Centre for Internet and Society

Usha Nandini

praskrishna — 2014-08-12T10:13:47Z

Usha Nandini

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Usha Nandini

praskrishna — 2012-03-02T11:40:21Z

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Usha Nandini

praskrishna — 2014-08-12T09:51:38Z

Usha Nandini

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Usha

praskrishna — 2012-04-15T13:56:10Z

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Usha

praskrishna — 2013-06-19T09:25:19Z

Usha Nandini

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Usha

praskrishna — 2013-03-01T05:10:59Z

Usha

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Usha

praskrishna — 2012-01-28T09:22:15Z

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User Mobile App

praskrishna — 2018-05-29T14:31:12Z

User Mobile App

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User Data

praskrishna — 2013-01-07T06:44:38Z

User Data

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Use of Open Access Journals for Publishing Findings

praskrishna — 2013-06-04T10:25:00Z

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/use-of-open-access-journals-for-publishing-findings

Use of Open Access Journals by Indian Researchers

praskrishna — 2013-06-04T04:32:11Z

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/use-of-open-access-journals-by-indian-researchers

Use of Digital Technologies for Civic Engagement and Political Change: Lessons Learned

praskrishna — 2011-09-27T05:04:04Z

Concise Description:

In light of the impact of social media and other Internet tools in recent events in the Middle East and Africa, there is need to dialog on the lessons learned, and how the digital technologies, and the Internet in particular, are emerging as important tools for political change, and not just commerce, communications, and information exchange.

This proposed workshop, “Use of Digital Technologies for Civic Engagement and Political Change: Lessons Learned ” addresses the main theme of the Nairobi IGF, namely, “The Internet as a Catalyst for Change.” The proposed workshop is aimed at providing an opportunity for panelists and participants from around the world to share experiences about using digital technologies to shape civic engagement and political change.

Despite the increasing interest in the use of digital technologies for effecting change, we still lack insights into the relationships people in emerging information societies have with the technologies that are shaping their worlds. The discourse still posits the digital user as homogenized, young, middle class, Western, and (mostly) male. Furthermore, the stories about the transformative powers of the mostly young, Digital Natives often provide a monotonic, rather than varied, view of social change.

Against this background, the proposed workshop on seeks to tackle these knowledge gaps. It hopes to look beyond heroes and singular case-studies, and explore processes of change. It will also shed light on how technology serves as a catalyst for social change and political participation in the rapidly changing landscape of political action in the global South.

With panelists from Asia, Africa and Latin America, the workshop will discuss perspectives on how the Internet has been used by activists to increase citizen engagement and political change. Discussions will be focused on the following questions:

How can digital technologies help increase civic engagement, and influence political change, and do digital natives become agents of change?
What are the challenges to using digital technologies in effecting change?
How can the influence of digital technologies on political change, and the role of digital natives be enhanced?
What are the key lessons learned in using digital technologies for change, and what does the future hold?

Each of these questions will be discussed in turn by panelists, followed by brief question and answer sessions, contributions from remote participants, and finally, a wrap up by the moderator.

Which of the five broad IGF Themes or the Cross-Cutting Priorities does your workshop fall under?

Emerging Issues

Have you organized an IGF workshop before? No

If so, please provide the link to the report:

No link to this report

Provide the names and affiliations of the panellists you are planning to invite:

Nishant Shah (M) - Director Research at Centre for Internet and Society, Bangalore, India
Nnenna Nwakanma (F) - Nnenna.org (West Africa)
Tarek Cheniti (M) - Consultant and Researcher on Internet and Democracy, Tunisia
Luiz Fernando Marrey Moncau (M), Policy activist and researcher, Brazil Center for Technology & Society, Brazil
Orky Okello (F) - Founder, Ushahidi, and Policy Manager for Google in Africa, Kenya.

Remote Moderators

Khaled Fattal - The Multilingual Internet Group, and Ankabooot Social Network

Fieke Jansen, Hivos

Provide the name of the organizer(s) of the workshop and their affiliation to various stakeholder groups:

Katim S. Touray (M) - Council Vice Chair, Free Software and Open Source Foundation for Africa (FOSSFA), Member, ICANN Board of Directors
Nishant Shah (M) - Director Research at Centre for Internet and Society, Bangalore, India
Khaled Fattal (M) - The Multilingual Internet Group, and Ankabooot Social Network

Organization:Free Software and Open Source Foundation for Africa (FOSSFA)

Contact Person: Katim S. Touray
Workshop Number: 184

For details on the IGF website, click here

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/events/digital-technologies-for-civic-engagement

Use of AI and ML in Healthtech Will Not Be Limited to Services Alone, Say These Experts

praskrishna — 2018-05-06T12:17:46Z

The healthcare segment will see significant entrepreneurial activity and more investment coming in the sector.

The blog post by Sanchita Dash was published by Entrepreneur India on May 5, 2018.

The healthcare sector has been a witness to numerous technological advancements over the years. From bringing healthcare to your doorsteps to making a doctor’s life a tad bit easier with automation, startups have been making a difference with healthtech. Technologies like predictive artificial intelligence have been a step in the right direction for the healthcare industry.

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning have also led to a spurt of devices which are driving the future of healthtech. A report on the Artificial Intelligence in the Healthcare Industry in India done by The Centre for Internet and Society, India, said that AI could potentially add USD 957 billion (or 15% of current gross value added) to the Indian economy by 2035 and investment in AI in the Indian healthcare industry appears to be growing. The report also states that of the USD 5.5 billion raised by global digital healthcare companies in the July-September 2017 quarter, at least 16 Indian healthcare IT companies received funding.

At a recent investment session Healthtech – Navigating the Innovation Landscapeheld by YES BANK and HealthStart Accelerator, the future of the sector was discussed. Startups and investors got together under one roof to talk about the advancements in the healthtech sector and how it’s benefiting all. We spoke to experts about how the healthtech sector is set to change in India.

Innovations of the Future

During the engaging discussion, there was one common thread – AI and ML leading the race. Pradeep K. Jaisingh from HealthStart said that the major innovations in 2018 that they look forward to are around the use of artificial intelligence AI/ML in healthcare both for services as well as devices. “Exciting possibilities are in the areas like smart diagnostics for diseases like cancer etc. Other possible areas are mental health and Neurodegenerative diseases,” he said.

Start-ups too believe in the power of AI and ML in the sector. Deepak Sahni, founder, Healthians believes that there is lot of new innovations expected in next 2-3 years in the Healthtech space. “The role AI and Machine learning is yet to show its strength in partnering with doctors for better choice of treatment and making it more personalized for patients,” he said.

What To Expect

Healthcare, like other industries, too will look at bringing convenience to the consumers. Sahni added that point of care devices are about to bring whole new spectrum to early and fast diagnostics. He believes that one can soon expect Dental, Hair, Eye and Pathology tests being done at home becoming more prevalent along with innovations to bring ECG/ ECHO/ Mammogram to become accessible at home for many. “On one side point of care will offer convenience to the urban population and on the other side it will make right diagnosis accessible and affordable for rural population as well,” he said.

Talking about the future, Sahni said that healthtech in 2018 will be much more than discovery and primary diagnosis. “The need and focus will shift to disease management and will have a holistic outcome driven treatment approach,” said Sahni.

And this change will be driven by the entrepreneurial community. Jaisingh believes that the healthcare segment will see significant entrepreneurial activity and more investment coming in the sector. “Other big development will be M&A in the Sector which will result in consolidation and a few larger players emerging in the healthcare delivery space specifically,” he said.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/news/use-of-ai-and-ml-in-healthtech-will-not-be-limited-to-services-alone-say-these-experts

US Privacy FTC

praskrishna — 2013-09-30T06:41:45Z

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

US and EU blocking treaty to give blind people access to books

praskrishna — 2012-08-02T13:56:36Z

Copyright fears stall talks on books being translated into braille for blind and visually impaired people in the global south.

This article by Paige McClanahan was published in the Guardian on July 30, 2012. Rahul Cherian, a Fellow at CIS is quoted.

The US and the EU are blocking a treaty that would give the world's blind and visually impaired people – 90% of whom live in the developing world – easier access to published works in formats they can use.

A "treaty for blind people" has been under discussion at the World Intellectual Property Organisation (Wipo) since 2008, but negotiations have made little progress. In the latest round of talks in Geneva, which ended on Wednesday 25 July, negotiators deferred a decision on the issue once again, to the dismay of activists.

"This is not just a legal issue – for us, this is a moral issue. It's about human rights," said Teresa Hackett, programme manager at Electronic Information for Libraries, a non-profit group based in the Netherlands.

There are about 256 million visually impaired people in the developing world, according to an estimate by the World Health Organisation. In many rich countries, blind people have ready access to works that have been translated into braille and other accessible formats such as audio and large-print books, although, according to the EU, only 5% of books are accessible to blind people in wealthy states.

However, under existing copyright law, poorer countries can't access those translations without getting the express permission of the copyright holder. Few developing country governments have managed to do that, meaning that their blind and visually impaired populations are left with barely anything to read. The EU estimates that less than 1% of books are accessible to blind people in poorer countries.

"The Spanish organisation Once has well over 100,000 [translated] books that they would like to send to Latin American countries, but they can't simply because of this copyright barrier," said Dan Pescod of theRoyal National Institute of Blind People. Libraries in five Latin American countries – Colombia, Nicaragua, Mexico, Uruguay and Chile – have fewer than 9,000 accessible books between them, he said.

A treaty at WIPO could change that. A binding agreement would mean people in the global south could get immediate access to books that have already been translated into accessible formats in other countries. A treaty would also lead to enormous cost savings, as expensive translation has to be replicated in every country that wants to produce an accessible form of a given book.

The European parliament passed a resolution in February calling on the EU to support a binding treaty for the blind, but it does not appear to be having much impact. "The EU and the Americans are blocking the treaty – that's what's going on," said James Love, director of Knowledge Ecology International (KEI). "It's shameful what they're doing." He added that the administration of President Barack Obama has changed its position on the treaty over the past few years. In 2008 Obama's transition team were making positive noises, but since then the administration has become less enthusiastic.

Europe and the US are home to some of the world's biggest publishing companies, many of which don't like the idea of an international treaty that would restrict their intellectual property rights. Observers speculate that the Obama administration may be loth to upset the publishing industry, a major campaign supporter, this late in an election year. "What we can see in the [negotiating] room is that primarily it's the business interests that dominate," said Hackett.

Activists are hoping for a legally binding treaty, but US and European delegates have been pushing for a softer "instrument" that would offer only guidelines and recommendations.

"We really don't want to establish a precedent of developing a series of treaties that specifically focus on … limitations and exceptions to the rights of copyright owners," said Alan Adler of the Association of American Publishers, in an online interview with KEI. Discussions are due to begin again in November, after the US election.

Despite the setback, activists insist they will keep lobbying for a binding treaty. "We in developing countries have found our voice and we are not going to back down," said Rahul Cherian, of Inclusive Planet, an Indian nonprofit, in a statement to Wipo delegates last week. "When people are demanding their basic rights, no power in the world is strong enough to stop them getting what they want."

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/news/us-and-eu-blocking-treaty