Bidisha Chaudhuri

Digital Governnace and Infrastructure, Critical Data Studies,Science and Technology Studies, ICTs for Development (ICTD)

Peer-Reviewed Journal and Conference Papers

Chaudhuri, Bidisha (2022). "Programmed Welfare: An ethnographic account of alogorithmic practices in the public distribution system in India". New Media & Society, 24 (4), 887-902 

Chandhiramowuli, Srravya and Bidisha Chaudhuri, "Politics of Data in & as News: A Data Justice Perspective" (2021). AMCIS 2021 Proceedings. 13.

https://aisel.aisnet.org/amcis2021/global_develop/global_develop/13

Chaudhuri, Bidisha, and Linus Kendall. "Collaboration without consensus: Building resilience in sustainable agriculture through ICTs." The Information Society (2021): 1-19.

Chaudhuri, Bidisha, Linus Kendall and Apoorva Bhalla.  "Beyond IVR: Exploring Voice User Interfaces for Digital Inclusion Among Urban Smartphone Users in India". ICIS 2020 Proceedings. 1. https://aisel.aisnet.org/icis2020/blendlocalglobal/blendlocalglobal/1

Das, Soumyo, and Bidisha Chaudhuri. "In Technology We Trust? Human Skills & Intermediaries in Digital Retail Banking." In IFIP Joint Working Conference on the Future of Digital Work: The Challenge of Inequality, pp. 281-294. Springer, Cham, 2020.

Hundal, Hartej Singh, and Bidisha Chaudhuri. "Digital Identity and Exclusion in Welfare: Notes from the Public Distribution System in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka." In Proceedings of the 2020 International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies and Development, pp. 1-5. 2020.

Chaudhuri, Bidisha. "Distant, opaque and seamful: seeing the state through the workings of Aadhaar in India." Information Technology for Development (2020): 1-13.

Kendall, Linus, Bidisha Chaudhuri, and Apoorva Bhalla. "Understanding technology as situated practice: Everyday use of voice user interfaces among diverse groups of users in urban India." Information Systems Frontiers 22 (2020): 585-605.

Chaudhuri, Bidisha. "Paradoxes of Intermediation in Aadhaar: Human Making of a Digital Infrastructure." South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies 42, no. 3 (2019): 572-587.

Prakash, Amit, Anjali Karol Mohan and Bidisha Chaudhuri. “What Do Citizens Value In E-Governance? Reflections from a Property Registration Computerization Project in India” in Economic and Political Weekly Vol 54, Issue 10, March 9 (2019): 41-49

Chaudhuri, Bidisha, and Linus Kendall. "The ins and outs of participation in a weather information system." In International Conference on Social Implications of Computers in Developing Countries, pp. 3-14. Springer, Cham, 2019

Chaudhuri, Bidisha, and Lion König. "The Aadhaar scheme: a cornerstone of a new citizenship regime in India?" Contemporary South Asia 26, no. 2 (2018): 127-142.

Chaudhuri, Bidisha, Linus Kendall, Janaki Srinivasan, Onkar Hoysala, and Purnabha Dasgupta. "Understanding capabilities through everyday practice: The case of a weather information system for farmers in West Bengal." In Proceedings of the Ninth International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies and Development, pp. 1-10. 2017.

Chaudhuri, Bidisha, Purnabha Dasgupta, Onkar Hoysala, Linus Kendall, and Janaki Srinivasan. "Actor-networks and “practices” of development: impact of a weather information system in West Bengal." In International Conference on Social Implications of Computers in Developing Countries, pp. 809-815. Springer, Cham, 2017.

Books and Book Chapters

Chaudhuri, Bidisha, Janaki Srinivasan and Omkar Hoysala. “Learning as participation: Open practices and the production of identities” in Critical Perspectives on Open Development: Empirical Interrogation of Theory Construction, edited by Arul Chib, Caitlin M. Bentley and Matthew L. Smith, MIT Press, 2021, pp.81-101

Chaudhuri, Bidisha. "Politics of ‘good governance’:‘Otherising’governance in India." In Politics of the'Other' in India and China, edited by Lion Koenig and Bidisha Chaudhuri pp. 113-126. Routledge, 2016.

König, Lion, and Bidisha Chaudhuri, eds. Politics of the'other'in India and China: Western Concepts in Non-western Contexts. Routledge, 2016.

Chaudhuri, Bidisha. “Public-Private Partnership in E-Governance: A Democratic Dilemma” in Democracy and Good Governance: Reinventing the Public Service Delivery System in India, edited by Rumki Basu et al. New Delhi: Bloomsbury India, February 2015

Chaudhuri, Bidisha. E-governance in India: interlocking politics, technology and culture. Routledge, 2014.

Book Reviews

Chaudhuri, Bidisha. Review of "Programmed Inequality: How Britain Discarded Women Technologists and Lost its Edge in Computing" by Marie Hicks, MIT Press, 2017 in Feminist Review, Vol 123(1), November 2019

Chaudhuri, Bidisha. Review of "Global Modernity, Development, and Contemporary Civilization: Towards a Renewal of Critical Theory" by Jose Mauricio Domingues. New York: Routledge2013 in Millennial Asia, 5(2) 239–254

Chaudhuri, Bidisha. Review of "Unlocking e-government potential: concepts, cases and practical insights."  by Subhash Bhatnagar.  SAGE Publications India, 2009 in Contemporary South Asia, 20(2): 273-274.

Online Publication

Hundal, Hartej Singh, Janani AP and Bidisha Chaudhuri. A Conundrum of Efficiency And Inclusion: Aadhaar and Fair Price Shops in Economic and Political Weekly Engage, https://www.epw.in/engage/article/conundrum-efficiency-and-inclusion-aadhaar-and, 2020

Invited Publication

Chaudhuri, Bidisha and Meera Muthukrishnan. “COVID-19 data infrastructure in India: politics of knowing and governing the pandemic” in Public Health and Privacy in India edited by Smriti Parsheera, Commissioned byThakur Foudation Inc (Forthcoming).

Chaudhuri, Bidisha. Literature Review prepared for Global AI Ethics: A Review of the Social Impacts and Ethical Implications of Artificial Intelligence by Alexa Hagerty and Igor Rubinov, available on: https://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/1907/1907.07892.pdf, 2019

Neerukonda, Mounika and Bidisha Chaudhuri.  Are Technologies (Gender)-Neutral?: Politics and Policies of Digital Technologies in ASCI Journal of Management, 47 (1) Spl: 32–44, 2018

Project Reports

Benner Chris et al. “Creating More Inclusive Economies: Conceptual, Measurement and Process Dimensions”. Research Project Report on Inclusive Economies, 2018, funded by Rockefeller Foundation, available on:  http://inclusiveeconomies.everettprogram.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/InclusiveEconomies_Final.pdf

Teaching at IIITB

• Graduate Course: Technology and Society (Fall Term: since 2015)
• Graduate Course: Digital Sociology (Spring Term: since 2019)
• Graduate Courses: Technology Ethics and AI (co-taught) (Fall Term: since 2020)
• Graduate Seminar: Social Theory I & II (Fall Term: 2014, 2016, 2018) (SpringTerm: 2015)
• Graduate Seminar: Sociology of Cognition and Communication (Spring Term and Fall Term 2018, Spring Term 2020)
• Graduate Seminar: Gender and ICT (Fall Term: 2018)
• Graduate Seminar: Social History of Automation and Work (Spring Term 2019, 2021)
• Undergraduate course: A History of Ideas (Fall Term:2014, Spring Term:since 2016): 

Past Teaching

• Graduate Course: Governance, Politics and Development-Conceptual and Theoretical Discourse (1 Module) at ISEC Bangalore, 2013
• Certificate Course: Methods and Applications in Social Science Research, ISEC, Bangalore, 2013
• Graduate Seminar: Recent Trends in Governance Reform in India (Summer Term) at South Asia Institte, Heidelberg University, 2012

Supervision

Thesis Supervision:

• Current: PhD -2 MS by Research - 2  
• Past: MS by Research - 2, MTech/iMTech/MSc - 4

Projects/Internship Supervision:

• 2022: (Januray-May): Graduate Student Project: Innovation and Data Regulation
• 2021-22: (July 2021-May 2022): Graduate Student Project: Online Learning in Higher Education in India during the Pandemic 
• 2021: (January - May): Graduate Student Project: Work and Automatin in India
• 2020: (August- December): Graduate Student Project: Aadhaar and Targeted Welfare
• 2020: (January-May): Graduate Student Project: Aadhaar and Exclusion
• 2020: (January-May): Graduate Student Project: Digital Wellbeing
• 2019: (May-December): Graduate Student Project: Women and Wellfare post Aadhaar
• 2019: (May-July):Graduate Student Intern(from National Law Institute University, Bhopal): Women, Migration and Digital Identity 
• 2018: (March- September): Graduate Student Project: Everyday Us age of voice user interfaces among diverse population in urban India
• 2018 : (May-July): Supervision of Graduate Student Intern (from National Law Institute University, Bhopal): A Legal History of Aadhaar
• 2018: (May - September): Supervision of Graduate Student Intern (from Srishti School of Art Design and Technology, Bangalore), Data Practices and Innovation Ecosystem in Bangalore Start-ups

Ongoing Projects

• September 2018 –:  PI: Humanising Automation, project supported by the MINRO (Machine Intelligence and Robotics) Centre at IIITB, funded by the Government of Karnataka.
• September 2018 –: Co-PI: Data and Algorithmic Fairness in Public Policies and Services, project supported under the MINRO (Machine Intelligence and Robotics) project supported by the MINRO (Machine Intelligence and Robotics) Centre at IIITB, funded by the Government of Karnataka.

Completed Projects

• August 2018 - July 2022 : PI: National Digital IDs, Efficiency and/or Inclusion: A Democratic Dilemma supported by the MOSIP (Modular Open Source Identity Platform) Programme at IIITB
• February 2021-March 2022: COVID Data Infrastructure Builders: Creating Resilient and Sustainable Research Collaborations, Consultancy project with Northeastern University, funded by NSF grant
• April 2018-March 2021 : PI: Women, Aadhaar and Exclusion under Research Fellowship at Digital Identity Research Initiative (DIRI) funded by Omidyar Network and administered by Indian School of Business (ISB) Hyderabad.
• February 2019- July 2020. Co-lead: Creative Communication to Promote Resilient Agricultural Practice, in collaboration with Sheffield Hallam University, UK, funded by Research England
• December 2018-January 2019: Regional Brief on Aritificial Intelligence in India, Consultancy project with Dovetail Labs, USA
• February 2017- May 2017: Inclusive Economies Measurement Framework project at the Everett Program for Technology and Social Change, consultancy project at the University of California Santa Cruz
• June 2017- April 2018: Co-lead: India Chapter of Inclusive Economies project in collaboration with University of California Santa Cruz, funded by the Rockefeller Foundation.
• July 2015- March 2017: Co-PI: Open and/or Apolitical? –A Critical Re-examination of Open Information Systems under Research Programme Strengthening Information Society Research Capacity Alliance (SIRCA) III funded by International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and administered by Singapore Internet Research Centre (SiRC)
• September 2013- Feb 2014: Detailed Project Report (DPR) for the proposed National eGovernance Academy funded by The Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY), Government of India
• March 2014-March 2015: Co-PI: Evaluation of the KAVERI project of the Department of Stamps and Registration (DS&R), Government of Karnataka funded by Centre for IT & Public Policy, IIIT Bangalore
• May-June 2009: Evaluation Report (Co-authored): Rapid Assessment Study of the Impact of the Financial and Economic Slowdown on the Handicrafts Industry in Sanganer, Rajasthan by Institute of Social Studies Trust funded by International Labour Organization (ILO), New Delhi
• April 2004 – October 2005: Project Report (Co-authored): Developing Indian Perspectives on Feminist Theory and Methodology by Womens’ Studies and Development Centre, A Joint Research by 6 Women’s Studies Centres funded by Department of Women and Child Development Ministry of Human Resource Development Government of India

Selected Conference/Workshops/ Invited Talks

• 2022: Invited Speaker at the Seminar organized by Urbanisation, Rural development, and Social transformation (URDST) Research Group at King's College London, 7th June 2022

• 2022: Invited Partcipant in South Asia Workshop organized by the Department of Anthropology of Politics and Governance at the Max Plank Institute for Social Anthropology, 2nd -4th June, 2022

• 2022: Invited Participant in the Expert Committee Meeting on Proposed Curriculum for B.A. (Hons) in Digital Media and Journalism organized by School of Journalism and New Media Studies, Indira Gandhi National Open University, 18th April, 2022

• 2022: Invited Panelist for Plenary Session on Public Records in India and the Digitisation of Governance in the Workshop on Digital Public Records organized by the National Law School University (NLSU), Bangalore, 8th-9th April, 2022

• 2021: Resource Person for Webinar on “Digitisation of State Welfare Initiatives in India: A Case of Aadhaar enabled Public Distribution System (AePDS)” at VET Institute of Arts and Science (Co-education) College, Erode, 15^th November, 2021

• 2021:Datafication of Public Health: Enumerating the Covid-19 pandemic in India, Guest Lecture for the Course on Technology and Governance (by Naveen Thayyil and Richa Kumar) at IIT Delhi, 29th October, 2021

• 2021: “Data Care During Crisis: A Comparative analysis of COVID data infrastructure builders in India and the USA”  (Paper presentation with Ryan Ellis, Janaki Srinivasan, Megan Finn, Amelia Acker, Stacey Wedlake and Youngrim Kim)at Society for Social Studies of Science (4S) Annual Meeting, Toronto (Virtual), 6^th-9^th October, 2021

• 2021: “Humanising data work: Towards responsible machine intelligence” (Paper presentation with Srravya C) at Society for Social Studies of Science (4S) Annual Meeting, Toronto (Virtual), 6^th-9^th October, 2021

• 2021: “Unpacking the ‘datafied’ society: shifting politics of seeing and knowing: Critical Reflections On Datafication” (Session Organizer with Srravya C.) at Society for Social Studies of Science Annual Meeting (4S), Toronto (Virtual), 6^th-9^th October, 2021

• 2021: Invited Speaker in AI Policy Seminar on Breaking the Technological Ice. Organized by Centre for Policy Studies, IIT Bombay. August 18, 2021

• 2021: Panelist in Beyond Ethics: Proposing a Political Economic Framework to Interrogate and Supplement Ethics in AI Policymaking, Panel Discussion at CEPE/IACAP Joint Conference 2021:The Philosophy and Ethics of Artificial Intelligence, hosted by University of Hamburg (virtual), July 8, 2021
• 2021: Workshop on Web Science for Digital Capabilities (WSDC 2021) (Organized with Srinath Srinivasa) at 13^th ACM Web Science Conference, organized by University of Southampton (Virtual), June 21, 2021
• 2021: Invited Panelist: National Biometric Identity Systems: The Case of Aadhaar- Panel Discussion hosted by Yoti at #RESPONSE-ABILITY.TECH // #RAS21, May 21, 2021
• 2021: “Reversing the gaze – how data journalism renders the state more visible to its citizens.” (with Srravya C. Chandhiramowuli) Paper presentation at the 2^nd Data Justice Conference: Civic Participation in the Datafied Society, Cardiff, May 20, 2021
• 2021: “Telling Data Stories: An Ethnographic Account of Data Journalism in an Indian Newsroom.” Paper presentation with Srravya C) at the Automation and data-driven journalism beyond the Western world: actors, practices, and socio-political impact, University of Helsinki, May 5-6, 2021
• 2021: Invited Talk:  Distant, opaque and seamful: seeing the state through the workings of Aadhaar in India, Monthly Talk Series, Tandem Research Goa, February 19, 2021
• 2020: Invited Resource Person for Pedagogical and Training Methods for Transacting Curriculum on Democracy and Economy, organized by the Christ University Discourse Webinar, December 7-8, 2020
• 2020:“Identities and Identification: A Development Dilemma” (Panel Organizer with Amit Prakash) at XV International Conference on Public Policy and Management, Indian Institute of Management Bangalore(IIMB), August 24-26, 2020
• 2020: “Codifying Knowledge or Disembodying Work? Cases of Work Practices from India” (Session Organizer with Janaki Srinivasan and Soumyo Das), virPrague 2020, August 18- 21, 2020
• 2020: “Women and Biometric State: A Case of Aadhaar and Welfare in India” (Paper presentation with Hartej Singh Hundal) at Society For Social Studies of Science Annual Meeting, virPrague 2020, August 18- 21, 2020
• 2020: "Extraordinary Technology and Ordinary Ethics" Invited Talk in Web Science for Development Resaerch Workshop at IIIT Bangalore, February 13, 2020
• 2019: “Automation, Skill and Identity in an Age of AI” Panel organized (with Soumyo Das) at Society For Social Studies of Science Annual Meeting, New Orleans, September 4-7, 2019
• 2019: "The Ins and Outs of Particpation in aWeather Information System" in 15th IFIP WG 9.4 International Conference on Social Implications of Computers in Developing Countries, ICT4D 2019, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, May 1–3, 2019 
• 2019: “Examining the Foundational versus Functional ID Debate” Paper presented (with Syed Mohammed Faisal) at Workshop FUTUREID3 : Identification in the era of Automated Decision Making, Jesus College, Cambridge, U.K. March 19-20
• 2019: Invited Talk “Intelligent personal assistants as performative social agents: A dramaturgical analysis of human-machine interactions” at 1st RBCDSAI Web Science Symposium at The Robert Bosch Centre for Data Science and AI ( RBCDSAI) at IIT Madras, February 25-26
• 2019: Invited Talk “Intelligent personal assistants as performative social agents: A dramaturgical analysis of human-machine interactions” (with Dipanjan Saha) at Workshop on Web Science for Development (WS4D), IIIT Bangalore, February 27
• 2019: “Technology as situated practice: voice user interfaces in everyday lives of diverse groups of urban users in India” (with Linus Kendall and Apoorva Bhalla), Paper presented at the Workshop on Being (more) Human in a Digitised World Management Centre for Human Values, IIM Calcutta (MCHV) & Association for Information Systems – India Chapter (INAIS), February 1-2 at IIM Calcutta
• 2019: “Technology, Gender and Exclusion: Aadhaar and Welfare in India” Paper presented at the Workshop on Being (more) Human in a Digitised World Management Centre for Human Values, IIM Calcutta (MCHV) & Association for Information Systems – India Chapter (INAIS), February 1-2 at IIM Calcutta
• 2019: Invited Speaker for a Panel Discussion on  Doing Ethnography On Technology-Related Social Phenomena: Field Surprises and Challenges in Data Collection at the Workshop on Being (more) Human in a Digitised World Management Centre for Human Values, IIM Calcutta (MCHV) & Association for Information Systems – India Chapter (INAIS), February 1-2 at IIM Calcutta
• 2019: Open Session: “Beyond IVR: Voice-User Interfaces for Emerging Smartphone Users” at ICTDX: The Tenth International Conference On Information And Communication Technologies And Development, January 4-7 2019 @ Indian Institute Of Management Ahmedabad, India
• 2019: Open Session: “Do Digital Identity Systems Have a Theory of Inclusion?” at ICTDX: The Tenth International Conference On Information And Communication Technologies And Development, January 4-7 2019 @ Indian Institute Of Management Ahmedabad, India
• 2018: Panel Organizer: “Artificial Intelligence and Cognition as Social Praxis” (with Sachit Rao and Janaki Srinivasan) at Society for Social Studies of Science (4S) Annual Meeting, Sydney, August 29 -September 1
• 2018: “To Bot or Not to Bot, that’s the question.” Paper presented at Society for Social Studies of Science (4S) Annual Meeting, Sydney, August 29 -September 1. (Co-authored)
• 2018: “Identifying migrants: The case of digital biometric identity in India” Paper Presented Society for Social Studies of Science (4S) Annual Meeting, Sydney, August 29 -September 1
• 2018: Invited Speaker for the Panel Discussion: “What is the future of work in the technology sector?” Question Marks Seminar. Australia India Institute, Melbourne, August 28.
• 2018: “Material Politics of Biometric IDs: Everyday Practices of Aadhaar” Paper presented at the 25th  European Conference On South Asian Studies (ECSAS) Paris, France,24-27 July
• 2018: Invited Talk “Inclusive Economies: Narratives from India” at Worksop on Inclusive Economies: A Multi-Dimensional Framework for Understanding, Measuring and Promoting Inclusive Economies at Rockefeller Foundation’s Bellagio Conference Center, Bellagio Italy, March 12-16
• 2018: “Inclusive Economies and Subnational Geographies: A Case of Bihar, India” Paper presented at Annual Meeting of American Association of Geographers (AAG), New Orleans, April 10-14, 2018
• 2017: “Political Economy of Digital Biometric IDs: A Case of Aadhaar in India” paper presented at Society for the Social Studies of Science  (4S) Annual Meeting, Boston, USA, August 30 - September 2.
• 2017: Invited Participation in the Workshop on 'Measuring Economic Inclusivity in India' at Centre for Policy Research (CPR), New Delhi, August 22
• 2017: Workshop Organizer: “Economic Inclusivity in India: Conceptual and Empirical Recommendations for an Indicator Framework”  in collaboration with the Everett Programme, UC Santa Cruz at IIIT Bangalore, August 19
• 2017: “Renegotiating citizenship through digital biometric identification: A Case of Aadhaar in India” Paper Presented at the workshop on Future ID: Implications of New Technology for Civil Registration and Identification: Research and Policy, University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, February 14th-16th  
• 2015: 2nd XRCI Open 2015, Bangalore, 22nd -23rd January: Paper (Peer reviewed): E-governance and Social Inclusion: The Case of Women Entrepreneurs in Rajasthan
• 2014: 23rd European Conference on South Asian Studies, University of Zurich, 23rd-26th July: Paper: From Community to Individual Citizenship: The Politics of the AADHAR Scheme in India(Co-authored)
• 2013: Shifting Models of Public Service Delivery: Public-Private Partnership (PPP) in E-Governance Projects in India at National Seminar on Making Democratic Governance Work: Reinventing Public Service Delivery Systems in India, 2013, Department of Political Science, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, 5th-6th November
• 2012: Hybridising Governance in India: The Interplay of Technology, Culture and Politics atBritish Association of South Asian Studies (BASAS) Annual conference 2012, SOAS, London, 12th -14th April
• 2012: Governance Reform in India and the Role of ICT, Department of Political Science, Jamia Milia Islamia University, New Delhi, 7th February, 2012
• 2012: Governance Reform and ICT in India: A Case Study of Common Services Centres (CSCs), Centre of Culture, Media and Governance, Jamia Milia Islamia University, New Delhi, 23rd February 2012
• 2011: Good Governance in a Transcultural Context: A Case Study of E-governance Initiatives in India at Joint Annual Conference of Association of Asian Studies (AAS) and International Council for Asian Scholars (ICAS), Honolulu, Hawaii, 31st March- 3rd April, 2011
• 2010: Good Governance in India: Interplay of Politics, Culture and Technology in E-Governance Projects at Biennial Conference of European Association of Social Anthropologists, National University of Maynooth, Ireland, 24th-27th August, 2010

Membership/ Professional Services/ Awards/Training

• 2020-2025: Member, Association for Information Systems
• 2017- Present: Member, IFIP Working Group 9.4 Implications of Information and Digital Technologies for Development
• 2015- Present: Member, Society for Social Studies of Science
• 2013-2015: Associate Member, Cluster of Excellence "Asia and Europe in a Global Context" Heidelberg University
• 2015-2019: Reviewer for International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies and Development (ICTD), International Conference on Public Policy and Management, IIM Bangalore, ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, Area (Journal)
• 2013: Qualified UGC NET Examination for the Eligibility for Assistant Professor, June 2013
• 2009-2012: GPTS PhD scholarship at the Cluster of Excellence "Asia and Europe in a Global Context", Heidelberg University by the German Research Foundation (DFG)
• 2005-2007: Erasmus Mundus M.A. Scholarship by European Union
• 2001-2003: National Scholarship, University of Delhi
• 2001: National Scholarship, University of Calcutta
• 1996: National Scholarship (1996) under the National Scholarship Scheme, West Bengal Board of Secondary Education
• 2008: Completed Impact Monitoring – Project Management Training Programme organized by AMI Asian Management Institute Ltd. (2-6 June 2008, Thailand)
• 2004:Completed  Gender Training Programme organized by National Institute for Public Cooperation and Child Development (NIPCCD), Government of India (27 September - 1 October 2004, New Delhi)