Society & Culture
BPO employees fight for rights on the Net
July 28, 2008 The Times of India
The concept of employee unions was given a whole new direction with the formation of an e-union for BPO employees. The nascent BPO sector which now employs a considerable number of people, has been often found to be ambivalent in terms of working conditions provided to the employees, with high levels of dissatisfaction reported frequently.
Going global through digital technology
May 19, 2008, Deccan Herald
This article talks about the fact that trading in tea is all set to go digital away from the traditional system which involves the presence of middlemen. Over the past few years, the plummeting tea prices and the continued erosion of margins by traders meant that the actual tea growers continued to be worse of.
Copyright vs the right to copy
April 16,2008, Lawrence Liang, Alternative Law Forum.
The article critically looks at the implementation of the Indian Copyright Act 1957 with reference to the controversy surrounding the music of a Hindi movie which was plagiarised which brought it (the Indian Copyright Act 1957) into focus. The case involved a Rs. 2 crore settlement as an answer to the allegations made by the music composer against the producers for violation of copyright.
ICT in the context of education system
(Draft-Please do not cite), April, 2008, IT for Change
The article profiles the use of ICTs in the field of education from various aspects. These include the direct application of ICTs to teacher education as well as secondary education, which involves both the teacher and the student.There are also other important areas where ICT is proving to be a differentiator in the quality of education being imparted, one of which is the collection and collation of the large amount of data which facilitates education administration to a great extent.
National Knowledge Commission: Report to the nation 2007
2007, National Knowledge Commission
The National Knowledge Commission (NKC), a high-level advisory body to the Prime Minister of India, has made further recommendations to transfer the country into a knowledge society, in its second Report to the Nation. The new set of recommendations include creation of portals to ensure transparency in governance, initiation of an Indian Health Information Network, greater attention to traditional health systems, enhanced focus on legal, health and management education, support to open access and open educational resources and building up a world class intellectual property resources infrastructure.
Giving children a voice in the media
February 2007, Kavita Ratna, Infochange
This article discusses The Media Code to Realise Children’s Rights 2005, that was formulated to prevent violation of children's rights on the media on the one hand and to promote more space for children's concerns, on the other. Developed in consultation with groups of children by The Concerned for Working Children (CWC), the code represents an affirmative protocol, not a set of prescriptive guidelines.
Search history: Examining pornography on the Internet
Gender IT, Namita Malhotra
The author examines the phenomenon of pornography especially with respect to its burgeoning expansion on the Internet. She traces the development of pornography through the ages, and the fact that each new communication medium has provided newer challenges in the censorship and control of such information. Sexually explicit depiction of women has often had links with the rise of crimes against the gender, and the Internet has exacerbated the problem to a whole new dimension.
The big idea
January 30, 2008, Sudesh Prasad, Dataquest
This article discusses the increasing use of Web 2.0 technology by Indian IT companies. Once considered a waste of time, studies as well as experience have shown that the application of Web 2.0 leads to better employee interaction as well as higher professional collaboration.
Suicide sites pose deadly problem
March 16, 2008, The Times of India
A new disturbing phenomenon in the online space are websites that provide a guide to commit suicide. While the exact impact of such websites to increase suicide occurrences is still a subject of study, it is no doubt a very serious development which has to be looked at by both government and civil society in order to block potentially harmful content. India unfortunately lags behind other countries in tracking such developments and enhancing its laws and guidelines to handle such sites.
Television-on-the-go is here
March 13, 2008 The Hindu
This article discusses the incoming of mobile television to India. The new technology that has been experimented in select metros by the state run telcom major MTNL will be extended to the whole of the country by April 2008. While surveys have predicted that the Indian market for mobile telephones is huge in terms of size and revenue, companies like Nokia have already launched handsets which are capable of receiving broadcasts.
