Email: janaki.srinivasan@iiitb.ac.in
Janaki Srinivasan’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. Currently, she is exploring privacy, algorithmic control and the role of intermediaries in digital transactions, with an emphasis on the domains of financial inclusion and work automation. Janaki 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.
Web: janakisrinivasan.wordpress.com
Srinivasan, Janaki; Savita Bailur; Emrys Schoemaker and Sarita Seshagiri. 2018. “The Poverty of Privacy: Understanding Privacy Trade-Offs From Identity Infrastructure Users in India.” International Journal of Communication 12, 1–20.
Srinivasan, Janaki; Megan Finn and Morgan Ames. 2017. “Information Determinism: The Consequences of the Faith in Information.” Information Society 33 (1).
Oreglia, Elisa and Janaki Srinivasan. 2015. “ICT, Intermediaries, and the Transformation of Gendered Power Structures.” MIS Quarterly.
Srinivasan, Janaki and Jenna Burrell. 2015. “On the Importance of Price Information to Fishers and to Economists: Revisiting Mobile Phone Use Among Fishers in Kerala.” Information Technologies & International Development Vol. 11 (1).
Srinivasan, Janaki. 2012. “Looking Beyond Information Provision: The Importance of being a Kiosk Operator in the Sustainable Access In Rural India (SARI) Project, Tamilnadu.” Information Technologies & International Development Vol 8: 101-114.
Parthasarathy, Balaji and Janaki Srinivasan. 2008. “How the Development of ICTs Affects ICTs for Development: Social Contestation in the Shaping of Standards for the Information Age.” Science Technology & Society 13: 279-301.
Peer-reviewed conference papers
Chaudhuri, Bidisha; Purnabha Dasgupta; Onkar Hoysala; Linus Kendall and Janaki Srinivasan. 2017. “Actor-Networks and Practices of Development: Impact of a Weather Information System in West Bengal.” In 14th International Conference on Social Implications of Computers in Developing Countries (ICT4D), Yogyakarta, Indonesia. IFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technology Vol 504: 809-81.
Chaudhuri, Bidisha; Linus Kendall; Janaki Srinivasan; Onkar Hoysala, and Purnabha Dasgupta. 2017. “Understanding capabilities through everyday practice: The case of a weather information system for farmers in West Bengal.” In ACM Proceedings of the Ninth International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies and Development (ICTD ’17), Lahore, Pakistan.
Johri, Aditya and Janaki Srinivasan. 2014. “Aligning with Data: Populating the ‘Unique Identity’ Infrastructure in India.” In ACM Proceedings of the Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW), Baltimore.
Finn, Megan; Janaki Srinivasan and Rajesh Veeraraghavan. 2014. “Seeing with Paper: Government Documents and Material Participation.” In IEEE Proceedings of the 47th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS), Hawaii. Awarded the Best paper award in the Digital and Social Media track.
Srinivasan, Janaki and Jenna Burrell. 2013. “Revisiting the Fishers of Kerala, India.” In IEEE Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies for Development, Cape Town.
Srinivasan, Janaki and Aditya Johri. 2013. “Creating Machine Readable Men: Legitimizing the ʻAadhaarʼ Mega E-Infrastructure Project in India.” In IEEE Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies for Development, Cape Town.
Srinivasan, Janaki. 2010. “From Telecom Switches to Telecenters: Changes in the “Telecom for Development” Discourse in India (1947-1999).” In IEEE Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies for Development, University of London.
Srinivasan, Janaki. 2007. “The Role of Trustworthiness in Information Kiosk Projects.” In IEEE Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies for Development, Bangalore, 345-352.
Courses I teach at IIITB
Privacy in the Digital Age (Graduate) with T K Srikanth and V Srihdar
Ethnographic Research Approaches (Graduate)
Technology in Development (Earlier called The Digital and its Discontents) (Graduate)
Technology and Society (Graduate) with Bidisha Chaudhuri
Detailed syllabi of the courses I currently teach at IIITB are here.
Panels and Talks
Srinivasan, Janaki. 2019. Invited panelist at the "Suitability for consumer data use and product design" panel, Regulating Data-driven Finance.4th Dvara Research Conference. Dvara Research, April 4-5.
Srinivasan, Janaki. 2019. Invited panelist at the “Public Policy and Public Administration Education in South Asia/India: Challenges and Opportunities” plenary, Governance in an Era of Inequality: Training the Next Generation of Policy Practitioners in South Asia conference. NASPAA and Jindal School of Government and Public Policy, February 25.
Srinivasan, Janaki. 2019. Invited speaker at the “Preferable Futures” panel, UnBox 2019 Design Festival, Bangalore, February 16.
Srinivasan, Janaki and Elisa Oreglia. 2018. “Placeless and Faceless in Asia?: Mythmaking and Moral Economies in the Digital Age.” Paper presented at the Techno-Optimism Within and Beyond Silicon Valley conference, UC Berkeley Centre for Science, Technology, Medicine and Society, October 19-20.
Srinivasan, Janaki. 2018. Invited speaker at the “What can MobileHCI learn from the Global South?” panel, MobilHCI conference, Barcelona, September 4-7.
Rao, Sachit; Bidisha Chaudhuri and Janaki Srinivasan. “To Bot or Not to Bot, that’s the question.” Paper presented at the "Artificial Intelligence and Cognition as Social Praxis" panel, Society for Social Studies of Science (4S) Annual Meeting, Sydney, August 29 -September 1.
Srinivasan, Janaki and Bidisha Chaudhuri. 2018. “What is the future of work in the technology sector?” Question Marks Seminar. Australia India Institute, Melbourne, August 28.
Srinivasan, Janaki. 2018. “Seeing Invisibility: Technology in Development.” Invited talk at Centre for Budget and Policy Studies, Bangalore, June 28.
Srinivasan, Janaki. 2017. “Unique or Just Another ID?: Seeing the State with (U)IDs in India.” Paper at the Technology, Politics and Governance in India panel of the 46th Annual Conference on South Asia, University of Wisconsin Madison, October 26-28.
Srinivasan, Janaki. 2016. Invited participant at the International Research Seminar on Family Empowerment in South Asia, Chittagong, October 1. Asian University for Women.
Srinivasan, Janaki and Elisa Oreglia. 2016. “Digital Myths and the Making of a Moral Economy.” Paper presented at the 28th Annual Conference of the Society for Advancement of Socioeconomics (SASE), Berkeley, June 24-26.
Srinivasan, Janaki. 2015. Invited participant at the Expert Group Meeting on Women and ICT Frontier Initiative (WIFI) Programme, Incheon, 7-8 May. United Nations Asian and Pacific Training Centre for Information and Communication Technology for Development.
Oreglia, Elisa and Janaki Srinivasan. 2015. “Re-embedding Market Information Systems: Thoughts on Design.” Poster presented at the iConference, Newport Beach.
Srinivasan, Janaki; Megan Finn and Morgan Ames. 2015. “Beyond Information Determinism to Information Orders: A New Framework for Policy.” Poster presented at the iConference, Newport Beach.
Burrell, Jenna and Janaki Srinivasan. 2014. “Revisiting the Fishermen of Kerala, India.” Talk at the Energy and Resources Group Colloquium, University of California Berkeley, March 5.
Srinivasan, Janaki and Rajesh Veeraraghavan. 2013. “Recording Work, Anchoring Politics: The Role of ‘Muster Rolls’ in Public Work Schemes in India.” Paper at the 42nd Annual Conference on South Asia, University of Wisconsin Madison, October 20.
Finn, Megan; Lilly Irani; Christo Sims and Janaki Srinivasan. 2013. “Information and Communication Technologies, Aspiration and Identity.” Panel at the Society for Social Studies of Science (4S) Annual Meeting, San Diego, October 9 -12.
Srinivasan, Janaki. 2013. “Mobiles and Mobility: The Use of Mobile Phones by Fishers in Kerala, India.” Talk at the Human Computer Interaction Seminar Series,Virginia Tech, April 26.
Duguid, Paul; Megan Finn; Ashwin Mathew and Janaki Srinivasan. 2011. “The Informational State: Paradigm Or Paradox?” Panel at the iConference, University of Washington, Seattle, February 8-11.
Srinivasan, Janaki. 2010. Invited participant at the Indo–UK Roundtable Conference on Information and Communication Technologies and Development, Bangalore, January 11 – 13. British High Commission and IIITB.
Burrell, Jenna; Padraig Carmody; Anita Gurumurthy; James Murphy and Janaki Srinivasan. 2010. “How can ICT Research Better Inform and Communicate Theories of Development and Globalization? New Challenges and Promising Directions” Panel at the 4th International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies for Development, London, December 13–14.
Kuriyan, Renee; Joyojeet Pal; Aishwarya Ratan; Isha Ray and Janaki Srinivasan. 2008. “Information And Communication Technologies and Development.” Panel at the 23rd South Asia Annual Conference, Berkeley, February 14 – 16.
Parthasarathy, Balaji and Janaki Srinivasan. 2006. “Innovation and its Social Impacts: The Role of Ethnography in the Evaluation and Assessment of ICTD Projects.” Paper presented at Globelics India 2006- Innovation Systems for Competitiveness & Shared Prosperity in Developing Countries, Trivandrum, October 4. Center for Development Studies, Trivandrum and Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore.
Workshops (co) organized
Identity Unconference at IIIT-Bangalore, July 10-11, 2018 (with IEEE and Internet Identity Workshop (IIW))
Online Platform Labour Workshop at IIIT-Bangalore, July 5, 2018 (with Fairwork Foundation, UK).
No Cash, No Intermediaries? Workshop at IIIT-Bangalore, November 11, 2016 (with support from Institute for Money Technology and Financial Inclusion, University of California Irvine)