"National information infrastructure may vary due to local beliefs and customs; the level of freedom allowed citizens; and the economic conditions of the nation. On a global level, beliefs, customs, and laws can expedite or hinder the free flow of information."As I examine information infrastructure in Mexico, I plan to keep this idea firmly in mind, although with perhaps a bit of a twist. I think that local beliefs and customs directly affect the level of freedom allowed to citizens. My premise is that the higher the level of freedom, the broader and stronger the information infrastructure, and therefore the freer the flow of information.
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Aspects to consider
Our opening discussion for the semester was to describe our concept of information infrastructure. One of my classmates, Magda, noted at the end of her post that
Why Mexico?
The objective of this blog project is to explore issues related to the information infrastructure of Mexico. There are multiple facets to information infrastructure, including how it has developed within Mexico and between Mexico and the rest of the global community, and how it has developed across Mexico, including disparities among the states and regions that constitute the nation.
My particular interest in Mexico stems from my college experience, when I had an opportunity during my senior year to live and work for a semester in the central part of the country. The first six weeks were spent in Cuernavaca, living with a host family and attending language classes at Universal, http://www.universal-spanish.com/home.htm. The rest of the semester I lived in the village of Vicente Guerrero (http://www.traveljournals.net/explore/mexico/map/p6283177/vicente_guerrero.html), a community of about 600 people in the state of Tlaxcala. My internship was originally intended to focus on sustainable agriculture practices, but due to gender barriers I found myself involved with a group of women who were visiting other communities and teaching other women about health and traditional medicines. At the time I lived there (1995), the telecommunication infrastructure consisted of a single telephone in the village, and most people got their news through the radio. In Cuernavaca, the language school director’s office computer had internet access and an email account, but the primary mode of communication back to the US was via telephone and fax.
I look forward to investigating how information infrastructure has developed and progressed over the past 15 years, and what the major influences on that development have been.
Source: Mexico Cities [Map]. (2010). Retrieved from World Book Online Reference Center.
My particular interest in Mexico stems from my college experience, when I had an opportunity during my senior year to live and work for a semester in the central part of the country. The first six weeks were spent in Cuernavaca, living with a host family and attending language classes at Universal, http://www.universal-spanish.com/home.htm. The rest of the semester I lived in the village of Vicente Guerrero (http://www.traveljournals.net/explore/mexico/map/p6283177/vicente_guerrero.html), a community of about 600 people in the state of Tlaxcala. My internship was originally intended to focus on sustainable agriculture practices, but due to gender barriers I found myself involved with a group of women who were visiting other communities and teaching other women about health and traditional medicines. At the time I lived there (1995), the telecommunication infrastructure consisted of a single telephone in the village, and most people got their news through the radio. In Cuernavaca, the language school director’s office computer had internet access and an email account, but the primary mode of communication back to the US was via telephone and fax.
I look forward to investigating how information infrastructure has developed and progressed over the past 15 years, and what the major influences on that development have been.
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