The Centre for Internet and Society
http://editors.cis-india.org
These are the search results for the query, showing results 21 to 35.
Google's Optical Character Recognition Software Now Works with All South Asian Languages
http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/googles-optical-character-recognition-software-now-works-with-all-south-asian-languages
<b>The Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software by Google now works for more than 248 world languages, including all the major South Asian languages, and it's easy to use and works with over 90 percent accuracy for most languages.</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">This was published by <a class="external-link" href="https://globalvoices.org/2015/08/29/googles-optical-character-recognition-software-now-works-with-all-south-asian-languages/">Global Voices</a> on August 29, 2015.</p>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The <a href="https://support.google.com/drive/answer/176692" target="_blank">Optical Character Recognition</a> (OCR) software by Google <a href="http://gadgets.ndtv.com/apps/news/google-drives-ocr-capabilities-expanded-to-over-200-languages-690194">now works</a> for more than 248 world languages, including all the major <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_South_Asia" target="_blank">South Asian languages</a>, and it's easy to use and works with over 90 percent accuracy for most languages.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_character_recognition" target="_blank">OCR</a> software has been extremely beneficial for the study of language, helping to extract text from images of virtually any printed text—and sometimes even handwriting, which opens the door to old texts, manuscripts, and more.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://gadgets.ndtv.com/apps/news/google-drives-ocr-capabilities-expanded-to-over-200-languages-690194">Ketan Pratap</a> at <i>NDTV Gadgets</i> writes:</p>
<blockquote style="text-align: justify; ">
<p>Users can start using the OCR capabilities in Drive by uploading scanned document in PDF or image form after which they can right-click on the document in Drive to open with Google Docs. After choosing the option, a document with the original image alongside extracted text opens, which can be edited. Google notes that users will not be required to specify the language of the document as the OCR in Drive will automatically determine it. The OCR capability in Google Drive is also available in Drive for Android.</p>
</blockquote>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">On Twitter, many users have welcomed and even celebrated this new feature from Google:</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" style="text-align: justify; ">
<p dir="ltr">Optical Character Recognition <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/OCR?src=hash">#OCR</a> in Google Drive recongnizes many indic languages including <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Kannada?src=hash">#Kannada</a> give it a try <a href="http://t.co/99UkCJQ6gb">http://t.co/99UkCJQ6gb</a></p>
<p>— Omshivaprakash (@omshivaprakash) <a href="https://twitter.com/omshivaprakash/status/637222750785011713">August 28, 2015</a></p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" style="text-align: justify; ">
<p dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/shylobisnett">@shylobisnett</a> if you have access to a scanner, you can do OCR through google drive. works a bit faster.</p>
<p>— Whet Moser (@whet) <a href="https://twitter.com/whet/status/636922445971197952">August 27, 2015</a></p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" style="text-align: justify; ">
<p dir="ltr">Wow. Searching Google Drive for a keyword also returns results for images containing that keyword in the image. Didn't realise it did OCR.</p>
<p>— Mark Osborne (@mosborne01) <a href="https://twitter.com/mosborne01/status/636285805154078720">August 25, 2015</a></p>
</blockquote>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Typically OCR software has difficulty reading the text on old documents or pages with blemishes and ink marks, spitting out gibberish instead of legible text.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Google's <a href="https://support.google.com/drive/answer/176692" target="_blank">support page</a> on this project shares additional details about character formatting, like its ability to preserve bold and italicized fonts in the output text:</p>
<blockquote style="text-align: justify; ">
<p>When processing your document, we attempt to preserve basic text formatting such as bold and italic text, font size and type, and line breaks. However, detecting these elements is difficult and we may not always succeed. Other text formatting and structuring elements such as bulleted and numbered lists, tables, text columns, and footnotes or endnotes are likely to get lost.</p>
</blockquote>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">For some of the languages, like Malayalam and Tamil, the OCR works with almost 100 percent accuracy, and includes support for formatting things like like auto-cropping, separating text by discarding images, and ignoring color backgrounds, explains Tamil user and Wikimedian Ravishankar Ayyakkannu on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/ravidreams/posts/10154278945453569" target="_blank">Facebook</a>:</p>
<blockquote style="text-align: justify; ">
<p>[…] Google Tamil OCR works with 100% accuracy ! Keep testing with various samples and comment here. Performance has been the same for many other Indic languages too. […] A<span><span><span class="UFICommentBody"><span>uto crops, discards images and colored background. Recognizes different layouts. I could find only 1 mistake in whole page. Testing latest Vikatan – </span><a dir="ltr" href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1OXre4-phQOayE0wyGTttQq-eD3Djt_alsuhkmS8BeRI/edit?usp=sharing" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://docs.google.com/…/1OXre4…/edit..</a> […]</span></span></span></p>
</blockquote>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">(Bangla, Malayalam, Kannada, Odia, Tamil, and Telugu-language users have commented in the same post with feedback after testing the updated OCR software. For a few scripts, like Gurmukhi (used to write Punjabi), it turns out that the output after OCR is quite poor, resulting largely in gibberish, when testing a screenshot image from <a href="http://pa.wikipedia.org/" target="_blank">Punjabi Wikipedia</a>.)</p>
<table class="plain" style="text-align: justify; ">
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<th><img alt="Issues with Gurmukhi script after OCR using Google's OCR" class="size-medium wp-image-537788" height="285" src="https://globalvoicesonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Issues-with-Punjabi-400x285.jpg" width="400" /></th>
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<td>Issues with Gurmukhi script after OCR using Google's OCR. Screenshot from <a href="http://pa.wikipedia.org/" target="_blank">Punjabi Wikipedia</a>.</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<div class="alignleft wp-caption" id="attachment_537788" style="text-align: justify; "></div>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">This is quite a large leap for the languages with lots of old texts that are not yet digitized. Old and valuable texts in many languages could now be digitized and shared over the internet using platforms like <a href="https://wikisource.org" target="_blank">Wikisource</a> and could be preserved and made available for sharing knowledge.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Google's OCR partly uses <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesseract_%28software%29" target="_blank">Tesseract—</a>an OCR engine released as freeware. Developed as a community project between 1995 and 2006 (and later taken over by <a href="https://code.google.com/archive/p/tesseract-ocr/" target="_blank">Google</a>), Tesseract is considered to be one of the world's most accurate OCR engines and works for over 60 languages. The source code is now hosted at <a href="https://github.com/tesseract-ocr" target="_blank">https://github.com/tesseract-ocr</a>. Check <a href="https://goo.gl/3X75iR" target="_blank">this link</a> for the OCR outputs in various South Asian scripts.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/googles-optical-character-recognition-software-now-works-with-all-south-asian-languages'>http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/googles-optical-character-recognition-software-now-works-with-all-south-asian-languages</a>
</p>
No publishersubhaWikipediaAccessibilityAccess to Knowledge2015-09-26T14:31:15ZBlog EntryeSpeak Training in Hindi Language
http://editors.cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/espeak-training-in-hindi-language-1
<b>National Association for the Blind, Kullu hosted a 2 day training in the use of eSpeak in Hindi language with NVDA for its special educators, in-service blind, and blind students. The programme was attended by 20 participants who came from all parts of Himachal Pradesh.</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The event started with a round of introductions and expectations. Most of the participants expressed their desire to learn Hindi typing in order to either use it in their workplace or use it during their studies.<br /><br />This was followed by an introduction to NVDA. NVDA was new to most of the participants, and they were amazed to know the benefits of NVDA compared to other commercial screen readers.<br /><br />The next session was dedicated to installation of NVDA, introducing different menus and configurations options.<br /><br />This was followed by a comprehension of Hindi text. Barring just 2 candidates, all others were able to understand the text immediately.<br /><br />The day 2 started with Hindi keyboard. Participants were taught the use of Inscript keyboard. They were also taught configuring hindi keyboard in Windows.<br /><br />Writing words and short sentences was the next item in the training, in which most of the participants excelled beyond expectations. Most of them started writing sentences with ease.<br /><br />The post noon session was reserved for spreading awareness about different sources for obtaining accessible reading material, including Bookshare; android and its advantages, different sources for obtaining easy finance for purchase of computers and laptops, information about ADIP schemes.<br /><br />The workshop was covered by E-TV HP and they filmed the participants typing in Hindi.<br /><br />The event ended with a vote of thanks from the President NAB Kullu- Mrs. Shalini Vats.<br /><br /></p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/espeak-training-in-hindi-language-1'>http://editors.cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/espeak-training-in-hindi-language-1</a>
</p>
No publishernirmitaNVDAAccessibilityE-Speak2015-10-04T08:43:22ZBlog EntryReport on 5 day TOT for Training in Use of Espeak Kannada with NVDA
http://editors.cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/report-on-5-day-tot-for-training-in-use-of-espeak-kannada-with-nvda
<b>A unique programme was organized in partnership with Mitra Jyothi – Bangalore, Enable India – Bangalore and NFB Karnataka. The aim of the programme was to empower the Computer Teacherrs for the blind in the use of Espeak Kannada and apprise them with Modern Teaching Techniques for the Blind. </b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The training programme was held from September 21 - 25, 2015 at Mithra Jyoti in Bangalore. Fourteen delegates attended the programme. Suresh, Sandesh and Moses from Enable India were the trainers. NFB Karnataka helped in sourcing the participants, Mitra Jyothi hosted the event and the female participants and the trainers were from Enable India.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The workshop started with a round of introductions and expectations from the participants. All the participants expressed various needs, which include the following:</p>
<ul>
<li>Need to learn to read and write in Kannada.</li>
<li>Need to learn new teaching Techniques.</li>
<li>Need to learn how to make accessible materials for teaching computers.</li>
<li>Need for learning EYE tool and /spelling tools.</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><br />The participants were a blend of Sighted and Blind Trainers. The Sighted trainers were very keen in knowing all they could about the new Teaching Techniques and the Screen Readers. They were also excited to know more about Assistive Technology for partially sighted students.<br /><br />The Blind trainers showed special interest in NVDA and Assistive Technology.<br /><br />The Session began with an introduction to NVDA and its advantages followed by a detailed presentation by Suresh.<br /><br />The validation function was conducted by Major A. Singh – CEO Mitra Jyothi.<br /><br /></p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/report-on-5-day-tot-for-training-in-use-of-espeak-kannada-with-nvda'>http://editors.cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/report-on-5-day-tot-for-training-in-use-of-espeak-kannada-with-nvda</a>
</p>
No publishernirmitaAccessibilityE-Speak2015-10-04T10:34:33ZBlog EntrySeptember 2015 Bulletin
http://editors.cis-india.org/about/newsletters/september-2015-bulletin
<b></b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">We are happy to share with you the ninth issue of the Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) newsletter (September 2015). It has been a significant month for public debates on the digital future of governance, citizenship, and economy in India, led by conversations around the draft National Encryption Policy, the Aadhaar number as a basis for provision of welfare services, the investigation of Google for potential abuse of market dominance by the Competition Commission of India, and the Guidelines for Examination of Computer Related Inventions released by the Indian Patents Office. We were busy engaging with these issues, and more.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The past editions of the newsletter can be accessed at <a href="http://cis-india.org/about/newsletters">http://cis-india.org/about/newsletters</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Sumandro Chattapadhyay, Research Director</p>
<blockquote><b><a href="http://cis-india.org/raw/irc16-call">Internet Researchers' Conference (IRC) 2016 - Studying Internet in India</a></b><br /> With great excitement, we are announcing the beginning of an annual conference series titled Internet Researchers' Conference (IRC), the first edition of which is to take place in Delhi during February 25-27, 2016 (yet to be confirmed). We invite you to propose sessions for the conference by Sunday, November 15, 2015.</blockquote>
<p> </p>
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<h2 style="text-align: justify; ">Highlights</h2>
<table class="grid listing">
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<th>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li>CIS sent an <a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/open-letter-on-intellectual-property-rights-issues-during-your-visit-to-the-united-states-of-america-in-september-2015">Open Letter</a> to Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his US visit, requesting him to urge USA to ratify the Marrakesh Treaty.</li>
<li>During the month, NVDA team organized training programmes for the visually impaired at <a href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/espeak-training-in-hindi-language-1">Kullu</a>, <a href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/report-on-5-day-tot-for-training-in-use-of-espeak-kannada-with-nvda">Bangalore</a> and <a href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/report-on-the-training-in-the-use-of-espeak-hindi-with-nvda">Ranchi</a>.</li>
<li>Nehaa Chaudhari in a <a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/pervasive-technologies-working-document-series-research-questions-and-a-literature-review-on-actor-network-theory">blog post</a> laid out a series of research questions, potentially seeking to apply actor-network theory as a research methodology.</li>
<li>Recently, the Indian Patents Office released the Guidelines for Examination of Computer Related Inventions (“2015 Guidelines/ Guidelines”) in an attempt to clarify examination of software related patents in India. Anubha Sinha <a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/comments-on-the-guidelines-for-examination-of-computer-related-inventions-cris">analysed the 2015 Guidelines</a>. Read on to understand how the new guidelines will potentially lead to an increase in software patenting activity by expanding the scope of patentable subject matter – in negation of the legislative intent of section 3(k) of the Indian Patents Act, 1970.</li>
<li>As a part of its content donation initiative, <a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/cis-brings-nadustunna-charithra-magazine-under-by-cc-by-sa-licence">CIS has brought Nadustunna Charithra magazine under CC BY SA licence</a>. CIS-A2K has received 74 issues as of now from the Telugu Jaati foundation.</li>
<li>Sunil Abraham’s article titled Hits and Misses with the Draft Encryption Policy was published in <a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/the-wire-26-09-2015-sunil-abraham-hits-and-misses-with-draft-encryption-policy">The Wire</a> on September 26, 2015.</li>
<li>Vidushi Marda in a blog post titled <a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/data-flow-in-unique-identification-scheme-of-india">Data Flow in the Unique Identification Scheme of India</a> analysed the data flow within the UID scheme and highlighted the vulnerabilities at each stage.</li>
<li>Vanya Rakesh in a blog post titled <a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/human-dna-profiling-bill-2012-vs-2015">Human DNA Profiling Bill 2012 v/s 2015 Bill</a> has analysed the Human DNA Profiling Bill introduced in 2012 with the provisions of the 2015 Bill.</li>
<li>CIS sought information from ICANN on their revenue streams by sending them a second request under their Documentary Information Disclosure Policy. This request and their response have been <a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/didp-request-12-revenues">described in a blog post</a> by Aditya Garg.</li>
<li>CIS has <a href="http://cis-india.org/raw/wheres-my-data-submission-for-knight-news-challenge-2015">submitted a joint proposal</a> with DataMeet and Oorvani for the Knight News Challenge 2015. We are proposing the development of "an application for users to search for locally-relevant data, discuss missing data, demand data, explore and respond to data demands by others, and start data crowd-sourcing exercises."</li>
<li>CIS made its submission on CCWG-Accountability 2nd Draft Proposal on Work Stream 1 Recommendations to ICANN's CCWG-Accountability.</li>
<li>Pranesh Prakash, on behalf of CIS, <a href="http://cis-india.org/telecom/blog/comments-on-dot-panel-report-via-mygov">submitted comments</a> to the Department of Telecom Panel’s report on net neutrality via MyGov. Prakash states that the report displays a far better understanding of the underlying issues than the TRAI consultation paper did, and is overall a good effort at balancing the different sides.</li>
<li>Shyam Ponappa’s monthly column titled More on Those Dropped Calls was <a href="http://cis-india.org/telecom/blog/business-standard-september-3-2015-shyam-ponappa-more-on-those-dropped-calls">published by Business Standard</a>.</li>
</ul>
</th>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
</ul>
<hr />
<h2><a href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility">Accessibility and Inclusion</a></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Under a grant from the Hans Foundation we are doing a project on developing text-to-speech software for 15 Indian languages. The progress made so far in the project can be accessed <a href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/resources/nvda-text-to-speech-synthesizer">here</a>.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">NVDA and eSpeak</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Monthly Updates</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<b> </b>
<li>September 2015 Report (Suman Dogra; September 30, 2015).</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Event Reports</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<b> </b>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/report-on-the-training-in-the-use-of-espeak-hindi-with-nvda">Training in the use of eSpeak Hindi with NVDA</a> (Organized by CIS and Lakshay for the Differently Abled; September 29 – 30, 2015; Ranchi). The event was conducted online by Dr. Homiyar over skype, with local support from Mritunjay Kumar and Zainab.</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/report-on-5-day-tot-for-training-in-use-of-espeak-kannada-with-nvda">5 day TOT for Training in Use of eSpeak Kannada with NVDA</a> (Organized by CIS, Mithra Jyoti, Enable India and NFB, Bangalore; September 21 – 25, 2015; Bangalore).</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/espeak-training-in-hindi-language-1">eSpeak Training in Hindi Language</a> (Organized by CIS and National Association for the Blind; Kullu; September 3 – 4, 2015).</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/training-in-espeak-marathi">Training in eSpeak Marathi</a> (Organized by CIS; Atmadepam Society; August 22 – 23, 2015). <i>The report was published in the month of September.</i></li>
</ul>
<h2><a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k">Access to Knowledge</a></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">As part of the Access to Knowledge programme we are doing two projects. The first one (Pervasive Technologies) under a grant from the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) is for research on the complex interplay between pervasive technologies and intellectual property to support intellectual property norms that encourage the proliferation and development of such technologies as a social good. The second one (Wikipedia) under a grant from the Wikimedia Foundation is for the growth of Indic language communities and projects by designing community collaborations and partnerships that recruit and cultivate new editors and explore innovative approaches to building projects.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Pervasive Technologies</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Blog Entries</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<b> </b>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/pervasive-technologies-working-document-series-research-questions-and-a-literature-review-on-actor-network-theory">Pervasive Technologies: Working Document Series - Research Questions and a Literature Review on the Actor-Network Theory</a> (Nehaa Chaudhari; September 5, 2015).</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/faq-cis-proposal-for-compulsory-licensing-of-critical-mobile-technologies">FAQ: CIS Proposal for Compulsory Licensing of Critical Mobile Technologies</a> (Rohini Lakshané; September 25, 2015).</li>
</ul>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Other (Copyright and Patent)</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Submission</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<b> </b>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/comments-on-the-guidelines-for-examination-of-computer-related-inventions-cris">Comments on the Guidelines for Examination of Computer Related Inventions</a> (CRIs) (Anubha Sinha; September 21, 2015).</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Blog Entries</b></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/open-letter-on-intellectual-property-rights-issues-during-your-visit-to-the-united-states-of-america-in-september-2015">Open Letter to PM Modi on Intellectual Property Rights issues on His Visit to the United States of America in September 2015</a> (Pranesh Prakash and Nehaa Chaudhari; September 23, 2015).</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Participation in Events</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<b> </b>
<li>National Conference: WTO, FTAs and Investment Treaties: Implications for development policy space (Organized by Focus on the Global South, Institute for Studies in Industrial Development (ISID), Madhyam, MSF Access Campaign, National Working Group on Patent Laws and WTO (NWGPL), Public Services International (PSI) – South Asia, South Solidarity Initiative – ActionAid, Third Word Network (TWN), and Forum against FTAs; September 22 – 23, 2015; Institute for Studies in Industrial Development, New Delhi). Nehaa Chaudhari made a presentation on <a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/copyright-access-to-knowledge-in-fta.pdf">Copyright: Access to Knowledge in Free Trade Agreements?</a></li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/news/ipex-2015">IPEX 2015</a> (Organized by Confederation of Indian Industry, APTDC and TDPC; September 25 - 26, 2015; Chennai). Rohini Lakshané attended the event. </li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Media Coverage</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<b> </b>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/news/live-law-apoorva-mandhani-september-23-2015-open-letter-from-cis-to-pm-modi-on-intellectual-property-rights-issues-on-his-visit-to-us">Open letter from CIS to PM Modi on Intellectual Property Rights issues on his Visit to US</a> (Apoorva Mandhani; LiveLaw; September 23, 2015).</li>
</ul>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Wikipedia</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">As part of the <a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/access-to-knowledge-program-plan">project grant from the Wikimedia Foundation</a> we have reached out to more than 3500 people across India by organizing more than 100 outreach events and catalysed the release of encyclopaedic and other content under the Creative Commons (CC-BY-3.0) license in four Indian languages (21 books in Telugu, 13 in Odia, 4 volumes of encyclopaedia in Konkani and 6 volumes in Kannada, and 1 book on Odia language history in English).</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Blog Entries</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<b> </b>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/cis-brings-nadustunna-charithra-magazine-under-by-cc-by-sa-licence">CIS brings Nadustunna Charithra magazine under CC BY SA licence</a> (Tanveer Hasan; September 2, 2015).</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/education-okfn-subhashish-panigrahi-september-25-2015-ocr-and-oer-update">OCR and OER – update</a> (Subhashish Panigrahi; Open Education Working Group; September 25, 2015).</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/wikimedia-foundation-blog-as-odia-wikipedia-turns-13-what-happens-next">As Odia Wikipedia turns 13, what happens next?</a> (Subhashish Panigrahi; September 26, 2015). This was originally <a href="https://blog.wikimedia.org/2015/08/21/odia-wikipedia-celebrates-13/">published on the Wikimedia Blog</a> on August 21. The post was shared on Wikipedia's official <a href="https://www.facebook.com/wikipedia/posts/10153481749053346">Facebook page</a>, and on Twitter handles [<a href="https://twitter.com/Wikipedia/status/635838494187913216">1</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/Wikimedia/status/635838494200438784">2</a>].</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/googles-optical-character-recognition-software-now-works-with-all-south-asian-languages">Google's Optical Character Recognition Software Now Works with All South Asian Languages</a> (Subhashish Panigrahi; September 26, 2015).</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/open-source-september-3-2015-subhashish-panigrahi-wikimedia-contributor-shares-his-linux-story">Wikimedia contributor shares his Linux story</a> (Subhashish Panigrahi; September 27, 2015). <i>This article is part of a series called </i><a href="https://opensource.com/tags/my-linux-story"><i>My Linux Story</i></a><i>. To participate and share your Linux story, contact us at: </i><a href="mailto:open@opensource.com"><i>open@opensource.com</i></a><i>. Read the original published by </i><a href="https://opensource.com/life/15/9/my-linux-story-subhashish-panigrahi"><i>Opensource.com</i></a><i> on September 3, 2015.</i></li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Events Co-organized</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<b> </b>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/openness/events/rare-telugu-religious-and-historical-work-preserved-at-annamacharya-library-to-come-on-wikisource">Annamaya Library edit-a-thon</a> (Organized by CIS-A2K and Telugu Wikipedia Community; August 6, 2015; Andhra Loyola College; Vijaywada).</li>
<li><a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/International_workshop_on_digitization_and_archiving,_Jadavpur_University">International Workshop on Digitization and Archiving</a> (Organized by CIS-A2K and Wikipedia Community; August 19 – 21, 2015). Rahmanuddin Shaik was one of the trainers.</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Media Coverage</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">CIS gave its inputs to the following:</p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li> <a href="http://cis-india.org/openness/news/odisha-sun-times-september-28-2015-ruby-nanda-unable-to-read-odia-on-your-android-device">Unable to read Odia on your android device? Don’t fret!</a> (Ruby Nanda; Odisha Sun Times; September 28, 2015).</li>
</ul>
<h2><a href="http://cis-india.org/openness">Openness</a></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The advent of the Internet has radically redefined what it means to be open and collaborative. The Internet itself is built upon open standards and free/libre/open source software. Our work in the Openness programme focuses on open data, especially open government data, open access, open education resources, open knowledge in Indic languages, open media, and open technologies and standards - hardware and software. We approach openness as a cross-cutting principle for knowledge production and distribution, and not as a thing-in-itself.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Open Data</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Submission</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<b> </b>
<li>As one of the general stewards of the process, CIS was invited to take part in the final drafting meeting of the International Open Data Charter held before Con Datos 2015 in Santiago, Chile, but we could not take part in it. Apart from organising two public consultations on the draft Charter in Bengaluru and Delhi, we also submitted our <a href="http://cis-india.org/openness/international-open-data-charter-comments-by-cis">detailed comments</a> on the document. The final version of the <a href="http://opendatacharter.net/" target="_blank">Charter document has been launched</a> at the United Nation General Assembly meeting, on September 27.</li>
</ul>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Free Software</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Blog Entry</b></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/openness/software-freedom-pledge-2015">Software Freedom Pledge</a> (Pranesh Prakash; September 25, 2015).</li>
</ul>
<h2><a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance">Internet Governance</a></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">As part of its research on privacy and free speech, CIS is engaged with two different projects. The first one (under a grant from Privacy International and International Development Research Centre (IDRC)) is on surveillance and freedom of expression (SAFEGUARDS). The second one (under a grant from MacArthur Foundation) is on studying the restrictions placed on freedom of expression online by the Indian government.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Privacy</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Article</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<b> </b>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/the-wire-26-09-2015-sunil-abraham-hits-and-misses-with-draft-encryption-policy">Hits and Misses With the Draft Encryption Policy</a> (Sunil Abraham; The Wire; September 26, 2015).</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Blog Entries</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<b> </b>
<li><b> </b><a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/data-flow-in-unique-identification-scheme-of-india">Data Flow in the Unique Identification Scheme of India</a> (Vidushi Marda; September 3, 2015).</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/human-dna-profiling-bill-2012-vs-2015">Human DNA Profiling Bill 2012 v/s 2015 Bill</a> (Vanya Rakesh; September 6, 2015).</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/open-governance-and-privacy-in-a-post-snowden-world-webinar">Open Governance and Privacy in a Post-Snowden World: Webinar</a> (Vanya Rakesh; September 26, 2015).</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Participation in Event</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<b> </b>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/the-changing-landscape-of-ict-governance-and-practice-convergence-and-big-data">The Changing Landscape of ICT Governance and Practice - Convergence and Big Data</a> (Co-organized by Innovation Center for Big Data and Digital Convergence, Yuan Ze University, Taiwan; August 24 – 25, 2015). Sharat Chandra Ram was granted the <a href="http://www.cprsouth.org/2015/02/call-for-applications-2015-young-scholar-awards/">Young Scholar Award 2015</a> to attend the <i>Young Scholar Workshop</i> followed by main <a href="http://www.cprsouth.org/"><i>CPRSouth2015 conference</i> (Communication Policy Research South) conference</a>.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Free Speech and Expression</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Submission</b></p>
<ul>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/cis-submission-on-ccwg-accountability-2nd-draft-proposal-on-work-stream-1-recommendations">CIS Submission on CCWG-Accountability 2nd Draft Proposal on Work Stream 1 Recommendations</a> (Pranesh Prakash; September 13, 2015).</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Blog Entries</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<b> </b>
<li><b> </b><a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/didp-request-11-netmundial-principles">DIDP Request #11: NETmundial Principles</a> (Aditya Garg; September 14, 2015).</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/didp-request-12-revenues">DIDP Request #12: Revenues</a> (Aditya Garg; September 14, 2015).</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/peering-behind-the-veil-of-icann2019s-didp">Peering behind the veil of ICANN’s DIDP</a> (Padmini Baruah; September 21, 2015).</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Participation in Event</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<b> </b>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/asian-regional-consultation-on-the-wsis-10-review">Asian Regional Consultation on the WSIS+10 Review</a> (Organized by The Internet Democracy Project, Bytes for All, APNIC, the Association for Progressive Communications, ISOC, Global Partners Digital and ICT Watch; September 3 – 5, 2015). Jyoti Panday attended the event.</li>
</ul>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">IGF</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The tenth annual IGF meeting will be held in João Pessoa, Brazil, on November 10 - 13, 2015. IGF's MAG has decided to retain the title “Evolution of Internet Governance: Empowering Sustainable Development” as the overarching theme. Sunil Abraham will be a panelist for the following workshops:</p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/understanding-and-mitigating-online-hate-speech-and-youth-radicalisation">Understanding and Mitigating Online Hate Speech and Youth Radicalisation</a> (Organized by Council of Europe, Oxford University, OHCHR, Google and ISOC; November 2015).</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/transnational-due-process-a-case-study-in-multi-stakeholder-cooperation">Transnational Due Process: A Case Study in Multi-stakeholder Cooperation</a> (Organized by the United Nations; November 2015).</li>
</ul>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Cyber Security</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Event Organized</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<b> </b>
<li><b> </b><a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/events/bangalore-chapter-meet-of-dsci-september-26-2015">Bangalore Chapter Meet of DSCI</a> (Co-organized by DSCI and CIS; September 26, 2015). Melissa Hathaway, Commissioner, Global Commission for Internet Governance and Sunil Abraham gave a talk at this event.</li>
</ul>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Miscellaneous</h3>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/sustainable-smart-cities-india-conference-2015-bangalore">Sustainable Smart Cities India Conference 2015, Bangalore</a> (Vanya Rakesh; September 21, 2015).</li>
</ul>
<h2><a href="http://cis-india.org/telecom">Telecom</a></h2>
<p>CIS is involved in promoting access and accessibility to telecommunications services and resources and has provided inputs to ongoing policy discussions and consultation papers published by TRAI. It has prepared reports on unlicensed spectrum and accessibility of mobile phones for persons with disabilities and also works with the USOF to include funding projects for persons with disabilities in its mandate:</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Submission</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<b> </b>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/telecom/blog/comments-on-dot-panel-report-via-mygov">Comments on the DoT Panel Report via MyGov</a> (Pranesh Prakash; September 26, 2015).</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Op-ed</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<b> </b>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/telecom/blog/business-standard-september-3-2015-shyam-ponappa-more-on-those-dropped-calls">More on those Dropped Calls</a> (Shyam Ponappa; Business Standard; September 2, 2015 and Organizing India Blogspot; September 3, 2015).</li>
</ul>
<h2><a href="http://cis-india.org/raw">Researchers at Work</a></h2>
<p>The Researchers at Work (RAW) programme is an interdisciplinary research initiative driven by contemporary concerns to understand the reconfigurations of social practices and structures through the Internet and digital media technologies, and vice versa. It is interested in producing local and contextual accounts of interactions, negotiations, and resolutions between the Internet, and socio-material and geo-political processes:</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Submission</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<b> </b>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/raw/wheres-my-data-submission-for-knight-news-challenge-2015">Where's My Data? Submission for Knight News Challenge 2015</a> (Sumandro Chattapadhyay; September 30, 2015). <i>The text of the proposal was prepared by Nisha Thompson of DataMeet, Meera K of Oorvani, and Sumandro Chattapadhyay.</i></li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Blog Entries</b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<b> </b>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/raw/blog_the-internet-in-the-indian-judicial-imagination">The Internet in the Indian Judicial Imagination</a> (Divij Joshi; September 9, 2015).</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/raw/blog_the-many-lives-and-sites-of-internet-in-bhubaneswar">The Many Lives and Sites of Internet in Bhubaneswar</a> (Sailen Routray; September 21, 2015).</li>
</ul>
<h2><a href="http://cis-india.org/news">News & Media Coverage</a></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">CIS gave its inputs to the following media coverage:</p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/the-hindu-september-1-2015-parshathy-nath-does-this-click-with-you">Does this click with you?</a> (Parshathy J. Nath; The Hindu; September 1, 2015).</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/economic-times-september-3-2015-surabhi-agarwal-govt-tie-up-with-global-police-interpol-to-fight-child-pornography">Government may tieup with global police, Interpol to fight child pornography</a> (Surabhi Agarwal; September 3, 2015).</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/hindustan-times-september-3-2015-harjeet-inder-singh-sahi-hiding-behind-rules-on-naming-sites-it-banned-govt-reveals-fears">Hiding behind rules on naming sites it banned, govt reveals fears</a> (Harjeet Inder Singh Sahi; September 3, 2015).</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/hindu-nikhil-varma-september-9-2015-outrage-before-sharing">Outrage before sharing</a> (Nikhil Verma; The Hindu; September 9, 2015).</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/the-week-september-20-2015-shweta-t-nanda-faking-a-stand">Faking a stand</a> (Shweta T. Nanda; The Week; September 20, 2015).</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/outlook-september-21-2015-arindam-mukherjee-some-key-words-are-missing">Some Key Words Are Missing</a> (Arindam Mukherjee; Outlook; September 21, 2015).</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/the-hindu-september-22-2015-atul-kabra-open-sesame">Open sesame</a> (The Hindu; September 22, 2015).</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/livemint-moulishree-srivastava-september-22-2015-india-encryption-policy-draft-faces-backlash">India encryption policy draft faces backlash</a> (Moulishree Srivastava; September 22, 2015)</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/first-post-naina-khedekar-september-23-2015-online-outcry-forces-government-to-withdraw-draft-encryption-policy">Online outcry forces government to withdraw draft encryption policy</a> (Naina Khedekar; First Post; September 23, 2015).</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/dna-september-23-2015-amrita-madhukalya-encryption-policy-would-have-affected-emails-operating-systems-wifi">Encryption policy would have affected emails, operating systems, WiFi</a> (Amrita Madhukalya; DNA; September 23, 2015).</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/business-standard-september-23-2015-govt-presses-undo-button-on-draft-encryption-policy">Govt presses 'undo' button on draft encryption policy</a> (Business Standard; September 23; 2015).</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/today-september-24-2015-huge-outcry-forces-india-backtrack-social-media-data-proposal">Huge outcry forces India to backtrack on social media data proposal</a> (Today; September 24, 2015).</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/wsj-september-24-2015-newley-purnell-resty-woro-uniar-facebook-free-internet-access-program-in-developing-countries-provokes-backlash">Facebook’s Free Internet Access Program in Developing Countries Provokes Backlash</a> (Newley Purnell and Resty Woro Uniar; The Wall Street Journal; September 24, 2015).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/business-standard-september-26-2015-ahead-of-hosting-modi-facebook-rebrands-internet-dot-org-as-free-basics">Ahead of hosting Modi, Facebook rebrands internet.org as Free Basics</a> (Business Standard; September 26, 2015).</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/asian-age-september-27-2015-s-raghotham-and-mayukh-mukherjee-by-weakening-our-security-govt-is-putting-us-at-risk-of-espionage">‘By weakening our security, govt is putting us at risk of espionage’</a> (S. Raghotham and Mayukh Mukherjee; Asian Age; September 27, 2015).</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/9ad9be9b09a49c7-9aa9be98199a9b69b0993-9ac9c79b69bf-9b89cd99f9c79b69a89c7-9ab9cd9b09bf-9939af9bc9be987-9ab9be987-99a9be9b29c1-9b99ac9c7">ভারতে পাঁচশোরও বেশি স্টেশনে ফ্রি ওয়াই-ফাই চালু হবে</a> (BBC; September 28, 2015).</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/the-register-september-29-2015-kieren-mccurthy-do-you-agree-with-our-fee-hike">Do you agree with our fee hike? Press 1 to answer Yes; or 2 for Yes</a> (Kieren McCarthy; The Register; September 29, 2015).</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/the-australian-amanda-hodge-september-29-2015-indian-pm-narendra-modi-digital-dream-gets-bad-reception">Indian PM Narendra Modi’s digital dream gets bad reception</a> (Amanda Hodge; September 29, 2015).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/ndtv-maya-sharma-september-29-2015-what-bengaluru-thinks-of-big-tech-announcements-in-silicon-valley">What Bengaluru Thinks of the Big Tech Announcements in Silicon Valley</a> (Maya Sharma; NDTV; September 29, 2015).</li>
</ul>
<hr />
<h2><a href="http://cis-india.org/">About CIS</a></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) is a non-profit organisation that undertakes interdisciplinary research on internet and digital technologies from policy and academic perspectives. The areas of focus include digital accessibility for persons with diverse abilities, access to knowledge, intellectual property rights, openness (including open data, free and open source software, open standards, open access, open educational resources, and open video), internet governance, telecommunication reform, digital privacy, and cyber-security. The academic research at CIS seeks to understand the mediation and reconfiguration of social and cultural processes and structures by the internet and digital media technologies.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">► Follow us elsewhere</p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li>CIS - Twitter:<a href="http://twitter.com/cis_india"> http://twitter.com/cis_india</a></li>
<li>Access to Knowledge - Twitter:<a href="https://twitter.com/CISA2K"> https://twitter.com/CISA2K</a></li>
<li>Access to Knowledge - Facebook:<a href="https://www.facebook.com/cisa2k"> https://www.facebook.com/cisa2k</a></li>
<li>Access to Knowledge - E-Mail: <a href="mailto:a2k@cis-india.org">a2k@cis-india.org</a></li>
<li>Researchers at Work - E-Mail: <a href="mailto:raw@cis-india.org">raw@cis-india.org</a></li>
<li>Researchers at Work - Mailing List: <a href="https://lists.ghserv.net/mailman/listinfo/researchers">https://lists.ghserv.net/mailman/listinfo/researchers</a></li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">► Support Us</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Please help us defend consumer / citizen rights on the Internet! Write a cheque in favour of ‘The Centre for Internet and Society’ and mail it to us at No. 194, 2nd ‘C’ Cross, Domlur, 2nd Stage, Bengaluru – 5600 71.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">► Request for Collaboration</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">We invite researchers, practitioners, artists, and theoreticians, both organisationally and as individuals, to engage with us on topics related internet and society, and improve our collective understanding of this field. To discuss such possibilities, please write to Sunil Abraham, Executive Director, at sunil@cis-india.org (for policy research), or Sumandro Chattapadhyay, Research Director, at sumandro@cis-india.org (for academic research), with an indication of the form and the content of the collaboration you might be interested in. To discuss collaborations on Indic language Wikipedia projects, write to Tanveer Hasan, Programme Officer, Access to Knowledge, at <a href="mailto:tanveer@cis-india.org">tanveer@cis-india.org</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><i>CIS is grateful to its primary donor the Kusuma Trust founded by Anurag Dikshit and Soma Pujari, philanthropists of Indian origin for its core funding and support for most of its projects. CIS is also grateful to its other donors, Wikimedia Foundation, Ford Foundation, Privacy International, UK, Hans Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, and IDRC for funding its various projects.</i></p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/about/newsletters/september-2015-bulletin'>http://editors.cis-india.org/about/newsletters/september-2015-bulletin</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaAccess to KnowledgeTelecomAccessibilityInternet GovernanceResearchers at Work2015-11-25T01:55:25ZPageAugust 2015 Bulletin
http://editors.cis-india.org/about/newsletters/august-2015-bulletin
<b></b>
<p style="text-align: justify;">We are happy to share with you the eighth issue of the Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) newsletter (August 2015). The past editions of the newsletter can be accessed at <a href="http://cis-india.org/about/newsletters">http://cis-india.org/about/newsletters</a>.</p>
<hr />
<h2 style="text-align: justify;">Highlights</h2>
<table class="grid listing">
<tbody>
<tr>
<th>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Researchers at Work programme has published a book titled <a href="http://cis-india.org/raw/digital-activism-in-asia-reader"><em>Digital Activism in Asia Reader</em></a> exploring in detail digital activism in Asia. The Reader was edited by Nishant Shah, P.P. Sneha, and Sumandro Chattapadhyay with support from Anirudh Sridhar, Denisse Albornoz, and Verena Getahun.</li></ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify;">
<li>The <a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/raw/civil-society-organisations-and-internet-governance-in-india-open-review">pre-publication drafts of two sections</a> written by Sumandro Chattapadhyay for the third volume (2000-2010) of the <em>Asia Internet History</em> series edited by Prof. Kilnam Chon have been posted for open-review process.</li>
<li>As part of the 'Studying Internets in India' series, RAW published blog entries on <a href="http://cis-india.org/raw/blog_governing-speech-on-the-internet">Governing Speech on the Internet</a> and <a href="http://cis-india.org/raw/blog_mock-calling">Mock-Calling - Ironies of Outsourcing and the Aspirations of an Individual</a>. </li></ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify;">
<li style="text-align: justify;">NVDA team <a href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/training-in-e-speak-hindi">conducted a workshop</a> at Jeevan Jyoti School for the Blind, Varanasi from August 26 to 28, 2015. Eighty five students and 13 teachers took part in the training programme. NVDA team had conducted another <a href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/report-on-training-in-espeak-marathi">workshop</a> earlier in Nashik. The workshop was conducted in June. A batch of 17 Special Educators and teachers of the blind attended the workshop.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Maggie Huang, Arpita Sengupta and Paavni Anand as part of the Pervasive Technologies project <a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/comparative-transparency-review-of-collective-management-organisations-in-india-uk-usa"> co-authored a research paper </a> that seeks to compare the publicly available information on the websites of music collective management organizations ("CMOs") operating within India, the United States, and the United Kingdom.</li>
<li style="text-align: left;">
Amulya Purushothama, Nehaa Chaudhari and Varun Baliga in a blog entry have delved into the question of
what the mandate of the <a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/national-ipr-policy-series-what-have-sectoral-innovation-councils-been-doing-on-ipr">Sectoral Innovation Council</a> is, what its activities are, and what vision for IPR development in India has it put forth. An RTI Application has been filed by CIS to attain information on these issues.</li></ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify;">
<li style="text-align: justify;"> <a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/mhrd-ipr-chair-series-introduction">In a blog post</a>, Amulya Purushothama announced our new MHRD IPR Chair Series and has charted the sequence of events, starting from the establishment of MHRD IPR Chairs, to discussions surrounding their purpose and functioning, to concerns surrounding the lack of information about the IPR Chairs, the first round of RTIs that CIS had filed in regard to this and the responses it solicited. </li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"> Subhashish Panigrahi <a href="http://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/kisorachandrananachampu-on-odia-wikisource">interviewed Prateek Pattanaik</a>. Prateek has not just digitized as many as 54 Odia-language poetry dating early 18th century but has also annotated, both poetic and prosaic translation in his blogs "Sri Jagannatha" and "Utkal Sangeet". He has also published a complete book "Kisora chandranana champu" on Odia Wikisource. A recent entrant into the Odia Wikimedia community, Prateek is also the youngest Odia Wikimedian.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Rohan George and Elonnai Hickok in a blog post <a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/are-we-throwing-our-data-protection-regimes-under-the-bus">analyzed consent, big data and data protection</a> that examines in detail why the principle of consent is providing us increasingly less of an aegis in protecting our data.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Elonnai Hickok, Vipul Kharbanda and Vanya Rakesh on behalf of CIS submitted a <a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/cis-comments-and-recommendations-to-human-dna-profiling-bill-2015">clause-by-clause comments</a> on the Human DNA Profiling Bill that was circulated by the Department of Biotechnology on June 9, 2015.</li>
<li>Sunil Abraham, Elonnai Hickok and Tarun Krishnakumar co-authored an article titled <a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/security-privacy-transparency-and-technology">Security: Privacy, Transparency and Technology</a>. The article was published by Observer Research Foundation, Digital Debates 2015: CyFy Journal Volume 2.</li>
<li>Elonnai Hickok in a blog post titled <a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/review-of-policy-debate-around-big-data-and-internet-of-things"> A Review of the Policy Debate around Big Data and Internet of Things </a>has done an analysis as to how regulators and experts across jurisdictions are reacting to Big Data and Internet of Things.</li>
<li>The Supreme Court of India has deemed it fit to refer the question of the very existence of a fundamental right to privacy to a Constitution Bench to finally decide the matter, and define the contours of such right if it does exist. Vipul Kharbanda analyses this in a <a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/right-to-privacy-in-peril">blog entry</a>. </li>
<li>Experts and regulators across jurisdictions are examining the impact of Big Data practices on traditional data protection standards and principles. This will be a useful and pertinent exercise for India to undertake as the government and the private and public sectors begin to incorporate and rely on the use of Big Data in decision making processes and organizational operations. Elonnai Hickok has <a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/big-data-and-information-technology-rules-2011">provided an initial evaluation of how Big Data could impact India's current data protection standards</a>. </li></ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify;">
<li> Elonnai Hickok <a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/comparison-of-the-human-dna-profiling-bill-2012-with-cis-recommendations-sub-committee-recommendations-expert-committee-recommendations-and-the-human-dna-profiling-bill-2015">has provided a comparison of Human DNA Profiling Bill 2012 vs. the Human DNA Profiling Bill 2015</a>, CIS's main recommendations vs. the 2015 Bill, Sub-Committee Recommendations vs. the 2015 Bill, and the Expert Committee Recommendations vs. the 2015 Bill. </li>
<li> CIS <a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/cis-submission-to-unga-wsis-review">submitted its comments</a> to the non-paper on the UNGA Overall Review of the Implementation of the WSIS outcomes, evaluating the progress made and challenges ahead.</li>
<li>In a policy brief, Vipul Kharbanda <a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/policy-paper-on-surveillance-in-india">has analyzed the different laws regulating surveillance at the state and central level in India and calls out ways in which the provisions are unharmonized</a>. The brief then provides recommendations for the harmonization of surveillance law in India. </li>
<li>Hardnews interviewed Sunil Abraham about the future of the internet in India. The <a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/hardnewsmedia-august-10-2015-abeer-kapoor-net-neutrality-india-is-a-keybattle-ground">article was published in their August edition</a>.</li></ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify;">
<li> Shyam Ponappa in an <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/telecom/blog/organizing-india-blogspot-august-6-2015-shyam-ponappa-those-dropped-calls"> Op-ed published by Business Standard </a> has given an analysis on the reasons of the number of dropped calls on our mobile phones. </li></ul>
</th>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<h2><a href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility">Accessibility and Inclusion</a></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Under a grant from the Hans Foundation we are doing a project on developing text-to-speech software for 15 Indian languages. The progress made so far in the project can be accessed <a href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/resources/nvda-text-to-speech-synthesizer">here</a>. The project on creating a national resource kit of state-wise laws, policies and programmes on issues relating to persons with disabilities in India got over and the compilation has been printed.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify;">NVDA and eSpeak</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Monthly Updates</strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify;">
<strong> </strong>
<li><strong> </strong><a href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/august-2015-nvda-report.pdf">August 2015 Report</a> (Suman Dogra; July 31, 2015). </li></ul>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Event Reports</strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify;">
<strong> </strong>
<li><strong> </strong><a href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/report-on-training-in-espeak-marathi">Training in eSpeak Marathi</a> (Organized by NVDA team; National Association for the Blind; Nashik; June 22 - 23, 2015). <em>The workshop was held in the month of June but the report got published later in August.</em> </li>
<li> <a href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/training-in-e-speak-hindi">Training in eSpeak Hindi</a> (Organized by NVDA team; Jeevan Jyoti School for the Blind; Varanasi; August 26 - 28, 2015). </li></ul>
<h2><a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k">Access to Knowledge</a></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify;">As part of the Access to Knowledge programme we are doing two projects. The first one (Pervasive Technologies) under a grant from the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) is for research on the complex interplay between pervasive technologies and intellectual property to support intellectual property norms that encourage the proliferation and development of such technologies as a social good. The second one (Wikipedia) under a grant from the Wikimedia Foundation is for the growth of Indic language communities and projects by designing community collaborations and partnerships that recruit and cultivate new editors and explore innovative approaches to building projects.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify;">Pervasive Technologies</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Blog Entries</strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify;">
<strong> </strong>
<li><strong> </strong><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/patent-landscaping-in-the-indian-mobile-device-market"><strong> </strong>Methodology: Patent Landscaping in the Indian Mobile Device Market </a> (Rohini Lakshané; November 10, 2014). <em>This blog post published last year has been recently updated</em>. </li>
<li> <a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/comparative-transparency-review-of-collective-management-organisations-in-india-uk-usa"> Comparative Transparency Review of Collective Management Organisations in India, United Kingdom and the United States </a> (Maggie Huang, Arpita Sengupta and Paavni Anand; August 1, 2015). </li></ul>
<h3 style="text-align: justify;">Other (Copyright and Patent)</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Blog Entries</strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify;">
<strong> </strong>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/cci-participation-at-the-upcoming-3rd-international-conference-on-ipr-and-competition" class="external-link">CCI Participation at the Upcoming 3rd International Conference on IPR and Competition</a> (Amulya Purushothama; August 5, 2015). CIS wrote to the Competition Commission of India Chairman on August 5, 2015 about participation at a conference organised by Ericsson and concerns regarding conflict of interest. We also had several other NGOs sign on to the letter. </li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/mhrd-ipr-chair-series-introduction">MHRD IPR Chair Series: Introduction</a> (Amulya Purushothama; August 10, 2015). Aditya Garg assisted in research and writing. </li>
<li> <a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/national-ipr-policy-series-what-have-sectoral-innovation-councils-been-doing-on-ipr"> National IPR Policy Series: What Have the Sectoral Innovation Councils Been Doing on IPR </a> (Nehaa Chaudhari and Varun Baliga; August 13, 2015). Amulya Purushothama assisted with research and writing. </li></ul>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Media Coverage</strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify;">
<strong> </strong>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/news/times-of-india-rema-nagarajan-august-6-2015-competition-commission-of-india-chairman-participation-in-assocham-conference-raises-conflict-of-interests">Competition Commission of India chariman's participation in Assocham conference raises conflict of interests</a> (Rema Nagarajan; The Times of India; August 6, 2015).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/news/business-standard-august-6-2015-dilasha-seth-and-deepak-patel-assocham-event-sparks-row-over-conflict-of-interest-by-cci">Assocham event sparks row over conflict of interest by CCI</a> (Dilasha Seth and Deepak Patel; Business Standard; August 6, 2015).</li></ul>
<h3 style="text-align: justify;">Wikipedia</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify;">As part of the <a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/access-to-knowledge-program-plan">project grant from the Wikimedia Foundation</a> we have reached out to more than 3500 people across India by organizing more than 100 outreach events and catalysed the release of encyclopaedic and other content under the Creative Commons (CC-BY-3.0) license in four Indian languages (21 books in Telugu, 13 in Odia, 4 volumes of encyclopaedia in Konkani and 6 volumes in Kannada, and 1 book on Odia language history in English).</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Blog Entry</strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify;">
<strong> </strong>
<li><strong> </strong><a href="http://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/kisorachandrananachampu-on-odia-wikisource"><strong> </strong>Odia Wikisource has a new Wikisourcer, and he is the youngest in the Odia Wikimedia community! </a> (Subhashish Panigrahi; August 21, 2015). </li></ul>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Events Co-organized</strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify;">
<strong> </strong>
<li><strong> </strong><a href="http://cis-india.org/openness/events/rare-telugu-religious-and-historical-work-preserved-at-annamacharya-library-to-come-on-wikisource"><strong> </strong>Annamaya Library edit-a-thon </a> (Organized by CIS-A2K and Telugu Wikipedia Community; August 6, 2015; Andhra Loyola College; Vijaywada). </li>
<li> <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/International_workshop_on_digitization_and_archiving,_Jadavpur_University"> International Workshop on Digitization and Archiving </a> (Organized by CIS-A2K and Wikipedia Community; August 19 - 21, 2015). Rahmanuddin Shaik was one of the trainers. </li></ul>
<h3 style="text-align: justify;">FOSS</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Participation in Events</strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify;">
<strong> </strong>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/openness/events/workshop-on-digital-collaborations-in-tamil-language-tamil-virtual-university-chennai">Workshop on digital collaborations in Tamil-language, Tamil Virtual Chennai</a> (Organized by Tamil Virtual University, Anna University Campus, Chennai; August 8 - 9, 2015). Dr. U.B. Pavanaja atttended this event. </li>
<li><a href="http://pn.ispirt.in/event/open-innovation-entrepreneurship-and-our-digital-future/">Open Innovation, entrepreneurship, and our digital future </a> (Organized by iSpirit; Bangalore; August 13, 2015). Rohini Lakshané attended the event. Rohini wrote a <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/we-need-to-proactively-ensure-that-people-cant-file-representatives-of-the-creativity-of-a-foss-community"> report on this </a> . </li></ul>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Media Coverage</strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">CIS gave its inputs to the following:</p>
<ul style="text-align: justify;">
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/openness/news/telugu-wiki-edit-a-thon-at-alc">Telugu Wikipedia Edit-a-thon at ALC</a> (Eenadu; August 6, 2015)</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/openness/news/telugu-wiki-editathon-alc">Telugu Wiki Edit-a-thon in ALC</a> (Eenadu; August 6, 2015)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.thehansindia.com/posts/index/2015-08-07/Rare-Telugu-religious-and-historical-work-preserved-at-Annamacharya-library-to-come-on-Wikisource-168454">Rare Telugu religious and historical work preserved at Annamacharya library to come on Wikisource! </a> (The Hans India; August 7, 2015). </li>
<li> <a href="http://cis-india.org/openness/news/mangalorean-dotcom-august-13-2015"> ಗ್ರಾಮೀಣ ಪ್ರದೇಶದ ಆರ್ಥಿಕ ಪ್ರಗತಿಯಿಂದ ದೇಶದ ಆರ್ಥಿಕ ಪ್ರಗತಿ ಸಾಧ್ಯವಾಗುತ್ತದೆ. </a> (Mangalorean.com; August 13, 2015). </li>
<li> <a href="http://cis-india.org/openness/news/karavali-karnataka-august-14-2015"> ವಿಕಿಪಿಡಿಯ ಮುಕ್ತವಾಗಿ ಬಳಸಿ: ಡಾ.ಪವನಜ </a> (Karavali Karnataka; August 14, 2015). </li>
<li> <a href="http://cis-india.org/openness/news/sahil-online-august-14-2015"> ಬೆಳ್ತಂಗಡಿ:ಎಲ್ಲಾ ಕಾಲಕ್ಕೂ ಲಭ್ಯ ಇರುವ ಸ್ವತಂತ್ರ ಹಾಗೂ ಮುಕ್ತ ವಿಶ್ವಕೋಶ ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯಾ-ಪವನಜ </a> (SahilOnline; August 14, 2015). </li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/openness/news/the-hindu-august-23-2015-talamaddale-on-august-23">Talamaddale on August 23</a> (Hindu; August 16, 2015).</li></ul>
<h2><a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance">Internet Governance</a></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify;">As part of its research on privacy and free speech, CIS is engaged with two different projects. The first one (under a grant from Privacy International and International Development Research Centre (IDRC)) is on surveillance and freedom of expression (SAFEGUARDS). The second one (under a grant from MacArthur Foundation) is on studying the restrictions placed on freedom of expression online by the Indian government.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify;">Privacy</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Article</strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify;">
<strong> </strong>
<li><strong> </strong><a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/security-privacy-transparency-and-technology">Security: Privacy, Transparency and Technology</a> (Sunil Abraham, Elonnai Hickok and Tarun Krishnakumar; Observer Research Foundation, <a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/security-privacy-transparency-technology.pdf">Digital Debates 2015: CyFy Journal Volume 2</a> ; August 19, 2015). </li></ul>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Submission</strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify;">
<strong> </strong>
<li><strong> </strong><a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/cis-comments-and-recommendations-to-human-dna-profiling-bill-2015"><strong> </strong>CIS Comments and Recommendations to the Human DNA Profiling Bill, June 2015 </a> (Elonnai Hickok, Vipul Kharbanda and Vanya Rakesh; August 27, 2015). </li></ul>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Blog Entries</strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify;">
<strong> </strong>
<li><strong> </strong><a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/policy-paper-on-surveillance-in-india">Policy Paper on Surveillance in India</a> (Vipul Kharbanda; August 3, 2015). </li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"> <a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/comparison-of-the-human-dna-profiling-bill-2012-with-cis-recommendations-sub-committee-recommendations-expert-committee-recommendations-and-the-human-dna-profiling-bill-2015"> Comparison of the Human DNA Profiling Bill 2012 with: CIS recommendations, Sub-Committee Recommendations, Expert Committee Recommendations, and the Human DNA Profiling Bill 2015 </a> (Elonnai Hickok; August 10, 2015). </li>
<li> <a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/right-to-privacy-in-peril">Right to Privacy in Peril</a> (Vipul Kharbanda; August 13, 2015). </li>
<li> <a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/responsible-data-forum"> Responsible Data Forum: Discussion on the Risks and Mitigations of releasing Data </a> (Vanya Rakesh; August 26, 2015). </li>
<li> <a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/are-we-throwing-our-data-protection-regimes-under-the-bus"> Are we Throwing our Data Protection Regimes under the Bus? </a> (Elonnai Hickok and Rohan George; August 29, 2015). </li>
<li> <a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/supreme-court-order-is-a-good-start-but-is-seeding-necessary"> Supreme Court Order is a Good Start, but is Seeding Necessary? </a> (Elonnai Hickok and Rohan George; August 29, 2015). </li></ul>
<h3 style="text-align: justify;">Big Data</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Blog Entries</strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify;">
<strong> </strong>
<li><strong> </strong><a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/big-data-and-information-technology-rules-2011"><strong> </strong>Big Data and the Information Technology (Reasonable Security Practices and Procedures and Sensitive Personal Data or Information) Rules 2011 </a> (Elonnai Hickok; August 11, 2015). </li>
<li> <a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/review-of-policy-debate-around-big-data-and-internet-of-things"> A Review of the Policy Debate around Big Data and Internet of Things </a> (Elonnai Hickok; August 17, 2015). </li></ul>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Participation in Event</strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify;">
<strong> </strong>
<li><strong> </strong><a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/the-changing-landscape-of-ict-governance-and-practice-convergence-and-big-data"><strong> </strong>The Changing Landscape of ICT Governance and Practice - Convergence and Big Data </a> (Co-organized by Innovation Center for Big Data and Digital Convergence, Yuan Ze University, Taiwan; August 24 - 25, 2015). Sharat Chandra Ram was granted the <a href="http://www.cprsouth.org/2015/02/call-for-applications-2015-young-scholar-awards/">Young Scholar Award 2015</a> to attend the<em>Young Scholar Workshop</em> followed by main <a href="http://www.cprsouth.org/"><em>CPRSouth2015 conference</em> (Communication Policy Research South) conference</a>. </li></ul>
<h3 style="text-align: justify;">Free Speech and Expression</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Submission</strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify;">
<strong> </strong>
<li><strong> </strong><a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/cis-submission-to-unga-wsis-review">CIS submission to the UNGA WSIS+10 Review</a> (Jyoti Panday; August 9, 2015), </li></ul>
<h3 style="text-align: justify;">Cyber Security</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Upcoming Event</strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify;">
<strong> </strong>
<li><strong> </strong><a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/events/bangalore-chapter-meet-of-dsci-september-26-2015">Bangalore Chapter Meet of DSCI</a> (Co-organized by DSCI and CIS; September 26, 2015). Melissa Hathaway, Commissioner, Global Commission for Internet Governance and Sunil Abraham will be speaking at this event. </li></ul>
<h2><a href="http://cis-india.org/telecom">Telecom</a></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify;">CIS is involved in promoting access and accessibility to telecommunications services and resources and has provided inputs to ongoing policy discussions and consultation papers published by TRAI. It has prepared reports on unlicensed spectrum and accessibility of mobile phones for persons with disabilities and also works with the USOF to include funding projects for persons with disabilities in its mandate:</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Op-ed</strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify;">
<strong> </strong>
<li><strong> </strong><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/telecom/blog/organizing-india-blogspot-august-6-2015-shyam-ponappa-those-dropped-calls">Those Dropped Calls</a> (Shyam Ponappa; Business Standard; August 5, 2015 and Organizing India Blogspot; August 6, 2015). </li></ul>
<h2><a href="http://cis-india.org/raw">Researchers at Work</a></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify;">The Researchers at Work (RAW) programme is an interdisciplinary research initiative driven by contemporary concerns to understand the reconfigurations of social practices and structures through the Internet and digital media technologies, and vice versa. It is interested in producing local and contextual accounts of interactions, negotiations, and resolutions between the Internet, and socio-material and geo-political processes:</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Books</strong></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify;">
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/raw/digital-activism-in-asia-reader">Digital Activism in Asia Reader</a> (edited by Nishant Shah, P.P. Sneha, and Sumandro Chattapadhyay, with support from Anirudh Sridhar, Denisse Albornoz, and Verena Getahun; August 8, 2015).</li></ul>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Books Chapters</strong></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify;">
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/raw/civil-society-organisations-and-internet-governance-in-asia-open-review">Civil Society Organisations and Internet Governance in Asia - Open Review </a> (Sumandro Chattapadhyay; Asia Internet History Vol. 3, edited by Prof. Kilnam Chon). Comments are invited.</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/raw/civil-society-organisations-and-internet-governance-in-india-open-review">Civil Society Organisations and Internet Governance in India - Open Review </a> (Sumandro Chattapadhyay; Asia Internet History Vol. 3, edited by Prof. Kilnam Chon). Comments are invited.</li></ul>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Accepted Paper Abstract</strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify;">
<strong> </strong>
<li><strong> </strong><a href="http://cis-india.org/raw/studying-the-emerging-database-state-in-india-accepted-abstract"><strong> </strong>Studying the Emerging Database State in India: Notes for Critical Data Studies </a> (Sumandro Chattapadhyay; August 2, 2015). <em>The paper has been provisionally accepted</em>. </li></ul>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Blog Entries</strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify;">
<strong> </strong>
<li><strong> </strong><a href="http://cis-india.org/raw/blog_mock-calling">Mock-Calling - Ironies of Outsourcing and the Aspirations of an Individual</a> (Sreedeep; August 6, 2015). </li>
<li> <a href="http://cis-india.org/raw/blog_governing-speech-on-the-internet"> Governing Speech on the Internet: From the Free Marketplace Policy to a Controlled 'Public Sphere' </a> (Smarika Kumar; August 28, 2015). </li></ul>
<h2><a href="http://cis-india.org/news">News & Media Coverage</a></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify;">CIS gave its inputs to the following media coverage:</p>
<ul style="text-align: justify;">
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/business-standard-kanika-datta-august-1-2015-why-the-dna-bill-is-open-to-misuse-sunil-abraham">Why the DNA Bill is open to misuse: Sunil Abraham</a> (Kanika Datta; Business Standard; August 1, 2015) </li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/the-times-of-india-august-2-2015-karthikeyan-hemalatha-porn-ban">Porn ban: People will soon learn to circumvent ISPs and govt orders, expert says </a> (Karthikeyan Hemalatha; The Times of India; August 2, 2015). </li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/idg-news-service-august-2-2015-indian-govt-orders-isps-to-block-857-porn-websites">Indian government orders ISPs to block 857 porn websites</a> (John Ribeiro; IDG News and PC World; August 2, 2015)</li>
<li> <a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/bbc-news-august-3-2015-india-blocks-access-to-857-porn-sites"> India blocks access to 857 porn sites </a> (BBC; August 3, 2015). </li>
<li> <a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/financial-times-james-crabtree-august-3-2015-india-launches-crackdown-on-online-porn"> India launches crackdown on online porn </a> (James Crabtree; Financial Times; August 3, 2015). </li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/hindustan-times-august-3-2015-siladitya-ray-proxies-and-vpns">Proxies and VPNs: Why govt can't ban porn websites?</a> (Siladitya Ray; August 3, 2015; Hindustan Times)</li>
<li> <a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/the-times-of-india-august-4-2015-anahita-mukherji-nanny-state-rules-porn-bad-for-you"> Nanny state rules porn bad for you </a> (Anahita Mukherji; The Times of India; August 4, 2015). </li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/business-standard-august-4-2015-ban-on-pornography-temporary-says-government">Ban on pornography temporary, says government</a> (Business Standard; August 4, 2015)</li>
<li> <a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/the-australian-news-august-5-2015-amanda-hodge-porn-block-in-india-sparks-outrage"> Porn block in India sparks outrage </a> (Australian; August 5, 2015). </li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/the-wall-street-journal-august-5-2015-sean-mclain-indian-porn-ban-is-partially-lifted-but-sites-remain-blocked">Indian Porn Ban is Partially Lifted But Sites Remain Blocked</a> (Sean Mclain; Wall Street Journal; August 5, 2015)</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/open-magazine-august-7-2015-ullekh-np-genetic-profiling">Genetic Profiling: Is it all in the DNA?</a> (Ullekh N.P.; The Open Magazine; August 7, 2015)</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/desi-blitz-august-7-2015-nazhat-khan-india-partially-lifts-porn-ban">India partially lifts Porn Ban?</a> (Nazhat Khan; DESI blitz; August 7, 2015)</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/hardnewsmedia-august-10-2015-abeer-kapoor-net-neutrality-india-is-a-keybattle-ground">Net Neutrality: India is a Key Battleground</a> (Abeer Kapoor; Hardnews; August 10, 2015)</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/hindustan-times-august-20-2015-aloke-tikku-stats-from-2014-reveal-horror-of-scrapped-section-66-a-of-it-act">Stats from 2014 reveal horror of scrapped section 66A of IT Act</a> (Aloke Tikku; Hindustan Times; August 20, 2015).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/the-times-of-india-sandhya-soman-august-23-2015-the-seedy-underbelly-of-revenge-porn">The seedy underbelly of revenge porn</a> (Sandhya Soman; The Times of India; August 23, 2015).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/the-hindu-businessline-august-28-p-anima-the-new-tattler-in-town">The new tattler in town</a> (P. Anima; Hindu Businessline; August 28, 2015).</li></ul>
<h2><a href="http://cis-india.org/">About CIS</a></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify;">The Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) is a non-profit organisation that undertakes interdisciplinary research on internet and digital technologies from policy and academic perspectives. The areas of focus include digital accessibility for persons with diverse abilities, access to knowledge, intellectual property rights, openness (including open data, free and open source software, open standards, open access, open educational resources, and open video), internet governance, telecommunication reform, digital privacy, and cyber-security. The academic research at CIS seeks to understand the mediation and reconfiguration of social and cultural processes and structures by the internet and digital media technologies.</p>
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<p style="text-align: justify;">Please help us defend consumer / citizen rights on the Internet! Write a cheque in favour of 'The Centre for Internet and Society' and mail it to us at No. 194, 2nd 'C' Cross, Domlur, 2nd Stage, Bengaluru - 5600 71.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">► Request for Collaboration:</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">We invite researchers, practitioners, artists, and theoreticians, both organisationally and as individuals, to engage with us on topics related internet and society, and improve our collective understanding of this field. To discuss such possibilities, please write to Sunil Abraham, Executive Director, at <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:sunil@cis-india.org">sunil@cis-india.org</a> (for policy research), or Sumandro Chattapadhyay, Research Director, at <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:sumandro@cis-india.org">sumandro@cis-india.org</a> (for academic research), with an indication of the form and the content of the collaboration you might be interested in. To discuss collaborations on Indic language Wikipedia projects, write to Tanveer Hasan, Programme Officer, Access to Knowledge, at <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:tanveer@cis-india.org">tanveer@cis-india.org</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><em>CIS is grateful to its primary donor the Kusuma Trust founded by Anurag Dikshit and Soma Pujari, philanthropists of Indian origin for its core funding and support for most of its projects. CIS is also grateful to its other donors, Wikimedia Foundation, Ford Foundation, Privacy International, UK, Hans Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, and IDRC for funding its various projects. </em></p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/about/newsletters/august-2015-bulletin'>http://editors.cis-india.org/about/newsletters/august-2015-bulletin</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaAccess to KnowledgeTelecomAccessibilityInternet GovernanceResearchers at Work2015-10-27T00:25:02ZPageOpen Letter to PM Modi on Intellectual Property Rights issues on His Visit to the United States of America in September, 2015
http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/open-letter-on-intellectual-property-rights-issues-during-your-visit-to-the-united-states-of-america-in-september-2015
<b>This is an open letter by CIS to the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi in light of his impending visit to the USA. This letter asks the Prime Minister to urge the USA to ratify the Marrakesh Treaty; and asks that India not be a party to TPP negotiations, in light of recent reports on a study encouraging India to join the TPP.
</b>
<p> </p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Shri Narendra Damodardas Modi<br />Hon’ble Prime Minister of India<br />152, South Block, Raisina Hill<br />New Delhi-110011</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">22 September, 2015</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Dear Sir,</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">We write on behalf of the Centre for Internet and Society, India <a name="_ftnref1" href="#_ftn1">[1]</a>, a Bangalore and New Delhi based not-for-profit organization engaging in research on among others, accessibility for persons with disabilities, intellectual property rights, openness and access to knowledge. Over the past fifteen months, we have welcomed and support certain initiatives of our government as being in line with some of our research interests, specifically, the "Make in India" and "Digital India" initiatives, and your vision of a digitally empowered India, as we have noted in an earlier open letter to you. <a name="_ftnref2" href="#_ftn2">[2]</a></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">This letter is in light of your visit to the United States of America (“USA”) this month, to articulate a two-fold request:<em> first, </em>that during the course of your visit you request the government of the USA to ratify the Marrakesh Treaty for visually impaired persons (“Marrakesh Treaty”); <a name="_ftnref3" href="#_ftn3">[3]</a> and <em>second, </em>that the Indian government not enter into any negotiations around the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement (“the TPP”).</p>
<h3>On the Marrakesh Treaty</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify;">According to figures by the World Blind Union, approximately 90% of all published material is not accessible to blind or print disabled people. <a name="_ftnref4" href="#_ftn4">[4]</a> The severity of the ‘book famine’ experienced by the world’s estimated 300 million blind or otherwise print or visually disabled people (of which an estimated 63 million are in India) was highlighted by India in its Closing Statement at the Diplomatic Conference convened to conclude the Marrakesh Treaty. <a name="_ftnref5" href="#_ftn5">[5]</a> India has historically been a strong advocate of the spirit of the Marrakesh Treaty, becoming the first country to ratify it in June, 2014. <a name="_ftnref6" href="#_ftn6">[6]</a> Amendments in 2012 to India’s copyright law predated the signature to the Marrakesh Treaty. These amendments created disability and works neutral exceptions to our copyright law, well beyond the mandate of the Marrakesh Treaty.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">The true realization of the promise of the Marrakesh Treaty however will remain a distant dream until the treaty comes into effect (three months) after 20 Member States have ratified it or acceded to it. <a name="_ftnref7" href="#_ftn7">[7]</a> According to information available from the World Intellectual Property Organization <a name="_ftnref8" href="#_ftn8">[8]</a>, this number is currently only 9, and the USA is not one of the countries to have done so. The USA is home <a name="_ftnref9" href="#_ftn9">[9]</a> to some of the largest publishers of both academic and other/leisure material including Penguin Random House, Harper Collins, John Wiley & Sons, the RELX Group, McGraw-Hill Education, Scholastic and Cengage Learning to name a few. It accounts for a large volume of the world’s book and other print material export. The active participation of the USA through the ratification of the Marrakesh treaty is critical if the treaty is to be truly effective.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">During your visit, we urge you request the government of the United States of America to ratify the Marrakesh Treaty at the earliest. This will bring us one important step closer to eradicating the book famine.</p>
<h3>On the TPP</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify;">We are concerned after reports <a name="_ftnref10" href="#_ftn10">[10]</a> of a recent study authored by C Fred Bergsten that encourages India to join the TPP. On this front, we are in complete agreement with the reported statement of the Hon’ble Ambassador Shri Arun K. Singh, where he disagrees with some of the findings and analysis of this recent report. <a name="_ftnref11" href="#_ftn11">[11]</a></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">The TPP has come into severe criticism <a name="_ftnref12" href="#_ftn12">[12]</a> over the years <a name="_ftnref13" href="#_ftn13">[13]</a> from a vast multitude <a name="_ftnref14" href="#_ftn14">[14]</a> of sources <a name="_ftnref15" href="#_ftn15">[15]</a> (including a group of 30 law professors in 2012) <a name="_ftnref16" href="#_ftn16">[16]</a> across the various countries that are a party to the negotiations. Among others and most relevant to us as an organization is the criticism around the secrecy of negotiations <a name="_ftnref17" href="#_ftn17">[17]</a> as well as the content of the chapter on intellectual property in the TPP. It is our belief that eventually, India stands to lose as a result of the TPP <a name="_ftnref18" href="#_ftn18">[18]</a> with its possible adverse impact on our economy. <a name="_ftnref19" href="#_ftn19">[19]</a></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">The rigid intellectual property protections (including criminal penalties for unintentional copying) <a name="_ftnref20" href="#_ftn20">[20]</a> sought to be enforced through the TPP would benefit only US pharmaceutical and entertainment industries. <a name="_ftnref21" href="#_ftn21">[21]</a> These provisions (among others) mandate the inclusion of TRIPS plus provisions in national laws, envisage possible extensions in term of protection on patents, restrict copyright exceptions and limitations, extend copyright protection terms and impose a higher liability on intermediaries; <a name="_ftnref22" href="#_ftn22">[22]</a>all of which would be disastrous for an emerging economy such as India’s, which is a heavy user of intellectual property and not a heavy producer of the same.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Historically, India has been a supporter of a transparent, multilateral decision making process, a commitment to which was also reiterated recently by the Hon’ble Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman. <a name="_ftnref23" href="#_ftn23">[23]</a>India has also raised many of its concerns (on the secrecy of the negotiations as well as substantive provisions themselves) around the TPP and its close cousin, the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (“ACTA”) in 2011 <a name="_ftnref24" href="#_ftn24">[24]</a> and 2012 <a name="_ftnref25" href="#_ftn25">[25]</a> at the World Trade Organization (“WTO”) TRIPS Council and on the ACTA in 2010, also at the WTO Trips Council. <a name="_ftnref26" href="#_ftn26">[26]</a></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">In light of the above, we strongly urge the Indian government to not engage in negotiations on the TPP. At a minimum, we would request that any engagement in TPP negotiations be preceded by national consultations on the same, soliciting input from various stakeholders with diverging interests, including academia, civil society, industry associations, large Indian corporations, small and medium enterprises and multi- national corporations, rights holders associations and other interest groups.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">We thank you for the opportunity to present these views to you. We do hope that you will consider these suggestions favourably, in the interests of India’s economic and social development. We welcome any opportunity to assist you with any queries you may have with regard to these submissions.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Thank you.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Yours truly</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">(For the Centre for Internet and Society, India)</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Pranesh Prakash, Policy Director<br />Nehaa Chaudhari, Programme Officer</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Copies to:</p>
<ol style="text-align: justify;" type="1">
<li>Smt. Smriti Zubin Irani, Minister for Human Resource Development, Government of India.</li>
<li>Prof. (Dr.) Ram Shankar Katheria, Minister of State for Human Resource Development (Higher Education), Government of India.</li>
<li>Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman, Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, Government of India.</li>
<li>Shri Vinay Sheel Oberoi, Secretary (Department of Higher Education), Ministry of Human Resources Development, Government of India, Government of India.</li>
<li>Shri Amitabh Kant, Secretary (Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion), Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India.</li></ol>
<p> <br /><br />(Edit - 25 September, 2015) - The following people have reached out to us in support of this letter and have expressed a desire to have their signatures placed on record as support. We wish to acknowledge the same. </p>
<ol><li>Prof. Dinesh Abrol - Convenor, National Working Group on Patent Laws and WTO<br /></li><li>Dr. B. Ekbal - President, Democratic Alliance for Knowledge Freedom, Kerala</li><li>T.C. James - President, NIPO</li><li>Dr. Suman Sahai - Chairperson, Gene Campaign</li><li>Dr. Biswajit Dhar - Professor, Centre for Economic Studies and Planning, School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University</li></ol>
<div> </div>
<p> </p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><a name="_ftn1" href="#_ftnref1">[1]</a>See generally <a href="http://cis-india.org/">http://cis-india.org/</a> (last accessed 22 September, 2015).</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><a name="_ftn2" href="#_ftnref2">[2]</a>Rohini Lakshane, Open Letter to Prime Minister Modi, available at <a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/open-letter-to-prime-minister-modi">http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/open-letter-to-prime-minister-modi</a> (last accessed 22 September, 2015); Centre for Internet and Society/Rohini Lakshane, Digital India & Make in India : Form a patent pool of critical mobile technologies – CIS India, available at <a href="http://www.medianama.com/2015/03/223-digital-india-make-in-india-form-a-patent-pool-of-critical-mobile-technologies-cis-india/" rel="noreferrer">http://www.medianama.com/2015/03/223-digital-india-make-in-india-form-a-patent-pool-of-critical-mobile-technologies-cis-india/</a> (last accessed 22 September, 2015).</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><a name="_ftn3" href="#_ftnref3">[3]</a>The Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works by Visually Impaired Persons and Persons with Print Disabilities adopted on June 27, 2013. Treaty text and other official documentation available at <a href="http://www.wipo.int/treaties/en/ip/marrakesh/" rel="noreferrer">http://www.wipo.int/treaties/en/ip/marrakesh/</a> (last accessed 22 September, 2015).</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><a name="_ftn4" href="#_ftnref4">[4]</a>World Blind Union, Marrakesh Treaty – Right to Read Campaign, available at <a href="http://www.worldblindunion.org/English/our-work/our-priorities/Pages/right-2-read-campaign.aspx" rel="noreferrer">http://www.worldblindunion.org/English/our-work/our-priorities/Pages/right-2-read-campaign.aspx</a> (last accessed 22 September, 2015).</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><a name="_ftn5" href="#_ftnref5">[5]</a>Pranesh Prakash, India’s Closing Statement at Marrakesh on the Treaty for the Blind, available at <a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/india-closing-statement-marrakesh-treaty-for-the-blind">http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/india-closing-statement-marrakesh-treaty-for-the-blind</a> (last accessed 22 September, 2015).</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><a name="_ftn6" href="#_ftnref6">[6]</a>Nehaa Chaudhari, India’s Ratification of the Marrakesh Treaty Celebrated; Accessible Books Consortium Launched, available at <a href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/indias-ratification-of-marrakesh-treaty-celebrated">http://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/indias-ratification-of-marrakesh-treaty-celebrated</a> (last accessed 22 September, 2015).</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><a name="_ftn7" href="#_ftnref7">[7]</a>Article 18 of the Marrakesh Treaty.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><a name="_ftn8" href="#_ftnref8">[8]</a>World Intellectual Property Organization, WIPO Administered Treaties: Contracting Parties > Marrakesh VIP Treaty (Treaty not yet in force), available at <a href="http://www.wipo.int/treaties/en/ShowResults.jsp?lang=en&treaty_id=843" rel="noreferrer">http://www.wipo.int/treaties/en/ShowResults.jsp?lang=en&treaty_id=843</a> (last accessed 22 September, 2015).</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><a name="_ftn9" href="#_ftnref9">[9]</a>Publishers Weekly, The World’s 57 Largest Book Publishers, 2015, available at <a href="http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/international/international-book-news/article/67224-the-world-s-57-largest-book-publishers-2015.html" rel="noreferrer">http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/international/international-book-news/article/67224-the-world-s-57-largest-book-publishers-2015.html</a> (last accessed 22 September, 2015).</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><a name="_ftn10" href="#_ftnref10">[10]</a>S Rajagopalan, US Report Pushes India to Join the Trans-Pacific Partnership, available at <a href="http://www.dailypioneer.com/world/us-report-pushes-india-to-join-trans-pacific-partnership.html" rel="noreferrer">http://www.dailypioneer.com/world/us-report-pushes-india-to-join-trans-pacific-partnership.html</a> (last accessed 22 September, 2015); Indo-Asian News Service on NDTV, India Can Boost Exports by $500 Billion with Trade Liberalization: Study, available at <a href="http://www.ndtv.com/india-news/india-can-boost-exports-by-500-billion-with-trade-liberalization-study-1218887" rel="noreferrer">http://www.ndtv.com/india-news/india-can-boost-exports-by-500-billion-with-trade-liberalization-study-1218887</a> (last accessed 22 September, 2015); Raghavendra M., India can boost exports by $500 billion with trade liberalization: study, available at <a href="http://www.americanbazaaronline.com/2015/09/18/india-can-boost-exports-by-500-billion-with-trade-liberalization-study/" rel="noreferrer">http://www.americanbazaaronline.com/2015/09/18/india-can-boost-exports-by-500-billion-with-trade-liberalization-study/</a> (last accessed 22 September, 2015); Press Trust of India in the Business Standard, India can boost exports by USD 500 bn by joining the TPP: report, available at <a href="http://www.business-standard.com/article/pti-stories/india-can-boost-exports-by-usd-500-bn-by-joining-tpp-report-115091701149_1.html" rel="noreferrer">http://www.business-standard.com/article/pti-stories/india-can-boost-exports-by-usd-500-bn-by-joining-tpp-report-115091701149_1.html</a> (last accessed 22 September, 2015); Seema Sirohi, India must expand its trade before it gets left behind in the race, available at <a href="http://blogs.economictimes.indiatimes.com/letterfromwashington/india-must-expand-its-trade-before-it-gets-left-behind-in-the-race/" rel="noreferrer">http://blogs.economictimes.indiatimes.com/letterfromwashington/india-must-expand-its-trade-before-it-gets-left-behind-in-the-race/</a> (last accessed 22 September, 2015).</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><a name="_ftn11" href="#_ftnref11">[11]</a>S Rajagopalan, US Report Pushes India to Join the Trans-Pacific Partnership, available at <a href="http://www.dailypioneer.com/world/us-report-pushes-india-to-join-trans-pacific-partnership.html" rel="noreferrer">http://www.dailypioneer.com/world/us-report-pushes-india-to-join-trans-pacific-partnership.html</a> (last accessed 22 September, 2015)</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><a name="_ftn12" href="#_ftnref12">[12]</a>Natasha Lennard, Noam Chomsky: Trans-Pacific Partnership is a “neoliberal assault”, available at <a href="http://www.salon.com/2014/01/13/chomsky_tpp_is_a_neoliberal_assault/" rel="noreferrer">http://www.salon.com/2014/01/13/chomsky_tpp_is_a_neoliberal_assault/</a> (last accessed 22 September, 2015); Zach Carter and Ryan Grim, Noam Chomsky: Obama Trade Deal a ‘Neoliberal Assault’ to ‘Further Corporate Domination’, available at <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/13/noam-chomsky-obama-trans-pacific-partnership_n_4577495.html?ir=India&adsSiteOverride=in" rel="noreferrer">http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/13/noam-chomsky-obama-trans-pacific-partnership_n_4577495.html?ir=India&adsSiteOverride=in</a> (last accessed 22 September, 2015); Sean Flynn;, Margot E Kaminski, Brook K Baker and Jimmy H Koo., "Public Interest Analysis of the US TPP Proposal for an IP Chapter" (2011). PIJIP Research Paper Series. Paper 21. <a href="http://digitalcommons.wcl.american.edu/research/21" rel="noreferrer">http://digitalcommons.wcl.american.edu/research/21</a> (last accessed 22 September, 2015).</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><a name="_ftn13" href="#_ftnref13">[13]</a>BBC News, TPP: What is it and why does it matter?, available at <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/business-21782080" rel="noreferrer">http://www.bbc.com/news/business-21782080</a> (last accessed 22 September, 2015);</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><a name="_ftn14" href="#_ftnref14">[14]</a>For a compilation on writing on the TPP <em>see</em> James Love, Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP also known as the TPPA), available at <a href="http://keionline.org/tpp" rel="noreferrer">http://keionline.org/tpp</a> (last accessed 22 September, 2015); <em>see also </em>American University Program on Information Justice and Intellectual Property, Trans-Pacific Partnership, available at <a href="http://infojustice.org/tpp" rel="noreferrer">http://infojustice.org/tpp</a> (last accessed 22 September, 2015).</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><a name="_ftn15" href="#_ftnref15">[15]</a>Zach Carter, Alan Grayson on Trans-Pacific Partnership: Obama Secrecy Hides ‘Assault on Democratic Government’, available at <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/18/alan-grayson-trans-pacific-partnership_n_3456167.html?ir=India&adsSiteOverride=in" rel="noreferrer">http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/18/alan-grayson-trans-pacific-partnership_n_3456167.html?ir=India&adsSiteOverride=in</a> (last accessed 22 September, 2015); James Love, KEI analysis of Wikileaks leak of TPP IPR text, from August 30, 2013, available at <a href="http://keionline.org/node/1825" rel="noreferrer">http://keionline.org/node/1825</a> (last accessed 22 September, 2015); Ian Verrender, The TPP has the potential for real harm, available at <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-03-16/verrender-the-tpp-has-the-potential-for-real-harm/6321538" rel="noreferrer">http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-03-16/verrender-the-tpp-has-the-potential-for-real-harm/6321538</a> (last accessed 22 September, 2015).</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><a name="_ftn16" href="#_ftnref16">[16]</a>Sean Flynn, Law Professors Call for Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Transparency, available at <a href="http://infojustice.org/archives/21137" rel="noreferrer">http://infojustice.org/archives/21137</a> (last accessed 22 September, 2015).</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><a name="_ftn17" href="#_ftnref17">[17]</a>Sachie Mizohata, "The Trans-Pacific Partnership and Its Critics: An introduction and a petition," The Asia-Pacific Journal, Vol. 11, Issue 36, No. 3, available at <a href="http://japanfocus.org/-Sachie-MIZOHATA/3996/article.html" rel="noreferrer">http://japanfocus.org/-Sachie-MIZOHATA/3996/article.html</a> (last accessed 22 September, 2015).</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><a name="_ftn18" href="#_ftnref18">[18]</a>Vijay Rajamohan, Trans-Pacific Partnership – Should India Join this Mega Trade Deal?, available at <a href="http://swarajyamag.com/world/trans-pacific-partnership-should-india-join-this-mega-trade-deal/" rel="noreferrer">http://swarajyamag.com/world/trans-pacific-partnership-should-india-join-this-mega-trade-deal/</a> (last accessed 22 September, 2015).</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><a name="_ftn19" href="#_ftnref19">[19]</a>Sylvia Mishra, How will the Trans-Pacific Partnership affect India?, available at <a href="http://www.observerindia.com/cms/sites/orfonline/modules/analysis/AnalysisDetail.html?cmaid=85684&mmacmaid=85685" rel="noreferrer">http://www.observerindia.com/cms/sites/orfonline/modules/analysis/AnalysisDetail.html?cmaid=85684&mmacmaid=85685</a> (last accessed 22 September, 2015).</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><a name="_ftn20" href="#_ftnref20">[20]</a>Gabrielle Chan, Trans-Pacific Partnership: a guide to the most contentious issues, available at <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/10/trans-pacific-partnership-a-guide-to-the-most-contentious-issues" rel="noreferrer">http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/10/trans-pacific-partnership-a-guide-to-the-most-contentious-issues</a> (last accessed 22 September, 2015).</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><a name="_ftn21" href="#_ftnref21">[21]</a>James Love, New leak of TPP consolidated text on intellectual property provides details of pandering to drug companies and publishers, available at <a href="http://www.keionline.org/node/2108" rel="noreferrer">http://www.keionline.org/node/2108</a> (last accessed 22 September, 2015); Vijay Rajamohan, Trans-Pacific Partnership – Should India Join this Mega Trade Deal?, available at <a href="http://swarajyamag.com/world/trans-pacific-partnership-should-india-join-this-mega-trade-deal/" rel="noreferrer">http://swarajyamag.com/world/trans-pacific-partnership-should-india-join-this-mega-trade-deal/</a> (last accessed 22 September, 2015) referencing Paul Krugman.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><a name="_ftn22" href="#_ftnref22">[22]</a>William New, Leaked TPP Draft Reveals Extreme Rights Holder Position Of US, Japan, Outraged Observers Say, available at <a href="http://www.ip-watch.org/2014/10/17/leaked-tpp-draft-reveals-extreme-rights-holder-position-of-us-japan-outraged-observers-say/" rel="noreferrer">http://www.ip-watch.org/2014/10/17/leaked-tpp-draft-reveals-extreme-rights-holder-position-of-us-japan-outraged-observers-say/</a> (last accessed 22 September, 2015).</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><a name="_ftn23" href="#_ftnref23">[23]</a>Lalit K Jha, India not being left out of global trade pacts: Minister, available at <a href="http://www.thestatesman.com/news/business/india-not-being-left-out-of-global-trade-pacts-minister/91679.html" rel="noreferrer">http://www.thestatesman.com/news/business/india-not-being-left-out-of-global-trade-pacts-minister/91679.html</a> (last accessed 22 September, 2015).</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><a name="_ftn24" href="#_ftnref24">[24]</a>Thirukumaran Balasubramaniam, WTO TRIPS Council: India raises concerns on ACTA and TPPA on discussion of “Trends in the Enforcement of IPRs”, available at <a href="https://donttradeourlivesaway.wordpress.com/2011/10/29/wto-trips-council-india-raises-concerns-on-acta-and-tppa-on-discussion-of-trends-in-the-enforcement-of-iprs/" rel="noreferrer">https://donttradeourlivesaway.wordpress.com/2011/10/29/wto-trips-council-india-raises-concerns-on-acta-and-tppa-on-discussion-of-trends-in-the-enforcement-of-iprs/</a> (last accessed 22 September, 2015).</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><a name="_ftn25" href="#_ftnref25">[25]</a>Thirukumaran Balasubramaniam, 28 Feb 2012: Intervention delivered by India at WTO TRIPS Council on IP Enforcement Trends noting concerns with ACTA and TPPA, available at <a href="http://keionline.org/node/1376" rel="noreferrer">http://keionline.org/node/1376</a> (last accessed 22 September, 2015).</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><a name="_ftn26" href="#_ftnref26">[26]</a>Kanaga Raja, ACTA comes in for criticism at the TRIPS council, available at <a href="http://www.twn.my/title2/wto.info/2010/twninfo100606.htm" rel="noreferrer">http://www.twn.my/title2/wto.info/2010/twninfo100606.htm</a> (last accessed 22 September, 2015).</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/open-letter-on-intellectual-property-rights-issues-during-your-visit-to-the-united-states-of-america-in-september-2015'>http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/open-letter-on-intellectual-property-rights-issues-during-your-visit-to-the-united-states-of-america-in-september-2015</a>
</p>
No publisherPranesh Prakash and Nehaa ChaudhariAccess to KnowledgeIntellectual Property RightsAccessibilityFeaturedHomepage2015-09-25T06:43:12ZBlog EntryTowards a Multi-Stakeholder Consultation on ‘Internet Rights, Accessibility, Regulation & Ethics’
http://editors.cis-india.org/news/towards-a-multi-stakeholder-consultation
<b>This event was organised by Digital Empowerment Foundation, National Internet Exchange of India and Association for Progressive Communications at Mirza Ghalib Hall, SCOPE Complex, New Delhi from 9.00 a.m. to 2.30 p.m. on May 3, 2012. Pranesh Prakash participated as a speaker in the session on Access to Internet: Right to Information.</b>
<div style="text-align: left;"> </div>
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<td>9.00 a.m. to 9.30 a.m. (Registration)</td>
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<td>9.30 a.m. to 11.00 a.m.<br />
<h3>Inauguration & Plenary: Internet Rights, Accessibility, Regulation & Ethics</h3>
</td>
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<td>Introduction: Osama Manzar, Founder & Director, Digital Empowerment Foundation<br />Chair: Aruna Roy, Head, Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS) & Member, National Advisory Council (NAC), Govt. of India<br />Co-Chair: Ajay Kumar, Joint Secretary, DIT, Govt. of India<br /><strong>Plenary Speakers:</strong><br />
<ul><li>Honey Tan, Human Rights Lawyer, Malaysia, APC</li><li>Venkatesh Nayak, Co-convener, Secretary, National Campaign for Peoples’ Right to Information</li><li>Jitendra Kohli, Executive Member, Transparency International India Summary of the Session by the Chair</li></ul>
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<td>11.00 to 11.15 a.m. (Tea break)</td>
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<td>11.15 a.m. to 12.30 p.m.<br />
<h3>Working Session I - Access to Internet: Right to Information</h3>
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<td>Chairperson: Basheerhamad Shadrach, Development Consultant<br /><strong>Plenary Speakers:</strong><br />
<ul><li>Pranesh Prakash, Programme Manager, Centre for Internet & Society</li><li>NA Vijayashankar, E-Business Consultant, Founder Secretary of Cyber Society of India, Founder Trustee of International Institute of Information Technology Law</li><li>Pavan Duggal, Advocate, Supreme Court of India</li><li>Varsha Iyenger, Member, Centre for Law and Policy Research</li><li>Amitabh Singhal, Former CEO, National Internet Exchange of India (NIXI)</li><li>Prof Jagdeep Chhokar, Founding Member, Association for Democratic Reforms</li></ul>
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<td>12.30 p.m. to 1.30 p.m.<br />Working Session II - Internet Right as Human Right: Need for a Holistic Framework towards Universal Access in India<br /></td>
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<tr>
<td>Chairperson: Dr. Govind, CEO, National Internet Exchange of India (NIXI), Govt. of India<br />Co-chair & Moderator: R. Sukumar , Managing Editor, Live Mint Newspaper<br />Panel Members:<br />
<ul><li>Subho Ray, President, Internet & Mobile Association of India (IMAI)</li><li>Deepak Maheshwari, Vice President - Public Policy, South Asia, MasterCard</li><li>Ravina Agarwal, Program Officer, Ford Foundation</li><li>Honey Tan, Human Rights Lawyer, Malaysia, APC</li><li>Suhas Chakma, Director, Asian Centre for Human Rights</li><li>Anoop Saha, Co-Founder, CGNet Swara</li><li>Shivam Vij, Writer, Kafila.org</li></ul>
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</tbody>
</table>
<a class="external-link" href="http://internetrights.in/files/2012/04/National-Consultation-Summit-on-Internet-Rights-_-Programme-Flow-Final.pdf">Click</a> to see the original
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/news/towards-a-multi-stakeholder-consultation'>http://editors.cis-india.org/news/towards-a-multi-stakeholder-consultation</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaInternet GovernanceAccessibilityAccess to Knowledge2012-05-31T07:14:42ZNews ItemLinking Commercial Availability and Exceptions in the Treaty for Visually Impaired/Persons with Disabilities
http://editors.cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/linking-commercial-availability-and-exceptions-in-tvi
<b>After the landmark WIPO General Assembly meeting in December 2012 that decided to convene a diplomatic conference in June 2013 on the Treaty for Visually Impaired Persons/Persons with Print Disabilities, the Special Session of the Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights starting on February 18, 2013 is critical, says Rahul Cherian.</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">It is probably the last chance to sort out the major outstanding issues in the text of the document before the diplomatic conference and if some of these issues are not resolved soon, the diplomatic conference could end without a fruitful conclusion.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">One of the most critical issues that remain outstanding is the desire that some government negotiators have to link the use of the treaty provisions or copyright exceptions to commercial unavailability of the work in accessible formats.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The publishing lobby, and consequently the European Union most notably, insist that the exceptions should kick in only when the works in accessible formats are not commercially available at reasonable prices. The definition of "reasonable price for developing countries" as it stands now "means that the accessible format copy of the work is available at prices that are affordable in that market, taking into account the needs and income disparities of persons who have limited vision and those with print disabilities". The definition of "reasonable price for developed countries" as it stands now "means that the accessible format copy of the work is available at a similar or lower price than the price of the work available to persons without print disabilities in that market." It is be noted that there are a few suggestions for changes of wording of the definition but in effect what this wording means is that exceptions should apply only when the accessible format copies are not available at a reasonable price.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">At first glance this seems a perfectly sound proposition. I mean, if sighted people have to buy a book, then why shouldn’t beneficiaries under the Treaty also buy a book in an accessible format if it is available at a reasonable price?</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The problems with this crop up if you look deeper. The linkage between commercial availability and the exceptions appear at two places in the Treaty. In Article C which deals with national exceptions the following is proposed: "A Member State/Contracting Party may confine limitations or exceptions under this Article to published works which, in the particular accessible format, cannot be obtained commercially under reasonable terms for beneficiary persons in that market".</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">In Article D which deals with exceptions for export of accessible format copies the following two alternatives are proposed:</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Alternative A: [The Member State/Contracting Party may limit said distribution or making available of published works which, in the applicable accessible format, cannot be otherwise obtained within a reasonable time and at a reasonable price, in the country of importation].</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Alternative B: [A Member State/Contracting Party should/shall(/may) prohibit said distribution or making available to published works where the exporting authorized entity, prior to making available or distribution, knew or should have known that a copy in the particular accessible format could have been obtained through the distribution channels customary to the beneficiary persons, (under reasonable terms, including) at prices that take account of the needs and incomes of beneficiary persons in the country of importation, (as well as the cost of producing and distributing the work)].</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Concerns with linking commercial availability and exceptions</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Impossibility of verifying commercial availability with any degree of certainty</b><br />Imagine that the recently introduced Indian copyright exceptions for persons with disabilities stated that the exceptions are not available to published works which, in the particular accessible format, can be obtained commercially under reasonable terms (luckily this is not the case currently). What would this mean practically? It would mean that every person with disability who benefits from the exception and every NGO working for the person with disability would firstly have to conduct an in-depth due diligence to see whether the book can be purchased firstly anywhere in the country in an accessible format.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Secondly, if the due diligence reveals that a book in the relevant accessible format can be purchased the question will be whether the price of the accessible format copy is "affordable in India, taking into account the needs and income disparities of persons who have limited vision and those with print disabilities". As you can see these are impossible mountains to climb for persons with disabilities and largely underfunded NGOs who provide services to persons with disabilities.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The situation gets much more complicated when it comes to exceptions relating to cross border exchange. Imagine that the United Kingdom introduces a provision in their copyright law allowing the Royal National Institute of Blind People to export accessible format copies to people with visual impairment in Chennai but only after verifying that the accessible format copy cannot be otherwise obtained within a reasonable time and at a reasonable price. Remember that "reasonable price" in India means that the accessible format copy of the work is available at prices that are affordable in that market, taking into account the needs and income disparities of persons who have limited vision and those with print disabilities. How can the RNIB based in the UK even begin to undertake this exercise, which would require it to:</p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li>Check whether the accessible format copy is available in India; then</li>
<li>Understand the needs and income disparities of those with limited vision and print disabilities; and then</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Check the cost of the accessible format copy and determine whether the cost of the accessible format copy is reasonable based on the above point.</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">It will be impossible for RNIB to do this.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">In addition to the above there is the added concern that linking commercial availability and exceptions as mentioned in Article C (national exceptions) will lead to countries such as India being put under pressure from the European Union and the United States to amend our Copyright Act and linking our exceptions to commercial availability. The same applies to countries that want to introduce copyright exceptions after the Treaty.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">As you can see, the linking of commercial available and exceptions while in theory is sound, in practice it will be impossible to comply with thereby killing all effectiveness of the Treaty.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><i>Watch this space for more updates on the Treaty as they happen</i>.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/linking-commercial-availability-and-exceptions-in-tvi'>http://editors.cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/linking-commercial-availability-and-exceptions-in-tvi</a>
</p>
No publisherRahul CherianAccessibility2013-01-23T08:30:29ZBlog EntryMaking Public Libraries Accessible to People with Disabilities
http://editors.cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/making-public-libraries-accessible-to-people-with-disabilities
<b>The Centre for Internet & Society was one of the 20 disability rights groups that wrote to the Ministry of Culture on January 23, 2013 seeking remedial action on the barriers faced by persons with disabilities in accessing public libraries in India.</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">To,<br />Hon’ble Ministers of Culture, HRD, Social Welfare<br />Secretaries of the above Ministries/Departments<br />January 23, 2013</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Dear Sir/Madam</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><span><b>Sub: Making Public Libraries Accessible for Persons with Disabilities </b></span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><span> </span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">We, the organizations representing persons with disabilities listed at the end of this document would like to bring to your attention for your urgent remedial action on the barriers faced by persons with disabilities in accessing public libraries in the country.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">As you are aware, India has approximately 150 million persons with disabilities<a href="#fn1" name="fr1">[1]</a>who have the inalienable fundamental right to life as enshrined in the Constitution including the right to seek knowledge and education. Public libraries play a critical role in creating an enabling environment for citizens to gain knowledge, information and education. This is particularly true in the case of persons with disabilities who have limited access to purchase books through mainstream shops due to various barriers including lack of physical access to shops, lack of availability of books in accessible formats like Braille, etc. India has signed and ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and therefore India is required to "to take all appropriate measures, including legislation, to modify or abolish existing laws, regulations, customs and practices that constitute discrimination against persons with disabilities<a href="#fn2" name="fr2">[2]</a>, "to develop, promulgate and monitor the implementation of minimum standards and guidelines for the accessibility of facilities and services open or provided to the public<a href="#fn3" name="fr3">[3]</a>” and take all appropriate measures to ensure that persons with disabilities enjoy access to libraries<a href="#fn4" name="fr4">[4]</a></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The recent copyright amendments enabling libraries to convert their collections into accessible formats free of cost for the benefit of persons with disabilities coupled with technological developments in the form of cost effective screen reading software have created an unprecedented opportunity to make libraries accessible to persons with visual impairment and dyslexia. Additionally increased clarity on standards for physical access also now enables libraries to be made physically accessible without expensive modifications to enable wheelchair users and those with limited mobility access the libraries.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">We understand that the Ministry of Culture has constituted a high powered committee as part of the National Mission on Libraries to look into revamping the library system in the country. We urge that the issue relating to making public libraries accessible to persons with disabilities is taken up by the government on a fast track basis, a separate budget is allocated for this exercise and libraries are made accessible on a priority basis. Please find attached a brief note on the steps to be taken to make libraries accessible to persons with disabilities.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">We recommend that regional consultations are conducted through which additional data can be gathered on regional/language/types of communication/availability of power and related issues. We also urge you take steps to extend library services to rural areas across the country. We are happy to assist the government in this initiative. Do let us know how we can contribute to this effort.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Thank you and best regards,</p>
<ol style="text-align: justify; "> </ol><ol style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><b>Inclusive Planet Centre for Disability Law and Policy (<a href="http://www.inclusiveplanet.org.in">www.inclusiveplanet.org.in</a>)</b><br />Rahul Cherian<br />+91 98403 57991<a href="mailto:rahul.cherian@inclusiveplanet.org.in"><br />rahul.cherian@inclusiveplanet.org.in</a></li>
<li><b>AccessAbility (<a href="http://www.accessability.co.in">www.accessability.co.in</a>)</b><br />Shivani Gupta+91 93102 45743<br />shewany@gmail.com</li>
<li><b>Xavier’s Resource Centre for the Visually Challenged (<a href="http://www.xrcvc.org">www.xrcvc.org</a>)</b><br />Sam Taraporevala<br />+91 99670 28769<br />sam@xrcvc.org</li>
<li><b>Saksham Charitable Trust (<a href="http://www.saksham.org">www.saksham.org</a>)</b><br />Dipendra Manocha<br />+91 98180 94781<a href="mailto:dipendra.manocha@gmail.com"><br />dipendra.manocha@gmail.com</a></li>
<li><b>National Platform for the Rights of the Disabled</b><br />Murali Alathur<br />+91 98687 68543<a href="mailto:nprd.in@gmail.com"><br />nprd.in@gmail.com</a></li>
<li><b>National Institute of Speech and Hearing (<a href="http://www.nish.ac.in">www.nish.ac.in</a>)</b><br />Samuel Mathew<br />+91 99615 68443<a href="mailto:snm@nish.ac.in"><br />snm@nish.ac.in</a></li>
<li><b>Centre for Internet and Society (<a href="http://www.cis-india.org">www.cis-india.org</a>)</b><br />Nirmita Narasimhan<br />+91 98458 68078<br />nirmita@cis-india.org</li>
<li><b>Indian Institute of Cerebral Palsy (<a href="http://www.iicpindia.org">www.iicpindia.org</a>)</b><br />Jeeja Ghosh<br />+91 94330 45340<a href="mailto:jeeja.ankur@gmail.com"><br />jeeja.ankur@gmail.com</a></li>
<li><b>National Centre for Autism (<a href="http://www.autism-india.org/">www.autism-india.org</a>)</b><br />Merry Barua<br />+91 98102 25923<a href="mailto:merry.barua@gmail.com"><br />merry.barua@gmail.com</a></li>
<li><b>Ability Foundation (<a href="http://www.abilityfoundation.org">www.abilityfoundation.org</a>)</b><br />Janaki Pillai<a href="mailto:ability@abilityfoundation.org" target="_blank"><br />ability@abilityfoundation.org</a></li>
<li><b>Nilesh Singit, Disability Rights Activist</b><br />+9199205 58867<a href="mailto:contact@nileshsingit.org" target="_blank"><br />contact@nileshsingit.org</a></li>
<li><b>Andhjan Kalyan Trust (<a href="http://www.aktrust.org/" target="_blank">www.aktrust.org</a></b><b>)</b><br />Praful Vyas<br />+9194282 61878<a href="mailto:aktrust.drj@gmail.com" target="_blank"><br />aktrust.drj@gmail.com</a></li>
<li><b>AccessIndia</b><br />Harish Kotian<br />hpkotian@rbi.org.in</li>
<li><b>Blind Graduates Forum of India</b><br />Harish Kotian<br />hpkotian@rbi.org.in</li>
<li><b>Tamilnadu Handicapped Federation Charitable Trust</b><br />T.M.N Deepak<br />+91 98406 46953<a href="mailto:deepaknathan@gmail.com"><br />deepaknathan@gmail.com</a></li>
<li><b>Human Rights Law Network AP Unit</b><br />M.A. Shakeel<a href="mailto:mashakeel2000@gmail.com"><br />mashakeel2000@gmail.com</a></li>
<li><b>Global Ability in Disability</b><br />Sai Padma<br />+91 9052627070<a href="mailto:saipadma@gmail.com" target="_blank"><br />saipadma@gmail.com</a></li>
<li><b>Mitra Jyothi</b><br />Madhu Singhal<a href="mailto:mj.tblibrary@gmail.com"><br />mj.tblibrary@gmail.com</a></li>
<li><b>Vaishnavi Jayakumar, Human Rights Activist</b><br />jayakumar.vaishnavi@gmail.com</li>
<li><b>Swadhikaar</b><br />Pavan Muntha<a href="mailto:pavanmuntha@gmail.com"><br />pavanmuntha@gmail.com</a></li>
<li><b>Samarthyam (<a href="http://www.samarthyam.org/" target="_blank">www.samarthyam.org</a>)</b><br />Anjlee Agarwal<br />+91 98105 58321<a href="mailto:samarthyaindia@yahoo.com" target="_blank"><br />samarthyaindia@yahoo.com</a></li>
</ol>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">With inputs from:</p>
<ol style="text-align: justify; "> </ol><ol style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><b>Stephen M. Shore, Ed.D.</b><br />Assistant Professor of Special Education, Adelphi University<br />International consultant, presenter, and author<br />Person on the autism spectrum<br />USA</li>
<li><b>Tania Meinyczuk</b><br />Director, Autistic Strategies Network<br />Autistic Consultant<br />South Africa</li>
<li><b>Shellique Carby</b><br />Self-Advocate<br />South Africa</li>
<li><b>Fazli Azeem</b><br />South Asian Self-Advocate for the Autism Spectrum<br />Fulbright Scholar @ MassArt Boston, USA<a href="http://www.fazliazeem.com/" target="_blank"><br />www.fazliazeem.com</a><br />Pakistan</li>
<li><b>Michael Vestergaard Drejer</b><br />IT Consultant<br />Denmark</li>
</ol>
<h2 style="text-align: justify; ">Making Public Libraries Inclusive For Persons With Disabilities – An Overview</h2>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Problem Statement</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">It is estimated that India has approximately 150 million persons with disabilities<a href="#fn5" name="fr5">[5]</a> (“PWDs”). Depending on their disability, PWDs have varying degrees of problems in accessing libraries and the material available at libraries. PWDs cannot access the premises of libraries since the buildings themselves are not accessible. People who are blind or have low vision cannot access reading material in libraries since the reading materials are not in formats that are accessible. It is estimated that less than 0.5% of books are available in formats that are accessible by people who are blind or have low vision. It is therefore critical that libraries in India are made inclusive so as to become accessible by PWDs.</p>
<h2 style="text-align: justify; ">Suggestions For Improvement</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Given below are suggestions to make the public library system inclusive to PWDs based on internationally recognized best practices:</p>
<ol style="text-align: justify; "> </ol><ol style="text-align: justify; ">
<li style="text-align: justify; "><b>Accessibility</b><br />Structural modifications must be made to the library to ensure that PWDs can use the library building easily and safely, without any barriers or obstructions. Some of the modifications required include accessible parking, clear paths of travel to and throughout the facility, entrances with adequate, clear openings or automatic doors, handrails, ramps and elevators, accessible tables and public service desks, and accessible public conveniences such as toilets, and drinking fountains. Other reasonable modifications may include visible alarms in toilets and general usage areas and signs that have Braille and easily visible character size, font, contrast and finish.<br />For further information see <b>Annexure 1</b> and <a href="http://socialjustice.nic.in/glinecpwd.php">http://socialjustice.nic.in/glinecpwd.php</a></li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><b>Accessible Formats and Library as a Distribution Centre</b><br />People, who are blind, have low vision, dyslexia and other print disabilities cannot access reading materials in printed formats. They require reading material in “accessible formats” such as Braille, large print, audio recordings and electronic formats including digital talking books. In addition, people with some disabilities may find it difficult to come to the library. Under the recently amended Copyright Act libraries can convert books into the accessible formats specified above free of cost and without requiring permission from publishers and can distribute them in physical form and in electronic form including over the Internet to persons with disabilities.<br /><br />Libraries now have the unprecedented opportunity to create an extensive collection of reading material in the accessible formats mentioned above in English and all Indian languages and make them available at the library in the form of physical copies, on CDs and other media, as well as over the Internet. The catalog of the collection must be in accessible formats. For digitization of books State Level Focal Points to be created for this purpose possibly at State level libraries. For further information on the standards to be adhered to when the library undertakes digitization see <b>Annexure 2</b>. State Level Focal Points will get production done through outsourcing or with some inhouse facilities for production of digital content. A National Level Focal point with full time staff will be required for standardization and networking between the State Level Focal Points and maintaining the central server as mentioned below. The central server will have a database containing digital copies of works in accessible formats created by the State Focal Points and other organizations that undertake the conversion of material into accessible formats such as the National Federation of the Blind<a href="#fn6" name="fr6">[6]</a>, All India Confederation of the Blind<a href="#fn7" name="fr7">[7]</a>, Daisy Forum of India<a href="#fn8" name="fr8">[8]</a> and the Indian Institute of Cerebral Palsy.<a href="#fn9" name="fr9">[9]</a> Requests for books in accessible formats can be sent to these organizations as well. The central server will also be connected to the Braille presses. Each public library at the district level will act as a distribution point for accessible formats and will be connected to the central server so that requests for books at each of the libraries can be sourced from the database on the central server. This is advantageous as the list of books available at each library will be constantly updated once they are added to the database. In addition, persons with disabilities must be able to download books in accessible formats from the database without coming to the library.<br /><br />The website of each library must contain the catalog of material available in accessible formats and the services provided for persons with disabilities. The website of the libraries and the centralized database must adhere to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 as outlined by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) so that persons with print disabilities can access the websites and the database. Each library must take orders for accessible books from library users over the internet and over the telephone and source the books from other libraries. Libraries must work together to enable interlibrary exchange of books in accessible formats including hard copy Braille books.<br /><br />All existing books published in India must be digitized over a period 7 years and all new books must be digitized within 60 days of their first publication in India. Special efforts must be made to provide accessible formats in Indian languages as these are extremely limited. An advisory committee consisting of specialist representatives from disability organizations, among others, may be constituted to oversee the implementation of this project. The expert committee will be associated with both the National Level Focal Points and the State Level Focal Points.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><b>Assistive Aids and Equipment</b><br />PWDs require certain assistive aids and equipment to be able to fully utilize the services of the library and the information available therein. Some forms of accessible formats specified above can only be accessed using assistive aids. Libraries must provide the assistive aids/equipment specified in <b>Annexure 3.</b></li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><b>Training and sensitization</b><br />Adequate training and sensitization must be given to library staff to ensure that they are able to interact with PWDs. This training can be in the nature of a short refresher course and the training and sensitization programs must be evolved in consultation with the disability sector and must be conducted with the assistance of experts in the disability space.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><b>Specialized personnel and services</b><br />The library should have a dedicated person to interact with persons with disabilities. This person should have a background in disability, highly motivated, familiar with sign language and also be responsible for providing specific assistance required by persons with disabilities such as guiding them to print out books in Braille, procuring books from the online database etc. The library should offer specialized services to PWDs including a telephonic help line and home delivery of books ordered online or over the phone and reading service at designated times at the library. It is pertinent to note that literature for the blind has no postal fees. Each library must have a specific section on disability related reading material. It is also essential to cooperate with other libraries around the world to share learning.</li>
</ol>
<h2 style="text-align: justify; ">Annexure 1<a href="#fn10" name="fr10">[10]</a></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Accessibility</b></p>
<ol style="text-align: justify; "> </ol>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>a. </b><b>Outside the library</b></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li style="text-align: justify; ">The main gate of the entrance of the library must be made accessible in accordance with applicable accessibility standards. If the main entrance cannot be made accessible, a secondary accessible entrance should be provided.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">At least covered three parking spaces marked with the international symbol of Accessibility (wheelchair symbol) close to the library entrance must be provided.</li>
<li>Clear and easy to read signposting must be provided. </li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Unobstructed and well lit access paths from the main gate to the entrance of the library must be provided. All steps must be replaced/complimented with ramps having less than 5% gradient, with railings on both sides.</li>
<li> Smooth and non-slip surface must be used throughout.</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>b. </b><b>Getting into the library</b></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li>A person using any kinds of support such as wheelchair, crutches or walker, cane, or guide dog, should be able to enter through the door and pass through security check points, if any, without encountering obstacles. </li>
<li>All mobility aids and assistive devices including wheelchairs, walkers, communicators among others must be able to pass through security checkpoints, if any. </li>
<li> Applicable accessibility standards must be adhered to.</li>
<li>Sufficient space must be provided in front of the door to allow a wheelchair to turn around.</li>
<li> Entrance door should be wide enough to allow a wheelchair to enter. </li>
<li> Non-automatic doors should be operable using one hand.</li>
<li> Glass doors, if any, must be highlighted with contrast colour band at eye level to prevent persons with low vision banging into these.</li>
<li> Stairs and steps edges must be marked with a contrasting color band.</li>
<li> Pictogram signs must be provided for services and amenities such as toilets, elevators, stairways. </li>
<li> Elevators, if any, must be well lit with buttons and signs in Braille and synthetic speech. </li>
<li> Elevator buttons reachable from a wheelchair.</li>
<li> At least 5 wheelchairs (preferably motorized) or mobility scooters must be made available for use by persons with physical disabilities</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>c. </b><b>Inside the library</b></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li> All parts of the library should be accessible.</li>
<li>The catalogs must be available in accessible formats.</li>
<li>Clear and easy-to-read signs with pictograms must be provided.</li>
<li>Service desks should be located close to the entrance. </li>
<li>A certain number of tables and computer workstations should be adapted for persons in wheelchairs. </li>
<li>Shelves must ideally be reachable from a wheelchair </li>
<li> Chairs with sturdy armrests must be provided</li>
<li> Unobstructed aisles between bookcases must be provided and wide enough to accommodate wheelchairs and one person not on a wheelchair.</li>
<li>Visible and audible fire alarms must be provided. </li>
<li>Non-fluorescent lighting. In case fluorescent lighting is used there must be an area free of visual clutter and sharp light contrasts, with plain walls and cubicles. </li>
<li>Printers must be kept in areas away from reading areas to reduce sound in the reading areas.</li>
<li>Suitable sound insulation to be used to minimize sound in the reading areas.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Stack area should have clear aisle space for wheelchair and bi-lateral crutch users (3ft. min.). Where book stacking is in shelves and areas beyond reach of persons with disabilities using mobility aids, human assistance should be available to access books.</li>
<li>Plants inside the space can help with air filtering, which can make a huge difference to the level of comfort.</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>d. </b><b>Toilets</b></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The library should have at least one toilet for PWDs, equipped with the following:</p>
<ol style="text-align: justify; "> </ol>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li> Clear signs with pictogram indicating the location of the toilets</li>
<li>Door wide enough for a wheelchair to enter and sufficient space for a wheelchair to turn around</li>
<li>Room enough for a wheelchair to pull up next to the toilet seat </li>
<li>Toilet with handles and flushing lever reachable for persons in wheelchairs </li>
<li>Alarm button reachable for persons in a wheelchairs </li>
<li>Washbasin, mirror at the appropriate height </li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>e. </b><b>Information Desk and Circulation desk </b></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li>The desks must be of adjustable height to enable persons in wheelchair to be able access the desk</li>
<li>Chairs must be provided at the desk</li>
<li>Induction loop system for hearing impaired persons</li>
</ul>
<h2 style="text-align: justify; ">Annexure 2</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Standards for material converted into digital formats by libraries</b></p>
<ol style="text-align: justify; "> </ol>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li>Master Digital Documents of converted material must be maintained in DAISY XML format.</li>
<li>All Master Digital Documents in Indic Languages must be encoded in Unicode [UTF8/16] and formatted using a royalty-free Open Type Font.</li>
<li>All Master Digital Documents must be tagged according to DAISY standards to capture semantic information for parts, units, chapter headings, subsections, pagination, ordered and un-ordered list, tables, images along with their alternative text, math equations, title, author, footnote, end-note, text box, abbreviation, acronym, etc.</li>
<li>Metadata information about the publication as prescribed in the DAISY Standards must be added to all Master Digital Documents.</li>
<li>Distribution of digital copies of the Master Digital Documents through web sites or otherwise must be done in epub format.</li>
<li>If other standards are used for different target populations those standards must be compliant with the National Open Standards Policy and the Interoperability Framework for E-Governance in India. </li>
<li>DAISY audio format for Indic languages. </li>
</ul>
<h2 style="text-align: justify; "><b>Annexure 3</b></h2>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; "><b>Assistance Aids/Equipment </b></h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>For assisting persons with Visual Impairment or blindness or autism spectrum disorders:</b></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Persons with vision impairments or blindness or autism spectrum disorders would benefit from software and hardware for enlarging displays on the monitor or reading material through a speech synthesizer.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Some of the most common assistive aids/equipment are:</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">For magnification</p>
<ul>
<li>Screen-magnification software. This program allows people with low vision to access computer information by enlarging the screen display or tailoring the display to accommodate their disability.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li> Large magnification devices such as closed-circuit television magnifiers (CCTV). This system employs a video camera lens to enlarge text from three to thirty times normal text size</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li> Handheld magnifiers</li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">For Screen reading</p>
<table class="listing" style="text-align: justify; ">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Screen reader software programs enables individuals who are blind or visually impaired to access the information on a computer screen through voice output. Some examples are NVDA (an open source software) or Dolphin or Jaws (proprietary software). Screen reading software with Indian language support must be provided.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Scanning and reading software helps those with low or no vision. Scans printed text and verbalizes the text via synthetic speech using optical character recognition technology.</li>
</ul>
</td>
<td><img src="http://editors.cis-india.org/home-images/ComputerOperation.png/@@images/313def6f-7dc4-4716-9c4a-d3273a2b224d.png" alt="Computer Operation" class="image-inline" title="Computer Operation" /><br /></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">At least one computer must face outward and not against the wall since people with autism spectrum disorders find it disturbing to have people walking behind them.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">For Braille support -</p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Braille Translating Software - To produce correctly formatted and coded Braille one needs a Braille Translation Software. A document prepared by a word processing program is loaded into the translation software. The final document may be printed in Braille by a Braille embosser. </li>
<li>Braille Embosser - Braille embossers print Braille output from a computer by punching dots onto paper and enable users to make hard copies of documents. </li>
<li>Refreshable Braille displays and DAISY players.</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">All multimedia content to have audio descriptions</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">For Assisting people with Hearing Impairment or Deafness</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Users with deafness or have hearing impairments do not have problems using the computer except problems will arise from programs and websites that have audio cues.</p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li>Sound Sentry This option directs the operating system to display a visual signal when a sound is generated by a Windows application. Sound sentry in built into Windows and Apple operating systems.</li>
<li>All multimedia content to have captions</li>
</ul>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">For Assisting people with Learning Disabilities</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Specialized software programs and hardware for people who have learning differences will display print as well as provide auditory reading of the text simultaneously.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">For Assisting people with Physical Disabilities</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Persons with physical disabilities may need assistance in using the computer apart from having physical accessibility. The following items increase computer usability and safety:</p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li>Special input devices such as trackballs, joysticks, switches, touch pads, and augmented keyboards (micro keyboards or oversize keyboards with enlarged keys)</li>
<li>A computer camera/tracker allows users to manipulate the cursor through head movement.</li>
<li>Software utilities that replaces the functionality of a standard keyboard with a full-featured, onscreen keyboard.</li>
<li>Speech to text software such as Dragon Naturally Speaking</li>
<li>Motorized wheelchairs to be used by physically impaired users especially motorized chairs whose seat can raise so that users can reach books on higher shelves on the rack. </li>
<li>Availability of reachers to access books that may be placed too low or too high on the book rack.</li>
<li>Page turners</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b> </b></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Useful Links</b></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li> <b>American Library Association:</b><a href="http://www.ala.org/ascla/asclaissues/libraryservices"> http://www.ala.org/ascla/asclaissues/libraryservices</a></li>
<li><b>International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions:</b><a href="http://archive.ifla.org/VII/s9/nd1/iflapr-89e.pdf"><b> </b>http://archive.ifla.org/VII/s9/nd1/iflapr-89e.pdf</a></li>
<li><b>World Wide Web Consortium:</b><a href="http://www.w3.org/WAI/"><b> </b>http://www.w3.org/WAI/<br /></a></li>
</ul>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: justify; ">[<a href="#fr1" name="fn1">1</a>]. The World Health Organization estimates that 15% of the population is disabled. http://www.who.int/disabilities/world_report/2011/factsheet.pdf<br />[<a href="#fr2" name="fn2">2</a>]. Article 4.1 (b) of the UNCRPD<br />[<a href="#fr3" name="fn3">3</a>]. Article 9.2 (a) of the UNCRPD<br />[<a href="#fr4" name="fn4">4</a>]. Article 30. 1 (c) of the UNCRPD<br />[<a href="#fr5" name="fn5">5</a>]. The World Health Organization estimates that 15% of every population is disabled. http://www.who.int/disabilities/world_report/2011/factsheet.pdf<br />[<a href="#fr6" name="fn6">6</a>]. For more information see www.nabindia.org<br />[<a href="#fr7" name="fn7">7</a>]. For more information see www.aicb.org.in<br />[<a href="#fr8" name="fn8">8</a>]. For more information see www.daisyindia.org<br />[<a href="#fr9" name="fn9">9</a>]. For more information see <a href="http://www.iicpindia.org">www.iicpindia.org</a><br />[<a href="#fr10" name="fn10">10</a>]. Based on checklist prepared by the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions available at <a href="http://archive.ifla.org/VII/s9/nd1/iflapr-89e.pdf">http://archive.ifla.org/VII/s9/nd1/iflapr-89e.pdf</a>. These should be over above the guidelines prescribed here <a href="http://socialjustice.nic.in/glinecpwd.php">http://socialjustice.nic.in/glinecpwd.php</a></p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/making-public-libraries-accessible-to-people-with-disabilities'>http://editors.cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/making-public-libraries-accessible-to-people-with-disabilities</a>
</p>
No publisherRahul CherianFeaturedAccessibility2013-01-24T11:10:18ZBlog EntryAn Overview of Accessibility Work (2008 - 2016)
http://editors.cis-india.org/accessibility/resources/cis-accessibility-work-overview
<b>India has an estimated 70 million disabled persons who are unable to read printed materials due to some form of physical, sensory, cognitive or other disability. The disabled need accessible content, devices and interfaces facilitated via copyright law and accessibility policies. CIS campaigns for change in this area. </b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The progress made over the years can be accessed below:</p>
<h2 style="text-align: justify; ">Publications</h2>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/front-page/blog/e-accessibility-handbook"><span>E-Accessibility Policy Handbook for Persons with Disabilities</span></a> (Nirmita Narasimhan, G3ict and ITU; November 23, 2010): The handbook was compiled and edited by Nirmita Narasimhan. Nirmita also contributed to the original toolkit.</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/accessibility/universal-service-disabilities.pdf"><span>Universal Service for Persons with Disabilities</span></a> (CIS, G3ict and Hans Foundation; December 27, 2011). Nirmita Narasimhan was a co-author.</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/web-accessibility.pdf">Web Accessibility Policy Making</a> (CIS, G3ict and Hans Foundation; February 28, 2012). Nirmita Narasimhan was a contributor.</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/making-mobile-phone-and-services-accessible-for-persons-with-disabilities.pdf"><span>Making Mobile Phones and Services Accessible for Persons with Disabilities</span></a> (ITU and G3ict; August 2012). Nirmita Narasimhan was a co-author.</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/accessibility-of-government-websites-in-india"><span>Accessibility of Government Websites in India: A Report</span></a> (CIS and Hans Foundation; September 26, 2012). Nirmita Narasimhan was a co-author.</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/unesco-global-report"><span>Opening New Avenues for Empowerment</span></a> (UNESCO; February 2013). Nirmita Narasimhan was the project coordinator from Asia Pacific.</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/inclusive-financial-services.pdf"><span>Inclusive Financial Services for Seniors and Persons with Disabilities: Global Trends in Accessibility Requirements</span></a> (G3ict and CIS; February 2015). Nirmita Narasimhan was a co-author.</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/national-compendium-of-laws-policies-programmes-for-persons-with-disabilities"><span>National Compendium of Laws, Policies and Programmes for Persons with Disabilities</span></a> (CIS and Office of the Chief Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities, Department of Disability Affairs, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Govt. of India; January 3, 2016). Nirmita Narasimhan was one of the contributors.</li>
</ul>
<hr />
<h2>Reports</h2>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a class="external-link" href="https://nivh.gov.in/Ar_English_2011-12.pdf">NIVH Annual Report 2011-12</a> (NIVH; 2012)</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/inclusive-disaster-and-emergency-management-for-persons-with-disabilities"><span>Inclusive Disaster and Emergency Management for Persons with Disabilities</span></a> (Nirmita Narasimhan and Deepti Samant Raja; September 17, 2013). The report was submitted to the National Disaster Management Authority of India for their action. </li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/banking-and-accessibility-in-india-report">Banking and Accessibility in India: A Report</a> (Nirmita Narasimhan; August 12, 2013)</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/accessibility-of-political-parties-websites.pdf"><span>Accessibility of Political Parties Websites in India</span></a> (Nirmita Narasimhan; March 24, 2014).</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/enabling-elections"><span>Enabling Elections</span></a> (Nirmita Narasimhan and Centre for Law and Policy Research; March 2014).</li>
</ul>
<hr />
<h2>Policy Submissions and Feedback</h2>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">CIS worked with the Department of Electronics and Information Technology and civil society and industry partners such as the National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People (NCPEDP), Microsoft Corporation, National informatics Centre (NIC), etc., to formulate and implement a <a href="http://deity.gov.in/sites/upload_files/dit/files/NPE_Notification.pdf"><span>National Electronic Accessibility Policy</span></a> to ensure that all Indian information and communication technologies and electronic infrastructure (including the Internet) and research which is publically funded, is accessible to persons with disabilities. Nirmita Narasimhan was part of the policy drafting committee. </li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/accessibility-new-telecom-policy-2011">Accessibility in the New Telecom Policy 2011</a>: CIS made a submission to the Department of Telecommunications, Ministry of Communications & Information Technology, Government of India on December 9, 2011. CIS was one of the 27 organisations that sent a joint letter requesting that accessibility for persons with disabilities be included specifically within the goals and objectives of the policy.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Pilot Project Scheme - Access to ICTs and ICT Enabled Services for Persons with Disabilities in Rural India: CIS worked with USOF of India to design a <a href="http://www.usof.gov.in/usof-cms/usofsub/Concept%20paper_USOF%20Scheme_PwDs_A.G.Gulati.pdf"><span>scheme to launch projects for persons with disabilities</span></a>. CIS prepared a background paper for the USOF, compiled a comprehensive global report which was later <a href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/universal-service-for-persons-with-disabilities"><span>published</span></a> in cooperation with G3ict and helped to convene a stakeholders meeting in September 2011 to launch the scheme and invite project applications.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/comments-to-rights-of-persons-with-disablities-bill-2014"><span>Comments to the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Bill, 2014</span></a> (Nirmita Narasimhan and Anandhi Viswanathan; October 30, 2014). The comments were submitted to the Parliamentary Standing Committee in October 2014.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">CIS joined hands with Daisy Forum of India member Arushi in Bhopal to <a href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/govt-of-mp-initiates-ict-accessibility-in-public"><span>submit a request for a notification mandating that all communication by the Government of Madhya Pradesh should be accessible to persons with disabilities</span></a>. The state government issued a <a href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/notification-by-mp-govt.pdf">notification in Hindi</a> requesting all departments to comply with WCAG 2.0 and use Unicode font. Nirmita Narasimhan drafted this submission.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/accessible-ict-procurement"><span>Accessible ICT Procurement</span></a>: CIS along with 20 other organisations petitioned the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment, Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Information Technology, Govt. of India to bring in accessibility considerations within the draft Procurement Bill.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/comments-to-gigw">Comments to the GIGW</a> (Nirmita Narasimhan; April 30, 2015): CIS submitted its comments to the National Informatics Centre for making Indian government websites conform to the notified standards of the Guidelines for Indian Government Websites.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/accessible-ict-procurement">Recommendations on Accessible ICT Procurement</a> (Pranesh Prakash; May 9, 2016). CIS along with 20 other organisations petitioned the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment, Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Information Technology to bring in accessibility considerations within the draft Procurement Bill. </li>
</ul>
<hr />
<h2>WIPO</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">CIS is accredited as an observer at WIPO and regularly participates in the meetings of the Standing Committee for Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR) held in Geneva. CIS is actively involved in matters being discussed there such as the TVI. As part of its work, CIS provides comments at the SCCR and advises the Indian government on these matters through policy briefs, research and interactive discussions and meetings. CIS has given several statements on <a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blog/cis-statement-sccr24-treaty-visually-impaired"><span>Treaty for the Visually Impaired</span></a> and prepared an <a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blog/cis-analysis-july2011-treaty-print-disabilities"><span>analysis</span></a> of the consensus document on an international instrument on limitations and exceptions for persons with disabilities with the Third World Network which was widely circulated amongst the negotiators at the SCCR. CIS’ statements at the SCCR in June 2013, <a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blog/cis-statement-sccr24-broadcast-treaty">July 2012</a>, <a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blog/sccr-23-broadcast-cis-statement">December 2011</a>, <a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blog/sccr-22-broadcast-cis-statement">June 2011</a>, and <a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blog/sccr-cis-statement">November 2010</a> are available on the CIS website.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">CIS took part in the WIPO Diplomatic Conference to Conclude a Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works by Visually Impaired Persons and Persons with Print Disabilities in Marrakesh, Morocco, June 17 to 28, 2013. The conference concluded with the adoption of the <a href="http://www.wipo.int/meetings/en/doc_details.jsp?doc_id=241683"><span>Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons who are Blind, Visually Impaired, or otherwise Print Disabled</span></a>. CIS's Closing Statement at Marrakesh on the Treaty for the Blind <a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blog/cis-closing-statement-marrakesh-treaty-for-the-blind"><span>can be seen here</span></a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">At the national level CIS has been campaigning for right to read, attending meetings with ministries such as the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Department of Electronics and Information Technology, and the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, and giving feedback on the Copyright Amendment Bills. Earlier this year, CIS gave a detailed analysis of the <a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blog/analysis-copyright-amendment-bill-2012">Copyright (Amendment) Bill 2012</a> examining the positive changes and the negative ones.</p>
<hr />
<h2 style="text-align: justify; ">Events</h2>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://cis-india.org/events/announcement-of-national-workshop-on-web-accessibility"><span>National Workshop on Web Accessibility</span></a> (Organized by CIS and Society for Promotion of Alternative Computing and Employment; September 25-26, 2009).</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/report-on-national-conference-ICTs"><span>National Conference on ICTs for Differently Abled / Under privileged Communities in Education, Employment & Entrepreneurship — NCIDEEE 2009</span></a> (Loyola College, Chennai, December 1 – 3, 2009): The event was co-organised by Dr. A. Albert Muthumalai S. J, Principal, Loyola College, & Prof. J. Jerald Inico, Faculty In-charge, Resource Centre for the Differently Abled (RCDA), Loyola College, in association with NASSCOM, Computer Society of India and CIS.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">CIS organized Right to Read campaigns in the 4 metro cities of <a href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/right-to-read-campaign-chennai">Chennai</a> <a href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/right-to-read-campaign-kolkata">Kolkata</a>, <a href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/right-to-read-campaign">Delhi</a> and <a href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/mumbai-phase-of-right-to-read-campaign">Mumbai</a>. The campaign has gathered thousands of supporters and has succeeded in bringing the problems of the print disabled to the notice of policy makers and the general public.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/edict-report"><span>EdICT 2010</span></a> (New Delhi, October 27 to 30, 2010): CIS in collaboration with G3ict, UNESCO, ITU, WIPO, The Deafway Foundation, DEF and SPACE and with the support from Hans Foundation and the Department of Information Technology, Ministry of Information and Communication Technology organised this event. Twenty-nine experts made presentations on a variety of topics, ranging from discussing challenges and solutions in educational institutions, to technology development and policy formulation and implementation. A total of 77 participants attended this event. </li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/websites-accessibility-evaluation-methodologies"><span>Websites Accessibility Evaluation Methodologies at Twentieth International World Wide Web Conference</span></a> (Hyderabad, March 30 – 31, 2011): CIS co-organised this with G3ict and W3C. The panel discussed web accessibility evaluation methodologies and their challenges and technical survey methodologies alternatives. The panel was moderated by Nirmita Narasimhan and featured four speakers — Shadi Abou Zahra, Neeta Verma, Srinivasu Chakravartula and Glenda Sims.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/itu-tutorial-delhi">ITU Tutorial on Audiovisual Media Accessibility</a> (India International Centre, New Delhi, March 14 – 15, 2012): In cooperation with the ITU-APT Foundation of India, CIS hosted a two-day Tutorial on Audio Visual Media Accessibility from March 14 to 15, 2012 at the India International Centre, New Delhi, India.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/events/girls-in-ict-day"><span>Girls in ICT Day</span></a> (Organized by CIS and Mithra Jyothi; Bangalore; April 25, 2013). </li>
</ul>
<table class="listing">
<tbody>
<tr>
<th>Internet Governance Forum</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="text-align: justify; ">
<p>CIS has been organising workshops and participating regularly at IGF events since 2008 on topics like accessibility, access to knowledge, openness, internet governance, freedom of expression, etc. Details given below:</p>
<ol> </ol>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">IGF 2008, Hyderabad, India: CIS joined the Dynamic Coalition on Open Standards and also contributed to the authoring of the <a href="http://cis-india.org/openness/blog/dcos-agreement-on-procurement">Agreement on Procurement in Support of Interoperability and Open Standards</a>. CIS is now a part of the DCOS secretariat. </li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">IGF 2009, Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt: Nirmita Narasimhan presented on Accessibility Policy Making: An International Perspective at the <a href="http://www.intgovforum.org/cms/index.php/component/chronocontact/?chronoformname=WSProposals2009View&wspid=110">Global Internet Access for Persons with Disabilities</a> workshop organised by ITU and EBU on November 16. CIS also co-organised the workshop on ‘Content Regulation, Surveillance and Sexuality Rights – Privacy, Agency and Security’, together with the Association for Progressive Communications, Women’s Networking Support Programme and the Alternative Law Forum.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">IGF2010, Vilnius, Lithuania: At the UNESCO Open Forum, Anja Kovacs presented the research study <a href="http://portal.unesco.org/ci/fr/files/30853/12852529733Open_Forum_-_Anja_Kovacs_-_disabilities.pdf/Open%2BForum%2B-%2BAnja%2BKovacs%2B-%2Bdisabilities.pdf">‘Exploring ICT-enabled Education Initiatives for Persons with Disabilities in the Asia-Pacific Region</a>’. The study was undertaken by CIS in cooperation with G3ICT and UNESCO. Besides this, CIS co-organised these workshops: <a href="http://www.intgovforum.org/cms/component/chronocontact/?chronoformname=WSProposals2010View&wspid=85">Freedom of Expression or Access to Knowledge: Are We Taking the Necessary Steps towards an Open and inclusive Internet?</a> with the Center for Technology and Society, Brazil, ‘<a href="http://www.intgovforum.org/cms/component/chronocontact/?chronoformname=WSProposals2010View&wspid=73">Sexual Rights, Openness and Regulatory Systems</a>’, with the Association for Progressive Communications and the Alternative Law Forum, <a href="http://cis-india.org/events/open-standards">Open Standards: Ensuring Accessibility and Inclusiveness</a> with the World Wide Web Consortium and the workshop on <a href="http://www.intgovforum.org/cms/index.php/component/chronocontact/?chronoformname=WSProposals2010View&wspid=154">Data in the Cloud: Where Do Open Standards Fit In?</a></li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">IGF 2011, Nairobi, Kenya: <a href="http://www.intgovforum.org/cms/component/chronocontact/?chronoformname=Workshops2011View&wspid=184">Use of Digital Technologies for Civic Engagement and Political Change: Lessons Learned and Way Forward</a> and <a href="http://www.intgovforum.org/cms/component/chronocontact/?chronoformname=WSProposals2011View&wspid=121">Open Spectrum for Development in the Context of the Digital Migration</a>. These workshops were organized by CIS.</li>
</ul>
<ol> </ol></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<h2>Awards</h2>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Nirmita Narasimhan was awarded the <a href="http://cis-india.org/advocacy/accessibility/blog/national-award"><span>National Award</span></a> for Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities from the Government of India on December 3, 2010 on the occasion of the World Disability Day. The award was presented by Smt. Pratibha Patil, President of India under the Role Model category. The award function took place at Vigyan Bhavan in New Delhi and was telecast live on Doordarshan.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Nirmita Narasimhan received the <a href="http://cis-india.org/news/nirmita-nivh-award"><span>NIVH Excellence Award</span></a> from Justice AS Anand (retd), former chairman of the National Human Rights Commission, on International Day of Persons with Disabilities at the National Institute for the Visually Handicapped in Dehradun on December 3, 2011. The Tribune <a href="http://www.tribuneindia.com/2011/20111204/dplus.htm#3">covered the award ceremony</a>.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/girls-in-ict-day-2013-in-delhi"><span>Girls in ICT Day 2013</span></a> (organized by ITU-APT Foundation of India with support from CMAI - Association of India Communication and Infrastructure, FICCI Auditorium, Tansen Marg, New Delhi, May 7, 2013). Dr. Nirmita Narasimhan got a felicitation for her contribution and achievements in the field of Information and Communication Technology. The honour was conferred during the celebration of this event.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; ">Nirmita Narasimhan won the <a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/news/nirmita-narasimhan-gets-ncpedp-mphasis-universal-design-award">NCPEDP-Mphasis Universal Design Award</a> in the "Persons with Disabilities" category. The awards aim to raise awareness about accessibility.</li>
</ul>
<hr />
<h2>Articles and Interviews</h2>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/accessibility-in-higher-education"><span>Technology for Accessibility in Higher Education</span></a>: Nirmita Narasimhan wrote an article in Enabling Access for Persons with Disabilities to Higher Education and Workplace - Role of ICT and Assistive Technologies. The IIMB Journal was brought out on the occasion of the conference ‘never-the-less’.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/business-case-for-web-accessibility"><span>The Business Case for Web Accessibility</span></a>: NASSCOM Foundation published "Understanding Web Accessibility — A Guide to create Accessible Work Environments". In this handbook on web accessibility, Nirmita Narasimhan authored a chapter titled “The Business Case for Web Accessibility”. </li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/barriers-to-access-connected-world"><span>Barriers to Access in a Connected World</span></a>: Hans Foundation published its Annual Review of 2011. Nirmita Narasimhan wrote an article in it. She wrote that accessibility is an imperative to achieve a truly inclusive and participatory society and every individual, corporation, organization and government has a crucial role to play in nurturing it.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://cis-india.org/news/interview-with-nirmita"><span>Girls in ICT Portal</span></a> (November 28, 2011): ITU interviewed Nirmita and published her profile on their website.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/news/dataquest-august-5-2016-an-india-where-the-disabled-have-a-choice">An India Where the Disabled have a Choice</a> (Dataquest, August 5, 2016). Nirmita Narasimhan spoke to Dr. Archana Verma about the problems faced by the disabled while using technology.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/factor-daily-august-31-2016-nirmita-narasimhan-we-tested-18-government-apps-most-are-not-fully-accessible-to-disabled">We Tested 18 Government Apps, and Most are not Fully Accessible to the Disabled</a> (Nirmita Narasimhan; Factor Daily, August 31, 2016). </li>
<li style="text-align: justify; "><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/huffington-post-september-22-2016-nirmita-narasimhan-mobile-apps-are-excluding-millions-of-indians-who-want-to-use-them">Mobile Apps Are Excluding Millions Of Indians Who Want To Use Them</a> (Nirmita Narasimhan; Huffington Post; September 22, 2016).<br /><br /></li>
</ul>
<hr />
<h2>Media Coverage</h2>
<p>Nirmita Narasimhan gave inputs to the following media coverage:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/dfi-and-cambridge-university-press"><span>DFI and Cambridge University Press join hands for getting print access to the “print impaired”</span></a> (The Bookseller; November 27, 2009).</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/news/WIPO-Proposals-for-Disabled"><span>WIPO Proposals Would Open Cross-Border Access To Materials For Print Disabled</span></a> (IP Watch; May 28, 2010).</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/news/times-of-india-city-mumbai-madhavi-rajadhyaksha-december-20-2012-disability-groups-in-india-welcome-progress-on-treaty-for-blind-persons"><span>Disability groups in India welcome progress on treaty for blind persons</span></a> (The Times of India; December 20, 2012).</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/news/ip-watch-feb-16-2013-catherine-saez-indian-users-perspective-on-wipo-negotiations-on-treaty-for-visually-impaired"><span>Indian Users’ Perspective On WIPO Negotiations On Treaty For Visually Impaired</span></a> (IP Watch; February 16, 2013).</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/news/the-times-of-india-may-29-2016-how-tech-brings-self-reliance-to-students-with-disabilities"><span>How tech brings self-reliance to students with disabilities</span></a> (The Times of India; May 29, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/news/livemint-august-9-2016-sachi-p-mampatta-amritha-pillay-ritika-mazumdar-how-indias-top-firms-are-faring-in-employing-women-and-persons-with-disabilities">How India’s top firms fare in employing women and persons with disabilities</a> (Livemit; August 9, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-karnataka/using-technology-to-address-issues/article8987393.ece">Using technology to address issues</a> (The Hindu; August 14, 2016).</li>
<li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/news/your-story-sourav-roy-august-31-2016-india-has-a-long-road-ahead-in-becoming-a-disabled-friendly-country">India has a long road ahead in becoming a disabled-friendly country</a> (Your Story; August 31, 2016).</li>
</ul>
<hr />
<h2>NVDA and eSpeak</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Hans Foundation is funding CIS to do a project on developing a text-to-speech software in 15 Indian languages over a period of two-and-a-half years. Following are the monthly programmatic reports indicating the progress made in the project:</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Monthly Reports</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>2014</b></p>
<table class="listing">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td></td>
<th></th><th><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/nvda-e-speak-update-march-2014">March</a></th><th><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/nvda-e-speak-update-april-2014.pdf">April</a></th><th><a class="internal-link" href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/nvda-e-speak-update-may-2014.pdf">May</a></th><th><a class="internal-link" href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/nvda-e-speak-update-june-2014.pdf">June</a></th><th><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/nvda-e-speak-update-july-2014.pdf">July</a></th><th><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/nvda-e-speak-update-august-2014.pdf">August</a></th><th><a class="internal-link" href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/september-2014-nvda-report.pdf">September</a></th><th><a class="internal-link" href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/october-2014-nvda-report.pdf">October</a></th><th><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/november-e-speak-nvda-2014-report.pdf">November</a></th><th><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/december-2014-nvda-report.pdf">December</a></th>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p><b>2015</b></p>
<table class="listing">
<tbody>
<tr>
<th><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/january-2015-nvda-report.pdf">January</a></th><th><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/nvda-e-speak-report-february-2015.pdf">February</a></th><th><a class="internal-link" href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/march-nvda-e-speak-report.pdf">March</a></th><th><a class="internal-link" href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/nvda-e-speak-april-2015-report.pdf">April</a></th><th><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/may-2015-report.pdf">May</a></th><th><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/nvda-e-speak-june-2015-report.pdf">June</a></th><th><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/july-2015-report.pdf">July</a></th><th><a class="internal-link" href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/august-2015-nvda-report.pdf">August</a></th><th><a class="internal-link" href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/september-2015-nvda-report.pdf">September</a></th><th><a class="internal-link" href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/october-2015-report">October</a></th><th><a class="internal-link" href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/november-2015-report.pdf">November</a></th><th><a class="internal-link" href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/december-2015-report">December</a></th>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p><b>2016</b></p>
<table class="listing">
<tbody>
<tr>
<th><a class="internal-link" href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/January%20Report%202016.pdf">January</a></th><th><a class="internal-link" href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/february-2016-report.pdf">February</a></th><th><a class="internal-link" href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/march-2016-report.pdf">March</a></th><th><a class="internal-link" href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/april-2016-report">April</a></th><th><a class="internal-link" href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/May%20Report%202016.pdf">May</a></th><th><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/resources/june-2016-report/view">June</a></th><th><a class="internal-link" href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/july-2016-report">July</a></th><th><a class="internal-link" href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/august-report-2016">August</a></th><th></th><th></th><th></th><th></th>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<ul>
</ul>
<ul>
</ul>
<ul>
</ul>
<ul>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
</ul>
<h3>Training Programmes</h3>
<p>Following are the reports of the training programmes that were conducted across several locations in India:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/report-on-training-in-basic-computing-with-nvda-and-e-speak-in-hindi">15 days Training in Basic Computing with use of NVDA and eSpeak in Hindi</a> (April 10; 2015).</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/report-on-training-in-basic-computing-with-use-of-nvda-e-speak-gujarati">15 days Training in Basic Computing with use of NVDA and eSpeak in Gujarati</a> (April 16, 2015).</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>15 days Training in Basic Computing with use of NVDA and eSpeak in Oriya (April 30, 2015).</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/report-on-espeak-tamil-computing-with-nvda-at-tiruchirappalli">eSpeak Tamil Computing with NVDA</a> (May 4 – 8, 2015). </li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/report-on-training-in-basic-computing-with-use-of-nvda-espeak-assamese">Training in Basic Computing with use of NVDA and eSpeak in Assamese</a> (May 9 – 10, 2015). </li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/espeak-indian-languages-during-tot-conducted-by-enable-india">Training in the Use of eSpeak for Indian Languages during TOT</a> (May 11 – 20, 2015).</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/report-on-espeak-tamil-computing-with-nvda-training-workshop">Tamil Language</a> (May 25 – 29, 2015). </li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/report-on-training-in-use-of-espeak-hindi-on-windows-and-android-platforms">Training on the Use of eSpeak Hindi on Windows and Android Platforms</a> (May 28, 2015).</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/report-on-30-days-summer-course-on-basic-computer-competencies-and-language-proficiency">Report on 30 Days Summer Course on Basic Computer Competencies and Language Proficiency</a> (May 1 – 30, 2015). </li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/report-on-training-using-espeak-tamil-with-nvda-training-tirunelveli">Tamil Computing with NVDA Training Workshop</a> (Organized by NVDA team: Anne Jane Ask with Higher Secondary School for the Visually Impaired, Palayamkottai, Tirunelveli; June 3 – 7, 2015).</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/report-on-training-using-espeak-tamil-with-nvda-training-tirunelveli">Report on eSpeak Tamil Computing with NVDA Training Workshop in Tirunelveli </a>(Organized by NVDA team; Anne Jane Askwith Higher Secondary School for the Visually Impaired, Palayamkottai, Tirunelveli; June 3 - 7, 2015). </li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/report-on-training-in-espeak-marathi">Training in eSpeak Marathi</a> (Organized by NVDA team; National Association for the Blind; Nashik; June 22 - 23, 2015).</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/report-on-training-in-e-speak-marathi">Training in eSpeak Marathi</a> (Organized by NVDA team; SIES College, Sion, Mumbai; June 28, 2015).</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/training-in-espeak-marathi">Training in eSpeak Marathi</a> (Organized by CIS; Atmadepam Society; August 22 – 23, 2015). </li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/training-in-e-speak-hindi">Training in eSpeak Hindi</a> (Organized by NVDA team; Jeevan Jyoti School for the Blind; Varanasi; August 26 - 28, 2015).</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/espeak-training-in-hindi-language-1">eSpeak Training in Hindi Language</a> (Organized by CIS and National Association for the Blind; Kullu; September 3 – 4, 2015).</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/report-on-use-of-espeak-bengali-with-nvda">Training in use of eSpeak Bengali with NVDA</a> (Organized by CIS; Turnstone Matruchaya, Siligudi, West Bengal; September 7 – 9, 2015).</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/report-on-5-day-tot-for-training-in-use-of-espeak-kannada-with-nvda">5 day TOT for Training in Use of eSpeak Kannada with NVDA</a> (Organized by CIS, Mithra Jyoti, Enable India and NFB, Bangalore; September 21 – 25, 2015; Bangalore).</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/report-on-the-training-in-the-use-of-espeak-hindi-with-nvda">Training in the use of eSpeak Hindi with NVDA</a> (Organized by CIS and Lakshay for the Differently Abled; September 29 – 30, 2015; Ranchi). The event was conducted online by Dr. Homiyar with local support from Mritunjay Kumar and Zainab.</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/report-on-espeak-with-nvda-screen-reader-and-assistive-technology-for-visually-challenged">Report on eSpeak with NVDA Screen Reader and Assistive Technology for Visually Challenged</a> (Organized by National Association for the Blind, New Delhi, Centre for Differently Abled Persons, Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli, and CIS; January 21, 2016; Tiruchirappalli).</li>
<li><a href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/report-on-nvda-with-e-speak-and-bookshare-online-library">Report on NVDA with E-Speak and BookShare Online Library</a> (Organized by Karna Vidya Technology Centre, Computer and Internet Society, and CIS; February 27, 2016; Chennai).</li>
</ul>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/accessibility/resources/cis-accessibility-work-overview'>http://editors.cis-india.org/accessibility/resources/cis-accessibility-work-overview</a>
</p>
No publishernirmitaAccessibility2016-09-24T16:09:53ZPageMobile Apps Are Excluding Millions Of Indians Who Want To Use Them
http://editors.cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/huffington-post-september-22-2016-nirmita-narasimhan-mobile-apps-are-excluding-millions-of-indians-who-want-to-use-them
<b>If someone were to ask you how many apps you use in a day, you might need to stop and count. You use apps to book cabs, to order groceries, make payments online, buy diapers, connect with friends... the list goes on. In fact apps, are becoming so intrinsic to daily life that without one handy you may have to think twice about how to complete a transaction.</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The article was published in the <a class="external-link" href="http://www.huffingtonpost.in/nirmita-narasimhan/mobile-apps-are-excluding-millions-of-indians-who-want-to-use-th/">Huffington Post</a> on September 22, 2016.</p>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Apps are uncomplicated, easy to use, at your finger tips and quick. So logically, everyone who has a smartphone should be using them, right? Unfortunately, that is not the case. Much as they would like to, millions of persons living with disabilities are unable to use apps to fulfil their daily living needs. This is because most apps are not accessible to users with a visual disability.</p>
<div class="desktop-only ad_spot" id="entry_paragraph_2" style="text-align: justify; "></div>
<blockquote class="pull-quote" style="text-align: justify; "><span class="quote">With about 30% of the blind population of the world living in India, it's imperative for service providers to give more thought to universal design and accessibility standards. </span></blockquote>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">In order for an app to be accessible for a blind user, it should be readable by a screen reader -- software which reads out whatever appears on the screen. For it to function effectively, elements on web pages and applications should be properly labelled, otherwise the software will be unable to decipher what it is, not having any cognitive abilities like human beings. It will merely read out the element out as "button" or "graphic".</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Here I will look at five very popular apps relating to food, groceries, transportation and mobile bill payment and banking to see how accessible they are for people with disabilities. These apps were tested using Talk Back, an open source Android screen reader.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">1. Swiggy</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The first app we looked at was Swiggy, which is used to order food from nearby restaurants. Here, the first screen, which shows the discounts/offers available, uses a graphics banner without alternative text, which cannot be deciphered by a screen reader. Another issue is inaccessible navigation. For instance, though we can select a food category like "soup", choosing a particular type of soup is not possible as the focus simply stays on the main category. This means a screen reader cannot read the rest of the information, making it impossible for a visually challenged person to order food.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">2. Big Basket</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Then we tried Big Basket to order some groceries. One of the issues we found included unlabelled banners; also, the continuous scrolling of the banner, which makes the screen reader try to constantly read the next unlabelled graphic, renders the app practically unusable. When we navigated to the list of products available, only their names were readable and the focus could not be shifted to information like price and quantity. This means the user can add items to the basket, but has no way of knowing the price or deciding the quantity, which obviously makes the app a no-go.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">3. Ola</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The taxi-hailing app Ola is fairly accessible, with some scope for improvement. The button to pinpoint the location is not labelled, and while trying to select a cab category the focus moves away automatically if there is no action in a few seconds. Hence, a person with vision impairments may need some assistance to use the app.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">4. MyAirTel</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">This app for Airtel customers was found to have limited usability, with several accessibility issues. Many buttons, including <i>Settings </i>and <i>Information</i> are not labelled and hence are not readable by screen readers. The offers and discounts banner is also not labelled and keeps on moving, sending the screen reader into a loop saying "graphic". However, viewing unbilled/billed amounts and paying bills is easy, as those screens are well labelled and use minimal graphic controls.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">5. ICICI - Pockets</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">This digital wallet app from ICICI bank was tested using an ICICI bank internet banking login and unfortunately found to be completely inaccessible for a person using a screen reader. There is no screen reader support and consequently no auditory feedback when using slides or touching the screen. One can tap and access the menus/options but they are not focusable and are not announced by the screen reader.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Over the past few years we have seen how corporates have embraced technological innovations and helped better the lives of common Indians. However, a more inclusive approach will help people with disabilities to enjoy the best technology has to offer, and lead a more independent life. It would be pertinent to mention at this point that the inaccessibility of apps is not a phenomenon which is particular to the ones reviewed above, but a common feature across stakeholder groups, including private and government agencies. With about 30% of the blind population of the world living in India, it's imperative for service providers engaging consumers through information and communication technologies to give more thought to universal design and accessibility standards. It would truly make a difference in the lives of many Indians.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/huffington-post-september-22-2016-nirmita-narasimhan-mobile-apps-are-excluding-millions-of-indians-who-want-to-use-them'>http://editors.cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/huffington-post-september-22-2016-nirmita-narasimhan-mobile-apps-are-excluding-millions-of-indians-who-want-to-use-them</a>
</p>
No publishernirmitaAccessibility2016-09-24T16:01:45ZBlog EntryWhere Are There So Few Books For The Print-Impaired?
http://editors.cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/huffington-post-november-3-2016-nirmita-narasimhan-where-are-there-so-few-books-for-print-impaired
<b>India publishes approximately 90,000 books each year in 24 different languages. We have over 16,000 publishers, and are one of the top nations for English book publishing in the world. Clearly we are a nation which values and fosters a culture of reading and passing on knowledge in different domains ranging from literature, to yoga, language, education, science, fiction and many others. </b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">This article was <a class="external-link" href="http://www.huffingtonpost.in/nirmita-narasimhan/where-are-there-so-few-books-for-the-print-impaired/?utm_hp_ref=in-">published in the Huffington Post</a> on November 3, 2016.</p>
<hr style="text-align: justify; " />
<p style="text-align: justify; ">We are also the world's second most populous nation with an extremely large population with disabilities, including persons with print impairments. However, the total number of books accessible to the print impaired in India is only 19,000, a fraction of what is available yearly to the general public. How is it that despite our prowess in publishing and technology, persons with print impairments in India remain deprived of access to books and other forms of information which are key to an inclusive and fulfilling life?</p>
<blockquote class="quoted" style="text-align: justify; ">There are presently approximately 19,000 books converted till date, a pathetic contrast to the 90,000 books published just in India every year.</blockquote>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Before going further into this question, let us understand the term "print disability". Very broadly, print-impaired persons are those who cannot access printed material due to some form of disability, such as blindness or low vision, dyslexia, autism etc. For these persons to be able to read, the material needs to be converted into some other format such as Braille or accessible electronic formats which can be read using some assistive device like a screen reader or e-book reader, fitted in a laptop, mobile or stand alone device. For assistive technology to be able to read the content, it needs to conform to universal standards such as Unicode for Indic font or EPUB 3.0.</p>
<h2 style="text-align: justify; ">The challenges</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Until 2012, one of the biggest hurdles to access printed content for the print-disabled was the fact that they had to obtain permission from the copyright holder of the work, every time they wanted to convert a book into audio/ Braille/ other formats. This was often unsuccessful, time consuming and required resources beyond the means of most blindness organizations, who could convert only a bare minimum of books, mostly excerpts from school text books for their readers. After over a decade of sustained advocacy, the Government included section 52 (1)(zb) in the Indian Copyright Act, a fair use exception which permitted conversion of copyrighted works into any accessible format for the benefit of a person with a disability on a non-profit basis. For profit, conversion is permitted on certain terms. This considerably opened up the world of books for persons with print impairments in India. In September 2016, the <a href="http://www.worldblindunion.org/english/news/Pages/The-Treaty-of-Marrakesh.aspx">Marrakesh Treaty for the Visually Impaired</a> also came into force, which means that cross-border sharing of accessible books can happen between countries which have ratified the Treaty.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">However, despite these measures, the availability of books remains abysmal. While the legal issues have been sorted out to a large extent, the practical situation is harder to deal with and there are significant hurdles in creation and dissemination as well as equipping users to read accessible books.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Firstly, organizations serving the print-impaired do not have the bandwidth to undertake large scale conversions of each and every book that gets published. At present, organizations have to spend considerable time and resources converting content into an accessible electronic format before they can make it available to end users. Consider this, the cost of typing out one page of a regional language like Telugu is approximately ₹30 So it would cost ₹3000 to type out a 100-page Telugu book, in addition to the price already paid to purchase the book. Apart from the unaffordability, the lack of equipment and personnel necessitates conversion being carried out in a very limited manner and mostly for books which are critical for studies and in high demand, since state boards do not provide accessible versions of school text books.</p>
<blockquote class="quoted" style="text-align: justify; ">The simplest way to address accessible book creation would be for publishers to adopt EPUB 3.0 and ensure that books are "born accessible"...</blockquote>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">While the Daisy Forum of India, along with the Government of India recently opened an online accessible digital library called the <a href="https://library.daisyindia.org/NALP/welcomeLink.action">Sugamya Pustakalaya</a>, it needs to be populated with accessible content. There are presently approximately 19,000 books converted till date, a pathetic contrast to the 90,000 books published just in India every year. Even international organizations such as Bookshare which have been expending millions to convert books in different countries have only succeeded in making 500,000 accessible books available in all, and these too are not equally available to persons in every country due to copyright issues.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The other challenge is to equip each and every print-impaired person with a device such as a laptop or mobile phone on which he/ she can read and work with the book. Of course, merely providing devices is pointless—appropriate training in how to use them is essential.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">There are also issues of inadequate distribution networks to reach out to print impaired persons in urban and remote parts of India, which still need to be addressed.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Apart from the challenges specific to creating and disseminating accessible books, other digitization activities can also add to the problem. For instance, the <a href="http://www.dli.ernet.in/">Digital Library of India project</a>, a spectacular effort to digitize books of all genres, is said to have a library of 550,603 books including several really old manuscripts and historical books. However, all of these are scanned and saved as inaccessible image files, rendering them of no use to the print-impaired.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Another problem is in the case of Indian language content which is often created in a nonUnicode font, making it unreadable for persons using screen readers.</p>
<h2 style="text-align: justify; ">How can we improve the situation?</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The simplest way to address accessible book creation would be for publishers to adopt EPUB 3.0 and ensure that books are "born accessible" since they anyway produce a digital file of a book before bringing it out in print. This would obviate the entire cost, time and effort spent on conversion. Also, selling accessible e-versions to the print impaired could be a huge business opportunity for publishers, considering the large market for such books in India and globally. More information on this can be obtained from <a href="http://www.accessiblebooksconsortium.org/portal/en/index.html">Accessible Book Consortium</a> or by writing to <a href="mailto:info-india@bookshare.org">BookShare</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">We also need to ensure all digitization activities consider accessibility requirements and create resources that conform to accessibility standards.</p>
<blockquote class="quoted" style="text-align: justify; ">We have the law, the technology, the books and the people, but need a concerted effort from multiple stakeholders... to bring all of these together.</blockquote>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">On the technology front, an NGO-driven project over the past four years has now made text to speech available for several Indian languages using the open source text to speech engine e-Speak, which works with both laptops and Android phones. The government, with institutions like the IIT, is also driving initiatives to develop text to speech and optical character recognition (OCR) software for Indian languages. However, there is some way to go before these become available to end users.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">To sum up, we have the law, we have the technology, the books and the people, but need a concerted effort from multiple stakeholders—the government, publishers, educational institutions and NGOs—to bring all of these together, so that every print-impaired person in India can enjoy the right to read.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/huffington-post-november-3-2016-nirmita-narasimhan-where-are-there-so-few-books-for-print-impaired'>http://editors.cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/huffington-post-november-3-2016-nirmita-narasimhan-where-are-there-so-few-books-for-print-impaired</a>
</p>
No publishernirmitaAccessibility2016-11-04T01:20:57ZBlog EntryCommunication technology opens 'doors' for everyone, not only people with disabilities
http://editors.cis-india.org/accessibility/news/the-hill-john-d-kemp-and-brandon-m-macsata-october-13-2014-communication-technology-opens-doors-for-everyone-not-only-people-with-disabilities
<b>Today, most Americans overlook improvements made since the dawn of the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”) in 1990.</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The article by John D. Kemp and Brandon M. Macsata was <a class="external-link" href="http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/technology/220415-communication-technology-opens-doors-for-everyone-not-only">published in the Hill</a> on October 13, 2014. Dr. Nirmita Narasimhan's report is mentioned.</p>
<hr style="text-align: justify; " />
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Today, most Americans overlook improvements made since the dawn of the Americans with Disabilities Act ("ADA") in 1990. Sidewalk ramps…automatic door openers…adjustable vanity mirrors…and automatic lighting and fixture controls were all designed to help make the "physical" world more accessible for and useable by all people, including individuals with disabilities. Now, isn't it time we opened doors to the "virtual" world, and information and communication technology ("ICT")? <br /> <br /> Since 1998, federal agencies have been required by law to make their electronic ICT accessible to people with disabilities. Better known as <a href="http://www.section508.gov/Section-508-Of-The-Rehabilitation-Act."><b>"Section 508"</b> </a>(of the Rehabilitation Act), it mandates "individuals with disabilities who are Federal employees to have access to and use of information and data that is comparable to the access to and use of the information and data by Federal employees who are not individuals with disabilities." [1] <br /> <br /> Accessible ICT is an evolving process, evidenced by the United States Access Board, which monitors Section 508 compliance, updating its standards, as well as other telecommunications accessibility guidelines. The House Oversight and Government Reform Chairman, Darrell Issa, has introduced legislation calling for the designation of the Chief Information Officers (CIOs) in all federal Departments, including significant changes to the management of information technology. This legislation passed the House of Representatives by voice vote, with similar legislation pending in the Senate. <br /> <br /> Congress is currently faced with countless legislative proposals focusing on IT, ranging from healthcare, Veterans benefits, telecommunications and education, to name a few. <br /> <br /> But more needs to be done in both the public and private sectors. <br /> <br /> Wall Street and Main Street are both being re-defined by technology. The potential for our emerging "digital economy" is endless, if that technology is made more accessible. <br /> <br /> Consider this: CTIA recently reported that the mobile data traffic more than doubled last year! [2] We know that people with disabilities are yearning to leverage accessible technologies in their everyday lives. <br /> <br /> Whereas there have been many improvement in accessibility features on smart phones and mobiles devices, there is a still a long way to go. A recent report, authored by Nirmita Narasimhan, Program Manager at the Centre for Internet and Society (CIS), and Axel Leblois, founder and Executive Director of G3ict, summarized the challenge: <br /> <br /> "Senior citizens and people with physical or mental disabilities are often unable to access mobile phones because the equipment lacks the necessary accessibility features or because the price of the adapted phones and services remain unaffordable. Considering that 15 per cent of the world's population, or over one billion people, have a disability that affects their access to modern communications, the commercial opportunities for mobile service providers, manufacturers and smart phone application developers are consequently substantial." With so much of our daily lives dependent on mobile devices and the Internet, it is time that we ushered in an "accessible technology renaissance."[3] <br /> <br /> Aside from being the "socially responsible" thing to do, it also makes good business sense! In the first quarter of 2013, e-commerce expenditures reached 50.18 billion U.S. dollars.[4] Worldwide, it is estimated that the total value of e-commerce revenue topped $1.2 trillion in U.S. dollars.[5] <br /> <br /> Maybe the more pertinent question to ask is, "How can we NOT afford to make ICT more accessible for people with disabilities?" <br /> <br /> Ironically, despite its increasing relevance in our everyday lives, the World Wide Web is largely inaccessible for people with disabilities. Many websites are lacking "ALT Tags," which are designed to help screen readers used by people who are blind or visually impaired identify and explain images, graphs and charts. Yet, missing ALT Tags are only the tip of the iceberg. <br /> <br /> Last year, Walmart had over 59 million unique monthly visitors to its websites. As large as that number may seem, it pales in comparison to Amazon and Ebay, with 149 million and 91 million monthly unique visitors, respectively.[6] These companies, and many more - such as Deque, IBM and Microsoft - are investing in accessible ICT because they understand its inherent business and social value. <br /> <br /> Ironically, just as people without disabilities benefit from physical accessibility improvements, they are already benefitting from accessible ICT. According to the UK Office of Communications (Ofcom), 80 percent of people using closed captions are not deaf or hard of hearing.[7] <br /> <br /> What is accessible technology renaissance? It is one whereby we envision every single individual, regardless of disability, can fully access the modern marvels of technology. Technology is what drives our economy. Technology is what links our communities. Technology is what keeps us connected to the world around us. That is why it should be accessible to everyone.</p>
<hr style="text-align: justify; " />
<p style="text-align: justify; ">[1] Section 508 Of The Rehabilitation Act. <a href="http://section508.gov/" target="_blank">Section508.gov</a>. <a href="http://www.section508.gov/Section-508-Of-The-Rehabilitation-Act" target="_blank"> http://www.section508.gov/Section-508-Of-The-Rehabilitation-Act </a> . <br /> <br /> [2] Mobile Data Traffic More Than Doubled Last Year, According to CTIA. Roll Call TechnoCRAT. June 17, 2014. <br /> <br /> [3] Making mobile phones and services accessible for persons with disabilities. A joint report of ITU - The International Telecommunication Union and G3ict - The global initiative for inclusive ICTs. August 2012. <br /> <br /> [4] Statistics 2013. E-Commerce Revenues. September 20, 2013. <br /> <br /> [5] Statistics 2013. E-Commerce Revenues. September 20, 2013. <br /> <br /> [6] Statistics 2013, E-Commerce Revenues, September 20, 2013. <br /> <br /> [7] Did You Know? 80 Percent of People Who Use Closed Captions Are Not Hard of Hearing. CaptionsforYouTube. June 6, 2014.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><i> Kemp is president and CEO of The Viscardi Center, and Macsata is general consultant of the National Business and Disability Council (NBDC) at The Viscardi Center. </i></p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/accessibility/news/the-hill-john-d-kemp-and-brandon-m-macsata-october-13-2014-communication-technology-opens-doors-for-everyone-not-only-people-with-disabilities'>http://editors.cis-india.org/accessibility/news/the-hill-john-d-kemp-and-brandon-m-macsata-october-13-2014-communication-technology-opens-doors-for-everyone-not-only-people-with-disabilities</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaAccessibility2014-11-04T16:36:43ZNews ItemOctober 2014 Bulletin
http://editors.cis-india.org/about/newsletters/october-2014-bulletin
<b>Welcome to the tenth issue of the newsletter (October 2014).</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">We at the Centre for Internet & Society (CIS) welcome you to the tenth issue of the newsletter (October 2014). Archives of our newsletters can be accessed at: <a href="http://cis-india.org/about/newsletters">http://cis-india.org/about/newsletters</a></p>
<h2 style="text-align: justify; ">Highlights</h2>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li> CIS sent its <a href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/comments-to-rights-of-persons-with-disablities-bill-2014">comments and recommendations</a> on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Bill, 2014. It was submitted to the Parliamentary Standing Committee in October 2014. </li>
<li> CIS has published the <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/central-guidelines-and-schemes">Central Guidelines and Schemes</a>. </li>
<li> CIS was one of the signatories of a <a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/letter-to-prime-minister-on-indo-us-bilateral-relations-on-intellectual-property">letter</a> sent to the Prime Minister of India Shri Narendra Modi sharing its concerns on India's position on intellectual property, particularly in the context of bilateral relations between the United States of America and India. The letter was sent on October 22, 2014. </li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>In 2013, the Indian Patent Office released Draft Guidelines for the Examination of Computer Related Inventions, in an effort to clarify some of the ambiguity. Shashank Singh <a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/guidelines-for-examination-of-computer-related-inventions">analyses</a> the various responses by the stakeholders to these Guidelines and highlights the various issues put forth in the responses.</li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li> Subhashish Panigrahi wrote an op-ed in <a href="http://cis-india.org/openness/blog/subhashish-panigrahi-october-13-2014-editorial-in-samaja">the Samaja</a> (Odia daily) on the hurdles that the Odia language has been facing and the potential aspects of the language including it being used massively on the Internet, Wikipedia and other media platforms. </li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>International Telecommunications Union is hosting its Plenipotentiary Conference this year in South Korea. India introduced a new draft resolution on ITU's Role in Realising Secure Information Society. The Draft Resolution has grave implications for human rights and Internet governance. Geetha Hariharan <a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/good-intentions-going-awry-i-why-india2019s-proposal-at-the-itu-is-troubling-for-internet-freedoms"> analyses </a> this.</li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li> Vipul Kharbanda <a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/dna-database-for-missing-persons-and-unidentified-dead-bodies">analyses</a> the possible implications of the public interest litigation that has been placed before the Supreme Court petitioning for the establishment of a DNA database in respect to unidentified bodies in his latest blog entry. </li>
<li> In a blog post published in Lila Interactions P.P.Sneha <a href="http://cis-india.org/raw/lila-inter-actions-october-14-2014-rethinking-conditions-of-access">explores</a> the possibilities of redefining the idea of access through the channels of education and learning. </li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">►Job</p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li> <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/jobs/programme-officer-institutional-partnership">Programme Officer</a> (Access to Knowledge - Institutional Partnerships): CIS is seeking applications for the post of Programme Officer for its Access to Knowledge (A2K) Programme. The position will be based in its Bangalore office. Programme Officer will collaboratively work with the A2K Team and would report to the Programme Director, Access to Knowledge at CIS. </li>
</ul>
<h2 style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility">Accessibility and Inclusion</a></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Under a grant from the Hans Foundation we are doing two projects. The first project is on creating a national resource kit of state-wise laws, policies and programmes on issues relating to persons with disabilities in India. CIS in partnership with CLPR (Centre for Law and Policy Research) compiled the National Compendium of Policies, Programmes and Schemes for Persons with Disabilities (29 states and 6 union territories). The updated draft is being reviewed by the Office of the Chief Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities. The draft chapters and the quarterly reports can be accessed on the <a href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/resources/national-resource-kit-project">project page</a>. The second project is on developing text-to-speech software for 15 Indian languages. The progress made so far in the project can be accessed <a href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/resources/nvda-text-to-speech-synthesizer">here</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">►NVDA and eSpeak</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Monthly Update</b></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b> </b></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<b> </b>
<li><b> </b><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/october-2014-nvda-report.pdf">October 2014 Report</a> (Suman Dogra; October 31, 2014). </li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">►Other</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Submission</b></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b> </b></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<b> </b>
<li><b> </b><a href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/comments-to-rights-of-persons-with-disablities-bill-2014"><b> </b>Comments to the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Bill </a> , 2014 (Nirmita Narasimhan and Anandhi Viswanathan; October 30, 2014). </li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Blog Entries</b></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b> </b></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<b> </b>
<li><b> </b><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/central-guidelines-and-schemes">Central Guidelines and Schemes</a> (Anandhi Viswanathan, October 14, 2014). </li>
<li> <a href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/the-legal-framework-for-enforcement-of-rights-of-persons-with-disabilities"> The Legal Framework for Enforcement of Rights of Persons with Disabilities </a> (CLPR; October 14, 2014). </li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Media Coverage</b></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li> <a href="http://cis-india.org/accessibility/news/the-hill-john-d-kemp-and-brandon-m-macsata-october-13-2014-communication-technology-opens-doors-for-everyone-not-only-people-with-disabilities"> Communication technology opens 'doors' for everyone, not only people with disabilities </a> (John D. Kemp and Brandon M. Macsata, The Hill, October 13, 2014). </li>
</ul>
<h2 style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k">Access to Knowledge</a></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">As part of the Access to Knowledge programme we are doing two projects. The first one (Pervasive Technologies) under a grant from the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) is for research on the complex interplay between pervasive technologies and intellectual property to support intellectual property norms that encourage the proliferation and development of such technologies as a social good. The second one (Wikipedia) under a grant from the Wikimedia Foundation is for the growth of Indic language communities and projects by designing community collaborations and partnerships that recruit and cultivate new editors and explore innovative approaches to building projects.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Blog Entries</b></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b> </b></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<b> </b>
<li><b> </b><a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/letter-to-prime-minister-on-indo-us-bilateral-relations-on-intellectual-property"><b> </b>Letter to the Prime Minister on Indo-US Bilateral Relations on Intellectual Property </a> (Nehaa Chaudhari; October 22, 2014). </li>
<li> <a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/guidelines-for-examination-of-computer-related-inventions"> Guidelines for Examination of Computer Related Inventions: Mapping the Stakeholders' Response </a> (Shashank Singh; October 29, 2014). </li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">►Wikipedia</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">As part of the <a href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/access-to-knowledge-program-plan">project grant from the Wikimedia Foundation</a> we have reached out to more than 3500 people across India by organizing more than 100 outreach events and catalysed the release of encyclopaedic and other content under the Creative Commons (CC-BY-3.0) license in four Indian languages (21 books in Telugu, 13 in Odia, 4 volumes of encyclopaedia in Konkani and 6 volumes in Kannada, and 1 book on Odia language history in English).</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Blog Entries</b></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b> </b></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<b> </b>
<li><b> </b><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/blog/subhashish-panigrahi-october-13-2014-editorial-in-samaja"><b> </b>ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଭାଷା ବିକାଶରେ ପ୍ରତିବନ୍ଧକ ଓ ସମ୍ଭାବନା </a> (Subhashish Panigrahi, Samaja; October 13, 2014). </li>
<li> <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/blog/bharat-majhi-writings-now-available-under-cc-license"> Bharat Majhi Writings Now Available Under a Creative Commons License </a> (Subhashish Panigrahi; October 14, 2014). </li>
<li> <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/blog/global-voices-subhashish-panigrahi-october-18-2014-more-than-400-million-people-await-launch-of-odia-wikisource"> More Than 40 Million People Await the Launch of Odia Wikisource </a> (Subhashish Panigrahi, Global Voices and Wikimedia Blog; October 21, 2014). </li>
<li> <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/blog/ramakrushna-nanda-four-books-under-cc-license"> Odia Littérateur Ramakrushna Nanda's 4 Books Now Available Under a Creative Commons License </a> (Subhashish Panigrahi; October 22, 2014). </li>
<li> <a href="http://cis-india.org/openness/blog/open-source-subhashish-panigrahi-october-22-2014-open-access-platform-to-save-the-odia-indian-language"> Open Access Platform to Save the Odia Indian Language </a> (Subhashish Panigrahi, Opensource.com; October 22, 2014). </li>
<li> <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/blog/odia-wikisource-goes-live">Odia Wikisource Goes Live!</a> (Subhashish Panigrahi; October 26, 2014). </li>
<li> <a href="http://cis-india.org/openness/blog/samskrita-vaibhavam">Samskrita Vaibhavam</a> (Sanskrit Wiki Outreach Program) (Shubha and Sayant Mahato; October 30, 2014). </li>
<li> <a href="http://cis-india.org/openness/blog/tulu-wikipedia-workshop-cum-editathon-at-udupi">Tulu Wikipedia Workshop cum Editathon at Udupi</a> (Dr. U.B.Pavanaja, October 31, 2014). The event was covered by <a href="http://v4news.com/enliven-the-tulu-viki-fidia-first-and-then-add-tulu-to-the-8th-schedule-dr-ug-pavanaja-bangalore-rep-in-udupi/"> V4News.com </a> and <a href="http://www.mangaloretoday.com/newsbriefs/2-Day-Workshop-on-Tulu-in-internet.html">Mangalore Today</a>. </li>
<li> <a href="http://cis-india.org/openness/blog/converting-from-non-unicode-nudi-baraha-font-encoding-to-unicode-kannada"> Converting from nonUnicode (Nudi, Baraha, ...) font encoding to Unicode Kannada </a> (Dr. U.B.Pavanaja; October 31, 2014). </li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Events Co-organized</b></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b> </b></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<b> </b>
<li><b> </b><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/events/sangeet-baithak">Sangeet Baithak: A Hindustani Music Resource Donation Event in Mumbai</a> (Organized by CIS-A2K and Khayal Trust; Shivaji Park, Dadar, Mumbai; October 7, 2014). </li>
<li> <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/events/india-women-in-science-wiki-edit-a-thon">Indian Women in Science Wiki edit-a-thon</a> (Organized by IndoBioScience and CIS-A2K; Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore; October 11, 2014). </li>
<li> <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/events/ada-lovelace-edit-a-thon-2014">Ada Lovelace Edit-a-thon 2014</a> (Organized by IndoBioScience and CIS-A2K; Urban Solace; October 14, 2014). </li>
</ul>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">News and Media Coverage</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">CIS-A2K team gave its inputs to the following media coverage:</p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li> <a href="http://v4news.com/enliven-the-tulu-viki-fidia-first-and-then-add-tulu-to-the-8th-schedule-dr-ug-pavanaja-bangalore-rep-in-udupi/"> Enliven the Tulu Viki Fidia first and then add Tulu to the 8th Schedule : Dr.UG Pavanaja, Bangalore Rep. in Udupi </a> (V4News.com; October 15, 2014). </li>
<li> <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/news/mangalore-today-october-17-2014-wikipedia-can-establish-tulu-in-a-wider-way"> Wikipedia can establish Tulu in a wider way </a> (Mangalore Today; October 17, 2014). </li>
<li> <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/news/the-hindu-renuka-phadnis-october-19-2014-wikipedia-editathon-attempts-to-raise-awareness-of-the-contribution-of-indian-women-to-science"> Pushing women scientists </a> (Renuka Phadnis; Hindu; October 19, 2014). </li>
<li> <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/news/karnataka-muslims-nisar-ahmed-syed-october-22-2014-wiki-media-foundation-keen-on-developing-urdu-wikipedia"> Wiki Media Foundation keen on developing Urdu Wikipedia </a> (Nisar Ahmed Syed; October 22, 2014). </li>
<li> <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/news/siasat-daily-october-24-2014-wiki-media-foundation-keen-on-developing-urdu-wikipedia"> Wiki Media Foundation keen on developing Urdu Wikipedia </a> (Siasat Daily; October 24, 2014). </li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Participation in Event</b></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b> </b></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<b> </b>
<li><b> </b><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/news/barcamp-bangalore">Barcamp Bangalore</a> (Organized by SAP Labs; Bangalore; October 12, 2014). Dr. U.B.Pavanaja and Rahmanuddin Shaik took part in the event. </li>
</ul>
<h2 style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://cis-india.org/internet-governance">Internet Governance</a></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">►Privacy</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">As part of our Surveillance and Freedom: Global Understandings and Rights Development (SAFEGUARD) project with Privacy International we are engaged in enhancing respect for the right to privacy in developing countries. We have produced the following outputs during the month although these may not be part of the SAFEGUARD project:</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Blog Entries</b></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b> </b></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<b> </b>
<li><b> </b><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/gujarat-high-court-judgment-on-snoopgate-issue"><b> </b>The Gujarat High Court Judgment on the Snoopgate Issue </a> (Vipul Kharbanda; October 27, 2014). </li>
<li> <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/dna-database-for-missing-persons-and-unidentified-dead-bodies"> DNA Database for Missing Persons and Unidentified Dead Bodies </a> (Vipul Kharbanda; October 31, 2014). </li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Upcoming Event</b></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b> </b></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<b> </b>
<li><b> </b><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/cpdp-2015">CPDP 2015</a> : The eighth international conference on computers, privacy and data protection will be held in Brussels from January 21 to 23, 2015. CIS is a moral supporter of CPDP. </li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Participation in Events</b></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b> </b></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<b> </b>
<li><b> </b><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/training-for-internet-governance-activists"><b> </b>Training for Internet Governance Activists </a> (Organized by Global Partners Digital, UK; Cambridge; September 23 - 24, 2014). Geetha Hariharan attended the event. <i>The event was held in September and the details published in October</i>. </li>
<li> <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/india-conference-cyber-security-and-cyber-governance"> The India Conference on Cyber Security and Cyber Governance </a> (Organized by FICCI and CYFY; October 15 - 17, 2014; New Delhi). CIS was a knowledge partner. Sunil Abraham was a panelist in the session "Privacy is Dead". </li>
<li> <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/expert-consultation-on-cyber-security-justice-and-governance"> Expert Consultation on Cyber Security, Justice and Governance </a> (Organized by Hague Institute for Global Justice, Observer Research Foundation and STIMSON; October 18, 2014). Sunil Abraham was a speaker in the session "Internet Access, Freedom Online, and Development in the Global South". </li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">►Free Speech</p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li> <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/good-intentions-going-awry-i-why-india2019s-proposal-at-the-itu-is-troubling-for-internet-freedoms"> Good Intentions, Recalcitrant Text - I: Why India's Proposal at the ITU is Troubling for Internet Freedoms </a> (Geeta Hariharan; October 28, 2014). </li>
<li> <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/good-intentions-recalcitrant-text-2013-ii-what-india2019s-itu-proposal-may-mean-for-internet-governance"> Good Intentions, Recalcitrant Text - II: What India's ITU Proposal May Mean for Internet Governance </a> (Geeta Hariharan; November 1, 2014). </li>
</ul>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; "><br /> <a href="http://cis-india.org/news">News & Media Coverage</a></h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">CIS gave its inputs to the following media coverage:</p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li> <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/washington-post-october-9-2014-rama-lakshmi-is-india-the-next-frontier-for-facebook"> Is India the next frontier for Facebook? </a> (Rama Lakshmi; Washington Post; October 9, 2014). </li>
<li> <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/financial-express-october-23-2014-j-anand-if-mncs-make-early-inroads-they-will-keep-market-share"> If MNCs make early inroads, they will keep market share: Sunil Abraham, CIS </a> (J.Anand; Financial Express; October 23, 2014). </li>
</ul>
<h2 style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://cis-india.org/raw/digital-humanities">Digital Humanities</a></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">CIS is building research clusters in the field of Digital Humanities. The Digital will be used as a way of unpacking the debates in humanities and social sciences and look at the new frameworks, concepts and ideas that emerge in our engagement with the digital. The clusters aim to produce and document new conversations and debates that shape the contours of Digital Humanities in Asia:</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Blog Entry</b></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b> </b></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<b> </b>
<li><b> </b><a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/lila-inter-actions-october-14-2014-rethinking-conditions-of-access">Rethinking Conditions of Access</a> (P.P.Sneha, Lilainteractions; October 15, 2014). </li>
</ul>
<h2 style="text-align: justify; "><a href="http://cis-india.org/">About CIS</a></h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The Centre for Internet and Society is a non-profit research organization that works on policy issues relating to freedom of expression, privacy, accessibility for persons with disabilities, access to knowledge and IPR reform, and openness (including open government, FOSS, open standards, etc.), and engages in academic research on digital natives and digital humanities.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">► Follow us elsewhere</p>
<ul style="text-align: justify; ">
<li> Twitter:<a href="https://twitter.com/CISA2K"> </a><a href="https://twitter.com/CISA2K">https://twitter.com/CISA2K</a> </li>
<li> Facebook group: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/cisa2k">https://www.facebook.com/cisa2k</a> </li>
<li> Visit us at:<a href="https://cis-india.org/"> </a> <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Access_To_Knowledge">https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Access_To_Knowledge</a> </li>
<li> E-mail: <a href="mailto:a2k@cis-india.org">a2k@cis-india.org</a> </li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">► Support Us</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Please help us defend consumer / citizen rights on the Internet! Write a cheque in favour of 'The Centre for Internet and Society' and mail it to us at No. 194, 2nd 'C' Cross, Domlur, 2nd Stage, Bengaluru - 5600 71.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">► Request for Collaboration:</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">We invite researchers, practitioners, and theoreticians, both organisationally and as individuals, to collaboratively engage with Internet and society and improve our understanding of this new field. To discuss the research collaborations, write to Sunil Abraham, Executive Director, at<a href="mailto:sunil@cis-india.org">sunil@cis-india.org</a> or Nishant Shah, Director - Research, at <a href="mailto:nishant@cis-india.org">nishant@cis-india.org</a>. To discuss collaborations on Indic language Wikipedia, write to T. Vishnu Vardhan, Programme Director, A2K, at <a href="mailto:vishnu@cis-india.org">vishnu@cis-india.org</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><i> CIS is grateful to its primary donor the Kusuma Trust founded by Anurag Dikshit and Soma Pujari, philanthropists of Indian origin for its core funding and support for most of its projects. CIS is also grateful to its other donors, Wikimedia Foundation, Ford Foundation, Privacy International, UK, Hans Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, and IDRC for funding its various projects. </i></p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/about/newsletters/october-2014-bulletin'>http://editors.cis-india.org/about/newsletters/october-2014-bulletin</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaAccess to KnowledgeAccessibilityInternet GovernanceDigital HumanitiesOpenness2014-11-23T16:40:23ZPageTraining in Use of eSpeak with Malayalam
http://editors.cis-india.org/accessibility/events/training-in-e-speak-malayalam
<b>The Centre for Internet & Society (CIS) in partnership with DAISY Forum of India (DFI) and Chakshumathi Assistive Technology Centre, Trivandrum cordially invites all computer teachers for persons with visual impairment for a two day training in the use of eSpeak Malayalam with NVDA for reading and writing in Malayalam.</b>
<h3>Training in the use of eSpeak with NVDA</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Training in the use of Open Source Screen readers like NVDA will be a focal element of the event. As NVDA with the help of eSpeak provides support for eight Indian languages it will be promoted as a reading tool. The aim of the training is as follows:</p>
<ul>
<li>The candidate should be able to read e-text using NVDA and eSpeak in any one of the eight Indian languages currently supported.</li>
<li>The candidate should be able to download accessible content from the various platforms and repositories of accessible material.</li>
<li>The candidate should be able to use computers as a knowledge searching tool.</li>
<li>The candidate should be able to type using either phonetic, In script or traditional keyboards. </li>
</ul>
<p>The training will be provided by experts from CIS and DFI.</p>
<h3>Who will benefit?</h3>
<p>The event is targeted at promoting the use of eSpeak with NVDA amongst senior computer teachers for persons with visual impairment.</p>
<h3>Facilities</h3>
<p>Accommodation: Seperate accommodation will be provided for ladies and gents.<br />Food: Breakfast, lunch and dinner will be provided, courtesy Chakshumati.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/accessibility/events/training-in-e-speak-malayalam'>http://editors.cis-india.org/accessibility/events/training-in-e-speak-malayalam</a>
</p>
No publisherpraskrishnaTrainingeSpeakAccessibilityNVDAEvent2014-11-30T11:50:38ZEvent