The Centre for Internet and Society
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January 2011 Bulletin
http://editors.cis-india.org/about/newsletters/january-2011-bulletin
<b>Greetings from the Centre for Internet and Society! It gives us immense pleasure to present regular updates on the progress of our research on the mainstream Internet media. In this issue of we bring our latest project updates, news and media coverage:</b>
<h2><b>Researchers@Work</b></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">RAW is a multidisciplinary research initiative. CIS 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. To build original research knowledge base, the RAW programme has been collaborating with different organisations and individuals to focus on its three year thematic of Histories of the Internets in India. Monographs finalised from these projects have been published on the CIS website for public review:</p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<h2><b>Digital Natives</b></h2>
<p>CIS has interest in developing Digital Identities as a core research area and looks at practices, policies and scholarships in the field to explore relationships between Internet, technology and identity.</p>
<h3>Column on Digital Natives</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">A fortnightly column on ‘Digital Natives’ authored by Nishant Shah is featured in the Sunday Eye, the national edition of Indian Express, Delhi, from 19 September 2010 onwards. The following article was published in the Indian Express recently:</p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://bit.ly/h2E3Jd">Is That a Friend on Your Wall?</a> [published in the Indian Express on 9 January 2010]</li>
</ul>
<h3>Workshop</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The third and final workshop in the Digital Natives with a Cause? research project will take place in Santiago, Chile, from the 8 to 10 February. Open Call and FAQs for the workshop are online:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://bit.ly/emKslL">Digital Natives with a Cause? Workshop in Santiago – An Open Call</a></li>
<li><a href="http://bit.ly/eCu2it">Digital Natives with a Cause? Workshop in Santiago – Some FAQs</a></li>
</ul>
<h3>Blog Entry by Maesey Angelina</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Maesy Angelina is a MA candidate on International Development, specializing in Children and Youth Studies at the International Institute of Social Studies, Erasmus University of Rotterdam. She is working on her research on the activism of digital natives under the Hivos-CIS Digital Natives Knowledge Programme. She spent a month at CIS, working on her dissertation, exploring the Blank Noise Project under the Digital Natives with a Cause framework. She writes a series of blog entries. The latest is:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://bit.ly/hjbzB0">The Digital Tipping Point</a></li>
</ul>
<h3>Announcement</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://bit.ly/h92qtI">Rising Voices Seeks Micro-Grant Proposals for Citizen Media Outreach</a></li>
</ul>
<h2><b>Accessibility</b></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Estimates of the percentage of the world's population that is disabled vary considerably. But what is certain is that if we count functional disability, then a large proportion of the world's population is disabled in one way or another. At CIS we work to ensure that the digital technologies, which empower disabled people and provide them with independence, are allowed to do so in practice and by the law. To this end, we support web accessibility guidelines, and change in copyright laws that currently disempower the persons with disabilities.</p>
<h3>New Blog Entry</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://bit.ly/fgOaHa">Accessibility in Telecommunications</a> </li>
</ul>
<h2><b>Intellectual Property</b></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Copyright, patents and trademarks are the most important components on the Internet. CIS believes that access to knowledge and culture is essential as it promotes creativity and innovation and bridges the gaps between the developed and developing world positively. Hence, the campaigns for an international treaty on copyright exceptions for print-impaired, advocating against PUPFIP Bill, calls for the WIPO Broadcast Treaty to be restricted to broadcast, questioning the demonization of 'pirates', and supporting endeavours that explore and question the current copyright regime. Our latest endeavour has resulted into these:</p>
<h3>New Blog Entry</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://bit.ly/igNQMW">New Release of IPR Chapter of India-EU Free Trade Agreement</a> </li>
</ul>
<h2><b>Internet Governance</b></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Although there may not be one centralised authority that rules the Internet, the Internet does not just run by its own volition: for it to operate in a stable and reliable manner, there needs to be in place infrastructure, a functional domain name system, ways to curtail cybercrime across borders, etc. The Tunis Agenda of the second World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), paragraph 34 defined Internet governance as “the development and application by governments, the private sector and civil society, in their respective roles, of shared principles, norms, rules, decision-making procedures, and programmes that shape the evolution and use of the Internet.” Within the larger field of Internet governance, the Internet Governance Forum (IGF), a multi-stakeholder policy dialogue forum that was instituted by the WSIS processes and that is their only formal outcome, has fast emerged as one of the key institutions. As the definition quoted above indicates, a unique feature of the field of Internet governance is that, unlike many other governance spheres, it does not only involve governments. Historically, not only governments but also the technical community and private players have played a crucial role in the development of the Internet. In the context of the IGF, that role is not only explicitly acknowledged but also institutionalised as the IGF formally brings together governments, private players and civil society actors from all areas of and organisations involved in Internet governance. Moreover, now that the open and egalitarian potential of the Internet is increasingly under attack, this unique nature of the IGF, in addition to its WSIS roots, has made it a prime venue to remind stakeholders in all areas of Internet governance of the commitment they have made earlier to building a “people-centred, inclusive and development-oriented Information Society” (WSIS Geneva Principles, Para 1). CIS involvement in the field of Internet governance has the following shape:</p>
<h3>New Blog Entry</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://bit.ly/fOB4sL">Jurisdictional Issues in Cyberspace</a><b> </b></li>
</ul>
<h3><b>Privacy</b></h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">CIS has undertaken many new and exciting projects. One of these, "Privacy in Asia", is funded by Privacy International (PI), UK and is being completed in collaboration with Society and Action Group. "Privacy in Asia" is a two-year project that commenced on 24 March 2010 and will complete within two years from the commencement date, unless otherwise agreed to by the parties. The project was set up with the objective of raising awareness, sparking civil action and promoting democratic dialogue around privacy challenges and violations in India. In furtherance of these goals it aims to draft and promote an over-arching privacy legislation in India by drawing upon legal and academic resources and consultations with the public.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Apart from "Privacy in Asia" CIS is also participating in the " Privacy and Identity" project, which is funded by the Ford Foundation and managed by the Centre for Study of Culture and Society. The project is a research inquiry into the history of Privacy in India and how it shapes the contemporary debates around technology mediated identity projects like <i>Aadhaar</i>. The "Privacy and Identity" project started in August 2010.</p>
<h3>New Blog Entries</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://bit.ly/eWxry1">Privacy Matters — Conference Report</a></li>
<li><a href="http://bit.ly/gocDqf">An Open Letter to the Finance Committee</a></li>
<li><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/advocacy/igov/privacy-india/privacy-UIDdec17">Does the UID Reflect India?</a></li>
</ul>
<h3>Staff Update</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Prashant Iyengar is a lawyer and legal scholar who has worked extensively on intellectual property issues particularly focusing on copyright reform and open access. He is a past recipient of an Open Society Institute fellowship for research into Open Information Policy, and has been affiliated with the Alternative Law Forum – a collective of lawyers in Bangalore engaged in human rights practice.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Prashant joined the Centre for Internet and Society as a lead researcher in the Privacy India project recently.</p>
<h2><b>Telecom</b></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The growth in telecommunications in India has been impressive. While the potential for growth and returns exist, a range of issues need to be addressed for this potential to be realized. One aspect is more extensive rural coverage and the second aspect is a countrywide access to broadband which is low at about eight million subscriptions. Both require effective and efficient use of networks and resources, including spectrum. It is imperative to resolve these issues in the common interest of users and service providers. CIS campaigns to facilitate this.</p>
<h3>Column</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Shyam Ponappa is a Distinguished Fellow at CIS. He writes regularly on Telecom issues in the Business Standard and these articles are mirrored on the CIS website as well.</p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://bit.ly/grwFzq">The policy langurs</a> [published on 6 January 2011]</li>
</ul>
<p><b> </b></p>
<h2><b>News & Media Coverage</b></h2>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://bit.ly/hcNWgX">Civic hackers seek to find their feet in India</a> (Livemint, 24 January 2011) and (IndiaInfoline, January 2011)</li>
<li><a href="http://bit.ly/ihsya0">A Tweet and a poke from the CEO</a> (Livemint, 24 January 2011)</li>
<li><a href="http://bit.ly/g19Yrv">Clicktivism & a brave new world order</a> (Mail Today, 2 January 2011)</li>
<li><a href="http://bit.ly/eiyWsT">Would it be a unique identity crisis</a>? (Bangalore Mirror, 2 January 2011)</li>
<li><a href="http://bit.ly/gnJNzc">Nel suk dei nativi digitali. Perché gli studenti 2.0 hanno bisogno di una bussola per orientarsi</a> (Il Sore24 ORE, 2 January 2011)</li>
<li><a href="http://bit.ly/fvn4Fw">A Refreshing Start!</a> (Verveonline, Volume 19, Issue 1, January, 2011)</li>
<li><a href="http://bit.ly/glcDk1">Getting Connected</a> (Livemint, January 2011)</li>
<li><a href="http://bit.ly/eN0Njz">Knowledge Warriors</a> (Il Sore24 ORE, January 2011)</li>
<li><a href="http://bit.ly/f5m3fg">Nishant Shah Quoted in Livemint 2011 Tweet-out</a> (Livemint, January 2011)</li>
<li><a href="http://bit.ly/eti5N2">Digital Natives with a Cause? - Workshop in Chile seeks participants</a> (Bahama islands info, 30 December 2010)</li>
<li><a href="http://bit.ly/h1YBgf">Mothers discuss kids, music, fashions, on Net</a> (The Hindu, 26 December 2010)</li>
</ul>
<h2><b>Follow us elsewhere</b></h2>
<ul>
<li>Get short, timely messages from us on <a href="http://twitter.com/cis_india">Twitter</a></li>
<li>Follow CIS on <a href="http://identi.ca/main/remote?nickname=cis">identi.ca</a></li>
<li>Join the CIS group on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=28535315687">Facebook</a></li>
<li>Visit us at <a href="http://www.cis-india.org/">www.cis-india.org</a></li>
</ul>
<p>Looking forward to hearing from you. Please feel free to write to us for any queries or details required. If you do not wish to receive these emails, please do write to us and we will unsubscribe your mail ID from the mailing list.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/about/newsletters/january-2011-bulletin'>http://editors.cis-india.org/about/newsletters/january-2011-bulletin</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaAccess to KnowledgeDigital NativesTelecomIntellectual Property RightsAccessibilityInternet GovernanceResearchOpenness2012-07-30T11:25:44ZPageThe Spaces of Digital
http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/the-spaces-of-digital
<b>'The Spaces of Digital’ continues from the work done on the CIS-RAW monograph on the Internet, Society and Space in Indian Cities, by Pratyush Shankar at Center for Environmental Planning and Technology University, Ahmedabad. The premise of this monograph was the debates around making of IT Cities and public planning policies that regulate and restructure the city spaces in India with the emergence of internet technologies. </b>
<p> </p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">The Spaces of Digital begins from here to further explore the city as a unit of global development. The rise of digital technologies and the ways in which they produce new metaphors for the domains of life, labour and language, result in the city being reconfigured, reimagined and remapped through the techno-spatial narratives produced by information and network webs. The project will explore this in four stages, namely:</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify;">Stage 1: Knowledge Maps</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify;">The first phase of the project seeks to build a knowledge network that maps the different actors interested in questions of techno-social cities, generating a dialogue between them and building a knowledge repository that brings in different modes, formats and forms of knowledge to intersect with each other.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify;">Stage 2: Spatial Patterns - Digital Project</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify;">The monograph “Internet, Society and Space in Indian Cities” refers to the spatial reconfiguration of many Indian cities that has occurred in the past two decades. An exercise to extract the key spatial patterns will be carried out in form of graphical representation using existing information from the monograph.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify;">Stage 3: Knowledge Networking Building</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify;">The mapping and demonstration project will be followed by a curated workshop that invites a dialogue between the identified knowledge partners.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify;">Stage 4: Knowledge Exhibition / Publication</h3>
<p>The Knowledge Exhibition will be a hybrid space of online and offline curation and knowledge consolidation, and will be the final product of the project.</p>
<p>Some of the updates on this project may be <a class="external-link" href="http://spacesofdigital.wordpress.com/">accessed here</a>.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/the-spaces-of-digital'>http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/the-spaces-of-digital</a>
</p>
No publishersneha-ppThe Spaces of DigitalNet CulturesResearchers at WorkResearch2015-10-24T13:41:25ZBlog EntryFigures of Learning: The Pornographer
http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/figures-of-learning-the-pornographer
<b>As part of its Making Methods for Digital Humanities project, CIS-RAW organized two consultations on new figures of learning in the digital context. For a proposed journal issue on the theme of 'bodies of knowledge' which draws upon these conversations, participants were invited to write short sketches on these figures of learning. This abstract by Namita Malhotra examines the figure of the pornographer, as a mixed media figure entrenched in various networks of knowledge production, circulation and consumption. </b>
<p> </p>
<p>Making Methods for Digital Humanities (2M4DH) project seeks to make specific interventions around methods in the larger debates and practices of Digital Humanities, which includes producing content within the field, building a living repository of knowledge content by developing methods as well as interfaces, platforms and knowledge infrastructure, and bringing together a range of practitioners, performers and researchers from different disciplines who are not necessarily only working on the digital. As part of this project two consultations were held in Bangalore, around figures of learning in the digital context. The following is a series of abstracts for a proposed journal issue, that perform multi-media writing, bringing in artistic practice, video, sound and theoretical concepts to describe a particular practice of learning and knowledge in India and focus on a specific body, figure or person that is at the centre of that knowledge practice.</p>
<p> </p>
<h2>The Pornographer</h2>
<h3>Namita A. Malhotra</h3>
<p> </p>
<p>The figure of the pornographer is deeply embedded in a network, and this allows for a rhizomatic appearance of other figures. Like the figure within the pornographic video, image or text, which is usually a woman since there is most global circulation of heterosexual pornography (as deduced from statistics from Youporn). This feminized figure in the pornographic video is vulnerable to our intrusive gaze, receptive to our desires, subject of urban legends; s/he is a fictionalized character in a Bollywood film (Devdas, Love Sex Dhoka, Ragini MMS) or a celebrity with a cloud account like Jennifer Lawrence. In the Indian and broadly Asian context where there is wide circulation of amateur porn, s/he could be anybody, an ordinary person whose semi-nudity or nudity is what makes the video extraordinary and watchable.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The pornographer also inevitably leads us to figure of the police and the judge, those who often invisibilize the pornographer. Pornography is a phenomenon that engulfs and occasionally excuses the particular crime of the pornographer, even as it exposes how treacherously pornographic we all are. The pornographer on the network is a slippery figure, their transactions are unfixable and their actions are often transferred to the next node on the network (Nishant Shah, Subject to Technologies <a name="_ednref1" href="#_edn1">[i]</a>). Other figures also appear around whom the regulation of the internet is configured - such as the child whose innocence must be protected and whose curiosity is the market, or the adulterer whose affairs and online sex addiction threaten the institution of marriage.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Ontology in the digitalscape is also about the object that is being looked at, whether video or image or text. Can we know what this object looks back at even as it is lusted for by the pornographer, hunted down by the police and examined by the judge? Can we understand the experience of the object since it moves, feels, responds much like we do (Barker, The Tactile Eye <a name="_ednref2" href="#_edn2">[ii]</a>) Other intriguing non-human figures also populate the pornographic scape, like the humanized yet robotic Gif caught in a repetitive loop that regardless of the imagery produces a delight and frisson, like a surprisingly responsive toy. Which perhaps would remind us of similar figures like the Bot that behaves and acts as a human, consumes bandwidth, promotes websites, rollseyes and follows and unfollows. Both figures and objects occupy the field that we want to understand.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Returning to the figure of the pornographer, they have the habits of a knowledge seeker though different from that of the scholar in an archive that is looking for history, narrative and depth. The pornographer skim reads, rapidly going from one link to the next, rejecting, choosing, enjoying fragmented pleasures and moving on. The relationship is tactile but brief, a surface encounter. The pornographer is a creator, consumer and distributor; sometimes contributing stories from their personal history to websites like Savita Bhabhi so that they can be inspiration for new comics, making amateur porn videos with cell phones and uploading them, commenting and linking to content, selling phones preloaded with pornography. The pornographer is a pirate, caught in the same discourse of criminalization, and often if the crimes of one are not convincing then one stands in for the other in legal and public discourse.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The pornographer can also be likened to the parasite as a figure that produces disorder and generates a new order (Michel Serres, The Parasite <a name="_ednref3" href="#_edn3">[iii]</a>), or that it stores (sucks) energy and then redirects it (Matteo Pasquinelli, Animal Spirits: A Bestiary of the Commons <a name="_ednref4" href="#_edn4">[iv]</a>). A vivid description of how pornographers are the points of conversion is as follows - "Netporn converts libidinal flows into money and daily siphons a huge bandwidth on a global scale. Netporn transforms libido into pure electricity: exactly as file-sharing networks are reincarnated as an army of MP3 players, Free Software helps to sell more IBM hardware and Second Life avatars consume as much electricity as the average Brazilian." (Pasquinelli)</p>
<p> </p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">The pornographer is self-taught, exiled, ashamed, an inveterate collector, insatiable, a bundle of shame and energy, all wires within lit and chasing. The pornographer is a criminal, a voyeur, a seducer and con artist. The pornographer is a godman caught in the act, a shaman of conversions in the digital, a gluttonous leader of digital consumption.</p>
<p> </p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Figures can offer insight into a social formation, but also do figures dominate the scape and erase the particular and the subjective? The pornographer leads to an array of other figures and these offer insights into networks of illegality and exchange, into legal and technological mechanisms of control. As easily as these pornographic objects float to the surface of the digital scape, the pornographer (and also others like the pirate) are spectral presences who can only be deduced and whose trails can be followed. The pornographer is then a sort of mixed-media figure, an amalgamate of different assumptions and readings in public discourse, in the law, in networks of the circulation of pornography, in movies that are about their imagined back-stories, and in the ways in which children are warned about risks online.</p>
<p> </p>
<hr align="left" size="1" width="100%" />
<p> </p>
<div id="edn1">
<p><a name="_edn1" href="#_ednref1">[i]</a> Nishant Shah, 'Subject to Technology: Internet Pornography, Cyber-terrorism and the Indian State', Inter-Asia Cultural Studies, 8:3, 2007, pp.349 - 366.</p>
</div>
<div id="edn2">
<p><a name="_edn2" href="#_ednref2">[ii]</a> Jennifer Marilyn Barker, <em>The Tactile Eye: Touch and the Cinematic Experience</em>, University of California Press, 2009.</p>
</div>
<div id="edn3">
<p><a name="_edn3" href="#_ednref3">[iii]</a> Michel Serres, <em>The Parasite: Posthumanities</em>, University of Minnesota Press, 2007.</p>
</div>
<div id="edn4">
<p><a name="_edn4" href="#_ednref4">[iv]</a> Matteo Pasquinelli, <em>Animal Spirits: A Bestiary of the Commons</em> (Series Editor: Geert Lovink), NAi Publishers, Institute of Network Cultures, 2008.</p>
</div>
<p> </p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/figures-of-learning-the-pornographer'>http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/figures-of-learning-the-pornographer</a>
</p>
No publishernamitaResearchResearchers at WorkDigital KnowledgeFigures of Learning2015-11-13T05:32:58ZBlog EntryWhose Open Data Community is it? - Accepted Abstract
http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/whose-open-data-community-is-it-abstract
<b>My paper titled 'Whose Open Data Community is it? Reflections on the Open Data Ecosystem in India' has been accepted for presentation at the Open Data Research Symposium to be held during the 3rd International Open Data Conference <http://opendatacon.org/> in Ottawa, Canada, on May 28-29 2015. The final paper will be shared by second week of May. Here is the accepted abstract.</b>
<p> </p>
<h3>Where are the NGOs?</h3>
<p>On February 04, 2013, several members of the DataMeet group <<a href="http://datameet.org/" target="_blank">http://datameet.org/</a>> were invited by the National Data Sharing and Accessibility Policy Project Management Unit (NDSAP-PMU) – the nodal agency responsible for developing, implementing, and managing the Open Government Data Platform of India <<a href="https://data.gov.in/" target="_blank">https://data.gov.in/</a>> – to share thoughts on the status of the implementation of the National Data Sharing and Accessibility Policy (NDSAP), the open data policy of India, and discuss potentials for collaboration. A key proposal made by the NDSAPPMU team regarding how DataMeet can contribute to the implementation process, involved DataMeet mobilising the developer community connected to the group to build applications that use the opened up data and demonstrate the value of open government data to drive greater contribution by government agencies and greater utilisation by citizen groups. For DataMeet, a network of open data users and advocates, this invitation to collaborate sets up a slightly different problematic than that in most of the cases of free and open source software development project. The task here is to develop projects that use already available data, which may not offer significantly return to investment at present, but will accellerate the process of opening up of more valuable government data.</p>
<p>However, building an application that effectively utilise government data to foreground a compelling argument or story requires more than a team of developers – it also require domain experts with a deep sense of the context from which the data is emanating. With a vibrant scene of nongovernmental organisations involved in monitoring, analysis, and implementation of developmental projects, many of such domain experts in India are located within such organisations, with some being in the academic institutes too. Reporting from an open data community meeting organised by the World Bank at Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, on December 10, 2014, Isha Parihar asks: “Where are the NGOs?” She points out that “[t]he discussions around open data [in India] also highlight the absence of nonprofit organisations among the technologyfocused groups, entrepreneurs, and businesses <strong>[1]</strong>.” This observation is especially critical as the meeting was organsied by World Bank not only to gather public responses to be presented to Government of India, but also to take stock of the open data community in India. The absence of NGOs, although, does not indicate at the lack of interest of the nongovernmental research and advocacy organisations in India to work with government data. Such organisations, on the contrary, have a long history of accessing, using, sharing, and communicating government data obtained through both proactive and reactive disclosure mechanism. While surveying such practices in a recent report, Sumandro Chattapadhyay argues <strong>[2]</strong> that the lack of a common understanding of the open data community in India emerges from both the lack of an established forum where commercial and non-commercial reusers of data discuss and articulate their requirements and demands, and the
existence of an established range of actors accessing, using, and resharing government data for commercial and noncommercial purposes who are still uncertain regarding how open government data will exactly transform and augment their existing practices.</p>
<p> </p>
<h3>Whose Open Data Community is it?</h3>
<p>In the context of the emerging open data ecosystem in India, thus, the notion of the open data community comes forward as both the problem – in terms of the community not yet being there to effectively take forward the open data agenda – and the solution – as the component of the ecosystem that can successfully bridge gaps between interests and capacities of various stakeholders. Given the gap and the stakeholder concerned, the open data community is expected to perform various critical functions. This paper tracks these conceptualisations of open data community in India. Based upon conversations with fourteen organisations working across four cities in India, the question of 'whose open data community is it' is explored in this paper following three pathways – (1) by documenting how the understanding of the open data community, and the location of the organisation concerned in reference to that, changes across these organisations, (2) by describing how the idea of who all are included in the open data community in India changes across these organisations, and (3) by identifying how different organisations formulate the intended audiences of the open data community in India. In doing so, I argue that a range of critical challenges being experienced by the open data ecosystem in India often gets articulated as things that can be resolved by a more active and effective open data community. This distorts the distribution of responsbilities across various kinds of stakeholders for contributing to the open data ecosystem. In conclusion, I note the need to stop using open data community as a solution-for-all-open-data-evils, and for a pragmatic approach to understand the kinds of open data challenges it can address, and those that it cannot.</p>
<p> </p>
<h3>Endnotes</h3>
<p><strong>[1]</strong> Parihar, Isha. 2015. On the Road to Open Data: Glimpses of the Discourse in India. Akvo. January 14. Accessed on March 02, 2015, from <a href="http://akvo.org/blog/on-the-road-to-open-data-glimpses-of-the-discourse-in-india/" target="_blank">http://akvo.org/blog/on-the-road-to-open-data-glimpses-of-the-discourse-in-india/</a></p>
<p><strong>[2]</strong> Chattapadhyay, Sumandro. 2014. Opening Government Data through Mediation: Exploring Roles, Practices and Strategies of (Potential) Data Intermediary Organisations in India. Accessed on March 02, 2015, from <a href="http://ajantriks.github.io/oddc/report/sumandro_oddc_project_report.pdf" target="_blank">http://ajantriks.github.io/oddc/report/sumandro_oddc_project_report.pdf</a></p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/whose-open-data-community-is-it-abstract'>http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/whose-open-data-community-is-it-abstract</a>
</p>
No publishersumandroData SystemsOpen DataResearchOpen Data CommunityResearchers at Work2015-11-13T05:41:15ZBlog EntryFigures of Learning: The Reader
http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/figures-of-learning-the-reader
<b>As part of its Making Methods for Digital Humanities project, CIS-RAW organized two consultations on new figures of learning in the digital context. For a proposed journal issue on the theme of ‘bodies of knowledge’ which draws upon these conversations, participants were invited to write short sketches on these figures of learning. This abstract by P.P Sneha examines the figure of the reader, and the manner in which it is redefined in as text and practices of reading are reconstituted in the digital context.</b>
<p> </p>
<h2>The Reader</h2>
<h3>P.P. Sneha</h3>
<p> </p>
<p>The reader is a common figure of learning; we are all readers of one kind or another in an abstract sense. But practices of reading and writing have changed with the advent and proliferation of the internet and digital technologies. Be it your Kindle or updates on your Twitter feed or FB page, reading and writing have both been rendered as extremely technologised processes, more so than they already were, because of the mediation of the machine at different levels. At one level it is the encounter with the screen in our daily lives, the changing materiality of the text and how that determines the practices of meaning-making. At another, we can also connect this to larger questions of textuality itself, and the nature of the ‘digital text’. So is there a new kind of reader being constructed through these changing technologies of reading and writing? Within the varied and multi-layered space that is the ‘digital’, we can revisit the understanding of reading and writing as technologised processes through an exploration of the reader as a figure of learning. This brief sketch will examine the reader as a figure of learning, and her transition to the machine reader in the digital context.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Particularly in the age of big data and excess information, and with the introduction of methods such as speed reading, machine reading, distant reading, and not reading, we are in essence being taught or forced to read a certain way. An immediate concern for a lot of traditional humanists is the loss of criticality, as they see the sudden influx of new technologies as taking away from more accepted and conventional methods of reading, such as close reading for example. But what are the practices of reading engendered by the digital? The little variations in text, tagging, marginalia, errata or the glitch that now take precedence in the way one interprets or reads a text; do they add on, fundamentally change or produce a shift in the process of meaning-making is a question to contend with. Reading as a social or collective process is one prominent aspect of this change. The sociality of reading is more pronounced in the digital context; but at the same time it also strangely obscures this with the increasing portability and customisation of devices to suit different kinds of reading needs. The role of affect in the process of reading then becomes prominent.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Questions about authorship and authority over meaning would be more than relevant in this instance too, as the individual reader slowly gets replaced by more collective methods of reading and knowledge production. Online knowledge repositories such as the Wikipedia and a several dynamic archives have fostered and actively encouraged processes of collaborative knowledge production. In a reiteration of the classic debate on the death of the author, one now finds the role of reader in the traditional sense becoming more diminished, as the text itself takes precedence in the determination of meaning, and calls for a different kind of competence from the reader. Most importantly, it also suggests a change in the understanding of text and textuality in the digital space, with the possibility of innumerable readings with the help of algorithms emerging as a new textual practice. The possibility of reading data as text also hints towards a new kind of ‘machine reader’, or reading practice completely mediated by or reliant on the machine and unverifiable by the human subject. The emergence of new fields of scholarship such as the Digital Humanities also suggest these changes, and it may be worthwhile to examine how the text and practices of reading are constituted or reconstituted in such a space.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/figures-of-learning-the-reader'>http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/figures-of-learning-the-reader</a>
</p>
No publishersneha-ppResearchResearchers at WorkDigital KnowledgeFigures of Learning2015-11-13T05:48:57ZBlog EntryDigital Activism in Asia Reader: Announcement
http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/digital-activism-in-asia-reader-announcement
<b>The CIS-RAW programme organized an editorial workshop on March 6-7, 2015, as part of its project on a Digital Activism in Asia Reader. The project is a collaborative effort of the Centre for Internet and Society and the Centre for Digital Cultures, Leuphana University, Germany, which aims to bring together local knowledge, debates and conversations around Digital Activism in Asia.</b>
<p> </p>
<p>The proposed reader on Digital Activism in Asia will combine stories in multiple forms, including academic essays, case-studies to grey literature from public discourse that reveals and points to the debates around digital activism that have emerged in this particular context. Most of the audience will consist of academics, practitioners and policy actors internationally.</p>
<p>One of the main goals of this reader will be to challenge the prevalent notion in the discourse of Digital Activism of universality and uniformity across contexts and cultures. The focus is on new actors (like digital natives), processes, movements, and networks that such digital activism has engendered.</p>
<p>The editorial workshop was conducted towards completion of the Reader, to better contextualize the material through peer annotations and supporting information. Over the course of two days, a total of six participants worked on two articles each, which had been circulated beforehand, to annotate those using different kinds of material and close reading the texts.</p>
<p>The workshop was structured in the form of presentations and discussion sessions in the morning, followed by a writing sprint in the afternoon. Apart from a larger discussion around digital activism itself, its modes, approaches and forms, the materials were also categorized along four axes – activists using digital tools, activism around the digital, digital shaping activism and activism shaping the digital – which helped structure the discussions and the process of writing. The suggested annotations took different forms – from introductory paragraphs to references for further reading. Participants were also expected to bring in and build on their own practices, experiences and contexts in discussing the articles.</p>
<p>The Digital Activism in Asia Reader is expected to be published by the <a href="http://cdc.leuphana.com/structure/hybrid-publishing-lab/" target="_blank">Hybrid Publishing Lab</a> in mid-2015.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/digital-activism-in-asia-reader-announcement'>http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/digital-activism-in-asia-reader-announcement</a>
</p>
No publishersneha-ppDigital ActivismDigital Activism in Asia ReaderResearchNet CulturesResearchers at Work2015-10-24T14:22:39ZBlog EntryFigures of Learning: The Visual Designer
http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/figures-of-learning-the-visual-designer
<b>As part of its Making Methods for Digital Humanities project, CIS-RAW organized two consultations on new figures of learning in the digital context. For a proposed journal issue on the theme of ‘bodies of knowledge’ which draws upon these conversations, participants were invited to write short sketches on these figures of learning. This abstract by Tejas Pande examines the figure of the visual designer, and emerging practices of mapmaking. </b>
<p> </p>
<p>Making Methods for Digital Humanities (2M4DH) project seeks to make specific interventions around methods in the larger debates and practices of Digital Humanities, which includes producing content within the field, building a living repository of knowledge content by developing methods as well as interfaces, platforms and knowledge infrastructure, and bringing together a range of practitioners, performers and researchers from different disciplines who are not necessarily only working on the digital. As part of this project two consultations were held in Bangalore, around <a href="http://cis-india.org/raw/digital-humanities/consultation-new-figures-of-learning-in-digital-context"> figures of learning in the digital context.</a> The following is a series of abstracts for a proposed journal issue, that perform multi-media writing, bringing in artistic practice, video, sound and theoretical concepts to describe a particular practice of learning and knowledge in India and focus on a specific body, figure or person that is at the centre of that knowledge practice.</p>
<p> </p>
<h2>The Visual Designer</h2>
<h3>Tejas Pande</h3>
<p> </p>
<p>Mapping is the visual articulation of a living complex system, and locates itself at the nodes that allow for exchanges of knowledge from diverse disciplines. Over the course of history, it has come to represent exchanges of information of a very diverse nature. Commonly associated with representations of physical spaces, maps have since accommodated a growing need to chalk out relationships between spaces (physical, or temporal), ideologies, and institutions. This expanded notion of mapping has affected the way creators of maps regard the practice of mapmaking itself. Armed with a growing arsenal of tools (offline and web-based) to map such networks with, mapmaking has opened up to a host of professionals, amateurs, and anyone else with a desire to express spatial-temporal relationships.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>In such contexts, it is worthwhile to ask ourselves what is the role of traditional scientists, cartographers, and visual designers, who have been responsible for assimilating knowledge and making it visually palatable for wider audiences. The role of such mapmakers is further complicated by the expanded view of the craft of designing itself. For instance, graphic designer Aris Venetikidis began appearing on social media feeds in 2012 after his contribution to TEDx Dublin as the mapmaker genius behind the redesigned prototype of the Dublin Bus system. The new visualisation was met with critical praise, but interestingly his design process had steered the original mapmaking effort into that of quasi-transportation planning. Traditional mapmakers are being forced to intimately understand flows that constitute systems they wish to represent for others. Visual studies have historically emphasized decoding information embedded in collectively-generated syntax. Increasingly, multi-disciplinary practices have forced traditional designers to refashion their role in larger processes of production. What if their role was framed in the context of not only the rules of design process and problem definition, but the institutions within whom they operate, as well?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>In my opinion, these figures have come to serve as facilitators in a process of knowledge creation and sharing, and use mapmaking as their primary visual tool to form networks of exchanges. Examples drawn from emerging planning practices, especially in the urban sphere, will be used to examine the role of a mapmaker, too.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/figures-of-learning-the-visual-designer'>http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/figures-of-learning-the-visual-designer</a>
</p>
No publishersneha-ppResearchResearchers at WorkDigital KnowledgeFigures of Learning2015-11-13T05:33:30ZBlog EntryConsultation on Figures of Learning in the Digital Context
http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/consultation-on-new-figures-of-learning-in-digital-context
<b>The Centre for Internet and Society welcomes you to a consultation on new figures of learning in the digital context at its office in Bangalore on September 22, 2014 from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.</b>
<p> </p>
<p>The increasing prevalence of the internet and digital technologies today has engendered a new kind of learning environment, which is connected and collaborative, yet also focussed on the individual, with an emphasis on practice. The pervasive influence of technology in teaching-learning practice has also resulted in new tools, processes and platforms, which have added dimensions to learning, and led to the creation of new bodies of knowledge in the digital context. These new figures, spaces, objects and processes, often challenge and inflate given notions of expertise and authority, increasingly locating them outside the familiar framework of the university and a traditional classroom-based approach to learning.</p>
<p>While the processes of knowledge production have been rapidly changing in the last couple of decades, some examples being data mining, distant reading, cultural mapping and design thinking as new ways of parsing, organising, curating and processing information or knowledge, traditionally the point of reference for authoritative ‘figures’ of learning remains the same. These are that of the teacher, facilitator, reader, student, participant etc. However, with the emergence of such new processes of knowledge-making which are largely located in the digital context, one can see the presence of some non-traditional figures of knowledge as well – such as the geek, hacker, blogger, story-teller, worker, designer, activist etc. There are figures which, consciously or unconsciously subvert and redefine certain conventions of knowledge-making practices, by inventing new terms or redefining old ones. More importantly, the emergence of this nomenclature is symptomatic of a change in the predominant discourse that constitutes a particular kind of ‘digital subject’ or entity that inhabits the digital in a particular way.</p>
<p>The present consultation is an exercise to map these concepts and changes around a set of figures of learning, old and new, to understand the discursive shifts that produce them and locate them in the contemporary moment. Participants from diverse areas of research and practice would be invited to make a short ten minute presentation on one such figure, drawn from their area of interest and work, and examine the concepts or notions behind them. This will be followed by group discussions and a 30 minute writing sprint at the end of the consultation to consolidate the discussion.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/consultation-on-new-figures-of-learning-in-digital-context'>http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/consultation-on-new-figures-of-learning-in-digital-context</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaRAW EventsDigital KnowledgeResearchFigures of LearningResearchers at WorkEvent2015-11-13T05:39:00ZEventIndian Newspapers' Digital Transition
http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/indian-newspapers-digital-transition
<b>This report examines the digital transition underway at three leading newspapers in India, the Dainik Jagran in Hindi, English-language Hindustan Times, and Malayala Manorama in Malayalam. Our focus is on how they are changing their newsroom organisation and journalistic work to expand their digital presence and adapt to a changing media environment. The report comes out of a collaboration between the CIS and the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, University of Oxford, and was supported by the latter. The research was undertaken by Zeenab Aneez, with contributions from Rasmus Kleis Nielsen, Vibodh Parthasarathi, and Sumandro Chattapadhyay.</b>
<p> </p>
<h4>Download: <a href="http://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/sites/default/files/Indian%20Newspapers%27%20Digital%20Transition.pdf">PDF</a>.</h4>
<p>Cross-posted from the <a href="http://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/publication/indian-newspapers-digital-transition">Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism</a> (December 08, 2016).</p>
<hr />
<h2>Executive Summary</h2>
<p>This report examines the digital transition underway at three leading newspapers in India, the <em>Dainik Jagran</em> in Hindi, English-language <em>Hindustan Times</em>, and <em>Malayala Manorama</em> in Malayalam. Our focus is on how they are changing their newsroom organisation and journalistic work to expand their digital presence and adapt to a changing media environment.</p>
<p>The background for the report is the rapid and continued growth in digital media use in India. Especially since 2010, internet use has grown at an explosive pace, driven by the spread of mobile web access, also outside large urban areas and the more affluent and highly educated English-language minority that have historically represented a large part of India’s internet users. Some analysts estimate more than 30% of Indians had some form of internet access by the end of 2015 (IAMAI-IMRB, 2015). With this growth has come a perceptible shift of audience attention and advertising investment away from legacy media like print and television and towards digital media. This shift has been accompanied by the launch of a number of new digital media start-ups in India and, especially, the growing role of large international technology companies investing in the Indian market.</p>
<p>These developments present Indian newspapers with new challenges and opportunities. Print circulation and advertising is still growing in India, but more slowly than in the past, and especially the English-language market
seems saturated and ripe for the shift towards digital media that has happened elsewhere. From 2014 to 2015, the Indian advertising market grew by 13%. Print grew 8%, but English-language newspaper advertising only half of that. Digital advertising, in contrast, grew by 38%, and is projected to continue to grow for years to come as digital media become more central to India’s overall media environment (KPMG-FICCI, 2016).</p>
<p>If they want to secure their long-term future and continued editorial and commercial success, Indian newspapers have to adapt to these changes. The three case studies in this report represent three different examples of how major newspapers are navigating this transition.</p>
<p>Based on over 30 interviews conducted with senior management, editors, and rank-and-file reporters from three major newspapers, as well as other senior journalists and researchers who have wider experience in the Indian
news industry, plus secondary sources including industry reports and academic research, we show the following.</p>
<ul><li>All three newspapers are proactively investing in digital media technology and expertise, and adapting their editorial priorities, parts of their daily workflow, distribution strategies, and business model to the
rise of digital media. Tools like Chartbeat are now commonplace; search engine optimisation, social media optimisation, and audience analytics are part of everyday work; and some are experimenting with new
formats (<em>Hindustan Times</em> was a launch partner for Facebook Instant Articles; <em>Manorama Online</em> has produced both Virtual Reality and 360 videos, an Apple watch app, and is on Amazon Echo).<br /><br /></li>
<li>Given that the print newspaper industry is still growing in India, especially in Indian-language markets, these newspapers are innovating from a position of relative strength in comparison to their North American and European counterparts. However, this is done with the awareness that that print is becoming a relatively less important part of the Indian media environment, and digital media more important. Short-term, reach and profits come from print, but longer term, all have to build a strong digital presence to succeed editorially and commercially.<br /><br /></li>
<li>All three newspapers aim to do this by building on the assets they have as legacy media organisations, and trying to leverage their brand reputation, audience reach, and editorial resources to maintain an edge over digital news start-ups and international news providers. Their legacy, however, offers not only assets, but also liabilities. As successful incumbents, all of them struggle with the inertia that comes from established organisational structures and professional cultures. To change their organisation and culture, and thus more effectively combine new technologies and skills with existing core competences, each newspaper is not only investing in digital media and personnel, but also trying to change at least parts of the existing newspaper to adapt to an increasingly digital media environment.<br /><br /></li>
<li>They do this in different ways. At <em>Dainik Jagran</em> and <em>Malayala Manorama</em>, the focus has been on building up separate digital operations at Jagran.com and Manorama Online, apart from the printed newspaper itself. At the <em>Hindustan Times</em>, in contrast, the aim has been to integrate print and digital in a joint operation working across platforms and channels. <em>Dainik Jagran</em> and <em>Malayala Manoroma</em> have thus focused mostly on building up new digital assets, whereas the <em>Hindustan Times</em> has been transforming existing assets to work across platforms. At <em>Dainik Jagran</em> and <em>Malayala Manorama</em>, much of the push for change has come from management, whereas there has been a stronger editorial involvement at the <em>Hindustan Times</em>, and a greater attempt to engage rank-and-file reporters through training sessions and other initiative designed to demonstrate not only the commercial importance, but also the editorial potential, of digital media.<br /><br /></li>
<li>All three newspapers have found that expanding their digital operations requires investment of money in new technologies and in staff with new skills. But it is also clear that this is not enough. Investment in technology has to be accompanied by a change in organisation and culture to effectively leverage existing assets in a digital media environment. In their attempts to do this, the most significant barriers have been a perceived cultural hierarchy, deeply ingrained especially in the newsroom, that print journalism is somehow inherently superior to
digital journalism, and a lack of effective synergy between editorial leaders and managers, often combined with a lack of technical know-how. Money can buy new tools and bring in new expertise, but it cannot on its own change culture, ensure synergy, or align the organisation with new priorities. This requires leadership and broad-based change. Long-term, senior editors, management, and rank-and-file reporters will have to work and change together to secure Indian newspapers’ role in an increasingly digital media environment.</li></ul>
<p>Digital media thus present Indian newspapers with challenges and opportunities similar to those newspapers have faced elsewhere. Only they face these from a position of greater strength, because of the continued growth in their print business, and with the benefit of having seen how things have developed in more technologically developed markets. We hope this report will help them navigate the digital transition ahead.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/indian-newspapers-digital-transition'>http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/indian-newspapers-digital-transition</a>
</p>
No publisherzeenabDigital NewsRAW PublicationsResearchers at WorkResearchDigital MediaFeaturedPublicationsHomepage2016-12-09T07:12:53ZBlog EntryCan data ever know who we really are?
http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/zara-rahman-can-data-ever-know-who-we-really-are
<b>This is an excerpt from an essay by Zara Rahman, written for and published as part of the Bodies of Evidence collection of Deep Dives. The Bodies of Evidence collection, edited by Bishakha Datta and Richa Kaul Padte, is a collaboration between Point of View and the Centre for Internet and Society, undertaken as part of the Big Data for Development Network supported by International Development Research Centre, Canada.</b>
<p> </p>
<h4>Please read the full essay on Deep Dives: <a href="https://deepdives.in/can-data-ever-know-who-we-really-are-a0dbfb5a87a0" target="_blank">Can data ever know who we really are?</a></h4>
<h4>Zara Rahman: <a href="https://www.theengineroom.org/people/zara-rahman/" target="_blank">The Engine Room</a>, <a href="https://zararah.net/" target="_blank">Website</a>, and <a href="https://twitter.com/zararah" target="_blank">Twitter</a></h4>
<hr />
<blockquote>If I didn’t define myself for myself, I would be crunched into other people’s fantasies for me and eaten alive.<br /><em>– <a href="https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/1982-audre-lorde-learning-60s/" target="_blank">Audre Lorde</a></em></blockquote>
<p>The proliferation of digital data and the technologies that allow us to gather that data can be used in another way too — to allow us to define for ourselves who we are, and what we are.</p>
<p>Amidst a growing political climate of fear, mistrust and competition for resources, activists and advocates working in areas that are stigmatised within their societies often need data to ‘prove’ that what they are working on matters. One way of doing this is by gathering data through crowdsourcing. Crowdsourced data isn’t ‘representative’, as statisticians say, but gathering data through unofficial means can be a valuable asset for advocates. For example, <a href="http://readytoreport.in/" target="_blank">data collating the experiences of women</a> who have reported incidents of sexual violence to the police in India, can then be used to advocate for better police responses, and to inform women of their rights. Deservedly or not, quantifiable data takes precedence over personal histories and lived experience in getting the much-desired currency of attention.</p>
<p>And used right, quantifiable data — whether it’s crowdsourced or not — can also be a powerful tool for advocates. Now, we can use quantifiable data to prove beyond a question of a doubt that disabled people, queer people, people from lower castes, face intersecting discrimination, prejudice, and systemic injustices in their lives. It’s an unnecessary repetition in a way, because anybody from those communities could have told reams upon reams of stories about discrimination — all without any need for counting.</p>
<p>Regardless, to play within this increasingly digitised system, we need to repeat what we’ve been saying in a new, digitally-legible way. And to do that, we need to collect data from people who have often only ever been de-humanised as data subjects.</p>
<p>Artist and educator Mimi Onuoha writes about <a href="https://points.datasociety.net/the-point-of-collection-8ee44ad7c2fa#.y0xtfxi2p" target="_blank">the challenges that arise while collecting such data</a>, from acknowledging the humans behind that collection to understanding that missing data points might tell just as much of a story as the data that has been collected. She outlines how digital data means that we have to (intentionally or not) make certain choices about what we value. And the collection of this data means making human choices solid, and often (though not always) making these choices illegible to others.</p>
<p>We speak of black boxes when it comes to <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/breaking-the-black-box-what-facebook-knows-about-you" target="_blank">the mystery choices that algorithms make</a>, but the same could be said of the many human decisions that are made in categorising data too, whether that be choosing to limit the gender drop-down field to just ‘male/female’ as with Fitbits, or a variety of apps incorrectly assuming that all people who menstruate <a href="https://medium.com/@maggied/i-tried-tracking-my-period-and-it-was-even-worse-than-i-could-have-imagined-bb46f869f45" target="_blank">also want to know about their ‘fertile window’</a>. In large systems with many humans and machines at work, we have no way of interrogating why a category was merged or not, of understanding why certain anomalies were ignored rather than incorporated, or of questioning why certain assumptions were made.</p>
<p>The only thing we can do is to acknowledge these limitations, and try to use those very systems to our advantage, building our own alternatives or workarounds, collecting our own data, and using the data that is out there to tell the stories that matter to us.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/zara-rahman-can-data-ever-know-who-we-really-are'>http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/zara-rahman-can-data-ever-know-who-we-really-are</a>
</p>
No publishersumandroBodies of EvidenceBig DataData SystemsResearchers at WorkResearchPublicationsBD4DBig Data for Development2019-12-06T05:02:53ZBlog EntryFeminist Design Practices
http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/artez-platform-aayush-rathi-akash-sheshadri-ambika-tandon-feminist-design-practices
<b>Aayush Rathi and Akash Sheshadri and Ambika Tandon co-authored a research paper on 'Feminist Design Practices' which was published in a special issue of Apria, a peer-reviewed journal hosted at ArtEZ University. The special issue "Feminist by Design" highlights the work of the Feminist Internet Research Network and its contributions to building an equitable internet through design interventions.</b>
<h3>Abstract</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Feminist and design justice principles can be adopted into research praxis to make knowledge less extractive and more accessible. These principles include making research and outreach more participatory, translating academic knowledge into more accessible forms, and channelling research into action that can challenge patriarchy and other systems of domination.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">This paper focusses on the outreach and communication of policy research to outline its potential for producing radical change and translating knowledge across communities. The authors reflect on their experiences of producing research for domestic workers and workers’ collectives in India to highlight challenges and ways forward for accessible research forms.</p>
<hr />
<p>To access the full article published in Apria, <a class="external-link" href="https://apria.artez.nl/feminist-design-practices/">click here</a></p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/artez-platform-aayush-rathi-akash-sheshadri-ambika-tandon-feminist-design-practices'>http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/artez-platform-aayush-rathi-akash-sheshadri-ambika-tandon-feminist-design-practices</a>
</p>
No publisherAayush Rathi, Akash Sheshadri and Ambika TandonGenderResearchPlatform EconomyPeer Reviewed ArticleDomestic WorkResearchers at Work2022-04-16T03:34:51ZBlog EntryRe:Wiring Bodies
http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/histories-of-the-internet/rewiring-bodies.pdf
<b>Asha’s monograph is a historical research inquiry to understand the ways in which gendered bodies are shaped by the Internet imaginaries in contemporary India. </b>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/histories-of-the-internet/rewiring-bodies.pdf'>http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/histories-of-the-internet/rewiring-bodies.pdf</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaResearch2011-09-27T06:46:00ZFileExploring Big Data for Development: An Electricity Sector Case Study from India
http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/exploring-big-data-for-development-an-electricity-sector-case-study-from-india
<b>This working paper by Ritam Sengupta, Dr. Richard Heeks, Sumandro Chattapadhyay, and Dr. Christopher Foster draws from the field study undertaken by Ritam Sengupta, and is published by the Global Development Institute, University of Manchester. The field study was commissioned by the CIS, with support from the University of Manchester and the University of Sheffield.</b>
<p> </p>
<h4>Download the working paper: <a href="http://hummedia.manchester.ac.uk/institutes/gdi/publications/workingpapers/di/di_wp66.pdf" target="_blank">PDF</a></h4>
<hr />
<h3><strong>Abstract</strong></h3>
<p>This paper presents exploratory research into “data-intensive development” that seeks to inductively identify issues and conceptual frameworks of relevance to big data in developing countries. It presents a case study of big data innovations in “Stelcorp”; a state electricity corporation in India. In an attempt to address losses in electricity distribution, Stelcorp has introduced new digital meters throughout the distribution network to capture big data, and organisation-wide information systems that store and process and disseminate big data.</p>
<p>Emergent issues are identified across three domains: implementation, value and outcome. Implementation of big data has worked relatively well but technical and human challenges remain. The advent of big data has enabled some – albeit constrained – value addition in all areas of organisational operation: customer billing, fault and loss detection, performance measurement, and planning. Yet US$ tens of millions of investment in big data has brought no aggregate improvement in distribution losses or revenue collection. This can be explained by the wider outcome, with big data faltering in the face of external politics; in this case the electoral politics of electrification. Alongside this reproduction of power, the paper also reflects on the way in which big data has enabled shifts in the locus of power: from public to private sector; from labour to management; and from lower to higher levels of management.</p>
<p>A number of conceptual frameworks emerge as having analytical power in studying big data and global development. The information value chain model helps track both implementation and value-creation of big data projects. The design-reality gap model can be used to analyse the nature and extent of barriers facing big data projects in developing countries. And models of power – resource dependency, epistemic models, and wider frameworks – are all shown as helping understand the politics of big data.</p>
<hr />
<em>Cross-posted from <a href="http://www.gdi.manchester.ac.uk/research/publications/other-working-papers/di/di-wp66/">University of Manchester</a>.</em>
<p> </p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/exploring-big-data-for-development-an-electricity-sector-case-study-from-india'>http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/exploring-big-data-for-development-an-electricity-sector-case-study-from-india</a>
</p>
No publishersumandroBig DataData SystemsResearchers at WorkResearchFeaturedPublicationsBig Data for Development2019-03-16T04:33:15ZBlog EntryFinancial Speculation as Urban Planning
http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/events/financial-speculation-as-urban-planning
<b>Talk by Prof Michael Goldman</b>
<p>A talk by Michael Goldman followed by an open discussion organised by a group of concerned citizens and the Centre for Internet and Society, about the roots of the US financial crisis and related dynamics in "world city" planning, such as that here in Bangalore. </p>
<h2>Speaker Bio<br /></h2>
<p>Michael Goldman<br />Associate Professor<br />Dept of Sociology<br />Univ of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN<br />McKnight Presidential Fellow<br /><br /><strong>Interest Areas</strong>: Transnational, political, environmental, and development sociology; Sociology of knowledge and power; Transnational institutions (international finance, expert networks).<br /><br /><strong>Current Research:</strong> Neoliberalism and its discontents; the making of a world city: Bangalore, India; “Water for All”/ water privatization policies; development and environment in North-South relations.</p>
<p><strong>Recent Publications</strong></p>
<ol><li>“How ‘Water for All!’ Became Hegemonic: The Power of the World Bank and its Transnational Policy Networks.” 2007. <em>Geoforum</em> special issue on global water policy, 38(5): 786-800. </li><li> “Under New Management: Historical Context and Current Challenges at the World Bank.” 2007. <em>Brown Journal of World Affairs</em>, special issue on Wolfowitz’s Bank, Vol. XIII: 2, Summer 2007.</li><li>“El neoliberalismo verde.” 2006. Chapter in <em>Las Politicas de la Tierra</em>, Alfonso Guerra and Jose Felix Tezanos, eds. Madrid: Editorial Sistema.</li><li><em>Imperial Nature: </em><em>The World Bank and Struggles for Social Justice in the Age of Globalization</em>.
2005. New Haven, CT and London: Yale University Press. Yale UP
paperback edition, 2006; India edition, Orient Longman Press, 2006;
Japanese edition, Kyoto University Press, 2008.</li><li>“World Bank.” 2005. Entry in <em>Encyclopedia of International Development</em>, Tim Forsyth, ed., London: Routledge.</li><li>“Tracing the Routes/Roots of World Bank Power.” 2005. <em>International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy</em>, special issue on global water policy, 25(1/2): 10-29.</li><li>“The Birth of a Discipline: Producing Authoritative Green Knowledge for the World (Bank).” 2005. Chapter in <em>Earthly Politics: Local and Global in Environmental Governance</em>, Sheila Jasanoff and Marybeth Long, eds. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. </li><li>“La tragedia della recinzione dei beni comuni.” 2005. <em>Beni Comuni: Fra Tradizione e Futuro</em>, Giovanna Ricoveri, ed., Rome: Editrice Missionaria Italiana. </li><li>“Eco-governmentality and Other Transnational Practices of a ‘Green’ World Bank.” 2004. in <em>Liberation Ecologies</em> 2nd ed. Richard Peet and Michael Watts, eds. London: Routledge. </li></ol>
<p> </p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/events/financial-speculation-as-urban-planning'>http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/events/financial-speculation-as-urban-planning</a>
</p>
No publishersunilResearch2011-04-05T04:36:21ZEventReaping the Benefits of Gamification
http://editors.cis-india.org/digital-natives/making-change/reaping-the-benefits-of-gamification
<b>As a part of the Making Change blog-post series, in this post we will identify a new technique: gamification. This technique is being used for sustainable environment conservation by modern day change-makers. We interview two out of three co-founders of Reap benefit- Kamal Raj and Gautam Prakash who believe in the adoption of more sustained environmental practices that induce social change towards conserving the environment.</b>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<div align="left">
<pre style="text-align: justify;"><strong>CHANGE-MAKER:</strong> Kamal Raj,Gautam Prakash and Kuldeep Dantewadia
<strong>ORGANISATION:</strong> Reap Benefit
<strong>METHOD OF CHANGE: </strong>Gamification and Human centric systems for consistent behavior change towards better waste-water-energy management.
<strong>STRATEGY OF CHANGE:</strong> Building a new era of environmentally conscious youth in India through technology and an interdisciplinary approach to change.</pre>
</div>
<p style="text-align: justify;">We depend on the environment and the resources that it provides us, but surprisingly we are unaware of the effects of its depletion and the need to save these resources. A few of the problems that people now face are with resources like- water,waste and energy because we do not acknowledge the fact that we are wasting them unconsciously. This only triggers the need for more and more solutions which would change the way people perceive the resources and realize the need to conserve. While trying to start an initiative to come up with some solutions to manage these resources, we are approached by the question of the <strong>accessibility, affordability and sustainability</strong> of those solutions. The solutions and the practice of that solution is a two-way process for any sustainable making-change initiative.</p>
<p align="left" style="text-align: justify;">In this post I will be introducing to you Reap Benefit and the technique of Gamification. I will bring out a comparative analysis of the various definitions by renowned gaming authorities across the world who are involved in the process of using games in non-game contexts to bring out change in the offline space. Only after this, will I be acknowledging the importance of the strategies used by Reap Benefit for making these solutions sustainable. The strategies will be- human centric solutions and gamification. Then, I will bring out the connection between these two strategies to provide you an inter-disciplinary understanding of the making change process. Next, these strategies will be coupled with the discussion on the use of technology to speed-up the process. Also, throughout this post we will be referring to the blog-<strong> Methods of Social Change</strong> written by Denisse Albornoz and we will also make an attempt to answer the questions- 'Who,Where,How' of this making change project in relation to Reap Benefit. The blog post can be accessed <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/digital-natives/making-change/methods-for-social-change/">here. </a></p>
<p align="left" style="text-align: justify;">Before the journey of the post, I would like you to read this little success story narrated by Kamal Raj in the interview that led Reap benefit a step higher in its aim for making change:</p>
<p class="callout">Reap benefit went to a school which received only 400 litres of water supply a day resulting in poor health and care conditions. This water would be used for washing their plates after the mid-day meal and also for sanitation systems. This would only make the place a platform for water, food and breeding mosquitoes all together. Since the students usually consumed food with their right hand, while taking the plate to wash it, they would leave the plates at one side; they would open the tap with their left hand, would take their plates again and start washing them. During this time interval, they would waste a lot of water. <br /><br />As, a solution to this, Reap Benefit changed the taps which would discharge 60% less of water. They also created a clean water purification system. Now, with the same 400 litres of water, students washed their plates and adopted better sanitation practices. The challenges that they faced actually made them innovate better systems for remarkable change.</p>
<p align="left"><strong> <img src="http://editors.cis-india.org/home-images/tapswithoutaerators.jpg/image_preview" title="taps without aerators" height="157" width="159" alt="taps without aerators" class="image-inline image-inline" /> <img src="http://editors.cis-india.org/home-images/tapswithaerators.jpg/image_preview" title="taps with aerators" height="157" width="160" alt="taps with aerators" class="image-inline image-inline" /><br /></strong></p>
<p align="left"><strong>Think about these questions for a minute..<br /></strong></p>
<div align="left">
<ul>
<li>Does this story relate to <strong>physical needs?</strong></li>
<li>Does this story relate to <strong>creative problem solving?</strong></li>
<li>Is it a story that brings out<strong> better affordable solutions?</strong></li>
<li>With this solution were the <strong>students benefited</strong>?</li>
<li>Was this a <strong>successful idea?</strong></li></ul>
</div>
<h2>Reap Benefit</h2>
<p>First of all, take a look at a brief introduction of Reap Benefit given by Kamal Raj:</p>
<p></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;" class="callout"><strong>Kamal: </strong><em>"Reap Benefit works to implement affordable solutions, enabling quantifiable waste-water-energy management systems, as a way to facilitate behavioural change by engaging the head, hand and heart of the user. Having worked with many people, we have realized that behaviour modification allows for more sustained adoption of environment sustainability practices. We take them through a 4-stage behavioural change process – <strong>‘Unconsciously Wrong’, ‘Consciously Wrong’, ‘Consciously Right’ and ‘Unconsciously Right’ </strong>(we will understand this process later in the post). A link to the website is here- <a href="http://reapbenefit.org/">Reap Benefit</a>."</em></p>
<p align="left" style="text-align: justify;">Reap Benefit is bound together by the deep concern for the environment they have and the dead-lock issues that it faces. They aim for affordable solutions with maximum impact in the least time. Kamal marks that they work only with the students within the age group 10-16, because the use gamification is most effective in this age group. Also, he makes an addition to that by saying the rewards the older age groups demand are not as easy-to-meet as those of the age group they work with. It also aims to co-create experiences by working hands on with the youth: their target audience for creating change.</p>
<p align="left" style="text-align: justify;"><img src="http://editors.cis-india.org/home-images/copy_of_reapbenefit.jpg/image_preview" title="Reap benefit" height="175" width="234" alt="Reap benefit" class="image-inline image-inline" /></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">It is said that the more you practice the better you get. By this, I would like to introduce you to the concept of<strong> quotidian activism</strong>. Reap Benefit deeply believes in this concept. But, what does quotidian activism mean? A working definition is: <em>the form of activism occurring everyday.</em> This form of activism may lead to people making actions sustainable and achieve consistent behavioural change, supported by products and innovations provided by Reap Benefit (later in this post, I will introduce you to some of these innovations).</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Finally, Reap Benefit highly focuses on the need to answer the <em>‘</em><strong>why’</strong> behind the problem. This answer would provide a more personal understanding of the problem for creating change. By engaging the participant with the 'why', he will also be able to evaluate the impact and the benefits of his actions, take ownership of the problem and comprehend the need for innovation.</p>
<h3 align="left">What is 'change' for Reap Benefit?</h3>
<p align="left">Presuming every organization has its own design to making change, Reap Benefit's understands it in the following way:</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;" class="callout"><strong>Gautam: </strong><em>“Change for us is a very sub-conscious part of your life. (It is also a) two stage process- <strong>knowledge:</strong> which will tell us we need solution and the<strong> solution.</strong> The knowledge will tell you that you are <em>unconsciously </em>doing the wrong thing. Then when you realize it, you go to a stage of consciously wrong. When you keep doing this you reach a stage when you know that you are consciously doing right, and soon, you are doing it every single day and then you unconsciously do it.”</em> </p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">I will attempt to understand their process of change by adding that this 'to be good' drive in the individual or the need for public approval is what makes them do <em>unconsciously right </em>everyday, and then it is only the last stage what makes it a habit. Gautam also mentions that each of these stages has an impact of its own and altogether, they become more powerful. This change process will lead to sustainable change according to him.</p>
<div style="text-align: justify;">We have seen the change agents that are vital to create change, but how is this change executed? In the next section we will look at two strategies used for making change: <em>gamification</em> and <em>human-centred design</em> and later, we will only try to produce a connection between them.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;"> </div>
<h2>Discovering Gamification</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify;">In this section, we will unpack the first part of the<strong> 'how' </strong>question. First of all, we will compare the various definitions of the technique given by people involved in understanding the use of game elements in the non-game contexts, to create change in the emotional and social behaviour of people. The definitions of these three people in the big list of so-called gamification authorities will be used provides us with keywords for a comparative understanding of what the technique means. These three people are:</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>JANE McGONIGAL: </strong>She is an American game designer and author who advocates the use of mobile and digital technology to channel positive attitudes and collaboration in a real world context.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>GABE ZICHERMANN:</strong><em><strong> </strong></em>He is an author, public speaker, and self-described "serial entrepreneur." He has worked as a proponent of leveraging <a title="Game mechanics" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_mechanics">game mechanics</a> in business, education, and other non-entertainment platforms to increase user engagement through gamification.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><em><strong>JESSE SCHELL</strong>:</em> He is an American video game designer an acclaimed author, CEO of Schell Games and a Distinguished Professor of the Practice of <a title="Entertainment Technology" class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entertainment_Technology">Entertainment Technology</a>.</p>
<h3>Definitions</h3>
<table class="plain">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><strong>JANE McCONIGAL</strong><br /></td>
<td><strong>GABE ZICHERMANN</strong><br /></td>
<td><strong>JESSE SCHELL</strong><br /></td>
</tr>
<tr style="text-align: justify;">
<td>“It is a blissful <strong>productivity</strong> acquired by the flourishing feeling,<br />that is, accomplishments in a game but only with a <strong>volunteering<br />attribute </strong>of the participant.” </td>
<td>“Games are the only<br /><strong>force</strong> in the universe<br />that can get people to take actions <strong>against their self-interest</strong> in a <br /><strong>predictable</strong> way without using force.” </td>
<td>“It is a <strong>problem solving situation</strong><br />that you enter into because <strong>you want to</strong>.” </td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p align="left">I would be like to bring points of intersections between these three definitions.</p>
<div align="left">
<ol>
<li>
<div align="left">
<div style="text-align: justify;"><strong>VOLUNTEERING ATTRIBUTE VS. USE OF FORCE</strong>: The volunteering attribute is an efficient way to foster sustainable participation, as opposed to the use of force which makes a campaign less appealing.</div>
</div>
</li>
<li>
<div align="left">
<div style="text-align: justify;"><strong>PROBLEM SOLVING SKILLS</strong>: Games are a very responsive way of trying to accomplish problem solving as the person is engaged with the problem and willing to solve it.</div>
</div>
</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><strong>PRODUCTIVITY</strong>: There problem solving skills leads the participant to a desired outcome. </li></ol>
These points also give you a clear understanding of Reap Benefit who works along the same lines with the volunteer or participant to solve the problem of conservation.<br />But, does the usage of games actually produce behavioral change? If so, how do games provide this function? These are some of the questions we will try and attempt to answer in the next section.</div>
<h3 align="left"></h3>
<h3 align="left">Games as a Tool to Influence Behaviour</h3>
<p id="docs-internal-guid-9cb641a5-daab-08be-6d01-b8f612949133" style="text-align: justify;" dir="ltr">Playing games results in obtaining rewards in some form of the other. These rewards psychologically induce a positive emotional feeling in the participant. When the participant learns something through games and when that emotional feeling arises, he tries and incorporates the same solutions in the games to solving the real life problems. This brings out an improved result and problem solving ability. But what about the affordability of that solution? We need to understand ways to make it affordable because any task once done will not induce consistency in the behavior change. But the task repeated many times will improve or change the behavior over a long period of time. So, when the question of affordability (financial fear) is answered then the emotional feeling primarily can bring out change in the behavior of the individual. (Yongwen Xu, 2011).</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;" dir="ltr">There are also some game mechanics that are to be kept in mind to change behavior while designing games apart from just the element of fun and affordability. So, we will now look at another authority involved in gamification in the upcoming section to explore these mechanics. We will also try and understand these mechanics in relation to Reap Benefit.</p>
<h3>Game Mechanics</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Seth Priebatsch is the creator of <a title="SCVNGR" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SCVNGR">SCVNGR</a> and <a title="LevelUp" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LevelUp">LevelUp</a> social gaming sites. He has provided a list of game mechanics which could be necessary to understand games and why they produce particular changes for a better environment. These are:</p>
<blockquote>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><em><strong>Appointment Dynamics</strong></em>: to bring players to do something at a pre-defined time and place.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><strong><em>Influence and status</em></strong>: any participant or group that is involved in the change-making process, is influenced by the presence of others because of the competition and the envy that leads them to carry forward the task</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><strong><em>Progression Dynamics:</em></strong> the success of the student is measured through the tasks by giving rewards. </li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"> <strong><em>Communal Discovery</em></strong>: the entire group or community works towards making change. </li></ul>
</blockquote>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Seth's model could be applied to the process of creating change that Reap Benefit uses, and this is illustrated through their experience of a student-run energy audit in the field. A set of students were assigned the task of doing an audit for the energy conservation and the energy usage of a Puma store. They were just given the base for the audit but the criteria for the audit was planned by them. The students were encouraged by the thought of <strong>getting rewards </strong>for the task. Kamal recalls that they had used games to make the children understand it.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Relating this to Seth's Model, the children were given a <strong>pre-defined time and place</strong> for doing the task and were influenced both, by the element of<strong> competition</strong> between the students and also the idea of receiving a reward once the task is completed. The task only ends by obtaining a sense of <strong>communal discovery</strong> that, all together they can make change on a personal and team level. We understood Seth's model but we will try and comprehend deeper, the use of rewards for inducing behavioral change in the next section.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify;">Rewards Mechanism</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Kamal commented on Reap Benefit's 2-3 months periodic reward mechanism. He believes that this makes students equal in position before starting every task.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;" class="callout"><strong>Kamal:</strong> <em>"We use a lot of things like rewards to motivate them to play a game (with us) and we personalize all these rewards based on the questionnaire that we do at the beginning where we subtly understand what they like." </em></p>
<p>This information which gives ideas of how to encourage each student to get the best performance out of them.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>a) Extrinsic rewards: </strong>The extrinsic reward here, for example would be allotting points to various participants/ teams. Michael Wu, a chief scientist in subjects like digital technologies, says extrinsic rewards are like a jump start to intrinsic rewards.Once the student acknowledges them, they acquire a sense of ownership and innovation and are empowered to create new solutions. Hence, awareness is not created before the task but an output from the task.</p>
<p>Refer to Gabe Zichermann's video for more on the importance of gamification and the rewards mechanism.</p>
<p>.<iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/SwkbuSjZdXI" frameborder="0" height="315" width="560"></iframe></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">b) Intrinsic rewards: Apart from producing behavior change, gamification's can also indicate learning. One of the elements that facilitates learning would be:</p>
<dl>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Player Control</strong><em>: </em>A participant will have certain amount of control while gaming which would lead to a sense of responsibility and accomplishment. Learning could be intrinsic only if there is responsibility of gaining a reward through a task.</p>
</dl>
<p>There are many other elements that produce learning and they could be accessed <a href="http://www.yukaichou.com/">here.</a></p>
<h2>Human-Centric Model</h2>
<div class="pullquote">Human-centred systems aim to preserve or enhance human skills, in both manual and office work, in environments in which technology tends to undermine the skills that people use in their work<em>.</em></div>
<p style="text-align: justify;">We will now answer the second part of the 'how' question and show another strategy for making change. Human centric systems do not use machines to create solutions to the problems but rather design the game with the importance of the 'user-friendly' element. This has been explored in a past post by Denisse. Access it <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/digital-natives/making-change/digital-storytelling-human-behavior-vs-technology" class="internal-link">here.</a></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Reap Benefit's ‘transparent dustbin’ is a great model to illustrate this. The dustbin is transparent for people to see and then throw the waste in according to different types of waste. It is kept at an eye-level so that the waste already thrown inside can help the person perceive and throw his waste in the exact dustbin and to make it easily accessible for the public.</p>
<p> </p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://editors.cis-india.org/home-images/dustbin.jpg/image_preview" alt="transparent dustbin" class="image-inline image-inline" title="transparent dustbin" /></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">These human-centric approaches provide a consistent change in the behaviour of the individual because the method is user-friendly and make segregation easy. The objectives is to engage in unconscious behavioural change. The transparent dustbin is better explained by this audio byte of Kamal Raj:</p>
<p><br /><iframe src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/147205714&color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_artwork=true" frameborder="no" scrolling="no" height="166" width="100%"></iframe></p>
<p>Another innovation of Reap Benefit, is the compose mixture</p>
<p class="callout">Kamal says: <em><strong>"The idea was to throw something with it, like the degrade compost product we innovated and the waste would compost, without smell, without taking 3 months." </strong></em></p>
<p>This mix, by giving visual feedback could be accessible by anyone due to its low cost and easy-to-use method. So, these innovations justify and explain the benefits of human centric models and also produce many new ideas in the minds of the students( James,2010). I would like to explain this by a chain of ideas that arise while segregating plastic and non-plastic waste.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">The participation in the structure (waste segregation model)</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://editors.cis-india.org/home-images/copy_of_arrowdown.jpe/image_preview" title="arrow" height="28" width="33" alt="arrow" class="image-inline image-inline" /><br /> The negatives of the model (harmful effects of mixing plastic in the model)</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://editors.cis-india.org/home-images/copy_of_arrowdown.jpe/image_preview" title="arrow" height="28" width="33" alt="arrow" class="image-inline image-inline" /><br /> Realizing the need for another mechanism (dustbins for different types of waste)</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://editors.cis-india.org/home-images/copy_of_arrowdown.jpe/image_preview" title="arrow" height="28" width="33" alt="arrow" class="image-inline image-inline" /><br /> Another idea to support the new mechanism (dustbins should be transparent and named)<br /> <img src="http://editors.cis-india.org/home-images/copy_of_arrowdown.jpe/image_preview" title="arrow" height="35" width="33" alt="arrow" class="image-inline image-inline" /><br /> The need to spread this (start campaigning for the system)</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Explaining this model in brief: the waste segregation model is the segregation of plastic and other waste. During this process the three ideas that arise are: a) the harmful effects of plastic, b) the need for a plastic waste dustbin and a non-plastic waste dustbin, and the last one, b) the transparency of the dustbin. Then the major question of <strong>spreading the model by using technology</strong> arises. This would be the model thought by the participant during the discussion of the usage of technology for sustainability.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">But what is <strong>sustainability</strong> and how is it important? Complementing the technique of gamification and the human- centric approaches with technology to make it a sustainable solution is a challenge. This system may be adopted by all. But the aftermath of implementing this apparatus is a challenging question. In the next section we will comprehend the role of technology adding a more positive result to Reap benefit.</p>
<h2>The Role of Technology and Media</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify;">This section will look at how Reap Benefit uses technology and media and then try and understand how the use of technology can make these solutions sustainable.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;" class="callout"><strong>Kamal:</strong> <em>"There are two aspects that are already existing- knowledge and the products. So, when someone starts the journey, technology enables us to be with them in this journey without us being there. Without the sharing of photos through digital media like facebook, keeping track of the journey would not be possible. We need technology to bridge the gap."<strong> </strong></em></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Information access is facilitated by the use of technology and digital media or social networking, as they share the systems with their online community. But, when this access is denied the only solution is to be a part of the in-tutor system and realize the positives of the same through experience. Technology takes Reap Benefit a step higher in its aim to make sustainable change by targeting youth, the main users of social network platforms.</p>
<h2>Making Change</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify;">We started this post with an introduction to a very strong initiative- Reap Benefit. Techniques such as gamification and human-centric systems are used effectively by this organization to create maximum benefits. It focuses highly on the use of these strategies to induce behaviour modification in youth. We attempted to build a relationship between these techniques to answer whether they are sustainable, intelligible and accessible solutions to making change.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Summing up the 'WHO,WHERE AND HOW' question- We have only understood that, to use the opportunity and take charge before others do so, we need a 3-stage plan. We understood that the WHO means the target, the change agents who will lead the initiative and comprehend the need for change by themselves. The question of WHERE focuses on the idea of making change in the public space rather than in the private sphere which limits the extent of the change. We have summarized this only by bringing out the importance of technology to make change the largest priority of youth. The question of HOW is understood in this post by the use to affordable solutions.</p>
<p id="docs-internal-guid-9cb641a5-daab-ddf5-183f-233098a5b65d" style="text-align: justify;" dir="ltr">The problems faced by the environment call for solutions that are affordable and accessible. These two qualities of the solution would only make it sustainable.These solutions are met by various game elements in a game and the human centric approaches that engage the individual in problem solving by disseminating knowledge to them and informing them about the problems. This makes those solutions to problem-solving evaluatable through quantity and the quality of the result of the problem. Behavior change will be only possible by solutions that break the existing schemas in the society and create new innovations. (James,2010). Now, through sustainable, innovative solutions through these techniques we can make the dream of a clear and clean environment a reality.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">While this blog may help you gain a positive understanding about gamification it would certainly lead you to many more questions. In this digital age, we would surely have to ‘re-game-think’ the methodologies for change again and agai,n not only in terms of using unique techniques such as gamification but also in terms of accessibility of such techniques for change in the structural divisions in society.</p>
<h3>Footnotes</h3>
<ol>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Reward is one of the elements that drives the individual to adopt the gamification technique- the reward/feedback mechanism. You can acquire a profound reading on more of these elements that leads to further making-change here- http://www.yukaichou.com/.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">A few more elements like the player control and communal discovery that indicates learning through Gamification could be found here- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamification</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">More information on persuasive messages, strategies for changing behavior, rules for effective delivery, and how to manage the participants/audience in the making change initiative can be found-http://sustainability.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/Promoting_Sustain_Behavior_Primer.pdf</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">To hear a talk show of Yukaichou on TEDx about Gamification- check it here- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5Qjuegtiyc</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">To hear another talk show of Gabe Zichermann on TEDx about Gamification- check here- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2N-5maKZ9Q</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">The process of creating sustainability through gamification and technology, according to Rachel James, goes as follows: </li></ol>
<ol></ol>
<ul>
<li>Attracting attention by breaking the existing schemas (mental structures of preconceived idea, Jean Piaget,1926) This can be done by creating a mystery for them and then involving the individual in complex thought processing to change the schema. Story-telling could also induce emotional reactions to inspire or simulate them.</li>
<li>Persuade them through gamification </li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Make the strategies for change very rigid which cannot be changed often and acknowledge what you deliver to your audience. </li></ul>
<h3>Sources</h3>
<ol>
<li>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamification</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">James, Rachel. “Promoting Sustainable Behavior- a guide to successful communication”. Web. August 2010. </li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Xu, Yongwen. ” literature review on web application Gamification and analytics”. Web. August 2011. </li>
<li>http://www.yukaichou.com</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Albornoz, Denisse. 'Methods for Social Change'. Web. February 2014. The link for the same is here- http://cis-india.org/digital-natives/making-change/methods-for-social-change. </li></ol>
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<p style="text-align: justify;">About Dipali Sheth:</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Studying in my 3rd year at Christ University gave me the opportunity to intern at Centre for Internet and Society. This post has been a result of my internship for a month under the Making Change program at CIS. My interest in Research and New Media started the journey here and has only added to making Research my zeal in the near future.</p>
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For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/digital-natives/making-change/reaping-the-benefits-of-gamification'>http://editors.cis-india.org/digital-natives/making-change/reaping-the-benefits-of-gamification</a>
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No publisherdipaliResearchers at WorkNet CulturesMaking ChangeResearch2015-10-24T14:24:55ZBlog Entry