<div id="article">
<h2 id="article_title">
The ecology of linking technologies: toward a
non-instrumental look at new technological repertoires
</h2>
<div id="article_author">
Rocío Gómez
</div>
<p>Professor, Universidad del Valle, Cali, Colombia. </p><br />
<h3 class="ARTICLE_SUBHEAD">
PRESENTATION
</h3>
<p>
When I began to write this paper, the first question I
asked myself was, in what sense could an examination of
trajectories and modes of use of the mobile telephone,
chat, the social webs in Internet and electronic mail
among urban young people, be considered features of
innovation and resourcefulness? It is clear that the form
of this innovation comes neither from the engineering,
scientific and technical communities who <em>create</em>
the new technological device, nor from the groupings and
social communities which unfold and devise unexpected and
ingenious modes of inserting the machines in the course
of their lives. When I reviewed my notes I understood
that the innovation that I wanted to emphasize was more
like the anonymous, non-premeditated, emergent and
penetrating transformations which unexpectedly change
people's course in a silent way. Let's imagine for a
moment how the invention of planting rice in terraces
occurred; or respiration techniques and their effect on
people's emotional, corporal and cognitive states; or the
invention of popular flavors and tricks of the kitchen;
or ways of placing and distributing food on the table.
These are examples, perhaps a little bizarre, of a
penetrating, emergent and silent invention, without a
defined moment of genesis, without visibly responsible
innovator and without the possibility of assigning an
individualized authorship. An example which is closer to
the topic that we are dealing with is illustrated by
Rheingold (2004) when he refers to the introduction of
emoticons into the technologies of exchange and the
sending of textual messages.
</p>
<p>
It was precisely Rheingold (2004) who has emphasized the
coordinated, intelligent and massive character which
seems to emerge from wireless webs and mobile
communication settings, by allowing "original activities
to be carried out and in situations where collective
action had not been possible until now" (Rheingold,
2004:23) The purpose of the doctoral thesis from which
this paper is derived, consists precisely in tracing this
collective intelligence (Lévy, 2004) in
relationship to the genesis of links mediated by people's
new technological repertoires. This paper suggests that
people are generating at least eight patterns or
configurations of the new technological repertoires in
order to deepen, evolve, transform and renew their social
links. The innovation refers precisely to the invention
of these patterns which cannot be attributed to or
explained as a pure derivation of the technical
structures of the machines.
</p>
<p>
The research was carried out in Cali (Colombia); it was
based on the follow-up to the techno-linking dynamics of
a group of young people in Cali over eight months: Lina,
Sara, Yulia, Mafito, Miguel, Juan Diego and Nino. Their
ages ranged between 17 and 22 years, they are university
students or in their last years of high school, and they
all maintain a very complex and interesting relationship
with the technological tools previously mentioned. In
methodological terms, the study used qualitative research
strategies (in-depth interviews, ethnographic
observations, conversations) and the use of a computer
tool, the State Space Grids (Laney et al, 2004) which
offers interesting alternatives for processing, analysis
and data graphics<sup>1</sup> .
</p>
<p>
The article examines the framework of technological
relationships between human and non-human agents. It
proposes eight techno-mediation linking systems which can
be used for analyzing variations in the techno-linking
settings of urban young people and questions some of the
frequently simplifying conceptions regarding "the young
users of new technologies".
</p>
<p>
This paper has two critical assumptions. In the first
place, this article understands that mobile phone, chat,
and email are different and that, a mobile phone
integrates increasingly varied functions and applications
(chat, email, phone calls, location, social networks).
The technological function is what is important, not the
artifact. Second, this paper proposes a classification
system of relations between young people and new
technological repertoire that is not based on previous
literature. This classification emerges from the
empirical work, categories are "rooted" in the
experience, as discussed for example in Grounded Theory
(Glaser & Strauss, 1967). The paper we should note,
suggests hypotheses for discussion and presents no
definitive conclusions.
</p>
<h3 class="ARTICLE_SUBHEAD">
TECHNOLOGICAL TECHNO-MEDIATION LINKING SYSTEMS
</h3>
<p>
The study allowed us to advance our understanding of the
new technological repertoires (NTR)<sup>2</sup> not as
isolated instruments which are added to the social life
of the subjects, but rather as technological mediations
for the construction of social links, that is, as
<em>linking machines.</em> Technology users do not
connect with discrete and individualized technologies
(mobile telephone, chat, Internet) but rather with
authentic <em>technological settings</em> in which both
convergent and divergent relationships are generated. We
call this conjunction of technologies <em>the ecology of
technologies.</em>
</p>
<p>
The way in which each subject is situated in this
techno-linking setting varies in time and changes
according to the linking tasks to be carried out. This
relationship is altered according to a significant volume
of junctures and processes which include the value and
cost of use of the machines, their availability, and the
manipulation skills, even customs, particular interests,
generalization of behavior patterns and models associated
with their use. These variations in the behavior of the
set of technological mediations result from the way in
which the relationships between human and non-human
agents (Latour, 1998) start to unfold over time. The
density of these relationships is irreplaceably,
vigorously and extraordinarily complex. In the study it
was possible to observe how the young participants have
come to weave very particular stories and relationships
with each technological repertoire. For example, Miguel,
with his mobile telephone<sup>3</sup> , Nino and Yulia
with their personal computers <sup>4</sup> , Mafito with
his social webs page. The presence of these non-human
agents along with those which are constructing a network
of human and non-human tasks, links and co-ordinations,
configures an authentic, cognitive and affective system
of relationships whose scope and complexities are
beginning to be recognized (Piscitelli, 2008; Rueda,
2007; Rheingold, 2004; Latour, 1998; Callon, 1998; Levy,
1995; Martin Barbero, 1987; among others).
</p>
<p>
We found the weight of one technological mediation as
compared to the others in the study's individual
participants to be overwhelming. It is as if, at times,
one linking machine was absorbing the others, sweeping
them out of the technological scenario. At other times,
there is, to put it metaphorically, a wholesome
coexistence among non-human agents, and the subject would
appear to concede an important place to all the
technological presences in the operation of its links and
affective webs.
</p>
<p>
Within this ecology of technologies, we analyze how many
technologies which tend to be central are in each
trajectory, what place they occupy in the trajectory and
how they relate among each other. There might be one,
two, three or four technologies in each trajectory which
turn out to be central to the social link transactions.
We will address the mono-technological, bi-technological
and multi-technological systems.
</p>
<p>
The following is an analogy which can be useful for us.
Let us imagine we have land in which we cultivate
different species of plants. That land is the link space.
In order to take care of and grow plants, we use
different technologies (those technologies are the NTRs).
It might occur that we turn to the use of predominantly
one technology (in this case we are speaking of a
mono-technological system). But then our crop might
require two technologies (a bi-technological system). Or
perhaps it needs three or more technologies (a
multi-technological system). In our study we were
interested in determining which is the dominant behavior
pattern in relation to the number of technologies (one,
two or more technologies) that the subject uses for the
construction of their social links. When speaking of a
mono-technological system, it does not necessarily
indicate that the dominant technology at that moment will
be the same that will predominate at another
mono-technological moment in the trajectory. The
important detail is that the subject tends to repeatedly
appeal to only one technology in order to cultivate the
entire link space. In this sense, we are referring to a:
</p>
<ul>
<li>
<em>Mono-technological system</em>. Within the
technology ecology, the subject tends to establish a
permanent and stable relationship with a given
technology in order to transact his link space.
</li>
<li>
<em>Bi-technological system</em>. Within the technology
ecology, it is possible to detect the existence of two
technologies which repeatedly serve the subject to
outline and deal with a great part of the
technologically mediated link spaces.
</li>
<li>
<em>Multi-technological system</em>. Within the
technology ecology and independently of the narrowing
or amplification of the link spaces, the subject does
not maintain a stable relationship with any technology
in particular. On the contrary, he/she relates in a
variable way with the spectrum of available
technologies in the mediation of links. It is exactly
the reverse of the mono-technological system.
</li>
</ul>
<p>
By making a detailed follow-up of the participants'
trajectories, we were able to see the warp which emerges
from the relationship between the subjects and the new
technological repertoires and recognize the diverse place
that these repertoires are playing in the construction of
the participants' social links. The studies concerning
the relationship between young people and the NTR, other
than analyses of access to the technologies, should deal
with the follow-up on the complex relationships which are
established between people's lives, their vital
experiences and the technologies.
</p>
<p>
When considering the unfolding of the trajectories in
time, the analysis allows a demonstration of how the
technologies are articulated within the universe of links
which each subject establishes. One might expect that
this would entail slightly more stable trajectories, but
what we find is constant fluctuations and variations:
there are jumps between particular moments and diverse
uses of the technologies within the same trajectory.
Beginning with what we might call an <em>ecology of
linking technologies,</em> has allowed us to define eight
technological systems of linking techno-mediation. These
systems correspond to types of techno-linking
relationships in the social world and challenge the
frequently simplified conceptions and classifications of
the relationship between young people and technology.
</p>
<p>
Table 1 presents a summary of eight techno-mediation
linking systems concerning the relationships between
young people and the new technological repertoires.
</p><img src="https://openjournals.uwaterloo.ca/index.php/JoCI/article/download/3153/version/2135/4110/16674/table1.png" class="article_image" width="580"
height="268" alt="table 1">
<div class="image_caption">
Table 1. Gradual distribution of the technological
systems of the techno-mediation of links.
</div>
<p>
Before explaining each of the eight techno-mediation
linking systems it is necessary to clarify some concepts:
</p>
<ul>
<li>
<em>Intensive:</em> the relationship with the
technology becomes <em>intensive</em> when, in one
period with a high or medium LDI <sup>5</sup> , the
subject uses that technology to monopolize almost all
of the link space, at the expense of the other
technologies.
</li>
<li>
<em>Refuge</em>: the relationship with the technology
becomes a <em>refuge</em> when, in a period
with a low LDI, the subject uses it to monopolize
almost all of the link space, at the expense of the
other technologies.
</li>
<li>
<em>Floating</em>: the relationship with the
technology becomes <em>floating</em> when, in a period
with high or medium LDI, the subject uses it together
with two or three other technologies in order to
monopolize the link space.</em>
</li>
<li>
<em>Residual</em>: the relationship with the technology
becomes <em>residual</em> when, in a period with a low
LDI, the subject uses it together with two or three
technologies in order to monopolize the link space.
</li>
<li>
<em>Subsidiary</em>: the relationship with the
technology becomes <em>subsidiary</em> when, in a
period with a high or medium LDI, the subject uses it
together with an intensive technology. That is, the
subsidiary is a technology which <em>accompanies</em>
the intensive technology.
</li>
<li>
<em>Coordinated</em>: the relationship with the
technology becomes <em>coordinated</em> when, in a
period of increase or decrease in the links, it
coincides with the increase or decrease of the TCI of
the technology.
</li>
<li>
<em>Attenuated</em>: the relationship with the
technology becomes <em>attenuated</em> when it deals
with a technology with a very weak presence in the
treatment of the LDI of the period.
</li>
</ul>
<p>
To explain each of the eight systems synthesized in Table
1:
</p>
<p>
<em>1. Mono-technological system of fixed
technology.</em> This refers to subjects who present a
technological system in which only one technology tends
to be central throughout the trajectory, while the others
tend to remain in marginal or less central positions. We
did not find representative subjects of this kind of
system in the study.
</p>
<p>
<em>2. Mono-technological System of variable
technologies</em>. This refers to a technological system
with a central technology in which a kind of rotation of
this technology appears throughout the trajectory; the
dominant technology changes in time, while the others
tend to remain relegated. Nino <sup>6</sup> is the only
one of the participants in the study who adjusts to this
system. The following figure shows a synthesis of his
case:
</p><img src="https://openjournals.uwaterloo.ca/index.php/JoCI/article/download/3153/version/2135/4110/16669/image1.png" class="article_image" width="580"
height="437" alt="image1">
<div class="image_caption">
Image 1. The image offers a look at the set of
trajectories of all of Nino's technologies. The mobile
telephone is in olive green, chat in light green, email
is orange. Social webs are in red. In the vertical axis
we find the level of link dispersion which can be low,
medium or high. The nine levels of technological
concentration appear in the horizontal axis. Images 1, 2,
3, and 4 show us how the unfolding is produced in the
linking trajectory of some of the participants.
</div>
<p>
For Nino, (Image 1) one of the most particular
technological distributions can be appreciated. There is
a nucleus of extreme relegation at the left of the grid,
in which the social webs (red) are concentrated, and a
region of extreme dispersion to the right, completely
dominated by the mobile telephone (olive green), and with
presence of the link space in the three levels. There are
three periods in which email (orange) occupies a
significant centrality, in a broad link space which makes
this dynamic very important. We are facing a vigorously
mono-technological system in which there is a dominant
technology (the mobile telephone) and yet, chat, in first
place and email, in second place, eventually come to
dominate the techno-mediation scenario. Let's look at
this in more detail in the following Excel graphic:
</p><img src="https://openjournals.uwaterloo.ca/index.php/JoCI/article/download/3153/version/2135/4110/16664/graphic1.png" class="article_image" width=
"580" height="257" alt="graphic1">
<div class="image_caption">
Graphic 1. The Excel graphic allows us to appreciate, as
a whole, the technological concentration index (TCI) of
Nino's four technological repertoires: olive green for
the mobile telephone, light green for chat, orange for
email and red for the social web. The changes in the
linking dispersion index (LDI) are represented by the
bold black line. The ranges of measurement for both the
LDI and the TCI appear in the vertical axis. For the LDI
(black line), 1 represents the low level; 2, medium
level; and 3, high level. For the TCI of each technology,
1 represents the low-low level; 2, low-medium level; 3,
low-high level; 4, medium-low level; 5, medium-medium
level; 6, medium-high level; 7, high-low level; 8,
high-medium level; 9, high-high level. The 16 study
periods are recorded in the horizontal axis.
</div>
<p>
As pointed out earlier, the web is a completely marginal
technology for Nino. Except for period 3, the remaining
periods record a low technological concentration index
for the web. Thus, for Nino, the web is an
<em>attenuated</em> technology. In the first period, with
a medium LDI, the mobile telephone and chat are
<em>intensive</em> technologies, while email and the web
are <em>attenuated</em> technologies. In period 2, the
mobile telephone reaches a high-medium level and
continues as an <em>intensive</em> technology; chat
remains relegated as an <em>attenuated</em> technology,
together with email and the web. In period 3, the mobile
telephone and chat continue as <em>intensive</em>
technologies and share the space of technically mediated
links; the web continues to be marginal together with
email which remains at a low-low level. In period 4, chat
operates as an <em>intensive</em> technology and the
mobile telephone behaves - for the first time in the
trajectory - as an <em>attenuated</em> technology, the
same as email and the web. In period 5, with a narrow
LDI, chat becomes a <em>refuge</em> technology, while the
mobile telephone appears as a <em>subsidiary</em>
technology. The condition of the web and of email
continues to be the same as in the previous period.
Period 6 for Nino corresponds to the end of the mid-year
vacation and generates a significant increase in link
space, together with an increase in the TCI of email,
which behaves as an <em>intensive</em> technology,
together with chat. The mobile telephone becomes an
<em>attenuated</em> technology, together with the web.
</p>
<p>
In periods 7 and 8, the mobile telephone is an
<em>intensive</em> technology, while the others remain as
<em>attenuated</em> technologies. In period 9, Nino's
link space narrows and the mobile telephone maintains its
centrality; we then speak of the mobile as a
<em>refuge</em> technology (a technology monopolizing a
narrow link space), with three <em>attenuated</em>
technologies (chat, email and web). In period 10, Nino's
link space broadens and even when email gains a little
centrality, it continues to be an <em>attenuated</em>
technology (the same as chat and the web). The mobile
continues as an <em>intensive</em> technology. Period 11
offers us the only example in Nino's trajectory of
<em>floating</em> technologies: the mobile telephone,
email and chat. In the trajectory which ranges from
period 12 to 14, Nino's link space (LDI) narrows
significantly and the mobile monopolizes the treatment of
this monopolized link space (<em>refuge</em> technology);
only in period 14, does chat reach a low-high level, and
yet it continues to be an <em>attenuated</em> technology
together with email and the web. In period 15, the
centrality of the mobile continues, but now with a medium
LDI, it operates as an <em>intensive</em> technology. The
other three technologies continue as <em>attenuated</em>
technologies. In the last period, email reaches its
highest level in the entire trajectory (medium-medium
level) and turns into <em>intensive</em> technology
together with the mobile telephone. This, as with the
previous abrupt increases in the TCI of email (periods 6,
10 11) is due to the intensification of Nino's academic
commitments in the university.
</p>
<p>
Nino tends to use one technology (the mobile phone) to
monopolize his link space and to sustain a marginal
relationship with the technologies for communication and
linking machines. However, his dexterity and skills with
the NTR are broad, and are related to the computer
software manipulation and the creation of databases in
order (and to always have available) his personal and
academic files and those for his hobbies (mainly music
and cooking). This data turns out to be significant to
understand the relationship between young people and the
new technological repertoires: the complexity in this
handling and manipulation of the technologies does not
necessarily imply intensive use as linking machines or
vice versa.
</p>
<p>
<em>3. Bi-technological System of fixed
technology(ies</em>) This concerns a technology system
with two central technologies and two relegated
technologies. In our study this is the case for Miguel
<sup>7</sup> .
</p><img src="https://openjournals.uwaterloo.ca/index.php/JoCI/article/download/3153/version/2135/4110/16670/image2.png" class="article_image" width="580"
height="437" alt="image2">
<div class="image_caption">
Image 2. This image offers a look at the combined
trajectories of all of Miguel's technologies. In olive
green, the mobile telephone. In light green, chat. In
orange, email. In red, the social webs. The levels of
link space diversion appear in the vertical axis and the
levels of technological concentration index in the
horizontal axis.
</div>
<p>
In Miguel's case, image 2 shows a landslide in the
presence of the mobile telephone at the right of the grid
(medium and high ranges). We find another important
grouping on the left side (low ranges) with a significant
presence of the social web pages (red) and slightly less
of email (orange). Chat tends to occupy low and medium
zones in the grid. This image points out the centrality
of the mobile telephone for Miguel, at the expense of
other technologies, with the eventual importance of chat
and email to a lesser extent. Let's analyze this in
detail:
</p><img src="https://openjournals.uwaterloo.ca/index.php/JoCI/article/download/3153/version/2135/4110/16665/graphic2.png" class="article_image" width=
"580" height="295" alt="graphic2">
<div class="image_caption">
Graphic 2. The Excel graphic allows us to appreciate, as
a whole, the technological concentration index (TCI) of
Miguel's four technologies: olive green for the mobile
telephone, light green for chat, orange for email and red
for the social webs. The changes in the link dispersion
index (LDI) are represented by a bold black line. (The
measurement parameters are the same as those indicated in
graph 1.)
</div>
<p>
In Miguel´s case, in period 1, with a high LDI, we
see that chat and the mobile operate as
<em>intensive</em> technologies (they both occupy a
medium-low level), while the web and email are
<em>attenuated</em> technologies (they are at low levels
of the TCI). In period 2, the link space (LDI) narrows
and the mobile telephone and chat become <em>refuge</em>
technologies (one or two technologies to cover a small
link space), while the web and email continue to be
<em>attenuated</em> technologies. In period 3, Miguel's
link space broadens and although the TCI of the web and
email increase, they continue to be <em>attenuated</em>
technologies. The mobile telephone is an
<em>intensive</em> technology which has chat as its
complement as a <em>subsidiary</em> technology in the
process of link space coverage. A transformation occurs
in period 4, which is similar to that of period 2: the
link space narrows and email and mobile telephone become
<em>refuge</em> technologies. This significant increase
of the email TCI is due to the fact that in certain
periods it becomes a key resource for undertaking
schoolwork.. In period 5, the link space grows slightly,
the TCI for email falls, the mobile telephone is
maintained relatively high and chat increases and the web
slightly less. The mobile telephone is the
<em>intensive</em> technology and chat, its
<em>subsidiary</em> with the web and email in the
condition of <em>attenuated</em> technologies. In period
6, the link space broadens significantly (high LDI), chat
and email continue to be <em>attenuated</em>
technologies, the mobile telephone is the
<em>intensive</em> technology and the web becomes a
<em>subsidiary</em> technology in the operation of link
spaces. It is the only time in which the web reaches
relatively high importance in the coverage of link
spaces. In period 7 Miguel's intense love crisis causes a
significant narrowing in his link space (low LDI) and all
of the technologies become <em>attenuated,</em> except
for the mobile telephone, which is converted into a
<em>refuge</em> technology. As with a rebound effect, in
the following period the link space broadened and the
mobile telephone becomes an <em>intensive</em> technology
with a subsidiary role less than that of chat or the web.
</p>
<p>
In the span which corresponds to L9 and L10 (school
vacations), Miguel's LDI is at a medium level, while chat
gains centrality and becomes an <em>intensive</em>
technology, together with the mobile telephone which
continues to maintain its privileged space within the set
of technologies; email and the web remain in marginal
places and in this way they continue to be presented as
<em>attenuated</em> technologies. In the L11 period, with
a low LDI, the situation of email and the web continue to
be <em>attenuated</em> technologies while mobile and chat
turn into <em>refuge</em> technologies. In L12, school
vacations continue and with a medium LDI, the centrality
of the mobile is again emphasized in Miguel's trajectory:
observe the dramatic fall of the chat LDI in this period
and the centrality which the mobile TCI gains
(high-high); in this period the mobile continues to be an
<em>intensive</em> technology while the other three
become <em>attenuated</em> technologies.
</p>
<p>
In periods 13 and 14, chat again becomes an
<em>intensive</em> technology, together with the mobile
which does not lose its centrality. The web and email
continue as <em>attenuated</em> technologies. In period
15, an important event happens to Miguel: he loses his
mobile telephone which extraordinarily triggers off the
centrality of the web (it reaches a high-low level) as a
technology for the transaction of social links. For the
first time in the entire trajectory, the mobile becomes
an <em>attenuated</em> technology, together with chat and
email, while the web turns into a <em>refuge</em>
technology. In period 16, the LDI rises, but the mobile
telephone continues to be an <em>attenuated</em>
technology while the other three technologies become
<em>floating</em> technologies (two or three technologies
to transact a broad link space). This fall in the TCI of
the mobile in the last periods of Miguel's trajectory and
the consequent rise of the TCI in the other technologies
(mainly the web), exactly in the same periods, are a new
confirmation of the type of centrality relationship which
Miguel establishes with the mobile as an important
technology for the transaction of his technologically
mediated links.
</p>
<p>
<em>4. Bi-technological system of variable technologies
with anchorage.</em> This concerns a technologgy system
in which there is the presence of two central
technologies which rotate their centrality with each
other, while the other two technologies always appear
relegated. In the study, none of the participants'
trajectories fall within a system of this kind.
</p>
<p>
<em>5. Bi-technological system of variable technologies
with moderate and/or opportunist anchorages.</em> This
refers to a technology system with the presence of two
central technologies (which can be rotating or fixed)
with patterns of moderated and/or opportunist anchorage
behaviors. In the study, this is the case for Yulia,
Sara, Valentina and Lina. To illustrate, we present the
graphics which demonstrate Sara's usage <sup>8</sup>.
</p><img src="https://openjournals.uwaterloo.ca/index.php/JoCI/article/download/3153/version/2135/4110/16671/image3.png" class="article_image" width="580"
height="441" alt="image3">
<div class="image_caption">
Image 3. This image offers a look at the combined
trajectories of all of the technologies for Sara. In
olive green, the mobile telephone. In light green, chat.
In orange, email. In red, the social web. The levels of
link space dispersion appear in the vertical axis and the
levels of the technological concentration index appear in
the horizontal axis.
</div>
<p>
Two large groupings in Sara's distribution of events can
be appreciated in image 3. In the medium-low to the
medium-medium spectrum of the TCI (in the center and
right of the grid), chat and mobile telephone
predominate. The second grouping at the low ranges, is
devoted to the social web pages and to email, with a
lesser presence of chat and the mobile telephone. This is
an indication that, although there is a relative tendency
toward the dominant techno-linking complex (chat/mobile
telephone), this is not guaranteed. Moreover, no
technology in the high ranges of the TCI is identified
with the broad and medium link spaces, which indicates a
moderation in the use of the technological repertoire
available for the mediation of links. This is in
significant contrast to the mono-technological system as
we saw with Miguel (Image 2) or with another
multi-technological, as we will see later.
</p><img src="https://openjournals.uwaterloo.ca/index.php/JoCI/article/download/3153/version/2135/4110/16666/graphic3.png" class="article_image" width=
"580" height="441" alt="graphic3">
<div class="image_caption">
Graphic 3. The Excel graphic allows us to appreciate, as
a whole, the technological concentration index (TCI) of
Sara's four technologies. Olive green for the mobile
telephone, light green for chat, orange for email, and
red for the social web. The changes in the link
dispersion index (LDI) are represented by a bold black
line. (The measurement parameters are the same as those
indicated in graphic 1.).
</div>
<p>
In this graphic we see that in period 1, with a high link
space, chat is an <em>intensive</em> technology with two
subsidiary technologies: the web and the mobile
telephone. Email is an <em>attenuated</em> technology. In
period 2, we find a narrow link space, with three
<em>residual</em> technologies (chat, mobile telephone
and the web) and one <em>attenuated</em> technology,
email. In period 3, the link space broadens and we
encounter three <em>floating</em> technologies: chat, the
web and the mobile telephone. Email, although it rises
slightly, continues to be an <em>attenuated</em>
technology. In period 4, the LDI remains high. The mobile
telephone and chat are <em>intensive</em> technologies,
and email and the web, <em>attenuated</em> technologies.
In period 5, the LDI remains high and email, which had
been marginal, becomes an <em>intensive technology</em>
together with the mobile telephone. This sudden
<em>intensification</em> of email, is explained by the
fact that, in spite of the prolonged break (Easter Week),
Sara used her email to transact her responsibilities and
university homework. Chat and the web become
<em>attenuated</em> technologies. In period 6, the link
space (medium LDI) narrows slightly: chat and the mobile
telephone become <em>intensive</em> technologies, and
attenuate email and the web. In period 7, the LDI
continues at a medium level, and chat and the mobile
telephone operate as <em>refuge</em> technologies; the
network and email become <em>attenuated</em>
technologies. In period 8, the LDI increases slightly,
but again, both email and the web remain
<em>attenuated,</em> and chat and the mobile telephone
constitute <em>intensive</em> technologies.
</p>
<p>
In period 9, school vacations begin and Sara's LDI begins
to lower slightly; the mobile continues as an
<em>intensive</em> technology, while the other three
operate as <em>floating</em> technologies. In the two
following periods, Sara's LDI is at its lowest level
(they will be the only ones throughout the trajectory
that reach this low-low level) and the central place the
mobile telephone occupies as a <em>refuge</em> technology
(one technology monopolizing a narrow link space) is
significant in these two periods; while the other three
operate as <em>attenuated</em> technologies. In period
12, the school vacation continues and a very particular
situation occurs: the LDI is low and there is no weight
of the technologies in link mediation. Sara was at a
farm, in a state of complete removal from the four
technological repertoires considered in this study. In
period 13, the mobile again gains centrality and operates
once more as an <em>intensive</em> technology, while the
other three are <em>attenuated</em> technologies. In
period 14 we find three <em>floating</em> technologies:
chat, the mobile telephone and the web. Email continues
as an <em>attenuated</em> technology. In period 15, this
relationship of three <em>floating</em> technologies and
one <em>attenuated</em> continues: email gains centrality
(this is the period of midterm exams) and becomes a
<em>floating</em> technology together with chat and the
mobile telephone, which in spite of everything does not
lose its centrality; while the web passes on to operate
as an <em>attenuated</em> technology. In the last period,
email and chat become <em>intensive</em> technologies;
and for the first time in the entire trajectory, the
mobile telephone turns into an <em>attenuated</em>
technology together with the web.
</p>
<p>
As can be appreciated, the structure of two groupings
which Image 3 offers us is the result derived from this
dynamic of the organization of link space centered around
two technologies (mobile and chat) which lead a major
part of the events toward the medium zone, while the
other two (web and email) have the tendency to stay in
low zones. For this reason we speak of a
<em>bi-technological</em> system with a behavior pattern
of <em>moderated anchorage</em> with two technologies
which serve to outline and deal with a major part of the
technically mediated link space (chat and mobile
telephone) but with some presence of the other two
technologies.
</p>
<p>
<em>6. Multi-technological system of fixed technology and
complementary technologies.</em>
</p>
<p>
A multi-technological technological system of fixed
technology which exists in the trajectory of an anchorage
or moderate anchorage technology is always accompanied by
two or three technologies which serve as a complement
<sup>9</sup> is the case for Mafito <sup>10</sup> .
</p><img src="https://openjournals.uwaterloo.ca/index.php/JoCI/article/download/3153/version/2135/4110/16672/image4.png" class="article_image" width="580"
height="403" alt="image4">
<div class="image_caption">
Image 4. The image offers a look at the combined
trajectories of all of Mafio's technologies. In olive
green, the mobile telephone. In light green, chat. In
orange, email. In red, the social web. The link space
dispersion levels appear in the vertical axis and the
technological concentration index levels in the
horizontal axis.
</div>
<p>
In the case of Mafito it can be appreciated that in the
cells situated in the medium and high TCIs (center and
right of the grid) chat appears with a great deal of
reiteration and, in a lesser degree, email and the mobile
telephone. In these ranges, we also see an eventual
presence of the social web pages (Image 4). Mafito offers
us a structure of relationship in which the four
technologies become dominant at some time in the
trajectory, although chat occupies the predominant place.
This is the case of a multi-technological system in which
the centrality of one technology (chat) is always
accompanied by other technologies which also turn out to
be relevant within the technological framework.
</p><img src="https://openjournals.uwaterloo.ca/index.php/JoCI/article/download/3153/version/2135/4110/16667/graphic4.png" class="article_image" width=
"580" height="257" alt="graphic4">
<div class="image_caption">
Graphic 4. The Excel graphic allows us to appreciate, as
a whole, the technological concentration index (TCI) of
Mafito's four technologies: olive green for the mobile
telephone, light green for chat, orange for email and red
for the social web. The changes in the link dispersion
index (LDI) are represented by the bold black line. (The
measurement parameters are the same as those followed in
graphic 1.)
</div>
<p>
We will not do a detailed analysis for Mafito as in the
previous cases, however, it is worthwhile to emphasize
how, in graph 4, we perceive the centrality of chat
(light green line), always accompanied by other
technologies, which also reach significant technological
concentration levels. For Mafito, none of the
technologies appear clearly in a situation of relegation,
as occurs with Nino (mono-technological system of
variable technologies) in which the social web pages are
always situated in the low levels of the graphic.
</p>
<p>
<em>7. Multi-technological System of three or more
technologies with moderate anchorage.</em> This deals
with a technological system in which two or three
technologies are central in the subject's trajectory. In
our study, we find this to be the case of Juan Diego
<sup>11</sup> .
</p><img src="https://openjournals.uwaterloo.ca/index.php/JoCI/article/download/3153/version/2135/4110/16673/image5.png" class="article_image" width="580"
height="257" alt="image5">
<div class="image_caption">
Image 5. The image offers a look at the combined
trajectories of all of Juan Diego's technologies. In
olive green, the mobile telephone. In light green, chat.
In orange, email. In red, the social webs. The link space
dispersion levels appear in the vertical axis and in the
horizontal axis, the technological concentration index
levels.
</div>
<p>
For Juan Diego, there is a tendency toward distribution
of events throughout the whole grid (image 5). Although
these dispersion results are more pronounced in the case
of the mobile telephone and chat, it can also be
recognized in those technologies with less centrality
such as the social web pages and email. This dispersion
speaks of a tendency toward a non-loyal or non-habitual
use of one or two technologies; a difference that can be
appreciated for Miguel (Image 2). Nevertheless, this
tendency toward technological diversity should not make
us forget that chat as well as the mobile telephone are
the only technologies which occupy the high ranges of the
TCI, although, email has a significant presence in
periods in which the link space is broad. In general, we
find a strong grouping of events in the region to the
left of the grid (low ranges, with the presence of all
the technologies) and on the right, a diversity of events
of three technologies (mobile telephone, chat and email),
with the predominance of the mobile telephone. For Juan
Diego there is a pole of concentration of events (to the
left of the grid) and a wide constellation of events in
the center and right regions. The contrast between this
structure and that of Sara (Image 3) can be appreciated,
with two clear groupings toward the center zone and
toward the left. In this sense, we have with Miguel and
Juan Diego, extreme versions of a bi-technological system
of fixed technology, with centrality of two or three
technologies; while with Sara, we find moderate
formations in the distribution of events in the grid
which end in a bi-technological system of variable
technologies.
</p><img src="https://openjournals.uwaterloo.ca/index.php/JoCI/article/download/3153/version/2135/4110/16668/graphic5.png" class="article_image" width=
"580" height="257" alt="graphic5">
<div class="image_caption">
Graphic 5. This Excel graphic allows us to appreciate, as
a whole, the technological concentration index (TCI) of
Juan Diego's four technologies: olive green for the
mobile telephone, light green for chat, orange for email
and red for the social web. The changes in the link
dispersion index (LDI) are represented by a bold black
line. (The measurement parameters are the same as those
followed in graphic 1).
</div>
<p>
Without entering and pointing out details about the kind
of technological relationship which Juan Diego
establishes with each technology period by period, note
that graphic 5 shows the centrality of chat and the
significant presence of the mobile telephone in Juan
Diego's trajectory, accompanied at certain times - by the
centrality of email and social web pages. That is, Juan
Diego presents a multi-technological system, with
behavior patterns of moderate anchorage with chat and the
mobile telephone and opportunism with social web pages
and email.
</p>
<p>
<em>8. Multi-technological System of three or more
complementary technologies.</em> In this type of system,
three or four technologies become complementary
throughout the entire trajectory, without any one
occupying an outstanding centrality; one technology at
the most occupies a place of relegation. In our research,
we did not find a subject who reported this system to us.
</p>
<h3 class="ARTICLE_SUBHEAD">
SYNTHESIS
</h3>
<p>
We have found in our study a predominance of the
bi-technological systems of techno-mediation of link
spaces, within which it is possible to read types of
relationships and singular behavior patterns in each
case. Within these cases, the bi-technological systems
demonstrate, without exception, anchorage (moderate or
strong) patterns of one or two technologies, and
variations which range from opportunism in one and
moderate anchorage in the other. Probably the
bi-technological form may be the most frequent
techno-mediation configuration in the social world among
the users of the NTR used for linking purposes. Only
through more far-reaching studies can the distribution of
these patterns be established and differentiated.
</p>
<p>
In addition to the bi-technological systems, subjects
appear within the study with multi-technological systems,
also with significant particularities, but who have in
common the tendency of non-loyalty as to one or two
technologies and the possibility of transacting link
space (broad or narrow) and as well, almost permanently
resorting to three or more technological mediations. At
the opposite extreme, there is the extraordinary
configuration of Nino, with a mono-technological system,
supported in anchorage relationships with the mobile
telephone, with relegation of social web pages and
moderate relegation in the case of chat and email. What
is characteristic of this mono-technological orientation,
as we point out, is the tendency to erase other
techno-mediation from the scene, monopolizing all of the
link space with only one technology.
</p>
<p>
This analysis allows us to suggest a gradation in the
possible kinds of technological systems of link
mediation, distributing them from left to right according
to the number of technologies that dominate the system
and the stable/unstable behavior of the incorporated
technologies (Table 1).
</p>
<p>
The eight technological systems considered allow us to
identify the quantity and complexity of relationships and
dynamics which come into play in the connections between
urban young people and the new technological repertoires.
As we have seen, these relationships consider the number
of technologies involved, the level of narrowness or
broadness of link space to be transacted and the kind of
centrality which each technology has at a given moment.
In this way, it cannot be easily affirmed that young
people are blindly tied to technologies. The eight
proposed technological systems point to ways to think
about the enormous weight that social setting plays in
the construction of relationships of integrated urban
young people and the NTR. The social temporality, with
its restrictions and possibilities (weekdays, weekends,
three-day weekends), school dynamics with its demands
(academic periods, vacations, final exam period, etc.)
and the vital circumstances of each subject, point out
particular and differentiable courses and trajectories,
as we have attempted to demonstrate in this paper.
</p>
<p>
If a metaphor could be chosen to best illustrate the
techno-linking phenomena, it could better be selected
from biology rather than from physics or engineering. The
phenomena do not deal with interactive networks between
people and machines, but rather with authentic ecosystems
which tend to reproduce and remain in time, adapting and
being adapted to the variations of the environment. These
systems remind us that the supposed natural technophile
disposition of urban young people, that is their
inclination toward technological voracity and their dual
tendency now toward a fate of orgiastic and tribal
collectivism, or toward a repulsion which is almost
socio-pathological, individualist, absorbing and
regressive, is nothing more than a reductive
representation of the diverse and complex gait of these
citizens who plan their destiny and path among varied
human and non-human agents.
</p>
<p>
Studies of a more far-reaching nature with broader, more
precise and specific populations and with more data
collected through more sophisticated procedures; with
data capture through, for example, palm type devices and
individual training in order to carry out permanent and
continuous records in real time, could offer us a map
much more rich in nuance than this presentation, still
schematic and limited. T Doctoral thesis from which this
analysis is derived proposes that these techno-linking
systems (with their nuances and variations) offers clues
for thinking about the emergence of another kind of
political culture, about which it is worthwhile to
investigate.
</p>
<p>
What we have been shown by carrying out this sustained
follow-up in the trajectories of use of chat, mobile
telephone, electronic mail and Internet social webs among
urban young people, can be summarized in the following
terms: if technological innovation, among other things,
is attempting to deepen and refine modes of
exo-convergence (machine-machine communication) or
endo-convergence (multi-machines integrated into one), no
less certain and powerful are the innovations which, in
use, reveal to us another kind of convergence:
socio-convergences; that is, the putting into
relationship and genesis of an authentic ecology of
machines for the service of purposes which come from the
social world and not from the machines' architecture
itself. In this study, these purposes refer to the
generation and invigoration of social links. The
inventiveness and imagination oriented toward
strengthening, developing, diversifying and transforming
links result in the emergence of a kind of convergence
among machines whose explanation and development does not
come from the nature and technical ingenuity of
engineering in itself, but from the guidelines and social
behaviors which differentiate and situate these. However,
this reconfiguration as well does not come from the
machine itself, but is explained by the genesis of an
authentic ecological system, in which some machines
occupy a specific niche of use, while others turn to
other niches or are partially or completely inhibited and
discarded (see Table 1). Beginning with local actions and
personal and situated decisions, patterns emerge
(ecological configurations) in which each machine
occupies a differentiated place in the link dynamics.
This is what makes up the kind of social innovation
referred to by this paper. Discussion is now open.
</p>
<h3 class="article_subhead">
Footnotes
</h3>
<p>
<sup>1</sup> The Space State Grids (SSG) allows the
spaces of a state of a phenomenon to be charted through
grids and cells. Each one of the cells of the grid
represents one of the possible states that a determined
system can achieve through time. What is interesting is
that these states are not defined by the software but
rather the researchers, dealing with their own research
questions, are the ones who define these variables.
</p>
<p>
<sup>2</sup> In the study we speak of the New
Technological Repertoires as a way of disassociating
ourselves from the conceptions which understand
technologies only as concrete devices. The technologies
(from the alphabet, printing press, up to the present
digital machines) are cognitive moulds which mobilize new
forms of relationships of human beings with their
interior and exterior worlds (Piscitelli, 1995). They are
not simple instruments; they constitute <em>know-how</em>
which transforms the lives of individuals (Mumford,
1987).
</p>
<p>
<sup>3</sup> Toward the end of the study (September,
2009) Miguel, one of the participating young people, lost
his mobile telephone and experienced a decided break in
his own life experience. The loss of his mobile telephone
- which he hadn't anticipated - implied the loss of
telephone numbers, tips and secrets filed in the memory,
recorded photographs and videos, dates of events,
birthday records and agendas. During this span in his
trajectory, he went on to establish a peripheral and
marginal relationship with the social web pages to a much
more vigorous and central relationship: Facebook allowed
him to recover part of the capacity of coordinating
actions and events, in real time, that he had received
with the ubiquitous mobile telephone. It was not a
question of simply buying a new device. The potential and
real linking framework which had brought about through
the mediating of his mobile telephone had to be
laboriously reconstructed, and he knew that a significant
part of such a framework was irrecoverable. But, as well,
the relationship with <em>that</em> mobile telephone, the
skill with the keyboard, the ringtones previously pulled
down from the Internet, the personal configurations and
adjustments whose use had evolved into a comfortable and
naturalized operation of <em>his</em> telephone, a
comfortable relationship over the months, all disappeared
when it was lost.
</p>
<p>
<sup>4</sup> In the case of Yulia, another of the
participating young people, when we interviewed her for
the first time, affirmed that one of her most intense
phantoms and terrors was to lose her personal computer
through damage or robbery. And not surprisingly, when the
refrigeration system of her notebook collapsed in June of
2009, Yulia simply became depressed. Her major work was
in danger, the task that she had been forming throughout
long and careful work on the computer: a database with
books, class notes, bibliographical summaries and duly
classified and coordinated university work, electronic
addresses, files of family and personal photographs, an
enormous framework of labor and academic relationships
condensed in her computer. Fortunately, after extensive
technical intervention, she was able to recover her work
and make use of a new computer.
</p>
<p>
<sup>5</sup>The link dispersion index (LDI) indicates the
variations in the participants' link space. It points the
means by which the set of links that the subject
transacts broadens or narrows, while resorting to the use
of some of the considered technological mediations.
</p>
<p>
<sup>6</sup> Nino is 18 years old. He is studying Foods
Engineering and has enjoyed cooking since he was a child.
Technology fascinates him. He devotes a lot of time to
deciphering secret Internet codes; he violates codes to
get free access to the programs and files he is
interested in; however, he is mistrustful of social web
pages because he considers that they stimulate false
forms of communication. He only chats with people he is
interested in and for very concrete topics; except for
those with his girlfriend, his chat conversations are
always short and to the point. He is fascinated by music
and has a systematized file of digital music of more than
1,500 titles.
</p>
<p>
<sup>7</sup> Miguel is a 20-year-old university student.
He plays sports and studies technologies. He was a hacker
as a young boy. Now he prefers videogames and online
games. He has joined several forums through the Internet
and belongs to online video-player communities. For
Miguel the secret to happiness is to have good friends
and to learn to enjoy the present; he doesn't like to be
alone or to feel lonely, that's why it is so important
for him to build a web of strong and lasting friendships.
</p>
<p>
<sup>8</sup> Sara is 19 years old and loves parties and
celebrations; nevertheless she looks sad. She is not
satisfied with her present life. She is studying
Economics and Finance but her dream is to become a
graphic designer. Until a few months ago she spent almost
all day connected to the Internet and was in permanent
communication with her friends through chat or Facebook.
But since she has fallen in love, Sara has begun to use
this kind of technology less and less. Now, she says, her
world revolves around her boyfriend.
</p>
<p>
<sup>9</sup> When the technology moderately - not
centrally - accompanies the other technologies in the
treatment of link space in spite of not being central we
are talking about a complentary pattern with the
technology. This relationship presents itself mainly
when, in the majority of the periods, the technology
behaves as a Subsidiary Technology.
</p>
<p>
<sup>10</sup> Mafito is a shy 21 year-old girl who has
few friends and doesn't go out very much. Mafito spends
many hours at the computer. She updates her Facebook at
least once a week and she visits and comments in the
social web pages of her friends every day. She is also an
enthusiastic player of "Farm Town", a Facebook game in
which she becomes a "virtual farmer". She devotes one or
two hours every day to taking care of the farm: she has
to feed the animals, harvest the fruit, fertilize the
crops, sell farm products, buy supplies for the plants,
etc.
</p>
<p>
<sup>11</sup> Juan Diego is an 18-year-old university
student. He has been playing videogames since he was six.
He is a disk jockey and soccer player. He hopes to
graduate in three years as a Recreation Professional. In
order to be a good disk jockey, he devotes time to
listening to music and recognizing musical structure. The
Internet has been a key tool for learning, experiencing
and creating his musical mixes. His greatest satisfaction
is to be able to connect with the public and get them to
enjoy the parties that he coordinates.
</p>
<h3 class="article_subhead">
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