Blogs

by Ben Bas last modified Dec 13, 2015 01:46 PM
Blog Entry Simiran Lalvani - Workers’ Fictive Kinship Relations in Mumbai App-based Food Delivery by Simiran Lalvani — last modified May 19, 2020 06:25 AM
Working in the gig-economy has been associated with economic vulnerabilities. However, there are also moral and affective vulnerabilities as workers find their worth measured everyday by their performance of—and at—work and in every interaction and movement. This essay by Simiran Lalvani is the first among a series of writings by researchers associated with the 'Mapping Digital Labour in India' project at the CIS, supported by the Azim Premji University, that were published on the Platypus blog of the Committee on the Anthropology of Science, Technology, and Computing (CASTAC). The essay is edited by Noopur Raval, who co-led the project concerned.
Domestic Work in the ‘Gig Economy’ Nov 16, 2019 from 03:00 PM to 05:30 PM by Aayush Rathi
The CIS and Domestic Workers’ Rights Union (DWRU) are hosting a discussion on the ‘gig economy’ and domestic work on Saturday, November 16 at Student Christian Movement of India, Mission Road, Bangalore. This event is a part of a project supported by the Feminist Internet Research Network led by Association for Progressive Communication (APC) and the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Canada.
Blog Entry State of the Internet's Languages 2020: Announcing selected contributions! by Puthiya Purayil Sneha — last modified Nov 01, 2019 06:12 PM
In response to our call for contributions and reflections on ‘Decolonising the Internet’s Languages’ in August, we are delighted to announce that we received 50 submissions, in over 38 languages! We are so overwhelmed and grateful for the interest and support of our many communities around the world; it demonstrates how critical this effort is for all of us. From all these extraordinary offerings, we have selected nine that we will invite and support the contributors to expand further.
Blog Entry Comments to the United Nations Human Rights Commission Report on Gender and Privacy by Aayush Rathi, Ambika Tandon and Pallavi Bedi — last modified Dec 30, 2019 05:40 PM
This submission to UNHRC presents a response by researchers at the CIS to ‘gender issues arising in the digital era and their impacts on women, men and individuals of diverse sexual orientations gender identities, gender expressions and sex characteristics’. It was prepared by Aayush Rathi, Ambika Tandon, and Pallavi Bedi in response to a report of consultation by a thematic taskforce established by the Special Rapporteur on the Right to Privacy on ‘Privacy and Personality’ (hereafter, HRC Gender Report).
Blog Entry Decolonizing the Internet’s Languages 2019 - From Conversations to Actions by Puthiya Purayil Sneha — last modified Nov 01, 2019 05:53 PM
Whose Knowledge? is organising the Decolonizing the Internet's Languages 2019 gathering in London on October 23-24 — with a specific focus on building an agenda for action to decolonize the internet’s languages. Puthiya Purayil Sneha is participating in this meeting with scholars, linguists, archivists, technologists and community activists, to share the initial findings towards the State of the Internet’s Language Report (to be published in 2020) being developed by Whose Knowledge?, Oxford Internet Institute, and the CIS.
Blog Entry The Mother and Child Tracking System - understanding data trail in the Indian healthcare systems by Ambika Tandon — last modified Dec 30, 2019 05:18 PM
Reproductive health programmes in India have been digitising extensive data about pregnant women for over a decade, as part of multiple health information systems. These can be seen as precursors to current conceptions of big data systems within health informatics. In this article, published by Privacy International, Ambika Tandon presents some findings from a recently concluded case study of the MCTS as an example of public data-driven initiatives in reproductive health in India.
Blog Entry Big Data and Reproductive Health in India: A Case Study of the Mother and Child Tracking System by Ambika Tandon — last modified Dec 06, 2019 04:57 AM
In this case study undertaken as part of the Big Data for Development (BD4D) network, Ambika Tandon evaluates the Mother and Child Tracking System (MCTS) as data-driven initiative in reproductive health at the national level in India. The study also assesses the potential of MCTS to contribute towards the big data landscape on reproductive health in the country, as the Indian state’s imagination of health informatics moves towards big data.
Blog Entry Doing Standpoint Theory by Ambika Tandon and Aayush Rathi — last modified Dec 06, 2019 04:59 AM
Feminist research methodology has evolved from different epistemologies, with several different schools of thought. Some of the more popular ones are feminist standpoint theory, feminist empiricism, and feminist relativism. Standpoint theory holds the experiences of the marginalised as the source of ‘truth’ about structures of oppression, which is silenced by traditional objectivist research methods as they produce knowledge from the standpoint of voices in positions of power. In this essay published on the GenderIT website, Ambika Tandon and Aayush Rathi [1] discuss the practical applicability of these epistemologies to research practices in the field of technology and gender.
Blog Entry Digital mediation of domestic and care work in India: Project Announcement by Ambika Tandon and Aayush Rathi — last modified Oct 10, 2019 08:09 AM
It is our great pleasure to announce that we are undertaking a study on digital mediation of domestic and care work in India, as part of and supported by the Feminist Internet Research Network led by the Association for Progressive Communications (APC), funded by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC). The study is exploring the ways in which structural inequalities, such as those of gender and class, are being reproduced or challenged by digital platforms. The project sites are Delhi and Bangalore, where we are conducting interviews with workers, companies, and unions. In Bangalore, we are collaborating with Stree Jagruti Samiti to collect qualitative data from different stakeholders. The outputs of the research will include a report, policy brief, and other communication materials in English, Hindi, and Kannada. This study is being led by Ambika Tandon and Aayush Rathi, along with Sumandro Chattapadhyay.
Blog Entry Kashmir’s digital blackout marks a period darker than the dark side of the moon by Nishant Shah — last modified Sep 26, 2019 04:26 PM
While we mourn the loss of connection with the moon, remembering a digital blackout closer home.

Document Actions