Dot Com Mantra: Social Computing in the Central - Payal Arora

293 Pages·2012·1.65 MB·English

Dot Com Mantra:
Social Computing in the Central Himalayas
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Dot Com Mantra: Social Computing in the Central Himalayas

Payal Arora
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Table of Contents

FORWARD………………………………………………………………………………..9

PREFACE…………………………………………………………………………………12

I. INTRODUCTION…………………………………………………………..…….16
Local as celebrity………………………………………………………….16
Social learning with computers……………………………………………18
Methodology………………………………………………………………22
Techno-revelations for development policy and practice…………………26
Organization of the argument……………………………………………...28
II. FROGS TO PRINCES: TAKING THE LEAP……………………………………33
The pathway to good intentions: The development story…………………33
New technology and social change………………………………………..39
Anthropology of the artifact: Contexts - communities - conducts………...47
Human ingenuity, technology and development in India…………………53
PART 1: Almora…………………………………………………………………………..61
III. THIS IS INDIA MADAM!......................................................................................62
In search of a man-eating catfish………………………………………......63
Here comes Sonia Gandhi!...........................................................................70
Swami mafia……………………………………………………………....71
In God we trust, the rest is all cash: The simple villager?...........................79
IV. NEW TECHNOLOGY, OLD PRACTICES……………………………………..92
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It’s all in the family………………………………………………………92
The darling child of development: The cell phone……………………….98
Cashing in on technology………………………………………………...101
Playing low key…………………………………………………………..103
Chullah and the pump: Gender and technology………………………….107
PART 2: Computers and Rural Development………………………………………… 112
V. GOODBYE TO THE PATWARIS……………………………………………...113
Peasant revolutions of the past and present……………………………...113
New intermediaries in the making…………………………………….....116
E-agriculture solutions coming to town……………………………….....122
Kisan sangattans………………………………………………………….125
Consensus, contention and circulation of conversation……………….....128
Learning to decide……………………………………………………….148
VI. EXCAVATING RELICS OF AN EDUCATIONAL IDEA: THE ROMANCE OF
FREE LEARNING………………………………………………………………………152

Ethnographer as archeologist…………………………………………………....152
Digging up the past………………………………………………………………155
School as you go…………………………………………………………………159
Private distance from public education………………………………………….163
Playground kiosk democracy…………………………………………………….166
A beautiful idea………………………………………………………………….170
PART 3: Computing and Cybercafés…………………………………………………….175
VII. COPYCATS AND UNDERDOGS OF THE HIMALAYAS……………………176
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The after-school center…………………………………………………176
You scratch my back, I scratch yours…………………………………..178
Who’s the boss?........................................................................................187
The perfect thesis………………………………………………………...197
The “epidemic” of plagiarism……………………………………………202
VIII. LET’S GO SHOPPING!.......................................................................................206
New educational consumers…………………………………………….206
Shop till you drop………………………………………………………207
Mona Lisa and bathroom tiles………………………………………… 216
Are finders keepers?.................................................................................222
IX. LEISURE. LABOR. LEARNING……………………………………………...224
Orkut saves the day……………………………………………………..224
Can the poor come out to play?..................................................................226
The tale of two people…………………………………………………....234
The blasphemy of leisure………………………………………………...240
X. CONCLUSION………………………………………………………………….245
Bibliography……………………………………………………………………………...255
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List of Figures

Figure 1.1: Map of Uttarakhand, India, [Copyright: Ranjiv Rawat, uttarakhand.net].....19
Figure 1.2: Researcher (bottom left) with balwadi teachers at USNPSS……………….24
Figure 3.1: House on the hill in Almora……………….……………………………….63
Figure 3.2: View of settlements in Almora..……………………………………………63
Figure 3.3: Signs of cybercafés on entering Almora town………………………….......67
Figure 3.4: Lala bazaar in Almora town………………………………………………..67
Figure 3.5: Mirtola ashram………………………………………………………………78
Figure 3.6: Letters to the Gods: Chitai temple [Copyright: Kamal K Joshi]…………..78
Figure 3.7: Women fetching water……………………………………………………..82
Figure 3.8: Woman and girl carrying firewood………………………………………..82
Figure 4.1: A village home …………………………………………………………….92
Figure 4.2: A balwadi (pre-school) gathering………………………………………….92
Figure 4.3: Chullah (stove) in the house [Copyright: Dr. Sushil Sharma]……………..107
Figure 4.4: Village water pump [Copyright: Suresh Bisht]…………………………….108
Figure 5.1: Uttarakhand Seva Nidhi……………………………………………………128
Figure 5.2: Farmer meeting session…………...………………………………………129
Figure 5.3: Woman presenter at farmer’s meeting…………..………………………..129
Figure 5.4: Farmers share current pricing of produce…………………………………134
Figure 6.1: HiWEL Learning Station in Almora town…………………………………153
Figure 6.2: HiWEL Learning Station at Hawalbagh village…………………………...153
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Figure 6.3: Boys at computer kiosk in Andhra Pradesh, India…………………………168
Figure 7.1: Signage outside cybercafé……………………………………………….....177
Figure 7.2: Cybercafé in Almora town…………………………………………………177
Figure 9.1: Matrix appropriated………………………………………………………...225
Figure 9.2: Digital romance fantasy…………………………………………………..225

Chart 1: Comparison of intercolleges on computers in Almora……..………………...227
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Glossary of Terms

AIR -Air India Radio
Arya Samaj –Indian political party
Atta –Flour
Balwadis –Pre-schools
Bhagwat Gita- Indian sacred text
Bhoomi project –Technology project in India
Bhotiyas –Tribal people of the Himalayas
BJP- Bharatya Janata Party, main opposition party in India
Brahmins –Priestly caste
BSNL –Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd., Government telecommunication company
Butta -Corn
CBO - Community Based Organization
Chai -Tea
Chipko –Movement to save the forests in the Himalayas; literally means to “stick”
Chow mien –Chinese food dish
Chula - Stove
CICs- Computer Information Centers
Crore- Hundred million rupees
Damru -Drum
DG - Digital Green
Didi –Sister
DIT –Department of Information Technology
DLIF - Digital Library for Indian Farmers
Doli -Cot
Doordharshan –Government Television Station
E-chaupal – Movement for agricultural markets by ITC
Ghee –Clarified butter for cooking
GIS –Geographical Information System
Harijans –Untouchables
HiWEL –Hole in the Wall Education Ltd.
IAS –Indian Administrative Service
ICT –Information Communication and Technology
Jalagams –Water catchments
Karva chaut – A custom where a women’s fast for the long life of her husband
Kethibadi - Farming
Kisan - Farmer
Lakh- Two thousand dollars
LS- Learning Stations
Mahila- Woman
Mandi - Government market
Mehendi –Henna
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MIE - Minimally Invasive Education
Mission 2007 – Current national project to create connectivity across Indian rural villages
Neem -Herb
Netas –Politician
NGO –Non Government Organization
NIC- National Informatics Center
NRI –Non Resident Indian
Nula – Water pump
Paan –Beetle nut
Padma Shri- Second highest honor bestowed by the government to its citizens for their
contribution to the country
Pahadi –Hill people
Pakodas- Fried Indian snack
Panchayat –Village leaders
Patwaris- Middlemen
Prasad –Holy offering
Rajputs –Warrier caste
Sadhu- Sage
Sangattan -Collective
Sarpanch –Village head
Soochna Kutirs –Government cybercafes
Swami -Sage
Thakur – In this region, this title signifies royal and noble rank
Upanishads –Holy scriptures
Uttara – Government information portal
USNPSS- Uttarakhand Seva Nidhi Paryavaran Shiksha Sansthan
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Foreword

Mark Warschauer

Professor of Education and Informatics, University of California, Irvine

In a recent discussion of the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) program’s desire to
place computers in the hands of every Indian child, one laptop enthusiast was asked how
he was so confident that rural children, who may have never been to school, could make
productive use of laptops for learning. “Well, after all,” he replied, “they are digital
natives.”
Deterministic views of the positive power of technology are seldom as extreme as
this; after all, how many people believe that simply being born in the information era will
endow certain capabilities on youth, even if they and their friends, relatives, neighbors, and
teachers, may never have touched a computer? Yet the belief that new technology has
some magical power to solve or bypass complex social, educational, economic, and
political problems is certainly widespread, as witnessed, for example, by the OLPC
program itself (for one critique, see Kraemer, Dedrick, & Sharma, 2009).
Unfortunately, the most common counter to this naïve techno-optimism is a
narrow-sighted techno-pessimism that focuses solely on the problems associated with new
media and fails to recognize their potential value in individual and social development.
Techno-pessimists deny that those on the margins could benefit from any use of
computers, since presumably all other more pressing social and economic problems would
need to be solved before the poor could productively deploy new technology.