This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Dyb, K. Articles by Halford, S. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Placing Globalizing Technologies: Telemedicine and the Making of Difference

University Hospital of Northern Norway, kari.dyb{at}telemed.no

Susan Halford

School of Social Sciences, University of Southampton, susan.halford{at}soton.ac.uk

The development and proliferation of new information and communication technologies has generated some profound claims about the erasure of place. Whilst these claims have continued political and policy resonance, they are increasingly challenged in sociological debate, which emphasizes the persistence of the local. Following this lead, our article explores relations between technology and place. We develop our understanding through engagement with Science and Technology Studies, Actor Network Theory and geographical conceptualizations of place. Our argument is worked through a new empirical study of telemedicine, where new technologies are applied precisely to overcome place. Our analysis is that, on the contrary, empirical outcomes are legible only through the lens of place. This has important policy implications and broader implications for thinking about technology in contemporary debates about globalization.

Key Words: globalization • information and communication technologies • midwifery • Norway • place

Sociology, Vol. 43, No. 2, 232-249 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/0038038508101163


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?