Research papers

In 2014, the World Wide Web Foundation (WWW) in collaboration with SIDA launched '

This draft paper was a result of research undertaken for the University of Pennsylvania's Internet Policy Observatory. It begins by mapping the Indian IG scene so far, and then moves onto an impressionist analysis of first hand interviews conducted across a broad section of stakeholders, to identify the Indian IG agenda imperatives.

The IG chapter, penned for a book of policy recommendations in the context of the new Government, calls for a reconstitution of the India's Internet policy in place of knee-jerk reforms that are poorly researched, incomprehensible and lack foresight.

In August 2014, we interviewed about 25 people spanning different domains, alongside an examination of views and perspectives from workshops such as Internet We Need, Social Justice in an Internet-mediated World, The Emerging issues in Use and Governance of the Internet from the Indian Perspective etc. and compiled an impressionist commentary on what people thought about the Internet in India as well as the context and need for Internet policies.

This paper sets out to study how gender equality gets constructed within the discursive space of IGF, using IGF 2012 as an exemplar. It utilises a Critical Discourse Analysis Framework that draws upon the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development's framework which defines gender equality as comprising the following domains: capabilities and access to resources and opportunities; empowerment; and enabling macro-environmental factors.

A meeting on 'Towards a Just and Equitable Internet' was held in New Delhi on 14th and 15th Feb, 2014. A large number of civil society organisations and individuals from across the world attended the meeting. The participants agreed to form a coalition, called as the 'Just Net Coalition' (JNC), as a platform to address issues of social justice and human rights with regard to Internet governance. The organisational form of the Coalition is being finalised. Meanwhile, the Coalition submitted a set of Principles as an input to the preparatory process of the 'Global Multistakeholder Meeting on the Future of the Internet' also called the NetMundial meeting, to be held in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on 23rd and 24th April, 2014. These Principles are as below..

This research study, carried out by IT for Change in partnership with Dr. Lisa McLaughlin, Associate Professor from Miami University, Ohio (United States), explores the structural-institutional facets of the relationship between women entrepreneurs, ICTs, and the mainstream discourse on entrepreneurship. The research study was carried out between 2010-12, focusing on women entrepreneurs in the two Indian states of Karnataka and Kerala, representing two contrasting ICT ecosystems; the former dominated by big private players, and the latter dominated by a welfarist state.

IT for Change has entered into an agreement with Zubaan, a leading feminist publishing house in India, to bring out a book – 'Feminist Visions of the Network Society' – that consolidates key insights from the various research efforts undertaken as part of its 'Gender and Citizenship in the  information society' (CITIGEN-Asia) programme.

1. Which stakeholder category do you belong to?

NGO – in Special Consultative Status with UN ECOSOC

In early 2013, the Department of India, government of India, set up a working group for developing Principles for Internet Governance in India. IT for Change is a member of this working group. In April, 2013, we submitted a detailed input paper outlining a framework for developing such principles called "From Internet to Equinet" building on a term that was coined by the then Minister of Communications and IT.