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Digital Diasporas @ BBC World Service

This theme mainly explores the BBC World Service (BBC WS) digital contact zones constituted of 32 foreign language sites with a total of 4 million weekly users. According to research conducted within this project over 50% of those users are defined as Diaspora users by the BBC WS, that is users outside the BBC target market. These users prove to be highly relevant not only to our understanding of how Diaspora audiences use BBC WS but also to whether and how it might be possible for the BBC World Service to achieve its goal of facilitating 'a global conversation'.
 
Using web-analytics, interviews, pop-up surveys, and online community methodologies this research will map digital diasporas focusing on the Arabic, Persian, Urdu and Somali communities. The mapping exercise will map the contact zones provided by new developments in technology and broadcasting in terms of a) spatial dimensions: where users are coming from in geographical terms b) social characteristics: who they are, demographic factors and c) use value: why websites are used and valued or not.

Associated Papers (restricted access)