Topological and content analysis of the cyberspace of the Indian diaspora (original) (raw)

One of the critical issue about diasporas, is their ability to maintain relationships, links, despite the distance. The researchers since the mid-80 put forward their propensity to use the most various and often the latest media to do so. The advent of the web has accelerated this trend. It carry pictures and sounds, not just the voice, at weaker and weaker cost. Speed links and enhanced communications with the dissemination of ICT are transforming uprooted migrants to connected migrants. Whether to maintain a cultural identity or to find a space for expression outside the traditional media that are difficult to access to them because of their minority status, we find that cyberspace has been heavily invested by diasporas. Coming back to the aim of A. Brah "Cartographies of diaspora" 1 but in a literal sense, the E-atlas diaspora project "Exploration and mapping of diasporas on digital networks" directed by Dana Diminescu's objective is to sketch a map of cyberspace of digital diasporas. The Indian diaspora which serves as an example in our case, is one of the main actor of the cyberspace of diasporas as shown in the many sites built in India as well as in foreign countries. After a short presentation of the state of research in this area, this paper provides a first exploration of cyberspace of the Indian diaspora through the analysis of more than 1000 web sites all over the world. Three issues have been selected, the contours of the cyberspace of the Indian diaspora, the initial centers of the construction of this cyberspace and finally the internal organization of this set. The study is based on the topological analysis of the network of websites and qualitative approaches off their content.