News & Media
http://editors.cis-india.org
daily12011-07-21T06:30:37ZGurshabad Grover nominated to join advisory group on open source software for ISO/IEC JTC 1
http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/news/gurshabad-grover-nominated-to-join-advisory-group-on-open-source-software-for-iso-iec-jtc-1
<b>Gurshabad Grover has been nominated through the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) to be a member of the Advisory Group AG) on Open Source Software for ISO/IEC JTC 1.</b>
<p> </p>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="text-align: justify; ">JTC 1 deals with international standards on information technology. This AG is currently documenting requirements and potential opportunities for <span>industry use of open source software for all work areas under the various committees of JTC 1.</span></div>
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For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/news/gurshabad-grover-nominated-to-join-advisory-group-on-open-source-software-for-iso-iec-jtc-1'>http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/news/gurshabad-grover-nominated-to-join-advisory-group-on-open-source-software-for-iso-iec-jtc-1</a>
</p>
No publisherAdminOpennessOpen Source2019-11-02T05:17:24ZNews ItemReact India 2019
http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/news/react-india-2019
<b>Bhuvana Meenakshi was a speaker at an International conference, 'React India 2019" which was the first beach conference and which was hosted at Goa on 26-28, September 2019. </b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">It was her very first talk on how to make WebVR experiences using A-frame React which is a framework developed by Mozilla. The topic she chose was unique and also many attendees gave a positive feedback about how this was essential for them to know. For more information about the event, <a class="external-link" href="https://www.reactindia.io/">click here</a>.</p>
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For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/news/react-india-2019'>http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/news/react-india-2019</a>
</p>
No publisherAdminOpenness2019-10-14T14:56:52ZNews ItemDevFest'19
http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/devfest19
<b>Bhuvana Meenakshi was a speaker at the event organised by Google Developers Groups at Coimbatore on September 14, 2019.</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">She spoke on WebXR: The journey to the centre of Reality. The audience were all beginners and they were amused to see her works on Mixed Reality. They also learnt to kickstart with the easiest ways of developing the most cool applications using Firefox's framework.</p>
<div>Website: <a href="https://devfest19.gdgcbe.com/" target="_blank">https://devfest19.gdgcbe.com/</a></div>
<div>Blog: <a href="https://kbmtechie.wordpress.com/2019/09/22/speaker-experience-at-devfest19/" target="_blank">https://kbmtechie.wordpress.com/2019/09/22/speaker-experience-at-devfest19/</a></div>
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For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/devfest19'>http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/devfest19</a>
</p>
No publisherAdminOpennessOpen Source2019-10-14T14:50:33ZNews ItemFOSSCON India 2019
http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/news/fosscon-india-2019-1
<b>Bhuvana Meenakshi gave a talk on "The revolution of WebXR" at FOSSCON India 2019 organized by KLS Gogte Institute of Technology in Belgaum from August 29 - 31, 2019, where she discussed about the tools used for development and demos.</b>
<p>The Chief patrons included:</p>
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<li>Dr. A S Deshpande, Registrar, VTU, Belagavi</li>
<li>Dr. Satish Annigeri, Registrar(Evaluation), VTU, Belagavi</li>
<li>Shri M R Kulkarni, Chairman, Karnatak Law Society</li>
<li>Shri U N Kalkundrikar, Chairman , Governing Council, KLS Gogte Institute of Technology, Belagavi.</li>
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<h3 class="gmail-schedule-slot-title">
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For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/news/fosscon-india-2019-1'>http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/news/fosscon-india-2019-1</a>
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No publisherAdminOpennessFOSS2019-09-25T22:59:38ZNews ItemIndia’s top science institution is trying hard to fix its “manel” problem
http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/news/quartz-india-august-16-2019-india-s-top-science-institution-is-trying-hard-to-fix-its-manel-problem
<b>B Chagun Basha is a science, technology and innovation policy fellow at Bengaluru’s Indian Institute of Science’s (IISc) Centre for Policy Research established by the department of science & technology (DST-CPR).</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The blog post was published in <a class="external-link" href="https://qz.com/india/1687242/no-manels-at-iisc-bengaluru-women-mandatory-in-panel-discussions/">Quartz India</a> on August 16, 2019. Sunil Abraham was quoted. <em>This piece was originally published on <a class="m_-1130724999584095261OWAAutoLink" href="https://connect.iisc.ac.in/2019/06/we-learned-the-hard-way-not-to-have-manels/" rel="noopener noreferrer">Connect</a> under the headline, “We Learned (The Hard Way) Not to Have Manels.”</em></p>
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<p style="text-align: justify; ">While organising an event at IISc, he and his colleagues realised they hadn’t paid much thought to gender inclusivity until it was explicitly pointed out to them that there were no women in their event. That sparked some introspection, as well as actions to ensure that this wasn’t repeated. In this interview, he talks about the incident and important lessons from it.</p>
<h3 class="india a1dbe">How did you first hear of the term manel?</h3>
<p class="india a1dbe" style="text-align: justify; ">It was when I was organising my first event of an academic nature. Every year, DST-CPR marks International Open Access Week by planning activities for the entire week, and having a panel discussion is a major part of it. We bring in experts to sensitise people about topics related to open access and how we can incorporate it in our institute through a bottom-up approach.</p>
<p class="india a1dbe">In October 2017, when International Open Access Week came round, we collaborated with six other groups to organise it. We had a poster competition, a panel discussion, and a few other activities like engaging with the student community about open access and how they could play a role in promoting it.</p>
<p class="india a1dbe" style="text-align: justify; ">A week before the panel discussion was scheduled, we had confirmed the participation of all our speakers—five male speakers and one female speaker. The female speaker had not been included out of a conscious effort to ensure gender diversity—she happened to be on the list of names we came up with, we had written to all of them, and they had agreed to come. But a few days before the panel discussion, we received an email from her saying that she would not be able to join us.</p>
<p class="india a1dbe">We didn’t think it was a big deal. Instead of six participants we would have five, one of whom would be the moderator. Sunil Abraham of the Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) had already confirmed that he would be the moderator. He sent us an email asking for details of the panelists, so that he could communicate with them and plan and structure the discussion. But when we sent him the details, he immediately got back to us saying that he wouldn’t be able to participate in this panel discussion.</p>
<p class="india a1dbe" style="text-align: justify; ">I was a little shocked—you can replace a panelist at the last minute, but finding a new moderator to curate a discussion is harder as doing so requires in-depth knowledge of this space and familiarity with open access policies at different levels. I asked Sunil what had happened—why did he have to pull out? He said that CIS had a written policy that was followed strictly: members could not participate in “manels”—a word I was hearing for the very first time. I didn’t even catch it properly when we spoke on the phone. Then he explained to me that if there was a panel on which there were only men and no women panelists—which are called “manels”—then people from his organisation avoided them completely.</p>
<h3 class="india a1dbe">What happened next?</h3>
<blockquote class="pullquote">I realised that as an organiser of an event, I wasn’t even thinking about being inclusive.</blockquote>
<p class="india a1dbe" style="text-align: justify; ">I realised that as an organiser of an event, I wasn’t even thinking about being inclusive. So we requested Sunil to suggest names of women speakers whom we could approach. I realise now that it was not a good thing to do—when somebody points out that there are no women on your panel, and for those reasons they are not going to participate, you should try harder to rectify this at your end, and not dump the responsibility for this on the person who pointed it out in the first place.</p>
<p class="india a1dbe" style="text-align: justify; ">We should have put in genuine effort from our end to learn more about other women in the field whom we could approach for the panel. But at the time Sunil generously agreed and gave us a list with 12 names. We contacted all of them: two people responded, one of whom—Padmini Ray Murray, who was a faculty member at the Srishti Institute of Art, Design and Technology—happened to be in Bengaluru and agreed to participate at short notice. We were really thankful for that.</p>
<p class="india a1dbe" style="text-align: justify; ">The panel discussion went off smoothly, and at the end we gave a vote of thanks, where we acknowledged our goof-up, thanked Sunil for bringing it to our notice, and we promised the audience sitting in Faculty Hall, which included the Director of NCBS and the Deputy Director of IISc, that we wouldn’t run any more manels. We said we would consciously include more women in all events we organised from then on—not just panel discussions but talks, workshops and so on. That’s more or less an official decision we took for CPR.</p>
<h3 class="india a1dbe">Did you feel like you were being put on the spot at the time?</h3>
<p class="india a1dbe" style="text-align: justify; ">We would often ask our superiors to suggest names for events or scout for people on our own, but actively thinking about including people of all genders was something we never really did. Now it feels like something that is really important.</p>
<p class="india a1dbe" style="text-align: justify; ">And an interesting thing happened after the vote of thanks that year: other people who had been in the audience and worked in other institutes or other departments at IISc came up to talk to us during the tea break. Like us, previously they thought it wasn’t important to think about who was being invited as panelists, but they began to see it was important too.</p>
<h3 class="india a1dbe">Has that changed how you planned subsequent events?</h3>
<p class="india a1dbe" style="text-align: justify; ">Two months after that panel discussion, we organised a workshop. On the final day of the workshop, we presented information on how many male and female participants applied, and how many of each we selected (women formed a little over 50% of those selected). That was our indirect way of letting people know that we took gender into consideration during our selection process.</p>
<p class="india a1dbe" style="text-align: justify; ">In October 2018, when International Open Access Week came around again, we organised a panel discussion as well as an event called the Global Equity Forum for librarians, because they play a key role in making open access a reality at the institutional level. We consciously included women for both events, and not just because they were women. We realised that if you put in a little effort, you can easily find competent people of all genders without having to select people only for representation’s sake.</p>
<h3 class="india a1dbe">What about the people you mentioned earlier, who came up after the panel to ask you about including more women—do you know if they ever followed up on it?</h3>
<p class="india a1dbe" style="text-align: justify; ">Since the 2017 panel, others have made an effort to have equal numbers on men and women in panels too. It’s been like a chain reaction—some of those who attended our panel discussion took notice and kept it in mind when they organised events themselves. For now, though, ensuring gender diversity has depended on the efforts of the individual organisers. What happens when they leave and others take their place?</p>
<p class="india a1dbe">I think we need to put forth a policy at an IISc-wide level for events organised on campus so that we can ensure balanced representation of women—not just on stage, but among participants of events like seminars and workshops as well. Leaving it up to personal decisions means that it may not be a sustained process, and that’s why we need to work towards having it as a departmental policy or as an institutional policy. Of course we need to push for this as individuals, but we also need the leadership on board in order for this to materialise.</p>
<blockquote class="pullquote">Ensuring equal representation for men and women in public events may seem like a small issue, but it drives bigger issues.</blockquote>
<p class="india a1dbe" style="text-align: justify; ">Ensuring equal representation for men and women in public events may seem like a small issue, but it drives bigger issues. Everybody is supportive of gender equality and inclusion of women at some abstract level, but if we really want that to happen, it has to start at small levels and at different stages. That’s a key thing we learned from organising the 2017 panel—that it had to start with us. Inclusion in panel discussions and events is just one of the stages at which it can happen.</p>
<p class="india a1dbe" style="text-align: justify; ">In an academic set-up, dialogue is one way of engaging with a larger audience. You also have events, exams, student participation, and many other such avenues at which it happens, right? We have to address inclusion at all levels. If we have a policy about gender inclusion in events on campus, it could pave the way for policies on gender inclusion in other areas like intake of students, picking members of faculty, picking members of decision-making committees, and so on.</p>
<p class="india a1dbe" style="text-align: justify; ">We have to start somewhere, and we can’t rely on easy excuses not to act. It’s a fundamental issue that really needs to be addressed—and maybe then it will become the norm, and open our eyes to the need for other kinds of inclusion as well.</p>
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For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/news/quartz-india-august-16-2019-india-s-top-science-institution-is-trying-hard-to-fix-its-manel-problem'>http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/news/quartz-india-august-16-2019-india-s-top-science-institution-is-trying-hard-to-fix-its-manel-problem</a>
</p>
No publisherAdminOpennessOpen Access2019-08-19T13:58:51ZNews ItemLearning and Understanding the Frameworks of Rights at Work
http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/news/learning-and-understanding-the-frameworks-of-rights-at-work
<b>On July 13, 2019, Torsha and Mira attended the 'Learning and understanding the frameworks of rights at work' workshop held by Kai Hsin Hung at IT For change in Bangalore.</b>
<p class="moz-quote-pre" style="text-align: justify; ">It was a workshop for tech workers and researchers to explore and understand the social and legal frameworks to help assess their working conditions with an introduction to key concepts and simple tools. One of the key concepts that was introduced here were the standards laid down by the Fairwork Foundation on minimum pay,improving working conditions, approachable management, understandable contracts and equal representation. The second concept introduced was the multidimensional model of unacceptable forms of work. We were also involved in two sets of activities where we explored what these dimensions of work mean to us.</p>
<p class="moz-quote-pre" style="text-align: justify; ">For more info, see the <a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/openness/files/learning-and-understanding-the-frameworks-of-rights-at-work">brochure</a></p>
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For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/news/learning-and-understanding-the-frameworks-of-rights-at-work'>http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/news/learning-and-understanding-the-frameworks-of-rights-at-work</a>
</p>
No publisherAdminOpenness2019-07-21T15:19:00ZNews ItemMozilla is funding a way to support Julia in Firefox
http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/news/zd-net-july-8-2019-catalin-cimpanu-mozilla-is-funding-a-way-to-support-julia-in-firefox
<b>Mozilla is funding a project for bringing the Julia programming language to Firefox and the general browser environment.</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The blog post by Catalin Cimpanu was <a class="external-link" href="https://www.zdnet.com/article/mozilla-is-funding-a-way-to-support-julia-in-firefox/">published in ZD Net</a> on July 8, 2019.</p>
<hr style="text-align: justify; " />
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The project received funding part of the Mozilla Research Grants for the first half of 2019, which the browser maker announced on Friday.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">In April, <a href="https://mozilla-research.forms.fm/mozilla-research-grants-2019h1/forms/6510" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">when Mozilla opened this year's submissions period</a> for research grants, the organization said it was looking for a way to bring data science and scientific computing tools to the web.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">It said it was specifically interested in receiving submissions about supporting R or Julia at the browser level. Both R and Julia are programming languages designed for high-performance numerical, statistical, and computational science.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Mozilla engineers have worked in previous years to port data science tools at the browser level, as part of Project Iodide.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Previously, as part of this project, Mozilla engineers ported the Python interpreter to run in the browser using WebAssembly.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">"This project, Pyodide, has demonstrated the practicality of running language interpreters in WebAssembly," Mozilla engineers said.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">In April, Mozilla said it was willing to use a research grant to fund a team of developers to port either R or Julia to the browser via WebAssembly as well.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The end result <a href="https://iodide-project.github.io/docs/language_plugins/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">should be a Firefox plugin</a>, similar to how Pyodide works.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Valentin Churavy, an MIT Ph.D. student and a member of the official Julia team, has applied for a Mozilla research grant, which he subsequently received.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The Julia programming language was created in 2009, publicly released in 2012, and has gained a huge following ever since. It has quickly <a href="https://www.zdnet.com/article/possible-python-rival-programming-language-julia-is-winning-over-developers/" target="_blank">climbed the ranks of the world's most popular languages</a> entering the Tiobe Top 50, has a huge following on GitHub, and was <a href="https://www.zdnet.com/article/is-julia-fastest-growing-new-programming-language-stats-chart-rapid-rise-in-2018/" target="_blank">one of 2018 biggest risers</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">In April, Mozilla engineers also offered a grand for <a href="https://www.zdnet.com/article/mozilla-offers-research-grant-for-a-way-to-embed-tor-inside-firefox/" target="_blank">porting Tor to work inside Firefox</a>, to power a Tor-powered Super Private Browsing (SPB) mode for Firefox.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">While there was no grant for a project of sorts, Mozilla will be funding a research project that aims to study the performance and anonymity features of the HTTP/2 and HTTP/3 protocols on the Tor network.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The full Mozilla research grants for H1 2019 are as follow:</p>
<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<th style="text-align: left; ">Lead Researchers</th><th style="text-align: left; ">Institution</th><th style="text-align: left; ">Project Title</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://julia.mit.edu/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Valentin Churavy</a></td>
<td>MIT</td>
<td>Bringing Julia to the Browser</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Jessica Outlaw</td>
<td>Concordia University of Portland</td>
<td>Studying the Unique Social and Spatial affordances of Hubs by Mozilla for Remote Participation in Live Events</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="http://www.nehakumar.org/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Neha Kumar</a></td>
<td>Georgia Tech</td>
<td>Missing Data: Health on the Internet for Internet Health</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://personalization.ccs.neu.edu/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Piotr Sapiezynski, Alan Mislove, & Aleksandra Korolova</a></td>
<td>Northeastern University & University of Southern California</td>
<td>Understanding the impact of ad preference controls</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://cis-india.org/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Sumandro Chattapadhyay</a></td>
<td>The Centre for Internet and Society (CIS), India</td>
<td>Making Voices Heard: Privacy, Inclusivity, and Accessibility of Voice Interfaces in India</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://weihang-wang.github.io/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Weihang Wang</a></td>
<td>State University of New York</td>
<td>Designing Access Control Interfaces for Wasmtime</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="http://escience.washington.edu/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Bernease Herman</a></td>
<td>University of Washington</td>
<td>Toward generalizable methods for measuring bias in crowdsourced speech datasets and validation processes</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="http://haystack.csail.mit.edu/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">David Karger</a></td>
<td>MIT</td>
<td>Tipsy: A Decentralized Open Standard for a Microdonation-Supported Web</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://songlh.github.io/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Linhai Song</a></td>
<td>Pennsylvania State University</td>
<td>Benchmarking Generic Functions in Rust</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://www.ucd.ie/ics/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Leigh Clark</a></td>
<td>University College Dublin</td>
<td>Creating a trustworthy model for always-listening voice interfaces</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://www-users.cs.umn.edu/~zsw/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Steven Wu</a></td>
<td>University of Minnesota</td>
<td>DP-Fathom: Private, Accurate, and Communication-Efficient</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://hatswitch.org/~nikita/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Nikita Borisov</a></td>
<td>University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign</td>
<td>Performance and Anonymity of HTTP/2 and HTTP/3 in Tor</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/news/zd-net-july-8-2019-catalin-cimpanu-mozilla-is-funding-a-way-to-support-julia-in-firefox'>http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/news/zd-net-july-8-2019-catalin-cimpanu-mozilla-is-funding-a-way-to-support-julia-in-firefox</a>
</p>
No publisherCatalin CimpanuOpenness2019-07-10T01:33:52ZNews ItemRootconf 2019
http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/news/rootconf-2019
<b>Karan Saini participated in the annual Rootconf conference held by HasGeek on June 21 and 22, 2019. This conference was held at the NIMHANS Convention Centre in Bangalore, India.</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Apart from being responsible for reviewing proposals for security-related talks for Rootconf, Karan also moderated a 'Birds of a Feather’ session with Vandana Verma and Shubham Mittal wherein participants discussed the various offensive and defensive security applications of open source intelligence. The conference schedule can be <a class="external-link" href="https://hasgeek.com/rootconf/2019/schedule">accessed here</a>. The abstract for the Birds of a Feather session on OSINT can be <a class="external-link" href="https://hasgeek.com/rootconf/2019/proposals/defensive-and-offensive-applications-of-open-sourc-owwNwhiToSrkP9VjvC3ev3">found here</a>. More information on the event can be <a class="external-link" href="https://hasgeek.com/rootconf/2019/">viewed here</a>.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/news/rootconf-2019'>http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/news/rootconf-2019</a>
</p>
No publisherAdminOpennessOpen Source2019-07-05T00:52:38ZNews ItemGoa University students update ‘Goa’ Marathi articles on Wikipedia
http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/news/times-of-india-february-20-2019-goa-university-students-update-goa-marathi-articles-on-wikipedia
<b>Faculty and students of Goa University’s Marathi department have updated 164 Marathi articles on Wikipedia related to Goa recently.</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The article was published in the <a class="external-link" href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/goa/gu-students-update-goa-marathi-articles-on-wiki/articleshowprint/68071126.cms">Times of India</a> on February 20, 2019.</p>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: justify; ">They have also added information related to the state focused on freedom fighters, Marathi literature and cultural heritage, tourism, biodiversity and the environment.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The two-day effort was carried out under the supervision of Subodh Kulkarni from the Centre for Internet and Society, the Indian partner of the Wikimedia Foundation.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The history of Goan villages collected by students was uploaded on Wikipedia in Marathi Devanagari Unicode. They also participated in #1Lib1Ref campaign supported by Wikipedia Library and uploaded new articles and 25 photos.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Other than editing the 164 Marathi articles, the faculty and students also edited reference for articles on Wikipedia and contributed to important facts about Goa.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Kulkarni served as the resource person for the session, while director of digital learning and initiative at Goa University Prof Ramrao Wagh, head of department of Hindi Vrushali Mandrekar; librarian at GU library Gopakumar, head of department of Marathi Sunita Umraskar, and coordinator of the workshop Vinay Madgaonkar, oversaw the effort.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/news/times-of-india-february-20-2019-goa-university-students-update-goa-marathi-articles-on-wikipedia'>http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/news/times-of-india-february-20-2019-goa-university-students-update-goa-marathi-articles-on-wikipedia</a>
</p>
No publisherAdminCIS-A2KAccess to KnowledgeWikimediaWikipediaOpenness2019-02-22T02:27:14ZNews ItemLecture on Open Access and Open Content Licensing at ICAR (short course)
http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/news/lecture-on-open-access-and-open-content-licensing-at-icar-short-course
<b>The ICAR-Indian Institute of Horticultural Research (IIHR) a constituent establishment of Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) organised a short course on 'ICTs for Improving Efficiency and Effectiveness in Agricultural Research, Education and Extension of NARES' during November 13-22, 2018 in Bangalore. Anubha Sinha delivered a lecture to the participants.</b>
<p>Read for <a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/openness/files/invitation-for-delivering-lecture-in-icar/view">more information about the programme</a>.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/news/lecture-on-open-access-and-open-content-licensing-at-icar-short-course'>http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/news/lecture-on-open-access-and-open-content-licensing-at-icar-short-course</a>
</p>
No publisherAdminOpennessOpen AccessAccess to Knowledge2018-12-05T16:19:56ZNews ItemPanel Discussion on Equitable Access to Knowledge
http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/news/panel-discussion-on-equitable-access-to-knowledge
<b>Pranesh Prakash was a panelist and moderator in a panel discussion on Equitable Access to Knowledge on October 23, 2018 at Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore. The event was hosted by DST Centre for Policy Research (IISc), Bangalore.</b>
<p><img src="http://editors.cis-india.org/home-images/copy3_of_FB.png/@@images/7840cc15-fc34-412c-8b60-196d35cb4009.png" alt="FB" class="image-inline" title="FB" /></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><span>Open Access seeks to return scholarly publishing to its original purpose: to spread knowledge and allow that knowledge to be built upon. Price barriers should not prevent students, researchers (or anyone) from getting access to research they need. Open Access, and the open availability and searchability of scholarly research that it entails, will have a significant positive impact on everything from education to the practice of medicine to the ability of entrepreneurs to innovate.</span></p>
<h3><span>Panelists</span></h3>
<ul>
<li><span><span>Arul George Scaria - National Law University, Delhi</span></span></li>
<li><span><span>Carl Malamud - <a href="http://Public.Resource.Org/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Public.Resource.Org</a> <br /></span></span></li>
<li><span><span>Pranesh Prakash (Moderator) - Centre for Internet and Society, Bangalore <br /></span></span></li>
<li><span><span>Richard Poynder - Journalist (covering OA movement around the world) <br /></span></span></li>
<li><span><span>S Nayana Tara - Indian Institute of Management Bangalore</span></span></li>
<li><span><span>Shahid Jameel - Welcome Trust DBT India Alliance </span></span></li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><span><span><span>This event was a part of International Open Access week activities planned at IISc Bangalore, organized by DST-Centre for Policy Research at IISc in association with National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS), Karnataka State Library Association (KALA), JRD Tata Memorial Library, Science Policy Group (SPG) and International Scientific and Technological Education Program (i-STEP).</span></span></span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><span><span><span>Read more about the event on <a class="external-link" href="https://www.facebook.com/events/174784246787715/">Facebook page</a><br /></span></span></span></p>
<hr />
<p> </p>
<p><iframe frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/iH_kjoFRjAQ" width="500"></iframe></p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/news/panel-discussion-on-equitable-access-to-knowledge'>http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/news/panel-discussion-on-equitable-access-to-knowledge</a>
</p>
No publisherAdminOpennessOpen Access2019-02-22T15:32:46ZNews ItemSting job by Hyderabad scientist exposes fake journals
http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/news/business-standard-ians-october-11-2018-sting-job-by-hyderabad-scientist-exposes-fake-journals
<b>Scientists have at last found a cure for Schlodomoniasis -- a deadly brain infection caused by the "inter-galactic parasite Klaousmodium cruzi" -- they claim to have identified for the first time.</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The article was published in <a class="external-link" href="https://www.business-standard.com/article/news-ians/sting-job-by-hyderabad-scientist-exposes-fake-journals-118101100439_1.html">Business Standard</a> on October 11, 2018. Subbiah Arunachalam was quoted.</p>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a class="storyTags" href="https://www.business-standard.com/search?type=news&q=beth+smith" target="_blank">Beth Smith </a>and co-workers at "<a class="storyTags" href="https://www.business-standard.com/search?type=news&q=sanchez+institute" target="_blank">Sanchez Institute </a>for Biomedical Sciences for Doopidoo Research" in <a class="storyTags" href="https://www.business-standard.com/search?type=news&q=morocco" target="_blank">Morocco </a>have published their discovery in three science journals and also reported a novel method called "Magnetic Oddities <a class="storyTags" href="https://www.business-standard.com/search?type=news&q=radiation" target="_blank">Radiation </a>Therapy (MORTY)" to treat the <a class="storyTags" href="https://www.business-standard.com/search?type=news&q=infection" target="_blank">infection.</a> The study was carried out in "Wakandan population".</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">If readers are breaking their heads to understand the startling findings and decipher the strange words like "Wakandan" and "Doopidoo", Farooq Ali Khan, a <a class="storyTags" href="https://www.business-standard.com/search?type=news&q=college+professor" target="_blank">college professor </a>and PhD student in <a class="storyTags" href="https://www.business-standard.com/search?type=news&q=hyderabad" target="_blank">Hyderabad </a>and a co-<a class="storyTags" href="https://www.business-standard.com/search?type=news&q=author" target="_blank">author </a>of the paper, had the last laugh.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">"It was not intended to be a scientific paper," he told this <a class="storyTags" href="https://www.business-standard.com/search?type=news&q=correspondent" target="_blank">correspondent </a>in an email. "It was my sting operation to expose publishers of predatory journals who are churning out fake science for profit."</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Open access journals are supposed to provide an <a class="storyTags" href="https://www.business-standard.com/search?type=news&q=online+platform" target="_blank">online platform </a>for rapid dissemination of latest updates in science and technology. Their publishers don't charge the readers as access to these journals is free, but they charge the authors wanting to have their research papers published in these journals.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Inspired by previous publishing "stings", Khan wanted to test whether open access journals would publish an obviously absurd paper liberally salted with nonsense for the sake of money from gullible authors anxious to publish.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">He created a spoof manuscript titled "Newer Tools to Fight Inter-Galactic Parasites and their Transmissibility in Zygirion Simulation", and submitted it to several suspect journals from the list kept online by <a class="storyTags" href="https://www.business-standard.com/search?type=news&q=jeffrey+beall" target="_blank">Jeffrey Beall </a>-- an <a class="storyTags" href="https://www.business-standard.com/search?type=news&q=associate+professor+and+librarian" target="_blank">associate professor and librarian </a>at the <a class="storyTags" href="https://www.business-standard.com/search?type=news&q=university+of+colorado" target="_blank">University of </a><a class="storyTags" href="https://www.business-standard.com/search?type=news&q=colorado" target="_blank">Colorado </a>who coined the term "predatory journal" -- as a public service to his colleagues.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">All the hilarious fake names like "schleem", "dinglebop" and "schwitinization", that do not make any sense, as well as images and graphs published in the paper, were fabricated.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The "Zyrgion simulation", and "intergalactic parasites" are all references to "Rick and Morty" -- a US Cartoon Network's animated science <a class="storyTags" href="https://www.business-standard.com/search?type=news&q=fiction" target="_blank">fiction </a>programme about the misadventures of mad <a class="storyTags" href="https://www.business-standard.com/search?type=news&q=scientist" target="_blank">scientist </a><a class="storyTags" href="https://www.business-standard.com/search?type=news&q=rick+sanchez" target="_blank">Rick Sanchez </a>and his grandson <a class="storyTags" href="https://www.business-standard.com/search?type=news&q=morty+smith" target="_blank">Morty Smith.</a></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Khan, a great fan of "Rick and Morty", submitted the paper with <a class="storyTags" href="https://www.business-standard.com/search?type=news&q=beth+smith" target="_blank">Beth Smith </a>(Rick's granddaughter in the cartoon show) as the corresponding <a class="storyTags" href="https://www.business-standard.com/search?type=news&q=author" target="_blank">author </a>and himself as co-<a class="storyTags" href="https://www.business-standard.com/search?type=news&q=author" target="_blank">author.</a> Two other authors' names were made-up, and Sukant Khurana -- a <a class="storyTags" href="https://www.business-standard.com/search?type=news&q=scientist" target="_blank">scientist </a>at <a class="storyTags" href="https://www.business-standard.com/search?type=news&q=central+drug+research+institute" target="_blank">Central Drug Research Institute </a>in Lucknow, who offered to help Khan in this sting, was another author -- all affiliated to an institution in <a class="storyTags" href="https://www.business-standard.com/search?type=news&q=morocco" target="_blank">Morocco </a>that does not exist.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The so-called "Magnetic Oddities <a class="storyTags" href="https://www.business-standard.com/search?type=news&q=radiation" target="_blank">Radiation </a>Therapy" developed by the authors to treat the brain <a class="storyTags" href="https://www.business-standard.com/search?type=news&q=infection" target="_blank">infection </a>is again nothing but an expansion of "MORTY", a character in the cartoon show.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Anyone with commonsense would have noticed all the nonsense and consigned the paper to trash, but Khan surprisingly found it was accepted for publication by 10 journals for fees ranging from $75 to $650.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">After some bargaining over fees, three scientific journals -- ARC Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences, IOSR Journal of Pharmacy and Biological Sciences, and Clinical <a class="storyTags" href="https://www.business-standard.com/search?type=news&q=biotechnology" target="_blank">Biotechnology </a>and <a class="storyTags" href="https://www.business-standard.com/search?type=news&q=microbiology" target="_blank">Microbiology </a>-- published the paper without a second glance.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Khan says his "scientific prank" was intended to expose the seriousness of predatory journal industry and to create awareness among people who are beginning their careers in science. "These predatory journals are polluting the scientific record with junk science and are also resulting in fake news."</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">"When the Open Access Declaration was drafted in 2002, no one would have imagined that many unscrupulous individuals would pollute the entire system of scholarly communication with predatory journals solely with the idea of making money," Subbiah Arunachalam, <a class="storyTags" href="https://www.business-standard.com/search?type=news&q=renowned+information+scientist" target="_blank">renowned information </a><a class="storyTags" href="https://www.business-standard.com/search?type=news&q=scientist" target="_blank">scientist </a>and Distinguished Fellow of the <a class="storyTags" href="https://www.business-standard.com/search?type=news&q=centre+for+internet" target="_blank">Centre for Internet </a>and Society in Bengaluru, told this <a class="storyTags" href="https://www.business-standard.com/search?type=news&q=correspondent" target="_blank">correspondent </a>in an email.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">"Unfortunately, many Indians -- both individuals and companies -- are in this business," he said. "Predatory journals pose a big threat to the integrity of research."</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">"These are shameful acts by greedy publishers," Subhash Lakhotia, a <a class="storyTags" href="https://www.business-standard.com/search?type=news&q=professor+of+zoology" target="_blank">professor of zoology </a>at the Benaras Hindu University, told this <a class="storyTags" href="https://www.business-standard.com/search?type=news&q=correspondent" target="_blank">correspondent </a>in an email. "Until we stop payments of all kinds of open access charges and modify the present faulty <a class="storyTags" href="https://www.business-standard.com/search?type=news&q=assessment+system" target="_blank">assessment system </a>that relies on numbers of publications, predation in one or the other form would continue."</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/news/business-standard-ians-october-11-2018-sting-job-by-hyderabad-scientist-exposes-fake-journals'>http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/news/business-standard-ians-october-11-2018-sting-job-by-hyderabad-scientist-exposes-fake-journals</a>
</p>
No publisherAdminOpennessOpen AccessAccess to Knowledge2018-10-17T02:06:21ZNews ItemAn open data ecosystem can boost India's GDP by $22 B and double farmer income
http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/news/your-story-sohini-mitter-may-22-2-018-open-data-ecosystem-can-boost-indias-gdp-22-b-double-farmer-income
<b>MeiTY says increased data transparency will drive growth and improve governance across key industry sectors in the time to come. </b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">This was published in <a class="external-link" href="https://yourstory.com/2018/05/open-data-ecosystem-can-boost-indias-gdp-22-b-double-farmer-income/">Your Story</a> on May 22, 2018.</p>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: justify; ">YES Bank in association with the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has released a study that says an ‘open data ecosystem’ can grow India’s GDP by $22 billion by 2020. It could impact critical sectors like agriculture and double farmer income by reducing wastage and system inefficiencies.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The report titled <i>Open Government, Open Data – Re-imagining India</i> observes that farmers’ income could be twice of what it is in less than five years from now. Universal Health coverage could be strengthened, and micro-loans could be disbursed to millions of MSMEs more effectively through a well-functioning open data ecosystem.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Empirical evidence shows that open data has aided agriculture world over. Combined with agricultural knowledge, remote sensing, and mapping, it helps create early warning systems for farmers. That enables them in “protecting crops from pests and extreme weather, increasing yields, monitoring water supplies, and anticipating changes brought on by climate change,” <a href="http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2013/04/26/open-data-can-transform-farmers-response-to-crisis" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">according</a> to the World Bank.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">While India was among the first countries in the world to set up an <a href="https://data.gov.in/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Open Government Data</a> (OGD) platform that offered open and free access to data and information released by over 100 government departments, there have been loopholes in the project that has led to data being restricted in some cases. At present, OGD houses info-sets from 180,543 ministry resources and is presided over by a hundred-plus data officers.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">YES Bank has recommended steps to eliminate the existing gaps and boost usage of OGD to improve governance across sectors. It has also said that emerging technologies like Blockchain, Machine Learning (ML) and the Internet of Things (IoT) would drive further efficiencies in the open data ecosystem, and lead to more tech-focused innovation.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">One such innovation has been brought about by Silicon Valley agri startup, Harvesting, that recently launched its India operation. <a href="https://yourstory.com/2018/03/silicon-valley-startup-harvesting-plans-bridge-farm-finance-deficit-india">Harvesting uses remote sensing and geo-spatial imagery</a> along with existing farmer data to monitor farmlands, assess them in real-time, and send out reports and analysis to all stakeholders, including farmers, agri lenders, rural banks, and so on.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Harvesting Founder-CEO Ruchit Garg told<i> YourStory</i>,</p>
<blockquote style="text-align: justify; ">
<p>“There are over 500 million small farm-holders in emerging markets that feed 80 percent of the world. But there is a data asymmetry in the agricultural value chain. Most problems arise because of a massive data deficit. We started to look at how this could be solved by leveraging data and technology.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Besides industries, the open data is available for citizen access too, and that is important.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Rana Kapoor, MD and CEO, Yes Bank, said,</p>
<blockquote style="text-align: justify; ">
<p>“Data is collected from citizens for citizen welfare and should therefore be shared with them. Secondly, data like Government budget usage, welfare schemes and subsidies increases transparency, thereby building greater trust.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">YES Bank also recommends more public-private partnerships (PPP) for open data to be fully utilised. It proposes the formation of an Open Data Council comprising representatives from private and public sectors as well as technology service providers. The council would be chaired by MeitY and will work towards the identification of ‘priority sectors’ which require data digitisation.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">But, merely having large amounts of open data sets is not enough. The Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) sounds a word of caution.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">In a separate report titled <i>Open Government Data Study: India</i>, the CIS states,</p>
<blockquote style="text-align: justify; ">
<p>“To ensure the relevance of open government data, mechanisms have to be put in place to take its benefits to ordinary people and to marginalised communities. Simply putting up raw data will not suffice.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The report notes that a richer open data ecosystem can be created by harnessing records and information from rural internet kiosks, community e-centres, e-healthcare, geographic information systems (GISs), dairy sector applications, teacher training programmes, online agricultural systems, wireless local loop solutions, databases of rural innovations, land property registrations, women and children’s services, and more.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/news/your-story-sohini-mitter-may-22-2-018-open-data-ecosystem-can-boost-indias-gdp-22-b-double-farmer-income'>http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/news/your-story-sohini-mitter-may-22-2-018-open-data-ecosystem-can-boost-indias-gdp-22-b-double-farmer-income</a>
</p>
No publisherAdminOpen DataAccess to KnowledgeOpenness2018-05-23T14:37:55ZNews ItemDelhi Declaration on Open Access
http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/news/delhi-declaration-on-open-access
<b>Open Access India recently released a statement to promote openness in science and research communities. CIS contributed to the text and introduced it to the participants of OpenCon 2018, Delhi. </b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Published by Open Access India on February 14, 2018. Read the original <a class="external-link" href="http://openaccessindia.org/delhi-declaration-on-open-access/">post here</a>.</p>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: justify; ">This declaration was drafted by a group comprising of researchers and professionals working for opening up access to research outputs for public good in India. The declaration is aimed at scientific communities, scholarly societies, publishers, funders, universities and research institutions to promote openness in science and research communications.</p>
<h2 style="text-align: justify; ">Preamble</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The South Asian region, home to 24% of the world’s population faces major challenges such as hunger, poverty and inequality. These challenges become the collective responsibility of scholars and experts in research universities across the country. Consequently, it becomes imperative that research institutes share scientific research outputs and accelerate scientific research. The Open Access movement which aims for making all ‘publicly funded research outcomes publicly available for the public good’ is gaining momentum.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><i>“</i><i>Open</i><i> means </i><i>anyone</i><i> can </i><i>freely access, use, modify, and share</i><i> for </i><i>any purpose</i><i>(subject, at most, to requirements that preserve provenance and openness)” –</i><a href="http://opendefinition.org/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><i>Open Definition</i></a><i>.</i></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">As per the Budapest Open Access Initiative (<a href="http://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">BOAI</a>), ‘Open Access’ (to scholarly literature) is “<i>free availability on the public internet, permitting any users to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of these articles, crawl them for indexing, pass them as data to software, or use them for any other lawful purpose, without financial, legal, or technical barriers other than those inseparable from gaining access to the internet itself</i>”.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Since the launch of the BOAI on 14th Feb. 2002, efforts are being made by various scholarly societies, academic communities and governments to make scholarly content Open. However, due to various reasons, the full potential of Open Access is not realised by the producers (scholars), publishers and readers (scholars and society at large) of this knowledge and the world is still disconnected in terms of sharing the scholarly content openly.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">As per the Scimago Journal & Country Rank<a href="http://www.scimagojr.com/countrysearch.php?country=in" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> (SJR</a>), India ranks 9th in the year 2016 producing about 13 lakhs articles. However, 82% of them are not Open Access and the Institutional Repositories in India are sparsely populated in spite of having Open Access mandates in place. The Directory of Open Access Journals (<a href="https://doaj.org/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">DOAJ</a>) lists only 200 out of the 20,000+ journals being published from India.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The historical BOAI is now 16 years old, but still there is a need for all of us to be educated and empowered to realize the power of Open Access to scholarly content and harness it for public good in India. With burgeoning commercial scholarly publications and increasing diversity in terms of availability of & accessibility to the information, we need to create a necessary framework for making Open Access the default by 2025 in India.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">To ensure the wide availability and encourage the use of of research data and information for the purpose of addressing multifaceted challenges, Open Access to publicly funded research and scholarly outputs are to be made available under Open Licenses (e.g. <a href="https://creativecommons.org/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Creative Commons</a>) while duly acknowledging the intellectual property (work/rights of the creators/producers/authors).</p>
<h2 style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://openaccessindia.org/delhi-declaration-on-open-access-brief/">Declaration</a></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><i>We, the contributors and signatories of this declaration, members of the Open Access India, Open Access communities of practice in India and the attendees of the <a href="http://www.opencon2017.org/opencon_2018_new_delhi" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">OpenCon 2018 New Delhi</a> held on 3rd Feb., 2018 at Acharya Narendra Dev College, Kalkaji, New Delhi (University of Delhi) agree to issue this declaration:</i></p>
<ol style="text-align: justify; ">
<li>We advocate for the practice of Open Science (sharing research methods and results openly which will avoid “reinventing the wheel”) and adoption of open technologies for the development of models for sharing science and scholarship (Open Scholarship) to accelerate the progress of research and to address the real societal challenges</li>
<li>We will strive to publish our interim research outputs as preprints or postprints (e.g. Institutional Repositories) and encourage our peers and supervisors to do the same to make our research open and actionable in a timely manner.</li>
<li>We will practice and encourage researchers and scientists to implement openness in peer-reviewing and other editorial services, influence the scholarly societies to flip their journals into Open Access and will contribute for the development of whitelist of Open Access journals in India adhering to the “<a href="https://publicationethics.org/news/principles-transparency-and-best-practice-scholarly-publishing-revised-and-updated" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing</a>”.</li>
<li>We will garner support of the relevant stakeholders (scholars, journal editorial teams, university libraries, research funders, authorities’ in-charge of dissemination of scholarship in higher education) for spearheading the Open Access movement.</li>
<li>We will take forward the concept of Open Access to further bring all the publicly funded research outputs (not limited to journal literature alone) to be freely available under open licenses to the public to use, reuse and share in any media in open formats.</li>
<li>We will impress upon policy makers to adopt an open evaluation system for research and an institutional reward system for practicing openness in science ,scientific communications and academic research across disciplines including Humanities and Social Sciences</li>
<li>We will support and work for an alternate reward system in recognition and promotion not in terms of the ‘Impact Factor’ of the journals, but the ‘Impact’ of the articles/scholarship in science and the society and impress upon all the scientists/scholars, research funders, research institutes, universities, academies and scholarly societies to sign the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (<a href="http://www.ascb.org/dora/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">DORA</a>).</li>
<li>We strongly agree with the Joint<a href="http://www.unesco.org/new/en/communication-and-information/resources/news-and-in-focus-articles/all-news/news/joint_coar_unesco_statement_on_open_access/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> COAR-UNESCO Statement on Open Access</a> , <a href="http://jussieucall.org/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> Jussieu Call</a> and <a href="http://www.codesria.org/spip.php?article2595&lang=en" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Dakar Declaration</a>. And will also follow the international initiative<a href="https://oa2020.org/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> Open Access 2020</a>, to develop roadmaps to support sustainable Open Access scholarly communication models which are free of charge for the authors and free of charge availability to the readers.</li>
<li>While learning from South South cooperation on Open Access, will work for developing a framework for Open Access in India and South Asia: National Policies for Open Access and country-specific action plans will be formulated aimed at making Open Access as the default in India and South Asia, by 2025.</li>
<li>For creating more awareness on Open Access, infrastructure, capacity building, funding and policy mechanisms, as well as incentivizing for the Open Access, we come forward to share success stories, studies and discussions during the Open Access Week.</li>
</ol>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Adopted on 14th February 2018</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Signatories (along with their affiliation):</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><i>Anasua Mukherjee, BRICSLICS</i><br /><i>Anubha Sinha, CIS India</i><br /><i>Anup Kumar Das, Open Access India; CSSP, JNU</i><br /><i>Arul George Scaria, NLU Delhi</i><br /><i>Barnali Roy Choudhury, Open Access India</i><br /><i>Bhakti R Gole, Open Access India</i><br /><i>Girija Goyal, ReFigure.org</i><br /><i>Javed Azmi, Jamia Hamdard</i><br /><i>Kavya Manohar, Open Access India</i><br /><i>Neha Sharma</i><br /><i>Nirmala Menon IIT Indore</i><br /><i>Sailesh Patnaik, Access to Knowledge, CIS</i><br /><i>Savithri Singh, Creative Commons India</i><br /><i>Sridhar Gutam, Open Access India</i><br /><i>Subhashish Panigrahi, Internet Society, O Foundation</i><br /><i>Vijay Bhasker Lode, Open Access India</i><br /><i>Virendra Kamalvanshi, Banaras Hindu University</i><br /><i>Tanveer Hasan A K, Access to Knowledge, Bangalore</i><br /><i>Waseem A Malla</i></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Ahsan Ullah, Bangladesh<br />Anila Sulochana, Central University of Tamil Nadu<br />Anoh Kouao Antoine, Ecole Supérieure Africaine des TIC, Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast)<br />Antonio Solís Lima,México<br />Atarino Helieisar, FSM Supreme Court Law Library, Federated States of Micronesia<br />Bidyarthi Dutta, Vidyasagar University<br />Binoy Mathew, INELI<br />Boye Komla Dogbe, Ministère De La Communication, De La Culture, Togo<br />Srikanth Reddy, CBIT<br />Cajetan Onyeneke, Imo State University, Nigeria<br />Chantal Moukoko Kamole, Universitty of Douala, Cameroun<br />D Puthira Prathap, Extension Education Society<br />Daniel Bossikponnon, Ministère du plan et du Développement, Bénin<br />Dare Adeleke, the Federal Polytechnic, Ado-Ekiti, Nigeria<br />Dilip Man Sthapit, TU Central Library/LIMISEC, Nepal<br />Emmy Medard Muhumuza, Busitema University Library, Uganda<br />Fabian Yelsang, Institute for Interdisciplinary Research and Consultancy Services, Ghana<br />Fayaz Loan, University of Kashmir<br />GJP Dixit, Central Library, Central University of Karnataka<br />Gurpreet Singh Sohal, GGDSD College<br />Harinder Pal Singh Kalra, Punjabi University<br />Hue Bui, Thainguyen University of Sciences, Vietnam<br />Jacinto Dávila, Universidad de Los Andes, Venezuela<br />Jaishankar K, International Journal of Cyber Criminology<br />Jancy Gupta, National Dairy Research Institute<br />JK Vijayakumar<br />Jonathan Tennant, Open Science MOOC, Germany<br />Julián Vaquerizo-Madrid, Unidad de Neurología Clínica Evolutiva, Spain<br />Kamal Hossain, University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh (ULAB), Bangladesh<br />Kasongo Ilunga Felix, Democratic Republic of Congo<br />Kavita Chaddha<br />Kojo Ahiakpa, Research Desk Consulting Ltd., Ghana<br />Krishna Chaitanya, Velaga, the Wikipedia Library<br />Kumaresan Chidambaranathan, New Zealand<br />Kunwar Singh, Banaras Hindu University<br />Luis Saravia, PERU<br />Mahendra Sahu, Gandhi Institution of Engineering & Technology,Gunupur<br />Maidhili S., Meenakshi College for Women<br />Manika Lamba, University of Delhi<br />Md. Nasir Uddin, BRAC University, Bangladesh<br />Md. Nazim Uddin, International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh<br />Md. Nurul Islam, International Islamic University Chittagong, Bangladesh<br />Md. Shahajada Masud Anowarul Haque, BRAC University, Bangladesh<br />Mir Sakhawat Hossain, Kabi Nazrul Government College, Bangladesh<br />Munusamy Natarajan, CSIR-NISCAIR<br />Murtoza Kh Ali, Bangladesh<br />Subash Pillai, ICAR-Indian Institute of Farming Systems Research<br />Nasar Ahmed Shah, Aligarh Muslim University<br />Nimesh Oza, Sardar Patel University<br />Niraj Chaudhary, United States<br />Poonam Bharti<br />Prerna Singh, Central University of Jammu<br />Rabia Bashir, Law and Parliamentary Affairs, Pakistan<br />Rajendran Murugan, Department of Education, University of Delhi<br />Rama Kant Shukla, Delhi Technological University<br />Raman Nair R, Centre for Informatics Research and Development<br />Rebat Kumar Dhakal, KUSOED Integrity Alliance, Nepal<br />Revocatus Kuluchumila, AMUCTA, Tanzania<br />M. Humayun Kabir, Tutul, National Health Library & Documentation Centre, Bangladesh<br />Sabuj Kumar, Chaudhuri, University of Calcutta<br />Sandipan Banerjee<br />Satwinder Bangar<br />Shahana Jahan, Bangladesh<br />Shamnad Basheer, SpicyIP<br />Shivendra Singh<br />Shreyashi Ray, NLU, Delhi<br />Sivakrishna Sivakoti<br />Soumen Kayal, Maharaja Manindra chandra College<br />Srinivasarao Muppidi, Sanketika Vidya Parishad Engineering College<br />Stephanie Gross, MSLIS from Pratt Institute, USA<br />Sujata Tetali, MACS-Agharkar Research Institute<br />Surjodeb Lulu Hono Basu<br />Susmita Das, Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council, Bangladesh<br />Susmita Chakraborty, University of Calcutta<br />Thilagavathi, Thillai Natarajan, Avinashilingam Institute for Home Science and Higher Education for Women<br />Umesh Kumar<br />Umme Habiba, Noakhali Science and Technology University, Bangladesh<br />Vinita, Jain, M D College of Arts, Science and Commerce<br />Virginia Inés Simón, Red Iberoamericana de Expertos sobre la Convención de los Derechos de las Personas con Discapacidad, Argentina<br />Vrushali Dandawate, AISSMS College of Engineering/DOAJ<br />Waqar Khan, Dhaka Shishu Hospital, Bangladesh<br />Wilbert Zvakafa, Chinhoyi University of Technology, Zimbabwe<br />Yasser Ahmed, South Valley University, Egypt<br />Yohann Thomas, Wikimedia India<br />Zakir Hossain, International Association of School Librarianship, International Schools Region, Switzerland<br />Dahmane Madjid, CERIST, Algeria<br />Nagarjuna G, Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education, TIFR<br />Sulyman Sodeeq Abdulakeem, Federal Polytechnic Offa, Nigeria<br />Leena Shah, DOAJ<br />Hamady Issaga Sy, Sénégal<br />Sanket Oswal, Wikimedia India<br />Chitralekha, University of Delhi<br />Chris Zielinski, University of Winchester, United Kingdom<br />Mourya Biswas, Prateek Media</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/news/delhi-declaration-on-open-access'>http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/news/delhi-declaration-on-open-access</a>
</p>
No publisherAdminOpennessOpen Access2018-02-26T14:53:07ZNews ItemAdvocating for Openness: Nine Ways Civil Society Groups Have Mobilized to Defend Internet Freedom
http://editors.cis-india.org/accessibility/news/cima-sarah-oh-november-15-2017-openness-nine-ways-civil-society-groups-have-mobilized-to-defend-internet-freedom
<b>The debate over whether the Internet is a better tool for democratic empowerment or authoritarian control misconstrues the nature of the democratic challenges of the digital age. </b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The blog post by Sarah Oh was published by the <a class="external-link" href="https://www.cima.ned.org/publication/advocating-openness-nine-ways-civil-society-groups-mobilized-defend-internet-freedom/">Center for International Media Assistance</a> on November 15, 2017</p>
<hr style="text-align: justify; " />
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Key Findings</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Civil society groups from the Global South are leading the charge to advocate for an Internet that remains open, pluralistic, and democratic. The nine case studies highlighted in this report demonstrate various ways groups in different countries have successfully fought for policies and norms that strengthen Internet freedom and digital rights. These strategies include awareness-raising, nonviolent direct action, regional and international coalition-building, and strategic litigation.</p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li>Media freedom advocates have been at the forefront of many Internet freedom efforts.</li>
<li>Threats to independent media online and freedom of expression continue to mount as authoritarian regimes become more technologically savvy.</li>
<li>Building broad civil society coalitions around Internet rights increases the chances of long-term success.</li>
</ul>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Introduction</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The debate over whether the Internet is a better tool for democratic empowerment or authoritarian control misconstrues the nature of the democratic challenges of the digital age. The Internet is not a tool, but a complex domain of “competing forces and constraints.”1 These forces are comprised of powerful businesses, states, politicians, criminal enterprises, advocacy groups: in short, all of the elements present in any democracy. But in this cyber-democracy, forces compete in part on the shifting ground of the technological and physical infrastructure of the Internet, where some players wield more power than others with an ability to mold the terrain in their favor. Authoritarian states aware of what is at stake in the evolution of the Internet are beginning to engage in long-term and well-resourced efforts to undermine the democratic rights of citizens in this more fundamental way.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">In a reference to the distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks that take down a specific website, these broader efforts represent what some have called a <a href="https://www.demworks.org/distributed-denial-democracy">“distributed denial-of-democracy” (DDoD)</a> attack aimed at reducing the utility of the Internet for genuine democratic discourse. These efforts, which are coordinated and well resourced, are often more insidious, harder to detect, and have the overall effect of undermining civic engagement and overall trust in the media ecosystem.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">And while the diffuse and fast-changing nature of Internet can at times make it difficult for authoritarian regimes to exert their control, the complex interplay between technology, laws, infrastructure, and socio-political factors shaping the Internet make it equally difficult for democratic actors to counteract these DDoD strategies. As an additional obstacle, the values that underpin Internet freedom can be sidelined in the forums and governing bodies that set Internet standards by the dominance in those spaces of private tech companies concerned primarily with generating profits.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Formidable though they may be, these challenges are not insurmountable. Civil society groups from the Global South are leading the charge to advocate for an Internet that remains open, pluralistic, and democratic. The nine case studies highlighted in this report demonstrate various ways groups in different countries have successfully fought for policies and norms that strengthen Internet freedom and digital rights. These strategies include awareness-raising, nonviolent direct action, regional and international coalition-building, and strategic litigation.</p>
<p class="BodyA" style="text-align: justify; ">Each of the following case studies corresponds to one of the nine guiding principles of a <a href="https://openinternet.global/comment-draft-principles">Democratic Framework to Interpret Open Internet Principles</a>. This framework was collaboratively developed by a network of civil society groups worldwide to illuminate the ways that an open Internet is essential for the functioning of democratic societies. It was inspired by the norms and standards developed by the <a href="http://internetrightsandprinciples.org/site/">Internet Rights and Principles Dynamic Coalition (IRPC)</a> of the United Nations <a href="https://www.intgovforum.org/">Internet Governance Forum</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The framework is an important starting point for more effective, coordinated effort to ensure that the Internet remains a welcoming place for democratic life. Its aim is to create a consensus around the values that should shape the future development of the Internet. But moreover, it also provides an avenue for understanding and sharing knowledge on the concrete strategies that can be put into practice in different contexts to make sure that the Internet remains a level playing field. The following nine examples demonstrate how citizen groups can mobilize to enshrine such democratic principles in cyberspace.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">“The debate over whether the Internet is a better tool for democratic empowerment or authoritarian control misconstrues the nature of the democratic challenges of the digital age.”</h3>
<div class="tsd-simple_content tsd-cima-module" style="text-align: justify; ">
<h2>1. Freedom of Expression</h2>
<br />
<p>In the <i>Philippines</i>, a cybercrime law introduced in 2012 proposed increasing penalties for libel and giving authorities unchecked power to track information online. Internet freedom activists worried several provisions of the law would infringe on freedom of expression by preventing Filipinos from freely posting content on websites, and participating in online forums and discussions without fear of being blocked or facing serious penalties. In response, pro-democracy organizations from across the political spectrum joined together to challenge the constitutionality of the law. Through protests, roundtables, and capacity building activities, they raised awareness and encouraged advocacy efforts around the dangers the law posted to freedom of expression and privacy. <a href="http://fma.ph/">The </a><a href="http://fma.ph/">Foundation for Media Alternatives (FMA</a><a href="http://fma.ph/">)</a>, a digital rights organization founded after the fall of the Marcos dictatorship and the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pg/PIFA.ph/about/?ref=page_internal">Philippine Internet Freedom Alliance (PIFA)</a>, a broad nationwide coalition of pro-democracy and Internet freedom advocates, were among the organizations in the front lines on the struggle. PIFA was even one of the 20 organizations to file 15 petitions to the Supreme Court about the constitutionality of the law.</p>
<p>Public efforts in the courts and actions in the streets contributed to the takedown of three contested provisions of the law, including provision that would allow government to block or restrict access to computer data. The Supreme Court declared these provisions unconstitutional and delayed implementation of the law. Despite public concerns about the surviving provisions, the national campaign against the cybercrime law led to a turning point for Filipino activists; it showed the power of people coming together and fighting for the importance of digital rights in the Philippines. Initially fragmented, the campaign led to a larger movement unified under the goal of protecting human rights and freedom of expression online. Thus, it took the introduction of a flawed law and active public campaigns to initiate a broader dialogue about privacy, surveillance, and digital security. Digital rights <a href="http://www.rstreet.org/2015/09/10/the-business-case-for-cambodian-Internet-freedom/">communities across Southeast Asia</a> have been inspired by Filipino advocacy efforts, which they have understood to be an example of how to communicate the balance required between anti-cybercrime measures with fundamental rights to a public audience.</p>
</div>
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<h2>2. Freedom of Assembly and Association</h2>
<br />
<p>Social media is an important organizing tool for journalists and advocacy groups in <i>Uganda</i>. Facebook, WhatsApp, and other messaging applications <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=2dmeBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA367&lpg=PA367&dq=using+facebook+for+organizing+uganda+-facebook.com&source=bl&ots=Agd54hNXbj&sig=KRs9Ndl7BJfVfBnW9LXHJgpyEv4&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjjv6fKsdLWAhUK7mMKHVkmB5kQ6AEISzAI#v=onepage&q=using%2520facebook%2520for%2520organizing%2520uganda%2520-facebook.com&f=false">have been used to share</a> political knowledge, connect leaders with supporters, and organize events — even share information about government abuses. During national ‘<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walk_to_work_protest">Walk to Work</a>’ protests in 2011, organized to protest living costs after presidential elections, Facebook and Twitter provided a steady stream of updates from protestors, bystanders, and journalists.</p>
<p>Using social media, however, can have dangerous consequences for marginalized groups such as the LGBT community. The government of Uganda has been known to collect user information and prosecute individuals based on information shared on social media. Uganda is one of 76 countries where homosexuality is currently criminalized, and LGBT activists fear that their online conversations will be monitored and used against them. By posting information taken from photos and content posted on Facebook, a local tabloid exposed the identity of numerous members of the LGBT community in 2011 and again in 2014. The tabloid stories in 2011 are believed to have contributed to the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jan/26/uganda-lgbt-groups-david-kato-murder-5-years-on">killing of David Kato</a>, a prominent gay rights activist.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.cima.ned.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Illustration_p11_Network-graphic.jpg"><img class="alignright wp-image-8162 size-medium" height="300" src="https://www.cima.ned.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Illustration_p11_Network-graphic-300x300.jpg" width="300" /></a>Furthermore, the government has repeatedly restricted access for advocacy groups to use the Internet to share political information. In 2016, the country’s media regulator <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-35601220">restricted the use</a> of WhatsApp, Facebook, and Twitter to prevent the organizing of protests before presidential elections in February as the government had done before in 2011. In both cases, the electoral commission <a href="https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-net/2016/uganda">enforced</a> the social media shut-down.</p>
<p>Civil society groups have responded in two ways. First, they have sought to deepen their digital security capacity. To protect against threats to journalists, LGBT organizations, and other groups have learned how to use Facebook and social media applications more securely and to implement other practices that increase their privacy. In the lead up to the 2016 election this included the use of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_private_network">virtual private networks</a> (VPNs) to share information. Civil society groups spread information about how to use them through radio broadcasts. The fact that the hashtag #UgandaDecides trended on Twitter shows how they were able to spread their knowledge through local networks and connect with international media. Secondly, civil society groups built coalitions with international organizations to draw attention to abuses taking place in Uganda. In 2016, <a href="https://www.accessnow.org/">Access Now</a> supported a coalition of groups to <a href="https://www.accessnow.org/uganda-blocks-social-media-harms-human-rights/">demand</a> that the government stop the Internet shutdown as part of the #KeepitOn campaign.</p>
</div>
<div class="tsd-simple_content tsd-cima-module" style="text-align: justify; ">
<h2>3. Accessibility</h2>
<br />
<p>In <i>Nigeria</i>, national broadband plans have overlooked rural communities, leaving them with low bandwidth and high-cost options for Internet access. This means that broadband and mobile data fees are unaffordable to many in Nigeria, especially the poor. Fixed-line broadband subscriptions cost an average of 39 percent of average income, and mobile broadband packages cost 13 percent. Given that approximately 80 percent of Nigerians earn below the poverty line ($2 a day or less), access to the Internet is out of reach and unaffordable for a majority of citizens in Nigeria.</p>
<p><a href="http://a4ai.org/">The </a><a href="http://a4ai.org/">Alliance for Affordable Internet</a>, a global coalition working on Internet affordability, works with Nigerian civil society leaders to raise awareness around this issue through thematic working groups. The consumer advocacy and pricing transparency working group, for instance, works closely with <a href="http://a4ai.org/a4ai-nigeria-multi-stakeholder-coalition/a4ai-nigeria-coalition-members/">a coalition of Nigerian NGOs</a> that have been leading campaigns to raise awareness about pricing and taxation policies that have been proposed in Nigeria. One proposed policy includes imposing a nine percent tax on voice, data, and SMS services to consumers. This policy would make the Internet dramatically more expensive for Nigerian consumers. Groups say they worry about the consequences of the proposed policy in an environment where farmers are forced to climb trees just to get a stable Internet connection.</p>
<p>Civil society leaders who are part of the coalition have worked to build a healthy dialogue between regulators, civil society, and the government. A key strategy, according to activists, has been encouraging groups to find constructive ways to work with government and leveraging the interests of each of these groups to protect and drive down costs for Nigerian consumers. They seek to build relationships with the regulator and to inform them about ways to better communicate with and engage consumer groups, such as sharing their content through social media rather than press releases. Another important learning has been identifying champions within government to work on these issues.</p>
</div>
<div class="tsd-simple_content tsd-cima-module" style="text-align: justify; ">
<h2>4. Privacy and Data Protection</h2>
<br />
<p><a href="https://www.cima.ned.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Cell_phone_android_transparent.jpg"><img class="alignleft wp-image-8896" height="358" src="https://www.cima.ned.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Cell_phone_android_transparent-212x300.jpg" width="253" /></a>In <i>Burma,</i> gaps in the law have left citizens vulnerable when it comes to privacy and data protection. Restrictions on privacy have eased since the country’s transition from military rule, but a lack of data protection laws and general lack of awareness around privacy and data protection present significant challenges for protecting an open Internet.</p>
<p>Messaging applications such as Viber and Facebook Messenger, for example, are the de-facto tool for communication for activists and are used to organize political events and activities. Cheaper than voice calls, far more accessible than landlines, and easier to use than email, these tools are the primary way people in Burma communicate. <a href="https://www.fastcompany.com/40438242/jailed-for-a-facebook-poem-the-fight-against-myanmars-draconian-defamation-laws">Activists have received harsh penalties for sharing content that may be viewed as threatening state security</a>. These applications are often not secure, making it possible for Burma state authorities or agents of the state to intercept their conversations. <a href="https://pen.org/sites/default/files/unfinished_freedom_lowres.pdf">During a crackdown on student protests in March 2015, mobile phones were taken by police</a>. Activists worried at the time that information on these phones would eventually be used against them.</p>
<p>Observing the need to protect activists and educate them about data protection, activists in 2016 formed a coalition, Digital Rights MM. The coalition, led by <a href="http://phandeeyar.org/">Phandeeyar</a>, <a href="http://www.myanmar-responsiblebusiness.org/index.php">Myanmar Center for Responsible Business</a>, <a href="http://www.myanmarido.org/">Myanmar ICT for Development</a>, and Free Expression Myanmar, has led a national conversation on the issue. <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/chynes/2016/12/21/digital-rights-must-become-a-top-priority-in-myanmars-connectivity-revolution/#4fde153b2267">Drawing on expertise from the region and international organizations</a>, 22 local Burma-based organizations have been successful in pointing out gaps when it comes to privacy and freedom of expression in the <a href="https://www.article19.org/resources.php/resource/38665/en/myanmar:-telecommunications-law">national telecommunications law</a>, a comprehensive law that oversees the development of the telecommunications sector in Burma. They also participated in meetings with the government and launched a <a href="https://www.facebook.com/MMTelecomLaw/photos/a.821155664669495.1073741830.821091201342608/1347827635335626/?type=3&theater">public facing campaign #ourvoiceourhluttaw</a> pushing to amend 23 articles, including one on lawful interception of data.</p>
</div>
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<div class="expand-on-mobile quote"></div>
<div class="expand-on-mobile content">
<h3>“Messaging applications such as Viber and Facebook Messenger, for example, are the de-facto tool for communication for activists and are used to organize political events and activities.”</h3>
</div>
</div>
<div class="tsd-simple_content tsd-cima-module" style="text-align: justify; ">
<h2>5. Personal Safety and Security</h2>
<br />
<p>In <i>Pakistan</i>, women face threats of physical, sexual, and psychological harassment online. Leaking explicit photos and threats of blackmail are growing increasingly more common. <a href="https://digitalrightsfoundation.pk/drfpcwstraining/">From 2014 to 2015, more than 3,000 cybercrimes were reported to the Federal Investigation Agency and of those cases, nearly half were targeted to women on social media</a>. Observers estimate far more cases go unreported. In fact, in workshops conducted by the <a href="https://digitalrightsfoundation.pk/">The Digital Rights Foundation</a>, many female college students reported that they did not know cyber harassment was a crime.</p>
<p>Online platforms are an important space for political engagement, expression, and mobilization in Pakistan. Thus, online harassment directly impacts the political participation of women, including female journalists and women politicians. In 2016 the <a href="https://digitalrightsfoundation.pk/">Digital Rights Foundation</a> established a <a href="https://digitalrightsfoundation.pk/cyber-harassment-helpline-completes-its-four-months-of-operations/">Cyber Harassment Helpline</a> that women can reach out to for help when they are harassed on the Internet. One of the main objective of the helpline is to help bridge the trust deficit between survivors and law enforcement agencies. <a href="http://digitalrightsfoundation.pk/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/4-Month-Report.Final_.pdf">An analysis of more than 400 cases </a>showed that the most common barriers to equal participation are non-consensual use of information, impersonation, account hacking, black mailing, and receiving unsolicited messages; the most targeted groups include women, children, human rights defenders, and minority communities. The Digital Rights Foundation has also been leading efforts to strengthen legal protections for women and responding to survivors by recommendations to law enforcement agencies and the government. Pakistan has a National Response Centre for Cybercrime, but it has faced challenges serving women outside of major cities.</p>
</div>
<div class="tsd-simple_content tsd-cima-module" style="text-align: justify; ">
<h2>6. Inclusion</h2>
<br />
<p>In <i>India</i>, the population of people with disabilities is estimated to be as high as 150 million people, and the recorded rates of those who are vision-impaired are among the highest in the world. Indian digital rights advocacy groups, like the <a href="https://cis-india.org/">Centre for Internet and Society (CIS)</a> have worked to ensure that these individuals are able to participate fully online by promoting policies that prioritize accessibility. These include the National Policy on Universal Electronics Accessibility, the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, and <a href="http://guidelines.gov.in/">Guidelines for Indian Government Web (GIGW)</a>, which all require government information be shared in formats that are accessible. Advocacy groups, however, have successfully shown that policies alone are not enough and have taken action to ensure persons with disabilities have access to critical resources and information online.</p>
<p>Mobile phones in particular are a vital portal to access government services, but mobile applications remain largely inaccessible to many people with disabilities, especially those with vision disabilities. For example, CIS observed in 2015 that the <a href="https://www.mygov.in/">MyGov</a>, the Indian Government’s mobile citizen engagement platform and the Prime Minister’s application was highly inaccessible: screens cannot be navigated by visually impaired users and can also not be read using a screen reader. Based on this, CIS with other advocacy organizations worked on framing accessibility guidelines for mobile applications recommended to the Government of India as a standard. Advocacy groups, such as the <a href="http://www.ncpedp.org/">National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People (NCPEDP)</a>, have also been appealing to the private sector to ensure products designed to serve these needs are affordable and readily available to people with disabilities. They appeal to Indian companies and policymakers by advocating for the universal appeal of assistive technology to ensure disabled communities are not left behind.</p>
<p>Sustained advocacy, new legal mandates applied to public and private sectors, and increased research in this domain have helped advance the issue of accessibility of mobile applications. The country’s National Informatics Centre has set up a committee to revise the GIGW to bring them up to speed with international standards.</p>
</div>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/accessibility/news/cima-sarah-oh-november-15-2017-openness-nine-ways-civil-society-groups-have-mobilized-to-defend-internet-freedom'>http://editors.cis-india.org/accessibility/news/cima-sarah-oh-november-15-2017-openness-nine-ways-civil-society-groups-have-mobilized-to-defend-internet-freedom</a>
</p>
No publisherAdminOpennessAccessibility2017-11-26T03:58:47ZNews Item