The Centre for Internet and Society
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e-DIRAP Google+ Hangout on Open Government
http://editors.cis-india.org/news/e-dirap-google-hangout-on-open-government
<b>The e-DIRAP Hangout on Open Government was held on Thursday, July 25, 2013. The Hangout brought together nine professionals from Australia, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia and the Philippines to discuss open government initiatives in their respective countries, the challenges they face, and open source tools for open government.</b>
<p><b>Watch the Video below</b></p>
<p><iframe frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/CaEKss0zC6Q" width="330"></iframe></p>
<p>The following panelists participated in the hangout. Sunil Abraham was one of them:</p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Danny Butt, Research Fellow in Participatory Public Space, University of Melbourne, Australia</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Sunil Abraham, Executive Director, Centre for Internet and Society, India</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Venkatesh Hariharan, Director, Knowledge Commons, India (previously, Head of Public Policy at Google India)</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Maryati Abdullah, National Coordinator, Publish What You Pay, Indonesia (also Steering Committee Member of Open Government Partnership)</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Yanuar Nugroho, Director and Expert Adviser to the Head of the President's Delivery Unit for Development Monitoring and Oversight (UKP4), Indonesia -- to be confirmed</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Tomoaki Watanabe, Executive Research Fellow, Centre for Global Communications, International University of Japan (also Executive Director of Common Sphere - the host of Creative Commons Japan, and Co-founder of Open Knowledge Foundation Japan)</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Shita Laksmi, Program Manager, Southeast Asia Technology and Transparency Initiative, Hivos Regional Office Southeast Asia</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Alvin B. Marcelo, Co-chair, Asia eHealth Information Network</li>
</ul>
<hr />
<ul>
<li>Moderator: Khairil Yusof, Co-founder, Sinar Project, Malaysia (also e-DIRAP team member)</li>
<li>e-DIRAP Hangout Coordinator: Christine Apikul</li>
</ul>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/news/e-dirap-google-hangout-on-open-government'>http://editors.cis-india.org/news/e-dirap-google-hangout-on-open-government</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaOpennessVideo2013-08-08T04:20:31ZNews ItemA Kannada Wikipedia Workshop at Sagara
http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/kannada-wiki-workshop-at-sagara
<b>On Sunday, July 28, 2013, a day-long Kannada Wikipedia workshop was conducted at Sagara, Shimoga Dist, Karnataka by the Centre for Internet and Society's Access to Knowledge (CIS-A2K) team. In this post, I share with you the happenings from the workshop.</b>
<h3>Video</h3>
<p><iframe frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ZWk8hI5Bp9s" width="320"></iframe></p>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: justify; "> </p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Some months ago, I got a phone call from <a class="external-link" href="http://www.chinmayamrao.com/">Chinmaya M Rao</a> from <a class="external-link" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sagara,_Shimoga_district">Sagara, Shimoga District</a> requesting me to conduct a Kannada Wikipedia workshop at Sagara. He informed me that there are quite a good number of writers in that area who are interested in adding content to Kannada Wikipedia but don't know how to. Many telephonic discussions followed, many dates were considered, changed, iterated and finally the workshop was organised on Sunday, July 28, 2013. The programme was inaugurated by <a class="external-link" href="http://kn.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%B2%95%E0%B2%BE%E0%B2%97%E0%B3%8B%E0%B2%A1%E0%B3%81_%E0%B2%A4%E0%B2%BF%E0%B2%AE%E0%B3%8D%E0%B2%AE%E0%B2%AA%E0%B3%8D%E0%B2%AA">Shri Kagodu Thimmappa</a>, Speaker of the current <a class="external-link" href="http://kla.kar.nic.in/">Legislative Assembly of Karnataka</a>. Famous Kannada writer <a class="external-link" href="https://kn.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%B2%A8%E0%B2%BE_%E0%B2%A1%E0%B2%BF%E0%B2%B8%E0%B3%8B%E0%B2%9C">Naa D'Souza</a> was the chief guest. Shri G.T. Shridhar Sharma, President of <a class="external-link" href="http://www.kannadatimes.com/kannada-times-media-world-r">Kannada Times Media World</a>, presided over the function. The programme was jointly organised by CIS and <a class="external-link" href="http://www.kannadatimes.com/">Kannada Times Media World</a>, Sagara.</p>
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<p><img src="http://editors.cis-india.org/KannadaWikipediaWorkshopSagaraJuly282013008.jpg/image_preview" alt="Shri Kagodu Thimmappa inaugurating the workshop" class="image-inline image-inline" title="Shri Kagodu Thimmappa inaugurating the workshop" /></p>
</th>
<td style="text-align: justify; ">Speaking after inaugurating the workshop, Shri Kagodu Thimmappa said "the basic knowledge of technology has become important as one could get ample, accurate information on various topics, and current affairs of the world in a minute all languages, including Kannada. It is the onus of the people of the sate to preserve and promote the use of Kannada language." (Deccan Herald, Shimaga edition, July 30, 2013). Naa D'Souza mentioned how earlier knowledge was the monopoly of some particular sections of the society and how technology has transformed knowledge into an asset of all the people irrespective of caste, race, religion, region and financial status.</td>
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<td colspan="2" style="text-align: center; "><i>Seen above is a picture of Shri Kagodu Thimmappa inagurating the workshop</i><br /></td>
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</tbody>
</table>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">I then gave a brief introduction to <a class="external-link" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page">Wikipedia</a> and <a class="external-link" href="http://kn.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%B2%AE%E0%B3%81%E0%B2%96%E0%B3%8D%E0%B2%AF_%E0%B2%AA%E0%B3%81%E0%B2%9F">Kannada Wikipedia</a>. There are many encylopaedias in <a class="external-link" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kannada_language">Kannada</a> but very few are regularly updated. They are seldom digitised. People who add content to Kannada Wikipedia are in search of authentic information. These are available in many encylopaedias brought in by various academies, associations and universities funded by the Government of Karnataka. People of the state have a right on these content. I requested Shri Kagodu Thimmappa to bring them under the <a class="external-link" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/">Creative Commons License</a> so that the active Kannada Wikipedians can make use of them to add content into Kannada Wikipedia. Shri Kagodu Thimmappa promised to look into this.</p>
<table class="plain">
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<p style="text-align: justify; ">After the inauguration, the actual presentation by me started at a cybercafe run by Istam Computers. It was raining heavily. Participants walked for 5 minutes in heavy rain to reach the venue. The presentation went on till lunch time. The place was very congested. One participant, B. V. Ravindranath, who is a practicing Chartered Accountant at Sagara, offered his place to conduct the hands-on workshop. Hence, all participants went to the new venue which was quite comfortable. Participants did the hands-on editing of Wikipedia till 7.30 p.m. Eleven persons participated in the workshop and edited actively. Some were seen editing Kannada Wikipedia regularly after the workshop.</p>
</td>
<th>
<p><img src="http://editors.cis-india.org/KannadaWikipediaWorkshopSagaraJuly282013027.jpg/image_preview" alt="Kannada Wikipedia workshop at Sagara" class="image-inline image-inline" title="Kannada Wikipedia workshop at Sagara" /></p>
</th>
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<td colspan="2"><i>Dr. U.B. Pavanaja is seen sharing a light moment with participants from the workshop in the above picture</i>.</td>
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</tbody>
</table>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">An active Kannada Wikipedian, <a class="external-link" href="http://kn.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%B2%B8%E0%B2%A6%E0%B2%B8%E0%B3%8D%E0%B2%AF:Bschandrasgr/%E0%B2%AA%E0%B2%B0%E0%B2%BF%E0%B2%9A%E0%B2%AF">B S Chandrashekhar</a> from Sagara, who has more than <a class="external-link" href="http://toolserver.org/~quentinv57/sulinfo/Bschandrasgr">4500 edits on Kannada Wikipedia</a> to his credit was felicitated during the inauguration function. He is 79 years old. Despite his old age, he actively paticipated in the workshop till the end and learnt many intricacies which he was otherwise unaware of.</p>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: justify; "><i>In the end, I would like to personally thank Chinmay Rao and G. T. Shridhar Sharma of Kannada Times who toiled a lot in organising the wokrshop. Also thanks to B. V. Ravindranath, CA, who provided the venue for the hands-on workshop</i>.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/kannada-wiki-workshop-at-sagara'>http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/kannada-wiki-workshop-at-sagara</a>
</p>
No publisherpavanajaAccess to KnowledgeWikimediaWikipediaWorkshopVideoOpenness2014-03-25T08:51:36ZBlog EntryInstitute on Internet & Society: Event Report
http://editors.cis-india.org/telecom/knowledge-repository-on-internet-access/institute-on-internet-and-society-event-report
<b>The Institute on Internet and Society organized by the Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) with grant supported by the Ford Foundation took place from June 8 to 14, 2013 at the Golden Palms Resort in Bangalore.</b>
<p style="text-align: justify;">A total of 20 participants spent the seven days in a residential institute, learning about the fundamental technologies of the Internet and topics on which CIS has expertise on such as Accessibility, Openness, Privacy, Digital Natives and Internet Governance.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">The participants belonged to various stakeholder groups and it provided a common forum (first of its kind in India) to discuss and share ideas. Twenty-four expert speakers from various domains came to share their knowledge and speak about their work, so as to encourage activity in the field and supply resources from which participants could learn to increase their accessibility, range and funding possibilities, as well as network with the speakers and amongst themselves.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">The Institute has triggered a number of follow-up events — those that the participants organized themselves with the help of CIS staff, including Crypto Parties in Bangalore, Delhi and Mumbai, that taught netizens to keep their online communication private. In addition to that, the CIS Access2Knowledge (A2K) team could rope in eight new Wikipedians who will contribute to Wikipedia in Indic languages.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">The day wise talks and activities that took place are listed below:</p>
<hr />
<h2 style="text-align: justify;">Day 1: June 8, 2013</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify;">The seven day residential Institute began on Saturday, the 8th of June with a warm welcome by Dr. Ravina Aggarwal and Dr. Nirmita Narasimhan. They outlined the purpose of the residential institute and briefly went over the topics which would get covered over the week long duration. This was followed by each of the participants introducing themselves briefly and also stating their expectations from the Institute, why they were attending the same and what they hope to get at the end.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"> </p>
<h3>Session 1: History of the Internet</h3>
<p>(by Pranesh Prakash and Bernadette Längle)</p>
<table class="listing">
<tbody>
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<td>
<p><img src="http://editors.cis-india.org/home-images/Pranesh.png/@@images/539b71f7-111a-4700-a90b-17cbdb5589bc.png" alt="" class="image-inline" title="Pranesh Prakash" /></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><em>Above is a picture of Pranesh Prakash <br />speaking about the History of the Internet during <br />the first session on Day 1.</em></p>
</td>
<td>
<p style="text-align: justify;">The Institute proceedings kicked off with the first session, <strong>History of the Internet</strong> by Pranesh Prakash and Bernadette Längle. Participants learned where the Internet originally came from and how it is organized, as well as different technologies surrounding the Internet. Pranesh Prakash and Bernadette Längle set the start point of the Internet in the late 50's when the Russians send the first satellite in space (Sputnik) and the US founded the DARPA(<em>Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency</em>), a research agency that was tasked with creating new technologies for military use. DARPA is credited with development of many technologies which have had a major effect on the world, including computer networking, as well as NLS, which was both the first hypertext system, and an important precursor to the contemporary ubiquitous graphical user interface (GUI). A few years later the first four computers were connected to a network.</p>
</td>
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</tbody>
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<p style="text-align: justify;">After the Network Control Protocol (NCP, later replaced by the TCP/IP) was invented in 1970, the first applications were made: email (connecting people), telnet (connecting computers) and the file transport protocol (FTP) (connecting information) — all of these are still in use today. Participants were surprised to learn that the Web, most commonly used today, known to be invented by one single person in the 90's, actually existed for a long time prior to the '90s.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>VIDEO</strong></p>
<iframe src="//www.youtube.com/embed/p4iFqDnhNZI" frameborder="0" height="250" width="250"></iframe>
<h3 style="text-align: justify;">Session 2: Domestic Bodies and Mechanisms</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify;">(by Pranesh Prakash)<br />After lunch, Pranesh Prakash led the second session about Domestic Bodies and Mechanisms and he started with some of the problems associated with the Domestic Regulatory Bodies:</p>
<ol>
<li>Lack of coherence and consistency in Internet related policies</li>
<li>Rather than co-operating, the different agencies compete with each other.</li>
<li>Communication with the public is of different degrees and openness of different agencies varies.</li></ol>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DEITY), is one of the most important public agencies & the CERT-in focuses on issues like malware and content regulation. There is also the STQC (Standard Setting and Quality Setting Body).</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">The work of these organizations is to govern the Internet, bring about better privacy policies and ensure freedom of speech.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Other governing bodies include DOT (Department of Telecommunications) which governs the telecom and internet policies of India. In India, certain content regulation takes place under a notification as part of the IT Act, 2003.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) also looks into the tariff, interconnections and quality of telecom sector, spectrum regulation and so on.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">The USOF (Universal Service Obligation Fund) seeks to provide funds for setting up telecom services in rural areas.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) has been extending copyright restrictions to online publications.</li></ul>
<h3> VIDEO<br /></h3>
<iframe src="//www.youtube.com/embed/e0VlI12fODE" frameborder="0" height="250" width="250"></iframe>
<h3>Session 3: Emerging trends in Internet usage in India</h3>
<p>(by Nandini C and Vir Kamal Chopra)<br /><strong>Emerging Trends in Internet Usage with specific focus on BSNL offerings</strong> (by Vir Kamal Chopra)<br />Some of the salient points discussed were:</p>
<p></p>
<p> </p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify;">In 1995, the VSNL provided internet in 4 metros of India, by 1998 DOT had provided internet in 42 cities.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Some of the facilities internet provides include Tele-education, Tele-medicine, mobile banking, payment of bills via mobile internet, etc.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"> BSNL has got maximum broadband market share in India.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"> Present Scenario, there are 900 million mobiles in India, 430 million wireless connections with capability to access data.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"> The total broadband connections are 15 million in country, 10 million provided by BSNL.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"> Total internet users are 120 million with a growth rate of 30%.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"> Public access is not only about network intermediaries but about info-mediaries who understand internet.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"> BSNL lost Rs 18,000 crores from 3G license.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"> 2G to 3G shifting is not seamless and leads to lot of packet loss, and 3G coverage is not as extensive as 2G. Thus 3G is not efficient however; the government has made a lot of money from selling 3G licenses.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"> Future trends include technology trends for internet access, optical fiber technologies, fiber to the curb, fibre to the home, metro Ethernet, etc. </li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Internet has created an online Public sphere.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"> In 2000 Parliament passed the Information Technology Act 2000 and the dot.com boom is seen.</li></ul>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Making internet access meaningful in the Indian Context</strong> (by Nandini.C) <br />(<a class="external-link" href="http://internet-institute.in/repository/womens-access-to-the-internet">Click to see the presentation slides</a>)<br />Some of the salient points discussed were: <br /></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"> </p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Status of internet access today sees low level of overall penetration of internet, high rate of household mobile penetration and huge rural-urban divide in internet access.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"> Relationship b/w women and internet in India</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"> 8.4% of women in India have access to internet in India and 43% of women using internet in India perceived it as being an important part of their life.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"> Some area of concerns include ensuring adequate access of internet for the women, entrenched patriarchies, contextual relevance, the imaginary of ‘public access’.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">The importance of an existing strong social support network, ITC itself cannot open up economic/social empowerment opportunities for women</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"> ICT-enabled micro-enterprises may also force the burden of double work on women, who undertake both productive activities for the micro-enterprise and re/productive activities for the household.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"> The Internet today has created an online public sphere.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"> Countering the threat of online violence.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"> Censorship and content regulation.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"> Women’s rights and the spaces of internet governance.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"> Arbitrary censorship and self-regulation by the corporate and slide towards an illusory freedom; state is used as a bogeyman by corporate to create an online culture that is suitable to the corporate values.</li></ul>
<p> <strong>VIDEO</strong></p>
<p><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/CUaGZh5nNR4" frameborder="0" height="250" width="250"></iframe></p>
<p><strong><br /></strong></p>
<div id="_mcePaste" style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Activity</strong><br />Day 1 featured an interesting activity called the Creative Handshake. The goal of the game was to teach the participants the concept of "Handshake" in Internet terms and why it is important to make sure that integrity of data transferred is maintained.</div>
<hr />
<h2 style="text-align: justify;">Day 2: June 9, 2013</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify;">The focus of the second day was more on the nuts and bolts behind the working of the Internet by Dr. Nadeem Akhtar, Wireless Technologies and a case-study in Air Jaldi by Michael Ginguld, Collaborative Knowledge base building by Vishnu Vardhan and Affordable Devices on the Internet by Ravikiran Annaswamy.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">The salient points of each of the talks are listed below.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify;">Session 1: How Internet Works</h3>
<p>(by Nadeem Akhtar)<br /><a class="external-link" href="http://internet-institute.in/repository/how-internet-works">Click to read the presentation slides</a></p>
<ul>
<li>Internet structure and hierarchy:<br />
<ol>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Data Networks comprise of set of nodes, connected by transmission links, for exchange of data between nodes. </li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Some of the key principles which underpin data networks include digital transmission, multiplexing and data forwarding/routing.</li></ol>
</li>
<li>Data networks through ownership include public and private networks.</li>
<li>Data networks through coverage include local area networks (small area), metro area networks (may comprise of a city) and wide area networks (wide geographic area across cities).</li>
<li>Protocols include:<br />
<ol>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Open systems interconnection (OSI) model divides a communication system into smaller parts. Each part is referred to as a layer. Similar communication functions are grouped into logical layers.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">OSI model defines the different stages that data must go through to travel from one device to another over a network & this enables a modular approach towards developing complex system functionality i.e. functionality at layer X does not depend on how layer Y is implemented.</li></ol>
<table class="listing">
<tbody>
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<th><img src="http://editors.cis-india.org/home-images/Nadeem.png" alt="" class="image-inline" title="Nadeem Akhtar" /></th>
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<td><em>Above is a picture of Dr. Nadeem Akhtar speaking on the working of the internet on Day 2</em></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</li>
<li>Internet networks or connections.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Internet backbone refers to the principal data routes between large, strategically interconnected networks and core routers on the internet and these data routes are hosted by commercial, government, academic and other high-capacity network centers, the internet exchange points and network access points. The internet back bone is decentralized.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Transit Service - Passing information from small ISP to large ISP.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Peering Service - The passing of information between two similar ISP’s os similar size to let network traffic pass.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Three levels of network Tier1, Tier2 and Tier 3. TATA Company is the only Tier 1 Indian Company.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Backhaul- Transport Links which connects access edge networks with the ‘core’ network. The transmitters have to be mounted on a high level. </li></ul>
<p> <strong>VIDEO</strong></p>
<iframe src="//www.youtube.com/embed/8skb7ykF9jI" frameborder="0" height="250" width="250"></iframe>
<h3>Session 2: Wireless Technologies</h3>
<p>(by Michael Ginguld)<br /><a class="external-link" href="http://prezi.com/tjaiatxtz1ch/walking-on-the-wireless-side/">Click to read the presentation slides</a></p>
<ul>
<li>We are surrounded by electromagnetic radiation</li>
<li>All about transmission waves and there are both advantages and disadvantages of the same:<br />
<ol>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Pros: higher reach for lower price, overcomes topographic challenges, lower maintenance, less to damage/lose</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Cons: limited resources, maintenance (energy), physical limitations to transfer rates.</li></ol>
</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Satellite/VSAT is a very small aperture tech: a small satellite dish that connects to a geo-static satellite.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"> Strength: globally usable, can connect from anywhere.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"> Weakness: signal problems, relatively high installation charge, upstream connection is lower than the downstream, transmitter on satellite is extremely expensive, hence limitation on transmission capacity of the satellite.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"> VSATs are not scalable. It is a dead-end tech for usages where data transmission volume is expected to grow.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"> 2G Technology for mobile connection.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Limitation in transfer of data, due to technology and encryption limitations but great availability and reasonable price.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">3G Technology has a problem in India; low uptake, leading to low investment, leading to low speed, leading to low uptake. The technology allows for high-speed data transfer but the market condition in India still does not make adequate infrastructural support feasible.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">4G license auction.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">A company bought the country-wide 4G license in the auction. Mukesh Ambani bought the company after some days.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">The present legislation does not allow for VoIP-based Telco operation but that is expected to change soon.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Wifi technology is wireless technology. It is low cost wireless transfer of data. The Public dissemination of the ranges in which data transfer using the WiFi protocol can take place. It was made public in India in January 2005.<br />
<ol>
<li>Limitations: needs line of sight, limit to data transfer.</li>
<li>Strength: cheap, de-licensed spectrum usage, easily deployable. </li></ol>
</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"> 2G spectrum, 3G spectrum and now 4G spectrum all are part of the wireless technology.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Air Jaldi started in Dharamshala; building wifi connection spanning campuses.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"> Three types of consumer categories: (1) no coverage, (2) under-served, and (3) ‘deserving clients’. #2 is the most common group. #3 are people who should be served but cannot pay fully for the service, hence are cross-subsidised by group #2.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"> Deployed and managed by local staff, trained by AirJaldi.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"> Customer premise equipment: Rs. 3-4k.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"> User charges: Rs 975 per month for 512 kbps, Rs 1500 per month for 1 mbps.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"> Content: by and large, AirJaldi brings infrastructure on which content can ride on, teams with various content providers (like e-learning, rural BPOs, local e-banking etc) for the content side. The biggest drivers are local BPO, banking and retail. The next big driver coming up is entertainment.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"> WiMax includes 4g spectrum. </li></ul>
<p> <strong>VIDEO</strong></p>
<iframe src="//www.youtube.com/embed/btd4MqOSRe0" frameborder="0" height="250" width="250"></iframe>
<h3 style="text-align: justify;">Session 3: Building Knowledge Bases and Platform via Mass Collaboration on the Internet</h3>
<p><a class="external-link" href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Building_Knowledge_Bases_and_Platforms_via_Mass_Collaboration_on_the_Internet.pdf">Click to read the presentation slides</a></p>
<table class="listing">
<tbody>
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<td style="text-align: justify;">
<p>The session started off with some physical activity in the form of "Kasa Kasa Warte, Chan Chan Warte" to break off the lunch induced sleep and a mental activity where the participants were divided into two groups and both the groups were asked to collect information on "Water". One group was left to itself while the other had some expert inputs from Vishnu Vardhan on how to collaborate and organize the data. After the activity, both teams presented the information that they had collected on "Water".</p>
<p>The benefits of collaborative authoring such as "everyone's voice is heard", "various inputs leading to a multi-dimensional thinking" etc were evident as against a single dimensional thought process that was seen from the group that was un-assisted.</p>
</td>
<td><img src="http://editors.cis-india.org/home-images/Participant.png/@@images/0bd8de0e-6e85-4100-80c7-070dd046fabf.png" alt="" class="image-inline" title="Participants" /><br /><em>Given above is a picture of the participants involved in a group activity</em></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"> </p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Salient points discussed during the presentation:</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"> </p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify;">The Concept of Knowledge today is not something of modern phenomena, but it is something which has been existent since print culture was developed. Print technology shapes what we consider as knowledge, and hence as knowledge platform </li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Techno-sociality of knowledge production</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">The Concept of Knowledge today is not something of modern phenomena, but it is something which has been existent since print culture was developed. Print technology shapes what we consider as knowledge, and hence as knowledge platform </li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Techno-sociality of knowledge production<br />Examples of knowledge platforms:<br />
<ol>
<li>Baidu baike </li>
<li> English wikipedia </li>
<li> Hudong </li>
<li>Catawiki </li>
<li>Wikieducator </li>
<li>Open street map </li>
<li>Pad.ma </li>
<li> Sahapedia </li>
<li> Internet archive </li>
<li> Jstor </li>
<li> Dsal </li>
<li> Dli</li></ol>
</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"> In 1994 Cunningham developed the ‘Wiki Wiki Web’ also known as the ‘Ward Wiki’. Basically it is a knowledge platform.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"> Internet since then has been used for dissemination of information especially in the education sector. Digital Archived have developed over the years which provide information across various platforms like Wikipedia.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"> The spread of the internet has made possible the building of knowledge bases by seamless and mass collaboration. </li></ul>
<p><strong> Generic challenges for Wikipedia</strong></p>
<p></p>
<p> </p>
<ul>
<li>Quality, relevance, consistency of knowledge </li>
<li>Suitable motivation of the contributors</li>
<li>Another issue is the scalability</li></ul>
<p>Some of the problems faced by Indian Wikipedian pages:</p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Technical infrastructure for Indian languages </li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Typing in the regional language </li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">OCR: complexity of Indian language scripts</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Various other technical troubles like browser compatibility, font display, etc., which deter new users</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Dearth of quality content available in digital format</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Different standards/formats/generations (gov.in/DLI)</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Relative lack of research/academic standards, which is transferred on to Indic wikipedias. </li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Lack of knowledge sharing culture.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Building a mass knowledge platform is the need of the hour.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">The platform should be user friendly, easily available and adoptable; offline outreach is key to effective use of online platforms.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">The programme should have feedback loop key, behavior statistics data, reinvent and replicate the programme, multi-channel awareness, ‘user connect’ programmes.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">The people should communicate knowledge sharing objectives, make knowledge sharing fun, appoint ambassadors; virtual volunteer community building looks simple but its complex and leads to failure.</li></ul>
<p> <strong>VIDEO</strong></p>
<iframe src="//www.youtube.com/embed/2cM7CZ2hMeg" frameborder="0" height="250" width="250"></iframe>
<h3>Session: 4 Affordable Devices to access the Internet</h3>
<p>(by Ravikiran Annaswamy)<br /><a class="external-link" href="http://internet-institute.in/repository/MeetMobileInternet.pdf">Click to read the presentation slides</a></p>
<table class="listing">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><img src="http://editors.cis-india.org/home-images/Ravikiran.png" alt="" class="image-inline" title="Ravikiran Annaswamy" /></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><em>Given above is a picture of the speaker Ravikiran Annaswamy giving a demo of the low cost Akash tablet</em>.</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p></p>
<p> </p>
<ul>
<li>Overview of Affordable Mobile Phones such as Lava Iris, Karbonn A1, Nokia Asha, etc.</li>
<li>Overview of Affordable Tablets such as Aakash, Ubislate, Karbonn Smart A34, etc.</li>
<li> The number of Internet users in India is expected to nearly triple from 125 million in 2011 to 330 million by 2016, says a report by Boston Consulting Group.</li>
<li> How Internet Penetration impacts society.</li>
<li> Demo of the devices.</li>
<li> Need for Mobile Internet</li>
<li> Sugata Mitra & Arvind Eye Care examples.</li></ul>
<p> <strong>VIDEO</strong></p>
<iframe src="//www.youtube.com/embed/TUcbcFaX-v4" frameborder="0" height="250" width="250"></iframe>
<hr />
<h2>Day 3: June 10, 2013</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify;">The third day of the Institute focussed on Wired means of accessing the Internet, the technology involved followed by an assignment time where the participants were introduced to 2 topics and asked to work on an assignment. This was followed by a site visit in the afternoon to MapUnity. <strong>MapUnity</strong> develops technology to tackle social problems and development challenges. Their GIS, MIS and mobile technologies are used mostly by government departments and civil society organisations and in the R&D initiatives of commercial ventures.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify;">Session 1: Wired Access Technology</h3>
<p>(by Dr. Nadeem Akhtar)<br /><a class="external-link" href="http://internet-institute.in/repository/wired-access-nadeem-akhtar">Click to read the presentation slides</a></p>
<p>Some of the salient points discussed were:</p>
<p><strong>Wired and Wireless</strong></p>
<p></p>
<p> </p>
<p>Wired:</p>
<ul>
<li>Separate communication channel for each users</li>
<li> Low signal attenuation</li>
<li> No interference</li>
<li> Fixed point-of-attachment</li></ul>
<p>Wireless:</p>
<ul>
<li> Shared medium of communication</li>
<li> Signal is attenuated by a number of factors</li>
<li> Interference between adjacent channels</li>
<li> Points-of-attachment can be changed on-the-fly</li></ul>
<p>Ethernet:</p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify;"> A family of computer networking technologies for LANs which was Invented in 1973 and commercially introduced in 1980. The systems communicating over ethernet divide a stream o data into individual packets called frames. Each frame contains source and destination addresses and error-checking data so that damaged data can be detected and re-transmitted.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"> Ethernet, by definition, is a broadcast protocol</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"> Any signal can be received by all hosts</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"> Switching enables individual hosts to communicate</li></ul>
<p>Digital subscriber line (DSL):</p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify;"> DSL uses existing telephone lines to transport data to internet subscribers and the term xDSL is used to refer to a number of similar yet competing forms of DSL technologies which includes ADSL, SDSL, HDSL, HDSL-2, G.SHDL, IDSL, and VDSL. DSL service is delivered simultaneously with wired telephone service on the same telephone line and this is possible because DSL uses higher frequency bands for data.</li></ul>
<p>Asymmetric DSL (ADSL):</p>
<ul>
<li> ADSL is the most commonly installed technology and an ADSL tech can provide maximum downstream speeds of up to 8 mbps.</li></ul>
<p>Modem and router:</p>
<ul>
<li> Modem is specific to a technology</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"> Modem is de/modulator, it takes bits coming from one protocol/technology, demodulates it (converts it into original data), and re-modulated the original data to another protocol/technology.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"> Router allows creation of a local area network, allowing multiple devices to connect to the network and access internet together through the router. It has very high bitrate DSL (VDSL) and goes up to 52 mbps downstream and 16 mbps upstream. The length of the physical connection is limited to 300 meters and the second generation VDSL (CDSL2) provides data rates up to 100 mbps simultaneously in both direction, but maximum available bit rate is still achieved about 300 meters.</li></ul>
<p>Cable:</p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify;"> Cable broadband uses existing CATV infrastructure to provide high-access internet access; uses channels specifically reserved for data transfer</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"> Support simultaneous access to broadband and TV programs</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Cable access tech is built for one-way transmission; hence some congestion takes place for bi-way data transfer, leading to much lower upstream connection relative to downstream connection for data.</li></ul>
<p>Fiber:</p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify;"> It is a generic term for any broadband network architecture using optical fiber; fiber to the neighborhood; fiber to the curb; the street cabinet is much closer to the user’s premises, typically within 300m, thus allowing ethernet or radio-based connection to the final users; fiber to the basement; fiber to the home (BSNL already providing); fiber to the desktop</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"> Passive optical networks (PON)</li></ul>
<p>Advantages of fiber:</p>
<ul>
<li> Immunity to electromagnetic interference.</li>
<li> Provides very high data rates at long distances.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"> When network links run over several 1000s of meters (e.g., metro area networks), fiber significantly outperforms copper.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"> Replacing at least part of these links with fiber shortens the remaining copper segments and allows them to run much faster.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"> The data rate of a fiber link is typically limited by the terminal equipment rather than the fiber itself.</li></ul>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Assignment</strong><br />Participants were given two options for an assignment to work on in the coming days and they could choose either one.</p>
<p>Assignment A<br />The Universal Service Obligation Fund of India has put out a Call for Proposals under two schemes:</p>
<ul>
<li>Mobile Connectivity and ICT related livelihood skills for womens’ SHGs (<a href="http://www.usof.gov.in/usof-cms/pdf21may/Concept_Paper.pdf%29">http://www.usof.gov.in/usof-cms/pdf21may/Concept_Paper.pdf)</a>, and</li></ul>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Access to ICTs and ICT enabled services for persons with disabilities in rural India. (<a href="http://www.usof.gov.in/usof-cms/usofsub/Concept%20paper_USOF%20Scheme_PwDs_A.G.Gulati.pdf">http://www.usof.gov.in/usof-cms/usofsub/Concept%20paper_USOF%20Scheme_PwDs_A.G.Gulati.pdf</a>)</li></ul>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Your NGO is committed to the task of facilitating access to the Internet for women/ persons with disabilities in rural parts of Kerala and wishes to submit a proposal/ project idea in partnership with a service provider to the USOF.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Assignment B<strong><br />You</strong> are a member of the ancient tribe of Meithis residing in Manipur. Over the years, there is a strong feeling in your community that although the Government has rolled out projects to connect the rural areas throughout India, these have not been successful for your tribe and there is still even a lack of basic fixed telephony, let alone mobile and broadband services. You have hence come to the conclusion that there is a need for focused efforts to target such communities as yours and have decided to submit a concept note to the USOF requesting that ‘ethnic and rural tribal communities’ be specifically included within the mandate of the USOF’s activities by defining them as an ‘underserved community’.</p>
<table class="listing">
<tbody>
<tr>
<th><img src="http://editors.cis-india.org/home-images/Raveena.png" alt="" class="image-inline" title="Participants in Discussion" /></th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><em>Given above is a picture of the participants engaged in a discussion.</em> </td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p style="text-align: justify;"></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"> </p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Field Trip - Destination: MapUnity.</strong> <strong><br />MapUnity</strong> develops technology to tackle social problems and development challenges. Their GIS, MIS and mobile technologies are used mostly by government departments and civil society organisations, and in the R&D initiatives of commercial ventures. MapUnity presented their product offerings to the participants.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>VIDEO</strong></p>
<iframe src="http://blip.tv/play/AYOT%2BQwA.html?p=1" frameborder="0" height="250" width="250"></iframe><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://a.blip.tv/api.swf#AYOT+QwA" style="display:none"></embed>
<hr />
<h2 style="text-align: justify;">Day 4: June 11, 2013</h2>
<h3>Session 1: Universal Access</h3>
<p>(by Archana Gulati)<br /><a class="external-link" href="http://internet-institute.in/repository/UniversalServiceConceptsandPractices_Archana.G.Gulati.pdf">Click to read the presentation slides</a></p>
<table class="listing">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><img src="http://editors.cis-india.org/home-images/Archana.png/@@images/a1f18756-20b4-4732-b032-502b59078819.png" alt="" class="image-inline" title="Archana" /><br /><br />
<p style="text-align: justify;"><em>Given above is a picture of Archana Gulati speaking on Universal Access</em>.</p>
</td>
<td>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Tuesday revolved around questions of access and openness. The day kicked off with Archana Gulati, a policy expert in access to ICTs for people with disabilities talking on <strong>Universal Access</strong>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"> </p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Ms. Gulati stressed the importance of ICTs for social development. ICTs are a necessary aid in development structures including education, health and increased citizen participation in national affairs & they provide crucial knowledge inputs into productive activities. However, even with the Telecom boom, there still exists an access gap in India, which cannot be covered by commercially viable systems.</p>
<p> </p>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p style="text-align: justify;">This 'actual access gap' exists because of geographic (scattered population, low income, low perceived utility of service, lack of commercial/industrial customers, lack of roads, power, difficult terrain, insurgency), economic (urban poor) and social inequality (gender, disabilities) differences. To achieve Universal Access or Universal Service, additional efforts must be made, so as to include these groups. However, Universal Access and Universal Service, while they may imply the same thing, are very different approaches to deal with the problematic access gap.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Universal service, a term coined by Theodore Vail, president of AT&T in 1906, argued that the government should enforce the usage of only one network. This approach suggests a monopolization of the market and goes against the liberal market principle.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Universal access on the other hand suggests cross-subsidizing the low and no profit service areas by high profit service areas. However, this results in the urban population to get over-charged while the rich rural areas benefit from rural subsidizing.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">So how do we enable a fair and inexpensive network to be able to create access for a large number of people equally? <br />Ms. Archana Gulati went on to introduce the Sanchar Shakti scheme as a contribution to national access in India. It was initiated with the objective of improving rural SHG access skills, knowledge, financial services and markets through mobile connections and involved several stakeholders like NABARD, handset/modem manufacturers, DoT USOF, Mobile VAS Providers, Lead NGOs, Mobile Service Providers.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">This scheme shows how important is, for the commercial, private and public sector to work together on obtaining accessibility to ITCs.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify;">Session 2: Free and Open Internet</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify;">(by Pranesh Prakash) <br />The following session by Pranesh Prakash on <strong>Free and Open Internet</strong> showed how the internet can still be a restrictive place which does not allow for internet equality. His talk focussed on the concepts of free and open Internet. Prakash started by stating the Freedom of Speech and Expression Article of the Indian Constitution and in an interactive round it was discussed, how these articles are fundamental for securing other basic human rights. This was demonstrated by an example in which the distribution of food did not proceed equally, as misinformation and restrictions led to an inappropriate hoarding of goods. Therefore, it is important for everyone to have that right. In fact, the Indian constitution formulates Article 19 in a positive way, implying not only everyone should have that right, but that the government must promote the upholding of these rights.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">However, in the case of Article 66a, the law actually caused a problem with freedom of speech in itself, as it penalizes sending false and offensive messages through communication services. This is a massive impediment on free speech, as outsiders decide upon what is offensive and what is false.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">The other side of freedom of speech and expression is censorship. Online, the removal of websites and editing of content often happens quietly and obscures the fact that someone or something is being censored. Unlike book burnings in the past, which were always made a big political spectacle, often websites are simply removed without a trace, or one is faced with a 404 error, when trying to access it. Because of the offensive content law, journals and magazines are quick to remove supposedly offensive content, as it seems more difficult to engage in argument with the people claiming offense. The CIS proposed a counter-law to secure for this to happen less, as freedom of speech includes the freedom to receive that speech.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>VIDEO</strong></p>
<iframe src="//www.youtube.com/embed/SGxYxLEA8OY" frameborder="0" height="250" width="250"></iframe>
<h3 style="text-align: justify;">Session 3: Openness</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify;">(by Sunil Abraham)</p>
<table class="listing">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Next to ensuring freedom of speech and access, the third session of the day focussed on Openness in terms of Open Source software. Sunil Abraham, CIS executive director, stated the importance of free software and open access of data, as they ensure what he called the four freedoms of internet usage, namely the freedom to use for any purpose, the freedom to study, to modify and to share (freely or for a fee). Proprietary software imposes on these freedoms, as it only has restrictive use and a strong copyright. However, there are alternatives that have moderate copyrights, or so-called copy centred perspectives, or even copyleft, including the above mentioned rights into the terms of the software usage.</p>
</td>
<td><img src="http://editors.cis-india.org/home-images/copy_of_Sunil.png/@@images/92ac30ac-90da-4fcd-a0b2-0469aa2ecc75.png" alt="" class="image-inline" title="Sunil Abraham" /><br /><br /><em>Above is a picture of Sunil Abraham speaking on Openness</em></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p style="text-align: justify;">In alignment with Sunil Abraham’s talk Pranesh Prakash criticized copyright law cutting into accessibility rights, as copyright infringements include translation into other languages, audio versions and also integral parts of education. The key is not to have a "one size fits all" copyright solution, as it is impossible to treat twitter content the same as a blockbuster movie. However, the government of India is doing exactly that and needs to interlink questions of access with copyright law.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>VIDEO</strong></p>
<iframe src="//www.youtube.com/embed/vqv7qai5c-s" frameborder="0" height="250" width="250"></iframe>
<h3 style="text-align: justify;">Session 4: Open Content</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify;">(by Prof. Subbiah Arunachalam)<br />Prof. Subbiah Arunachalam, who led the next session, discussed <strong>Open Content</strong>. He had seen during the course of his experience India's poor performance in Science & Technology and outlined the reasons for the same. The lack of access to information essential in scientific research and knowledge production, he said, was the major limiting cause.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>VIDEO</strong></p>
<iframe src="//www.youtube.com/embed/BFJyUTNzYvE" frameborder="0" height="250" width="250"></iframe>
<h3 style="text-align: justify;">Session 5: Quick Talk on Copyright Law and Access</h3>
<p>This short session dealt with implications of copyright law on internet access.</p>
<p></p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>Activity</strong></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">The participants were divided into two groups, and they were asked build as huge a network as possible with their personal belongings and present their creations. The participants had good ideas. One group placed their mobiles and laptops into the network to have them as nodes. The other group implemented the re-routing around censorship.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>VIDEO</strong></p>
<iframe src="//www.youtube.com/embed/nSLy1eRAndQ" frameborder="0" height="250" width="250"></iframe>
<table class="listing">
<tbody>
<tr>
<th><img src="http://editors.cis-india.org/home-images/Network.png" alt="" class="image-inline" title="Networking" /></th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><em>Given above is a picture of the participants in an activity making the longest network possible with their personal belongings</em>.<br /><br /></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<hr />
<h2 style="text-align: justify;">Day 5: (June 12, 2013)</h2>
<h3>Session 1: Privacy on the Internet in India</h3>
<p>(by Sunil Abraham and Elonnai Hickok)</p>
<p><a class="external-link" href="http://internet-institute.in/repository/privacy-on-the-internet-by-elonnai">Click to view the presentation slides</a></p>
<p></p>
<p> </p>
<table class="listing">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>
<p><img src="http://editors.cis-india.org/home-images/Elonnai.png" title="Elonnai" height="211" width="317" alt="" class="image-inline" /></p>
<p></p>
<p> <em>Given above is a picture of Elonnai Hickock speaking about privacy</em></p>
</td>
<td style="text-align: justify;">
<p>The following day, June 12th started off with “Privacy” as the theme. The session Privacy on the Internet in India was led by CIS privacy experts Sunil Abraham and Elonnai Hickock.</p>
<p>In an exchange of anecdotes, it was made clear how there needs to be a certain degree of state surveillance to secure the citizens safety.</p>
<p>This can happen through off air interception and active or passive cell phone towers that can track mobile devices.</p>
<p>However, encryption is an important tool to secure one’s own privacy against cyber espionage.</p>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p></p>
<p> </p>
<p>Some of the salient points discussed were:</p>
<ul>
<li> Off-the Air Interception</li>
<li> Possible to set up active or passive cell phone tower. </li>
<li> The signal strength will be strong and everyone looks for it.</li>
<li> Capacity to identify itself as a service provider. </li>
<li> Interception can begin with encryption Technology today used by security agencies.</li>
<li> NTRO- national technical Research Org and Outlook </li></ul>
<p> <strong>VIDEO</strong></p>
<iframe src="//www.youtube.com/embed/PQWi9hHHSpc" frameborder="0" height="250" width="250"></iframe>
<h3>Session 2: E-Accessibility</h3>
<p>(by Nirmita Narasimhan)<br /><a class="external-link" href="http://internet-institute.in/repository/eAccessibility.pdf">Click to view the presentation slides</a></p>
<table class="listing">
<tbody>
<tr>
<th><img src="http://editors.cis-india.org/home-images/copy_of_Eaccessibility.png" alt="" class="image-inline" title="E-accessibility" /></th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><em>Given above is a picture of Dr. Nirmita Narasimhan speaking on e-accessibility</em></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<table class="invisible">
<tbody>
<tr></tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>The second<strong> </strong>session was on<strong> “E-Accessibility” </strong>led by Dr. Nirmita Narasimhan<strong>. </strong>Some of the salient points discussed were:</p>
<p> </p>
<ul>
<li> Problems arising out of disability</li>
<li> Accessibility-Infrastructure and ICT</li>
<li> Assistive technologies for PWD’s.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"> Reasonable accommodation (not available or cannot be and requires extra effort and putting up an accessible copy up) and universal Design (for both for PWD’s and non-PWD’s).</li>
<li> Web Content Accessibility is operable and easily understandable. </li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"> Accessibility standards include; Daisy (6 types of books including audio and text books) is all about marking up the documents. Really a good way to read but is expensive and time consuming, also need Daisy tools and player to make it work.</li>
<li> In 1808 the first typewriter was developed to help the blind.</li>
<li> Considerations involved in Web Accessibility </li>
<li> Overlap b/w mobile accessibility and web accessibility.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"> Example- Raku Raku phone captured 60% of market share in Japan. It has many assistive features.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"> Relay Services has a middle man who passes on the message b/w different PWD’s in many countries, but it is not yet available in India.</li>
<li> PWD’s communicating with customer care – the issues involved. </li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"> Accessibility Policy- very few people are adopting accessible technologies. There is a need to have a strong policy. U.K. and U.S. already have strong policies related to accessible and assistive technology for PWD’s.</li></ul>
<p> <strong> Video</strong></p>
<iframe src="//www.youtube.com/embed/vI8mixgTgCM" frameborder="0" height="250" width="250"></iframe>
<h3>Session 3: International Bodies and Mechanisms</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify;">(by Tulika Pandey and Gaurab Raj Upadhyay)<br /><strong>Activity</strong><br />Gaurab incorporated an <strong>Activity</strong> into his talk to enable the students to have a clearer understanding of International Bodies and Mechanisms.</p>
<table class="listing">
<tbody>
<tr>
<th><img src="http://editors.cis-india.org/home-images/Gaurab.png" alt="" class="image-inline" title="Gaurab" /></th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><em>Given above is a picture of the speaker Gaurab Raj Upadhaya explaining the International Bodies and Mechanisms</em></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p style="text-align: justify;"></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"> </p>
<p>Some of the salient points discussed during his talk were:</p>
<ul>
<li> Definition: “Internet Governance is the development and application by Govt., the private sector and civil society, in their respective roles, of shared principles, norms, rules, decision-making procedures and programmes which shape the evolution and use of internet.”</li>
<li>It should be multilateral, transparent and democratic</li>
<li> Enhanced cooperation means to enable govt…</li></ul>
<p>Technical issues to keep in mind while talking about internet:<br /></p>
<p> </p>
<ol>
<li> Critical internet resources</li>
<li>Root server locations </li>
<li> Open Standards (CIS leads the initiative) </li>
<li> Interoperability </li>
<li> Search Engines </li>
<li> Internationalized Domain names (in own script & language) </li>
<li> Content</li></ol>
<p></p>
<p> </p>
<ul>
<li>Virtual yet real space and most important question to be understood is that whether, the governance of internet is possible?</li>
<li> Public Policy- to monitor cross-border data flow, Openness vs Privacy</li>
<li> India’s Outlook in internet policies-Pillars of Internet which is not fully addressed by the Indian government today. </li>
<li> Established an Inter- Ministerial Group by including various government departments into the arena.</li>
<li> Layer 0-7 Names and Numbers</li>
<li> Layer 8 and above</li>
<li> Applications and Usage </li>
<li> Legal business, policy, etc.</li></ul>
<h3>Session-4: E-Governance</h3>
<p>(by Tulika Pandey and Sunil Abraham)</p>
<table class="listing">
<tbody>
<tr>
<th><img src="http://editors.cis-india.org/home-images/Tulika.png" alt="" class="image-inline" title="Tulika" /></th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><em>Given above is a picture of the speaker Tulika Pandey speaking about e-Governance</em> </td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p></p>
<p> </p>
<p>Some of the salient points discussed were:</p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify;"> Making policies in India is difficult because the population is huge and implementation at rural level is difficult.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"> Bombarded by Techno utopians- who believe in technology’s ability to change lives.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"> Techno determinants- Corruption solved through technology through open government data. More technology is better, the most sophisticated ones are the best are gross misconceptions.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"> Bhoomi project tried to deal with corruption at village level. Important policy change made all paper work illegal and digitized the land records etc. every action and request will be logged. But this led to creation of new corruption. Bribes were taken even before data was logged!</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"> UID Project (Cobra Post Scam) around 20 public sector and 30 private banks were involved in money laundering scams. </li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"> People who design the systems in Delhi prepare sub-contracts<strong>.</strong></li></ul>
<p><strong> </strong>VIDEO</p>
<iframe src="//www.youtube.com/embed/Le3b-kka5Hs" frameborder="0" height="250" width="250"></iframe>
<hr />
<h2>Day 6: (June 13, 2013)</h2>
<h3>Session 1: Critical Perspectives of the Internet</h3>
<p>(by Dr. Nishant Shah)<br /><a class="external-link" href="http://internet-institute.in/repository/critical-perspectives-of-internet-society-dr-nishant-shah">Click to view the presentation slides</a></p>
<table class="listing">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="text-align: justify;">The sixth day of the Institute kicked off with Nishant Shah, director of research at CIS, looking into Critical Perspectives of the Internet. Nishant made a very important distinction between the internet as infrastructure and as social network constructing alternative universes. Nonetheless it was important to stress that technology should not be alienated in the process of this separation but seen as an integral part of it, as the digital is as much part of reality as any other technology and has become essential as a technology of change that it brings about not only in scientific but also in social development. Quoting Michel Foucault, Shah argued that technology becomes influential when it changes life, labour and language, which is why research in the field should involve critical ways of thinking about body, space and community.</td>
<td><img src="http://editors.cis-india.org/home-images/Nishant.png/@@images/836aa919-b1aa-4e61-86d2-2e4a6e5fc62f.png" alt="" class="image-inline" title="Nishant Shah" /><br /><br /> <em>Above is a picture of Dr. Nishant Shah speaking on Critical Perspectives of the Internet.</em> </td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p style="text-align: justify;">The body perception can be perceived through the way bodily agencies change through technology. Technology does not necessarily taint or corrupt the body, but can also be a way to escape its confines. To put it to a point, we are all born into technology and cannot free ourselves from them, as for example pregnancy already starts with nutritional supplements, regulatory diets and exercise and essentially ends with birth technologies that do not necessarily involve only the digital - we must remember, speech is one of the oldest technologies available today.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>VIDEO</strong></p>
<iframe src="//www.youtube.com/embed/HAnwjxLGA-g" frameborder="0" height="250" width="250"></iframe>
<h3 style="text-align: justify;">Session 2: Strategies for Policy Intervention</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify;">(by Chakshu Roy)<br />The second session on “Strategies for Policy Intervention” was led by Chakshu Roy. This session dealt with various ways in which policy intervention can be made and the various factors necessary to successfully engage in policy forums.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>VIDEO</strong></p>
<iframe src="//www.youtube.com/embed/B-tiOPu6WaU" frameborder="0" height="250" width="250"></iframe>
<h3 style="text-align: justify;">Session 3: Profile of Internet Service Providers</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify;">(by Satyen Gupta)<br /><a class="external-link" href="http://internet-institute.in/repository/profile-of-isps-by-satyen-gupta">Click to view the presentation slides</a></p>
<table class="listing">
<tbody>
<tr>
<th><img src="http://editors.cis-india.org/home-images/SatyenGupta.png" alt="" class="image-inline" title="Satyen Gupta" /></th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><em>Given above is a picture of Satyen Gupta speaking about Internet Service Providers</em></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Satyen Gupta during his talk on “Profile of Internet Service Providers” discussed the nature, offerings and profile of various ISPs in India, their market share and dynamics.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">The salient points discussed were:</p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify;">National Broadband Plans</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Spectrum Issues “Management”</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Reality check of Indian ISPs</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Broadband Definition & Penetration</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Roadblocks for Broadband in India, Governments Role, Regulation</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Institutional Framework for the Indian Telecom</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Broadband Access in India- Technology-Neutrality</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Satellite based DTH Services offer alternate for the Broadband via Receive Only Internet Service (ROIS)</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Broadband using DTH for Receive-only Internet</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">VSAT has the potential for significant impact on Broadband Penetration in Remote Areas</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Fixed Wireless Access- an important access technology</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Facilitating Radio Spectrum for Broadband Access</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Fiscal measures to reduce the cost of access devices, infrastructure and broadband service</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Reduction in the cost of connectivity</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">National Internet Exchange of India (NIXI) -National Internet Exchange of India (NIXI) has been set up on recommendation of TRAI by DIT, Government of India to ensure that Internet traffic, originating and destined for India, should be routed within India.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Emerging Broadband Services</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Broadband Commission for Digital Development (BCDD)-UN Targets for Universal Broadband,2015</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">NOFN India-Existing Fiber Infrastructure and Coverage by Various Service Providers</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">National Telecom Policy (NTP) 2012- Salient Features</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">State of Internet Services and ISPs in India:<br />
<ol>
<li>India’s Ranking on Key Broadband Indicators</li>
<li>Regulator’s Report – Growth of Internet in India</li>
<li>Internet Subscribers Base & Market share of top 10 ISPs</li>
<li>Technology trends for Internet/Broadband Access</li>
<li>Internet/broadband Subscribers for top 10 states</li>
<li>Tariff Plans for USO funded Broadband</li>
<li>Contribution of Telcos in Development of Internet Services</li>
<li>Incumbent’s Role in Growth of Broadband</li>
<li>Plugging rural missing link- BBNL</li></ol>
</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Internet Subscribers Base & Market share of top 10 ISPs</li></ul>
<p> <strong>VIDEO</strong></p>
<iframe src="//www.youtube.com/embed/DOSeo-ASOQ8" frameborder="0" height="250" width="250"></iframe>
<h3 style="text-align: justify;">Session 4: Competition in the Market by Helani Galpaya</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Helani Galpaya during her talk on “Competition in the Market” discussed about what competition meant, <em>Herfindahl–Hirschman</em> Index to measure how competitive a market is, what are the dangers of monopoly markets and the landscape of the Telecom market in India.</p>
<table class="listing">
<tbody>
<tr>
<th><img src="http://editors.cis-india.org/home-images/Helani.png" alt="" class="image-inline" title="Helani" /></th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><em>Above is a picture of Helani Galpaya speaking about Competition in the Market</em></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<hr />
<h2 style="text-align: justify;">Day 7: (June 14, 2013)</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify;">The final day of the Institute focussed on how the Internet can be used to effect change on society – Activism was the theme.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify;">Session 1: Leveraging Internet for activism</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify;">(by Ananth Guruswamy)<br /><a class="external-link" href="http://internet-institute.in/repository/LeveragingInternetforActivism.pdf">Click to read the presentation slides</a></p>
<table class="listing">
<tbody>
<tr>
<th><img src="http://editors.cis-india.org/home-images/AnanthGuruswamy.png" alt="" class="image-inline" title="Ananth Guruswamy" /></th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><em>Above is a picture of Ananth Guruswamy speaking during the session on leveraging internet for activism</em></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Some of the salient points discussed were:</p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Digital Activism</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Target Omar Abdullah. It is about an act called Administrative detention Act. One can be detained without act i.e. The Preventive Detention Act. He directly responded to the threat.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Twitter seems to be a place where the political leaders are actually accessible. This kind of access was not possible in day to day life earlier if one was a common man. This phenomenon is developing. Even in Corporate setup writing a mail directly to the CEO seems possible. </li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Strengths: Wide reach, Freedom of speech, Data collection is made easy, Issues can be tackled swiftly, Global communities, singular identities have lot of power. Eg: 190 Million people stood up against Poverty; this kind of mobilization impossible without internet.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Besides local issues even Global issues are addressed an collection of funds becomes easy. Onion.com once a struggling publication in U.S., but now with a global audience it is thriving and it has a healthy reader base today. </li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">The Earth Hour helps people connect across space and time.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Weakness: More popularity, more attention; Traditional/Real Protest has become rare and a threat; There is no real action beyond internet, threat of movement is low, there is no real commitment involved in digital activism and just one click is enough to make one ‘feel good’.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Opportunities: Recruitment of protestors for real protests. Diff. b/w real and virtual blurred; anything that affects the mind space is real. The intersection is interesting.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Threats: Total removal of privacy, Government intervention in private issues and there could be misinterpretation of people’s thoughts by certain people.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Traditional vs Digital activism: Traditional fails to provide results whereas clicking a button is as easy as wearing a badge.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Facebook activism: ‘Like Buttons’, People moving away from reading emails, a shift towards use of facebook; creates a sense of belongingness which the traditional activism failed to achieve.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">India against Corruption: used mobile phone effectively.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Social Media has changed the way protests happen globally and in India, one example is Twitter. Change.org is a website which gives freedom to anybody to start a petition without any external source; Awaaz.org another such petition website.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Green Peace launched a Green peace X which was a runaway success. YouTube is another platform for the masses. People today are more interested in watching rather than reading.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Pakistan in 2007: “Flash protests”; Free Fraizan Movement on Twitter.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Something to keep in mind regarding while launching a campaign online is to think who the audience is and what we want them to do and how will the campaign help our objectives?</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">How to measure success of a social media campaign?</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Reach</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Engagement- likes, tweets, comments, etc.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Influence</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Attrition Score</li></ul>
<p> <strong>VIDEO</strong></p>
<iframe src="//www.youtube.com/embed/PXZE7y1qxlo" frameborder="0" height="250" width="250"></iframe>
<h3 style="text-align: justify;">Session 2: Internet Access Activism</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify;">(by Parminder Jeet Singh)<br />The next session on “INTERNET ACCESS” ACTIVISM by Parminder Jeet Singh dealt with how people can contribute to initiatives for improving internet access amongst masses.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>VIDEO</strong></p>
<iframe src="//www.youtube.com/embed/_zyM3_OiUxM" frameborder="0" height="250" width="250"></iframe>
<p></p>
<p> </p>
<p></p>
<h3>Session 3: Ensuring Access to the Internet</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify;">(by A.K. Bhargava)<br /><a class="external-link" href="http://internet-institute.in/repository/BBNLiis.pdf">Click to view the presentation</a><br />The last session on “Ensuring Access to the Internet” by A.K. Bhargava discussed strategies to enhance access to the Internet in India with special focus on National Optical Fibre Network.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">The salient points discussed were:</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">- Role of Broadband in Nation Building<br />- Policy Aspiration of Broadband - How do we meet aspiration?<br />- Telecom Network Layers‐Gaps in OFC Reach<br />- BBNL Interconnection<br />- NOFN - Bridging The Gap<br />- Digital Knowledge Centres (DKCs)<br />- Architecture of BBNL<br />- NOFN Impact</p>
<ol>
<li>Societal<br />
<ul>
<li>Bridging the digital divide</li></ul>
</li>
<li>Business<br />
<ul>
<li>Job creation, indigenous industry growth</li></ul>
</li>
<li>Sectoral<br />
<ul>
<li>Improved connectivity, data growth</li></ul>
</li>
<li>Technological<br />
<ul>
<li>Differentiators</li></ul>
<p><strong>VIDEO</strong></p>
<iframe src="//www.youtube.com/embed/4X3WSn1u3WM" frameborder="0" height="250" width="250"></iframe>
</li></ol>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Speaker Presentation Slides</strong><br />All the presentation aids/slide shows barring a few have been uploaded to the website at <a class="external-link" href="http://internet-institute.in/repository">http://internet-institute.in/repository</a></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Presentation of Assignments</strong><br />The participants presented their assignments which were given to them to work on the 3rd day. The participants were presented with Wikipedia T-Shirts as a token of appreciation.</p>
<table class="listing">
<tbody>
<tr>
<th><img src="http://editors.cis-india.org/home-images/Assignments.png" alt="" class="image-inline" title="Assignments" /></th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><em>Given above is a picture of the participants presenting their assignments</em> </td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Participant Feedback</strong><br />All participants were asked to fill a "Session Feedback Form" for each of the sessions and also an "Overall Feedback Form". They were also constantly encouraged to come up with suggestions and inputs on how to make the Institute more interesting.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">The key findings from the <strong>Quantitative Feedback</strong> provided are:<br />(The figures below are averaged scores (out of 5) provided by participants in the Overall Feedback Forms)</p>
<table class="plain">
<tbody>
<tr>
<th>S.No.</th>
<th>Parameter</th>
<th>Score (Out of 5)</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>1</td>
<td>Relevance of Content</td>
<td style="text-align: right;">3.6</td>
</tr>
<tr style="text-align: right;">
<td style="text-align: justify;">2</td>
<td style="text-align: justify;">Comprehensiveness of Content</td>
<td>3.44</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>3</td>
<td>Easy to Understand</td>
<td style="text-align: right;">3.55</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>4</td>
<td>Well Paced</td>
<td style="text-align: right;">3.33</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>5</td>
<td>Sufficient Breaks</td>
<td style="text-align: right;">3</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>6</td>
<td>Duration of Talks</td>
<td style="text-align: right;">3.2</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>7</td>
<td>Mix between Learning & Activities</td>
<td style="text-align: right;">3</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p style="text-align: justify;">The key findings from the <strong>Qualitative Feedback</strong> provided are:</p>
<table class="plain">
<tbody>
<tr>
<th>S.No.</th>
<th>Points observed</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>1</td>
<td style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Presentations</strong> – Participants felt sessions with accompanying slides/aids were most helpful. Some felt that accompanying notes could also be useful for future reference.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>2</td>
<td style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Use of Examples/Case Studies</strong> – Participants felt concepts can be better assimilated if case-studies/examples are used. Some also felt that for the technological advancements discussed, it would have been better had the social/economic impact of the same was discussed too.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>3</td>
<td style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Implementation Gaps</strong>– One participant, who is working at the field level in Kolkata had a specific thing to say about the talk about BSNL and its offerings– Although BSNL has so many options available on paper to connect to the Internet, common service centres in West Bengal are mostly run on Tata Indicom’s network even though the board outside says “BSNL” etc. She felt that the reality is far different from what exists on paper.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>4</td>
<td><strong>Interactive sessions</strong> were most appreciated than speaker led sessions.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>5</td>
<td style="text-align: justify;">There were many responses to the question “<strong>How will you apply this new information in the future</strong>” and it is very encouraging. People have given thought to contributing to Wikipedia in their mother tongue, take the knowledge to the field work that they are associated with, continue with their research, change their Internet connections, to help file RTIs, to adopt more open source software, sharing with students, advocacy efforts, etc</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>6</td>
<td>The responses to the question “<strong>What did you learn from the session/workshop that was new?</strong>” elicited more responses for the following sessions<br />
<ol>
<li>Domestic Bodies and Mechanisms</li>
<li>Case-studies such as Air Jaldi</li>
<li>Low cost devices in India</li>
<li>USOF</li>
<li>Free & Open Internet</li>
<li>Copyright laws</li>
<li>Privacy</li>
<li>Accessibility</li>
<li>Digital Natives</li>
<li>ISPs</li></ol>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>7</td>
<td style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Field Trip</strong> – One participant said “<em>One or two of the persons from MapUnity could have made the presentation at the institute venue itself. A visit to an underserved or un-served community with interactions with the people there could also have given a good understanding of on-ground challenges and needs.”</em></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>8</td>
<td style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Follow-up Session</strong> –One participant had ideas about having a follow-up session “<em>A follow-up call [webinar?] after 6 months to see if any of these concepts were useful would be an interesting exercise to take up”</em></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>9</td>
<td><strong>Assignment – </strong>Participants felt that the assignments were good but they needed more time to work on the same.</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Other Feedback:</strong></p>
<ol>
<li>The food and the facilities were enjoyed and appreciated by all.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">The remote location of the Golden Palms Resort was a concern for most of the participants.</li></ol>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Participation Certificates</strong><br />Participation Certificates (template shown below) have been mailed to all the participants in the third week of July 2013.</p>
<table class="listing">
<tbody>
<tr>
<th><img src="http://editors.cis-india.org/home-images/Certificate.png" alt="" class="image-inline" title="Certificate of Participation" /></th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><em>Given above is the certificate declaring the successful completion of the event</em></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<h2 style="text-align: justify;">Institute Expenses</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify;">A total of Rs. 19, 91,889 (Rupees nineteen lakhs ninety one thousand eight hundred and eighty nine only) was spent towards organizing and conducting the Internet Institute. A breakup of the Institute Expenditures is given below:</p>
<table class="vertical listing">
<tbody>
<tr>
<th>S.No.</th>
<th style="text-align: left;">Type of Expense</th>
<th style="text-align: left;">Description</th>
<th style="text-align: right;">Total</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>1</td>
<td>Venue – Golden Palms Resort</td>
<td>Accommodation for participants, speakers and food</td>
<td style="text-align: right;">12,91,176</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>2</td>
<td>Travel</td>
<td>Cost of Air tickets</td>
<td style="text-align: right;">2,94,515</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>3</td>
<td>Local Travel</td>
<td>Airport Pickup/Drop, Local City Travel</td>
<td style="text-align: right;">1,41,001</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>4</td>
<td>Gifts & Printing</td>
<td>Gifts for speakers and ad hoc document printing charges</td>
<td style="text-align: right;">24,000</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>5</td>
<td>Infrastructure</td>
<td>Telephony, Audio, Video, Stage</td>
<td style="text-align: right;">1,05,000</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>6</td>
<td>Participant Bags</td>
<td><br /></td>
<td style="text-align: right;">10,650</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>7</td>
<td>Reimbursements</td>
<td>Reimbursements to participants and speakers</td>
<td style="text-align: right;">1,25,547</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="text-align: center;" colspan="3"><strong>Total Expenses</strong></td>
<td style="text-align: right;">19,91,889</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<h3 style="text-align: justify;">What the participants had to say</h3>
<blockquote class="quoted">Sangh Priya Rahul – “<em>One of my organisation's work is more or less related to empowerment of rural areas so knowledge about USOF will be useful there</em><em>.” </em>(On USOF)</blockquote>
<blockquote style="text-align: justify;" class="quoted">Rashmi. M – “<em>Makes me more sensitized towards the disabled people.”</em> (On e-Accessibility)</blockquote>
<blockquote style="text-align: justify;" class="quoted">Preethi Ayyaluswamy – “<em>Would help me in strategically planning for an online campaign” </em>(On digital activism).</blockquote>
<hr />
<h2 style="text-align: justify;">Conclusion</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify;">The Institute was highly engaging and enabled the participants to explore the various facets of Internet & Society. As was evident from the feedback forms, participants had given thought to contributing to Wikipedia in their mother tongue, take the knowledge to the field work that they are associated with, continue with their research, change their Internet connections, help file RTIs, adopt more open source software, sharing with students, advocacy efforts etc. There was a very high level of expertise amongst speakers at the Institute which was apparent from the participatory discussions and a lot of insightful perspectives were brought forth. There was a common consensus amongst all participants that inclusive growth across all dimensions would take efforts from all stakeholders.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">We hope to learn from the findings of this Institute and work towards a better second Institute.</p>
<table class="listing">
<tbody>
<tr>
<th><img src="http://editors.cis-india.org/home-images/GroupPhoto.png" alt="" class="image-inline" title="Group Photo of Participants" /></th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><em>Above is a group picture of all the participants and the organizers</em></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<ul></ul>
<ul></ul>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/telecom/knowledge-repository-on-internet-access/institute-on-internet-and-society-event-report'>http://editors.cis-india.org/telecom/knowledge-repository-on-internet-access/institute-on-internet-and-society-event-report</a>
</p>
No publishersrividyaVideoInternet StudiesFeaturedHomepage2013-10-15T06:48:00ZBlog EntryDigital Humanities for Indian Higher Education
http://editors.cis-india.org/digital-natives/digital-humanities-for-indian-higher-education
<b>The digital age has had a huge impact on higher education in the last decade transforming the modalities of both teaching and research. To discuss these changes and what it means for research work, a multidisciplinary consultation was held at the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore on July 13, 2013. </b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Hosted by <a class="external-link" href="http://cscs.res.in/">HEIRA, CSCS</a>, <a class="external-link" href="http://tumkuruniversity.in/">Tumkur University</a>, the <a class="external-link" href="http://www.tiss.edu/">Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS)</a>, Mumbai the <a class="external-link" href="http://ces.iisc.ernet.in/hpg/ragh/ccs/">Center for Cultural Studies (CCS)</a> and <a class="external-link" href="http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Access_To_Knowledge">Access To Knowledge Programme</a> of <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/" class="external-link">Centre for Internet and Society (CIS)</a>, the consultation addressed what it meant to be a Digital Humanities researcher and how to curricularize something that refuses to confine itself to disciplinary boundaries. The introduction note had <a class="external-link" href="http://cscs.res.in/Members/people-cscs/faculty-cscs/tejaswini-niranjana">Tejaswini Niranjana</a> of HEIRA-CSCS & TISS speak of the promise of free and democratic education on the Internet, which had so far failed in a sense that scholarship was having difficulties with justifying work produced online. Especially in India the question of integrating scientific work in local languages was of importance, as mainly research is happening in and for the English-speaking world.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">However, as <a class="external-link" href="http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Visdaviva">Vishnu Vardhan,</a> Programme Director, Access to Knowledge at CIS pointed out when taking over the second part of the introduction, projects like the Indian language Wikipedia project are making an attempt to fill that gap. One of the key aspects to digital humanities is that knowledge should be free and open source and providing Wikipedia in Indian languages is a step towards more accessibility. Of course the field is not easy to define. The digital humanities embrace everything technological, which means that often one could be doing digital humanities work without actually realizing it, as Vishnu Vardhan exemplified with the media archive work he had been doing before the term "digital humanities" was properly coined.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">This example serves for one of the many ways in which digital humanities is work that involves not just reading theory but actually "building", as Stephen Ramsay had called it. As has been hinted at in the previous blog posts on digital humanities, this calls for a new set of tools and skill sets for students entering the "field". Again, there is little clarity on whether or not the digital humanities can be seen as a field, however, for the sake of simplicity, I address it as one. It should be stated, though, that this field does not have the classical confines and closed boundaries of disciplines, but is conceived as an open, ever-changing space in which work is being done in a trans-disciplinarily way. Within this field, new questions arise: What exactly is this producing? Is the archive the number one research output? And if yes, what does that mean for the humanities field? As the way archives are produced influences the very content of knowledge, digital technologies being implemented must have an impact on today's knowledge inventory. Passing knowledge and improving scholarship is therefore an important factor for accessibility and an equalizing societal factor.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">In the first session of the day <a class="external-link" href="http://www.jaduniv.edu.in/profile.php?uid=140">Amlan Dasgupta</a> from <a class="external-link" href="http://www.jaduniv.edu.in/index.php">Jadavpur University</a>, Kolkata addressed the problems of curricularising digital humanities. As it is a field that deals with contemporary social factors, which are ever-changing, it is difficult to set up a course much in advance, which will match the expectations it produces. Nonetheless, the instability of digital platforms is not only negative. While a course should have a certainty about what it needs to deliver, the openness of digital humanities seminars enable venturing into unknown research territory with possibly unpredictable and therefore fruitful outcome. While the internet suggests a world wide collaboration possibility, little research is being done in local Indian languages, as optical character recognition is a problem online. Which is why India has experienced what Dasgupta calls an 'archiving moment', several older texts and research work are being digitally archived so as to make them more accessible and increase the native language portfolio. This is part of what can be called the first wave of digital humanities, where mainly non-digital material are transferred into a field of digital operability.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The so-called second wave of digital humanities focused on things "born" digital, inherently digital experiences, like computer games, 3D modeling, GIS mapping and digital surrogates. In the digital age, all cultural experiences have a digital part. While aforementioned categories are purely digital, cultural and societal objects are not necessarily that easily defined. We are experiencing the merge of the digital and analog, it is impossible to think the one without the other. This is where the digital humanities step in, as they are not only about using these experiences, but actually about making them. Therefore, the field could be about evolving tools, free and open-source tools, which ensure access, build databases and create metadata. It is essential that one develops ones own methods and tools to do digital humanities work. Metadata should be community held and a collaborative process, not only to include many voices but also because authorship is evolving and there is no one single heroic individual who processes data.</p>
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<th><img src="http://editors.cis-india.org/home-images/Ravi.png" title="Ravi Sundaram" height="297" width="397" alt="Ravi Sundaram" class="image-inline" /></th>
<td style="text-align: justify; "><a class="external-link" href="http://www.csds.in/faculty_ravi_sundaram.htm">Ravi Sundaram</a> from <a class="external-link" href="http://www.sarai.net/">Sarai programme</a> at the <a class="external-link" href="http://www.csds.in/index.php">Centre for the Study of Devloping Society</a> added to that in his talk about intimating the archives by expressing the importance of digitizing the Indian labour archive, calling it one of the important 'doings' of digital humanities. The so-called third wave of digital humanities takes the computational turn for granted and makes big data the rhetoric of the present. Within the digital, a post-device landscape has evolved, which means that objects are dematerialized. The unanswered question is what exactly that means for the user. Squndaram introduces a Sarai-CSDS project, in which the job was not providing access, but publishing online without copyright and<br /></td>
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<td colspan="2" style="text-align: justify; ">therefore generating knowledge, which could be used and transformed according to will and purpose. This happened via bilingual mailinglists even before a designed and visual interface was possible online. In this way, there was a world-wide connection of people doing research work. The information was curated via a peer-review system, which, too, has become an important methodology for digital humanities work. The Sarai archive project has taken it upon itself to curate live digital humanities projects, allowing anyone to post online, from the working class to academic people, in English and Hindi. As publications are more and more taking place online, languages are formed by the gadgets and media that are used to produce them. The digital, as well as literature are being inhabited by multiple authorships and scholarly activity must develop to accommodate these circumstances. Text is being produced on mobile phones and no longer necessarily conforms to classroom rules. Therefore, being a digital humanist includes the attempt to overcome the crisis traditional humanities encounter in the classroom.</td>
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<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/about/people/our-team" class="external-link">Nishant Shah</a>, joining in on Skype in digital humanities manner, explained his first encounter with digital humanities arising the hopes of his science fiction dreams finally coming true. The encountered reality, however, faces many challenges amidst the number of possibilities it brings. Digital humanities are complex as the field incorporates the object of study, just as it uses it as a methodology. As it uses the very tools and methods which define its existence, questions of humanities scholarship are getting reframed. Digital humanities rephrase questions of the social, cultural and political, making them more and more about infrastructure, turning the information society mainly into a data society. T<span>he critical skills of human intervention are now being replaced by new skills required in the time of data. This leads to a naturalization of data, which carries the danger of seeing knowledge once again as a given. As was explained in the last blog post, data is just as subjective as information and hiding this factor by neutralization and naturalization is a concern digital humanities need to address, as data has now become a structural component of being. When it was just information we were talking about, it was easy to distinguish between information and reality, as information was </span><i>about</i><span> reality. With data, however, this distinction is no longer possible as the data </span><i>produces </i><span>a reality. Therefore, data is a metaphor, which stands for the structure of our experiences. The problem is that most of the data being created is invisible to the human. What we post, blog or tweet creates a lot more behind the surface of computer interfaces. F</span><span>acebook is not information technology like cinema was. It produces data which is not for human consumption, namely algorithms, which are read only by artificial computer programs. We are in the service of producing data which cannot be neutral as we can not read it. In this way data dislocates the human and traditional humanities work is no longer sufficient. </span><span>So in digital humanities work we need to see what it cannot reflect. How do we translate humanities political idea to data management? This implies that digital humanities are not a continuum from traditional humanities, as digital humanities challenges aspects of humanities skills and beliefs. However, this does not mean that humanities have become dispensable. In fact humanities and digital humanities should not compete with, but add to each other. So the thought process should not be what the digital can do for the humanities, but what the two fields could do for each other. </span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><span>Returning to scholarship, </span><span><a class="external-link" href="http://www.cscs.res.in/Members/people-cscs/staff-cscs/copy_of_sabah-siddiqui">Tanveer Hasan</a> and <a class="external-link" href="http://www.cscs.res.in/Members/people-cscs/staff-cscs/copy2_of_sabah-siddiqui">Sneha PP</a> introduced the Pathways to Higher Education project they had been working on, which focuses on language and technology in the undergraduate space. The aim of the project is to improve the quality of access in higher education and focused on the linguistic and digital divide in India. Workshops were organized on social change and collaborative learning, in which students could look at technology not just as a tool but also as a form of political and critical engagement, raising the question of how that defines the way someone looks at a project. As students are stakeholders in knowledge production, their input is much required and forms academia. There seems to be the perception that the digital is only for a certain group of people and predominantly produced in english. However, the course of the project showed that the digital can be produced in alternative, non-hegemonial spaces and realities. Digital platforms join debates based on global and local knowledges, so it is vital to employ them so as to strengthen community knowledge. However, digital debates are not easily accepted in the classroom, as social media platforms like Facebook are frowned upon by teachers, who see them only as a socializing tool. One of the challenges digital humanities face therefore surely is the skepticism it receives upon trying to produce knowledge outside of classical academic institutions. Related to this the question arose on how this 'doing' in digital spaces translates into 'learning' in an academic sense. Many of the scholars in the project were very happy to produce visual material. However, when they were asked to write in their local languages, text production was reluctant or not happening at all. One suggestion the project made to this was to stop devaluating Wikipedia as a source and scholarly tool, and instead to get students to contribute to its knowledge repositories as it is included in academia.</span></p>
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<p>Video</p>
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<p style="text-align: justify; ">In a session of participants responding to the presentations, many anxieties in doing digital humanities was addressed. A fear was voiced that digitization might be destroying archives, just as it attempted to reconfigure them. The relationship with text was becoming more difficult, as digital humanities tend to reject written work, feeling it was becoming more and more of just an add-on, which felt artificial. This could result in an analytic vs. artistic divide and the question formed was how to play with text in digital humanities work in a less frontal and confrontational manner.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><span>It was noted that even as data is becoming synonymous with reality, interpretational challenges persevere. Entering a google search query can generate meaning, however its outcome is obscured by algorithms. A difficulty, especially in India, is that databases are only being implemented in a low percentage, once they are produced. So creating data is not enough to overcome knowledge gaps. Digital humanities are faced with the challenge of making information and data literacy increase. This needs to happen in collaboration with governmental organs, as India's government has difficulties with patent licenses and digital rights. As the perception remains that the digital is natively english-speaking, less value is given to resource material in local languages. As all computer updates, etc., run in english language, the fact that knowledge can and should be produced in one's own native language is obscured. </span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><span>The expressive potential of these minority languages is therefore decreasing, a matter of concern for Indian academia. Knowledge production of educational material must be included into scholarly work, to work against this decline. In this sense, the importance of the community was addressed. When experimenting with tools and technology, it is vital to exchange experiences and build a communal exchange. However, it was lamented that often ICT courses remain at a basic office-tools level. The content of digital humanities work cannot remain at a simplistic level but must include values and methods which go into greater detail and implement guerrilla methods. If we are not able to articulate a way of understanding the problem through these contexts, what is the good in sources of voices? The fear is that digital humanities is undergoing a shift from representation to segregation of knowledge repositories.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><span><span>The digital age does not only influence knowledge repositories in the academic sense. In his talk, <a class="external-link" href="http://cscs.res.in/Members/people-cscs/faculty-cscs/ashish-rajadhyaksha">Ashish Rajadhyaksha</a> describes the political perspective of digital humanities by the example of the UID project in India as something that has inhabited the digital ecosystem. Within the digital, what used to be public space is now perceived more as public domain – a trend towards making data compulsory. As one can see with UID and the condition of transfer from a state to an e-state in which India seems to find itself, forced digitization can increase the digital divide and marginalize certain groups of people. Rajadhyaksha's "Identity Project" looks at what it means to have a digital identity and how it can occupy space within digital ecosystems. This project is transparently documented under </span></span><a class="external-link" href="http://pad.ma/CIZ/editor/BR">Pad.ma</a><span><span>, encouraging alternative publishing methods, such as QR-codes in text sequences leading to the video interviews they refer to. With this explosion of data being created, it should be considered that it impacts on personal views of privacy. One theory is that the anonymity rises in the sea of data, another could be that personal inhibition thresholds are lowered. It also gives rise to the question, what it means to have free digitization. As we can see with the example of google's data mining, free internet does not mean you are not paying in some way. Apart from the data you provide in exchange for online services, these are of course always gadget-based, forcing users to invest in new appliances. If digital humanities relies on the hardware and software of mainstream corporations, can it express capitalistic critique?</span></span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">In several ways the answer to that question remains unclear. While traditional humanities addressed social inequalities and expressed critique, a technologized humanities concept has different aims, as <a class="external-link" href="http://www.cscs.res.in/Members/people-cscs/students-cscs/copy17_of_ashwin-kumar-a.p">Arun Menon</a> of CSCS explains. Digital humanities has a scientific approach which does not reflect in humanities work. The computational turn has taken scientific work towards an affirmative and essentialist perception of truth, which claims to be exact and precise. This is the crisis the humanities are facing and that require a reshaping of the new arising field that is the digital humanities in India. Menon believes that digital humanities does not have content per se, but works along the boundaries of the humanities and the sciences. In this sense it cannot be a discipline or a field of its own, but can address the gray areas being left out by other disciplines and create new research paradigms by co-opting humanities with sciences.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">James Nye addressed the materiality of digital humanities by discussing what it meant to have and to hold them – materially and physically, as well as virtually. Physical resources are not enough but must be provided in local languages and virtual spaces. Good dictionaries are important resources for language knowledges not only on the basis of the commonest meaning but also its social connotations. The need is for librarianship to change to accommodate these diverse features.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><span><span>The last presentation of the day had <a class="external-link" href="http://presiuniv.academia.edu/SouvikMukherjee">Souvik Mukherjee</a> addressing the non-boundaries of digital humanities again, stressing the fact that </span></span><span><i>the </i></span><span><span>digital humanities did not exist. Rather, a multiplicity of digital humanities had arisen to incorporate topics like data mining, games studies, software studies and digital cultures. These study areas, rather than disciplines, are not always connected with concerns of humanities, but still make up a large part of digital humanities work. They, too, produce narratives as does any other research, however, often these narratives can be completely fictional and take place in digital realms. Facebook micro story telling serves as an example, just as gaming narratives do. While involved in gameplay, users create, read and write narratives as they play. At the same time they create identity and involvement, which can be diverse according to the digital space that identity is occupying. Therefore it definitely plays a part in deconstructing rigid ideas of identities. Tools like Poll Everywhere, Zotero or Posterous make academic work just as playful in a digital realm and create narratives similar to the ones in videogames as they construct an informational cloud on a discourse, which is not limited to ones immediate peers but invites a collaborative process. The suggestion is that discussions and research will remain fertile as long as they are not limited. Therefore digital humanities should be seen as an emerging field of enquiry rather than a discipline or even a non-discipline, embracing the intellectual culture of convergence that is happening online. </span></span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Summarizing the consultation, <a class="external-link" href="http://tumkuruniversity.in/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Ashwin-Profile-ENGLISH.pdf">Ashwin Kumar</a> articulated four rubrics under which the single presentations could be grouped. A large part of the presentations discussed digital humanities for and in pedagogy. These talks discussed what digital humanities was doing for the classroom, for teachers and teaching situations and academia in general. A second module saw digital humanities as a research modality and a tool developing discipline. The third rubric formed around seeing digital humanities as a new social skill, which enables a new way of sociality and mirrors society for it to be open for scrutiny. Another fourth rubric was around seeing the digital humanities as a new way of archiving, of storytelling and transmitting knowledge.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The question now is how to collaborate so as to take each of these areas forward and to evolve in the digital humanities under its redefined premisses. The data being produced cannot just be categorized and put on an x/y axis. So when humanities seems to have the systematic problem that it struggles to find the technology to accompany its work, for the digital humanities it seems to be the other way around. This implies a certain lack of content in digital humanities and it is a necessity to look beyond algorithms. The questions of digital humanities cannot simply be how many times a word comes up in a text. Digital humanities will generate this kind of enormous data which in itself is meaningless but will push us to ask the right questions. It will strengthen research by adding a new dimension to data. So anxieties about what it will do to the field are misplaced. Much more, the hope is that it will introduce new objects in questions on the paths we take to find new tools.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/digital-natives/digital-humanities-for-indian-higher-education'>http://editors.cis-india.org/digital-natives/digital-humanities-for-indian-higher-education</a>
</p>
No publisherSara Morais and Subhashish PanigrahiVideoResearchers at WorkDigital KnowledgeDigital Humanities2015-04-17T10:53:17ZBlog EntryAn Interview of Vera Franz
http://editors.cis-india.org/news/interview-of-vera-franz
<b>This interview was conducted at the Diplomatic Conference to Conclude a Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works by Visually Impaired Persons and Persons with Print Disabilities on June 26, 2013. </b>
<p>Vera Franz praises Rahul Cherian of Inclusive Planet while talking about her work. Watch the video below:</p>
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<p><iframe frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/hhHKJ0DQh4Y" width="320"></iframe></p>
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For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/news/interview-of-vera-franz'>http://editors.cis-india.org/news/interview-of-vera-franz</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaCopyrightVideoAccessibilityAccess to Knowledge2013-07-15T09:49:16ZNews ItemPranesh Prakash on the US snooping into Indian cyber space
http://editors.cis-india.org/news/tehelka-june-15-2013-pranesh-prakash-on-us-snooping-into-indian-cyber-space
<b>Pranesh Prakash, Policy Director, Center for Internet and Society, talks about the ramifications of US incursion into the privacy of Indians through cyber space. He says that Indian laws on privacy and free speech shall be applied to the web companies in India so that they actually not surrender the privacy of Indian citizens just because American law requires them to.</b>
<p>The interview conducted by <a class="external-link" href="http://www.tehelka.com/pranesh-prakash-on-the-us-snooping-into-indian-cyber-space/">Tehelka</a> can be seen here</p>
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<p><iframe frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/sw4ytEdi5zU" width="320"></iframe></p>
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For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/news/tehelka-june-15-2013-pranesh-prakash-on-us-snooping-into-indian-cyber-space'>http://editors.cis-india.org/news/tehelka-june-15-2013-pranesh-prakash-on-us-snooping-into-indian-cyber-space</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaVideoInternet Governance2013-07-02T16:19:11ZNews ItemWiki Rahasya: Panel Discussion on Suvarna News
http://editors.cis-india.org/news/suvarna-news-june-13-2013-wiki-rahasya-panel-discussion
<b>Dr. U.B.Pavanaja participated in a panel discussion around Wikipedia in general and about Kannada Wikipedia in specific. This was telecast by Suvarna News 24x7 (Kannada) TV channel on June 13, 2013.</b>
<h3>Videos</h3>
<p><b>Part 1 </b></p>
<p><iframe frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/HeGts72SxiI" width="320"></iframe></p>
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<p><b>Part 2 </b></p>
<p><iframe frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/s6txDACzK8c" width="320"></iframe></p>
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<p><b>Part 3 </b></p>
<p><iframe frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/VjQNQ9pKORg" width="320"></iframe></p>
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For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/news/suvarna-news-june-13-2013-wiki-rahasya-panel-discussion'>http://editors.cis-india.org/news/suvarna-news-june-13-2013-wiki-rahasya-panel-discussion</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaAccess to KnowledgeWikimediaWikipediaVideoOpenness2013-07-02T16:36:11ZNews ItemWikipedia Live Phone-in Programme on HMTV
http://editors.cis-india.org/news/wikipedia-live-phone-in-programme
<b>Vishnu Vardhan took part in a one hour live phone-in programme on Wikipedia. This was telecasted in HMTV on June 1, 2013.</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Dr. Rajasekar, Administrator on Telugu Wikipedia; Malladi Kameshwararao, Journalist and Telugu Wikipedian; Rahimanuddin Shaik, Telugu SIG, Wikimedia India Chapter; and T. Vishnu Vardhan Programme Director, CIS-A2K participated in a one-hour live phone-in programme on Telugu Wikipedia broadcast by HMTV (a Telugu News Channel) on June 1, 2013. This is probably for the first time a television news channel in India has done a live phone-in programme on Wikipedia. HMTV had also done a half-an-hour feature on Wikipedia which was broadcast on May 30 and May 31, 2013.</p>
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<h2>Videos</h2>
<h3>Part 1</h3>
<p><iframe frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/oVNJtsURl2A" width="320"></iframe></p>
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<h3>Part 2</h3>
<p><iframe frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/mr1Tk82EdKE" width="320"></iframe></p>
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For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/news/wikipedia-live-phone-in-programme'>http://editors.cis-india.org/news/wikipedia-live-phone-in-programme</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaAccess to KnowledgeWikimediaWikipediaVideoOpenness2013-06-18T05:54:01ZNews ItemWhose Change is it Anyway?
http://editors.cis-india.org/news/whose-change-is-it-anyway
<b>The first product from the Whose Change is it Anyway? Hague workshop with Hivos in February is out. The video captures the process of knowledge generation there. </b>
<h2>Videos</h2>
<p><iframe frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/KsG0XgLuv1U" width="320"></iframe></p>
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<p><iframe frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/xEUySbndIpc" width="320"></iframe></p>
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For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/news/whose-change-is-it-anyway'>http://editors.cis-india.org/news/whose-change-is-it-anyway</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaVideoDigital Natives2013-06-05T08:40:17ZNews ItemRegulating Social Media: Unrealistic, Impossible, Necessary?
http://editors.cis-india.org/news/ndtv-video-april-11-2013-the-social-network-regulating-social-media-unrealistic-impossible-necessary
<b>The Press Council of India Chairperson Justice Markandey Katju calls for regulating social media, saying it will prevent offensive material coming into the public domain. But is it really necessary to regulate the social media? If yes, is it possible to do it?</b>
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<p style="text-align: justify; ">This was <a class="external-link" href="http://www.ndtv.com/video/player/the-social-network/regulating-social-media-unrealistic-impossible-necessary/271183">published by NDTV</a> on April 11, 2013.</p>
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<p style="text-align: justify; ">NDTV aired a discussion by Ashwin S Kumar, Co-editor, Columnist, The Unreal Times; Kunal Majumder, Assitant Editor, Tehelka.com and Pranesh Prakash, Policy Director, Centre for Internet and Society on April 11, 2013 in response to Justice Katju's comments on bringing 'social media' under the Press Council of India.</p>
<p>Pranesh Prakash laid out four brief points:</p>
<ol>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">'Social media' allows coffee house discussion and toilet wall scrawls to seem like print publications, but it's a mistake to treat it the same way we do print publications. The UK is now planning on using prosecutorial flexibility to refrain from prosecuting simple offensive speech on social media. </li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">The same laws should apply online as they do offline (but how the apply, can differ), and that is currently the case. Most content-related offences in the IPC, etc., are offences online as well as offline. </li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Editors and journalists exist for most print publications and broadcast programmes, while that isn't true for most 'social media'. So guidelines applicable to the press mostly won't be applicable online.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Electronic publications (like Medianama, The Daily Dish, Huffington Post) which consider themselves engaged in a journalistic venture present a special problem that we <b class="moz-txt-star">do<span class="moz-txt-tag"> </span></b> need to have a public conversation about.</li>
</ol>
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<h3>Video</h3>
<p><iframe frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/wzTJO3Vvmhk" width="320"></iframe></p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/news/ndtv-video-april-11-2013-the-social-network-regulating-social-media-unrealistic-impossible-necessary'>http://editors.cis-india.org/news/ndtv-video-april-11-2013-the-social-network-regulating-social-media-unrealistic-impossible-necessary</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaSocial MediaFreedom of Speech and ExpressionInternet GovernanceVideoCensorshipSocial Networking2013-04-30T16:50:13ZNews ItemUnique Identification Scheme (UID) & National Population Register (NPR), and Governance
http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/uid-and-npr-a-background-note
<b>This post examines the UID, NPR and Governance as it exists in India. The background note gives a summary of what is the NPR, the legal grounding of NPR, its objectives, and the information which could be collected under the NPR. The post also throws light on the UID, its objectives, process of enrollment in UID, how UID is being adopted by different states in India, and finally the differences and controversies in UID and NPR.</b>
<p><i>This research was undertaken as part of the 'SAFEGUARDS' project that CIS is undertaking with Privacy International and IDRC</i>.</p>
<hr />
<h2 style="text-align: justify; ">Video</h2>
<p><iframe frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/P1CdCkdKtcU" width="315"></iframe></p>
<p><i>The above video is from the "UID, NPR, and Governance" conference held on March 2, 2013 at TERI, Bangalore</i>.</p>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>What is the NPR?<br /></b>In 2010, the Government of India initiated the NPR which entails the creation of the National Citizens Register. This register is being prepared at the local, sub-district, district, state and national level. The database will contain thirteen categories of demographic information and three categories of biometric data collected from all residents aged five and above. Collection of this information was initially supposed to take place during the House listing and Housing Census phase of Census 2011 during April 2010 to September 2010.<a href="#fn1" name="fr1">[1]</a></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>What is the legal grounding of the NPR? </b><br />The NPR is legally grounded in the provisions of the Citizenship Act, 1955 and the Citizenship Rules 2003. It is <i>mandatory </i>for every usual resident in India to register in the NPR as per Section 14A of the Citizenship Act, 1955, as amended in 2004. The collection of biometrics is not accounted for in the statute or rules.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>What are the objectives of the NPR? </b><br />The objectives of the NPR as stated by the Citizenship Act is for the creation of a National Citizen Register. The National Citizen Register is intended to assist in improving security by checking for illegal migration. Additional objectives that have been articulated include: providing services to the residents under government schemes and programmes, checking for identity frauds, and improving planning.<a href="#fn2" name="fr2">[2]</a></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>What is the process of enrollment for the NPR?</b><br />NPR enrollment is being carried out through house to house canvassing. The Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner, India has assigned Department of Information Technology (DIT) the responsibility of collecting and digitizing demographic data in 17 states and 2 Union Territories of India.<a href="#fn2" name="fr2">[2]</a> Collected information will then be printed and <i>displayed in the local area </i>where it is scrutinized by local officers and vetted by local bodies called ´Gram Sabha/Ward Committees´.<a href="#fn4" name="fr4">[4]</a> This process of social audit is meant to bring in transparency, equity, and ensure accuracy.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>What information will be collected under the NPR?</b><br />The NPR database will include thirteen categories of demographic information and three categories of biometrics. The collection biometrics has not been provided for in the text of the Citizenship Rules, and is instead appears to be authorized through guidelines,<a href="#fn5" name="fr5">[5]</a> which do not have statutory backing. Currently, two iris scans, ten fingerprints, and a photograph are being collected. According to a 2010 Committee note, only the photograph and fingerprints were initially envisioned to be collected.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>What is the Resident Identity Card? </b><br />The proposed Resident Identity card is a smart card with a micro-processor chip of 6.4 Kb capacity; the demographic and biometric attributes of each individual will be personalized in this chip. The UID number will be placed on the card as well. Currently, the government is only considering the possibility of distributing smart cards to all residents over the age of 18.<a href="#fn6" name="fr6">[6]</a></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>What is the UID?<br /></b>The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) was established in January 2009 and is part of the Planning Commission of India. UIDAI aims to provide a unique 12 digit ID number to all residents in India on a voluntary basis. The number will be known as AADHAAR. The UIDAI will own and operate a Unique Identification Number database which will contain biometric and demographic data of citizens.<a href="#fn7" name="fr7">[7]</a></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>What is the objective of the UID?<br /></b>According to the UIDAI, the UID will provide identity for individuals. The scheme has been promoted by the UIDAI as enabling a number of social benefits including improving the public distribution system, enabling financial inclusion, and improving the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS). Despite these benefits, the UIDAI only guarantees identity, and does not guarantee rights, benefits or entitlement.<a href="#fn8" name="fr8">[8]</a></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>What is the process for enrollment in the UID?</b><br />To enroll in the UID, individuals must go to enrollment centers with the appropriate documentation. Once documents are verified and biometrics taken, individuals will receive an acknowledgment slip and their UID number will be sent in the mail.<a href="#fn9" name="fr9">[9]</a> The UIDAI will enroll up to 600 million residents in 16 States and territories.<a href="#fn10" name="fr10">[10]</a> Online registration prior to enrollment at a Center is also now being offered.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>How is UID being adopted by different States? </b><br />The adoption of the UID by different states and platforms has been controversial as the UID is not a mandatory number, yet with states and services adopting the number for different governmental services, the UID is becoming mandatory by default. Some ways in which states are using the UID include:</p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><i>Gas and vehicles</i>: The UPA Government has required that citizens have a UID number for services such as purchasing cooking gas, issuing a RTI request, and registering vehicles.<a href="#fn11" name="fr11">[11]</a></li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><i>Education</i>: The Kerala government has required that all students must have UID number in order to be tracked through the system.<a href="#fn12" name="fr12">[12] </a>This mandate was questioned by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><i>First Information Reports (FIR’s)</i>: The high court in Bombay has ordered the state home department to direct all police stations in Maharashtra to record the Unique Identification (UID) numbers of accused individuals and witnesses filing a FIR.<a href="#fn13" name="fr13">[13]</a> </li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><i>Banks</i>: The National Payment Corporation of India has collaborated UIDAI and is issuing ‘RuPay cards’ (Dhan Aadhaar cards) which will serve as ATM/micro-ATM cards. In 2011 the Bank of India had issued 250 cards.<a href="#fn14" name="fr14">[14]</a></li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><i>Railway</i>: Railways are proposing to use the UID database for bookings and validation of passengers.<a href="#fn15" name="fr15">[15]</a></li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><i>Social Security</i>: Commencing January 1, 2013, MGNREGA, the Rajiv Gandhi Awas Yojana (RGAY), the Ashraya housing scheme, Bhagyalakshmi and the social security and pension scheme have included the UID in the Mysore district</li>
</ul>
<p><b>Has there been duplication of UID numbers?</b><br />According to news reports:</p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">The UIDAI has blacklisted an operator and a supervisor in Andhra Pradesh for issuing fake UID numbers.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">The UIDAI is looking into six complaints regarding the misuse of personal data while issuing the UID numbers to individuals.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>The UIDAI has received two received complaints regarding duplication of UID numbers.<a href="#fn17" name="fr17">[17]</a></li>
</ul>
<p><b>What are the differences between the UID and NPR?<br /></b></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><i>Voluntary vs. Mandatory:</i> It is compulsory for <i>all </i>Indian residents to register with the NPR, while registration with the UIDAI is considered voluntary. However, the NPR will store individuals UID number with the NPR data and place it on the Resident Indian Card. In this way and others, the UID number is becoming compulsory by various means. </li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><i>Number vs. Register:</i> UID will issue a number, while the NPR is the prelude to the National Citizens Register. Thus, it is only a Register. Though earlier the MNIC card was implemented along the coastal area, there has been no proposal to extend the MNIC to the whole country. The smart card that is proposed under the NPR has only been raised for discussion, and there has been no official decision to issue a card.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><i>Statute vs. Bill:</i> The enrollment of individuals for the NPR is legally backed by the Citizenship Act, except in relation to the collection of biometrics, while the UID as proposed a bill which has not been passed for the legal backing of the scheme. </li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><i>Authentication vs. Identification:</i> The UID number will serve as an authenticator during transactions. It can be adopted and made mandatory by any platform. The National Resident Card will signify resident status and citizenship. It is unclear what circumstances the card will be required for use in. </li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><i>UIDAI vs. RGI:</i> The UIDAI is responsible for enrolling individuals in the UID scheme, and the RGI is responsible for enrolling individuals in the NPR scheme. It is important to note that the UIDAI is located in the Planning Commission, but its status is unclear, as the NIC had indicated that the data held is not being held by the government. </li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><i>Door to door canvassing vs. center enrollment</i>: Individuals will have to go to an enrollment center and register for the UID, while the NPR will carry out part of the enrollment of individuals through door to door canvassing. Note: Individuals will still have to go to centers for enrolling their biometrics for the NPR scheme. </li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><i>Prior documentation vs. census material:</i> The UID will be based off of prior forms of documentation and identification, while the NPR will be based off of census information.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><i>Online vs. Offline:</i> For authentication of an individual’s UID number, the UID will require mobile connectivity, while the NPR can perform offline verification of an individual’s card. </li>
</ul>
<p><b>What is the controversy between the UID and NPR? </b></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><i>Effectiveness:</i> There is controversy over which scheme would be more effective and appropriate for different purposes. For example, the Ministry of Home Affairs has argued that the NPR would be more suited for distributing subsidies than the UID, as the NPR has data linking each individual to a household.<a href="#fn18" name="fr18">[18]</a></li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><i>Legality of sharing data</i>: Both the legality of the UID and NPR collecting data and biometrics has been questioned. For example, it has been pointed out that the collection of biometric information through the NPR, is beyond the scope of subordinate legislation. Especially as this appears to be left only to guidelines.<a href="#fn19" name="fr19">[19]</a> Collection of any information under the UID scheme is being questioned as the Bill has not been approved by the Parliament.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><i>Accuracy</i>: The UIDAI's use of multiple registrars and enrolment agencies, the reliance on 'secondary information' via existing ID documents for enrollment in the UID, and the original plan to enroll individuals via the 'introducer' system has raised by Home Minister Chidambaram in January 2012 about how accurate the data collected by the UID is is that will be collected.<a href="#fn20" name="fr20">[20]</a> To this extent, the UIDAI has changed the introducer system to a ‘verifier’ system. In this system, Government officials verify individuals and their documents prior to enrolling them.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><i>Biometrics</i>: Though biometrics are mandatory for the UID scheme, according to information on the NPR website, if an individual has already enrolled with the UID, they will not need to provide their biometrics again for the NPR. Application of this standard has been haphazard as some individuals have been required to provide biometrics for both the UID and the NPR, and others have not been required to provide biometrics for the NPR.<a href="#fn21" name="fr21">[21]</a></li>
</ul>
<p><b>What court cases have been filed against the UID?<br /></b>The following cases are currently filed in courts around the country:</p>
<ul>
<li><i>Supreme Court:</i></li>
</ul>
<p style="padding-left: 30px; text-align: justify; ">K S Puttaswamy, a retired judge of Karnataka High Court filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in the Supreme Court challenging the legality of UIDAI.<a href="#fn22" name="fr22">[22]</a></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><i>Chandigarh</i>: A petition was filed in Chandigarh by Sanjeev Pandey which sought to quash executive order passed in violation of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, and Central Motor Vehicle Rules, 1989 by which UID cards had been made mandatory for registration of vehicles and grant of learner/regular driving license.<a href="#fn23" name="fr23">[23]</a><span> </span></li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><span><i>Karnataka:</i></span> <span>Mathew Thomas and Mr. VK Somasekhar have filed a civil suit in the Bangalore City Civil Courts (numbered 8181 of 2012) asking for the UID project to be stopped. The suit was dismissed, and they have appealed the case to the High Court (numbered 1780 and 1825 of 2013).</span></li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><i>Chennai</i>: A PIL has been filed in the Madras High Court challenging the constitutional validity of the UIDAI and its issue of UID numbers.<a href="#fn24" name="fr24">[24]</a></li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><i>Bombay</i>: In January 2012 a case was filed in the Mumbai high Court. The petitioners to the case are R. Ramkumar, G. Nagarjuna, Kamayani Mahabal, Yogesh Pawar and Vickram Crishna & Ors.</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>What is the relationship between UID, NPR, and National Security<br /></b>The UID and the NPR have both stated improving security as an objective for the projects. To this extent, it is envisioned that the UID and the NPR could be used to track and identify individuals, and determine if they are residents of India. In the case of the NPR, a distinction will be made between residents and citizens. Yet, concerns have also been raised that these projects instead raise national security threats, given the size of the databases that will be created, the centralized nature of the databases, the sensitive nature of the information held in the databases, and the involvement of international agencies.<a href="#fn25" name="fr25">[25]</a></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>What is the relationship between UID and Big Data?<br /></b>Aspects of the UID scheme allow it to generate a large amount of data from a variety of sources. Namely, the UID scheme aims to capture 12 billion fingerprints, 1.2 billion photographs and 2.4 billion iris scans and can be adopted by any platform. This data in turn can be stored, analyzed, and used for a number of purposes by a number of stakeholders in both the government and the private sectors. This is already happening to a certain extent as in November 2012 the UID established a Public Data Portal for the UID project. According to UIDAI officials the data portal will allow for big data analysis using crowd sourcing models.<a href="#fn26" name="fr26">[26]</a></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>How is UID being used for BPL direct cash transfers?<br /></b>Registration with the UID scheme is considered essential to determine whether beneficiaries belong in the BPL category and to provide transparency to the distribution of cash. In this way, the UID requirement is thought to prevent the leakage of social security benefits and subsidies to non-intended beneficiaries, as cash will only be made available to the person identified by the UID as the intended recipient. One of the main prerequisites of a below poverty line (BPL) direct cash transfer in India has become the registration with the UIDAI and the acquisition of a UID number. For example:</p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">The "Cash for Food" programme requires that individuals applying for aid have a bank account, and a UID number. The money is transferred, electronically and automatically, to the bank account and the beneficiary should be able to withdraw it from a micro-ATM using the UID number.<a href="#fn27" name="fr27">[27]</a> It is important to note that micro-ATMs are not actual ATMs, but instead are handheld machines which may give information on bank balance and such, but will not dispense or maintain privacy of transaction. Most importantly, the transaction is mediated though a banking correspondent.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">The government plans to cover the target BPL families and deposit USD 570 billion per year in the bank accounts of 100 million poor families by 2014.<a href="#fn28" name="fr28">[28]</a></li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Currently, only beneficiaries of thirteen government schemes and LPG connection holders have been identified as being entitled to register for a UID number.<a href="#fn29" name="fr29">[29]</a> Though these schemes have been identified, as of yet, adoption has happened in very few districts. </li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>What are the concerns regarding the use of biometrics in the UID and NPR scheme? <br /></b>Both the UID and the NPR rely on biometrics as a way to identify individuals. Yet, many concerns have been raised about the use of biometrics in terms of legality, effectiveness, and accuracy of the technology. With regards to the accuracy and effectiveness of biometrics – the following concerns have been raised:</p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><i>Biometrics are not infallible:</i> Inaccuracies can arise from variations in individuals attributes and inaccuracies in the technology. </li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><i>Environment matters</i>: An individual’s biometrics can change in response to a number of factors including age, environment, stress, activity, and illness.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><i>Population size matters</i>: Because biometrics have differing levels of stability – the larger the population is the higher the possibility for error is. </li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><i>Technology matters:</i> The accuracy of a biometric match also depends on the accuracy of the technology used. Many aspects of biometric technology can change including: calibration, sensors, and algorithms.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><i>Spoofing:</i> It is possible to spoof a fingerprint and fool a biometric reader.<a href="#fn30" name="fr30">[30]</a></li>
</ul>
<ul>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
</ul>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: justify; ">[<a href="#fr1" name="fn1">1</a>]. Government of India. Ministry of Home Affairs. Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner. <a class="external-link" href="http://bit.ly/IiySDh">http://bit.ly/IiySDh</a></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">[<a href="#fr2" name="fn2">2</a>]. This is according to a 2010 Cabinet note and the official website of the NPR.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">[<a href="#fr3" name="fn3">3</a>]. Department of Information Technology: http://ditnpr.nic.in/frmStatelist.aspx - These include: (1) Arunachal Pradesh (2) Assam (3) Bihar (4) Chhattisgarh (5) Haryana (6) Himachal Pradesh (7)Jammu & Kashmir (8) Jharkhand (9) Madhya Pradesh (10)Meghalaya (11)Mizoram (12)Punjab (13)Rajasthan (14)Sikkim (15)Tripura (16)Uttar Pradesh (17)Uttarakhand Union Territories:-(1) Dadra & Nagar Haveli (2) Chandigarh.</p>
<p>[<a href="#fr4" name="fn4">4</a>]. Government of India. Ministry of Home Affairs. Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner: <a class="external-link" href="http://bit.ly/IiySDh">http://bit.ly/IiySDh</a></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">[<a href="#fr5" name="fn5">5</a>]. Department of Information Technology. National Population Register. Question 22. What are the procedures to be followed for creating the NPR? The procedures to be followed for creating the NPR have been laid down in the Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and issue of National Identity Cards) Rules, 2003, and the guidelines being issued from time to time.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">[<a href="#fr6" name="fn6">6</a>]. The Unique Identification Government of India. Ministry of Home Affairs. Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner: http://censusindia.gov.in/2011-Common/IntroductionToNpr.html Authority of India. <a class="external-link" href="http://uidai.gov.in/">http://uidai.gov.in/</a></p>
<p>[<a href="#fr7" name="fn7">7</a>]. Unique Identification Authority of India. <a class="external-link" href="http://uidai.gov.in/">http://uidai.gov.in/</a></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">[<a href="#fr8" name="fn8">8</a>]. The point was made by R. Ramachandran. How reliable is UID? Frontline. Volume 28- Issue 24: November 19- December 02, 2011. Available at:<a class="external-link" href="http://bit.ly/13UMiSv"> http://bit.ly/13UMiSv</a></p>
<p>[<a href="#fr9" name="fn9">9</a>]. For more information see: How to get an Aadhaar. <a class="external-link" href="http://bit.ly/R2jBOP">http://bit.ly/R2jBOP</a></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">[<a href="#fr10" name="fn10">10</a>]. Mazumdar. R. UIDAI targets 400 million enrolments by mid 2013, Aadhar hopes to give unique identity to some 1.2 bn residents. Economic Times. December 2012. Available at: <a class="external-link" href="http://bit.ly/ZC3Yv">http://bit.ly/ZC3Yv</a>e. Last accessed: February 28th 2013.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">[<a href="#fr11" name="fn11">11</a>]. Malu. B. The Aadhaar Card – What are the real intentions of the UPA Government? DNA. February 18<sup>th</sup> 2013. Available at: <a class="external-link" href="http://bit.ly/150BXRj">http://bit.ly/150BXRj</a>. Last accessed: February 28th 2013.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">[<a href="#fr12" name="fn12">12</a>]. Government of Kerala. General Education Department Circular No. 52957/G2?2012/G.Edn. Available at: <a class="external-link" href="http://bit.ly/15Oiq8J">http://bit.ly/15Oiq8J</a></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">[<a href="#fr13" name="fn13">13</a>]. Plumber, M. Make UID numbers must in FIRs: Bombay HC. DNA. October 2011. Available at: <a class="external-link" href="http://bit.ly/tVsInl">http://bit.ly/tVsInl</a>. Last accessed: February 28th 2013.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">[<a href="#fr14" name="fn14">14</a>]. Press Information Bureau. Government of India. Identity Card to Every Adult Resident of the Country under NPR; No Card being issued by UIDAI. December 2011. Available at: <a class="external-link" href="http://bit.ly/tJwZG1">http://bit.ly/tJwZG1</a></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">[<a href="#fr15" name="fn15">15</a>]. TravelBiz. Railways to use Aadhar database for passenger validation. February 2013. Available at: <a class="external-link" href="http://bit.ly/YcW5wl">http://bit.ly/YcW5wl</a>. Last accessed: February 28th 2013.</p>
<p>[<a href="#fr16" name="fn16">16</a>]. Vombatkere. S.G. Questions for Mr. Nilekani. The Hindu. February 2013. Available at: <a class="external-link" href="http://bit.ly/YqPlK1">http://bit.ly/YqPlK1</a>. Last accessed: February 28th 2013.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">[<a href="#fr17" name="fn17">17</a>]. Economic Times. UIDAI orders probe into duplication of Aadhaar numbers.<a class="external-link" href="http://bit.ly/ZORowg"> http://bit.ly/ZORowg</a>. Last accessed: February 28th 2013.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">[<a href="#fr18" name="fn18">18</a>]. Jain. B. Battle over turf muddies waters. Times of India. February 2013. Available at: <a class="external-link" href="http://bit.ly/16ud3gm">http://bit.ly/16ud3gm</a>. Last accessed: February 28th 2013</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">[<a href="#fr19" name="fn19">19</a>]. Rediff. Aadhaar’s allocation is Parliament’s contempt. February 2013. Available at: <a class="external-link" href="http://bit.ly/Y638JS">http://bit.ly/Y638JS</a>. Last accessed: February 28th 2013.</p>
<p>[<a href="#fr20" name="fn20">20</a>]. Ibid 17.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">[<a href="#fr21" name="fn21">21</a>]. Times of India. Confused over Aadhaar, Cabinet clears GoM. February 2013. Available at <a class="external-link" href="http://bit.ly/UTH2JS">http://bit.ly/UTH2JS</a>. Last accessed: February 28th 2013.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">[<a href="#fr22" name="fn22">22</a>]. Times of India. Supreme Court notice to govt on PIL over Aadhar. December 2012. Available at: <a class="external-link" href="http://bit.ly/13UNs0i">http://bit.ly/13UNs0i</a>. Last accessed: February 2013.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">[<a href="#fr23" name="fn23">23</a>]. The Indian Express. HC issues notice to Centre, UT over mandatory UID for license. January 2013. Available at: <a class="external-link" href="http://bit.ly/WJq43M">http://bit.ly/WJq43M</a>. Last accessed: February 28th 2013.</p>
<p>[<a href="#fr24" name="fn24">24</a>]. Economic Times. PIL seeks to scrap Nandan Nilekani’s Aadhar project. January 2012. Available at: <a class="external-link" href="http://bit.ly/zB1H07">http://bit.ly/zB1H07</a>. Last accessed: February 28th 2013.</p>
<p>[<a href="#fr25" name="fn25">25</a>]. Times of India. UID poses national security threat: BJP. January 2012. Available at:<a class="external-link" href="http://bit.ly/WeM6KA"> http://bit.ly/WeM6KA</a>. Last accessed: February 28th 2013.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">[<a href="#fr26" name="fn26">26</a>]. Zeenews. UIDAI launches Public Data Portal for Aadhaar. November 8th 2012. Available at: <a class="external-link" href="http://bit.ly/T9NdX3">http://bit.ly/T9NdX3</a>. Last Accessed: November 12th 2012.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">[<a href="#fr27" name="fn27">27</a>]. Punj, S. Wages of Haste: Implementing the cash transfer scheme is proving a challenge. January 2013. Available at: <a class="external-link" href="http://bit.ly/1024Dwo">http://bit.ly/1024Dwo</a>. Last accessed: February 28th 2013.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">[<a href="#fr28" name="fn28">28</a>]. The International Business Times. India to Roll Out World’s Biggest Direct Cash Transfer Scheme for the Poor. November 2012. Available at: <a class="external-link" href="http://bit.ly/UYbtw4">http://bit.ly/UYbtw4</a>. Last accessed: February 28th 2013.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">[<a href="#fr29" name="fn29">29</a>]. Mid Day. Do not register for Aadhaar card before March 15: UID in –charge. February 2013. Available at: <a class="external-link" href="http://bit.ly/Xymx9d.">http://bit.ly/Xymx9d.</a> Last accessed: February 28th 2013.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">[<a href="#fr30" name="fn30">30</a>]. These points were raised in the following frontline article Ibid: Ramachandran, R. How reliable is UID? Frontline. Volume 28 – Issue 24 November 19th – December 2nd 2011. Available at: <a class="external-link" href="http://bit.ly/13UMiSv">http://bit.ly/13UMiSv</a>. Last accessed February 28th 2013.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/uid-and-npr-a-background-note'>http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/uid-and-npr-a-background-note</a>
</p>
No publisherelonnaiVideoInternet GovernancePrivacy2014-04-30T05:03:51ZBlog EntryAn Introduction to Bitfilm & Bitcoin in Bangalore, India
http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/bensonsamuel-an-introduction-to-bitfilm-and-bitcoin-in-bangalore
<b>An event at the Centre for Internet & Society (CIS) was organized on January 23, 2013. The all star team at CIS was awesome at organizing this event for Bitcoin. Live streaming, mainstream newspaper coverage and Twitter based Q&A made this the first Bitcoin event in India that leveraged these mediums of information transfer.</b>
<hr />
<p>See the <a class="external-link" href="http://www.bensonsamuel.com/?p=108">blog post published</a> in Benson's Blog</p>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Aaron Koenig gave a talk on the creation and use of Bitcoin, and on a payment system designed for the voting process of the Bitfilm Festival for Digital Film. Since the year 2000, the Bitfilm Festival has been showcasing films that use digital technology in a creative and innovative way. It takes place on the Internet. However, physical screenings of the films will be held in Bangalore and in Hamburg. Each of the 59 nominated digital animations has its own Bitcoin account, and users worldwide may vote by donating Bitcoins to the films they like anonymously and without any transfer costs. The donated money will be divided among the most popular films (the films with the most votes/Bitcoins).</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">A strong knowledgeable speaker, Aaron brought forward his tremendous knowledge of Bitcoin, Art & Economics.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>The Twitter based Q&A can be viewed on the Twitter ID's of</b></p>
<p>@pranesh_prakash</p>
<p>@cis_india</p>
<p>@bensonsamuel</p>
<p><b>The Newspaper Articles where Bitfilm & Bitcoin made their news in India were</b></p>
<p>Deccan Herald - <a class="external-link" href="http://bit.ly/U74YsS">http://bit.ly/U74YsS</a></p>
<p>The Hindu -<a class="external-link" href="http://goo.gl/YJYni"> http://goo.gl/YJYni</a></p>
<p>The Bangalore Mirror - <a class="external-link" href="http://bit.ly/XfDRbZ">http://bit.ly/XfDRbZ</a></p>
<p><b>Bitcoin Resources In India</b></p>
<p>Local Exchange - <a class="external-link" href="https://localbitcoins.com/">LocalBitcoins.com</a></p>
<p>India Fourms - <a href="https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?board=89.0">https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?board=89.0</a></p>
<p><a class="external-link" href="http://bit.ly/ZDm4jW">http://bit.ly/ZDm4jW</a></p>
<p>Blogs - <a class="external-link" href="http://www.bensonsamuel.com/">bensonsamuel.com</a></p>
<p><a class="external-link" href="http://unocoin.com/">Unocoin.com</a></p>
<p>Services - <a class="external-link" href="http://indiabitcoin.com/">indiabitcoin.com</a> - Official Partners of Bitpay USA in India</p>
<p>Meetup Group - <a class="external-link" href="http://www.meetup.com/Bitcoin-Bangalore-Meetup-Group/">http://www.meetup.com/Bitcoin-Bangalore-Meetup-Group/</a></p>
<hr />
<h2 style="text-align: justify; ">Video</h2>
<p><iframe frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/mOCBjDM6ZiQ" width="400"></iframe></p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/bensonsamuel-an-introduction-to-bitfilm-and-bitcoin-in-bangalore'>http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/bensonsamuel-an-introduction-to-bitfilm-and-bitcoin-in-bangalore</a>
</p>
No publisherbensonVideoInternet Governance2013-03-12T05:58:24ZBlog EntryCreative Commons comes to India
http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/creative-commons-comes-to-india
<b>Creative Commons team visited four Indian cities to spread the word about CC free licenses and CC affiliate program. Wikimedia India chapter was approached to join hands with Creative Commons for research and community building.</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://creativecommons.org/staff#jessicacoates" target="_blank">Jessica Coates</a>, Global Network Manager and <a href="http://creativecommons.org/staff#janehornibrook" target="_blank">Jane Hornibrook</a>, Regional Coordinator, Asia-Pacific, <a class="external-link" href="http://creativecommons.org">Creative Commons </a>recently visited India. The <a class="external-link" href="http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Access_To_Knowledge">Access to Knowledge</a> team from the <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/" class="external-link">Centre for Internet and Society</a> got a chance to join them for three of their meetings: one in Pune and two in Bengaluru.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Ceative Commons is a not-for-profit organization and the base for the free licenses. More than 400 million work in the world are in Creative Commons license as of today. The foundation is looking to expand its wing of voluntary affiliates in India who would support for more outreach, community building and research. "We are excited to see the wikipedians in India and their passion to contribute to Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects. Wikimedia Commons is the largest Creative Commons license use and we are looking for joining hands with the Indian wikipedians and the Wikimedia India chapter", says Jessica Coats.</p>
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<p style="text-align: center; "><img src="http://editors.cis-india.org/home-images/CreativeCommons.png" alt="Creative Commons Bengaluru" class="image-inline" title="Creative Commons Bengaluru" /></p>
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<td><span class="description">Jessica Coates and Jane Hornibrook from Creative Commons at Centre of Internet and Society, Bengaluru</span></td>
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<p style="text-align: justify; ">Jane Hornibook, who looks after Creative Common's operation in Asia-Pacific said, "Creative Commons has many users in India. It would be exciting for us to collaborate with more academicians, wikipedians and organizations like Wikimedia India Chapter and CIS for peer research and outreach and grow our <a href="http://wiki.creativecommons.org/CC_Affiliate_Network" target="_blank">affiliate network</a> in India.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Video</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><iframe frameborder="0" height="300" src="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jessica_Coates_and_Jane_Hornibrook,_Creative_Commons-GNUnify.webm?embedplayer=yes" width="400"></iframe><br /><br />Note: This blog post is a combination of events organized in Pune by Pune Linux/Unix User Group and Symbiosis Institute of Computer Studies & Research, and CIS and the Wikimedia India Chapter in Bangalore.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/creative-commons-comes-to-india'>http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/creative-commons-comes-to-india</a>
</p>
No publishersubhaAccess to KnowledgeWikimediaWikipediaVideoOpenness2013-07-17T06:49:55ZBlog EntryVideo Vortex # 9 Re:assemblies of Video
http://editors.cis-india.org/news/video-vortex-9-net-re-assemblies-of-video
<b>Nishant Shah is a speaker at this event organized by the Institute of Network Cultures, Post Media Lab, Moving Image Lab, Leuphana, et.al. The event is being held at Luneberg from February 28, 2013 to March 2, 2013.</b>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a class="external-link" href="http://videovortex9.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/180213_VV9_A1.pdf">Click</a> to see the program flyer. Also see Nishant's <a class="external-link" href="http://videovortex9.net/ai1ec_event/reassemblies/?instance_id=292">key note</a> at Video Vortex</p>
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<h2 style="text-align: justify; ">Participants</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Thursday February 28th / Donnerstag 28.02.2013 VIDEO VORTEX #9 Re:assemblies of Video + Analog@VIDEO VORTEX</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">confirmed speakers / bestätigte Referenten: <a class="hackadelic-sliderButton" title="click to expand/collapse slider <b>Beth Coleman</b>">Beth Coleman»</a> , <a class="hackadelic-sliderButton" title="click to expand/collapse slider <b>Seth Keen</b>">Seth Keen»</a> , <a class="hackadelic-sliderButton" title="click to expand/collapse slider <b>Edwin</b>">Edwin»</a> , <a class="hackadelic-sliderButton" title="click to expand/collapse slider <b>Thomas <b>Østbye</b></b>">Thomas Østbye»</a> , <a class="hackadelic-sliderButton" title="click to expand/collapse slider <b>Andreas Treske</b>">Andreas Treske»</a> , <a class="hackadelic-sliderButton" title="click to expand/collapse slider <b>Stephanie Hough</b>">Stephanie Hough»</a> , <a class="hackadelic-sliderButton" title="click to expand/collapse slider <b>Martin Katić</b>">Martin Katić»</a> , <a class="hackadelic-sliderButton" title="click to expand/collapse slider <b>Theresa Steffens</b>">Theresa Steffens»</a> , <a class="hackadelic-sliderButton" title="click to expand/collapse slider <b>Arndt Potdevin</b>">Arndt Potdevin»</a> <i>, </i><a class="hackadelic-sliderButton" title="click to expand/collapse slider <b><b><b>Robert M. </b></b>Ochshorn</b>">Robert M. Ochshorn»</a> , <a class="hackadelic-sliderButton" title="click to expand/collapse slider <b>N<b>an Haifen</b></b>">Nan Haifen»</a> , <a class="hackadelic-sliderButton" title="click to expand/collapse slider <b><b>Viola Sarnelli</b></b>">Viola Sarnelli»</a> , <a class="hackadelic-sliderButton" title="click to expand/collapse slider <b>Boris Traue</b>">Boris Traue»</a> , <a class="hackadelic-sliderButton" title="click to expand/collapse slider <b><b>Achim Kredelbach</b></b>">Achim Kredelbach»</a> , <a class="hackadelic-sliderButton" title="click to expand/collapse slider <b>Dalida María Benfield</b>">Dalida María Benfield»</a> , <a class="hackadelic-sliderButton" title="click to expand/collapse slider <b>Renée Ridgway</b>">Renée Ridgway»</a> , <a class="hackadelic-sliderButton" title="click to expand/collapse slider <b>Gabriel S Moses</b>">Gabriel S Moses»</a> , <a class="hackadelic-sliderButton" title="click to expand/collapse slider <b>Nishant Shah</b>">Nishant Shah»</a></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Friday March 1st / Freitag 01.03.2013 VIDEO VORTEX #9 Re:assemblies of Video</b></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">confirmed speakers / bestätigte Referenten: <a class="hackadelic-sliderButton" title="click to expand/collapse slider <b>Margarita Tsomou</b>">Margarita Tsomou»</a> , <a class="hackadelic-sliderButton" title="click to expand/collapse slider <b>Sascha Simons</b>">Sascha Simons»</a> , <a class="hackadelic-sliderButton" title="click to expand/collapse slider <b>Nelli Kambouri</b>">Nelli Kambouri»</a> , <a class="hackadelic-sliderButton" title="click to expand/collapse slider <b>Pavlos Hatzopoulos</b>">Pavlos Hatzopoulos»</a> , <a class="hackadelic-sliderButton" title="click to expand/collapse slider <b>Joshua Neves</b>">Joshua Neves»</a> , <a class="hackadelic-sliderButton" title="click to expand/collapse slider <b>Gabriel Menotti</b>">Gabriel Menotti»</a> , <a class="hackadelic-sliderButton" title="click to expand/collapse slider <b>Filippo Spreafico</b>">Filippo Spreafico»</a> , <a class="hackadelic-sliderButton" title="click to expand/collapse slider <b>Caroline Heron</b>">Caroline Heron»</a> , <a class="hackadelic-sliderButton" title="click to expand/collapse slider <b>Jonathan Shaw</b>">Jonathan Shaw»</a> , <a class="hackadelic-sliderButton" title="click to expand/collapse slider <b>Jan Gerber</b>">Jan Gerber»</a> , <a class="hackadelic-sliderButton" title="click to expand/collapse slider <b>Sebastian Luetgert</b>">Sebastian Luetgert»</a> , <a class="hackadelic-sliderButton" title="click to expand/collapse slider <b>Elric Milon</b>">Elric Milon»</a> , <a class="hackadelic-sliderButton" title="click to expand/collapse slider <b>Sebastian Luetgert</b>">Sebastian Luetgert»</a> , <a class="hackadelic-sliderButton" title="click to expand/collapse slider <b>Sascha Kluger</b>">Sascha Kluger»</a> , <a class="hackadelic-sliderButton" title="click to expand/collapse slider <b>Jamie King</b>">Jamie King»</a> , <a class="hackadelic-sliderButton" title="click to expand/collapse slider <b>Stefano Sabatini</b>">Stefano Sabatini»</a> , <a class="hackadelic-sliderButton" title="click to expand/collapse slider <b>Peter Snowdon</b>">Peter Snowdon»</a> , <a class="hackadelic-sliderButton" title="click to expand/collapse slider <b>Miya Yoshida</b>">Miya Yoshida»</a> , <a class="hackadelic-sliderButton" title="click to expand/collapse slider <b><b>Boaz Levin</b></b>">Boaz Levin»</a> , <a class="hackadelic-sliderButton" title="click to expand/collapse slider <b>Azin Feizabadi</b>">Azin Feizabadi»</a> , <a class="hackadelic-sliderButton" title="click to expand/collapse slider <b>Kaya Behkalam</b>">Kaya Behkalam»</a> , <a class="hackadelic-sliderButton" title="click to expand/collapse slider <b>Jens Maier-Rothe</b>">Jens Maier-Rothe»</a> , <a class="hackadelic-sliderButton" title="click to expand/collapse slider <b>Jasmina Metwaly</b>">Jasmina Metwaly»</a>, <a class="hackadelic-sliderButton" title="click to expand/collapse slider <b>Graswurzel.tv</b>">Graswurzel.tv»</a> , <a class="hackadelic-sliderButton" title="click to expand/collapse slider <b>Björn Ahrend</b>">Björn Ahrend»</a> , <a class="hackadelic-sliderButton" title="click to expand/collapse slider <b>Timo Großpietsch</b>">Timo Großpietsch»</a></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Saturday March 2nd / Samstag 02.03.2013 VIDEO VORTEX #9 Re:assemblies of Video</b></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">confirmed speakers / bestätigte Referenten: <a class="hackadelic-sliderButton" title="click to expand/collapse slider <b>Vito Campanelli</b>">Vito Campanelli»</a> , <a class="hackadelic-sliderButton" title="click to expand/collapse slider <b><b><b>Robert M. </b></b>Ochshorn</b>">Robert M. Ochshorn»</a> , <a class="hackadelic-sliderButton" title="click to expand/collapse slider <b><b>Alejo Duque</b></b>">Alejo Duque»</a> , <a class="hackadelic-sliderButton" title="click to expand/collapse slider <b>Lucía Egaña Rojas</b>">Lucía Egaña Rojas»</a> , <a class="hackadelic-sliderButton" title="click to expand/collapse slider <b>Andrew Clay</b>">Andrew Clay»</a> , <a class="hackadelic-sliderButton" title="click to expand/collapse slider <b>Stefan Heidenreich</b>">Stefan Heidenreich»</a> & <a class="hackadelic-sliderButton" title="click to expand/collapse slider <b>Deborah Ligorio</b>">Deborah Ligorio»</a> , <a class="hackadelic-sliderButton" title="click to expand/collapse slider <b>Cornelia Sollfrank</b>">Cornelia Sollfrank»</a></p>
<h2 style="text-align: justify; ">Digital Natives</h2>
<div>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">For the videos <i>DNI-IV,</i> visual artist Renée Ridgway and filmmaker Rick van Amersfoort interviewed digital natives from all over the world around four issues, juxtapositioning images with spoken content. The following 4 clips were specially edited teasers of the Digital Natives videos for public transport in Lueneburg. From 4 February to 4 March they run on the screens in public busses (between central station and university campus).</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Renée Ridgway will show her ’collaborative meme’ in full length as part of the Video Vortex program at 16:30 on 28 February and discuss her project together with respondents Dalida Maria Benfield and Nishant Shah.</p>
</div>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The first video, <i>DNI </i>addresses the construction of the digital native (DN) with comments, critiques and opinions from the interviewees, visualizing a shift in how digital natives are imaged and perceived.</p>
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<th><iframe frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/WvWE1Iehmgw" width="320"></iframe></th>
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<p style="text-align: justify; ">The second video <i>DNII</i> focuses on the real vs. the digital whereby the division between physical reality and virtual reality is dismissed to build more comprehensive accounts of digital native practices.</p>
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<th><iframe frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/8lJsmyFykag" width="320"></iframe></th>
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<p style="text-align: justify; ">The third clip <i>DNIII</i> explores the processes that produce possibilities and potentials for social change through political participation and the role that technologies play in defining civic action and social movements. What are the relationships that these technology-based identities and practices have with existing political legacies?</p>
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<p style="text-align: justify; ">The last video DNIV combines connectivity, collaboration, inspiration and transformation but also reflects upon the limits of cyberspace, its borders and the eventual co-optation of technology by users.</p>
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<p style="text-align: justify; "><i>DNI, DNII, DNIII, DNIV </i>were commissioned by Hivos, Amsterdam and the Centre for Internet and Society, Bangalore.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/news/video-vortex-9-net-re-assemblies-of-video'>http://editors.cis-india.org/news/video-vortex-9-net-re-assemblies-of-video</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaVideoDigital Natives2013-03-04T03:44:56ZNews ItemReport of Aaron Swartz Memorial Hacknight
http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/hasgeek-blog-zainab-bawa-feb-6-2013-report-of-aaron-swartz-memorial-hacknight
<b>On 19th and 20th January, HasGeek organized a hacknight to commemorate the life and works of Aaron Swartz. Zainab Bawa from HasGeek shares with us the developments.</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Why host an Aaron Swartz memorial hacknight?</b> In the aftermath of Aaron’s death, some people began expressing <a href="http://hackerstreet.in/item?id=23160" target="_blank">doubts, uncertanties and misinformed opinions</a> about his activist causes. They questioned whether Aaron committed a ’crime’ by downloading articles from JSTOR and whether the means he used for liberating data were wrong in the first place. It was important to dispel these doubts and provide people with a better understanding about issues such as IT laws, copyright rules and access to information, and how these are implemented in different parts of the world.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Aaron had initiated several coding projects during his lifetime. <a href="http://anandology.com/" target="_blank">Anand Chitipothu</a>, who collaborated with Aaron at the <a href="http://archive.org/index.php" target="_blank">Internet Archive</a> and maintains his <a href="http://webpy.org/" target="_blank">web.py framework</a>, suggested that the hacknight could also be an opportunity where people get familiar with Aaron’s coding projects and work on some of them.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>The hacknight:</b> 87 people registered for the hacknight. Approximately 40 people turned up. Some participants proposed projects to <a href="http://hacknight.in/hasgeek/aaronsw-memorial/projects/5-liberate-some-public-data" target="_blank">liberate different kinds of public data</a> such as <a href="http://hacknight.in/hasgeek/aaronsw-memorial/projects/7-liberate-electoral-data" target="_blank">electoral data</a>, <a href="http://hacknight.in/hasgeek/aaronsw-memorial/projects/5-liberate-some-public-data" target="_blank">weather data, information about train timetables</a> and <a href="http://hacknight.in/hasgeek/aaronsw-memorial/projects/8-investigate-the-gloomy-world-of-india-gov-websites" target="_blank">crawling data from government and NIC websites</a>. Developers worked on these projects to make the data searchable and usable.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Discussions during the hacknight:</b> The hacknight started at 3 PM with <a href="http://hasgeek.tv/hasgeek/stream/351-what-did-aaron-do" target="_blank">a discussion about the life of Aaron Swartz and the political and legal implications of his coding projects and activism</a>.</p>
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<p style="text-align: justify; ">This discussion was led by Anand and <a href="https://twitter.com/jackerhack">Kiran Jonnalagadda</a> of HasGeek.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Kiran gave an elaborate background about Aaron’s life starting with how he established RSS 1.0 as a standard and the collaboration between Aaron and Lawrence Lessig on using the RDF format for Creative Commons licensing, leading to Aaron’s work with Reddit and <a href="http://techcrunch.com/2006/10/31/breaking-news-conde-nastwired-acquires-reddit/" target="_blank">its acquisition by Condé Nast</a>. Shortly after Reddit’s acquisition, Aaron left Reddit and began a career in activism. In this period, he started freeing data funded by public money which constitutionally belonged in the public domain. He published data from the catalogue of the Library of Congress and the US case law archives on the Internet Archive. Later, Aaron downloaded articles from JSTOR to release academic papers whose research was funded with public money. Before he could sift through the downloads, Aaron was caught by the police. He returned the hard disk containing the downloads. JSTOR and MIT did not pursue cases against him, but the United States government charged Aaron for breaking into the MIT campus and faking identity by changing the MAC address of his computer.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">At the end of Kiran’s presentation, participants asked several questions about activism, what constitutes offensive speech, framework of IT laws in India, and the process of law-making.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">At 5 PM, <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/publications-automated/cis/sunil" target="_blank">Sunil Abraham</a> of the <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/" target="_blank">Centre for Internet and Society</a> (CIS) joined the hacknight. He made a <a href="http://hasgeek.tv/hasgeek/aaronsw-hacknight/350-sunil-abraham-what-did-aaron-do">presentation about copyright laws, the Indian IT Act and Aaron’s work</a>.</p>
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<p style="text-align: justify; ">Sunil explained how Aaron believed in the importance of access to information by releasing data from copyright and thereby enabling freedom of expression. According to Sunil, Aaron Swartz is a very troublesome hero because his data liberation projects do not fall into one neat category. Moreover, the means he used for his activism are questioned by different activist groups. This makes it difficult to pinpoint exactly what one must credit Aaron for and what category of activism his work falls under.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">After Sunil’s presentation, there was a half hour discussion about the scope of copyright laws in India, copyright exemptions and what constitutes copyright infringement. Participants agreed that the trouble lies with the broad interpretations of copyright and IT laws. This enables the state and private parties to target and harass a person, often on frivolous grounds.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Discussion about hacknight projects:</b> At 6 PM, participants with project ideas and those who wanted to join projects gathered in the garden. Over tea and snacks, groups / pairs were formed. Participants reported two difficulties here:</p>
<ol>
<li>There weren’t enough projects to choose from i.e., fewer problems to solve</li>
<li>Not everyone who proposed projects could break the problem down into tasks for individual team members to work on.</li>
</ol>
<p>This affected participants’ motivation to stay through the night.</p>
<p><b>Web.py workshop:</b> After the tea break, <a href="http://hasgeek.tv/hasgeek/aaronsw-hacknight/352-web-py-workshop" target="_blank">Anand conducted a workshop on web.py</a>.</p>
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<p style="text-align: justify; ">Some participants came to the hacknight mainly to attend this workshop. The code used in this workshop is available on <a href="http://github.com/anandology/webpy-workshop" target="_blank">github.com/anandology/webpy-workshop</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Anand also worked on the database module of web.py to decouple it and make it into a separate python module. This project requires more work before it is completed. The code is available at: <a href="http://github.com/anandology/sqlpy" target="_blank">http://github.com/anandology/sqlpy</a></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Projects at the hacknight:</b> A complete list of projects that participants worked on during the hacknight are available on the <a href="http://hacknight.in/hasgeek/aaronsw-memorial" target="_blank">hacknight website</a>. We talked with some of the teams and individual participants to understand their projects, the process they followed for solving the problems, and outcomes at the end of the hacknight.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Liberating electoral data:</b> Arun Raghavan, an open source enthusiast, and four other participants (Arun K, Praveen, Mikul and Sumant) worked on scraping electorial data from <a href="http://ceokarnataka.kar.nic.in/" target="_blank">http://ceokarnataka.kar.nic.in/</a>. They planned to build a frontend which will make it easy for users to search their names and polling booth information. Currently, the electoral roll is published as a PDF document for each polling station along with a search form (which is unreliable and fails often) for individuals to find their names on the roll and the location of their polling station.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">It was difficult to parse the data because the PDFs were not designed for machine readability. Hence, the team had to spend time understanding how to extract the text. The other problem was that the person’s name was written above the father’s name, but if the person’s name was very long, it overlapped the father’s name. This made it difficult to determine where the person’s name ended and where the father’s name began. The team managed to come up with a heuristic to distinguish between the person’s name and father’s name based on slight differences in the way the text was printed on each sheet.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Arun Raghavan and other team members used Python to parse data from the PDFs. They also tried extracting data by using the search form and saving results whenever it returned them (since it failed often). The search form required a JavaScript submit, so Praveen Kumar and Arun K learned to use casper.js to emulate a browser and extract data. Praveen also used casper.js to liberate his friend Aram Bhusal’s blog from Sulekha.com. Aram made a <a href="http://hasgeek.tv/bangalorejs/4/374-flash-talk" target="_blank">presentation</a> about this at the <a href="http://hasgeek.tv/bangalorejs/4/" target="_blank">January edition of the Bangalore JS meet</a>.</p>
<p>At the end of the hacknight, the group almost managed to get a dump of an entire electoral roll. The project repositories:</p>
<ol>
<li><a href="https://github.com/arunk/ceoscraper" target="_blank">https://github.com/arunk/ceoscraper</a></li>
<li><a href="https://github.com/ford-prefect/ceo-kar-roll-scraper" target="_blank">https://github.com/ford-prefect/ceo-kar-roll-scraper</a></li>
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<p><b>Other data liberation projects: </b></p>
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<li style="text-align: justify; "><b>Indexing Government websites by category of information:</b> Elvis D’souza worked on crawling government websites and indexing them by category, for e.g., education, import-export trade, science and technology, etc. According to him, government websites contain lots of information including documents and spreadsheets. At the hacknight, Elvis completed the indexing process and ran some statistics about information contained in these websites. He eventually wants to build a portal where people can access this index and the documents. </li>
<li>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Railway timetable data: </b>Anand scraped data from the IRCTC website. Supreeth Srinivasmurthy worked with this data to plot a map. Bibhas Debnath also worked on the timetable data to build an API. A demo of this API is yet to be released.</p>
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<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Parsing weather data:</b> Asok Padda converted weather data from HTML format to Excel sheets. Hourly weather data for all weather stations in India during 2012 is parsed and uploaded to Internet Archive: <a href="http://archive.org/details/www.imdaws.com-2012" target="_blank">http://archive.org/details/www.imdaws.com-2012</a></p>
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<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Other projects:</b> Kashyap Kondamundi started building an app which will help people to calculate the current values of their mutual funds. He built 70% of this app at the hacknight.</p>
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<p>HasGeek has requested participants to post updates about their projects and share links to their code.</p>
<p><b>Overall achievements from the hacknight:</b> Participants reported the following outcomes from the hacknight:</p>
<ol> </ol><ol>
<li>Learning about new libraries and their applications</li>
<li>Awareness about IT laws and copyright frameworks in India</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Opportunity to meet and network with other coders who have an interest in data-related projects or working on new project ideas.</li>
</ol>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Participants appreciated Anand’s presence as a mentor during the hacknight. He interacted with the teams and helped them when they were stuck with their projects, either with his expertise in Python or by suggesting alternative ways of approaching the problem.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">HasGeek thanks <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/" target="_blank">CIS</a> for sponsoring the venue and providing logistical support during the hacknight.</p>
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For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/hasgeek-blog-zainab-bawa-feb-6-2013-report-of-aaron-swartz-memorial-hacknight'>http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/hasgeek-blog-zainab-bawa-feb-6-2013-report-of-aaron-swartz-memorial-hacknight</a>
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No publisherzainabOpennessVideo2013-03-02T13:32:25ZBlog Entry