The Centre for Internet and Society
https://cis-india.org
These are the search results for the query, showing results 51 to 65.
The Last Word: Is there a need to review Information Technology Act?
https://cis-india.org/news/ibnlive-videos-november-20-2012-the-last-word-is-there-a-need-to-review-information-technology-act
<b>Does the high-handed arrest of two young girls mean it's time to review and revise the IT Act?</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Aryaman Sundaram, Pavan Duggal, Pranesh Prakash and Ravi Visvesvaraya Prasad took part in a discussion with Karan Thapar on section 66A of the IT Act. This was aired on CNN-IBN on November 20, 2012.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Pranesh Prakash said that it was just not a history of misuse of section 66A of the IT Act because that presumes that the law is otherwise fine and it has just been applied wrongly. This law is fundamentally flawed. It is unconstitutional. It is like a law in which there is a provision on rape, murder, theft, nuisance, everything put together in a single section with the same punishment being given for all of them. This obviously is not good law making but that is exactly what has been done in this case by taking bits from laws in the UK and from elsewhere and mashing them all up into one omnibust gargantuan monster which is unconstitutional.<br /><br />Pranesh Prakash also added that the fact is that if you have bad laws they will be used to harass people. Having good law is one part of that. Apart from that there has been also other laws which have been misapplied in this case. In all these recent cases, section 66A of the IT Act wasn't the only provision used. This particular section has been used in conjunction with some other laws. So section 66A of the IT Act independently is not required. There are other laws in the Indian Penal Code and elsewhere which are usually enough to cover all the things that section 66A of the IT Act is right now covering. It is just an add on provision that really can't justify its existence unless it is really reduced in scope.</p>
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<p style="text-align: justify; "><a class="external-link" href="http://ibnlive.in.com/videos/306519/the-last-word-is-there-a-need-to-review-information-technology-act.html">Watch the full video that was aired on CNN-IBN</a></p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/news/ibnlive-videos-november-20-2012-the-last-word-is-there-a-need-to-review-information-technology-act'>https://cis-india.org/news/ibnlive-videos-november-20-2012-the-last-word-is-there-a-need-to-review-information-technology-act</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaIT ActFreedom of Speech and ExpressionPublic AccountabilityInternet GovernanceVideoCensorship2012-11-21T12:10:15ZNews ItemWhat Frameworks for Cross-Border Online Communities and Services
https://cis-india.org/news/frameworks-for-cross-border-online-communities-and-services
<b>Chinmayi Arun, Assistant Professor at National Law University India and Fellow at the CIS India, talks about the Internet Governance Forum 2012 Workshop 154 "What Frameworks for Cross-Border Online Communities and Services", which was hosted by the Internet & Jurisdiction Project on November 8, 2012.</b>
<h3>Panelists:</h3>
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<li style="text-align: justify; ">Chinmayi Arun, National Law University India and Fellow at CIS India</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Brian Cute, CEO at PIR (.org)</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Lee Hibbard, Media and Information Society Division at Council of Europe</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Konstantinos Komaitis, Policy Advisor at Internet Society</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Michael Niebel, Internet Policy Development at European Commission</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Patrick Ryan, Policy Councel Open Internet at Google</li>
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Moderator: Bertrand de La Chapelle, Director of the Internet & Jurisdiction Project Remote Moderator: Paul Fehlinger, Manager of the Internet & Jurisdiction Project </ol>
<p>More information at <a class="external-link" href="http://www.internetjurisdiction.net">www.internetjurisdiction.net</a></p>
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<h3>Video by the Internet Governance Forum</h3>
<p><iframe frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/RmlMkIQmMog" width="320"></iframe></p>
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For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/news/frameworks-for-cross-border-online-communities-and-services'>https://cis-india.org/news/frameworks-for-cross-border-online-communities-and-services</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaInternet Governance ForumVideoInternet Governance2012-12-05T00:10:27ZNews Item Women arrested for Facebook post: Did cops act under Sena pressure?
https://cis-india.org/news/ndtv-video-ndtv-special-ndtv-24x7
<b>After Bal Thackeray's death, during the Mumbai Bandh, a 21-year-old criticised the shutdown on her Facebook page — her friend approved of it — next thing they know, they are facing a case, and this morning they were arrested. </b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">YP Singh, Alyque Padamsee, Rohan Joshi, Karuna Nundy and Pranesh Prakash took part in a discussion about the arrest of two girls over a Facebook comment. The discussion was aired in NDTV on November 19, 2012.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The anchor asked Pranesh Prakash:</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Who are these people scrolling through people's Facebook posts and Twitter accounts, finding these comments and taking action?</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Pranesh Prakash said that it could be anyone. The reality is doesn't really matter because the laws are written in such a way that if it is public and stuff that is on Facebook for different purposes can either be public or private, if it is public these laws can very often apply and that is a problem. We haven't quite figured out to what extent these laws apply. The IT Act section 66A for instance, is unconstitutional, section 295 A which has been applied, and section 505 which also seems to have been applied in this case make it a clear case of misappropriation of those provisions. These kind of arrests will happen. It doesn't quite matter if we have right laws at one level and it clearly doesn't help if we have bad laws. What we need to do at least in part to remedy the situation is to amend the IT Act to make it consonant and consistent with civil and political rights and to do so in multi-stakeholder fashion involving civil society, industry and government. Right now it doesn't protect privacy and freedom of speech as much as it should.</p>
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<p style="text-align: justify; "><a class="external-link" href="http://www.ndtv.com/video/player/ndtv-special-ndtv-24x7/women-arrested-for-facebook-post-did-cops-act-under-sena-pressure/255407?hp&video-featured">Watch the full video aired on NDTV</a></p>
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For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/news/ndtv-video-ndtv-special-ndtv-24x7'>https://cis-india.org/news/ndtv-video-ndtv-special-ndtv-24x7</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaIT ActFreedom of Speech and ExpressionInternet GovernanceVideoCensorship2012-11-21T11:17:37ZNews ItemAn Odia Wikipedia Workshop at KMBB College, Bhubaneswar
https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/odia-wikipedia-workshop-organized-in-kmbb-college-bhubaneswar
<b>The Centre for Internet and Society along with Odia Wikipedians in Bhubaneswar organized an Odia Wikipedia workshop on November 18, 2012. It was held in KMBB College of Engineering. Odia Wikipedia is a free encyclopedia in Odia language which everyone can edit. </b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Odia Wikipedians gathered in the temple city of Bhubaneswar on November 18, 2012 to organize the third <a href="http://or.wikipedia.org/s/c8x">Odia Wikipedia workshop</a> in <a href="http://www.kmbb.in/">KMBB College of Engineering</a>. KMBB College of Engineering is a BPUT affiliated engineering college supported by Ama Odisha, an organization working for media, communication and development of Odia language. <a href="http://kmbb.academia.edu/DhanadaMishra">Dr. Dhanada Mishra</a>, Director-Academics, KMBB and a veteran educationalist and open source source enthusiast supported this event. Forty-five students from KMBB attended this workshop. The agenda for the two-and-a-half hour session was to educate students about open source movement, journey of Wikipedia and how to contribute to Odia Wikipedia and how it would help them. Nine active Odia Wikipedians joined to support this event.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Dr. Mishra began the session by introducing Odia Wikipedians to the students. He spoke about Open source movement, how the community supports various open source projects, how Wikipedia was started and how it is essential for students to take part in such activities. Subhashish Panigrahi briefly spoke about the history of Odia wikipedia, how it grew up in the recent years to its present state. Odia Wikipedian <a href="http://or.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:ManXiii">Manoranjan Behera</a> discussed about how everyone can contribute to the Wikipedia.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">To explain the easiness of typing in Odia, some of the students were invited to write text on a board and test the typing tool on Odia Wikipedia. A new article about the college was created and one of the students wrote few sentences. Wikipedians explained the importance of creating user accounts and demonstrated how to search an article, how to create an article and the basics of editing an article. A Question and Answer session was held for students to put their queries. At the end of the session, contact details were shared with the students and the Facebook group (<a class="external-link" href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/OdiaWiki">https://www.facebook.com/groups/OdiaWiki</a>) of Odia Wikipedia was shown so that students could continue editing and remain in touch with fellow wikipedians.</p>
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<p><img src="https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/OdiaWikipediaworkshopKMBB1.jpg/@@images/694e75a5-4847-4145-9911-02682bd9c12e.jpeg" alt="" class="image-inline" title="" /></p>
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<p style="text-align: justify; ">Odia daily “The Sambad” <a href="https://cis-india.org/news/report-of-odia-wikipedia-workshop-in-sambad" class="external-link">covered this event</a>.</p>
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<h3 style="text-align: center; ">Presentation:</h3>
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<p><a href="http://prezi.com/ljk3w0m44w6x/copy-of-introduction-to-wikipedia/" title="Copy of Introduction to Wikipedia!">Copy of Introduction to Wikipedia!</a> on <a href="http://prezi.com">Prezi</a></p>
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<h3>Video:</h3>
<iframe frameborder="0" height="281" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/wqRBIqPdRMU" width="500"></iframe></td>
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For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/odia-wikipedia-workshop-organized-in-kmbb-college-bhubaneswar'>https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/odia-wikipedia-workshop-organized-in-kmbb-college-bhubaneswar</a>
</p>
No publishersubhaHigher EducationAccess to KnowledgeWikimediaWikipediaWorkshopVideoOpenness2012-12-07T22:40:32ZBlog EntryWhose Change Is It Anyway? | DML2013
https://cis-india.org/digital-natives/blog/nishant-shah-whose-change-is-it-anyway
<b>As a preparation for the DML conference, Nishant Shah had an interview with Howard Rheingold, a cyberculture pioneer, social media innovator, and author of "Smart Mobs. Nishant Shah is chair of 'Whose Change Is It Anyway? Futures, Youth, Technology And Citizen Action In The Global South (And The Rest Of The World)' track at DML2013. Here, he talks about shifts in citizen engagement in Indian politics and civics, and the underlying significance of these changes.</b>
<p style="text-align: justify;">"More and more, you have young people who are trying to come together, not merely to express discontent, but actually take action so that they can build the kinds of futures they want to occupy."</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">The 2013 DML conference will be held in March 14-16, 2013 in Chicago, Illinois. The conference is supported by the MacArthur Foundation and organized by the Digital Media and Learning Research Hub located at the University of California's systemwide Humanities Research Institute at UC Irvine.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">More details about the DML2013 Conference and the Call For Workshop/Panel/Paper Proposals can be found at the conference website: <a class="external-link" href="http://dml2013.dmlhub.net">dml2013.dmlhub.net</a>.</p>
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<h3 style="text-align: justify;">Video</h3>
<p><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Q1ueRSm1TTw" frameborder="0" height="315" width="320"></iframe></p>
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For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/digital-natives/blog/nishant-shah-whose-change-is-it-anyway'>https://cis-india.org/digital-natives/blog/nishant-shah-whose-change-is-it-anyway</a>
</p>
No publishernishantVideoCyberculturesResearchers at WorkDigital Natives2015-04-24T11:47:19ZBlog EntryArrested for tweeting: Legitimate or Curbing Free Speech?
https://cis-india.org/news/ndtv-news-oct-31-2012-arrested-for-tweeting-legitimate-or-curbing-free-speech
<b>As a man in Puducherry is arrested for allegedly posting on Twitter that MR Chidambaram's son had amassed wealth more than that of Robert Vadra, we discuss whether freedom of speech is absolute. </b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Sunil Abraham along with Shivam Vij, Journalist and Blogger, SB Mishra, Additional DCP, Census Wing, Economic Offence Wing, Delhi Police, and Sanjay Pinto, Advocate, Madras High Court participated in this discussion aired in NDTV on October 31, 2012.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a class="external-link" href="http://www.ndtv.com/video/player/news/arrested-for-tweeting-legitimate-or-curbing-free-speech/253035">Watch the full video on NDTV</a></p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/news/ndtv-news-oct-31-2012-arrested-for-tweeting-legitimate-or-curbing-free-speech'>https://cis-india.org/news/ndtv-news-oct-31-2012-arrested-for-tweeting-legitimate-or-curbing-free-speech</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaFreedom of Speech and ExpressionVideoInternet Governance2012-11-02T06:09:57ZNews ItemGujarat Wikipedia Education Program: Rajkot
https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/gujarati-wikipedia-education-program-rajkot
<b>This report analyses a series of meetings and workshops held in Rajkot, a city in Gujarat, India during the month of October 2012.</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">I visited Gujarat for a few Wikipedia activities – including Wikipedia meets in the cities of Ahmedabad and Rajkot, interacted with students and teachers from various colleges as well as to successfully conclude the <a href="http://gu.wikipedia.org/wiki/વિકિપીડિયા:પ્રચાર-પ્રસાર">Gujarati Wikipedia article writing competition</a>.</p>
<p align="JUSTIFY">I visited Rajkot on October 17, 2012 with two Wikipedians – Harsh Kothari and Konarak Ratnakar, both from Ahmedabad. We were scheduled to take up a small introductory lecture on contributing to Wikipedia at Christ College, Rajkot in the afternoon and meet up with other Gujarati Wikipedians from Rajkot and Junagadh later in the day. Fortunately, I was able to connect with Rashmikant Makwana, a teacher at TGS (The Galaxy School) in Rajkot. I had first met up with him during the photo walk – Wiki takes Ahmedabad in January 2012. He had shown a great deal of interest in doing something for his school students. Thanks to Mr. Makwana's prompt response and support, we visited three branches of <a href="http://www.tges.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=49&Itemid=77">TGES (The Galaxy Education System)</a> and had the opportunity of interacting with over 100 students from secondary and higher secondary divisions.</p>
<h3 align="JUSTIFY">Interactions with TGES students</h3>
<p align="JUSTIFY">I got to read Mr. Makwana's email only after I reached Rajkot. He wrote that he spoke to a couple of teachers about our visit and their students were very eager to meet us as they had many questions about Wikipedia! I was pleasantly surprised because once we met these students (mostly 11<sup>th</sup> standard, English medium students) we realized they had already tried their hand at editing and even creating articles! So, they had far more advanced queries like how to verify information on Wikipedia, what is the authenticity of information there, questions on notability and so on. Next, we were taken to the <i>vadi branch </i>of the education group. These were children from fifth and sixth standards and who also had questions and better ones about stories of vandalism they had committed on Wikipedia! We told them how Wikipedia was one of the best ways of telling people about their culture, identities, city and language. Besides students, we also met teachers who taught Gujarati, History and Geography.</p>
<h3 align="JUSTIFY">Interactions with Christ College students</h3>
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<p><img src="https://cis-india.org/home-images/GujaratiWikipedian.png/@@images/6d7409d5-a94e-49f6-9172-6508f80d72ba.png" title="Gujarati Wikipedian" height="208" width="156" alt="Gujarati Wikipedian" class="image-inline" /></p>
<p><i>Wikipedians giving lecture</i>.</p>
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<p><a href="http://www.christcollegerajkot.edu.in/">Christ College</a> offers a variety of graduate courses. We were connected with their faculty, Mr. Rushabh, by Umesh Joshi from the Open Page publication in Rajkot.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">I am thankful to both of them for their support in gathering their MBA students! Harsh Kothari, a Gujarati Wikipedian presented on how one can contribute to Gujarati Wikipedia while Konarak helped them in a live editing session. One question that everyone asked us was – WHY do people edit Wikipedia?</p>
<p>So, we called upon Jitendrasinh Chauhan, a long-term Gujarati Wikipedian. He came up and spoke to them on how he discovered Gujarati Wikipedia and has not only gained in terms of knowledge but also friendships that he has made with fellow editors across the state and overseas! We also explained the importance of learning correct ways of editing to these students who might pursue public relations as their professions.</p>
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<h3 align="JUSTIFY">Meeting Wikipedians</h3>
<p align="JUSTIFY">The trip to Rajkot, apart from meeting a whole bunch of new people, was also about connecting offline with Gujarati Wikipedians. Their warmth and day long support in terms of logistics, context and guidance kept us enthused. I extend my gratitude to Jitendrasinh Chauhan and his friend Harsh, both Wikipedians for their help. They have also helped us establish a dialog with Saurashtra University where we hope to plan a two-day conference centered around Gujarati language and digitization.</p>
<p align="JUSTIFY"><img src="https://cis-india.org/home-images/GUWPvisual.png" alt="Gujarati Wikipedia Participants" class="image-inline" title="Gujarati Wikipedia Participants" /><br /><i>Given here is a network visualization infographic highlighting the key points</i>.</p>
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<h3 align="JUSTIFY">Videos</h3>
<p><b>Gujarati Wikipedia workshop at Christ college - 1</b></p>
<p><b><iframe frameborder="0" height="250" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/_jhc-Ymy5k4" width="300"></iframe></b></p>
<p><b>Gujarati Wikipedia workshop at Christ College - 2</b></p>
<p><iframe frameborder="0" height="250" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Jb6AF89STZU" width="300"></iframe></p>
<p><b>Write about your city on Gujarati Wikipedia </b></p>
<p><iframe frameborder="0" height="250" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/YJu2-gOHjaI" width="300"></iframe></p>
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For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/gujarati-wikipedia-education-program-rajkot'>https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/gujarati-wikipedia-education-program-rajkot</a>
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No publishernoopurAccess to KnowledgeWikimediaWikipediaWorkshopVideoOpenness2012-10-31T08:17:56ZBlog EntryFirst Pune Odia Wikipedia Workshop Organized!
https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/first-pune-odia-wikipedia-organized
<b>The first Pune Odia Wikipedia workshop was organized in Pune on October 27, 2012. Subhashish Panigrahi recollects his experience about the events through this report.</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Recently <a class="external-link" href="http://or.wikipedia.org">Odia Wikipedia</a> (<a class="reference external" href="http://or.wikipedia.org">http://or.wikipedia.org</a>) crossed 3000 articles. After being dormant for 8 long years, Odia Wikipedia emerged as one of the active South Asian wikipedias. I visited Pune on October 27, 2012 to participate in an Odia Wikipedia workshop celebrating this success with the wikipedians and also attend the <a class="external-link" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Club_Pune/WikiWomenDay">WikiWomenDay 2012</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Over the last few months Odia Wikipedia has seen many active faces. One of them is Suratha Parhi, a very active Odia wikipedian. Suratha reached out to his friends, colleagues and existing wikipedians staying in Pune to celebrate the success with an Odia Wikipedia workshop. As it was after Durga Puja only a few Odia people in the city were there to attend. We saw a gathering of 10 people at <a class="external-link" href="http://www.pai-ils.com/">PAI International Learning Center</a> for this workshop. Abhishek Suryavanshi from <a class="external-link" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Club_Pune">Wikipedia Club Pune</a> extended his support for organizing the venue for us.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Prior to the workshop I interacted with the participants to understand their interests and efficiency with Odia typing. To my surprise two of the participants were good in typing in phonetic and Inscript. Suratha took the audience through a <a class="external-link" href="http://tiny.cc/odia">presentation</a> about Odia Wikipedia explaining the history of Odia language, importance of Wikipedia, how to contribute to Wikipedia, manual of style for writing articles, dos and do nots, rules and regulations and validating articles by adding sources. After the preliminary sessions participants started asking questions about numbers of readers, how to type in Odia, use of Odia Wikipedia and various such questions. Suratha answered their questions with examples and illustrations.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">To demonstrate editing on Odia Wikipedia we invited one of the participants. We helped her to create her user account and others also created their user accounts on Odia Wikipedia. Then we invited Sudhir Patel, a type designer and technologist working with <a class="external-link" href="http://www.cdac.in/?id=pune">CDAC, Pune</a> to introduce Odia typing and <a class="external-link" href="https://or.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typing_help">how to type easily in Odia</a>. After a small hands-on training for typing, all of the participants were able to start searching for articles they wanted to edit. Some of them created new articles and some edited existing articles. At the end of the session we shared our contacts to stay in touch. We also showed them <a class="external-link" href="http://or.wikipedia.org/wiki/WP:">Chatasabha</a>, a friendly desk on Odia Wikipedia and demonstrated how they can ask questions and see the answered questions. New wikipedians will be also connected to the <a class="external-link" href="http://facebook.com/groups/OdiaWiki">facebook group</a> to be updated about events and activities. New Wikipedians have decided to meet once again in November for a Odia Wikipedia meetup. Sudhir and Suratha are also planning to organize a introductory session on Odia Wikipedia during the cultural gathering organized by Odia communities.</p>
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<p><img src="https://cis-india.org/home-images/o3.png" alt="Orissa Wikipedia Participants" class="image-inline" title="Orissa Wikipedia Participants" /></p>
<p style="text-align: center; ">Above is a picture of participants from the Orissa Wikipedia workshop held on October 27, 2012</p>
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<p>More pictures on <a class="external-link" href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Odia_Wikipedia_Workshop_Pune-1_27_October_2012">WikiCommons</a>.</p>
<p><strong>Press Coverage:</strong><br />OdishaDiary.com, <a class="external-link" href="http://www.orissadiary.com/ShowEvents.asp?id=37463">Odisha: Odia Wikipedia workshop organized in Pune to promote Odia language</a> (October 31, 2012)</p>
<p>Videos</p>
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<li>Suratha Parhi explaining about Odia Wikipedia</li>
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<p><iframe frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ib8ULCJ4Xks" width="300"></iframe></p>
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<li>Sudhir Patel explaining about Odia Typing </li>
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<p><iframe frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/1cBbYONRlKg" width="300"></iframe></p>
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For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/first-pune-odia-wikipedia-organized'>https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/first-pune-odia-wikipedia-organized</a>
</p>
No publishersubhaAccess to KnowledgeWikimediaWikipediaWorkshopVideoOpenness2012-11-30T12:44:44ZBlog EntryLaunch of Assamese Wikipedia Education Program at Guwahati University
https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/launch-of-assamese-wikipedia-education-program
<b>The Assamese Wikipedia community has shown a rapid growth in the past six months from 20 active editors in January 2012 to 29 active editors in June 2012. The absolute numbers might seem low but in terms of percentages its an overwhelming increment of 45 per cent.</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">This increment can partly be credited to the photography and article contest, conducting workshops at various educational institutions and organic community growth.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Though Assamese Wikipedia is still a small project with about 1600 articles, the Assamese Wikipedians have the drive, willingness and zest to get more editors and multiply their community. Their enthusiasm and determination has led them to start with an Assamese Wikipedia Education Program. The program was launched on October 14, 2012 with 15 masters students (90 per cent of these are women students) under the guidance of Prof. Dulumoni Goswami, Head of the Department of Education, <a class="external-link" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guwahati_University">Guwahati University</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The day before the launch some of the Assamese Wikipedia editors including Jyoti and Durbhajyoti met to design and alter the Wikipedia Education Program for Assamese Wikipedia. It was decided that the entire program will be divided in four different stages which are as follows:</p>
<ul>
<li>Stage 1: Introduction to Wikipedia + Introduction to Education Program + Assamese typing</li>
<li>Stage 2: Editing Assamese Wikipedia</li>
<li>Stage 3: Advanced editing including adding references, headers, TOC and wiki markups</li>
<li>Stage 4: Concluding the Education Program</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">In accordance with each of these stages there will be set of deliverables expected out of the students which are as follows:</p>
<ul>
<li>Deliverable 1: Create Wikipedia user accounts and user pages</li>
<li>Deliverable 2: Submit a two-page typed article in Assamese</li>
<li>Deliverable 3: Students will select one article each and start editing their articles</li>
<li>Deliverable 4: Students will continue enhancing their articles and will start adding references, wiki markups and pictures, if desired.</li>
</ul>
<table class="invisible">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>
<p><img src="https://cis-india.org/home-images/Assam1.jpg/@@images/e24483a8-26fa-40d2-b814-2b3769562139.jpeg" alt="Assam Wikipedia Workshop 1" class="image-inline" title="Assam Wikipedia Workshop 1" /></p>
<p>Assamese Wikipedia Education Program initiated in Guwahati University</p>
</td>
<td style="text-align: justify; ">On Oct 14, 2012 at 11 a.m., the program was initiated with an introduction about Assamese Wikipedia and Wikipedia Education Program. Students were completely thrilled with the idea of them contributing to Wikipedia articles and created their usernames during the session. Since students were not familiar with Assamese typing a larger part of the session was dedicated to teach students on how to type in Assamese using Rudali. As a deliverable, students will be submitting two-page article typed in Assamese on paper before the first week of November. Thereafter, a second in-class session will be organized where students will be taught editing Assamese Wikipedia.</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<table class="invisible">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>
<p><img src="https://cis-india.org/home-images/Assam2.jpg/@@images/531afaa1-f266-4bab-805d-280bfa654302.jpeg" alt="Assam Wikipedia 2" class="image-inline" title="Assam Wikipedia 2" /></p>
<p style="text-align: center; ">Students learn Assamese typing using typing tool Rudali.</p>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">All the students have willingly enrolled themselves in the program and have not been forced by the faculty members. Indeed, three students were not studying in Guwahati University but still wanted to be a part of the Assamese Education Program. A loud cheer and good wishes to the Assamese Wikipedia community!</p>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Video</b></p>
<p><iframe frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Gn2cJStjQSM" width="300"></iframe></p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/launch-of-assamese-wikipedia-education-program'>https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/launch-of-assamese-wikipedia-education-program</a>
</p>
No publishernitikaAccess to KnowledgeWikimediaWikipediaWorkshopVideoOpenness2013-07-26T11:43:37ZBlog EntryWikipedia workshop @ Inmantec College, Ghaziabad
https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/wikipedia-workshop-ghaziabad
<b>The Access to Knowledge team at the Centre for Internet & Society was approached by Gaurav Prashar, Assistant Dean at Inmantec College, Ghaziabad to organize a Wikipedia workshop. Accordingly, a workshop was organized on October 17, 2012.</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">It was quite overwhelming to see the amount of effort the institution had put in to organize this event. It took place in a large auditorium which was well equipped with all modern facilities like projector, internet, good sound system, each student had a laptop with access to stable internet connection.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Over 120 participants attended the workshop including MCA, BCA, BBA students and faculty members. The workshop included a brief introduction about - what is Wikipedia, who edits Wikipedia, why do they edit Wikipedia, how can one contribute to Wikipedia articles. The presentation was followed by a hands on editing training session where some participants created usernames and tried minor editing.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">During the session participants also created a new article, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inmantec" target="_blank">Inmantec</a>, and have taken it as a challenge to edit and improve this article over the period of next one month.</p>
<table class="invisible">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><img src="https://cis-india.org/home-images/W1.png/@@images/6a6632cb-31a7-4770-ad54-1114320a449c.png" alt="workshop ghaziabad1" class="image-inline" title="workshop ghaziabad1" /></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Participants listening to the proceedings at the Wikipedia workshop</p>
</td>
<td style="text-align: justify; ">
<p><br />The session was highly interactive and students asked a lot of queries regarding other projects supported by Wikimedia Foundation, when and who started Wikipedia, the demographics of existing Wikipedia editors, edit wars, collaborative editing, how they can participate in other activities organized by the A2K team and more.</p>
<p>Towards the end of the session many students showed interest to organize a follow up workshop where they could get to know about Wikipedia Clubs and how they could initiate one at Inmantec college.</p>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Overall, the workshop was a huge success. The A2K team will be in regular touch with the participants through mail and Facebook to provide editing support. The participants will also be sent regular invites about Wikipedia events organised in NCR. The follow up session might be organized sometime in the month of November. Please watch out for more updates.</p>
<table class="invisible">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>
<p style="text-align: center; "><img src="https://cis-india.org/home-images/W2.png/@@images/c4fecf43-4bc7-44cb-ac49-f96ef8e1e54f.png" alt="w2" class="image-inline" title="w2" /></p>
<p style="text-align: center; ">Presentation being given during Wikipedia workshop held in Ghaziabad</p>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<hr />
<p><b>Video</b></p>
<p><iframe frameborder="0" height="141" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/lOqLqPE-MrE" width="300"></iframe></p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/wikipedia-workshop-ghaziabad'>https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/wikipedia-workshop-ghaziabad</a>
</p>
No publishernitikaAccess to KnowledgeWikimediaWikipediaWorkshopVideoOpenness2013-01-07T16:30:36ZBlog EntryInternet Governance Plenary
https://cis-india.org/news/conference-apnic-net-aug-28-2012-internet-governance-plenary
<b>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.</b>
<h2>Theme: What mechanism works better to resolve the issues?</h2>
<h3>Objectives:</h3>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "> To discuss relevant Internet Governance Forum (IGF) related issues for the APNIC community.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Update APNIC Members about the IGF process, including recent national and regional IGF initiatives, such as the APrIGF 2012 in Tokyo, Japan.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Prepare for the seventh Annual IGF Meeting in Baku, Azerbaijan from 6-9 November 2012.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Panelists</h3>
<ol>
<li><a href="http://conference.apnic.net/34/program/speakers#ang_peng_hwa">Ang Peng Hwa</a>, Director of Singapore internet Research Centre (SiRC) <a href="http://conference.apnic.net/__data/assets/pdf_file/0019/50770/aph-apnic-internet-governance-presentation_1346128770.pdf">Presentation Slides</a></li>
<li><a href="http://conference.apnic.net/34/program/speakers#paul_wilson">Paul Wilson</a>, Director General, APNIC and <a href="http://www.intgovforum.org/cms/component/content/article/114-preparatory-process/941-mag-2012">MAG</a> Member, IGF</li>
<li><a href="http://conference.apnic.net/34/program/speakers#sunil_abraham">Sunil Abraham</a>, Executive Director, Centre for Internet Society, India</li>
<li><a href="http://conference.apnic.net/34/program/speakers#duangthip_chomprang">Duangthip Chomprang</a>, Regional Affairs Manager, Internet Society</li>
<li><a href="http://conference.apnic.net/34/program/speakers#ra%C3%BAl_echeberr%C3%ADa">Raúl Echeberría</a>, Executive Director/CEO, LACNIC and <a href="http://www.intgovforum.org/cms/component/content/article/114-preparatory-process/941-mag-2012">MAG</a> Member, IGF</li>
</ol>
<hr />
<ul>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://conference.apnic.net/34/program/inet-gov-plenary/transcript">Click</a> to read the Transcript</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://conference.apnic.net/34/program/inet-gov-plenary/video">Watch</a> the full video </li>
</ul>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/news/conference-apnic-net-aug-28-2012-internet-governance-plenary'>https://cis-india.org/news/conference-apnic-net-aug-28-2012-internet-governance-plenary</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaVideoInternet Governance2012-10-01T14:14:07ZNews ItemIs the govt caught in the 'censorship' web?
https://cis-india.org/news/www-ndtv-com-we-the-people-aug-26-2012-is-the-govt-caught-in-the-censorship-web
<b>NDTV aired a one-hour debate on censorship in "We the People" episode hosted by Barkha Dutt on August 26, 2012. Pranesh Prakash participated in the discussions as a speaker.</b>
<p>Pranesh Prakash responded to Barkha Dutt's question on what does a government do in a time of social unrest:</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">"I think in a time of social unrest there is leeway provided in laws for the government to take action. The law existing and the law allowing for it is a very different matter from the government actually making use of it. There are as shown in the United Kingdom, much better ways of combating situations of riots. As we have seen in India for instance, there are people who provoke riots from podiums yet don't get arrested and as we have seen in the UK, there are people who take part in riots and have been punished a great deal."</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Video</b></p>
<p><iframe frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/-0f0_yG2gVE" width="320"></iframe></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">See the <a class="external-link" href="http://www.ndtv.com/video/player/we-the-people/is-the-govt-caught-in-the-censorship-web/244248">full debate</a> on NDTV</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/news/www-ndtv-com-we-the-people-aug-26-2012-is-the-govt-caught-in-the-censorship-web'>https://cis-india.org/news/www-ndtv-com-we-the-people-aug-26-2012-is-the-govt-caught-in-the-censorship-web</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaSocial mediaFreedom of Speech and ExpressionPublic AccountabilityInternet GovernanceVideoCensorship2012-09-04T06:54:25ZNews ItemOpen letter to Hillary Clinton on Internet Freedom
https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/open-letter-to-hillary-clinton
<b>Last month I wrote an open letter to Hillary Clinton. It was based on a presentation I that I made during a panel discussion at a Google sponsored conference titled Internet at Liberty 2012 in Washington DC on May 24, 2012.</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Sunil Abraham's article was <a class="external-link" href="http://thinkingaloud.in/ArticleComments.aspx?ArtId=1097">published</a> in Thinking Aloud on July 17, 2012</p>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The question that my panel tried to grapple with was "In a world where nearly nine out of ten Internet users are not American, what is the responsibility of United States institutions in promoting internet freedom?" My co-panelists were Cynthia Wong who is with the Centre for Democracy and Technology, Mohamed El Dahshan a writer and journalist, Dunja Mijatovic the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media.<br /><br />Internet freedom is a curious subject. It is a technology specific liberty - for a moment consider television freedom. The US has more Muslims than India has Christians. But Indian television in the average hotel comes in hundreds and there are at least 3 channels of Christian preaching. But US television in hotels is usually less than 50 channels with no channels of Islamic preaching. In fact even the reception of secular channels from the Islamic World like Al Jazeera is still difficult in America. Can we accuse the US of not having television freedom since their television features Christian evangelists but not Muslim evangelists? Should it be part of India's foreign policy to evangelize television freedom given that there is a large domestic industry with clear international potential?<br /><br />In an ideal world - citizens will possess technology-neutral freedom to communication and expression. But nothing can be farther from the truth. Communication technologies are regulated using a plethora of policies and practices and very often these have a chilling effect on freedoms.<br /><br />The following is my response to the technology-specific demands for deregulation from the US Government.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Text of the Open Letter[2]</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Recognise Access to Knowledge (A2K) as pre-condition for freedom of expression</b>: There is no difference between aggressive enforcement of imbalanced and obsolete intellectual property laws and censorship. The need of the moment is not more enforcement to protect obsolete business models against the everyday practices of ordinary netizens but rather the reform of intellectual property law (levies, broader exceptions and limitations, pools, statutory and compulsory licenses, prizes etc.) to keep pace with innovations in technology and the production of knowledge and culture.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Recognise privacy as pre-condition for security:</b> The alleged tension between privacy and security is a false dichotomy. Blanket surveillance by design compromises security. <b>Surveillance is like salt in cooking — essential in very small quantities but dangerous even if slightly in excess. Blanket surveillance technologies are only going make things easier for — and will only serve as targets for — current and future online villains.</b></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Don't lose the moral high-ground:</b> Remember, with great power comes great responsibility. Other countries are waiting to cherry pick from your worst practices. Also don't use trade agreements to selectively export components of US policy without the accompanying safeguards for civil liberties and rights. Citizens in oppressive and authoritarian states are depending on the US government, courts and civil society to protect their rights online. Don't undermine their capacity to shame their governments by holding up the US as the example of 'how to get things right'. They urgently need the US government to lead by example.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Recognise that freedom of expression has become a trade issue:</b> This is unfortunate but this is true — thanks to the precedent set by the developed world when it came to asymmetric trade negotiations. Just as the US is interested in protecting the interests of its corporations in global markets — other governments are keen protect the interests of their own corporations. The optimal solution in this case is where all countries and corporations are equally unsatisfied. This will remain a continuing discussion.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Address developing country anxieties around critical internet infrastructure:</b> Security by obscurity will no longer do — security by transparency through open standards, technologies and governance is the only way to fears and build a trust-worthy and secure Internet for all of us. For example, there is urgent need to develop standards for supply chain audits of information infrastructure. The US has dealt with the fear of back doors by banning the use of hardware and software from countries it does not trust. The developing world is not sure if there are back-doors in hardware and software manufactured by US corporations.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Time has comes to address this and other related anxieties.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Appreciate diversity in nomenclature:</b> 'Freedom' and 'liberty' may be appropriate terms to use in the United States of America. But openness may be more in countries that are not yet full and robust liberal democracies. The Internet Governance Forum for example uses 'openness' instead of 'freedom'. Openness is also preferred because it includes 'freedom of expression', 'freedom of information' (also known as right to information, access to information or public and 'free knowledge' (free software, open standards, open content, open access, open data, open educational resources, etc.)</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Don't be too instrumental in your interventions:</b> Don't undermine the local credibility of like-minded civil society, think-tanks and research organisations by being too directive in your support. Managerialism will undermine reform of policies and practices in information societies and so does inappropriate/premature monitoring and evaluation (for example, looking for explicit attribution in terms of casual connections between your actions and outcomes). There is a need to support greater reflexivity in the global information society by developing institutional capacity in developing countries through unrestricted funding. True critical thinking is the foundation of both scientific progress and open societies. Go out of your way to find and support those who disagree with you. Protect the plural foundation of our networked society!</p>
<hr />
<h3>Video</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Sunil Abraham was a speaker along with Cynthia Wong, Mohamed El Dahshan and Dunja Mijatovic in Plenary IV Debate 3 at the <b>Internet at Liberty 2012 </b>event<b> </b>organised by Google on May 24, 2012. <b><br /></b></p>
<p><iframe frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/9YMte4hdYu0" width="320"></iframe></p>
<p><a class="external-link" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YMte4hdYu0">View the video on YouTube</a></p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/open-letter-to-hillary-clinton'>https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/open-letter-to-hillary-clinton</a>
</p>
No publishersunilFreedom of Speech and ExpressionVideoInternet GovernanceAccess to Knowledge2012-09-04T08:28:02ZBlog EntryMulti-Stakeholder Consultation on ‘Internet Rights, Accessibility, Regulation & Ethics’
https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/internet-rights-accessibility-regulation-ethics
<b>Digital Empowerment Foundation, Association for Progressive Communications, Department of Information Technology and National Internet Exchange of India came together to organize an event on "Internet Rights, Accessibility, Regulation & Ethics". This was held at Mirza Ghalib Hall, SCOPE Complex, New Delhi from 9.00 a.m. to 2.30 p.m. on May 3, 2012. Pranesh Prakash was a speaker.</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The core aim of the dedicated half-day consultation programme was to discuss, deliberate and debate over the internet related concerns, covering the larger theme of internet and outlining India’s progress towards ‘Internet Access for All’, and specific areas of concern – right to information, internet & information access, internet governance, Internet regulation, content specifications, cyber law, and appropriate policy framework.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The consultation was an effort to encourage stakeholders to adopt relevant, appropriate and time bound measures to accelerate the availability, affordability and accessibility of the internet and address issues around it.<b>*</b></p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Video</h3>
<p><a class="anchor-link" href="#fn1"><iframe frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/hB4PI2ueVb0" width="320"></iframe></a></p>
<hr />
<h3><b>External Links</b></h3>
<ul>
<li><b>*</b>See the original info published at Digital Empowerment Foundation, Multi-Stakeholder Consultation on ‘Internet Rights, Accessibility, Regulation & Ethics’ : Digital Empowerment Foundation, <a class="external-link" href="http://bit.ly/OGyYeg"><span class="visualHighlight">http://bit.ly/OGyYeg</span></a>, last accessed on June 29, 2012.</li>
<li><span class="visualHighlight"><a href="https://cis-india.org/news/towards-a-multi-stakeholder-consultation" class="internal-link">Click here</a></span> for the Event Agenda</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hB4PI2ueVb0">See the video on YouTube</a></li>
</ul>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/internet-rights-accessibility-regulation-ethics'>https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/internet-rights-accessibility-regulation-ethics</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaVideoInternet Governance2012-07-25T10:22:48ZBlog EntryGoogle Hangout with Ashoka Fellow Sunil Abraham
https://cis-india.org/news/google-hangout-with-sunil
<b>Sunil Abraham, an Ashoka Fellow from India, visited the DC Office and shared his work on public accountability, access, and learning at the intersection of internet and society.</b>
<h3>Watch the video below</h3>
<p> <iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/QprvyCtY1DU" frameborder="0" height="315" width="320"></iframe></p>
<p><a class="external-link" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QprvyCtY1DU">Click</a> to see the original from YouTube.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='https://cis-india.org/news/google-hangout-with-sunil'>https://cis-india.org/news/google-hangout-with-sunil</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaVideoInternet Governance2012-06-20T09:16:33ZNews Item