Internet explained in Rangoli form

Hyderabad: As more and more people are coming onto internet, it has become important to teach people about intricacies of internet and internet shutdowns.
A lawyer and the Internet Democracy Project member, Ms Nayantara Ranganathan, tried to explain the Internet using Rangoli, where dots signify landline phones or nodes, and lines that join the dots represent connections. The stars in Rangoli imply telephone networks and the connections through submarine cables as connectivity.

Using the traditional Rangoli in a video, Ms Ranganathan tried to explain how networks are connected across the world and what happens when there is an Internet shutdown. “We do trainings for different kinds of people on privacy and surveillance among other things. While thinking about how to make these conversations simpler, I just hit upon the indigenous idea of using a Rangoli,” said Ms Ranganathan.

“Internet is not as complex as it seems. There needs to be less intimidating way to teach people about Internet. The video which was uploaded on Tuesday is currently in English and will be translated to Kannada and Hindi. Based on user interests, the makers are planning to translate it into other languages,” she said. The video “Dots and Connections — Internet explained through rangoli” is available on Youtube, uploaded by Internet Democracy project.

“It is not something which we always discuss. Techonology is something that everyone uses and it is not just a computer. Technology shouldn’t look a certain way. Just to make people feel home with technology and that they can have opinions on it, the video is an attempt to flatten this expertise,” she said.