Family

Context

Contemporary public discourse around new Internet technologies carries with it the legacy of the forbidden, the dirty and the desired, which marked the arrival of internet in India. There is an ‘ecology of fear’ that technology feeds into; producing for us reinforced figures of illegality, of danger and of caution. From underage children accessing unmoderated, unpoliced pornographic material on the world wide web to the anonymous strangers influencing young adults into dangerous situations; from identity theft to extremely violent ‘deaths’ in simulated reality games; from disintegrating and dysfunctional families to corruption of youth and degeneration of values; from Orkut deaths’to MMS Scandals, internet technologies have always been mired with moral panic, redefinition of the notions of decency, obscenity and culture in public discourse in India.

So prevalent are these narratives of techno-terror that they inform our interactions with digital technologies and spaces to create resistance and suspicion. It is necessary that such narratives are deconstructed and the paranoia and anxiety that surrounds internet technologies, especially in the context of the family and the personal – the building blocks of sustained development and communities – need to be dismantled and mapped accurately. Responsible research that situates itself ethically and politically to deal with questions of danger, anxiety or threat on digital spaces and helping the larger public in engaging with questions and issues without giving in to the ecology of fear.

Research Agenda

1. The techno-narratives that accompany digital globalisation have altered the fabric of family, interpersonal relationships and communities. People respond to and relate to each other and the world around them differently. How do we look at technologies of information and communication as central to this changing shape of family and society? How do we look at the potentials of these technologies to connect people in new ways as the older forms of communication and relationship are lost?

2. As spaces of anonymous interactions increase within the digital world, how do we create new signs and symbols of caution to ensure safety, especially for people who are still younger in years or uninitiated, without curbing the freedom for others?

3. Are there successful models of sustainable community development and interpersonal relationships which can be constructed to decrease the gaps between people?

4. Can we mobilise the digital communities and forums towards larger concerns and socially responsible action? In times of crises, different online groups have come together to work towards specific causes. Is it possible to channelise the collective power of the internet towards a long term and sustained plan?

5. As the digital world expands its horizons, what are the new pedagogic practices which can be utilised towards a larger social good? How do we expand the social resources by translating them online?

6. How do we educate the digital natives, not only about the instrumentality and usage of internet technologies but also in thinking through the power and agency that these technologies inherit? How do we reflect on the digital family as the new unit for imagining the community, the society and the nation?