It's another world environment day upon us, and we are increasingly looking towards an uncertain future as temperatures soar dangerously close to the tipping point that scientists have been warning us about. Can we reconcile sustainability and connectivity, and how?
Last Sunday, the 21st of May, is marked and celebrated as International Tea Day. This comes after a UN resolution in 2019, reaffirming the 2030 goals for sustainable development, and taking into account the cultural and economic importance of tea, and aiming to improve labour conditions and impact to the environment. But what exactly does International Tea Day mean to the colonial legacy of the tea plantations, and the living conditions of the communities who labour there? We are learning from the hard ground realities of the tea plantation workers amidst this digital era of extraordinary exclusion. Some digital experiments of connecting the unconnected are showing long lasting changes and impacts.
In the last chapter, we took a look at the privacy and security aspects that were discussed in the workshop DEF hosted, Talking Data to the Fourth Pillar. This week, we take a look at discussions on fake news and alternate media models.
This week, the Digital Empowerment Foundation hosted a workshop in Panchgani, Maharashtra, with over fifty journalists, media researchers and practitioners, where we talked about data, privacy, security, mis/disinformation, and more. This is one part of our report from the workshop.
One step forward, several steps back: with one big win for press freedom, one huge blow for freedom of speech, parts of history being erased, and several instances of violence, this week has been a (mostly downhill) coaster ride - that's what this week's TypeRight takes a glance at:
This edition of TypeRight looks into some recent updates on the Aadhaar push for welfare benefits and how the deadlines turn deadly.
In previous chapters of TypeRight we have talked about the necessity of teaching the impacts of AI to the public, and the necessity of advanced computer education including AI/ML tools to more students, but today we deal with something else - it is AI that is teaching us. We also have a conversation with ChatGPT to see how self-critical it gets.
In an earlier edition of TypeRight, we spoke of the UN’s Global Digital Compact that was one of the decisions of the recent Internet Governance Forum - and how the Digital Empowerment Foundation was planning to conduct the consultation of the same in India.
In an earlier TypeRight, we discussed the issues surrounding digital, app based attendance for the country's employment program, the NREGA, and how the lack of digital access leads to exclusions. Today we look at a recent update on the issue: Aadhaar-based payment scheme on the NREGA.
Indian Internet Governance Forum conducted a series of workshops to discuss the multi-stakeholders approach to achieve meaningful last-mile connectivity which has affected people across different age groups and gender, especially from marginalised sections of the society, although India is the second largest user of the internet. Osama Manzar, Founder and Director of Digital Empowerment Foundation, was one of the panellists in the workshop stressing on the urgency of providing the basic backhaul for connectivity to reach the last mile in a meaningful and functional way so that the growing digital economy does not widen the current gaps. Today's TypeRight is based on the panel discussion.
This week, we look into the several issues surrounding a forced digitalisation in the country's employment guarantee scheme, and how it leads to even more exclusions.
This Republic Day, TypeRight delves into how, despite the constitutional recognition of the country's linguistic diversity, many languages are not given the resources they need to thrive - and how we can bring in digital inclusion to help the endangered languages.
Did you know Darjeeling Tea, Kolhapuri Chappal and Tirupati Laddu are GI tagged? This week's TypeRight will take a dive into GIs and how local communities can make use of the GI tags and digital tools to have better livelihoods and convert their location into a destination.
The UN has announced that 2023 would be the 'Year of Millet'. What are millets, how do they differ from our more commonly used grains, and why should we focus on these grassy crops? This week's TypeRight takes a look, and talks about what we at DEF the relationship and plan with the “digital” and what to do on the Year of Millets.
First, Happy New Year to our readers! This week, we would first like to share several of those New Years posts through DEF and its associate handles. And then we will get on to the real issue of the phenomenon called ChatGPT.
In a previous issue of TypeRight, we had covered the Internet Governance Forum's brief history, why it came into place and how it is relevant today. Now, several years after the first IGF by the United Nations, we look at the Global Digital Compact.
This week's TypeRight looks into how Twitter under Musk has unfolded, and what this means for free-speech.
The seventeenth meeting of the Internet Governance Forum has just concluded last week in Adis Ababa, Ethiopia. This week's TypeRight will focus solely on updates from this year's IGF, which had several discussions on a variety of topics, two of which DEF was also a part of.
Over several chapters of TypeRight, we had covered in detail the innovativeness that is brought forth by Community Networks. Before we explain them further once again, we would like to share some news from the G20 Summit in Indonesia:
The following article and presentation was prepared to share during the panel discussion that was expected to address questions pertaining to the recent increase in interest among international organisations in promoting and protecting freedom of expression, including artistic freedom and protection of artists. It would be interesting to understand if this is linked to a rise in censorship and political oppression, or an increase in the awareness and understanding among these organisations of these challenges, or both. The panel will also explore diverse challenges in this field, as well as opportunities provided by the widespread use of the internet and digital products, and the consequent responses by those targeted by censorship and persecution.
