media, information, the contemporary

Author: Sarai


  • Broadcast to Broadband: Televisual Experiences in the Age of the Digital

    Netflix, the world’s most popular online streaming service launched in India this January elicited mixed reactions. While avid viewers of American and British TV series are thrilled by the move, cable operators and online service providers like HOOQ and Ogle anticipate tough competition. Factoring in low internet bandwidth and monthly subscription fees, the success of Netflix in India is still a fuzzy picture at the moment. In an industry that is gradually moving towards digitization, this launch is clearly a game-changer for both television broadcasters and their audiences…

  • 10 Rs Recharge: Incrementality in Digital Consumption within Informal Urban Settlements

    Though bereft of basic facilities such as sewage system or water supply, informal settlements in Indian cities have been rapidly permeated by networks of digital technology and media infrastructures. The highest internet usage here is through mobile phones – enabled by the rapid penetration of low-cost smartphones and low tariffs.[1] The digital consumption in terms of data recharge or offline media purchases is largely incremental with daily recharges of Rs 10 – 30 instead of larger amounts over longer periods. This incremental nature of digital consumption is inherent to informality…

  • A Practice Perspective on Technologies Used in Transportation Studies: Introduction

    In this post, Onkar Hoysala, one of the researchers who received the Social Media Research grant for 2016, introduces his proposed work.

    The significance of the transport sector in increasing productivity, reducing poverty and help achieve sustainable development goals, especially in rapidly urbanising areas, is well recognised (Asian Development Bank, n.d.; World Bank, 2014). Globally, there has been a push towards using computational methods and tools to help address issues in transportation, with international bodies such as the World Bank and Asian Development Bank pushing towards the use of technology and data management in helping…

  • Short Term Research Projects in Social Media: Selected Proposals 2016

    The Sarai Programme is committed to developing a public architecture for creating knowledge and creative communities. In keeping with this commitment, we seek to develop a community of scholars, writers and practitioners who are motivated to make the materials and outcome of research available for public access and circulation, with the understanding that an imaginative…

  • The Wager on Cinema: Screening 2 – The Factory

    The Sarai Programme invites you to the second screening of the film series titled, The Wager on Cinema: Rahul Roy’s ‘The Factory‘. The respondents for this film are Jeebesh Bagchi and Prabhu Mohapatra. Date: 30 March, 2016 Time: 4PM (Tea will be served at 3:30PM) Venue: The Sarai Programme, Centre for the Study of Developing…

  • The Wager On Cinema: Screening 1 – ‘Cities of Sleep’

      The Sarai Programme invites you to the inaugural screening of the film series titled, The Wager on Cinema. The series begins with a screening and discussion of Shaunak Sen’s ‘Cities of Sleep’. The respondents for the film are Nivedita Menon and Aman Sethi. Date: 12 February, 2016 Time: 5PM (Tea will be served at…

  • Critical Internet Culture – Masterclass with Geert Lovink

    The Sarai Programme invites applications for participation in a Masterclass to be conducted by Geert Lovink. The two day Masterclass is divided into six sessions and engages with the following topics – – State of Art – Net Criticism – Critique of Social Media – Internet Time – Cultures of Search – Wikileaks-Anonymous-Snowden and other…

  • Call for Proposals: Short Term Research Projects in Social and Digital Media 2016

    The Sarai Programme, Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, Delhi, invites proposals from individuals for research projects on contemporary social and digital media, its ecologies and histories. Selected research proposals will be supported with a short-term grant for six months, and the researchers will present their studies in a workshop at Sarai-CSDS at the…

  • The Act of Media: Workshop on Law, Media and Technology

    The Sarai Programme, Centre for the Study of Developing Societies is organising The Act of Media workshop on 8th to 10th January 2016. The workshop examines how media-enabled subjectivities produce new sites of departure in the law. The shift from theatre to cinema; cinema to video; and video to satellite television have been productive sites…

  • BioScope Volume 6 Number 2, July 2015, Special Issue: Regional Cinemas of India

    The July 2015 issue of BioScope: South Asian Screen Studies, a special issue of Regional Cinemas of India is now available both in print and online. This special issue has been guest edited by S.V. Srinivas Guest Editors S.V. Srinivas Contents Introduction to Special Issue Region in Focus S.V. Srinivas Articles Coming Back to Life:…