Centre for Internet and Society

Bios and Photos of Speakers for Big Data in the Global South International Workshop

praskrishna — 2015-11-06T02:01:15Z

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/big-data-global-south-international-workshop-bios-and-photos.pdf

ଭୁବନେଶ୍ୱରରେ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଉଇକିପାଠାଗାରର ପ୍ରଥମ ଜନ୍ମତିଥି ପାଳନ

praskrishna — 2015-12-15T08:08:56Z

News about the Odia Wikisource's 1st anniversary, published in Odia-language web portal Odia Pua on October 25, 2015.

ଭୁବନେଶ୍ୱର 25-10 (ଓଡ଼ିଆ ପୁଅ) ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଉଇକିପାଠାଗାର ଇଣ୍ଟରନେଟରେ https://or.wikisource.org ଠାରେ ଉପଲବ୍ଧ ଏକ ଖୋଲା ଅନଲାଇନ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ପାଠାଗାର। ଏହା ସ୍ୱେଚ୍ଛାସେବୀମାନଙ୍କ ଦେଇ ପରିଚାଳିତ ଓ ଏଥିରେ ଅନେକ ଉପାଦେୟ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ବହି ବିଶେଷ କରି କପିରାଇଟ ସରିଯାଇଥିବା ବହିସବୁ ଇଣ୍ଟରନେଟରେ ପଢ଼ିବା ପାଇଁ ମିଳିଥାଏ। ଗତ ବର୍ଷ ଅକ୍ଟୋବର ୨୦ ତାରିଖରେ ଜନ୍ମ ନେଇଥିବା ଏହି ପ୍ରକଳ୍ପକୁ ଏହି ମାତ୍ର ବର୍ଷେ ପୂରିବା ଭିତରେ ୨୧୯ ଖଣ୍ଡ ବହି ଏଥିରେ ଡିଜିଟାଲ ରୂପ ନେଇସାରିଲାଣି। ଆସନ୍ତା କାଲି (୨୫ ତାରିଖ) ୫ ଘଟିକା ସମୟରେ ଭୁବନେଶ୍ୱର ସ୍ଥିତ ଇନଷ୍ଟିଚ୍ୟୁଟ ଅନ ମ୍ୟାନେଜମେଣ୍ଟ ଅଫ ଆଗ୍ରିକଲଚରାଲ ଏକ୍ସଟେନସନ (ଇମେଜ) ଠାରେ ଏହାର ପ୍ରଥମ ଜନ୍ମତିଥି ପାଳିତ ହେବାକୁ ଯାଉଛି। ଏହି ଅବସରରେ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଉଇକିମିଡ଼ିଆ ସଂଘ ତରଫରୁ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଭାଷା ଓ ପାଠାଗାର ଆନ୍ଦୋଳନରେ ଆଗ୍ରହୀ ସଭିଙ୍କୁ ପ୍ରକଳ୍ପର ପରିଚାଳକ ମୃତ୍ୟୁଞ୍ଜୟ କର ଆମନ୍ତ୍ରଣ କରିଛନ୍ତି। ଏଥିରେ ସେ ଓ ସହକର୍ମୀ ଶୁଭାଶିଷ ପାଣିଗ୍ରାହୀ ଉଇକିପାଠାଗାର ସମ୍ବନ୍ଧରେ ଏକ ସବିଶେଷ ବିବରଣି ପ୍ରଦାନ କରିବେ। ୧୮୫୦ରୁ ୧୯୫୦ ଭିତରେ ଛପା ସମସ୍ତ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ପତ୍ରପତ୍ରିକା ସମେତ ପାଖାପାଖି ଦେଢ଼ଲକ୍ଷ ବହି ଡିଜିଟାଇଜ କରିଥିବା ବିଜ୍ଞାନ ଓ ଗବେଷଣା ଅନୁଷ୍ଠାନ "ସୃଜନିକା" ତରଫରୁ ଡ ପୁଷ୍ପଶ୍ରୀ ପଟ୍ଟନାୟକ ଏଥିରେ ସୃଜନିକାର ଲମ୍ବା ଯାତ୍ରା ବାବଦରେ ଏକ ଅଭିଭାଷଣ ରଖିବେ। ଏହା ପରେ ପ୍ରଫେସର ଯତୀନ ନାୟକଙ୍କ ଅଧ୍ୟକ୍ଷତାରେ "ଓଡ଼ିଆରେ ଡିଜିଟାଲ ପାଠାଗାର ଆନ୍ଦୋଳନ" ବାବଦରେ ହେବାକୁ ଥିବା ଏକ ଆଲୋଚନାଚକ୍ରରେ ସମଦୃଷ୍ଟି ଅନୁଷ୍ଠାନ ତରଫରୁ ସୁଧିର ପଟ୍ଟନାୟକ ଓ ଶିକ୍ଷାସନ୍ଧାନ ତରଫରୁ ଅନୀଲ ପ୍ରଧାନ ଯୋଗଦେବେ। ଉଇକିମିଡ଼ିଆ ଫାଉଣ୍ଡେସନର ଅନେକ ପ୍ରକଳ୍ପ ମଧ୍ୟରୁ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଉଇକିପାଠାଗାର ଏକ ଓ ଏହା ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଉଇକିପିଡ଼ିଆର ଏକ ସହଯୋଗୀ ପ୍ରକଳ୍ପ। ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଭାଷା, ସାହିତ୍ୟ ଓ ପାଠାଗାର ଆନ୍ଦୋଳନରେ ଏହା ଏକ ସକ୍ରିୟ ଭୂମିକା ନିର୍ବାହ କରିବାକୁ ଯାଉଛି। "ଅନେକ ରଚନା ତାଳପତ୍ରରେ ଓ ପୁସ୍ତକ ଆକାରରେ ଲିପିବଦ୍ଧ ହୋଇଥିଲେ ମଧ୍ୟ ଧୀରେ ଧୀରେ କାଳ ଗର୍ଭରେ ସେଗୁଡ଼ିକ ଲୋପ ପାଇଯାଉଛନ୍ତି। ଇଣ୍ଟରନେଟରେ ଆମ ଭାଷାର ମୁଲ୍ୟଭାନ ଅନେକ ରଚନା ଡିଜିଟାଇଜ କରି ଦୀର୍ଘକାଳ ନିମନ୍ତେ ରକ୍ଷା କରିବା ଓ ସାଇତି ରଖିବା ଆମର ପ୍ରଚେଷ୍ଟା", କହନ୍ତି ଜଣେ ସକ୍ରିୟ ଉଇକିଆଳି ଡ ସୁବାସଚନ୍ଦ୍ର ରାଉତ। ଇଂରାଜୀରେ ଏହା ଉଇକିସୋର୍ସ ନାମରେ ଜଣା ଓ ୨୦୦୫ରୁ ଆରମ୍ଭ ହୋଇଥିଲେ ମଧ୍ୟ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଉଇକିପାଠାଗାର ମାତ୍ର ଏକ ବର୍ଷ ହେଲା ଏହି ଦିଗରେ ସଶ୍ରମ ପ୍ରଚେଷ୍ଟା ଜାରି ରଖିଛି। ସ୍ୱେଚ୍ଛାସେବୀମାନଙ୍କ ଅକୁଣ୍ଠ ଶ୍ରମ ପ୍ରଦାନ ଫଳରେ ସ୍ଵତ୍ତ୍ଵାଧିକାର ବାଧା ନ ଥିବା ଅନେକ ପୁସ୍ତକ ଡିଜିଟାଇଜ ହୋଇ ଉଇକିପାଠାଗାର ପୃଷ୍ଠା ମଣ୍ଡନ କରୁଛନ୍ତି।

Read the original here.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/news/b2db41b2cb28b47b36b4db71b30b30b47-b13b21b3cb3fb06-b09b07b15b3fb2ab3eb20b3eb17b3eb30b30-b2ab4db30b25b2e-b1cb28b4db2eb24b3fb25b3f-b2ab3eb33b28

Odia Wikisource to Hold 1st Anniversary

praskrishna — 2015-12-15T08:09:54Z

Odia Wikisource, a sister project of Odia Wikipedia and a free online Odia-language library will celebrate its first anniversary at the Indian Institute of Management of Agricultural Extension (IMAGE), Siripur here on Monday.

Available online at or.wikisource.org, it not just provides readers to free and open access to text that are out of copyright or available under free license, but also allows them to contribute in either digitizing copyright-free text or correcting mistakes made by others.

"Last year the Wikimedia community in Odisha did a remarkable job in bringing as many as 141 books by multiple authors relicensed under free licenses like CC-BY/CC-SA", said Centre for Internet and Society's Programme Officer Subhashish Panigrahi.

Odia Wikisource administrator Mrutyunjaya Kar has invited everyone to join the event.

This was published by Pioneer on October 26, 2015.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/news/pioneer-october-26-2015-odia-wikisource-to-hold-1st-anniversary

Odia Wikisource Celebrates 1st Anniversary this 25th October

praskrishna — 2015-12-15T08:10:22Z

ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଉଇକିପାଠାଗାର ୧ମ ଜନ୍ମତିିଥି (Odia Wikisource’s 1st anniversary):

ଆଗାମୀ ୨୫ ତାରିଖ ଦିନ ଇଣ୍ଟରନେଟରେ ଉପଲବ୍ଧ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ପାଠାଗାର “ଉଇକିପାଠାଗାର”କୁ ବର୍ଷେ ପୂରିବାକୁ ଯାଉଛି । ଏଥି ନିମନ୍ତେ ଆମେ ଭୁବନେଶ୍ୱରରେ ପାଳୁଛୁ ଉଇକିପାଠାଗାରର ପ୍ରଥମ ଜନ୍ମତିଥି । ଆଉ ଏ ଉତ୍ସବରେ ଯୋଗଦେବା ଲାଗି ଆପଣଙ୍କୁ ରହିଲା ବିନୀତ ମାଗୁଣି, ଆସିବେ ନିଶ୍ଚେ । ଅଧିକ କିଛି ଜାଣିବାକୁ ଚାହିଁଲେ ଆମ ସହ odiawiki@gmail ରେ ମେଲ ଯୋଗେ ଯୋଗାଯୋଗ କରିପାରିବେ । ଧନ୍ୟବାଦ!

This was published by Bhubaneswar (Buzz) on October 24, 2015.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/news/bhubaneswarbuzz-odia-wikisource-celebrates-1st-anniversary-this-25th-october

ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଉଇକିପାଠାଗାରର ଆବଶ୍ୟକତା ସମାଜ

praskrishna — 2015-12-15T08:11:10Z

In a nutshell, it not just provides free and open access to readers to access text that are out of copyright or available under free license, but also allows them to contribute in either digitizing copyright-free text or correcting mistakes made by others. All the contributors to the project are volunteers and are fondly called "uikiali" in Odia. These volunteers follow certain guidelines to check through the content digitized by others to make sure there is no copyrighted text posing copyright violation, correct typos and other grammatical mistakes and incorrect attribution. Authors and copyright holders are also encouraged to provide permission in re-licensing their work under free licenses like CC-BY/CC-by-SA licenses so that some of their content becomes available online and fill the large gap of the Odia books online to some extent. "Last year, the Wikimedia community in Odisha did a remarkable job in bringing as many as 141 books from multiple authors relicensed under the above mentioned licenses" said the Centre for Internet and Society's Programme Officer Subhashish Panigrahi. "Where we, as an institution, could play a role in reaching out to many authors and convincing them for a small contribution to the society" added Panigrahi.

Click to read the full story published by Full Odisha on October 25, 2015.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/news/b13b21b3cb3fb06-b09b07b15b3fb2ab3eb20b3eb17b3eb30b30-b06b2cb36b4db5fb15b24b3e-b38b2eb3eb1c

Odia Language Classics could Now be Read from Phones, Tablets and of course from Computers!

praskrishna — 2015-12-15T08:12:54Z

Odia Wikisource, a sister project of Odia Wikipedia and a free online Odia-language library is celebrating its first anniversary in Bhubaneswar tomorrow. Available online at or.wikisource.org, the project finally went live in last year on October 20 after being incubated over two years. In a nutshell, it not just provides free and open access to readers to access text that are out of copyright or available under free license, but also allows them to contribute in either digitizing copyright-free text or correcting mistakes made by others.

The article published by Orissadairy on October 25, 2015 quotes Subhashish Panigrahi.

All the contributors to the project are volunteers and are fondly called “uikiali” in Odia. These volunteers follow certain guidelines to check through the content digitized by others to make sure there is no copyrighted text posing copyright violation, correct typos and other grammatical mistakes and incorrect attribution.

Authors and copyright holders are also encouraged to provide permission in re-licensing their work under free licenses like CC-BY/CC-by-SA licenses so that some of their content becomes available online and fill the large gap of the Odia books online to some extent. “Last year, the Wikimedia community in Odisha did a remarkable job in bringing as many as 141 books from multiple authors relicensed under the above mentioned licenses” said the Centre for Internet and Society's Programme Officer Subhashish Panigrahi. “Where we, as an institution, could play a role in reaching out to many authors and convincing them for a small contribution to the society” added Panigrahi.

Pankajmala Sarangi, the most active contributor to the project elaborated saying, there is a great dearth of Odia books online. I try to buy some time from personal and office time to continue my contribution. Afterall, I started from an all time Odia classic “Cha'mana Athaguntha” by Fakir Mohan Senapati”. Many important books that are out of copyright are making their appearance on the Odia Wikisource. “Wikisource is different than Wikipedia as the former is published writing reublished online where on Wikipedia it is more of aggregating information published elsewhere in an encyclopaedic manner”, says Dr. Subas Chandra Rout, a long time Wikimedian.

Odia Wikisource's administrator Mrutyunjaya Kar welcomes everyone taking interest in Odia library movement in particular and Odia language in general to join this event that is being held at the Institute on Management of Agricultural Extension (IMAGE), Siripura, Bhubaneswar at 5 pm tomorrow.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/news/orissadiary-october-25-2015-odia-language-classics-could-now-be-read-from-phones-tablets-and-computers

Odia Wikisource to Celebrate its First Anniversary Tomorrow!

praskrishna — 2015-12-15T08:14:16Z

Odia Wikisource, a sister project of Odia Wikipedia and a free online Odia language library, will celebrate its first anniversary in Odisha capital tomorrow.

The article was published in Odisha Sun Times on October 25, 2015.

Scheduled to be held at the Institute on Management of Agricultural Extension (IMAGE) in Siripura at 5 PM, the open to all event would welcome everyone taking interest in Odia library movement in particular and Odia language in general, as per a press release issued by Odia Wikisource.

It may be noted that the project, available online at or.wikisource.org, went live on October 20, 2014 after being incubated for over two years. It not only provides free and open access to readers to text that are out of copyright or available under free license, but also allows them to contribute in either digitizing copyright-free text or correcting mistakes made by others.

“Wikisource is different than Wikipedia as the former is published writing republished online where on Wikipedia it is more of aggregating information published elsewhere in an encyclopaedic manner,” explained Subas Chandra Rout, a long time Wikimedian.

All the contributors to the project are volunteers and are fondly called ‘uikiali’ in Odia. These volunteers follow certain guidelines to check through the content digitized by others to make sure there is no copyrighted text posing copyright violation, correct typing and other grammatical mistakes and incorrect attributions.

“Last year, the Wikimedia community in Odisha did a remarkable job in bringing in as many as 141 books from multiple authors relicensed under the above mentioned licenses. We, as an institution, played a role in reaching out to many authors and convincing them for a small contribution to the society,” said the Centre for Internet and Society’s Programme Officer Subhashish Panigrahi.

“There is a great dearth of Odia books online. I try to buy some time from personal and office time to continue my contribution. I started from an all time Odia classic ‘Chhamana Athaguntha’ by Fakir Mohan Senapati,” said Pankajmala Sarangi, the most active contributor to the project.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/news/odisha-sun-times-october-25-2015-odisha-wikisource-to-celebrate-its-first-anniversary-tommorrow

Leveraging Mobile Network Big Data for Development Policy: Opportunities & Challenges

praskrishna — 2015-12-16T01:31:11Z

Amber Sinha participated in this event held at IRDC, New Delhi on November 2, 2015. The event was organized by LIRNEasia.

As part of the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) distinguished lecture series, Sriganesh Lokanathan, Team Leader- Big Data Research at LIRNEasia gave a talk in Delhi (Ramalingaswami Conference Hall, International Development Research Centre, 208 Jor Bagh, New Delhi 110003) on Monday, 2nd November 2015. Sriganesh spoke on the topic of “Leveraging mobile network big data for developmental policy: opportunities & challenges.”

Program:

11.00 a.m.: Welcome and introductions: Dr. Anindya Chatterjee, Asia Regional Director, IDRC

11.05 a.m.: Talk by Mr Sriganesh Lokanathan, Team Leader, Big Data Research, LIRNEasia, Sri Lanka

11.40 a.m.: Discussions and Q & A

12.15 p.m.: Closing remarks: Phet Sayo, Senior Program Officer, IDRC

See the programme details published by LIRNEasia.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/leveraging-mobile-network-big-data-for-development-policy-opportunities-challenges

India and France to Digitise Manuscripts, Artworks & Archives

praskrishna — 2015-12-15T08:15:15Z

The Indian and French governments have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) which will assist in technical knowledge sharing, competency, skill building and cultural exchange between the two countries, as per a PIB release.

This was published by Medianama on October 29, 2015. CIS memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Goa University was mentioned.

The MoU will assist a program on digitisation of old manuscripts and documents, which began in France 7 years ago. The Ministry of Culture will benefit from this and build a national virtual library in India, which will store and share manuscripts, archives and artworks. This library will also link and share all knowledge resources from various Indian and French government institutes and organisations.

The French government is also keen on sorting and deciphering its collection of thousands of Indian documents in Sanskrit, Tamil and other Indian languages with the help of the Indian government, which also incidentally includes correspondence between Rabindranath Tagore and French scholar Sylvan Levin.

NMM digitised over 30 lakh manuscripts last year
In March, we reported that the 12 year old government body National Mission for Manuscripts (NMM) had digitised over thirty lakh manuscripts and 18,588,390 pages in all as of 31 December 2014. Mahesh Sharma, Union Minister of State for Culture, Tourism & Civil Aviation said that the National Archives of India (NAI) was set to digitise another 1,100,000 historic records.

Previous digitisation initiatives:

In November 2014, around 55 books written by the Indian author and activist Niranjana in Kannada would be digitized and made available on Kannada Wikisource, allowing Kannada speakers to access these books easily.
In October 2014, the Ministry of Culture launched a national portal for museums. Collections in all museums under its control and those under the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) will be digitized and presented on this portal.
In July 2014, the Department of Biotechnology and Department of Science and Technology released the draft of Open Access Policy under the Ministry of Science and Technology.
In September 2013, Goa University entered into a 3 year MoU with the Centre for Internet and Society for building the Konkani Wikipedia.
In June 2013, Tata Communications Media Services planned to digitize documents of historical and cultural significance such as films and documentaries from the archives of Doordarshan and Films Division of India which go back to 1947 including speeches of India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and other leaders.
In May 2013, Punjabi Sahitya Akademi Reference Lab scanned and saved around 1,000 manuscripts, stone-printed scripts, poetry books on computer hard discs, adding that the digitized editions will be available across the globe through the internet.

Check out our digitisation and government coverage.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/news/medianama-sneha-johari-october-29-2015-india-and-france-to-digitise-manuscripts-artworks-and-archives

October 2015 Bulletin

praskrishna — 2016-06-18T17:59:14Z

Our newsletter for the month of October is below.

The Centre for Internet & Society (CIS) is happy to share the tenth issue of CIS newsletter (October 2015). It has been a significant month for us. There have been crucial public debates on the violation of digital privacy of individuals and institutions, discussions on India’s national policy on access to knowledge rights, and re-examination of bans on access to internet services imposed by various state governments in India. CIS kept itself engaged with research on these topics from a public interest perspective. Previous editions of the newsletter can be accessed at http://cis-india.org/about/newsletters.

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Highlights
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NVDA team conducted a training programme in West Bengal in the month of September. Fourteen delegates attended the programme. Nirmal Verma was the trainer.
Nehaa Chaudhari authored an article that provides insights into the final draft of India’s National IPR Policy.
Odia Wikisource celebrated its first anniversary in Bhubaneswar. The event was prominently covered in various news channels. Subhashish Panigrahi wrote a blog post.

In 2013, the interview project “WikipediansSpeak” was launched in response to observations that many noteworthy Wikimedians were being underrepresented both locally and globally. For improving their visibility and reach, CIS-A2K interviewed Telugu Wikimedian Viswanadh B.K.

CIS initiated an effort to crowdsource incidents of violation of digital, online and telephonic privacy of persons and organizations in India and shared the full list of public incidents under CC-BY-SA international license.

Sunil Abraham wrote a column in the Week telling readers that internet of things phenomenon is based on a paradigm shift from thinking of the internet merely as a means to connect individuals, corporations and other institutions to an internet where all devices in (insulin pumps and pacemakers), on (wearable technology) and around (domestic appliances and vehicles) humans beings are connected.

Pranesh Prakash, Padmini Baruah and Jyoti Panday wrote a blog post that questions the division of the three IANA functions — names, numbers and protocols — given that there is no no real technical stability to be gained from a unified Post Transition IANA.

CIS analysed five main mailing lists where the IANA transition plan was formulated. The research found that the discussions around IANA transition have not been driven by the “global multi-stakeholder community”, but mostly by males from industry in North America and Western Europe.

In recent months, there was a spree of bans on access to Internet services in Indian states, for different reasons. State governments relied on Section 144 of Criminal Procedure Code for imposing the bans. Geetha Hariharan and Padmini Baruah in a blog post argued that Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, 2000 should be evoked if necessary and not that of the Criminal Procedure Code.
Zero Draft of the UN General Assembly's Overall Review of implementation of WSIS Outcomes was released on October 9. CIS responded to the call with its comments.
Shyam Ponappa’s monthly column published in the Business Standard talks about Digital India and the Prime Minister’s visit to the Silicon Valley.

CIS has announced the Internet Researchers’ Conference (IRC 2016), an annual conference series. The first edition is expected to take place from February 25 to 27, 2016 (yet to be confirmed). CIS invites you to propose sessions for the conference by Sunday, November 15, 2015.

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Accessibility and Inclusion
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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 here.

►NVDA and eSpeak

# Monthly Updates

October 2015 Report (Suman Dogra; October 31, 2015).

# Event Report

Training in use of eSpeak Bengali with NVDA (Organized by CIS; Turnstone Matruchaya, Siligudi, West Bengal; September 7 – 9, 2015). The report was published in the month of October.

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Access to Knowledge
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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.

►Pervasive Technologies

# Blog Entries

Compilation of Mobile Phone Patent Litigation Cases in India (Rohini Lakshané; March 15, 2015). This post was recently updated.
Comparison of National IPR Strategy September 2012, National IPR Strategy July 2014 and Draft National IP Policy, December 2014 (Amulya Purushothama; October 15, 2015).
National IPR Policy Series: Quick Observations on the Leaked Draft of the National IPR Policy (Nehaa Chaudhari; October 18, 2015).

# Participation in Event

IPEX 2015 (Organized by the Confederation of Indian Industry, APTDC and TDPC; September 25 - 26, 2015; Hotel Westin, Chennai). Rohini Lakshané attended the event.

►Wikipedia

As part of the project grant from the Wikimedia Foundation 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).

# Blog Entries

WikipediansSpeak: Telugu-language library catalog project helps Wikipedia grow (Subhashish Panigrahi; October 11, 2015). This was published on Wikimedia blog in two languages English and Ukranian.
A Kannada Wikipedia brochure for newbies (U.B. Pavanaja; October 19, 2015).
Odia Wikisource to Celebrate Its First Anniversary in Bhubaneswar (Subhashish Panigrahi; Mybhubaneswar.com; October 24, 2015).

# Op-ed

ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଉଇକିପାଠାଗାରର ଆବଶ୍ୟକତା (Need for an Odia-language Wikisource) (Subhashish Panigrahi; Samaja; October 25, 2015).

# Media Coverage

CIS gave its inputs to the following:

ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଉଇକିପାଠାଗାରର ଆବଶ୍ୟକତା ସମାଜ (Full Odisha.com; October 24, 2015).
Odia Wikisource celebrates 1st anniversary this 25th October (Bhubaneswar Buzz; October 24, 2015).
Odia Wikisource to celebrate its first anniversary tomorrow! (Odisha Sun Times; October 25, 2015).
Odia language classics could now be read from phones, tablets and of course from computers! (Orissadairy; October 25, 2015).
Odia Wikisource to Hold 1st Anniversary (Pioneer; October 26, 2015).
Otago Southland are the Coolest (Library and Information Association of New Zealand; October 26, 2015). The submission was accepted for Wikimania 2015.
India & France to digitise manuscripts, artworks & archives (Medianama; October 29, 2015).

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Internet Governance
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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.

►Big Data

# Article

Connected Trouble (Sunil Abraham; November 1, 2015).

# Upcoming Event

Big Data in the Global South International Workshop (Organized by Institute for Technology and Society of Rio de Janeiro; Hotel Windsor Florida, Rua Ferreira Viana, Flamengo, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; November 16 – 17, 2015). Sunil Abraham and Vipul Kharbanda will be speaking at this event.

►Privacy

# Blog Entries

Contestations of Data, ECJ Safe Harbor Ruling and Lessons for India (Jyoti Panday; October 14, 2015).
Crowdsourcing Incidents of Communication Privacy Violation in India (Sumandro Chattapadhyay; October 16, 2015).

# Event Organized

Communication Rights in the Age of Digital Technology (Organized by CIS; Deck Suite Hall, 5th Floor, Habitat Centre, Lodhi Road, Near Air Force Bal Bharti School, New Delhi; October 30, 2015).

# Participation in Events

The Changing Landscape of ICT Governance and Practice - Convergence and Big Data (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 Young Scholar Award 2015 to attend the Young Scholar Workshop followed by main CPRSouth2015 conference (Communication Policy Research South) conference.
Porn. Panic. Ban: A Conversation on Sexual Expression, Pornography, Sexual Exploitation, Consent (Organized by Point of View and the Internet Democracy Project; New Delhi; October 28 - 30, 2015). Rohini Lakshané was a speaker. Tanveer Hasan also attended this conference.

►Free Speech and Expression

# Submission

Comments on the Zero Draft of the UN General Assembly’s Overall Review of the Implementation of WSIS Outcomes (WSIS+10) (Geetha Hariharan with inputs from Sumandro Chattapadhyay, Pranesh Prakash, Sunil Abraham, Japreet Grewal and Nehaa Chaudhari; October 16, 2015).

# Blog Entries

The Legal Validity of Internet Bans: Part I (Geetha Hariharan and Padmini Baruah; October 8, 2015).
The Legal Validity of Internet Bans: Part II (Geetha Hariharan and Padmini Baruah; October 8, 2015).
Peering behind the veil of ICANN's DIDP (II) (Padmini Baruah; October 15, 2015).
The 'Global Multistakholder Community' is Neither Global Nor Multistakeholder (Pranesh Prakash; October 20, 2015).
Do we need a Unified Post Transition IANA? (Pranesh Prakash, Padmini Baruah and Jyoti Panday; October 23, 2015).

# Event Organized

Cyber Security Policy Research (CIS, New Delhi; October 18, 2015). Tim Maurer gave a talk.

# Participation in Events

Cyfy 2015: The India Conference on Cyber Security and Internet Governance (Organized by Observer Research Foundation; Hotel Tajmansingh; New Delhi; October 14 – 16, 2015). Sunil Abraham was a panelist in the session "Protection of Intellectual Property and Business Secrets in the Knowledge Economy".
ICANN 54 (Organized by ICANN; INEX - Ireland’s Internet Neutral Exchange, Dublin; October 18 – 22, 2015). Pranesh Prakash, Snehashish Ghosh, Jyoti Panday and Padmini Baruah participated in the event.

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Telecom
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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:

# Op-ed

Digital India - Now to Work (Shyam Ponappa; Business Standard; October 1, 2015; Organizing India Blogspot; October 2, 2015).

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Researchers at Work
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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:

# Submission

Where's My Data? Submission for Knight News Challenge 2015 (Sumandro Chattapadhyay; October 1, 2015). CIS is contributing to this submission.

# Blog Entry

Building Expertise to Support Digital Scholarship: A Global Perspective (Vivian Lewis, Lisa Spiro, Xuemao Wang, and Jon E. Cawthorne; October 16, 2015). CIS was featured in this report.

# Upcoming Event

First Edition of Internet Researchers' Conference (IRC) 2016 - Studying Internet in India: Call for Sessions (Organized by CIS; New Delhi; February 25 – 27, 2016).

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News & Media Coverage
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CIS gave its inputs to the following media coverage:

The rise and rise of slacktivism (Divya Gandhi; Hindu; October 3, 2015).
Modi's Valley hug sparks swadeshi talk (Sujit John and Shilpa Phadnis; The Times of India; October 6, 2015).
CIS in Top 50 Tech Blogs of India (rebateszone; Ocotber 7, 2015).
Access at the cost of Net neutrality? (Suhrith Parthasarathy; Hindu; October 8, 2015).
Dadri reopens debate on online hate speech (Amulya Gopalakrishnan; The Times of India; October 9, 2015).
How To Win Friends, FB Style (Arindam Mukherjee; Outlook; October 12, 2015).
Supreme Court provides partial relief for Aadhaar (Apurva Vishwanath and Saurabh Kumar; October 15, 2015).
Digital India: Did Modi get it wrong in Silicon Valley? (Ayeshea Perera; BBC News; October 16, 2015).
Net advocacy body probing linkages between telcos and Facebook’s auto-play video option (Prabhu Mallikarjunan; Financial Express; October 28, 2015).

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About CIS
---------------------------------
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 reconfigurations of social and cultural processes and structures as mediated through the internet and digital media technologies.

► Follow us elsewhere

Twitter: http://twitter.com/cis_india
Twitter - Access to Knowledge: https://twitter.com/CISA2K
Facebook - Access to Knowledge: https://www.facebook.com/cisa2k
E-Mail - Access to Knowledge: a2k@cis-india.org
E-Mail - Researchers at Work: raw@cis-india.org
List - Researchers at Work: https://lists.ghserv.net/mailman/listinfo/researchers

► Support Us

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.

► Request for Collaboration

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, at tanveer@cis-india.org.

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.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/about/newsletters/october-2015-bulletin

Porn. Panic. Ban: A Conversation on Sexual Expression, Pornography, Sexual Exploitation, Consent

praskrishna — 2015-11-29T07:36:58Z

Point of View and the Internet Democracy Project organized a conference to hold and facilitate an informed conversation on sexual expression, pornography, sexual exploitation and consent. Rohini Lakshané was a speaker. Tanveer Hasan also attended this conference held in New Delhi from October 28 to 30, 2015.

The conference was a first attempt to have an in-depth civil society conversation - among activists, lawyers, researchers working on either gender, sexuality or internet rights, or at their intersections. For more information on the event visit the Internet & Democracy website. Rohini presented her research on online amateur pornography and consent.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/porn-panic-ban-a-conversation-on-sexual-expression-pornography-sexual-exploitation-consent

One Thousand Books Online

praskrishna — 2015-12-15T08:16:39Z

The article was published in the Maharashtra Times on October 30, 2015. Download the file here.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/news/one-thousand-books-online

JP Das's Books to be Made Available Free on Wikipedia

praskrishna — 2015-12-15T08:18:51Z

Noted Odia-language author and art historian Jagannath Prasad Das's works will be available on Wikipedia for free.

A scanned version of the article published on October 16, 2015 is below:

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/news/jp-dass-books-to-be-made-available-free-on-wikipedia

We've come a long, long way together: building coalitions around the right to privacy

praskrishna — 2015-10-29T01:30:50Z

Our worldwide coalition against surveillance is expanding, reaching organisations across all continents and silos.

This article by Matthew Rice was published as part of an openDemocracy editorial partnership with the World Forum for Democracy. Centre for Internet and Society was mentioned.

In the wider civil society space, the opportunities for travel come thick and fast. From the multi-stakeholder perspective, the Internet Governance Forum will be held during November in João Pessoa, Brazil. There is the Stockholm Internet Forum in, naturally, Stockholm. In freedom of expression there is the International Freedom of Expression Exchange Strategy Conference in Trinidad & Tobago, while End Violence Against Women International's conference will be held in Washington in March 2016. What doesn't happen often is an opportunity for these weary travellers to meet in one place and discuss their backgrounds, their similarities, their differences. This is what excites me about the upcoming World Forum for Democracy, which will be organised by the Council of Europe in Strasbourg on 18-20 November 2015. It will be an occasion to meet new people, to bring more minds to think about how surveillance affects their work as well as them as individuals within our and their society, and to discover what the right to privacy means to them.

Building coalitions working on surveillance has reached a new stage. We now have a strong international network of organisations from diverse countries already representing an impressive array of stakeholders across disciplines. That took time and effort to build. The next phase is to push even further the diversity in background and discipline of organisations engaged in these debates as we advocate for the protection of the right to privacy as a fundamental human right.

NSA/GCHQ who?

While the focus of privacy and surveillance in the media has been on the deeply important Edward Snowden revelations, building a global network has provided an opportunity to move away from the simplified nexus of NSA and GCHQ. Casting an eye around the world we see organisations making gains in elevating their national discourse around privacy and pushing governments to make changes. In Pakistan, a successful challenge against the dangerously bad Prevention of Electronic Crime Bill because of its lack of inclusion of civil society in the debate led to the postponement of the bill and a consultation with the previously frozen out groups. Alongside this, exposing Pakistan's Inter-Security Intelligence agency's proposal for a mass surveillance system helped to drive national debate on what is a proportionate interference with the right to privacy, which involved local groups such as the Digital Rights Foundation, Bytes 4 All and Bolo Bhi.

In Colombia, the release of two investigative reports into the shadowy world of intelligence agencies has provided organisations in the country with the opportunity to question their own representatives about their knowledge of surveillance capabilities. A meeting of the intelligence commission, the committee that oversees the work of Colombian intelligence agencies, in early October was too coincidental to not have been influenced by the work of organisations like the Karisma Foundation in beginning discussions with lawmakers directly and delivering the reports to the relevant stakeholders.

Only five years ago, these stories of civil society stirring debates on privacy and national security wouldn't have been possible.

It has taken years for this global network to form. Privacy International began the conversation through work in Asia in mid-2008. This is often referred to as the first time that the right to privacy had been discussed with organisations in the region, such as the Centre for Internet and Society in India, or the Foundation for Media Alternatives in the Philippines. Those first conversations have come a long way, as shown by the development of initiatives like the International Principles on the Application of Human Rights to Communications Surveillance, which has been signed by 420 organisations from around the world, as well as the expansion of Privacy International across continents from Latin America to Africa and Asia.

Discovering new allies

Establishing this global network required the identification of an ideal type of partnering organisation. It was to be either engaged in research or activism, with a focus on policy relating to modern forms of communication like the internet. An interest in law, the state, and the effect of the private sector helped too. Now, this ideal type is being rewritten, expanded with new characteristics.

Coalition development is in a new phase. Groups outside of the field of internet governance and 'digital rights' are now becoming involved in the debate about privacy and surveillance. In Britain, the role of organisations focused on victim support and child protection are starting to taking an active role in the discussions about the forthcoming Investigatory Powers Bill, which will spell out the powers of the security services to conduct surveillance and associated safeguards. Other civil society actors will be represented in the coalition Don't Spy On Us, which includes organisations such as Privacy International, Open Rights Group, Liberty, Big Brother Watch, Article 19 and English PEN, and which has helped to expand the base of participants in the discussions.

Journalist groups have been growing in their presence also. Press Gazette's Save Our Sources campaign focused on the protection of the anonymity of sources after the unlawful use of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act to identify the source of a story from The Sun. The National Union of Journalists has also been running a campaign on these issues for over a year.

The global network has continued to expand its address book too. In Chile, Derechos Digitales has been reaching out to indigenous communities threatened with displacement from their land to discuss the effect surveillance has had on their work. Meanwhile, in South Africa, the Right 2 Know Campaign published a series of case studies on the harassment of various activists, community leaders, think tanks and local unions by intelligence agencies.

These past few years have shown groups from different professional backgrounds and operating at different scales, either nationally or internationally, have become more engaged in the topic of surveillance. This is both a natural and a necessary development. As our lives are increasingly dependent upon the use of technology to communicate, and the devices we carry broadcast information about us even when we are not using them, the discussion on privacy and surveillance needs to reach all areas of society.

The idea to be presented at the World Forum for Democracy is built on the back of this international movement. Currently, national jurisdictions around the world make a distinction between the communications of a national and those of a non-national, and afford them with different human rights protection. In our increasingly interconnected world, this distinction is a big hurdle to the realisation of a meaningful right to privacy, without discrimination. By introducing a right to privacy through interference based jurisdiction – where states owe a negative obligation not to interfere with a person’s communication – our right to privacy will travel with the communications we send.

The success of this idea requires a worldwide, international movement with diverse voices, who will work towards this change using the skills and experiences acquired in their own work, whether that is through strategic litigation, policy development or community organising. All skills and approaches have a role to play in realising the right to privacy across the world.

As I look at the programme for the World Forum for Democracy, and at the different Labs to be held, I see an opportunity to continue to expand this coalition, as well as to learn from other groups’ experiences of building similar movements. Labs organised by interfaith, intercultural, or anti-hate groups bring together people that Privacy International would not normally cross paths with. Meeting new ideas and perspectives on how to achieve change – this is where creativity sparks.

The past few years have exposed Privacy International’s area of work to different cultures, different contexts and different challenges. It has been for the better. The participation of PI, along with some of its partners, in the World Forum for Democracy appears set to carry on this trend.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/open-democracy-matthew-rice-

Net advocacy body probing linkages between telcos and Facebook’s auto-play video option

praskrishna — 2015-10-29T00:53:55Z

Centre for Internet and Society (CIS), India’s leading internet advocacy body, which has often been critical of Facebook’s Internet.org — now called Free Basics — initiative, has said that it is looking into the possibility of Facebook helping telecom companies through its auto-play video option.

The article by Prabhu Mallikarjunan was published in the Financial Express on October 28, 2015. Sunil Abraham gave inputs.

In an interaction with FE on Tuesday, Sunil Abraham, executive director of The Centre for Internet and Society, said CIS will inititiate research on the notion that the new video option will result in 50% increase in data billing for the telecom companies. It will also look into whether this, in turn, will encourage the telecom companies to be on the Internet.org platform.

This initiative from CIS comes on the eve of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s visit to India on Wednesday, where he will address a gathering at IIT, Delhi. Facebook has been trying to hard sell the Free Basics concept at a time when the Indian government is looking to work closely with the internet major to push the Digital India initiative. “The company (Facebook) has done some good things, and also done some not so good things. The good thing is that, they have changed the name of the application and called it Free Basics. Also, they have re-enabled https and have published “the technical requirements document, through which they have eliminated the exclusivity arm both on the telco end and for OTT (Over the top) players,” Abraham said.

“How does FB gain from making the videos autoplay. It doesn’t gain. Why should the telcos be made happy? We are looking into this theory of whether auto-play video option will result in 50% increase in data billing for the telecom companies,” Abraham said.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/financial-express-prabhu-mallikarjunan-october-28-2015-net-advocacy-body-probing-linkages-between-telcos-and-facebooks-auto-play-video-option