Centre for Internet and Society

Stay connected even when you go underground

praskrishna — 2014-07-04T15:15:11Z

CMRL may soon start making arrangements to ensure good mobile connectivity on the underground stretch.

The article by Sunita Sekhar was published in the Hindu on June 12, 2014. Nishant Shah gave his inputs.

A really erratic mobile network connection is something all of us have probably experienced, while on the move, every now and then.

If your mobile phone signal can fail you on the road, have you thought what it will be like when you ride underground?

Perhaps it is time to put that thought into your head. Not very many years from now, it is likely you will be riding the Chennai Metro underground.

Folks at Chennai Metro Rail Ltd. (CMRL) have, however, already thought of this, to their credit.

CMRL may soon start making arrangements to ensure good mobile connectivity on the underground stretch.

“We are considering various options to boost mobile network underground. It is important we provide such a service,” says a CMRL official. Chennai Metro, built at a cost of Rs. 14,600 crore, 45 km across the city, will have 24 km underground. Of the 32 stations, 19 will be underground.

CMRL has drawn the idea from Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), a principal consultant. Sometime back, Delhi Metro Rail had installed additional cellular towers at its underground stations to improve mobile connectivity.

The value of such a facility will surface especially during a crisis, according to Nishant Shah of Centre for Internet and Society.

“Connectivity becomes crucial when something untoward — be it breakdown of infrastructure or even sexual harassment — occurs on the underground stretch. It needs to be recorded or documented immediately,” he says.

Janaki Pillai of Ability Foundation says connectivity is particularly critical for the hearing impaired, who often use the messaging and WhatsApp services.

“But the question of them using the underground stations and the need for mobile connectivity arises only when the stations are accessible. Whether I choose to use it or not is different, but the service should be available and the choice should be mine,” she says.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/news/the-hindu-june-11-2014-sunita-sekhar-stay-connected-even-when-you-go-underground

May 2014 Bulletin

praskrishna — 2014-07-04T04:59:03Z

Our newsletter for the month of May is below:

We at the Centre for Internet & Society (CIS) welcome you to the fifth issue of the newsletter (May) for the year 2014. Archives of our newsletters can be accessed at: http://cis-india.org/about/newsletters

Highlights

We have published a summary of the various landmark judgments given by the Supreme Court and some of the high courts in a blog post as part of our National Resource Kit project.
CIS submitted its comments on the Open Licensing Policy Guidelines to the National Mission on Education through Information and Communication Technology (NMEICT), Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India.
The Access to Knowledge team from CIS has signed a memorandum of understanding with Shri Dharmasthala Manjunatheshwara (SDM) College to introduce “Indian Language Wikipedias in the Indian Under Graduate and Post Graduate Classroom”.
Sunil Abraham wrote an article “Net Freedom Campaign Loses its Way” in the Hindu Businessline which analyses the recently concluded NETMundial.
Divij Joshi gives a comparative analysis of the United States of America and India with regards to search and seizure and the right to privacy in digital age.
Anirudh Sridhar has produced an essay “Binary Code Invades the Universal Problematic” looks at language as an archive and posits, through a reading of Foucault, Derrida, Saussure and Jakobson that the means of perceiving language in the digital has changed.
As part of its Making Change project CIS is holding a public exhibition of stories of change from all over Asia, where the first of its Production Sprints will take place. The exhibition will be held at CIS office in Bangalore on June 7, 2014.
Earlier this year (February 11 – 17) we organized the second Institute on Internet in Pune. A draft of the Knowledge Repository on Internet Access was presented at the event. We are uploading digital versions of the repository for archival purposes. Three units (The Body in Cyberspace, Access to Knowledge and Openness) have been published.

Accessibility and Inclusion

Under a grant from the Hans Foundation we are doing two projects. The first project is on creating a national resource kit of state-wise laws, policies and programmes on issues relating to persons with disabilities in India. We compiled the first draft of the kit (29 states and 6 union territories). The chapters along with the quarterly reports can be accessed on the project page. The second project is on developing text-to-speech software for 15 Indian languages. The progress made so far in the project can be accessed here.

NVDA and eSpeak

Monthly Update

Work Report for May (by Suman Dogra, May 31, 2014).

National Resource Kit

Blog Entry

Summary of Judgements on Disability Rights (by CLPR, May 15, 2014).

Other

Blog Entries

The Road to Financial Inclusion (by Amba Salelkar, May 12, 2014).
Open House with George Abraham: Mainstreaming Persons with Disabilities (by Anandhi Viswanathan, May 22, 2014).

Event Organized

An Open House Session with George Abraham (co-organized by Ashoka India and CIS, Ashoka-Innovators for the Public, Bangalore, May 21, 2014).

Access to Knowledge

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.

Submission

Comments on the Open Licensing Policy Guidelines of the National Mission on Education through Information and Communication Technology (by Sunil Abraham and Nehaa Chaudhari, May 28, 2014). The comments were submitted to the NMEICT, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India.

Blog Entry

France, Greece, India and the European Union Sign the Marrakesh Treaty (by Nehaa Chaudhari, May 2, 2014).

Participation in Event

OGP Asia Pacific Regional Conference (co-organized by Web Foundation, World Bank, and UKP-PPP, Bali, May 6 – 7, 2014). Sunil Abraham was a speaker in the session on “Open Data in Asia-Pacific: a Cross-Country Learning Discussion”.

Media Coverage

WIPO: Scope and rights of potential broadcasting treaty clarified (by Alexandra Bhattacharya, SUNS – South-North Development Monitor, May 5, 2014 and cross-posted in Third World Network, May 6, 2014).
At WIPO, Authors, Civil Society Watchful of Rights for Broadcasters (by Catherin Saez, IP Watch, May 1, 2014).
Pushing the Boundaries in Open Governance: Insights from OGP Asia Pacific Regional Conference in Bali, Indonesia (Day 1) (by Michael Canares, Open Government Partnership, May 6, 2014 and cross-posted in Open Data Research Network, May 27, 2014).

Wikipedia

The following has been done under grant from the Wikimedia Foundation:

Announcement

CIS Signs MoU with Shri Dharmasthala Manjunatheshwara College (by Dr. U.B.Pavanaja, May 27, 2014): to introduce “Indian Language Wikipedias in the Indian Under Graduate and Post Graduate Classroom”. Dr. U.B. Pavanaja on behalf of the CIS-A2K team signed the MoU. The signing event took place earlier on April 21, 2014.

Articles

Books and More are Relicensed to Creative Commons (by Subhashish Panigrahi, Opensource.com, May 2, 2014).
GLAM in India: 10 tips for successful GLAM projects (by Subhashish Panigrahi, OpenGLAM, May 27, 2014).
Indic Language Wikipedias as Open Educational Resources (by Subhashish Panigrahi, Open Education Working Group, May 27, 2014).

Event Organized

Tulu Wikipedia Workshop (co-organized by CIS-A2K and the Regional Research Centre, MGM College, Udupi, May 25, 2014). Dr. U.B.Pavanaja conducted the workshop.

News and Media Coverage

Wikipedia in UG Education program at Christ University (Prajavani, May 15, 2014).
Subhashish Panigrahi joins Open GLAM Working Group: Subhashish recently joined the OpenGLAM Working Group (a global network of people who work to open up cultural data and content.) as a member and OpenGLAM Local (a local affiliate of OKFN's OpenGLAM project) as an ambassador for India. Both the positions will be voluntary.

Internet Governance

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.

FOEX Live

As part of our MacArthur project on free speech and expression we are posting a selection of news from across India implicating online freedom of expression and use of digital technology:

News Compilation

May 26-27, 2014; May 28-29, 2014

Articles

Net Freedom Campaign Loses its Way (by Sunil Abraham, Hindu Businessline, May 10, 2014).
Networks: What You Don’t See is What You (for)Get (by Nishant Shah, DML Central, April 17, 2014 and cross-posted in Hybrid Publishing Lab, May 13, 2014).

Blog Entries

European Court of Justice rules Internet Search Engine Operator responsible for Processing Personal Data Published by Third Parties (by Jyoti Panday, May 14, 2014).
Net Neutrality, Free Speech and the Indian Constitution – III: Conceptions of Free Speech and Democracy (by Gautam Bhatia, May 18, 2014).

Participation in Events

Freedom of Expression Scholars Conference 2 (organized by Yale Law School, May 2-4, 2014). Pranesh Prakash participated as a discussant in the session “Speech and Safety Laboratories”.
Re:publica 2014: Looking for Freedom (organized by Re:publica in partnership with DAIMLER, Global Innovation Gathering, Microsoft and Science: Lab, Berlin, May 6 – 8, 2014). Pranesh Prakash was a speaker at the session “The Architecture of Invisible Censorship: How Digital and Meatspace Censorship Differ”.
Does Size Matter? A Tale of Performing Welfare, Producing Bodies and Faking Identity (organized by the Berkman Center for Internet and Society, Harvard University, May 13, 2014). Malavika Jayaram gave a talk on “Does Size Matter? A Tale of Performing Welfare, Producing Bodies and Faking Identity”.
The Future of Cyber Governance (organized by Hague Institute for Global Justice in association with the Observer Research Foundation, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Netherlands, and the Netherlands Institute for International Relations – Clingendael, The Hague, May 13 – 15, 2014). Sunil Abraham was a speaker in the session “Do users of major social media platforms have adequate protection of their rights to privacy and freedom of expression?” and “Expert Panel on the Future of Cyber Governance”.
WSIS+10 High-Level Event: Open Consultation Process (organized by ITU, UNESCO, United Nations and UNDP, WIPO Conference Room, Geneva, May 28 – 31, 2014). Jyoti Panday participated in this event.

Event Organized

National Elections 2014: How Technology Powered Campaigns (organized by HasGeek and CIS, Bangalore, May 23, 2014). Vijay Grover, founder of Bangalore Media Foundation, Viral Shah, part of Nandan Nilekani's campaign management team, and BG Mahesh, founder and managing director at Oneindia.in, made presentations.

Privacy

Articles

Filtering content on the internet (by Chinmayi Arun, The Hindu, May 6, 2014).
Legislating for Privacy - Part II (by Bhairav Acharya, The Hoot, May 20, 2014).

Blog Entry

Search and Seizure and the Right to Privacy in the Digital Age: A Comparison of US and India (by Divij Joshi, May 31, 2014).

News & Media Coverage

CIS gave its inputs to the following media coverage:

Civil Society Pushes for Privacy Panel (by Laxmi Ajai Prasanna, The Times of India, May 6, 2014).
Students lead the way with apps for ideas (by Sruthy Susan Ullas, The Times of India, May 21, 2014).
India needs better cyber police (by Surabhi Agarwal, Business Standard, May 23, 2014).
Digital death: Log off in peace (by Purnima Sharma, The Times of India, May 25, 2014).

Digital Humanities

CIS is building research clusters in the field of Digital Humanities. The Digital will be used as a way of unpacking the debates in humanities and social sciences and look at the new frameworks, concepts and ideas that emerge in our engagement with the digital. The clusters aim to produce and document new conversations and debates that shape the contours of Digital Humanities in Asia:

Blog Entry

Binary Code Invades the Universal Problematic (by Anirudh Sridhar, May 26, 2014).

Telecom

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:

Newspaper Column

An Infrastructure Road Map (by Shyam Ponappa, Business Standard, April 30, 2014 and Organizing India Blogspot, May 1, 2014).

Knowledge Repository on Internet Access

As part of our research (with Ford Foundation) on the origins of the Internet in India, its impact on the Indian GDP and topics and debates surrounding the Internet in today's world we published the following units:

The Body in Cyberspace (by Nishant Shah, May 13, 2014).
Access to Knowledge (by Anirudh Sridhar, May 22, 2014).
Openness (by Prof. Subbiah Arunachalam and Anirudh Sridhar, May 30, 2014).

About CIS

The Centre for Internet and Society is a non-profit research organization that works on policy issues relating to freedom of expression, privacy, accessibility for persons with disabilities, access to knowledge and IPR reform, and openness (including open government, FOSS, open standards, etc.), and engages in academic research on digital natives and digital humanities.

► Follow us elsewhere

Twitter: https://twitter.com/CISA2K
Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/cisa2k
Visit us at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Access_To_Knowledge
E-mail: a2k@cis-india.org

► 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, and theoreticians, both organisationally and as individuals, to collaboratively engage with Internet and society and improve our understanding of this new field. To discuss the research collaborations, write to Sunil Abraham, Executive Director, at sunil@cis-india.org or Nishant Shah, Director – Research, at nishant@cis-india.org. To discuss collaborations on Indic language Wikipedia, write to T. Vishnu Vardhan, Programme Director, A2K, at vishnu@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/may-2014-bulletin

Yogyakarta Meeting on Open Culture and Critical Making

praskrishna — 2014-07-03T08:57:07Z

Sharath Chandra Ram will be part of the ASIA LABS theme panel and will also be doing community FOSS/FOSH workshops at the Maker events at the event organized by HONF Foundation, Catec, and r0g from June 12 to 15, 2014.

Venues : Langgeng Art Foundation (LAF) , Ndalem Mangkubumen, Widya Mataram University

side event:
03.00pm – 05.30pm (FABLAB_OD24h):
Opening Workshop at HONFablab (Fablab Yogyakarta)
DrawDio Workshop by Helmi Hardian (WAFT, SBY)

OPENING | 12 June 2014
07.00 PM at Langgeng Art Foundation (LAF) Yogyakarta

07.00pm – 07.15pm :
Opening Performance, by Dream Orchestra

07.15pm – 07.45pm: Welcome Speech and Outline:
- Ilham Habibie (The Habibie Center, CATEC)
- Stephen Kovats (r0g_)
- Venzha Christ (HONF Foundation) and presents:
- Bapak Muchsan. (Rector of Widya Mataram Univ.)
- Bapak. J. Eka Prijatma (Rector of Sanata Dharma Univ.)
- Gregorius Subanar (Sanata Dharma University)

08.00pm – 08.30pm:
Screening Movie “DO TIMI MAKE SINDI”
Speech: Gentur Suria (Movie Director)

Opening Exhibition “DO! MAKE!”
Speech: Irene Agrivina (Exhibition Curator)

08.30pm – 10.00pm:
Collaborative Visual and Sound Performance by:
- Felix Deufel and Friends (DE)
- DJ Wok The Rock (YK)
- DJ Haman & DJ Ones (YK)

Welcoming Dinner

10.00pm – 12.00pm:
Critical Cocktail Session 1.0
Introduction-get together

———————–
Side Event:
(FABLAB_OD24h):
12 June 2014 | 11.00pm – 12.00pm
Midnight Workshop at HONFablab (Fablab Yogyakarta)
Intelligent Furniture Workshop by DORXLab
———————–

CONFERENCE DAY#01 | 13 June 2014
at Ndalem Mangkubumen, Widya Mataram University

Side Event:
(FABLAB_OD24h):
13 June 2014 | 09.00am – 11.00am
Morning Workshop at HONFablab (Fablab Yogyakarta)
Edible Book Workshop by Saad Chinoy
———————–

09.00am – 09.15am:
15 mins Body and Mind Excercise
short meditation by Craig Warren Smith

09.30am – 10.00am:
[proto:type] A
Opening Speech
Introduction to [proto:type] Y2014 Yogyakarta Meeting of Open Culture and Critical Making
Technology and Society
by Ilham Habibie (The Habibie Center, CATEC)

10.00am – 11.30:
[proto:type] B Session I
“Open System and Critical ICT4D”
Moderator: Gregorius Subanar
Panelist:
- Craig Warren Smith
- Etiene Turpin
- Eku Wand
- Sanata Dharma ICT4D
- Yantisa Akhadi

11.45am – 12.30pm:
Break | Friday Prayer

12.30pm – 01.15pm:
Open Cultures/P2P Intro & Lunch

side event:
10.00am – 01.30pm:
Open Workshop at Makers Booth, Limasan Ndalem Mangkubumen, Widya Mataram University
Sticthing on Plywood session I by Maken Living Indonesia

01.30pm – 03.00pm:
[proto:type] B Session II
“Open Design and Critical Making”
Moderator: Bertha Bintari
Panelist:
- Deanna Herst
- Steve McCoy
- Jean Nöel Montagne
- Stefania Druga
- Yoyok Wahyudi Subroto
- Enda Nasution
- Matt Rato (live stream)

side event:
02.00pm – 04.00pm:
Open Workshop at Makers Booth, Limasan Ndalem Mangkubumen, Widya Mataram University
Fun with Arduino Workshop by Yudianto Asmoro 03.00pm – 05.30pm:
(FABLAB_OD24h):
Afternoon Workshop at HONFablab (Fablab Yogyakarta)
Noise2Noise Workshop by Felix Deufel

03.00pm – 03.30pm:
Critical Cocktail Break

04.00pm – 05.00pm:
[proto:type] C Session III
“Asia Labs”
Moderator: Argha Mahendra
Panelist:
- Tommy Surya (Fablab Asia Network)
- Jay Fajardo (Launch Garage – SEA Labs)
- Irene Agrivina (HONF)

———————–
side event:
04.00pm – 05.30pm:
Open Workshop at Makers Booth, Limasan Ndalem Mangkubumen, Widya Mataram University
Make! with 3D Printer workshop by Weissa Adhiprasetya
———————–

05.00pm – 05.30pm:
[proto:type] D Session IV
“Community Development Forum”
05.00pm – 05.30pm: Session 4.1 “Open Ecology and Sustainable”
10 mins presentation for each presenter:
- Performance Klub
- Rumah Kardus
- DORXLab

05.30pm: Break | Maghrib | Dawn Pray

06.00pm – 06.30pm: Session 4.2 “(H)acktivism as an open solution
10 mins presentation for each presenter:
- XXLab
- WAFT
- LPTI Pelataran Mataram

06.30pm – 07.00pm: Session 4.3: Citizen participation for social change
10 mins presentation for each presenter:
- Hysteria
- C2O
- Explainer Maker

07.00pm – 07.45pm: Session 4.4: Development at the Entrepreneurial & Grassroots Level
10 mins presentation for each presenter:
- House The House
- Klub Makan Siang
- Jalan Emas
- Technonatura

07.45pm: Jalan Emas Documentation

08.00pm – 09.30pm:
[proto:type] DINNER: MEET & GREET
Venue: Ndalem Kaneman, Widya Mataram University
Gamelan and performance by Among Bekso Dance

———————–
09.00pm – 11.30pm:
(FABLAB_OD24h):
Midnight Workshop at HONFablab (Fablab Yogyakarta)
Fun with Electronics Workshop by Satya Anindita
———————–

10.00pm – 12.00pm:
FAB BAR
venue: HONFablab (Fablab Yogyakarta)

CONFERENCE DAY#02 | 14 June 2014
at Ndalem Mangkubumen, Widya Mataram University

09.00am – 09.15am:
15 mins Body and Mind Excercise
short meditation by Craig Warren Smith

———————–
side event:
09.00am – 10.30am:
(FABLAB_OD24h):
Morning Workshop at HONFablab (Fablab Yogyakarta)
Explainer Maker by Andre Takdare
10.00am – 01.30pm:
Open Workshop at Makers Booth, Limasan Ndalem Mangkubumen, Widya Mataram University
Sticthing on Plywood session II by Maken Living Indonesia
———————–

09.30am – 10.30am:
[proto:type] E Session V
“Y2014 to Y2015 Summit of Critical Making 2015″
Introduction to [proto:type] Y2014 and toward Y2015 by Stephen Kovats

09.30am – 10.30am:
[proto:type] F Session VI
“Open Knowledge as a Platform of Sharing”
Moderator: Wan Zaleha Radzi
Panelist:
- Elisa Anggraeni
- Yuka Narendra
- Saad Chinoy
- Edin Khoo
- Tia Pamungkas
- Inasanti Susanto

12.00pm – 01.00pm:
Lunch

———————–
side event:
12.00pm – 02.30:
(FABLAB_OD24h):
Closing FABLAB_OD24h Workshop at HONFablab (Fablab Yogyakarta)
Introduction to Raspberry Pi by Tommy Surya
————————

01.30pm – 03.00pm
[proto:type] F Session VII
”Maker Culture: Of Fields and Labs”
Moderator: Venzha Christ
Panelist:
- Jeong ok Jeon
- Amrin Hakim
- Marton Kocsev
- Gustaff Hariman Iskandar
- Diyanto Imam

———————–

side event:
02.00pm – 03.30pm:
Open Workshop at Makers Booth, Limasan Ndalem Mangkubumen, Widya Mataram University
DIY BioPlastic Workshop by Irene Agrivina

———————–

03.30pm:
[proto:type] G Session VIII
Closing speech by Venzha Christ

–move to Makers Camp–

MAKERS CAMP DAY#01
Venue: Tembi Village Yogyakarta
02.00pm – 03.30pm:
Workshop#01
Hackidemia Workshop by Stefania Druga

04.00pm – 05.00pm:
Break
Traditional Music Performance
by Tembi Village

06.00pm – 08.00pm:
Workshop#02
DIY Organic Subs Workshop by Blah!

08.00pm – 10.00pm:
Workshop#03
How to Make Ceramics Workshop by Tembi Village

———————–
side event:
03.00pm – 01.00am +1
cellsDISCO!
DJ Session
DJ Line-up:
DJ Hamam (JKT). DJ Ones (YK). DJ Navis (YK). DJ Latex (YK). DJ Noor (YK). DJ TIM (YK). DJ Metzdub (YK). DJ Lintang Egha (YK). DJ Felix (DE). DJ Adit (YK). DJ NDA (YK).
———————–

09.00pm – 10.00pm:
Makers Dinner
Dinner is served in traditional way of Tembi Village

MAKERS CAMP DAY#02
Venue: Tembi Village Yogyakarta

07.00am – 09.00am:
Breakfast
Breakfast is served in traditional way of Tembi

11.00am – 01.00pm:
Workshops:
Workshop#03: DIY Batik by Tembi Village

Workshop#04: Open Source Hardware by Yudianto Asmoro

Workshop#05: Body Hacking by Iwan Wijono

*workshops are happening on the same time in different spot/space. Participants registration are required

01.00pm – 02.00pm:
Lunch Break

02.00pm – 04.00pm:
Workshops:
Workshop#06: OS Wash Workshop by Jean Nöel Montagne

Workshop#07: DIY Greenhouse with Automatic Light by Irene Agrivina

Workshop#08: DIY Holographic Microscope by Irene Agrivina

*workshops are happening on the same time in different spot/space. Participants registration are required

07.00pm – 08.00pm:
Makers Dinner
Dinner is served in traditional way of Tembi Village

———————–
side event:
02.00pm – 02.00am +1
cellSONIC!
Bands Performance & DJ Session
Bands Line-up:
- - Seek Six Sick – Belkastrelka – Cangkang Serigala – Skandal – Talking Coasty – Summer in Vienna – Luise Najib - Chika and The Pistol Air – Distorsi Liar – AHAA – Dinosaur Youth – Fashion Statement (YK)
DJ Line-up:
DJ Hamam (JKT). DJ Ones (YK). DJ Navis (YK). DJ Latex (YK). DJ Noor (YK). DJ TIM (YK). DJ Metzdub (YK). DJ Lintang Egha (YK). DJ Felix (DE). DJ Adit (YK). DJ NDA (YK).
———————–

02.00am – the next morning:
please, have a rest!

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/news/yogyakarta-meeting-on-open-culture-and-critical-making

Open Data in Cultural Heritage – OpenGLAM in Germany

praskrishna — 2014-07-28T09:49:50Z

Subhashish Panigrahi took part in this event as a member of the OpenGLAM Working Group.

Read the details on the OpenGLAM website here. Images from the event can be seen at https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:OpenGLAM_2014

Are you working in a cultural heritage institution, or interested in opening up cultural heritage data for wider reuse? On the morning prior to the start of the Open Knowledge Festival, the OpenGLAM initiative, DM2E project, Open Knowledge Germany and Wikimedia Deutschland are organising a half day workshop on open cultural data, with a special focus on German cultural heritage institutions.

During the OpenGLAM workshop, we will investigate and discuss the possibilities and obstacles of opening up your cultural data as an institution. After a round of inspiring presentation from initiatives like Europeana, Wikidata, the German Digital Library and Coding da Vinci we will continue the discussion how to overcome the barriers to opening up data in the cultural heritage sector.

Finally, we will hear from the successful local OpenGLAM groups currently active in Switzerland and Finland, and kickstart a local OpenGLAM network for German memory institutions interested in open cultural content and open access. We invite everyone to join and help think about the focus points for such a German OpenGLAM group for the future, and look forward to start up a fruitful collaboration!

Programme

9.30: Welcome & introduction to OpenGLAM – Lieke Ploeger, Open Knowledge

9.40: Lightning talks on the value of open data for cultural heritage institutions

We opened up – now what? An analysis of the open data policy of the Rijksmuseum – Joris Pekel, Europeana
1 year in digital cultural heritage – what were the walls I ran into most often & how to tear them down – Stephan Bartholmei, Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek
Wikidata – Making your data available and useful for everyone – Lydia Pintscher, Wikimedia Deutschland
How to use cultural heritage data: Coding Da Vinci results – Helene Hahn, Open Knowledge Foundation Germany
Experiences from German GLAM projects / GLAM-Wiki-Kollaborationen in der Wissenschaft - Daniel Mietchen, Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin

10.30: Coffee Break

10.45: Debate on the current situation around openness in Germany

11.30: Forming a local German OpenGLAM group

With inspiring presentations of the OpenGLAM local groups from Switzerland & Finland

13.00: End

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/news/open-data-in-cultural-heritage

Right to be forgotten poses a legal dilemma in India

praskrishna — 2014-06-09T10:02:25Z

The “right to be forgotten” judgment has raised a controversy, while some argue that it upholds an individual’s privacy, others say it leaves a lot of room for interpretation.

The article by Leslie D' Monte was published in Livemint on June 5, 2014. Sunil Abraham gave his inputs.

Medianama.com has become perhaps the first Indian website to be asked by an individual to remove a link, failing which the user would approach Google Inc. to delete the link under the “right to be forgotten” provision granted by a European court. There’s one hitch: India doesn’t have any legal provision to entertain or process such request.

In his request to the media website, the individual cited a landmark 13 May judgment by the Court of Justice of the European Union (EU), which said users could ask search engines like Google or Bing to remove links to web pages that contain information about them.

According to the judgement, the user is also free to approach “the competent authorities in order to obtain, under certain conditions, the removal of that link from the list of results” if the search engines do not comply.

“...this individual told us of a plan to appeal to Google on the basis of the judgment of the European Court of Justice, and asked us to either convert the public post into a non-indexable post, such that it may not be surfaced by search engines, or to modify the individual’s name, place and any references to his/her employer in the post that we’ve written, so that it cannot be linked directly to the individual,” said Nikhil Pahwa, founder of medianama.com.

Pahwa did not reveal the identity of the individual, who made the request on 31 May. Medianama, according to Pahwa, had written about the individual “a few years ago, protesting against attacks on his/her freedom of speech.” It did not give details. The media website reported about the request on 2 June.

Under legal pressure, the individual eventually relented and retracted the request.

The individual, Pahwa said, requested medianama.com to retain only his last name on the web page, cautioning that if the website does not do so, he would submit the URL (uniform resource locator or address of that link) of that web page to Google in a “right to be forgotten” request.

This, Pahwa said, “might hurt our search ranking, or lead to a blanket removal of our website from Google’s search index.”

“This is a tricky one, and we’ve declined this request,” said Pahwa. He added that “the implications for media are immense, since digital data, which is a recording of online history, will be affected.”

The EU ruling came after a Spanish national complained in 2010 that searching his name in Google threw up links to two newspaper webpages which reported a property auction to recover social security debt he once owed, even though the information had become irrelevant since the proceedings had since been resolved.

Following the ruling, Google put up an online form (mintne.ws/1oYVP5Y), inviting users in Europe to submit their requests.

“...we will assess each individual request and attempt to balance the privacy rights of the individual with the public’s right to know and distribute information,” the form reads.

“When evaluating your request, we will look at whether the results include outdated information about you, as well as whether there’s a public interest in the information—for example, information about financial scams, professional malpractice, criminal convictions, or public conduct of government officials...”

A Google spokesman said on Tuesday that the company had received over 41,000 requests to be forgotten so far.

On the first day itself, Google had received 12,000 requests.

“Almost a third of the requests were in relation to accusations of fraud, 20% were in relation to violent/serious crimes, and around 12% regarded child pornography arrests. More than 1,500 of these requests are believed to have come from people in the UK. An ex-politician seeking re-election, a paedophile and a GP (general practitioner) were among the British applicants”, according to a 2 June report inThe Telegraph of London.

The “right to be forgotten” judgment has raised a controversy. While some argue that it upholds an individual’s privacy, others say it leaves a lot of room for interpretation.

In an interview to Mint on 26 May, Anupam Chander, director of the California International Law Center, reasoned that if a person could simply scrub all the bad information about him from being searchable on the Internet, she/he could do so by claiming that such information was “no longer relevant”.

“Do we want search engines to then judge whether information remains “relevant” or is somehow “inadequate” under the threat of liability for leaving information accessible? An Internet sanitized of accessible negative information will only tell half the truth,” he argued.

The ruling is not binding on India and applies only to EU countries.

According to legal experts, the country has no provision for a right to be forgotten, either in the Information Technology (IT) Act 2000 (amended in 2008) or the IT Rules, 2011. India, for that matter, does not even have a privacy act as yet.

“In India, we do not have a concept of the right to be Forgotten. It’s a very Western concept,” said Pavan Duggal, a cyberlaw expert and Supreme Court advocate.

Still, intermediaries like search engines and Internet services providers, under the country’s IT Act and IT Rules, have the obligation to exercise due diligence if an aggrieved party sends them a written notice, he said.

According to Sunil Abraham, executive director of the Centre for Internet and Society, an Internet rights lobby group, “right to be forgotten” cases should pass the “public interest” test.

“Privacy protection should not have a chilling effect on transparency. The question is: Does the content (which a user wants to be removed) serve a public interest that outweighs the harm that it is doing to the individual concerned? If no public interest is being served, there is no point in knowing what the content is all about. The complication with the EU ruling is that it wants intermediaries and over-the-top providers to play the role of judges,” said Abraham.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/news/livemint-leslie-d-monte-june-5-2014-right-to-be-forgotten-poses-legal-dilemma-in-india

WSIS+10 Final Agreed Draft

praskrishna — 2014-06-04T10:12:48Z

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/wsis-final-agreed-draft.pdf

Work Report on NVDA and eSpeak for the month of May 2014

praskrishna — 2014-06-03T08:37:10Z

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/nvda-e-speak-update-may-2014.pdf

Production Sprint — A Public Exhibition at CIS

praskrishna — 2015-10-24T14:23:30Z

The Making Change project invites you for a public exhibition of stories of change from all over Asia, where the first of its Production Sprints will take place. The exhibition will be held at the Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) office in Bangalore on June 7, 2014 between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m.

Download the event flier [PDF, 402 Kb]

What does 'Making Change' mean to you? What are the processes of change? The infrastructure of change? The actors of change? A round-table discussion and exhibition by 23 change makers from 15 countries in Asia, at the Centre for Internet & Society, Saturday, 7th June, 5 - 7 p.m. Please do come.

The Making Change project questions traditional understandings of change –where change is employed in the name of power, reduced to a ‘spectacle’ by global media and goes largely unquestioned in the public discourse- and aims to build more adequate frameworks to address the idea of change in the context of common knowledge, networked media and information societies.

Making Change is hosting focused, intensive, and production-oriented workshops called Production Sprints to facilitate the convergence of actors and ideas.These will be spaces of knowledge exchange between change-makers around processes, narratives and experiences of change and of experimentation with multi-modal forms and formats of knowledge production (text, image, sound, etc). Participants will be asked to group around four topics: concepts, crises ecologies and networks of change. These visions and practices, we hope will produce new ways of thinking about change.

During the Bangalore production sprint, we will document the various knowledges acquired through the pre-production stage and the 5 day intensive sessions on formats, storytelling and visual presentation modes; and we will close with an exhibition of the resulting narratives of change. We invite you to come and participate in the exhibition.

Date: June 7th, 2014
Time: 5pm- 7pm
Location: The Center for Internet and Society

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/digital-natives/events/production-sprint-public-exhibition-at-cis

MC Flyer

praskrishna — 2014-06-03T06:31:00Z

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/digital-natives/blog/mc-flyer.pdf

WSIS+10 High-Level Event: Open Consultation Process

praskrishna — 2014-06-04T10:14:01Z

Jyoti Panday represented the Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) at the WSIS+10 High-Level Event:Open Consultation Process held in Geneva from May 28 to 31, 2014.

The Fifth Physical Meeting marked Phase Six of the Open Consultation Process for the WSIS+10 High-Level Event (HLE) to be held in Geneva from June 10 to 13, 2014.

The meeting saw the culmination of the multistakeholder review process on the WSIS+10 Statement on the Implementation of the WSIS Outcomes and the WSIS+10 Vision for WSIS Beyond 2015.

CIS made interventions on text related to increasing women's participation, freedom of expression, media rights, data privacy, network security and human rights.

CIS also endorsed text on action line 'Media' which reaffirmed committment to freedom of expression, data privacy and media rights offline and online including protection of sources, publishers and journalists.

Download the final agreed draft of the WSIS+10 Statement on the Implementation of WSIS Outcomes that will be deliberated upon and agreed at the HLE, for your reference.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/news/wsis-high-level-event-open-consultation-process

Open Licensing Policy Guidelines

praskrishna — 2014-05-30T05:55:25Z

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/open-licensing-policy-guidelines.pdf

Digital death: Log off in peace

praskrishna — 2014-05-28T07:24:52Z

From email and e-banking to shopping and social media sites, Indians have expanded their online footprint. Now, a small but rising number are planning for their digital death.

The article by Purnima Sharma was published in the Times of India on May 25, 2014. Nishant Shah is quoted.

A few days after his son Yousmann's death in a road accident, Kongposh Bazaz began searching for the 19-year-old's Facebook password. "There was such an outpouring of grief on his wall that I felt the need to 'speak' to my son's friends on his behalf, telling them to be strong," he says. Facebook does not hand over access to a person's account even when they die but fortunately, Yousmann had shared his password with a close friend who gave it to Bazaz. "Like any teenager, he did not share it with his parents," says the 51-year-old publisher, revealing that while he has memorialized his son's Facebook page, he would prefer that his own online accounts were closed.

As we build our lives in a virtual world, there's a growing concern about what happens to our online presence after death. In the West, some people are writing out digital wills, spelling out how their virtual life should be handled post-mortem . In India, too, a small number is taking an interest in their digital afterlife. Sandeep Nerlekar, MD and CEO Terentia Consultants, an estate planning firm that handles both online (through a portal www.onlinewill .co.in) and digital wills, says, "Now, even social networking sites are becoming part of one's assets."

Nishant Shah, director, Research, at the Bangalore-based Centre for Internet and Society, says that though the trend is nascent, people have started including their digital accounts in their wills. "However, it is evident, that as more and more of our lives get mediated by digital devices, and as we live on the cloud, we are going to have to find legal and personal options of making sure that important data gets transmitted beyond our lives, and stored, archived and managed in responsible ways for those who find value in it."

But in a country where only a small percentage writes wills for physical assets, it's not something a lot of people are thinking about proactively. Sudha Sarin, Delhi-based communications specialist, says "It doesn't get priority, like your financial assets," she says. At some point, she intends to leave a list of all her online account-ids and passwords in a place where her sons can find them easily. "This will give them access to my friends list so that they can be informed. And, in turn, let people who knew me reach out to them at such a time," she says. But she will want her family to close her accounts a couple of months after. "I wouldn't want my accounts to just sit out there. It's a way of closure," she says.

Sarin faced these questions of mortality after she lost her sister Geeta to cancer three months ago. She has decided to memorialize Geeta's Facebook page. Facebook doesn't allow family members access to data/passowords etc but kin can either delete or "memorialize" the accounts of the deceased. Sarin believes she's taken a decision her sister would have supported. "Reading her posts and seeing her pictures act like a balm - it's a catharsis of sorts," she says.

American blogger Evan Caroll, who runs The Digital Beyond which talks about digital afterlife, writes that people need to start planning for what is to be done with their email, online banking and trading, social media , photo-sharing , online billpay and blogs after death. In an email interview with TOI, he suggests a simple conversation with one's heirs, using online services like SecureSafe that let users store passwords to pass along when they are gone or speaking to one's lawyer.

Companies have different policies on what to do with accounts of those deceased. Last year, Google introduced a stepby-step process allowing users to plan what they want done with their account, and in some cases they provide the contents of an email account which hasn't left specific instructions after a "careful review" . Yahoo and Facebook currently have no service akin to a virtual will, but offer the option of closing down a deceased person's email accounts and social media profiles , though only after receiving verification of death. Arunav Sinha, director, corporate communications , India, China & South East Asia of Yahoo, says that virtual legacy planning is a personal prerogative in India today. "We can't hand over any data to anyone, as per the terms of our service. Requests for access have to come through a legal process and with the relevant documentation," he says.

Caroll says there is no standard way in which online accounts are handled once you're gone. "People too have varied responses - while some look at it as a place to remember and grieve, others believe it's strange to continue the online profile."

Rekha Aggarwal, advocate, Supreme Court, has started suggesting to clients that they keep their online accounts in mind too. "Talking about myself, I've already passed on my password to my son in case of any eventuality. I've told him to close my accounts because I don't want to be left hanging in the virtual world."

But there are many for whom "the sense of digital life beyond death is exciting ," points out Nishant Shah. "I know of people who actually leave a last message to be posted on social media by their friends or family. There are some whose accounts are now transparently run by their partners or families." '

Accessing a deceased person's account is something Pooja Dager isn't comfortable with. The 37-year-old HR manager has "not even tried to venture into that territory" after her husband's passing. "Only his bank accounts were transferred to my son's name, that's it. The others I try not to think about. I just let them be," she adds.

But as internet users age, many more people will have to confront these issues.

Making a digial will

Take an inventory of your online accounts and plan a way for your heirs to access your 'memories' such as photos, movies and emails Give instructions whether you want your page(s) closed or if you'd like someone to answer your friends' posts on your behalf, maybe for a few months You might even like to incorporate details of your digital assets in your will. Consult your attorney for advice.
Evan Carroll, The Digital Beyond

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/news/the-times-of-india-may-25-2014-purnima-sharma-digital-death-log-off-in-peace

Civil Society - Privacy Bill

praskrishna — 2014-05-27T11:34:53Z

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/civil-society-privacy-bill.pdf

SDM Ujire

praskrishna — 2014-05-27T10:58:06Z

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/sdm-ujire.pdf

Global Governance Reform Initiative

praskrishna — 2014-05-27T09:45:58Z

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/global-governance-reform-initiative.pdf