India.com: online community building by the Indian diaspora

Virtual space & place

contexts for distanciated interaction non-physical centers of care and identity

formation television Internet

chat rooms BBS “blogs” community networks etc.

Is there a way to think of virtual space/place that is people-centered rather than medium-centered?

The extensible individual

Communication situations as topologies

Network topology vs. radial topology

A virtual space by and for a particular community

built “in” various media

defined by the needs, desires, plans and projects of a particular community

or communities

GroupE

GroupD

GroupC

GroupB

GroupA

WeakIdentity

Bridgespace

a virtual space “designed” (or rather evolving) as a bridge between: separate times

personal biography national history

separate places continents locales (cities, towns, states) cultures

Bridgespace politics

intervenes in the construction of nation perpetuates a national identity among

members of several associated diasporas perpetuates ethnic identities that are

transplanted into a host community that does not recognize them

constitutes “sub-ethnicity”

intervenes various ways in the construction of self

Bridgespace economics

a marketplace for goods access to material culture access to potential customers

a marketplace for services employment immigration tax advice

a channel for overseas investment for remittances & overseas gift-giving for the formation/maintenance of professional ties

Culture in bridgespace

slowing diffusion intergenerational transmission intercontinental exchange (of “traditional” culture)

accelerating diffusion intercontinental exchange (of “non-traditional”

culture)

hybridization material institutional ideological

Why NRIs?

Collaborative project w/ Rina Ghose, (Illinois State U./U. Wisc. at Milwaukee)

special group high level of technological expertise high income (above U.S. median) recent arrival (1990s for most) various forms of multilingualism including

English as second language actually multiple groups

TOPOLOGY of the NRI bridgespace

Places within bridgespace

hub sites ION EGON LRSEGO

retail sites cooking site religious sites matrimonial sites