WILD BUT WIRED?
THE CO-CONSTRUCTION OF SOCIETY AND
TECHNOLOGY IN RURAL STRATHCLYDE
A thesis submitted to Middlesex University
in part fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
SIMON C. C. OAKES
School of Social Science
Middlesex University
JUNE 2000
ABSTRACT
This study critically examines the co-construction of society and technology in rural Strathclyde during the late 1990s. A range of uses of information and communications technology (ICT) - spanning employment, community development and education - is accounted for, in a variety of highly localised settings on the islands of Arran, Islay and Jura and the Kintyre peninsula. Explanation is offered as to why certain outcomes have been arrived at. The reflexive relationship between technology and society is then highlighted, as it is shown that the challenge of introducing ICT to the region has affected change in local governance structures, catalysing new partnerships while challenging existing power relations.
Building upon recent work in rural studies relating to the post-productivist countryside, theories derived from the sociology of science (specifically Social Construction of Technology and Actor Network Theory approaches) are employed in an attempt to heighten understanding of local sensitivity to 'globalising' technologies. A qualitative methodology is employed, consisting of depth interviews conducted with leading local actors throughout 1997 and 1998. The narratives give insight into these actors' beliefs and motivation as they have attempted to guide the innovation, diffusion and application of ICT in the region. Critical insight is sought as to how their frequently conflicting understanding of rural needs acts as a constraint upon the contingency of technical development locally, prompting certain courses of action to be favoured above others.
The study draws more generally upon the experiences of rural Strathclyde to build a model of local sensitivity to technical change in the countryside. It is argued that the power to act rests in many hands and that those local actors who possess the necessary skills and resources to act as 'conduits' - linking local and 'global' circuits of production and consumption - do not always behave in ways that optimise local outcomes. Only under certain conditions can the effective deployment of ICT enable 'powerful' localities to act competitively 'at a distance' in seeking new trade and investment. It is argued that failure to appreciate the diversity of possible local responses to the provision of ICT has sometimes left policy-makers with exaggerated expectations for technically driven rural restructuring.
CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
ABSTRACT II
CONTENTS III
LIST OF INSETS VI
LIST OF FIGURES VI
LIST OF TABLES VI
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS VII
NEW TECHNOLOGIES IN THE POST-PRODUCTIVIST COUNTRYSIDE
1.1 Technology and society 1
1.2 ICT in a rural context 4
1.3 The organisation of the study 6
2 WILD BUT WIRED? A THEORY OF THE RURAL INFORMATION SOCIETY
2.1 ICT and society: perspectives of change 13
2.1.1 When technology leads society: post-industrial theory 14
2.1.2 When society leads technology: post-Fordism 17
2.1.3 Technical ecstasy: post-modernity and the effects of time-space 19
compression
2.1.4 The information age and the network society 21
2.1.5 The information age: a new revolution? 23
2.2 Technology studies 24
2.2.1 Language and role-playing: the metaphors of actor network theory 26
2.2.2 Artefacts and interpretations: the social construction of technology 34
2.2.3 Technology studies and the geographical imagination 38
2.2.4 Distribution and power 41
2.2.5 Technology studies in practice: researching the rural 43
2.3 Rural change and the meaning(s) of rurality 45
2.3.1 The post-productivist countryside and its governance 45
2.3.2 Rurality, representation and power 53
2.4 Conclusion: methods, theories, ethics and action 57
3 METHODOLOGY
3.1 Linking theory and method 67
3.2 Establishing a survey region in rural Scotland 69
3.3 Cyber-boosterism in the Highlands and Islands 72
3.3.1 Institutional reform: managing the Highlands and Islands 74
3.3.2 Taking the high road with ICT 76
3.3.3 A field of dreams? 78
3.4 Establishing a survey group 80
3.4.1 The pilot project 82
3.4.2 Local newspapers 83
3.5 Depth interviewing: theory and practice 85
3.5.1 Applying qualitative methods in human geography 87
3.5.2 Authorisation and ethics 91
3.6 Conclusion
4 ICT IN RURAL STRATHCLYDE: A STORY OF LOCAL SENSITIVITY
4.1 Local contexts, global technologies 98
4.1.1 The island of Arran 99
4.1.2 The island of Islay 102
4.1.3 The island of Jura 104
4.1.4 The Kintyre peninsula 105
4.2 Geographies of enablement and constraint: the determining factors 109
4.2.1 Formal political institutions, their practices, priorities and boundaries 109
4.2.2 Horizontal employment structures, local multipliers, catchment areas 110
4.2.3 The sustainability of the technologies themselves 111
4.2.4 Prevalent attitudes amongst incomer groups 113
4.3 The politics of ICT: strategies and structures 115
4.3.1 Establishing priorities 117
4.4 Conclusion: a new reflexivity, catalysing partnerships 119
5 ELECTRONIC ISLAY? RESPONDING TO THE OPPORTUNITIES OF THE INFORMATION AGE
5.1 Telecottages: an applied exercise in rural 'problem-solving' 123
5.2 Establishing the needs of Islay 125
5.3 The Bowmore CTC, 1991-93 129
5.4 Reach Teleservices 135
5.5 The branding of Islay 139
5.6 Conclusion: re-asserting the primacy of the local area network 144
6 'MODERN COMMUNICATIONS FOR TEACHING AND LEARNING': THE PRIMARY SCHOOLS
OF RURAL STRATHCLYDE
6.1 Pioneering the education superhighway 147
6.2 Problems and solutions: achieving interessement 148
6.3 The walled garden and its willing partners 152
6.4 Further afield: lengthening the network 157
6.5 Children and money: the costs of network building 159
6.6 From cradle to grave: education in a social context 162
6.7 Conclusion: when things fall into place 165
7 RURAL TELEWORKERS: LINKING LOCAL AND EXTERNAL CIRCUITS
7.1 Telework in the UK 168
7.1.1 The selection of case notes 170
7.2 Seeking the best of both worlds: purposive teleworking 174
7.2.1 Out of sight, out of mind? 176
7.2.2 Square pegs, round holes 177
7.3 Sleepers: the 'Rip Van Winkles' of telework 179
7.3.1 Incomers still? Making do, mucking in 182
7.4 When technology leads: the reluctant teleworker 184
7.5 Collective experience: an analysis 185
7.5.1 Role-playing 186
7.6 Conclusion: changing networks, changing ruralities 189
8 'SCOTLAND IN MINIATURE'? ARRAN, THE NET AND THE POLITICS OF
REPRESENTATION
8.1 Resistance and ICT 193
8.1.1 Ideology and the Internet 195
8.1.2 Contested terrain: the location of power 196
8.2 Tourism on Arran 198
8.2.1 The Internet and Scottish tourism: gateways to Arran 198
8.2.2 Mini-revolutions and wet summers 200
8.3 'Scotland in Miniature': upholding tradition 202
8.3.1 'Register and sign and away you go! ' 209
8.4 'NIMBY' must be Gaelic for'bloody selfish': contesting place in 211
cyberspace
8.4.1 Real information about the real Arran 212
8.4.2 Whose rurality is it anyway? 214
8.4.3 Representation and computations 217
8.4.4 Blinded by science? 218
8.5 Conclusion: local accountability 219
9 LOCALITY, POWER AND RURALITY
9.1 Introduction 226
9.2 Locality: actors and networks 230
9.2.1 The contingencies of local actor interaction 232
9.2.2 Exogenous forces (and local autonomy) 237
9.3 Power is'everywhere and nowhere' 238
9.3.1 Power becomes manifest through internal alignment 239
9.3.2 Power becomes manifest through 'acting at a distance' 242
9.3.3 Power lies in other places (everywhere and nowhere) 243
9.3.4 Power lies within the individual 244
9.3.5 Power is adaptation -
for locales and actors 245
9.4 Rurality as context and outcome 247
9.4.1 The rural as a context 247
9.4.2 The rural as an outcome 249
9.5 Conclusion: escalator over the hills 252
9.5.1 Policy implications 253
9.5.2 Future directions for research 255
APPENDIX A1: GLOSSARY OF TERMS 259
APPENDIX A2: SURVEY GROUP DATA COLLECTION 264
APPENDIX Al SURVEY GROUP DATA ANALYSIS 266
APPENDIX A4: NINE HYPOTHESES FOR MANUEL CASTELLS' NETWORK SOCIETY 267
BIBLIOGRAPHY 269
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