Shriram Venkatraman

Shriram Venkatraman

PhD scholar at the Dept. of Anthropology, University College London. Anthropologist/Statistician. Research Interests: Technologies in Workplace, Org Culture & Entrepreneurship. @venkatshriram

Location London, United Kingdom

Activity

  • Shriram Venkatraman replied to André Martins Cardoso
    Meet the people: South India

    Thank you.

  • Shriram Venkatraman replied to Chelsie Y
    Meet the people: South India

    They aren't exactly socially isolated...there are lots of jobs in the IT and non-IT sector to which they apply through newspaper ads, word of mouth ads and if they are in college, sometimes even campus recruitment. So, finding a job isn't really tough.

  • Shriram Venkatraman replied to Martina Poiana
    The appearance of politics on south Indian social media

    Good observations Martina.

  • Shriram Venkatraman replied to Jonathan Hill
    Introduction

    Well said..both of Harvey Weinstein and Kevin Spacey's

  • Shriram Venkatraman replied to Linda Saalman
    Meet the people: South India

    Thank You, Linda/Alexandra.

  • Shriram Venkatraman replied to Chelsie Y
    Meet the people: South India

    Thanks Chelsie...most Lower Socio Economic Class women in this area - specifically unmarried young women were not on Social Media...since the male members of their families kept them out in fear of romantic inter-caste relationships developing if they were on Social Media. Social Media was seen as a masculine platform by these men. They feared for their...

  • Shriram Venkatraman replied to Nuzhat Shahzadi
    Introduction

    Thanks, Nuzhat, yes...my study also focussed on women in lower socio-economic classes in India. You can read more about it here...http://www.ucl.ac.uk/ucl-press/browse-books/social-media-in-south-india

  • Shriram Venkatraman replied to Greta Furlan
    Is social media a conservative space?

    Thanks, Greta. Would you also include trolling in this...also, would you say trolling is also an expression caused due to misunderstanding?

  • Shriram Venkatraman replied to Mary Twiss
    Is social media a conservative space?

    Thanks, Mary. Were these posts visuals (like Caricatures) or just textual comments or a mix of both?

  • Shriram Venkatraman replied to ana amaral
    Is social media a conservative space?

    Thanks, Ana. As you know social media sites are also becoming important news sources for people, given this shift, just curious...do you think people might change their views or would they refer to other sources before they end up trusting a news item appearing on social media?

  • Shriram Venkatraman replied to Rachael Simpson
    Is social media a conservative space?

    Thanks, Rachael. Would be great if you could give an illustration of the wonderful point you raised...how views are also shaped by the community/industry you belong to.

  • Shriram Venkatraman replied to Talvacy de Freitas
    Is social media a conservative space?

    Thanks, Talvacy. You mention about students, so was wondering, if you think age plays a role in the kind of interaction? Also, looks like your hint about these interactions (even between students), is more functional? Would be interested in knowing your views on this.

  • Shriram Venkatraman replied to Claire Procter
    Social media and gender - a global comparison

    Thanks, Claire.

  • Shriram Venkatraman replied to Rachael Simpson
    Social media and gender - a global comparison

    Thanks Rachael. Both you and Claire, bring up an interesting point about seeing more motherhood posts than that of posts by men. What do you think might be a reason for this?

  • Shriram Venkatraman replied to Claire Procter
    Social media and gender - a global comparison

    Thanks Claire. What do you think might be a reason for more motherhood posts than those of fatherhood?

  • Shriram Venkatraman replied to Rukman Gamage
    The appearance of politics on south Indian social media

    Thanks Rukman. Is it the same case in the local politics too?

  • Shriram Venkatraman replied to Teresa Chilà
    The appearance of politics on south Indian social media

    Thanks Teresa. This is interesting. So, family connections and support do play a role in the local political support...was wondering, what happens to those friends of the family who might not necessarily support the candidate from the family? Are they normally silent or do they express their displeasure openly?

  • Shriram Venkatraman replied to Helen Blunden
    Social media and politics - a global comparison

    Thanks for sharing this unfortunate experience Helen. If you dont mind me asking...since you said you are all in for jokes and expressing views, I was wondering if your comments on Facebook were sarcastic/satirical or were they more of a serious/critical nature?

  • Shriram Venkatraman replied to Sonia Crivello
    The appearance of politics on south Indian social media

    Thanks Sonia. What other factors do you see influencing the political postings?

  • Shriram Venkatraman replied to Cédric Reichel
    The appearance of politics on south Indian social media

    Thanks Cédric. Nice to see your divisions based on Ukraine. So, does the second group express silence in fear of retribution?

  • Shriram Venkatraman replied to Helen Blunden
    The appearance of politics on south Indian social media

    Thanks Helen. The Global Comparison video might help answer this question.

  • Shriram Venkatraman replied to Teresa Chilà
    The appearance of politics on south Indian social media

    Thanks Teresa. Time is an interesting factor. Would be interested in your observation of Time as an influencing factor. Also, what other factors do you see influencing the postings other than Time?

  • Shriram Venkatraman replied to iram anwar
    The appearance of politics on south Indian social media

    Thanks Iram. What other factors do you see influencing the postings?

  • Shriram Venkatraman replied to Rachael Simpson
    Meet the people: South India

    Thanks Rachael. You bring up a fascinating point on 'me' doing it 'right' and judging others on their use. Sometimes, in this site, you would also see, that this doesnt stop with an individual and such expressions are a collectivistic ideal - a group norm - where the group thinks 'we' are doing this 'right' and often tend to judge 'others'.

  • Shriram Venkatraman replied to Chelsea Vickers
    Meet the people: South India

    Thanks Chelsea. Divisions in this site occur by class, caste, gender, age etc. One can find more such divisions even within a country, if we start comparing rural vs. urban, North India vs. South India etc. However, there are a few commonalities in the use of social media, which are more or less determined by the socio-cultural factors.

  • Shriram Venkatraman replied to Rachael Simpson
    Introduction

    Thanks Rachael. When I started the study in the S. Indian fieldsite, WhatsApp wasn't really popular, however, that changed in the middle of my study. WhatsApp became extremely popular and even took over functions from other media e.g. direct messaging (Facebook messenger), moved to WhatsApp (between friends who knew each other) and often times, WhatsApp...

  • Shriram Venkatraman replied to tash d
    Should we focus on platform design or user content?

    Wonderful...thanks Tash.

  • Shriram Venkatraman replied to Sergei Kirienko
    The impact on gender

    This is interesting Sergei. Thanks for sharing.

  • Shriram Venkatraman replied to Kristin Page
    Social media and politics: key issues?

    You're welcome Susan.

  • Shriram Venkatraman replied to tash d
    Should we focus on platform design or user content?

    Hello Tash, can you please elaborate on Snapchat's original intent...would be helpful in discussions here.

  • Shriram Venkatraman replied to Lucinda King
    Social media and gender - an illustration
  • Shriram Venkatraman replied to SAMUEL ANTWI
    Social media and politics - a global comparison
  • Shriram Venkatraman replied to Kristin Page
    Social media and politics: key issues?
  • Shriram Venkatraman replied to Cristina Amescua
    Meet the people: South India

    Thanks Cristina...these clips arise from a series of unstructured and semi structured interviews (also ensuring spontaneity) and care was taken to ensure that there was no bias in interviewees structuring opinions and suiting it to the researcher's needs. This is also one another aspect of the rigorous ethnography that we followed as a methodology.

  • Shriram Venkatraman replied to Anastasiya Pirotskaya
    Meet the people: South India

    Many thanks for the question Anastasiya. A very valid question...

    Both your questions are answered in the first few chapters of our book - How the World Changed Social Media...

    https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ucl-press/browse-books/how-world-changed-social-media

    Hope this helps.

  • Shriram Venkatraman replied to Rifka Mayers
    Should we focus on platform design or user content?

    Thanks Rifka. Good reminder to be careful.

  • Shriram Venkatraman replied to Debra Buchholtz
    The appearance of politics on south Indian social media

    Thanks Debra and Monique. Most networks on Facebook are mixed and are heterogeneous compositions, while I completely agree about the strategic crafting of the network. We also have evidence of people maintaining multiple profiles just to ensure one network does not mix with another and of course, the kind of network you have also in a way determines what you...

  • Shriram Venkatraman replied to [Learner left FutureLearn]
    The appearance of politics on south Indian social media

    Many Thanks for the questions Jonathan.

    1) Our 15 month Ethnography was carried out both offline and online...so, data of this kind is not collected in just one single instance, but rather through a series of observations and interactions with people both online and offline.

    2) Twitter for the lower socio-economic classes symbolized an association with...

  • Shriram Venkatraman replied to Monique Pharand
    Introduction to this week's fieldsites

    Thanks Monique/Janet...that's how fast economic and spatial transition in India happens, given that it's a developing economy.

    The impact on the local community has been significant...right from infrastructural development to economic development. Imagine the entire space transform from a small road with trees and fields on both sides to a six lane highway...

  • Shriram Venkatraman replied to Tamanna Ashfi
    The impact on gender

    Hello Tamanna... the statistics you quote of Linkedin is from 2011, the numbers have significantly changed since then...

    http://www.pewinternet.org/2016/11/11/social-media-update-2016/pi_2016-11-11_social-media-update_0-05/

    A significant change occurred between 2013 and 2014...

  • Shriram Venkatraman replied to Jeremy Watson
    The appearance of politics on south Indian social media

    Thanks Jeremy. Was just wondering about LinkedIn as a platform in itself - isn't it more of white collar workforce driven network?

    http://www.pewinternet.org/2016/11/11/social-media-update-2016/pi_2016-11-11_social-media-update_0-05/ - I understand that this is just the US alone - but still worth noting.

  • Shriram Venkatraman replied to Monique Pharand
    The appearance of politics on south Indian social media

    Just wondering if Heather Finch's comment (the one just above this trail) on small town vs. large urban cities, might be a reason for Trump's election?

  • Shriram Venkatraman replied to Jeremy Watson
    Focusing on social media and politics

    Hello Catherine, in week 1 we had scalable sociality as our definition of social media
    https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/anthropology-social-media/5/steps/138589

    Also, one of the most influential (probably slightly dated) definitions of social media can be found here - http://www.danah.org/papers/JCMCIntro.pdf

  • Shriram Venkatraman replied to Alice Roberte
    Should we focus on platform design or user content?

    Thanks Alice. Good observation on e-commerce and Instagram.

  • Shriram Venkatraman replied to Amy K
    Should we focus on platform design or user content?

    Thanks Amy. Good observation on Instagram. However, hasn't trolling taken over several other platforms as well? Do you see it as an unintended consequence in platforms such as Youtube/Twitter as well?

  • Shriram Venkatraman replied to Valerie Donschachner
    Should we focus on platform design or user content?

    Great examples - Stack Overflow and Youtube. Thanks Valerie.

  • Shriram Venkatraman replied to Colum Fraser
    Should we focus on platform design or user content?

    Thanks Colum. Good observation!

  • Shriram Venkatraman replied to Silvia Almenara
    So, what have we learnt this week?

    Thanks Silvia. The chapters (and concepts) from the book have endnotes and references which would provide you with a comprehensive reference list.

  • Shriram Venkatraman replied to Richard Welch
    So, what have we learnt this week?

    Thanks Richard. Glad to know this course was able to contribute to your reflections. I am sure you will enjoy the rest of this course as well.

  • Shriram Venkatraman replied to Liane Faccio
    The impact on gender

    Thanks Liane. Good observation Andii. Thanks for sharing.