Local Experts in the Domestication of Information and Communication Technologies

Abstract

Research into the adoption and use of new Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) pays increasing attention to social context; however, the social fabric of contexts of use is often poorly theorized. This paper presents an investigation into the formation and operation of informal local networks of collaboration and knowledge exchange. It highlights the role of local experts in sustaining these informal networks and helping individuals and groups adopt and cope with new ICTs. The paper draws on a range of analytic traditions, including domestication and consumer research, to assess how local experts transfer knowledge, ideas of use and even new technologies across social networks and across the boundaries between home, work and education and other domains of life. The methodology deployed attempts to overcome the limitations of many studies of the adoption and diffusion of innovations in sample selection, especially the inclusion of non-adopters. It addresses the social dynamics of engagement with new technologies and proposes a move beyond a simple individualistic adopter/non-adopter model, with consequent implications for understanding digital inclusion and exclusion.

Keywords:

• Adoption
• experts
• intermediaries
• Internet
• social
• networks
• non-use

Notes

1. The work of Silverstone et al. theorizes the home more effectively than its wider social context. Other work highlights different contexts such as school or everyday life. The starting point of much of this work has been with particular social spaces or with particular technology acquisitions. It is not surprising, then, that this work has had difficulties theorizing the social context of technology adoption in an open and integral way. This raises various crucial methodological as well as theoretical issues which have informed this study and which are discussed in relation to the empirical study.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

James Stewart

James Stewart is currently a Research Fellow at the Institute for the Study of Science, Technology and Innovation in the University of Edinburgh. He holds a degree in Electrical Engineering from Imperial College (1991), an MSc in Science and Technology Studies (1994), and a PhD in Science and Technology Studies (2002), both from the University of Edinburgh. He works in the field of technology and innovation studies. His research and teaching covers a range of themes looking at the innovation of technology, the impact of ICTs on society, and the politics, policy and social aspects of the Information Society. Substantively, James has worked on current issues in information and communications technologies. This is complemented with an in-depth understanding of consumer adoption and use practices that ultimately shape technologies.