Dear All,
CIS-A2K would like to invite you to our first monthly IRC to receive
feedback on our work. We are slowly rolling out the work-plans that we
have developed with your collaboration and input. We have received
some useful feedback from some of you on Meta specifically on two
important aspects, which informed the agenda for this IRC.
IRC details:
Channel: #Wikimedia-in
Date: September 5, 2013 (Thursday)
Time: 8-9 pm
Agenda:
What more measures can CIS-A2K take to increase community participation?
Pilot Projects - Discussion on possible topics, strategies of
execution and community involvement.
Any specific aspect of CIS-A2K's work that majority of the community
members, present for IRC, would like to discuss.
For those who are attending IRC for the first time please check this
link to join: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:IRC/Tutorial
--
Best!
Subhashish Panigrahi
Programme Officer, Access To Knowledge
Centre for Internet and Society
@psubhashish
Dear All,
CIS-A2K is organising a 4 day Train the Trainer (TTT) program in Bangalore during 1st week of October 2013. The idea of the program is to build capacity and enable community members to conduct outreach sessions independently or with minimal support to introduce Wikipedia to prospective editors in their respective Indian languages.
By way of this program, CIS-A2K wants to support and enable community members who might be interested to conduct Wikipedia outreach sessions in their own cities/languages. The event is open to all Wikimedia volunteers from India who can and want to support outreach events in the coming year.
CIS-A2K is calling for applicants for it's Train the Trainer Program. If you'd like to be part of this program please make sure that you meet the selection criterion [1] and submit Train the Trainer Program Application From [2] by 13th September, 2013.
To know more about the program, rationale, overview, timeline etc. please check the attached document or visit the Meta page.[3]
We look forward to hearing from you soon. For any further queries please mail at a2k(a)cis-india.org
Thanks
Nitika Tandon
Program Manager
Access to Knowledge
The Centre for Internet & Society
[1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Access_To_Knowledge/Events/TTT#Select…
[2] http://bit.ly/A2Kttt
[3] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Access_To_Knowledge/Events/TTT
Dear All,
I am happy to inform you about the selection of the new Programme Officer,
who has joined the CIS-A2K Team on August 15, 2013. Please join me in
welcoming Muzammiluddin Syed.
Muzammiluddin Syed holds about 14 years of teaching experience. He is a
recipient of Air India BOLT Award for Excellence in Teaching 2004
(Hyderabad District Runner-up). He received a Gold Medal for securing the
first position in the Diploma in HIV & Family Education from the Indira
Gandhi National Open University in 2011. Muzammil has contributed papers
to various national and international conferences. As a netizen, he has
contributed to a number of websites which include Content Writer (
www.contentwriter.in), Journal of Turkish Weekly (www.turkishweekly.net),
Boloji Free Expressions Website (www.boloji.com), Cite HR (www.citehr.com),
Hindi Nest Website (www.hindinest.com) and the oldest Urdu Website (
www.urdustan.com). However, his main online passion is the Wikimedia
Foundation projects. He has been an active contributor on Wikimedia
Commons, Hindi, English and Urdu Wikipedia. He goes by the User name
<Hindustanilanguage> . Many of you may have met Muzammil in Wiki
Conference India 2011 where he was a speaker.
Apologies for cross-posting.
Best regards,
Vishnu
Dear all,
Sincere apologies for delay in sending the bulletin. We have worked on
changing the format of the Centre for Internet and Society’s Access To
Knowledge (CIS-A2K) monthly bulletin. Please find below the details of
our work in the last two months (i.e. June and July 2013) as a single
bulletin. We would love to hear your feedback and suggestions on how
we can improve the bulletin at:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:India_Access_To_Knowledge
Indian Language Wikipedia Statistics April to September 2013 (by T.
Vishnu Vardhan; Nitika Tandon and Subhashish Panigrahi June 30, 2013):
The Access to Knowledge team carried out quantitative analysis to
identify trends and growth patterns in Indian Language Wikipedias over
the time period from September 2012 to April 2013. Though it is
difficult for the A2K programme to take direct credit for the growth
or lack of it the programme's support has been one of the key factors
in impacting the growth of the Wikimedia projects and communities in
India since the commencement of the project. Primary focus areas of
the statistics are: growth of articles, Active editors, Monthly growth
of new editors, Monthly pageviews and New editors statistics from
outreach events organized or supported by A2K programme. Link:
http://cis-india.org/a2k/blog/indian-language-wikipedia-statistics
￭ Workshops
● Wikipedia editing workshop for participants from 10 civil society
institutions from across India at the Institute of Internet and
Society, Bangalore (Organized by the A2K team members T. Vishnu
Vardhan and Subhashish Panigrahi, June 9, 2013)
● A 'Kannada' Wikipedia Workshop for Bloggers (organized by CIS-A2K
Team, Suchitra, Bengaluru, June 23, 2013). Dr. U.B. Pavanaja conducted
the workshop. Link:
http://cis-india.org/openness/blog/kannada-wikipedia-workshop-bloggers
● Digital Humanities for Indian Higher Education (co-organised by
HEIRA-CSCS, Tumkur University, CILHE-TISS and CCS, Indian Institute of
Science, July 13, 2013). Link:
http://cis-india.org/openness/events/digital-humanities-for-indian-higher-e…
● A Kannada Wikipedia Workshop (organized by CIS-A2K team, July 21,
2013, Hubli). Dr. U.B. Pavanaja gave training to the participants on
Wikipedia. Leading newspapers like Times of India, Vijaya Karnataka,
Deccan Herald, VijayaVani, Prajavani, Samyukta Karnataka and
HosaDiganta covered the event. Scanned versions of the published
articles can be viewed here
(http://cis-india.org/openness/blog/hubli-workshop-press-coverage.zip).
Link: http://cis-india.org/openness/blog/kannada-wikipedia-workshop-at-hubli
● Telugu Wikipedia Training Workshop (organized by CIS-A2K Team in
collaboration with Telugu Jati Nava Nirmana Samstha, Hyderabad, July
21, 2013). Dr. Rajasekhar (Telugu WP admin) and T. Vishnu Vardhan
conducted the workshop. Link: http://bit.ly/13Z00Ue
● A Kannada Wikipedia Workshop at Sagara (organized by CIS-A2K team,
Sagara, July 28, 2013). Dr. U.B. Pavanaja gave a talk on Wikipedia and
Kannada Wikipedia. Link:
http://cis-india.org/openness/kannada-wiki-workshop-at-sagara
● Odia Wikipedia Training Workshop at the Veer Surendra Sai University
of Technology (Organized by Odia Wikipedian Gorvachove Pothal and
supported by CIS-A2K programme, July 26, 2013). Event link:
http://or.wikipedia.org/s/gqw
● Telugu Wiki Academy at Centre for Good Governance (co-organised by
A2K team and Telugu Wikipedia community, Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad,
April 9, 2013). T. Vishnu Vardhan was a speaker at this event. Link:
http://cis-india.org/openness/blog/telegu-wiki-academy-at-centre-for-good-g…
￭ Meetups
● First Telugu Wiki Meetup @ CIS, Bangalore (co-organised by Telugu
Wikipedia community and A2K on June 2, 2013). S.J. Veera conducted the
meet-up. Link: http://cis-india.org/openness/blog/telegu-wiki-meet-up-at-cis-june-2-2013
● Second monthly Telugu Wiki Meetup @ CIS, Bangalore (co-organized by
Telugu Wikipedia community and A2K on July 13, 2013). Event link:
http://goo.gl/zVueaO
● Telugu Wikipedia Meetup @ Theatre Outreach Unit, Hyderabad
(co-organised by TE WP community, ToU and A2K on July 21, 2013). T.
Vishnu Vardhan spoke on Copyright-Creative Commons and Wikipedia.
Link: http://bit.ly/14ctSxr
￭ Upcoming / Ongoing Events
● A Workshop on Posting Articles in Kannada on Wikipedia (organised by
the Centre for Proficiency Development Placement Service, University
of Mysore, CPDPS premises, Manasagangotri, August 6, 2013). Dr. U.B.
Pavanaja will conduct a workshop. The announcement
(http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-karnataka/stress-on-pos…)
was made in an article by R. Krishna Kumar in the Hindu on August 2,
2013. Link: http://cis-india.org/news/hindu-r-krishna-kumar-august-2-2013-stress-on-pos…
● Wikipedia Training workshop for students at the St. Xavier College,
Goa Wikipedia
● Training workshop for students from Library Science Department at
the Goa University, Goa Wikipedia
● Training workshop for students from Konkani language Department at
the Goa University, Goa
￭ Events Participated
● Free Software (organized by Free Software Movement of Karnataka in
partnership with Jnana Vikas Institute of Technology, Bidadi, July 24,
2013). Dr. U.B. Pavanaja presented about Wikipedia in this event.
Link: http://cis-india.org/news/free-software
● Institute of Internet and Society, Bangalore (participated by A2K
team, T. Vishnu Vardhan presented about “Building Knowledge Bases and
Platforms via Mass Collaboration on the Internet” Presentation Link:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Building_Knowledge_Bases_and_Platfor…,
Event Link: http://cis-india.org/telecom/knowledge-repository-on-internet-access/instit…
￭ Media Coverage (including videos)
● A Feature on Wikipedia and Telugu Wikipedians (HMTV, May 30-31,
2013). Watch the video:
http://cis-india.org/news/hmtv-may-30-2013-wikipedia-and-telegu-wikipedians
● Wikipedia Live Phone-in Programme (HMTV, June 1, 2013). T. Vishnu
Vardhan took part in a one hour live phone-in programme on Wikipedia.
Video: http://cis-india.org/news/wikipedia-live-phone-in-programme
● Wiki donors (by Akhila Seetharaman, TimeOut Bengaluru, June 21,
2013). T. Vishnu Vardhan and Dr. U.B. Pavanaja are quoted. Link:
http://cis-india.org/news/timeout-bengaluru-akhila-seetharaman-june-21-2013…
● Kannada Wikipedia Workshop at Hasan (Prajavani, June 5, 2013). Dr.
U.B. Pavanaja conducted the workshop on June 4, 2013. Link:
http://cis-india.org/news/prajavani-june-5-2013-kannada-wikipedia-workshop-…
● Kannada Wikipedia Workshop at Hasan (Samyukta Karnataka, June 5,
2013). Dr. U.B.Pavanaja conducted the workshop on June 4, 2013. Link:
http://cis-india.org/news/samyukta-karnataka-june-5-2013-kannada-wikipedia-…
● Kannada Wikipedia Workshop at Hasan (Vijaya Karnataka, June 5,
2013). Dr. U.B.Pavanaja conducted the workshop on June 4, 2013. Link:
http://cis-india.org/news/vijaya-karnataka-june-5-2013-report-of-kannada-wi…
● Wiki Rahasya: Panel Discussion (Suvarna News, June 13, 2013). Dr.
U.B.Pavanaja participated in a panel discussion around Wikipedia in
general and about Kannada Wikipedia in specific. Link:
http://cis-india.org/news/suvarna-news-june-13-2013-wiki-rahasya-panel-disc…
￭ Blog Entry
● Wikipedia Visual Editor (by Nitika Tandon, June 27, 2013). Link:
http://cis-india.org/openness/blog/visual-editor.pdf/view
● My First Wikipedia Training Workshop – Theatre Outreach Unit,
University of Hyderabad (Organized by A2K team, attended by T. Vishnu
Vardhan) Link: http://cis-india.org/openness/blog/my-first-wikipedia-training-workshop
Wikimedia Foundation has funded A2K to anchor the growth of Wikimedia
movement in India. The A2K team consists of three members based in
Bangalore: T. Vishnu Vardhan, Dr. U.B. Pavanaja and Subhashish
Panigrahi and one member Nitika Tandon in Delhi. Archives of our
newsletters can be accessed here
(http://cis-india.org/about/newsletters). Wikipedians from various
communities can request for outreach programs, technical bugs,
logistics-merchandize and media, public relations and communications
at http://bit.ly/TOcXId.
￭ 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
● CIS group on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/cis.india
● Visit us at: https://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(a)cis-india.org or Nishant Shah, Director –
Research, at nishant(a)cis-india.org. To discuss collaborations on Indic
language wikipedia, write to T. Vishnu Vardhan, Programme Director,
A2K, at vishnu(a)cis-india.org
CIS is grateful to its donors, Wikimedia Foundation, Ford Foundation,
Privacy International, UK, Hans Foundation and the Kusuma Trust which
was founded by Anurag Dikshit and Soma Pujari, philanthropists of
Indian origin, for its core funding and support for most of its
projects.
--
Best!
Subhashish Panigrahi
Programme Officer, Access To Knowledge
Centre for Internet and Society
https://bitly.com/CISA2K
Dear all,
Here is the A2K newsletter for the month of May, 2013. Apologies for the delay.
Wikimedia Foundation, beginning from September 1, 2012, awarded the Centre for Internet & Society (CIS) a two-year grant of INR 26,000,000 to support and develop free knowledge in India. Consequently, Wikimedia Foundation’s India Program became the Access to Knowledge (A2K) program of CIS. In this newsletter, we are pleased to bring you updates about the recently concluded exhibition organised in our offices in Bangalore and Delhi and share with you the feedback to the Access to Knowledge work plan from the wikipedia community.
The A2K team consists of three members based in Bangalore: T. Vishnu Vardhan, Dr. U.B. Pavanaja and Subhashish Panigrahi and one member Nitika Tandon in Delhi. Noopur Raval, Programme Officer left the organisation on April 24, 2013. Archives of our newsletters arehere.
Wikipedians from various communities can request for outreach programs, technical bugs, logistics-merchandize and media, public relations and communications at http://bit.ly/TOcXId.
Celebrating 5 Years of CIS
CIS is now 5 years old and we recently celebrated this by holding an open exhibition in our offices in Bangalore and Delhi from May 20 to 23, showcasing our work and accomplishments over the five year period. We had about 170 visitors coming in to our office. Renowned artists like Tara Kelton, Kiran Subbaiah, Navin Thomas, Abhishek Hazra and Sharath Chandra Ram exhibited their work. The four-day event attracted press coverage: Bangalore Mirror (May 18, 2013), DNA (May 19, 2013), Hindu (May 22, 2013), Prajavani (May 23, 2013), Udayavani (May 25, 2013) and Bangalore Mirror (May 31, 2013). Download all the posters that were part of the exhibition here.
# Announcements
Access to Knowledge Work Plan (April 2013 - June 2014): CIS has announced its detailed plan with projection of outcomes and expected impact of the A2K programme activities. The document has been made in consultation with various stakeholders and keeping in mind the objectives, opportunities and challenges faced by each of the Indian language Wikimedia projects. Feel free to share any feedback.
WMF-A2K Revised Budget (draft) and Utilization (September 2012 - February 2013): In our effort to increase transparency with the working of CIS-A2K programme, we aresharing with you the A2K Programme Budget along with the utilization for the above period. The proposed revisions to the budget along with some notes are here.
CIS Signs MOU with TISS, Mumbai: has signed a MoU with TISS as part of which we will collaboratively work towards building Digital Knowledge Partnerships with select higher education institutions.
India Access to Knowledge IRC can be accessed here: May 13, 2013 (All Language Discussion) and May 26, 2013 (Odia Language Discussion).
# Blog Entries
Odia Wikipedia: Needs Assessment (by Subhashish Panigrahi, May 11, 2013).
Access to Knowledge Work Plan: Synopsis of Feedback by Wikipedians (by Nitika Tandon, May 20, 2013).
Wikipedia Introductory Session organized for Data and India portal consultants (by Subhashish Panigrahi, May 30, 2013).
My First Wikipedia Training Workshop – Theatre Outreach Unit, University of Hyderabad (by T. Vishnu Vardhan, June 19, 2013).
# Event Organised
Kannada Wikipedia Workshop (April 29, 2013, Govinda Pai Research Centre, MGM College Udupi). Dr. U.B. Pavanaja led the workshop and gave a talk on Kannada Wikipedia
# Event Participated
Kannada IRC Meet (organised by the Wikipedia Community, May 7, 2013). Dr. U.B.Pavanaja participated in this.
# Upcoming Event
Digital Humanities for Indian Higher Education (co-organised in collaboration with HEIRA-CSCS, Tumkur University, CILHE-TISS and CCS (IISc), Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, July 13, 2013).
# Press Coverage
Report on CIS 5 Years Celebration (Prajavani, May 23, 2013). Prajavani published a report of Dr. U.B. Pavanja’s talk “From Palm Leaf to Tablet – Journey of Kannada”.
Report on CIS 5 Years Celebration (Udayavani, May 25, 2013). Udayavani published a report of the evening programme hosted as part of the Centre for Internet and Society's 5 year celebrations in its Bangalore edition.
A Feature on Wikipedia and Telegu Wikipedians (HMTV, May 30 – 31, 2013). T. Vishnu Vardhan is quoted in this half an hour feature on Wikipedia and Telugu Wikipedians.
Wikipedia Live Phone-in Programme (HMTV, June 1, 2013). T. Vishnu Vardhan speaks about Telegu Wikipedia in the discussion that was telecasted live.
*About CIS*
CIS was registered as a society in Bangalore in 2008. As an independent, non-profit research organisation, it runs different policy research programmes such as Accessibility, Access to Knowledge, Openness, Internet Governance, and Telecom. The policy research programmes have resulted in outputs such as the e-Accessibility Policy Handbook for Persons with Disabilities with ITU and G3ict, and Digital Alternatives with a Cause?, Thinkathon Position Papers and the Digital Natives with a Cause? Report with Hivos, etc. We have conducted policy research for the Ministry of Communications & Information Technology, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, etc., on WIPO Treaties, Copyright Bill, NIA Bill, etc.
CIS is accredited as an observer at WIPO. CIS staff participates in the Standing Committee for Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR) meetings regularly held in Geneva, and participate in the discussions and comments on them from a public interest perspective. Our Policy Director, Nirmita Narasimhan won the National Award for Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities from the Government of India and also received the NIVH Excellence Award.
*Follow us elsewhere*
Get short, timely messages from us on Twitter
Join the CIS group on Facebook
Visit us at http://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(a)cis-india.org or Nishant Shah, Director – Research, at nishant(a)cis-india.org
CIS is grateful to its donors, Wikimedia Foundation, Ford Foundation, Privacy International, UK, Hans Foundation and the Kusuma Trust which was founded by Anurag Dikshit and Soma Pujari, philanthropists of Indian origin, for its core funding and support for most of its projects.
Thanks
Nitika Tandon
Program Manager
Access to Knowledge
The Centre for Internet & Society
Dear all,
Here is the A2K newsletter for the month of April, 2013.
Wikimedia Foundation, beginning from September 1, 2012, awarded the Centre for Internet & Society (CIS) a two-year grant of INR 26,000,000 to support and develop free knowledge in India. Consequently, Wikimedia Foundation’s India Program became the Access to Knowledge (A2K) program of CIS. In the third issue of our newsletter for 2013, we are pleased to bring you updates from the Indic Wikipedia Visualisation project, reports of events organised in Goa, and press coverage of the Kannada Wikipedia Workshop held in Mysore.
The A2K team consists of three members based in Delhi: T. Vishnu Vardhan, Nitika Tandon and Subhashish Panigrahiand one member Dr. U.B. Pavanaja who is working from Bangalore office. Noopur Raval, Programme Officer (Access to Knowledge) has resigned. April 24, 2013 was her last working day. Archives of our newsletters are here.
Wikipedians from various communities can request for outreach programs, technical bugs, logistics-merchandize and media, public relations and communications athttp://bit.ly/TOcXId.
# Indic Wikipedia Visualisation Project
Indic Wikipedia Visualisation Project #2: Visualising Page Views and Project Pages.
# Blog Entries
Indian WikiWomen celebrate Women’s History Month (by Netha Hussain, April 29, 2013).
Analysis of Konkani Wikipedia: Facts & Challenges (by Nitika Tandon, April 30, 2013).
Odia Wikipedia: Needs Assessment (by Subhashish Panigrahi, April 30, 2013).
# Event Organised
Kannada Wikipedia Workshop (April 29, 2013, Govinda Pai Research Centre, MGM College Udupi). Dr. U.B. Pavanaja led the workshop and gave a talk on Kannada Wikipedia.
# Events Co-organised
The following events were organised in the month of March but reports were written during the month of April. Vishnu Vardhan and Subhashish Panigrahi held meetings with wikipedians:
Kolkata Wiki Community Meetup (organised by CIS and Kolkata Wiki Community, March 14, 2013).
Odia Wikipedia - Cuttack Community Meetup (organised by CIS and Odia Wiki Community, Cuttack, March 16, 2013).
Odia Wikipedia – Bhubaneswar Community Meetup (organised by CIS and Odia Wiki Community, Bhubaneswar, March 17, 2013).
The following event was organised in the month of April. We will be publishing the report soon:
Telugu Wiki Mahotsavam 2013 (organised by Telugu Wikipedia Community and CIS, Hyderabad, April 9 – 11, 2013). Vishnu Vardhan was one of the trainers at the Wikipedia Academy at Centre for Good Governance on April 9, 2013. Vishnu Vardhan spoke about the Access to Knowledge work in one of the sessions of Wikimedia Meeting with Media Heads on April 10, 2013. Vishnu Vardhan gave a talk on A2K’s plans for the growth of Telegu Wikipedia in 2013-14 at the Telegu Wikipedia general meeting on April 11, 2013. Vishnu Vardhan also gave a talk about Access to Knowledge in the digital era at the Wiki Chaitanya Vedika on April 11, 2013.
*About CIS*
CIS was registered as a society in Bangalore in 2008. As an independent, non-profit research organisation, it runs different policy research programmes such as Accessibility, Access to Knowledge, Openness, Internet Governance, and Telecom. The policy research programmes have resulted in outputs such as the e-Accessibility Policy Handbook for Persons with Disabilitieswith ITU and G3ict, and Digital Alternatives with a Cause?,Thinkathon Position Papers and the Digital Natives with a Cause? Report with Hivos, etc. We have conducted policy research for the Ministry of Communications & Information Technology, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, etc., on WIPO Treaties, Copyright Bill, NIA Bill, etc.
CIS is accredited as an observer at WIPO. CIS staff participates in the Standing Committee for Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR) meetings regularly held in Geneva, and participate in the discussions and comments on them from a public interest perspective. Our Policy Director, Nirmita Narasimhan won the National Award for Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities from the Government of India and also received the NIVH Excellence Award.
*Follow us elsewhere*
· Get short, timely messages from us on Twitter
· Join the CIS group on Facebook
· Visit us at http://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(a)cis-india.org or Nishant Shah, Director – Research, at nishant(a)cis-india.org
CIS is grateful to its donors, Wikimedia Foundation, Ford Foundation, Privacy International, UK, Hans Foundation and the Kusuma Trust which was founded by Anurag Dikshit and Soma Pujari, philanthropists of Indian origin, for its core funding and support for most of its projects.
Thanks
Nitika Tandon
Program Manager
Access to Knowledge
The Centre for Internet & Society
Dear all,
Here is the A2K newsletter for the month of April, 2013.
Wikimedia Foundation, beginning from September 1, 2012, awarded the Centre for Internet & Society (CIS) a two-year grant of INR 26,000,000 to support and develop free knowledge in India. Consequently, Wikimedia Foundation’s India Program became the Access to Knowledge (A2K) program of CIS. In the third issue of our newsletter for 2013, we are pleased to bring you updates from the Indic Wikipedia Visualisation project, reports of events organised in Goa, and press coverage of the Kannada Wikipedia Workshop held in Mysore.
The A2K team consists of three members based in Delhi: T. Vishnu Vardhan, Nitika Tandon and Subhashish Panigrahiand one member Dr. U.B. Pavanaja who is working from Bangalore office. Noopur Raval, Programme Officer (Access to Knowledge) has resigned. April 24, 2013 was her last working day. Archives of our newsletters are here.
Wikipedians from various communities can request for outreach programs, technical bugs, logistics-merchandize and media, public relations and communications athttp://bit.ly/TOcXId.
# Indic Wikipedia Visualisation Project
Indic Wikipedia Visualisation Project #2: Visualising Page Views and Project Pages.
# Blog Entries
Indian WikiWomen celebrate Women’s History Month (by Netha Hussain, April 29, 2013).
Analysis of Konkani Wikipedia: Facts & Challenges (by Nitika Tandon, April 30, 2013).
Odia Wikipedia: Needs Assessment (by Subhashish Panigrahi, April 30, 2013).
# Event Organised
Kannada Wikipedia Workshop (April 29, 2013, Govinda Pai Research Centre, MGM College Udupi). Dr. U.B. Pavanaja led the workshop and gave a talk on Kannada Wikipedia.
# Events Co-organised
The following events were organised in the month of March but reports were written during the month of April. Vishnu Vardhan and Subhashish Panigrahi held meetings with wikipedians:
Kolkata Wiki Community Meetup (organised by CIS and Kolkata Wiki Community, March 14, 2013).
Odia Wikipedia - Cuttack Community Meetup (organised by CIS and Odia Wiki Community, Cuttack, March 16, 2013).
Odia Wikipedia – Bhubaneswar Community Meetup (organised by CIS and Odia Wiki Community, Bhubaneswar, March 17, 2013).
The following event was organised in the month of April. We will be publishing the report soon:
Telugu Wiki Mahotsavam 2013 (organised by Telugu Wikipedia Community and CIS, Hyderabad, April 9 – 11, 2013). Vishnu Vardhan was one of the trainers at the Wikipedia Academy at Centre for Good Governance on April 9, 2013. Vishnu Vardhan spoke about the Access to Knowledge work in one of the sessions of Wikimedia Meeting with Media Heads on April 10, 2013. Vishnu Vardhan gave a talk on A2K’s plans for the growth of Telegu Wikipedia in 2013-14 at the Telegu Wikipedia general meeting on April 11, 2013. Vishnu Vardhan also gave a talk about Access to Knowledge in the digital era at the Wiki Chaitanya Vedika on April 11, 2013.
*About CIS*
CIS was registered as a society in Bangalore in 2008. As an independent, non-profit research organisation, it runs different policy research programmes such as Accessibility, Access to Knowledge, Openness, Internet Governance, and Telecom. The policy research programmes have resulted in outputs such as the e-Accessibility Policy Handbook for Persons with Disabilitieswith ITU and G3ict, and Digital Alternatives with a Cause?,Thinkathon Position Papers and the Digital Natives with a Cause? Report with Hivos, etc. We have conducted policy research for the Ministry of Communications & Information Technology, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, etc., on WIPO Treaties, Copyright Bill, NIA Bill, etc.
CIS is accredited as an observer at WIPO. CIS staff participates in the Standing Committee for Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR) meetings regularly held in Geneva, and participate in the discussions and comments on them from a public interest perspective. Our Policy Director, Nirmita Narasimhan won the National Award for Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities from the Government of India and also received the NIVH Excellence Award.
*Follow us elsewhere*
· Get short, timely messages from us on Twitter
· Join the CIS group on Facebook
· Visit us at http://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(a)cis-india.org or Nishant Shah, Director – Research, at nishant(a)cis-india.org
CIS is grateful to its donors, Wikimedia Foundation, Ford Foundation, Privacy International, UK, Hans Foundation and the Kusuma Trust which was founded by Anurag Dikshit and Soma Pujari, philanthropists of Indian origin, for its core funding and support for most of its projects.
Thanks
Nitika Tandon
Program Manager
Access to Knowledge
The Centre for Internet & Society
[pardon the cross-post and English-only post at this time]
Hello everyone,
*This is a reminder that there are 2 days left to apply to attend the first
Program Evaluation & Design Workshop, which will take place in Budapest,
June 22-23. Applications close at 12 AM PST May 17.*
Please review this recent blog announcing the event:
https://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/05/09/program-evaluation-workshop-budapest/
*Wikimedia community members, chapter staff/volunteers, solitary volunteers
- anyone who is a program leader is encouraged to apply. Please note, we
have only 20 slots available and limited funding to support attendees. If
you do apply, you must email me at sarah(a)wikimedia.org if you are
requesting funding before/after you apply. *
We will be filming our workshop, so don't fret if you cannot attend this
first one, or aren't accepted to attend this time.
*You can get a better taste for the event through our evolving Meta Event
page: *
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Program_Evaluation_and_Design/June_2013_Work…
Thank you Wikimedia Magyarország for your support and assistance.
-Sarah
--
*Sarah Stierch**
Wikimedia Foundation Program Evaluation & Design Community Coordinator
*Donate<http://wikimediafoundation.org/w/index.php?title=Donate/en&utm_source=&utm_…>
today
and keep it free!
Visit me on Wikipedia <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:SarahStierch>!
Dear All,
The A2K team is organising an IRC on 13th May 2012, Monday from 8.30pm - 9.30 pm on: http://webchat.freenode.net/?channels=#wikimedia-in.
The main agenda for IRC is to discuss the A2K Work Plan for the year 2013-2014 [1] that we had shared with you earlier. We'd like to hear comments/suggestions from as many of you as possible. This mail is to invite each one of you to join us for this IRC and help improvise our work plan. Just incase you'd like to join but cannot due to prior commitments please drop me a private message and we'll arrange a call with your separately.
Looking forward to see you tomorrow at IRC!
Thanks
Nitika Tandon
Program Manager
Access to Knowledge
The Centre for Internet & Society
[1] http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Access_To_Knowledge/Work_plan_April_20…
Dear All,
In our effort to increase transparency with the working of CIS-A2K
programme, we are sharing with you the A2K Programme Budget along with the
Utilization for the period Sept. 2012 to February 2013 [1]. We intended to
share this with you by mid April, but it got delayed, as we felt the need
to propose revisions to the budget in the context of the A2K Work Plans.
Apologies for this delay.
The proposed revisions to the budget along with some notes are here [2]. We
would appreciate your feedback and suggestions on this. Based on the
feedback received from you, we will approach the Wikimedia Foundation
seeking for approval of the revised budget. It will be very useful to hear
from you on the proposed revisions to the A2K grant budget before May 20,
2013.
Looking forward to your feedback.
Warmly,
Vishnu
Programme Director
Access to Knowledge Programme
CIS
[1]
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WMF-A2K_Grant_Budget_and_Utilization…
[2]
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WMF-A2K_Revised_Budget_(draft)_and_U…