Establishing the Internet in Costa Rica: Co-optation and the Closure of Technological Controversies
نویسنده
چکیده
Research in science and technology studies has devoted significant attention to technological controversies and the mechanisms that actors employ to resolve them. This paper contributes to this literature by developing the notion of co-optation as a dynamic of closure. Co-optation is conceptualized as the incorporation of an actor or group into the organizational structure of another group in order to avert threat or adapt to a context of change. Drawing on the history of the Internet in Costa Rica from 1990 to 2005, this study examines a controversy between two distinct models for the development of computing networks in this country: the academic, sociotechnical network and the state-sponsored, commercial project. The analysis shows that the dispute between these groups ended when the Costa Rican government co-opted leading figures of the academic network into its structure. The notion of co-optation helps us theorize shifts in the configuration of relations between groups that lead to the partial resolution of conflicts and have important consequences for the development of technological infrastructures.
منابع مشابه
Karaoke in Costa Rica: A Multidimensional Approach to Study Abroad
This case study was conducted to determine the benefits of a multi-dimensional study abroad program that included a community service component. It encompassed the following aspects of the study abroad experience: motivation for travel, language learning research, the role of autonomy in language learning, and cultural awareness, behaviors, and attitudes. The researcher acted as a participant a...
متن کامل“It’s Practically a Must”: Neoliberal Reasons for Foreign Language Learning
This qualitative study analyzes the reasons of college students for learning English as a foreign language (EFL) in Costa Rica and the reasons of high school students for learning German as a foreign language (GFL) in the US. It asks to what extent the learners’ reasons align with or deviate from neoliberal discourses that commodify foreign languages. The analysis of 27 interviews in a US high ...
متن کاملNotes on Dictyuchus species (Stramenopila, Oomycetes) from Anzali lagoon, Iran
Nine Dictyuchus isolates were obtained from floating and decaying twigs and leaves in Anzali lagoon, Anzali County, Guilan province, Iran. They are interestingly distinguished from current Dictyuchus species by the presence of dictyoid and achlyoid type of zoospore discharge, abundant fusiform and spherical gemma, and the absence of any sexual apparatus. In addition, phylogene...
متن کاملAssociation between Heart Disease and Subjective Health in Ten North, Middle, and South American Countries
Introduction: This study was conducted to compare 10 American countries for the association between self-reported physician diagnosis of heart disease and subjective health above and beyond the effect of socio-economic factors. Methods: With a cross-sectional design, this study used data from Research on Early Life and Aging Trends and Effects (RELATE). T...
متن کاملذخیره در منابع من
با ذخیره ی این منبع در منابع من، دسترسی به آن را برای استفاده های بعدی آسان تر کنید
عنوان ژورنال:
- Inf. Soc.
دوره 28 شماره
صفحات -
تاریخ انتشار 2012