Centre for Internet and Society

Digital Wrongs

praskrishna — 2011-04-01T16:26:11Z

Protecting Intellectual Property Rights. This article by Rohin Dharmakumar was published in Forbes India on January 28, 2011.

Imagine you are in the mood for some fun and so you create a spoof video, the sort that you find on YouTube everyday. If the changes proposed under the Indian Copyright (Amendment) Bill, 2010 come through, you won’t be able to do that.

The bill explicitly recognises the technology protection measures that publishers wrap around their content, commonly known as digital rights management (DRM), but without placing any limitations on it.

So there’s a good chance a parody clip that uses video clips from a news show or of a baby dancing to the tune of ‘Sheila ki Jawani’ could be taken down by over eager copyright owners.

Pranesh Prakash, a program manager with Bangalore-based Centre for Internet and Society, a non-profit civil society policy advocacy and research body, says such a scenario is perfectly possible under the proposed new law. “Providing legal backing to technological protection measures without imposing appropriate duties means that companies can effectively expand their rights to whatever technology can do. It’s a ridiculous situation,” he says.

Even worse, the law provides for criminal liability for breaking such DRM. Ask the Indian developers behind ‘PlayFair’, an open source software that allowed consumers to bypass Apple’s FairPlay DRM.

The developers were forced to stop their project even though Apple challenged them under the US DMCA law, which has no jurisdiction in India. They still folded because as individuals they didn't have the wherewithal to challenge Apple in a court.

“Our basic principle is that generally large corporations have the wherewithal to go to court and get orders, but individuals don’t. That balance must be maintained in the law, that everything isn’t presumptively violative of the law,” says Prakash.

Many fear of what might happen when digital rights management actually starts getting protection under Indian law. Raman Jit Singh Chima, a policy analyst with Google India’s legal team, says the present version of the amendment is unclear on intermediary liability and ‘fair dealing’. Simply put, if a user does something illegal, even the service provider or search site that was used may become liable for the offence.

“Unless the government or a court of law interprets it otherwise, this could mean users submitting their content for approval before uploading, with approvals taking months due to the volume of information on the Internet,” says Chima.

Read the original in Forbes India here

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/news/digital-wrongs

What Are You Accused of? Find Out Online

praskrishna — 2011-04-01T16:48:30Z

Starting Tuesday, police authorities in the Indian capital will make many crime reports, also known as First Information Reports, publicly accessible from its Web site. The report can be attained by entering details such as the name of the accused or victim and also the area where the crime took place. So far, no crime reports have been posted on the Web site.

The step is meant to help people who have been accused of a crime, and who aren’t able to find out from police—or who are perhaps reluctant to approach a police station—find out what exactly they’re supposed to have done.

“In case a police officer refuses to reveal the First Information Report, the accused can get a copy online and defend himself,” Rajan Bhagat, Delhi police spokesman told India Real Time Tuesday.

After police register a crime report, they’re supposed to carry out an investigation and then decide whether or not to bring charges.

Mr. Bhagat said the crime reports were being put online to comply with a 35-page Delhi High Court order on December 6.

“The liberty of an individual is inextricably linked with his right to be aware how he has been booked under law and on what allegations,” the court said at the time in an order that quotes Cuban revolutionary José Martí .

Mr. Bhagat said the software for uploading the FIRs has been installed at all police stations across the capital. The crime report is supposed to be made available online within 24 hours after a crime is registered.

Depending on whether the crime reports are searchable or not, and if people other than those named in the reports can access them, they could also prove useful for analyzing crime patterns in the city.

Of course, there exists some ambiguity in the new process, including how many crime reports will actually end up being uploaded online.

Crime reports for offences categorized as “sensitive” need not be uploaded. These include issues of terrorist acts, crimes relating to national security, rape, murder, kidnapping for ransom and “cases in which desperate gangsters are involved and there is the danger of witnesses or the complainant being intimidated,” the court order said.

“We cannot reveal the identity of serious criminals; this can hamper the investigation process,” said Mr. Bhagat, adding that the decision for a crime report not to be uploaded must be made by a senior police officer together with a local magistrate from the area where the crime was committed.

Some legal experts aren’t happy about the “selective” airing of information by the Delhi police.

“The service would be a complete failure,” said Pinaki Misra, senior counsel at the Delhi High Court.

Mr. Misra said the First Information Report is a public document–the first step towards registering criminal activity–and it should be freely accessible.

“There’s no reason why such information should be deemed confidential and selectively uploaded,” he said.

But others said there was good reason to avoid making a crime report public in some cases, such as to protect the identity of victims of sexual crimes, or even to protect suspects in cases where crimes could instigate violence against them.

Sunil Abraham, executive director at the Center for Internet and Society, a think-tank based in Bangalore, said the Delhi police’s new initiative was “a positive step with necessary safeguards.”

He added that the disclosure of too much information by police or other investigating agencies can sometimes lead to incidents of “mob justice,” pointing to recent occasions where bystanders have attacked people involved in highly publicized cases at their court appearances.

“The onus now is on the Delhi police as to how and what they put it in actual practice,” Mr. Abraham said.

Read the original here

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/news/what-are-you-accused

One among the clan of Wikipedians

praskrishna — 2011-04-01T16:49:05Z

In 2005, I lived in Johannesburg and worked as an activist to make knowledge more accessible. Between fighting copyright treaties in Geneva that would give corporations an even bigger stranglehold on our minds and finding ways to supply cheap textbooks to township schools, I talked about my work frequently. After one such event, organised by Nhlanhla Mabaso, the godfather of free and open source software in the country, I met two people who were particularly interested in my work. Their names were Angela Beesley and Erik Moller; they looked like college students, and said that they were helping to build an online encyclopaedia called Wikipedia. They were bright, warm and open - and I was hooked.

Like most people, I had already started using Wikipedia by then. And also like most people, I hadn't bothered to figure out how I could participate in it. I spent the next year making nervous, anonymous edits to the entries of obscure sci-fi writers who I thought deserved more attention. I went to a meeting in Frankfurt where Wikipedians from around the world were gathering for the very first time and was relieved to discover a bunch of people who were as socially awkward as I was. I met serious people with funny names like Notafish, SJ and Anthere; I watched Richard Stallman thoughtfully pick out bits of butter and jam from his wayward beard at breakfast.

On stage, one evening, I moderated a panel of global voices. The trajectories of two people from that panel are instructive. Ting Chen, then a chronically shy and prolific editor of the German and Chinese Wikipedias, now chairs the board of trustees of the Wikimedia Foundation. Hossein Derakhshan, at the time a prominent Iranian blogger, was subsequently arrested in Iran and sentenced to a 19-year prison term for supposedly spreading anti-state propaganda.

Back home again

As for me, I moved back to Bangalore. And forgot all about Wikipedia for a while. Moving home wasn't a conscious choice; I drifted into it automatically - I had grown up here, my parents and sister lived here. At first, there was little to like. I grew up in a city where we bought eggs from the cranky woman who reared hens two houses away from us; a city in which Zafar Futehally could ride in to town from his farmhouse in Dodda Gubbi, leave his horse in a makeshift stable in my parents' garden, walk to Brigade Road to do his shopping from Mathias & Sons, and return for lunch and a quick nap before riding back. (I realise how old this makes me seem).

I rented a flat in Cooke Town, and decided that I liked my new neighbourhood.

I reminded myself of all the reasons I knew for liking Bangalore - Koshy's, Pecos, Adiga's, Premier Bookshop, Blossom and the Alternative Law Forum. I found new reasons: 1 Shanthi Road, Gallery SKE and a magical, dimly-lit bar called Upbeat.

And then, there were the Wikipedians.

New outlook

Bangalore used to bore me because I found it's middle-class boring. I can't say the same any longer. Four years and hundreds of encounters with Wikipedians later, I'm kind of excited about being home. I've been witness to some extraordinary, selfless, tireless and downright funny instances of community work, and I've seen people turn Wikipedia into something local and lovable. I've even overcome my own nervousness, and actually started editing. Perhaps it's only natural that the world's most significant repository of free knowledge would find friends here; I'm still a little surprised, and certainly very grateful.

( Achal Prabhala is a researcher and writer in Bangalore; he works on intellectual property rights in relation to medicine and knowledge, and serves on the board of the Centre for Internet & Society and on the advisory board of the Wikimedia Foundation.)

Read the original in the Hindu here

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/news/one-wikipedian

January 2011 Bulletin

praskrishna — 2012-07-30T11:25:44Z

Greetings from the Centre for Internet and Society! It gives us immense pleasure to present regular updates on the progress of our research on the mainstream Internet media. In this issue of we bring our latest project updates, news and media coverage:

Researchers@Work

RAW is a multidisciplinary research initiative. CIS believes that in order to understand the contemporary concerns in the field of Internet and society, it is necessary to produce local and contextual accounts of the interaction between the Internet and socio-cultural and geo-political structures. To build original research knowledge base, the RAW programme has been collaborating with different organisations and individuals to focus on its three year thematic of Histories of the Internets in India. Monographs finalised from these projects have been published on the CIS website for public review:

Digital Natives

CIS has interest in developing Digital Identities as a core research area and looks at practices, policies and scholarships in the field to explore relationships between Internet, technology and identity.

Column on Digital Natives

A fortnightly column on ‘Digital Natives’ authored by Nishant Shah is featured in the Sunday Eye, the national edition of Indian Express, Delhi, from 19 September 2010 onwards. The following article was published in the Indian Express recently:

Is That a Friend on Your Wall? [published in the Indian Express on 9 January 2010]

Workshop

The third and final workshop in the Digital Natives with a Cause? research project will take place in Santiago, Chile, from the 8 to 10 February. Open Call and FAQs for the workshop are online:

Blog Entry by Maesey Angelina

Maesy Angelina is a MA candidate on International Development, specializing in Children and Youth Studies at the International Institute of Social Studies, Erasmus University of Rotterdam. She is working on her research on the activism of digital natives under the Hivos-CIS Digital Natives Knowledge Programme. She spent a month at CIS, working on her dissertation, exploring the Blank Noise Project under the Digital Natives with a Cause framework. She writes a series of blog entries. The latest is:

The Digital Tipping Point

Announcement

Rising Voices Seeks Micro-Grant Proposals for Citizen Media Outreach

Accessibility

Estimates of the percentage of the world's population that is disabled vary considerably. But what is certain is that if we count functional disability, then a large proportion of the world's population is disabled in one way or another. At CIS we work to ensure that the digital technologies, which empower disabled people and provide them with independence, are allowed to do so in practice and by the law. To this end, we support web accessibility guidelines, and change in copyright laws that currently disempower the persons with disabilities.

New Blog Entry

Accessibility in Telecommunications

Intellectual Property

Copyright, patents and trademarks are the most important components on the Internet. CIS believes that access to knowledge and culture is essential as it promotes creativity and innovation and bridges the gaps between the developed and developing world positively. Hence, the campaigns for an international treaty on copyright exceptions for print-impaired, advocating against PUPFIP Bill, calls for the WIPO Broadcast Treaty to be restricted to broadcast, questioning the demonization of 'pirates', and supporting endeavours that explore and question the current copyright regime. Our latest endeavour has resulted into these:

New Blog Entry

New Release of IPR Chapter of India-EU Free Trade Agreement

Internet Governance

Although there may not be one centralised authority that rules the Internet, the Internet does not just run by its own volition: for it to operate in a stable and reliable manner, there needs to be in place infrastructure, a functional domain name system, ways to curtail cybercrime across borders, etc. The Tunis Agenda of the second World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), paragraph 34 defined Internet governance as “the development and application by governments, the private sector and civil society, in their respective roles, of shared principles, norms, rules, decision-making procedures, and programmes that shape the evolution and use of the Internet.” Within the larger field of Internet governance, the Internet Governance Forum (IGF), a multi-stakeholder policy dialogue forum that was instituted by the WSIS processes and that is their only formal outcome, has fast emerged as one of the key institutions. As the definition quoted above indicates, a unique feature of the field of Internet governance is that, unlike many other governance spheres, it does not only involve governments. Historically, not only governments but also the technical community and private players have played a crucial role in the development of the Internet. In the context of the IGF, that role is not only explicitly acknowledged but also institutionalised as the IGF formally brings together governments, private players and civil society actors from all areas of and organisations involved in Internet governance. Moreover, now that the open and egalitarian potential of the Internet is increasingly under attack, this unique nature of the IGF, in addition to its WSIS roots, has made it a prime venue to remind stakeholders in all areas of Internet governance of the commitment they have made earlier to building a “people-centred, inclusive and development-oriented Information Society” (WSIS Geneva Principles, Para 1). CIS involvement in the field of Internet governance has the following shape:

New Blog Entry

Jurisdictional Issues in Cyberspace

Privacy

CIS has undertaken many new and exciting projects. One of these, "Privacy in Asia", is funded by Privacy International (PI), UK and is being completed in collaboration with Society and Action Group. "Privacy in Asia" is a two-year project that commenced on 24 March 2010 and will complete within two years from the commencement date, unless otherwise agreed to by the parties. The project was set up with the objective of raising awareness, sparking civil action and promoting democratic dialogue around privacy challenges and violations in India. In furtherance of these goals it aims to draft and promote an over-arching privacy legislation in India by drawing upon legal and academic resources and consultations with the public.

Apart from "Privacy in Asia" CIS is also participating in the " Privacy and Identity" project, which is funded by the Ford Foundation and managed by the Centre for Study of Culture and Society. The project is a research inquiry into the history of Privacy in India and how it shapes the contemporary debates around technology mediated identity projects like Aadhaar. The "Privacy and Identity" project started in August 2010.

New Blog Entries

Staff Update

Prashant Iyengar is a lawyer and legal scholar who has worked extensively on intellectual property issues particularly focusing on copyright reform and open access. He is a past recipient of an Open Society Institute fellowship for research into Open Information Policy, and has been affiliated with the Alternative Law Forum – a collective of lawyers in Bangalore engaged in human rights practice.

Prashant joined the Centre for Internet and Society as a lead researcher in the Privacy India project recently.

Telecom

The growth in telecommunications in India has been impressive. While the potential for growth and returns exist, a range of issues need to be addressed for this potential to be realized. One aspect is more extensive rural coverage and the second aspect is a countrywide access to broadband which is low at about eight million subscriptions. Both require effective and efficient use of networks and resources, including spectrum. It is imperative to resolve these issues in the common interest of users and service providers. CIS campaigns to facilitate this.

Column

Shyam Ponappa is a Distinguished Fellow at CIS. He writes regularly on Telecom issues in the Business Standard and these articles are mirrored on the CIS website as well.

The policy langurs [published on 6 January 2011]

News & Media Coverage

Civic hackers seek to find their feet in India (Livemint, 24 January 2011) and (IndiaInfoline, January 2011)
A Tweet and a poke from the CEO (Livemint, 24 January 2011)
Clicktivism & a brave new world order (Mail Today, 2 January 2011)
Would it be a unique identity crisis? (Bangalore Mirror, 2 January 2011)
Nel suk dei nativi digitali. Perché gli studenti 2.0 hanno bisogno di una bussola per orientarsi (Il Sore24 ORE, 2 January 2011)
A Refreshing Start! (Verveonline, Volume 19, Issue 1, January, 2011)
Getting Connected (Livemint, January 2011)
Knowledge Warriors (Il Sore24 ORE, January 2011)
Nishant Shah Quoted in Livemint 2011 Tweet-out (Livemint, January 2011)
Digital Natives with a Cause? - Workshop in Chile seeks participants (Bahama islands info, 30 December 2010)
Mothers discuss kids, music, fashions, on Net (The Hindu, 26 December 2010)

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Join the CIS group on Facebook
Visit us at www.cis-india.org

Looking forward to hearing from you. Please feel free to write to us for any queries or details required. If you do not wish to receive these emails, please do write to us and we will unsubscribe your mail ID from the mailing list.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/about/newsletters/january-2011-bulletin

E-Governance Interoperability Framework — Meeting in Iraq

praskrishna — 2011-08-18T05:04:49Z

A meeting to create a plan of action for the development of e-Governance Interoperability Framework (e-GIF) in Iraq and include formulation of an e-GIF policy and technical document within the larger framework of public sector modernization, was held from 25 to 27 January 2011. Sunil Abraham was the main resource person for this meeting.

Mr. Abdul Kareem Al-Samaraii, Minister of Science and Technology and Mr. Peter Bachelor, Deputy Country Director, UNDP gave the opening remarks.

E-GIF Meeting Agenda, ERBIL, 25-27 January 2011

Tuesday 25/1/2011
	08:30 – 09:00 Opening Remarks H.E. Mr Abdul Kareem Al-Samaraii, Minister of Science and Technology Mr. Peter Bachelor/ Deputy Country Director, UNDP 09:00 – 10:00 e-GIF overview Introducing the GIF: Benefits of Interoperability for e-Governance GIF Context GIF Technical Content: Standard Categorisation How we can Develop Effective GIF Policy Document and GIF Action Plan: Presentation on GIF templates (GIF text and action Plan) that required to be filled by the end of the workshop 10:00 – 10:30 Coffee Break 10:30 – 12:00 Survey and base-line for Map of existing and proposed e-governance and ICT4D projects. User Interface and accessibility Storage and database schema Multi-modal input and output Access control and security Network schema Document flow and work-flow Discussion on specific challenges and opportunities faced when attempting interoperability. 12:00 – 13:30 Discussion on the co-existence of the GIF with existing/proposed laws and policies E-governance and ICT4D Copyright Patents (software only) FOSS/Open Standards/Open Content/Open Data Privacy and Data Protection Right to Information/Freedom of Information/Access to Information/Public Information 13:30 – 14:30 Lunch Break 14:30 – 16:00 Discussion on definition of “Open Standards” Existing definitions of Open Standards RAND, FRAND and Royalty Free De Facto and De Jure Standards Standards Setting Organisations Governance of Standards Single Standard vs. Multiple Standards Relationship between FOSS and Open Standards Review of international best practice European Union US Brazil Russia India Indonesia China 16:00 – 16:15 Coffee Break 16.15 - 17.45 Discussion on degree of openness Hardware/Software/File Formats Maturity of the standard Adoption in Iraq Policy Objectives of the GIF Neutral playing-field / vendor independence Obsolescence Data convergence Cost-reduction Domestic ICT industry
Wednesday 26/1/2011
	08:30 – 10:00 Discussion on Organisational Architecture to Interoperability: Enterprise Architecture Service Oriented Architecture Example on Germany’s Slandered and Architecture of E-Government Application (SAGA) that contain both the architecture and standard for interoperability / or any other relevant example 10.00 - 10.30 Coffee Break 10.30 - 13.00 Governance of the Government Interoperability Framework: Creating the GIF Organisational Structure: Authority/Agency/Ministerial Committee/Adjunct to the President/Prime Minister's office. Light vs. Heavy regulation: Broad principles vs. Lists approach [Inclusion lists, exclusion lists, least common denominator approach] Exemptions and Limitation: Reactive vs. proactive. Formal vs. informal. Versioning: Mechanism and time-frame for revising the GIF. Pre-determined Monitoring of Compliance: Agency responsible and protocol to be observed. Random vs. blanket approach. Sanctions: Design of remedies and punitive measures to discourage non-compliance. Incentives: Design of awards and prizes for those who comply first, most, at the least-cost, etc. Documentation and Public Consultation: How will the process of developing, implementing and monitoring the GIF incorporate public consultation and be documented. Capacity Building 13.00 - 14.00 Lunch Break 14.00 - 15.30 Discussion on specific standards for the GIF [categorization based on Indian GIF] with a focus on current problem areas (G2G, G2B) Presentation And Archival Domain Data Integration Domain Data Interchange Domain 15.30 - 15.45 Coffee Break 15.45 - 17.15 Discussion on specific standards for the GIF [categorization based on Indian GIF] with a focus on (G2C) and local Governorates and emerging areas Presentation And Archival Domain Data Integration Domain Data Interchange Domain
Thursday 27/1/2011	08.30 - 11.30 Unplanned time for collaborative work on the text of the GIF Draft of E-GIF Action Plan and Working Groups 11.30 - 12.00 Coffee Break 12.00 - 14.00 Review on e-governance plan of action Out of GIF scope 14.00 - 14.30 Workshop Closing Session and Looking Forward

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/e-gif-iraq-meeting

"Privacy matters"

praskrishna — 2011-04-04T07:20:22Z

Privacy India invites individuals to attend the second "Privacy matters" conference, a one-day event on the 5th February 2011 at the TERI Southern Regional Centre, Bangalore. Privacy India, Society in Action Group, and the Centre for Internet & Society have joined hands to organize the event.

The “Privacy matters” conference will focus on discussing the challenges to privacy that India is currently facing. The right to privacy in India has been a neglected area of study and engagement. Although sectoral legislation deals with privacy issues, e.g., the TRAI Act for telephony or RBI guidelines for banking, India does not as yet have a horizontal legislation that deals comprehensively with privacy across all contexts. This lack of uniformity has led to ironically imbalanced results. In India today one has a stronger right to privacy over telephone records than over one’s own medical records. The absence of a minimum guarantee of privacy is felt most heavily by marginalized communities, including HIV patients, children, women, sexuality minorities, prisoners, etc. – people who most need to know that sensitive information is protected.

The emergence of information and communications technologies over the past two decades has radically transformed the speed and costs of access to information. However, this enhanced climate of access to information has been a mixed blessing. Whilst augmenting our access to knowledge, this new networked information economy has also now made it much easier, quicker, and cheaper to gain access to intimate personal information about individuals than ever before. As people expose more and more of their lives to others through the use of social networks, reliance on mobile phones, global trade, etc., there has emerged a heightened risk of privacy violations in India. As privacy continues to be a growing concern for individuals, nations, and the international community, it is critical that India understands and addresses the questions, challenges, implications and dilemmas that violations of privacy pose.

Who We Are

Privacy India was set up in collaboration with The Centre for Internet and Society (CIS), Bangalore and Society in Action Group (SAG), under the auspices of the international organization ‘Privacy International.’ Privacy International is a non-profit group that provides assistance to civil society groups, governments, international and regional bodies, the media and the public in a number of countries (see www.privacyinternational.org). Its Advisory Board is made up of distinguished intellectuals, academicians, thinkers and activists such as Noam Chomsky, the late Harold Pinter, and others, and it has collaborated with organizations such as the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

'Privacy Matters' conference agenda

February 5th, 2011 --- 10:30 am - 4:30pm

TERI Southern Regional Centre

4th Main, Domlur II Stage
Bangalore - 560 071

Time	Item
10:30 -10:45	Welcome Address Who is PI and what are our objectives Why is privacy important in India Prashant Iyengar (Lead Researcher at Privacy India)
10:45-11:15	Keynote: Ashish Rajadhyaksha (Senior Fellow, Centre for the Study of Culture & Society)
11:15-11:30	Tea Break
11:30 –12:30	Session I: Privacy and Open Government Data Property Rights, Privacy, and Open Government Data: Zainab Bawa (CIS-RAW Fellow)
12:30 – 1:30	Session II: Privacy Rights and Minorities Privacy Rights of Sexualality Minorities: Arvind Narrain (Alternative Law Forum) Now you see her, now you don’t - Issues of sex workers and questions around privacy: Shubha Chacko (Sangama) The UID and Refugees: Sahana Basavapatna
1:30 – 2:30	Lunch
2:30 – 3:00	Session III: Identity and Privacy Malavika Jarayam (Jayaram & Jayaram) Hamish Fraser (Partner at Truman Hoyle, Sydney Australia) Michael Whitener (Principal and co-founder of VistaLaw International LLC)
3:00-3:30	Session IV: Privacy and the Media/Social Networking Privacy and Social Networking: Ujjvala Ballal (Inclusive Planet) Privacy Issues in Social Networking Websites: Gagan K. (NLSIU law student)
3:30 – 3:45	Tea break
3:45 – 4:30	Session V: Open discussion and opinion sharing

RSVP:

prashant@privacyindia.org
elonnai@privacyindia.org

Download the poster here

VIDEOS

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/events/privacy-conferencefeb5

A Refreshing Start!

praskrishna — 2011-04-01T16:49:44Z

Parmesh Shahani enters the New Year inspired by the various ideas he’s been exposed to in The Hague and Lavasa.

The time between December and January is the time to hit the ‘re’ button. Re-fresh. Re-start. Re-think. Re-imagine. One’s own self as well as the world around us. It is the time for new ideas. The year is just beginning and everything is possible. I decide to spend this time by taking a short learning break away from the Radia tapes, 2G scams, WikiLeaks and what have you.

My first stop is Amsterdam where I go to museum hop for exactly one day. My friends are surprised when I tell them that I’m not doing any weed, and that, yes, I’ve seen it but no, the red light district isn’t really my thing. “Well, you can’t really say you’re in Amsterdam,” declares a particularly wise one to me over Facebook.

I politely disagree. My visit is intensely enjoyable and I manage to pack in the Anne Frank House (very moving, especially if you’ve read the diary, and who hasn’t?), Rijksmuseum’s famed Rembrandt masterpieces as well as the Van Gogh Museum (indescribably moving, despite the line of tourists) all in one day. It helps that I am staying at the super luxurious Sofitel The Grand. The renovated 16th century royal guest house is full of heritage listed heirlooms showcasing Amsterdam’s history dating back to 1578, so my art tour continues even after I return from my outside excursions.

Not for too long, because I quickly have to rush to The Hague, where Nishant Shah and Sunil Abraham (who together run the Centre for Internet and Society in Bengaluru, and are in my mind, two of the smartest people living in India right now) have collaborated with the Dutch organisation Hivos to put together a thinkathon on ‘Digital Natives with a Cause?’ This is the third event in a series on technology, youth and engagement, that began in Taipei, moved on to Johannesburg, and will finally end in Santiago, Chile this coming February.

Nishant and Hivos’ fabulous Fieke Jansen set the tone by talking about why the question mark at the end of the title ‘Digital Natives for a Cause?’ is important. Can one think of digital natives as simply youth who have grown up with technology or can we include other older people within this term? What does it mean talking about digital natives and questions of transformation and change? What does it mean to even have a cause? Does a cause have to be framed in certain language? I discuss and debate all of this and much more with an incredible group of change-making activists, policy makers and artists from all over the world.

These include folks like Prabhas Pokherel from UNICEF Kosovo, Eddie Avila from Rising Voices Bolivia, Dorothy Okello from the Women of Uganda Network, and Simeon Oriko from the Kuyu Project in Kenya. I’m fascinated by all that they are doing. Kuyu, for instance, aims to teach young African students how to use various forms of social media to make a positive impact in their communities, through online Wikis, mobile phone networks and digital training camps. Nonkululekho Godana’s uniquely South African fashion sense catches my eye and we discuss shopping during the fun dinners, each of which is at a spectacular location in The Hague. Our thinkathon venue is the Museum of Communication, which itself is very special, with its talking installations and special multimedia galleries.

Being here gives me a chance to meet Sam Gregory from Witness, Peter Gabriel’s organisation and website that trains and equips individuals across the world to use video to document human right violations and effect change. I’ve been a big fan of what they’re doing ever since they started. It’s also great to hang out with Ushahidi’s Juliana Rotich, even if it’s only for a little while. Ushahidi develops free open source software for information collection, visualisation and interactive mapping that anyone can use to further their cause. For example, Vote Report India – that catalogued the 2009 general elections – was built on this platform.

I am extremely happy with the quality time I share with co-TED fellow Jasmeen Patheja. I’m sure that you’ve heard of her Blank Noise Project; it is a physical and virtual artistic intervention that aims at creating public awareness about eve teasing. See http://blog.blanknoise.org/ or the image of one of their Bengaluru park interventions that accompanies this column. Jasmeen has just returned from Tokyo where she’s been cataloguing Japanese women’s stories about harassment. Together, we roll our eyes at how similar men all over the world are!

At the thinkathon, a hot topic of discussion is slactivism or slacker activism that a lot of social media seems to be promoting. Is signing an online petition the same as protesting on the ground, in real life? How might we conceptualise a button clicker as an agent for social transformation? Beyond this, how might we engage digital natives in terms of policy-making processes?

I mull over all these questions on my crazy 30-hour journey from snow-bound The Hague to the artificially created city of Lavasa on the outskirts of Pune. Jetlagged as hell, I make it just in time for the first talk of the INK India conference. Compared to last year’s TED, I find everything to be smaller at INK, including the audience. The Bollywood night with Kunal Ganjawala, for instance, has about 20 people dancing in front of the stage as opposed to the 100 or so from last year. And, there are problems galore, with the poorly organised transportation, constantly crashing sound system, and general organisational chaos.

I’ve been a Lavasa sceptic ever since I heard about the project and now that I’m finally visiting, I see my worst fears have been realised. It feels like being on the set of the Truman show, with the fake looking lake, pastel coloured houses, and ever-smiling and possibly ever-afraid staff members. It seems like, at least to me, that they have been trained to not draw attention to themselves, to forcibly ‘invisibilise’ themselves, lest they prick the bubble of the middle-class fantasy of an idyllic foreign-like ‘home’. I continue to be surprised as to why the conference organisers would chose a location like this to host a conference that aims to showcase the best of innovation and knowledge. The court cases against Lavasa that are being flashed on the national news even while INK is taking place, don’t really help very much in making me change my views.

But despite the logistical hiccups and weird choice of location, INK still manages to score for me on the sheer power of its excellent speakers, and I’m glad to have been there. Where do I begin, even with the highlights? Should I tell you about James Cameron’s effortless charm, as he offers his 3D cameras to Indian filmmakers who might want to play with them? Deepak Chopra’s incredible mind on display making connections between the sub-atomic and the Vedic? Phillipe Starck’s sense of humour and his overall design genius that he wears so lightly on his oh-so French sleeves?

How about Jennifer Aaker’s incredible talk that begins with an emotional story about a bone marrow transplant, loops into a campaign to improve the number of registered South Asian bone marrow donors, and ends with her understanding of what happiness is? Or Matt Groening’s video of his father doing basketball throws, backward, while he tells us just why he named Homer Simpson’s character after him?

Just like with TED last year, the Indian speaker contingent is very inspiring. Toy inventor Arvind Gupta is a livewire on stage as he rapidly shows us one toy after the other, made from material like newspapers, old CDs, straws, matchsticks, and pencils. Clay innovator Mansukhbhai Prajapati shows us the clay filters and fridges that he makes for poor consumers in India that need such products but cannot afford their conventional avatars. Commonwealth 4x400 relay gold medallist Ashwini Akkunji recounts how her athletic career started out by running after cattle in her village in Karnataka. Conductor George Mathew talks about how a New York mugging in which he was almost beaten to death became a music lesson after his muggers found his metronome in his pocket.

Anand Kumar, founder of the ‘Super 30’ classes in Bihar that train impoverished rural youth to get into the IITs, gets a standing ovation. It is good to catch up with TED stars from last year like India’s youngest headmaster Babar Ali, who is continuing to scale up his school, or Sunita Krishnan, who has used her Google grant money to build an impressive centre for women survivors of violence.

However, my best talk is by Simon Lewis, who has produced films like Look Who’s Talking in Hollywood. Simon shares his personal story of a car crash that almost ended his life but set him off on a quest to rebuild both his mind and body, piece by piece, using technology and willpower every step of the way.

He has meticulously captured this journey in his book Rise and Shine, which you should read this year, if you can. I want to leave you with http://www.thevisualmd.com/, which is a website you should visit. INK speaker Alexander Tsiaras has shared his nine visual rules of wellness here. Check it out and see if you want to follow them in 2011. I certainly do.

Read the original here

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/news/refreshing-start

Knowledge Warriors

praskrishna — 2011-04-01T16:50:07Z

Dieci anni fa, quando Jimmy "Jumbo" Wales lanciò l'idea di una piattaforma della conoscenza partecipativa e plurilingue, di tipo enciclopedico, basata sul web, pochi erano pronti a raccoglierla. L'industria della conoscenza era rigidamente divisa tra chi la produceva, chi la fruiva e chi mediava tra i due gruppi.

Scostarsi da questa struttura sembrava assurdo. Eppure Wikipedia è uno dei siti web più grandi del mondo, con oltre 17 milioni di articoli e 365 milioni di lettori in 262 lingue. Basata sulla semplice idea che la conoscenza sia un patrimonio comunitario piuttosto che individuale, Wikipedia ha invitato chiunque avesse accesso a internet a contribuire a rafforzare le proprie conoscenze attraverso un processo di discussione, costruzione del consenso e collaborazione. A differenza di una normale enciclopedia, forte del suo battaglione di "guerrieri del sapere", Wikipedia si affida ai normali utenti, che utilizzano il potere dell'informazione online per «totalizzare la somma della conoscenza umana».

A un decennio dal suo inizio, la battaglia nata intorno a Wikipedia non si placa. I suoi partigiani esaltano la democratizzazione del sapere e la sfida al regime capitalista dei diritti di proprietà intellettuale che Wikipedia rappresenta. I suoi detrattori, invece, la identificano con nuove concentrazioni di potere, un'ingiusta rappresentazione delle voci alternative e l'appiattimento delle complesse relazioni tra l'umanità e l'informazione. Seguiamo queste guerre-Wiki per vedere quali lezioni possiamo trarne per il futuro del nostro mondo sempre più Wikificato.

01 – stabilire un punto di vista critico

La neutralità del punto di vista (Npv) è uno dei capisaldi teorici attraverso cui Wikipedia garantisce la solidità delle sue informazioni e la governance delle sue comunità. Anziché cercare la "Verità", Wikipedia promuove la "Verificabilità", per cui solo quelle idee che sono già state documentate altrove, e che possono essere addotte come prova, hanno diritto di esistere nel suo universo. Le ricerche originali, le nuove idee, le incursioni artistiche e le risposte emotive non trovano spazio in questo scenario di informazione quasi piatto. La Npv mira a eliminare l'intenzione umana, il desiderio e l'investimento nella conoscenza, a favore di quanto è già documentato. Benché questo si sia dimostrato utile per risolvere dibattiti su argomenti particolarmente delicati o provocatori, non può essere una soluzione sostenibile a lungo termine.

Gli esseri umani non hanno un rapporto neutrale con la conoscenza. Come sostiene appassionatamente il guru della rete Geert Lovink, direttore dell'Institute of Network Cultures di Amsterdam: «La conoscenza, specialmente nella società dell'informazione, è potere e denaro. Wikipedia può professarsi neutrale, ma si tratta di una neutralità costruita e falsa. Cerca di nascondere i complessi meccanismi di potere che alla fine determinano quali tipi di conoscenza sono validi». A dispetto della sua prospettiva di completa inclusione e della sua ambizione, spesso Wikipedia viene definita cabalistica, basata su rituali, priva di una riflessione critica sul suo stesso rapporto con la conoscenza. Occorre riflettere criticamente sugli sforzi di rafforzare la conoscenza umana per individuare criteri che vadano oltre la neutralità e la verificabilità.

02 – superare la saggezza delle masse

Wikipedia resta uno dei più visitati siti a contenuto elaborato dagli utenti a livello mondiale. La sua struttura "Open Wiki" invita diversi attori umani e non umani (i "robot") a collaborare nella produzione e nella documentazione della conoscenza. L'esperimento condotto dalla rivista «Nature», che ha confrontato gli articoli scientifici dell'Enciclopedia Britannica con quelli di Wikipedia, ha evidenziato un livello di accuratezza e un tasso di "errori seri" simili.

Lo scienziato informatico e artista Jaron Lanier, nel libro Tu non sei un gadget, sostiene che il collettivismo online non è la soluzione giusta per documentare il sapere umano a lungo termine. Lanier afferma che l'ethos collettivista alla base di nuovi fenomeni culturali come Wikipedia in realtà riduce la qualità del prodotto finale. Parte dal principio che il design del software di piattaforme del tipo di Wikipedia produce «regole non modificabili» che portano a nuove forme di esclusione. Considera la saggezza delle masse uno strumento che dovrebbe essere usato strategicamente. Lanier contesta a Wikipedia di promuovere «il culto del dilettantismo», che rende le singole voci non essenziali – persino quelle degli esperti – e considera la saggezza collettiva più affidabile che non i tentativi rigorosi di trovare la verità e il significato.

Negli anni a venire bisognerà sottrarre la saggezza delle masse alle piattaforme che condizionano la partecipazione attraverso il design del software e dell'interfaccia. Bisognerà usarla come uno strumento piuttosto che come fine a se stessa.

03 – una svolta verso l'inclusione

Wikipedia, come incarnazione dello zeitgeist Free/Libre/Open Source (Floss), teoricamente abbraccia una cultura di apertura, inclusione e pluralismo. Il suo design tecnologico neutrale, che assicura il diritto di contribuire a chiunque abbia accesso a internet, trascura il fatto che il numero di persone che accedono a internet, globalmente, è molto basso. La mancanza di altre interfacce utilizzabili, tramite cellulari o altre forme di portable computing, fa sì che i contributori restino concentrati in specifiche parti del mondo. Johanna Niesyto, dell'Università di Seigen, nella sua tesi di dottorato afferma: «Il profilo demografico medio di un redattore di Wikipedia è quello di un maschio bianco appassionato di internet con una visione del mondo monoculturale e limitata, basata sulla razionalità occidentale». Le contributrici donne che si sono sentite silenziate dalla cultura tech maschile di Wikipedia hanno già creato spazi alternativi, come Wikichix.org.

Nonostante la sua ricerca di pluralismo, Wikipedia palesemente esclude quei processi, idee, culture e stili di vita che non rientrano nella mentalità razionale occidentale. Rifiuta altre forme di conoscenza tradizionali, effimere e orali. La popolarità di altre enciclopedie collaborative online come Baidu Baike in Cina, testimonia le implicite esclusioni del mondo di Wikipedia.

Perché Wikipedia diventi davvero inclusiva, dovrà dissociarsi dai monolitici standard culturali, morali e politici della civiltà dominante e imparare ad arricchirsi di sfumature, diventando più sensibile e pluralista per facilitare davvero la partecipazione e la diversità, a livello di contenuto, design e governance.

04 – aprirsi alla resistenza

Wikipedia è l'incarnazione del grido di guerra, scaturito dall'euforia tecnologica, per una società aperta che dovrebbe mettere l'individuo in condizioni di sfuggire alla tirannia dello stato e dei mercati. Tuttavia il cyber-realista Evgeny Morozov, dell'Università di Stanford, nel suo ultimo libro, The Net Delusion, afferma che tale cyber-utopia è frutto di «una fede naif nella natura emancipativa della comunicazione online, fondata su un ostinato rifiuto di riconoscere il suo lato negativo».

Nel quadro tracciato da Morozov, il "mainstreaming" di progetti tipo Wikipedia costituisce la fine del vero dibattito pubblico e dell'impegno politico. Con Wikipedia il dissenso è difficile. Qualsiasi intervento che violi le "Condizioni di Servizio" e dunque sfidi i presupposti fondamentali di Wikipedia, viene immediatamente "bannato" o contrastato legalmente.

Il progetto "Wikipedia Art", avviato dagli artisti Nathaniel Stern e Scott Kildall, si è scontrato con un problema simile. È iniziato come voce di Wikipedia supportata da una serie di blog e articoli scritti da un gruppo di collaborazione che appoggiava l'iniziativa. Il progetto artistico intendeva criticare e utilizzare le stesse strutture di autorità che davano autenticità alle voci di Wikipedia. Eppure l'iniziativa è stata rapidamente rimossa, all'inizio dalla comunità e successivamente dalle azioni legali intraprese dalla Fondazione Wikimedia, che gestisce Wikipedia.

Benché Wikipedia sostenga di essere uno spazio che sovverte i processi dominanti, non riesce ad accettare la resistenza e le sfide che muovono dalla più grande sfera digitale. Se vuole aderire alle originarie ideologie di internet, che avrebbe dovuto costruire un mondo di conoscenze libere e aperte, dovrà evolvere con il web, imparando ad accogliere e facilitare tali sovvertimenti.

Wikipedia resta un autentico fenomeno storico che ha cambiato il modo in cui ci confrontiamo con l'informazione e la conoscenza nel quotidiano. Ha contribuito a mettere radicalmente in discussione la logica del tardo capitalismo e della proprietà intellettuale che ha governato l'industria della conoscenza, producendo strutture di esclusione e dominio. Tuttavia, nel celebrare il suo decimo compleanno, è ora di evolvere verso un futuro in cui la Wikificazione del mondo si confronti realisticamente con le necessità di equità, pluralismo e apertura rappresentate da progetti come Wikipedia. (traduzione di Elisa Comito)

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For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/news/guerrieri-del-sapere

Digital Natives with a Cause? - Workshop in Chile seeks participants

praskrishna — 2011-04-01T16:50:30Z

The third and final workshop in the Digital Natives with a Cause? research project will take place in Santiago, Chile, from the 8 to 10 February. An open call for participation follows.

As the Internet and digital technologies become more widespread, the world is shrinking: we are constantly connected to our contexts, our people, our cultures and our networks. And you, yes YOU are a part of this change. In fact, as a digital native– someone to whom digital technologies are central to life – you are directly affecting the lives of many, sometimes even without knowing about it.

The Centre for Internet and Society and Hivos in collaboration with Rising Voices is calling out to young users of technology to join a global conversation. The 3-day workshop titled “From Face to Interface” will focus on how youth utilize new platforms, media and spaces of communication and expression in the digital age. If you have used digital technologies to make your voice heard, to express your opinion in creative ways or to create new knowledge online, we want to hear from you. These can be stories where you have used a mobile phone, GPS or PDA to access the Internet and reduce the online-offline divide, stories where you accessed interactive platforms like user-generated content websites, stories where the use of technology has become part of your identity, or stories where you have been part of a collaborative method of research, production, shared learning process, participation network etc.

We invite you to share your perspectives in an informal conversation along people with similar approaches from neighboring communities. The workshop is open to applicants from, in and around Latin America and the Caribbean who are interested in an interactive and engaging dialogue that marks the beginning of the “Digital Natives with a Cause?” research inquiry into the region.

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For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/news/dn-workshop-in-chile

Accessibility in Telecommunications

praskrishna — 2011-11-08T08:08:49Z

CIS seeks to gather information about the accessibility of telecommunications products and services for persons with disabilities and elderly persons in India.

Given below are the links to two questionnaires:

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/accessibility-telecommunications

Privacy Matters — Conference Report

praskrishna — 2011-01-27T10:22:55Z

A one-day conference on Privacy Matters was held on Sunday, 23 January 2011 at the National University of Juridical Sciences (NUJS) Law School in Kolkata. This was the first of a series of eleven conferences on ‘privacy’ that Privacy India is scheduled to host in different Indian cities from January to June this year. Members of Parliament, Sri Manoj Bhattacharya from the Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) and Sri Nilotpal Basu from the Communist Party of India (Marxist) CPI (M) spoke in the conference. Students, the civil society and lawyers also participated in it.

Introduction

The conference was held to discuss elements of the privacy legislation that has been proposed to the Parliament of India, and the UID Bill and project. The conference focused on the tensions between privacy and society that exist in India today, and acted as a space for opinion sharing and discussion. Privacy India which was formed under the auspices of Privacy International, a UK based organization that works to protect the right of privacy around the world, the Centre for Internet and Society (CIS), an NGO based in Bangalore, and Society in Action Group (SAG), an NGO based in Delhi joined hands to host this event.

Rajan Gandhi, founder of SAG opened the conference with an explanation of the mandate of Privacy India, the objective of which is of raising awareness, sparking civil action and promoting democratic dialogue around privacy challenges and violations in India. One of Privacy India's goals is to build consensus towards the promulgation of comprehensive privacy legislation in India through consultations with the public, legislators and the legal and academic community.

Keynote

The keynote speech was delivered by Dr. Sudhir Krishnaswamy professor of law and governance. Dr. Krishnaswamy began by outlining the present situation of privacy in India. The right to privacy has been read into Sections 19 and 21 of the Constitution of India through case law, which has defined privacy — among other things — as the right to personal autonomy, the right against unreasonable search and seizure, and as a fundamental right that is critical to the person, but does not supersede public or national interest. Dr. Krishnaswamy also raised many intriguing questions including: what does privacy mean to India — is it linked to a person’s dignity and their honour? Or is it purely concerned with misappropriation of information, and further is privacy in India an issue of the individual or an issue of the family and the community? He also described the philosophical groundings of privacy as being in the right to dignity, the right to autonomy, and the misappropriation of information.

Privacy Challenges

The conference was spread into three sessions. In the first session Prashant Iyengar, head researcher of the project at Privacy India, spoke about the challenges that India specifically is facing in shaping a privacy legislation including: the need to balance the right to information/transparency and privacy, the need to create a definition of privacy that does not exclude lower classes and is not a negative right, but instead a positive right, and the problem of ubiquitous surveillance that is happening in society today. Elonnai Hickok, policy analyst at Privacy India, spoke specifically on wire tapping, and the Nira Radia tapes. In her presentation she first outlined other countries definitions of privacy which include: the right to be left alone, the protection from unauthorized searches, and the right to control information about oneself through consent. Using the case study of Nira Radia and Ratan Tata she spoke about the rising concern of wire tapping in the country as being indicative of a social change and relationship of the state and government. Elonnai also raised questions concerning whether privacy should be made inversely proportional to public figures, and if public interest will always supersede the private right of individuals.

UID and Privacy

The second session of the conference focused on the UID Bill and privacy. Presentations from NUJS student Amba Kak and Sai Vinod raised concerns about the UID project and privacy. Their presentation also compared and contrasted identity schemes of other countries with the UID. A few similarities that they found amongst all scheme were: the collection of data, the processing of data, and the storing of data. Deva Prasad from the National Law School of Bangalore presented on constitutional elements of the UID scheme ranging from loopholes in the Bill to connections that can be made when the UID Bill is placed in the larger picture. Sri Manoj Bhattacharya (MP) from RSP voiced his concerns of the UID, and emphasized that by giving an individual a number which acts as their fundamental identity which they use to function in society, the government in fact is eroding an individual’s actual identity, and that is an invasion of privacy. Sri Nilotpal Basu (MP) from CPI (M) spoke out strongly against the UID, voicing that his greatest concern with the UID is that it will be a way for corporate bodies to target individuals as consumers, and that privacy legislation could be used as a way for corporate bodies to hide from the public eye.

Conclusion

In the concluding session the floor was opened up to the public for questions and opinion sharing. Many participants shared what they believed needed to be included in privacy legislation, and what issues a privacy legislation needs to address. A few of these include: privacy rights and the media, privacy and the right to information, the privacy rights of minorities, and the privacy rights of the government. Also types of regulatory models for privacy were discussed. For instance, should privacy in India be represented and protected through a data protection law, or should privacy be seen as a fundamental right to privacy? Should privacy be represented through a broad framework, or through sector specific statutes? What should the redressal and enforcement mechanisms look like?

As seen from the presentations and the comments at the conference one thing which is clear is that privacy is an issue that concerns every person in India. Over the next six months Privacy India will be conducting ten more conferences in different Indian cities to engage the public in dialogues of privacy and raise awareness around the issues of privacy. The next workshop will be held on 5 February 2011 in Bangalore.

Download the conference summary here

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/privacy/privacy-nujsconference-summary

Wiki changes the world

praskrishna — 2012-01-03T10:23:38Z

A fortnightly column on ‘Digital Natives’ authored by Nishant Shah is featured in the Sunday Eye, the national edition of Indian Express, Delhi, from September 2010 onwards. This article was published in the Indian Express on January 23, 2011. In this Nishant Shah explains how Wiki changes the world by making the ordinary person the expert and knowledge free.

If you have a question, where do you go? To books? To encyclopaedias? To knowledgeable friends? To experts in that field? The quest for knowledge is not easy. Often, we encounter false leads and reach dead ends. We often find ourselves dependent on vanguards and bearers of knowledge. The knowledge industry, which includes academia, schools, universities, libraries, archives, etc. have created labels that define consumers, producers and mediators of knowledge.

What do you do with the answer of a question? You generally store it in your memory. If it is an answer that you are searching for collaboratively, you share it with the concerned people. If you are meticulous and like to archive information, you probably write it down in a big brown book. But for many of us, we see our relationship with knowledge as one of consumption. Books, and indeed columns like this one, are written by “experts”.

If you have an answer, but nobody is asking you the question, what do you do with it? This was the question that Jimmy Wales, asked a decade ago. He then thought of starting a web-based, collaborative platform for knowledge production — now known as Wikipedia. Working on an open structure, Wikipedia invites anybody with internet access to start contributing and consolidating their knowledge through a process of discussion, consensus-building and collaboration. Unlike a regular encyclopaedia with its army of knowledge warriors, Wikipedia depends on everyday users who harness the power of information to bring together the “sum total of human knowledge”. In 10 years, Wikipedia has become the de facto global reference point for dynamic knowledge and boasts of more than 17 million articles with more than 365 million readers in 263 language editions.

For digital natives, the growth of Wikipedia illustrates the changing ways in which digital natives are learning and engaging with knowledge, both inside and outside of formal education.

Knowledge is a process

Digital natives, who contribute to Wikipedia and learn from it, know that there is more to knowledge than what is on the surface. While the entries on Wikipedia serve as a fount of information, it is layered by discussions, edit-wars, and processes of mediation that produce objective content. For young users of Wikipedia, the ability to question the content, the protocols of producing neutral evidence, and the often intense discussions, establish an intimate relationship with knowledge.

They look at knowledge as fluid, as open to contention and produced through multiple perspectives. In the world of user-generated content, knowledge is seen as a process of engagement rather than as an object to be mechanically consumed. Hence, it is not uncommon to see digital natives encountering information online — on platforms like Wikipedia, but also on blogs and discussion forums — expressing opinions and challenging the content when it does not fit their experience of that information.

Your experiences are also knowledge

One of the most important lessons that Wikipedia teaches a digital native, is that knowledge is not authored only by people with the backing of institutions. While there are some systems of knowledge which require formal training, there is a huge value in everyday and lived experiences. Encyclopaedias discriminate between different kinds of knowledge — Shakespeare’s work might find an entry in almost all of these, but the 16-year-old writer who has a larger readership than Shakespeare might easily be excluded. However, on Wikipedia, any realm of the cultural, political or social that is relevant and significantly affects our everyday life finds space and detailed research. This translation of lived experience into knowledge is new and opens up ways of producing alternative and plural knowledge systems around objects, people, events and ideas that shape the world.

It is open to all

Digital natives who have grown up in the Wikified world have also experienced information as something that belongs to a larger community. They don’t even espouse it as an ideology, but often think of knowledge as open and residing within digital public commons. In their multiple roles as bearers, producers, and consumers of knowledge, they are used to remixing, sharing and disseminating knowledge into a wider ecology. The analogue regimes of intellectual property and copyright do not make sense to them in a medium that is intuitively made for copying, sharing and owning knowledge collaboratively.

In the largely Wikifying world that we live in, the notions of what constitutes knowledge, how one accesses knowledge and how people interact with it is undergoing radical change. And the digital natives are silently but significantly shaping new ways of imagining knowledge processes, proving to us that the pen might be mightier than the sword, but the click trumps them both.

Original article was published by the Indian Express

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/digital-natives/blog/wiki-world

Privacy Matters Conference Agenda

praskrishna — 2011-01-14T11:45:37Z

The "Privacy Matters" conference is taking place on Sunday January 23rd, at NUJS Law school at 10:30. It is a full day event that will discuss the challenges and concerns of privacy in India. Below is the agenda for the event. We look forward to your participation and attendance.

Privacy Matters agenda

January 23, 2011 NUJS

10:30 – 4:30 P.M.

Time:

10:30 - 11:00

Welcome

Who is PI
What are our objectives
Why is privacy important in India

11:00 - 11:30

Keynote

Sudhir Krishnaswamy

11:30 - 11: 45

Tea Break

11:45 - 1:00

Session I

Personal privacy: violations and Indian legislation that addresses these violations
Informational privacy: violations and Indian legislation that addresses these violations
What is the existing vacuum in Indian legislation in concern to privacy

1:00 -2:00

Lunch

2:00 - 3:30

Session II

Identity and privacy: why does it matter
International approaches to identity
The UID and Privacy

3:30 - 3:45

Tea Break

3:45 - 4:30

Session III

Open discussion and opinion sharing

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/privacy/privacy-privacymattersagenda

Rising Voices Seeks Micro-Grant Proposals for Citizen Media Outreach

praskrishna — 2011-08-04T10:36:50Z

Rising Voices is seeking project proposals from non-governmental organizations (NGOs) or individuals for funding of up to $4,000 USD for digital media outreach projects around the world. Application Deadline: Friday, February 4, 2011 at 11:59 PM GMT.

It has been more than three years since Rising Voices began with a simple mandate: to help bring new voices from underrepresented communities to the global conversation through the use of citizen media. We have been accomplishing that by providing microgrant funding, as well as technical and mentoring support to our grantee communities. Ever since the first microgrant competition was announced in May 2007, we have provided seed funding to 24 projects from around the world to help turn their ideas into reality. The diversity of these grantee projects has made Rising Voices a unique place on the web to have a firsthand look at places around the world, such as Tamatave, Madagascar and Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, through the first-person accounts of these new bloggers.

Beginning on January 11th, 2011, Rising Voices is launching the latest round of microgrant funding and is now accepting project proposals from non-governmental organizations (NGOs) or individuals for funding of up to $4,000 USD for digital media outreach projects around the world. Ideal applicants will present innovative and detailed proposals to teach citizen media techniques to underrepresented communities that are poorly positioned to discover and take advantage of tools like blogging, video-blogging, or podcasting on their own.

Who is Eligible to Apply

This funding opportunity is open to both NGOs and private individuals. However, if an NGO does not have experienced citizen media trainers on their staff, it is extremely important that they seek collaboration with the local blogging community to find the right trainer(s) with the necessary skills. On the other hand, it would also be highly beneficial for individual applicants to partner with an existing NGO from the communities they plan to serve in order to strengthen the project's impact.

What Kind of Projects May be Funded

Rising Voices seeks project proposals that share our mission of bringing voices from new communities, as well as underrepresented language groups to the online global conversation through the use of citizen media. The projects' primary activities should be to provide citizen media training workshops to the target community, as well as ongoing support and mentoring to the participants. Please see our roster of current and alumni grantee projects for examples of previously funded projects.

Examples of potential projects include:

Distributing flip video cameras to local residents to help map and document environmental issues affecting the area and to propose solutions.
Partnering with a local library with a computer lab to train youth how to record and document the history of their local neighborhood by using mp3 recorders to interview local elders.
Organizing blogging workshop for local artisans to help them market their work online, but also tell the story and history of their handicrafts.
Distributing $10 digital cameras to two different groups in different neighborhoods and create a Flickr group where they interact with each other's photographic perspectives of their city.

Application Process

Interested applicants should complete the online proposal application form (link here), which should also include a detailed budget. If you would like to download the application questions to complete offline in order to upload later, please download the text document here (PDF format). While we welcome and encourage projects from all corners of the global, all applications must be completed in English.

Online Application Form

Rising Voices outreach grants will range from $2,000-4,000 USD. Please be as thoughtful, specific, and realistic as possible when drafting your budgets. Applicants are encouraged to submit budgets for less than the maximum $4,000 USD as smaller grants allow us to fund more projects.

The application deadline is February 4th, 2011 at 11:59 PM GMT. All applicants will receive a confirmation email indicating that we have received your proposal. The proposals will be reviewed by a committee of Global Voices staff and volunteers, as well as members of previous Rising Voices grantees. We will announce the grant recipients by February 28, 2011.

Expectations of Successful Grantees

Successful projects will be prominently featured on the Global Voices networks. Grantees will be required to sign a grant agreement, which will outline accounting, reporting, and other terms and conditions regarding how funds will be distributed. Grantees will also be required to post regular project updates to the Rising Voices website, be in regular communication with Rising Voices staff, as well as actively participate in the Rising Voices community.

Feel free to ask questions in the comments section below or by sending an email to eddie [at] globalvoicesonline [dot] org.

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For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/digital-natives/blog/proposals-for-citizen-media-outreach

Getting Connected

praskrishna — 2011-04-01T17:03:14Z

Nishant Shah of the Centre for Internet & Society talks about the growing adoption of social media, and what can constitute a "social media network"

See the video in livemint here

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/news/social-media