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Mapping Digital Diasporas University

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Mapping Digital Diasporas University DIGITAL DIASPORAS Interactive forum Professor Marie Gillespie from the Open Mapping digital diasporas University. It was awarded £500,000 for a connects Iranians three-year study involving partnerships A major research project is focusing on BBC World Service diaspora audiences. between academics and BBC World Service In April 2007 a round-table debate I can get more MATILDA ANDERSSON reports practitioners. The project uses BBC World took place on bbcpersian.com unbiased news Service as a prism through which to view between eight participants from ‘ issues of diaspora, migration and identity – Australia with Persian backgrounds. from around the hat does a shop owner in Bradford comparatively and historically. The debate was about the prob- world as well as have in common with a graduate from The focus on diasporas at BBC World lems of marriage for Iranians in from my own WPrinceton USA, a construction Service is not, of course, entirely new. When Australia. Part of an initiative to con- worker in the UAE and a banker in the city of the service was set up in 1932 (as the Empire nect Iranians living all over the world, country compared London? Apart from being users of the Service), part of its remit was to serve Britons it was hosted on a special section of to any other bbcurdu.com website they are also part of the based abroad. BBC World Service has in its the website. The picture galleries, global Pakistani diaspora. time also been a key employer of diasporic interactive forums and other user-gen- Persian website The term diaspora derives from the Greek writers, artists, poets and intellectuals – often erated content was viewed by over BBCPERSIAN.COM USER diaspeirein meaning to disperse, to sow or to exiles, dissidents and refugees. An important 30,000 users in one week. It enabled ’ scatter, and it came to refer to Jews scattered angle to our project will be focusing on the Persian speakers all over the world to among gentiles. Today, the term is increasingly often unique and personal relationships built engage in conversations about life away from the homeland. used to describe the global dispersal of between diasporic broadcasters and their One of BBC World Service’s most visited websites before it migrant groups of various kinds – from audiences via the BBC, including the role was blocked in Iran in December 2005, bbcpersian.com was also intellectual dissidents to economic migrants played by such contributors. one of the most popular news websites in Iran itself. It is now and refugees. There are several examples of situations, used mostly by Persian speakers outside Iran but there are unof- Diasporas are of growing economic, too, in which exiles and dissidents have taken ficial reports of many Iranians being able to use the site from C political and cultural significance. In a world O an active part in communicating conflict, inside the country via proxy servers. R B I where migration, geopolitical dynamics and S organising aid and lobbying for a political Usage inside Iran doesn’t vary that much from usage outside communication technology and transport the country. Visitors mostly use bbcpersian.com to keep up to links are continually changing, it’s clear that engendered by communications and cultural á Recent conflicts and date with news about Iran. The most popular topics are political culture and geography no longer map neatly networks – BBC World Service is one of those civil war have increased and social issues, but entertainment news rates well, too. There’s on to one another. defining links. the Somali diaspora in a great appetite in Iran for blogging and interactivity – perhaps in Understanding diaspora groups inside and Despite internal differences, it is likely countries such as the reaction to constrains on self-expression. Users from outside outside its base at Bush House is ever more that transnational communities, of all types, US. Many turn to Iran watch more video footage, which could partly be due to important for BBC World Service, too. will play an ever more important role in bbcsomali.com for news higher speed broadband connections in the US, UK and Diaspora audiences are influencing the shaping social, cultural, economic and of home Germany where many of the diaspora users of bbcpersian.com conception of BBC audiences and output. For political processes worldwide. Economic are based. example, 60% of the weekly users of networks among Indians and Chinese, for As well as the Persian/Australian project, diaspora life in bbcurdu.com are not from within Pakistan, a example, fuel their national economies ‘back Canada has featured on the site. Initiatives such as these provide Y trend that has also been observed for other home’ through remittances. T a true representation of life in a new country for diaspora audi- T E BBC language websites. G ences, building BBC World Service’s unique opportunity to link BRIDGES BETWEEN CULTURES Part of BBC World Service’s funding people around the world in the global conversation. FROM ROOTS TO ROUTES Transnational networks can foster It’s clear that settlement, an additional £1m (from bbcpersian.com Of course, global diasporas are not cosmopolitanism and build bridges between culture and April 2009) will be allocated to identifiable communities in any clear cut cultures, but they can also fuel regressive realising the provision of a diasporic geographic or cultural sense. Just because political formations and religious extremism. geography no service focusing on British diasporas, outcome. Recently, we can point to the in particular Urdu, Somali and Bengali diasporic groups share roots – whether Recognising the heightened relevance of Tibetan freedom protests against Chinese longer map (pictured) communities. The intention defined by a place of origin and/or history, diasporas for peace and security, conflict rule but there is a precedent for involvement neatly on to behind this initiative is to enrich BBC language, ethnicity, religion or culture – it resolution and diplomacy, the Arts World Service’s global output by that dates back to the Second World War and doesn’t necessarily follow that their migratory Humanities Research Council (AHRC) has one another reflecting life in multicultural Britain the Cold War era. It’s claimed, for example, routes are similar or that they even share funded a five-year research programme. One and developing a dialogue across that BBC Hungarian service radio program- a common sense of identity. Diasporic groups part of this programme is Tuning In: Diasporic geographies. ming helped keep “the home fires burning” in are complex social formations increasingly Contact Zones at BBC World Service, led by Hungary during the uprising of 1956. SEPTEMBER 2008 14 SEPTEMBER 2008 15 DIGITAL DIASPORAS DIVERSE DIASPORAS Burma in September 2007, the Tibetan Audiences for the BBC’s 32 language services Burmese use blogs to beat Somalis follow life in the diaspora protest against Chinese rule and the – whether on radio, TV or online – government censorship Olympic torch protests in April 2008 show encompass diverse diaspora populations In October 2007, the US state how, by leading rallies and organising aid, such as Iranians in Canada, Somalis in the In September 2007, during the pro-democratic protests in of California experienced one diasporas can influence the political, social UKand Burmese audiences in the USA. Burma, people inside the country posted photos and videos of of the worst wildfires in history. and economic agenda in the home country While little is known about why and how events as they unfolded on weblogs. This material, which was Amongst the 6,000 fire- as well as mobilising initiatives that cross certain groups connect with their home quickly picked up by mainstream media, circumvented fighters working to get the fire cultural boundaries. countries via BBC World Service, many censorship by the Burmese authorities by providing content under control was Cabdiweli praise its work and, increasingly, the that would otherwise have been impossible to source. It made Heybe, a Somali-born fire- DIASPORA USERS opportunities it offers for online public it possible for the world to follow a censored political event. fighter working in San Diego. Over 50% of the users to the BBC World debate are being capitalised upon. Diaspora The website bbcburmese.com became a vital source of infor- Shortly afterwards, the story Service sites in languages other than English groups are connecting to each other via mation for Burmese diasporas all over the world. was published on can be defined as diaspora users. How online services and these myriad The user base of the BBC Burmese site quadrupled during bbcsomali.com and Somali should BBC World Service capitalise on interactions present a real opportunity for the peak of the protests and the military junta crackdown on speakers all over the world this? Some diasporic user groups range over S enacting the kinds of ‘global conversations’ 26 September, reaching around 60,000 Burmese-speaking R could read about his heroism. 150 countries extending to markets not E T U BBC World Service has been building into users around the globe within one week. The users of E It was a news story with usually defined as BBC World Service R its strategy. bbcburmese.com during this period were all based outside áAmong those who tackled one of personal resonance. Told from targets. BBC World Service can no longer see Burma, in countries such as the USA, Singapore and the UK, California’s worst ever fires was a a Somali’s perspective, it also Initial findings from our project suggest itself as a broadcaster targeting audiences among others. Despite the efforts of those inside Burma to Somali-born firefighter whose revealed a tale of life in the that users of bbcpersian.com come to the that are conceived of purely in national access news sites and blogs, the government closed down all heroic story was spread to the diaspora and so, arguably bridged site mainly to consume news about Iran.
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