The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the policy solutionism to deploy digital contact tracing to... more The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the policy solutionism to deploy digital contact tracing tools. This study seeks to adopt the Actor Network Theory to dissect India’s contact tracing application- The Aarogya Setu app. Using Bruno Latour’s methodology this study highlights the need to locate the privacy implications that affect the users’ locational and bodily integrity. There is a need to move beyond the technological determinism with which the state locates the usage of such applications, marginalising certain bodies over others. The delegation of authority to contact trace by the state to the app and subsequent actants is a facet that has been explored in this piece. Moroever, there is an aspect of choice which creates an unconditional obligation on some bodies and does not on others to download the app to access public services and fulfill other commitments like employment. This study has relied on a posthumanistic lens to argue that the anthropomorphized app exhibits the agency rooted within hindutva nationalism and self-securitization. Thus the transfer of personal information into the app not merely promulgates control over bodies but severely impacts the decisional autonomy of users who are forced to negotiate with the app. The aarogya setu application has inbuilt faulty design injustice induced in order to create inequality where there already is. The privacy element and its implications has been looked upon as the ‘law of the excluded middle’ that provides a way out of the obligation that the app as well as the state actant creates on users and non-users. Thus, this piece seeks to call for a resistance of such modes of e-governance and surveillance that is mediated through applications such as the Aarogya Setu.
The advent of the COVID-19 pandemic has fostered a technological determinism for deploying digita... more The advent of the COVID-19 pandemic has fostered a technological determinism for deploying digital contact tracing tools across the globe. Such an overt reliance on technological tools for the emergent health risk from the pandemic has also magnified the existing socioeconomic and political risks embedded in neoliberal India today. In this context, we argue that the Aarogya Setu app, through its cultural embodiment and design, is being engendered and deployed by the state to nurture some of these existing risks as well as promulgate new ones. Moreover after analyzing its technocratic efficacy and highlighting its reflection of majoritarian politics, we also contend that the app is 'inherently political' while recording a user's personal information. Thus, it becomes crucial to analyse the privacy implications for the user to develop strategies to resist the rampant datafication of lives promoted by such digital contact tracing tools.
Presently, the 'gaming culture' is cannot merely understood as a leisure activity but also must b... more Presently, the 'gaming culture' is cannot merely understood as a leisure activity but also must be credited for facilitating inclusion among all gaming communities without regarding physical or cultural differences. Although certain games are insensitive and promote aggressive tendencies, modern day game developers are adopting innovative methods for indulgence towards all individuals and communities. This paper intends to make an argument for developing gaming as a capability to promote inclusive behaviour, which can be assessed based upon their appreciation of virtual identity, facilitating learning and socialization among children and adolescents, highlighting their therapeutical value, aiding disabled community and the growing feminizing of the game space.
The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the policy solutionism to deploy digital contact tracing to... more The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the policy solutionism to deploy digital contact tracing tools. This study seeks to adopt the Actor Network Theory to dissect India’s contact tracing application- The Aarogya Setu app. Using Bruno Latour’s methodology this study highlights the need to locate the privacy implications that affect the users’ locational and bodily integrity. There is a need to move beyond the technological determinism with which the state locates the usage of such applications, marginalising certain bodies over others. The delegation of authority to contact trace by the state to the app and subsequent actants is a facet that has been explored in this piece. Moroever, there is an aspect of choice which creates an unconditional obligation on some bodies and does not on others to download the app to access public services and fulfill other commitments like employment. This study has relied on a posthumanistic lens to argue that the anthropomorphized app exhibits the agency rooted within hindutva nationalism and self-securitization. Thus the transfer of personal information into the app not merely promulgates control over bodies but severely impacts the decisional autonomy of users who are forced to negotiate with the app. The aarogya setu application has inbuilt faulty design injustice induced in order to create inequality where there already is. The privacy element and its implications has been looked upon as the ‘law of the excluded middle’ that provides a way out of the obligation that the app as well as the state actant creates on users and non-users. Thus, this piece seeks to call for a resistance of such modes of e-governance and surveillance that is mediated through applications such as the Aarogya Setu.
The advent of the COVID-19 pandemic has fostered a technological determinism for deploying digita... more The advent of the COVID-19 pandemic has fostered a technological determinism for deploying digital contact tracing tools across the globe. Such an overt reliance on technological tools for the emergent health risk from the pandemic has also magnified the existing socioeconomic and political risks embedded in neoliberal India today. In this context, we argue that the Aarogya Setu app, through its cultural embodiment and design, is being engendered and deployed by the state to nurture some of these existing risks as well as promulgate new ones. Moreover after analyzing its technocratic efficacy and highlighting its reflection of majoritarian politics, we also contend that the app is 'inherently political' while recording a user's personal information. Thus, it becomes crucial to analyse the privacy implications for the user to develop strategies to resist the rampant datafication of lives promoted by such digital contact tracing tools.
Presently, the 'gaming culture' is cannot merely understood as a leisure activity but also must b... more Presently, the 'gaming culture' is cannot merely understood as a leisure activity but also must be credited for facilitating inclusion among all gaming communities without regarding physical or cultural differences. Although certain games are insensitive and promote aggressive tendencies, modern day game developers are adopting innovative methods for indulgence towards all individuals and communities. This paper intends to make an argument for developing gaming as a capability to promote inclusive behaviour, which can be assessed based upon their appreciation of virtual identity, facilitating learning and socialization among children and adolescents, highlighting their therapeutical value, aiding disabled community and the growing feminizing of the game space.
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