Anita Gurumurthy, IT for Change Executive Director, presented the topic "Cultural rights and globalisation of exchanges and of information" at the Seminar Implementing Cultural Rights - Nature, issues at stake and challenges, held in Geneva, on 1-2 Feb, 2010. The seminar was organised by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, in partnership with the International Organisation of La Francophonie and UNESCO, in collaboration with the Observatory of diversity and cultural rights. The topic was presented as part of the panel on Relationship between cultural rights and cultural diversity. The presentation discusses the intersections between the Information Society and Cultural Rights in the context of corporate globalization; explores the challenges and possibilities of using digital spaces to disseminate alternative cultures and emancipate hitherto marginalised groups, in particular women; and questions the role of Internet to build a democratic discourse for constructing alternative, emancipatory social structures.

Representatives from NGOs, academic institutions, government, schools and colleges attended the Workshop on “Public Software for Social Sector – Principles and Practice”, held in Jaipur on 25 Feb, 2010. The event promoted awareness about the advantages of Public Software amongst those who have not heard about FOSS or have inhibitions adopting it; addressed the perceptions of people who are aware of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) to appreciate the benefits of public software over proprietary software; and helped people/institutions who are convinced about the imperative for public institutions to adopt public software to adopt it.

  A number of state education departments in India are launching computer learning programmes in schools. The predominant model for this programme is to outsource the entire program to vendors. However a few states like Kerala have successfully in-sourced this program, by building in-house capacities to conduct this program. This paper "Policy Brief on ICTs in School Education", discusses outsourced versus integrated models in this area, drawing from our research in two states of India.

IT for Change, APC Women's program and Sulá Batsú  co-hosted a workshop on  “The Internet and Citizenship: Applying a Gender Lens” at the IGF 2009 Meeting in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt to analyse the interface between citizenship and the Internet through a gender perspective. The theme brought together inquiries in three dimensions: 1. within the Internet itself, considering the impact of the present paradigm and emerging trends on inclusion of women; 2. at a global citizenship scenario, understanding the trans-local nature of the Internet; and 3. within national contexts, examining how the Internet re-situates the citizen and redefines citizenship vis-a-vis the state and the market. Anita Gurumurthy from IT for Change moderated this discussion. Heike Jensen (from Humboldt University in Berlin/OpenNet Initiative Asia), Margarita Salas (from Sulá Batsú Cooperative in Costa Rica), and Olga Cavalli (from the Government of Argentina) were the panelists. The participants spoke on women's citizenship based on a more broadly defined notion of 'censorship', the ways in which the feminist movement strategically used digital technologies to resist from the Free Trade Agreement with Central America and Dominican Republic (CAFTA), and also the existing barriers that impede women from using technology and developing a career related to it.

The Ministry of Information and Communication Technology(MCIT) last year released a Draft policy on Open Standards for eGovernance. This progressive policy mandates adoption of single and wholly public standards in various e-governance projects in India. However NASSCOM and MAIT have written to the government suggesting changes which will weaken the policy and advance narrow commercial interests over national interests. IT for Change is part of a campaign launched by FOSSCOMM