A Tale of Two Trajectories: How Spatial Data Infrastructures Travel in Time and Space

Abstract

The notion of a spatial data infrastructure (SDI) was conceived in Canada and the United States in the early 1990s, and has since then traveled to Europe, Asia, Latin America, and Africa. In this article, the concept of SDI is understood as a myth, a mobilizing and at the same time seductive tale that inspires actors to enact reality. This article first shows what myths underlie the notion of SDI in the American discourse, and then examines how the notion of SDI was reinterpreted and domesticated in the African SDI discourse. Thereafter it reflects on domestication of SDI in Africa using Rottenburg's theory of iterating processes of consensus and knowledge differentiation.

Keywords:

• ICT in developing countries
• myths
• spatial data infrastructure

The authors thank Dr. Amanda Smullen and the two anonymous reviewers for their helpful suggestions and constructive comments.