Trinidad - Part II
Today's Question: For this answer, try to highlight a conclusion that Miller & Slater make that differs from what we know about an older technology. That is, Miller & Slater cover themes that are very familiar from our earlier readings -- such as businesspeople and consumers trying to come to terms with a new communication technology -- but they occasionally come to strikingly different conclusions. Consider Chapter 6, "Doing Business Online," which chronicles several instances where Trinis try to employ new communication technologies (Web site design businesses, textiles catalogs, Miss Universe, etc.). Compare one of these instances and any conclusions that Miller & Slater draw from this material (e.g., about decommodification, virtual vs. real, the dynamics from ch. 1) to an analogous instance with an older technology covered by another author in this course (Douglas, Marvin, Fischer, Williams). How do you explain this difference in conclusions? e.g., Is the difference the result of technology (the Internet?), the method, the theoretical approach, assumptions, Trini culture, etc.?
I would like to choose to comment on the conclusion about virtual vs. real on the online business in Trinidad. From the descriptions in the book, we found that the applications of “ecommerce” and advertising on Internet was not well supported by the advertising agencies and not understood by the business holders. The value of Internet was very “dubious” and the web designers in Trinidad encountered the paradoxical situation. It seems that in the development of Internet in Trinidad the virtual support or tools were not well combined and utilized in reality. It was a different case for the development of telephone for example. In Fischer’s book, we read that with the development of telephone technology, the business people were willing to pay to include telephone into their daily business. People seemed to have no trouble to combine the virtual world created by using telephone with reality. But for Internet, its value was either neglected or exaggerated. For me, there are three reasons for the differences. Firstly, different technologies were considered. Internet is a more complex technology with the combination of many different media and channels, which can not be easily manipulated and utilized very quickly. Secondly, if we look back now, we will say that the analysis and description in the book was based on early history of Internet. It may be very different now. The Fischer book, again as an example, was written after the technology became mature. It is possible that when writing about a technology with longer history some details and early frustrations would be omitted. Thirdly, the description in the Miller & Slater book is only about Trinidad. So, the conclusions may not be generalized to the development of the technology Internet to some other areas.