Join us tomorrow for Change. UW CSE postdoctoral researcher Neha Kumar
will join us for a discussion on her work examining the relationship
between ICT and media consumption in rural, small-town, and urban India.
What: Neha Kumar: The Link Between ICT's and Media Consumption
When: Tuesday, April 8th at 12pm
Where: The Allen Center, CSE 203
*Abstract:*
Research initiatives in the fields of Information and Communication
Technology and Development (ICTD) have largely overlooked leisure-driven
uses of new media technologies in their efforts to address agricultural,
educational, financial and other instrumental needs.
My research finds that affordable new media technologies have been
significant in driving the procurement of entertainment content and the
production of culture. Individuals from socioeconomically disadvantaged
backgrounds quickly become adept at using these technologies, paving the
way for development-friendly outcomes. This is the phenomenon I analyze,
as I examine individual agency in the intertwining of culture and new
media in the context of dominant development narratives.
This talk will draw upon research that investigates the leisure-driven
appropriation of the mobile phone by youth from marginal backgrounds in
rural, small-town, and urban India. I study the influx of new media and
its resulting impact in folk music-rich communities of rural Madhya
Pradesh and Rajasthan. Shifting focus to the motivations that drive
youth towards mobile consumption of folk and popular media, I examine
the unique material affordances of mobile technology and its influence
on emerging media practices. Highlighting the notion of agency, both
human and material, I investigate the pirate media network responsible
for the widespread dissemination of digital media /and/ technical
skills. I then discuss the agency of urban Indian youth that guides them
to further build on these skills as they negotiate various linguistic,
social, and technological hurdles in their thirst to engage with social
media.
*About the speaker:*
Neha is a postdoctoral researcher at UW CSE, where her research focuses
on the design, production, and dissemination of visual media to address
maternal and infant mortality in rural India. She recently completed her
Ph.D. from the School of Information at UC Berkeley, where she conducted
an ethnography of the adoption and self-guided uses of new media
technologies of Indian youth from socioeconomically disadvantaged
backgrounds. Her research objective is to contribute a deeper, more
grounded understanding of emerging uses and /users/ to the field of ICTD
and its interventions. She is most at home in cross-disciplinary
contexts, having worn the hats of computer scientist, education
researcher, designer, data analyst, and ethnographer at various stages
of her graduate work.
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