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Digital Native: The e-wasteland of our times
How digitising isn’t necessarily a fast-track to a sustainable future.
Exploring Wikimedia platforms in Dialogue on the Urban Rivers of Maharashtra
INTACH (Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage) and SANDRP (South Asian Network of Dams, Rivers and People) organized “A Dialogue on the Urban Rivers of Maharashtra” on 20-21 April 2018 from 9:00am-5:30pm at Yashada, Pune.
A look at two problematic provisions of the draft Anti-trafficking bill
This post examines two badly drafted provisions of the new Anti-Trafficking bill that have the potential to severely impinge upon the Freedom of Expression, including through a misunderstanding of intermediary liability.
Artificial Intelligence in Governance: A Report of the Roundtable held in New Delhi
This Report provides an overview of the proceedings of the Roundtable on Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Governance, conducted at the Indian Islamic Cultural Centre, in New Delhi on March 16, 2018. The main purpose of the Roundtable was to discuss the deployment and implementation of AI in various aspects of governance within the Indian context. This report summarises the discussions on the development and implementation of AI in various aspects of governance in India. The event was attended by participants from academia, civil society, the legal sector, the finance sector, and the government.
Institutional Partnership with Tribal Research & Training Institute
CIS-A2K has been building partnerships with major state government departments in Maharashtra to promote free & open knowledge resources. One such effort resulted into official Govt.Resolution of Tribal Research & Training Institute under State Tribal Development department on Expert's Study Group Formation for developing Open Knowledge Platforms.
Article on Telugu Wikisource Feature Book in Pustakam.net
An article about Telugu Wikisource feature book - Andhrula Sanghika Charitra (ఆంధ్రుల సాంఘిక చరిత్ర) by Pavan Santhosh got published in Pustakam.net.
Sambad Health and Women Edit-a-thon
Sambad Health and Women Edit-a-thon was an offline edit-a-thon held in the month of April in collaboration with the Sambad media house, Odia Wikimedia User Group and the Center for Internet and Society.
CIS' Submission on Statement of Working of Patents
The Centre for Internet & Society (CIS) made a submission to the Indian Patent Office on the issue of Statement of Working as per Form 27 under the Patents Act, 1970.
Government gives free publicity worth 40k to Twitter and Facebook
We conducted a 2 week survey of newspapers for links between government advertisement to social media giants. As citizens, we should be worried about the close nexus between the Indian government and digital behemoths such as Facebook, Google and Twitter. It has become apparent to us after a 2 week print media analysis that our Government has been providing free publicity worth Rs 40,000 to these entities. There are multiple issues with this as this article attempts at pointing out.
Digital Native: Delete Facebook?
You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave.
Making Humanities in the Digital: Embodiment and Framing in Bichitra and Indiancine.ma
The growth of the internet and digital technologies in the last couple of decades, and the emergence of new ‘digital objects’ of enquiry has led to a rethinking of research methods across disciplines as well as innovative modes of creative practice. This chapter authored by Puthiya Purayil Sneha (published in 'Making Things and Drawing Boundaries: Experiments in the Digital Humanities' edited by Jentery Sayers) discusses some of the questions that arise around the processes by which digital objects are ‘made’ and made available for arts and humanities research and practice, by drawing on recent work in text and film archival initiatives in India.
Cambridge Analytica scandal: How India can save democracy from Facebook
Hegemonic incumbents like Google and Facebook need to be tackled with regulation; govt should use procurement power to fund open source alternatives.
Chromebook for the Project Tiger- How it is helping me to contribute actively on Wikimedia projects!
Project Tiger is a collaboration project of Wikimedia Foundation with Centre for Internet and Society, Wikimedia India and other affiliates of India to improve and create high-quality content in Indic languages like Odia, Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada, Marathi, Bengali, Punjabi etc.This project helps the active and experienced Wikipedia editors by supporting them with Internet charges for 6 months and Laptops to 50 volunteers to address existing Wikipedia content gaps.
NPAs & Bad Banks
Correcting misinformed impressions about NPAs, and the Swedish model for setting up a Bad Bank.
Digital Native: A new road to justice
Making the List takes courage and strength. It involves the formation of a new collective of care.
Digital native: Our lonely connected lives
Even as the UK last month announced the appointment of Minister of Loneliness, which sounds more like the title of the next Arundhati Roy novel, it is worth examining why we are so alone in the age of hyperconnectivity.
On World Water Day - Open Data for Water Resources
Lack of open data for researchers and activists is a key barrier against ensuring access to water and planning for sustainable management of water resources. In a collaboration between DataMeet and CIS, supported by Arghyam, we are exploring the early steps for making open data and tools to plan for water resources accessible to all. To celebrate the World Water Day 2018, we are sharing what we have been working on in the past few months - a paper on open data for water studies in India, and a web app to make open water data easily explorable and usable. Craig Dsouza led this collaboration, and authored this post.
Analysis of ICANN revenue shows ambiguity in their records
We, The Centre for Internet and Society, have been instrumental in having ICANN become transparent about their revenue with our persistent requests for their sources of revenue.
People Driven and Tech Enabled – How AI and ML are Changing the Future of Cyber Security in India
On the 27th of February, Peter Sparkes the Senior Director, Cyber Security Services, Symantec conducted a webinar on the ‘5 Essentials of Every Next-Gen SOC’. In this webinar, he evaluated the problems that Security Operations Centers (SOCs) are currently facing, and explored possible solutions to these problems. The webinar also put emphasis on AI and ML as tools to improve cyber security. This blog draws key insights from the webinar, and explains how AI and ML can improve the cyber security process of Indian enterprises.
Groundbreaking disability rights activist Javed Abidi dies at 53
The Centre for Internet & Society (CIS) expresses profound regret at the demise of Mr. Javed Abidi, a groundbreaking disability rights activist.
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