Response Paper Two

Conscious Integration of Information Technologies

Cultures shape technologies and technologies shape cultures. This commutative property can be well shown by examining the recent advent of information technologies around the world, specifically the use of the internet/digital networks. In the United States, a rapid increase in public access to the internet was established by integrating the technology that provides it into public libraries. While the United States shaped the technology that provides access to the internet, it is in turn being shaped by it. The technology is used differently across communities and how each decides to incorporate and maintain access to it will determine what impact it will ultimately have. Elsewhere, the technology has been introduced and then used in ways that contrast even the most unique forms of use in the United States. In some cases, the technology does not become an integral part of a community at all. In others, it becomes essential in ways that if taken away could be considered criminal. The integration of information technologies is an ongoing development in all parts of the world today and further examination of how, and to what extent it will be, is of increasing importance.

In 1996, the "Digital Divide" was announced as a key issue to be dealt with in the United States. Policymakers made it an imperative that there be a "bridge" between haves and have-nots of the information technology that provides access to the internet. The internet was seen as the epitome of tools for establishing a foundation for the information society the United States had become (Shement, p. 120). Many citizens lacked access to the internet and therefore a problem faced the United States as a whole: How can the technology be provided for the the entire population? The public library was the answer. Already established as the hub for public access to information through the use of books, journals and newspapers, the library was the most logical place to plant the technology to access the internet. To date, 95% of all public libraries have this technology and 60% of patrons use the internet as part of their visits (Shement p. 119).

Interestingly, and perhaps as to be expected because of the level of diversity found in the United States, the use of the technology varies by community. According to a report by the Gates Foundation (Toward an Equality of Access), everyone from seniors to Native communities use the technology in different ways and for different reasons. Unfortunately, funding for maintaining the technology is not as available as it was to set it up, and this makes it difficult to assess the variance of use to create unique frameworks of interaction between a library and its community of users. Such frameworks would provide a fertile information society that can fully function under democratic ideals. While the United States was structured in such a way that allowed for the integration of information technology (and therefore the internet), it still has to grapple the challenge of recognizing that each unique community must be represented in a way that allows for their access to be utilized entirely.

Outside of the United States, there has been an attempt to transfer the concept of the "Digital Divide." Yet, as written by Mark Warshauer in Scientific American (August 2003), "the simple binary description of a divide fails to do justice to the complex reality of various people's differing access and usage of digital technology." Just as it is critical now in the United States to recognize this point for its own society, it is equally important to apply it to the world at large. The logic behind technological determinism, which is based in the idea that technologies shape societies and therefore the mere introduction of any technology will result in similar use as long as it is available, is flawed. The example given, by Warshauer (pp. 44-45), of outdoor internet kiosks set-up in 1999 by the municipal government of New Delhi with the National Institute of Information Technology in the poorest areas of New Delhi, is a perfect example of technological determinism's flawed logic. The technology did not become an integral part of the community at all, rather, it was even seen as detrimental (Warshauer, p.45). The kiosks were set up with no organization to teach or explain how the technology can be utilized.

In a different example given by Warshauer (pp. 45-46), again from India, the government set up a kiosk in villages in the poorest, rural area of the Madhya Pradesh. Each kiosk was interconnected in a network and "a small team hired by the government [created] content for the...intranet, based on the analysis of the people's social and economic needs" (Warshauer, p. 46). Users pay a kiosk "manager" a few cents to access information/communication they need, whether it is crop prices or to complain to government officials. According to Warshauer, government services and the local community have since improved. This is a perfect example of how a society can integrate information technologies in a unique and productive manner for a specific community. It is an example that should be heeded and encouraged in the United States and other places with access to information technologies to create frameworks of interaction between access providers (or "intensifiers" as Shement suggests (p. 124)) and the community of users.

In fact, there is some evidence of this approach being applied elsewhere. In the United States, the work of Ramesh Srinivasan in the development of Tribal Peace is an example. Srinivasan assisted four Native nations in 19 separate reservations develop an interconnected website that takes into respect their unique ontologies and cultural heritage. This website serves both as an archive and a shared space of representation and communication between the public, the tribal elders and even the state government (Srinivasan, p. 4). Another example from within the United States can be found in the attempt by the University of California and College Preparatory Initiative to use information technology to assist culturally diverse high school students take courses over the internet that would be counted toward their future college education (and help in their acceptance to such colleges). The initial attempts were modified by the feedback received by those involved (a community dialogue with the technology providers) to increase the success rate of students in future courses (Warshauer, pp. 46-47). While these examples are not coming from within the primary place of access (libraries), it is to their credit as "gaps in access still persist" and so there is an "importance of developing tools to increase the effectiveness of libraries beyond their doors" (Shement, p.124).

Beyond the United States' border, there is an upcoming research project in southern India called Co-Divine with which Srinivasan is involved. This research will "determine whether...two communities in question can articulate and develop their own visions through self-creation and sharing of visual information." Srinivasan hopes to support his hypothesis that "information development initiatives driven by community-created content may allow community members themselves to identify and pursue information access indicators that serve collective community needs." This will help supplant the residual and unproductive "Digital Divide" debate with a discussion of how specific interacting communities can cooperate and communicate by using information technology to stimulate their local society and society as a whole. The results of Srinivasan's research will be of great value to the entire world community because it will further the understanding of how to introduce/enhance the integration of information technology into varying communities based on socioeconomic and cultural characteristics, as separate studies have done also (Terrence Turners work with the Kayapo).

Overall, there seems to be evidence of a shift in understanding that the simple insertion of information technology is not enough to provide a strong foundation for the development of an information society. Instead the technology must be supplemented by a "social informatics" or "community informatics" approach. Social Informatics argues that "technology must be considered within a specific context that includes hardware, software, support resources, infrastructure, as well a people in various roles and relationships with one another an with other elements of the system" and Community Informatics "considers unique aspects of the particular culture into which technology is placed, so that communities can most effectively use that technology to achieve social, economic, political or cultural goals" (Warshauer, p. 45). These two concepts are the impetus for determining the future of integrating information technology both within and outside the United States. How well they are understood will determine how well information technology is shaped by and shapes the information age.