Untangling the unwired : Wi-Fi and the cultural inversion of infrastructure.

Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review

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Untangling the unwired : Wi-Fi and the cultural inversion of infrastructure. / Mackenzie, A.
In: Space and Culture, Vol. 8, No. 3, 01.08.2005, p. 269-285.

Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review

Harvard

Mackenzie, A 2005, 'Untangling the unwired : Wi-Fi and the cultural inversion of infrastructure.', Space and Culture, vol. 8, no. 3, pp. 269-285. https://doi.org/10.1177/1206331205277464

APA

Mackenzie, A. (2005). Untangling the unwired : Wi-Fi and the cultural inversion of infrastructure. Space and Culture, 8(3), 269-285. https://doi.org/10.1177/1206331205277464

Vancouver

Mackenzie A. Untangling the unwired : Wi-Fi and the cultural inversion of infrastructure. Space and Culture. 2005 Aug 1;8(3):269-285. doi: 10.1177/1206331205277464

Author

Mackenzie, A. / Untangling the unwired : Wi-Fi and the cultural inversion of infrastructure. In: Space and Culture. 2005 ; Vol. 8, No. 3. pp. 269-285.

Bibtex

@article{2677c6a14fd64aacb6d91998358707e4,

title = "Untangling the unwired : Wi-Fi and the cultural inversion of infrastructure.",

abstract = "Cultural and social studies of technology have regarded infrastructure as less significant than the interfaces, devices, materials, and practices where processes of consumption, representation, attachment, embodiment, identification, and sociality are most visible. Infrastructural elements of new technologies usually remain in the background of analysis. What would it mean to invert the figure-ground relation between technology and {"}infrastructure{"}? Via a case study of an increasingly popular, everyday contemporary wireless networking technology, Wi-Fi, the author suggests that infrastructures have begun to figure as sites of cultural contestation. Infrastructures work as highly potentialized fields, triggering a multiplicity of interpretations. Using textual and ethno-graphic materials, the author suggests that rather than being the immobile grounds of technological cultures, different imaginings and practices of connectivity run through the many Wi-Fi projects, enterprises, and visions of the past 2 years. In seeking to understand these different imaginings of connectivity, the author suggests that contemporary infrastructures embody cultural logics at odds with each other.",

keywords = "mobility • infrastructure • Internet • communications technology",

author = "A. Mackenzie",

note = "RAE_import_type : Journal article RAE_uoa_type : Sociology",

year = "2005",

month = aug,

day = "1",

doi = "10.1177/1206331205277464",

language = "English",

volume = "8",

pages = "269--285",

journal = "Space and Culture",

issn = "1552-8308",

publisher = "SAGE Publications Inc.",

number = "3",

}

RIS

TY - JOUR

T1 - Untangling the unwired : Wi-Fi and the cultural inversion of infrastructure.

AU - Mackenzie, A.

N1 - RAE_import_type : Journal article RAE_uoa_type : Sociology

PY - 2005/8/1

Y1 - 2005/8/1

N2 - Cultural and social studies of technology have regarded infrastructure as less significant than the interfaces, devices, materials, and practices where processes of consumption, representation, attachment, embodiment, identification, and sociality are most visible. Infrastructural elements of new technologies usually remain in the background of analysis. What would it mean to invert the figure-ground relation between technology and "infrastructure"? Via a case study of an increasingly popular, everyday contemporary wireless networking technology, Wi-Fi, the author suggests that infrastructures have begun to figure as sites of cultural contestation. Infrastructures work as highly potentialized fields, triggering a multiplicity of interpretations. Using textual and ethno-graphic materials, the author suggests that rather than being the immobile grounds of technological cultures, different imaginings and practices of connectivity run through the many Wi-Fi projects, enterprises, and visions of the past 2 years. In seeking to understand these different imaginings of connectivity, the author suggests that contemporary infrastructures embody cultural logics at odds with each other.

AB - Cultural and social studies of technology have regarded infrastructure as less significant than the interfaces, devices, materials, and practices where processes of consumption, representation, attachment, embodiment, identification, and sociality are most visible. Infrastructural elements of new technologies usually remain in the background of analysis. What would it mean to invert the figure-ground relation between technology and "infrastructure"? Via a case study of an increasingly popular, everyday contemporary wireless networking technology, Wi-Fi, the author suggests that infrastructures have begun to figure as sites of cultural contestation. Infrastructures work as highly potentialized fields, triggering a multiplicity of interpretations. Using textual and ethno-graphic materials, the author suggests that rather than being the immobile grounds of technological cultures, different imaginings and practices of connectivity run through the many Wi-Fi projects, enterprises, and visions of the past 2 years. In seeking to understand these different imaginings of connectivity, the author suggests that contemporary infrastructures embody cultural logics at odds with each other.

KW - mobility • infrastructure • Internet • communications technology

U2 - 10.1177/1206331205277464

DO - 10.1177/1206331205277464

M3 - Journal article

VL - 8

SP - 269

EP - 285

JO - Space and Culture

JF - Space and Culture

SN - 1552-8308

IS - 3

ER -

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