Centre for Internet and Society (India)

Centre for Internet and Society

CIS headquarters in Domlur, Bangalore.
Abbreviation	CIS
Type	Non-profit organization
Headquarters	No 32, 1st Floor, 2nd Block, Austin Town, Viveka Nagar, Bangalore, Karnataka, India [1]
Website	cis-india.org

The Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) is an Indian non-profit multidisciplinary research organization, based in Bengaluru. ^{[2] [3] [4]} CIS works on digital pluralism, public accountability and pedagogic practices, in the field of the Internet and Society.

CIS was founded in 2008 by Sunil Abraham, based on an idea by Lawrence Liang, with initial funding by Anurag Dikshit who by 2014 remained among the centre's financial backers, alongside Rohini Nilekani. ^[5] In 2020, Amber Sinha succeeded Abraham as executive director. ^[6] During its first half decade, major work areas of CIS included contributing to the Indian government's efforts to standardize e-governance, as well as the country's privacy laws and telecom policy, and efforts to improve internet access in rural areas. ^[5]

Wikimedia projects

The Wikimedia Foundation granted a project to CIS to promote and support the Indic language Wikimedia’s Indic language free knowledge projects, including Wikipedia in Indic languages and English. The grant is also aimed to support wider distribution of Wikimedia’s free knowledge within India. The award amount for the first year of the two-year project was Rs. 11 million (US $200,000). ^[7]

Swatantra 2014

CIS supported and participated in Swatantra 2014, the fifth international free software conference event, organized at Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala from 18 to 20 December 2014.^{[ citation needed ]}

References

1. "The Centre for Internet and Society". cis-india.org. Retrieved 5 April 2023.
2. "Deconstructing 'Internet addiction'". The Hindu . 30 August 2009. Archived from the original on 30 August 2009. Retrieved 16 March 2010.
3. "Internet, first source of credible information about A(H1N1) virus". The Hindu . 16 August 2009. Retrieved 16 March 2010.
4. Verma, Richi (31 January 2010). "Can't read, so use new tech to let books speak". The Times of India . Retrieved 16 March 2010.
5. "Sunil Abraham | the online warrior". 9 August 2014.
6. Barik, Soumyarendra (20 March 2020). "Centre for Internet & Society appoints Amber Sinha as executive director". MEDIANAMA. Retrieved 24 April 2025.
7. "Wikimedia Foundation awards grant to Centre for Internet and Society to expand Access to Knowledge in India". Centre for Internet and Society. 1 August 2012. Retrieved 5 July 2018– via Wikimedia Foundation.

External links

• Centre for Internet and Society
• Ramya, M (26 September 2009). "Tara Textreader, a boon for the visually-challenged". The Times of India. Retrieved 5 July 2018.
• Abraham, Sunil (24 April 2009). "Does India need its own Bayh-Dole?". Indian Express. Retrieved 5 July 2018.
• Abraham, Sunil (13 January 2010). "Wiki's worth, on a different turf". Live Mint. Retrieved 5 July 2018.
• Kurup, Deepa (22 December 2009). "When the virtual world gets a room". The Hindu. Retrieved 5 July 2018.