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Published papers by Paula Ray
Dynamics of Asian Development, 2016
Abstract India has the deepest penetration of mobile phone usage, and the second highest usage of... more Abstract
India has the deepest penetration of mobile phone usage, and the second highest usage of mobile Internet in the world. Even the low-end mobile phones are enabled with options to access social networking sites (SNS). It helps that SNS can now be accessed in vernacular languages, too. This development in mobile telephony has the potential to mitigate the socio-economic disparity of the country’s population (D’Costa, in this edition) and make SNS available to the people, which in turn can connect millions of users instantly and efficiently. It is not surprising then that Indian SNS users are beginning to harness this capacity to digital activism. Any form of communication, non-profit or commercial, must involve a level of persuasion to be considered successful. While persuasion can take many different forms, in activism mediated through digital communication tools, it tends to follow two paradigms: to inform and to inspire, depending on the socio-economic development of the people to be persuaded; in a developed country, digital activism is used to inspire people on an issue of concern, and in a developing country digital tools are used foremost to inform the people about a cause. The choice of paradigm is also guided by access to communication technology. I argue that given the disparity in socio-economic development (D’Costa, in this edition) between urban and rural regions in contemporary India, both paradigms coexist within the Indian context. The way inspiration-based activities are managed and implemented is comparable to the persuasive strategies of a multinational corporation seeking global recognition. I conclude that digital activist “branding” has the potential to bring about social change, depending on how the communication tool is being used along with the nature of the issues raised online.
Several cases of digital activism via social networking sites (SNS) have recently appeared worldw... more Several cases of digital activism via social networking sites (SNS) have recently appeared worldwide which specifically address women’s issues. These instances point to the fact that women are active on the Internet and use SNSs (such as Facebook) to promote causes and garner support for issues as varied as feminine sexuality, health and social agency. SNS, perhaps for the first time in the history of communication technology, is a communication tool that is used as extensively by women as men. One explanation for this may be found in the chatty nature of interaction that takes place on SNS, amounting to information exchange that verge on gossip but is not thereby less effective for activist purposes. Gossip need not be flippant and spiteful, but can rather gratify the actor and serve her self-interest, which is very similar to her experience when she engages in a quick chat on Facebook, irrespective of where she or her friend is located. Overcoming geographical and temporal limits, SNS as a ‘virtual public sphere’ facilitates gender-based activism, using tactics akin to the consciousness-raising groups of the second-wave feminist movement. This thesis investigates the uses of SNS by women for political purposes, and asks, first, whether this form of cyber-activism actually has an impact on society and, second, which political issues it is able to address most successfully. To explore this research question, I take up India as a case study because it is a developing country with a high level of technological penetration, especially amongst the urban populations, boasting the second highest usage of mobile Internet in the world. Even low-end mobile phones are enabled with data access options and SNS can now be accessed in vernacular languages. While digital activism is unfolding in urban India via the mobile Internet, in non-urban areas activists are resorting to simple cellular handsets. Thus, this development in mobile telephony has the potential to overcome the socioeconomic and linguistic diversity of the country’s population and make SNS available to the masses, which in turn can connect millions of users instantly and efficiently. It is not surprising then that Indian SNS-users are quite active in promoting causes online and garnering public support on socio-economic and political issues. Along with the theoretical data collected from existing literature, the analysis depends on three sets of empirical data collected for the project. The first set involved conducting interviews with experts who have used SNS in promoting their causes or are observers of digital activism in India. Secondly, a questionnaire was sent to urban Indian women Facebook users between the ages of 18 to 55. Lastly, based on the questionnaire respondents’ SNS usage patterns, the top 10 most popular Facebook groups were identified. I became a participant observer of these groups from January 2011 to January 2013, to gauge the interactions among the members within each group. In the analysis, these 10 groups were divided into three categories: consciousness-raising groups, civic awareness groups and groups promoting political participation. The feminist issues raised range from personal issues to formal political concerns. The recent acceptance of the Anti-Corruption Bill by the Parliament, along with the amendment of the rape laws in a predominantly patriarchal and sexist society, indicates that India is beginning to address some deep-rooted issues of concern, spurred by Facebook activism. These developments also signify a quiet revolution that has been brewing among women digital activists worldwide. This thesis claims that the digital tool of activism has the potential to unite the disparate waves of feminism, and in fact, to herald the beginning of a new wave of the feminist movement, initiated by digital gadget-totting young women as well as men who go online to voice their support.
![Research paper thumbnail of SNS in India: Gossip as a Vehicle of Activism published by Networking Knowledge [http://ojs.meccsa.org.uk/index.php/netknow/issue/view/30/showToc]](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/32523181/thumbnails/1.jpg)
](![Research paper thumbnail of Net smart: How to thrive online [Book Review]](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/47042401/thumbnails/1.jpg)
](http://search.informit.com.au/documentSummary;dn=185773279459130;res=IELLCC
Conference Presentations by Paula Ray
Papers by Paula Ray
MEDIANZ: Media Studies Journal of Aotearoa New Zealand, 2017
Overcoming geographically determined territorial boundaries, Facebook as a communication platform... more Overcoming geographically determined territorial boundaries, Facebook as a communication platform offers an extension of Benedict Anderson’s concept of the ‘imagined community’ (2006, xi), particularly in the form of groups formed around diasporic communities. These Facebook groups encourage civic engagement and are bound together by the use of a distinctive ‘cyber-language’ and set of expressions that contribute to a sense of shared identity. In this paper, I look at the ‘cyber-dialogues’ of three south Asian diasporic cultures in New Zealand, namely Indian, Malaysian and Filipino, to identify the most popular civic issues raised on this platform by each of them.
Orienting Feminism, 2018
The location-specificity added by default to online interactions continue to make responses to tr... more The location-specificity added by default to online interactions continue to make responses to transnational activism culture-specific. This, in turn, has political consequences. The New Delhi gang-rape incident of December 16, 2012, led to a sudden increase in coverage of rape incidents within the Indian media as well as a surge in social media-based activism. But this has also resulted in tagging India internationally as a country too unsafe to visit.
Networking Knowledge: Journal of the MeCCSA Postgraduate Network, 2013
Statistics indicate that Facebook has more women users than men. A Mashable report released in 20... more Statistics indicate that Facebook has more women users than men. A Mashable report released in 2010 claims that women in the age-group of 18-34 check their Facebook first thing in the morning, even before going to the bathroom. This can be linked to the chatty nature of interaction within social networking sites (SNS). Gossip need not be flippant, but can gratify the actor, as evident from the women’s communities actively promoting causes online and garnering public support for social, economic and political issues. SNS is quickly becoming a means of facilitating gender-based activism. What makes it more interesting, these women do not have to shun their domestic duties to become an actor in these global networks; they can very well partake in it from the confines of their kitchen. It can be argued that SNS has overcome the limitation of the ‘gendered media’ and has provided activists with the vehicle to organize their cause and promote participation for cross-border movements – tra...
Media International Australia, 2013
Review(s) of: Net smart: How to thrive online, by Rheingold, Howard, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 20... more Review(s) of: Net smart: How to thrive online, by Rheingold, Howard, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 2012, ISBN 9 7802 6201 7459, 272 pp., A$ 24.95, Distributor: Footprint Books.
EDULEARN proceedings, Jul 1, 2022
Dynamics of Asian Development, 2016
Abstract India has the deepest penetration of mobile phone usage, and the second highest usage of... more Abstract
India has the deepest penetration of mobile phone usage, and the second highest usage of mobile Internet in the world. Even the low-end mobile phones are enabled with options to access social networking sites (SNS). It helps that SNS can now be accessed in vernacular languages, too. This development in mobile telephony has the potential to mitigate the socio-economic disparity of the country’s population (D’Costa, in this edition) and make SNS available to the people, which in turn can connect millions of users instantly and efficiently. It is not surprising then that Indian SNS users are beginning to harness this capacity to digital activism. Any form of communication, non-profit or commercial, must involve a level of persuasion to be considered successful. While persuasion can take many different forms, in activism mediated through digital communication tools, it tends to follow two paradigms: to inform and to inspire, depending on the socio-economic development of the people to be persuaded; in a developed country, digital activism is used to inspire people on an issue of concern, and in a developing country digital tools are used foremost to inform the people about a cause. The choice of paradigm is also guided by access to communication technology. I argue that given the disparity in socio-economic development (D’Costa, in this edition) between urban and rural regions in contemporary India, both paradigms coexist within the Indian context. The way inspiration-based activities are managed and implemented is comparable to the persuasive strategies of a multinational corporation seeking global recognition. I conclude that digital activist “branding” has the potential to bring about social change, depending on how the communication tool is being used along with the nature of the issues raised online.
Several cases of digital activism via social networking sites (SNS) have recently appeared worldw... more Several cases of digital activism via social networking sites (SNS) have recently appeared worldwide which specifically address women’s issues. These instances point to the fact that women are active on the Internet and use SNSs (such as Facebook) to promote causes and garner support for issues as varied as feminine sexuality, health and social agency. SNS, perhaps for the first time in the history of communication technology, is a communication tool that is used as extensively by women as men. One explanation for this may be found in the chatty nature of interaction that takes place on SNS, amounting to information exchange that verge on gossip but is not thereby less effective for activist purposes. Gossip need not be flippant and spiteful, but can rather gratify the actor and serve her self-interest, which is very similar to her experience when she engages in a quick chat on Facebook, irrespective of where she or her friend is located. Overcoming geographical and temporal limits, SNS as a ‘virtual public sphere’ facilitates gender-based activism, using tactics akin to the consciousness-raising groups of the second-wave feminist movement. This thesis investigates the uses of SNS by women for political purposes, and asks, first, whether this form of cyber-activism actually has an impact on society and, second, which political issues it is able to address most successfully. To explore this research question, I take up India as a case study because it is a developing country with a high level of technological penetration, especially amongst the urban populations, boasting the second highest usage of mobile Internet in the world. Even low-end mobile phones are enabled with data access options and SNS can now be accessed in vernacular languages. While digital activism is unfolding in urban India via the mobile Internet, in non-urban areas activists are resorting to simple cellular handsets. Thus, this development in mobile telephony has the potential to overcome the socioeconomic and linguistic diversity of the country’s population and make SNS available to the masses, which in turn can connect millions of users instantly and efficiently. It is not surprising then that Indian SNS-users are quite active in promoting causes online and garnering public support on socio-economic and political issues. Along with the theoretical data collected from existing literature, the analysis depends on three sets of empirical data collected for the project. The first set involved conducting interviews with experts who have used SNS in promoting their causes or are observers of digital activism in India. Secondly, a questionnaire was sent to urban Indian women Facebook users between the ages of 18 to 55. Lastly, based on the questionnaire respondents’ SNS usage patterns, the top 10 most popular Facebook groups were identified. I became a participant observer of these groups from January 2011 to January 2013, to gauge the interactions among the members within each group. In the analysis, these 10 groups were divided into three categories: consciousness-raising groups, civic awareness groups and groups promoting political participation. The feminist issues raised range from personal issues to formal political concerns. The recent acceptance of the Anti-Corruption Bill by the Parliament, along with the amendment of the rape laws in a predominantly patriarchal and sexist society, indicates that India is beginning to address some deep-rooted issues of concern, spurred by Facebook activism. These developments also signify a quiet revolution that has been brewing among women digital activists worldwide. This thesis claims that the digital tool of activism has the potential to unite the disparate waves of feminism, and in fact, to herald the beginning of a new wave of the feminist movement, initiated by digital gadget-totting young women as well as men who go online to voice their support.
http://search.informit.com.au/documentSummary;dn=185773279459130;res=IELLCC
MEDIANZ: Media Studies Journal of Aotearoa New Zealand, 2017
Overcoming geographically determined territorial boundaries, Facebook as a communication platform... more Overcoming geographically determined territorial boundaries, Facebook as a communication platform offers an extension of Benedict Anderson’s concept of the ‘imagined community’ (2006, xi), particularly in the form of groups formed around diasporic communities. These Facebook groups encourage civic engagement and are bound together by the use of a distinctive ‘cyber-language’ and set of expressions that contribute to a sense of shared identity. In this paper, I look at the ‘cyber-dialogues’ of three south Asian diasporic cultures in New Zealand, namely Indian, Malaysian and Filipino, to identify the most popular civic issues raised on this platform by each of them.
Orienting Feminism, 2018
The location-specificity added by default to online interactions continue to make responses to tr... more The location-specificity added by default to online interactions continue to make responses to transnational activism culture-specific. This, in turn, has political consequences. The New Delhi gang-rape incident of December 16, 2012, led to a sudden increase in coverage of rape incidents within the Indian media as well as a surge in social media-based activism. But this has also resulted in tagging India internationally as a country too unsafe to visit.
Networking Knowledge: Journal of the MeCCSA Postgraduate Network, 2013
Statistics indicate that Facebook has more women users than men. A Mashable report released in 20... more Statistics indicate that Facebook has more women users than men. A Mashable report released in 2010 claims that women in the age-group of 18-34 check their Facebook first thing in the morning, even before going to the bathroom. This can be linked to the chatty nature of interaction within social networking sites (SNS). Gossip need not be flippant, but can gratify the actor, as evident from the women’s communities actively promoting causes online and garnering public support for social, economic and political issues. SNS is quickly becoming a means of facilitating gender-based activism. What makes it more interesting, these women do not have to shun their domestic duties to become an actor in these global networks; they can very well partake in it from the confines of their kitchen. It can be argued that SNS has overcome the limitation of the ‘gendered media’ and has provided activists with the vehicle to organize their cause and promote participation for cross-border movements – tra...
Media International Australia, 2013
Review(s) of: Net smart: How to thrive online, by Rheingold, Howard, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 20... more Review(s) of: Net smart: How to thrive online, by Rheingold, Howard, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 2012, ISBN 9 7802 6201 7459, 272 pp., A$ 24.95, Distributor: Footprint Books.
EDULEARN proceedings, Jul 1, 2022