Janaki’s research examines the political economy of information technology-based development initiatives. She uses ethnographic research to examine how gender, caste and class shape the use of such technologies. Her work has explored these interests in the context of Indian digital inclusion initiatives focussed on community computer centres, mobile phones, identity systems and open information systems. Some of this work appeared in her recent monograph, The Political Lives of Information published by MIT Press. Janaki’s work on the politics of informational and digital exclusion is currently focussed on privacy and the algorithmic control of labour. For the past several years, as co-investigator on the Fairwork India team, she has been involved in researching and advocating for change in the precarious working conditions of gig workers in India.
Janaki was previously on the faculty at the International Institute of Information Technology Bangalore and convenor of its Centre for Information Technology and Public Policy. She has a PhD in Information Management and Systems from UC Berkeley and Masters degrees in Physics and in Information Technology from IIT Delhi and IIIT Bangalore.
Besides the OII, Janaki is also associated with Oxford School of Global and Area Studies and St Antony’s College.
Political economy of information-based development, privacy, critical information theory, development theory, algorithmic management of work, politics of work automation, ICTs and Development (ICTD), politics of identity systems.
OxDEG, the Oxford Digital Ethnography Group, comprises students and faculty members from Oxford University who discuss and share ideas about the evolution of ethnography in a heavily mediated world.
With Dr Andrea Medrado, Prof Cheryll Soriano, Dr Janaki Srinivasan, Dr Jian Xiao, Dr Fadi Salem, Rutendo Chabikwa, Dr Mohammad Amir Anwar, Prof Tanja Bosch, Prof Patricia Peña, Prof César Ricardo Siqueira Bolaño, and Dr Andrés Domínguez Hernández
This workshop aims to facilitate dialogues between UK scholars and approaches from the Global South in the field of Internet and Data Studies.
DPhil Student
Bhargav is a D.Phil student working with Prof. Janaki Srinivasan on understanding value generation and worker relations in the global AI supply chain.
DPhil Student
Kat Zhou is a DPhil candidate and Clarendon Scholar at the OII. Her research examines the sociology of work and geographies of artificial intelligence.
This course will expose students to some of the key debates that link digital transformations to economic, social, and political inequalities.
This course offers a unique perspective through three modules on the encoding, decoding and recoding of the digital in South Asia.
