Community / Diaspora

Digital Diaspora

The shortage of information technology workers in Silicon Valley and other information technology hotbeds has attracted many workers from India. India has been the source of these workers since it leverages its largest resource, human capital that is technically well trained.

Online sites like H1Bjobs and Going2USA connect Indians with employers in the U.S. and ease the transition in immigrating to the U.S. by providing information on the immigration process and what to expect in the U.S. once they arrive. Going2USA explains to Indians what is to be expected when signing employers to make sure they are not taken advantage of. Further, H1Bjobs provides a way for Indians to retain their H1B visas while working on consulting jobs.

As a result of the migration of these workers, many Indians communities are scattered throughout the world, a phenomenon we call the diaspora.

Computing technology has provided a way for these people to keep in contact with their homeland by creating virtual communities online. Groups like the Worldwide Indian Network (WIN) and the Indian Network Foundation (INF) are designed to serve Indians worldwide. Their goals are two-fold:

• Connect Indians around the world with access to the Internet
• Promote social, political, and educational causes pertaining to Indian community’s needs

By communicating through message boards and emails, Indians from around the world can communicate with other Indians and post information about available online resources.

The key difference between these online communities and others based on western philosophies is the active recruitment of new members. These online communities stress the importance of social contacts rather than individual privacy to the point that the WIN encourages its members to send more recruiting messages rather than allow a potential recruit to slip by. Members in WIN are mandated to seek out and recruit other Indians with an email address. According to point 5 of the responsibilities of the members of the WIN:

“Try to gather e-mail addresses of as many Indians as possible, and mail them the recruiting message ("task00"). Subsequent to your sending the list, if you gather more e-mail addresses, please send the new addresses only. Never send the message to the same person more than once."

"In any case, if you do not want to collect the e-mail addresses of Indians and mail them the recruiting message ("task00"), please at least do one half of the job. Collect the e-mail addresses of as many Indians as possible, and mail them to the Network Coordinator. Remember the growth and vitality of the Network depends on its members.”

TiE and the Globalization of Indian Communities

Originally founded as The Indus Entrepreneurs at a lunch meeting in 1992, TiE was founded to promote a global network of entrepreneurs. It sought to promote entrepreneurship and attract member in the Silicon Valley to take advantage of the new informational technology sector. Now, its mission is to foster and advance entrepreneurship across the globe.

This direction is similar to many taken by many Indian groups originally founded to support Indians in the Silicon Valley. With the focus of outsourcing in India, many have started to promote information technologies in India. In fact, some Indians that originally came to Silicon Valley for jobs in the high-tech boom are now doing the reverse and returning to India to lead India’s high-tech boom.