The politics of communication: information technology, local knowledge and social exclusion

This paper presents results from ethnographic fieldwork with users and non-users, providers, developers and organisers of telematically delivered distance learning packages. ADAPTthroughRATIO was a European Social Fund sponsored programme, organised at a local level by a consortium of further and higher educational institutions and local government agencies in southwest Britain. Its aim was to build an infrastructure for distance learning, and community development, in the region; providing training software packages that could be delivered through a pre-established network of telecentres. In what follows I outline findings from ethnographic and interview based research into the strengths and limitations of telematically delivered training to small businesses and community groups in what is an economically and geographically marginalised area. The research sought to identify the limitations and scope of this attempt to break down economic marginality and geographical isolation via telematically delivered distance learning. Two key questions were asked: (1) Just how far can the abolition of space and time constraints promised by new ICTs aid in redressing economic and geographical marginality? and (2) Just how far are the weaknesses produced by economic and geographical isolation in fact reproduced within virtual domains? The research suggests imbalances of economic and administrative power were not abolished, and did, to a significant degree, shape outcomes. However, the paper seeks to avoid the simplistic dualism of techno-faith and techno-pessimism. The research focused upon communication breakdowns and their causes. When communication breakdowns occur it is important to distinguish the technical and the social dimensions, and their interaction, rather than to assume failure is an intrinsic manifestation of technology as such. In this regard the success or failure of communication technology to facilitate social network development is political. Top-down technical approaches reflected who defined the problem and who was able to secure the resources with which to address it. Fieldwork offers an innovative approach to the evaluation of local policy formation, implementation, take-up and success.