Gyan Satyagraha in the internet age

We did geek out at the GeekUp with Carl Malamud 🗣

Carl Malamud of the Servants of Knowledge, and Gautam John of Rohini Nilekani Philanthropies, discussed Gandhian Internet, open source, open science, open law, and open networks as a fundamental underpinning of Samaaj i.e., civil society on 13 December, 2024. This GeekUp was also the more special because of Hasgeek’s 14th anniversary - and to promote and reinforce the values of community and openness in today’s times.

With over 60 registrations - on a rainy Bangalore afternoon - the GeekUp had participation from techies, lawyers, communications professionals and senior folks from the non-profit and research organizations.

Representatives from communities such as VizChitra, Hack5, Agami, Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) and others were present at the GeekUp.

GeekUp video - watch and comment 🎬

Watch the video of the talk and the ensuing discussion at https://hasgeek.com/servantsofknowledge/geekup-with-carl/videos
Carl Malamud advocates for “Gyan Satyagraha”—a grassroots effort to digitize and democratize access to knowledge. He emphasizes the importance of sustained work over quick solutions like hackathons. Carl also highlights Artificial Intelligence’s (AI) potential for targeted applications like translations and pattern recognition, while stressing the urgent need for a national effort to preserve knowledge in Indian libraries.

GeekUp in the news 📰

Icymi, read the media coverage of the GeekUp, and catch up with what happened!

About Carl Malamud 🗣📢

Carl Malamud is one of four co-founders of the Servants of Knowledge Association, an effort to build a Public Library of India that has been underway for almost a decade. Carl is the founder of Public.Resource.Org, a US-based NGO that has been a leader in the struggle to provide open access to edicts of government, including public safety standards, in the US, Europe, and India, efforts that have been recognized and supported by the Supreme Courts of the US and the European Union.
Carl was responsible for placing a large number of government databases on the Internet and then convincing the government to provide those services.
In the 1990s, Carl ran the first radio station on the Internet, where he pioneered what we now know of as “podcasting.”
He is the author of nine books, and the recipient of numerous awards including the Berkman Award from Harvard University and the Pioneer Award from the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF).

About the moderator 👤

Gautam John is the CEO of Rohini Nilekani Philanthropies. Prior to this, he spent several years with the Akshara Foundation, building the Karnataka Learning Partnership (KLP) and at Pratham Books, building their open source publishing model. Before entering the nonprofit sector, he was an entrepreneur for six years.
Gautam graduated from the National Law School of India University in 2002.

📫 Talk to us ... (and follow our work)

Leave us a comment if you liked the video, or want to speak/participate in Servants’ of Knowledge’s activities. Follow the work of Servants of Knowledge at https://hasgeek.com/servantsofknowledge/