
Lorena Melgaço
Associate senior lecturer

ICTs and Technical Agency: A Case Study of a Rural Brazilian Community
Author
Editor
- Marcus Foth
- Martin Brynskov
- Timo Ojala
Summary, in English
This paper explores the role of ICTs (Information and Communication Technologies) in rural, marginalised communities. We explore Feenberg’s concept of technical agency in order to understand the ways in which technological capacity might contribute to community development. We discuss three conditions of technical agency as outlined by Feenberg; power, knowledge and appropriate occasion. We consider how this framework might enable an approach to understanding the role of ICTS in the particular social-spatial contexts in marginalised communities. In order to test Feenberg’s approach we discuss a case study of a village in rural Brazil: Noiva do Cordeiro. The community is recognized regionally as a pioneer in the way that it has mobilized a range of ICTs for the benefit of the community. We will conclude by discussing how ICTs can reinforce existing or introduce technical agency in a Feenberg framework and how this might contribute to community development.
Publishing year
2015
Language
English
Pages
101-117
Publication/Series
Citizen’s Right to the Digital City
Links
Document type
Book chapter
Publisher
Springer
Topic
- Human Geography
Status
Published
ISBN/ISSN/Other
- ISBN: 978-981-287-919-6
- ISBN: 978-981-287-917-2