The Centre for Internet and Society
http://editors.cis-india.org
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Open Government Data in India (v2)
http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/ogd-draft-v2-call-for-comments
<b>The first draft of the second version of the Open Government Data Report is now online. Nisha Thompson worked on updating the first version of the report. This updated version of the report on open government data in India includes additional case studies as well as a potential policy (National Data Sharing and Accessibility Policy) that would create a central government data portal. The report was distributed for peer review and public feedback.</b>
<p>There are additional government case studies regarding e-governance and how they are changing the way data is collected and distributed. The report also looks at the issues around open data at the city and panchayat level and profiles new projects that are working to fill that void. It also includes a deeper account account of the global perspective on open government data and how India's experience with open data will be different from what the west is doing. Please do let us know what you think are deficiencies in the report, corrections that should be made, or even just general comments. Drop in a word even if you just find it useful. Please do write in to pranesh[at]cis-india.org by Friday, September 2, 2011. <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/publications/ogd-draft-v2/" class="external-link">Download the [draft report]</a>.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/ogd-draft-v2-call-for-comments'>http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/ogd-draft-v2-call-for-comments</a>
</p>
No publisherpraneshCall for CommentsOpen DataFeaturedOpennesse-governance2012-12-14T10:25:25ZBlog EntryOpening Government: A Guide to Best Practice in Transparency, Accountability and Civic Engagement across the Public Sector
http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/opening-government-best-practice-guide
<b>The Transparency & Accountability Initiative has published a book called “Opening Government: A Guide to Best Practice in Transparency, Accountability and Civic Engagement across the Public Sector”. We at the Centre for Internet & Society contributed the section on Open Government Data.</b>
<p>Cross-posted from the <a class="external-link" href="http://www.transparency-initiative.org/reports/opening-government">Transparency & Accountability Initiative blog</a>.</p>
<p>Download <a class="external-link" href="http://www.transparency-initiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Opening-Government3.pdf">the full report</a> (PDF, 440 Kb)</p>
<h3>Open Government Partnership</h3>
<p>In January 2011, a small group of government and civil society leaders from around the world gathered in Washington, DC to brainstorm on how to build upon growing global momentum around transparency, accountability and civic participation in governance. The result was the creation of the Open Government Partnership (OGP), a new multi-stakeholder coalition of governments, civil society and private sector actors working to advance open government around the world — with the goals of increasing public sector responsiveness to citizens, countering corruption, promoting economic efficiencies, harnessing innovation, and improving the delivery of services.</p>
<p>In September 2011, these founding OGP governments will gather in New York on the margins of the UN General Assembly to embrace a set of high-level open government principles, announce country-specific commitments for putting these principles into practice and invite civil society to assess their performance going forward. Also in September, a diverse coalition of governments will stand up and announce their intention to join a six-month process culminating in the announcement of their own OGP commitments and signing of the declaration of principles in January 2012.</p>
<h3>'Opening Government' report</h3>
<p>To help inform governments, civil society and the private sector in developing their OGP commitments, the Transparency and Accountability Initiative (T/A Initiative) reached out to leading experts across a wide range of open government fields to gather their input on current best practice and the practical steps that OGP participants and other governments can take to achieve it.</p>
<p>The result is the first document of its kind to compile the state of the art in transparency, accountability and citizen participation across 15 areas of governance, ranging from broad categories such as access to information, service delivery and budgeting to more specific sectors such as forestry, procurement and climate finance.</p>
<p>Each expert’s contribution is organized according to three tiers of potential commitments around open government for any given sector — minimal steps for countries starting from a relatively low baseline, more substantial steps for countries that have already made moderate progress, and most ambitious steps for countries that are advanced performers on open government.</p>
<h3>Chapters and Contributing Authors</h3>
<ol>
<li>Aid – <a href="http://www.publishwhatyoufund.org/" target="_blank" title="Publish What You Fund">Publish What You Fund</a></li>
<li>Asset disclosure - <a href="http://www.globalintegrity.org/" target="_blank" title="Global Integrity">Global Integrity</a></li>
<li>Budgets – <a href="http://www.internationalbudget.org/" target="_blank" title="IBP">The International Budget Project</a></li>
<li>Campaign finance – <a href="http://www.transparency-usa.org/" target="_blank" title="TI USA">Transparency International - USA</a></li>
<li>Climate finance – <a href="http://www.wri.org/" target="_blank" title="WRI">World Resources Institute</a></li>
<li>Fisheries – <a href="http://transparentsea.co/" target="_blank" title="TransparentSea">TransparentSea</a></li>
<li>Financial sector reform <a href="http://www.gfip.org/" target="_blank" title="Global Financial Integrity">Global Financial Integrity</a></li>
<li>Forestry – <a href="http://www.globalwitness.org/" target="_blank" title="Global Witness">Global Witness</a></li>
<li>Electricity – <a href="http://electricitygovernance.wri.org/" target="_blank" title="Electricity Governance Initiative">Electricity Governance Initiative</a></li>
<li>Environment – <a href="http://www.accessinitiative.org/" target="_blank" title="The Access Initiative">The Access Initiative</a></li>
<li>Extractive industries – <a href="http://www.revenuewatch.org/" target="_blank" title="RWI">The Revenue Watch Institute</a></li>
<li>Open government data – <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/" target="_blank" title="CIS India">The Centre for Internet and Society - India</a></li>
<li>Procurement – <a href="http://www.transparency-usa.org/" target="_blank" title="TI USA">Transparency International-USA</a></li>
<li>Right to information – <a href="http://www.access-info.org/" target="_blank" title="Access Info">Access Info</a> and the <a href="http://www.law-democracy.org/" target="_blank" title="Center for Law and Democracy">Center for Law and Democracy</a></li>
<li>Service delivery – <a href="http://www.twaweza.org/" target="_blank" title="Twaweza">Twaweza</a></li>
</ol>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/opening-government-best-practice-guide'>http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/opening-government-best-practice-guide</a>
</p>
No publisherpraneshDigital GovernanceOpen DataPublic AccountabilityOpennesse-governance2012-12-14T10:26:42ZBlog EntryThe Responsive State --- Introduction to the Series
http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/histories-of-the-internet/blogs/transparency-and-politics/the-responsive-state-introduction-to-the-series
<b>This post is an introduction to a series of posts on the concept of the 'responsive state'. In this series, I try to explain the various meanings that the term responsiveness has come to acquire when it is used in relation with the discourses surrounding transparency and the deployment of ICTs and the Internet to enforce transparency and thereby create a responsive state. Understanding the notion of responsiveness requires us to revisit and analyze certain concepts and the relations that have been drawn between concepts such as state, government, politics, administration, transparency, effectiveness, government-citizen interface, ICTs and effectiveness, among others. Read on to find more...</b>
<p></p>
<p align="center" style="text-align: left;">The use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) and the Internet to enforce transparency is believed to create the ‘responsive state’. A responsive state is one which:</p>
<ul><li>enables citizens to participate in policy-making processes;</li><li>provides them with information about the functioning (including roles and responsibilities) of its various arms and functionaries, and the laws governing cities, the nation and other jurisdictions of administration and governance;</li><li>delivers services efficiently and in a more transparent manner;</li><li>in general, responds to citizens’ needs and demands and pays heed to their opinions, suggestions, grievances and complaints.</li></ul>
<p align="center" style="text-align: left;">In this post I will specifically examine what responsiveness has come to mean in the backdrop of the discourses and practices regarding transparency and the use of ICTs and the Internet to promote transparency and, to thereby, create a responsive state. In some posts, I will backtrack to trace what responsiveness means and how it translates in everyday life when citizens variously interact with their governments and administrative agencies, and how the discourses of transparency and uses of ICTs and the Internet have ushered new meanings of responsiveness. In some of the posts, we will need to re-visit and examine fundamental concepts such as ‘state’, ‘government’, ‘administration’ and ‘politics’, among others, to understand how the meanings and uses of these concepts have changed over time, resulting in new imaginations and beliefs about realities concerning and involving the state, government, administration and politics. Locating and understanding these transformations helps us to get a perspective on elements such as transparency, ICTs and the Internet and their existing and emergent relationships with state, government, administration, politics and citizenship.</p>
<p align="center" style="text-align: left;">Our interest is actually to see how government–citizen interfaces are transformed through the various deployments of ICTs and the Internet to enforce transparency and responsiveness. This is because the notion of responsiveness is premised on particular understandings, beliefs and imaginations regarding:</p>
<ul><li>functioning of the state i.e., non-transparent, inefficient, non-responsive, bureaucratic; and therefore</li><li>of government–citizen interface i.e., ineffective, non-transparent and therefore, non-democratic, not producing desirable outcomes.</li></ul>
<p align="center" style="text-align: left;">It is the desire to improve government–citizen interface — mainly reform of government functioning, improving the effectiveness of interactions between governments and citizens and strengthening the possibilities of translating these interactions into outcomes. This desire has led not only non-government organizations (NGOs), social movement and civic groups and international development aid agencies but also the state to take steps towards improvising on and/or bettering avenues and channels through which citizens and governments interact with each other. The Indian state has made efforts to introduce responsiveness among its various arms and functionaries by:</p>
<ul><li>introducing and implementing new laws such as the Right to Information Act (RTI) (through pressures from and in collaboration with social movement, civic groups and the National Advisory Council);</li><li>announcing (and mandating government agencies to implement) policies that make it mandatory for municipalities, urban local bodies and other local administrative institutions to publish information that is (considered to be) relevant/necessary/potentially useful for citizens;</li><li>by necessitating the creation of websites as a means of information provision and thereby as a novel mode of interaction between governments and citizens;</li><li>by making particular kinds of data more easily available to citizens through ICTs;</li><li>by developing e-governance policies and frameworks which re-engineer government functioning and facilitate easier and more interaction between governments and citizens (including, among others, electronic delivery of some kinds of basic services).</li></ul>
<p align="center" style="text-align: left;">In this series, we will analyze each of the above steps that the Indian state has taken, either on its own initiative or owing to pressures from other actors and institutions in the polity, to institute responsiveness. Our goal is to critically evaluate the meanings of responsiveness and the consequences of establishing it (in the backdrop of transparency and the use of ICTs and Internet) – essentially what such responsiveness means for different citizen groups as well as, fundamentally, for the abstract notion of the state and the ground realities that reify the state. Given these goals, in the forthcoming posts we will individually look at the relationships between:</p>
<ol><li>State and Government – what do each of these concepts mean, how do they differ as actually existing entities, how do responsiveness and transparency apply independently to each of them as well as in their relations with each other;</li><li>Transparency and Responsiveness – why transparency has become a prerequisite for realizing responsiveness;</li><li>State and Citizens, Governments and Citizens – how are these relationships distinct and co-related in different contexts and how interfaces developed through the deployment of ICTs and the Internet configure and reconfigure these relationships;</li><li>Transparency, Responsiveness and ICTs and Internet – what kinds of imaginations underlie the use of ICTs and Internet to enforce transparency and responsiveness, how do ICTs and Internet reconfigure the meanings and virtues of transparency and responsiveness, and how are the virtues and symbolisms associated with ICT enabled transparency and responsiveness informing our understandings of politics, governance, administration and the state.</li></ol>
<p align="center" style="text-align: left;">Each of the posts, though individual, will require readers to refer to earlier posts in order to get a grasp of some of the issues being raised in the post they may be reading. On my part, I will make every attempt to cross-reference and provide extensive references to external resources that will help the reader to examine points of views on their own. </p>
<p align="center" style="text-align: left;">The next post will tackle the concepts of state and government. Without much ado, adieu till we meet next …</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/histories-of-the-internet/blogs/transparency-and-politics/the-responsive-state-introduction-to-the-series'>http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/histories-of-the-internet/blogs/transparency-and-politics/the-responsive-state-introduction-to-the-series</a>
</p>
No publisherzainabe-governance2011-08-03T09:58:45ZBlog EntryThe Role of ICT in Judicial Reform- An Exploration
http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/what-will-be-the-role-of-ict-in-indias-judical-reform-process
<b>A seminar held this month by the Communications and Manufacturing Association of India (CMAI) explored the role that information and communication technology can assume in the process of India's judicial reform efforts. The broad consensus among panelists was that “law is not keeping pace with technology”. However, whether technology will be harnessed to actually facilitate much needed transparency and access to the justice system, or be simply used to improve efficiency within the judicial branch still remains unclear.</b>
<p> The Indian
judiciary is facing mounting pressures to reform its apparatus. Even the judiciary itself has come
to recognize, <a class="external-link" href="http://lawcommissionofindia.nic.in/reports/report230.pdf">on the books</a>, that change is long overdue.<a class="sdfootnoteanc" name="sdfootnote1anc" href="#sdfootnote1sym"></a>
Some <a class="external-link" href="http://www.judicialreforms.org/files/PRS%20study%20on%20pendency%202009.pdf">estimates</a> have it that it would require almost three years to clear the current backlog of cases in High Courts<a class="sdfootnoteanc" name="sdfootnote2anc" href="#sdfootnote2sym"></a>.
While technocrats herald that the enormous backlog of cases may
eventually be the death knell for India's judicial branch, reform
efforts must go beyond achieving the speedier delivery of justice
and work towards tackling other inadequacies of the system if “access to
justice for all”(1) is to become a reality.</p>
<p> The rural penetration of courts in
India is extremely low, which significantly limits access to justice for
the many citizens living far beyond the district courts of city
centers. An extremely low
judge to population ratio in India only contributes further to the
already high incidence of pending cases, making delays in justice a
regular occurrence. Mr. P.K. Malhotra from the Department of Legal
Affairs has noted that increased
litigation within the government has also caused a stark increase in
the number of pending cases<a class="sdfootnoteanc" name="sdfootnote3anc" href="#sdfootnote3sym"></a>.
While the need for reform can be demonstrated quite clearly on a
practical level, the right to information (RTI) movement has also
provided further impetus for reform on a more fundamental level. Well organized citizens are now <a class="external-link" href="http://www.judicialreforms.org/">demanding
the right</a> to a more transparent and accountable judiciary.</p>
<p> As e-government initiatives continue
to transform the nature of
India's bureaucracy and enhance the quality of government
services, there is a mood of great optimism that ICT will also come
to play a central role in judicial reform efforts. Speakers at the
seminar enthusiastically cited innovative practices such as
Singapore's “paperless court” which makes a compelling case for
automation. Notable success in implementing
ICT in the judiciary have also been achieved in Canada,
Australia, and in several countries across Latin America. This is
not to say, however, that the appropriation of ICT
is uniform in every case. Variables such as political will and
context, institutional capacity and reform goals all
play a role in shaping the outcome. Plans
could, for example, take more of an operational approach by
prioritizing the improved efficiency and the rationalization of
resources by implementing electronic case
management systems. Other strategies may be designed and implemented from an access
perspective, seeking to restore faith in the justice system by
increasing transparency and accountability. This could be done, for
example, by installing video technology in court rooms, or publishing legal
information online.</p>
<p> At
the seminar, India's consortium of well-organized and highly
ambitious
technocrats were not shy in suggesting the many ways ICT may be used
to transform the judicial system, and, additionally, the many ways
such an endeavor provides the IT sector with “new opportunities”. Dr M. Veerappa Moily, Union Minister for Law and
Justice, has proposed for India a centrally funded and administered National
Judicial Technology Program. Such a program aims to use ICT in the courtrooms to free the legal system of “historical inefficiencies". It
is of no doubt that ICT can reduce the
duplicity of the paper world and make courts more green through
electronic case filing and video conferencing. Online case filing
systems can increase speed in which citizens can have their cases heard, and real time access to
online repositories of legal information drastically expedites
the case cycle.</p>
<p> Mr. C P Gurnani, CEO of Tech Mahindra
made the bold assertion that with ICT, India's 300 year case backlog
can be reduced to three years, in a span of only three years (2). Features of this newly envisioned e-justice system
include the use of video hearings to reduce transportation costs,
case filing operation systems, RFID based file tracking, and the
creation of a publicly accessible and easily searchable e-library.
While others were much less optimistic than Mr. Gurani and recognize
that the use of ICT in the reform process is “no instant coffee”,
the question of whether or not ICT can be a strategically appropriated in the Indian
context still remains.</p>
<p> Optimistic accounts of how ICT will increase
access to justice, incorporate the marginalized into the law-making
process, and increase judicial transparency and accountability all sounds uncomfortably techno-utopian. While ICT should facilitate the reform process, past
experiences have shown that the over zealous use of technology has too-often resulted in less than impressive results (3)<a class="sdfootnoteanc" name="sdfootnote4anc" href="#sdfootnote4sym"></a>. To ensure that the reform process in India is not driven mainly by the IT sector, it is important that the use of technology remains complimentary to
a sound national judicial reform strategy. An abundant supply of technical
support with little demand for the reform process from within the judicial branch may spell disappointing results for all stakeholders. Seeing that
India's first seminar discussing the role of IT in the judiciary has been organized by the IT industry, it is safe to
assume that reform strategies are being crystallized through the gaze
of technocrats rather than the judiciary itself.
Technology has an important role to play, but
India's technocrats may be jumping the gun.</p>
<p> Many deep-seated challenges must be
overcome before the use of ICT can be truly transformative. Often cited
is the level of resistance judicial cultures express towards externally imposed change. Quite logically, those required to make
change are also those who may have the most
to lose in the short-term by doing so. Similarly, it is also
difficult garnering the levels of political support judicial reforms require to be effective. Because the judiciary is such a highly politicized apparatus, efforts to fundamentally transform the system will require the support of a vast number of stakeholders <a class="sdfootnoteanc" name="sdfootnote5anc" href="#sdfootnote5sym"></a>.
The low level of technological literacy which exists among India's
judges is also problematic. Not only will members of the
judiciary be open to new ways of doing business, they will also have
to be diligent in adopting a new skill-set in which they may be more
than a decade behind in acquiring.<br /></p>
<p>Other
deep-rooted limitations of India's judicial system are
becoming increasingly apparent today. Questions surrounding access to justice
remain deeply embedded in the asymmetries of class power, which are often reinforced by the political nature of the judiciary. Constitutional law
in India also remains unstable, as the principles informing judicial action have become
increasingly less clear (5). Furthermore, the courts have come to
maintain a disproportionate share of power and influence in the
Indian political sphere (6).<a class="sdfootnoteanc" name="sdfootnote6anc" href="#sdfootnote6sym"></a> It is questionable if ICT can work to ameliorate some of these malignancies, or if its use will
only come to reinforce them. If technology is appropriated in a way which serves to make the judicial process more
transparent and accountable, protect the rights of citizens, and
provide greater and more equitable access to justice, it may be safe
to assume that a more tech-savvy judiciary is a positive development for citizens. Publishing legal information online, for example, currently allows for greater
transparency in the law making process and allows dialogue on
important issues of governance and citizenship. </p>
<p>However, it is almost unnecessary to
reiterate that such outcomes are not guaranteed. Technology is
often seen as neutral– the evaluative outcome of its
application remains dependent on numerous variable factors. Most important is whether or not the government provides
a legal framework conducive to the appropriation of ICT in ways which
are considered to further the public interest. It may be useful to
view the successful appropriation of ICT to judicial reform as a cumulative process, each
step being a precondition to the other. It is clear to see how basic
infrastructure such as civil courts in rural areas must be in place
before the use of ICT can facilitate access to justice for
individuals who remain peripheral to the legal system.
Similarly, one would assume that laws would have to first be to
be nondiscriminatory to all members of society before it could it can be widely accepted that more technology will better safeguard our rights and freedoms.</p>
<p> Without a legal framework which is considered to be socially just, greater speed of the judicial process, aided by technology, may become a tool which enables the judiciary to act more arbitrarily, more efficiency. This could be troubling for individuals who are already marginalized by certain policies or legal practices. Technology can also make it possible for judges
to insulate themselves from the necessary checks and balances required in the law-making process. While Mr Gurani stated that ICT can help preserve judicial independence, it is questionable if the use of technology is an appropriate strategy to mitigate politicization of the judicial branch. Any
frivolous efforts to spearhead the reform process through the introduction
of ICT without the required commitment of judges and policy makers may be
naïve at best. At worst, it could serve to reinforce what judicial
bodies believe they do well without critically re-examining the
fundamental roles, norms and principles of the Indian judicial system
itself.</p>
<p> Online case-filing services may
unintentionally, due to cost or lack of awareness, erect further
barriers to justice for individuals who traditionally remained
outside of the sphere of access. In the same vein, if ICT is favored for use in criminal rather than civil courts,
technology may simply become a tool used to sentence people, more quickly. This scenario sits quite polemic to visions of technology serving as a tool to empower individuals to better assert their rights and seek justice.
Foreshadowing the role ICT may play in the future of India's judicial reform process, SPANCO Technologies is currently piloting the use of
video technology in criminal courts. Furthermore, <a class="sdfootnoteanc" name="sdfootnote7anc" href="#sdfootnote7sym"></a>India's judiciary has made several attempts to insulate itself from
the provisions of the RTI act, indicating that new laws, and even new technologies, may not be able to change practice. There are also strong doubts looming that the
Gramin Nyayalayas Act will be successful in leveraging the required
financial support needed to construct civil courts in rural
areas. Without the basic building blocks, it is difficult to envision how a National
Judicial Technology Program will be successful in bringing "justice" to all who are awaiting it. Such instances serve as a light warning that technology,
even within a favorable legal framework, may not necessarily spell a more accessible, transparent and accountable justice system.</p>
<p>A well-functioning judicial system is required to keep up with the
demands of modern democratic society. It is unquestionable that technology can play an influential role in ensuring that the relationship
between citizens and the government is strong and communicative.
However, it is important to ask under what conditions may it be beneficial to implement technology’s
use. Inferring from last week’s
seminar, proposals and rationale behind potential reforms were made
from an economic perspective; how ICT can be used to see that cases
are filed and judgments are delivered more quickly to improve efficiency and rationalize resources. Whether
technology will be appropriated to facilitate a more equitable
justice system is unknown, but it is certain that such will require a coherent national reform strategy with long-term political backing. Short-shorted technological fixes may improve India's judicial efficiency in the short term, but may, however, overshadow opportunities to bring about a more transparent and accountable system in the long-term.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Notes</p>
<p>1. This was a notion emphasized often throughout the seminar.</p>
<p>2. Where these estimates were drawn is unknown.</p>
<p>3. For a concise account of how the use of ICT may be misappropriated in the judicial reform process, see E-Justice: Towards a Strategic Use of ICT in Judicial Reform by Waleed H. Malik</p>
<p>4. For an interesting account of India's judicial system, see "The Rise of Judicial Sovereignty" by Pratap Bhanu Mehta in "The State of India's Democracy", Oxford University Press, 2009.</p>
<p>5. Pratap Bhanu Mehta.</p>
<p>6. Ibid.</p>
<h1 class="western"></h1>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/what-will-be-the-role-of-ict-in-indias-judical-reform-process'>http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/what-will-be-the-role-of-ict-in-indias-judical-reform-process</a>
</p>
No publisherrebeccae-governance2011-08-02T07:17:22ZBlog EntryTransparency and Politics: An Introduction [II]
http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/histories-of-the-internet/blogs/transparency-and-politics/transparency-and-politics-an-introduction-to-the-project-part-ii
<b>In this post, the second in a series documenting her CIS-RAW project, Zainab Bawa explains how transparency is embedded in particular institutional contexts. This impacts the ways in which transparency materially manifests and also has implications for administrative politics.</b>
<p></p>
<p>In the <a class="external-link" href="http://http://www.cis-india.org/research/cis-raw/histories-of-the-internet/transparency-and-politics/2009/02/08/transparency-and-politics-an-introduction-to-the-project-part-i"><u>last post</u> </a>,
I briefly tried to explain how the concept of transparency has evolved since
the early 1990s and the changes it has undergone over time. My aim in this post
is to explain how transparency is not a neutral concept but is embedded in the dynamics
that exist in political institutions and government agencies. I will present the
case of the municipal corporation in Mumbai city, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (popularly referred to as the
BMC) to drive home my point. By the end of the post, I also hope to draw some
connections between politics and transparency.</p>
<p><strong>The Municipality and Autonomy</strong>: Every city has a municipal corporation. Municipalities have often been deemed as corrupt, inefficient, self-serving and
negligent of the state of affairs in cities. This is so because the corrupt
practices which municipalities are usually associated with, i.e., bribes in
issuing birth and death certificates, water connections, licenses and
permissions, are experienced by most citizens on a daily basis and are also
more visible than the forms of corruption in which the higher levels of
governments engage. People also experience civic problems on a daily basis and these
are automatically attributed to the inefficiency in the municipal administration,
because the municipality is seen as the agency responsible for resolving these
problems. However, the powers of the municipality are constrained by higher
level government agencies as well as by the dearth of financial resources. For example,
the municipal corporation of Mumbai, the BMC, is headed by
the commissioner who is directly appointed by the Maharashtra state government.
This allows the state government to control the municipality and the city.
Thus, the actions of the BMC and the decisions it makes are directly influenced
by the state government.</p>
<p><strong>Political
Party Competition and the Municipality:</strong> Each municipality
has an elected council comprising of directly elected municipal councilors. In
the BMC, the Shiv Sena party has a majority in the municipal council. However, the
state government is Congress-led. This introduces political party competition that
manifests on the city. The Congress government is likely to introduce laws and
policies, as well as constitute administrative bodies which will reduce the
power of the Shiv Sena-led municipal council and bring the council under
the control of the state government. This impacts the executive powers of the municipal
councilors who may have to seek permission to carry out civic works from the state
government-constituted administrative bodies. The independently constituted
administrative bodies also have the powers to levy taxes, which then cut into
the amount of overall tax that could have been collected by the municipality
were it operating independently.</p>
<p><strong>Internal
Competition within Municipalities:</strong> Another dynamic in
municipalities concerns the relationship between the senior bureaucrats and the
municipal councilors and between the senior bureaucrats and the executive staff
of the municipality. In all the municipalities across India, senior bureaucrats
are drawn from the Indian Administrative Services (IAS) cadre. They determine
the annual budgetary allocations to all the departments within the municipality
and also frame policies for the city. A great deal of power is therefore vested
in the senior bureaucrats. The policies framed by the senior bureaucrats have
to be implemented by the executive staff of the municipality, such as the water
and sanitary department engineers and the clerks and the administrative staff
of the various departments in the municipality. This executive staff is in regular
contact with the various constituencies served by the municipality. But they
operate via multiple rationalities.</p>
<p>For example, while the water department engineers
may follow strict rules in issuing temporary water connections to builders
undertaking construction work, they may exercise personal discretion in providing
water to people living in the slums. Such personal discretion ‘bypasses’ the
rules and laws that determine who is eligible for a water connection. Thus, it is
known that in many Indian cities, the engineers of the water departments often issue
water connections to the slum dwellers on humanitarian grounds, operating under
the morality that people cannot be denied access to water because of their apparently 'illegal' status. Such individual rationalities are classed as 'corrupt'
practices. These also irk the senior bureaucrats who would like their policies
to be implemented in the exact letter and spirit in which they were framed.
Senior bureaucrats therefore devise the discourse of transparency in order to
bring the junior administrative staff under their control.</p>
<p>At the same time, there is a high degree of animosity
and tension in the relationship between the elected municipal councilors and
the senior bureaucrats. The latter actively brand the former as corrupt, whereas
the councilors see the actions of the senior bureaucrats as impediments in
their ability to serve their constituencies. Both the councilors and the
senior bureaucrats have the powers to sanction contracts and appoint
contractors to carry out civic works, such as laying down of water pipelines,
repairs and maintenance of roads, and repairs of sewerage infrastructure. The appointment
of contractors can be discretionary and often, some contractors are favoured
over others. The councilors and bureaucrats compete with each other in the
appointment of contractors because such appointments can bring them monetary rewards
from the contractors. The bureaucrats attempt to conceal their ‘discretionary’ practices
by labeling the councilors as corrupt. The bureaucrats are also safeguarded by the
perception of their status i.e., the IAS officers are often seen as non-corrupt
and are known to have a high level of integrity. The councilor therefore
becomes the natural target.</p>
<p>This is not to say that councilors do not engage in
corruption. They often do, but their corrupt practices need to be read in
specific contexts rather than from normative standpoints. Thus, during
interviews with municipal councilors in 2006, I found that some councilors
extend help to the poor groups in their constituencies from their personal
expenditures. One councilor elected from one of the wards in South Mumbai had
then explicitly mentioned to me, 'The council does not pay me a high salary for
my work. There are many poor people in my constituency who need immediate
medical help and I do not hesitate to give them whatever monetary help I personally
can. I make sure that the building department officials do not harass those
poor people in my area who have built a loft inside their houses in order to
carry out manufacturing activities from within the house and thus sustain
themselves financially. I also ensure that the hawkers who temporarily set up
stalls in the month of Ramzaan are not evicted from my area because I am
eventually answerable to God for the actions I commit during the holy month. But
when a contractor, whose contract I have helped to pass for carrying out civic
works in my area, offers me a <em>gift</em>
(of money) of his own volition, I accept it. I do so because I also spend a
good deal from my own pocket and I need to compensate myself, as well as
maintain a cash flow which will help me to serve the people.'</p>
<p><strong>Transparency
and Politics:</strong> The institutional context that I have presented above
is by no means exhaustive. The alliances and oppositions in the scheme of
administrative politics are also not permanent. These shift according to the
context and are shaped by the contests for power. The discourse and practices
of transparency are located in this context. By referring to transparency,
senior bureaucrats, policy makers and aid agencies seek to control the multiple
rationalities and everyday discretionary practices that are rife in
administration and streamline the decision-making process. This has
implications for different socio-economic groups who also come under the radar
of visibility when administrative staff are sought to be disciplined. Accordingly,
the relationship between the different state agencies and citizen groups gets
shaped.</p>
<p>For example, around 2003, a non-government organization called Praja
introduced a centralized, online system for complaint management in
the BMC. The aim of this system was to simplify the process of lodging
complaints about civic problems and introduce efficiency and accountability in
the administration in terms of resolving citizens’ complaints. The BMC received
many complaints concerning hawkers and vending on the streets. A section of
researchers and activists initially felt that the centralized complaint system
was working against hawkers. However, over time, it came to be realized that
the evictions of hawkers in Mumbai did not take place owing to the complaints
lodged by the citizens. The complaints no doubt gave (negative) visibility to
the hawkers and the problem of occupied streets and pavements. One of the
officers in the municipality who I interviewed in 2007 mentioned, 'When a
shopping mall owner is irked by the presence of hawkers outside his mall, he
will not go online and register a complaint on the centralized complaint
system. He will simply make a personal appointment with the commissioner, make
his case before the commissioner, and ensure that the hawkers are removed. The online
centralized complaint system is not used by such persons.' This comment is
instructive because it also shows us that despite the introduction of
transparency, bypasses and slippages continue to take place since the
engagement between the state and its citizens is fashioned by multiple rationalities,
ability and resources to access government agencies and authorities, the
ability to influence them, and by particular contexts.</p>
<p>In the next post, I will present my findings on the
relationship between transparency and access to information. How does the
framework of rights enable access to information? How is access to information variously
influenced when information is published for the sake of broadcast as against
when information is made available in certain ways to enhance participation?</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/histories-of-the-internet/blogs/transparency-and-politics/transparency-and-politics-an-introduction-to-the-project-part-ii'>http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/histories-of-the-internet/blogs/transparency-and-politics/transparency-and-politics-an-introduction-to-the-project-part-ii</a>
</p>
No publisherzainabe-governance2011-08-03T09:59:07ZBlog EntryAn Open Letter on Internet Governance to the UN Internet Governance Forum
http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/an-open-letter-on-internet-governance-to-the-un-internet-governance-forum
<b>This open letter brings up concerns of democratic deficit in internet governance worldwide, and is addressed to the UN Internet Governance Forum (IGF). It is to be delivered at the IGF's 3rd Annual Meeting at Hyderabad, India, from 3rd to 6th December, 2008. The signatories are Alternative Law Forum, Bangalore, Centre for Internet and Society, Bangalore, Delhi Science Forum, New Delhi, Free Software Foundation - India, IT for Change, Bangalore, and Knowledge Commons, New Delhi.</b>
<p><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/uploads/Open%20letter%20to%20the%20Internet%20Governance%20Forum.pdf" class="internal-link" title="Open letter to UN IGF"> </a>This open letter brings up concerns of democratic deficit in internet governance worldwide, and is addressed to the UN Internet Governance Forum (IGF). It will be delivered at the IGF's 3rd Annual Meeting at Hyderabad, India, from 3rd to 6th December, 2008.</p>
<p>The letter includes an information sheet exemplifying some of the problems of democratic deficit in internet governance.</p>
<p>The text of the letter is as follows:<br />-------------------------------------------------------------</p>
<p>The IGF must ACT NOW against the threat to the public-ness and the egalitarian nature of the Internet</p>
<p>The undersigned wish to express their deep concern that the UN Internet Governance Forum (IGF), created by the World Summit on the Information Society in 2005 as an Internet ‘policy dialogue’ forum, is largely failing to address key public interest and policy issues in global Internet governance – including that of democratic deficit.</p>
<p><strong>Who shapes the Internet, as the Internet shapes our new social context?</strong></p>
<p>The Internet represents the single most important technical advance of our society in a long time, so much so that it defines a new emerging social paradigm. The basic characteristics of the Internet determine the contours of the emerging social order in many important ways. The Internet was conceived as, and still largely is, an extensive communication system which is democratizing, and has little respect for established social hierarchies. Interactions and associations built over this new ‘techno-social’ system have, therefore, held the promise of a more egalitarian society.</p>
<p>The era of innocence of the Internet however appears to be fast approaching its end. Today, the Internet of the future – the very near future – is being shaped insidiously by dominant forces to further their interests. (See the fact-sheet on the following page for some illustrations of this.) Unfortunately, global policy forums have largely failed to articulate, much less act on, crucial Internet policy issues, which concern the democratic possibilities for our societies.</p>
<p>The IGF needs to act now!</p>
<p>As the Internet Governance Forum convenes for its third annual meeting, between 3rd and 6th December, 2008, in Hyderabad, India, it must take immediate steps to anchor and discuss important global public interest and policy issues involved in Internet governance. If it does not act now, it may get seen as a space that only provides an illusion of a public policy dialogue, and, consequently, as being co-opted in furthering the agenda of dominant forces that are shaping the Internet as per their narrow interests. We therefore strongly urge the IGF to directly address the following key global public interest and policy issues:</p>
<ol><li>Increasing corporatisation of the Internet</li><li>Increasing proprietisation of standards and code that go into building the Internet</li><li>Increasing points of control being embedded into the Internet in the name of security and intellectual property violations</li><li>Huge democratic deficit in global Internet governance</li></ol>
<p>We exhort the IGF to adopt clear directions for engaging with these crucial public policy issues. The IGF should come out with a clear work plan at its forthcoming meeting in Hyderabad to address the four key areas listed above.</p>
<p>The global community – comprising not only people who currently have access to the Internet, but also the un-connected billions who are being impacted by it nevertheless – will judge the meaningfulness and legitimacy of the IGF in terms of what progress it is able to make on these issues.</p>
<p><strong>Alternative Law Forum, Bangalore<br />Centre for Internet and Society, Bangalore<br />Delhi Science Forum, New Delhi<br />Free Software Foundation - India<br />IT for Change, Bangalore<br />Knowledge Commons, New Delhi</strong></p>
<p><em>Information Sheet</em><br />How the Public-ness and Egalitarian Nature of the Internet is Threatened <br />– Some Examples</p>
<p><strong>Corporatisation of the Internet</strong><br />Largely unsuspected by most of its users, the Internet is rapidly changing from being a vast ‘public sphere’, with a fully public ownership and a non-proprietary nature, to a set of corporatised privately-owned networks.</p>
<p>On the one hand, telecom companies are carving out the Internet into privately-owned networks – controlling the nature of transactions over these networks. They seek to differentially charge content providers, while also building wholly private networks offering exclusive content relay services. Developments like video/TV over Internet Protocol and the provision of controlled and selective Internet services over mobiles are contributing to increasing network-operators’ control over the Internet, with a corresponding erosion of its public-ness.</p>
<p>On the other hand, the commons of the Internet is also being overwhelmed and squeezed out by a complete domination of a few privately owned mega-applications such as Google, Facebook, Youtube etc.</p>
<p><strong>Proprietarisation of standards and code that build the Internet</strong></p>
<p>One of the main ways of appropriating the commons of the Internet is through the increasing use of proprietary and closed standards and code in building the Internet system. Such appropriation allows the extortion of illegitimate rent out of the many new forms of commons-based activities that are being made possible through the Internet.</p>
<p><strong>Embedding control points in the Internet</strong></p>
<p>A growing confluence of corporatist and statist interests has led to the embedding of more and more means of control into the Internet in a manner that greatly compromises citizens’ rights and freedoms. Whether it is the pressure on Internet<br />Service Providers to examine Internet traffic for ‘intellectual property’ violations; or imposition of cultural and political controls on the Internet by states within their boundaries; or ITU’s work on IP trace-back mechanisms; or the tightening of US<br />control over the global Internet infrastructure in the name of securing the root zone file and the domain name system, these new forms of controlling the Internet are being negotiated among dominant interests away from public scrutiny and wider public interest-based engagements.</p>
<p><strong>Democratic deficit in global Internet governance</strong><br />The current global Internet governance regime – a new-age privatized governance system professing allegiance mostly to a single country, the US – has proven to be an active instrument of perpetuation of dominant commercial and geo-political interests. Lately, OECD countries have begun some work on developing public policy principles that, due to the inherently global nature of the Internet, can be expected to become globally applicable. It is quite unacceptable that OECD countries shirk from discussing the same public policy issues at global public policy forums like the IGF that they discuss among themselves at OECD meetings. Apparently, developing countries are expected to focus on finding ways to reach connectivity to their people, and not burden themselves with higher-level Internet governance issues!</p>
<p>People’s and communities’ right to self-determination and participation in governance of issues that impact their lives should underpin global Internet governance.</p>
<p>---------------------------------------------</p>
<p>You can download the letter <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/uploads/Open%20letter%20to%20the%20Internet%20Governance%20Forum.pdf" class="internal-link" title="Open letter to UN IGF">here</a> (.pdf format).</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/an-open-letter-on-internet-governance-to-the-un-internet-governance-forum'>http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/an-open-letter-on-internet-governance-to-the-un-internet-governance-forum</a>
</p>
No publishersachiae-governance2011-08-02T07:40:02ZBlog EntryCollaborative Projects Programme
http://editors.cis-india.org/research/grants/collaborative-projects-programme
<b></b>
<p>The Centre for Internet and Society recognises collaboration and
consultation as its primary mode of engaging with research and
intervention. The <strong>Collaborative Projects Programme (CPP)</strong> is CIS’
platform for partnering (intellectually, logistically, financially,
and administratively) with other organisations, individuals and
practitioners in projects which are of immediate concern to the work
that CIS is committed to.</p>
<p>The Collaborative Projects Programme also expands the scope of
research to produce a synergy between research and praxis. The
CPP is, in many ways, the in-house research that CIS undertakes, in
collaboration and consultation with other organisations, institutions
and individuals who have a stake and a say in the field of Internet
and Society. The CPP is not bound by any theme of programmatic
modalities and is envisioned more as a way for CIS to extend its
field and establish a strong network with other exciting spaces in
the Global South.</p>
<p>The Collaborative Projects Programme can include, but is not
limited to, organising of large conferences or workshops; developing
tools for better research and advocacy; data mining towards a
specific goal that complements CIS’ vision; producing original
monographs/publications/books targeted at different audiences;
experimenting with new technologies to affect policy and usage;
implementing pilot studies and instances of existing ideas;
developing schemes to integrate education and technology; public
intervention and awareness campaigns geared towards particular
outcomes; celebrating certain aspects of internet technologies;
engaging with digital natives; and creating new environments of
learning and participation online.</p>
<p>The CPP is <strong>NOT</strong> a grant making programme. However, we are
interested in partnering on new and innovative ideas and would
welcome conversations with people and organisations in the field. If
you have an interesting idea that you think fits our larger vision,
please contact us and we can begin the discussions.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>List of Projects under the Collaborative Projects Programme:</strong></p>
<p>1. The Promise of Invisibility: Technology and the City - A seven month research project initiated by Nishant Shah, in collaboration with the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies, Shanghai University, enabled by a grant from the Asia Scholarship Foundation, Bangkok.</p>
<p>2. Disability, Learning and Digital Participation - in partnership with <a class="external-link" href="http://www.inclusiveplanet.org/">Inclusive Planet</a></p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/research/grants/collaborative-projects-programme'>http://editors.cis-india.org/research/grants/collaborative-projects-programme</a>
</p>
No publishernishantCyberspaceFamilyDigital NativesPublic AccountabilityObscenitye-governanceCyborgsCyberculturesProjectsNew PedagogiesCommunitiesDigital subjectivitiesDigital Pluralism2011-08-23T03:04:56ZPageResearchers At Work
http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/cisraw-faq
<b>CIS-RAW stands for Researchers at Work, a multidisciplinary research initiative by the Centre for Internet and Society, Bangalore. CIS firmly believes that in order to understand the contemporary concerns in the field of Internet and Society, it is necessary to produce local and contextual accounts of the interaction between the internet and socio-cultural and geo-political structures. The CIS-RAW programme hopes to produce one of the first documentations on the transactions and negotiations, relationships and correlations that the emergence of internet technologies has resulted in, specifically in the South. The CIS-RAW programme recognises ‘The Histories of the Internet and India’ as its focus for the first two years. Although many disciplines, organisations and interventions in various areas deal with internet technologies, there has been very little work in documenting the polymorphous growth of internet technologies and their relationship with society in India. The existing narratives of the internet are often riddled with absences or only focus on the mainstream interests of major stakeholders, like the state and the corporate. We find it imperative to excavate the three-decade histories of the internet to understand the contemporary concerns and questions in the field.</b>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/cisraw-faq'>http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/cisraw-faq</a>
</p>
No publishernishanthistories of internet in Indiainternet and societygeeksdigital subjectivescyborgscyberculturesarchivescyberspacespedagogyresearchwomen and internete-governance2012-01-04T05:27:06ZPageHistories of the Internet
http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/histories-of-the-internet/histories-of-the-internets-main
<b>For the first two years, the CIS-RAW Programme shall focus on producing diverse multidisciplinary histories of the internet in India.</b>
<p><strong>Histories of internets in India</strong></p>
<p align="justify">The CIS-RAW programme is designed around two-year thematics. Every two years, we shall, looking at our engagement and the questions that are emerging around us, come up with new themes that we would like to commission, enable and encourage research on.</p>
<p align="justify">The selection of the theme of the History of Internet and Society is a unanimous decision made by our researchers in-house, the members of the Society, distinguished fellows, supporters, and peers who all gathered for a launch workshop for the CIS. There is a severe dearth of material on the histories of Internet and Society in India and we find it necessary to contextualise and historicise the contemporary in order to fruitfully and critically engage with the questions and concerns we are committed to. In the first two years of its programme, the CIS-RAW hopes to come up with alternative histories of the Internet and Society, which chart a wide terrain of the field that we are engaging with and produce one of the first such resources for researchers working in this field.</p>
<p align="justify"><strong>Scope of the Theme:</strong></p>
<p align="justify">We are looking at a wide range of accounts of the different forms, imaginations, materialities and interactions of the internets in India. As we excavate its three-decade growth in India, it becomes increasingly clear that there is no homogenised Internet that has evolved in the country; Instead, what we have is a technology, which, through its interactions and intersections with various objects, people, contexts and regulation, has emerged in many different ways. The theme of 'Histories of internets in India' hopes to address these pluralities of the internets and how they have been shaped in the unfolding of these technologies.</p>
<p align="justify">We have collaborated on the following histories with different researchers in India:</p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
<ol>
<li> <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/histories-of-the-internet/rewiring-bodies/" class="external-link">Rewiring Bodies</a> - Asha Achuthan, Centre for Contemporary Studies, Indian Institute of Sciences, Bangalore.</li>
<li><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/histories-of-the-internet/archives-and-access/" class="external-link">Archive and Access</a> - Rochelle Pinto (Centre for the Study of Culture and Society, Bangalore; Aparna Balachandran, Centre for the Study of Culture and Society, Bangalore; and Abhijit Bhattacharya, Centre for Sudies in Social Sciences, Calcutta.</li>
<li><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/histories-of-the-internet/blogs/law-video-technology/law-video-and-technology" class="external-link">Porn: Law, Video & Technology</a> - Namita Malhotra, Alternative Law Forum, Bangalore</li>
<li><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/histories-of-the-internet/blogs/transparency-and-politics/transparency-and-politics-blog" class="external-link">Transparency and Politics</a> - Zainab Bawa, Centre for the Study of Culture and Society</li>
<li><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/histories-of-the-internet/blogs/the-last-cultural-mile/the-last-cultural-mile-blog" class="external-link">The Last Cultural Mile</a> - Ashish Rajadhyaksha, Centre for the Study of Culture and Society, Bangalore</li>
<li><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/histories-of-the-internet/blogs/revolution-2.0/revolution-2.0-blog" class="external-link">Using the Net for Social Change</a> - Anja Kovacs, (Research) Fellow, Centre for Internet and Society, Bangalore</li>
<li><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/histories-of-the-internet/blogs/queer-histories-of-the-internet/queer-histories-of-the-internet-blog" class="external-link">Queer Histories of the Internet</a> - Nitya Vasudevan, Centre for Study of Culture and Society and Nithin Manayath, Mount Carmel College</li><li><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/histories-of-the-internet/blogs/internet-society-and-space-in-indian-cities/internet-society-and-space-in-indian-cities-blog" class="external-link">Internet, Society and Space in Indian Cities</a> - Pratyush Shankar, Center for Environmental Planning and Technology University, Ahmedabad</li><li><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/histories-of-the-internet/blogs/gaming-and-gold/gaming-and-gold-blog" class="external-link">Gaming and Gold</a> - Arun Menon, Centre for Internet & Society<br /></li></ol>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/histories-of-the-internet/histories-of-the-internets-main'>http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/histories-of-the-internet/histories-of-the-internets-main</a>
</p>
No publishernishanthistories of internet in Indiainternet and societygeeksdigital subjectivescyborgscyberculturesarchivescyberspacespedagogyresearchwomen and internete-governance2015-03-30T14:15:10ZPageResearch Programmes
http://editors.cis-india.org/research/research-programmes
<b>The Research Portfolio at the Centre for Internet and Society seeks to develop new pedagogic practices, plural and unique knowledges, multidisciplinary perspectives, and reflexive interventions in the field of Internet and Society. </b>
<h3><strong>Context</strong></h3>
<p align="left">We
work on the premise that very little work has gone into understanding
or exploring the internets in their plurality, leading to
simultaneous mythification and demonisation of the internet. However, instead
of trying to define what the internet means or enumerating its many
manifestations, the Centre for Internet and Society
is invested in producing new pedagogical devices and frameworks to
analyse the various layers of the internet as it interacts with
socio-cultural and geo-political contexts.</p>
<div align="left"> </div>
<p align="left">Most
frameworks that address questions of Internet and Society work with
borrowed terminologies (of older technologies and technological
forms) and institutional perspectives (arising out of traditional
disciplines and interventions of earlier paradigms) that are no
longer adequate for serious engagement with the complex relationship
between internet and society. We
recognise three dominant strains that are influential in most of the
research and intervention in the field of Internet and Society.</p>
<p align="left">The
first is a focus on the science and technologies of the internet -- looking at innovation, experimentation and development of the
technologies to build a faster, more effective and more robust web of
applications and protocols. The second is a sustained philosophical
engagement that explores the aesthetic and ethical implications of
the digital worlds, networks, communities and identities that cyberspaces evolve. The third is an instrumental approach to
technology that focuses on the effects of the internet and its growth as well as
the potential it has for further development and impact.</p>
<div align="left"> </div>
<p align="left">These
approaches create a schism between internet technologies and social structures, obscuring the inextricable nature of their
intertwining. The focus is either on the purely technological, where
the social fades into the background, or on the severely
socio-cultural, where internet technologies are looked upon
merely as instrumental in nature. The
Centre for Internet and Society, instead of making this either-or
choice, seeks to invest its energies in emphasising and excavating
the processes, transactions, negotiations and mechanics by which internet technologies engage with society.</p>
<div align="left"> </div>
<h3 align="left" style="text-align: justify;"><strong>CIS
Research Programmes</strong></h3>
<p align="justify">The
Research Portfolio currently houses three different research
programmes, each aimed at different audiences and researchers:</p>
<ol><li><strong><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/research/cis-raw" class="internal-link" title="CIS-RAW">The
CIS-RAW</a>:</strong> The Centre for Internet and Society’s Researchers At
Work programme encourages innovative ideas and perspectives that
emerge from dialogue and exchange, structured around a theme that
changes every two years. The CIS-RAW is targeted at <strong><em>established
scholars</em></strong> willing to engage with the specific themes that CIS is
immediately interested in. It offers full financial support towards
quantified academic productions. To know more about the CIS-RAW
programme, please <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/research/cis-raw" class="internal-link" title="CIS-RAW">click here</a>.</li><li><strong><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/research/ict4arts" class="internal-link" title="ICT4Arts">The ICT4A Fellowships</a>:</strong> The Centre for Internet and Society
recognises that some of the most innovative ideas and experiments
with philosophical concepts and practice based projects are in the
intersections between Information and Communication Technologies and
the Creative Arts. Artists experimenting with form, shape,
installations, processes and pedagogy create significant projects
with high intervention and public value while forcing us to revisit
the relationship between the internet and society. The ICT4A (Internet
and Creative Technologies of Art) Fellowships are for <strong><em>artists</em></strong>
who are interested in examining the
aesthetics, politics and pragmatics of internet technologies and
their relationships with different socio-cultural and geo-political
phenomena. To know more about the ICT4A Fellowships, please <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/research/ict4arts" class="internal-link" title="ICT4Arts">click
here</a>.</li><li><strong><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/research/projects-inception-grant" class="internal-link" title="Collaborative Projects Programme">Collaborative Projects Programme:</a></strong> CIS sees its role as that of an enabler and think
tank for new ideas, methods and frameworks within the field of Internet and Society. Given
the scope of internet technologies and the persuasive way in which
they embrace various facets of contemporary life, we envision various
disciplines engaging with the concerns of Internet and Society in the
future. The Collaborative Project Programme is structured to provide
initial head-space, ideation resources, and intellectual
infrastructure to <strong><em>senior researchers and/or practitioners</em></strong> to work
towards a larger project that intersects with our vision. The Collaborative Projects Programme offers CIS an opportunity to enter into a financial, intellectual and administrative collaboration for up to six months with individuals or organisations who are
looking at funding for the inception work towards a project
(research, intervention, or otherwise) in the field of Internet and
Society. To learn more about the modalities, CIS’ involvement and
the nature of support for the Collaborative Projects, please <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/research/projects-inception-grant" class="internal-link" title="Projects Inception Grant">click
here</a>.</li></ol>
<p> </p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/research/research-programmes'>http://editors.cis-india.org/research/research-programmes</a>
</p>
No publishernishantresearchcyborgscyberculturesdigital pluralismdigital subjectivitiescyberspacespedagogye-governance2009-01-15T12:02:51ZPage