What we do
At the Centre for Internet and Society (CIS), we work to ensure that digital technologies support and enhance the public interest. Our work is grounded in the principles of equity, accessibility, openness, and justice in the digital age. We do this through:
Key Areas of Work
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Access to Knowledge (A2K)
Promoting free and open access to knowledge through support for Wikimedia projects in Indian languages, capacity building of open knowledge communities, and advancing digital language equity. -
Digital Accessibility
Working to make digital spaces and technologies accessible for persons with disabilities by conducting research, providing accessibility evaluations, and advocating for inclusive design practices. -
Internet Governance
Engaging with global and national policy processes to advocate for human rights-based, democratic governance of the internet, with an emphasis on inclusivity, transparency, and accountability. -
Freedom of Expression and Privacy
Investigating the impact of surveillance, data governance, and content regulation on civil liberties, and advocating for frameworks that protect individual rights and freedom of speech online. -
Openness and Digital Commons
Supporting initiatives related to open data, open standards, free and open-source software, and the commons-based peer production of knowledge and culture.
Current Thematics
Openness
Innovation and creativity are fostered through openness and collaboration. The advent of the Internet radically defined what it means to be open and collaborative. The Internet itself is built upon open standards and free/libre/open source software. Our work in the Openness programme focuses on open data, especially open government data, open access, open education resources, open knowledge in Indic languages, open media, and open technologies and standards - hardware and software. We approach openness as a cross-cutting principle for knowledge production and distribution, and not as a thing-in-itself.
RAW
The researchers@work programme at the Centre for Internet and Society produces and supports pioneering and sustained trans-disciplinary research on key thematics at the intersections of internet and society; organise and incubate networks of and fora for researchers and practitioners studying and making internet in India; and contribute to development of critical digital pedagogy, research methodology, and creative practice.
Telecom
The growth in telecommunications in India has been impressive. While the potential for growth and returns exist, a range of issues need to be addressed for this potential to be realized. One aspect is more extensive rural coverage and the second aspect is a countrywide access to broadband which is low at about eight million subscriptions. Both require effective and efficient use of networks and resources, including spectrum.
Past Thematics
ENGAGE WITH US
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