The social construction and usage of communication technologies : Asian and European experiences / edited by Raul Pertierra

Includes bibliographic references and index.

Doing IT in developing societies : varying contexts, similar epistemic practices -- Understanding mobile phone design -- Affected by the mobiles: mobile phone culture, text messaging, and digital welfare services -- Managing banality in mobile multimedia -- The cellphone : is it an urban phenomenon? -- Cellphones in the rural Philippines -- Cellphones and the social lives of migrant workers in Southern China -- Three technological paradoxes: power manifestations of mobile phone usage among Malaysians on the run -- Vietnam and the internet : a brief history -- The transformative capacities of technology: computer-mediated interactive communications in the Philippines-promises of the present future.

This collection acknowledges what has now become an almost trite observation: the industrial age has been overtaken by the informational one and in the process old boundaries have either disappeared or become extremely porous. A world organized around sovereign nation-states, each one with its distinctive culture jealously guarded against foreign interlopers, is rapidly disappearing or continues to survive nostalgia. This collection is the first attempt to discuss the new global media with Asia as its main focus. The biggest markets for these technologies are in the emerging economies of China, India, and Southeast Asia. Japan and South Korea have surpassed most western countries in their deployment of the new technology. Back cover.