My thesis research explores online commerce adoption in local marketplaces. 

My work examines the WhatsApp reselling ecosystem comprising small-scale sellers, traders, resellers, and customers, in textile marketplaces of Surat, Gujarat. I am employing ethnographic and qualitative research methods with fieldwork immersion. 

Early insights showcase the role of ecosystem of communication apps in fostering a virtual bazaar and translating the E-commerce platform experience on WhatsApp. Offline actors (sellers and traders at Surat) and online actors (resellers and customers spread across the country) engage in collaborative labor.

Design recommendations are geared towards improving cross-platform reselling experiences by enhancing privacy and bringing accountability in the trust deficit context of WhatsApp-based reselling. The thesis is under review, get in touch to know more about the project.

#Interviews #Observations @Field_Visits #OnlineObservation

This project was done as a part of group for the course DT108 Human-Computer Interaction. In this project, we conducted primary research, performed competitive analysis, paper prototyping, persona and storyboarding. The insights from the survey, interview and contextual inquiry were used for designing interface for money tracking. High fidelity prototype was designed in Figma and heuristic evaluation was performed. 

EzTrack helps budgeting and tracking everyday transactions (yes, even the Rs.10 Coffee paid through UPI 😄). It comes with a category breakdown of your expenses and integrates seamlessly with the UPI app.  

#Interviews #Observation #Cognitive_Walkthrough #Prototyping #Heuristic_Evaluation @GroupProject $Figma $Miro

This end term essay was written as a part of the course DT215 Digital Sociology. 

This critical essay looks at specific case of digital hustling, the emerging identity of a reseller through analytical lens of cognitive capitalism.

#Cognitive Capitalism #Reseller #DigitalHustling #Identity