Page 23 - Culture Technology Communication

8 Charles Ess

cultural factors, and as their analysis demonstrates the importance of
cultural factors: simply, by including cultural factors along with eco-
nomic and infrastructure dimensions, their models enjoy an increased
predictive power. And, especially for our purposes, their work is im-
portant as it provides an empirical basis that demonstrates the impact
of important cultural variables on technology diffusion. Finally, their
quantitative approach, as confirming the importance of English lan-
guage ability, meshes well with Becker and Wehner, as well as Yoon,
all of whom take up Bordieu’s notion of cultural capital (which in-
cludes language ability) as a necessary element of cultural analysis;
this finding is further consistent with Keniston’s observations regard-
ing the role of English as a passport to computing—and thus to power
and prestige—in India.

Part II: Theory/Praxis

a. THE EUROPEAN CONTEXT
Herbert Hrachovec, in “New Kids on the Net: Deutschsprachige
Philosophie elektronisch,” documents several experiments with con-
ducting philosophy on-line in the German-speaking world, illustrat-
ing “the force and limits of attempts to install a computer-mediated
space of Reason.” Hrachovec is critical of too closely identifying at
least the current realities of hypertext with such standard postmod-
ernist theorists as Barthes and Derrida (an identification made most
effectively and prominently by George Landow). In particular, it may
not be accidental that “electronic philosophy” is very much at the
margins of German academic life: “some features of the new discur-
sive forms are incompatible with the current educational system.”
Hrachovec’s study of the contrasts between the “microcultures” (my
term) of traditional academia and on-line discourse may point to
similar contrasts in larger contexts.
Lucienne Rey, in “Cultural Attitudes toward Technology and
Communication: A Study in the ‘Multi-cultural’ Environment of
Switzerland,” examines the political differences between the four
major linguistic groups of Switzerland—German, French, Italian,
and Romansch—and then seeks to determine whether these eth-
nic/linguistic differences also correlate with different attitudes to-
wards technology. In point of fact, her findings suggest that the
German-speaking part of Switzerland, the most politically and eco-
nomically dominant component of the country, is at the same time