organization in India working on Internet policy and has undertaken policy research for the Ministry of Communications & Information Technology, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, and Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. We are delighted that, in CIS, Wikimedia Foundation has not only found an independent, non-profit grantee but also an organisation that knows our community well and shares the same values as Wikimedia and the free and open source software community.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The grant will be for two years. The first year’s grant will be for a total of INR 11,000,000 ($200,000 USD) subject to final budget review. The second year will be for a similar amount plus inflation, subject to a budget review in May 2013. The CIS Access to Knowledge program team will be based in Delhi and will have five staff. CIS has indicated an interest in hiring Indian program consultants who have been advising the Wikimedia Foundation and will conduct a search for a program director.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">CIS will build upon the existing projects in India. There are a number of positive initiatives including community growth partnerships in several Indic languages, support for a new <a class="external-link" href="http://blog.wikimedia.org/2012/07/06/wikipedia-education-a-model-from-malayalam-wikipedia/">Malayalam education program</a>, a GLAM ( Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums) <a class="external-link" href="http://blog.wikimedia.org/2012/07/24/chronicling-the-crafts-indias-first-glam-initiative/">partnership at the Crafts Museum</a> – New Delhi, new Wikiclubs at the British Council, ongoing efforts to leverage social media, and a dramatic increase in blog coverage of the Indian community’s work. There are also exciting developments on mobile that will be announced soon.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The Wikimedia Foundation looks forward to collaborating with CIS as they move forward to expand their Access to Knowledge program to incorporate work on one of the world’s leading free knowledge resources.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">(Read more about the grant on the <a class="external-link" href="http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Program/India_Program_Announcement_and_FAQ_-_30_July_2012">FAQ page on Meta</a>)</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/news/wikimedia-foundation-awards-grant-to-cis'>https://cis-india.org/news/wikimedia-foundation-awards-grant-to-cis</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaOpenness2012-08-02T12:48:02ZNews Item