CIS – The Centre for Internet and Society, CSCS – The Centre for the Study of Culture and Society, and IT for Change hosted a lecture “Locating Gender Politics in the New Techno-Industrial Complex” by Lisa McLaughlin, PhD, Associate Professor in Media Studies and Women’s Studies, Miami University-Ohio, USA, on Jul 23, 2010 at CIS. Dr. McLaughlin addressed the gendered ties that bind the “new global governance” to the “new information economy”, with a focus on women, work, and information and communication technology. Click

After carefully reading through 34 detailed and fascinating project Pre-Proposals, the Advisory Group of the Gender and Citizenship in the Information Society Research Program have finally selected a small group of particularly outstanding and diverse ideas best suited for the overall objectives of the Program.  The Advisory Group and Program Secretariat devoted a significant amount of time, discussion, and critical thought into the final selection.

IT for Change and five other civil society organisations commented on  Version 1.1, dated May 2010, of  Government of India, Department of  IT's draft policy on 'open standards in e-governance'. It sought a firm stand by the department in defining and implementing open standards in e-governance, and offered constructive suggestions for changes in the draft. The comments can be seen here.

  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. The research clearly demonstrates the superiority of integrated models to outsourced/PPP models. The implications of this study for policy are critical. This study can help education departments avoid the pitfalls experienced by earlier programs and help them make an informed choice in deciding a model for their computer learning program.

The article 'Reclaiming Development in the Information Society' has been published in the book In Search of Economic Alternatives for Gender and Social Justice: Voices from India. Written by Anita Gurumurthy and Parminder Jeet Singh, the article asserts that feminist analysis must focus on the spaces of resistance to transnational capital accumulation in the information society, to stress the collaborative over the competitive. New information and communication processes have the potential to empower marginalised groups' citizenship, particularly in the case of women. Click here to access the pdf version of the book.