Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
divide class, gender, ethnicity, and political and economic power. Nonetheless,
fuelled by falling prices of computer hardware and software, growing computer
literacy (especially among the young), and slowly, if unevenly, rising incomes,
Latin American internet usage grew explosively between 2000 and 2011. The
region as a whole witnessed a growth rate in users of 32 %, which was consid-
erably slower than states in Africa and Central Asia.
Many Latin Americans rely on internet cafes, which tend to be clustered in
commercial districts frequented by tourists, exhibit a range of ownership from sole
proprietorships to chains such as PapayaNet, and have access charges that vary
widely among and within countries (Rao
1999
). In countries with growing middle
classes, however, home-based internet access is more likely. In addition to for-
profit cybercafés, many non-profit and non-governmental organizations have
established networks of telecenters, which have played catalytic roles in com-
munity development in many areas (Hunt
2001
). For example, Somos@telecen-
tros, a network of telecenters, allows diverse groups to share experiences and
collaborate in the acquisition of information resources.
Within the world of Latin American broadband, local wireless applications
have gained ground quickly, generally among commercial establishments. For
example, the title of the ''world's first WiFi-linked e-payments network'' is
claimed by The Mall of San Marino in Guayaquil, Ecuador (Burger
2004
).
Because wireless internet access is generally confined to a few ''hotspots'' such as
coffee houses or airports, most users must utilize a landline in order to access
cyberspace. Thus, whereas 15 % of Americans use the wireless internet, in Brazil,
only 2.6 % do so, and Brazil leads the region in this respect (Nielson Mobile
2008
). However, as wireless technologies proliferate, and as have surged well
ahead of landlines, Latin America may enjoy the potential to leapfrog old tech-
nologies (Davison et al.
2000
).
2.5 Conclusions
Contrary to the hyperbole that continues to swarm around the internet, multiplying
even faster than do viruses and webpages, cyberspace reflects all of the inequalities
and social divisions that permeate the non-virtual world. Far from constituting
some mythologized world of unfettered individualism, as some advocates por-
trayed it, cyberspace in fact is thoroughly shot through with relations of class,
gender, ethnicity, and other social categories. Theorizations of the digital divide
must of necessity take these dimensions into account to avoid the overly opti-
mistic, technologically-determinist, and often conservative perspectives that deny
their ongoing existence and significance to understanding the internet. When
viewed in social terms, the virtual and real worlds are mutually constitutive:
discrepancies in access to the internet both mirror and constitute inequalities in the
world outside of cyberspace.
