The Future that Watches Us | Angad Chowdhry | TEDxGurugram

Описание: As consumers of and contributors to the internet, it could be argued that we are citizen journalists. So, do we have a collective responsibility to portray our culture accurate and true, or do we forego that for the comfort of subjectivity and sharing casual yet, in a way, sloppy content? The most meticulous of social media users may pride themselves upon their seemingly personalized art of curation. But when we’re putting our carefully selected content on online platforms it communicates a lot more than we believe it does - it represents our context and culture. The information we feed into a larger set of systems defines our societies and cultures. Angad Chowdhry analyzes the interactions between humans and the internet, and how the traces we leave online tell stories about people, cities, countries and how they portray our time.


​Dr Angad Chowdhry specializes in cultural semiotics and digital ethnography- the method of combining anthropology with data. He has conducted digital research across countries and cultures - India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, China, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Nigeria, helping several of the world’s leading brands better understand consumer shifts, cultural codes, as well as communication and product opportunities.

Dr Chowdhry completed his PhD and MA in Anthropology and Media Studies from SOAS, University of London. His PhD thesis, titled "Representations of Sexuality, Consumerism and Crime as Objects of Fear in the Indian Mass Media", focused on the relationships of crime reporters, police, criminals, advertisers, consumers & pornographers with mainstream media.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx