Openness Blog
Developing Open Knowledge Digital Resources in Indian Languages
The Centre for Internet & Society's Access to Knowledge team (CIS-A2K), in collaboration with the Centre for Indian Languages (CILHE) at TISS Mumbai, conducted a two-day workshop at English and Foreign Languages University (EFLU) at Hyderabad on January 28-29, 2015. Titled ‘Developing Open Knowledge Digital Resources in Indian Languages’, the workshop was the third in this series during 2014-15.
A Wikipedia Presentation at BITS, Goa
Quark is one of India's largest science, technology and management festivals, held every February at BITS Pilani - K.K. Birla Goa Campus. This year in 2015, the event was held from February 6 to 8, 2015. This blog post captures the key moments. About 12 delegates attended the event.
ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଭାଷା ପାଇଁ ଅନ୍ତର୍ଜାତୀୟ ପ୍ରକଳ୍ପ
This is an op-ed I authored for Odia newspaper the "Samaja" that got published on January 30, 2015. Through this post I intend to highlight the needs for taking the Odia language to international fora instead of keeping it confined within the books. I have covered the focus area of 3 free and open source projects: Odia Wikipedia, Odia Wikisource and Global Voices Odia in the column highlighting the need for more people to contribute.
Heads I Win, Tails You Lose: The Intransigenc of STM Publishers
A few commercial publishers dominate provision of access to scientific and technical information sought after by researchers around the world. Increasing subscription prices of journals at rates higher than general inflation caused librarians to think of forming consortia, but publishers started selling online journals as bundles, and libraries ended up with many journals their researchers have very little use for. Scientists and librarians adopted open access, but publishers came up with hybrid journals and article processing charges to beat any adverse effect on their profits caused by the fast-spreading open access movement. We compare the steps taken by scientists and librarians in the West to reclaim ease of access to research findings with what is happening in India. We end with a few suggestions.
Indians Plead for #NetNeutrality as Airtel Raises Data Charges
Click to read the article published in the Global Voices on December 30, 2014.
After Indian mobile data service provider Airtel announced plans to introduce data charges for VoIP usage, it received a rash of criticism from customers and open web advocates alike.
With 192.22 million users (as of August 2013), Airtel is India's largest mobile telephony provider and Asia-Pacific's second largest mobile operator. Although plans are now on hold due to regulatory restrictions, advocates worry that the company may yet find a way impose the fee increase.
On December 26, company proposed to raise costs for mobile phone users who rely on services like WhatsApp, Skype, and Viber to communicate with their contacts, requiring them to pay Rs.0.04/10KB (0.063 USD, based on current conversion rate) for 3G and Rs. 0.10/10KB (0.158 USD) for 2G service where a local or national call will cost one third of this amount or less.
If you pay a fixed amount for internet data pack, Airtel will charge you extra for internet calls on Skype, Viber or any free calling app. How much? 4 paise for every 10 Kilo Bytes on 3G and 10 paise for every 10 Kilo Bytes on 2G.
The new plan to charge Rs. 75 for 75 MB of data usage over VoIP calls was heavily criticized on social media:
So let me get this straight. Airtel is worried about people using a mere 75 MB out of their data allowance? WTF? #BoycottAirtel
— Madhu Menon (@madmanweb) December 26, 2014
Messages against Airtel on Twitter and Facebook included hashtags such as #BoycottAirtel and #NetNeutrality.
In protest of Airtel India's violation of net neutrality principles, I disabled all data packs in my mobile number .
I am not using skype or viber usually . My usual video requirements arechatb.org and Google hangout. But a carrier breaking net neutrality is a very serious development . Raise your voice against this .
Read More about Airtel Breaking Net Neutrality here http://netneutrality.in/
I would like to port to some other services without gate keeping after a few weeks If airtel continues same path.
#netneutrality #india #airtel #fail
- Anivar Joshina (on Facebook)
In an op-ed, Indian online news portal Niti Central's CEO Shashi Shekhar said the move could put Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's “Digital India” initiative in jeopardy.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Vision of a Digital India will be in jeopardy unless the larger mess in Telecom is fixed urgently on priority and “Net Neutrality” does not make that priority list.
- Shashi Shekhar, CEO, Niti Central
Airtel has not released any further response on the issue of net neutrality since their initial announcement, which read as follows:
All Internet/data packs or plans (through which customer can avail discounted rate) shall only be valid for internet browsing and will exclude VoIP (Both incoming/ Outgoing). VoIP over data connectivity would be charged at standard data rates of 4p / 10 KB (3G service) and 10p / 10 KB (2G service).
- Published on Telecomtalk.info
Reacting to the public outcry against Airtel, India's Union Minister of Communications Ravi Shankar Prasad pledged to look into matter. According to news portal First Post, telecom operators voiced opposition to “over-the-top” VoIP services like WhatsApp, Skype, and Viber for some time, but the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has thus far stood in the way of a price increase.
Airtel has started on plans to charge OTT users particularly using VOIP services like viber and skype. TRAI had earlier this year rejected such demands from Indian operators. Even after this Airtel has gone ahead and kickstarted this practice.
- Sandip Pillai (on Change.org)
Airtel has pushed for a policy level change to legitimize exceptional data charges and many other over-the-top services. But these were declined by TRAI who contended that Airtel's plans were “illegal and violation of net neutrality,” forcing Airtel to drop the plan — for now.
In view of the news reports that a consultation paper will be issued shortly by TRAI on issues relating to services offered by OTT players including VOIP, we have decided not to implement our proposed launch of VoIP packs.
We have no doubt that as a result of the consultation process a balanced outcome would emerge that would not only protect the interests of all stakeholders and viability of this important sector but would also encourage much needed investments in spectrum and roll out of data networks to fulfill the objective of digital India.
- Reported on MediaNama by Nikhil Pahwa
Odia Wikisource workshop at New Delhi
The Centre for Internet & Society's Access to Knowledge team in collaboration with "The Intellects" organized a seminar in New Delhi on December 14, 2014. Subhashish Panigrahi gave a talk.
Department of Science and Technology & Department of Biotechnology adopt Open Access Policy
This post discusses the newly adopted Open Access Policy of the Department of Science and Technology & the Department of Biotechnology.
Several Publications Now Available under Creative Commons License
The Centre for Internet and Society has got the following publications under Creative Commons (CC-BY-SA 4.0) license. These are from multiple authors.
Creating Free Software Environment at Andhra Loyola College
Andhra Loyola college has signed an MoU with CIS-A2K and as part of it CIS-A2K team has provided a free and open software environment at Andhra Lyola College's Computer Center. Thirty machines have been installed with free software Operating system and some useful applications such as GIMP, Inkscape, firefox, libreoffice, etc.
Beyond the Language Tussle
It might be more productive to see the ongoing Sanskrit versus German controversy as a welcome opportunity to discuss the real and persistent problems of our education system, not all of which have to do with which languages children get to learn.
Odia Wikisource campus project at Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences
The Centre for Internet & Society's Access to Knowledge team organized a closing ceremony, on December 3, to conclude the three months campus project for Odia Wikisource at Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences, Bhubaneswar.
Nineteen Books Published by Ama Odisha Relicensed under CC-by-SA 4.0
Odisha's most circulated newspaper Sambad has collaborated with CIS-A2K to relicense 19 books published by its sister concern "Ama Odisha".
Teaching in the Age of Wikipedia
This course is conceived by CIS-A2K. It is currently envisaged as an add-on Certificate Course jointly offered by CIS-A2K and the Nirmala Institute of Education (NIE)-a premier teacher training establishment in Goa, India.
Odia Wikisource, its Potential
I wrote an editorial in Odia newspaper the "Samaja" on November 17, 2014. I have written about Odia Wikisource, its potential and how people can get involved in it with a short note about the digitization done already. I have also highlighted the authors and copyright holders who kindly have donated their work under CC-by-SA license.
Odia author Nirmala Kumari Mohapatra's 21 books relicensed under CC-by-SA 4.0
Twenty one books of renowned Odia author Nirmala Kumari Mohapatra will now be available under the Creative Commons License.
Privacy vs. Transparency: An Attempt at Resolving the Dichotomy
The right to privacy has been articulated in international law and in some national laws. In a few countries where the constitution does not explicitly guarantee such a right, courts have read the right to privacy into other rights (e.g., the right to life, the right to equal treatment under law and also the right to freedom of speech and expression).
55 Works of Iconic Indian writer released under Free Licence to benefit Wikisource
Kannada is a language spoken by 40 million people in Karnataka – one of the four southern states of India.The Kannada Wikimedia community, in collaboration with CIS-A2K, are enthusiastic about having almost all of the works of Niranjana re-licensed under CC-BY-SA 4.0 on the occasion of Kannada Rajyotsava.
ನಿರಂಜನರ ಕೃತಿಗಳು CC-BY-SA 4.0 ಪರವಾನಗಿಯೊಂದಿಗೆ ಮರುಪ್ರಕಟಗೊಳ್ಳಲಿವೆ
ಕನ್ನಡ ರಾಜ್ಯೋತ್ಸವದ ಸಂದರ್ಭದಲ್ಲಿ ನಿರಂಜನರ ಬಹುಪಾಲು ಕೃತಿಗಳು CC-BY-SA 4.0 ಪರವಾನಗಿಯೊಂದಿಗೆ ಮರುಪ್ರಕಟಗೊಳ್ಳಲಿವೆಯೆಂದು ಸಿಐಎಸ್-ಎ೨ಕೆಯ ಸಹಯೋಗದೊಂದಿಗೆ ಕನ್ನಡ ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯ ಬಳಗವು ಹಂಚಿಕೊಳ್ಳಲು ಹರ್ಷಿಸುತ್ತದೆ.
Converting from nonUnicode (Nudi, Baraha, ...) font encoding to Unicode Kannada
People have been using computers for typing and printing Kannada text for more than 25 years. Most of the usage of Kannada on computers was limited to the DTP arena.
Tulu Wikipedia Workshop cum Editathon at Udupi
A three-day programme was held at Udupi from October 15 to 17, 2014 with an aim to increase the presence of Tulu in the online world. The first day comprised the inauguration programme and a workshop to understand the Wiki markup. The next two days were devoted to the edit-a-thon where participants added articles to Tulu Wikipedia.
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