Facebook and the digital romance economy: courtship, scams, and internet regulation in the global South.

Through the controversial internet.org initiative, Facebook now serves as The Internet to the majority of the world’s marginalized demographic. The Politics of Data series continues with Payal Arora discussing the role of Facebook and internet regulation in the global South. While the West have had privacy laws in place since the 1970s, the emerging markets are only now seriously grappling with this. This piece explores some of the unfolding areas of vulnerability in the digital romance economy

Oxidized Lipid and its Association with Markers of Adiposity NHANES-2005-06

ABSTRACT Background: Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) are found in nuts and seeds, salad dressings and vegetable oil and are prone to oxidation during storage and food preparation. Evidence supports that consumption of oxidized lipids promotes atherosclerosis and glucose intolerance in animal models. However there is a dearth of evidence with regard to the amount of oxidized lipids consumed and its association with parameters of adiposity and glucose homeostasis in humans. Objective: The objective of this study is to estimate the amount of oxidized lipids in common foods and the oxidized lipid consumption in the US population using the data from National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2005-06. The second objective of this study is to investigate if there is an association between consumption of oxidized lipids with markers of adiposity and glucose tolerance. Methods- Foods with possible high oxidized lipid content were selected from the NHANES food frequency questionnaire. Oxidized lipid content /Peroxide Values (PV) of these foods were determined from published values in the literature. Oxidized lipid consumption was stratified into tertiles to determine the relationship between consumption of oxidized lipids and markers of adiposity. Regression analysis was used to explore to the extent to which body fat % and HOMA- IR scores could be attributed to oxidized lipid intake. Results- The estimated mean daily consumption of oxidized lipids was 0.625 meq/kg of fat for the US population. Estimated mean consumption of oxidized lipids was significantly greater in men compared to women, in children compared to adults and among African Americans compared to other races. In both men and women it was observed that the markers of adiposity like body fat%, waist circumference, triceps skinfold decreased significantly with increased consumption of oxidized lipids. However in women (below 18 years) there was a significant increase in HOMA-IR with increased consumption of oxidized lipids. Conclusion- Increased consumption of oxidized lipids is associated with decreased fat mass but increased glucose intolerance in women, but not in men

Information Poverty = Rural Poverty? Computers as the New Knowledge Brokers in Rural India

The conventional ‘village’ is being digitalized. In the last decade, India has proudly embraced its new image as the world’s Silicon Valley and back-office (and arguably front office) for global business. This momentum is being driven by information and communication technologies (ICTs); subsequently government policies ambitiously live up to this new found reputation by promising digital change across all sectors, particularly in the rural domain (Aggarwal, 2002). After all, India continues to be an agrarian country despite its new found Silicon Valley status. Central to this effort entails connecting India’s 600,000 villages with computers and the net, signaling one of the biggest rural investments for socio-economic mobility. The net is heralded as the new intermediary to knowledge for the villager. Underlying this is the belief that rural poverty has chronically persisted due to information poverty. For instance, farmers are perceived as being poor due to their limited access to critical knowledge on food prices, fertilizers and market demands for agricultural goods; rural healthcare practitioners are looked upon as lagging behind in the latest knowledge on diagnostics and treatment; and rural students are seen as digital non-natives in this virtual and information economy. This paper critically assesses this premise on the information gap being the key barrier to transformative and positive change in villages in India. Drawing on eight months of ethnographic fieldwork in rural Almora in the Central Himalayas,

Fifty Shades of Privacy

Facebook serves as _The Internet_ to majority of the world’s poor through its controversial internet.org initiative. By providing free internet service to the poor in the global South, it has become the one-stop-shop for most social activity. Given the collapse of contextual diversity here, Facebook is both a forum of public expression and state control on morality and privacy rights. It is complicit in obfuscation that empowers and exploits. While universalizing virtual space for this vast populace with its global brand and algorithmic structure, specificities manifest through gender and racial enactments and codes of conduct across the global South. This text investigates how low-income youth in two of the BRICS nations- Brazil and India, exercise and express their notions on digital privacy, interpersonal surveillance and trust on Facebook. As Facebook situates itself as the dominant virtual public sphere for the world’s poor, we are compelled to ask ourselves if digital inclusivity comes at the price of cultural diversity. This text provides fresh perspectives on how privacy is pluralizing for a globalizing and emergent digital public

Profiting from empowerment? Investigating dissemination avenues for educational technology content within an emerging market solutions project

ABSTRACT: The Stills in Sync (SIS) project is a joint initiative of the nonprofit organization PlanetRead and the global information and communication technology (ICT) company Hewlett Packard (HP). The SIS project entails creating a multimedia product designed to enhance literacy in rural India through the revival of regional folksongs on relevant social issues. This product utilizes the Same Language Subtitling (SLS) feature that won the World Bank Development Marketplace Award in 2002 and the Tech Laureate in education honor from the Technology Museum of Innovation (San Jose) in 2003. This paper explores the dissemination avenues of the SLS folksongs product and its effects within the Inclusive Community (icommunity) of HP in Kuppam, India. This community has functioned as a social and economic laboratory in which HP tested new technologies. Analyzing this test environment makes apparent the dichotomy between corporate responsibility and community development. Keeping the balance between profitable goals of the ICT business and development goals towards sustainable social and economic reforms has been illustrated by the survey results in this paper

Walled Gardens: Privacy within Public Leisure Space Online and Offline

Abstract Social network sites are the new urban parks where people congregate, socialize and exercise leisure. Its web architectures however are being walled in, dictated by market systems and State ideologies. These cyber-enclosures are justified along the lines of privacy that garners protection, efficiency and functionality. There is significant concern for the potential irrevocable loss of the ‘public’ and ‘open’ character intended of internet infrastructures, fearing the fostering of social segregation, homogenization and corporatization of leisure and a loss of civic sense. This paper addresses these concerns by looking at contemporary material architectures that are shaping public social and leisure space, particularly gardens within gated communities and malls. It argues that for a comprehensive understanding on privacy and public leisure architectures, we need to recognize the parallels between these virtual and material spheres as social norms, values and laws permeate these boundaries