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Keywords Communications, Development
Abstract While it is quite natural for us to be drawn to the new potentialities wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) represents, we should give pause and place it within its proper context and take a long-term view of the phenomenon. One of the repeated shortcomings of the research on new technologies has been that the researchers have time and again studied them in isolation. A new technology does not strike roots and grow on a virgin ground. Instead, it encounters a terrain marked by old technologies. The new technology's growth then is shaped not only by its own potentialities but also the opportunities and restraints created by the systems based on old technologies. In order to expand the perspective beyond Wi-Fi to those that preceded it, this paper draws on the framework provided by Infrastructure Development Model (IDM), which delineates eight stages through which infrastructure networks (railroads, telegraph, telephone, and others) typically go in their development, to study its emergence.
The "new" of a new technology invariably captures our imagination. The emerging Wi-Fi, short for wireless fidelity, technology has much to offer that is new and spectacular. It allows ordinary people to extend the Internet into the wireless arena through relatively inexpensive and easy to install wireless links. Interestingly, by creating these links they make the Internet more accessible not only for themselves but also strangers who wander into the hot spots their transmitters generate. The growing awareness of Wi-Fi coupled with falling equipment prices have energized technology enthusiasts to create their own hot spots and in the process contribute to the development of an entirely new kind of a bottom-up network. In many ways, the activities of these technology enthusiasts are fueled by the same libertarian impulse that drove the creators of the original Internet. At a time when many fear the rationalization of the Internet by commercial forces, we are seeing an insurrection by libertarian bands of sorts who take pleasure in subverting corporate frameworks. Only time will tell whether or not this insurrection will rearrange the communications landscape or get subdued by corporate interests and fizzle out after a brief but pregnant moment in history.
While it is quite natural for us to be drawn to the new potentialities...