Bookshelves to Bandwidth: The Changing Life of Libraries in India

This project studies how libraries are increasingly becoming digital hubs, not only through digitised catalogues and e-books, but also as access points for government-backed digital learning platforms, knowledge repositories, or simply as places offering free WiFi. Rather than imagining a complete transformation, it traces the subtle ways in which digital access is reshaping the everyday meaning of libraries: from reading rooms to nodes of online connectivity, from book borrowing to digital browsing, and from study spaces to leisure and browsing rooms. At the same time, library infrastructure in the country remains unevenly distributed across regions. The study maps how these shifts unfold in practice across metropolitan centres and smaller towns, and how communities engage with the changing nature of libraries, if such forms of access exist at all. By examining access to these transforming spaces alongside relevant policies, the project reflects on both the possibilities and the tensions of reimagining libraries as spaces of digital access in contemporary India, foregrounding the larger question of equity.

By Dr Gayatri Balu and Dr Vidya Subramanian

Online Misogyny & Victimization of Female Opinion

This project explores cyber harassment as a phenomenon at the intersection of (perceived) age, gender, religious, cultural and political identities. The study will be conducted on a diverse group of professionals young academics (preferably social sciences), social media influencers, public figures and activists/advocacy leaders in the digital space in India. The primary focus of the project will be to study the online experience of women (she/her) SM users particularly to investigate the following:

• Typology of cyber harassment experienced
• Typology of perpetrators
• Understanding the impact on victimization on female victims. (degree of risk perception, access to justice, job opportunities, higher education etc., impact on awareness and usage of legal recourse, attitude and behaviour changes)

Poulomi Bhadra, Sriti Ganguly, Smriti Singh

Young India on Social Media

This is an exploratory study of social media engagement among low-income youth in Delhi, the self-presentation strategies and how it relates to their aspirations of social mobility. These aspirations will be studied vis-a-vis the socio-spatial transformation of Delhi, and how and where these young individuals position themselves in this evolving landscape. The main goal of the study is to explore social media (gendered) usage and internet socialities among low-income youth in Delhi.

• What are the ways in which they present themselves?
• What aspects of social life and physical settings do they incorporate in these presentations?
• How does this engagement reflect their desires for mobility and pursuit of cultural capital?
• In what ways does the city feature in these desires?

Sriti Ganguly, Smriti Singh, Nandini Dhar