Being present in public space

There's a line from one of Douglas Adams' Dirk Gently books about homeless people that sticks in my mind: all that anyone wants from them is their absence. But everyone has to be somewhere. In cities throughout the world, there are struggles going on over who gets to be present in public spaces, and what … Continue reading Being present in public space →

Bangalore activists: I want to speak to you!

Are you an activist in Bangalore working on issues related to media/telecommunications access and control, free and open source software, online censorship and surveillance, copyright and other intellectual property, or the UID scheme? If you have time before April 27th, I'd like to ask you more about your work. There's a considerable body of research … Continue reading Bangalore activists: I want to speak to you! →

Vijayanagara

At the moment I'm finding it difficult to avoid the feeling that I should be using every waking moment to work. Between staying on top of my teaching commitments (including familiarising myself with two new units), working to map out Bangalore's digital liberties activism, and trying to find useful ways to contribute to the Alipi … Continue reading Vijayanagara →

National Identity Schemes

Governments around the world have been becoming interested in the possibilities that RFID chips and digital information systems open up for creating nationwide databases that gather information on citizens (or residents) across a variety of fields: health, citizenship status, access to services, and so on. Australia's version of this was the Access Card, which seems … Continue reading National Identity Schemes →

Communities, Technology, and Participation vs Emtech

I had the opportunity to drop in briefly to Emtech India a couple of days ago, and the contrast between it and the Communities, Technology, and Participation workshop was striking. There was some overlap in topics - quite a few of the presentations at Emtech touch on issues related to accessibility and development, and some … Continue reading Communities, Technology, and Participation vs Emtech →