Silvia Masiero
Biographic Data
| ID | 256286 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Silvia Masiero |
| GIVEN NAMES | Silvia |
| FAMILY NAME | Masiero |
| SIGNATURE | MASIERO S |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Oslo |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-1427-0779 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 10 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 47 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 10 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2014 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Digital connectivity and the SDGs
In this paper we contribute to the discourse on digital connectivity and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with a focus on low and middle-income countries (LMICs). While digital connectivity has been showcased as a “hidden hero” for restoring societal functioning during the pandemic, the theoretical link between digital connectivity and the achievement of fundamental development objectives as articulated in the SDGs has been under-research…
Digital identity as platform-mediated surveillance
Digital identity systems are usually viewed as datafiers of existing populations. Yet a platform view finds limited space in the digital identity discourse, with the result that the platform features of digital identity systems are not seen in relation to their surveillance outcomes. In this commentary I illuminate how the core platform properties of digital identity systems afford the undue surveillance of vulnerable groups, leading users into t…
Digital labour platforms in Pakistan
Purpose While digital labour platforms are being increasingly studied across the Global South, the existing literature does not conceptualise the theoretical link between such platforms and socio-economic development. This paper theorises such a link drawing on the notion of institutional voids defined, as in Khanna and Palepu (2010), as “the absence of intermediaries to efficiently connect buyers and sellers” in an economy. We frame digital labo…
Covid-19
COVID-19 has hit a world in which social protection schemes are increasingly augmented with digital measures. Digital identity schemes are especially being adopted to match citizens' data with social protection entitlements, enabling authentication through demographic and, increasingly, biometric data at the point of access. In this commentary, I discuss three sets of implications that COVID-19 has yielded on digital social protection, whose cent…
Biometric Infrastructures and the Indian Public Distribution System
This paper reflects on the author’s nine-year research on the transformation of India’s Public Distribution System (PDS) enacted through digital technologies first and, more recently, through Aadhaar’s biometric infrastructure. Based on the experiences of two states, Kerala and Karnataka, which adopted biometric identification in their ration shops, the paper illustrates the effects of the transition to an Aadhaar-based PDS, on both program gover…
Grappling with Aadhaar
The Aadhaar program has been among the most defining socio-political projects of the Indian state over the last decade. Translating to “platform” or “foundation” in several Indian languages, this colossal identification scheme has been extended thus far to almost 1.25 billion Indian residents. As noted by Rao and Nair (2019), the word Aadhaar has become a metonymy that transcends its literal meaning, automatically linking it to the national biome…
Datafying anti-poverty programmes
This paper seeks to illuminate the significance of datafication for anti-poverty programmes, meaning social protection schemes designed specifically for poor people. The conversion of beneficiary populations into machine-readable data enables two core functions of social protection, those of recognising entitled beneficiaries and assigning entitlements connected to each anti-poverty scheme. Drawing on the incorporation of Aadhaar, India's biometr…
Women’s income generation through mobile Internet
For many women in resource-constrained environments, mobile phones are the first and foremost information and communication technology (ICT) used. In theory, the increasing pervasiveness of mobiles and mobile Internet across developing countries should provide growing opportunities to women, especially in terms of earning through small, on-the-fly jobs, using the very mobility aspect of the devices. Using Donner’s six affordances of mobile Intern…
MGNREGA, Power Politics, and Computerization in Andhra Pradesh
The link between e-governance and accountability of state administrations for service provision has been problematized in the literature to date. However, little is known about its application to anti-poverty programmes, of which public workfare schemes are an increasingly important subset. In this paper, we fill the gap with a study of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), India’s largest workfare scheme, as it is…
Redesigning the Indian Food Security System through E-Governance
Datafying anti-poverty programmes
This paper seeks to illuminate the significance of datafication for anti-poverty programmes, meaning social protection schemes designed specifically for poor people. The conversion of beneficiary populations into machine-readable data enables two core functions of social protection, those of recognising entitled beneficiaries and assigning entitlements connected to each anti-poverty scheme. Drawing on the incorporation of Aadhaar, India's biometr…
Redesigning the Indian Food Security System through E-Governance
Grappling with Aadhaar
The Aadhaar program has been among the most defining socio-political projects of the Indian state over the last decade. Translating to “platform” or “foundation” in several Indian languages, this colossal identification scheme has been extended thus far to almost 1.25 billion Indian residents. As noted by Rao and Nair (2019), the word Aadhaar has become a metonymy that transcends its literal meaning, automatically linking it to the national biome…
Covid-19
COVID-19 has hit a world in which social protection schemes are increasingly augmented with digital measures. Digital identity schemes are especially being adopted to match citizens' data with social protection entitlements, enabling authentication through demographic and, increasingly, biometric data at the point of access. In this commentary, I discuss three sets of implications that COVID-19 has yielded on digital social protection, whose cent…
Women’s income generation through mobile Internet
For many women in resource-constrained environments, mobile phones are the first and foremost information and communication technology (ICT) used. In theory, the increasing pervasiveness of mobiles and mobile Internet across developing countries should provide growing opportunities to women, especially in terms of earning through small, on-the-fly jobs, using the very mobility aspect of the devices. Using Donner’s six affordances of mobile Intern…
Digital identity as platform-mediated surveillance
Digital identity systems are usually viewed as datafiers of existing populations. Yet a platform view finds limited space in the digital identity discourse, with the result that the platform features of digital identity systems are not seen in relation to their surveillance outcomes. In this commentary I illuminate how the core platform properties of digital identity systems afford the undue surveillance of vulnerable groups, leading users into t…
Biometric Infrastructures and the Indian Public Distribution System
This paper reflects on the author’s nine-year research on the transformation of India’s Public Distribution System (PDS) enacted through digital technologies first and, more recently, through Aadhaar’s biometric infrastructure. Based on the experiences of two states, Kerala and Karnataka, which adopted biometric identification in their ration shops, the paper illustrates the effects of the transition to an Aadhaar-based PDS, on both program gover…
MGNREGA, Power Politics, and Computerization in Andhra Pradesh
The link between e-governance and accountability of state administrations for service provision has been problematized in the literature to date. However, little is known about its application to anti-poverty programmes, of which public workfare schemes are an increasingly important subset. In this paper, we fill the gap with a study of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), India’s largest workfare scheme, as it is…
Redesigning the Indian Food Security System through E-Governance
Women’s income generation through mobile Internet
For many women in resource-constrained environments, mobile phones are the first and foremost information and communication technology (ICT) used. In theory, the increasing pervasiveness of mobiles and mobile Internet across developing countries should provide growing opportunities to women, especially in terms of earning through small, on-the-fly jobs, using the very mobility aspect of the devices. Using Donner’s six affordances of mobile Intern…
MGNREGA, Power Politics, and Computerization in Andhra Pradesh
The link between e-governance and accountability of state administrations for service provision has been problematized in the literature to date. However, little is known about its application to anti-poverty programmes, of which public workfare schemes are an increasingly important subset. In this paper, we fill the gap with a study of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), India’s largest workfare scheme, as it is…
Datafying anti-poverty programmes
This paper seeks to illuminate the significance of datafication for anti-poverty programmes, meaning social protection schemes designed specifically for poor people. The conversion of beneficiary populations into machine-readable data enables two core functions of social protection, those of recognising entitled beneficiaries and assigning entitlements connected to each anti-poverty scheme. Drawing on the incorporation of Aadhaar, India's biometr…
Covid-19
COVID-19 has hit a world in which social protection schemes are increasingly augmented with digital measures. Digital identity schemes are especially being adopted to match citizens' data with social protection entitlements, enabling authentication through demographic and, increasingly, biometric data at the point of access. In this commentary, I discuss three sets of implications that COVID-19 has yielded on digital social protection, whose cent…
Biometric Infrastructures and the Indian Public Distribution System
This paper reflects on the author’s nine-year research on the transformation of India’s Public Distribution System (PDS) enacted through digital technologies first and, more recently, through Aadhaar’s biometric infrastructure. Based on the experiences of two states, Kerala and Karnataka, which adopted biometric identification in their ration shops, the paper illustrates the effects of the transition to an Aadhaar-based PDS, on both program gover…
Grappling with Aadhaar
The Aadhaar program has been among the most defining socio-political projects of the Indian state over the last decade. Translating to “platform” or “foundation” in several Indian languages, this colossal identification scheme has been extended thus far to almost 1.25 billion Indian residents. As noted by Rao and Nair (2019), the word Aadhaar has become a metonymy that transcends its literal meaning, automatically linking it to the national biome…
Digital labour platforms in Pakistan
Purpose While digital labour platforms are being increasingly studied across the Global South, the existing literature does not conceptualise the theoretical link between such platforms and socio-economic development. This paper theorises such a link drawing on the notion of institutional voids defined, as in Khanna and Palepu (2010), as “the absence of intermediaries to efficiently connect buyers and sellers” in an economy. We frame digital labo…
Digital identity as platform-mediated surveillance
Digital identity systems are usually viewed as datafiers of existing populations. Yet a platform view finds limited space in the digital identity discourse, with the result that the platform features of digital identity systems are not seen in relation to their surveillance outcomes. In this commentary I illuminate how the core platform properties of digital identity systems afford the undue surveillance of vulnerable groups, leading users into t…
Digital connectivity and the SDGs
In this paper we contribute to the discourse on digital connectivity and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with a focus on low and middle-income countries (LMICs). While digital connectivity has been showcased as a “hidden hero” for restoring societal functioning during the pandemic, the theoretical link between digital connectivity and the achievement of fundamental development objectives as articulated in the SDGs has been under-research…
Political science (8 works) · Business (7 works) · Computer Science (6 works) · Law (5 works) · Sociology (5 works) · Computer security (4 works) · Economic growth (3 works) · Economics (3 works) · Internet privacy (3 works) · Microfinance and Financial Inclusion (3 works)