Paper Title: Seams that Matter in Approaches to Study Processes of Marginalization Author: Ranjit Singh Workshop: Solidarity Across Borders Venue: The 21st ACM Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing (CSCW), New York Date: 4 November 2018 Abstract: This paper outlines the trajectory of my ethnographic research on the design and use of India’s national biometrics-based identification project, […]
From Pipes to Platforms
Conference Presentation Title: From Pipes to Platforms: Designing a Country-Scale Project Author: Ranjit Singh Panel: Coded citizenship. Biometrics, identity and de-socializing technologies in South Asia Venue: The 25th European Conference on South Asian Studies (ECSAS), Paris Date: 25 July 2018 Abstract: This paper draws on ethnographic study of Aadhaar, India’s biometrics-based national identification project, to engage with the core design […]
Following Digital Directions
Chapter Title: Getting “There” from the Ever-changing “Here”: Following Digital Directions Authors: Ranjit Singh, Chris Hesselbein, Jessica Price, and Michael Lynch Edited Volume: Digital STS: A Field Guide Publisher: Princeton University Press Date: Forthcoming Abstract: Many familiar debates in STS, philosophy, and communication and information studies revolve around the relationship between formal rules, plans and instructions, and the situated actions […]
Authentication Trails of Body as Evidence
Conference Presentation Title: Authentication trails of Body as evidence: What counts as a confirmation of what? Author: Ranjit Singh Panel: Techno-Utopias of Identification: Comparing and Situating the Fantasy in Aadhaar Venue: 4th LASSnet International Conference in New Delhi, India Date: 10 December, 2016 Abstract: This paper traces body as evidence in the analysis of India’s biometrics-based identity project – Aadhaar. […]
Beyond Identification
Conference Panel Title: Beyond Identification: Biometrics, Everyday Life, and the State Panel Organizers: Michelle Spektor and Ranjit Singh Venue: 4S Conference in Boston, US Date: 2 September, 2016 Call for Papers: From unlocking personal smartphones and designing national IDs and passports, to conducting criminal investigations and verifying financial transactions, the use of fingerprints, facial recognition data, iris scans, and other […]
Travelling Numbers
Conference Presentation Title: Travelling Numbers: Tracing the transformations of Aadhaar Author: Ranjit Singh Panel: Infrastructures, subjects, politics Venue: 4S/EASST Conference in Barcelona, Spain Date: 3 September, 2016 Short Abstract: This paper traces the imbrication of India’s biometrics-based national identity number, Aadhaar, into various information infrastructures of social welfare delivery in India. Abstract: This paper traces the transformations of India’s biometrics-based national […]
Dissertation as Parables
Workshop on ‘Making Stories: Dissertation as Parables‘ at the Northeast STS Graduate Student Conference – Making Do: Muddling Through to Dissertation (Troy: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 11-13 March 2016). Abstract: Dissertations are not just analytic accounts of an empirical case study that enable extensions of disciplinary knowledge. They are stories of struggle, making do, tinkering, and most of all an account […]