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Sandeep Mertia @sandeepmertia.bsky.social · 24d

Thank you to the Hype Studies group for bringing together such an eclectic group of scholars, practitioners, & artists at this conference! 🙌🏽
The critical experimental & non-hierarchical approach reminded me of Sarai :)

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Sandeep Mertia @sandeepmertia.bsky.social · Jul 21

Link: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

The state of global digital capitalism(s) - Sandeep Mertia, 2025

journals.sagepub.com

Sandeep Mertia @sandeepmertia.bsky.social · Jul 21

Thank you to Ugo Rossi and the editors of Dialogues in Urban Research for inviting me to contribute to their unconventional book forum section, in which they ask scholars to relate the book to their own research contexts (somewhat similar to the anthropology journal HAU’s book symposia).

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Sandeep Mertia @sandeepmertia.bsky.social · Jul 21

A short essay on the state of global digital capitalism(s) and futures in/from India and China, based on @linzhang.bsky.social 'The Labor of Reinvention' (2023)

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Sandeep Mertia @sandeepmertia.bsky.social · May 23

Amidst everything (& its attendant self-censorship), I am so deeply grateful to my students this semester for keeping me sane through their curiosity, engagement, & comradery! 💙

Sandeep Mertia @sandeepmertia.bsky.social · May 22

Looking forward to (remotely) speaking at the 50 years of Media Studies Conference at Westminster today! #UoWMEDIA50

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Sandeep Mertia @sandeepmertia.bsky.social · May 18

It's so fulfilling to see my STS students think through a critical sociotechnical problem like AI use in higher-ed more self-reflexively and relationally than most of the expert public commentators on the topic! 🥲

Sandeep Mertia @sandeepmertia.bsky.social · May 17

#grading gem, definitely not written by any LLM: "Nobody warned C. P. Snow that his tidy mid‑century parable about “The Two Cultures”would be rebooted as a late night TikTok doom scroll, yet here we are with our thumbs twitching..." 🥲

Sandeep Mertia @sandeepmertia.bsky.social · Apr 30

@aakashs.bsky.social and I have written an opinion piece in today’s The Indian Express. Our original title was “Startups as Reasons of the State: Why India Fails to Imagine New Techno-Futures.” Please do read and share your thoughts. Thank you!

indianexpress.com/article/opin...

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Sandeep Mertia @sandeepmertia.bsky.social · Apr 8

Happening tomorrow: A Quick History of Algorithms (for post-algorithmic teens) 🧓🏽🔥✨
hobokenlibrary.libnet.info/hoboken-publ...

Sandeep Mertia @sandeepmertia.bsky.social · Jan 24

This is less canonical, and more of an attempt to answer why study STS in the here and now?https://www.academia.edu/127235339/HST120_Introduction_to_STS_Spring25_Mertia?source=swp_share

Sandeep Mertia @sandeepmertia.bsky.social · Jan 20

Drafting my coping strategy for the Spring’25 semester 😬✨

Sandeep Mertia @sandeepmertia.bsky.social · Dec 30

The “datafied” postcolonial state: no census, critical edu or health datasets but look IndiaStack, UPI, DigiYatra. Post-industrial theories of data colonialism or surveillance capitalism can hardly explain the innovations the Indian state does in the name of data ✨
www.indiaspend.com/data-gaps/cr...

Critical Data Remain Elusive, As 2024 Comes To A Close

16 critical datasets are delayed, nine ministries are yet to release their annual reports and the Census is now three years overdue, affecting policy-making and weakening transparency

www.indiaspend.com

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Sandeep Mertia @sandeepmertia.bsky.social · Dec 26

www.linkedin.com/posts/smruti...
“We are increasingly seeing the phenomenon of the "dumb" well-published academic […] The roots can be traced to the decline of values in the American academic system, which is sadly getting mimicked in the Indian academic system.”

Smruti Sarangi on LinkedIn: Rise of the "dumb" well-published academic | 53 comments

We are increasingly seeing the phenomenon of the "dumb" well-published academic -- someone who has published loads of papers yet does not know the basics of… | 53 comments on LinkedIn

www.linkedin.com

Sandeep Mertia @sandeepmertia.bsky.social · Dec 17

In my college days (back in Gandhinagar), we only had occasional unscheduled visits from stray dogs & monkeys 😌

Sandeep Mertia @sandeepmertia.bsky.social · Dec 14

Final presentations, Computers and Society, Fall’24: I’ve made it to my students meme-scapes! 🥲

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Sandeep Mertia @sandeepmertia.bsky.social · Dec 10

I want this app to work, but so far it’s no match for the dumpster fire ethic of the old one 😌 #LuigiMangione

Sandeep Mertia @sandeepmertia.bsky.social · Dec 7

Last lecture, Fall’24 ✨

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Sandeep Mertia @sandeepmertia.bsky.social · Nov 30

The dustbin of techno-futurities scaling up 🚀

“..despite the surge in the late 2010s, India’s growth rate for mobile internet subscribers has slowed in the past few years. And as of October 2024, almost half, or 46%, of the population is still not connected to mobile internet.”

t.co/0XISvmLvWl

https://restofworld.org/2024/mobile-internet-users-growth-rate

t.co

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Sandeep Mertia @sandeepmertia.bsky.social · Nov 27

Great read! :) I love my students reaction when I tell them about the history of the great socialist tech venture capital organization called the US DoD haha, along with examples from Soviet Union, Chile, India, etc.

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Sandeep Mertia @sandeepmertia.bsky.social · Nov 27

Zizek’s (beginning?) to talk about China’s and India’s soft fascisms to think about anti-teleological histories. Cute.
youtu.be/OSYjmH_WPQQ?...

Philosopher Slavoj Žižek on 'soft' fascism, AI & the effects of shamelessness in public life

YouTube video by OxfordUnion

youtu.be

Sandeep Mertia @sandeepmertia.bsky.social · Nov 26

I saw dozens of such examples in my fieldwork with start-ups in Jaipur. As I work on the book, I keep wondering what could a non-parochial, non-provincial, non-suffering slot-ifying theory of tech, capital, & power in most of the world do to counter-speculate against such hype-cycled predicaments 😌

Scroll @scroll.in · Nov 25

Launched in 2017, Amazon Karigar aims to bring Indian artisans onto its e-commerce platform by offering nine weeks of training, professional product photos, and marketing.

However, the craftspeople, who actively sell of the platform, say the e-marketplace has failed. @restofworld.org

Amazon Karigar for ‘Made in India’ handicrafts a bust for artisans

The e-commerce platform failed to recognise the unique business needs, select appeal and delicate nature of handmade products say craftspeople.

scroll.in

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Reposted by Sandeep Mertia

PenPencilDraw @penpencildraw.bsky.social · Nov 21

Bribe-that Mata.

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Reposted by Sandeep Mertia

Kumail Nanjiani @kumail.bsky.social · Nov 18

Bluesky feels like I took a Time Machine back to 2009 when I was still like “Hey this social media thing is going to make the world a better place.”

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Reposted by Sandeep Mertia

Nirdiganta @sevendeviled.bsky.social · Nov 18

Markedly less Palestinian & Lebanese content here, though that might be an effect of immediate networks and algorithms, though I hear Bluesky has been suspending accounts as well. The difference from X is nonetheless eerie & alarming in the midst of genocide & war.

Jehad Abusalim @jehadabusalim.bsky.social · Nov 18

Israel murdered 46 people in Gaza today.

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