Centre for Internet and Society

Third Maps for Making Change Workshop: Using Geographical Mapping Techniques to Support Struggles for Social Justice in India

anja — 2015-10-05T15:10:23Z

The third and final workshop in the Maps for Making Change project will take place at Visthar, in Bangalore, from 26 until 28 April. During this workshop, participants will fine-tune and polish their maps; explore ways to connect with broader movements and disseminate their maps among target audiences; and reflect on their own experiences so as to distill learnings that can help us decide where to go from here. While participation in the workshop is closed, the workshop will end with a public event at the CIS office on 28 April, from 4 pm onwards, open to everybody (more information to follow soon). If you, too, share our interest in mapping for social change, then do join us there.

The aims of the workshop are to:

give participants an opportunity to fine-tune and polish their maps, with the assistance of others where needed, so that they can be shared with a wider audience;
explore campaigning tools and strategies for disseminating the maps produced among target audiences, including other movements and activists;
distill the learnings participants have made from this project, both individually and as a group, and prepare a plan to build upon these in the future.

By the end of the workshop, participants will be able to:

make informed decisions about every step of the design and implementation process of a mapping project.

Also, participants and organisers will be able to:

identify the political and ethical challenges of mapping, in particular as they apply for social justice in India;
understand better the particularities of online activism and ways in which it can connect better with activism on the ground in the country;
apply their knowledge of mapping to other campaigns and movements in India and function as a point of contact for other activists for a network of activists using maps for making change.

The preliminary schedule of the workshop is as follows:

Monday 26 April

Time	Session
9.00-10.00	Registration at Visthar
10.00-11.00	Welcome and introductions (icebreaker)
11.00-1.00	90 Seconds: Where are we with our projects (and what do we need to achieve during this workshop)?
1.00-2.00	Lunch
2.00-3.30	Building partnerships between techies and activists: what is required? (debate and discussion)
3.30-3.45	Tea/coffee Break
3.45-5.00	Project time as per participants' needs (which can relate to technical issues, design, hosting, ...)
5.00-6.15	Afternoon 'Lab' Sessions (CHOOSE ONE): Elective 1. Hosting and creating websites and embedding maps Elective 2. Technology and Security Concerns for Activists
6.15-6.30	Evening Circle
6.30-7.30	Free Time
7.30-8.30	Dinner
8.30-10.00	Screening of Swagat Sen's film on the second workshop and social gathering

Tuesday 27 April

Time	Session
8.00-9.00	Breakfast
9.00-9.30	Morning Circle
9.30-11.00	Maps as agents of change – uses and challenges (including in terms of how to connect with movements on the ground)
11.00-11.30	Tea/coffee Break
11.30-1.00	Communication and campaigning strategies to take mapping outcomes forward to broader audience, both online and offline (poss. Incl. Use of creative media)
1.00-2.15	Lunch
2.15-4.00	Project time as per participants needs
4.00-4.30	Tea/coffee break
4.30-5.15	Evaluating Maps for Making Change
5.15-6.15	What next?
6.15-6.30	Evening Circle
6.30-7.30	Free Time
7.30-8.30	Dinner
8.30-...	Social evening

Wednesday 28 April

Time	Session
8.00 – 9.00	Breakfast
9.00 – 9.30	Morning Circle
9.30-12.30	Finalise preparations for public event (project work or other, eg slides on loop etc)
10.30-11.00	Tea/coffee Break
11.00-12.30	Finalise preparations for public event (cont.)
12.30-1.30	Lunch
1.30-2.00	Travel to CIS
2.00-4.00	Set up the public event
4.00-7.30	Public event (with a discussion from 5.30 onwards)
7.30-9.00	Dinner (venue to be decided) + workshop evaluation
9.00-9.30	Return to Visthar
9.30-...	Great-working-with-you-guys Party at Visthar

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/events/third-maps-for-making-change-workshop

Second Maps for Making Change Workshop: Using Geographical Mapping Techniques to Support Struggles for Social Justice in India

anja — 2015-10-05T15:09:51Z

The second workshop of the Maps for Making Change project will take place at the National Institute of Design in Ahmedabad, from 1 until 3 February 2010. The workshop will allow a select group of activists and supporters of social movements and campaigns in India to start developing digital maps that they can use in their advocacy work, under the expert guidance of international digital mapping rights activists, Indian mapping experts, design professionals and techies with an interest in activism. The workshop is organised by the Centre for Internet and Society and Tactical Tech, in cooperation with MediaShala at NID.

The aims of the workshop are to:

explore in depth tools and techniques for mapping
assist participants in starting to develop their own maps in the context of the projects that they have suggested
help participants identify important design concerns and elements of their project that require attention at an early stage if they are to communicate effectively

By the end of the workshop, the participants will be able to:

identify which mapping tools best suit their project
identify additional data required to complete their mapping project
make informed choices about issues relating to privacy, licensing, etc
independently continue to develop their own maps using the tools they have explored during the workshop
apply core concerns of information design to their mapping project to maximise its effectiveness and impact

The provisional programme of the workshop is as follows:

Monday 1 February

Time	Session
8.00–10.00	Breakfast and registration at NID
10.00–10.45	Welcome and introductions (icebreaker) - Anja Kovacs & Kate Morioka
10.45–11.30	Opening plenary - Lars Bromley: “Mapping the truth: how geo-technologies are uncovering human rights violations and injustice”
11.30 – 1.00	Morning Session - MediaShala team: “Information Design: the art of making campaigning messages visually compelling”
1.00 – 2.15	Lunch
2.15 – 3.15	Project Time - All: revising project scope based on morning sessions (audience, purpose, objectives)
3.15 – 4.30	Afternoon 'Lab' Sessions (choose ONE) Elective 1. Using Google Maps for Social Activism - Henry Addo Elective 2. Mapping with Open Layers- Alagesa Pandian
4.30 – 5.00	Break
5.00 – 6.15	Elective 1. Advanced GIS- Lars Bromley Elective 2. GPS Basics - Hardeep Singh Rai, with Arky and Sajjad
6.15-6.30	Evening Circle - Anja Kovacs
6.30 – 7.30	Free Time / Knowledge Sharing @ Speakers' Green
7.30 – 9.00 (open invite)	Film screening: “10 Tactics: Turning Information into Action” - Kate Morioka. This film produced by Tactical Tech explores how rights advocates around the world have used information and digital technologies to create change.
9.00 – 10.00	Dinner

Tuesday 2 February

Time

Session

7.30 – 9.00

Breakfast (Hotel)

9.00-9.30

Morning Circle - Anja Kovacs

9.30 – 11.30

Guest Speakers

“The experiences of Ushahidi” - Henry Addo

“An Introduction to Open Street Maps for Activism” - Mikel Maron (online)

11.30 – 1.00

Participatory mapping process and techniques - Kate Morioka

1.00 – 2.15

Lunch

2.15 – 4.00

Project Time - All:

identifying methodology and technical implementation of participants' mapping projects

4.00 – 5.00

Break/ Knowledge Sharing @ Speakers' Green

5.00-6.15

Elective 1. Google Earth for Advocacy - Henry Addo

Elective 2. An Introduction to Open Street Maps - Hardeep Singh Rai

6.15-6.30

Evening Circle - Anja Kovacs

6.30 – 7.30

Free time

7.30 – 9.00

Exploring the Ahmedabad Markets

9.00 – 10.30

Dinner at Vishala

Wednesday 3 February

Time

Session

7.30 – 9.00

Breakfast (Hotel)

9.00-9.30

Morning Circle - Anja Kovacs

9.30 – 11.15

Panel Discussion

“To Map or Not to Map: Issues of privacy, licensing and other rights-related concerns”

Followed by a group discussion

11.15 – 11.45

Break

11.45 – 1.00

Introduction to GIS and remote sensing for human rights advocacy - Lars Bromley

1.00 – 2.15

Lunch

2.15 – 3.45

Project Time - All

time to work on individual projects and obtain feedback from fellow participants and facilitators

3.45-4.15

Break

4.15 – 4.45

Closing Plenary - Pratyush Shankar

“Reflection”

4.45 – 5.30

Evaluation - Madhuresh Kumar

Briefing on the next workshop - Anja Kovacs

Close - Anja Kovacs and Kate Morioka

Assistant Facilitators: Arky Ambati and Sajjad Anwar

Technical Assistance: Kiran (Jace) Jonnalagadda

VIDEO

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/events/second-maps-for-making-change-workshop-using-geographical-mapping-techniques-to-support-struggles-for-social-justice-in-india

Research Symposium on Digital Transitions in Cultural and Creative Industries in India, New Delhi, Feb 27-28

sumandro — 2018-02-26T11:04:24Z

It is our privilege to collaborate with LabEx ICCA (Université Paris 13), UNESCO New Delhi, Centre for Social Sciences and Humanities (CSH), and Centre d'études de l'Inde et de l'Asie du Sud (CEIAS), to organise a Research Symposium on Digital Transitions in Cultural and Creative Industries in India. The symposium gathers researchers and practitioners engaging with the changing landscape of cultural and creative industries in India in the context of the rapid expansion of digital technologies and social media. We invite you to join us for a critical exploration of the prevalent discourse around cultural and creative industries, to identify what could be the different forms of digital creative and cultural industries developing in India, and how they problematise the questions of cultural expression, knowledge production, creativity, and labour.

Venue: Conference Room, UNESCO New Delhi, 1 San Martin Marg, Chanakyapuri, New Delhi, 110021 (Note: Please bring your identity document to enter the UNESCO premises)

RSVP: Registration is closed

Booklet: Download (PDF)

Programme: Download (PDF)

Poster: Download (PNG)

Organisers: LabEx ICCA, Université Paris 13, UNESCO New Delhi, Centre for Social Sciences and Humanities (CSH), Centre d'études de l'Inde et de l'Asie du Sud (CEIAS), and the Centre for Internet and Society (CIS), India

Concept Note

Digital technologies involve, accompany and provoke changes in the structuring of industrial sectors. How are they more particularly transforming the creation, production, distribution processes in cultural and creative industries? What are reconfigurations and challenges associated with the rise in power of actors from the industries of communication and information? What are the new stakeholder strategies, economic models and power relationships involved? Does digital have the effect of empowering the smallest actors / self-employed / freelancers or on the contrary does it allow large players to relieve themselves of the promotion, production costs on individual creator?

A growing interest in fields such as digital humanities, new media, digital cultures and the Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums (GLAM) sector is another important development here. The rise of a number of digital initiatives in arts and humanities practice, research and teaching has also brought up significantly the question of new skills or expertise required in these fields. The need for digital literacy and ‘re-skilling’ to adapt to new forms of arts and humanities practice in a digital environment has often come with much criticism, as it is viewed as an effort towards vocationalisation and professionalization of these disciplines, a result of the changing mandates of the university and higher education in general. How do we then productively engage with these questions of skill, expertise and labour that goes into the building of new digital industries, which are often located within and at the periphery of academia and creative practices? Importantly, how can concerns about a perceived conflict of creativity and industry be addressed as these transformations take place rapidly with the advent of the digital is an important point of focus.

A critical exploration of the prevalent discourse around creative industries would offer ways of identifying what could be the different forms of digital creative and cultural industries developing in India, and how they problematize for us questions of cultural expression, knowledge production, creativity and labour. The conflation and overlap of both ‘cultural’ and ‘creative industries’ and the location of these terms within a larger discourse around policy, economic development, livelihoods and rights, takes on different dimensions post the digital turn. In the context of initiatives like Digital India, and efforts to consolidate an IPR regime, the implications of policy reforms for creative work, especially that performed within informal/underground economies and in the cultural heritage sector are many. These discussions would inform and draw from the ongoing efforts in fostering of a digital economy in India, and the many ways in which it determines cultural production in the rest of the world.

Topics that will be addressed at the symposium include, but are not restricted to:

- Digital turns and transformations in cultural and creative industries

- Media infrastructure, digital platforms, and changing landscape of actors

- Digital transitions in the Indian news industry

- Online/offline lives of creative industries and media consumption

Presented by the Labex ICCA and the Center for Internet and Society (CIS), the symposium will gather Indian, French, and international specialists in the cultural industries, new media and technology, information and communication sciences, and social sciences but also professionals and industrial actors in the cultural and artistic sectors. The event is driven an ambition to promote the creation of an interdisciplinary and inter-institutional Franco-Indian research network to initiate, develop and share research on cultural industries in India and more widely in South Asia.

Organising Committee

- Christine Ithurbide (LabEx ICCA, Université Paris 13 / CSH)

- Philippe Bouquillion (LabEx ICCA, Université Paris 13)

- Vibodh Parthasarathi (Jamia Millia Islamia)

- Sumandro Chattapadhyay (The Centre for Internet and Society)

- Puthiya Purayil Sneha (The Centre for Internet and Society)

Symposium Programme (Draft)

First Day – Tuesday, February 27, 2018

10:00-10:30
Tea and Coffee

10:30-11:00
Welcoming Address
Snigdha Bisht (UNESCO Cultural Department)
Introductions
Shailendra Sigdel (UNESCO Institute for Statistics), Christine Ithurbide (LabEx ICCA / CSH), and Vibodh Parthasarathi (Jamia Millia Islamia)

11:00-12:30
Session 1: Digital Opportunities and Challenges in the Cultural Industries
Speakers: Tanishka Kachru (National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad), Akshaya Kumar (IIT Indore), and Vivan Sharan (KOAN Advisory)
Chair: Christine Ithurbide (LabEx ICCA / CSH)

12:30-13:30
Lunch

13:30-15:00
Session 2: Digital Transitions in the News Landscape
Speakers: Zeenab Aneez (Freelance Journalist), Ravichandran Bathran (Dalit Camera), and Franck Rebillard (University of Paris 3 – Sorbonne Nouvelle and Labex ICCA)
Chair: Vibodh Parthasarathi (Jamia Millia Islamia)

15:00-15:30
Tea and Coffee

15:30-17:00
Session 3: Technology, Creativity, and (Re)Skilling
Speakers: Padmini Ray Murray (Srishti School of Art Design and Technology), Sneha Raghavan (Asia Art Archive), and Xenia Zeiler (University of Helsinki)
Chair: Puthiya Purayil Sneha (The Centre for Internet and Society)

Second Day – Wednesday, February 28, 2018

10:00-10:30
Tea and Coffee

10:30-12:30
Session 4: Digital Platforms and Media Distribution
Speakers: Narendra Ganesh (KPMG), Mae Thomas (Maed in India), Philippe Bouquillion (Université Paris 13 / LabEx ICCA), and Nikhil Pahwa (Medianama)
Chair: Sumandro Chattapadhyay (The Centre for Internet and Society)

12:30-13:30
Lunch

13:30-15:00
Session 5: Copyright, Creative Content, and Rights of Performers
Speakers: Nandita Saikia (Lawyer), Anubha Sinha (The Centre for Internet and Society), and Manojna Yeluri (Artistik License)
Chair: Neha Paliwal (Sahapedia)

15:00-15:30
Tea and Coffee

15:30-17:00
Session 6: Technologies of Aesthetic Imagi/nation
Speakers: Farrah Miranda (Artists), Rashmi Munikempanna (Artist), Swati Janu (Architect), and Tara Atluri (Writer, Researcher, Artist)
Chair: Tara Atluri (Writer, Researcher, Artist)

17:00-18:00
Concluding Remarks
Speakers: Christine Ithurbide (LabEx ICCA / CSH), Neha Paliwal (Sahapedia), Philippe Bouquillion (Université Paris 13 / LabEx ICCA), Puthiya Purayil Sneha (The Centre for Internet and Society), Tara Atluri (Writer, Researcher, Artist), and Vibodh Parthasarathi (Jamia Millia Islamia)
Chair: Sumandro Chattapadhyay (The Centre for Internet and Society)

Location of Venue

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/digital-transitions-in-cultural-and-creative-industries-in-india-symposium-2018

RAW Lectures #01: Nishant Shah on 'Stories and Histories of Internet in India'

praskrishna — 2016-01-10T08:05:30Z

Dr. Nishant Shah will give a talk on 'Stories and Histories of Internet in India' at the Centre for Internet and Society's office in Bangalore on March 6, 2015 at 6 p.m. Please join us for tea and coffee before the lecture at 5.30 p.m.

Update: The video recording of the lecture can be accessed here.

Introducing the first research initiative at the Researchers at Work programme in the Centre for Internet and Society, Professor Nishant Shah wrote:

“Although many disciplines, organisations and interventions in various areas deal with internet technologies, there has been very little work in documenting the polymorphous growth of internet technologies and their relationship with society in India... We wanted to first propose that the Internet is not a monolithic object that exists in the same way across geographies and social borders. It is necessary to approach the Internets, as plural, available in different forms, practices and experiences to people from different locations and sections of the society... The second proposal was that while the digital and Internet technologies are new, they do not necessarily only produce new things. There is a need to map the histories and pre-histories of Internets.”

The Researchers at Work programme is initiating the RAW Lectures series to take stock, reflect, and chart courses into the studies of Internet in/from India. The lectures will address the experiences and practices of Internet in India as plural and intertwined with longer-duration processes, as foregrounded by Nishant above. The lectures will also critically respond to the questions around the methods of studying Internet in/from India, and the opportunities and challenges of studying Indian society on/through the Internet.

It gives us immense pleasure to invite Nishant to present the first lecture of the series on Friday, March 06, 2015. The title of the lecture is "Once There was the Internet: Of Stories and Histories of Internet in India."

Dr. Nishant Shah

Nishant is the Professor of Culture and Aesthetics of New Media at the Leuphana University Lüneburg, Research Associate at COMMON MEDIA LAB, Affiliate at DIGITAL CULTURES RESEARCH LAB, and International Tandempartner at HYBRID PUBLISHING LAB. He is the co-founder and former-Director-Research at the Centre for Internet and Society, Bangalore, India.

In his varied roles, he has been committed to producing infrastructure, frameworks and collaborations in the global south to understand and analyse the ways in which emergence and growth of digital technologies have shaped the contemporary social, political and cultural milieu. He edited a series of monographs on “Histories of Internet(s) in India” that looks at the complicated relationship that technologies have with questions of gender, sexuality, body, city, governance, archiving and gaming in a country like India. He was also the principal researcher for a research programme that produced the four-volume anthology “Digital AlterNatives With a Cause?” that examines the ways in which young people’s relationship with digital technologies produces changes in their immediate environments.

His Ph.D. thesis titled “The Technosocial Subject: Cities, Cyborgs and Cyberspace” builds a framework to examine the technosocial identities that are produced at the intersection of law, digital technologies and everyday cultural practices in emerging information societies like India. Nishant was an Asia Research fellow looking at the cost and infrastructure of building IT Cities like Shanghai. He is the author of a recent thought-piece titled “Whose Change is it Anyway? – Towards a future of digital technologies and citizen action in emerging information societies” that seeks to revisit the debates around digital activism and change in the global context. His current interests are in critically intervening in debates around Digital Humanities and conditions of change mediated by technologies.

More: http://cdc.leuphana.com/people/#nishant-shah

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/raw-lectures-01-nishant-shah

Public Event: Exploring Maps for Making Change

anja — 2015-10-24T14:19:32Z

The Centre for Internet and Society, in collaboration with Tactical Tech, would like to invite you to 'A Conversation on Maps for Making Change - Using Geographical Mapping Techniques to Support Struggles for Social Justice in India', at the Centre for Internet and Society in Bangalore.

When a migrant labourer draws a map of India, what does it look like? Can maps prove a correlation between corporate investment and Operation Green Hunt in Chhattisgarh?

For the past five months, twenty five activists, researchers, artists and techies have explored together, as part of the Maps for Making Change project, the potential of geographical mapping techniques to support struggles for social justice in India. As Maps for Making Change comes to an end, they would like to share with you their journey, their thoughts and their work, and to enter into a conversation with a much wider group of people about the potential and challenges of mapping for social justice now that new technologies can in theory be mobilised to fight for social justice by anyone with an interest in maps, but in practice remain confined to the hands of a privileged few.

Join us:

from 4 pm onwards, for an exhibition that allows you to explore the work of Maps for Making Change participants through installations, websites, conversations, information, video, ... and maps.

from 5 pm to 5.30 pm, for refreshments.

from 5.30 pm onwards, for a panel discusion which our panelists will kick off by sharing some of their own reflections and comments on mapping for social justice, to open up the conversation to a much broader discussion with all those present in the audience.

Panelists:

Reuben Jacob, Inclusive Planet

Shakun Mohini, Vimochana

Shubhranshu Choudhary, Knight International Journalism Fellow and Community Media Activist

For more information, please contact Anja Kovacs, Centre for Internet and Society: 98 11 74 72 12, anja@cis-india.org. Or check out the Maps for Making Change wiki: maps4change.cis-india.org.

Looking forward to seeing you at CIS on 28 April!

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/events/public-event-exploring-maps-for-making-change

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

Platformisation of Domestic Work in India: Report from a Multistakeholder Consultation

tasneem — 2020-02-17T09:46:52Z

On November 16, 2019, The Centre for Internet and Society invited officials from the Department of Labour (Government of Karnataka), members of domestic worker unions, domestic workers, company representatives, and civil society researchers at the Student Christian Mission of India House to discuss preliminary findings of an ongoing research project and facilitate a multistakeholder consultation to understand the contemporaneous platformisation of domestic work in India. Please find here a report from this consultation authored by Tasneem Mewa.

Report from the consultation: Download (PDF)

Agenda and details of the consultation: URL

Introduction

This collaborative project is being led by the the Centre for Internet and Society, India (CIS) together with Domestic Workers Rights Union (DWRU) in Bangalore. The research team comprises of Geeta Menon, Parijatha G.P., Sumathi, Radha K., and Zennathunnisa from DWRU, and Aayush Rathi and Ambika Tandon from CIS. Through a collective research process, this research team has explored the proliferation of digital platforms as a key intermediary in the domestic work sector, and in supporting or challenging deeply rooted structural inequities. For more information on the research project, see the project announcement published on the CIS website [1]. This work forms part of the Association for Progressive Communications’ Feminist Internet Research Network project, supported by the International Development Research Centre, Ottawa, Canada.

The multistakeholder consultation was structured in two segments: a) a presentation outlining initial observations and analysis, and b) a semi-moderated open discussion. Together, these sessions aimed to initiate conversations pertaining to the role of digital platforms, the legal classification of domestic and gig workers, and devising regulatory solutions to improve conditions of work. Preliminary findings were based on qualitative in-depth interviews with workers, platform companies, unions, skilling agencies, and labour officials in both Bengaluru and New Delhi. Feminist approaches were employed in conducting these interviews, and participatory, consensual, reflexive and collaborative research was prioritised.

Situating the lived realities of domestic workers, the event sought to centre the voice of domestic workers in the consultation around the future of their work. The event had attendance from multilingual attendees. The original presentation was made in English, and Geeta Menon translated the presentation and the discussion that followed in Kannada [2].

Footnotes

[1] Tandon, A., & Rathi, A. (2019, October 1). Digital mediation of domestic and care work in India: Project Announcement. Retrieved from https://cis-india.org/raw/digital-domestic-work-india-announcement

[2] Rathi, A. (2019, November 16). Domestic Work in the 'Gig Economy'. Retrieved from https://cis-india.org/raw/domestic-work-in-the-gig-economy-20191116; Tandon, A., & Rathi, A. (2019). Domestic workers in the ‘gig’ economy [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from https://cis-india.org/raw/domestic-work-and-platforms-presentation

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/platformisation-of-domestic-work-in-india-report-from-a-multistakeholder-consultation

Mrutyunjay Mishra - India Online: Measuring, Understanding, and Making Decisions about Internet in India (Delhi, September 01, 6 pm)

sumandro — 2017-08-29T10:18:51Z

With great pleasure we announce that Mrutyunjay Mishra, co-founder of Juxt-SmartMandate and India Open Data Association, will be the speaker for the September #FirstFriday event at the CIS office in Delhi. Mrutyunjay is a recognised expert in data-driven decision-making and a leading commentator on Indian consumer behaviour. His talk will focus on the evolution of measurement of users and activities in the Indian telecommunication and online market sectors, and will highlight the critical challenges and opportunities faced by public and private entities in reliably and timely measuring, understanding, and making commercial and policy decisions about 'India Online'. If you are joining us, please RSVP at the soonest as we have only limited space in our office.

Mrutyunjay Mishra

Co-founder, Juxt-SmartMandate, and co-founder, India Open Data Association

Mrutyunjay is a recognised expert in data-driven decision-making and a leading commentator on Indian consumer behaviour. At Juxt Smart Mandate he oversees key account management, custom solution development, new product development, alliances, and ready-to-go market initiatives.

In his career spanning more than 20+ years, Mrutyunjay co-founded JuxtConsult and successfully merged it with Smart Mandate. Prior to that, he worked in a number of leading organisations including IMRB International (Kantar, WPP), IDC India (IDG Group), Convergys India Services, Annik Systems (Quatrro) and ASHA (a rural development NGO).

At various points in his career, he headed large volume data analytics, consumer research, strategic business research, quality projects, usability studies and change management projects. He has had considerable exposure to projects in a diversity of domains – ICT, media, Banking, Financial Services and Insurance (BFSI), fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), pharma, healthcare, consultancy services, government, social development and public administration. He boasts functional consulting experience in implementing dashboards and reporting solutions in enterprise resource planning (ERP) environments.

He is involved in other compelling initiatives around analytics-driven health solutions, learning over education, digital marketing, and sustainable livelihood. He is the founding member of Centre for Marketing in Emerging Economies (CMEE) at IIM, Lucknow, an academic initiative to produce original research and attract collaboration for marketing theory creation. He is also the founding member of two other open sandbox projects, India Open Data Association (IODA) a non-profit company ‘to create, incubate, support and promote sustainable open data projects’ and Janwaar Castle Community Organisation (JCCO), a unique ‘initiative around learning over education and sustainable livelihood’.

He spent his formative years in Sambalpur (a small town in Odisha) University Campus, where his father was a professor. He is a graduate in commerce and a postgraduate in advertising and marketing. He loves dogs, likes reading, is a movie buff, collects stamps and matchboxes, enjoys being a weekend cook and likes travelling.

Twiter: @M2Od

RSVP

Location

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/firstfridayatcis-mrutyunjay-mishra-india-online-measuring-understanding-and-making-decisions-about-internet-in-india-delhi-sep-01

Maps for Making Change - The First Workshop

Anja Kovacs — 2015-10-05T15:09:14Z

In this first workshop in a series of three, participants will think through the potential of mapping in the context of a project that they have suggested in their application and the preparations they need to make to make these ideas a reality.

On 3 December, 'Maps for Making Change: Using Geographical Mapping Techniques to Support Struggles for Social Justice in India' will officially kick off at the India Islamic Cultural Centre on Delhi's Lodhi Road. In this first workshop in a series of three, participants will think through the potential of mapping in the context of a project that they have suggested in their application and the preparations they need to make to make these ideas a reality.

A joint initiative by the Centre for Internet and Society in Bangalore and the Tactical Tech Collective in Bangalore and the UK, Maps for Making Change is a two month project that seeks to explore the potential of digital mapping for social change specifically in the Indian context. For the first time, activists and supporters of movements and campaigns working for progressive social change in the country will get the opportunity to collectively debate and explore in detail the potential of digital mapping as a tool to support their work.

The aims of this first workshop are to:

introduce tools and techniques for mapping
assist participants to identify the information they need to collect for their mapping project

By the end of the workshop, the participants will be able to:

understand the socio-political context of mapping and how maps can be used to maximise advocacy efforts
identify different types of maps (static, interactive, collaborative, etc)
identify some of the tools used for creating, uploading and editing maps (not covering the technical aspects nor the step-by-step process for making maps, but focusing on the general web-based mapping techniques)
understand data collection for mapping

The preliminary workshop schedule is as follows:

Welcome and introductions

Why mapping?

15 min break

Mapping and Advocacy Discussion

How do you 'map'? Basic tools and techniques

What can you 'map'?

Lunch break

Project scoping of participants' projects

Summary

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/events/maps-for-making-change-the-first-workshop

Manuel Beltrán - Institute of Human Obsolescence - Cartographies of Dispossession

sumandro — 2019-04-01T08:00:05Z

Join us at the Delhi office of CIS on Thursday, April 4, at 5 pm for a talk by Manuel Beltrán, founder of the Institute of Human Obsolescence (IoHO), which explores the future of labour and the changing relationship between humans and machine. Cartographies of Dispossession (CoD), their current project at IoHO, explores the forms of systematic data dispossession that different humans are subject to, and investigates how data becomes both the means of production as much as the means of governance.

Image credit: Manuel Beltrán

Institute of Human Obsolescence - Cartographies of Dispossession

The Institute of Human Obsolescence (IoHO) explores the future of labour and the changing relationship between humans and machine. Our work develops from a scenario in which forms of manual and intellectual labour traditionally performed by humans are increasingly automated by new technologies. In this context we investigate and challenge the socio-political and economic implications of new forms of labour, such as the production of data. The IoHO developed several projects exploring the production of data as a form of labour, as a different paradigm through which to interrogate and challenge dynamics of ownership over the production of data and the economic and governance objects emerging through it. Previous lines of inquiry around the framework of Data Labour Rights include Data Basic Income, Data Cooperative, Data Production Labour series, Investigative Discussion Sessions and Data Workers Union.

In this talk founder of the IoHO Manuel Beltrán, will introduce the work of the IoHO and discuss their current project Cartographies of Dispossession (CoD). CoD explores the forms of systematic data dispossession that different humans are subject to, and investigates how data becomes both the means of production as much as the means of governance. The project looks at the implications of how the dispossession of data unequally occurs in different contexts, through different means and for different purposes.

Instruments such as the Right Of Access provided by GDPR emerge from a European context but the flows of data operate in a transnational scale. We are exploring the potential and limits of this instrument in combination with others such as the Right To Information in India as tools to investigate and repossess our production of data across borders. We are particularly interested in feedback and discussing in how to think further about this last part.

Manuel Beltrán

Manuel is an artist and activist. He researches and lectures on contemporary art, activism, contemporary social movements, post-digital culture and new media. As an activist, he was involved in the Indignados movement in Spain, the Gezi Park protests in Turkey and several forms of independent activism and cyber-activism in Europe and beyond. In 2012 he co-founded the art collective Plastic Crowds and since 2013 he is head and co-founder of the nomadic school and artistic organization Alternative Learning Tank. In 2015 he founded the Institute of Human Obsolescence, through which he explores the future of labour, the social and political implications regarding our relationship with technology and the economic and governance systems surrounding the production of data.

http://speculative.capital

https://dataworkers.org

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/manuel-beltran-ioho-cartographies-of-dispossession

Internet Researchers' Conference 2018 (IRC18): Offline - Call for Sessions

sneha-pp — 2017-11-29T12:30:13Z

Does being offline necessarily mean being disconnected? Beyond anxieties such as FOMO, being offline is also seen as disengagement from a certain milieu of the digital (read: capital), an impediment to the way life is organised by and around technologies in general. However, being offline is not the exception, as examples of internet shutdown and acts on online censorship illustrate the persistence and often alarming regularity of the offline even for the ‘connected’ sections of the population. The *offline* is the theme of the third Internet Researchers' Conference (IRC18). We invite teams of two or more members to submit sessions proposals by Sunday, November 19 (final deadline). The session selection process is described below. The Conference will be hosted by the Sambhaavnaa Institute of Public Policy and Politics (Kandbari, Palampur, Himachal Pradesh) on February 22-24, 2018.

IRC18: Offline

Call for Sessions

Proposed Sessions (Conference Website)

Sambhaavnaa Institute of Public Policy and Politics (External Link)

IRC18: Offline

State and commercial providers of internet and telecommunication services work in tandem to produce both the “online” and the “offline” - through content censorship, internet regulation, generalised service provision failures, and so on. Further, efforts to prioritise the use of digital technologies for financial transactions, especially since demonetisation, has led to a not-so-subtle equalisation of the ‘online economy’ with the ‘formal economy’; thus recognising the offline as the zones of informality, corruption, and piracy. This contributes to the offline becoming invisible, and in many cases, illegal, rather than being recognised as a condition that necessarily informs what it means to be digital.

Who is offline, and is it a choice? The global project of bringing people online has spurred several commendable initiatives in expanding access to digital devices, networks, and content, and often contentious ones such as Free Basics / internet.org, which illustrate the intersectionalities of scale, privilege, and rights that we need to be mindful of when we imagine the offline. Further, the experience of the internet, for a large section of people is often mediated through prior and ongoing experiences of traditional media, and through cultural metaphors and cognitive frames that transcend more practical registers such as consumption and facilitation. How do we approach, study, and represent this disembodied internet – devoid of its hypertext, platforms, devices, it's nuts and bolts, but still tangible through engagement in myriad, personal and often indiscernible ways.

For the third edition of the Internet Researchers’ Conference (IRC18), we invite participants to critically discuss the offline. We invite sessions that present or propose academic, applied, creative, or technical works that explore social, economic, cultural, political, infrastructural, or aesthetic dimensions of the offline.

For example, the sessions may explore one or more of the following themes:

Geographies of internet access: Infrastructural, socio-political, and discursive forces and contradictions
Terms, objects, metaphors, and events of the internet and their offline remediation and circulation
Minimal computing, maker cultures, and digital collaboration and creativity in the offline
Offline economic cultures and transition towards less-cash economy
Offline as democratic choice: the right to offline lives in the context of global debates on privacy, surveillance, and data justice
Methodologies of studying the *offline* at the intersections of offline and online lives

Please note that the above are not sub-themes or tracks under which a session should be proposed, but are illustrations of possible session themes and concerns.

Call for Sessions

We invite teams of two or more members to propose sessions for IRC18. All sessions will be one and half hours long, and will be fully designed and facilitated by the team concerned, including moderation (if any). Please remember this when planning the session. Everything happening during the session, except for logistical support, will be led and managed by the session team.

The sessions are expected to drive conversations on the topic concerned. They may include presentation of research papers but this is not mandatory.

We look forward to sessions that involve collaborative work (either in groups or otherwise), including discussions, interactions, documentation, learning, and making, are most welcome.

We also look forward to sessions conducted in Indic languages. The proposing team, in such a case, should consider how participants who do not understand the language concerned may engage with the session. IRC organisers and other participants shall help facilitate these sessions, say by offering translation support.

The only eligibility criteria for proposing sessions are that they must be proposed by a team of at least two members, and that they must engage with the *offline*.

The deadline for submission of sessions proposals for IRC18 is Sunday, November 19 (final deadline).

To propose a session, please send the following documents (as attached text files) to raw@cis-india.org:

Title of the Session: The session should be named in the form of a hashtag (check the IRC17 selected sessions for example).
Context of the Session: This should be a 300 words note discussing the context, the motivations, and the expectations behind the proposed session.
Session Plan: This should describe the objectives of the session, what will be done and discussed during the session, and who among the people organising the session will be responsible for what. This note need not be more than 300 words long. If your session involves inviting others to present their work (say papers), then please provide a description and timeline of the process through which these people will be identified.
Session Team Details: Please share brief biographic notes of each member of the session team, and contact details.

There is no registration fee for the Conference, but participants are expected to pay for their own travel and accommodation (to be organised by CIS) expenses. Limited funding will be available to support travel and accommodation expenses of few participants who are unemployed or under-employed.

Session selection process:

November 19: Deadline of submission of session proposals.All submitted sessions will be posted on the CIS website, along with the names and details of the session team members.
November 20 - December 17: Open review period. All session teams, as well as other interested contributors, are invited to review and comment upon each other's submitted proposals and revise their own. Read the proposed sessions here: Conference Website.
December 18-31: The selection process takes place. All session teams will select 10 sessions to be included in the IRC18 programme. The votes will be anonymous, that is no session team will know which other sessions have voted for their session.
January 08: Announcement of selected sessions.
February 22-24: IRC18 at Sambhaavnaa Institute!

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/irc18-offline-call

Gender, Health, & Surveillance in India - A Panel Discussion

Aayush Rathi and Ambika Tandon — 2020-12-23T14:03:13Z

Women and LGBTHIAQ-identifying persons face intensive and varied forms of surveillance as they access reproductive health systems. Increasingly, these systems are also undergoing rapid digitisation. The panel was set-up to discuss the discursive, experiential and policy implications of these data-intensive developments on access to public health and welfare systems by women and LGBTHIAQ-identifying persons in India. The panelists presented studies undertaken as part of two projects at CIS, one of which is supported by Privacy International, UK, and the other by Big Data for Development network established by International Development Research Centre, Canada.

Event note and agenda: Read (PDF)

Recording of the discussion: Watch (YouTube)

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/gender-health-surveillance-in-india-panel-discussion

Domestic Work in the ‘Gig Economy’

aayush — 2019-12-06T04:52:11Z

The CIS and Domestic Workers’ Rights Union (DWRU) are hosting a discussion on the ‘gig economy’ and domestic work on Saturday, November 16 at Student Christian Movement of India, Mission Road, Bangalore. This event is a part of a project supported by the Feminist Internet Research Network led by Association for Progressive Communication (APC) and the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Canada.

Presentation: Download (PDF)

Concept Note: Download (PDF)

Venue: Student Christian Movement of India (29, 2nd Cross, CSI Compound, Mission Road, Sampangi Rama Nagara)

Date and Time: Saturday, November 16, 3:00-5:30 pm

Location: URL (Google Maps)

Feminist Internet Research Network: URL

Over the last few months, the Centre for Internet and Society, India (CIS) and the Domestic Workers’ Rights Union (DWRU) have been doing research on the platformisation of domestic work in India. In the first phase of the research, we gathered data through interviews with several stakeholders. More information about the project can be found here: https://cis-india.org/raw/digital-domestic-work-india-announcement.

We now find ourselves in the second phase of the research in which we have prepared a preliminary report and are seeking feedback and inputs from experts. For this, we invite you to a roundtable discussion on domestic workers in the ‘gig economy’.

The participants at the roundtable will comprise of representatives from key stakeholder groups including platform workers (i.e. domestic workers sourcing jobs through platforms), platform companies, domestic workers organisations, civil society researchers and the state labour department.

The event will begin with a presentation of the project and our initial findings. The rest of the time is set aside for a semi-moderated discussion between all participants. To ensure a focused discussion, we are also limiting participation to 30, and are hoping to have a good mix across stakeholder groups.

If you will be joining us, please RSVP to Aayush Rathi at aayush@cis-india.org.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/raw/domestic-work-in-the-gig-economy-20191116

Digital Natives with a Cause?— Workshop in South Africa—FAQs

tettner — 2015-05-15T11:35:11Z

The second international Digital Natives Workshop "My Bubble, My Space, My Voice" will be held in Johannesburg from 7 to 9 November 2010. Some frequently asked questions regarding the upcoming workshop are answered in this blog entry.

1. When and where is the workshop going to be held?

The workshop will take place over three days from 7 to 9 November 2010, in Johannesburg, South Africa.

2. Who should apply?

The organizers, The African Commons Project, Hivos and the Centre for Internet and Society are interested in hearing from young people, who utilize digital technologies to create social change in their societies or social circles.

Further, the regional focus of the workshop is on Africa, hence, only African citizens or those in an African setting should apply.

3. How can I apply?

You can fill an online application. Alternatively, you can email digitalnatives@cis-india.org and ask for an email application.

4. What is Digital Natives with a Cause?

"Digital Natives with a Cause?" is an international, collaborative research project which aims to increase the current understanding of Digital Natives (there is not one single definition, that’s why we’re doing this project! – but it could be understood as people who interact naturally with digital technologies) and their role in their particular societies.

5. What are the objectives of Digital Natives with a Cause? How does this workshop fit in?

"Digital Natives with a Cause?" aims to incorporate a first-person narrative of the use of technology by youth for social change into the ongoing dialogue. To do this, several case studies of varying cultural backgrounds and diverse methodologies will be compiled into a book. The case studies will be the result of three-day workshop conducted across the developing world. Last summer the Asian workshop happened in Taiwan. Next spring the South American workshop will take place in Chile.

"Digital Natives with a Cause?" also aims to incorporate the participants into a broad network of Digital Natives from around the world, with similar methodology and approach. Through this network, Digital Natives will be able to express concerns, share resources, stay connected with peers and learn from each other.

You can read a report on "Digital Natives with a Cause?" here.

6. OK, so what can I expect from this workshop?

You can expect an informal setting where interactive methods of communication help you gain a better understanding of the context of your project. For example, you will get to meet and interact with the participants of the previous workshop in Taipei. You can expect to reflect about your project: Your motivation, methodology, focus, and context, to name a few, and to draw parallels into other projects in the region. You can expect to interact with a varied and diverse group of young people from around Africa, who like you, use technology for social causes. Overall, you can expect to gain a new perspective about yourself, and the importance of your work.

7. Will I learn any new skills in this workshop?

The short answer is no. The "Digital Natives with a Cause?" project does not aim to train or to build existing capacities among youth users of technology. That said, you will definitely gain a lot of perspective on your individual project and you will learn how it relates to ongoing development processes in the region. You will also meet, interact and hopefully befriend other young users of technology like yourself, enlarging your scope and enriching your experience.

8. Will expenses be covered?

Yes. Expenses associated with the workshop (travel and accommodation) will be provided for selected participants.

9. When is the last date to apply?

The last day to apply is Tuesday, 12 October 2010.

10. Where can I get more information?

Do check out www.digitalnatives.in for more information, and please email digitalnatives@cis-india.org for questions and concerns.

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

Digital Natives with a Cause? - Workshop in Santiago FAQs

tettner — 2015-05-15T11:46:01Z

The third and final workshop of the Digital Natives with a Cause? research project will take place in Santiago, Chile, from 8 to 10 February 2011. Below are some frequently asked questions.

The Open call for participation can be found here

1.When and where is the workshop going to be held?
The workshop will take place over three days from 8 to 10 February 2011, in Santiago, Chile.

2. Who should apply?
The organizers,Rising Voices, Hivos and the Centre for Internet and Society are interested in hearing from young people, who utilize digital technologies to create social change in their societies or social circles.
Further, the regional focus of the workshop is on Latin America and The Caribbean, hence, only those citizens or those in that setting should apply. The event is not public in nature, only those who fit the criteria and are selected will be invited to participate. However, there might be a larger public event associated with the workshop.

3. How can I apply?
You can fill an online application. Alternatively, you can email digitalnatives@cis-india.org and ask for an email application.

4. What is Digital Natives with a Cause?
"Digital Natives with a Cause?" is an international, collaborative research project which aims to increase the current understanding of Digital Natives (there is not one single definition, that’s why we’re doing this project! – but it could be understood as people who interact naturally with digital technologies) and their role in their particular societies.

5. What are the objectives of Digital Natives with a Cause? How does this workshop fit in?
"Digital Natives with a Cause?" aims to incorporate a first-person narrative of the use of technology by youth for social change into the ongoing dialogue. To do this, several case studies of varying cultural backgrounds and diverse methodologies will be compiled into a book. The case studies will be the result of three-day workshop conducted across the developing world. Last summer the Asian workshop happened in Taipei, Taiwan, and last fall the African workshop happened in Johannesburg, South Africa.
"Digital Natives with a Cause?" also aims to incorporate the participants into a broad network of Digital Natives from around the world, with similar methodology and approach. Through this network, Digital Natives will be able to express concerns, share resources, stay connected with peers and learn from each other.
You can read a report on "Digital Natives with a Cause?" here.

6. OK, so what can I expect from this workshop?
You can expect an informal setting where interactive methods of communication help you gain a better understanding of the context of your project. For example, you will get to meet and interact with the participants of the previous workshop in Taipei and Johannesburg. You can expect to reflect about your project: Your motivation, methodology, focus, and context, to name a few, and to draw parallels into other projects in the region. You can expect to interact with a varied and diverse group of young people from around Latin America and the Caribbean who like you, use technology for social causes. Overall, you can expect to gain a new perspective about yourself, and the importance of your work.

7. Will I learn any new skills in this workshop?
The short answer is no. The "Digital Natives with a Cause?" project does not aim to train or to build existing capacities among youth users of technology. That said, you will definitely gain a lot of perspective on your individual project and you will learn how it relates to ongoing development processes in the region. You will also meet, interact and hopefully befriend other young users of technology like yourself, enlarging your scope and enriching your experience.

8. Are there any language requirements?
Yes. Even though the communication during the workshop will take place both in Spanish and English, we really need the participants to have at least a working proficiency of English to be able to interact both with the organizers who come from India and the Netherlands, as well as with the participants from other workshops, thus fully contribute to the project.

9. Will expenses be covered?
Yes. Expenses associated with the workshop (travel and accommodation) will be provided for those selected participants.

10. When is the last date to apply?
The last day to apply is Tuesday, 4 January 2010.

11 Where can I get more information?
Do check out www.digitalnatives.in for more information, and please email digitalnatives@cis-india.org for questions and concerns. We would be pleased to answer them.

For more details visit http://editors.cis-india.org/digital-natives/blog/digital-natives-with-a-cause-workshop-in-santiago