The Internet An Ethnographic Approach
Daniel Miller and Don Slater
Oxford· New York
First published In 2000 by Berg Edironai offices: 150 Cowley Road, Oxford, OX4 111, UK 838 Broadway, Third Floor, New York, NY 10003-4812, USA Repnnted
In
2001
many other TrinI friends
© Daniel Miller and Don Slater 2000, 2001
All rights reserved. No parr of this publicatIon may be reproduced In any form or by any means without the wrmen permission of Berg.
Berg
IS
an
Imprint
To Debbie, Dennis, Emily, Kim, Mr Dass and
of Oxford International Publishers Ltd.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book IS available from the Brltlsh Library.
ISBN 1 859733840 (Cloth) 1 85973 389 1 (Paper)
Typeset by 1S Typesetting, WeIlingborough, Norrhanrs. Primed in the United Kingdom by Biddies Ltd, Guildford and King1s Lynn.
Contents Acknowledgements
1 2 3 4
5 6 7
IX
ConclusIOns Trinidad and [he Internet - An Overview
27
RelanonshlPs
55
Being Trim and Represennng TrImdad
85
The Polineal Economy of the Internet
117
DOing Busmess Online
145
ReligIOn
173
Appendix: The House-to-House Survey
195
Glossary of Terms
205
Bibliography
207
Index
213
Illustrations (Plates) - all at lmp:llethnone<.gold.ae.uk
Acknowledgements \X'nnng acknowledgements 15 aJw<.l)'s hard tor i.l work [har prOJ11lses al10llYllllry to Irs I11forl11"1I1[5. There were many people associated with the Internet Service PrOViders, rhe cvbercafes and our household surveys and in buslIlcss who arc rhe backbone of this research but cannot be named. Our thanks go to the III ,,11. Several people helped us with the logIstics of thIS proJect, and they can be named: Bndger Brereton, Terence Brunton, Karhlanllc Hingwan, Lasana Liburd, Roy lv1cCrec, Kirk Iv1eighoo, DcbblC Ramlogan and Pearl. In addition we should like to thank rhe folloWing for making enormollsly helpful Critical comments wlrhlll a vcry shorr space of time: Andrew Barry, Chnstlne Hine, Heather Horst, Kirk Ivlclghoo, Charles Stewart, Nigel Thrift, Nina \'Vakcford, and Andreas Witte! and, In particular, Keith Hart. We should also like to thank Kim Johnson, Judy Raymond Moonilal Dass, DebbIe Ramlogan and Denms Singh for [helf unstinting hospItality 10 Trinidad and also Emily, LIZ and Gail for keepmg us IJ1sanc dunng Incredibly IntenSive work. Our Informants online
IX
1 Conclusions Why should we do an ethnography of the Internet m Tnnldad, or of Tnnldad on rhe Internet? Because - contrary to rhe first generation of Internet literature - the Inrerner is nor a monolithIC or placeless 'cyberspace'; rather, It IS numerous new technologies, used by diverse people, In diverse real-world locations. Hence, there IS everythIng [Q be gamed by an ethnographic approach, by investIgating how Inrernet technologies are being understood and aSSimilated somewhere In parncuiar (though a very compiex 'somewhere', because
Tnnldad stretches diasponcally over much of the worid). A detailed focus on what Tflmdadians find in rhe Internet, what rhey make of It, how [hey can relate ItS possibilities [0 themselves and thelf futures will rell us a great
deal about both the Internet and about Trinidad. Indeed, the premIse of an ethnographIc approach IS not onlv that each sheds light on the other, but [hat one cannot understand rhe one wlthom rhe orher: our presematlon should convince you that 'being Trini' is Integral to understanding whar the Internet IS In thiS particular place; and thar USing the Internet IS becoming Integral to 'being Trlni\ With due sensItIvIty to the complexIty and difference contained in both terms. In thIs sense, we are not Simply asking abom the 'use" or the <effects~ of a new medium: rather, we are looking at how members of a specific culture attempt to make themselves a(t) home In a transforming cornmumcanve enVironment, how they can find themselves In thiS environment and at the same nrne try to mould it In theIr own Image.
TI11S ethnographIc particularity - thIS focus on Trinidad, on the specifics of one 'place' - IS very far from a limnanon, eIther for us as researchers, or you as readers. It IS not only necessary - the Internet as a meamngful phenomenon only eXists In particular places - bur It is also the only firm baSIS for building up the bIgger generalizanons and abstracnons: qUite Simply, one can use thiS parncuiansm as a solid grounding for comparatIVe ethnography.
SOCial thought has gained little by attempting to generalize about 'cyberspace', 'the Internet', 'vmuality'. It can gain hugely by producmg matenal that will allow us to understand the very different Universes of soc131 and technical
possibility that have developed around the Internet
In,
say, Tnnldad versus
IndoneSia, or BrItain versus India. We escape the straitjacket of relatIvism
The Internet
ConclUSions
by recogniZing that each of these places IS constantly beIng redefined through
Let us starr wah a research finding [hat IS both outlandish and yet mescapable terms of our ethnographIC engagement: TrInIdadians have a 'namral affinity' for the Internet. They apparently ralce to It 'narurall.Y" fitting It effortlessly Into family, friendship, work and leisure; and In some respects they seemed [Q experience the Internet as I[self 'naturally Trinidadian', The scale and speed of diffUSIOn was remarkable, and regarded as inevitable. It was a 'hot Item\ fashIOnable, and J[ fitted 111 With a central preoccupatIon With bemg amongst the first [Q know whar's happenmg and where. It provided :l nmural platform for enacnng, on a global smge, core values and componems of Trlmdadian Idennty such as nanonal pride, cosmopolitanism, freedom, entrepreneunaiism. ThiS was as eVident amongst bUSiness people, who felt thar the Internet simply suited their natural fight and ability [Q compete at the highest global lev cis, as It was amongst teenagers, who felt they were the march for any musIC culture they might encounter In the Internet-accelerated global 'culturescape'. The Internet naturally fitted thel[ II1tensely diasponc personal rcianons: bemg a Trintdadian family has long meant mtegranng over distances through any means of communicanon. They also saw various Internet media m terms of conventionally Trim forms of SOCiality such as styles of chat and hangll1g around. We found very Iittie negativity or technophobia. The Internet has reached a level where people can focus on content and Ignore the technology, and furthermore there was very little anxiety about either the coment or ItS Impact. ThiS IS not a hook about resistance. Nevertheless we recognize that the effects of thiS natural affimty need not necessarily be positive. Throughout thIS book one will find raised expectations anu a cunfiuence m the future. We do not deal With the future political economy that may quash many of these expectanons, leaVing people still more frustrated when their mformanon skills become yet one more un rewarded and unvaloflzed facet of their lives. We do not discuss rillS because at the time of our study the consequences of Trinidadians' rapid involvement With the Internet - for good or for bad - are still speculative, and we cannot project our fearfulness upon those we studied. All we can say IS that this was rarely the perspective we encountered.
At one level, It IS of course absurd [Q argue that Trinidadians have a speCIal affi11lty to the internet, that thev 'naturally' take to It, are somehow more at home there than other people, as ahsurd as the converse argument that media technologies have Il1trtnSIC cultural qualities. Nonetheless, it we start from our erhnographlc expcnence of Trinidad online m Sprlllg/Summer 1999, the piCtUre thM emerges IS of an extraordinarily tight fit: Trinidadians took to the new media III ways that connected to core dimenSIOns, and conrradicnons, ot their history and society. in fact, thiS IS the constant conundrum of studymg m
2
3
engagements With forces sllch as the Internet. OUf presentation should therefore also convince you [hat there IS an analytically rigorous baSIS for gomg beyond the parncular case, that - paradoxIcally, perhaps - this IS not Just a study of Trimdad but that It really IS an ethnographIC approach to 'the Internet'.
What We Need To Account For
In
The Internet
ConclUSions
studies and technology. Our account has therefore to be multifaceted and nor reduced to one dommant or homogeneous notion of either 'TrInidadian culrure; or 'Internet culture' - Nonetheless, the complexay and multiplicity of these affinmcs are precisely what strongly Impel us to rake as our pOint of departure rhe way In which a commUnicatIve technology 15 encountered from, and roored In, a particular place.
artifiCial nature of our old offline reality?', 'Is It a good tllIng or a bad thmg, does It spell out doom or liberatIOn for offline life, utOpia or dystOpia?' On the one hand, a range of authors, sometimes aSSImilating 'Virtuality' to a dysropic reading of the postmodern notion of 'simulatlon\ see the Internct m terms of increaSing <depthlessness" and superfiCiality, as a poor substitute for the SOCially essential features of co-presence and face-tO-face InteractIon. On the other hand, often III relatlon to pos[structuraiist proJects, Virtuality prOVIdes a kmd of social laboratOry or even liberation III wlllch the performanve character of all SOCial realitles and identities can be brought to light, deconstructed and transcended. In fact thIS focus on Virtuality or separateness as the defining feature of the Internet may well have less to do WIth the characteflstlcs of the Internet and more to do with the needs of [hese vanous mtellectual projects. The Internet appeared at precisely the fight moment to substantiate postmodern claims about the IIlcreaslng abstraction and deprhlessness of contemporary mediated reality (Baudrillard 1988; Jameson 1991); and poststructuralists could pOint to thiS new space m which Identity could be detached from embodiment and other essentialist anchors, and indeed in whICh (some) people were apparendy already enacting a practical, everyday deconstruction of older notions of identity (Butler 1993; Haraway 1996). That IS to say, mtellectuals, like Tflllldadians, have discovered their own 'natural affinJty' to the Internet, III whICh their core values and Issues correlate qUIte well With possibilines glimpsed In these new media (for useful surveys of the literature see Crang Crang and May 1999; Kitchen 1998). The pOint IS not that they are wrong 111 their cnnques of Simulation or Identity, or In uSlllg concepts of 'Virtuality' or 'cyberspace' m pursulllg these cfIriques. The pomt IS SImply that, even if these approaches are valuable In certain Instances (e.g. Turkle 1995; Slater 199H, m press a) they are not a good pOint of departure for studymg TrinidadIans and many other people. Indeed, m most of what follows In tillS volume, they Simply do not apply. That IS to say, if YOll wam to get to the Internet, don~t starr from there. The present study obVIOusly starts from the opposite assumpnon, that we need to treat Internet media as contInuous with and embedded in otber social spaces, that they happen Within mundane soclal s[ructurt:~ and relations [har they may transform bur that they cannot escape IntO a self-enclosed cybeflan aparrness. Indeed, [Q [he extent that some people may actually treat various Internet relations as 'a world apart' from the rest of their lives, thIS IS something that needs to be SOCially explamed as a practical accomplishment rather than as the assumed POlllt of departure for Invesnganon. How, why and when do they set 'cyberspace' apart? Where and when do they 110t do thIS? In what ways do they make use of 'virtuality' as a feature of new media?
Let's Not Start From There If the Internet appears so bound up With features of Trinidadian society as [Q appear 'naturally Tnni\ then we are certainly nor dealing with a case of cyberspace as an experIence of extreme 'disembedding" from an offline reality. Nor can we understand or explam [hIS situation - 'denaturalize' it - by treating the Internet as a kmd of placeless place, a 'cyberspace", or by takmg as our pOint of departure [hose features of it that disconnect It from particular places, such as its '-vIrtuality' In thIS regard, we find ourselves qUIte alienated from that earlier generatlon of Internet WrIting that was concerned WIth the Internet primarily through such notions as 'cyberspace~ or 'VIrtuality' These terms focused on the way In whIch the new media seemed able to conS(ltute spaces or places apart from the rest of social life ('real life' or offline life), spaces In whIch new forms of SOCIality were emerging, as well as bases for new Identltlcs, such as new relations to gender, 'race', or ontOlogy. The no [Jon of 'vIrtuality' has plaved a key role here: the term suggests thar media can prOVIde both means of mteractlon and modes of representation that add up to 'spaces' or '-places' that partiCipants can treat as if they Were real. A Virtual reality game should prOVide a sensory enVIronment, as well as ways of interacting With It, that IS "realistic' enough to immerse partiCipants m the experience and to eliCit engaged and 'realistiC' responses from them. Similarly, relationships m a 'chat room' can be treated 'as if' they were real. Like the term 'slmuiatlon\ 'virtuality' pomts to a representational "as if' that IS scparate from but can substitute for the (really IS', But by fOCUSing on 'VIrtuality' as the defining feature of the many Internet media and then movmg on [() notions such as 'cyberspace" we start from an assumjJtlO11 that It is opposed to and disembedded from [he real. The kmds of questions tha[ have therefore preoccupied the more hlghprofile literature, as well as much public diSCUSSion and common sense about rhe net, have therefore assumed an Opposltlon between the Virtual and the real: 'All thiS stuff gomg on In cyberspace, IS It real or not?', 'What kmd of reality IS VIrtuality?'" 'Is it as real as or more real than reality, is It mistaken for reality, or IS it a new reality that shows up the constructed, performed, <
<
4
5
The Internet
ConclUSIOns
Whot do they (businesspeople, Carmval bands, schoolklds or government agencies) regard as real or Virtual or consequential? Rather than starting from 'virtuality"', then, we arc concerned to start our lI1vesnganon of the Internet from within the complex ethnographic expen-
In much of our research, email communtcatlons or websltes were expenenced as comparatively concrete and mundane enactments of belonging, rarher than
We can go further here: Virtuality - as the capacIty of commUl1lcatlve technologies to conStitute rather than mediate realities and to constitute relatively bounded spheres of lI1teract/on - IS neither new nor specific [0 [he Internet. Indeed, It IS probably intrinSIC to the process of mediation as such. For example, Poster (1995) usefully refers us back to Anderson's (1986) argument that modern nations might be thought of as Ijmagll1ed' or vlrrual communmes, dependent on the capacIty of newspapers [0 reflect a slllgular tmaglllar), back to a dispersed or diVided people. ThiS is particularly apt In [he case ofTrlmdad, wlllch has had to Inlaglne nanonal and cultural idenmy across a complex ethl1lc mix and a geograplllcal disperSion across the glob~.
as virtual. The relative Irrelevance of' Virtuality" in tillS book, and the frUItlessness of dcfinll1g the Internet in terms of ItS separation from offline life, In no way dimll1lshcs the lnterner"s Importance or senousness. Qmte the contrary. Trll1Idadians, like others, may mvest heavily 111 relationships and practICes that only eXist online: It IS as breathrakll1g here as anywhere to find thar the fiallc~t: thm has featured m several conversations w\[h someone actually lives m the middle of Australia, and thelf relationship IS based on hOllrs of chatting on ICQ. That is to say, these spaces are Important as part of everyday life, not apart from It. The notion of cyberspace as a place aparr from offline life would lead us to expect to observe a process 111 which participants are abstracted and distanced from local and embodied SOCial relations, for example becol11l11g less expliCitly TrlnlJadian. We found utterly the oppos![e. Trinidadians particularly those livlI1g away -lI1vest much energy m trymg to make online life as Tfll1ldadian as they can make It, to see the Internet as a place to perform Tfll1l-ness. Of course, they do not go online solely as Tfll11dadians. They go online as youth, as religIOUS believers, as busll1esspeopie, as family members. Nonetheless\ It was remarkabie the extent to which the Tfll1ldadians we IIltervlcwed or observed entered into [he transcultural networks of the Internet (rom somewhere, as people who felt themselves encounteflng It from a place, as Trll1IdaJians. A youth livmg m Trinidad mhab![s and enJoys a world of .iv1TV, Entertall1ment Today, soaps and Nike, and the websites they commonly visited reflected thiS offline culture and were much the same as thar VISited by any 'global youth'. Nonetheless, they spoke of themselves as Trinidadians encountenng these cultural forms, whether on- or off line: for example, as discussed 111 Chapter 4, l1luslc-onented Tnni youths ralk1l1g about online cliitural resources SOld that although they respected rap and 11Ip hop, [hey were concerned to encounter all forms of musIC 111 terms of their long-term tradition, 111 which Tfll1ldadian 'soca' musIC has been able to II1corporate vaned mUSical forms from soul through to rap and techno. ThiS book IS not a case-study of localization or the appropnatlon of a global form by local cultural concerns. It is not about domesticating a technology. On the contrary, It IS largely about how Tfll1Idadians pur themselves Into thiS global arena and become parr of the force that constitutes It, bur do so qUite specifically as Tril1ldadians. Indeed, the Significance of studymg the Internet IS the degree to whICh It transcends dualisms such as local against global. It forces us to acknowledge a more complex dialectic through whICh specifiCity IS a product of generality and vice versa. Local Tnl1ldadians do
6
7
ence. If we were to treat virtuality as a social accomplishment rather than as an assumed feature ot [he Internet, [ben there would be nothing odd in saying that the Internet 15 not a particularly virtual phenomenon when studied In relation [Q Trinidad, bur [hat It mIght weI! be when studied in other contexts. By way of companson, Slarer's earlier project on 'sexplcs traders on IRe's which was Indeed largely confined to online interViews and observatIOn of online settings, could lI1vesngare rhe ways In which participants socially susralned their setting as 'a place aparr' and gave It a virtual reality, for example through their use of certa!n textual practices. 'Virtuality" really was a central feature of thiS setting, but this Itself had to be accounted for: to a great extent, "vlrruality' was useful to partiCIpants In order to accomplish their bUSiness of trading, and In order to ward off various dangers. On the other hand, partICipants only accorded senous value to these online realities to the extent [hat they could be made less Virtual and more 'embodied'. By contrast, we encountered relatively little Internet use in Tnnidad that could usefully be construed as 'Virtual', There are few places In thiS volume where a differentiation between, say, e-commerce and other commerce, playground char and ICQ char, religIOUS Instruction face-to-face or by email IS treared by partiCipants In terms of any clear diVISion between the 'real' and the 'Virtual', Far more eVident is the attempt to assimilate yet another medium II1to vanous practices (email complements telephone for family contact, websltes supplement TV for religiOUS evangelism). Ivlost people were concerned With whether Internet media provided effective or appropnate means to pursue practical projects; and they were concerned to discover what was new or specific about thiS new set of technologies and practices, given that the Internet appeared to have a huge and ineVitable place In their future. New mediations, Indeed, but not a new reality.
The Internet
ConclUSIOns
nor meet a global InrerneL The object we call the Internet actually consists
Fur[hcrmore, Larourjs work seems supportive of a comparative amhropologyl SOCiology [hat eschews slmplc reianvlsm bur maima1l1s a scepncai aUHudc 111 [hc face of glib assumpnons about whar [he Imerne[ 'must' mean or do. We would also Wish to see our work building upon pnor scholarly studies of [he Imroducnon and effects of prevIOus [echmcal developmen[s (e.g. in 1vlacKenzle and Walcman 1985). Larour also accounts for our sense of ourselves In [he producnon of rillS work. It is neuher some Simple expressIOn of our agency nor a Simple test of hypotheses. Tim book IS Itself a hybnd 111 which [hc agency of Tnmdadians, of [he internet and of ourselves are we hope comb1l1ed, transcended and [hereby liberated for [he purposes of academiC
of groups sllch as the Tnndadians you will meet In rhls volume. The relationship of our conclUSIOns to Castells's (1996, 1997, 1998) work IS necessarily more complex given [he extent of his coverage. Ivluch of his work 011 polincal economy is not touched upon here. Of rhe most relevant discllsslOns [0 our work some certainly ring true. For example, Castclls concludes (1998: 340-53) with some Ideas on the emergence of'inEormanonal capitalism' and on the Importance of rethlllklllg the relationship of skills to education, whICh finds resonance in many places within rhlS volume, though some predicnons made about rhe ImpiicJnons for future social divIsions and power seem premamre. However, Casrells~s primary disnllctlon bcnveen 'rhe Nct' and 'the Self' appears to replicate the classICal socIOlogical distinction between structure and agency. The result IS [0 scparare OUt the nct as a monolithic and reifiecl structure (or 'morphology') whose Impact on Identity IS [hen lnvcsngarcci. It also seems to run [00 close [Q a technological dererm1l11Sm (1996: 1-23). ThiS clearly runs agamst our refusal to trear the Internet 111dependently of ItS embedded ness. The problems come out most clearly In hiS conccpt of the 'culture of real Virtuality' (e.g. 1996: 358-75). Every chapter 10 rhls book demonstrates why rhe aS511mpnons made there about rhe separa[lon between rhe real and rhe virtual are misgUided, and why dus way of writing aboll[ the Impact of the Internet seems to us quite wrong for rhe case of Tn111d"d.
understanding.
Comparative Ethnography: An Open Invitation
\Vhar IS so lackmg in Casrells is by contrast superbly drawn in the w[nings of Larouf on mediation, 111 parncuiar, In hiS exemplary studies demonsrranng how one can aVOId whm he calls the two pafalls of soclOloglsm and [cchnologlsm (1991 :11 0) or more generally sCience and society (1993). Everytlllng [hat IS important is what happens in [he media nons char dissolve these dualisms. We would also affirm the Internet as an actant (Latour 1999: 11627,303) m the story that IS told here. ThiS IS not a book about the Internet as a technology that IS then appropnated by another thmg called society. It IS a book about ma[(~rlal culmrc, which can nevcr be reduced [0 some prior subject or obJcct. We do nor start from [WO prelniSeS, [hat IS, [he Imernc[ on the one hand and Tnllldad 011 the other. As will become clear m the body of [hIS work, j [ IS more fair [Q say [hat both [he Imerne[ and an undcrstanding of what I[ means ro feel Trinidadian (e.g. Chapter 4) are seen as [he conclUSIOn of [he processes we study. In [he sccnon (bdow) on [he dynamiCs of medianon we note cxamples of ncw genres such as ecommerce and [he norms of Tnl1ldadian In[ernc[ char [hat cannot be unders[Qod except as examples of what La[Our [crms a hybnd char IS irreducible [0 either HS human or I[S marcnal agcms. \Vc [race other dualisms [hat [he cmbeddcd In[ernc[ renders Incn.~as1l1gly anachrol1lsnc, especwlly [hat of producnon and consumpnon.
How does one move between [he derails of [he case-srudy and [he genera lines of [he In[erne[ a[ a global level and across contexts? In advocanng comparanve ethnography, we are suggesting [hat [here are lines of inqUiry, linked [0 dimenSIOns of new media use, [hat can be usefully pursued across a Wide range of seu1I1gs; and [hat [here are Issues about SOCial transformations It1 new media comex[s [hat generally concern SOCial sCience and other communmes. In [hiS volume we rarely address [he quesnon of whether our ethnographIC findings are specific [Q Trlmdad or common [0 many areas. \Ve Simply donl[ have grounds for answering such quesnons. In [he absence of much e[hnographIC, le[ alone comparanve, ma[enal we are offenng a limHed number of analyncal dimenSIOns and ISSUCS char have emerged from our own work, along WI[h an open 1I1vltanon char these el[her be used in other ethnographic se[nngs [0 develop comparanve understanding; or [hat [hey be criticized and modified on [he baSIS [hat [hey are el[her [00 peculiar [0 our own se[nng, or char [hey lIlsufficlenriy capture [he Issues char need [0 be lIlvesnga[ed. In what follows we will try [0 clarify both what each category means as a comparanve dimenSIOn and whar I[ means 111 terms of [he Trinidadian COmeXL ThiS will also allow us effecnvely [0 present [he conclUSIOns of our research a[ [he outset and lIldicare [he klllds of claims which [he rest of [he book must subs[anna[e. In [he final pan of [hIS chap[cr we will be even more specific, summanzlI1g [he parncular findings [hat concern each chapter. We arc offenng four such dimenSIOns. They are nor meam [0 be exhausnve. \Ve will char8c[enze [hem in terms of 'dynamlcs\ a term [hat directs us [Q look for both [he dnvlIlg forccs as well as [he emergent par[erns of change. In 1I1vcsnganng [he embedding of In[erne[ in a parncular place, and vice versa, we are concerned with:
8
9
The Internet
ConclUSIons
DYlIamlcs of obJectificatlO1l: how do people engage wah rhe Internet as an IIls[am:e of l11<1tcnal cuirure through whIch they are caught LIp In processes of Identification?
(but could not be wlthlll the confines of Trillldad) by parnclpanng III worldWide Hindu networks that can he Integrated II1to theIr everyday local reality. In the second case, which we mIght call expansIVe jJotentIaI, the encounter With the expansive connections and possibilities of the Internet may allow one to envisage a qUIre novel VISion of what one could be, a VISion that IS often projected as a feature of the Internet itself (for example, ttanscendence of mundane Identities).
DynamICs of mediation: how do people engage with new media as media: how do people come [0 understand, frame and make use of tearures~ porentI'-llincs. dangers and metaphors char rhey perceive In these new media?
DynL11111cs of normatIVe freedom: how do people engage with rhe dialectics of freedom and irs normative forms as they are opened up by Internet media? DynamICs of POSlTlO1lJllg: how do people engage w1th rhe ways III which Internet media position them wl[hln networks thar transcend rhelf Immediate location, and [hat compnsc the lllJt1gJed flows of cultural, poiincai, financial and economic resources?
IS'
ThiS d),namlc of obJectificanon hetween Identity and the Internet can be thought of 111 two 111terreiated ways: In one case, whICh we have dubbed (!XpallSJl!(! realizattol1, the Internet IS Viewed as a means through which one can enact - often 111 11Ighly Idealized form - a verSion of oneself or cultllre that IS regarded as old or even ongll1ary but can finally be realized: through these new means, one can become whm one thmks one really IS (even if one never was). \'Vhat might be characteristic of the Internet IS that thiS 'realization" is mdeed 'expansive'; through the global Interconnections offered by the Internet, a Trinidadian may feel able to act as the Hindu he or she 'really
ExpanSIVe RealizatlOll Here, Identity 111 relation to tbe Internet IS not best understood as novel or unprecedented but rather as helpmg people to deliver on pledges ,hat they have already made to themselves about themselves. In some cases thiS was a state thm had been realized but then lost; 111 other cases It was prOjected bm never yet attamed. In either case It IS imperative to rake the two terms - expansive and realizatIon - fairly literally: contradictions concernmg one~s ability, 111 practICal life, to be who one thlllks one IS seem capable of bemg resolved on the expanded scale and terram of the Internet. ThiS dynamiC permeates the entire book, and seems to us fundamental 111 the Tnllldadian context. For example, as described 1I1 Chapter 3, Tnl1ldadians have seen tWO quite opposed changes to the family as a result of their attempts to embody their sense of moderl1lty. On the one hand, family structures that were preVIOusly qUIte distinctive have tended to move closer to the domll1ant Western model of the nuciear family. At the sa me tIIne, migration to metropolitan regIOns has been so extensive that the malonty of Tnmdadians live 111 families thar are International even at the nuclear level. In thiS context, the Internet specifically email - allows the kind of mundane, constant and taken-forgranted daily contact that enables Tril1ldadians once agall1 to live 111 families of the kll1d they see as natural, to be mvoived 1Il active parenting and mutual support, despite the diaspoflc conditions that had earlier been makmg rillS Impossible. A second example concerns freedom, markets and entrepreneurship. As noted III Miller (1997), pure com pennon and entrepeneurshlp already eXist as Ideals of SOCial aC[Jon and personhood III Trlmciad, qUJ[e apan from any involvement 111 the market or 1I1 commerce. !vloreover, they eXist as Ideals that II1tersect With but go far beyond Simple IdeologICal commitments such as neoliberalism. Tnnidadian busmesspeople are able to see themselves as naturally highly modern actors wlthm pure market conditions at a global level. But thiS Idealls very far from tbe realities that emerged In that earlier book. As described in Chapters 5 and 6, the flow of mformatJon and resources developll1g With the Internet on a global scale allows some Tnl11dadians to
10
11
Dynamics of Objectification ThiS dynamiC most closely addresses the quesnon from which we started the sccm111g affinlt)' between Tnllldadians and the Internet - and accounts for thc most prevalem results and themes thrown up by the research. People recogJ1Jzed themselves 111 the Internet m vanous ways and found that It provIded the space for enacnng core values, pracnces and ldennnes. That is to S~l}', there were aspects of these new media environments thar allowed thel11 [0 objectify themseives as Tnllldadian, amongst other th111gS (youth, mas' players, computer nerds, whatever) and given the diverSity of Tnllldadians (Indian, Black, female, elder, etc.). At the same time they were able to mould these spaces to culturally specific shapes and purposes. We are concerned With the ways 111 which a particular people can recognize or 'realize' themselves through a particular domatn of mmenal culture. By 'realizmg themselves' we obVIOusly do not mean thar people have a natural or essennal ldentlt)' thm IS then represented or expressed in and through a materiai culture \though people themselves frequently believe thiS, and It may be a central feature III their understanding and use of th1l1gs}. But people engage with matenal culture through versions of themselves that are both articulated and transformed through that encounter.
The Internet
feel much closer already followed.
EO
[he kind of busmess pracnce [hac [hey assumed [hey
The finest example comes not from rhls volume bur from the brilliant porrrayal of rillS condinoo by [he TrlOidadian novelisr V. S. Nalpaul (1987) In his book The E11lg11lo of Arrival. Sarurared by British colonmi education, Nalpaul can only find hllllself as a TnOidadian by coming EO England and ,cicnrifYlIlg himself WIth a reified Image of unchangmg Englishness that he
finds obJccEified
!Il
rhe prehistoriC monument of Smnehcnge and the people
who live around-Ir. A frequem and paradoxICal theme IS [hat you could only become really
Trill! by gOing abroad: Trinidad Itself did nor offer rhe kinds of resources, freedoms and world position [hat would allow one to 'be Trini' 1I1 rhe sense of cosmopolitan, entrepreneurial, world-class, erc. The Internet may have helped brmg the potennal for bemg Trim back EO Trlmdad; Indeed, It worked
both for Trll11s at home (who could have direct access to global cuirurai
Conclusions
are worked through usmg the expansive matenal culture offered by that same moderlllty. Finally, we have stressed a very positive view of both Tflllldadian Idennry and of ItS prOJectIOn, through Internet or other means, 1I1ro global spaces. We do tillS partiy, and paradOXically, 111 response to Trimdadians' own often vcry neganve sense of themselves, their capacities and their global position. ThiS neganvlty IS often projected on to and through the Internet Itself. In countless II1rerVlews and chats, Tnnidadians would pOll1r to their sluggish response to the Internet or to ecommerce. Similarly, the local telecommumcanons 1110nopoly (Chapter 5) IS seen as a symbolically archaIC bordened, m both Interner access and access to rhe world economic and cultural stage, a k1l1d of sympromanc own goal in which rhey deny themselves the opportunity to capitalize on rheir own massive potentials.
The Internet IS by no means the first example of new technologieS and materials bClIlg used by Tnmdadians as an Idiom for enacting rhelr values and Idenmles. Miller's (1994) prevIOus book on Modermt)' was an attempt ro undersrand rhe massive Impact of consumer culrure on Tnnidad dunng the oil boom of the 19705 and early 19805. That volume concluded [hat consllmer goods were nor pnmarily used to consrrucr new values and ideals, bur rarher consrltured a new Idiom, rhrough which Tnnldadians worked rhrough core values concerned with freedom (transience) and conrinulry (transL:encience) rhar had ansen trom rhelr parncular hIstory, and from rhelr particular relationship to the condition of modernlry. PreVIOusly, Ir was kinship thar had been used as the primary Idiom for expressing the contradicnon betwcen these two Ideals. In rhe context of the oil boom, consumer goods rook 011 thiS rolc, and could be effectively used to express and somenmes to resolve rhese contradictions of values. The Internet should be seen rhrough a Similar dynamiC (or even as a successor idiom for dealing With the same tenSIOns), In whlCh renslOns 1I1tnnsiC to the TrJllldadian relation to moderlllty
In expansive realiz<1non, the exclrement IS of rhe order of 'finding oneself' or 'takmg up one's nghtful place' In the other dynamiC, of expansive potennal, people glimpse quite new thmgs to be (or even an escape from what thcy were). It IS abour the Internet as a mode of lmagmmg the furure, and it 1I1corporatcs rhose Issues of rhe Internet as utopia or dystopia that preoccupy so much of the literature but also some of rhe people we study. The shape of rhe furure may even be thought to be Visible 111 the Interner's own fearures, as when a Catholic charismatic sees m rhe mfimte Illterconnectedness of rhe Internet a VISIOn of the divme and of a new spmtuality. In Chapter 7 an Apostolic Church IS stnvmg to discern the laresr signs as to the narure of God's purpose for humamty. As a resulr rhey assume the Inrernet was Itself creared in order that rhey should come to understand that purpose. Ir IS rhen appropriated as the medium for accomplishmg thiS purpose, and therefore also as the Ideal metaphor for the role of the Church and Its adherents. They become the vanguard of the 'World Breakthrough Network' that will establish Chnsnamty
12
13
flows, global markers, and world-class skills and technologies) and for Trims 'away" (who could 'repair' other aspecrs of Trim-ness such as nanonal identity, 'limll1g', 'ole talk', family and fnendshlps). A parallel may be drawn with rhe effects of recessIOn In the lare 1980s. As a result of rhe oil boom some TrlllIdadians came to assume rhar a real Tnnidadian had a narural affimry wlrh goods of a cerra In quality. When receSSIOn meant these goods were no longer available locally, some TnOidadians declared 111 [he local press that they had to migrate abroad to \Vhar In one II1famous case was described as the land of 'real cornflakes' in order to remall1 fully Tnmdadian (Miller 1994:
272-3)
ExpGnsflIe potentwl
The Internet
that IS essen[Jai for Irs c!rllms to be 111 rhe vanguard of style, and the Implication IS nor so much a change III Irs clothmg range as thar It must be seen to be operating 111 rhe fullest sense of ccommercc. Jones (1997) provides a general case of stich profound assllniianon where he notes [hat our Impatience while w;]mng around for rhe latest developments In rile Interncr and computers more generally IS based on our constJnr experience of extremely rapid IIllprovcmcm and change, such thar rhls becomes a kmd of 'habitus' (Bourdieu 1977) 111 which IivlI1g With the Internet IS swiftly naturalized as second nature
and
OUf
'common sense' shifts accordingly.
Obvlollsly rhe line between expansive realization and potential IS a fine one: If pardy depends on how we and rhey understand novelty. ThiS In turn II1volves Issues of tunc: It may well be that It IS right now ar the moment of ItS IIlceptlon that rhe Inrernet will peak as rhe pnme mode of utopian, dysropJan and other Images of the future. It may be Its very novelty that makcs It an ideal Idiom for Imagll1l11g the furure. After a while Ir IS ql11te possible that It will become more mundane and taken for granted.
Dynamics of Mediation Here we ~He concerned With how people engage With ncw media as media: how do people come to undersrand, frame and make use of fearures, potentialities and dangers that they perceive 111 rhcse new media. Should email be offered by the postal serVice, like snail mail? Do advertlsll1g agencies see websltcs merely as a new medium for advertisements or 111 terms of a fully II1rcgrated ecommerce? \X1hlch kll1d of relationships is chat good for, and which not? How should one properly presenr one's self or one's community on a webSite, 111 email.lI1chat? For borh rcsearchers and partiCipants, a central aspecr of understanding rhe dynamiCs of mediation IS to 'disaggregate' the Internet: not to look ar a monolithiC medium called 'rhe Internet\ bur rather ar a range of practices, software and hardware technologIes, modes of representation and !nteractlon rhat mayor may nor be interrelated by partiCipants, machll1es or programs (indeed they may not all take place at a computer). Whar we were observlI1g was nor so much people's use of 'rhe Internet' but rarher how rhey assembled varIOUS techtllcal possihilitles thar added lip to then' Internet. iVloreover, all the components thar constitute "the Internet' are changll1g at J frantiC pace. After all, nor very long ago rhls book would have focused on bulletin boards and fbmll1g; It IS 111 fact J book largely about email, char and websltes, and IS trYll1g to keep lip wirh Its (subjects" in rhelr understanding of ecommerce. In a year or two's time, when much of rhe web will be transfigured by hlghbandWidth facilities, as well as by completed telecommunications deregulation,
14
Conc/uslons
rhe common-sense view of what 'the Internet"
IS
and what one should WrIte
abour will have agall1 been transformed. There IS not necessarily a lor 111 common between websites and email. In Chapter 7 It IS apparent that the Catholic Church finds one of these pieces ot technology analogous to rhe confeSSIOnal, while the other acts to represent the commumty. Agall1, some busll1esses are mamiy concerned With corporate IntegratIOn usmg mtranets, while others mainly want to have websltes as an adjunct to conventional advertlsll1g. This pomt IS particularly clear 111 Chapter 4, m which chat as a medium has been used to re-creare a very particular mode of interaction and SOCialization full of banter and II1nuendoes thar for many people IS the qUll1tessence of bemg Tnmdadian; yet rhls hardly played any role 111 email commumcatlons. \X1ebsltes on the other hand go be~'ond chm as a medium for enacting Trim-ness to become an overt expressIOn of nationalism, bur rhrough entirely different means. Very tew websltes try to evoke the style of char; II1stead, they use quire different genres such as those of tour gUides and Internet portals. While for some people email, surfing and char are an mtegral whole, for others thclr relationship IS merely fortUItous and inCidental, sll1ce only one of rhese technologies IS of interest to those particular users. Therefore rhe various Interner media have to be understood 111 terms ot their particular manifestations as matenai culture. ThiS IS preCisely rhe pOint of Chapter 6, where commerce IS faced by the porentlal of vanous new lIlformation technologies. 1Vlany of rhe problems of ecommerce development result from difficulties In linlong technology and context conceptually. Either commerce fails to respond to the particular potential of the Internet by merely reproduclllg flyers and adverts on websltes, or we find website deSIgners With grear techl1lcal knowledgc of the Internet rhat they are unable to marshal ro commercial ends. What the vanguard llsers believe IS that the furure lies 111 an ccommerce that IS neither merely a use of the Internet as rechnology, nor merciy <1 contlnuation of pnor commercial practice. It has to be understood as a form of matenal culture thar rranscends and thereby transforms both the use of the Internet and rhe workings of commerce. Furthermore, ecommerce as a concept does nor take as ItS pomt ot deparrure the umty of the technology, but rather the drive to mtegrate all aspects of a busmess operation.
15
Conclusions
The Internet
Yet although we have stressed rhe disaggregatIon of the Internet both as a necessary analytical strategy for researchers and as a central dimenSIOn of people's expenence of new media, a norion of 'the Internet' stili plays an Important role. ThiS 15 parncularly evident in public, policy and business diSCUSSIOns In which 'rhe Internet' collecnvely labels rhe Juggernaut of SOCIal transformations (many of [hem nor technologICal at all) char IS bearing down on Trinidad fUriously and wlrh apparent mevlrability: 'The Internet will
change rhe condinons of global com pennon whether you like
It
or nor!' ThiS
framl11g of rhe Internet as a [Orality IS related [Q objectifications of 'rhe net' (whether religIOus or net libertarian) as a space of utopian possibilines or to other ways of looking 1n[Q "the net' and reading the future there. Indeed, In the Tnl11dadian case (though not here alone) "the Internet' has come [Q represent a moplan fmure conjunction of personal freedoms, market freedoms, global mobility and cultural Identity that we will deal With furrher as a dynamiCs of normative freedom. Hence It IS Imporrant to understand the Internet as a symbolic [Qtality as well as a practical multipliCity.
Dynamics of Normative Freedom Both a premise and a promise of Internet development has been a concept of freedom. Discourse encountered on and about the Internet has been nO[Qnousl)' liberrarIan: like the \X'ild West, It has prOVided a screen on [Q which could be projected images of freedom, danger, transformation and transcendence. The Internet has both produced new freedoms (of information and of speech) and come [Q stand as a symbol of potential freedoms. Indeed, two qUite contrastlng notions of liberranal11sm have been closely linked to the Internet (Ross 1998), one from free-market Ideologies of neoliberalism, the other, 'net liberranal11sm', from postmoderl1lsm. These discourses have been artlculated 111 Tnl11dad In terms of a correlation between Tril1ldad itself, the marketplace and the Internet 111 which each was mapped on [Q the others In very complex ways. The term 'normative freedom·' seeks [Q capture the apparent paradox by which no notlon of freedom IS really absolute, but necessarily takes the form of a normative structure, a social order. Miller (1994) has previously argued that the primary legacy of a history of slavery and Indenrured labour IS the centrality of a prOject of freedom that permeates a Wide range of values In Trinidadian society and IS as likely [Q be expressed in Carlllval as In Ideals of busll1ess. Freedom In Tnnidad 15 ontological, reflecting a basIC sense of personhood. So a diSCUSSIOn of the term must be attuned to the specific history of the regIOn and the contradictions that has thrown up. Twenry-five years ago this underwrote the nationalIsm that led Enc Williams, Tril1ldad's first Prime rvlintster, [Q transform the country from a supplier of raw matenals to the developed world Into an 16
mdustnal economy. Today It accounts for an easy appropnatlon of the language and policlcs of liberalism. Both government and commerce see the Internet as prOViding a new form of free commUnicatlon that will ultlmately help Trinidadians to attain their nghtful place on the II1ternational stage through success In enterpnse and careers. As a result, whatever seems to stand in the way appears as an IrratIOnal constraint that has to be overcome. ThiS IS seen IT1 the prevailing attitude to TSTT, the local telephone monopoly. Even where the company can present Itself as effective and effiCient, all the other players - government, the ISPs and the public - regard it as the bottleneck whose restnctlve practices are preventing Tnl1ldadians from properly capltalizlI1g on rhe Internet. rvloderl1lzatlon clearly means enthUSiastic use of the language (though not necessarily the lInplementatlon) of WTO treaties and orher mechanisms of global deregulation. Many of the highly refleXive anJ articulate busllless commul1Ity were able to pall1t a convlncmg porrraIt of what they saw as free Internet development. The government shares thiS Ideal or Idyl! of liberalism, clalmmg that where possible, as in the licensmg of ISPs, there IS to be Simply no regulation - anyone IS free to enter as a player. rviuch of the story told m Chapter 5 has to do With specific featlires of the political economy; bur It IS Imporrant to note that It has sttong resonances 111 other areas also, There was the conSiderable liberalism 111 attitudes to online activities, With hardly any debate about pornography on the net (despite people regularly ciall11mg that it accounted for 60 per cent of online actlvlty). Even a Church may see the Internet as largely a step forward beyond the language of the free market 111 obJectifYll1g a concept of freedom per se. Similarly III Chapter 3 the use of random chat for engagmg m relationships that are anonymous, can come from anywhere and can be ended any time exemplifies the Ideal of freedom. There IS generally a remarkably expansive attitude 111 Trinidad: people see the openmg up of markets and the Internet as an opporrul1lty to be grasped, as new freedoms that II1crease people's potential. At the same time, this needs to be seen 1t1 a regIOnal context that has mcluded the ravages of structural adjustment m Jamaica or of 'banana' wars elsewhere IT1 the Caribbean that result from the openll1g up of unprotected markets. It IS hard not to anticipate that freedom 1t1 the form of deregulatlng the telecommul1lcatlons market nllght result 1t1 replacmg a quaSI-local monopoly (a company lomriy owned by the government and the multinational Cable and \X!ireless Ltd) With direct ownership by a company such as AT&T. As already noted, our fear IS that the expectations that seemed to be nsmg as we watched will be unfulfilled and quashed. As described m Chapter 2, we can already see some real constrall1ts on the entry mto the IT labour market of skilled, deservll1g and aspinng younger workers, espeCially women. 17
The Internet
ConclUSIOns
Ivloreovcr, liberal discourses of unbridled freedom [cnd to obscure how 'freedoms" are always normative and constructed. In rhls case, government policies have been as Important as any tauwmanc' market mechanisms 111 expanding Internet lISC, most espeCially [he prOVISion of ioans [Q public sector workers and (he removal of customs dunes on computers and rhelr parts.
Interner mcdia position peoplc wirhin networks that transcend their Immediate location, piacmg them IJ1 Wider flows of cultural, political and economic
resourccs. The boundaries of markets, nanons, cultures and technologies become 1I1creasmgiy permeable, and reqll1re people to thll1k of themselves as actors on ever morc global stagcs. For example, a high-streer retailer IJ1 a prov111clal TnnIdad town knows that the vcry Idea of a <'Iocal Prlcc·' is commg [0 an end: hcr customers are encountering 111 the Internet a sll1glc markctplace 111 which they can compare pnccs and order goods from anywherc 111 the world. How does shc understand thiS new POSltlOll111g, how does she reconccptuaiize hcr busmess? How do people undcrsrand thiS new landscape of 'cconomles of signs and space' (Lash and Urry 1994) or 'network SOcletlcs'· or 'spaces of flows' (Castells 1996, 1997, 1998), and how do they try [Q pilot a course through It? In Trinidad, rhcse developments are seen as 1l1cvirable: the Internet, and particularly ecommerce, IS conSidered central to ItS position 111 reianon ro thc rest of the world. However, there was a norable oscillanon between cxcltement and anxicty. On the one hand, Tnmdadians feel confident and familiar with competition along International networks: as notcd, rillS IS a society that has long been constltutcd 111 re!anon to the global (dispersed families, markcr onentatlon, geographical mobility) and sees Itself in tcrms of cosmopolira11lsm and freedom. At thc same rime, people are desperarely worned thar thcy are already too late or have fallen behllld, wornes that fir 1l1[Q a long-standing counter-discoursc of fatalism and disapPOintment III which norhing that IS Tfl11l can be all [hat good, and the country constantly has to be 'ralked up' through expressIOns of global confidence. TIllS IS about the local and the giobal belllg out of step with each orher. For exam pic, 111 ordcr for provll1CJal rctailers to enter the new world marker, they nced [0 undcrstand ncw rechnologlcs and conccpts for dOll1g bus mess. They also need specific ll1frastrucrures such as ballkll1g systems that allow online credit card processl11g and teiecommuJ11canons compames that prOVIde iots of reliable bandWidth. There has III fact been huge frustranon over these bottlenecks 111 narional dcvelopment. At the same time, both banks and telccomms may be moving slowly because [hey are dcaling wlrh their own posltlonll1g problcms, as specific mdustfles. For example, local banks are often related to larger banklllg groups that had always been nearly diVided lip IntO non-overlappmg geographical regIOns; the online serVIces [har local rctailers arc demanding can be acccssed from anywhere, and therefore set cach bank up in direct competItIon. Issues of reposltlonmg are eVlden[ at the personal level roo: for example, a sense of being cosmopolitan, of havmg [he knowledge and capability to act in glohal contexts (partICularly through diaspoflc expeflcnces of conSiderable SOCIal and matenal success m education and carecrs 'away'), has been Important to TflJ1Idadian Idenn[y. ThIS cosmopoiicaJ1lsm has always run head-on
18
19
Similarly, many of those In bU511lCSS espouse rhe free marker 111 prinCiple bur arc looking for all sorts of interventions to secure their Interests 111 pracnce. Similarly aga111, what the Internet produces cannot be understood In terms of rhe libcranon of new and flllld Identities. Not only were older icienntlcs, sllch as religIOn, nation, and family, embraced online, bur rhe Internet could bc seen by many as /Jnmarily a means of repalflng those allegiances. ThiS requires speCial attention to rhe ways In which freedom and norma[Jvlty are linked rather rhan sundercd J!1 thcsc newer media of SOCial Intcractlon. In fact, thiS applics to many Internet contexts. ThiS PO!l1t was well madc by Dibbell (1994; sec also 1998) In what IS already seen as a near-claSSIC essay on Internct use called 'A Rapc m Cyberspace", Although the peoplc Involved 111 actlv](]cs such as tvlUD have strongly libertarian or evcn anarchistic prll1clples, thcy rurn qUIckly to the re-constltu[Jon of moral and normatlvc order when faced With some action thar deeply offends them. Similarly, Slater's (1998,111 prcss b.j see also Rival, Slarer and lVliller 1998) earlier work on "sexpics trading on IRC' found that vanous libertanan discourses of freedom (sexual, consumcnst, nco-liberal, cyberutoplan) wcre embeddcd in obseSSive practices of normanVlty and order such as policing, enforcemcnt of quasleconomic exchange rares, and forms of reification. Finally, we should undcrstand many tcnsions ansll1g from thc Internct not 111 terms of freedom versus constramt bur rather as conflicts betwcen differcnt modcls of ordcr and normatlvlty. For example, much Internet use Involves decentralizanon and diffUSIOn of aurhonty and power, and hcnce challcnges to both hierarchical orgal1lzanonal models and thosc whose mtercsts are vested 111 them. Two cxamples stood our: the tension wlth!l1 an 'Apostolic' orga!1lzanon bctwcen a vertlcai orgal1Jzanon based on elders and a honzonral relation bctwecn membcrs expressed in Internet char; and the orgal1Jzanonal mod cis of semi-aUtonomous and flexible prOject groups embraced by some younger employees In buslI1esscs. In each case, rllt: Interconnectedness and flow of information afforded by thc Internct gave new powers and auronomy to indiViduals, willch had rhen ro be undersrood wldlln and diSCiplined by their II1stltunons.
Dynamics of Positioning
Tile Internet
ConclUSIOns
I11to all awareness of Trinidad as margInal and even unknown. This expenence IS both replicated and partially cleo"tlt with on the expanded rcrram of Internet media. For example, !11 the case of ICQ and Internet char, Tnmdadians who know a great deal about a Wider world In which rhey see themselves as cl11l11cntiy capable parnclpanrs suddenly discover [hat most of [he people rhey chm with bave never heard of rhem, and that members of such supposedly metropoliran centres as [he US are actually far more parochial than rhey arc. And yet these very same Internet media In whICh rhey appear as localized and marglllaiized also creare possibilities for participating In a global culrural space that they thought had already eXisted. For example, they can engage With world music or global youth culture or pan-national religIOUS commul1lties as cosmopoliraJ1 cmzens rather than as marglJ1alized observers, and hence are able ra 'rep
as nllmbers of 'hItS' and reciprocal sponsorship (the SIte displayed such II1ternatlonainames as Microsoft and Oracle, whose sites m turn displayed the banner of the Tnmdadian company that produced the SIte). TillS plaCing of Tflllldad on the Internet world map also worked 111 conjunction With leading edge notions of ecommerce, which also focuses on ll1tegratlng the VISitor Into a webSite through appropnate enticements, such as chat, ll1fonnanOll, phorographs of the contestants and multimedia. Ar a much lower level 111 Chapter 4 a schoolgirl appears desperate ro have VISlt1l1g surfers (who may be largely limited to the others JO her class at school) sign her guestbook, which 111 turn would attest to her own expanding fame.
20
21
A Short Note About Ethnography It should be dear by now that for us an ethnographic approach to the Internet IS one that sees It as embedded 111 a specific place, which It also transforms. Our four 'dynamiCs' 1I1dicate fields of force or tension between ways of life and potennaiines to be found 111 these new technologies. Moreover, our approach IS ethnographIC 111 that It uses Immersion in a particular case as a baSIS for generalization through comparatlve analYSIS. In a more narrowly methodologICal sense, an ethnographic approach is also one that IS based on a long-term and multifaceted engagement With a soclJi settmg. In thiS regard we are borh relatively conservative m our defence of traditional canons of ethnographIC enqUIry. ThIS seems particularly Important at the present time, when the term 'ethnography' has become somewhat fashlDnable 111 many diSCiplines. In some fields, such as cultural studies, It has come [0 Signify Simply a move away from purely textual analYSIS. In other cases, the Idea of an Internet ethnography has come ro mean almost ennreiy the study of online 'commu11lty' and relationshIps - the ethnography ot cyberspace (e.g. Markham 1998; Paccagnella 1997). \Y/e assume ethnography means a long-term involvement amongst peopie, through a vanety of methods, such that anyone aspect of their lives can be properlv contextlialized JO others. Slater's (1998) pnor study of the Internet lasred 18 months and Miller"s prIOr study 111 Tnnldad was one II1lt1al year and rhree further VISitS. For the present srudy, alrhough we each spent only five weeks actually 111 Tril11dad, rhls volume relies on eleven years of prior research on Trinidad by Ivliller, which lIlciuded work on many rapics buslIless, consumption, kll1shlp, identity - that proved critical ra making sense of the Internet rhere. There were also specific advantages derived from rhls: for example, the house-ra-house surveys reported III rhe Appendix compnsed the same four areas described 1I1 [\Va previous volumes. Corresponding ro
The Internet
ConclUSions
rhls, Slater's long-term Involvement In Inrerner research, particularly char, hllci a basIs of skills, methodology and expenence agamst willch rhe Trinidadian case could be more qUickly understood. Moreover, rhe smciy extended beyond five weeks In T nnicbd [Q ] 5 months of collectll1g and analysing Internet dam slich as wcbslres, II1tervlcwmg Tnntdadians In London and New York, extended email correspondence and participatIOn m char and ICQ, whICh could be sllstaIned over time as online relanonsillps. Some of our Informants remained in much for rhls 15 months. The extenSIOn of rhe work across
prior work and the differences between those results and our work 111 Trinidad I11C,-l1lt that thIS particular example of Internet use could not be glibly generalIZed JS Internet use per se, while Ivliller's pnor work meant that Internct use could be set agamst other pracnces in Tnnldad. In addinon we have tned to contrast ollr findings WIth those thar seem comparable 111 other studies.
[JffiC
and location narurally follows from a general
diSCUSSIOn
problemanzed the concepr of rhe fieldslte on generalle.g. Marcus 1995; Gupta and Ferguson 1997), and wJ[h respect to the Internet III parncular le.g. Hakkenl 999: 58-60). As to the llse of multiple merhods, rhe Tnmdad fieldwork was diVIded between several sites and forms of research. Mornings usually comprised several interviews In the capital, Port of Spain, largely devoted to the study of the polincal economy of the Internet, Including buslllesses, the ISPs and governmcntal officers. The afternoons and evenings were spent "limlllg\ that IS "hanging around" III cybercafes warchlng people go online and chatnng With them. We also interviewed them more formally. In addinon we tned to bccome re-Involved In the private lives of long-standing friends to sec how the Internet fitted wlthm their worlds. We employed students at the University of the West Indies ro carry out a basIC house-to-house quesnonnalre, whICh we followed up With In-depth interViews. We also tned many Informal encounters, such as limlllg with the same fnend whose parlour had proved an Idc~ll SpOt for iimll1g In Chaguanas In Miller's earlier study and who now fan a shop, With an online computer, that became our base In Port of Spalll. He attracted countless friends and Visitors dUring the course of the day thar we could char With. For us an ethnography does Include partlclpanng, which may mean gOing on a chat line for the eight hours that Informants will remain online, or particIpating 111 a room full of people plaYing networked Quake Iboth actlvInes Simer IS well practised In, and enJoys). But It also Includes knowledge of how the Internet has become mvolved in households !vliller has been worklllg With for over a decade. An ethnography IS also much more than ficldwork. .Iusr as Miller's (1998a) prevIOus erhnography of shopping [limed largely Into
22
Summary
whICh has
(Obviously tbis short list only includes a sample of the findings within each chapter.) Chapter 2 - Tl'lllldad alld the illfemet - All OvervIew (illcludillg Appelldix A) 2.1. Access to and lise of the Internet IS vasrly more Widespread than nllght have been expected. Our house to house survey revealed that while ,Hound one 111 twenty households has an Internet account, around one-third of households l11c1udc a regular Internet user. Even at very low Income levels, people purchase rop-of-the-range compmers, 111c1uding modems. 2.2. The Internet permeates Trll11dadian society as a
2.4.
Cha/}ter 3 - ReiatlOlIS/n/}S 3.1. The Interner has conSIderably srrengrhened rhe nuclear family rhroughoLJ[ the Tnl11dadian Diaspom, allowlllg closer relatIons between parents and children and between siblings. It has had an equally strong Impact on the extcnded family. 3.2. The use of random chat, espeCially wlthJll ICQ, has generated new forms of short-term, often anonYlllOUS, but aiso often profound and IlltIm<.lte rclatlonshlps between Trlmdadians and peoples of other countries, some leading to marriage.
23
The Internet
3.3. People are very sophisticated In how rhey distingUIsh between a serIOUS and a casual online rclanonslllp on the basIs of shared knowledge and IntimaCies.
3.4. Cybcrcafcs serve and generate a great vanery of new forms of socwlity and Internet use, parrly reflecting differences Il1 chelf spatJallayouc. 3.5. Particularly dr:lmanc has been the impacr of rhe Internee on some secondary schools, where homework, gOSSIp, relatlonshlps, and popular culture arc rapidly becommg dommJrcd by Internet use.
Cha{Jtet 4 - Bemg Trl11I Clnd Represelltmg TnJlldad 4.1. TnJlJcladians' nanona! Identity and culture IS central to chelf use of rhe Internet. Contrary to all the predicnons about a new global medium, rhey ;]l1chor thelf encounter with rhe Internet 10 their specific place. 4.2. Tn111dadians are always aware on the Internet that they are representmg Trinidad, and use the net [0 expound the Virtues of their Island. Tri111dadians are shocked by the Widespread Ignorance about Tnmdad they encounter online. 4.3. Chat has been mrned into a specifically Trlmdadian form of commumcanon, and one thar IS parncularly 1I11porwnt [0 the Internet expenence of Di~lSpOr;] Trinidadians. 4.4. TriI1ldadians" websltcs are nm lust about personal expression bm attempts to Crl'~He new forms of exchange, expanding the 'fame" of the mdividual and of Trl111clad 111 space and nme. 4.5. Trlmdadian busmess on the Internet tndudes a powerfully nanonalisnc aspmHlOn that translates commerCial success 111[0 eVidence for the presence of Tr!J1lcbd on a global stage. Ch~1lJter
5 - PolitIcal Ecol1omy of the 11Iternet
Conclusions
Chapter 6 - Domg Bltsmess Online 6.1. \X/e proVide a three-stage model of ecommerce development, 111 which The Nliss UnIverse webSite exemplifics the most sophisticated current use of Internet media for bus mess. 6.2. The advertlsmg agencies have played a unexpectedly muted if nor negative rolc m the development of webslrcs and ecommerce. 6.3. Developments m technical skills and commerCial acumen have often been our of synch, which genera res surpnsmg new roles for webdeslgn bUSInesses. 6.4. Sophisticated use of the Internet IS mcreas1l1giy aSSOCiated With II1teractive ltlterblCes and WI[h front- and back-office Integration that entirely restructures a company's operation.
Chapter 7 - ReliglO/1 7.l. Various religIOUS communities are usmg the Internet to resolve problems of space and locanon, rangmg from the Wider Diaspora to their parochIal
flock. 7.2. The Inrernet exposes mdivlduals to WIder and sometimes unorthodox theological diSCUSSIOn. ThiS may challenge but sometimes actually asslsrs 1t1stltutlonalized religIOUS bodies. 7.3. Specific technologIes such as chat and email have been found to have several advantages over face-to-face commuI11cation in the process of splfltual dialogue; ana logics have also been drawn to other forms of mediated communication such as the confeSSIOnal. 7A. The Interner may be read as a divme model of the future of a Church, and several groups Interpret the Internet expenence as a reachmg our to the divine.
5.1. An Ideal VISIOn IS emergll1g of Tnntdad as a high-value-added prOVider of services such as websltes and ecommeree to Norrh Amencan firms. 5.2. The local teiecomms monopoly IS regarded as the ermeal botrieneck thar has prevented Tnntdad from achlevmg thIS Ideal through deregulanon. Thl' case of Tnmuau [hereby illumll1aces [he most imporranr giobal rranstormanon of the decade. S .3. The dispures between the local Inrernet Service ProViders, the governmenr and the telecomms company hide a forrhcomll1g battle over the control of key commU111canons technologies and routes. 5.4. \Y./c can thereby see 111 Trintdad cenrral contmdicnons wlthm global neoliberal and deregulation poliCies that have been Illtensified through the advent of rhe Internet.
24
25
2 Trinidad and the Internet - An Overview In srarnng rhls proJect, we assumed [hm Tnnldad would provide an ethnographic sire of limited size and limned Internet development such that we could encompass most Internet usc there, Tbls turned our to be presumptuous: rhe Internet 15 already huge In Trinidad. Like us, readers will have to get beyond an 11113gC of an underdeveloped Island economy of sugar and toufiSm m whICh an elite mmonty have access [0 an expensive technology
through which rhey can comffiUIlIc3te WIth
3.
privileged global frarerI1lty.
There arc cc[[amly inequalities In access and diffUSIOn, derailed below; bur, S!I1CC rhe Internet made 1[5 emry In September 1995, It has nor onlv grown exponcl1nally, It has also perm eared all sectors of SOCiety, from (yachnes" [Q squ<.lrrers; all SOCial contexrs from work ro home [0 school to shop; ali senses of rhe furure, wherher personal (families 3re making huge mvesnnenrs m rcchlllcal edUC;1non and 'compurer literacy') or public (governmem's plans for eduGl[!on, mdusrnai development and irs own bureaucracy focus on lmerner); and Ir IS already ned [0 rhe resrrucruring of key economic secrors such as bankmg, rounsm and of course rhe mformanon rechnology bUSiness lrself. And that IS only the part of the story located on the Island of TflnJdad Irself. ThiS IS a popubnon m which the maJorlrY of families have members ar rhe nuclear level who are livmg rYPlcally 111 London, New York, Toronro or 1vliaml, mosr of whom have Imerner access and use as many facilities nor only [0 keep 1I1 [Ouch With family and fncnds 111 Tnl1ldad bur also [0 reconsnrure or enacr 'TnIll-ncss' online, qUIre ofren wlrh orher Tnl11 exparnares. \Y./e srarr wlrh a bncf survey of [he developmene of rhe Inrerner 111 Tfll1ldad and of why rhe Inrernce 15 curremly 'hor', In order co esrablish cmplflcally rhe exrem of Interne[ use we earned our a housc-[O-housc survey II1 four resldennal arcas. The dcrails of [his survey are given 111 rhe Appendix. In chiS chaprcr we presene a shorr general Imroductlon co Tnl11dad, followed by four porrraies of households uSll1g rhe Ineernee drawn from our survey. Finally wc conSIder rhe relanonslllp be[ween rhe Inrernee and a vanet~' of 50c1
27
Tile Internet
Trinidad and the Internet - An Overview
Overview of the Internet in Trinidad Let us start with <1 snapshot of rhe stare of play ar rhe time of research: The Internet began 111 Tflnldad in September 1995. Officlai!y, rhe country accessed the Internet Via one cable (a second was laid lfi June 1999) operated excluslvelv by the local telecommunications monopoly, TSTT. TIllS company also acts as an Internet Service Provider, In addinon [Q five other ISPs [hat buy bandwidth from It (see Chapter 5). Prlcmg structures were complex and changed frequently (and there were as yet no free serVice providers), bur were nor regarded as unduly expensIve so long as one kept to rhe monthly ranon of online hours [hat normally came free wah a subscnptlOn. ThiS plCrurc will change radically as a result of both deregulation and new rcchno!oglcalmfrJsrrucrures (notably satellite and other Wireless modes of delivery plus cable modems being rolled OUt later In 1999). Nonetheless, and despite variOUS llnporrant bottlenecks, Tnnldad had relatively cheap access, from iln~vwhere on the Island and over reliable phone lines. At every POInt in ItS history, demand for the Internet exceeded supply of bandwidth and pOintS of presence (POPs), causing slowness and busy Signals as ISPs 'maxed out" on people trymg to connect. How many people, households and businesses used the Internet? This cannot be reduced to any Single set of numbers because of the diversity of whar one might mean by 'use' and 'user\ and espeCially as a result of a distinction that IS Identical to the conventional publishing distmctlon between circulation and readership. For example, estimates ot the number of accounts held across all lSI's vary rather wildly between 17,000 and 25,000. In the vast mL"l)onty of cases, these accounts represent households or bUSinesses rather than IIldivlduals. TIllS IS In a populatlon of 1.2 million people, or 350,000 households. To tillS would need to be added private leased lines and even satellite links thar might serVICe many people In a large company, often With a very liberal policy concernmg personal use. A number of managers told llS that restricting use to company business was Impossible WIthout unilcceprable levels of surveillance, while It was IJ1 any case In everyone's mterest to build lip Internet skil!s and confidence through experience. We should probably also have to add on variolls kinds of piracy. TSTT bizarrely allows multiple sllllUltaneous use of an account, which means that an individual can sell on access to their account to several other people; we heard of il Janitor who WilS runlllng a pIrate ISP from the basement of hiS building. In addition to access through workplaces, there IS also access through cybercafes and libranes and mcreasll1gly through schools. As public points of access, these nor only II1crease the number of possible 'readers' per Internet 'copy" they also pomt to the fact thar pretty much anyone who wants to get
on the Internet m Trillldad is technically able to. Indeed, nowhere m Trinidadian society did the Internet feel remote or maccessible, and It was frequently wrapped up In SOCiable and familial relanons that made It even closer. So, even if we had an exact 'Circulation' figure, It would not represent a 'readership' of Single mdivlduals, bur rather households, busmesses, schools, libranes and in one notahle lI1stance an entire reSidential street that accessed the Internet through one local schoolteacher's account. ThIS IS espeCially llnporrant In a place such as Tflnldad, where mformanon moves through extended family, fflendshtp and community channels. Hence an account may mclude a teenager who IS charting online half the mght, every mght, bur also her grandmother"s cousm, who occasIOnally asks her to send an email to thell' relatives m Toronto. The 'readership' figure IS [herefore obVIOusly JUSt as Significant a number for us to Include m any measure of Internet use In Tflmdad - maybe more so; bur It IS one that will only show up through other methods. Hence we place great stress on the broad range of anecdores and hearsay that emerged through mtervlews and ethnographIc sites (especIally the c)'bercafes), and on our house-to-house survey (see the Appendix). Since our surve~' asked abour any Internet access on the parr of any member of the household it may prOVide a better pICture of how far the Internet has threaded ItS way mto people's lives and homes. Our results mdicated that somethmg like 30 per cent of households contmned at least one user (whIch means more than Just trymg the Internet once or tWice). Overall, around 11 per cent of all indiViduals are users, and around the same proportlon of households have computers. These figutes vaned enormously, depending on the SOClo-economlC levels of the areas surveyed (for derails, see the Appendix). ThiS represented a WIde range of use from InteflTIlttent to constant, and very different levels of integration IntO everyday life. Where people had their own accounts, we have the ImpreSSIOn they were well used, at least by one member of any given household, and at least up to the number of free hours that would come With a monthly subscnptlon. Although there was a lot of 'churn' (movement of customers between ISPs) It was unclear whether any or many people dropped out of the Internet once they had had access. Our ImpreSSIOn IS thar people on the whole stayed connected. ThiS degree of diffUSIOn was ImpreSSive, bur does not convey the shock of walkmg past the yard dogs In front ot a squarrerjs corrugated iron-and-plankbuilt hur With no runnmg water m order to ask the self-evidently daft question, 'Do any members of your household use the In[ernet?\ only to find oneself m a very well-mformed conversation about email, payIng for computer courses, career prospects m IT and library access. People know about It, have encountered it, have a sufficlenrly l11gh level of education and literacy
28
29
The Internet
Trimdad and the Internet - An OvervIew
make very good sense of It and [Q be Interested In [he wider world to which It can take them, and have rhe confidence and ambition to locate rhe Internet as parr of their future. It should be noted thar our research was Intended to look at 'ordinary" TnnlcbdiJI1 households, and our house-to-house survey was located In rhe provmc1<11 town of Chaguanas (Plate 2.1), 111 the same four areas rhnr were used by Miller (1994: 24-50) 111 IllS prevIOus research !11 Trlmdad. These comprised four settlements: a reSidential area, a government national hOllsmg authOrity area, a squatters' scnlcmcnr and a village bemg lIlcorporared Into rhe outskirts of a town. \Y/c would argue that thiS would be representative of rhe whole of Trll11dad. We excluded rhe cap"al (Port of SpalO), as well as 'upscale" reSidential areas to rhe north and west of Port of Spam and areas such as Valsayn to the east, where Internet access may well be almost universal. Hence we are not lookmg at the richest suburbs where, for example, the hugest local supermarket cham was mtending to pilot an online shopplllg and delivery serVice, and where a local company had opened Its first USstyle computer superstore, complete with cybercafe. Indeed, people m towns such as Chaguanas and San Fernando thought we were very odd for spending our time there when we 'should' have been 111 the cnpltal, where 'all' the Internet really was in Tnllldad. In fact, the Internet was eveq' where, so that leavmg out these wealthy areas where the Internet IS most advanced and Widespread still revealed to us extremely high levels of usage and access. tvloreover, this strategy gave us a much better sense of how ordinar)f Internet use has already become. So thiS book IS about tYPical usc, not the most advanced usage we could find. \X1hatever Its current state and scale, everyone agrees that growth has been and will continue to be exponential, spurred on by factors such as a massive 1I1crease III computer ownership and skills, falling pnces of hardware, software and access costs, telecomms deregulation, and mtegratlon of the Internet Into a broad range of activities. Above all, we need to relme thiS to the general sIze and quality of the Installed base of IT. Probably the b,ggest facror In the entire story was government policy. Firstly, the government abolished all taxes and duties on hardware and software. ThiS 111 conjunction With alreadyeXlstlllg International facilitJes such as SkyI30x and the Internet Itself allowed many Tnllldadians to take advantage of massively falling hardware prices m the US. Secondly, the government offered 1I1terest-free loans, payable over three years, to all public-sector employees. There was a massive take-up of this offer, as well as of eql1lvalent private-sector employee deais. Final!y, there was a government commltlnent to purnng Internet-enabled computers m all schools, libranes and government services. Moreover, mvestment III computers and the Internet fitted Into a wider backdrop of demand for other consumer
clcctrolllcs 111 Tnllldad, both tor prlvme and business use: Internet fever was not unconnected to mass purchasmg of computers, cellular phones and pagers throughom the population down to low mcomc levels. Pirated games and software circulated at high velOCity OW111g to an 1I1creased ownership of CD-wnte technology. It could be argued that 111 fact the major breakthrough 111 the diffUSIOn of Internet media h~ld been facilitated neadv a decade before, when the deregulation of teleVISIon had introduced people to choosmg across a huge r~1l1ge ot media m both content and technology \cable TV was hugely popular), as wellll1culcating a new reiatlon to global popular cultures and media. One Significant upshot was an extremely rapid nse m the number of computers, which not only caused a 1111111-boom m IT busmesses and emplovment (1I1c1uding tralllll1g, repair, mal11tenance and l11stallatlon) bur also resulted in very high levels of specification. Indeed the average II1sralled base, bemg on average more recent, may well be higher than that m the UK. 1Vlost Importantly, modems were standmd las were scanners and printers). Computers have rapidly become redefined as mJchll1es thar must be connected to the Imernet, as well as capable of domg word processll1g, games-plaYll1g, ete. Levels of bU5111ess hardware and connectivity seemed more patchy: while many finns of all sizes were fully computenzed, networked and connected to the Internet, wc also found many often large and International enterprises With few computers and perhaps only one pomt of contact to the Internet (a bele~lguered secretary or IT enthUSiast through whom all correspondence was funnelled, and who might additionally spend many hours research1l1g pnces and sourcmg goods over the net). ThiS was often due to conservative hlgherlevcl management, and a source of frustration to younger employees. ThiS mcluded not only old heavy mdustnai firms but also advernsmg agencies affilimed to parent compames that were market leaders JIl online publicity. Both busJlless and priVate users could understand the Internet either as sever~11 qUite serarnte or as a bundle of JIltegrated technologies. It was mere cOlllcldence that websltes, email and char were accessed through the same mechaillsm. The heaViest and most ulllversal usc was of email, for correspondence both between relatives and fnends and between busmesses. Although adoption was lIldisputably tJster and Wider amongst the young, the older parents and grandparents qUlckly saw ItS potentials and often could use It extensively, even if they had no other computll1g skills or Interest (or got someone else to send email for them). By contrast char - by which we mean any kmel of synchronous, real-tIJlle online COmml1111CatlOn, usually based on thl' exchange of typed lines by two or more partiCipants 111 a screen wll1do\\' - was much more prevalent amongst the ~'outh. Our research comclded With the enthUSiastIC reception given by Trinidadians at home and abroad to ICQ, a propnetary char system 111 which each registered partiCIpant had a ulllque
30
31
[0
The Internet
Trintdad and the Internet - An OvervIew
'pager' number. When [bat person went online, any friends or other comacts who had char number listed on thelf computer wouid be notified: hence, you could rell when fnends were around (as well as keep altering your list of 'I1!cks'to reflect your changing fnendshlp networks) and communicate With [hem through IIldivlciual and group char Windows. ivl0S[ Trinidadian surfing was based around web-based email accounts such as Honnail, sending egreenngs cards, dOing research, especially In preparanon for overseas educanon, and surfing popular culmce, sucb as lVITV, galllcs, lllUSIC and spans. People reguiariy raid us that pornography accounted for 60 or 70 per cem of slIrfing, yCt J[ was hard to find any real eVidence of prevalence at anything like that level despite the fact that it was not hugely disapproved of either socially or legally Ion the supply Side we couid find only one adult Site run by a Trmi). Some web-based facilities such as online games and multimedia are restncted by lack of the bandwidth necessary to make them work properly. Facilities such as lvIUD and Usenet newsgroups, which are strongly present m much of the prevIOus literarure on the Internet, are to the best of our knowledge entirely absent from contemporary TrinIdadian use. Some use of Inrernet telepbony, whereby the computer 15 used as a phone that can rransmlt digItIzed voice files over the Internet (and hence for the pnce of a local call) to anywhere In the world, was nored; Video phone was regarded ;]S a facility that might emerge at a later stage. All these Internet media fit wlthm prtor practices of commumcatlon. TflnIdadians conSider themselves as strongly annpathetlc to letter-wrItIng, but rather addicted to the telephone, prmclpally because the telephone seems much closer to the kmd of InStant spread of news and gossip that IS baSIC to that foundational p[JJ1CJple of Tnmdadian life - 'bacchanal' (Miller 1994: 245-55),
\XIe have built up a picture of the Internet as already Widely and deeply diffused through TrIllIdadian society and bUSIness. We will substantiate thiS picture here, and even try to quantify It in the Appendix. But none of thiS captures the central pomt: the Internet has generated great eXCitement, 1I1 which even those With little or no direct experience of it still feel thar somehow they arc parr of It and certaInly It IS parr of their fllture. While III the last section we needed to conSider email and websltes as merely contiguous technologies, we have to recognIze that they are also clearly transcended by the rhetorIC and presence of the Internet as a whole. Crtticalls the sense that the Internet IS 'hot' III contemporary TrinIdad. The Impetus for Internet use II1 Trinidad was not coming from rhe male, student-based nerd culture that
marked the first generation of metropolitan adoption, nor from gammg culture. Tnmdadians 1I1stead adopred the Internet m purslllt of popular and commerCial culture on tbe one hand, and domestic practicalities on the o[her. Although there was an as[QllIsh1l1g lI1vestment and Illterest 1Il upgrading computing skills (conspICuously across the gender diVide) thiS was distinctly careenst rarher than based on a fascination With computers 1Il themselves. The workrela[ed Impetus came from people recoglllzmg tbar it would be central to thclr careers. For youth culture III the Widest sense the adoption of the Internet 1t1 one apparent gulp came trom the deSire to access global popular cultures (mUSIC, film, soaps, sports and fashIOn) and to access each other via chat. All these factors contribute to the current 'buzz" about the Internet; but [he sense of ItS beltlg hot may arIse espeCially from ItS ability to harness three of the most Important aspirations 111 Tri!1ldad society, and what IS more, three that are normally seen as mutually exclUSive: First the ability to be 111 the vanguard of style, second to have excellent career prospecrs through the established prestige secondary schools, and rilltd the ability to bypass formal education and teach oneself the skills of the enrrepreneuflal future. In each case, the Internet IS style, but 111 a manner that cannot be reduced to mere fashion, since behll1d the 'buzz' are proround aspirations and a com1l1g together of deep deSires and longmgs. Irrespective of whe[her rhese rhings actually happen, these were the expectations that had been raised. The expenence of researchll1g the Inrernet III TrInidad was exhilaratlllg, and the sense of excitement generated by the response of those we met to thc mere fact that we were writing thiS book generated the kll1d or heady aura that might be more expected around an impending Carlllval than around S0111ethlllg thar 111 other regIOns IS the realm of rhe 'nerd', ObViously the Internet IS part of a larger IT revolution that makes it like the crest of a wave of pnor mterest 1t1 computing. But It IS nor mere froth, slllce the Internet radically changes rhe compu[er Itself from somethlllg more assoclared with secretaries and business to somethll1g that IS associated with the vanguard of style. The Internet becomes crucial to staYll1g in the vanguard of style through facilities such as IvlP3s that allow free access to the latest musIC, and proVide the ability to use It to make one's own compilations, and the ability to see what IS happenll1g on soap operas or IVITV before others, and [0 know about a mynad orher fashIOn-related topICS, where bemg the first to know IS cntlcal. In every high street III the country - even In small [Owns deep 111 rhe South and Centre of TrI 111 dad - there are signs offering to teach the population computing, Illcluding Inrernet use, and these far outnumber film billboards or other media-related sIgns. However, [he fact [har the Inrernet IS aSSImilated through hype and fashIOn does nor make it elther superfiCial or shorr-term. As argued in Miller (1994), there IS wlthm Trimdadian
32
33
The Internet as a 'Hot Topic'
The Internet
Trinidad and the Internet - An OverView
cultural values a powerful sense char style is much closer to profound aspects of "bclOg' than elsewhere, since being IS viewed by Illany Tnmdadians as manifested on rhe surface rarher [han as somethmg 'deep\ Internal and largely ullchangll1g (sec Miller 1994, Chapter 5). As a result, Trinidadians see as profound what others might sec as tranSient events or fashiOns. Therefore J[ IS lI11porranr [Q be III rhe vanguard of style and [0 know what IS happening. The traditIOnal 'lime" 111 willch people meet at street corners to ask '\Vha' happening" rhe centrality of radio to finding our rhe place to parry also exemplified rhe deSire to know what's hapPcl1lng and thence to partiCipate In lOtcrnanonal fashion and culture. Trlmdadians see themselves as rhe vanguard of rhe C3ribbean, often In clear rIvalry WJ[h Jamaica, and as always likely to be the first place JO the Caribbean [0 adopt the latest JOtematlonal fad. The alacrIty With which Trinidadians have taken to tbe Internet IS merely the latest JOstance of the same deme. Nalpaul (1962) noted rillS rlmst for modernlt\' JO The Middle Passage. The billboards of the high street do not advertise computers so much as advertise com purer tramlng, thar IS, education. In TrImdad education of all kinds continues to command a level of sratus and respect rhar IS no longer common In most contemporary metropolitan regions. ThiS IS not some throwback to colomal values. On the contrary, education m Trlmdad IS overwhelmingly successful at prOVIding - tor rhose who ger mto the rIght secondary schools - the key to their future. A common anecdote was that TrlmdadiJns are pro rata the most numerous nJtlOnality found at !vlIT, and It IS ccrtamly true thar such graduares are promment in facilitating Trimdadian web facilitlcs such 3S ICQ nctworks. There IS 3n international elite of Tri III dadlans already m place m several metropolitan counrrIes rhanks to the sheer level of educational success, so that the Internet IIlhents as much as It accentuates thiS route to further prestige. It IS also Significant that these billboards are advertiSing private and often unofficial educational Sites rather than established secondary schools and Ul1!verslt.v education. Indeed, they are advertiSing a means to bypass more officwl educational cbannels to prOVide a skill thar anyone can masrer and usc for rhelr own route to success. \'X1hile some of these establishments are 3 scam, 111 general they represent an aspiration that is demonstrably successful. A high proportion of the most skilled and knowledgeable users of the Internet and IT that we met were almosr entirely self-taught, or had merely done a course at some cybercafe and, havlllg caught the 'bug", gone With It. One IS expected to learn IT through practice: tor example, games and software are purchased and mastered without manuals. As several Tril1ldadians commented, 'we have the best car mechamcs m the world" indicatlllg a belief In their ability to teach themselves skills through pr3ctICe rather than formal educatlon.
\Y.Je have highlighted these three parncular aspirations because traditionally thev were regarded as separated and even antagonistic to each other. What makes the Internet hot IS thar It works on all three fronts and bnngs them II1to unprecedented compatibility. Yet these are only three of many Instances 111 which the Internet connects With Trinidadian aspiratIOns. In rhese and many other cases, those aspirations may nor ultimately be fulfilled; bur for now they are more than suffiCient to iead many Trimdadians [0 the conclUSIOn
The Isbnd ofTnnldad IS the brger part of the State ofTn111dad and Tobago, 4,828 sq. km., and lies In the south-eastern Caribbean 16 km. north-eJst of the coast of Venezuela. Tnnidad's history IS clearly presented 111 Brereton ( 19H I). The onglOal population of Arawak and Caribs encountered bv Columbus declined alongSide a rather paltry population ot Spal1!sh colonists. J\'lost of the co10l1la1 impact has come II1 the last two centunes, mamly under French cultural lIlfluence and British political control. Tobago will nor be conSidered 1J1 thiS book, sl11ce It has a very different history, population strucrure and self-charactenzatJon. Although some people from Tobago rook parr m thiS research, It IS not uncommon for them to be subsumed 111 the cultur::1i term 'Trmi' (though they strongl~l resent thiS). Slavery developed later m Trimdad than on other Caribbean Islands, and It was also less dependent upon massive sugar plantations, With crops such as cocoa havmg a major mfiuence. By the time a Significant slave population of around 10,000 was established, the slave trade was bemg abolished, and wlthm torty years came the slave emanCipation of 1834. Alre3dy at rhat time there was a Significant urban popu13t1on. Between 1845 and 1917 there arnved around 144,000 Somh ASian l11dentured labourers. Other Immigrants mcluded Spalllsh-speakmg 'peons' from nearby South America, but also Chinese mdentured labourers, Portuguese shopkeepers, Frencb royalists 3nd republicans, economic migrants from the .Middle Easr today known 3S SYrians, Black soldiers from the American Civil War, settlers from other \'X1est Imlian Islands (e.g. Barbados, 5t Vincenr, Grenada) and others. The sense of creolization and heterogeneity has been as much aSSisted by emigration 111 the twenneth century as by Immlgranon In the nineteenth. Trll1Idadians h3ve migrated In waves to London, Toronto, New York and iviiaml. ThiS has raken many forms. There IS a vast difference between the 111Igratlon of relatively low-skilled labour to the UK In the 1950s and current l111gratloll to the UK, which largely revolves around tral11ll1g In accout1rancy,
34
35
that the 1nterner IS hot.
A Brief Introduction to Trinidad
The Internet
Trinidad and the Internet - An Overview
mcdic!I1c and law. Otherwise Trmidadians today rend [Q migrate to rhe US or to Canada, also with an expecratlon of entry ar a hIgh level. Certamly if one inspects the alumni lists thm arc available on rhe websltcs of several of [he 'prestige" Church-run secondary schools there IS clear eVidence [hm success !Il the profeSSIOns abroad 15 morc [han juSt Wishful chmkmg (see Plate 2.2). Although Indo-Tfll1Idadians 111IgratJng to Canada In the early 1990s clallned political persecution In order to abram rights to stay, rhe essence of rhls and rhe other migrations was actually economic and above all educanonal. Trll1!dadians rend to 111lgrarc largely because even though cuucanonal smnciarcis arc high rhe CDuntrr slInpiy cannot compere With salaries abroad. Once a degree IS ohtamed a TrlI1ldadian IS faced With a chOICe between a higher salary 111 the host country and returnll1g home to a lower salary and a harder time finding a Joh relevant to that degree. Almost all the returnees we spoke With saw their rerurn 1I1 terms of the sacrifices they have made. In addition, a side-effect of high levels of education IS that many TnnIdadians have eXtenSIve cosmopolitan knowledge that leads some to thlI1k of metropolitan centres as their natum! home. ThiS replaces a prior bur parallel Irony explored by Nalraul (1987) In The ElIIgma of An"lVa/, where, hecause of the bias of colomal education, Tnmdadian culture seemed more naturally located In Bflt<:Im than II1 Tflmdad. The elite colol1lal population has seen ItS sCions depart at vanous moments of politic;] I emancipation. These have mcluded the establishment of the government of Ene Williams, leader of the People"s National !vlovement (PNIvI) In 1956, the achievement of II1dependence In 1962, and the Black Power struggles of 1970, when a combmatlon of popular protests and demonstrations together With a mutiny m the army came close to overrhrowmg the government. As a result of these movements an extraordinary number of Trinidadian families are 111 effect transnational. In a survey of 160 households Miller ( 1994:21) found that 101 could name a member of their nuclear family (parents, children or siblings) Iivmg abroad, 38 mentioned more distant relatives and only 2] stated thar they had no relatives livmg ahroad (compare Olwlg 1993 for a more extreme case). In 1990 the rotal population was 1,234,388. ApprOXimately 40 per cent of the population descrihe themselves '-15 Afflcan, 40 per cent as Indian and the rest as mixed or other. Although Tflmd<1d was ong!l1ally Important for growlI1g sugar, cocoa, coffee and coconuts, today Jgnculrure IS a mlI1ute component of the Tnl1ldadJan economy. For most ot thiS century Tfll1Idad has been dommated hy the discovery and export of oil and associated products (see Hintzen 1989; Singh 1989). Oil susta1l1S an mdustnal hase of products such as methanol and steel. In addition the Island IS an Important entrepot for re-assemhling goods such as cars and grocery products for home consumption and export to the other
Islands In the area (see Miller 1997, and for an ethnography of manufacturing see YelVington 1995). The capital Port of Spain has been a cosmopolitan
36
37
centre for tWO centunes. If oil took Trinidad to a higher level of development than most of the Caribbean from the 19205, the Island received tWO further boosts, one bemg the Impact of wages paid by Americans dunng the Second World War and the second bemg the extraordinary and sudden growth m mcomes and affluence follOWing the post-1973 oil boom (Amy and Gelb 1986). By 1986 most people had seen their wage packet grow bv something between a factor of five and eight over the prevIOUS decade. For the expeflential effects of this even on rurai areaS see Klass (1991: Chapter 3) and Vertovec (1992: Chapter 3). From 1982, however, the decline 111 oil pflces led to a receSSIOn, and the period of Miller's first fieldwork more or less COinCided With the bottoming our of thiS receSSIOn. ThiS was also the penod when Tfll1ldad had recourse to the World Bank and the IMF. The 1999 fieldwork suggested some modest rerurn to economic development, particularly amongst the poorest segments of the population. SucceSSIve governments have tned to lessen the dependency upon oil, bllt It remall1s the case that the major factors determining the wealth of the Island remam external to the Island itself. Unemployment and cutbacks 111 public services remam a significant concern. Tr1l11dad IS perhaps unusual 111 the degree to which Trimdadians have themselves heen responsihle for the development of Tflmdadian busmess. In the nmeteenth century It was largely local whites who developed the vaflOUS Import-export busll1esses that traded plantation goods for high-quality elite consumption items. From around the 1910s, transnational corporations such as Nestle and Lever Brothers have had an Important presence, though, With the exception of foreIgn-controlled oil campa Illes, they do not dommate (Miller 1997: Chapter 3). On the whole TnnIdadian multmanonals such as Neal and Massy, ANSA MeAl, or CLICO run enmely by Tnnldadians have been able to compete With global multinationals for Influence 111 the Caribbean. ThiS marches the self-perception of most Trmidadians of bell1g a successful entrepreneuflal people, aSSisted also by the (sometimes exaggerated) stones of Sllccess bought back by migrants returnmg from countnes such as the US, where It IS generally helieved dl
The Internet
Trintdad and the Internet - An OvervIew
and a m;:lJor Issue has been the possibility of Trinidad ever being peacefully governed by a parry dommared by rhe Indian population, With uneasy compansons bcmg made with rhe politIcal and ethniC strife in neighbouring
Tnnidad IS nnportant 111 thar It defies most generalizations that till recenriy diVided the world between areas of conSiderable Internet access and those with a dearth le.g. Calrncross 1997:22). While It does not possess all the attributes of a developed country, It nonetheless has little III common with most underdeveloped SOCietieS, for example those III Afnca (\X/resch 1998; compare neighbOUring LatlO Amenca Everett 1998). As such It IS a place where we may reasonably ask whether the Internet IS gOing to exacerbate global ll1equality or III some cases provide a promlSll1g developmental strategy.
GUY<1na. In the event, an Inclian-domll1
OppOSl[IOI1
led
b)1
Basdeo Panday
finally came to power 111 1995, and there has been no sign of any sllch mrmoil. Manv people [Oday hope tbar the shibboleth of race III politics has thereby been hlld [Q rest and rcpbced by rarilcr mmor disnl1cnons as [Q how best [0
ensure economic development and reduce rhe cnme associated With drug trafficking. Indeed, given dUH lhcn: was never a strong European-style SOCialist Ideology, Trinidadian polines looks radar rather more pragmanc than ideologICal (although nor ennrely so, as will be seen 111 Chapter 5). The reiatlon to commerce IS much closer to US than to European models, with a largely unchallenged thrust towards entrepeneunaIism. jv1anv Tnmdadians even when worklIlg III the public sector will be Simultaneously carrymg out small pnvate-sector lIl1t1atlves III their spare time. The language of free markets and level plaYlIlg-fields IS much accepted even where there IS resentment agalllst the stncrures of the Il'viF and the \X/orld Bank, whICh have crushed most protectlOlllst tariffs and currency restnctlons. As will be argued later, TrlllIdadians are not particularly committed to an Ideology of neo~liberalism, bur much the same effect has ansen from the attraction of an Ideal of freedom III economIC policy and III flows of I11formatlon and goods, alongSide a powerful commltlnent to personal freedom thar IS a legacy of slaver~! and other forms of oppressIOn. Tnllldadians III bus mess are, however, aware and resentful of the degree to which the Iiheralizatlon of trade has not actllally created a level playing-ficld. Tnllldad can no longer do much to prevent US and European Imports, but man~r of Its I11dustnal goods are discnmlllated agamst by US and European proteCtlOlllst poliCies. The economy of Tnnldad and Tobago IS relatively healthy. Over the past five years GDP has shown a fairly constant growth rate of 3 per cent, while mflatlon has remal11cd between 3 per cent and 5 per cenr. Unemployment III 1998 was at 14 per cenr. Recent years have seen under the tlItelage of the In/IF illcreasl11g divestment of public-sector enterpnses. A key factor IS the fluctuating oil pnce, which looked very low at the time of our fieldwork, bur has rlscn co a mllch higher level S1l1CC. The Trll1Idad and Tobago dollar floats treel)" but at the time of research was worth arollnd 6 US dollars. Overall life expectancy IS 73 years and 72 per cent of pupils continue to secondary school. Literacy IS very high} at 99 per cent. Although 29 per cent of the population live III rural areas, agnculture counts for less than 2 per cent of GOP. Along With the Bahamas and Barbados, the country probably has the best long-term prospects III the Caribbean.
38
Four Households Havll1g given an overView of both the Tnllldad and the Internet III Tnmdad, we need to turn to the expenence of Illdivldual Tflmdadians. We can do thiS by looking at some case-studies drawn from ll1terviews conducted followll1g our house-to-house survey. Our survey compnsed tWO hundred households, diVided Into four residential areas 111 the hlI1teriand of Chaguanas, a small bur flOUflShlllg town 111 Central Trillldad. Here we ll1troduce Just one house~ hold from each at the four areas, III order to give a sense of how the Internet connects With the lives of Tnmdadians from very different class backgrounds. The names of these areas are fictional Ifor derails see the Appendix and Miller 1994: 24-50).
A Meadows User Thc rvleadows exemplifies what 111 Tril11dad are called 'reSidential areas' wluch are built as 'up-scale' enclaves, 111 thiS case the wealthiest reSIdential area 111 Chaguanas. Plate 2.3 reveals some qUite grand housmg, as well as more ordinary suburban forms. Nevertheless even the richest ll1habltantS of Chaguanas would tend to be disparaged as relatively provlllcial by people in the much wealthier reSidential areas around Port of Spall1 ll1habited by the country"s elite. In our first case-study, knowledge and use of the Internet IS qlllte extenSlvc III the household, because both the father and son have a professlOnalll1volvement 111 IT. The Trinidadian husband and hIS Indian wife met while students at the UllIversity of London. Indeed, recently there was a twentieth anlllversary of their peer group, which resulted in the re-esrablish1l1g of links through email between students all over the world. Both parents have siblings and many other relatIves liv1l1g abroad III countnes ll1c1uding Kenya, Canada and the UK, and the wife III particular keeps III touch WIth them several tlmes a week. They also encourage their 12-year-old daughter to exchange emailswlthherCanadiancousll1aboutschool.friends and such
39
The Internet
Trinidad and the Internet - An Overview
like. The COUSinS also meet occasIOnally dUring reCiprocal VISitS. The Internet IS viewed as an 'unmitigated good', Although rhe time spent online means [hat phone bills have nor actually gone down, rhey feel they are dOIng a vast alllount more correspondence for rhe same amount of money. The wife, however COl1nl1UCS to wnre letters to her mother. An older son IS now workmg as a systems analyst lookmg to be promoted to the kll1d of Job that would pay around t[$10,000 a month. He used to do some charting, bur doeso"'t really trust It, though he IS Impressed by a frIend who IS marrY1l1g a Canadian whom he mer online when she made enqLIlnes abollt Trinidad for a vacation. He spends a couple of hours a day online. He uses e-commcrce for goods such as Japanese car parts and sofnvare, and buys from Amazon.com and other firms. He surfs mamly for work-related marerlal, though With some other regular POll1ts of call such as CNN. He also downloads MP3s, mainly to play at hiS office. He has seen portable IvlP3 players In Tnmdad, bur they are [00 expenSIve for 111m. At the moment he IS thlIlklng hard abour a new personal web-page. He had done one as part of a course, on which he published Ius resume and a pho[Ograph, but It hadn't been very Interesting; and rhls time he wanted [0 make a more seriOUS Job of Ir. He has been lookIng ar many other personal web-pages. He IS struck by rhe way TritlIdadians pur themselves forward as Trims, and he feels rhelr sites are otren as sophisticated as those of foreigners. He has been borrow!l1g! raklIlg whar he regards as Inrerestlng pieces from such web-sJ[es, for example clocks and counters or ammatlons ot mOVIng warer. ThiS IS In preparanon for hiS own new Site, which will be hosted on a free prOVider, alrhough he knows thiS willlimir the sIze. He wants to give some personal Information, bur beyond that he Simply can't deCide how to gIve It any further character. He has friends who have their own web-sites, one of whom runs the local pttbull terrier club, With many pIctures of the dogs on hiS sire. Bur for hiS own parr he has no particular hobby, and is so far w[thour a theme, which IS pcrhaps why the sire has not yet been created.
from a Store In a nearby town. She rook the full tt$15,000 loan, calculating that she could march a monthly payment of tt$415 dollars over three years, and noted the advantages she gained as a cash purchaser. NotWIthstanding the tact that the typical Income of the Civil servants and policemen thar domInare the area would be around tt$3,500 a month, With taxes at 28 per cent and rent at rr$350 a month, Emily suggested It was no surprIse that most households in the area were about to embark on the same purchase~ mdicJtlJ1g the high PflOflty given to galJ1l1lg access to computers and rhe interner. lVlore surprising to us was one purchaser who hau alsu takcn up a loan to purchase a 11Igh!y spccified computer (justified as a buslJ1ess IJ1vestment) despite haVIng no regular IIlcome and bemg unable to pay hiS electriCity bill. Emily was probably nor the retailer's faVOUrite customer, In that she not only used her rrade ulllon traInll1g to bargalll hard on the orIgll1al purchase but slJ1ce then has phoned up With all manner of enqmries about uSlJ1g the machll1e with the expectation of prerry rapid home serVICing for all problems. She used the Internet for research and coursework material In relation to both her teaching and trade ulllon work. She also saw the Internet as crUCial to Tril1ldadian development, and was actively 111volved, through the rcachers' union, In pushing for Illcreased computIng facilities III schools. A particular II1centive IS commu11lcanon with her daughter III the US. As she purs It,
A Newtown User Newtown IS an example of the many settlements constructed by the government's National HOUSing Aurhonry, and often largely inhabited by publicsenor workers or supporters of rhe prevIOus PNlVI governmenr. Plate (2.4) shows thar the OrigInally Identical houses are now being personalized by rhelr tcnams. Emily IS a confident larglsh woman III her Slxnes, With a hearty laugh, and a strong belief in her own common sense. Although already pruned by her sister III Canada, It was rhe government loan scheme pur forward In the last budget, and for which she was eligible as a schoolteacher, rhat was the catalyst for her recent purchase of a computer With all the trimmings
40
41
The Internet
Trinidad and tile Internet - An Overview
to download games, which she restricts to solitaire. Somenmes rhls can
over the ncr.' He IS aware of pornographiC use by rhem~ but then he IS open about hiS own use, noting 3[ one pOint thar he would not usc hIS credit card for such purposes, because of the dubiOUS nature of the firms concerned. In general he feels his family, like most Tnmdadians, would be drawn to the sexual mateflal on the ner. He IS qUite prepared to usc ecommerce With established firms, and recently managed to obra1l1 a supers,lVer British railway ticket m advance for a VISit to the UK. Indeed, checking OUt places he IS about to VISIt IS an important parr of IllS SlIrting. He has only stopped bUy10g himself and hiS wife books on Amazon.com because he feels they ended up bUY10g far more books than ther were actually reading. He also rook readily to e-greetlng cards, and rec~ntly sent twenty Ivlother's Day cards ro 'fnends who happened ro be mothe;s', He was f~sc1l1ated by th'e possibilitles of the net when these first emerged, wherher charrmg, surfing or at one tlme playing chess, and at least had an IOltIallook at all the 'weIrdness' that could be found there. Bur one has the ImpreSSion thar much of the novelty has worn off, and the mam usage IS now seen as largely mundane.
become a more sociable event, as when many ot rhe kids came co see rhe 1vliss UIl!vcrsc sire and wcm on [Q rhe assoclmcd IIlform,uion about rhe contestants and rhe char between [hem i:md the public. <J[ was fun', bur may also be why her husband compia!l1s [hat he doesn"t sec much of her these days.
A St Pauls User Sr Pauls, rhe only one of [he four serricmcnrs to have eXisted more than 25 ycars before rhls study, consIsts of a village that has since been II1corpofarcd mro rhe town. It has had more time to develop rhe diversity of h01l51llg thar can be seen 111 Plate 2.5). It was therefore less likely to have a 'typical' user, and no stich claim IS made for Bnan, a senior sClcnnsr who lives With hiS wife and three of 1115 four children aged between "16 and 25 (one has now left home). Brian IS unusllJl m thar he has had a computer at home s!l1ce 1983 and email from the early 1990s, though then only by gomg to a com purer lab. For the last three years all hiS Internet access has been at home. He receives at least one hundred emails a week, the majority connected With hiS work bur many from fnends and relatives, almost entirely those iivmg abroad. ThIS has been Important m reinvlgoranng hiS reiatIonslllps With his brothers 1!1 Scodand and Canada, and With several old fnends he had grown our of touch WIth. He goes online tWice a day to check these emails, at which PO!l1t he usually finds that one of the ten or so people who typically make up hIS ICQ list will also be online. Ivlost days he will at least say hello ro one of these, but not necessarily engage 111 any long char. He had been on a twenty hour per month contract, bur hiS daughter's !I1volvement WIth an Amencan boyfriend drove this up ro forty, SiXty and eventually one hundred hours per month. Another of hIS children IS studYing compurers, despite WhiCh there has he en no domestic discord over access to the home computer, which IS dommated by his profeSSIOnal concerns. All the family surf the net, and use email, chat and ICQ, mcluding hiS wife, who at first opposed ICQ. As far as he knows, however, the net IS used ro continue relationships with people they had met 111 person, rather than anyone they had Inma!!y encountered online. He and others do use random chat, bur this IS specifically for short-term encounters. He IS Circumspect abour such relationships, s1l1ce he uses hiS real name online and, as he noted, 'the woman makmg advances might Just be )'our own wife m disgUise", Also one of his fnends IS heading for a divorce owmg ro hiS wife"s finding another man online whom she Wishes to marry. On the other hand he IS qUIte liberal about what J-llS children encounter m their surfing, feeling they arc qUite old enough and mature enough to aVOid any bad consequences - 'I know they can't get cocaine
42
A Ford User Ford IS part of an eXtenSive setriement of squatters, one of many such around the country. There has been some improvement 111 recent years, and although wooden sl~acks can still be found (in one case with an Internet user) larger concrete hous1l1g IS developing, as can be seen !l1 Plate 1.6). Colette IS a sixteen-year-old girl. Her mother has four children from three different fathers, and is marned to the father of her last two children, who also has tWO children from a prevIOus marnage. He works as a plumber while her mother does an occaSional 'ten days' (the government unemployment relief scheme). They live 111 a wooden house on stilts, bur arc about to lay the foundatlon for a concrete house. Colette herself IS a clearly articulate, weli-ll1formed pupil with a keen mterest m reading, but also watches cartoons and films on TV. She obramed good marks 111 her common entrance exam, which allows her to attend a school m Port of Spall1, from where her prospects would be good if her family can find the funds ro pay for the next stage of her education. At present Colette's mam access to the Internet IS through a relatlve who lives 111 The Ivleadows. Bur she IS still very much a '-newble', prImarily dabbling <.It surfing rather than email or chat. \Ve watched her surf at a local cybercafe. Her pnmary Il1terest was Il1 the sites devoted to canaan characters, such as those that helVe emerged from the ongmal 'dungeons and dragon" style, where each character IS deSignated as havmg vanous personality tmits such as 'given to beheading theIr opponents' and presented 10 colourful graphiCS. At one
43
The Internet
Trintdad and the Internet - An OvervIew
pOint Cole[[e appeared keen for us nor [Q help her, and was trying to rurn off the computer. It transplted that a frIend had given her a web address to look up which was said [Q be 'interesting', It turned oU[ to be a porno Sire, and every time she tned to get our of rhe sire It merely duplicared Itself on
her screen. Our sense of eolcue's Involvement in rhe web meshes with that of Ford as a whoie. If her family find rhe resources to keep her 1I1 educJnon, she clearly sqll~lt[er
JOining rhe middle class if nor rhe elite wlrbm a single generanon. She IS nor In any way Innmldared by her experience of places such as The Nleadows. Her family have reianves In has rhe ability
[Q
move trom being a
[Q
the USA and she shates the self-confidence of most TrInidadians that the USA is a relatively easy place to succeed, both educationally and financially. Bur iVlilier has seen many people In her community over rhe years With Similar high levels of skill) Informanon and emrepeneunalism who have simply never had [he capI[al [Q gain char educanon or set up that bUSiness, and remain for their emIre lives In the precanous world of parnal and temporary employmen[ ilnd limited access to facilities such as the net. In that case the In[ernet may wcll remam little more than something [Q have occasIOnal fun With.
The Internet and Social Divisions We began this chapter by nonng our surprise that access to [he Internet In Trinidad IS so Widespread, as IS the sense even amongst those who do not use It thar thiS IS the directIon In which the Tnnldad world IS gOing. ThiS produces another kind of surprise: thar the Internet does not appear to Tnmcbdians as exclUSIOnary and diVISive; It seems [Q Cut across rather than exacerbate SOCial diVisions. In this regard, Tnnidad breaks with common preconcepnons of a developing countnes, In whIch new technologies are supposed Simply to Increase inequalities and stratification. Although TrinidadIans' optimism has to be qualified In some respects (see below, on employment), nonetheless In iooklng at the Intcrne[ through the gnd of claSSical SOCiologICal categories of diVision (class, gender, age, ethmclty) our first finding was that people saw the Internet III inclUSive rather than exclUSive terms, and thar In many respects they were right. Whether these potentials are realized will depend on many future developments. ivlost people we encollntered clearly connected the Internet With the Idea of 'the level playing-field': It represented relatlvely low emry costs Jl1 terms of hoth skills and money [Q markets, Informanon, contac[s and culture. Via [he Internet, a small bUSinessperson could sell to an In[ernational marker on the same terms as a multinational, any schoolchild could use the largest library 44
history and get access to news about Jobs, courses and scholarships, and anyone ~ollid know 'what's happening". Thus Henry, a young computer whiz nl~nlng between at least three different Jobs and buslllesses:
In
The whole rhmg IS level plaYlllg-fieid. Everyhody startlllg trom the same level ... I have a company called [he Mini\Vizard. If you check any register ot buslilesses you will not find it. 1f you check anywhere, hard copy, paper, government officcs, you will nor find IL But it you go on the Internet, It eXists, 1t"S there. Because It's a name I wanna reglsrer and everrrhmg bur I have already starred garhenog my mformatlon and dOlllg m)' trading and bemg known as - thar"s what the Internct has allowed me, Without tinancmg of m~' own, whatever, wharever, YOli Just get lip and do 1[,
ThiS Ideal was taken very serIously, and contrasts wJ[h [he expectanon shared hy much of the literature' (e.g. Calrncross 1997:22; EisensteJll1998; Haywood 1998; Holderness 1998) that the Internet would exacerbate differences of class and country. I[ also tallies WI[h Trinidadian Ideals of entrepreneunalism and free compe[;non, and thiS IS crUCial to the way It IS beJllg adopted: people sec the Interne[ as overcomlI1g traditional harrIers and diVISIOns and try to use It 111 thiS wav. ThiS IS very clear III [he case of education, where there has been an enorm~us embrace 'of the Internet as a study tool and children are encouraged to use It as a homework tool (indeed children from a prestige girls schooll11formed us that they will only research topiCS they can pursue over the net, regarding books as redundant). ThiS could be perceived as a huge levelling force JIl a country that focuses JIltenslvely on education as a pflmary means of SOCial mobili[y yet has an education system strongly skewed towards selection. Almost Without exceptlon parents want their children to galll a placc III the prestige secondary schools through the '-common entrance" system. Three-quarters of those who attend such schools end up \vlrh a successful career III a foreign country, where they wil! certal11ly regard themselves as middle-class. In aspiration at least this IS a middle-class country through and through. Since, however, most people do nor go to the prestige secondary schools and a place 111 the rest of the education system has been a barner to such International prospects there is every reason to conSider Tnmdad as havll1g an entrenched class system (see Henr}' 1988; Ryan 1991). In addition, there IS a closc articulation With cthl1lclt)' {goll1g back [0 a tlmc when class and cthllJclty were largely synonymous (e.g. BralthwaJ[e 1975; Ryan 1991 )), 111 that certalI1 ml110rltJes - White, SYrIan, ChJllcse and P~rtllguese - will tend to assume that theIr children will find places Il1 these prestige schools, while ar leas[ 111 proportional terms few of the African and Indian popula[ions can be quite so sanglllne. Furthermore, the education
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The Internet
Trintdad and the Internet - An Overview
system and ItS consequences will rend [Q be reflected In Income levels, so [hM The Meadows IS found 111 the census to be as clearly differennared from rhe other areas surveyed by IIlcome as It IS by cdUC3n0I1
have not been up to speed In prodUCing IT skills (and mdced there IS much CfltiCISIll of the Umverslty for not generating SUitable graduates), there has heen a huge Illvestmcm on the part of even the poorest people nor only III computer hardware bur also III pnvate tuition, as we have Indicated. ThiS IS part of a broader !Ilvestment 1Il education as a mobility strategy that has led Tnllldadians to buy mto many kmds of private education 1Il recent years, bur IS qUite spectacular III IT and the Internet. !vlore specifically, pnvate Internet tr
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Trinidad and the Internet - An Overview
rhe email, but rhe ecommerce and contracts are passlIlg from male to male. A graduate woman systems analyst and programmer In [he US, facmg a forced return ro Tnilldad at the end of her visa, recued an honour roll of returned women englneenng graduates from rhe US Ivy League who were makmg cups of coffee for their male bosses. Her pOint was dearly substantiated by the follOWing male member of the elite Miss Umverse d~slgn ream (see Chapter 6):
Similar pomts could be made about ethmClty and employment. Although It IS one of the domlOant topiCS 111 rhe SOCIal sCJ(~nce literature on TfJllIdad le.g. YelVington 1993; Rheddock 1999), ethnICIty lVas generally almost absent frol11 our study 111 that unless we raised the issue there would be silence: most Trillls did not regard It as a salient diVISIOn 111 relation to the Internet. Although people constantly foreground ethmClty 10 relation to ownership and control in other economIC seCtors and occupations (cf.1Vliller 1997: 8490), It was not regarded as relevant here: people of all ethlllc mixes were caught up 10 the general fever of Internet use, trallllOg and deSire for employment IO a dynamiC, expanSIve and apparcntly hlerarchy-upsernng sector. And yet 111 reality, thIS IS agalO mediated partly through access to 11Igher levels of prestige education (where ccrta1l1 ethlllcitics are ovcr-represented), but also through access to hIgher levels of capItal and enrrepreneurwl skills and connections: It IS no accldenr that amongst the bIggest players 10 the emerg1l1g telecomms bartles (Chapter 5) were both Chtoese- and Portuguese-descended entrepreneurs.
In other words, although we have no doubt that [he Internet has opened up many opportUnities 10 terms of both Jobs and access to skills With willeh to tocrease mobility for all sectors of the population, at the same time It IS quite capable of throwing up new and escalating hurdles - necessary SOCial caplra\ (networks and connections), educational capital (ever hIgher necessary levels of deSign, programmlllg and ecommerce skills), and financwlJeconomlc capital (investmenrs needed to launch Internet-based enterprises). One rather more problematic area IS age. As everywhere, Internet skills and practices are a young person's (man"s?) leverage against older heads to busmess and other illerarchles. It was clear from many meetIngs and interviews that older managers and owners were regarded as not undersranding either tbe use or the Implications of new technologIes (though thiS sometimes rurned our to be quite unrrue), and were regarded as barners to lI11plementing them. IT would be represented in the orgal1Izatlon (including religIOUS organizations) by young and frustrated Turks who felt they could deliver the future if given half a chance. The~' were also generally clear that Introduction of the Internet would lead to the klllds of further orgal1lzatlonal changes (devolution to flexible work groups, hOflzonral connections on the baSIS of skills) that would reduce vertical lines of power and hence dinlll1lsh the authOrity of age. However, 1Il talktog about age we are SImply talklllg about those who have already passed the hurdles of class, gender and ethl1lcity. If we shift our conSIderation of socwi diVISion from education and Jobs to a Wider sense of usershlp and content the picture of Widespread diffusion and inclUSIOn IS rather more posltlve. As our survey reveals (see the Appendix) access and use are skewed to the more prosperous strata; nonetheless, for the purposes of use as opposed to employment It IS not hard to get some access, for example, to get emaiis sent or to get IOformation. Similarly, even if the level of skills reqUired to be marketable IS escalating, nonetheless the skills necessary to send email, build a personal webSite, conduct web searches and so on seem already to cur across class, gender, ethl1lclty and even - though to a lesser extent - age. !vloreover, lIlformation and expenences garnered on the Internet could break through the parochwllimits of these SOCial diVISions, <1S With a 16-year-old schoolgIrl to a provlIlciai cybercafe finding out about forms of employmcnt she had never heard of beforc and consequently rcexamllllllg her skills and qualificmions 1Il quite new directions. \X1hile our survey shows no Significant difference to the degree of pfivare use by m<1ies and fcmales, thiS IS not to say that men and women are developlI1g Idcntlcal parterns of usage: for example, III school diSCUSSIOns about use of the computer at home, male versus female usage seemed fairly equal, and the Internet was equally welded Into boy and girl youth culture, and yet the genders may diVide 111 stereotypical ways Isee 'male hackers and female
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The women who an: Involved on ollr ream are mvolved more along the line of project co~ordinanon and PR and marketmg ... At the begmnmg of the proJCCt when we really thought we would need forry HTJvlL programmers, we had rons or schoolgIrls who knew HTML and JUSt wamed to cOlTIe 10, and we had a lor of women who were lJ1 rhar field. It was only when we saw the scope at the project and involvlng.:tll these people only caused more damage and we s~l!d let's keep the ream we havc and JUSt brmg on one at a time as we necd them. So none of them came on board.
The tightly eo-ordinated core team that remained was not only male, but male graduates of UWI, though 'only two or three of them graduated 111 the field that they are m now - , , !vlost of them are self-taught and most of them see It as a kind of hobby.' That IS to say, they might fit the profile of an unconventional career rome outSide credentlalist hierarchies, but thev were nonetheless as unlikely to have come from Ford or even Newtown ~s they were to bc women. So, as 1I1dicated 1O rhls quotation, a radical shift awa~ from a reliance on traditional credentials does not mean an end to COl~ servatlsm with respect to gender.
The Internet
Trinidad and the Internet - An Overview
viruses' in Chapter 3). In our study of home use amongst Tnnldadian couples based In the UK a regular motif was the gradual emergence of rhe female a5 a kind of social secretary of rhe Internet. Much of [he rounne emailing Jnd char devolved on to females, even [Q rhe extent that rhey became rhe condUit for mtormanon between thelf husband and his family. In some cases women
EthlllClty was an area 111 which we would have expected some differemlatlon as [0 usage or coment, given thar 111 almost every other aspect of life, and cerral11ly 111 polincs, ethlllc distinctions are the paramount parameter of SOCial and personal Identification 111 Tnmdad and one of the mal11 tOpiCS TfJllIdadians tend [0 talk about. Yet ethnlClty did not arise In interViews or observ::ltIon. There seemed to be an extraordinary absence of ethnlCHY from mundane areas sllch as online relanonshlPs (Chapter3) and identity expressed
personal web-pages (Chapter4), where we would cerramiy have predicted It. The mal11 factor that may accoum for thiS IS the overwhelmmg emphasis upon a superordinate level of Identity, that is, nationalism (Chapter 4), comblllcd With the relatively apolitical nature of Imernet use as agalllst the Imporrance of politics to general diSCUSSIOns III other contexts. It IS possible that thc apolitical nature of Internet use 111 Tnmdad may foster a depolitlclzcd and therefore conservative ethos, as IS Implied in a recem article on nearby Venezuela; but It IS too early here as rhere to be at all sure (Leiter 1999). There IS one major exception to rillS pICture, discussed 111 Chapter 7~ 111 which ethniC and political Implications of the Imernct are fundamental to the Hindu commUl11tY. Furthermore, after our study was complete a webSite was founded that IS cleariy Imended to I11terpret all Tnmdadian news from the perspec[lve of a clear Indian position. l\!lost of the artICles 111 their online newspaper, 'Tnnidad News" represent Indian InterestS alone. With artJCles arracklllg the governmem for spending any taX money on Carmval, and one writer describll1g 11lmself as 'a secondary school graduate who is deeply concerned about the emasculation of Hindus 111 all respects), It IS nor surprising thar opponents (one of whom IS represented on the aSSOCiated bulletin board) clearly regard the SHe as representing a paranOId and raCIst sector thar has resorted [0 the Internet because It failed to find any place wlthm the convennona I media. It would be qUite wrong, however, to allow the sl11gle case to comradict the general direction of our eVIdence. JUSt as online ethmclt), seems submerged wlthm a more global Tn11ldadian nationalism, many other differences are filtered through a sense of the Internet as bell1g overwhelmmglv about popular culture, and mdeed that It IS Itself a form of popular culture and style, as l1ldicared earlier. Just about anybody can send e-greenngs, go to the NITV Site, download tvlP3s and ch::J.t on 'de Tn11l Lllnc' in ICQ. At the same time, because Internet content IS dommated by popular cuirure we might expect thiS to do no favours to the mlddleaged, ler alone rhe elderly. Terms like MTV, MP3, Nike thar mIght build bndgcs across gender, class and ethl1!clty may produce SOCial exciusion by age. Formal statistics gained by other research (e.g. the demography of users of free Internet services in libranes, and the register of users of cybercafes) would suggest thar age was perhaps the most Important category of discnmlI1atlon for Internet use 111 Trillldad. Bur thiS needs much qualification. In the house-to-house survey age distingUIshed type of usage rather than access. For example, many users m The Nleadows are middle-aged bus111esspeople and profeSSIOnals who use the Internet at work and have extended thIS to the pnvare sphere. They pay the bills and assert their pnonty fights when It comes to US111g up the monthly free hours from their ISP. The differences are rmher that the young dommate the area of chat, and certam topiCS such as
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were scarchmg websltes for thelf husbands' profeSSional rrall1lI1g Il1l11eciicme or law, For example:
Q A
Q A Q A
So \Vhar about your husband, how much does he use It? Not much at all, I do all hIS work for hIm. So baSically you arc much more Into It than he IS? Yes, I done all rhe researches for hlnl and we usc it for rhe classifieds when applY1l1g for Jobs. Do you Write to your parenrs? !loth parents, my husband's and mine. I will ger rhem, I do all rhe wrlt1ng, I do all rhe emailing and he will say 'Tell me the gIst of ;r."
On rhe other hand, men seem more read}' to complain about the expense [Q makes Jokes ahout thelf WIves' 'Internet boyfriends' and to compialll if Internet use gets 1!1 rhe way of domestic dunes such as cooking dinner. Women might find rhe online expenence of Internet use liheratlng, bur there were clear constraints 011 thelf ability to translate th15 111[0 offline changes In gender relations. Gender difference 15 also hugely lI11porranr to organiZing online behaViour. The PrJIl1C example IS char and ICQ: In rhe v::J.sr m~:lJon[y of cases, users made It eVident [hat ch:.1[[ing With S
InclIrred by wives' lise of the Internet,
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The Internet
MP3s and games, while older people rend ro surf for commercial and family concerns. Alrhollgh Ir IS school-age children who mosr fully Inhablr a world where Internet usage diffuses through [he playground and permemes [he If daily SOCiety (see Chapter 3), nevercheiess they may have [helf access limIted at home. Furthermore, Trll11dad IS not a country where people slip easily II1ro age-bound roles. There are plenty of wnnkles generated by rhe smiles and bughter of Carnival and associated partYing. In general, however, It IS
Trintdad and the Internet - An Overview
rhe book. The followlJ1g chaprers deal \VIrh very differenr roplCS, from commerce to religIOn to nationalism. We Simply cannot predicr the furure Impact of the Internet except to suggest rhar the Impact IS likely to be different in each of rhese diverse areas.
probablv rhe elderly who feel mosr Isolared from and ieasr able ro ur even deslrolls of 'keepmg up' With yet another new technology. But there is some eVidence that the centrality of email to family relations IS being grasped
by sume of rhe elderly. Moreover, rhe resr of rillS volume deals wlrh roplCS such as religion and commerce, which arc by no means dominmed by rhe young.
Conclusion The Internet cannot paint Itself on to a blank canvas. Trinidad IS nor a homogeneolls soclery, and In Ir the Inrerner firs Into a Wide range of disrlnctlons and meers many SOCial barners. We have shown thar In certain areas such as the world of work these may result In Internet access and use becoming an expression of class and gender Inequaliries. Even the enrhuslasm and entrepreneurship we saw in many indiViduals may nor be able to overcome enrrenched distinctions of gender, class and erhmc!ty, although It IS rather early to tell. Ir would be qUIte wrong~ ho\Vever~ to reduce rhe Internet to a mere symbol of prior social diVISions. The main lesson from thiS chapter IS that the Internet IS already becoming an Integral part of how Trimdadians perceive and reproduce these diVisions. \VJe were however wrong In some of rhe assumptions With whICh we starred the research. Internet culture IS mass culture here, and brIght-eyed techmcal whlz-Jods and aVId users are coming from almost any background. A study we expected would be of certain relatively wealthy communmes turned quIte
clearly
1J1[Q
a srudy of TrlJ1ldad - a srudy rhar oughr ro Include groups such
as squatters precisely because they have already struggled to Include rhemselves. As the means towards sryle, towards knowledge and towards expanding one's position In modermry rhe Internet IS remarkably 1I1c!uslve. Nonetheless, we are presenring a snapshot at a very particular moment in time. Some of rhe rechnologles described, such as ICQ, have been In common use In Trinidad for less rhan a year. Already these rechnologles are lending themselves to differenr uses; Indeed, these diverse uses rarher rhan the technologies rhemselves are now the dnv1l1g force, as we will be discllss1l1g rhrough rhe rest of
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3 Relationships A recent acivcfnslllg campaign for a Brmsh beer company proclaimed that rcal men go our ro rhe pub and relate to females, nor Just to emails. It reflected a widespread assumption \shared by some academICS) that rhe Internet gencr<.ltcs a culture of 'nerds' who substitute vlrtua! relationships for 'Tcal' ones, a ch<.uge that IS l11adequare!y mer by the OppOSI[C argument that vlrruai relationships are themselves real. The opposition of real and virtual m both cases completely misses rhe compleXity and diverSity of rclanonshlps char people may pursue through rhe COmI11UIlICanVe media that rhev embed In thelf ongOing SOCial lives. The pOint 15 made dearly by rhll1kll1g back lusroricallv to the times when 'old (media) technologies were new' (Jvlarvl11 1988). \'Vorries abour rhe reality of telephone or telegraph reiationshlps and their Jll1P<.lct on 'real' (i.e. face-to-face ones) may have been rampant at the time of their Introduction (Stem 1999), bur It IS no surpnse thar the bulk of presenrday telephone advertlsmg can rake It for granted that the telephone IS WIdely accepted as a means of enhancmg and developing relationships, not for replacing them. \X'here public concern re-emerges - as with the introduction of mobile phones - It IS articulated in far less giobal, far more contextualized terms. Hcnce, we will pursue [he present diSCUSSIOn as it the Internet technologies were older, rcflect111g the alaCrity With which Trinidadians have JJ1deed embedded them 111 relationships, IgnOring the Issue of 'real' versus '-virtual', Tim IS particularly eVident 111 looking at the family, espeCially the diaspora family, With which we beg111, The second section exam111es the use of the Internet 11l friendships, 111c1uding those that develop Into love and marriage, and the third section deals With rhe Immediate spaces 111 which Internet use and relationships rake place, llSlng as examples our studies of cybercafes and of Internet lise amongst schoolchildren. FinallYl 111 the conclUSIOn some of thiS eVidence wil! be conSidered 111 terms of the history and theory of Trll1Idadian society.
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Relationships
From Diaspora Family to Internet Family
" The term Diaspora here IS used to llldude nor only Trinidadian bmilies that live overseas hur also tamilies that arc splir between reSIdence III Trimdad and overseas. Ohv!Ousl~' this Joes not accord WIth the usual dcfimrion 01 rhe term Diaspora, but we ted rhe text would lose r;nher than gam dam\' bv trymg to specifY the degree at transnatlonalism In each case. With n:specr to rhe Issue ot Internet usc we are concerned WIth all situations where some members ot a tamilv that \WIS once rrom Trinld.ld now live oll(side Trimd
On the other hand, while the phone has dam lOa ted contact amongst family members It was Viewed as Inordinately expensive. It tended to be associated With less frequent use and therefore WIth a very different temporality, appropnare tor the exchange of news rather than casual communication. Telephones were also conSidered to be more sllltable than email for speCIal occasIOns and lifetime events such as births, marrIages, deaths and other rites of passage, bur as tar roo expensive for enaCtIng what are held to be the more 'Tnni' forms of commUIllCatlOn, mvolvmg limll1g, banter and ole ralk, which were pleasurably performed through email and chat las discussed In Chapter 4), where time could flow more naturally Without an eye on the phone bill. But thIS connects to a Wider sense of why email and chat could so easily serve the purposes of re-esta blishmg normal or normative family relations: conversatIon could be mundane, everyday, mtlmate tn a household way, In both stvle ;lnd content. Internet communication could shift contact from once a month to three tImes a week. ThiS was suffiCIent ro rurn these Into quite different types of reiatlonshlp, because of the sense of the present It ;lllowed. Email could allow constant, taken-far-granted commUnication, engaged m without great thought. It was mformal or playful In style, and filled With everyday triVia (what we had for dinner, or hought at the shop, or who said what to whom) or with nothmg much at all except a shanng of each other\s 'VOices;, Email could also encompass the exchange of mundane 'objects" such as scanned phoros, addresses of websltes the other might like, Jokes found online and forwarded ro a family member With the thought - clearly expressed by mformants - of brmgmg a familiar smile to the other-'s face. Indeed, Jt was r~He for people to talk about email Without a smile. ThIS use of email extended IntO the hugely popular practice of sending each other e-grectlngs or Virtual postcards (as well as electromc flowers and chocolates). TillS applied ro many relationships beSides family ones. \X/ebsites offcnng greetIng card services were amongst the most frequently VISited by Trll1idadians, who Il1vested a lot of time III finding ones that Were ammated, multimedia or SImply unusual, often sentimental. This use of cards was mterestlng not only as an extension of a long Tnni tradition, but also m makll1g expliCit the latent sense that an email was in some ways Itself a gift, though one that could be offered at any time, not merely speCial occaSlOns. And yet It demanded a response, and therefore created the conditions for SUStallllllg relatlonshlps through reclproClty Isee Carner 1995; Mauss 1954). ApprOXHllately half the Tnnldadians we contacted In the UK pnmarily used the Internet tor such mundane and constant email contact With theIr families. Given the nature of the Diaspora tlllS could as well be family liVing olltside Trinidad as wlthm. If only one Side of the family had online access they often exerted conSIderable pressure on the other end of the family also
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Pnor [0 the arrival of the Internet, rhe family was Indeed under threat as rhe core IIlstitution of soclal life m TnnJdad. The Caribbean family 15 11lghly disnncrive, as IS mdicared by [he amhropologlcalliternture discussed JI1 the conclusIOn to [hiS chapter. N10S[ anthropological accounts have been conserva-
nvc 111 emphasizing continuities or a well-established normanvlry In expectanons about rhe family. To understand the use of rhe Internet, however, we need to focus on a radical disrupnon [hat has been of huge Imporrance for more [han a generanon: the Impact of Widespread Caribbean emigration on the TnnJdadian family Isee Basch, Glick Schiller and Szanton Blanc 1994; Chamberlam 1998; Ho 1991). Migration from TnnJdad has been very extensIve, even if it has not marched other Caribbean contexts where rhe maJority of those who ldentlty wlth an 15Iand now live abroad le.g. Olwlg 1993). Miller 11994: 21) found lO IllS earlier survey that lO the maJonrv of families at least one member at rhe nuclear level (that IS caher parents, siblings or children) was livlOg abroad. Therefore the followlOg discusslOn of the use of the Internet by diasponc families" actually applies [0 rhe vast malonry of Tnnldadian families overall. Email was taken up readily as an lntuuivc, pleasurabie, effecnve and above all inexpenSive way nor only for families to be In rouch, but [Q be In much on an mt1ma[(~, regular, day-to-day baSIS thar conforms ro commonly held
expectanons of whar bcmg a parent, child or family entails. It appeared
a5
an obvlOLIs way of rcalizmg familial roles and responsibilincs that had been fllPmred by Diaspora, and even of reacnvanng familial ties thar had fallen lIHO abeyance. Email contrasted on the one hand With lcncr-wfmng, which was seen as proverbially problematic [Q Tnms (perhaps the most common generalization people made during fieidwork was that 'Ttll1ldadians hate writing letters') and stymied by what was regarded as an ineffiCient postal service. In practice letter-writing was Important to some of those living in the UK, but they were a minority.
f
l.
The Internet
RelatJonshlps
to go online, In some cases bUY111g and sending rhe eql1lpmcnr. For example, several older people came 111[0 one of our ethnographIC Sites (a lirrlc shop with an online computer) brandishmg letters from relatives abroad insrfllctmg them to set up an email account, and glvmg thelf own address. Someone III rhe shop (somctlrnes one of us) would help them register on a web-based email site. The ability to engage III rout1l1c contact through rhe Internet had two primary effects: rhe first was [0 fe-establish rhe klT1ds of family contact that would have eXisted In a non-Diaspora context and rhe second was sometimes to actually expnnd rhe family as a viable unit of SOCiality. AnnlVlanc may exemplify rhe first pOint. Perhaps rhe Important relationship that emerges In Trtllldadian diSCUSSIOns of the family is mother - daughter relations, and the sundering of these In the Diaspora family had often been a cause of anxiety, especlJlly for the mothers. But With the Internet Ann-tvlarle reports the follow!Ilg norms of contact:
England knOWing thar I could contact them at any time.' Just as when people arc <.lctu,.:lIly liVing rogether within a household, parents could be regarded as oppreSSive and constraJ11l11g, but thiS co-existed w[th the sense thar one had rctllrncd - thanks w the Internet - [0 the security and support of rhls fundament<.1! family relationship. It was also nor uncommon for the relatlons!lIp to work the other WJy around, so that a Trll1Idadian parent who had left her or hiS child III Tnl1ldad used the Internet to contl11ue to prOVide support to their children, though 111 most G1SeS returnJ11g at times when more support was reqUIred, such as exam-taking. The Internet assuJged some of the problems and sense of guilt of leavJ11g the children behind, slllce It made possible a new I11cdimed parenrlllg. The Impact of rhe Internet IS not restricted to the nuclear family. In the case of the extended family, and in particular 111 relationships between COUSinS, there IS the possibility not oniy of repalflng the rupture caused by emigration, bur ~lls() long-term relationships between COUSJ115 are made Viable 1Il a way they had not been before. For example George has serried In the UK for man\' years, bur keeps 111 contact through the Internet:
Q: So your marher emails you every day? \'Vhar kinds of things docs she talk abour? A: Nag.
Q: Whar kinds of things docs she nag you about? A: l'vjorherly d1lngs - like ear properly, dress well and she checks om everyday
A: The only person I comaet with 111 Trinidad IS my COUS111. Evcry weekend Sarurday five p.m. 111 UK nme we hook lip and have a little chat .... \X'c speak tor about three hours. AU my aunts and COUSIl1S and everybody com1l1g down. They wanr ro spenk to rhis one, rhnt one. I will call111)' COUSHlS and rhe.\' will come to hUll. They are at the same household. But evcryone will speak. Some or nw COliSHlS who can'r afford PCs 111 Trinldnd will come on wcekends and havc a lirrle char. Q: SO you arc qtu[e close With that family? A: Yes. \'{/lwt we do as well is that all or the COUSIllS, 1 gO[ mosr of mr COlISIllS as well in Canada, we do link lip rogerher on weekends and all of us have a little tnmiiv reunion every week. It's lust an hour. JUS( a family thing.
the weather 111 London. And she would say all fight you are gomg to havc a lirtle bir of sun nexr week. And then she will talk abour whatever she has done .... My dnd is not IIlto It at all, you wil! nor get a letter from him at alL nut MUl1llllr shc IS home and she gar time to Sit down. Q: How long has she been dOlllg this tor? A: For a ycar. Shc likes to know everythll1g that IS gomg on so she can tell you how to mke your vltamms and how to do thiS. It IS almost as if You are ralkll1g all rhe tlIlle becnllse she 15 always glvmg adVice, she would do a paragraph at a time.
Others who reported such regular connections with parents revealed how thiS re-constructed rhe common amt"vaience of liVing togerher as a family. For example a UK-based student noted on the one hand:
As 111 rhls case It was common for an online relative to then C0n111111nJGHe n('ws to other relatives who are nor online. Group COUSI11 chmnng could ~1lso t~lke place rhrough char sites: 'J met SIX of them and we chm[ed. \'Ve were on the chat Sl[e for about three hours on a Sunday. It was qUite good rho ugh - everybody use a different colour.' As well as rhls collecnve sense of family, COllSI11S were also very often the 'friends" one confided 111, confidants for disctlssmg I11tlll1ate problems such as reactions to the demh of a relative. Equall~1 for those In Tr1l1!dad the most common use of [he Internet for contacting people abroad was re\ated [Q aunts, uncles and COUSI11S. Of course not every COUS1l1 rums our to be a natural friend. As a UK-based Trl11Idadian noted: 'Stephen would send email, but he has got a weird sense of porno-
By
On the other hand a moment later she notes: 'f do feel that It's keeping them close and despHe differences J11 opinIOns at times, 1 don't feel alone here J11
58
I
L
59
The Internet
graphic humour, I do nor reply. I don-'[ even open (he a[[Jchmenr because I did once and I saId 0 God! He sem about a hundred disgusting Jokes.' In general Trlmdadians found that thelf 'cousin hood' 15 now viable as a much larger phenomenon, brInging back In[Q [he fold rciatlves [har would nor otherwise have been Included. Discovery of a COUSIIl In New York they had nor heard from 111 ten years would r~-crea(e rhe reiatlOllshlP, or o~ rcrurnlllg for Carmval rhey might meet a COUSin serried In Japan who had also returned to Trlmdad. They would then exchange email addresses and strike lip rhe relationship on rhelf return to their respective homes. It IS possible that these comans will decline as rhe COUSinS grow up, Just as one would expect IT1 [he conventlonal developmental cycle of the domesnc group. It IS also possible thar one result of the Internet will be a longer mamtenance of such relationships, s!l1ce the factors that often break up 'cousmhoods\ such as moving away, will no longer have the same effecr. However, the nme depth of Ollr study 15 too shallow for confident predictions. The possibilines for actually expanding the family were most dramatically illllstrarcd by George:
A: Both my parenrs split up twenty-eight years ago. I had contact With my Mom bur I never had contact With my Dad. Twenry-elght vears and I never \~har he look like, I never knew where he was, what he did, or anything. And through the Imernet I deCided. I saw these search engines. So I Was gOll1g to fiddle arollnd and see to try and get a world-Wide one, which there wasn"r. Then I thought Amenca IS the biggest counrry on the Inrernet. I'll try a search there. J came up With nothing. I then [fled one In Canada! and half an hour later I came up With twenrv-five names and I thought every week I would send our one letter and see what happens. So the first nnme I pick from the list and tour days later. about four o'clock In the morl11ng the phone rang! and It Was my Dad. He couldn't believe It himself, I couldn't believe It [00. I thought It was a Joke or something. Bur what happened about tillS letter I send our. I sent a pharo of me and I send a photo of hInl. His wife phones me back. and that caused a lm of problem there. She never knew .. ? She never kne\v if I eXisted. Th
Q: A: Q: A: Q: A: She phoned me and she thought It was a lake
35 well. Because she 15 looking ar l11y pharo and she IS lookmg at hiS photo and she 15 sayll1g to me where did vou get rhls photo trom? ThiS IS my son and this IS 1115 Dad. I said no, It Isn"r. Thar"s me and thar's m~' Dad and she thought It was a han x and I thought she was a hoax as well. Q: Did you ever meet?
60
Reial10nshlps A: \'l./e mer last year. One of my brothers or sisters were suppose to come bur financI;]lIy rhe)' weren't able to. I think I am gOing to make an effort go across to them actually.
Internet use by the elderly IS more rarely encountered but IS perhaps an Important pOinter to the future. One example was a widow who seemed to have lost much of ber reason for livmg when her husband died. In order to keep 111 touch with a particularly close grandchild who had gone abroad, she was persuaded to educate herself In Internet usc. Subsequently she contacred many orher relatives abroad and in Tnnldad, and has raken to rhe net to such a degree thm rhe younger members of her family swear It has given her 'a new lease of life', ThiS nllght offer a partial resolution to the increaSingly cOl11mon probiem of elderly people who had preViously tended to live In the homes of their descendants but are now being encouraged to live by themselves: rhe Internet keeps the new phYSical separatIon bur In some other respects can keep them In the heart of family life. However, this is currently rare, and there are worries rhat rhe effectIve family mlgbt become restncted to those that are online, willch would particularly exclude the elderly. On the other hand, a UK Tnnl noted that although the Internet tended to determIne which of hIS COUSinS he conrinues to be close to) Ir would In no way affect rhe close personal relatIonship he has With hiS grandmother, who happens not [Q he online.
Friends and Partners In contrast ro family relationshIps, fnendshlps, acqualnrances, and chat partners POInt to less well-defined relatIonslllPs thar can be more amillguous when pursued online. Esrablishmg their character and sratus as reiatlonshlps may need more reflection, since rhey may rake novel forms that have to be assessed In terms of new normative concepts of fnendshlp. 1vloreover, In addition [Q being a means for purSUing established reianonshlPs (school frIends, hoy- and gIrlfnends, colleagues), the Inrernet - p::utIcuiarly char and ICQ - routinely opens up the possibility of engagmg online with people from anywhere In the world whom one has nor and probahly will nor meer faceto-face; and these conracts are likely to be made through Interesrs or even through random meetings and COincidences. The situation is made more complicated by the dynamiCs of II1ternet mediation. People rend to experience the Inrerner as a banery of related bur separate possibilities for pursuing relationshIps, willch they assemhle 111 differenr ways according [Q their particular preferences. One lIldivldual who
61
The Internet
RelatlOnslJips
has his own personal wchsJ[c abhors the lIse of char-lines and makes all hiS new friendships through slgl1lng rhe gucsrbooks of personal web-pages char happen [0 appeal to him. He will make a comment about that website, and hope for a reply trom which further comact can ensue. Another uses char bm hares usmg email, while a third only lIses email and extends hiS range of conracts by being pur 10 touch with friends of hiS current email friends. Sometimes thiS 15 JUSt conservansm; an mdividual IS 'taught' one method, wkcs to It, and 15 rCSlstanr [() airernanvcs. A UK Trll1I suggested thar he continued [Q phone friends where rhe rcianol1sillp prednres the Internet, bur cmails those who have become friends through rhe Inrernet, though rhls was a fafC distll1ctlon.
over a longer term: 'Every time you go online, you'll always find some crazy fool our there, mUong rubbish> , . there for thelrself, Just to be on the ncr, that"s all they're there for. You ralk shit to them and that-'s about It bur you don'r rake them on, you dont get down to anythlllg. With a long-standing rebtlonshlp YOU ralk to them tor looooooong, [i.e.l you start [Q share stuff between each other:' In TrlllJ chat, Just as III the chJt stlldied by Slater, 'long rerm' is nor necessarily all that long III comparison [Q offline relationships of a Similar senousness. Because of the dynamiC character of these SOCial settings and bec.ltJse of their IntenSity, rhree months IS very good gOing, but rius might l11e~ln three months of spending as many hours of the day as possibie locked l11to rhe hlghlv Internalized modality of chat. ThIS IIltenslty also means that chm very mllch takes place 111 the momem: people frequently ralk about current relatlonshlPs as if they were several yeJrs rarher than weeks old, while earlier Similar relatlonshlPs are all bm forgotten. Shon-term encounters of :1 largely r:1ndom nature are pf1marily a form of mutual entertal11ment. Their essential characterlstlc - that the other person could turn om to be more or less anyone, and one can never know - already gives It somethlllg of the (nsso}l ot gambling. In addition It commonly has the additional fnssoll of sexual banter. \X1hile thiS IS no difference 111 prinCiple from non~Tnm char (aga1l1 sec Slarer 1998) the role of flirranon and sexual language l!1 Tflm culture (see the nexr chapter and Yelvlllgton 1996) gives It a ver.v particular salience for Tn illS who usc It. \X'hile some users will talk to S~111le-SeX others, most readily admit thm almost all their ch:1t IS With opposltesex others (reflecting a pervasive assumpnon of heterosexuality offline). For example a man notes he ci1:1ts to: '[vlostly women! The only time I would chat to men IS when I want 1I1formatlon on musIC, games :1nd stuff. When I want to download somethlllg form the Net and they might know where It IS:' Once a parmer has been located then the encounter sets up a challenge where there IS relatively lirtle to lose, given the cover at anonyma)" bur much to be ga1l1ed:
Chat and ICQ, however, are the Internet media that were most fashionable 111 pursuing relationships, and ones thar corresponded more [Q whar we have called 'expansive pmemial' than [Q the 'expansive realization"' that marked family reianonshlps. Especlillly for the young Within Tnmdad, Imernet chat and ICQ marked their emry 1n[Q an expanded possibility of new cncoumers, mcluding Ilnmedime, unexpected and volatile st)lles of encounter. Char can be used as a straightforward extensIOn of pre-eXIstll1g relationships, or of ones relared [() the Immedime locale (as With the schoolchildren discussed below), or It can be a vehicle for developmg reianonshlPs thm were l111tially made on ICQ Itself. Or It can be a mlXWre, as m the case of one teenag"e mformam who cuned wuh him a list of fifty ICQ fnends, most of them from other pans ofTnnidad bm all first encountered online, some of whom he then met offline, some no[' ICQ software 1I1c1udes the ability [Q make lists of ICQ comacts and caregonze them as one Wishes (e.g. h~me versus away, work versus personal), a femure thm recogntzes the deslf(~ [Q be flexible In ordenng, or even separanng am, the vanety of possible rebtlons!1Jps. In faer, many people ci:llmed that they only pm a very few people on their lists. ThiS generally Indicates that people make strong disnncnons about which reianonships arc valuable and therdore should be closely I11tegrared 111[0 rhelr online acnvmes, and whICh are no[' ThiS disnncnon- wlllch we encoumered across many observanons and !I1[erVlews - was closely ned [0 the Issue of nme, of diViding online relanonshlPs between those conSidered shan, casual amI 'light'· and those thar arc more sefiOUS, endunng and emotionally weighty. This rallied very closely with Slater's (1998) prevIOus observ:1nons of 'trading sexplcs on IRC'; chm compflses a larger number of shan-term casual encounters, which can be excmng, Imeresnng, bOring or lunanc, bm arc treated as relatively weightless as relanonshlps. They may be valued and sought for many reasons, bm they arc 111 a different cat~gory· from the sefiOUS relanonshlPs IJ1to which a very few of them will develop, which are characterized by the kll1ds of trUSt, 1I1vestmeJ1t and 1I1t1macy thar arc only possible
62
Yes, rOll learn ;1 lor trom them, espeCially the differenr types at expressIOn for sruff. .. Ir\ like when you go on, the first rime, uh talkmg to a tcmale over the Nt'f, If's kmd n likt, if you meN a female on rhe srreN, uh tackling her. You··re nor seemg whar she looks like unless you have Video conferencmg, bur she sounds good, \Vhar she said really catches your arrentlon and youC're ahle ro hold that arrennOil. It''s kinda like a rhrill, rhe longer you could ralk ro thiS person, keep them eXCIted as well;1s rhev keep Vall excJ[ed and somenmes rhe things they say ro you, well. ... Ir surpnsed me rhe first time, After a while I starred to get used to It.
QUite apart from thiS art of banter, at which Trims know they arc partICularly profiCient, tor many users the experience of playful sexuality IS clearly
63
The Internet <.1
m::1Jor parr of the pay-off of the tIme spem online, even if some of the
smnes are apocryphal:
Relationships
trem online relationships as 'real' or nor. Simer has preVIOusly argued that, rhe apparently extremely disembedded context of 'sexplCs trading on IRC' ~ [hiS was ·cruclally relared to rhe ways 111 which one could establish suffiCient rrust 111 rhe aU[h~nticlty of rhe other to warrant the risk of investing 111 them emotionally, and that thiS was relared to the perSIstence of the other's online presence over time, as well as to ways 111 which rhey could be 'embodied' throllnh encoun[enng rhem rhrougb additional media. Similar dynamiCs were clearly at play 111 Tnllldadian chat reiatlonshlps, and a range of SOCIal and techmcal possibilities were used to sorr our which relationships mattered and how they should be conducted. Firsriy, Just as With email'in a family context, there was a great stress on shanng a mundane
111
There W;1S one rune we acrunlIy got a girl scnr us [wdve diffcrcnr Video clippings of her while she was talking and then she starred to rake off her clothes. She sropped whell she reached half way. And I bet you It was real. There are chances It mIght nor have been real bur It W;15 tun. l('s like you being able [0 do what rou wam and knowmg that rhe person doesn't have ro know who you are, because you could never meet [hem at all.
For women, !11 particular, however, [here IS the problem char Trinidadian forms of sexual banter can be qulte different from many of the SOCietIes of those rhe\' are charnng With, so [he scope for bemg mIsconstrued is endless. A girl who wcnt by the 'IlIck" Miss Sexy Simply could not see why she kept havlllg such problems: I know, Ir does: If Simply does arrran a lot at people, because basically mosr at rhem come on and say 'whar your name goes With, wIlY are you calling yourself rv!iss Sexy?' ;1nd 1 Simply tel! them, th;1[ ro me, I'm very beautiful ;1nd ro me, I rhink I'm sex)', bur ir"s norhlng more rhan rlMt. Most of rhem think I wam ro do stuff. J sllnpi}, said, no my name IS not Miss Sexy, lusr my nickname '·cause I'm friendly, I'm kllld~he;1rrcd and understanding. Basical!~' I want ro chat With them, and rhere where rhe conversation goes they find I'm mtelligenr ;1nd what rhey rhlllk I was WIrh my nickname IS nor what I ;1m. \Xlhile sex dommated, there are other concerns In shorr-term chat. These Illclude Simply the Illterest III each new person. For example, 'every time I go 011 ICQ It'S somebody new, something new, some different story, some guy Chlll11S he"s haVing family problems or With some woman, thIS sorr of thing. Each time I get ICQ It IS a uIllque story.' There IS also a kmd of mediated but personal toUrism, where the Interest IS In meeting people from differenr countries and learIllng about the counrrles. The Implications tor Trinidadian Identity are discussed In Chaprer 4. ,More female chatters seem to follow thiS route, and they often seem particularly Interested In lIlterleavmg it with discllsslons about personal probiems such as uealing wuh rhelr parents. The result confirms for them the general sense thar 'underneath our differences we are all the same\ so thar an aura of globai sentimentality can be one product of these k1l1ds of encounter. Given the 'lightness' of rhese shorr-term encounrers, when did Trinidadians ~lscribe them 'weight'? \Y/e argued 111 Chaprer 1 that 'Virtuality' needs to be rreated as a SOCial accomplishment rarher than an analytical assumption, rhat we need to understand when, why and how particular people come to
64
life wI[h the other both on- and offline. That .s to say, people could spend a great deal of very mrense time chattIng online, over rhe course of which they
felt that the other had a clear .dea of their daily lives, thoughts and atmudes. One mformant, Jason, had some unusually long-lasting reiatlOnslllps (one of over two years' duration), which he placed at rhe same level as face-toface relatlon~hlps on the baSIS thar they knew him well, were stitched into hiS everyday life and had been tned and tested over time by a vanety of means: A: Yeah I would say I rake them seriously. 'Cos rhey ask me, how ya gomg roday? They knew when my babv was born. They all gOt rhe news [har mv b;1hy was bor~ - send cards of congrarulanons, everything. When i go online they say, how's ya b;1by gomg roday? Whar"s she domg da? It's like regular people, regular conversations. , .. they"re Just a part of your friendshIp group: you still conSider them the way you consIder the fnends who you see everyday. Q: They feel part of your everyday life? A: Yeail - also part ~f your everyd;1y life, 'cos baSically I get;1n email from them every day, chat With them every day ... ThiS sharing of mundane life mcluded everyday exchanges of electrolllc Jokes, pictures, e-greetings and postcards, eiectromc boxes of chocolates and bouquets of flowers that people scoured the net to find for rheir fnends. Sites for egreetings were amongst those most commoniy VISited by Tn~lldadians, and are offered by Tnnldadian compames and found on Tnmdadlan porral sires (Plate 3.'1). These new electrolllc gifts are 1I1decd new matenai forms rhat constlture rebtlonshlps 111 new ways: thar IS to say, they should be treated serlollslv as mediations or matenal culture (Jaffe 1999). Virrual postcards t as noted, extend to the Interner the Immense and long-term populanty or such cards ll1 Trinidadian soclery generally. However, 111 gOing online, postcards have now slipped our of their prevIOus more formal frame of belllg used for marked evenrs and speCial occasions. They have become a regular means for mall1tall1Jt1g general conract, acqumng -like email- rhe mformality
65
The Internet
RelatIOnships
of a gesmrc or spontaneous moment of acknowledg1l1g rhe other. Ivloreovcr,
pcople seek ou[ cards with Jnlmatlons, musIc or other such accompaniments so that rhe), call also feel rhey are pare of J 'coolhul1r\ and [hey accept rhe gift of cool (one teenager talked With zest about rhe recent receipt of: 'rhe frog III rhe blender SWll11l11l11g, and he's lIlsuinng YOll and you have to press each knob on rhe blender and 111 rhe end, It JUSt blend him up _ , . cool!'). S[J[ch1l1g [he other Into a shared everyday world rapidly extends to the shanng of 1I1[JmaC1CS, problems, perspecrives and v;:liucs, so that YOll nor only feci [hat rhe ocher really knows you, and vice versa, bur also [hac rhey reliably '[here for you' as a persistent and embodied ethical other.
Q: How much do you value a [Iong-terml relatIOnship like dw.t; how real does A:
Q: A:
Q: A:
It
teel? You have to think abom how well YOll know the person, what you talk about, thll1gs like that. .. we exchange Ideas abotl[ what's gOing on her life and whatC,s gomg on m my life, and we pur rogether what we thmk abour If and how It should be and how It shouldn't be. \Ve learn trom each other. SO parr of bemg a real relationship IS gettmg mto real Issues? Real issues, yeah. Because I rell her whar"s up wlrh me and she tells me whan wlrh her. I know her family, what's gomg on With her. How she handles gOll1g [0 school and her family, hemg With them. Her mum IS sepnrated tram her Dad so she tells me how differenr her life IS from livlI1g with her Dad from livlflg With her mum 'cos I'm the same, I'm livlIlg With my Dad and I told her ;.1bout It. You tee! she undersmnds you and sh ..ues your values? You trust It? Yes, everything, yes.
People could describe this sharIng In nearly thempeu[!c terms, as in the case of one woman who Jnually was a counsellor and transferred her listening skills and values to lCQ. ThiS Il1tlIllacy can be treared and treasured as somethlllg that IS largely detached from offline consequcnces and costs and at the same time differentiated from "the usual stupidness' of casual chat encounters. Although we encountered almost no talk that corresponded to cyberuroplan expectations abour a radical break between offline and online Idenrmes, Jason calked aboU[ hiS serious onlinc relationships through a notion of 'just commul1Jcat1l1g'~ A: Sometimes ,c"s more meanmgtul, nght, >'cos rhey know you're nor taktng them on an~' other level but rhe mmd, J["s like a kmda bram ro bram kinda chmg .. yeah, just commulllcatmg, lookmg out for each orher. Talkmg, bemg tncnds, wuhout the hangups. Q: SO there's almost somethmg pure about Jr?
66
A: '{eah, yeah Ihe agrees With thatl. That's the exact term: there IS somethmg pure about ir.
The narure of thc 'impUrIties' from whICh hiS sefiOUS chat relations released hUll 111 order to be tremed as
Jason - like most people who rake serIously any online relatIOnship - telt
he had reliable strategies and 111snnCts for assesstng these rcianonsl1Jps. In bet he wns pragmatic III sorting our the real- trustworthy, senous, weighty - reintlonshlps, and therefore 111 deCiding where to place hiS trust: But the way I'm made up, I always gn'e everybody, no matter who, nght, that comes !!lto my space and much my life, rhey always get a chance to screw me up bur they only get olle chance to screw me lip. You tell me rhls and you say thiS IS rhe truth, I take Ir as ok. Bur when you"re online and you"re gernng to learn somebody rOll do proceed With a little more caUfion. In thiS case you can sec sOll1ehody's c~'cs and YOU know - well yeah, he ly!J1g to me, or - he pulling a fasr onc. Onlinc you rrack what they say - me, I track what the V say. The trust comes Irom normal banter, because when you first meet somebody online you're usually talkll1g some stupidness or the other. You're not really !J1tO anyrhlllg senous. Mosr o~ thc mnes H"S a lot easier m trust someone online because they can'r hurr you as much as someone who YOll trust tace to face.
Finally, Jason not only sorted the light from the heavy relationshIps, bur he placed them III qUIte different ethic;]l UI1Jverses of responsibility and commitment. As we have argued preVIOusly, the Issue here IS 111 no sense a distinction between the 'real' and the 'Virtual" bur rather the wa~'s 111 whICh
67
The Internet
Relationships
Jason chose ro frame online relanonsillps as sIgnificant and what consequences he then arrachcd to [hem:
persons concerned. A furrher Irony here was that her children's practice \~as condemned ma1l11y on the baSIS of her own Ideals, that a couple should live togerher before m~rnage. Ir seemed 111 ralk1l1g to her own children separately that one of rhem had mrernalized his mother's srnctllres and was clear that the eight-month relationsillp he had had online was only to be understood wlrhm the confines of the medium. It was also clear thar his brother and sister were much less consua1l1ed or lllfluenced by her sceptiCIsm, and saw their online relanonshlPs 111 terms of love and possible marnage. ThiS IS a clear example of rhe different ways 111 which people can construct or assess the 'vlnual'~ not as an assumed propeny of Inrernet relanons bur as a cntenon by whICh rhey understand rhem. , On the same day and at the same cybercafc at which rhese l11[erv!Cws were conducted, an 18-"year-old girl had jusr announced to us that she was getnng engaged to a man 111 Australia whom she had never met, on the baSIS of almost daily ICQ contact supplemented hy occaSIOnal phone calls to him and to hiS p'arems. As one of the company pOInted our, Ir IS 'mostly girls and those who are rarher sheltered at home. You know they have problems, they don"t agree with thclr parents, and they are lookmg tor getting our of the house ~1I1d maybe Olit of the counrry.' It was ImpliCit that thiS remark particularly applied ~o Indian girls Iivmg 111 the local vi!lages. As m thiS case, such relarlOnslllps could be unusually public 111 their development. Another large group rcponed eagerly awamng the first VISit to T nT11dad of one of their friend's ICQ correspondents from DomiT11ca, and their delight when the couple subsequenrly marned. Sometimes these relanonshlps stan as uninrended consequences of shorrrerm random chats, With conversations abour their respecnve counrnes and common popular culrure leading ro an exchange of photographs, and then a mlxtllre of f1irnng and discussmg personal problems. In most such cases the TrImdadians have a clear normanve model of how such relanonshlPs should develop, and a nch language to describe rillS. Their correspondents Jre commonly accused of beIng [00 maca (nosy) or too (ass (fast); they give one the horro'rs and fail to keep cool. In shan Tnl1ldadians do not like people who come on roo fasr and roo strong. Many users had stones ahour droppll1g people from charlists hecause [hey were incapable of takl11g thll1gs at the pace the TrITllS wanted. On the orher hand rhere are some who go online With the specific Intennon of 100kl11g for long-term rarher [han shan-term relationships, which they expressly state on the I11formanon forms attached to rhelr names on ICQ. Since already many Tnnidadians know of others who have found partners rIllS way, the Internet has QUickly hecome a specific opnon for those m search of love, With the additlonallmplicarion of leavll1g for another country through marnage. ThiS IS a possibility that many
The thlIlg IS when rhc~' say sruff, say In the general char rooms~ erc., stuff is said, whatever goes. Bur when you"re on a one-all-one With somebody, and Iwhenl you get past rhe bullslm and rhe lokes, people rC:111y reveal a lor ot thelf soul ro you. And vou arc entrusted ro keep what you have there as sacred properry, 'cos rhey share' a plcce ot rhelfse!ves With you. And if you sharing you expect that they rcrtJrn the sennmenr, and rhey do.
\Xlhercas Jason tended to see char rebnonshlps as a porenna!iy very pure form of what he valued in offline relationships, a surpnsmg number of people framed special char relationshIps as very literal forms of rhe most conventional primary relationships. They talked to liS of boyfriends or girlfriends or even fiancees who turned our ro be ennrely online correspondenrs iiv111g 111 anorher parr of the world. In an even more surprlsmg number of cases we could confirm that these reia[Jonshlps, formed through random chat encounrers, had Itl fact been pursued 111[0 serious offline encounrers, including iivlTlg rogether or marrYlIlg. For example, 111 one family Visited, the daughter, a university studenr, had met a Buddhist from Brazil online. The relationsillp dcvelopc·d, and the Brazilian tWice vIsited Trinidad; bur finally the religIOUS diVide from the staunchly Carholic daughter proved roo great a barfler to J permanent reia[Jonshlp. While the daughter has S111ce fallen Itl love With a Trlllldadian, she has also managed to develop a suffiCiendy deep friendship With a Damsh male that he Jiso planned ro VISit her 111 TflT1ldJd. So common IS thiS k111d of occurrence that we would predict that for the young the tradition of anonymous rourlsm may 111creasltlgiy be replaced by holidays belllg taken on th~ baSIS 01 a pteVlOu~ long-tetm Internet-hosed friendship. Serious relationships and indeed marnage developed from online meetings. These can be framed Itl qulte diverse ways, as could be seen 111 the case of several relationshIps wlth111 one family. The mother had actually marfled an Amcncan whom she ongll1aliy met online. However, sbe still not only expressed worn' about the online reia[Jonshlps tbat her children were concurrently devel"op111g, but aiso doubted the reality and seriousness of rhelr relatIOnships as opposed to hers. She pointed our thar although there were several monrhs of purely online commullIcanon before she met her husband face ro face, she did nor and would nor charactenze It as fnendshlp, let alone as developmg on to love, unril they had acrually met m person. It was nor 'real', and there W~lS roo much possihility for deception. In thiS and other respects, such as her distaste at the very Idea of cybersex, she clearly distanced her own actIOns from her children'S, who fell 111 love and got serious with our meeting the
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wHh whar might be termed an Interested establish long-term online relationships without either parmer's havmg any parncuiar cxpecranon of thiS ever turning
from short-term use, whete the other IS VIewed specifically as an online correspondent. But for long-term relatIonships the medium does not define the partncr; rather, It IS merely the means by whICh the partner is encountered. Some users never seem to be thar comfortable With chat and email as a means to express deep emotions; but It IS strik1l1g that most users have qlllckly taken these new media for granted as entIrely appropriate tor expressJT1g emotions, running the gamut of love,
TrinIdadians, young and old,
ambivalence. Another option
VICW
IS
[Q
a face-to-face rclanonshlp. Once established, these reianonshlps call have many of rhe characrerlsncs
II1to
of any other long-term relationships. \X1hen those Involved discuss them, often w\th rich derails about quarrels and maklJ1g up and issues of differcm degrees of COlllmitment, It IS very hard [Q discern any tangible difference from thelf diSCUSSion of offline relationships. \X1hcn a woman storms 111[0 rhe room In a tury of 'God char man dnves me ro ... \ rhe man In question may be Jf1 rhe rOOI11 she bas JUSt stepped om of; but equally he may be on the screen III thar room. Sometimes there IS an online verSIon of a common offline scenano. For example, one woman noted thm: <1 have this boyfnend and I caught hllll sweet-talking somebody else In a next char room. I dumped hUTI. I don"t remember her name, bur I found h1111 out. \X1ell, I tell hlnl Ir's over. I stop talking to hllll.'
has letr a message. Char and ICQ lend rhemselves ro floanng and unsrable popularlOns; ICQ encounters are commoniy fleetIng. However within the instl[lltlonal facilities created to make char possible rhere are provisions for phorogr
ThIS Implies that rhose Involved do not perceIve as problematic what to ourslders mIght be the 'obvIOUS" consrralnts of online romance. ThiS IS Important not only III new relationshIps wlrh those liVing abroad, bur also to ongolIlg relationS/liPs berween Trinicbdians. Internet lise III respect of longterm trlendsl1!ps follows a Similar pattern to that with relatives: partly recovery, partly m
, 70
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The Internet
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Places of Sociality
expertise and enterprise. He nlso gathered about himself talented and enrhuslastlc young people who could usc the facilities to develop commerCial prOjects In wcbdeslgn and programmmg. The sccond cybcrcafe - B - was an adjunct to a computer rerail busll1ess that <.llso had an extensive programme of computer courses. ThiS was distinctly a bus mess premises, With whItc and undecorated wails. Parrly for teaching purposes, the compurers were SIted in three different rooms, and within them I11achll1cs were positioned ro gIve I11uch privacy to the user. There was no arca for gellcrallimmg, and the consumption of food and drink was forbidden. Despite the different style, the SOCIal ambience was very friendly and supportIve, but thIS was entirely due to a core of employees, their relatives and some regulars. In each case there were probably a majOrity of people who used the spaces as I11divldllals, Without much apparent connection to the cafes as Illstltutlons beyond finding them more or less congenial. This included people stoppmg by to check their email or research a particular topIC or JUSt surf or chat tor ~1 while. The population was ma1l1ly, bur not exclUSively, young. Thev related to the staff m
In so far as Internet studies have shifted [helf gaze trom what happens online, they have starred to Invesng,l[C rhe mlcrosoclOloglcai contexts of Internet use, such as cybercafes or domestic spaces (Crang, Crang and !vIay 1999; Furlong 1995; Wakeford 1999). The Immediate social locations of Internet use both frame and set limits on the kinds of relationships that take place through them. For example, workplace access could range from minImal to extensive, and from extremely liberal attIrudes to personal use to a resrrlC[lVC, "business use only' policy. Hence some people could treat thelf office as a place fot pursull1g family contacts on behalf of thelt entlte household, for
charring and even for cvbersex; others could nor relme workplace access
[Q
any kind of sOCiality. Just as Important as rhe impact of SOCial spaces on rhe way reianonshlps were pursued through the Internet was their Impact on relationshIps around the computer. Two places of SOCIality that brought out quite different POSSIbilities for relationships were cybercafes and secondary schools.
Cybercafes The global usage of cybercafes IS diverse, as Rao (1999) has noted. In Trlmdad, they were Iargeiy unstable and In most cases unprofitable enterprises. They were generally either adjuncts to other bUSinesses (computer sales or mall1tenance, private IT courses) or on the verge of transformlllg II1to other bUSinesses (webdeslgn and Internet technologies). They also ranged from scams (one charged people TT$5 for each email sent or received) to dynamiC commumty centres. In the event, we were able to VISit SIX operating cybercafes, each of which was very different in style and In the kinds of SOCiality It generated. For example, of the two In whIch we spent a good deal of our research time, Cafe A had a strong emphaSIS on an mformal and convIvial ambience. There was always musIC, loud conversation, bustling activity. It was also literally a cybercafe, in that It served food and drink. The eIght ~omputers were pia~ed along the outside walls of the main rooms so that anyone sitting at the spare rabies 111 the centre could see what was gOing on at the monnors. It was a very public space and a fnendly liming Spot. TIllS reflected the personality and strong beliefs of the couple who owned It, espeCially the husband, who was tegarded by many users as a kll1d of farher-figure, who calmly dispensed adVICe, supporr and encouragement, as well as keeping both order and excitement. He combll1ed entrepteneurialism and natIOnalism m tYPical Trim measure (see the next chapter), domg hiS utmost to develop his users' Internet
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Relationships
rhey Illighr pass char friends on [Q each other, or gather round a screen as a char progressed. The girl mentioned above, recendy engaged to a man In
skills or proJects. There was a great emphaSIS on helping each other learn ever more ambitious skills and on proJects. Finally, and rather unusually for Tnnidad, where computer game culture IS not as lInportant to Internet use as In North Amenca and Europe, there were a number of pea pie at Cafe A, many of them core staff and regulars, who were heavily Into networked games such as Quake. There were occasional all-l11ghters, and some Investment of time 111 downloading the paraphernalia of Quake clans. One final case of cybercafe sociality that mdicates how unexpected the relationships formed around the Internet can be: a cybercafe recently opened up 111 an up-marker mall by a young woman turned IntO a k1l1d of vlrtu,.:d creche. She starred by offenng basIC trammg 111 Internet use to younger children 7and found that not only did the children love It, but thelt mothers loved lcav1I1g them there, in satety and worthy educational purSUIts, while they shopped for several hours. One parncularly wealthy family regularly left rilClr son there wlth IllS personal bodyguard, and both would play for hours.
Australia, encouraged him [() find Australian girls who would char to a boy she had come to know at the cafe. Equally his Interests In certam games led hllll to make friends both with cafe regulars and with some online contacts. Often young llsers would want ro make sure there were fnends around ro apprccw[c some sexual adventure or the excJ[cd danger of encountenng a hacker online. Regubrs would rush over to a tnend's screen to rake over thelf keyboard and larch on to some event, In between Juggling half a dozen open WJIlciows and conversations on thelf own mJch1l1c. The private spaces possible In Cafe B (especially, bur not exclUSively, Its 'back room') also allowed looklllg at pornography, alone or 10 groups (pornography was banned at Cafe A, because of the public view of all monltors rather than for reasons of prinCipled disapproval). For example, a group of gav TnI1ldadians collectively used the back room to look at sexual marenal - an Important opportunity 111 Tnl1ldad, which has tended to be highly homophobic. The staff ,lfe clearly aware of the pornographIC matenal bell1g used, and themselves suggested that this represented some 70 per cent of all usage (we felt this was an exaggeration, although some users claimed the same figure); but thell' concern was pnmarily to ensure that such activities he carned out III pflvacy and not be directly exposed to chance encounters wIth schoolchildren and others who would be offended. Our observations would then cerrall1ly support Waketord (1999:188-94) In noting the Importance of spatial order wlth1l1 the cybercafe to understanding the k1l1ds of Interaction that take place there. Comlllg II1to the cafe as a group generally tended to have an II11P:'1Ct on machlllc use, creatlllg the bravado for illiclt activities. In addition to porn, thiS l1l!ght mclude schoolchildren who would Impress each other wIth their ability to work as hackers. Another example was:
Secondary Schools
SOCiality 11l cafe A was rarher different. As opposed [Q the groups huddled around monitors 10 Cafe B, people were eirher iimll1g at the rabies or engaged III more purposeful (bur still socIable and pleasurable) development of thelt
One of the traumas of Tfll1!dadian life IS the common entrance exam, which separates children between the more prestigious Church-founded secondary schools and the ordinary government schools. The strikmg difference between the two was [har the Internet had already become an tntegral part of school culture for students of the prestige schools. ThiS was as much a reflection of the tact that they tended to come from wealthier families with Internet access at home as trom the much Improved online facilities at school (clearly eVident in chelf school websltes, e.g. Plate 3.3). As was tndicated m Chapter 2, proviSion for boys and for girls was radically unequal, though thiS did not seem to make the Internet any less of a feature for girls" school culture or schoolwork, at least at the schools we VISited. Home use was more equal, With several indiViduals and groups suggesttng a figure of around a third of schoolchildren havlIlg online access at home, though those Without access l111ghr come and usc the computers of those With. Schoolchildren With online computers at home tended to receive 5 to 20 emails a week. There was much shanng of online culture, WIth people forwarding Jokes and cards but also friends to each other. Char and ICQ were very common for younger children. One noted how she had stopped US111g ICQ, smce she had found it so addictIVe dUring the four months she had used it. For boys musIC was the most common usc after chat and ICQ, followed by email, and then porn, WIth rather less use for SportS and games. Perhaps 1I1 schools more [han anywhere eise one has a sense of the Internet as sO!11ethll1g that already has a hIstory, and also a relationshIp to the school
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Someflllles me and my tnend will come as a group and lust Sit at a computer and go IllfO ICQ and lust diss everyhody and get thrown out from rhe char roOIll. Well. we lust like to mterfere With people. Like harmless, lusr embarrass, lust Jump 111, listen to
L
The Internet
as a life course. For example, there IS the sense ot a pre-ICQ phase or a prcpersonal webpage phase. There IS already the expeCrarlOl1 amongst schoolchildren rhar members of a cerrall1 school form would go rhrough a phase of heavy Involvement In Imernet pornography or cybersex, bur that by rhe next school year this was already seen as Immature and nor really co~1. In one year children 111Ighr come Inro school and call each orher by rheIr ICQ nICks !I1sread of rhelf real names; bur agam rilIs would be scorned by rhe more semor year. As one pupil pur 1[: 'Some get our of the phase faster than others mllt.!r.':i are sdil tnro It. They are the mmo[Jry. The other forms are In it ngh; now. \'Vhen we were in lab In Computer SCience everybody had thelf own porno scc[Jon. I had 300 pictures, a friend had about 400 pictures. Now if you go back only rhe lower forms bave their porno secnons. Tbe school doesn't reall)' know.-' Schoolchildren consntured one of the only groups that extenSively explOited rI~e Internet tor soclalizlI1g WJth other Trimdadians In TrInidad. One example ot thiS was the extenSIOn of playground gOSSIp and Interacnon. ICQ seemed ro have replaced the telephone as the pnvileged medium for connnumg school conversanons afrer school, lernng each other know about or comment on cvems that day, lI1 the prIvacy of their one-to-one char. Already the patterns of spitefulness, cliqUIshness, sennlTIenraiity and mak1I1g-up that are tamiliar genres offline were finding their online eqUivalents. Also there was the concomitant rISe of the parnculariy TrImdadian sense of bacchanal and WII/Illess (disorder caused by gossIp). For example schoolgIrls relished rhe srary of a boy who published gossip abour IllS frIends on IllS personal web'Site. News ot thiS event spread qUickly, so that they too bad VISited the SIte. Dunng the one week before the bois mother clo~ed the sIte down, It had been hacked - We were told - by some of those concerned to publish counteraCcusations abour the webSite author. Another story concerned a boy watclung a screen WIth Ius gJrlfnend while gossip about rIus glrlfnend was bemg relayed. A more direct reianonshlp was established in San Fernando, where there IS a concentration of secondary schools. !v1any pupils used an IRC-based char room where_ they tended to congregate online, espeCially on Friday l11ghts connnumg through mto the mornIng hours while the parents were asleep. T~ley also arranged [Q meet occaSIOnally for a group lime at the food court ot rhe local mall. Email and ICQ mlghr also be used ra plan a weekend lime or other gathenng. The Internet was also prOViding schoolchildren With a major condUIt to offline relationships. Chat was seen as an Ideal precursor to datmg, since borh boys and girls could be less retlCenr and feel their way towards a relationships while staYlJlg relanvely anonymous;
76
Relationships Bcton~, rhe girls nrc sl1\' kind ot way, so It would rake a fellow to go over and meer
girl nnd ralk. Bur wlrh ICQ In easier. You speaklllg to them like you know them kllld of rhmg, bctore you actually know them. And when you meet you already know them.' Another boy noted of a friend: 'He met her on one of the open chat lines and then he mer her ll1 rcal. They gomg srrong now, haven't had a fight YCL It's a good way of meetlllg glris. It's caSler rhan walkmg lip ro someone and talking."
i1
lnternet coment becomes common school culture as easily as relevision programmes such as Sourh Parle In rhe morlllng people would report new sires or sofrware. The Internet could be used to constlture rhe non-school SOCiality of children, as: 'A place to ger away from school, thar"s whar the Intcrnet IS for my class. They look at Ir as liming on the ncr. They are all In one big chat room and lime.' But rhls was rhe leasr academIC class In rhe ~'ear. For most students the relanonsillp berween the Internet Jnd school culture clearly lIltegrared borh SOCiality and also educational activItIes, such :1S sharing Interner resources for schoolwork. One group of schoolgirls laughed ar our adult naivety when we discussed uSlllg books for essay~wrmng, slTlce rhey pOlllrcd our the grear store of preVIOusly Wrltren essays eXlstlllg on rhe Interner rhat could be milled as the baSIS for rhelr own essays. They all claimed rhar rhey rhemselves (of course) only ever used ideas and SnIppcrs of these essays, bur rhar others 1Il their class had submltred entire essays taken from rhe web wlrhout as yer ever belIlg caughr our by rhe teachers. One group did suggesr~ however, rhar rheir reachers were asklTlg more obscure questions In subJecrs such as literature pardy ITl response to the dueat of rhelr pupils' merely presentll1g public-domalll eSSJYs. Books :1nd libranes were secn as passe: according [0 the girls, eVen reachers accepted rhe lTlability to find information online as a reasonable excuse for nor handing m :1 bomework proJecr. Almosr all rhesc children will ar leasr Invesngare rhe possibiliry of furrher cducanon abroad rhrough researching the ner; Indeed rhroughour Trinldadi:1n SOCiety rhls has become a far more frequent use of rhe Imerner than pursuits such as sports and games. ThiS was confirmed by IIlspectlon at many 'histories' recorded on wcb-browsers 1Il cybercafes. Ar Fatima College around half the students were expected to rake SATS exams for US colleges, of whom around half were expected to obralll full scholarships [() prestigious umversltles In rhe US. The eVidence trom the aiumm lisrs on the school websltes suggesr rhls IS nor unrealistic. The schools themselves clearly recogmzed rhar Interner skills were becomlllg an Integral parr of general education. Some were qune liberal III openmg up their banks of computers to after-school use, even when finding on occasIOn rhat a schoolchild was srill online when they returned tor school the next mornlllg! Fatima funded its computer laborarones partly
77
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Relationships
through purnng on annual courses for the public. IT remains II1tcgral [() rhe
and many of them were pretty outlandish (the shared ultimate Ideal was for some schoolboy to hack lI1to the TrlI11dadian bankll1g system); bur It was clear that reports of such explOIts were a guaranteed addition to peer sratus. As one I5-year-old put Jt:
socIal relations of Irs alumni (see Piate 3.4). The personal wcbs!rcs of schoolchildren are themselves clear expressIOns ot school culmce. The~l also make far more Inventlve use of rhe technology than even rhe most expensive commercial sires. 'wlana's So Called Life'" With rhe address 'sullengll'j' (plate 3.5), has words like (parhcnc·' and 'wJsnng ;1\V<.1)'"' that come and go within a trame. Instead of [he Simple 'abour me' found III most personal webslrcs (see Chapter 4)~ rh1s one states 'Smff on mc, \VARNING! - Before you proceed co waste your rime by reading rhls page I should warn you. It SUCKS!!! I don't know why I'm dOing rhls really, guess it's because I have a lot of time on mv hands." Sullenglri thereby illusrrates the effectiveness of a webSite In conveYl11g the typICal sense of the teenager as alienated: even Visually, she mamly appears on the site as an <.llien. Othcr teenage sites also presem themselves as stupid and pathetic and tell us how they really shouldn''[ be working on thiS Site onc week before wkl!1g thell' eXJml!1atlons bur . , . (e.g. Plate 3.6). \X'har IS lI11presslve IS not JUSt the sheer dvnamlcs and creativity of these Sites, btl[ the tcchlllques they use to entrap 'surfers and draw them 111. For example there IS the brilliam way one site (Plate 3.7) explOIts a conventional form of compmer link to suck m the passmg surfer. The crUCIal factor m all these sites seems to be not Just the ability to attract surfers bur also to engage 111 the act of exchange represented by the (usually mutual) slgnl11g of their guestbooks. It IS thIS that attests to the fame/name of the webSite creator (for examples sec Plates 3.8), and IS analogous to the Circles of exchange that create the name and fame of those who transact Kula (Munn 1986). Surfers are drawn to share the offenngs of the site, for example their Jokes, their ivlP3s, their fnends, or their links to other sites as long as they sign the guestbook and attest thereby to the fame of the creator (Plate 3.9). Thc imernet was also at the cemre of school cultures of heroes and outlaws thot foc1l5ed on techmcal feats and knowledge, generally possessed by boys (thiS was nor confined to schools, bur certainly prevalem there). While some of thiS I11volved relationships formed between rechlllcally proficient boys who were developll1g small webSite buslI1csses or helpmg manage school IT facilities, rhe thrilling stuff Involved va no us kmds of orgal1lzed ourlawry, often mythological, directed agall1st school or each other. One school had allowed o highly skilled 15-vear-old to develop thelt website and other computer facilities for the school. The fact that the same ruril was repured to then hack 111[0 the system at will led to a subsequent parting of ways. All the srucients had a repertOIre of stones abour master hackers and hackmg reats, of rartlcularly devastating viruses and Il1gel1lous 'troJans' that could rake conrrol over anyone's computer. It was hard to confirm any of these stones,
Much of the first half of rillS chapter could have been wrItten under the rubric or kmsillp studies. At first giance the materlai appears very different from whar one might expect to encounter 111 kmshlP studies; but we want to suggeSt that there may be much more contlnlllty here than meets the eye. ThiS becomes more apparent when it is recogI11zed that the relationships discussed throughout tillS chapter are, like kmsillp Itself, an idiom for the expression of corc Trll1Idadian values. The central argumenr of Miller 1994 was that rhere eXisted a historical logiC that could confer on Tflmdad a vanguard position in arguments about rhe nature of l11oderl11ry. It was suggested that the relevant values - termed there 'transience" and 'transcendence' wete IllStotically first developed and expressed through the Idiom of klllShlp. After the oil boom or the 1970s the same contradiction II1 values was also expressed through the meanings gIven to the objects of mass consumptIOn, perhaps now through the medium of the Internet. The key author for understanding the distmctlve character of West Indian klllSh/p IS R. T. Smith (1988, 1995). Trillldad had eqUivalent notms of kmsillp
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Normally they brag about how good they are at hackmg, or blOWing up somebodv"s system. shuttmg them down. Some mstances - they are true. People that they do It to come back nnd talk abour It. They does be renl vex. They quarrel a lor. \X'hy yuu du me thoU? They have dllS fella, he lett school now, he was 10 form five With tiS, he could shut down somebody even on the ner, or disconnect, he's real good.
Hackmg mvolved competitive bravado between rhe boys. By contrast~ a 15year-old schoolglfl noted thar girls would commonly send VIruses to each other, often !1l the belief that they were already vICtims of a virus sent by the girl 111 question. Girls would come to school also moamng abour how theIr computer had been messed up and how they would wreak revenge on rhe girl they believed had sent the Vltus. Agalll, the mix of trurh and lore 15 both undeCidable and revealing of school culture, bur the commenr that 'thiS IS their menrality' strongly suggested thar the stereotypes that are developtng about how scboolglrls and schoolboys respectlvciy use rlmr skills closely follow older gender stereotypes.
Continnities
The Internet
RelationshIps
to those 5nmh describes for JamaJCa, although they have recently moved closer to 1I1ternational norms Jnd Ideologies as a result of affluence and cosmopolitan aspiratIOns. Smith (1988: 49) found that Jamaicans typJCally recognized J large number of people as relatives (a mean of 284 In 51 cases). As In Trinidad, these became a Kmd of potential network rarher than , as In other counrnes, a senes of concentnc Circles representing decreasmg degrees of contact and obligatJon. Closeness or affection IS almost an Independent vanable one establishes With some km bur nor wah others. Connections With km arc rarher less ned to a sense of obligation based on relative closeness of blood than would be [rue elsewhere. As a porennJi network these connections grow 111 partICular ways. For example, In Trintdad rhe blnh of a baby Signifies rhe creation of new bonds irrespective of the continued presence of the baby's father. ThiS relative separation between a sense of connection and a sense of obligation may be understood in parr as an act of resistance to hlstoncal pressure from groups such as the Church to develop more institUtionalized norms of kill. For example, there was resistance to marnage pnor to demonstl'ating the ability to have children and most espeCially the ability to own and run a house.
Instead, k1l1sh!p 1I1cluded a strong element of pragmatism. One might be only vaguely aware that a partICular relative lived In a locality until the deCIsion to send one's son to school in that area, 111 which case that relative's house becomes the obvIOUS place for him to live. Similarly if one wanted to extend a bus1l1ess link to a new regIOn. The same applied to affection 111 general. Cousins were more like a pool of potential close relations; but only through mutual attraction does a very close friendship develop With one particular COUS1l1. SO what mattered was not the distance between any two relatives, bur rather the realization of particular pragmatic and affective relations OUt of a pool of possible relationships. Even IJl the practice of sexuality there IS a stress on the mutual act of exchange, for example of glVlJlg one's labour in clearing the yard of one's sexual partner as parr of mutual recognition of the relationship. There IS also an antipathy to forms of marnage IJl which parrners can take each other for granted in prOViding either sex or labour. In effect klJlsillp represents a potentIal pool of people, while circumstances are allowed to determ1l1e whether or not there develops a bond of affection or whether or not a relative becomes an Important node IJl solvlJlg some logistical problem. In Miller 1994 (pp. 168-93) It was argued that all of ri1lS expresses the value of tranSience, 111 whICh IJlStlrutlOns are prevented from limiting the sense of freedom and voluntansm baSIC to what are seen as authentic relatlOnSlllps. Its roots IJl the particular history of the regIOn are therefore clear.
Such a perspective IS very different from the 'baggage' that usually comes With terms such as ccommuJ11ty' and 'family' if used as models for Internet use. Usually such terms tend to assume a commonalty of sentiment IJl which commul1Jty as a symbol and focus of commitment transcends the relations that constitute It. If, however, \Vest Indian klJlshlp of this transient vanety 15 taken as the model for Internet use, other possibilities arise. The first analogy IS found in the way people use the Internet to create networks. One common concern IS slmpl~1 to expand the number of people one knows or knows of. Once one has had a commUl1lcatlon With them It could in future be extended if thar were mutually deSired. ThiS evolution occurs through a number of different routes. These lllclude creatmg networks of potentwl correspondents, for example through contactmg distant km on the Internet, deveJopmg a list ot 'f1lcks' on one·'s ICQ link, or slgnmg a webSIte's guesrlist. A pnme example of thiS would be the 'de Tnlll Lltne" an ICQ list that grew as we were domg fieldwork to 2,215 people. The only c[ltena that mattered as far as most people were concerned were that the other person on the lime was a genume Trlnl and then also usually thar they were of the opposite sex. As !11 the transient family, one finds With Internet relationships thar larger appeals to sentiment or obligation on the baSIS of nearness or proximity often have little authonty. Rather, there IS a large pool of potential contacts that can be realized for either or both of two mam reasons, one being to create bonds of affection, sometimes meluding deep mtlmacy and acts of confeSSIOn. The other IS to engage m mutual commUl11cation m order to fulfil some largely pragmanc and perhaps forruItous need, such as a common deSIre for computer games cheats, though such a need I111ght also be represented by somethmg one might think of as more personal. !vlany of the random char links are based around discussions of such thlllgs as how to deal With naggmg parents or teachers, or persIstent ex-boyfnends. As a result the presence of the correspondent cannot be taken for granted. It follows that there IS a constant need to recreate the mutuality of the rebrionshlp. ThiS works for both shorr- and long-term relanonshlps. As some young men noted in trymg cybersex, they Simply had to show more sensitivity and concern for the pleasure of their female partners than they had m offline sex, smce otherWise theIr partners would just leave them standing (as It were). So, as m transIent kmshlp, Internet relatIonships are more dyadic, volunransnc and based on the continUity of their re-COnStltlltlOn through constant acts of exchange. ThiS IS not to say that the relationships are more superfiCial or less normatlve or laelong m the possibility of affectIOn; but rather It makes these compatible WIth uSlllg relationships to objectify a project of freedom as ;::. central value of moderlllty, ThiS argument therehy exemplifies the dynamiCs of normative freedom as discussed 111 Chapter 1.
80
81
The Internet
Relationships
The final pOim IS that contrary to expectations such uses of [he Internet are nor [0 be opposed to 'rradinonal' forms of reianonshtp and especially ktnslllP (CaS[ells 1998: 340-51). In rhls case, by comraS[, such amibmes would make rhe Internet strongly continuous with those values that were developed first In kinship and later through the experience of mass conSllmpnon (see Miller 1994: Chaprer 5). So while l [ lS [00 early [0 know [0 whar degree these Tnnldadian llses of rhe Internet are hIghly specific, if rhey are, there will he a local historical trajectory [hat might help us account for [hat specificity. Once again there may be eiectlve affinities m play; bm most 1l1lportandy, the argument suggests that rhe reianonshlps outlined here cannot be assumed ro mere creatures of rhe Internet developed In OppOSJ[Ion [Q or repbccment of something else called 'traditional kIIlShlp'.
eVidently arose from and mamtalIled an lI1trlcate relationship with a qUite conventional sense of SOCial strucrure, and had an emmenriy prac[1cai function 111 reproducing thar strucrure, alongSide other modes of formal and I11formai practices (for example careers, travel, and busmess contacts). As 111 orher chapters, these conclUSIOns are tied to local circumstances. It nced nor follow that ICQ will necessarily have the same consequence for another sOCiety or Diaspora. The 'elective affil1lty' by which a particular Internet technology can be developed to enhance a particular genre of relationships IS highly contexrualized. Indeed, It was suggested at the end that there Illay be strong contll1umes with earlier forms of kmshlp, partly because both kmslllP and the Internet are bemg employed as Idioms to express particular values that connect With what we have termed normative freedom. To try and separate our material into the 'real' and the 'vlrrual' would thus seem to liS to lose almost everythll1g that can be learnt from srudymg relationship on
Conclusions
and through the Internet.
The eVidence III thiS chapter suggests that online and offline worlds penerrate each other deeply and in complex ways, whether people are uSll1g the Internet to realize older concepts of identity or to pursue new modes of socwlity. Wirh respecr [0 rhe family rhe ]nrerner lS used largely [0 roll back changes rhar were dissolvlllg some family relanons. Ir lS used [0 bnng people back [Q what they rlunk of as '-proper' family life. As such It IS a prime example of whar we called m Chaprer I rhe expanSlve realizanon. Char and ]CQ can further ncw kJIlds of SOCIal comact, which then have to be assessed and related to a normative sense of what a 'real' relatlOnslllp IS. They may also be reframed as, or even literally lead to, the most traditional forms of socwlity, such as marriage. Apparently qUIte mundane new media, such as VIrtual postcards, can both transform older gifting practices and materially reconsnture the relationships JIl w!llch they are embedded. Spaces of socwlity emerge around Internet use III cybercafes and schools, with their own norms and variations based on a complex IIlterWe~1VlIlg of online and offline worlds, frequently more Significant III their IIltensification of offline rarher than online relanonships, or In the way they lI1tegrate the two. 'Virtuality\ as we indicated III Chapter 1, IS unhelpful or even misleading as a POll1t of departure III sorting OUt thiS compleXity. Ethnographically, It IS at best a speCial case that emerged in jason's valuation of 'jUSt communJcatlng' III char relationships - yet even he did not use the term 'VIrtual'. Rather he stressed that the value of these relationships hinged on the way 111 which the), were stitched into hiS everyday life, exemplified 'In theIr knowledge and partiCIpation 111 hiS family life. Similarly, although It is tempting to treat the alumni lists of prestige schools as a kll1d of Virtual SOCial srrucrure, they
82
83
4 Being Trini and Representing Trinidad Ivl0S[ discussIOn of rhe Internet has emphasized barh rhe abolition of distance - a theme we found to be very Important - and a consequent dis-embedding of relationships from particular places, a conclusion that we found to be
very misleading. The Internet media are very capable of bringmg dispersed rhmgs mro llnmediare, virtually face-to-face, contact: prIces and commodities, families, musIc culrures, religIOUS and cthnu: Diasporas. However, there IS no rcason to suppose thar these encounters dis-embed people from [helf particular place; or that rhey come to trc;Jt thelf real-world locations as less relevant to [helf encounters or lclentJ[Jcs; or thar rhey construct new Idcl1nnes III relanon to "cyberspace" farher than proJccrll1g older spatial Iden[lties through new media and mteractlons. In fact there IS a better prIma (acre case tor the Opposite conclUSIOn: thar people would hold to older senses of self and place 111 their encounter WIth a sudden, lInmediare 1I1curSIon of 'the glob;:I1'- The Internet would be used to help them m expansive realizatlonto become what they already wamed to be, parrly m the face of the more global ellVlronment they arc exposed to by the net. ThiS was 1I1deed what we constantly found in our particular case-srudy: be1l1g Tnnl was crucial to people"s encounter with the Internet. \\11: will cerramiy not argue that 'Trim-ness' was left unchanged by thIS encounter; bur we will argue that the encounter cannot be understood Without understanding Tnnl-ness and Its vanous meanmgs for partiCipants. The centrality of place IS captured 111 the two phrases that make up the [Ide of thiS chapter:
85
The Internet
Being Trim and Representing Trimdad
{wcbsJtcs, chm rooms, archives), there IS also a hyperawareness that one is also consranrly "representing TrInIdad'; one IS borh a represenranve of Trimdad, and hence responsible tor presennng It well by beIng personally successful, and one IS prodUCIng represenrations of Trimdad, and therefore construcnng H as the thIng known by both members and outsiders. 'Being TrIni' and 'representIng Tnmdad' were not always the cemral or most conscIous aspect of Internet activItIes, but we rarely found an Inrernet expenence In wl11ch they did not feature. TIllS might be peculiar to Tnnldad (island culture, culturally and economlcJlIy ambitious but on the penphery of North Amenca, and so on) but then thar wouid be preCisely our pOint: that we cannot exclude spatwl and even natIOnal Identities from Internet studies, either on the baSIS of theoretIcal assumptions about dis-embedding or on the baSIS of extrapolations from exclUSively US and European expenences of the Internet. Trinidadians, then, seemed highly aware, whenever they were online, that they were meeting the rest of the world as Tnms. They might be aware of thiS 111 eJrher a nmJOnalisnc, patrIorlc sense (they were Tnmdadians encounrerlIlg other countnes) or through a broader sense of the cultural specificity of their tJstes, ways of dOIng thll1gs and commulllcanng things. It would be hard to !I11agllle 1md-Western Amencan studenrs Including 111 their websJres links to the local chamber of commerce or to government lIlfonnatIon sources, as Tnlll students would normally do by prom1l1enrly link1l1g to TIDCO's sire. And they were equally online as Tnllls when chattIng, Informing people about rhe country, and putting ItS Inusic or sports on the global map. ThiS was not always parr of an expliCItly nationalist project or onenranon (though It was so to a massive extent). They were also seel1l1l1gly continuously aware of themselves as Trinl in terms of thinking through their difference and idennty In everyday diSCUSSIOn: it is part of every encounrer that one both has to lI1form the other as to who one IS pardy by expla1l1Jng Tnmdad to them, and yet ar the same time to explore the commonalities of onels global partiCipation. It should not need saylllg - but we will say It In any case - that we do not assume thar there IS a uniform, let alone a narural, narional character, a 'Trimness·' that generates a unified culture or Identity, on- or off line. The term masks the extraordinarily complex Issue of ethl1lc Identity. Quite apart from the more obvious and homogeneous ethl1lc categories In TflI11dad the recent literature has shown an extensive ability for the category of mixed ethI11cltv to engage with a diverse set of political) economic and SOCial issues (e.g. Khan 1993; Rheddock 1999; and more generally Yelvll1gron 1993). It has become almost aXIOmatic II1 contemporary anthropology that one should nor discuss ethnographic marenal II1 terms of a homogel1lzed entity called 'culture' ~ nor should one homogel1lze groups around categones such as TnI1ldadians. As Thomas notes~ It IS often facile to ralk of 'the Samoan view
ot" , " (Thomas 1999 263, though see also Sahlins 1999). Yet It IS one rlung ro aVOid an unwarranted projection of a Simplistic or IdeologICal category upon a group of people. It IS qlllte anorher to deny to a people the tntegnty of a category they apply to themselves and spend much of their lives livll1g II1 respect ot. tvloreover, much m line WIth more SOCIOlogical accounts of 'new ethmcmes' (Hall 1988) at diasporlc Identities (Gilroy 1993), we are reading Tfll1l-ness as a project defined and pursued over a particular history, not as an oflgm nor as a nature. \Xlhat we are saymg, contra current cyberliterature, IS thar the Internet IS bemg understood and used to an unexpected extent m relation preCIsely to those prOjects that might be understood as 'bell1g Trini' or 'representing Tflmdad', Our mcluslOn ot an entire chapter on these Issues does not lT1 any way reflect our own atrltude to questions of nationalism or nanonalldentlty. Rather, it IS a reflection of the overwhelll1l11g eVidence from Ollr fieldwork about their Importance to those we are srudymg. ThiS chapter will thetefore show, amongst other thll1gs, why throughout rillS volume we use the term 'Trmi' as a generaliZing category - indeed, why we must.
Tnmdad-Online.org (Plate 4.1) was Intended as an exemplary representation ot Tnnldad as well as prOViding a range of facilities for bemg TrlI1I online and for brmgmg together otherWise dispersed diaspoflc Tflmdadians. On first SIght, TflI11dad-Online appeared to be a corporate websIte that 1I1duded 111 Its highly deSigned look a range of Truudad-related facilities: bookshop, musIC store, penpaJ and personals serVice, postcard centre ('Where Emotions and Technology collide'), web-based email facility, a chat room (de Rumshop Lime) hosted on Yahoo With accompany1l1g photograph archive and membership list, the Tnl1ldad-Online webr1l1g, and an email list (Tnnbago-Now) as well as an offline, hatd-copy magaZll1e called KalJ'Pso. In fact, the site was run entirely by a 22-year-old woman, a recent graduare of a rop New England college, now workmg near New York in systems analYSIS and maIntenance. Patncla had starred her online operations while at college (where 111 fact she studied ma1l1iy liberal arts rather than computing), setting up one of the ambmous early TflI1ldadian sites rhat offered huge amounts of history and orher mformanon about the country. She seemed to pour vast amounts of her personal tlIne IntO Tflllldad-Online, and felt a dual responsibility: her miSSion was borh to connect up Diasporic Trinis (and keep them connected to home) and to ensure that rhey were represented well to the rest of the world. Ivloreover, the Site was borh a mission and a bus1l1ess:
86
87
Being Trini
The Internet In
addition
[Q
Being Trim and Representing Trimdad
keenly and SJOcerely feeling her responsibility
[Q
promote and
orgamze Tnmdad online (and offline through the magazme), PatriCia was mtensely emrepreneunal, wlth several Jobs, enterpnses and prOjects always on the boil (irself 0 trait often said by TrIms to be tYPically 'TrIni'). BuslOess and miSSIOn were very far from Incompatible; on rhe contrary, ![ was rhe profeSSIOnalism With which she ran and projected her mISSIOn and her bus mess thot she felt would hest brIng TrIms together and promote therr Identity hence, the corporate look and feel. The webrIng was a way of formalizlOg links, mcluding 76 TrImdad-related sires covermg everythmg from busmess to politics, culture and personal webslres. The cbarroom facilities and mailing list extended the ways In whICh Tnllls could connect up With each otber, find each other. However, PatncIa's pn)Jcct of organlzlIlg and presennng Trlmdad online IS not Just a matter of IIlformatlon and connections. It IS also a matter of proVIding the facilities for 'bcmg Trmi' online, for performll1g TrIm-ness, making Tnllldad manifest and 1I1deed obJectifying the participants' connectedness through hyperlinks, spaces III which to meet and styles of commuI1lcatlng. Internet facilines above all the chat room - proVide places 10 which to be TnOl, and as part of thiS they become TrIm places. That IS to say, bits of the Internet hecome <1ssl!lliiared as Trim, lIldeed as part of TrImdad Itself, 111 the process of uSll1g them to be and to represent Tnmdad. The chat room, 'de Rumshop Llme\ had a membership SImilar to that of the largest dedicated TriOidadian ICQ list - 'de TrIm Lime' (Plote 4.2). Here Trlnls (and a few non-Tnms WIth some connection or affection for the place) place thelf mcknames and a few details as a baSIS for contacting Trims online either IIldivldually or via a collective chat room. The webmaster (a Trim livmg oway) proudly proclaimed them to have come from 40 different countries (though maSSively domll1ated by North AmerIca). As is detailed in Table 4.1 they were also mixed In terms of gender (though WIth more men), leaning towards the young, domll1ated by home-based Tnllls and wlth Trillls "brood roughly equally splir berween the US and Canada. The names of these char rooms - de Rumshop Lime, de Trim Lime - evoke central aspects ofTnmdadian culture. The 'lime' espeCially evokes the street
Table 4.1 Breakdown of Participants
10
LocatIOn Trmldad
1190
Americas UK 791 22
'de Rumshop Lime"
Gender Orher
Male
Female
56
1176
879
aa
Age
0-18 19-23 24-90 575 613 668
corner, where males traditionally exchanged lI1nuendo and banter with passmg females and aimed to hear about whatever was happelllng (Lieber 1981; Eriksen 1990). The rumshop IS a local, down-market drmkmg piace, 10 the old days dommated by dommoes and rum, today often filled with earsplitting musIC and Carib beer, another favounte place to lime, filling one's tIIne with skilled banter, dancmg and driftmg onwards to other places (a street corner, a club, someone's house, another Island). The term 'lime' IS regarded as gumtessentlally TrIm - both peculiar to the place and defiOltive of ItS people - and was regularly cited as the TnOi pleasure they most wanted to recover on or through the Internet. In fact, 'liming' was the word generally used ro describe chattll1g online and other non-seriOUS uses of the Internet, as It would describe any Similar hangmg out. The Internet comes to be seen sllnpiy as limmg extended to Just another SOCIal space. Indeed, Tnm youth could pursue therr lime from school to home to street to ICQ (erther ar home or m a cybercafe, which was also a place to lime face-to-face) to fete. So the mternet as a place to hang around constituted a most obvious 'natural affinity' to Trim-ness (Plate 4.3). Even to a non-TrIm, 'Iimmg' could perfectly describe the flow of time and banter III a chat room (in Slater's prevIOus work (1998), North Ameflcans would use their own Idiom to describe IRC as the world's blggesr cockrail party). Of course, people from all around the world fill Yahoo chat rooms and ICQ III ways that mlgbt With fllther study appear Similar or different to the way Tnnls bang out on the ner. But to describe a chat room as 'limll1g' was to place It squarely m the centre of TflllIdadian IdentIty and to frame what one was dOing online as a valued enactment of Tnlll-ness. The term 'lime" hlghliglus the free-flowlIlg socrability of char sites. An observer could look II1slde to find no one there; all of a sudden someone else spotted them and lamed, a crowd would gather, people would drop 10 and Ollt, regular characters were described and discussed. Characters were Important: 1I1divldual eccentnCHY plays out the stock TrIm types found m literature such as Nalpaul's (1959) Miguel St,.eet and 10 Carnival characters. So III the chat room BnantheLover performed the most outrageous verSiOn of the redhot, flirtatious predatory Tnlll male (and was constantly, affectionately, described to us as a real Tnm "type'), bllt every chat room had ItS eqUivalent Sexy 1\I1an or sll11ilar, who was essentIal 111 keepll1g thll1gs gOIng 111 what was seen as a specifically TrIm way. There was endless talk of how hard one had partied last IlIght, or wanted to part)' but couldn't because of work or bemg stuck 111 Toronto, or even how late de Rumshop Lime had gone on the IlIght before. Indeed, given that so many people were liming from North Amenca, With ItS very different lifestyle and tIme structure, they might lime online at some personal cost.
a9
Bemg Trim and Representing Trimdad
The Internet
The most definItIve feature of rh15 liming refers simply [Q endless talk abollt nothmg
IS III
the 'ole ralk\ which varlollsly par[Jcular to talkmg a lor of 1
'5hlr\ whether It be braggmg, telling rail stones or - and rhls was rhe crucial thing - endless banter and f1dicule, almost mevltably of a sexual narure. Tnms pnde themselves on verbal dextenry tYPical of what Abrahams calls The Man of Wlords 11/ the Wiest Indies (1983), bur here shared by women who are JUSt as profiCient at rhe ambIguous Innuendo or rhe wIthenng purdown. A second vnal trait IS rhe ability nor to 'rake things on' ThiS depends on a sense of "cool' that means thar traded Insults are kept on the surface for bnrnng to and fro like pIng-pong balls, and there IS a pride In the faC[ that rhey therefore do nor hurt, cause resentmem or penetrare Into the WIder bemg of those taking part. Tnms see thiS ability as differentiating them from other regIOns whose people would be seen as hot-tempered and unable to cope With such insults, especially In the area of sexuality, which IS their richest field 01 production (for more detailed analYSIS sec Miller 1994: 227-31). The thlJ'd trait IS the haslc shared nationalism that means they can together praise bur perhaps more often disparage Tn!1ldadians (politicwns, ll1stltutlons, wehSltes, etc.), bur With an underlYing affimty ro Tn!1ldad that would make the same negative comment by an outsider seem highly offenSive. There are two crUCial P01l1ts abour Tnni sexual banter that were lovmgly recreated 10 all chat rooms (compare YelvlOgton 1995, 1996 on flirting 10 TrII1Idad tacrorIes). Firstly, that women give as good as they get, and mdeed thar a centml theme be a woman's demonstration that she IS far roo much for the man 10 question (or her hushand) to deal With either verbally or sexually ('boy! you cyan (can)t) deal With me, It would give you a I~earr arrack'). Secondly, that although the banter can be - 111deed, should be more outrageously suggestive With every additional remark, there is a complete han on swear words or IOdeed any expliCit sexual reference: the skill and pleasure IS entirely In the use of the most eXtensive and creative range of metaphors for sexual acts, deSires and body parts. In thiS, ole talk IS quite the oppOSite of cuss outs, which are seriously heated nnd where the VirtuosO filth of the language has nothing ro do with sexual pleasures. Both these pomts were rourlnel), replicated to perfection on de Rumshop Lime, qUite conSCiously and With repeated aSides (to us as observers or to each other) pOlntll1g ro preCIsely whar they were dOing (for examples of char, see Piare 4.4). For example, PatriCIa, seen by herself and rhe orhers as a belllgn control freak, played rhe role of matnarch, keepmg everyone 1I1 order. On countless occaSIOns, rhe banter had gone way over rhe top (rhough still wlthour a swear word) when PatriCia entered rhe chat room: everyone would Jokmgly tell each mber to hush up because the boss had arnved, and she would equally Jokmgly guess ar what klOd of mlscillef the playfully shamefaced 90
charters had got up to m her absence. \Y/e see here the dynamiCs of norm<.ltive freeJom, In which a sense of themselves as open and outrageous IS transferred to the Internet alongSide those normative structures and mdeed the poliCing that renders It a meanll1gful and enjoyable enactment of a particular cultural Identity. ThiS k1l1d of policlI1g makes It Tnl11, both m repiicatll1g dle role of the powerful woman, and in the policlI1g of overt sexual crudity, which forces partlClp<.lnts mto replicating exacdy the lingUIstic prowess thm IS conSidered archerypally Tnl1l. The idea and Ideal of a specific gel11us of Tnnidadian sexual linguisticS was often expliCit, as 111 an email list where <.l newble (ro Tnl11dad, not the Net) expressed appreciation of the use of mnuendo 111 soca lyncs, but made the mistake of putting soca 111 rhe same sentence as rap. One of the angry responses was: Our musIC IS suggestive but we have what rap and mher modern musIC !don'tl havl' ... respect tor the listeners and class. \'\Ie can talk nhour sex and other forms at sexual mnuendoes bur we tWist the lYriCS !1l such a Way th
1
The Internet
Being Trim and Representing Trimdad
enacted, valued and spoken about 111 online contexts. In rhe cases of TrIms both home and away there was also an equal idealizanon ofTrimdad (discussed below). The obvIOus difference was In the longIng, nostalgia and pathos expressed by those away. There was a great emphaSIS on porrraYlng oneself as 'a true Trllli" and rhls Involved above all an mexhausrible capaCity [0 lime, as well as an appreclatlon of musIC, food, sexuality and being open [Q
While all rillS adds up to somethmg like a 'common culture', a mlmmal shared agenda for bemg Tflm, It also adds up to a very Idealized way of representll1g Tnnldad (see rhe secnon on webslres below). But whereas for home-based Tnnis rhere was a srrong deSire to presenr an Ideal Tnl1ldad to the rest of the world borh through one's online behaVIOur and one's websaes (and a very strong deSire to lIlS1Sr rhar Tnnls away should do the same), the Diasponc Tnms clearly wanred to recover rhrough re-enacrment what they were missing. Perhaps rhe word 'warmth' - of climare, socwbiliry, food, fnendshlp, JUlllplng up to musIC - captures thiS best.
new people and expenences {'love meeting people from everywhere').lr also must IIlciude a deep love of Trlmdad (and Trim sports reams of all sorts). The followmg quotes from self-descnpnons posred on 'de Trim Lime' exemplify
these
pO lIltS:
The Diaspora View - Being an Online UK Trini Some home-based Trims:
These mailing list messages and fragments of chat bnng to mind what !VIary Douglas and Baron Isherwood (1979: 75) refer to as 'the enjoyment of shanng namcs'. Because rhe meamngs of consumption goods and acnvmes are cenrral 'for makmg Visible and srable the categories of culture' (1979: 59) they can bc [l'cated as an IIlformanon sysrem rhar 15 srraregIC 111 mappll1g out lI1c\uslOn and exclUSIOn wlrh respecr to a culture; access to and faciliry 111 uSll1g rhls mformatlon sysrem IS mregral to reproducll1g one's SOCial membershIp. There arc senous senses 111 whICh 'belllg Trini' really IS about rhe abiliry to use and share rerms such as Carib, doubles, Maracas, bake and shark, and so on, and rhe Interner seems to offer parncuiariy appropnare faciiines for dOlng rillS. Alrhough Douglas and Isherwood emphaSize how class and gender ll1cqualines 111 access to rhe shanng of names impacr on socI:.llmcluslOn, rhe analYSIS works well for culmral idennry, parricularly 111 relanon to Diaspora.
Parr of Ollr srudy focused specifically on UK Trinidadians, 1I1volving mtervlCWS wah 25 mformanrs, ren doing courses 111 (he UK for around rhree years and [he resr reSident rhere. The toral Tnnidadian popuiatlon 111 rhe UK IS not large. Peach (1998: 210) gives 10,204 for London 111 1991. Along With additional sources (email quesnonnalres, address books, ICQ chars) we could estimate that around half of all UK-based Trimdadians were online and used rhe lIlrerner, which In parr would reflect rheir largely profeSSIOnal niche 111 Brltlsh soclery. In almosr every case rhere was a clear sense thar rhe Inrernet had changed rhelr reianonshlp nor only [Q 1I1divlduals, as discussed in Chaprer 3, but also to rhelf sense of being a Diaspora Tfll1ldadian. UK-hased Tnms, though far smaller m numbers than those m North Amenca, fir exactly rhe model described above in rhelr use of char as a stage on whICh [Q perform Tnl1l-ness. For example, rhe limll1g, ole talk and sexual banter may be seen as eirher a relief from or an antlrhesls to rhe UK hosr society. The hanrer, insulr, and flirting rhar IS seen as 1I1rnnSlC to rheir bemg Tnl1l would mosr likely be misunderstood or mlsconsrrued (for example, as sexisr and racist) if a took pi ace wlrhll1 any contexr nor specifically framed as Trinidadian. As With the rraditlonal'Iime\ rhere is a sense rhar people can relax, or be thelllseives, while engaged 111 rhls actiVity, free from rhe srress of havlllg to warch rhclr behaVIOur and conversation, excepr III rerms of the normative version of freedom thar IS accepred as lI1rnnSIC to rhe actlvlry (such as no swcar words). Given rhe cenrraliry of sponranelry 1Il rhe definition of rhe rraditlonallime rhls kind of acrivlry almosr disappears when livll1g wlrh1l1 rhe UK, where Ir would be seen as IIlrruslve and rude. Ar rhe same time the online lime thereby became a shared affirmation of what they see as the skills and delighrs that come from bemg Trlmdadian per se. UK-based Trims also enjoyed uSlllg localized dialect 111 char, even if rhey would use a more srandard English for [heir private e-mails.Thls also has the effect of makmg people feel II1c!USlve - for example, Ir elimlllates the class distinctions rhar
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A fme tfue trI!1! who loves ro ole talk ahout any and everythmg under our beauriful Island sun!
Abigail: As a doubles earlng, red-solo dnnkmg, Marac.1s bathmg, Nuts gomg, mango suckll1g, man gap 109. sunday sleepmg, card knocking, bar hoppmg, nice car dnvmg Trim, of course I liming every weekend. I live for \Vest Indies Cricker, love to listen to DaVid Rudder, love all dungs Trim limmg, drmkmg, tetlng and did i mentIOn limmg, dnnking, & feting? And lets nor forger rhe trim-woman dbest In the world!
Some Trims away: Ex-convent San'"do girl, going to school here In Canada. Love liming, feting, bake and shark and plam ole ralkmg. \Vanr to come home real bad. It there IS anyone who can tune my pan, contacr me. All alyuh boy up here studym'" in dis cold ass country. Ah real mlssm" de limm on de block, eatll1' doubles dong by U\VI wlr ah beastly cold fbeer] 111 mch hand, alyuh drop meh ah line nah and make meh feel like ah home again.
The Internet
Bemg Trini and Representing Trinidad
might otherwise be associated with the difference between dialect and standard
archive on line 1I1 order to find and download a clip of hllll and hiS wife crossmg the Savannah stage! Carnlvai was also the time of year when people might look at a Wider range of Tnl11dadian websltes, as part of a general feeling of nostalgia. Ovetall UK-based Trll11S teckoned that around 50 per cent of their surfing was directed to Trinidad-related Sites, whICh might Include personal web-pages of fnends, or a particular hobby such as philately. The tvliss Ul11verse site was also much VISited at the time of the competition. There was less than the expected interest 111 usmg the Internet to find other UK-b~lsed Tnllls, whICh accords With the eVidence thar, compared to Immigrants from other parts of the Caribbean, Tnnldadians do not seem [0 form communities m the UK. If they do come together It will tend to be around Carmval, the recent growth m the Soca Fete scene for dancmg and mUSIC, or to a lesser extent polities. In conclUSIOn, the factor that makes the Internet so appropnate to UK-based Tnms IS thar It allows them to reram a strong sense of the specifiCity of Tril1!dadian culture and practice while not attemptmg to form any kind of UK-based Trinidadian community, or aSSOClJte partlcubrly With other Tnmdadians m the UK.
English. Anyone rakmg parr can easily - if rhey have a mmd to - move to srandard English Instantly, but as one person put It: 'I feel that only anothet Tnlll would be able to relate to d' ole talk and tlng!' ThiS creanon of a specifically Trinidadian mternet space IS a particular moment 111 rhe local 1usmr), of rhe Internet Itself. Five years prior to thiS research rhe relatively few Tfln1dadians that went on line abroad tended to be Involved In llser group culrure, wah Its own rradinons of flamll1g (attacks on opposlllg 0pl1l1ons) and such like. Sanparh gIves an example of tillS (1997). At that time rhe ,clenncy of users tended to be given In terms of 'Caribbean' or '\'X1esr Indian\ and an observer might have seen rhe Internet as a means tor transcending local or national ,cicntl[Y and crearmg a suprananon,:1i regIOnal sense of commUl1Jt~'. But as soon as new technologies developed, such as ICQ, and the numbers online permitted It, we see the regIOnal COtntnUl1Jty of users almost entirely disappear Without any kind of legacy, to be replaced b)' rillS 11Ighl)' nationalistic category of Tnl11dadian. Although some call themselves Tnnbagol1Jan, most of those from Tobago either have to form their own chat group or accept the label Tnnl, With the occasional protest at the semantic exclUSion of their Island from the nanonallabel. Clearly thiS also forms parr of a sense of bemg able to remam 'Tnni' while livtng abroad: 'The <4ralkmg" (via e-mail and ICQ, mamly) to people m Tnnidad and reading more IIlformation, and more up-tn-date !I1formatJon, on what's happenmg 111 Trimdad, have led me to feel closer to Trinidad, almost as if I'm livmg there - except no hot sun, no hot food and no cold Carib /beerl:' While chat and ICQ only appeal to some of those liv111g 111 the Diaspora, the one almost UblQl1ltouS feature of internet use was reading the Trlmdadian newspapers online. Both the mam daily newspapers, The Express and The Guardian, have websltes prOViding daily updates of a sample of their contents, and most Diaspora Trll11s said they used them. Only one of our IIlformants regularly used the other newspaper on line - the Catholic News (see Chapter 7), whIch he told us was also read b)' some of IllS fnends. Other uses are more partial or seasonal, such as the tnterest generated by Carmval. Carlllval is a time when many expatnate Tnllldadians would like to return to Trlmdad to play mas' (jom a masquerade), and quite a number had Visited the TIDCO site that proVides coverage of a Wide range of Carnival activities, as well as the websltes of IIldivldual mas' camps on which their costumes were dispiayed. Indeed the webSIte most commonly favourably Cited for hath aesthetics and conrent was a mas' camp (Hart). Several UK Tnms had at least tried to look at the live webcam that TID CO had set up over the Savannah {the high pOint of the parade}. Indeed, one enterpristng Trinidadian who had gone back to play mas' that year subsequently went through the
Trll11dadians at home, as we have seen, used char and ICQ to perform Tnnlness, and they made these media mto Tnm locations. Indeed, they could do thiS 111 marc obvlOusly grounded ways by vutue of bemg m the same phYSical locale: some could flow from schoolroom to ICQ to fete and back agalll (Plate 4.4). ThiS extreme localization of the net exemplifies the distinction With which the chapter starred between the Internet as somethmg that overcomes distance as opposed to somethmg that spatially dis-embeds SOCial relations. For example, when ralklllg of how chat or email allowed them to re-esmblish everyday contaer With fnends or family away, two boys m San Fernando l111ght talk 1I1terchangeably of ICQ girlfriends 111 Califorl11a or 111 the Tnll!dadian town of Anma. Both have lI1t1matc online female fnends 1T1 the US, which 1I1volves frequent and long contacts on ICQ. These are treated as real and valued for all the reasons discussed m the prevIOus chapter: trust III the reliability of the other parry, excitement about the conract, shanng of IntJl1lilCleS - both everyday and long-term - about current problems and emotions - for example, divorced parents, hatred of school or work, ete. and their effects on the self. Bur 111 both cases - and particularly m relation to the laSt pomt abour Intimacy - the boys felt that their fnends' understanding ot theIr Tnm-ness was essential to understanding both them and their lives and problems. Typically, when one of them chars to hiS online fnend m Califorllla, who playS 11l a band, he teels that he IS wa)' behllld her 111 global culture (TV
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Dealing with Difference
The Internet
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schedules and soaps, film or muSIc releases), which she fills him In on. But he IS not inmTIldarcd, Since he feels that Tnllls do evcrydllng a whole lot better, if given half the chance (which they might not get In Tnnldad). There was one big Alams l'vlonssc[[c concert, happemng near IllS frIend, that he was despcmrc [Q go roo It was covered by a website, but that was nothing compared to rhe possibility of hiS friend's relaying rhe event to him via char:
exposes It some more so they get the public [0 understand and give It apprecIation.' The Issue IS respect and openness ('appreCiatiOn'), and rhls was always deemed [0 be IIltnnsIC [0 TrlIlI mUSIC 1 which moved from calypso [0 soca (soul- calypso cross-over) years ago and now mixes w}th anythmg from rap to techno. Online these encounters are seen m terms of an eXtenSIOn of thiS rraditlon of appropriation m[O Trlmdadian-style musIC rarher than as belllg submerged under a tidal wave of MP3s. Taste continues to discriminate. Though he likes rap mlxed WIth progressive rock, he finds rappers [00 hardcore:
I like Isar] to her, You make sure you go to rhe concert and come and tell me all how It was, 1 \Vanna know how It was. \Xlhar she seen and how she dressed and everyrhlllg ... I know I have found the Site, and rhey show you the dates and stuff like that, bur she can rell me how It was. IHis voice goes expressly dull talking about the sire; thrilled when talkmg about her account.l
In rerurn, he relayed [Q her rhe Jvliss Universe experience, describIng whar was gOll1g on. ThiS IS all abour explonng the world rhrough each orher's e~'es ar rhe level of very mundane social life. Cenrral to knOWIng and belllg known rhrough char, as well as bell1g rhe natural consequence of rhls process, IS <.1n exploration of difference rhar IS consrrued entlrel~l III rerms of local cultures, for example rhrough rhe difference berween a TnnI lime and rhat of Sourhern Californian yourh culrure:
Q: Sounds like YOll know a lor abour her evervdav life A: Yeah - how it's the same, how ir"s different. , .. How she tee!: like after they did this concert rhev didn't feel much tired, so they went liming and they went to the clilema In the middle ()~ the night, and I'm like, whey you did that? After concerts? Our version of partYing and their versIOn of party IS like two different things. When we pnrty - when we come our, we like go to the mall, we spend a couple of hours III rhe mall, we come here, we chat online, check our emni!, we go to the movies and lime, 11.00 rhen we go home. A baSIC lime, you know. That"s ok wuh us, VOLI know, that"s our lime .. , First time someone told me rhar rhey went ro a concert then this happened, then thiS and rhis - How dey do all dis??? Their type o~ concert they will go and listen to one song, scream With them and then go and chill 111 the back for the rest of the IlIghr. We go 111 for the whole mght, SIX hours srralght we'll lust be jump1l1g up and screaming, SIX hours straight. Carnival is twO days straight lumping up: lump up, scream, run to the next one ... I can't understand you pay all thiS money to go In a concert and just statIC, do nothing. When we go to dubs on the weekends, we Jump up, run around.
With rap they have how life IS hard for them and what they go through With the COps ... ahout their expcnences, but It"S totally differenr fhe talks about New York or Rodney King which denote differenr expeflences tram 'quiet places' like Iowa or Arkansas.!. In gangsra there IS vlOlcnce everywhere, 111 school, streets, etc. .. that's their way of life, that's how they are, thar"s how rhey grcw lip and that's how rhey know life as, that's how they chmk, that's how they expenence life. Q: Bur It doesn't mean too much 10 terms of life down here? A: No, no, life down here: as with soca so With our cultUre, we rake a linle piece of everything and just mix It up. We have fun, yeah .. the racml Issues doesn't come up that much -It's almost non-eXistent, we cannot afford to he racml because everyone's so Illlxed up ... You'd be racist agamst yourself.
He IS complerely articulate about how the Inrernet places him Into new1 vct qll!te familiar1 encounters. Like most Tnms 1 he feels he IS open to a wide rnnge of musIC. 'I have all kmds of musIC from the start. Had some apprecIation of all musIC. Bur like hard, hard core metall didn't really like It all too much. Bur I heard some and I kinda like It now. , , . Music on the net 1 It
But the difference IS preCisely what he likes on the net, fit exposes you [0 what's out there, makes you value what you have more', The rechnology allows them [0 go anywhere, 'hesldes watchIng the news, I learn from the sites and all, l find out what's gOing on here and there and all over the world and I like feel at home all over the net'. Unlike the Diaspora Tnms who are lookmg for orher Trmls, mosr of those at home are uSlllg the net to be Trim III the Wider worid - ralkmg to anybody and everybody, and being 'openmmded'. They consranrl~7 stared that they went online [0 engage m whar were secn as global cultures (bemg where It'S at m music, film, style). But thiS experience is then rerurned to Trinidad III the form of debnefing their schoolfflends and others on what they had seen thar afternoon. The Circle was squared by virtue of the facr - which we have consranrly raised - that belllg cosmopoliran and 'open" was considered as lIltnnslC [0 bemg Trini, as was a powerful sense of the local, the trading of local knowledges and styles of llltcraCtlon. It made perfect sense thar IntrinSIC to enacting one's cosmopoliralllsm was rhe urgency of informmg the other ahout Trim-ness (espeCIally given the public conViction that Tnlll-ness really was the best thlllg m the world). At the same time, exploring one's Trim-ness III these cosmopolitan spaces was clearly parr of a process of defining and refinmg It, thereby understanding who one was
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and how one related [Q others
Tnl11dadians have already had plemy of exposure to the wider world, but thiS has tended [Q be With certalll metropolitan areas In the US, the UK and Canada that have Tnllldadian populanons and at least some knowledge of Tnllldad. As the two lIltroduc[Qry quota nons above illustrate, most people are nor prepared for the sheer lack of knowledge about Trimdad as they encounter the more global reach of Internet chat, summed up III the form of the question 'What 15 Trimdad?' Pardy" because With hlu·h education levels 0 their own knowledge of geography tends [Q be very good, they are often qUite shocked at the constant Ignorance that Tnmdad IS even a place, or, if known, what kllld of place It IS. In fact they tend to see thiS as parr of a general lack of geographICal knowledge held by some others. In particular
they often nore rhe parochialism of US residents, ci
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There arc precedems to thiS construction of identity 111 reianon to difference. Niueh circulated on the nct are the endless 'Ten ways to spot a Tnni?' Jokes (for 3n analysIs of these see lVliller ]993). There were many ways to 'spar" a Caribbean or Jamaican, and one list that hilariously derailed how ro spot someone from Cemral Trinidad as opposed to [he North-west COfncior (where rhe really nch live) as opposed ro the South, etc. The pOint would seem to be thar it IS precisely through explOring differences associated With one's place, culture or nationality that TrInidadians deal With or posmon themsclves wahln the potennally vernglnous space of endless difference that Internct media can open up. \Xle now [Urn [Q the background [Q thiS encounter, which IS the realizJnon thar most people In other COUJ1[f1es have little or no knowledge of or lIHereSt in whar, where or who the hell a Tnnidadian or TrImdad IS.
'What is Trinidad?' \X'hat I usualh' find With new people, rhe~' don't know abour Trimdad. Their reaCDon IS where IS that, or what IS that? It IS some thil1g ro them not some Ii/here. I thlilk espeCially With what happened last mght. The Miss Universe Pageant It has opened up a lor. I think trom now I should be gcttlng a diffcrent response trom people when 1 say Tril1ldad. "\X'as that where the Miss Unlvcrse was held, we thought rhe culture was I1Ice and everyrh1J1g." I think that IS rhe exposure we have got trom last IlIght. Some of the III have the Idea that Trinidadians live up trees and sWlIlg from branches. { am big real world fan tram MTV and rell thcm we have real world. Our schools are different, we wear uniforms. I don't show thelll specific websnes or anyrhmg, I lust tell them about It. They rhmk the Caribbean IS narurni ram forest like the Amazon.
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cultures and to engage With them through popular cultures. Of course, many of these conversations are conducted through common reference pOints in specifically North Amencan popular culture. With the expansIOn of cable TV there had been a reinforcement of an already emhU5lasnc and knowiedgeable ImmerSIOn In American musIC, teleVISion and film. Compared With only a few years earlier, 1vliller noted a major Increase In concern With deSigner labels, With American pop musIC and With teleVISion serials that occupy the m3111 cable stanons. ThiS means that, for example, comparing which episodes of a soap opera have played In thelf respecnve CQunrnes prOVides chancrs wJ[h thar same sense of 'same yet different' in online encounrers thar people commonly repon In traditional forms of [OUrIsm. Trinidadians would often aggressively assen their knowledge of this common popular culwre [0 their correspondent In order [0 combat any suggestion that they are an unsophisticated 'thll'd world' country. But therc were other elements of popular culwre such CrIcket and soccer that had no US base and pointed [0 other regional aSSOCiationS, Overall, if there were preferred nationalities for correspondents and for potential relationships they would seem to be Canada and Australia. For example: 'I dunk Canadians have a similar education to US, compared to people In the US who are very low, they can't carry very good conversanons. Canadians are the most Il1telligent. I have InVited a few Canadians for the lyfiss Umverse pageant, I would like [0 meet some of them, they are very interesting people.' Overall, It would be misleading to assume that expenence of the net 111 Itself leads either to nationalism as It was prevIOusly constituted or [0 cosmopolitamsm. Rather, the prImary advantage of the net was that It became yet another means of reconciling and preventing contradictions between these tWO Ideals. TrinIdadians could, for example, the more easily follow a British football team they supported. In one conversation 111 a taXI, a young woman from a conservative lyluslim Indo-TrinIdadian village said she could pursue her passIOn for a BrJtJsh team by bUYlllg football shirts and other paraphernalia from catalogues ordered via the Internet. Usmg the net [0 obtam CDs at US prices or J\'IP3s for free aided anyone followlI1g the musIC scene. The fasillon sceneparticular sports labels - could be followed on key websltes. But Il1 every case [he), are follOWing [hese culmral forms as Trinls. Fur example [he mos[ suswmeu use of fashIOn sites was schoolgirls downloading patterns to help Il1Spire a local seamstress deSIgn their graduation gowns. ThiS confidence In their ability [0 approprIate the world was partly based on a sense of umty ('one love') created defenSively Il1 relatIOn hoth to TrInidad's smallness and margmality 111 relation to the rest of the world and to Its 1I1ternai ethnic diVisions. Hence, there IS a huge disapproval of any show of diSUnIty, of putting down Tnmdad in any way, and a great praise of anyone who represents Trimdad well.
In TrinIdadian email lists, the question of Tnmdad's reiatlon to the world - how It was perceIved and how it was dOing competmvely - was central [0 VIrtually every message over the SIX months we monitored It. For example, III May 1999 a list member wrote, overwhelmed by the peak of national awareness thar had been reached because of the convergence of Miss Universe, Manchester Umted's European Finals football triumph and optimism about the upcommg cncket Jl1 Australia: 'It's such a mce feeling to be proud of your people's achievements', which he then thoroughly discussed. The Simple fact that DWight Yorke from Tobago plays for Manchester makes them as much nn expressIOn of Trim success as the national sports team. As one offcflng PUt It:
We can attest to thiS ourselves. Standing m the Port of Spall1 bus terminal, it took liS a mlllute or two to realize that the eruption around uS really was a .ivlanchester Umted goal and not an Imminent flat. One effect of tim complex space of Identity IS that TnnIdad was not necessarily deemed the Ideal place to enact TnnI-ness. Miller found III earlier research that after the oil boom was followed by receSSIOn, many middleclass TflllIS felt that a certall1 level of consumption had become IIltnnslC to who they now were. When they mIgrated (in one notoflous case to what was described as the land of
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WE WIN, WE WIN GOOD GOD ALMIGHTY MANCHESTER UNITED WIN ... yes ~olks In one of [he greatest matches In history and i'm sure for a long time it was the best. Imagme nayern was 1 goa! ahead, Manchester was struggling, rIme had ended and It seemed it was all over as [hey wenr IOta rhe final minute at the match, when m a flash [wa goals were scored one after the other by Manchester. \'(lOO HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO YES!
The Internet
Being Trim and Representing Trimdad
viewed as bCJJ1g both cymcal and parrolllzmg of those back home. Iviany examples were given of rhe
Some of the material in this chapter has touched on the contemporary literature on globalization, 111 partIcular the conrrasnng yet complementary dynamICS of the local and global (although rillS theme has played a surptlSmgly small role In literature on the Internet). Much of globalization literature (e.g. Warers 1995) has connected the IIlcreaslngly symbolic and informational content of economic and other flows to a bifurcated dynamIC. On the one hand there arc strong pressures to globalizanon 111 the sense rhat cultures and economies are dis-embedded from local contexts, 111 parncular makmg national boundaries redundant as political, culmral or economic borders. On the othcr hand, the nation also disaggregares downwards, as It were, IntO more local or regional entities, IntO new re-embeddings and re-formatlons of Identity. The connection between rhe two IS often made, espeCIally m relanon to consumption, through the term 'giocaJizatlon': the aSSImilation of essentially transnational or global commodities and processes IIlto local contexts whereby they are made sense of withm grounded cultures (Howes 1996). No doubt these are real and important processes, but they do not qulte describe how Trim-ness and Trinidad are being reconsntuted here. 'Glocalizanon' in particular focuses on the reception of global goods in a local context; what we have been describIng IS a prOjectIOn of narionally-concelved projects and Identities IntO a newly available global context. Moreover, Trim-ness m particular IS an idennty that m cruCial respects has been conceived of as naturally global and cosmopolitan long before the Internet appeared. Trlnls, as we ha ve constantly argued, partiClpare in this space to a surpnsmg extent specifically as Trims. The relation to world musIC culture may well be emblematiC: there was very litde mdicatlon, for example, that Trims - unlike repressed mmorlty groups m many countries around the world - were tnterested In subsumIng themselves wlthm Hip-hop nation; rather they confronted rap In terms of an assertion of theIr own national musIc culture.
Why do we as a people spend so much time and effort searching for weaknesses and faults (real or apparent) In our heroes msrcnd of being thankful to them tor whilt they have accomplished for our COlmtr),? I mean, geez, ycs we hilVC a !'il oil and gas bur our higgest resource IS and will always be our people. Ivlen and women whose dedicanon and effort h~1Ve pur our nny 5000 sq. km. coumry on the world map. And what do we do III return? Reward them wah negatiVity and dredge II1to their prIvate lives lust to find somethmg to bring them down. Jenlousy at Irs worsr.
Indeed, faced with a barrage of cntlque the ongmal supporter of Ivliss Venezuela replied: I have supported mr country when all others like vou have left It behind ro seek your fortune ... never to return becnuse 'Trinidad doh have what foreign have:- I have worked hard, prnyed harder and loved my counrry rhe hardest while Trillldadlans contmue to adopt other cultures other than theil' own like a pack of fools, obliVIOUS to how they look to a world that does not accept copy cats,
Representing Trinidad
ThiS last sentence should be read in reianon [U rhe two boys encountenng rap. There was, bizarrely perhaps, re!anvely little xenophobia III Trlmdad, and only a secondary worry that the country was being swamped by foreign cultures Ifor example via cable TV or the Internet Itself). If anything there was - to us - an almost unrealistic confidence that they could remain open to all cultures and remain themselves. But that stated precisely the problem of helng Trim, either online or off: how to become more oneself through thiS openness, rather than less,
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The Website as a Trap The preceding sections have tended to focus on 'beIng Tnni', and hence on chat; In mrmng to '-representmg Tnmdad" the focus IS rather more on websltes. There are generIC differences between Internet media (though aiso a defimte overlap). ivlorcovcr, we will be mOVIng from a focus on Tnni-ness 111 the broad sense of cultural specifiCity and Identity to something much closer to overt nationalism Ithough again, the difference IS hardly toral). In
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[urnmg from email and char [Q the topic of webslres we are nO[ simply movmg
(and obscunty) of Tnm websItes to one pOint of entry With clear lTIformarion deSign that leads surfers efficiently on to the websltes thar they need to find. They are therefore traps that hope to capture an Increased flow of surfers (and hopefully therefore some advernstng revenue as well) and divert them IntO Trillldadian CIrCUits. Hence, we are talkmg about more than symbolic seduction; these are practical prOjects of furthering SOCial or even nationalistic prestige and mterests (supported by government funding in the case of TIDCO). They can legitimately be thought of as strategies of posltlomng, even when they are less conscIOusly formulated than m these cases.
to another technology, but rather to something that has already emerged as
a series of culmcai forms with their own aesthetic and normanvlry. As IS argued In more detail In Miller (2000), much of the efficacy of these SItes may be captured hy borroWing from a recent theory of arr by Gell (1998). Two of hiS pOintS In parncular seem borne our by our marcnal. The first IS [hat webSltcs are an expansIOn In space and time of thelf creators correspondIng to whar Gell called 'the distributed mind'. On analogy \Vlth the anthropologIcal srudy of the Kula nng (MalinowskI 1922; Munn 1986), much of the concern IS [Q expand the fame and name of those who place themselves In rillS expanded realm. The second and related pOInt IS that the aesthetic of the medium is deSigned as a trap, somethmg thar will entice and brmg 10m rhe Clfcuianon of exchange those web partners that are deSired our of rhe enme pool of possible surfers. It J5 hard to Imagme an experience of surfing that docs not include both the sense of flowmg through ever-expanding CIrCUItS and the seducnon of traps one encounters m thiS movement. Although surfers may go online with clear and limIted lIuennons, who IS not tempted to make the Simple mouse clicks that lead one to follow a proffered link and soon send one hurtling down some channels carved our of cyberspace by the hypertext of webSite creators. Retrieving the Original starting-pomt of thiS deVIation can be difficult, but there IS compensanon In the unexpected encounters these detours have led to. In the case of the personal websIte It IS nor lUSt anthropologists who are snared by the promise of inSights Into the lTIomacy of other people"s SOCIality and revelanons of the conrradicnons of the self. The webSite as trap IS always one POInt m a
The most strikmg characteristic of post-teenage websltes created by Tril11dadlans, both livmg m Trimdad and abroad, is the way thIS expansIOn of personal Identity is subsumed within the sense of being Tnl11dadian. They use theIr resources to make a contribution to an overall sense of the fame or webbrilliance of Tnmdad. The assumption IS often that to understand the tndividual the Viewer must first understand what It means to be Tnmdadian. At Its Simplest thiS means the home-page IS replete With various core symbols of that counrry, such as its flag, crest, a map and some basIC stansncs, while links lead to photographs and further tnformatlon about Tnmdad (Plate 4.6). ThiS may even include the pla)'JIlg of the national anthem on the home page, or opemng on to a Tnllldad beach With the sound of waves crashmg on the shore (Plate 4.7). Core symbols tnclude those evocanve of Carmval, calypso and soca musIC, Carib beer, or key Tnmdadian personalities (e.g. Plate 4.8). In some caSeS the process goes much further than thIS Simple presentation of national culture and Identity, Specifically Tnmdadian Idioms can be employed to explam the process by which strangers should become acquamted \Vlth the world of Tnms. For example Weslynne's Big LIme (see Plate 4.9) not only uses Tnnbago symbols (she IS from Tobago) bur also demonstrates how the process of surfing can be translated mto local terms. The surfer JOIns her on a lime, or IS teased for beJllg macotlOttS, that IS nosy about her pnvate affaIrs, or IS accused of bemg too (ass, which Implies that one IS gettmg to know her more qUickiy rhan IS conSidered Civil In offline relatlonsl"lIps. In a way dlls draws arrennon to the very lack of control the webSite constructor has over those who VISIt, and some ambivalence about the often very personailllformation that IS mcluded. The sites often show a sense of space that Ignores any hmt of a real Virtual separation. There may be a map shOWing where the surfer has landed (i.e. 111 Tnl1ldad), mtroduced JIl one case WIth, 'Well, for those of you who have no idea where you are.' !vlost sites have a separate page of links, which
104
105
Personal Nationalism
The Internet
Being Trim and Representing Trimdad
[end to Include Trllll-based lCQ, chat and informatIOn sires about Trlmdad. A morc evocative page srans With: "\Xlhoa! That was a big wave! Glad you surfed on In here. ,never ITIllld rhe dents you put in dlC coral red! Hi'I'm Sharon, and I am thrilled to welcome YOll to my little piece of Paradise! I live on a tilly Island (nor much more than a blob covered With grass and
trees, surrounded by water) called Trinidad, whICh
IS In
rhe Caribbean: What
striking 15 how many of these sites are actually run by Trinidadians currcmly at colleges !Il the US. Yet unless one IS lookmg hard as a surfer one would aSSllme one has landed on Trinidad, and nor on a US college such as CalTech (Plate 4.10). IS
The degree of Trinidadian conrent IS often commented upon III ItS own fight, for example: l.\X'e!comc ro yet another proud Trinidadian's homepage. Plenty Trill! tmg here. Browse around and enJoy It". As well as links [Q statistics and photographs, key personaiines may be represented, such as Aro Bolden, the world champIOn spnnrer, and above all Wendy Fitzwilliam, the 1998 .ivliss Ulllverse. TflnJ-style Jokes are also common. The represenratlon of Tnl1ldad IS often personalized through reprcsenrations of the webSite atl[hor. !vhlles, for example, now based as students ar a US college, will often have lI1uges of themselves IT1 a dinner Jacket at their graduanon parry or With their family, females mar be on their favouflte beach and either may be seen In Carnival photographs (Plate 4.11). The sacs that have been described so far are still recogl1lzably personal websltes. There IS, however, a further genre of Sites that rakes this much further. These are ll1divlduals who have taken upon themselves the role of prociucll1g nanonal home-pages and have completely subsumed their own presence wlthm the larger concern ro present the nanon. !viany of these often large sites were constructed by college srudents or professlOnals'livll1g m North Amcflca who came relatively early to the Internet; they seem to have taken the responsibility for ensuflng that their counrry had some representation m rhls new space, ensuring that despite the then lack of much TflnJdadian presence online, the rest of the world should learn about It. In the most extreme cases the site will have a name such as the UnoffiCial Trmidad Home Pages, and the only sign of the individual concerned is at the base of the home-page, where I[ s[mes who [he si[c is main mined by. Some saes uo [hIS III a more particular style. For example a site called 'A \X'orkbook on Trill!dad and Tobago' (Plate 4.12) presents ![Self in the form of a tradinonal carnival figure, a crowmg cock. It Introduces Itself III the followlllg style, emploYlllg rhe claSSIC banrer of rhe tradinonal Carmval figure (Pearse 1988 119561): For I am Chanticleer, cod,,·ot-thc-rock, mastcr of thiS barnyard: your Tour GUIde.
I am rhe herald of the new nnd the old. tvly diverSIty, magnificenr m rhe rIsmg sun
106
as I announce rhe new day, gives rise to rhe multirude of opponul1Iries rhe day offers. My majestic silhouette as I put the day to rest, exemplifies the serel1lty of a Job well done: I mvite you now to follow my tracks. Click on the "\Xlelc~me" lxdloons tor an enjoyable Virtual Tour of Tril1ldad & Tobago. To see and hear how we celebrate ChrIsrmas go to "Visit our Chnstmns Page" where there nrc recipes tor prepanng foods and drmks enjoyed III Tril1ldad & Tobago dUrIng the ChrIstmas season.
In additlon to a plethota of natlonal symbols, these SItes often mclude a lisI of local reCipes, a small dictionary of common Creole terms, and in some cases !I1structlons on how to compute the value of the TflI1ldndian dollar. There are two l11all1 concerns that dOI111I1ate such sites. One set Impress by the sheer number and scale of thw links to orher Tnmdadian SIres (somenmes over <1 hundred), leading to every ISP and many useful commercial Sites, as well as news, weather, media and other lI1formation. They thereby make themselves IntO key portals to Trinidad as consnruted on rhe ~et. Alter~~ItIvely slIch sites attempt to be Virtual guidebooks, with pages of photographs and accompnnY1l1g texts that cover well-known toUfiSt SItes (for examples see Plate 4.13). These rwo types of site - rhe Virtual gUidebook, and the links to Tnmdad on the net - represent the core of the genre. l\Aany other slIes do not try to stand for Tfll1Idad as a whole, but turn their perso~al wcbsites into Inrroductlons to aspects of Tfll1Idad. So we find one site representing traditional folklore, another an !I1troductlon to Trll1Idadian literature; another provides n glllde to Gay surfers, another to stamp collectors and one IS more pedagogiC, trying to correct I11ISCOnCepnons a bout the onglns of Tnnldad. On occaSIon, as with the school age sItes, they may usc their guesdists as almost a newsgroup diSCUSSion of their faVOUrite topiC such as soca musIC. Surptlsmgiy tew of these sites are used for commerCial purposes (Plare 4.14). Those who created and mainta!l1cd such sites tended to stress the low level of work !I1volved, mamly 111 dealing WIth the emails they attracted. They were happy to take on thiS semi-offiCial role as representatives of Trinidad. One noted thar around half these emails were questJons about Tnl1ldad: For example one recenr e-mail asked me if we have tacilines and food erc. for Jews Trillldad. Just before Carnl\'al I gar an e·mail asking me if I knew the phone number at one of the bandlenders m Trimdad. Mosr of the people who email me for mformanon I could help. About 20% of the e-mailsarefromcol11pamestr}.lI1g to sell books or movies or some kind of related commercm! actiVity connected wah Trinidad. For example recently I got several emnils from a group m New York askmg if I could help promote a mOVIe wlllch was filmed in Trimdad. About 20 t Xl of the e-mails are from people saymg how helpful my sire has been to them. III
107
The internet
Bemg Trim and Representmg Trimdad
This IS especially grarifYll1g for me. The other 10% of emails are from other Trims who miss home and like [0 char with ocher Trims erc.
Another website char was nor even attemptIng
[Q
be a porral to Trinidad
attracted around 1,000 queries, of whIch about 45 per cent were Trinidadians. These 1I1cJuded people looking for lost Trml fnends, and people moving to rhe Island wantIng informatIOn, or coming for a vacanon. Tbere 15 some SenSltlVlty [Q rhe way rhe country IS represented. One web creator has receIved
a complaint against a reference
[0
'Tnmdad as a blob surrounded by warer'.
We also were roundly repnmanded for the 'aesthenc' map of Tnllldad on our Dngmal project webSite, which was a nineteenth-century replica and thus hopelessly our of date and UninformatIve, according to tbe complamant. !vlos[ Important was rhe way these webs1[c producers saw the pOSItive representation of the country as a natural aspect of websIte productIOn. As one put It: 'J thlllk It fully represents me and my feelings about my home. I rlllnk rillS IS a great place and I am very happy to live here and It shows:' If anythmg such speakers want to have more Trinidadian content on theIr websltes, and are apologetic for the degree to wblch they mlgbt have emphaSIzed themselves as mdividuais as against the country as a whole. \Vebsites are generally wrapped in yet another TrInidadian Idiom: competitiveness. But any competitlon between websIte creators feeds mto the large competition m which Tflllldad Itself IS pined agamst all other nations m a kmd of global beauty contest (Wilk 1995). Comments left on webSlte guestbooks reflect thiS combinatIon of competitlveness and praise for shOWIng TflllIdad m the best light. The commentator IS saying that this sIte IS 'the best\ not only In showmg how great Trillldad IS, bur also how effectively Trillldadians can express their greatness, m thiS case through a really great webSite: Th,lI1k God for you guys. Keep up the fanrabulous work ... my Trinl people!!! One Love. Great Job! Ir really makes me happy ro see that there are Trinidadians OUt there that are pushmg themselves furrher by geHing II1ro computers and what It has ro offer! Allyuh kno de mni's and clem have de sweetness in we so leh meh see allyuh unity, TOGETHER WE ASPIRE TOGETHER WE ACHIEVE
trlnI
In
Let me beglll by saymg rhank you tor the exceptional work you have done in presenrlng our beautiful home ro the world .... Your HomePage IS very educational. Please allow me to share 111 your pnde at our beautiful Islands. I looked forward to the day when I can retire back home.
108
Trim Hot Links For a rmy country spannmg 5128 sq. km WIth a populanon of only 1.3 million, T&T has an nnpresslve online presence. Just look how many Trinis have theIr own homcpages and all that. Says somethmg, doesn't It? So' to all them Trim nenzens, keep the flag flymg proud. Just check our rhe number o~ sites, for Trims, about Trims, b)' Trims!
Presenting Trinidadian Culture In thiS section, we will argue against any attempt [Q generalize the way 111 which websltes fit Into the development and representation of cultural forms. Specifically, It will be shown that while 111 the case of mas' camp websltes, the trend towards mauthentlclty IS accentuated) exactly the opposite process can be seen as the effect of steelband SItes. If websltes are concerned [Q spread the ~fal11e ofTnms l then Carl11val should occupy a crUCial position. As far as most Tfll11dadians are concerned the International reputation ofTnmdadian culture IS based above all on Carmval. !vlost Trims assume that alongside Rio, Tfll11dad is THE InternatJonally recogmzed Carmval) a view reInforced by the sheer scale of Carl11vals 111 areas such as London, Toronto and Brooklyn rI;at are largely based on the Tnmdadian model. Although locally Carmval forms a trtumvlrate with steelband and calypso, the last two are more restflcted to the Tflmdadian Diaspora. For the 1999 Carlllval eleven mas' camps proVIded webSltes suggesnng a core model (Plate 4,15). An overall theme will be established around the ISsue of pluralism, For example 'the true global village thar IS the CltCUS has never concerned itself much with race, religIOn, or national ongll1' or 'we will explore many galaXies to meet their alien beIngs and sample their diverse cultures' (d. Alleyne-Dettmers 1998). These themes then break Into segments, whICh get down'to the busllless of IntroduclIlg the costumes around subthemes sllch as ~Bnng on the clowns' or ~ItOs magic.' Some, such as Peter iVlinshall tend to elaborate on thiS model, while others, such as Children's Carlllval: present more attenuated verSJQns. Those directed to ]ouvay tend to a more earthy flavour, For example, the 'Mudders International' 1999 theme of 'aIn"t ~othlIlg but a mud thlllg' goes sequentially from 'foreplay" through 'com mess' to 'ecstasy' and then 'sublime', The websltes reveal thar most costumes are sold OUt pnor to Carmval, notwithstanding the faCt that many charge around US$150 baSIcally for a bikinI with some ribbons attached. An article In the SlIuday Express (14/2/ 109
The Internel
Being Trim and Representing Trimdad
99) notes that the major mas' camp wcbsites received around 13,000-18,000 'hits" thar year, or 7,000 for a less well-known Sire, although Internet sales reached "10 per cent at rhe most. ThiS reflects OUf finding: 111 the m<1l1l people vIsited these sires to check out [he costumes, maklllg thelf final selection at the mas' camp, The government's Site TlDCO (Plate 4,16) connects Carnival with r:lc tWO other malO representations of Trimdadian culture~ thar IS Calypso and Pan (steelband). By companson, specifically East Indian Trll1ldadian fO[1115 are largely absent from rhe web. In addition, many personal and porral websltes contain considerable C,unIval material such as photographs, and may <.1150 focllS on Soca (Plate 4.'17). A few mdividual Soca stars such as DaVid Rudder and Machel Montano have their own sites (Plate 4.18). Although these sites have only existed for a shorr time, tillS marerIal IS suffiCient to contradict any Simple analYSIS of the relationship between webslres and prior culmral forms. At first glance these culrural sites seem to reflect merely the mterests that lie behmd them. So Minshall and Rudder have sires commensurate With rhelr status as mrernanonal stars. The mas' camps reflecr rhe commercial Imperative to sell costumes, while TID CO reflecrs the government 1l1terest In selling Trimdad as a toUrist destination. Bur behmd thiS lie more subtle distinctions. Many TrIIlldadians see the 'prerry mas" of Carl11val lVlonday and Tuesday as havmg lost somethmg of ItS authenticity. It IS seen as mcrcasmgly linked to both the elites wlthm the country and the Diaspora, and also to foreign tourism. Stewart (1986) argues It h<1s become a kmd of hyper-enactment of Trimdadian cuimre sundered trom Its roots. This critique IS exaggerated, however, and Ignores the VItality of both the feting rhat leads up to Carmval and the Importance of Jouvay, both of whICh arc as cruCial to the m<.lmsteam population today as thcy have ever been. Nevertheless, rhls critique applies generally to rhose features thar have come to domll1are the websltes themselves. There IS a case for argulIlg thar the websltes exacerbare the separation of Carmval masquerade from ItS roOtS m TrIl11dadian popular history and culture. \X'hat rhe surfer tends to see IS domll1ated by the largesr bands, those direcred most clearly to expatnare Tnmdadians and Carmvai toUrists as well as to local elites, who can afford to pay large sums for
Carnival that have been subject to trenchant critiques III recent years, and that threaten to alienate It from much of the population. If, however, we compare the mas' camp SItes to the sites devoted to steelbands we see somethll1g altogether different. Withm TnOldad, pan (the local term for steel band) IS regarded as deeply rooted. Steel band was the musIC of the streets and the poor, and Indeed famously likes to associate Itself With the gang warfare that took piace in its early days, when steel bands fiercely represented the geographICal areas they were assOCiated With. Today, however, much of rillS class distinction has gone, since pupils at the best schools are expecred to learn pan and all SOCial groups take pride m these mstruments as a Tnnidadian contribution to world musIC. While arrr;]ctlng mcreasIllg sponsorship, steel band has deep roots for TfinIdadians, many of whom are Involved III perfectIng their technical abilities and engaglllg m competmon. The pan-related websltes seek a closer connection to their popular base m Tnl1ldadian life. Although there are some sophisticated sponsored SItes such as Amoco Renegades, and a strong commerCial Interest based around the manufacturers of pan mstruments, which sell in some quantity to IJ1ternationai buyers, these are supplemented by a much more powerfui amateur presence. Such sites reveal and cultivate a more devoted IIlterest, often proViding encyclopaedic mformation about all aspects of the mstrument's history and performance (Plate 4.19). There IS also a pan webnng that links pan sites anJ exchanges mformation to keep the pan afiCIOnados connected. Even the commerCial SItes have far more mformatiOn than IS really reqUired for commcrclal purposes. For example, both Lincoin EnterprIses and Tnl1ldad and Tobago Instruments Include exrenslve rechl1lcal details, while Pan Pelau
170
111
proVides a kmd of sequential exhibition about the malong of a steel pan (Plate 4.20). Much of rillS IS essentially educational. So commefClal pan websltes all relare back to tbeir context of production and consumption. ThiS IS also true of the strong foreIgn presence In steelband websItes. The fullest listmg of the TriOldad bands IS on a fOreign Site, which lovmgly mcludes Information on every band in the country as well as separate biOgraphies for 52 Individuals. So wlrh sreelband, as with masquerade, the effect of the Internet has been to accentuare a preVIOusly eXistIng trend III their relationship to the Wider Tnllldadian society. In the case of mas' camp sites thiS nllght be seen as a rraJectory towards 1I1iluthentlclty, while III the case of steelband it appears as a deepenmg of rhe local and internatIonal grounding of steel band in ItS history, the perfecting of its playmg and the mutual respect that IS generated amongst artists and manufacturers. To conclude: the same phenomenon of websltes can deepen and entrench a cultural form or can separate and displace It. The calypso and soca Sites fall Into a position somewhere between these two
The Internet
extremes, where their commercial and toUrISt appeal are fairly seamlessly and unthreateningly wedded to thelf elaboration of amateur enrhustasms.
A Nationalist Industry We have seen that In order to understand the way III whICh cultural wcbs!res represent Trinidad we need to understand [helf place Within Wider commercIal and governmental proJects, as when rhe TIDCO site integrates Carnival withIn Whelt 15 effectively a government economiC programme to promote tounsm and other non-oil-based industry. In turn, government and commercial interests are grounded III natIonal pro)ee" and values. Chapter 1 already Introduced the Ideal of the free market entrepreneur as not Just a figure Tnndadians felt rhey could realize through the Internet, bur one expenenced rarher surprIsingly as particularly Trimdadian. This 15 not because Tnnldadians are espeCially given ro neo-liberal economICS /Jer se. On the contrary, there IS much resentIllent over the treatment of Caribbean banana exports and the poweriessness they feel against the structural adjustment that IS being fOisted upon them, and diSCUSSions about the degree to wlllch telecommunications should be deregulated will be met in the next chapter. The pOint we are making here is rather different. In many ways Tnmdadlans' sense of the economy IS much closer to thar In the Ull1ted States than that 111 Europe. The Independence movement led by Ene Williams that created modern Tnmdadians' passionate nationalism refused the more SOCialist versions promulgated by figures such as C. L. R. James, and Instead argued for a rapId industrialization based if need be on foreIgn capItal. After 1973 It achieved thiS uSing the muscle of oil wealth. The intentIOn was to be perceIved as a First World natIon rather than as a Thltd World dependant. Today whar IS celebrated In entrepreneunalism IS an Ideal of being able to compete, to 'hold one's head up', w"hln the global free market. It IS the analogy With freedom Itself that counts. So what IS espoused IS not an economic ideology such as nco-liberalism, but an avenue for Trimdadian national aspirations. Bel11g Tfll11 here means being a successful Trlni In the new free-flOWing mformanon age symbolically represented by the Internet. So bemg Trim In chat and representing Tnnidad 111 websires IS complemented by the development of a Tnnidadian Internet industry. The II1dustry sees Itself as In the vanguard of attempts to develop Trinidad within and n~t outSide the global bUSiness environment to willch It IS IncreaSingly exposed. As 111 chat, both the smallness and the potential of Tnmdad are expenenced on a new and expanded srage. These points were made With such c1anry and conViction m an II1tervlew With rhe head of the vanguard IT company in TtlnJdad thar we will quote hlln at length:
112
Bemg Trim and Representing Trimdad \XJe hnve n lot of nnnonals rhat are ot a very 111gb lireracy level. Thar IS In all aspecrs ot lire racy, g01l1g all the way rhrough compurer lire racy. \'i/e believe [har
wuh the nghr exposure and rhe nghr experience, rhls IS very exportable. Not 111 rhe phYSical sense, but in the Inrellectual sense for revenue. Maybe abour five years ago I was chairman of rbe Free Zone Comp;1l1Y. I was rhere because I presenred to the then governmenr rhar I believe rhar rhe future of rhis company was m gomg up rhe toad cham m mformanon process mg. Gomg above Barbados m dara processing mto rhe higher levels. I believe Ir IS rhe solunon to a number of rhe unemployment problems. A way to really mcrease the wealrh and decrease rhe poverty of rhls COLlnrr,Y. I believe rh;1t tram a nanonalisnc srandpomr and I believe Ir's also a grear busllless opportunity. A lot of rhe studies thar have been done when you look ar Trinidad and our wage rates and so forth and you compare thar agaInsr rhe qualiry at lite rhar we enJoy, rou realize rhar this IS an Ideal desrm<1non tor developmg thar resource. \-X'hen people say thar you are educating people Simply to lose them ro rhe developed world-I torally disagree wlrh th;1L \Vhar we do not yet have here IS enough at an mdusrry rhm anracrs back nor Jusr our nanonais rhar have lefr, bur 1Il tact foreigners who now deSire to develop their careers here. \Vh,,? The percepnon of livmg on an Island, Sltrlng down on a beach and deveiopmg hlghrech code tor tvIicrosofr, It'S very appealing. So rhe arrracnon IS rhe opposlre direcnon. So we\'e gar to ger some big names In here, we"ve got to do some curring edge sruff. Expats who have come to live here 1Il Trimdad don't wanr to go home. Currenriy, we have been very sllccessful. \XJe are acmall" re-exporrmg trammg services to Cisco. My guys Me curremlv dOing Cisco rraInlng tor GTE and Bell Sourh. \Ve plan to do rhe same dung for Or;1cie, we plan to do rhe same rhing wah nerworkmg rechnology. Some o~ rhe project ream rhar worked on the Illterner site arc right now dOing I'vlacromedia programming tor the guy who does Miss UllIverse Inc., who IS a contractor. I rhink It"S jusr fundamenrallv rhar we have a great education sysrem. I hear many people, who should know berrer, say rhar they are gOlllg to the US to live. \Vhen you ask them why, they say tor my kids. Thar could absolutely be rhe worsr reason Hl rhe world. If you look ar our education system compared to rhe public educanon 111 rhe UllIred Stares, we're Iighr years ahead at them. Jusr ar rhe high school level, we're generanng and purnng our a fundamental kind of training 111 our reenagers that gives rhem rhe capacity to learn and absorb. I've gar tons of people rhat work for me thar dOln have degrees, bur Just went rhrough rhar Simple high school system, from presnge school to JUnIor and senIOr secondary, which IS supposedly at rhe bottom of rhe educanon scale. These people worked for me and could hold their own In any IT orgalllzanon domg programmmg. I rhmk TriIlldad IS an lfldusrnalized counrry, has creared an opportllIllry In ItS home marker to cultlvare rhese IT skills, unlike some of rhe orher Caribbean desrInations. So, With our energy sector and our oil dollars, and all rhe Investmenr that governmenr has made In rhe public sector l!1 Irs own nght: we have the opporrunltles l!1 our companies to market ourselves and have our people af leasr p;1\' rhe bills ro develop the skills sets more and hone rhem. So because of the eXlsrmg economy, WlllCh IS the largesr really m the English-speaking Caribbean, you have this base of IT skill sers rhat are beIng honed. 113
The In ternet
Bemg Trim and Representing Trimdad
Much 01 rillS resonates with the anginal ambitions 01 Enc Williams Isee 1942, 1969) In 10rgll1g Trinidad and Tobago as a nation-state. Coming back to Tril11cbd with his Oxford Doctorate on the relationship between capitalism and slavery, he saw education and economic advancement as rhe key to the future for the descendants of slaves and Indentured labourers. NeIther we as <.lurhofS nor you as readers need to be In sympathy with either the asplranOI1S of nationalism nor those of enrrepeneuflalism. What thiS volume as a study of rhe Internet does reqUIre, however, IS rhe act of empathy and analYSIS rhar allows tiS to understand why such aSpirations arouse such passIOn and why In particular the Internet and IT technologies would seem to so many speakers 111 rillS chaprer [Q be the form In which they might finally be realized.
phant resistance to forces such as slavery, coiolllaiism, and imperialism. This was 3 people being transported, ruled, and mixed up by lorces against which they had no power and yet somehow SttlVIng to create and perform a unity that transcends both history and difference. But thiS nationalism IS still fragile. Indeed, the ll1itial expenence of Trillldadians going online is ro make It appear stillmore fragile, given that they find people hardly know thar Tnmdad is a place, let alone where It IS and what It IS like. 50 It would be qUite wrong to assess thiS phenomenon of mternet nationalIsm as though It was merely one more case of some general category of nationalisms. ThiS IS a most particular nationalism: It IS not Bosllla or Ireland or 5pam or Quebec. There are several parochlai reasons why Tnl1ldadians use the Internet to realize nationalism In a situation where It has been fragile and largely suppressed by more powerful forces, ThiS partlcuiar II1ternet nationalism IS clearly not opposed to, bur strengthened and refined by, the 1l1creasmgly global context wlth1l1 whIch It IS enacted. Not only that; bur wh;]t here IS addressed as nanonalldennty (WhICh we recognIze as extremely problematiC) ll1 other places could be manifest 111 some qlllte other form of culrural Identity. The Important pOint that we have demonstrated 111 thiS chapter IS how by virtue of being global rhe Internet can gift people back their sense of themselves as speCial and parncular.
Conclusion One of the delights of ethnography IS finding out Just how wrong one can be. It seemed self-eVident thar the Internet would lead to a reduction 111 national Identity and nationalism, SInce the Internet IS so dead)' a global rather than a national phenomenon. The substance of thiS chapter demonstl'ates how misgUIded our forecasts turned our to be. Of all the parameters of Identity It IS nationalism that IS most fully strengthened and extended wlthll1 whar we termed IT1 the first chapter the dynamiCs of posltJoIllng. This IS not ar all to say that n;]tlOnalism or national identity IS unchanged. QUite the contrary. Nationalism was not bound to grow In this way. Only a few years prevIously, many Trimdadians were participating In an earlier Internet phase of Usenet newsgroups and flaming that produced a regional, Caribbean-wide II1ternet commuIlIt}'. ThiS more or less disappeared once a specifically Tnnidadian presence could reach a certaIn cntica! mass. Of course, It IS quite possible thar any generalizatIOn we make now about nationalism could turn our two years down the line to be Just as mIsleading and short-term. Bur It IS not lliSt thar what seemed [0 be a histoncal trend went Il1to reverse. In investigating the commerCial sector (Chapter 6) we were constanriy told that tor busll1ess purposes operarll1g merely at the level of Tfll1Idad was passe and thar everybody was now trying to work at a Caribbean level. The content of thiS chapter IS therefore a lesson In nor merely reading off the consumption of Internet use from the pressmg needs of its producers and commerCial agents. \X'hy then are Tnl1ldadian websltes so natIOnalistiC? ThiS has to be understood from the stance of our theme of expansive realization. In the case of nanonalism what we have IS an as yet not fully realized aspiration. As Miller argued In 1994 (314-22), nationalism comes across as somethmg of a tnum-
114
115
5 The Political Economy of the Internet \X'c rccogmze that the mformanon technology area is the future ... because we have been so dependent on our oil resources,
What thiS quoranon makes clear 15 thar whereas rhe preceding three chapters documem developmems thar have occurred across many dispersed actors and Imerests both personal and techmcal, !11 rillS and the follow1J1g chapter we will encoumer already clear 'patadigms' about Imernet prOVISion and Internet business as the baSIS for future natlonal economic development. ThiS accounts for the structure of thiS chapter. The first half presents rhe maJor players 111 the internet Politlca! Economy, that IS, the Imernet Service ProvIders, the government and the prinCipal Telecomms company. We shaH expbm why there IS a domInant narratlve according to which the teiecomms company has become the bottleneck preventing further and faster Internet development. \Vje will show how thiS Simple tale ignores a much more complex and ambiguOllS slruatlon JJ1 which both the telecomms company and the government have to face in several directlons at once. To understand the discrepancIes between whar we can observe and the ways this IS presented in thiS narratlve, we then Jt1vestlgate the paradigm - that IS the Ideals that are held about how sllch developments ought to be proceeding. We also have to appreciate that these are not Simply paradigms about technological change, but have deep resonances m TflJ1ldad's consrrucnons of Its values and ItS self-conception. TIllS IS why the second half of thiS chapter IS about the nature 01 the paradigm Itself. It proVides the background and context lor the main 'story' that has been told. The paradigm draws attention to how the players are not 117
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juSt JockeYing for position, bur are struggling over [he way thelf strategies are represented and legltlmlzed. Throughout there IS a powerful sense of the Impending: of trying to be In rhe right place with respect to what appears to be a series of inevlmble developments where the pitfalls are as frightening as rhe rewards seem enchanting. It IS 10 rhls area of politIcal economy thar we find rhe themes of freedom and normanvlry In rhe context of prior colontalism and dependency rendered particularly expliCit. The manner !Tl which these paradigms and practIces are embedded in larger struggles over basIC values links this and rhe prevIOus chapter. There we saw how rhe use of the Internet was driven by national concerns and Indeed nationalism - rhe dynamiCs of posmon by which Tnnidadians seek to be 'ar home' in the Internet world. The chapter ended With an examll1atlon of how thiS applied as much to the Internet busll1ess as to Internet use. ThiS chapter starts from where the last chapter left off - that IS the politIcal economy of Internet proVISion. !viany of the same themes will emerge, with huge !I1stltUtJ(mal bodies such as the telecomms company being Judged by very Similar cntena. Indeed it will be striklng how factors that we would expect to become dom!l1ant when It comes to political economy, such as profitability, seem almost secondary - they emerge as a furure struggle over telecomms markets, bur tor now they are displaced by the current struggle over who IS to blame for any delays 111 the development of Internet prOVIsion.
Tnilldadians Ideally place themselves In the First World and do not see themselves as an underdeveloped or Third World nation. ThiS positioning IS fraught with worry, self-uuub[ and self-criticism (though very qUIck to nse to <.my external critiCism or doubt). Nonetheless, the Internet washed Tflmdad up on [() global shores at an opportune moment of both econonllc buoyancy and strareglc plannmg m the direction of both deregulation and diversific~tlo~: l~orh features seemed capable of brlngmg Trmldad even closer to the unqualified place on the global stage thar It always felt It merited. The Internet appeared, then, as a vehICle of whar we have called an expansive realizatIon of TrJ111dad's self-Identity.
Tnllldad has followed an 1l1dusrnal path to development based on petrochemlGds and allied mdustnes that distingUishes u from most of the other Caribbean Islands, and puts u closer [Q neighbOUring Venezuela: agrtculture and rolirtSm (excep[ 1Il Tobago) are mlllor 1Il terms of output, trade and employment. At the time of fieldwork 111 1999, [here was a general sense of economiC optimism
11 B
119
Introduction: Developing Trinidad .. tIns IS 110t <1 toHns! Is/and: I/O! even Tobago . . , 111 ever)' other Island /11 the Caribbean all the roads go to the beach. hi Tnmdad all the ro~ds go to the mten()l~ beclluse that's where the oil fields are, that's where the cane grows, the cocoa groWS. Trimddd has had all111dllstnal base smce Churchill made the Brlflsh oceml-gomg battle f7eet bu1'/l oil instead of coal i111938 ... ; (a Trinidadian advcrnsmg director).
.~.
The Internet
The Political Economy of the Internet
the malor Iree trade zone of the new millenOlum but also as a symbolic and strategic wedge In pnsmg government and business apart: rhe second parr of rh15 chapter examines how the aSSoCiatIOn of Internet With liberalization focused all a[tcnnon on the deregulation of telecommunications. Secondly,
and convetsely, It was felt that the Internet could only wotk and be properly explOited if seen In terms of detegulatlon and free trade. TIllS generates the paradigm we rerurn to later all.
In additIon
to
iiberaliz
1I1
rhe
context of enormous pressure to diversify Its economy away from dependence
on petrochemicals. Access to the oil fields shared With Venezuela produced a development pattern In TriOldad unlike those of most other Caribbean ISlands
On the other hand, IOformanon technology
In
general, and the Internet 10
The extended quotatIOn that ended the last chapter exemplified the way tillS was manifested as concrete strategIes of positionmg for many of our mformants. In essence It was clear to them that the future of Tnllldad depended upon selz1I1g a moment 111 which Tnl11dad has finally realized ItS competitive advantage In Its capacity to proVide high-value technological services to the world.
(wealthier, more industrial, urban and educated) WIth rhe exceptions of Barbados, Bermuda and rhe Bahamas. However, rhe centrality of petrochemicals opened Trinidad to the tWin perils of declinmg outpur from matunng
fields and oscillations
10
particular, opened up a range of diversification strategIes that were constanriy mooted by informants (nor Just governmental ones), many of whom assumed both that these options were well suited to Trtllldadian character and 'human resource assets' and that they were mevItably parr of the country's future.
Networks and Bottlenecks
energy pnces, which could have an ovetwhelmlng
Impact on a broad range of economic Indicators and government revenues.
The scale of these high hopes fot the future can be measured by the IOtense
In fact, oil dependence had already dimlOlshed to the extent that 'since oil
frustration, which currently dom1l1ares all diSCUSSIOn, at what IS seen as the slow pace of Internet development m the country. This frustration IS almost obseSSively focused on what IS known as the 'botrieneck' represented by the
now accounts for aboU[ "15 per cent of value added in the domestic economy, growth In other sectors can moderate ItS negative effects if those sectors could be energized to be the engine of growth and employment generation' (Haque
J 999). The Internet could seem a godsend
10
thiS context. Significantly, the
first Tnllldadian webSite was actually TIDCO, the government-supported agency whose brief IS to foster non-oil enterprise: at the very beginning, the Internet was both an area of economic actIvity In ItS own right and aJso a means of marshalling resources for diversificatIon. The site Included information on Trinidad (history, culture, economy, politics) , help In dOlOg business With the country and SItes for a huge range of local businesses. TIDCO has since developed thiS in ever more sophisticated ways, ItS buslness- and rrade-related websites matching its coverage of culture discussed In the last chapter. A range of diversification straregles have been pursued since Independence (Ryan 1988). Firstly, Investment In developments outwards from oil-based production such as merhanol, Iron and steel, shipplOg facilities (as With Porr Llsas) and iiqllld fuels. Secondly, a major drive to develop tourism, In wIuch the iVliss Ul11verse competition (see Chapter 6) was a major symbolic move. The roUfist roure met With some SceptiCism on two counts. Firstly, Tnl1ls don"t believe thar they are cur out for serVIce mdustnes (an oft-repeated comment: Jamaicans and Tnntdadians hate serving customers' but Tnnis unlike the JamaICans, are unable to hide rhls fact). Secondly, whe~eas Tobag~ tits the postcard picture of rhe rroplcallsland paradise, urban and industrial
Tt11l1dad Simply does nor.
local telecommuOlcations monopoly, TSTT. It ptactlcally and symbolically focused articulations of both the golden opportUOlty to be grasped and the fotces holding the coumry back. Above all, if the 'level plavmg-field' metaphor dommated a sense of how the Internet might allow Tflllldad to realize ItS
parentlal on a global stage by bemg fteed to do so, the stoty of 'the bottleneck' was particularly blrter: the very telecommulllcanons Infrastructure that should
deliver them to thIS plavmg-field was Itself fat from level: It was a monopoly parr-owned by a Brltlsh mulnnatIonal, which seemed literally to be keepll1g them from the world and from theIr desnny, from an expansive realization
of their nghtful global position, accomplished through free explOitation of the techlllcai and entrepreneuflal potennals of the new media ecommerce (discussed 111 the next chapter).
the form of
The tetm 'bottlenecl,' could refer confusmgly to many thmgs, but all of them revolved around the way 111 whIch TSTT, the local telecommulllcations monopoly, occupIed a strategIC economic, political and techlllcal pOSition, which It used - according to popular belief- to hold the country back through lJ1efficlency, Irrationality or abuse of power. The primary point here IS not to determine the extent to which these charges are true. In thIS partlcuiar case, the Implication of Tflllldadians' understanding the barrIers to Interner (hence
natIOnal) development almost exclUSively
111
tetms of the TSTT botrleneck
was to reduce politIcal-economIc debate almost entIrely to pressure for
deregulation. 120
III
121
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The Political Economy of the Internet
TSTI was JOintly owned by rhe Trlmdadian government (5] per cenr) and rhe Ilrl[lsh-based mulnnanonal Cable and Wireless (from now on C&W) (49 per cent), which was In a similar, sometimes stronger, posmon III several other Caribbean Islands (see below). ThiS partnership arose from a restructurIng and parnal prlvamanon of a tradinonal public utility In 1989, one result
summarize rhe huge shadow rillS situation cast over allmfrasr[ucmral prov;510n. Firsriy, TSTT controlled the external pipeline, rhe connection between
'The bortleneck' was therefore a very preCise and apt Visual Image: TSTT sar asrride the Internet pipeline comlllg to rhls Island, old, leaky, squeezlIlg ItS way rhrough a half-open tap III the TSTT offices, beyond which the company could cause either desperate droughr or the flowering of a Caribbean oasIs. The pipeline metaphor IS addinonally resonant because of Tnllldad's IIlnmare connecnon With oil: as one ISP owner pur It, TSTT has effectively [Urned off the gas on rhe relecomms revolution and IIlformanon economy, or reduced [0 a rrlckle rhe flow needed to susralll elrher pnvate profir or national deveiopmem. Hence, 'rhe botrieneck' emerges from our erhnographlC engagemenr III several forms: as a ser of practical, everyday problems III geITIng online and doing bus1l1ess rhere; as an Ideological Issue about national developl1lcm; as a political task posed to rhe lIldusrry and counrry; and as a ran of rhe uncertmnry of rhe busJlless envlronmenr in rhe regIOn, IIlciuding know1I1g whar was and was nor legal.
TrinIdad and rhe Interner backbone, through one (or larer two) cables thm carned all vOIce and data: Amencas ] and 2. The alleged dearth of bandwldrh
The External Feed
of which was 'the agreement' between C&\V' and the government, which waS to run until 2009. Irs contents were secret and hody disputed, but were presumed to esmblish TSTT's legal monopoly over VOice transmiSSIOn III Tnllldad, and therefore to rule out any access to the Internet other rh;;:m through TSTI (compames uSing sarellite links would be conSIdered as poten-
[10.1 altern3nve phone systems), We will expand on all of these Issues below; but here we will briefly
in Trlmdad (hence slow connections, and brakes on expanSIon of aCCess and
TSTI's monopol~r on rhe exrernal link was Widely blamed for an lIladequacy of bandwldrh 1Il TflJ11dad. Ir was actually unclear wherher any 1I1adequacy ex IS red. Figures abour bandwidrh supplY lIlra the counrry were (Qssed abour wlrh grear abandon by all parnes, mosr wlrh very lirrie undersranding of how dara IS rransmnred and whar bandwldrh actually meam. More rechll!cal people rended to argue rhat rhe exrernal link was nor rhe crux, and III any case, Americas 2 was bell1g laid even as we spoke, eVidence of conSiderable C&\V' regIOnal invesrment. As rhe Director of Telecommulllc:1nons pur It:
vlabie Internet media) were popularly blamed on the inadequacy of TSTI's investment in thiS connecnOI1, and on ItS monopolistIC obstruction of alternanve provIsIon (wlreless and satellite). Secondly, TSTI controlled the Internet 'gateway' as well as 'the localloop'~ through Irs monopoly over phone lines, switching and the equipment at the end of the lllcomlng cables, TSTI conrrol,led everything from rhe backbone [0 'the last mile' (rhe wires gOing mro indIVIdual houses). In rillS gareway capacity TSTT was charged with failure to make adequate Investment and properly to supply cabling and phone lines (so [hat, for example, ISPs found themselves W
\X'herher or nor bandwidth was adequate, rhere was a massive demand for alrcrnatlve rechnoiogies and rhere were several wamng In rhe WlIlgS, Il1[cnsifVlIlg a sensc rhat Irresisrible pressures were belllg builr up ag:llnsr TSTI's posmon. Parriy, rhere was rhe cialln rhar openlllg rhe exrernallink to comperltlon would reuuce horh pnces and rhe power of TSTI. However, rhere was a broader pressure rhar arose from orher enrrepreneurlal proJecrs rhar soughr to rake advanrage of opporrunmes openmg up III rhe new technological
122
123
I reallv don't know where the problem lies, because as far as I know we have Americas I fibre-optic cable comlllg [0 rhe counrry, we have satellite links out or the country, we have rhe eastern nllcrowave system gOlllg our of the cOlmtry, Americas I IS bemg upgraded to Americas 2 fight now. The}, are gOlllg abeaJ with rhe work, because the cablc IS comlllg 111. So when one looks ar If, you would want ro thlllk that there shouldn"'r be a problem, External CirCUit: whar I havc been [OIJ IS rhar rhe bottleneck IS really nor rhe external CirCUit, the bottleneck IS really an internal telephone company problem,
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The Political Economy 01 the Internet
spaces of telecommunIcations and Edt unfairly hindered during a very narrow temporal Window of opportunity. Hence, despIte TSTT's official monopoly, most lSI's have sarellire feeds that could at a moment's notice bypass TSTT completely. They are SImply waltlng for the green light to link [helt lSI' opera nons 111[0 such broader telecommUnications straregles (see below). Ivloreover, alternative external feeds may hook more effectlveiy mro other technologies, allOWing more effective use of convergences that may rake an enterpme well beyond SImply being a better or bIgger lSI': e.g. Rav~ (an lSI') nlIncci to establish regIOnal, satellite-based corporate commUnications serVICes;
the prOVISion of equipment to establish new pOints of presence and so on. ivloreover, they were seen as shorr-Sighted and perry: 'TSTT says if you are makmg a buck usmg our phone lines, then we should get a piece of char,'
several other companies sought to explOit convergences between cellular, Inrernet and pager technologies; and the most ambitious operam[ (Computers & Communlcanons) were upgrading thelf entire cable TV network for (Woway cable modem delivery of Imernet, which would also allow them to bypass the phone system, feeding It through either sarellite or TSTT's link.
Gateways and Local Loops \Xlhether or not the external cable was adequate, there were the Issues of the 'gateway" (TSTT controlled the lllterface between the incoming cable and the lSI's, Including Itself) and 'interconnectlvlty' to 'the local loop' (the connection to and quality of the phone system Itself, through willch the Internet IS actually delivered to 1I1dividuaI pes). ThiS was where most techl1Jcal people located the problems. The general oplnlOn IS that TSTT, a self-serVing bur shorr-sighted dinosaur from an earlier techno-political age, was pushed 1I1ra makmg any Internet prOVISion m all 111 1995: It responded ra mounting and frustrated public demand for the Internet 111 Tnl1Jdad, and ra government pressure to bnng Trmidad II1ra the late modern world. As one ISP manager PUt It: 'Rumour has It rhat rhe then Mimster of Finance In 1995 told TSTT to get off thelt arses and put In a gateway, something TSTT was ambIvalent about, not much revenue, hassle, etc: It was popularly believed that TSTT moved mto the huslness Wlthour enthUSIasm or understanding of the scale of the phenomenon. Alternatively, It IS argued they understood it all too well, bur that they, and some would add the government as major shareholder, saw a huge threat to thelt profits as a phone company. Either way, TSTT was pnmarily a telecomms company: 'The mfrastructure, the telephone ~olTIpany mfrastrucrurc, really wasn't set up to prOVide a hlgh-speed-dma kllld of commUI1lcatlon, It'S really a VOice network. They have been trYIng to mcrease the capacity and then there IS the poor quality because It"s sorr of lIl_tegrated With theIr VOice network.' There have been subsequent cntlClsms ot all the stages 111 prOVISIon: the gateway was Inadequate to the traffic levels, as were the prOVISion of numbers of phone lines, the cost of interconnectivItY,
724
said a competing ISP owner. TSTT's pOSItion was no different from any other national telecomms prOVider. I~ IS ultlmmeiy a public-serVIce prOVider of a national utility that requltes massIve Investment and IS engaged In a hIghly detailed and fiddly op~ratlon. ThiS mcludes costly relations WIth a huge number of mdividual c~IStomers - vlrrually the entire population. As an ISP manager raid us, "Our main problem IS really dial up lines, the local loop, the last mile - nobody really wants to do that, who wants to lay all that cable?' At the same tlme, the biggest and most profitable revenue comes from long-distance traffic, where the costs are mll1lmal compared to that of "the last mile', a zone filled with hassles and COSts. The lnrernet has the double disadvantage for TSTT of reqUInng a whole new layer of service proVISIOn at the local level while at the same tIme threatenmg their long-distance revenues: as another ISP manager pur It: 'Every time anyone sends an email to theIr brother or sister in Brooklyn or London or Toronto, It'S a phone call that wasn~t made. l ivloreover, 'VOIce over II" (Internet telephony) potentially reduces aI/long-distance calls to local ones. Our research was carfled our at the end of a two-month peflod of monumental disruption of TSTT's Internet service dUfing which time they were rectifymg the gateway problem by installing entirely new eqUIpment, as well as a new cable. lromcally, although TSTT was baSIcally dOlng the 'nght' thing finally and makIng prOVISIOn for the tItaniC growth m Internet traffic, which they had not foreseen, the disruptIon COInCided With a heightened peflod of attack on their monopoly pOSitIOn. The disruptIon was not mterpreted in terms of investment 111 the future but as furthet evidence of TSTT's lllability to prOVIde the semces that people wanted. TSTT had long passed the POlnt at willch It could ever be construed to be dOing anything nght.
The ISP Business: The Players TSTT nor only sells bandWIdth and facilities to Independent lSI's; It also Itself runs the largest lSI' by far. Th,s IS WIdely felt to be anomalous, glVlng flse to unfair competition, conflicts of mterest and abuse of power. 'We buy our Internet connection from them, and they also sell dialup access. , , so we compete With our provider. There are no laws govermng their operatIons or prOVISion or cross-subSidizatIon of serVlces.~ It also meant that TSTT could be publicly held responsible for vlrtually anything that went wrong with the Internet, from the backbone to one's modem. TSTT managed to appear both
725
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The Political Economy of the Internet
domineering and reluctant: although rhe company clallTI [hat they carried our extensive market research and planning exer~ises throughom'1994-5, the public perception IS that they did nothll1g until pushed by a government
cable modems to Trimdad, a promise almost but not qUite yet delivered OW!11g to the huge cost of upgrading their network and the TSTT bottleneck on
[Inci public
OpInion
thar understood rhe deep perils of nor
gcrtll1g 011 to
rhe
net and that when they did kIck mto gear they did so 111 a confused way. Their decIsIOn to go II1to the ISP bUSiness themselves was wken as eVidence of thelf confUSion. Their subsequent lise of thelf technical position to offer numerous pOints of presence, free phone access numbers and rhe hefty bribe of free connection hours per month was taken as eVIdence of unfair c~mpetl tlon: 'Sell the servIce at $150 and gIve away $600 of toll charges ... I don't know if It was a purely defenSIve move bur I know they are lOSing money on 1[. ,
Of the ISP rrvals to TSTT, Opus, the company through whIch Trrllldad entered the Internet age 10 1995, was anomalous In haVing its roots In preInternet BBS (Bulletin Board) services and compllter subcultures, gOing commercial mainly to fund expanSIOn of \Vhar was really a hobbYist enthUSIasm. TIllS has earned through Jllto a relatIvely small (600) bllt laval user base With a techle Image and USer profile, and com pennon on servlc'e rather than prIce. Yet even for Opus the connecnvlty busmess IS not profitable: their money comes from corporate Installations of network secunty (antivirus) and network management. And ItS owner conceptualizes ItS f~ture In terms of embedding the ISP wlthm a larger medialrelecomms operanon, m rillS case a kind of national intra net. \X!ow.net was another early entrant, assocl<.1ted with all manner of big money, IIlcluding finanCial capmd that later moved on mto the computer retailing busmess. Just after the end of research It was sold OUt to an earlier lSI' owner. ' InterServe was also a very early player, launched m September 1995 With extravagant promises of investment returns; as one 111 formant PUt It, 'The only Industries that 1 know that give you that you tend to go to jail for.' Of course, It JUSt didn't happen: hence the take-over hy C&C, for whom It now serves mamly reSidential accounts. CaribLink was founded by a refugee from InrerServe and took the rollte of higher pnces and slower, more stable growth, often through corporate defectors from InterServe. It too was purchased bv C&C, for whom It now serves corporare aG,:uunts. C&C Itself entered th~ market as potennally the biggest player 1I1 TrImdadian, if not Caribbean, telecommunICatIOns, and was the source of the quoranon thar ended the last chapter and the webSite that begl!1s the next. Its third rsp, CableNet, was actually formed by C&C in late 1996, opelllng early 1997, to build on therr already dommant cable TV busmess.1Vlost subscnptlons came With computers bought from C&C. Altogether C&C had about 7,500 accounts, and a hlstorv of J 00 per cent growth per year. At rillS stage its mam aim was to lntrodl1c~ 126
satellite feeds. Satellite feed was critical to the final and the newest ISP entrant RaveTT (online February 1999). It was funded by revenues from the lucrative Tn!1ldadian pager marker. It IS looking to synergies between pagers, email and the Internet bus mess. It was relymg on getting a green light to run lines that c{mld carry vOice and an lSI' based on satellite downlinks. In the future they hoped to set up rom! commu!1Icanons solutions for regional compames. So far they were tiny, stymied, they claimed, by TSTT's failure to set up POPs for them, which was the subject of a court case. The current mlly of seven ISPs IS rather more than the one or two found on some other smnilisiands. Each has ItS own website (see Plate 5.1), and these exhibit a range of styles. Some emphaSize serVices, such as web directones and rates charged; others mclude extras such as games and thmgs for jods. \'Vhile thiS plethora might be benefiCial for consumers (who nonetheless complained all the rune), It meant mtense competition on both pnce and service under the adverse commerCial conditions of very low marglI1s, techI11cal Iimi[s on growth (most ISPs claimed ro he 'maxed out' already on number of lines) and high rates of 'churn' (movement of customers between ISPs). Above all-It was claimed - there was TSTT's anomalous posltJon as an ISP and as the telecomms prOVider ro lSPs. TIllS hIStory ot 151' development suggests three mam phases. The first was based on creating business models and Jockeymg to esrahlish workmg relations With TSTT. The second Involved extremely mtense competition starrmg from late 1996 and lasting till late 1998, m whIch every offer made by any ISP was bettered by TS1T. ThiS was almost entirely price competltJon, and tocused on the two central features of connect time and call charges. TSTT locked off both With the mtroductlon of a roll-free and non-metered line: customers could call an 800 numher and connect for free up to an hourly limit per month, after whICh connect time was quite expensIve. lSPs scrambled to meet thiS cbnllenge by both movll1g over ro non-metered services and trymg to expand therr POPs (whIch all claIm was SIgnificantly frustrared by TSTT, acting l!1ltS capacity as Interconnect monopolist). The generally agreed upshot of thiS was a huge l!1crease !11 the market and huge decline l!1 serVICe, as well as profitability, as all lines became swamped and the tech!1lcal limits of the s~rsrem were exposed. Hence Phase Three: alongSide ali the other forces of deregulation (such as \X'TO agreements) was the sllnpie fact that the pflce war had to give way to a fe(tJfl1 to metered serVices, competition on service quality, and the desperate need to l!1crease bandWidth nor only to Improve service (speed and connection 127
The Internet
tlme) bur also to expand business. All fingers pOInted back to TSIT. At the same time, technological alternatIves to various aspects of Internet provISion, such as satellite, cellular and cable, were now unmediarely available bod1 ro get round the TSIT blockage and - perhaps more Important but less acknowledged - to move the potentlally bigger players Into more profitable svnergles (for example, with cable TV or the bandwidth resale bUSiness). Clearly some of the blame thar landed on TSIT reflects mtensified dynamiCs thar are present throughout the lSI' world. In some respects TSIT IS little different from [he other ISPs (wJ[h the excepnon of Opus) II1 supportmg as ISP bus mess through Irs general [decomms strengths. Rave, the C&C companies and Wow arc all backed bv much bigger money, and WOW had JUSt sold out to even bigger money. Even Opus IS part of a larger bUSiness. The representative of one lSP said that the history of [he Internet In Tnmdad has Involved: 'huge amounts of money bemg poured inm It. InrcrServe went bust [WICe, It did huge marketmg campaIgns, we sac back and looked ar these guys and said well, we don't have (hose pockets bur we also can't sec how they're making money out 01 it. We don't tlunk they ever did.' What all thiS means t In fact, is that rhe ISP business as a srand-alone enterpnse IS nor vwble In Tflnldad: Opus IS cxplonng rhe idea of online commUllmes and a fcwrn to BBS-style serVices, and 15 In any case seekmg most of 1[5 revenue from antI-virus and secunry software. \X1ow.ner's founder was desperate [Q go where rhe real money now IS: bUYing and selling bandwidth (see below). In the case of Computers and Controls and RaveIT, the ISPs are part of much larger compurcrlrelecomms empIres, and significanrly Involve ambitions to derive revenues from corporate rather than domestIc I'nrerner usc. The Simple story was char there was no money m the bUSiness. In fan, while the public story played OUt as an attack on TSIT as a bottleneck and disrornon on the specific market for ISPs, In fact somethmg rather different was raking shape: It was much more like a proxy war In which rhe ISPs were parr of a broader Inltlarive against TSTI as a telecomms monopoly, not on behalf of the ISP huslness (which was not Viable) but on behalf of major regional players who wanted a slice of a deregulated teiecomms cake. The real Issue IS a JockeYing for pOSition to get at the revenues that arise from dereguianon of reiecomms ilnd media. ThiS explallls something of the profiles of the seven ISPs, several of which are In effect markers pur down for somcthlllg bigger.
The Political Economy of the Internet
We are arguing, then, that [he battle over the ISP bUSiness - while It looks very Important as a batrie over access to the Internet - was ujnmateiy seen by most players as a small parr of a war over te!ecommuntcanons stra~egles:
the Issue IS that TSTI stands directly in the way of major money In telecomms. Or rather its owners - C&W and the Tnntdadian government - stand m the way on the hasls of 'the agreement'. 'The agreement\ Signed In 1989, and due to run for 20 years, was a 'shareholders' agreement' between C&W (49 per cent) and the government (51 per cent). It was negonated In advance of the Internet, and at a pOInt dunng which Tnntdad politiCS was focused on pnvanzanon but not compentlon or deregulatlon: thar IS to say, It was part of a tYPically 1980s divestment of a nanonal utility company thar SImply transferred a monopoly 111[0 prIvate hands. The agreement was at the centre of a very surreal situatlOn. It was thiS document that established the entlre structure of telecommuI1lcations provIsion 111 Tnmdad, and was umversally regarded as WIelding veto power. And yet It was a confidennai document that very few people had seen; It had not been tested m the courts; and everyone we talked to had a different account of what It conra1l1ed. There was much talk of loopholes and grey areas; yet 111 POlllt of fact even the main lines of the contract were shrouded 111 mystery. Finally, while some parnes took a legalistic approach to the teiecomms situation - one that focused on what could be done Within the legal agreements, or how they could be legally set aSide - others recognized [har the SItuation was actually held together by power: TSIT could enforce IlS own verSiOn of the agreement, up to a pOint, because of ItS operational control over the phone service (in short, It could cut off recalcitrant parnes). The government could choose whether or not to use ItS own power (both as malonty shareholder and as elected authonty) to enforce more or less open lnterpremtlons of the agreemem. And C&W seemed ready to wage In Trimdad the same kind of rearguard battie royal they were wagmg on other islands where they were Similarly ensconced (above all, Barbados, Jamaica and Domlmca) m order to keep their aurhof]ty and profits. In most accounts the crux of the agreement was that TSTT was granted a monopoly over VOIce transmiSSion wlthll1 Tnmdad and between TnI1ldad and the rest of the world: hence their control over external cables. When thiS agreement was reached - m advance of the Internet - dara transmiSSion was nor only easily accommodated by eXlst1l1g lines and posed no specwi problems, but had also not Significantly converged with telecomms (for lI1stance, ItS most advanced form 111 1989, EDI, was accommodated by leased lines clearly separate from vOice). The Internet obViously changed all that, nor only in terms of the exponentially lI1creasmg demand for raw bandWidth, bur also 111 terms of fudgll1g the distinction between data and VOIce transmiSSion. Internet telephony, or 'vOIce over IP', means that voice transmiSSIOn could and no doubt would be embedded, undetectably, In any data flow.
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Any strict 1I1terpretarton of the agreement therefore would require all relccomms to be routed through the TSTT monopoly. . The votee/data disnllc(Jon \VJS buttressed by two other legal-governmental concerns. Firstly, the Director of Telecommunications was concerned that ISPs remamed completely unregulated and reqUired no licence (anyone could set up as an ISP) and - despite one ISolated speech by tbe PrJn;e MinISter expressing concern about children's access to pornography, and some concern about unlicensed gambling - there was no apparent worry as to what rhey did With it. The baSIS for rhls was thar 'We VICW Ian Inter'net service] as a;l mformanon serVICe, not as a telecomm service:' Should rhe ISPs scan acnllg as or bC!I1g perceived as relecomms providers (or indeed as teleVISion or radio broadcasters) they would then be suhJccr ro regulanon Simply because [eiecommunications historically has always been regulated (and always raxed through VAT and licence fees). The Director of Telecommunlcatloniconcern seemed to be entirely political: he opposed all regulation; if ISPs were consrrued as relecomms compames he would be faced wlrh the mconVei11enr political problem of deregularmg all relecommulllcations m order to keep rhese new markers open: 'Ir's difficulr for rhe governmenr to Simply Jusr give up rhese rhmgs' - espeCially rhe revenue. ThiS was precisely rhe k1l1d of headon confromatlon rhar all governmenrs had aVOided over rhe years. Secondly, rhe VOIce/data distinCtion seemed to doverail wnh rhe separating our of value-added services from primary prOVISion, a diStinCtion rhar was cenrral to WTO commHmen[s. If ISPs were information servICes operarmg on [OP of telecomms mfrasrructures rhen rheir freedom was required under mrernatlonal rreatles. In pOlnr of facr, TSTT's monopoly over VOice, as Rave and orhers p01l1red out, was conceptually anomalous, leaky and ill-enforced. For example, various corporate vOice nerworks such as leas~d lines or Wireless rrunk and radio sysrems had been allowed to carryon; and 111 facr wireless Irself, m rhe form of cell phones, was a direcr abrogation of the monopoly. Indeed, m rhe evenr, rhe iicensmg of cellular phone services (rarher [ha"n permiSSion for satellire feeds mto [he Interne[) was the wooden stake rhar [he government planned [Q drive into rhe hearr of the monopoly. !vloreover, rhe prOVISion of cellular licences could be legltlmared 1Il rerms of expliclr commltmems underraken by rhe nation under WTO. All of rhlS was raken as furrher eVidence [har rhe TSTT monopoly was slmpl)1 a corrupr and mefficlen[ vested interest, a licence to prln[ money 1I1 opposHion [0 [he public IIlreresr, and iegmmared on grounds rhar were paremly absurd. Nonerheless, TSTT res [cd irs posItIon on [he vOIce/dara disnncrion. Publicly, rhe ennre batrie was breWing up around sareIIire feeds. If lSI's could ger rhelr connection ro [he In[erne[ backbone Via satellire, [hey could bypass TSTT compie[eiy, crea[ing a compe[J[Jve marker. The case for ailow1l1g 130
The Political Economy 01 the Internet
sarellire delivery was parrly made on rhe baSIS of bandwldrh scarCHY: rhe pipeline mto rhe counrry was said ro be technologically [00 narrow. As has ~1lready been nored, rhere was much confUSIOn over rhls, and m any case rhe pirelit~e was bemg upgraded. In facr, whar sarellire would do was to open up pncc competItIon, reduce ISPs dependency on TSTT for exrernal feed, rho ugh nor for mrerconncctlVlry, and, perhaps mosr lmportandy of all, complerelv undermme rhe conceptual baSIS of TSTT's legal and commerCial posltJon, for rhen any ISP would effectively and mdeed mevltably become anorher reiecommul11catlons prOVIder carrying vOice rraffic and dara rraffic. In Immediare rerms - already experienced on rhe balance sheer of TSTT, as on rha[ of every orher rdecomms operaror !11 rhe world - who would make a long-distance cal!, rhe hlghesr-profir secror 111 rhe busIlless, when you can reach anywhere III rhe world over [he Interner for the pnce of a local call? For rhe momenr, however, everyone sruck [0 rhe distinction berween rhe vOice rranSn1iSSlon busmess of a rdecomms company and rhe dara rransnllSslOn bUSiness of an ISP. It [Ook the foIIowlng pracncal form: all the ISPs had sarellite connections, bur officla!ly rhey used rhem for download only: dara came down [he connection to supplemenr [he TSTT feed; dara wenr our ot the country only through TSTT. ThIS preserved the notion rhat ISP provIsion was nor about people ralkIllg to each o[her, bur only abour rransferflng dara. Of course, even rhls cumbersome ficrlOn did nor srop an)'one from uSIllg Internct telephony, [hough rhe speeds still made for srilred conversations. However, Ir mall1ramed rhe status quo for rhe momenr while nonc[heicss allowll1g rhe ISPs ro ready rhemselves 1I1 terms of borh skills and cqllJpmCnr for rhe mevlrable day when rhar starus quo finally disIllregrared. For rhe momenr, rhe Icrrer of [he (acrually unknown) law was observed: even rhe sarellire downlinks were rrea[ed as supplemenral only; Ir emerged as a high-profile Issue m31l11y when TSTT was down or overwhelmed (as Ir was around rhe tlmc of our research). The Irony was rhar ifTSTT was down everyone looked around to see who was srill lip and runnl11g, whICh rold [hem who 111 trurh was usmg sarellire ro bypass TSTT. Bur rhls had not yet reached [he POlIl[ of open confronr3[ion: we were 111 a phoney war as yet. Exrernal feeds were only one parr of [he plCwre. The other was IIlrerconncctlvlty mto rhe local phone sysrem. This broke down mto two easily con flared Issues: firsrly, the ISPs ran dial-up serVICes, so rhey were reliant on TSTT's acmal phone sysrems to allow people ro dial up and download IIltorma[Jon; above all, rhls meanr rhey needed prOVISIon of 10[s of POPs (polllrs of presence), phone numbers wlrh lors of lines Il1ro rhelr banks of modems. The quali[)1 of theIr serVice, m a hIghly compe[i[ivc markc[, rhus depended on TSTT's phone prOVISIon. Secondly, III order to do busIlless (in mos[ cases more lucranve o[her busll1ess) they obVIOusly needed phones. QUite 131
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The Political Economy of the Internet
simply, TSTT could turn these off. Stories were rife both about TSTT's flexmg Its muscles by swItching off rhe lines for an hour or two; and about Irs failures to provide essennaI serVices, anslng from eIther meffiCJcncy or unfair competition or both. Bur here too TSTI was abollt [Q face senous compenrlOn. CableNer was at laSt nearly ready to provide a cable modem service that could do rhe last mile by cable rather than TSTT phone lines; also, there was an emergmg cellular marker of both pagers and third-generation cell phones that could deliver email and eventually Internet direct to handsets, albm still at .. low speeds.
costs, It loomed large 111 the public's mllld, and ir IS hard to believe that It did not loom large 1I1 the mind of a governmenr committed to reducrion of public debr under conditions 1I1 which as other mam revenue sources depended on the hIghly unstable price of oil. A second Issue, discussed above, was the fact that the Inrernet had no dear departmental home. The Director of Telecommumcanons, reporting to the Minister of Information, was very expliCit thar the Inrernet IS rhe concern of hIS office 'only, , . when there IS a telecomms problem', which he largely defined as 'linkage to the ourslde world', ThIS was nor bureaucratIc h31rsplitnng: Ir was central to his posmon, ourlined above, that mformanon serVices should not be regulated or licensed at all, which they would have to be if as teiecomms compames rhey were covered by 1115 office. He acknowledged thar, 'The fact that we are nor licensmg, the fact that we have no regulanons or so, III l[5elf, probably presents people WIth problems. That rhey don't know who to go to, because a lot of them thlllk thar the people III tillS busmess should be licensed, they should be regulated. But I don't want to get IIlvolved m thar.' Finally, the SUsp'CIon of political weakness was confirmed by the refusal of any direct confrontation With TSTT or C&W, and a constant resort to what were seen as legal fictions or verbal Circumlocutions. Two examples were very typical. Rave reported an Interesting legalism whereby one could apply for sateIlire or Wireless licences~ but the government would nor actually give you one. Instead, they gave you a copy of a letter sent from the Director of Telecomms to the Milllster of Information supporting the application and requesting mllllsterIal approval of It. People set up operations on thiS baSIS m such a way rhat rhey could not be shut down, but the governmenr nonetheless aVOided confrontation with C&W or TSTT. The other example was a newspaper story abour TSTT thar was belllg discllssed by ever~'one dUrIng our research trIp. In it, a governmenr spokesman from the Millisrr~' of Information was quoted as saYIIlg thar 'rhere is no monopoly m Internet servICes III Tnmdad'. The government and some orhers (including Rave) Interpreted thiS statement POSltlveiy as the government clearly acknowledglllg that there IS no legal monopoly on dara that [he government conSiders [0 be value-added service and therefore open [0 competition under WTO commltmenrs. (They are also commItted under WTO to open up satellire.) But everyone else interprered it as legalism, as cymcal legalistic word-play: of course anyone can ser up an ISP, bur rhey can only access the Internet legally through TSTT, whIch therefore has rhem all over a barrel; and elliS therefore constitutes a monopoly SItuatiOn in any meaningful sense of the word. As an ISP noted, how can you deal With a governmenr thar resorts to these empty word games?
In other words, there were technologies and eager institutIOns ready, abJe and mdeed frorhmg at the mouth wl[h both frusrratlon and greed to break the TSTT monopoly and open up rhe market. TIllS readiness made a mockery of the disnnctlons and nghts upon willch the agreement was based. It als~ built up a pervasive feeling that desr[uctJOn of the monopoly was only a matter of time: l [ was both mevlrable and Imminent. ThiS Ine~ltability \~as consrrued technologICally (alternatives to TSTT were both efficlen~ and converg.enr); economically (force of demand, of international competmon); and polmcally (no government or law could reSist these forces).
The Government 'The agreement' was murky and secretive, and produced a murky, confused market. Who was TSTT? Was It a front for C&W, a from for the Governmem or was It another autonomous body? Indeed, who was the government? The murk mess was IIlcreased by the government's lack of posItIon. Indeed, because the Situation was Viewed as ludicrous and untenable, Ir was also viewed as pred~lTI!1lanrly an issue of political will: In the end, the question was why hasn't the government acted? Why could it not enforce a loose lnrerpret~non>~ \Xlhy could It nor pressure TSTT Into better service prOVISion even withl~ the terms of the agreement? Jvloreover, thiS was a government thar portrayed I~self as modernlzlIlg borh through free-market poliCies
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The Political Economy 01 the Internet
TIllS focus on the government's supposed lack of political will has to be set w!thm rhe broader geo-politlcal picture, yet few people did this: we constantly found ourselves remll1ding rhem [hat TSTT was JOintly owned by C&W; everyday speech tended to refer only to TSTT and the government. C&W of course have huge clout, and were fighnng feroclOllsly throughom [helf Caribbean hoidings: rhey had engaged in high-profile coUrt cases agam ISPs, for example m DOI11!l1Ica, and there were sroncs of major confrontations both In and our of court in JamalGI. 'They have a subsrantlnl Investment 111 rhe Caribbean area and [hey control all over rhe country, and rhey are fighting anywhere they can ro hold on to rhelf monopolies, Bur rhey have been lOSing, they've lost In Bermuda, they ios[ In JamaICa, Dominica, and here [hey have [0 renegotiate. So they are fighting It.'
funds by selling off asse[s (it was sl111uiraneously divestmg Itself of tWO o[her maJor holdings). Implausible thiS may be; but It testifies to the cynicism With which the governmen[ posmon was Viewed: this would Imply a concern only for shorr-term gam rarher than attention to a situation It should be dismterestedly adjudicatmg. It then appeared to bar C&W from such a bId, leading C&W to threaten to walk our of the agreemem Immediately, wlthour any chance of theIr posmon being properly transferred. In the meantime the governmem seemed to have turned a blind eye to loopholes such as smellite downloads thar eat away at TSTT's monopoly. Furrher mtrmon would be caused by the deCISion to open up thc marker for Wireless and cellular licences. In addition, the governmem was movlI1g cellular 111 to areas where TSTT was showll1g Its lI1adequacy: for example, the prOVISion through cellular of a wireless solution to gaJl1l11g qUick Internet access tor all the counrry's SIX hundred schools. Cellular and cable were finally bC1J1g almost encouraged to subvert the pnor voice/dara disnncnons to create a communication field With several competing players, more or less as the maJor compaJ1les had hoped. Not surpnsll1giy, TSTT no longer knew if It represented C&W against the government or vice versa.
Nonetheless, by the nme of our research VIS1[, public lmpanence, Industry fury and government concern had reached a deciSive pOint: Wc have passed the stage o~ trymg ro get the relephone company to respond to problems and proVide the country With the necessary mfrasrructure, and so ir"s nor lust Internet. \Y/e have relephone serVice and orher areas, The bUSIncSS com* mUl1lry IS very dissatISfied wah rhe proVISion of data ClrCliitS ro link their offices, compurer-to*computer commUIllCatlOll. So there is a lor of complal11rs abour the telephone service. \Y/ell, the governmenr has taken rhe deCISion to break rhe monopoly and we expecr to starr renegotiating tbe agreement very soon. \X/e have already deCided to license cellular - additional cellular users, All value-added sen'lce are open [under \X'TO], bur of course, you still depend on the telephone company to lease CirCUIt. And rhe baSIC service IS what we're afrer now to break up and will be renegorwred. The agreement has to be renegotiated. .. Becallse rhe country can"t afford to contmue With this poor mfrastrucrurc. EVldendy the halance had shifted in government. The Direcmr of Com mUl1lcanons could not have been more uneql1!vocal: 'The policy right now IS ro break up the monopoly, licence cellular, open 1[ up, have an open marker. Let the market decide. So there IS no oppos1[ion In government any more _ whatever Opposltlon there was, they are bemg pushed aSide. So I d~lI1k they have accepted that we have no chOice bur ro go rhls roure'" How was thIS to be achieved? There was still far from a clear answer to that. There was talk, but no eVidence of re-negotIation of the agreement Itself. Instead, soon after the end of our fieldwork the government announced the completely unexpected step of divesting Itself of its majority share holding, rransrernng It to a holding company, and openIng the shares up for sale Without any restructuring. !vlost surpnsmgly, tillS seemed to open up an option for C&\XI to buy a controlling share from the new holding company. The rumours gOlllg round were thm the government was Simply tr~'lI1g to raise 134
The Paradigm Tnllldad and Tobago, according to the W/orld Bank, has the potentwl to become OHe 0/ the most accessible and effiCIent regIOnal lmsmess, finanCIal and manll1~lctllrmg centres 0/ the Caribbean. The COltHtry IS also /lIell placed to mctease lfs m(omwtlOll seflilce exports. English a11d Computer LIteracy rates are amONgst the highest 111 the Caribbean. (from !vlimstrr of Public Adminlstranon and Information Report, 1998) Internet-based busmesses as well as busll1esses that re-orgal11ze themselves around internet facilities seemed to play directly to a host of TflJ1ldadian competitive advantages thar were constantly enumerated by 1l1formanrs. The malfl advantages that mformants consistently stressed lay m superlative 'human resources' rhar could be purchased by foreign companies at relarlvely low ratcs. Tnl11dad could proVide an English-speaking labour force that was hIghly educated and had already developed an llnpreSSlve skills base nor only 111 techmcal matters but also in design, marketing and prOject management. ThiS pool of high-tech workers was wlthll1 easy phYSical reach of the US, and of course II1stanr electronic rcach. It was aVid for and responsive to technology transfers, was cosmopolitan and comfortable work1l1g 111 and With foreign contexts. At the same time, because of exchange rates, lower
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overheads and generally lower wage levels, It undercut Northern wages by
large amounts. Trinidadians could already point {his our
In
a small way
In
rerms of rbe cosr of web desIgn In TrInIdad versus US. Trillldad "IS located ncar to thelf shores where people can get to Trimdad and back to the United Stares In one day. If these potential customers come [0 our shores for a tew days ther are guaranteed communication, '"eating curry'" sun, sand and 'Sin'. \'{Jc are looking at some ot these as mrlJor Incentives, if they can offer rhls and stili charge ~'Oll less than whnt n programmer will charge you In US, maybe h::df or a till rd.
ThIS combInatIon of advantages, clearly expressed In rhe extended quotatIon that ended the last chapter, added up to one major new model of development: TrInIdad would do lllgh-value-added offshore work for foreIgn
companies. The Internet would prOVIde much of the content of [be work webdesign, darabase and other programming, muanct and extrnner projects and prOject management - as well as rhe means for accomplishing Ir: wah rhe inrernet, rhls kind of work can lirerally be done anywhere. Trinidadian companies could enrer 111[0 conrracrs and more iong-rerm relanonshlPs with large Amencan compames rhat would also be recompensed In skill and technology transfers. The exemplificatIon of rillS modei will be the Miss UnIverse web me (see Chapter 6), whIch produced work at the cuttIng edge of Internet technology for Norrh American firms~ smlUltaneously effecnng Imporram technology and skills transfers for furure work, as well as garnering more busmess. In the process the company (Computers and COntrol) thar produced the Site and its charlsmanc emrepreneunalle3dershlp (who prOVided the extended quote m Chapter 4) managed ro realize on an expansive world stage an Ideal of Ttlmdad's place III global modernIty. In facr, as we shall see m rhe next chapter, thiS mapped out a far from easy road . .ivliss Umverse was an exciting test case, but done for free, on spec. Webdeslgn, portals and other busmesses that focused on Internet products {as opposed to Simply selling goods over the Internet, as 1t1 ecommerce) had not yer found a bUSIness model that made money. Several people quoted to us a current busmess gurll, Michael Porrer (1998) whose book, The CompetItIVe Advantage of Nations, argued that when barriers to enrry are low, nobody makes money. Barners to enterIng the Internet bUSIness are low. The same Issues were replicated at a national level: Trimdad IS of course not the only coumry of the perIphery aiming at d11S relationship to the metropolis, and Informants were clear that theIr own way of competing wlrh these countries had to be compatible With their sense of who they were as a country, borh praCtIcally and symbolically. TrIm dad, as we have sUld, IS not a low-
136
wage, unskilled and largely serVIce or agrIculture economy. It IS blghly educated, entrepreneurIal and industrial. They felt a clear need to distIngUIsh their development path from two alternatives wlrh which they would nonetheless have to compete: rhese were symbolized by Barbados and India. Barbados represents a proletanan parh, arismg from an earlier moment of posr-mdustnalizatlon, whICh there and elsewhere m the Cari_b~ean (Pearson 1993; Freeman 1998) compnses low-skilled and low-waged data-entry for US firms. Tnl1ldadian emrepreneurs would rather see themselves as subsumIng Balan (the locai term for Barbadian) labour within [heir own more global schemes. For example, a Tnmdadian conglomerate (Neal and Massy) operates a software company currendy Sited In Barbados; however, they argue that Barbados does not offer a suffiCIently skilled workforce (partly because of rhe size of the UlllversIty there) and they have rherefore been advertlsmg for Tnmdadians. (Else\Vher~ 111 rhe regJOn, Bermuda also offers an offshore centre for lIlsurance and other finanCial serVices, based on high-level IT, open markets and stabie government.) The other developmenralmodel is India, willch a TrInIdadian mIght conSider a IW111JelZ path, paradOXically, 111 that It comprIses very high-level software deSIgn and coding expertise, workmg 1I1 close conjunction With US compallles. However, J[ does so a[ very low wages. One mformant, himself ethIllcally Indian, argued that they could never compe[e wirh India, 'dollar for dollar' ~ because Indian fees are 'give away' and because Tnmdadian want to ensure facilities for staff rhar 'makes sure of their self-worth and proper workIng environment. We do not want Neal and Massy to be like a sweatshop or a contract race. Competitive advantages pushed to their limIts would make nonsense of Trlllldadian identity - Trinis feel themselves to be educated, modern First World cJtJzens, not key-pressing BaJans or desperate Indians . .ivloreover, most local entrepreneurs presenr rhemselves as parr of a natJonai proJect: they are not Just capItalists, they are always Trlnl capitalists. And In thiS context they operate With a much more complex versIOn of competItIve advantage [han Simply wage-labour rates. Factors such as 'sun, sand and sm' - an almost proverbial non on these days - have a tficksterIsh quality to them that fits rhe TrlIll self-Image nearly. Tobago IS uesnneu for general tuunSiTI, bur Tfltlidad will accept expatrIate busmesspeople, seemg Itself rather as a hltech player on the global stage that also entcrtal11s ItS clients. Busll1esspeopie talk as though an ability to deSign websltes and to create cultural contexts for livlI1g can be seamlessl)' connected through style and cool, whICh is perhaps felt to be one of their really major competitive advantages. Local executives relish tales of foreIgn expa;rIates breakIng In[Q rears at rhe thought of leaVIng Tnl1ldad when their posting IS fil1lshed. 137
The Internet
The moJel of high-value-added high-tech/lllgh-skilled offshore subcontracting IS only one model of POSJ[JOl1lng opened up by rhe Internet. Two morc models stood out. Firsdy, Internet facilities enable new levels of !I1ternal
corponue integration (often operanonaiized as inrraners), whereby a Tnllldaclian firm can have offices (or partners) in Seatde, Caracas, JamalGl, ere, all intcgrmcd on i.1 real-tIme baSIS. ThiS was not only Important on rhe NorthSOllth aXIS, bur was possibly already more advanced on a regional baSIS: the Internet certainly helped Integrate multI-island operanons in the Caribbean through systems thar had been set up by Tnllldadian companies.
The second model
15
[he
obvIOUS
one of marker tntegranon: 'the marker'
drawn from a universe thar compnses 'anyone wJ[h Internet access\ or even 'an~fone who has a friend or relative WHh Imernet access\ and thar 'anyone' could feasibly be 'anywhere' at any tIme. We will discuss thiS m the next chapter under the concept of ecommerce. Here we might note, 111 relation to global posltlonmg, that thiS new economiC geography could IIlciude Illtcgr;1[JOn across language communItIes: III addition to breakmg through barrlcrs of orgamzatlOn, time and space, barriers of lingUIstic commumcatlon arc potcntlally tl1111!mlzed; qUite Simply, there IS little extra expense II1volved III runnlI1g parallel English, Spanish and Portuguese websltes. Whether or not thiS will come to anythlllg, there was a great deal of talk about the historically undeveloped trade links between Tnmdad and Lann Amenca despite the huge Size of the market as well as the wcaith of its geographICally and htsror!cally closest neighbour, Venezuela. The adoption of new paradigms that we have heen discussmg at the level of husllless strategies IS also apparent at the national and governmemallevel. For examplc, a 1998 government report expliCitly characterizes the country's new environment III terms of 'a networked soclety\ whICh It defines almost entirely III terms of global economic competition: 'The timely exchange of IIlformation IS cntlcal to competitive Viability given the rapid Imegratlon of global markets.' Government's role is to enhance competItIveness In thiS new context, and to moderl11ze its own ICT prOVISIOn both [0 faciliwte the development of national infrastructure and to 'become a mode! . , . for emulation h)' the other sectors', The report notes that the IT-bascd success of sorne ASian countnes was pardy due w the prO-Jctlve role of governments 1Il IIltormation policy and mfrastructllres. However, 'as the mformatlon age evolves, marked by a world of increJslllg globalization and liberalization', governance IS seen 1Il generaily non-Interventlomst terms that are seen as almost Illhercnt III thc technologies rhemselves, or at least appropflJtc to the world they Illcreaslllgly domlllate; hence, 'government·'s role is seen essentially as rhat of a SOClo-economiC facilitator' IS
138
The Political Economy of the Internet
Opportunity and Danger The Internet appeared -
III
a contexr of OptimiSm, liberalization and diversi-
fication - as an opportuntry thar played to Trtmdad's sense of ItS competitive advantages as well as an expanSlVe realization of Irs 'true' identHY as an up~ scale world player. But as an external pressure the Internet was Simultaneously an lIlevmlble and dangerous challenge. It was parr of the same lIlexorable open111g-up of the country as WTO-style deregulation. And behmd WTO was rhc United States and International agencies: the US ambassador had made several public (in addition, H was rumoured, to countless prtvate) pronouncements about rhe centraliry of relecoml11s deregulatlon and free trade, IIlcluding rhe first speech he made as ambassador. The destructive cap,Klry of strucrural adjustment was well known to Tflmdadians from ItS effects on countries such as Jamaica (MiJler 1997, 35-57), and from recent strife over Caribbean banana exporrs. Local deregulatIOn was nor matched by <.111 ending of US protectIOntSm agatnst Trtntdad produCts. Ultimately, the level plnYlllg-field was an illUSion if power remaJned asymmerrlcally wlrh the US government and US compames. 'Opening-up' could leave open the way to equally monopolistic compantes that 1Il effecr closed down any freedoms or alrernatlves. But from the perspective of Trinidad there seemed ro be no chOIce about whether or nor to move towards rhese new opporrunltJes and dangers. The scenaflo for the furure looked tnevlmble, and thc matn question thar faced TflllIdadians was wherher they would enthUSiastically Jump IntO the new technological wave or be pushed and pulled, 10 whICh case rhey would end up swamped and washed up by rides running way ahead of them. There was generally a dental thar rhey were betng pushed, and yet there was also constant anxiety about the lack of speed in the Trlllldadian response. ThiS focused on both rhe slow response of the busmess communtty ,:lI1d the government and particularly rhe backwardness of vnrlOUS key tnfrasrructures: online credit-card authentication and secuflty; and above all the IIlterlinked upgrading and deregularion of teiecomms infrastructure. Two key husllless conferences dUring our viSit (a meering of rhe Southern chamber of commerce and a breakfasr symposIUm on ecommerce, derailed tn the next chapter) IIlvolvcd the delivery of a uniform message from advanced local and international bUSlllCSS figures, such as lIlM and KPMG. Both seemed deSigned to makc the Tnll!dad VISIOn as SCJry as It was promlstng, through ralk about rhc head-start of US compallles and about competitors that were already raktng their business away. Just as the Internet broughr the local Trinl enterprise chcaply to global markers It also brought huge tnternatlonal operators (Amazon, Cisco, erc.) on to rhe local hlghsrreer. Ar such momenrs
139
The Internet
people would forget that In fact the Trlmdadian Centtal Bank was lIlvolved a regIOnal consonium that was pilotlng systems for international financial settlements In an electrOnIc bUSIness envlronmem that was [Q be extended throughout rhe hemisphere; or [hat there were plenty of local entrepreneurs With Vision. It all seemed [00 little, [00 late. These \Vomes link up with the kInds of scenarios mapped Out In Castells (1996,1997,1998) or Lash and Urry (1994) or others wnnng about problems of rhe mformanon pOOf, [he un-networked, rhe information ghettos. However, there the concern IS WIth populatiuns being left oU[ of rhe loop and therefore depnved of the knowledge and contacts that will save them from POStmdustflai paupenzanon. The Issues for Trlmdad are Instructively different: rhey are already m the loop, and therefore have a clear vIew of rhe oppormnmes rhey would like [Q grasp. Their fear 15, if anything, not paupenzation but a prolerariamzatlon that IS incompatible WIth the kInd of realization of a world position that the Internet seems to hold out to them. Whar emerges from thiS matenalls an articulation between actual contradictions that beset the process of deregulation and liheralizatlon, contradictions that if anythIng seem exacerbated by the entry of IT and the Internet on the one hand, and a contradictory discourse thar Simultaneously expresses desperate fear and enthUSiastic opportunism. So the self-confident speech reported 111 the last chapter COInCides With a qUite different sense of what a US company such as AT&T might represent: a kInd of ImperIalist monster that would gobble up TrInidad, which had only a short WIndow of opportUnity to develop a Caribbean-wide infrastructure that was big and powerful enough to reSISt. ThiS IS the dynamiCs of posltloning at ItS most practical and oPPOrtUniStic: how can a small country with big ambltlons find ItS place? Finally, an important distJnction that was only begmmng to emerge IOta public discourse dunng our research visIt had huge Implications for strategIc thll1kll1g about the dynamICS of posltloning: many mformants pointed out (and thIS was borne out m our II1tervlews) that tao many busJness and policy actors were slow to respond to the Internet because they were lookmg only at the local online consumer markets, whICh they deemed to be extremely small as yet (though we found that It was rather larger than they reckoned), while failing to rake up the OppOrtUnIty to reach unline consu~ers abroad (many felt they did not have suffiCient products for JnternationaI consumption). \X1hat thiS Ignored was busmess-ta-busllless commerce. ThiS IS reckoned by many to make up the lion's share of ecommerce throughout the Internet; at the same time It was extremely promising for TflnIdad, With its petrochemICal base and ItS maJor trade connections With North America.
The Political Economy at the Internet
Conclusion
In
740
The first thIng everyone mentIOns IS TSTT as the bottleneck. ThiS IS what all the maJor players are fighting over at present, castigated as a dinosaur, the unholy child of an old national utility monopoly and a neo-Impenalist multinational, abetted by a cronYlst government. The fact thar the phone service !11 Tnmdad was actually rather good, that TSTI was actually m the process of completing a maJor upgrade of preCisely the facilities demanded, and espeCially the fact - as everyone acknowledged - thar C&\X1 WaS more than likely to be Simply repiaced by AT&T or MCI withIn a short span of time - none of this counted for much as agall1st the profound connections that TflllIdadians mevlrably drew between free-market entrepreneurialism and Internet technologies. It was the Ideal of freedom as much as any aerual profits to be made that seemed to dom!l1ate diSCUSSIOn. Moreover, thiS diSCUSSion took the form of 'reframlllg' (CalIon 1998) the Internet market m terms of the more global and hugely lucrative market In deregulated telecommUnications, a market that would embrace an almost endless series of submarkets 111 means of commUl1!cations, computer hardware and software, and II1formation II1frastructures. The local Internet marketISPs operatll1g under the shadow of a monopolistic telecomms supplier was believed to be framed II1 archaIC terms thar restralI1ed players from participating II1 thiS Wider market, or from getting there II1 time to be the actors they thought they could be . .Nloreover, the current restnctlve construction of the market was seen as untenable, not only because It was restnct!ve but because It was out of rune With the unaVOidable realities of the global context. The actual Internet market was believed to be sustamed merely by legalistic fictions, illegitimate power and vested IntereSts, whose delnlse was surely Immment. It was, at It were, the merely 'offiCial' market, Il1creasll1gly held Il1 contempt as a fa~ade, and It was a 'false' market because It was trYll1g to hold back ll1evltable changes. On the other hand, the 'real' market, as people saw It, the global deregulated tdecomms market, was already prefigured and emergmg m everyday busll1ess practices (for example, the use of satellite, the quaSI-legal Introduction of cellular, etc.) as much as 111 the more overt lobbYlIlg ano pressure that filled public Jiscuurse. On thiS baSIS, the batrle over TSTI and the ISPs, mdeed over the Internet as one technology, were both symbolic struggles over freedom as deregulation and proxy wars lt1 a much la rger ba trle. Hence, m TrInidad the domlI1ant narratives of political economy Il1 regard to the Internet were expressed in terms of a deregulation that would literally free them to realize their partiCIpation m a more global context, one understood as the reality of contemporary economy. These narratives mcluded 141
The Internet
The Political Economy ot the Internet
liberalism, diversificanon, dereguianon and [he technology of IOfofmanon flow. Freedom IS on [he lips of all rhe piayers. Govcrnmenr waxes lYrical
abour the fact that ISPs are unlicensed as much as an ISP condemns the TSTT bottleneck as a monopolistlc suppressIOn of freedom. Yet at the same time
dearer 111 the next chapter, where the Internet emerges as Itself the crItIcal medium (and as 111 thiS chapter, also rhe crItIcal discourse) that promises a new form of II1tegratlon both forwards !l1 Il1tegratlng firms into the deSires and concerns of consumers and backwards !11 !11tegratlng rhe businesses
everyone
themselves and [heir systems of prOVISIOn.
IS
rrYll1g
[Q
construct the normative, which here IS nor Just cultural
and moml conformity ahout how something should be expressed, bur often sJn1l11rancously [he possessIOn of the technological means by which It will be
expressed and the struggle over whlCh technology that should be, sateliite, cable modem, cellular phone, conventIOnal phone, erc. They are all hoping to command and control rhe channels through whICh rhls supposed freedom will be delivered. COllrradicnon IS facilirared hy rhe ll1uinpliciry of representation. TSTT as a front for neo-Imperlalist C&W, TSTT as a primary source of governmem revenue and expressIOn of government Interest, TSTT as a sepan.He telecomms company With Its particular teiecomm lI1terests, and TSTT as a leading ISP. These are all the same company, but seen from particular
angles. So the political economy of Internee prOVISion no more reduces [0 Simple equa[lons of profit and efficiency than the consumpnon of the Imernet reduces co cost and nme. The Imernet IS already a powerful force that acts as the Idiom through which core values are expressed and challenged and their contradictions arc made manifest. If the topiC of relanonships In Chapter 3 seemed to he an expressIOn of a profound struggle between the deSire for freedom Jnd the struggle over what would be accepted as normative, then how much more so has thiS been true of the matenal presented here. Similarly, even the most hard-hltten commerCial players understand their lI1terests 111 terms of a larger collective identity of nationaililterest, and the d}'namics of posItIon are here (as in Chapter 4) the position of TrlI1Idad. terrified and yet 1I1 riual! to the prospect of this arranged marriage to a new technological bride. The Issue is not one of chOICe - the Internet IS regarded as fate; It is about strategies of positioning between freedom and control that will allow Tnl1ldad to realize Itself. The reason these values can dommate such powerful Instltunons as huge media compallles and the government Itself IS because they are not mere creatUres of the politlcal economy. ThiS chapter is properly set Within the larger surrounds of the chapters before and aft. The deepest concerns of Imerner proVISion overlap conslderahly With values such as nanonal sennment and freedom thar we have mer In qUite differenr contexts. One reason for thiS IS that It IS of course the same II1divlduals thar here are met as speakers 111 struggles over Internet prOVISion that are also online helpll1g their children With their homework or chatting to their relanves ahroad. The l11terdependency hetween rhese aspects of prOVision and consumption will become still
142
143
6 Doing Business Online Business Ideals: Miss and Mr Universe The Internet presents Trinidadian business with a transformed enVironment, and there IS toda~r a real urgency to the dnve for rethInking business orgalllza[ions and practices In rhls context: how to 'adapt' In order ro compete and prosper. In rhe last chapter we have seen that, along with Its dangers, the Internet seems to hold our rhe promise of a kind of ideal posirionmg of TnnIdad VIs-a-VIS global competition; but thiS was coupled wah tremendous frusrranon over the slow pace of getting there. In rhls chapter we will find a similar dynamiC working out
145
The Internet
It was
major national preoccupanon for weeks, pardy because stich contests have an Illlponant pbce 10 Trinidadian culrure (and Tnnldad has won Ivliss Ull!versc and Ivliss ''Varld a disproportlonare number of nrnes), bur probabl yl <1
more because
It
was a very public test of Tomdad's <1bility to manage an
mrernanonai event. Ivliss UllIverse was generally framed as a parry that Tr!l11dad would be throwing for the world, an event that would demonstrate to ~111 Intcrnnnonai audience slnluim.neollsiy the CDUJlrry"'s exuberance and Irs ability to orgalllze at a world-class level. The event was locally deemed a Sllccess - [hey pur on a good show - though It was often pOlIlted our [Q us that
146
Domg Business Online
The 1VEss Universe site embodied a leading edge concept of whar could be done on the net rhrough ecommerce and deSign mteractlvity. It used a wide range of sophlsncated techno logICs in a commerctally diSCiplined way to create a space of absorbmg 1Ilteractlvlty; and it lIltegrared a range of busmess functions (advertls1l1g, 1I1formatlon and databases, orderIng and cusmmer relations) borh technologically and conceprually JI1to one ecommerce operation. It therefore looked like the maJor test case thar Internet promoters had been wamng for: a big proJect that would demonstrate what could be done on the web borh techlllcally and commerCially and would make the net a fact of buslIless life. It was entirely fittlIlg that thIS hnd been accomplished by the local Mr UnIverse of the ICT economy, Computers and Control, willch -
147
The Internet
Domg Busmess Online
and technology were Integrated wJ[hIn a complex business concept. They gamed a conceptual understanding of how these technologies could converge into [he most advanced available model of ecommercc, In which, far from merely 'selling things" rhe websae became rhe centre-piece of processes that Integrated consumers/audiences, suppliers and rhe Miss Umverse operanon Itself. Finally, the ream carryIng om the prOject took Tnnldadian webdeslgn [() a new conceptual and organizatIOnal stage. The size and complexity of the !vliss Umverse prOject allowed [hem [Q experIence webdeslgn In terms of large-scale 'project managemt:nt', including a large core team; 'There were a lot more people Involved In creatIng rhe web Site. They had 13 or 14 people here, 5 or 6 people Involved from the pageant side, or 2 or 3 from the TIDCD slde,5 or 6 people Involved from McCann [E[lcksenl and all the different ad agencies. Photographers hired, there were a lor of other people. 1r was a big proJect.' TIllS produced a complex diVISIOn of labour and a split between strategic and technical thinking. Hence the team leader - whose background was largely 111 graphICS and webdeslgn - focused on "[he lllItlal structure, rhe llltegrarion of rhe informatIon. How rhe pages are re-connected together.
Whether a beauty pageant was an effective way to establish Trinidad's relatlonslllp to global modernity vIa Internet technology IS open to question (local doubts related far more to Its expense than to Issues of moderIllty or, as 111 our case, femimst crmque). Idealizations of femlllll1e beauty aSIde, the site certamiy objectified three other Ideals. Firstly, through the Internet It successfully'proJected Trlmdadian culture and busll1ess IOto a global space, an Idealized Tnllldad of beauty, troplcai exotiCIsm and at the same time of profeSSIOnalism, acumen and entrepreneunalism. Secondly, It accomplished an II1ternatlonallevei of technological acillevement that was also Integrated wlthll1 leading-edge busll1ess models of ecommerce. Finally, It embodied the notions of 11Igh-value-added offshore enterprISe wedded to high-level technology transfer that, as we saw 10 the last chapter, would exemplify Trillldad's leap, ahead of anyone else 111 the regIOn, mto the new economy.
The mreracrivlty, the user fnendliness, and the basIC look and feel of rhe web site. That IS baSically my Job.' He could then draw on a range of programmers from WIthin the company - pjus VJ51tlOg reams from various software companies - speCializing In, for example, Java Scnpting, Visual BasIC or Oracle. Parr of thiS expenence of large-scale prOjccr management was orgalllzanonal expenence of constant liaison wah !vliss Umverse and wah the Pageant company on all level of detail, client relations, and so on. Dealing wah hugely orgamzed and expenenced clients nor only meam learmng but also (it makes us see that you klnda have to hint to our new clients to try and get that organlsed 1 to organise theIr Information before coming to us. You can't bnng ten brochures to us and say, build us a web SIte.' Through tillS kind of IIlvolvement the deSIgn team came to formulate the huge qualitative and quantitative leap from what had gone before to what was possible no\\'. !v10st Tnnidadian websnes, they argued, were patched together: rhev don't undersrand the amount of rechnology that can go Into It, rhe amount of Intonnanon. A lor of people come m and say thar they want a web sire: 'Pur our annual report up.' That IS nor what you want to put on a web Site. You want Info that IS useful, people can draw from, that rhey could llse as a reference. That has kind of hindered a lor at the web sites that have been builr before ... I think what has happened SinCe I've come here IS the clientele has become a lor broader, a lor more information-sensitive, the)' want ro get their mformarion out rhere, they want people to be able to Interact with It easily. Such as Miss Universe \X/eb Sire, Royal Bank's web site. 148
The Stages of Website Evolution To describe the Miss UllIverse project as 'ideal' or 'highly evolved' Implies some model of commerCial evolution. What are the stages that lead up to !vliss UllIverse as the Ideal achieved? \Xlhat mIght 'Internet sophisticatIOn' mean clrher to us or to local busmess? There IS obVIOusly no uniform answer to this; we need to observe emergmg critena and ar the same time note the contmued disagreements over what constitutes good practice. Nonetheless, we were not surprised to find some clear outlines emergmg, particularly from those engaged m Internet promotion and leading-edge use. We were even less surprised [0 find these outlines conformmg to emergmg mternatlonal assumptions about what ecommerce should be. Overall good ecommercc IS the cO~lIlg togcther of [wo broad dimensions. The first emerges from the problems of webdeslgn - With media and aesthetic concerns to the fore. The second IS concerned With selling goods and services - With markenng and orgalllz<.ltlonal concerns to the fore. In pracrice, however, the two were lIltensely lIlterrelated and terminologically confused (either ecommerce or webdeslgn could be used as the all-lIlciuslve term subsummg the other). To rerum to the theory of the aesthetic trap (Gell 1998) Introduced In Chapter 4, the first aim ~f a website is to draw III the surfer to that Site as opposed to others. The aesthetics of the SJ[C should make the surfer want to engage 111 exchange With thiS site In particular. The lesson that was qU.lc~ly learnt, however, IS that surfers do not treat the Internet like teleVISion, wdlmg to be passive spectators. They must be persuaded to undertake actions such as obramll1g lIlformatlon, bUYlllg things, havll1g engrossmg media expenence: It is actlvlty thar keeps them on the site. So the key distinction IS whether the surfer enc~unters a StatiC page declanng the existence of a home furlllshlllg
149
The Internet
companr and
I[S
Doing BUSiness Online
fax number, or whether rhey enter a space
can do rhmgs such as look at samples,
ObClll1
1Il
willeh [hey
advice ahout design or try our
a Java applet that allows them to paint fabriC textllres on to 3D models of fU fill ttl rc.
3.
For the designers rillS Implies a Wide range of both design skills, such as good graphics and conceprualllltcrconnecrions, and software skills, such as
uSing rhe latest shockwave for animation or Java to creare imerac[!vlty, which comes down to [he basIc questions of, '\Xlhar can we make a click do?' This has ro be harmonized With rhe Issue of ecol1lmcrce, whIch can mean no more thall [he ability to rake orders and verify credit card payments online. IncreasII1gly, however, J[ means a much more complex system of II1rcgranon, relanng orgal1Jz;)rlOnai entItIes such as suppliers, departments, consumers and financial facilities mto what appears to the surfer as a seamless whole. This then In turn Implies Increasmgiy sophisticated markctlng skills for getting consumers to products and products to consumers and organizational skills concerned With Issues such as effiCiency galI1s. In practice these va no us dimensions and skills are relatively mdependent and can develop very unevenly. Later on, we will meet young web deslgncrs who have high technical skills m prodUCing dramatic online animations but little knowlcdge of ecommerce In either a marketing or an orgal1Jzational scnse. Ammatlon does not help a client wanting to Integrate a webSite With thell' mventory database. Conversely, 111ghly sophlstlcated- ecommerce (for example, online bankmg) could be coupled With bonng or confusmg information deSign. Nonetheless, It IS possible to create a model of three stages of progress 111 which Nliss Universe becomes the tl11rd Ideal stage, and which docs come pretty close to the types of buslI1ess use of the Internet most commonly mentioned to us 111 the course of research, as well as to the models pm forward by consultants (see below):
I.
the 'f/yer' or 'ad-uertlsemel1t'; thIS IS a Simple 'prcsence' on the net, usuallv a StatIC webSite, Stat1l1g what the bUSiness IS and how to contact It, wltil little Interactlvlty beyond a hyperlink or two and an email address. The deSigner IS often a student or hobbYist with limited software and deSign knowlcdge. There may be 1i[[le or no integration between thiS and the rest of the client's marketIng. \Xlhat the client gets (whIch IS often all they ask for) IS a presence on the web.
2.
the' catalogue' webSite: this often mirrors a traditional offline catalogue, wlm:h Includes advertlsmg functions but also Involves the consumer III shopplllg, selecting, ordering, and feedback. It invoives a higher level of mfotmatlon deSign skills (organizmg the Site, layout, coherent vlsu::d st~lling), though nor necessaril~r much higher software skills. Jvlore 150
Sophlsticarcd sites IIlclude online ordenng and sclling. So the Site IS part of marketing, bllt does not Imply a reorga11!zatlon of the other departmcnts. the 'interface;; the firm makes a large IIlvestment m establishmg a webSite rhar allows high levels of consumer IIlvolvement, such as lI1teracnVlty and freebies. Through 'lots of back-office mtegranon', rhc consumer gains direct access to databases, ordering and corporate communications, for example, allowmg them to track goods once they are ordered. The function of the site IS to 1!wolve the consumer 111 the orgamzatlon Itself, bllt also for the orga11!zatlon to treat the Internet as a mode of increas1l1g effiCiency III all aspeCts of its operations through integration, COSt savings and speeding up transacnons.
Table 5.1 Three stages of progress de-Sign \\lebdeslgl1 DeSIgn shills FI~'er
Camlogue Inredac('
Page layour Information deSign Event deSign
!T1
the commercial application of web-
Software shills !laslc HTMl
Frames and rabies InreraCtlVltY
Ecommerce Marketmg Presence Transacnons and Feedback InCOrpOf<1t10n
OrgamsatJOllal Advcrtlsll1g only Markenng Corporate Inrcgranon
The Ideal types summarized 111 Table 5.1 are similar to those proposcd 111 models of ecommcrce that are found Internationally III blls1l1ess communities. For example, the~' come close to what was presented at a breakfast scmmar held at the TnOidad Hilton bv the local branches of IBM and KPMG for the highest echelon of Tnl1ldadian busmesses 111 June 1999. The semmar collecr!vel~' worned abollt the slow pacc at which local enterprises were adopting ecommerce models and creating I11frnstrllcture appropnatc to the emergll1g digital economy. The first spcaker cmphaslzed that they needed to shift from seelllg the Intcrnct merely 111 terms of advernsing or a presence to a means of restructUnng one's bllsllless 111 ItS entirety and to make lise of - 'to leverage' - possible cOSt savlIlgs and markenng opportunitlcs. Speakers from Canada delivercd lTIuln-stage models of bus mess evolunon III the IIlformation age, II1clllding stages such as first passmg the lsecunt)' chasm' (secure online handling of payments and confidential Il1formarion such as credit card numbers), leading to online transactions. After breakmg through a second barrier - access to the busllless1s corc systems, such as Il1venrory and order
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rrackmg - consumers are enabled to check prIces and availabiliry directly, track thelf orders and conracr all service deparrments directly. What emerged was an inSistence thar sophlsncared ecommerce is defined by Integranon at 'front end' and 'back office~, The pOint is [hat the net IS nor Just a commUnIca[Ions medium.
rhe effecr IS acmally to put off the indiVidual consumers, who would Just be a nlllsance, while attractlng the attentlon of the large retailers that the sites want [Q attracr. Nevertheless, by the time of our research, there was a pervasive sense that the flyer phase was largely over. As In Nonh Amenca and Europe, many or these were created by one-person shops With little or no tramIng, experience or capital. \Xlebdesign had very low entry costs (a computer, an Internet account and rudimentary HTML), and was therefore more excltlng as a major career opportul1lty for the webdeslgners than as a bUSiness opportulllty for their cliems, who saw It mainly as a rather mystifying necessIty: you had to have a 'presence' on the ner. In all these respects, early webdeslgn resembled the 19805 'desktop publishing revolunon', a low rhreshold of software skills promised to translate In[Q bUSiness OppOrtUlllt~' undl deSIgn, marketing and orgalllzatlonal capital asserted themselves as the marks of distlllctlon. In the meantime, as an advertlsmg executive put it:
The scmlllJr was [here [Q suggest nor JUSt that [hiS evolution was Inevitable (consumer demand as well as competitive gains would ensure thar), bur also char those who got there slowest would iose out or fail. One speaker argued char 111 the transition 'from posnndusrnal economy to mformanon/nerworkJ digItal economy'\ 1998 was the crltJeal year. Anyone gettmg In[Q ecommerce after that pOInt was already gernng less advanrage, as the curve had already st:.1rred to level our. The message was: move faster because It's already [Q~ larc. ivlore crudely, as the concluding remarks of the breakfast put It: 'There are already bUSinesses thar you mayor may not know about, operating In a cyber context, who are already taking bUSiness away from you."'
Business Realities If we can accept for the moment that a model of more and less advanced ccommerce was emerging, and being imposed, then we can look ar the difficuines encountered at varIOUS levels of Internet bUSiness. In what follows we will try [Q replicate our three stages of webSite development by fleshing Out not only the kinds of Involvement wah the net that are represented by each stage but also the kinds of piayers (web deSIgners and bUSinesses) Involved at each level.
The technology began to arnve In Trinidad largelv on the level of very young people 111 their teens, as It was all over rhe world, where for example my eldest son, who went on to become an accountant, began to create IllS own HTML language .... It was his generatIOn, IllS tnends, literally, Ixxx],s son and a couple of orher guys whose names I can't remember, It was they who began to build web sites as a joke among themselves.
Ivlost of the Inaial websaes created In TrIl1Idad were flyers, that IS StatiC, one- or two-page websltes, representlng the Inltlal Impulse Simply [Q have 'an online presence' rather than any partICular concept of what to do With Ir. For example, TlDCO proVided an early standard form for companies wIshlllg to have a presence (Plares 6.2). Others look like Single-page primed flyers (Plare 6.3), or a lirde more elaborare (Plare 6.4, for Instance). Craft enterprises often come closer [Q a catalogue styie, and generally Include an email contact, but no other facilitles for ordering goods (e.g. Plate 6.5). \Y/e cannot assume every such sae represents merely a stage, rather than an I1lrennonal deSign straregy. As IS argued In Miller (2000), rhe deSign of some saes, such as food wholesaiers (Plates 6.6), may be Intended to suggest that the products are dirt cheap. \Xlith litrie clearly spent on webSite aesthetlcs,
One of our most cunous findings was that advernslllg agencies 111 Tnnidad had not developed ecommerce any further than the one-person shops we have lust been discusslllg. We had predicted on the baSIS of prevIOUS research (Miller 1997) thar the lead roie In ecommerce development would come from the advernsll1g agencies, who had an impressive histor~1 in developing local advernslllg to a level where It could compete with and usually replace II1ternatlOnally sourced advertlslllg. Furthermore, they tended [Q handle the entire market~ng and public profile of compames, not restricting themselves to Just creating and placmg adverts. In fact, we were conSIstently told that advertlsmg agenCIes were takIng Virtually no part In the development of the Internet In Tnnidad; It formed no part of theIr media bUYlIlg conSIderations. Few had their own websltes (though see Plate 6.7). They had no Ill-house web-deSIgn capabilities, usually paSSIng on thiS kInd of work [Q young freelancers such as the ones Just described; and they could not really conceptualize the Internet as parr of an overall marketing programme. Given their history one would have expected them [Q cast at least a proprietorial eye over the Internet as a new medium to throw IntO the miX, and on ecommerce as a new mode of integranng marketing serVIces, rarher than dismisslIlg the Internet on the grounds that, as one executive noted:
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'You can"[ do everythIng.' Their lack or inmanve here was the more surprising (and frustrating ro many agents) because the largest Tnmdad agencies are "II linked to (in one case owned by) foreign agencies that are pllshll1g the net as rhe future. One agency had Just received a memo from rhelf New York head office 'saymg that rhe future of above the line acivernsmg has been flat And where growth IS gomg to come from IS ccrralllI" from 11011rraciinonal media, rhmgs like rhe Internet and direct marketing.' Indeed, direct marketing had Just raken off IT1 Tnl1ldad, and was likely ro be one route by whiCh eCOl11I11CrCt;: would be Integrated Into advertiSing: The agencies rhem·selves acimJ[ted char rhey didn"[ understand rhe Internet, and couldn't adVise clients as ro what It could do for [hem:
Those 1I1 the agencies who were more Orientated to the Internet SaW the same attitudes 1I1 their clients. Busmesses saw no value m the Internet, and therefore tended neJther to demand these serVICes nor to be willing to pay for them. The local Inrernet-usmg market was Viewed as too small. There was no sense at all that the Internee was bemg used III Tflllldad on the scale th<.lt we believe eXists. So apan from giVing themselves a presence, i.e. being seen to be there, there seemed no justificatlon for a sJ[e that would need constant ma1l1tenanCe. The massive export-onentated compallles III Tflllldad were III the Petro-CheI111calmdustry, which did not sell consumer goods. A tew compal11es With mternatlonal consumer brands, such as Angostura blrters and Carib beer, or local conglomerates such as Neil and ivlassy, had b.lIrly evolved websltes (though still not IIlvolvlllg their advertlsmg agencies to an~' grcm extent). But these were the exceptIOns. Even where [here was a percepnon thar one should be movmg to more sophisticated llse of the Internet, compallles baulked at the costS 1I1volvcd:
To be honesr I rhink If'S lusr somerhmg rhat rhey know If'S our there, rhey know a lor of big cliems mrernanonally arc domg It, maybe wc should ger m on rhis. ., Clienrs are onl~' now beglllnIng to look ro rhe agencv in anv C;1se. Prcvlously I would guess that about 95 1X, of rhem were develoDed by the ~Iients on their O\~'n. It ccrramly did nor go rhrough an~' of rhe agencies. The excepnonal dearth of advcrnsmg revenues f1ow1I1g through the Interner TnT1ldad is revealed in the fact that almost no Trimdadian compaT1les were spending on banner advertlsmg on websJtes, nor were foreign compames purnng advertisements on Trimdadian sites (tbe exceptions be1l1g sponsorship of Carmval Sites, and of course Nliss Universe). It was believed thar levels of traffic would not Justify any reasonable level of expenditure; and that rhe size of the local market would always hold tillS back. Vanolls people, lI1c1udmg an ex-advertlsmg agent, were therefore looking ar esrablishmg CaribbeanWide porrai sites. At that level, It was felt, one could generate the nght dynamiC hetween traffic levels and advertlsmg flow. TnI1ldad without the C;:uibbean JUSt wasn}t worth rhe cost and efforr. In
For a loca! manubcturer or tor local sales disrriburJon set lip ro get people to shop them on rhe net, they will have to run an advcrtlslI1g campaign that will COSt them rens of thousands ot dollars to get people to look at thelf webslre. They will have to heglll to build webs!tes tor VleWlI1g as an adjunct ro their advertlslI1g, and rhey will have to make It mteractlve III a benefiCia! wa\,. And that penny has nm dropped.
The upshot of all thiS WaS that websltes appeared more as an exonc form of advertlsmg whose COSt could not be Justified, rather than as the visible tip of the emergmg Iceberg of ecommerce. AgenCies were therefore seemmgly Content to leave thiS work to small deSigners of statIC advertisement-style Sires, rather than lookmg to develop the broader potential. The.v did not even attempr to co-ordinare with the freehll1ce deSigners who were handling thclr clients' websltcs. In one fairly extreme casc, thc young mdependenr deSigner who had nabbed the commiSSIOn for one of the few truly and obViously mternatlonal Trimdadian consumer brands found that the cOJ~lpany had litrle Idea what they wanted, and made no effort to Integrate It wIrh their advertlsmg at any level. In fact the deSigner did use graphICS rhat were employed in the current advernsmg campaIgn, but rhar was hiS own deCISion rarher rhe adVice of either rhe client or their advertlsmg agency.
\'Ve will discuss thiS move from advertlsl!lg to Interacnve websJtes below. The rOJJ1t here IS that for thiS advernsmg man, as for all the other pen pie we talked With, the ISSUC IS thar the Internet only works as senolls bus1l1ess if conceptualized on a tar Wider scale than as an advertisement. But thiS would require an lI1\,estment thar a hardheaded bus1l1ess pcrson could not yet Justify, partlcularlv COStS such as suddenly haVing to support the webSite through offline advertlsl!lg campaigns, nor to mention mamtenance. How does one Justifva particular Internet expendirure? 'They send us stuff With rates and there's no POInt of reference, "It'll cost $10,000'\ well what does thar mean?" said an advernsll1g :Jgent. The clients were demanding some lond of cosrhenefit analvsls to Justify Internet expendirures. This seems reasonable until one reflects how far tradinonal advcrnslllg has escaped any such auditlllg, because It IS extremely difficulr to calculate the benefits of particular forms of advertlsll1g. Indeed, the Irony IS that It IS much easier to obra1l1 an exrrelTIeI~' accurate measure of the number of hits on websltes and where surfers are ihcmed. iVloreover, websltes are becomlllg vehicles for collecting customer lllformanon, 111cluding their response to the websIte Itself. The webdeslgners knew of and earned our such 1110llltoflng of guestbooks, feedback forms and so forrh, in one case mformlllg the company of whICh COllntnes are shoWJJ1g an Interest III their product.
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What these demands for casted benefits demonstrate IS tbar the Internet was seen by most advernsmg people and their clients as an ineffective means ot advernsl11g rather than as an effective means of commerce. This may be parr of an answer to the conservatism we encountered. It was already becom!I1g evident that the model of advertising was exactly what was p~eventIng wcbslres becoming parr of interactive ecommercc. For all subsequent stages of development the websltes would have to become Involved In economic actlvltlcs, within whIch advertiSing agencies traditionally play no parr. So while !11 rhe abstract we l111glu have expected these agencICs to be In the vanguard of website development, there are structural reasons why rhey have swiftly become one of rhe most conservative forces, bogged down already in some mapproprIate measures of effiCIency: while}[ IS quae possible to measure hits on websltes as though they were advertisements, they shed little light on the complex interac[Jons of ecommerce that transform the relatIOnship of consumers to companies. The Issues involved are much closer to the hearts of the commerCial wchdeslgners. They are already mvolved In more sophisticated concepts of feedback, as one noted:
graphiCS or architecture degrees tn North Amenca) and they have a clear facility With the lates[ 111 sofnvare technologies. However, in both areas their expertise and enthUSIasm clearly lie m the multI-media aspects (for example, heavy use of shockwave) rather than marketIng, database and back-end IJ1tegranon. They would probably rather be domg something more '-creative' (e.g. Plate 6.9) than websltes for local household furmslllngs compames. At the same time, they were commercIally very diSCIplined and profeSSIOnal: they had a clear understanding that rillS was mdeed commercial work; they Simply did not extend rhls very far. The reasons seemed less to do with them tban their clients: '[The clients] are never clear about what they want, they Just say, we want a web site, you take It from there. They hardly give you any direction. They llist donlt have the time, as far as they're concerned, they Just want a presence on the network.' For example the only thing a client lJ1 the musIC busmess knew "for sure that he wanted was "ecommerce," "ecommerce", He knew what thar meant, because apparently someone else was dOll1g It selling 1115 CDs, where they would go on and order the CD and he wouid send It to rhem 111 New York. He said that he wamed that done down here, as well as away. So j[ very well could be an InternatIonal marker." The boys complained that clients won't even have meetings to discuss sites:
slIlee rhey have upgraded rheir sire certamly the amount of intormanon commg in , .. has more or less douhled. There IS a lot more people wnfmg In asking questions, sending htrs of mtormanon to rhem. Bur rhey are not usmg rhe sire commerCially at ;111. And ir'-s hard to say wherher or not puttmg JIltormanon, say about promo'nons rh;1r rhey are havlIlg, on their sire has ;1ffecred sales ar all.
'You cant speak to them ar all, when you want an II1rerVlew, when you want to disclIss how rhe Sire IS gomg to be laid our, )'OU can't. They don"[ know what rhey want, rhey Just wanr you to do tr .... NO one that we've encountered so far, have even known whar they don't W;1nr. They loved it when we delivered It. Their eyes lit up, because of all the colours and lights ;lnd sounds,'
It IS the websIte deSigners who have a keen IJ1terest IJ1 showmg to compantes who have 1I1vested in such SItes that there IS a great deal more that they could Jo With them and learn from them. It IS not surprismg, therefore, tha'[ when we [urn to [he next stage our pnmary lJ1[eres[ IS no longer 111 advernsmg agencies bur m websl[e deSigners.
To move from [he Simple flyer and rudimentary catalogue to some[hmg more sopills(Jc{Jtcd mvolves a[ least [wo th1l1gs: much greater techmcal sophistication and a much more produc[Jve relationship between the webdeslgner and the clienr. In our first example we can find plenty of the former, but not yet the !arrer. You would not know from lvlillennium web deSign's own very profeSSIOnal, corporate and mternatlonal-Iookmg webSite (Plate 6.8) that It comprises an -IS-year-old schoolboy and fnends operating our of hiS family's office (through which the>' get most of their commissions). The boys have a good design sense (they all have art trammg and are heading f~r either
The reverse Side of this siruanon IS the low or no pay, which 111 turn precludes building up a greater skills and orgaJ1lzanonal baSIS for evolvll1g ecommerce. On the one hand, thiS IS not a valued service, because no one has a clear sense of what It IS worth, what It accomplishes, what one IS domg It for: 'Clients don"t understand, they figure the Internet IS supposed to be free, la la In. \xrhen you run down the cost of them, they have thiS confused look on thelf face.' On the other hand, there are plenty of webdeslgners, either young ones like thiS or those 111 [he II1lt1al stages of s~[(Jng up more serIOUS busmesses, who are willing to work for very little or nothing, for experience, for a foot m the door, as some kmd of investment. Hence payment for these baSIC (and even not so basIC) sites IS driven well below what IS reqlllred for a vwbJe busmess, both because clients don't value It, and because at thiS level 'anyone' can do It. ThiS obVIOusly applies largely to the middle or lower range of busmesses that a firm like Millenmum would encounter; but Similar Issues anse at much higher levels, With advernsJl1g agencies and bigger clients.
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The Internet
So [he professIOnalism of MiIJenl1lum and [heir skills may nor prove sufficient In themselves. In the next [wo examples we find It IS those With a morc Integrated II1volvemenr 111 commerce Itself who may be 111 a berrer position [Q move the clients forward or [Q explOit new niches. OUf first example shows the push factor of advanCing technologies and the second rhe push from advanCing commercial acumen. One of [he cybercafes srudied which had always done bl[s and pieces of local advernslIlg and wcbdeslgn, m rhe same [Jmc - hy dint of gleeful opportUnism and rechno-t:Jlrhusiasm - was building up leading-edge Internet software skills; there were also people there wl[h long-term interests In graphIcs (including a former US graffiti artist) and musIC. At rhe time of our research Internee anllnanon produced through Shockwave Flash was the btest development, tmnsformIng the look of many wehsltes, as well as Upping the technological ante, or entrance fee, on dOlllg web-deSign. The cafe ulllqllely seized on the Idea that they could produce 3D-second advertlsmg Spots llsmg shockwave (at almost no cost whatsoever) and transfer these to Video (tor the price of a Video capture card), both undercutting any other mode of TV advertlsmg production and makmg more money than they'd ever !magllled. Their first TV ad was for a medium-Sized musIc rerailer. They could equally produce radio Spots. With their combination of deSign skills, software skills and entrepreneUrial orgal11zatlOnal knowledge (particulariy well adapted to small busmesses), one could easily Imagllle them movmg up the value chain to both media production and marketing for particular busmess sectors. In the second example, a freelance webdeslgner recoglllzed that the marketIIlg of websltes (publiclzmg and advertlsmg them, getting them listed on portals and on the websltes of bus messes m complementary markets) was as lI11pOrtant as the webSite Itself: IT1deed, thiS marketing II1volved a wide range at media (ensuring that web addresses were on letterheads and cards, hyperlinkmg to relevant sites and portals, gemng mto webrlngs, publiclzmg sites through on- and offline media such as press ads, mail shots, email, etc.). That IS to say, marketing a web site involves both publiCiZing It and makmg It IIltegral to all corporate puhliclty. The deSigner was JUSt about to rake on a marketing partner specifically to carry OUt these functions, at which pomt one can agatn sec a mOVe on ro the patch of the full-serVice advernsmg agency. !The ~gcnc!csl don"t see that;ls ;l threat to them as ver. They will. Ok! And a lor or the compalllcs will go through thclr ;lgencles baslc~lly ;lskil~g thcm to, you know abour web deSign and hopefully by thcn, With my markctlng tclla, I would nrrange a rclanonshlp With thc advcrtislng agencies ... bCC;lUSC, this IS, as tar as I could see, IS rhe tururc o~ markenng as such.
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So the cenrrallssues tor the small band of webdeslgn firms and free lancers that were esrablishlllg themselves as senous buslllesses centred around professlollalizatJon: how to differentiate themselves from all the young whlzz-!(1ds and how to present themselves and the Internet to real paylllg clients of a reasonable size as sellers of a profeSSIOnal service. The mam definmg tearure of professlOnalization was III the relationship between webdeslgn and ecommerce: they could not only produce good-quality graphiCS backed by skilled use of software~ but they could subordinate this to a clear undersGlIlding of the marketing and orgalllzarionai needs of their clients. In the contex:r of the Internet, thiS might well mean educating their clients III both webdesign and ecommerce. It also meant establishmg a clear contractual and pa~'ment baSIS: handling rhe relationships between firms. In other words, profcsslonalizatJon already Implied pushlllg heyond the bounds of webSite as advertisement to a rethlllklllg of both medium and husllless III relation to each other. One of the more established deSigners we spent time With was a netenthUSiast, but felt hiS mall1 task was to keep hiS clients hath realistic and yet eXCIted about what the net could do for their buslllesses. A difficult balanclllg act. He was offenng commercial solidity: profeSSionalism; clear hnets and execution; a deSign process driven by business needs rather than the tcchlllcal or graphiCS potentials of the net. The results were neat, solid deSign With an emphaSIS on IIlformatlon presentation. Jones (as we shall call hllll) adamantly stuck ro low-tech solutions: no Java, no frames, no plugins, no database IIltcgratlOn, ~1Ild so on, so thar they could be qll!ckly downloaded hy surfers With low-level computers and web browsers. Nevertheless, unlike that of earlier local webdesigners worklllg at a Similar techI11c<Jllevei, hiS work exuded hoth commercial profeSSIOnalism and very good information deSIgn, such as clearly presented mformation with derailed attention ro navigation and bck of clutter. Interactlvlty, however, was very limited: there was not a lot to do on the sItes beSides filling III feedback forms. Jones also paid great attention to those aspects of webSite marketing that could be dealt With wlth1l1 the SHe, such as mera-rags and descnptlons. Jones"s carchphrase was, 'usc technology because It IS applicable, not because It IS available,'· \'
The Internet
Doing Busmess Online
international audience would know what it was and what they could get
capahle of world-class accomplishments, yet always expect the worst of Trillldad (they claimed that companies export goods to Venezuela for assembly Just so that they can be reImporred Into Trinidad as foreign). Tim kind of diSCUSSiOn was not external to the bUSiness at hand, but parr of dOing bUSiness. Jones clearly recogntzed that thiS was where the web was going, bur he and Trinidad were both going [Q get there slowly and cautiously, follOWing the roure of neat deSign and profeSSIOnal bUSiness relatIOnships. For Jones rillS realism stemmed from the limitation of the Internet In TnnIdad (including 1115 owu bUSiness): he could nor do some of the high-tech sruffhunself (though he was confident he could source It locally); there were Issues of bandwldrh (and hence of speed and the quality of people's expenence of the site); and techmcal and software constraints. In many respects Jones represents the fullest development of the catalogue-style webSite. ThiS genre of sites dominates current Trinidadian webSite productIon across a Wide variery of commerCial secrors, such as catalogues for clothing but also In selling Steel band and cosmetics and In the tourist mdustry, which we did not cover, Since rhis IS geared more to Tobago (Plate 6.10). The range of webSItes whICh represent the webSite deSigners themselves are also instructive (Plate 6.11). They are obVIOusly more profeSSIOnal and dedicated to the particular task. Others tend ro offer webSite deSign as part of a package of possible IT work, though often mcluding a portfolio or a list of pnor clients. They may also lllclllde other products on sale, such as CD roms and gimmicks sllch as a Virtual pan site (Plate 6.12).
from It?
The clients had come to Jones for precisely rim kind of conceprual ngour: 1115 mes 'worked', They also agreed wlrh hiS baSIC deSign philosophy. ThiS comprised the use of high-quality visuals (spend at least as much on phoros and graphics as on web deSign) and not roo much [ext; and very lirrie
lI1formanon at rhe rop level of rhe Sire, WIth morc IIlformanon presented as you dig deeper Into 1[. At rhe same rime they were warned about bemg slorred 111[0 a standard format (they smd that Jones's sires each had different 'flavours', bur essentially rhe same structure) and while rhey wanted profeSSIOnalism, rhe)' adamantly did nor Want to look corporate or cold (like coming Into a 'steel room'). The two had done a lot of homework, looking or a range of sites to see what they wanted, and rhey had their own sense of what a webSite was, certamly for thelf kind of buslIlcss. For them, a website was nor a place [0 present a bUSiness, bur a space In which an audience could Inreract wlrh lL ThiS [Ook rhe form of 'offenng somerhing Inreresnng, rhIngs for people [0 come [() rhe sae for lors of lvlP3s and muslc-relared sofnvare [Q download, \ors of 'free s[UH\ loads of informanon about musIc and rhe musIC bUSiness (e.g., how [0 become a srar), nps and rncks on how [Q mix mUSIC, a miXing compennon (people could download a sample and offer remixes for a pnze). They also wanted [0 launch a major new female arnsr wah an online launch party Involvmg 24 hours of streamed audio and rhe arnsr charnng on ICQ. 'Ver~' II1teracnve.~ They also had a clear look In mind: low-tech In Imagery, bur hl-rech 111 webdeslgn and web rechnologles. ThiS was clearly geared [0 a younger audience who expecr an all-singing site, bur have [0 feel ar home In 1[, teel ownership of Ir (they discllssed gOing for 'ghastly graphiCS' - crude, punkv, pnmmve - that would offend older people). The clients described all this as ecommerce; Jones tended to reserve thar term for the incorporation of things like order forms or feedback forms. The~' were very clear abour why the rerm applied: dOing business with their audiences went beyond presentanon of their bUSiness (advertiSing) and beyond enabling online transaction; it Involved a complex of exchanges (information, free sruff, commodities), ostensibly within a culture. It Invoived a space of pleasurable actiVity: the 'aesthetic trap·' wenr far beyond represenratlOn to embrace forms of interaction. Finally, we need to put this In a specificalJy Trinidadian context. The clients were very expliCit that thiS approach was essential to the global reach and fed of a website. Thev wanted a Caribbean feci In order to 'maXimize their selling POlnt\ but they wanred a site that was In s)'nch With global online musIc culture. All three talked specifically and for a long time abour that 'old postcolomal atnrude that things outSide TnI1ldad are always better\ and the perenmal Issue that Trmidadians are c
,;
160
Case Study: Exporting Clothing and Fabrics Each of the rhree medium-Sized clothmg and texrile firms we vlslted had a catalogue-style site that displayed their wares wirh some clear relarion [Q their specific Identity, marker and consumers. Their websltes allowed each at leasr a rudimentary means of taking orders online, if only through email, and all of them had Indeed found themselves makll1g direct contact through the Internet with cusromers whom it would otherWise have Involved roo many Intermedianes or been too expensive ro reach. ThiS was particularly Significant Jn rhat ~,II rhree firms were attempting to develop rheir export market and would Wish thiS to become the malllstay of their business, and all three are looklllg ro the more expensive up-market mches. All three benefited from some funding obtained for them from the World Bank ETAP scheme through TIDCO, whICh also helped them 1I1 their export dnves, Including attending trade shows abroad and Creatlllg their websltes. Hence all three were movmg outwards from webSite as advertisement to a broader sense of ecommerce thar was also prOViding a fulcrum around which they could rethink (ro qUite
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Domg Busmess Online
varymg degrees) what k!l1d of bU5mess they could be running. In addition, the Internet and ecommerce were already playmg a clear role 111 other aspects of orgalllzmg [helf bUSiness such as sourcing, reiatlons with retail outlets and gathermg marker mtelligence.
The director of the second firm also tramed in London as a deSigner, though 111 rhls case because she IS English by orlgm. Here (Plare 6.13) rhc range IS bariks, With vanous furnishing such as curralllS and cushIOn covers as well as sWllnwear and accessones. Borh she and the prevIOus firm gamed a recenr locai boost by bell1g fearured during rhe fashIOn show rhar formed parr of rhe Miss Universe competition. In thiS case rhe motifs and sryle are morc eVidently 'rroplcal\ whICh also fits one of her main markets, rhe furnishings of horels III rhe regIOn. About 90 per cent of her sales arc outSide Tnnidad (bur not Tobago). The two firms are Similar 111 SIze, employing between 16
and 20 people for their mall1 production. TillS second firm had rhe advanrage of more direcr access to relevant com purer knowledge. HaVing a 17-yearold son was handy In thiS regard, as was rhe fact thar a leading web designer had i.llready used her products for anorher commercIal venture of hiS own. She was therefore able WIth the help of [TAP money to produce a full webSIte, and was much hapPier With the content, whIch gives the colour, conrexr, range and vibranc~' she would want to commulllcate. She assumes rhe relationshIp to rhe web deSigner 15 long-term, and that he can handle both mall1tall1l11g rhe webslre ~lnd also rhe logistics of ecommerce jf thiS expands, which IS helpful S111ce she IS nor herself compUter-lirerate. The thIrd firm IS less than a decade old, and has expanded ver), rapIdly to become a maJor presence 111 cloth1l1g rerail wlth1l1 Tfll1ldad; It also has ItS own shops 111 many of rhe orher Caribbean Islands. 'We concenrrarc on rhe very rrench' fashIOn forward-rype apparel.' In some ways the webslre (Plate 6. i4) trcads a path between rhe two prevIous cases. Ir proVldes a qUire dramatic sense of styling, which befits ItS own up-market and inrernanonally focused deSigns (agall1 with a strong linen presence), bur
162
163
The oldest firm 15 also perhaps the most up-market. The director rcrams many of [he Ideals of her ongmal London traming, II1 creating whm she describes 35 a 'rnmllll,:liisr' or 'clean' Image. She rends to black, white and the narural colour of linen, except for a new range of youth-Orientated clorhlllg. Although she describes herself as computer-illiterate, she qUIckly seized upon the ways the Internet made prevIous tasks easier. She comes to work at 6.00 a.m. and goes on line: 'I would read the front-page of the trade Journals every morning on rhe nct, Just to keep me abreast. And I would put up collections like Armani's home page [0 look at, because [he~' change all rhe time. I read everyrhlflg commg our of every major city every 1110mh, bllt rhls IS Instant.'
She has one retail outlet III Tnmdad and one In Tobago; otherWIse she sells through whar she regards JS rhe most upmarket and stylish shop to be toulld on each of the other Caribbean Islands. Although she has made tenranve mroads III Sweden and rhe US, she clearly relishes rhe custom of lralian and German roUrlS(S In the Caribbean, who 'appreciate' her attempts ro create thiS 1111Illmaiisr style, which goes against whar she describes as rhe TnJ1Jcbdian deSire to sell Itself only as troplGll colour: "rhey think me bonng here". Although she starred worklllg on a webSite even before she was llsmg cm
Tile Internet It IS the MTV SIte they look to first. Not surprISingly, then, the webSIte IS an upfronr pan of [helf Image crean on, and rhey Intend [Q have computers In thelf shops so thar customers can browse rhe wcbsJ[c and use Irs planned CCOn1mcrce facilities while shoppmg. 'The generation we appeal to IS very much In touch wIth what's happening. It's well-educated. So like Nike, you must be on [he web.' In rhls case, then, we have a firm that comes close [Q rhe Sltll;ltJon we described in Chapter 1 as the 'expansive potentiaI'. It 15 nor JUSt char rhey see rhe Internet as realiZing thar which rhey wanted to be; here they look to rhe Internet (Q [ell (hem what they could be In [he future, and they recogmze that the Internet is becoming absolmely central to [he sense of stvle In contemporary Tnntdad and beyond. The duality we have pOinted OUt throughout thIS chapter between the problem of webdeslgn and commerCial skills here becomes a triad, when the connection between [hem IS actually Incorporated lIltO rhe aesrherics of the company: HS goods and its websire consrrucr their modern Image.
Towards the Interface - Activity Centres and Modes of Involvement \X'e can discern a movemenr from rhe catalogue sire [Q rhe fully funcnol11ng II1rerfacc and ecommerce SIre horh 111 rhe caunous bur sready progress beIng made by webdeslgners such as Jones and In the timd clothIng firm, appropnately named 'Radical'. Once agaIn rhe key was [Q move rhe pIeces of rhe puzzle, rhar 15 webslre aesrhencs, software skills and commercIal and orgamzanonal acumen, In srep wirh each other. This was by no means srraIghrforward. The Issue for designers like Jones and rhelr clients operating ar rhls level was to keep rechnological gadgerry suhordinate to effiCient bur anracnve informanon deSIgn. ThiS placed limHs on rhe exploration of new, more elaborate and more web-specific forms of engagement wIrh rhelr SIres. Indeed, Jones foregrounded diSCiplined ll1formarion presentation even agaInsr his clienrs' deSire to push all rhe medium's porennals for lI1rerac[Jvlry. By Contrasr, rhe deSIgner responsible for rhe Carl11vai Sl[es fearured in Chaprer 4 argued rhar people needed to feel rhey were gertlng more from a SHe; in rhar case he meanr large amounts of background mformanon, streamed audio or VIdeo clips of rhe bands and competlnons or rnVIa qUizzes: baSically, lots of thmgs to do or get. In the case of one of hIS exporr-onentared brands he placed great srress on offering free screen-savers. As one adverrisll1g agent argued, rhe Internet had to be seen as very 'mche markenng" in rhar, unlike rhe convennonal media siruation, where a mass of consumers 'happens' by a billboard or TV advertisement, people actually have to go to a webslre II1 order to see 1[. Hence, he said, reacl1Jng for a~ appropnate metaphor, smaller clients don't understand thar the Internet IS 164
DOing BUSiness Online
'publishIng' not advertISIng, because you have to offer Information to people so thar rhey will be lJ1terested ll1 vlsmng and rerurl11ng: 'So you wanr to sell your cosm~rics, rhen you have to publish a book, a magaZll1e, on the net, on lleaury care to sell your sruff (here. So you have people come and look at your page because whar your page rells you IS how to rake care of your, , ' ha~r and your mIserable toes and all that sort of stuff, as well as sell theIr Junk: Informanon IS not the only way of arrracnng people Into a generalized IIlvolvement ll1 a site whose primary function IS really (Q sell. A deSigner on the l'vliss Umverse sire pur H very clearly: BeSides Visually selling rhe Site, I mean rhe girls are what sold rhe site. Thar IS what generated the hits. Orher Sires could generate hits In other ways trom online char ro making nonce boards, creating memhershlps and so (har people almosr feel like rhey have become parr of something. And arc given Infonnanon .... Especmlly, p~ople like products, have sales and online purchaSing, a lor of different riungs. It depends on rhe producrs, really. \'(Ihar It 15 you want and how much vour budger IS ro market thar producr.
The pomt IS how to use rhe arsenal of media-specific techmcal and aesthetic possibilities to generate a kmd of involvement thar is specific to rhe dynamiCs of medianon on rhe Inrerne[ (or ar least differenr from whar companies and agencies had prevIously felr rhey had deair wlrh m rhe marketing mix). Buymg online IS Hself a form of mreractivity, it IS dOing somethmg, bemg engaged sensuously and actively by the webslre. It IS this aesthetic - rhe webs He seen m rerms ~f modes of' mvolvement - rhar seems to characterize idea is of In[erner use ll1 relation to busmess. When seen m rerms of Gell's (1998) theory of aesthetic traps, whIch musr 1l1volve agency as much as an, the pomt may be exrended to religious and SOCial uses of rhe Internet as well as to many VIsual forms that preceded rhe Internet. Bur the paradigm of interactlvlty and involvement goes srill furrher, mtegrarmg rhe webSite 1l1to consumer activItIes thar transcend rhe specific commercial context. For exampie:
I was talkmg ro the account executive who h:1nrlles Drince Iwe shall cal! ir!. She"s telling me that Dnnce wants to develop a webSite, ioeally. Now even tbough Drmce IS an mrernarionai brand, we, rhe ream that manages It, which IS the cliem and this agency, we look at It as a Trinidadian thing: this IS how we promote the product. They wanted [0 have a webSite, so I said [0 Linda,
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pur a site on so we can pur information on. \'\Ihm kmd ot inforl11<1t1on? And the pomr of chat story IS, and I think It typifies the understanding With cliems now, rhey know !the Interned is somethmg they should he In bur they don"[ know what to do wlrh It. And again, the agency canl adVise them. \V'har i said to her, what the\, have IS a kids' club, which - they have somcrhmg like 18,000 members: DrIner
That IS to say, the kmds ot leading-edge ecommerce advocated at the breakfast semmar by IBM and KPMG made no sense at all if there lVas no '"back-office' With which even the most mteractlve webSite could feasibly mtegrate. The !vliss Ulllverse site 111 thiS context appears as a truly utopian moment: It POllltS to an exemplary practice thar presumes the complete rewlflng of enterpnses 111 terms of the perceived potentialities of the new media technologies. And thts IS Illdeed where future planlllng, if not present realities, were be1l1g directed. For example, one of the clothll1g compal11es discllssed above saw numerous possibilities for transfernng lInportant organizational elements and processes online: they were openmg up leased lines connecting their mall1 retail oudets to head office, a!lowmg real-tIme lIlformatlon about sales and JI1vemory; thiS could be made Intranet- and Internetaccessible, from-ended In online kiosks III each oudet, where customers could look lip rhelf srvles, prices and availabiliry, and order goods; finally they were makmg available on the Internet the line draWings and possibly textile samples on the baSIS of which remilers on other Islands couid order srock. ThiS IS of course far more of an ecommerce approach ro the Internet than that pursued by some of the larger compallles, whose websltes, however extenSive, had very little to do With the rest of the firm, and as was suggested above It had a great deal to do WIth thiS company"'s undersmnding of what It means to be 'hot" 111 contemporary Tfll11dad. Nonetheless, With the exceptIon of Miss Umverse the Interface model was always p
Milk Kids' Club, and what they do With that kids' dub IS they offer discOlll1fS because this group ;llso owns Iseveral key resauranr franchises', In Trinidad, so YOU Gill
get coupons through that, on your birthday; you can get mformanon if
YOll want to get chelf ream to come to your school; they offer help In bU,vmg computers. I S<11U ro Linda, baSically thmk of what you do With the kids'- dub.
thnt
IS
somethmg char you can do on the Internee"
'
However, [Q see Internet design and ecommerce at thIS level of sophistication also Involves a massive commitment of resources: programmlllg and database deSign and mpur, email and other responses, co-ordination of a programme that goes beyond simply selling thmgs online to an entire educational operation and youth club, and an equally large commitment of funds to advernsmg both the webSite and the programme through offline conventional media. In our onglllal typology the '.interface"' denoted Internet use that was welldeveloped In terms of both user engagement and corporate mtegration. ThiS second cntenon - corporate mtegratlon - requires more than JUSt better webdeSigners. It means lookIng at all levels of rhe firm and ItS relatlOnsl1Jps to both Customers and suppliers in terms of IT. It depended, for eX
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Domg Busmess Online
effort and possible dangers Involved nor only In rhe InsrallatIon of secumy systems and credit card verificanon arrangements, bur also In the esrablishmem of international systems of electrOnic financIal settlement, which were . actually waItIng on co-ordination between natIOnal banks and the World .Bank. These seemed eminently piausible concerns [Q us, bur could nor assuage the Impatience of thelf ennes.
The Consumers
For rhe moment all thiS IS at planmng stage: most banks are currently restricted [Q advernsemenr-sryle websnes and some telephone banking servlc~s and online form filling. One bank does arrribure rhe low level of implementatIon to banking 'conservatism" particularly on seCUrity mancrs (which has Included rhe Y2K obseSSIOn). Concern oVer credit card seCUrity seems [Q run together In [he public's mInd with concern over the safety of Internet transactions generally, such as popular paranma about viruses. The other Imponant brake on ecommerce cited hy banks was the same as withll1 many consumer secrors. They blamed the low'levels of ecommerce on the limits of tile domestic Tnllldadian online market. At the same time, however, banks were far more sensJ[Jve than most to the fact thar the Internet Itself breaks down market boundanes 111 ways thar turn financwl institutions II1ro de facto international players for whom the domestic market occupies an entirely new conceptuaJ space. With Imernet facilities, and In the context of worldWide financwl deregulation, money can flow anywhere, easily and cheaply. Even the smallest savers can move their money to wherever m rhe world they can take advantage of a fractional percentage pomt interest-rate advantage. The Tnllldadian banks could see huge porentlal earnings by being able ro offer marginally advantageous rares With low withholding taxes for North AmerIcan lIlveStors and belllg able ro benefit from repatflated money from Tnnidadians IivlI1g away. Conversely, the combination of Internet and dereguianon can render the very concepr of a local marker meaningless. The InrroduCtIon of ATMs bas derached the Idea of 'accessIng money' from any sense of brand loyalty: you stick your card into a machllle on the baSIS of nothmg more than con;elllence. The Int~rnet Simply extends this to one1s own deskrop. Trimdadian savers and Investors could also move their money anywhere, or access other online financial services such as da~f trading, which would CUt our the TrInidadian banks. Hence~ unline bank1l1g was seen as both II1cvitable and to some extent both an Ideal and a threar, along With finanCial deregulation. It IS perha ps the embodiment of the Internet dream that Bill Gates evocanvely pictured as a 'fncrtonless economy' or rhe IBM and KPMG speakers talked of as 'disllltermedianon': a free flow of money, goods and deSires, as smooth as electrons f1owll1g through a superconductor, and with JUSt as few reguiarory hurdles ro jump. UltImarely rhe rrap IS also an aesrhenc Ideal, TnnJdad w![hln !vliss and !vir Universe.
168
Almosr everyrhlng In rillS chaprer on rhe developmenr of ecommerce has of necessity had a provIsIOnal air ro It. At present there IS considerable debate as to how far along an ecommerce line particular compallles should go, and rhe chaprer began w![h rhe remarkable dispamy berween rhe speed of integration found at Computers and Control and the sheer conservatism of the advertls1l1g agencies. Bur even 111 the case of the former no money had as yet been made OUt of the web. Almost all the debates revolve around an assumed close future where for many people money will only be made if one IS on the ner, land as rhe breakfasr seminar warned darkly, money will be losr if one IS not on the net); but this IS still almost entirely speculative. To understand why money-makll1g has taken so long, and why mdeed much of this speculation should probably be tentative and uncenatn, we need bnefly to examll1e the other Side of the COIl1, that IS the eVidence for shopp1l1g and consumption. In effect most of thiS book is about consumption, sll1ce most consumption of the Internet IS concerned With topiCS such as family relanonsillps and chat. Here, however, we have ro narrow down consumption to that which IS of Interest to the development of ecommerce. If under 'shoppll1g' we conSider only direct payment for goods and services obrallled through the net, then the eVidence so far IS thar rIllS is relatively slight. Trillldadians had for some [lme been Involved in bUYing goods cheaply rhrough direcr purchase In rhe US. TIllS was facilirared by rhe development of the SkyBox, willch preceded the Internet. The Internet, however, fined well IntO thiS strategy, and the technologies were combined to make direct US purchase still more common. Amongst tile wealthiest groups there was knowledge of foreIgn ecommerce Sites, and some people reponed With pleasure rhe rracklng online of a spare parr for a Japanese car from Japan ro Tnl1ldad. Particular lIlterests such as English football team kit could also be more easily traced and purchased rhanks ro the Internet. Book purchasmg on Amazon.com was probably the most commonly mentioned use of a Site abroad for actual purchaslllg, and at least researchlllg, if not purchasll1g, CarllIval costumes the most common use of local saes. Nevertheless, such direct purchasll1g was relatively slight, In no case did it seem ro be proportionately Imponant to people's shopplllg as yet; and 111 any case, most people do not have mternatlonal credit cards. ObvIOusly purchaslllg is likely ro grow as ecommerce facilities grow, bur It IS Imponant also ro thlllk about thiS from the pomt of the view of the consumer. Although goods that are paid for are nor very Important, obtalllmg goods and services was already of conSiderable Significance to many TflllIdadians. As parr of rhe background ro rillS, ![ IS worrh notIng rhar rhe abiliry 169
Domg Busmess Online
Tile Internet
ro obrall1 thmgs for free IS seen as a nanonal trait [hat 15 mentioned With pnde In any of the Joke lists that relate to the specific character of 'bemg Tnni', In "sysrem""c analySIS of a 'Spot rhe Tnni' comperJ[!on (Miller 1993) rhe deSire for whar IS locally called !I'eeness came across clearly as one of the top three self-defining traits. In those jokes the examples Included were of
how a Trim could break mro a Fete (parry) Without paymg. But wJ[h [he Internet the possibilincs have grown lI11menseiy. It was no surprise char one
of [he cybercafes where we worked had a prominent wall-chan of everythlllg that could he obraJned
As we
Wfae,
011
line for free.
the most popular keyword for most search engmes
IS
IvlP3.
For TnI1ldadians It IS nor Just that these allow people to abram musIc qUIckly and rurn indiVidual rracks Inro rhelr own self-made sequences of musIc as opposed ro a convennonal CDs. Mosr IInporranrly, Ir means rhar rbey sun plY don't have ro pay for rhe musIC. Apart from rhe cosrs of downloading, IvlP3s are free. Indeed MP3s arc the tip of an Iceberg. The same obVIOusly applies ro pornography. Even rhough we do nor believe rhe high figure given by many Informanrs for usage, wharever pornography was consumed was found almosr entirely rhrough free sires and largely replaced matenals rhar would have had [Q be paid for. The same srary could be raid of L1smg the ner as an effecnve s[Ock of online magaZlI1es mstead of ordenng and paylI1g for offline magazIIle5, ot obralI1l1lg academiC matcnals lI1sread of paymg for books, of sending e-grcenngs lI1 some cases msread of purchased cards, and 50 on. In addinon there IS rhe by no means II1slgnificanr facror rhar no one omslde a very formal busmess elWlronmellt ever even thoughr of payll1g for commerCIal sofrware and games. In finanCial rerms perhaps rhe blggesr saVlI1g of all was an end ro an 'addicrlOn' ro expensive overseas phone calls. Hence, 111 conSidering rhose Tnl1ldadians who had become regular users of rhe Inrernet, if one conSiders both rhose goods rhar are now free and would preVIOusly have been paid for, and rhe goods, services and information rhat are now consumed parrly because rhey have become free, rhen rhe amounr of Inrernet-relared consumpnon and shopping was In some cases rarher IInpreSSlVe (rhough acimIrredly less ImpreSSive when rhe cosrs of compurers and monthly charges by I5Ps are rhrown lI1[O the accounr). ThiS raises a crucial Issue. We have come ro llndersrnnd [he history of rillS cenrury as one of IIlcreasmg commodification. Commerce and caplralism have grown largely on the abiliry ro commodify goods and servICes - thm IS, rurn rhem II1ro rhll1gs thar we pay for. The JI1volvemenr of commerce on rhe Inrerner IS based on rhe assumpnon rhar thiS will furrher rarcher up rhls process. ThiS IS obVIOusly reflected in the huge and overblown srockma rket value of Internet companies. Ivlosr of rhe players 111 the mdustry have confidence rhar what we see now IS Jusr a srage. Indeed, rhe more the Inrerner can give away for 170
free rhe more speedily Ir can be transmured lI1ro rhe nub of fumre commerce and sales. So !vlP3s mlghr lead ro an increase m musIC sales, lusr as videos were nor the death of cmema. We have ro be careful here. Ir IS qUite possible that rhls IS jusr rhe harbmger of Its opposite. Bur it IS more likely rhar rhe fmure will see some genres and services underg01l1g genulI1e long-rerm decommodificanon, as people will no longer need ro pay for rhem: thar is ro say consumers will become richer wirhom firms gainmg profirs. In orher areas the predicnolls of commerce will be fulfilled, and there will be an expansion of commodiry rrade nor only on rhe Inrerner, bur With a pOSItive spill-over JlHO expanded rrade 111 general. The problem IS rhar rhe mdusrry really has no Idea which genres of goods will go which way, as musr be eVldenr ro anyone wnrmg m a week when rhe Encyclopaedia Brrta1l11lca has Jusr announced rhar Ir IS glvmg up on selling Itself m rhe form of CDs and IS msread gomg on line for free (rhough one assumes With rhe expec[;]non of artracting conSiderable advernsll1g revenue). There will be plenty of debare as ro wherher rhls IS a commercJJI masrersrroke or a commercial disasrer. Bur commodificanon and decommodificanon should nor be seen elrher as muwallv exclUSive furures or as 1I1dependem processes. Righr now rhe Imerner has cre~ted more decommodification than anyrhmg smce early SOCialism, and more commodificanon rhan anyrh1l1g smce lare caplralism. What rhe Inrerner makes clear IS rhar each can be a rool of rhe orher.
Conclusion: Internet Enterprises In rhe cases of poiincal economy and ecommerce we have clear models bur messv busiJ1esses. For every orher chaprer, Ir IS we as rhe academiCS rhar have'w supply rhe models; bur within rhe ethnography rhere are some fairly clear lines of developmenr ro model. People seem ro know whar rhe Internet IS and whar they can do wlrh Ir. In mosr respecrs, rhls clear gnp IS very pragmancally b~sed: rhey G1!1 see, 111 quire pracncal rerms, how rhe Inrerner can help rhem do rhll1gs rhey always did, or wamed ro do: communlcare wlrh family, lime, or even obram religiOUS guidance. On rhe other hand, in the case poll[Jcal economy and ecommerce, rhere werc clear paradigms for Inrerner developmenr: Ir was rhe pracnce rhar was seen as problematic. The advcrnsmg lIldustry and many of their major c1ienrs could sec the Inrernet as a new space m which ro place a flyer, an adverr, or an announcemenr, bur they rhemselves saw rhis as of dubiOUS value. As a resulr they would nor really pay for Ir, and rhls arrracred low-paid bur keen amareur deSigners who had lirtle mSlght mro the commercial Side of rh1l1gs. ThiS slruanon IS no differenr from mrernanona! srrucrures of employmenr 111 rhe
of
171
The Internet net sector (self-explOitation by young people), and indeed can be generalized to a great range of emergent culture industries such as fashlOn (see Ross 1997,1998; McRobble 1998, 1999). The discrepancy between promise and practice sets up the srrucmre for [he ]nrerner Industry In Trmidad: It 15 regarded as rhe inevitable economic future, YCt It seems Impossible to make a livlOg our of it. Or to pur it another way: no more In Trinidad than elsewhere have people found the huslness models that will work on the Internet. In any G1SC, the failure of advernslOg agenCies was In some ways appropnate, Since the latest model of l:L:ummerce starred from rhe premise that advernslOg was rhe most pnminve model for ecommercc, and one [hey should evolve our of as soon as possible. When facmg outwards to both local and foreign bUSiness people who were Judging them by what were seen to be leading-edge models of webdeSign and ecommercc, Trim busmess was backward, unable ro see the potential, uSing the media Incorrectly and - far more Importantly - falling behind. By not reachmg for real ecommerce, they were actualJy Imperilling themselves and the COuntry as a whole. ThiS crmque was allied to that which 1I1 the Jast chapter was launched agall1st the government and TSTT, who appeared to have stymied the Ideal of the new value-added, offshore IT company. These models of an ecommerce future nllght be partly hype: IBM and KPMG after all are the kinds of international consultants and vlrtualists (in the sense of Miller 1998b - where formal models of development come to dominate actual processes of development) whose own livelihoods depend on claiming to see a [lIture that they could both sell as a model and then be paId for helping to Implement 1I1 Countnes like Tnl11dad. On the other hand whether or not these Ideals are 1I1 touch With acmal consumptIon and the complex processes of decommodificatIon and commodificatIon that are already under way, they cerrall1ly made sense to people. They were not Simply Imposed from afar; and~ as we have tned to show, they were not far from the Internal stages of webSite development that we could trace on the ground. As we have argued, In personal and culrurallife, the Internet allowed ideals of SOCial relatIons to be realized on an expanded commUl1lcatIve terrall1. By contrast, m the case of political economy and buslI1css, the Internet Itself expressed rhe Ideals of free marker relations, competitIve advantage, and so on, 1I1 relation to which acmal SOCial relations and practices were Judged to be pnmmvc. Perhaps ironically, if the Internet IS nor generally Virtual when It comes to personal life (which IS where most of the Inrernet literature presumes that It will be), It really IS virtuai m the political economy (which IS where the same literarure would argue rhar hardheaded commerCialism undermines Virtuality).
172
7 Religion Ending rhls book With a chapter on religIOn may not seem lI1mmvely obvIOUS, and yct It represents one of rhe few predictions m our research that we ultlmatel); feel we gor nght. We believed that there would be a numb.er of str.uct~ral properties of religIOn thar would make It an a.rena 1I1 which Tnnldadlans rhemselves would express With clanry and conSIderable refleXIVity the general Issues and dilemmas that anse from Internet use. ThiS allows us to rcmrn to rhe rhemes we put forward in the 'concluding' firsr chapter of ~hls book, but more rhrough the ways 1I1 which many Tnnidadians expressed them. A recent Issue of the Inrerner Journal CybersocJQlogy IS devoted to the topiC of 'ReligIOn Online and Techno-Splrltualism' (Bauwens 1999). The ~Irle suggests rhe commg together of a Widespread Inreresr 111 rhe. splfltualll11phcanons of the technology, found in some of the cyberutoplan IIterarure, t~gether wlrh an Interest 111 the use of the Inrernet on the pan of esrablished religIOns. The concern of thiS chapter IS largely With the !aner. Our predi.ctIon th~[ rhls would be a revealing area of enqUIry rested on three premises. Firstly, religIOns tend ro be relanvely self-consclolls about new developments, often agol1lz1I1g about wherher somethll1g is or IS nor appropnate for them to use. As a resulr rhey may have to explore the IJ1[ncatc details of changes and the new POSSIbilines ~ffered, which can thereby help draw our attention to nuances we 111Ight otherWise miss. Secondly, religIOns may feel [he need to use cr~atlve analogies With what they take to be precedcnrs 1I1 order to apply religIOUS laws rhar were formulated under older technologICal regimes. Thirdly, prevIous srudies have shown how nchly religIOns have used even technologies as basIC as language to explore Issues of agency, performance, context, form and rranscendence (Keane 1997). . Fourthly, we would draw attention to a pOint made by Cell (1988) based on Ivl a I·1I10WS I" \:1 S (19' JJ,) bool'1.., Coral Cardells alld thell' MagiC: religIOn Itself IS most commonly pracnsed as a form of rechnology. The comemporary academIC world, where most people are secular, focuses on the spi.rirual narure of religIOn. Bur 111 most regIOns where religion remall1s largely taken fo~ granred the Issue IS not one of belief or splflrualiry bur of practIce, a~d therefore a problem largely of how a mual or law should most appropnately
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Religion
he earned out (see also see Hakken 1999: 65; Kirshenblatt-Gimblett 1996; rfaffenberger 1990, 1992).
Given thiS sense of be1l1g under constant siege locally, the sudden l!llmediacy of the Internet as a global medium was Viewed as somethmg of a 'godsend'. For example, an International evangelical preacher, Benny Hinn, had recently come on a crusade to Tnmdad and talked of the country's bemg half-full of demons and of the Hindus as devil-worshlppcrs. Information from the net was used to makc counter-clalllls thar thiS preacher was under mvesngatlon m vanous countfles; that hIS 'miracles' had been exposed as shams; and thar
The practice of religion as technology IS brought ou[ well In a study of the car/y lISC of rhe Internet b~' ultra-orthodox Jews, with thelf concerns' for rhe precise techniques by whICh religIOUS law can be applied (Kirshenblart-Gimbler[ 1996), \'{Ihac at first looks like a car/ler archaic community tends (0 be lllvolvcd lJ1 rhe vanguard of new technologies, such as USing 'new chemICal analyses to dercr!111ne whether a pharmaceutlcai product IS kosher, or a new means of shumng off light on the Sabbath 1I1 a manner that does nor comravcnc rhe law against working on that day. So rhe Internet was quickly explolted, for example, to allow Jews on five continents [0 recite slnltllrancouslv a parncular prayer, or [Q give the grave of a Rabbi an email address for send"ing pentlons, or to discuss rhe rather eVldenr pomt [har rhe sacred books of rhe Tail11ud seem to be srructured more like a hypertexr rhan a Simple narrarive.
The Dynamics of POSitioning as an Expansive Realization The Internet has been used by TnllJciadian religIOns to help foster Identlt)' w!rhlll whar may be seen as a sefles of concenrflC Circles. First, rhe Hindu C0I11I1111lllty will be consIdered m relanon to Its sense of a global HindUism. Thcn rhe Carholic webslres will be relared to rhe Diaspora, the Caribbean, and finally [Q local communItIes wlrhlI1 TflIlldad. \Xlhat emerges from rhese cases is rhe manner JI1 which the dynamICS of posinomng work rhrough whar we have called an expansive realizanon.
he haJ suggested he was an acruailllcarnanon of Christ. The contemporary Internet represents a second phase of much more extensIve contacts. [t rcplaces the more limited possibilities presented to rhe Hindu Diaspora by electrame bulletin boards (see Ral 1995; Mitra 1997). Tnmdad ian Hindus soon discovered that the net was bClllg uscd by nationalist political orgalllzanons such as the BJP (currently the governlllg party JIl India) and the more extreme RSS {in thiS case a branch based 111 the US). These groups have been trYl11g to mobilize thc Diaspora Indian population. Trll1Idadian Hindu organizations were happy to gam from the \Vlder exposure thiS gave them. As one of rhose most I11volved noted: 'due to the efforts that we"'re makll1g down hcre, what IS happenl11g nght now 1f1 Tfl111dad JIl the Hindu world here, IS known globally because of the outreach rhat we have been doing. we are known to the BJP right now."' ThiS speaker emails marcfla! on the Tnnidad sltuanon to over 50 Sires, of which around 60 per cent arc m South ASia, most of rhe rest 111 rhe USA and the UK, and some in Caribbean regJOT1S with SImilar problems. He regularly publishes marenal abour the Tnmdad Situation 111 magaz111es such as The HJP Today and India
Abroad.
The Hindu communJ[Y 1Il Trinidad, which rcpresents around a quarter of the populanon, IS dommated by the orgamzanon of the Sanathan Dharma l'vlaha Sabha. His[oflcally, there were powerful forces for internal homogemzatlon represented b)' rillS orgamzatlon (VertOvec 1992: 117-27), though with some Internal diverSIty reflecting higher-status (Klass 1991) and lowerstartls groups (Verrovec 1992: 213-22). Its outspoken leader Sarnanne I'vlaharaJ has long rccogmzed the highly polincal nature of worklllg for the mterests of the Hindu commUl1Jty, which he sees as constanriy under rhre~l[ from Chnsnan and especJ
The public exposure of the local situation IS closely tied to the pervasive defenSiveness about the Hindu populanon of TnllldJd. The same spcJker stated: 'In case we shouid ever degenerate IIlto a Guyanese situation With rhe Blacks rak1f1g thiS k1l1d of militant role, at least our position JIl Tnntdad would be out there. For if there IS an IIlternational reView, we have somethmg our there eXisting already and they would not be dependent on 1I1formatlon comJllg our of Tnl11dad at that particular pOlllt!l1 tI!lle.' There was parncular sensJtJvlty ovcr such eventualities becausc Tnl11dad has an Indian-led governmcnt fore thc first [lme, and there waS a feeling that the press was rherefore looking our for ann-Indian stories. So a rccenr newspaper report abour a nun who was raped III India was counrered by I11formanon taken from rhe net suggesting that rillS story had been disproved. Use was made of an RSS facility 1f1 whlCh news abour Hindus from the press 111 fifry countries was collat~d and Clrculared on a daily baSIS. ThiS meant the Trinidad community was forewarned about problems. For example, 1Il an epIsodc of rhe teleVISion show 'Xena', the god Knshna appears 111 a manner they consldercd unSUitable.
174
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The Internet
Knowing thIs In advance, rhey could try to ensure rhe programme would never get airtime In Trinidad (or anywhere eise). The Situatlon is nor entirely srr
TI1JS reconceptualizatIon of the Diaspora has been facilitated by Tnmdadian Indians finding OUt, partly via the Inccrnet, thar many of the other Indian Diaspora populations differ from South ASJan Hinduism 1Il Similar ways, as a result of common factors such as the decline of caste, changes 1Il family structure and the mfluence of ChnstIamty (Vertovec 1992: 1-65). For TrImdadian Hindus, although they have not been Isolared for quite some time, connection to the Diaspom commulllty through the Internet, With ns daily relllforcement, goes well beyond any pnor form of IJ1ternatlonal con tOler. By companson the Carholic Church, whICh accounts for more than a third of the population and accounts for much religIOUS websne construction In TrIIlIdad, does not need to creare a global Church. It already has the Papacy. The first of its three major websites IS the Internet edition of the weekly Catholic News, which has a faIrly str~lIghtforward newspaper style, With sections such as editonal, pansh news, 'ask-me-another"' (which IS directed to the Archbishop), gospel meditation and Caribbean news and features (see Plate 7.2). It comes over as a well-established newspaper that lIltegrates religiOUS concerns with a general moral stance on contemporary Issues. In practice rhe webSite IS of limned lIlterCst to Tnnidadians livlllg III TnT1ldad, SIl1C(' they can easily obtalll rhe paper version. Nor would It be of very much Interest to non-TnI11dadians. The clear 'market' for the wcbsne IS the extensive population of Diaspora Trinidadians. These are the people who tend to give email feedback and dominate the websneguestbook. Here, as III reiatIonsl1Jps more generally (Chapters 3 and 4), the Diaspora IS thereby able to evolve Into a Diaspora communIty. ThiS IS also true of the next webSite, the Llvlllg \X1aters CommunIty, although ItS aims had Originally been more parocl1Jal (Plare 7.3). TI1JS IS the most 'glossy' of the Catholic sites, as seen III
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Religion
ItS opeI11ng page, With ItS alllmatJons. LivlIlg Waters IS a faIrly recent ch~ns manc community, which IS In part a response to the growth of ;entecosrahsm. Indeed, one of Its leaders IS said to have 'passed through a P~ntecostal expenence. With around 500 members, It mcludes a lively coffee shop m the capital Port of Spam, and a smaller commull1ty III the second city of Sa~ Fernando. Their professlOnal-looklllg website emphaSIS aspects of prayer and sacrament, but also the active 11111llstry to the poor and oppressed. At first rhe website producers tended to be focLlsed merely on havmg a presence on the web, and only then conSidered ItS relationship to their consumers. They admit rhat It was difficult to have much of a sense of ItS usage: 'Initially when we starred, It was really directed to anybody at that time who was 1T1terested. Because you really don't know who IS reallrmterested III what. It feels like you1re purring somerhmg out there and I['S Just blowlIlg JIl the WlIld.' That it was the Diaspora population that responded through email and gucstbooks was entirely congel1lai to the orgalllzanon, both In terms of such people vlsmng their commulllty when they travel to Trtllldad and because of rhe Importance of fund-ralsmg to the commulllty, though rIllS was nor what they had III l111nd III esrablishmg the site. At a more parocillallevel there had been a long-term deSIre for a regIOnal Caribbean theology b<1sed on the common historical expenences of many of the ISlands of the regIOn. TIllS had been constramed by the travel cosrsand the delay 1I1 relaymg messages. Now for first time rhey find It IS pOSSible to build 1I~ rounne communicatIOn between like-mlllded theologians from different Caribbean islands, even when they may be currently on courses III the UK or the US. The prospects ror a larger Caribbean theology were therefore much more upbeat as a result of Internet use. The final Carholic website - the Sacred Heart Cathedralm Port of Spam (Plate 7.4) - has the potential for a still more parochial appealm both senses of the term. The site IS hoth an IntroductJon to the Cathedral Itself, ItS history and its facilitIes, and also to the local panshes of Tnllldad. So there I.S a frurly derailed calendar, mformatlon on youth groups, and a newslcrrcr thar deal~ With topiCS such as a 'speCial' elderly parishioner b~lIlg honoured. So although irs lIlJtlai use may have been related to the Dwspora, or .glvmg times of the mass to visItIng toUflStS, the content clearly antiCipates a largely local consumpnon, which was also clear when ralklllg to irs crearars., Finally, It should be noted thar the Hindu community also has plans dlTecred to ItS local adherents. One of the new lIl1t1anves planned by the ivlaha Sabha, apart from havmg computers in every Hindu School, IS the deSIre to have online computers 1Il the local temples. ThIS IS III parr a response to rhe Sllccess of the Chnsnan churches III tUflllllg themselves !Il[Q youth centres With SPOrtS and Similar recreational actiVities. The Hindu leadership feels thar computer 177
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games and online COl11mUnicanon could help keep thelf congregatIOns
Dynamics of Normative Freedom
congregating. \X1hm IS noticeable about rhe way that these religiOUS groups talk about
nod usc the Internet
IS
char the
IntentiOns
and
<111115
are nor
at
all novel
consrrtlc(Jons that can only now be enVisaged because of the Internet. Quite rhe contrary: III every case the religIOUS bodies arc faced WIth what rhey sec <15 dangerous or destructive forces thar they aSSOCIate With modermty: and thar are seen to have prevented rhe religiOUS communities from bClIlg whar rhey a!w:JYs should have been. So the HinJus see themselves as parr of the global Hindu population, and It IS a catastrophe of history nod political economy (VIZ, [heir arnval as IOdcntured labourers) that has cur them off from thell' proper place 111 thiS commUnity. Similarly, the Catholics found that the nse of ITIlgratlon over the last few decades has meant thar many of their flock are parr of an extenSive Diaspora and no longer present 111 Trimdad. Overall, then, the Internet IS llsed as a form of commUnication that allows one to exp:Jnd back II1to the realm that one was supposed already to occupy. There ought to have been a Caribbean theology, It was lack of technology that was preventing its cmergence. Tnmdad ought to have been part of a global HindUism, and It IS likely that most Hindus and II1deed IVlusJims thought they were much more attached to global religion than had preVIOusly been the case. Similarly, With the Cathedral SIte, ItS creator noted, 'In other panshes the geography defines the commullIty. And here the geography doesn"t define the commumty. Bur thiS IS still where you feel the fellowship. They can't lIlteract the way of neighbours who live 111 the same street. So the Internet confirms our 1I1dependence from Geography." In all these cases, the Intention IS that a commUlllty that people already aspired to but was difficult to achlevc may 111 the future become realized thanks to the Internet. In these examples, then, we can see that the aspect of objectificatIOn that we have called the 'expansive realization' works through 'the dynamiCs of posltJol1Jng", One expressIOn of modermty is used to resolve contradictions and forms of alienation that had ansen through pnor practices and expenences ot modernity more generally. The Internet allows for an expansion of commUl1JcatJon, but 111 thiS case It is used to repair a discrepancy, thereby hclplIlg communities and people come closer to a realization of who they already feel they 'really" are. The mechaniCS lIlvolved reql1lre a sense o'f gcographr thar defies the usual separation of the iocal and the global. In these cases the 1I1creaslllgiy global use of the Internet across the Diaspora is a function of the re-establishment of local commUnIcations that had become sundered.
778
Est
",11Jeh she felt had matenal that relared well to her day-ro-day problems and Issues, and she relayed the information she obtained to her boyfrIend, who was not online. She Vlsltcd thiS slte two or three times a week, and also received ItS monthly online newslctter. Overall she found thiS 'insplflng'. Although we found' no TnnIdadian-produced !vluslim mateflal on the net, the owner of another cybercafe used IslamiC sites. As a result of Wider contacts through prevIous media, TfinIdadian !vluslims were becoming increaSingly aware of the ways lI1 which their iocai versIOn of the religion had developed features that we~e not shared by !vluslims elsewhere In the wodd. As a young Jvluslim With conSiderable web access, she was starting to use It to try to sort our In her own mind which aspects of her practICe were orthodox and which were local. Trinidadian Muslims would not generally be as awarc of the eXistence of Similar tensions between pluralism and authority, even In IslamiC heartlands, whICh are themselves reflected In the already extensive IslamiC websltes (Azzi 1999); but they could employ these sites for their lIldivldual concerns. For example, she was very concerned about a possible religiOUS prohibltJon on the use of musIc at her wedding, and had already 10C<.ned Koranic materIal on the net that she was USIng to question thiS prohibition. So for thiS user the web represented not access to a Simple or
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Religion
single religious orthodoxy, bur a set of sites With interpretations and arguments that allowed her to partIc'pate directly In theolog.cal disputes. The consequences of [his mICro - macro relationshIp can be seen In a certam ambivalence within the perspecnve of Living Waters, [he Catholic Chansmane. On the one hand [he group wishes to remain onhodox, and often cJ[es rhe Pope's encouragement:
of religious orgalllzanon and local access: 'You see the Parishes can be the levelling ground. So if you are ParIshmg a rural area rhere IS no reason why you can'r have machmes rhat you beg somebody for With modems on rhem glVmg your ParIsh lI1rernet access.' So even In such a deeply l1!Stoncal and established orgamzatton as the Carholic Church the Inrerner problemanzes and to a degree disslpares earlier dichoronl!es between the local and the global Church and between who IS a producer and who a conSllmer of religiOUS marenals. When we rum to other religions, which have no unambiguous giobal form as a precedenr, the Issue raises even more profound implications for religIOUS orgalllzation and practice. The deSIgners of the webSIte for an Apostolic Church called the Elijah Jvlinisrrtes (see below) constantly wavered between two concerns. Their Ideal was thar users of rhe site would soon also become rhe creators of the site, as the site's next expansion was to be lI1to mreracnve domams such as char and bullctm-board-srvle discussions. Yet ar the same rime rhey were conscIOUS of the presence of rhe 'elders', wbo arc much publiCized on rhe ncr and wbo are responsible for makmg sure that the material on the net reHects the 'truth' of ~the Church. The Internet nlIght be a manifestation of God's current purpose, bur people must be led from ItS depraved content to ltS true potential. The same tension waS eVident to ltS lay commulllty. TllIs Can be seen by Juxtaposmg these two statements, whICh directly followed each other In a conversation WIth a Church member:
The holy spmt has raised up these jChartsmancJ organisations when rhe hierarchy III the church really dido'r have any plac~ tor us at all. And he IS saymg to rhes~ orgams;)nons, do nor be afraid, this 15 rhe holy spint dOing something and JUSt stay close to the church and the teachings of the church and let the holy SpIrIt do Irs work. ks a whole new way of thlnkmg, new rechnology, everything .... ThiS
Pope has seen himself as the ParIsh Pnest of the wodd, which IS very different from how Popes have constructed their role before. Technology has all'owed J( In rerms of rhe teleVIsion appearances bur also travel and the ease of travel has allowed It. But the Inrernet has carned that project one step further. He PUts himself Into the Carholic faithful home before the PrIest has the texr. He by-passes Bishop and Pnest and goes straight to the faithful. And there IS a faithful group ot the faithful who love It. Nare, ![ undermines all your cllIturai Chrlsnanltv and It IS a very differenr agenda. But 1r IS a very interesnng use of rhe technoiogy. Here, then, one level of hierarchy IS seen to have the potennal to grow In C1uthofltyar the expense of the ll1termediary msnrunonallevels. But the same mformant does nor see the Internet as Simply a one-way link to Rome. There were other possibilities for 'Cultural Chnstlamty', Talkmg about Llvmg Waters, a pnesr noted rhat: The fact that women led It IS a Tril11dadian phenomena. You will not find that elsewhere In the world. The other Catholic CharIsmatic wlOg Internationally has been Sword in the Spinr and their thing IS male headshIp. In fact, they have come to Trinidad several times and there has been very Iitrle meeting pom~ 10 terms of communities becnuse of their thinking. But then if yOU look 10 Trillldad the female III religIOn IS very promlllenr. The Bapnst tradition. The Baptist mother has alwnys had that space on bemg the wise person III the commUllJty to whom you go wh~n you really need somerhll1g. And for the cady years thar"s how the leaders oper:u!?d. Now It'S nor Just LivlOg \'\!aters thm IS led by two women. Bur there IS one In Anma, there IS one In Tunnpuna, there IS us a~d there's anorher 111 Port~ot-Sp
Furrhermo~e he ar?ued: 'It is far more democratic. People respond if they want. And If they don't want they just donlc. So i[ IS not a power rool In the way teleVISion and radio IS. You have to be good in Imagmg or Imagmanon to get people to respond: The same priest Wants to see Internet cafes as parr 180
No longer cnn a church be held back by merely a leader. No, the believers can directly nccess rhe IIlformanon, now anybody who could read, and has semlpermn~enr access to a computer cnn check and ask questions abom docrnne. The 1I1tormatlon thnt IS pur on the web sires IS controlled because you want to srrongiy emphaSise the doctrme of the church nor Jusr somebody's opllllOn, so therefore what IS pm there, IS read by the elders. As such the Internet extended a tensIOn that IS already eVIdent 1I1 the prevIOus use made bv the same Church of the free marker and free [fade as an Idiom for ItS relig;ous life. The net extends the prevIous analogy because ir IS said by the Church to prov.de for a kind of level plaYing-field of pure competition \~here It can bid directly over the heads of traditional established religIOns for the souls of rhe globe, and It has a heady confidence in Irs ability to succeed 1I1 this pure market for religion. To some degree a more hOrizontal ordenng of aurhorlty challenges the traditional vertical structure of authOrity. These tenSIOns mimiC those of freedom and normative order described for bUSiness Itself 1I1 Chapters 5 and 6.
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JUSt as 111 }11113Ican Pentecostalism (Austln-Broos 1997), where the rOllte
from sinner to
both indiVIdual bur
also subJect to clear religious conventions, so the Elijah Ivlimsrnes are explicit [har rhey hold rhe true Saint IS
15
blueprint tor rhe very indiVidual process of being saved. In shorr, rhe more a religlolls establishment gives rem to rhe Internet as Irs Idiom of self-concepnon
and orgaI11zanOl1, rhe more It confronts the conrradicnons of new possibilities of both anarchy and comrol. Of course, these merely extend pre-Internet tenSions, and, as Simmel noted With respect to rhe Catholic Church, rhe <.lIllblgumcs of a fixed place that IS also a glohal space allowed religlOlls culture to develop (Fnsby and Featherstone 1997: 150-1). The Internet both extends and clarifies sllch cOllrradic[Jons and resolutions.
process It and find the strands and teed it back. \'(1\l1ch IS a taxmg thlI1g at the best
~)f times, nnd the mOre complex the Journey becomes the more mxmg It IS. \X'hat I found with email )ollrl1ey!l1g IS that you can actually receive a message, read It and pm It down. Not thmk abom It roo much and by the time vou come back to It you have asslmihned certam aspects ot the message rh~H )'ou actually thought abour trolll tlJlle ro tlmc dllnng rhe day and so the response YOll would glvc out would normally be at a different level from rhe lI1formanon that YOU have receIved. I find the nme difference allows me to give a qualiranve difference to the response. Another potential advantage of the net was ItS anonymity. A member of rhe Elijah lvlinlsrnes noted rhat (you can rransfer more intimate thJl1gs across a modem, like when I Sit here, rhere IS a mask I put on and there IS a response I pur on, [Q your frowns, your smile and whatever, which In some ways
The Dynamics of Mediation The Internet IS not a Simple new commUnJcatlVe deVice. It 15 a related scncs of evolvlIlg rechno!oglcs 1 each With ItS own specific porennals and constraints. After an tnltlallllrcrcs[ In webSite constrllctlOn and email conracts religlolls usage often moves on to more developed forms of l11(cractlve media. Liv!I1g
\'(Iarers perhaps realistically saw a more compiex multi-media usage emerging from ItS youth webSIte, whIch they hoped would employ chat, ICQ, VIdeo clips, musIc and questions and answers. It could also be the spnngboard for disrance-Iearnmg programmes, an Idea bemg promoted by the government for secular purposes. In discllsslng the ImplicJnons of rhe net rhe most profound debates turned on these more precise derails of [he vanous [echnologies Involved, and [he wav [hey mediate communJcanon. Because I[ could be used much more frequendy [han le[[ers and so much cheaply [han [he phone, email could rake [he form of a more consmn[ relanonshlp. The consequences can be seen
the use bell1g made by Catholic Priests for the purpose of what was called 'spJrltual Journeymg', m willch a person IS helped through dialogue to deal wl[h '[he conflicts wahm [hiS person"s eXistence that do not allow a proper 111
Integranon of body, Spirit, mind, matter', In uSing rhe Internet as a medium for spinrual Journeying, I[ became apparenr that: Part of the disnncnon IS that In a tace ro tace dialogue you bave one set of benefits. I can !I1[erpret your words In the context of body Innguagc, 111 rhe conrext at cJarificanons tbar can be asked IIllmediately, the context of a general sense that I have of tones of all sorr at things that will give me ways of reading, ot decoding your message. Thar's rhe benefir of face ro face commUnlCl[JOIl. The downSide of face to face commul1lcanon IS, I'm expected ro rake all of this 111, aSSimilate It and
182
resists the bond. On rhe inrernet there can be a real free flow of IIlformatlon, sort of deep down rhlngs.' The pOint was developed further by a Carholic
father: 1 acru-ally found that when ),ou\'e done an email journey and you reach back now and you acrually meet rhe person bce ro face It IS verr difficulL It IS nearly as if YOll set norms for thc rclanonslllp rhat allow a transp<-lrenc~' thar IS nor possible III a face-ro-tace dialogue. I have done Ir wlrh several people and the firsr nme 1 noticed, 1 did l10r rhll1k abot![ It, and other nmes It became more conscIous rhar VOll rllprllre something In this rclanonslllP it you shih It trom email ro face-ro-face wlfhour undersranding the difference ... 111 fact 1 will go so br to say that SOl11e ot the thlllgS expressed could nor have been expressed 111 another media. I would cven push If and say that my experience would be rhar people are trymg to express and not even come close before rillS mode of COI11I11UI1ICanOll. So like every mode of COl1ll1ltll11GHlOn It opens for YOll new levels or mterpersona! rclanons\lIps as It closes off others. One of the old trnditlol1s of spiritual direcnon prnyer has been IOllrnal keepmg. The Journal has been a personal rhmg between rhe person and God. The reason we know so much abour the sa1l1ts. So wnt1l1g has been a ver~' old s,Pmrual diSCIpline. \Vhat the Internet allows YOll [0 do IS to share that wntmg with someone who vou are not scelng, It would be hIghly embarrassll1g tor anyone to hand rhelr Journal over to another person if ther were gomg to bump II1to them every day. Bur if ther weren't gOll1g ro bump 111[0 rhem every day, It IS casler; hand If over and let them read it and send it back if they trusr that rhe mtormanon bemg received would never be 111lsused. And if they truSt thar thiS level of sharing would 111 fan cllhallce their Journey and gIve them a sense of obJectlvny. One of the thmgs YOll will never know IS whether YOll are locked III your own head or whether YOLI arc ;lCrually seemg whar you are seemg.
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Overall rhe sense of those using rhe net for such purposes was that it provided new choICes: face-m-face might work better for some , anonymity . . for others. It may be relevant char rhe next speaker was a woman: To me Ir's a whole process where you could really learn a lor abot![ yourself and in a very son of free way. In a sense, when you one and one talking ro someone you are Inrullldnred by rhe person's body language, by faCial expressIOns and [hat, In a way c
Religion here. When you-'re on the Internet, It's done tor the whole world and ic"s a much bigger understanding and broadens your hOrizons and your theology In thar way.
Nor surprisingly, given the sudden arnval of rhIs technology, rhere were also disagreements and uncertalntles about irs appropnareness as analogous wlrh pnor religIOUS nruals and practIces. An example was rhe Issue of confeSSIOn. For one pnest rhe confeSSIOn IS Itself an example of media red commumcatJon thar could be Viewed as a precedenr for the ner: Bur the pomt of the gnd ias used in confeSSionals] is to make the person anonymous.
Bur [he same person also recognized along wah other users that there was a balance [Q be struck and that online communtcatlon must be grounded In offline relations: bur rhe Catholic Spirituality ccrt
A key Issue often raIsed by discussants was trusc, w!lIch along wah other SImilar Issues was raIsed equally m secular uses (Slater 1998), But the religIOUS contexts generated a 11Igh level of explicIt conSideration of the llses and limitations of each mnovanol1. They may also subsume some of tbe Issues raised 111 rhe earlier disCUSSlOJ1 of global communicarion. ThIS was brought OUt by another member of the Church, talkmg about a practice called 'breakmg [he word'; \'\Ie would [
184
If that is the POInt at the rlrc, then I have pushed, the grid could be the web and the grace could be mediated and there IS another form that 15 tactile where you need to touch the penitent. In that form the Internet cannot do anything. But because there IS a torm that IS non-tactile that is mediated through a grid, that 15 ensuring the anonymity of a person, I would push that this IS a medium that needs to be conSidered.
By contrast another Church leader commenred on confeSSIOn that: The mes of the Church are very defimte and there"s nothing In the mes that would allow that. It IS a torally different thing, k's like when you go to commumon, YOli have to be there to receIve It, and there must be a pnest present for confeSSIOn. Sacrament IS a one-an-one or commumty at things, or an expressIOn of the presence at ChrIst between two people. It has to be done like that, you may nor see rhe person m contess1On, bur the person was present there and on rhe part at the flte, the prIest can also place his hand on rhe head of the person to ask for absolutIon.
Two further examples demonstrate the vanery of Issues thar are brought our when the consequences of rhe use of each techmcal aspect of the Internet are conSidered. The first IS the Impact on the sense of time, as In the follOWing quotes: I mean It was very mce to be able on New Years' Day to have a copy at the Pope"s message for Ne\~ Year and to be able to use It or to have stuff ahead ot rhe newspapers and to be able ro talk abour ir. The tIme to consrrucr a ierrer IS different trom the rIme to construct an email. The expectations to constructing a letrer are different trom the expectations of constructing an email. If I'm g01l1g to answer a lerrer there IS no way I am sending less [han a full page. And if you know a person well at all rhat IS an 1I1sult. YOll have to give at least two pages. So mentally you have to set aSIde some tllne where YOU can think about something worthy of two pages of commUI1Icatlon. \X'irh an ~mail. it what I want to send is one line I send aline. If it IS tWO or ren pages I send rwo or ten pages, bur rhe difference IS the expectation.
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The Internet
As
In
many secular disCUSSlOI1S, rhe 5uggeS[Jon was that rhe 1110nth thar an
exchange of letters might rake was somethmg particularly mappropnate to TnJ11daciians, who simply work on a shorrer time-scale: On the Internet toO, you could usc your own time, you c~n deCide, for some people It l11av be 2 III the mornmg and thev want to get on rhe Internet and spend .. , I know someone rh::n wrote l11e rh~H rher get up every morlllllg at 2 o'-dock or 3 o'-clock and rhey spend an hour and a half on the ncr reachmg people and praymg with people. That IS kwd of thelf 1111111srry, and that is whm rhc~/re dOJllg. It could be vcry difficult for someone else to do char, vcr still that's a specwl t11lle available to them that rhey can usc.
The final example builds on a new pOIm, whICh IS [hat rhe Internet enters 111[0 J hlsmry of media and their differentJal appropnatlon by these religIOUS groups 10 the past. Similar Issues had ansen In relation to those media. The most II1slghtfui comments arose In discussiOns about why particular religIOUS movements may have focused on partlcuiar media. For example, while the Pentecostal Church had heen 111 the vanguard of teleVISion bro<-ldcastlng the Catholic Church seemed to be pressing ahe<-ld with II1ternet lIse. As one Catholic 1I1formant put It: There IS an Immediacy about the Image of a teleVISion or rhe vOice of ,1 radio rhat IS closer to rhe strucrure of a Pentecostal mind 111 terms of rhe relationship rhey h.we gar. God IS Immediate .. , . so the mtrUs!On mto the livmg rool11 IS a way of gettlng rhe message across .... But if you look at Carholic lise of teleVISIOn, good Catholic teleVISion IS much more J111age~dnven .... If you want ro convey a message I could stand l!l front ot rhe teleVISion and give you a fitreen-mlllure discollfsc. The Catholic way as I undersrand it would he more sacr<1menral. I would start by shOWing Images at people eating. And I would focus It around the most huma~ context that I can find ot rhe different ways SOCial inrerchange rakes place ;lround rhe rabie, and the Image used in a way ro show rh<1t there IS somethmg human th~lr IS very profound thar takes place arollnd rillS rable. And that would be the foundation of l11y Euchanstlc theology. Ir"s <1 whole other W<1}' of appropnarmg rhc media. The Intcrnet IS nor lI11mediate, 111 a sense you don"t mrrude. It IS tar more democratic. People respond if they want. And if rhey don"r W<1nt rhc)' Jusr don't. So Ir 15 nor a power rool 111 the way teleVISion or radio IS. You hnvc to be good 111 ImagIng or lI11ngmanon to ger people to respond. To conclude, ir IS apparent [0 religIOUS users that many aspects of the Internet-Its nature as a spatial medium,lts inherent remporality, its anonymIty and ItS use of Images - emerge as specific technologICal developments thar can be explOIted for rhe purposes of religIOUS pracnce, whICh go well beyond rhe bland concept of 'commul1Jcanon' and enter IOro a dialogue abom 186
1
ReligIOn
I
the nature of relationships borh personal and theologlGll. Furthermore, contrary to Boden and Molotch (1995), there are grounds for challengmg the pre~uJ11ed superloriry of face-ro-f<-lce commUl1Jcanon In contexts where that commumcanon 15 particularly profound. Similar POInts were made In secular diSCUSSIon about relationships In Chapter 3. Bur, <-lS suggested at the beg!I1l1lng of thiS chapter, rhe topIC of religIOn brings out the extraordinarr degree of self-awareness that religIOUS figures develop, because It IS so imporrant to them to establish wherher these JI1novations are precedenred and acceprable.
The Expansive Potential Another religIOUS webSite rhar had a commanding presence on the Trimdadian web belonged to the already mentioned Elijah Centre MinIstnes (Plate 7.5). ThiS was a highly professlOnal-loolong site wlrh many dear motifs and logos, such as a menor<-lh, slog<-lns and sp!l1nIl1g globes. The Il1I11lstry was founded by a lecturer nt the UmversltY of the \'\1esr Indies In -1990, <-lnd holds services at a credit unIOn centre near to the Umversiry; but almost every orher aspect of Irs actlvines IS available online. As one of their website operators noted: .Email IS a very big part of our commUI1!catlon. We don't have a newslerrer, everyrhll1g IS done online mall1ly. I believe that we:re the first Church to m:1Inl)' comlTIUl1lcate rhrough the ner.' Thev created the firsr Tnnidadian church websJ[e JI1 1995, <-lnd rhis appears to be ~)'mp[Omat!c of a Church that eXists 111 a profound dialectic of obJectlHcn[lon WIth the Inrernet. Ir describes Itself as follows: Elij<1h Center is rhe church of <1n orgalllsanon called the \X'orld Breakthrough Network. W/e ;lrc the head church ot thiS network, I('S an lI1rernatlonal nerwork ot IllllllStrleS, orgall!s<1nons, indiViduals, mlll!srers and what wc ca!l Kingdom BUSInesses. Our sire was conceived to service both the local and mrernatlonally. The doctnne ot rhe church, if vou want [() call it that, did have <1n InrcrnntJonal <1ppeal and so the sltc W;lS always focllsed on gemng the word out, not Just 111 Trinidad, bur across the ennre earth. And we lIndcr~rnnd rh;1t the net \Vas rhe mosr effccnvc W;1)' ro do that, of course. It IS the Internet that tells the members of the Church what [t means when Ir CJaUllS ro he an Apostolic Church. ThiS IS defined aga1l1sr the Pentecostal Church whIch, It views as the pflor evolutionary stage of church developmem. Despite ItS global pretensIOns the Pentecostal movemenr IS regarded as roo grounded In its US oflglnS and mfluences, and rhereby roo parocllIal. It did
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Religion
not have the fight tools to Imagine Itself as truly global. It thus served as a John the BaptIst to the Apostolic Chnsr. But the Internet gIves one the first real expenences of what It means [Q be glohal, and therefore provIdes a means for rhe Church to Imagine Itself into eXistence as the glohal church miSSIOn. ThiS IS eVident 1I1 rhe followmg quotations:
The relatIOnship IS also discussed on the webSIte Itself. For example one commentary IS called 'Bill Gates and God, What's the Connection?'; the central sectIon reads (Plate 7.6):
As we try to remam on the cuttmg edge, both In technology, bur also In terms of what we believe God 15 domg, we are progressive in that sense. _.. I dunk the Interner is rhe ncw. I thmk It'S Important to understand how, It serve::; to hIghlight how sovereignly God can bring people, groups, orgnl1lsanon and indiViduals together, without preconceived Ideas .... I always try and contemplate new ways to get the word our to morC people, so there'·s a scnpture In 15;11<1h rhnr says that ~'our gate shall be contlnuallv open. The way I interpret that is that the Internet IS that 8.!ways open gate. You don't have to have service starring at 7, you just go on any time you W8.nt, anywhere m the world, any time of the day and you get aCcess to what would be a serVice, So our gates are mdeed col1tmually open. So that IS sCrIpturally linked. One of the dungs we are mcreasmgly trymg to do IS to sense a greater sense of community by our web Site, where we are actually encouragmg people to mteracr With each other. So our Caribbean contact section seeks to be the forum that cultlvntes thar type of an inreractJon.
At the same time thar the websIte was devdoped, a separate company called Telio systems WaS created. This prImarily develops websItes for companies and engages In new software development, while malf1tammg the Church Sites as parr of what ItS Directors see as their 'tithe' of labour. It also recently helped a Nigenan Church to go online. As such It exemplifies what the Chutch sees as 'Kingdom BUSIness'. As WIth tbe Catholic Church, there are diSCUSSIOns about the changes m time and Image construction thar come With internet use; but here It becomes an mtegral parr of the foundatIonal self-conceptIon of the Church. \Y/e have something called governmental prayer, which IS every morning we have what is called battle lines, where we have specific riungs to pray about. And because these battle lines are sem our to the network, Via e-mail and via rhe web sire and that has proven to be THE mosr effective way of qUIckly gerring our prayer focus. \Vell, every week, we replace the prayers and the batrle lines. If there happens to be an emergency SltuarIon or Issue ro pray about, again via e-mail, It gets sent out, m a way that simply was Just not possible five years ago .... We understand that as It was With Pau!, he went along the Roman trade routes, he didn't Cut a path through the hills, he went along the trade routes msmuted by the Romans.
ThiS comrol of 8. fundamental aspect of the commUnIcations technology IS eVidence of the globalization momemum of our tIIne. And It presents a useful paradigm from which we can evaluate the ultimate purpose of this globalization phenomenon. Bill Gates·' success IS unparalleled In his mdustry at thiS time. But hiS thrust and momenrulll S(t:1l1 frUIll an Imerna} human mechamsll1 predating hUll. Throughout the ages, man has been drIven by a deSire to control rhe earth. Globalization m all ItS dimenSIOns proVides a mechaI1lsll1 or platform tor the establishment at God's plan and purpose for [he whole earth. However, there are always arremprs to oppose or disrorr diVIne plans. Hence the adverse effects of globalization must be expected. For Just as the Internet makes the current and accurate speakmg of God available world-Wide, It aiso dissem1l1ates elements at depraved, defiled and degenerate lifestyles.
Tim use of the Internet develops from a core aspect of the Church Itself. TIllS IS the contemporary and most literal verSIon of Weber's (1958) characterIzatIOn of Protestant Churches as lookIng to rhe World Itself for eVidence thar rhey are saved. So the Church looks to the most contemporary Idiom for ItS r~ures [Q salvation. It IS clear from their marenais thar they were already using the language of commerce and the free market in a Similar fashion, as somethIng that could express thelt porentlal as a global Church. The Internet was qUIckly seen to push still further the possibilitIes of thIS self-understanding of what the Church or (as It would see It) the message of God must be, and the net was therefore approprIated as the ImagInatIon of the Church. This mtegratlon ot web conscIOusness and salvation IS found also IJ1 rhe everyday practice and thmkmg of the users or rhls sire. One such user was desc"ribmg rhe expenence of a friend of hIS m makmg extenSIve use of chatlines. He felt that In beIng an AfrIcan based In Tnmdad talkIng theology With an East ASian helped them both to sense a transcendence of space. ThiS In turn fuelled the feeling, expressed by the user, that In the profundity of the global conversatIOn he had had a direct expenence of God. The user was himself qUite clear that In fact the Internet actually eXists for thiS very purpose. It was necessary m the progreSSiOn from Pentecostal to Apostolic Church that God should gIve humanIty the Internet so they would finally be able to envisage the COIl1II1g future of global saiva[Jon: the Internet came fight back slap IOto the whole philosophy of the church 10 chat, s1l1ce rbe net was so global it Immediately allows the church to tecl global .. , You go on from Trinld~d and you meet someone the mher Side of the globe thar has
IBB
IB9
The Internet
Religion
rhe same kllld ot thmkmg, rhe same menwlity [hat you have. \Vhnr It does IS make you reel that God IS dOll1g something conSistent through rhe world and that you arc parr at a masterplan. The purpose of your commUnity IS alignmenr wl;h a larger plan rhm God IS dOing - .. All technology comes trom God, and so rhe Internet IS somethmg God created USlOg men to actually arnculare thiS parnell/ar IJca thar God \Van~ed ro do nght now. ThiS particular move, rhe Aposrolic move, whar we call the rdormanon of the church, hns been radically changed, ro become one thar IS more rdevanr. So therefore, 10 order for thiS to happen, the Internet came nght bang II1fO rhls move,
Day Adventlsr college
In
rhe Caribbean (Plare 7.7). Ser well up a valley on
an Isobted campus, It has over 1,000 students, more than half of which arc recfllltcci from outSide Tnnidad. Forry-eight countnes are represented, and
rhar year students had come from Iceland and Poland who had discovered and applied to the college entirely through the Internet. Just as with the Elijah centre, the new technology seemed to be about to replace commerce as the domll1ant Idiom through which m practice the college reconStitutes Itself as the sign of moderlllty. In thiS case, however, everything was mediared through concepts of educational advancement rarher than theology. They thereby exemplified another strand we have traced 111 Trinidadian mvolvement With the Internet, the Internet as bypassing the most established educational channels to prOVide an entrepreneurial rarher than a class-based educ<1tlonal VISion. !vIost of those leading thiS conversion are self-rramed, thanks to a commitment to self-suffiCiency. ThiS IS a coJIege that puts ItS own computers together from components, makmg It also a seller rather than .1 purchaser of compurers. If there IS a new techl1lcal requirement, such as laylJlg clown fibre-opnc cable, It will only bnng In outSide consultants once, particlpatmg WIth them m order to gam the skills. The students have 80 online computers available, facilitating anything from downloading textbooks to keeping m touch With their families. As a result the college teaches a much wider array of new IT skills and languages than any other Trimdadian IIlstitutlon, and the demand for such courses is qUIckly overrakmg all other courses offered. Its plans for uSing new b
One can therefore see why even when only a propornon of rhe congregnnon can lise d.le Internet the Church has poured Itself Into becoming an lllcreaslllgly online experience. It reqUires Its congregation to have experience of the Internet 111 order that It gains the conSCiousness of the Church miSSion Itself as expressed through the Internet as the gift of God to humal11tv to show them the path to salvation. Other religlolls bodies w1[h their histories and establishment could not enter Into such a full-fledged dialectic of objectification wJ[h the Internet bur they roo could see a correspondence between the Internet as material culture/medium and Wider theological goals. Here the sense IS not of a new conSCIOllsness, bur rather that uSing the net shows an aspiration towards conSCIOllsness of the diVine. As one of the leaders of Livlllg Waters noted: Somethmg that's within them, whether In God, or whatever, or some higher power ;md when )'OU get on ro that net, you're lookmg for someriung like thar. You're B,ot ~omg to look for something that you sce everyd<1Y or you mtef;Jct ever)'day. lou rc looking for somerhlllg rhar IS gomg to be me<1lllngtu! In your life and evenruall}' you come to God .... The sense at the transcendent, that's almost what It's like, } tccl that, what else could It be? That something 50 huge, that call rake over the world: whm else could It be? Although It'S a distant ri1Jng, It's about communlcanon, It'S could bc vef}' deeplY about God. I think almost 90% of the people who come In, boor up, and go Inro that Internet, deep wlthlll them they're 5eeklllg sometilmg deeper than themselves. Ulnmately they will come to th~t. I rhlllk rhe Internet IS a tremendous avenue for that.
example Plare 7.8). 1r IS through such developments that It plans ItS future II1come generation. Indeed, It clall11s It IS now persuading ItS 'parent1 Andrews College 111 MichIgan [0
upgrade
ItS
IT plans follOWing rhe TrImdad model. So without any expliCIt
diSCUSSIOn of rhe religIOUS nature of these changes, the college applies a zealotry to reconstructing Itself as an Internet and IT lI1stitutlon. Alreaci}' some people 111 the Srate ul1lverslty feat J[ will become an IT dinosaur by comp . Ulson 1 and there are very few commercwl orgal11zatlons where the Internet has become so foundational [0 the future, permeating every aspect fro111 Its SOCial life to ItS success 111 secunng employment for graduates. Yet although It IS likely to end up equally re-cast 111 the mouid of the Internet as IS Elijah Minlstnes 1 thiS IS done 111 the name of pragmatism and finance. It IS
It IS, however~ ~I~nificant thar 1I1 religIOn as in the prevIOus chapters the process of ob,ectlflca[Jon can work through practice as well as workmg through consciousness. In contrast to Elijah ivlimstnes, there IS another Church thar has also transformed Its self-understanding of ItS mIssion as a result of the Internet, bur almost entirely through changes 111 practice. They do J~(~t seem to fram~ thiS as a theological process, or even of theologlG~1 slgl11flcance. The Caribbean Umon College IS probably the largest Seventh
anorher case of Trimdadian understanding of skills as embodied and pragmatic, 190
191
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The Internet
along the lines of exceptional fla"
In
'car mechanIcs'. But
skilled practice is also understood as a
religIOus
miSSion In
Religion
YDCanOn,
In
thIS case the
We have not silled away from acknowledgmg technology as havmg effects; and followmg the recent wnnngs of Latour, the technology has been mcluded as one of the key players ll1 our narratIves. We should not be afraid ro view technology as an actlve agency IJ1 the social world. But th_'s IS a.lways set agall1st prIor encounters both With other media and with other IdlOms. It IS thIS thar makes the Internet ll1 one case seem literally preordaIned, so th.at an Apostolic Church IS enchanted to find something so appropnate to the evolutlon of ItS own identity; so that a Hindu commUnIty can realIze ItS pressmg need for IIlternatlonai identity; so that the Catho~ic. ~hurch can r~tall1 pastoral links WIth ItS Diaspora and explOit new pOSSibilItIes of mediated
and rhus parr of onels
life.
Conclusion The structure of the preceding sections may In one sense be misleading. It might be Implied that they arc a series of stages In development. One starts With an expansive realization [hat allows the Identity already aspIred to by religIOUS groups to be realized through flew dynamiCs of posItIon. One [hen develops the normative foundanons of such commUnities In the Interaction of new forms of freedom and moral authority. Within rhls the nuances of
splntual communlcatlon. UltImately, an ethnography could never be about the Internet where thIS IS conSidered merely as a serIes of technologies III partIcular conr.e~ts: !he cultural forms we observe compose technologies already so lIlextocably 1ll1ked through normative order, practical constraIJ1ts and pos~ibilities, metaphor and idiom as to have become forms of practlce. For the purposes of any ethnographiC study, then, technology always becomes marenal culture,. ~bserved ll1 its context of employment as partIcular genres, often qUIte speCifiC TflJ1Idad ian genres, w!llch we have attempted both to generaliz~ and [0 account for. Tllls has been a book about marenal culrure - not about technology. Furthermore, it has been about an mtegral aspect of people"s daily lives: theIr relationshIp to theIr fnends and family, part of their Idel~tIty, their work and m thIS chapter their religIon - not about a VIrtual_world, that ~tands agaillst and defines or supersedes somethIng else called the reaJ. In the case of the lmernet we have encountered an extraordinarily dynamIC form of matenai culture. Indeed, the speed of ItS emergence may leave us breathless; but by appreciating and rendenng explicir the nu.ances of the social practI~es thar account for its manifestatlon as matenal culture It may be pOSSIble for
each technology can be seen as the dynamiCs of medianon, each facilitating a pamcular type of commUnIcation. Finally, thIS develops Into a full-blooded mode of obJecriEicanon termed the expansive potentIal, in wlllch the Internet changes the conSClOusness of reiiglOn itself and of ItS pracnce. ThiS IS certmnly not the conclusion [Q be drawn. In this chapter as In our first chapter we have used each case-study ro iJlustrate general pOints aboll[ the production and consumption of the Imerller. But, of course~ there IS conSIderable overlap between the analytical categorIes we have developed, most obvlOusiy here, where the dynamICs of posItIon were seen as the instrument of the expansive realization. We do not mtend our general categOrIes ro be Viewed as an order of development. They are heurIsnc, IJ1tended [Q promote comparIsons. We would not Wish them reified. For example, in the final section we can see the Importance of the Internet as a sign of rotaiization. But even this was diVIded into two stark alternatIves: In the case of the Christian UnlOn College rowlizatlOn was seen as practice, while IJ1 the case of the Apostolic Church It was a SIgn of God.
academICS to remain
In
step.
We oppose the reification of the categOrIes we end with In the same SpIrIt that we opposed the reificanon of a thing called "the Internee as our startlngpOint. The concluslOn of this book IS not that there was ever an 'internet' that here has been differentIally appropnated because of the diverse forms and contexrs III which it IS found. We have opposed what might be called the easy POSItIVISm of internet studies, which takes this [0 be a given entiry which IS then used or appropnated. The Internet only ever eXIsted In the specificIty of ItS use, sometimes as a rotality, sometin~es as loosely linked rechnologles rendered as culrural genres. In dlls chapter the 'Hindu' internet, the 'Catholic' internet, and the 'Apostolic' internet are all equal and legItImate forms.
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193
J
Appendix: The House-To-House Survey For tim survey we were able to rerurn to the distrlC[5 that Miller (1994) studied dUrIng his prevIOus fieldwork. These had been chosen to [dlccr a very 'ordinary" section of Trinidadian SOClcty, compriSing four of the mam types of hOUSing area, bur not including any of the higher-status and wealthier reSidential communities [hm are associated w\th the \X'esrern disrncrs of Pan of Spall1. Given that Internet access IS an expensive resource In a country thar lI1c1udes arCJS of considerable poverty, we ongmally assumed that for thiS partiCular study we would have to turn to what are locally referred to as 'llp-scnle" areas. ThiS would have been a pity, since we would [hen have lost the ethnographic connnUlty and background knowledge arising from !vliller;s eleven years" 1I1volvemenr m the area. Happily, our assumpnons proved mistaken. The same four areas contamed quae suffiCient mternet usc for our purposes, and lI1deed thiS could be said [Q be a major conclUSIOn of our research: although thiS may soon be commonplace, we were as[Q11Ished to find thiS degree of diffusion [Q ordinary communmes as early as !v1ay 1999. We believe our house-[Q-house survey proVides a clear mdicanon of the acruJi penetranon of 1I1ternet knowledge and usc, complemennng other methods and prevIOus research. ThIS IS because, as m so much of Trinidadian life, people usc a WIde vanety of mformal and highly resourceful means [Q obtam access that woutd nor be cVldent m any more formal survey. Informanon obtall1cd by relevant commercJai and stare bodies (wlllch IS m fact pretty scarce) shows the spread of online compurers rather than users, and would have suggested a higher concentranon amongst the upper echelons ofTnmdadian SOCiety. The best available figures come from market research surveys and the subscnpnons [Q the ISPs. The relevant compallies were very generous [() LIS 111 prOViding commercially sensItIve mformanon. Together they suggest that there arc bctween 17,000 and 25,000 online accounts 111 Trinidad. Overall there are 350,000 households. Those who collect thiS 1I1formatJon are aware
795
Appendix: The House-to-House Survey
The Internet
char JUSt as newspapers buyers may bear little relanon III
[Q
newspaper readers
by no means the same as actual usage.
[Q
St Paul's - the only one of these four settlements to have eXIsted more
than 25 years before thlS study, comprising a village that has come to
Tnmdad, a figure of 7 per cent paId internet access by pnvate households
OUf survey, by contrast, was intended establish actual usage. Even rhe figure of 25,00015 Impressive when it IS considered [hat only four rimes that number have access to cable TV, and 15
3.
4.
be lI1corporated as the outskirts of the town. Ford _ part of an extenSive settlement of squatters, one of many such around the country.
only around 190,000 households have a telephone. An account of [he four communities surveyed and a Justification for seemg rhem as a reasonable exemplificanon of Trinidad more generaJiy IS given In !vI iller (1994: 24-50). ThiS is Important, since most Trinidadians wuuld assert that rh1s area IS unrepresentatlve. In parncular TnOldadians who live In the
For companson, these areas are discussed In Miller (1994) m the followmg places: The Meadows, pp. 36-9, Newtown pp. 45-50, St Paul's pp. 30-5,
capital of Port of Spam or along what IS called 'the East-West COrridor' look askance at the Idea that parts of another town could be selected as
as In Miller's previous survey. The twO research assistants who carried out
representative, especially one
effon [0 reflect the range of hOUSIng wlthll1 each settlement. Otherwise houses were Simply Included where someone was at home and able to proVIde the reqUIred InformatIon about themselves and what we iudged was a reasonable
In
rhe Central area. Most commonly the [Own
of Chaguanas (best known for its portrait as 1930s Arawak In Nalpaul's (1961) A H o/lse for Mr. Biswas would be regarded as disproportlonately 'Indian', Also, In a country that IS numerically dominated by people wh~
Ford pp. 39-45. Although we used the same four areas, we did not VISit the same households the surveys (students from the Umver5lty of the West Indies) made some
degree of knowledge about other members of that household. We did not
regard themselves as mIddle-class, even the wealthiest area used in thiS survey was dismissed by some outsiders as 'lower-mIddle-class', As was noted I~
count as users those who had only accessed the ner once or twICe or only as
Miller (1994) these dismIssals are generally false. To have used POrt of Spain
households), but we did include those whose primary access was their workplace computer or a relative or frIend. In additIon [0 the short survey, we carned out more lI1-depth Individual household InterVIEWS and II1formal
or the East-West Corndor would have meant leaVIng out any sense of the
rural populatlons that make up much of the country and also Ignoring the fact that the Indian populatlon IS JUSt as large as the African. Furthermore, the four communities were carefully chosen for particular qualities, which are not those of the Chaguanas town centre. Many Trmidadians live [Oday In new kll1ds of settlements that have characterIstics that are more Important than their orIgmal locality. As these settlements have developed, the posinon of Chaguanas as central, as economically vibrant
and (barring heavy traffic) only 25 minutes' dnve from the capital has led to considerable migration from every other area ofTnmdad, so that mhabuants
of the four areas are as likely to have been born
In
the deep South as
In
Port
of SpaIn. Furthermore, USIng census dara the ongInai study was able [0 demonsrrate (and confirm In the actual house-to-house survey) that the populatIon of the areas chosen reflected the 40 per cent Afncan, 40 per cent Indian and 20 per cent !vlixed ethniC identificatIOn of rhe population as a whole. The fictional names of the areas chosen are:
1. 2.
The Meadows - a settlement that exemplifies what
In
Trlmdad are called
'-residential areas\ which are built as 'up-scale' enclaves. New[Own - an example of the many settlements constructed by the government"s NatIonal HOUSIng Authority, often dominated by p·ublic sector workers or supporters of the prevJOus PN!vI government.
196
part of a school or college course (whIch would have added qUlte a few
enqUirIes in all four areas.
The Four Communities The Meadows ThiS IS a prlvare housmg estate where each leasehoider was ongmally lI1tervIewed to establish their SUItability, and WIth many stipulatIons m the contract limItIng commercwl use of the house, aJthough these are regularly 19nored. In some areas there IS a standard hOUSIng form, bur so many of these have been altered or had plots built on by their owners thar the malll Impression IS of heterogeneity, or 1Il some cases awe at the elaborate archItecture that may bt: cncoumered. Archirecturalmspiratlon seems to vary from a mosque, [0 Gracelands, to neo-classical columned arcades. Severai manSiOns WIth elaborate decorative conceits have been built 1Il the last decade. Yet most houses remain relatively simple bungalows or upstairs apartments on stilts With one bathroom, a~d two or three bedrooms, lounge and kachen (see
Plates 2.3). Virtually all houses are surrounded by hIgh fences wlthm whIch live the ubiqUltous guard dogs, though these seem to mclude miniatures as well as the Rottweilers and Dobermanns. Many also have well-mamcured
197
1 i
The Internet
Appendix: The House·to·House Survey
lawns and gardens. Inhablrants rend to rhe profesSions, especIally reachIng bur also medicine and law, ro the civil service and [Q medium-scale business opcranons. Almost every family has relatives liVing abroad, and many navel to rhe US with some regulanry. The population IS erhnIcally mixed .. Of rhe 50 households surveyed, 30 Included members who used rhe ner. Some 16 of rhese households had online compurers, while a furrher 3 had offline compurers in rhelr homes. A toral of 15 households had users who used an online computer for access <1[ thelf workplace, while 3 specified their school or college as lhelr maIn place of access and 1 a relative. Of the 6] people who used rhe ner, 33 were males and 27 females (1 record is unclear). Of rhe 30 households 13 are SIngle-user, 10 have 2 users, 2 have 3 users, 3 have 4 users and 2 have 5 users.
renovared over the lasr decade, perhaps suggesting rhar public sector workers have nor seen much IOcrease III their Incomes dunng thiS period (sec Plares 2.41. Less [han 10 per cen[ of rhe population are Indian according [Q rhe 1989 survey. Of rhe 50 houses surveyed 15 Included ar leasr one Internet user; 4 of rhe households had online computers and one had an offline com purer. Two households noted thar rhey had their own online compurers at their workplace. Overall 8 said rhelr malll access was at work, 1 at a COUSIn and 1 ar school. One indiVidual regularly used a cybercafe and "1 used rhe public library, which has free Interner access tor limIted periods and uses. Some 9 of the 15 households had only a slllgie user. Where gender was clear there were '10 temale
Of the 52 indiViduals where our eVIdence of frequency of use seems secure 14 use email every day, 11 several nmes a week, 19 once a week, and 5 monthly, and only 3 did nor lise email ar aiL Some 12 surf every day, 12 several tlmes a week, 12 once a week, 6 once a month and 10 don'r surf. Some 13 households and 18 indiViduals use ICQ or char, of whom 12 specified haVIng an ICQ or char numbers. Ir may be nored rhar of rhe 11 users rhar were under 20 years old (rhe youngesr was 10 years old) 8 use char, makIng rhem a high proporrlOn of rhe 18 char users. Indeed, 5 of rhem use char everyday. Of rhose who menno ned conracrlOg relanves liVIng abroad~ 9 menrlOned rhe USA, 9 Canada, 6 UK, 2 Orher Europe, 1 Mauntlus, and 1 Kenya. One person In rhe overall sample has a personal webpage and also makes webpages for orhers.
St Paul's
Ar rhe time of rhe 1989 survey some 500 unItS had been builr our of whar ongInally had been a much larger scheme, which was Viewed wah some suspIcion by [he people of Chaguanas as an atrempr [Q change rhe political demography of rhls rown, sHuared In rhe heartland of whar was rhen rhe polincal opposHion. Cerralnly mosr of rhe houses went to public secror workers, especially those In uniform, such as police and coastguards. In the last decade the disnncrion between Newtown and rhe resr of Chaguanas has become somewhat muted. Areas of rhe onginal plan have now been raken up by pnvate compantes and developed into new reSidential areas, either purpose-huilr, or purchased as lars and rhen builr on by householders In a Similar fashIOn to The 1vleadows. The facr thar rhis IS seen as an attractive possibiliry 15 resnmony [Q rhe pOInr made In Miller (1994: 46) rhar rhe angInal NHA area soon esrablished a reputation as a qUiet area srnvlllg for respectability. Apart from attempts to differentiate each house from as neighbours there was less eVidence thar the core houslOg area has been subsrannally
The character of St Paul's IS quire different from rhat of the other settlemenrs, sl11ce they ilre relatively homogeneous, starring from a recent baseline of Similar housing. By conrrast, 1Il Sr Paul's there IS much more eVidence of the VICissitudes of history, as it has transformed some and left behllld orhers III Irs wake. As a resllir Sr Paul's Includes a spnnkling of large mansJOn-s
198
199
Newtown
The Internel
Appendix: The House-la-House Survey
nQ[ed that their primary access was through their workplace and 3 specified a school or college, while 1 relied on a cybercafe. Where gender was clear there were 9 male and 10 female users. Of the 10 households, all use email, and 5 of them have a person USIng email every day. All 10 use the net for surfing, and 5 have persons who surf every day. Only 5 households mclude someone who chats, of whom 3 do so every day. Only 6 mentioned relatives
livIng abroad that were regularly contacted, of whom 4 noted the USA, 1 UK and 1 Canada; but thIS question was not posed consIstently. A measure of rhe poveny that also eXIsts along with the wealth IS that 7 of rhe 50 households do nor have a phone, while rhls was the case With only a SIngle
household In Newtown and The Meadows.
.
at school or college. Since there was only one house with a computer, and
tha[ was not online, all access IS from other sttes. Three of these accesses were from a work comext, Including an oil company and a clothes srore, 2 users had their mam access at college, and 2 more through relatives and
fnends. Access mIght be multiple, as WIth the person who worked for the oil company, also used the local library at lunchtImes, and would also surf from fnends'. Of the 7 users only 2 were male and oniy one was over 25, while 4 were 20 or under. There was no chatting reponed, only surfing and email. We were surprised [Q find even 7 people USing the net in a community whcre
most people don't have access to water, although 30 of the houses do have a phone line. The numbers also fail to reflect the sheer level of knowledge and Interest. Several other people reponed that they had staned computer training
Ford Ford IS parr of a densely InhabIted and extensIve area of squatting. Unlike some of [he other squarnng areas [hiS is on private land, and so IS unlikely [Q benefit from plans by rhe state to regularIze squatters on government l~nd. People came for reasons of po verry or estrangement from thelf natal commun-
ltJes. The angInal houses tended to be made from the remaInS of boxes used Import car pans, together WIth corrugated Iron. Of all rhe settlements, however, rhls one showed rhe greatest comrast from the 1989 survey. At tha[ [Jme there were no mrmacked roads and litde clcC[ncay, and cnmes [Q
such as theft compounded problems caused by cocame use and AIDS. Today the mam entry roads are paved, elec[flcay IS In place, and most people have phone access. The mam problem of resources IS water, which has still not
been supplied; and mdeed local standpIpes had been Cut off. In general the area seems qUIeter and safer, wah people feeling more secure about electronic possessIOns. On very limned eVidence we would speculace that cocame use
courses and would go online as parr of that. Apart from the elderly, most people had no difficulty relating to the questions we were askmg. Overall the crucial lesson IS that people from the poorest distflCtS do not feeilmlmldated hv the Idea of the Internet: they did not, as we expected, find our enqUIry Inappropnare. As far as most young people were concerned It was merely that we had come too early. Sooner or later they expectcd to have theIr own expenence of the Imernet.
Overall Usage and Conclusions The mble below attempts some very broad numerlcalsummanes of the dam .. If we use dam about average household size dtawn from the previous survey
(Miller 1994: Table 4.1) we obtam the figures m the first column. The figures are at Icast cqual to marc opnmlsnc esnmatcs based on ISP accounts. \X1hile
more controlled, though AIDS remams unchecked. Most of the ongmal
the figure of 11.5 per cent of households WIth online computers IS hIgher
houses have been replaced by brick or concrete strucmres, although smce these are built m smges, ohen uSing the tradinonal'gayup' systcm of feeding a group of fnends and relatives who come m for a day [Q complete a panicular stage, sllch as laYing the foundanons, they are In vanous states of completion.
than most estlmares, a IS compounded by the finding that there IS substantial usage of Internet access outSIde the home. A measure that takes us rather closer to our ethnographic sense of how
Today, as m St Paul's, quite reasonable houses nestle among shacks of plywood and corrugate~ Iron (see Pla[es 2.6). As a result we were less surpnsed than
62 comalned at least one member who used the Imernet to a slgnificam extent. ThiS excludes qUIte a number of other households that comamed people who had only used It once, or only as parr of a course. Our figures would place even Ford well above the smndard estimares, and confound most
IS
we might have been [Q find the occaSIOnal user, ahhough very surpnsed when one mrned OUt [Q come from one of the most flimsy shacks In the area. Whac IS also eVldem and has been discussed elsewhere In thiS volume are the very lugh levels of Informanon, skill and concern wah educanon, m terms of which Ford seems Simply an extensIOn of Tnnidadian values In general.
the Internet relates to everyday usage IS that of the 200 households surveyed,
commonly held vIews of Internet diffUSIOn held by Tnntdadians. And we believe thiS IS indeed a good refiecnon of how far the Imernet has penetrated Into ordinary life.
Of the 50 households m Ford 7 had persons who had been online more
The figures are made meanmgful by bemg set back mto theIr ethnograpillc
than once or twice; several more had been online only once or twice usually
background. In the context of chams of commUnIcation In which a Single
200
201
The Internet
Table At. Internet Usage
The Meadows New[Own St Paul's Ford Total
In
Appendix: The House-fa-House Survey
Four Tnnldadian Communities
No. of mdivrdllais ttSl11g the Internet
No. of households wIth users
%
No. of households with online computer
%
29% 12.5% 7%
60% 30%
16 4 3 0
32 8
1%
30 15 10 7
11%
62
20% 14% 31%
)' _0
6
0 11.5
household member may be a condUIt for email with an extended family or for carrYing out research on behalf of fnends and neighbours, housel~old access - whether through computers at home, work , lihrary. or cybercafe - IS . the significant figure. These percenrages may exaggerate somewhat (there are very few Single-person households, for example, and there were many cases where use was restrIcted to one indiVidual In a household), bur rhe)1 would certainly Indicate, firstly, that the lnrerncr has permeated ordinary SOClcty to a very SIgnificant extent, and thar - whether directly or through someone in the household or community - Internet access IS not remote even from those liVing In the most deprived areas. Secondly, the discrepancy between 'households With users' and 'households With online computers' rem forces the Important dis[lnc[lon between clrculanon and readership, or ISP accounts and actual usage. The most likely eStimate of numbers of accounts (25,000) suggests a figure of only 7 per cent houses. Our survey suggested 11.5 per cent; but clearly even thar figure does not reflect the actual usage, still less the degree of familiarity With the Internet suggested by the eVidence that a third of households include an lJ1ternet user. These results compare well With eS[lmates In much more developed countnes such as the UK (at least before the iaunch of the free-access ISP Freeserve, which took the usage to an estimate of 1 In 5). Given the huge difference In mcomc levels and the greater logistical difficuitlcs for the TnlllJau populanon thiS tends to confirm our overalllmpresslOn thar pro rata there is a greater level of knowledge and expenence already lJ1 a country such as TriJ1Jdad than In the UK. The UK IS the only other place where w~ have the IIlformal expenence to make such a comparison. \X1e would want to add to thiS picture the huge domestic lJ1vestments made by pnvate families and indiViduals (qUItc aparr from government or busmesses) m paymg for computer rramlng and equipment.
202
These figures are likely to he out of date almost Instantly (certainly by the tlllle of publication), espeCIally JJ1 the case of Newtown. As IIldicated earlier, the government JJ1 lifnng customs duties on hardware and software and J!1 extending loans for computers to all puhlic-servlce workers will speed up diffUSion hugely. In one ministry the person responsible for such loans told us that fully 50 per cent of employees from the cleaners upwards had taken the first steps to sectlre one. Although only 1 III 5 households in Newtown had computers almost every household claimed thar It Intended to purchase one; many of them were waiting until after the Y2K problems had been resolved. 1vlorcover, these loans were suffiCient to buy well-specified machmes, and mdeed everyone treated modems as standard: a computer IS a machlJ1e that can go online. There will remalJ1 a large component of the popuianon, 111 areas such as Ford and among those who clearly have not 'made It' in St Paul's, representing perhaps 40 per cent of the overall population, for whom there 15 little prospect of online access at home. But many of those people will use computer courses, at sometlmcs good and sometimes duhlOus colleges, as well as workpiaces, the homes of relatives, free access at libraries and paid access <1t cybercafes, m order to gam some expencnce of online activity. Even m these areas large numbers of people expressed a degree of informedness, ambJtlon and intention thar IS likely to find some means to bcmg realized. The exceptions tended to he the elderly rother than the poor.
203
Glossary of Terms Chat
The facility to have one's typed sentences appear Instantly
Chat, random
allow for both group and private char. In ICQ, the facility to chat with people selected by ICQ at
online
In
another person's computer window. Most forms
random, but usually
Doh EDI Email
Within
parameters such as age-groups
or gender. Trinidadian for 'don't'. ElectrOnic Dara Interchange, a pre-Internet protOcol.
The pnmary means by which people send each other mess-
flame wars
ages online. Aggressive comments hurled at a member of a newsgroup; by extenSIOn, verbal barrles withm any Internet SOCial setting.
HTML
Hypertext mark-up language. Machine-independent code
ICQ
The lerrers reputedly stand for 'I Seek You', a chat forum that allows a user to know when they log on which of the other people specified are also online at that momenL It then permits both group and indiVidual char. Internet Relay Char. Online chat system.
Flaming,
that
IRC ICT IMF Intranet
ISP IT Lime
IS
used ro produce web-pages.
Information and commUlllcanons technologies. Inrernanonal1vlonemry Fund. A network that llses Internet protocols bur resrriC[s access [Q members of an orgamzatIon, for Inrernai bUSiness. In[(~rnet Service Providers, to whom one gIves payment in order to gain access to the Internet. Information Technologies.
Ongmally a group of people meeting at street corners. It then became the term for groups gOIng out for leisure where there was an emphaSIS on spOntaneIty. Today It may be
applied to almost any time Trinidadians go out together for Maco
a jeisure actiVity. A person given to minding other people's bUSIness, e.g. an anthropologist. Hence 'macotlous",
205
Glossary of Terms
Maxed out
When Internet Service Providers are unable to cope with the volume of calls from Customers trYing to log on to rhe Internet.
MIT
Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
MP3
CompressIOn of recorded musIC IOro files small enough to
MUD
be fairly qUickly downloaded or exchanged online. TIllS has created a huge circulation of free and accessible online musIC. Multi User Dungeons/DimensIOns. Online facilities allOWing synchronous interactIOn between users, who can carry our faie-playing or games. .
nicks Ole talk
POP
Nicknames used on ICQ or otber char systems. TraditIOnal forms of performatlve but largely empry banter. POlllt of Presence, for local Internet access,
Sky Box
A system that proVides Tnmdadians with a local US address so that they can buy US products at US pnces, and then arranges Customs and transporr into Tnmdad for a small sum.
Soca
Orignally the blending of calypso and soul, the word now stands for almost any Tnndadian musIC assoCiated With Carnival.
TID CO
Stare-funded orgamzC1non to promote non-oil enterprIses and development; also In effect the mam government toUrIsm body.
Tnnbagoman
A term Intended to Include people from Tobago as well as TrIIlIdad, and thus more correct than the term 'Tnni~,
TSTT
TelecommuOications Services of Tnllldad and Tobago. The company runs all phone services and IS also an ISP.
Usent't ncwsgroups UWI
Asynchr~nous online commUIllCatlOn facility, generally orgalllzed around IIlterest groups.
WTO
The UOIverslty of the West Indies campus at St Augustme 111 Tnnldad. The uIlIversity has other campuses elsewhere In the Caribbean. The World Trade OrgaOlzatlOn, the body that formally adjudicates bur also acrs as a proragonlst f~r lhe spread of global free trade.
206
7
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Index
\VilJiams, E. 1942 Capitalism and SlaVel)!. Durham, NC: UmversIrY of Norrh Carolina Press
\Villimns, E. 1969 Inward Hunger: The EducatIOn of a Prune Mimster. London: Andre Deutsch \'(filson, P. 1973 Crab Antics. New Haven, CT: Yale UniverSity Press \Vresch, \V. 1998 Information Access in Afnca: Problems WIth Every Channel, The InformatlOll Society 14:4 Yclvingron, K. (cd.) 1993 Trimdadial1 Etbmclt)'. London: Macmillan Yc/vlI1gron, K. 1995 Producmg Power. Philadelphia: Temple University Press Yeivlngron, K. 1996 Flirtmg In the Facrory. journal of the Royal AnthropologIcal Ins/flute.
2: 313-33
Auvernslllg agencIes 152-6, 158,164-5,
171-2 Age 49,51-2,61 Agency H
AIDS 200 Amazon.com 43 Anderson, B. 6 ATMs 167, "168 Ausnn-Broos, D. 182 Australia 100 Bacchanal 76 Back-office loregranon 151, 163, 166-7 Bandwn.lth 122, 123, 127-132 Banking online 19, [67-8 BaptISts 180 Barbauos 137 BcrmllJa 137 BillbnarJs 34 Boldon, Am, 106 Bouruieu, P.46 Bre,lking the woru 184-5 Brereron, B. 35 Cahle modem 132 Cable TV 100, 102, 124, 128, 196 Cable anu Wireless 17. 122,123,129-35,
141-2 Californta 95-6 Can;.1u
212
Catholic News 94, 176 Catholic spirituality 184 Celllli<1r <1ccess 128, 130,134 Chaguanas 21, 30,39,196 . Chat 15,10,31,50,59,62-3,68,73-4, 8H-93, 198,199,200,201,205 mnuom char 63-4,81,205 Chnstmas 107 Churn 29 Cisco Ilj Class system 45,49,52,196,201,203 Cocallle 200 Competition 121 Com~urers 31, 33, 41,198 Com~llters anu Control l26, 147 Consumer culture 12 Consumers 169-71 Cosmopolirallism 19,97-103 'Crab anncs' 102 'Cu!rure'> 86-7 Currency 38 Custom duties 30 Cybercafcs 71-5, 158, 179, 180-1
C),iJersoclO/og), 173 Cyberspace 4, 5 Dating 76-7
de Rumshop LintI.' 88-9 de Trim Lillie 81, 88-9 uecommouificatton 169-71 DeregulatIOn J 1, 127, 139 uiaspora 11,17,36,56-61,70,87-8,91, 176-8 DynamiCs 9 _ ? of mediation 10, ! 4-16, 61-2, 182-7, 19_ ot norma[1ve rreedom 10,16-18,81,91, 179-82,191 ot objecrificatlon 10-14, 187, 190,192 of poSitionmg 10, 18-21,114,178
213
Index Dihbdl,.I, /8 Dircctor of Telecomlllunlcanons 117, 123,
i30, 133, 134
and God 1S9 Gell, f\. 10, J 04, j 65, 173 Gender 46, 47-50, 61, 75, 79, 106, 184,
Douglas, "-'\ and Ishcrwood, B, 92
19B, 199,200,201 Glohalisanon 98-103
Educ
God as creator of internet 189-90 GOSSIp 76
ELOnll11~'n:e 15, 19,43.100, 13S, i-lO,
j4S-72
Government's role 17, 30,122,121-135,
BUSllll'SS ro huslllcss 140 JnvCSfJllcnf 155-6,
loans 1S, 30, 40-1 GUidebook vlnual 107 Habitus 14
Elijah :-"!ilHstncs ('\pOStO/IC Church) 13, 18,
lXI, 183, IX7-91 Elitcs 34, 36 Em;li] /5,31,41,50,56,57,175,183,198,
199,200,101,105 Enugranoll 34, 36, 45, 56, /13 EmpJonllctlf 46-49 Enn'/opcdi;l Bntanll1c;1 171
Hacking 74, 76, 78-9 Hindus 10-11,5/,174_6, t77, 17S Diaspora 175-6,178 I-linn, Bellm' 175 Homework 45, 77 Hybridity 8 ICQ 20, 31, 42, 50, 62, 64, 71,75-6, 8 I,
Englishncss ! 1
95, 198,205
Enrn:prelleurship I I, 38, 45
Nicknames 32, 62, 64, 76 Identity J 0-12, 18 India 137, J 75
Ethl1JClty 35, 36, 4S, 48, 50-I, 86, 100,
101,175,1%,199 Ethnography i, 11-13 Comparanve i, 9, 83 E:o.:changc XO
Inequalitr 27 Inform:Jrton poor 140 Information Technology J /7,121, J66,
hpanslvc porennni 13-14, 164, 187-91 hpansl\'c rl'nlisanon 10-13, 114, 118,139,
178, 192 Extcrn;l! plpelinc 122-3, 131
191 Tramll1g Internet
111
113, 19J
Access 27-9, 46-7, 195-6, 197-203 BUSiness access 28 Charges 127
F
Demand fot 28 Discourse of J 5
Familv 11,36,56-61,81 Emma College 71, 77 Fitzwilliam, Y\!endy 106
dis-embedding 85-6 Extellf of 27,28 Frequencv of usc, 198, 199,200,201 History 111 Trimdad 126-7 InduSIVIH' 44-52
Flarnmg 91, 94,102,205 FJirt:lt!on 63, 90- J
Ford 43-4, 47, 197, 200-i Frceuofll i 6, 17- J 8 Free marker 17-18, 181 Free swf( (/rt'Clless) i 60, 170-2 Frienus ()1-7I, 95"
mdivJduaJ construction of 14_ J 5, Making money on 169-71 Marker J41-2 Port.ds 106-8 Revcnues 132-3 Torality, as 16, 192
114-5"
ISPs 17,28,122-135, )41-2,101,105, Licensmg lJO, 133
C;lrl's, Hill 1()9
214
MUSIC 7, 96-7, 103, 170-1 tvluslims 179
JamalCl .14, 80, i20, i39 lames,
c. L.
R. 1 ! 2
)av;1 ISO NalpauL V. 5.12,34, 36, 89~ 1:6 Nationalism 51, H6, 90, 98-1 L." 160-1,
Jews 174 Jokes 9S
Personal 105-9
Joncs, S 1-1 Journal keeping 183 JOIlI'd),
i3B
,\lodds of J45. 151-2, 1/18, 172 E-grcl'rmgs cards 41, 42, 43, 57, 65-6
Gatew;l\',~
Index
Natural affimn' 2-4, 5, 10 Naturalization 3 Neal and Massv 137 Nco-liberalism 38,112,119-20,140 Networks 8, ll'l- 19
lOY, 110
Keane, \V./. 173 Kinship i 2, 79-83 Kirshenhbrr-GimbleH, B 174
Newspapers online 94 Newtown 40-2, 196, 198-9
Kula rmg 20, iX, 104
Oil .16, 37,119,120 Lash, S, ;H1d Urry,
J.
'Ole talk' 90, 92, 206
]-40
3-4, 8-9, 193 Lcfter wflnng 32. 56, 185 Liberalism 17-18,
OradI.' )47
Liheralis
Panda)" l3asdeo 38 Pamh 177, lSI Penrecosrals i 77, 186, 187-8 Piracy 28, 31 Pomt of Presence (POP) l31, 206 Politlcalecol1omv 17 Pope 1SO, 185 Popular culture 33. 100 Pornography 17,32,43,74,76 Port of Spalll 22, 30, 177, 196
LHour,
I~
Palace char 146
Liherrananlsm 5, [6, IH
l ihrafles 30, -16 Lime, limmg 22, 34,
-? - -6 I_-J, I •
T I, 88-9 " 96
205 Literacv 3H Livmg \X'aters (Catholic Chansmancs) iJ,
176-7, IHO, 190 Loca! loop 124 Localizanon 7, 95, 98-103
A'i!lCfJ ! 05, 205 Maha Sabha i74, 177 ~'I;\haral, Sarnanne 174 Manchester Ull1red 101 ;'\,·tarkct mtegranon US ~las'- camps 109, 110-111 Matcrlal culrure 3, H, 193 j\'lcado\\'s 39--40, 46. 196, 197-8
Posrer, M. 6 Poner, rvt. l36 Posrmodermsm 5 Postsrructuralism 5 Pncmg 28 ProtectlOlmm 38 Quake 22, 75 Quesnoomure 22
Mediatltlll 8 Microsoh 47 j'vlinshal!, Peter 109, 110 Migration 1\,12 }"'\iss UllIvcrse wehslte 20, 42, 95-101, 136,
j45-9, [62, 165, 167 MIT 3-1 l\\odermtv 12-13,79, iiB MoJerlllzanon i 7 MP3s 33, 40, 97, 170-i, 206 MUD IS, 32, 206
R.ldical (bshions) j 3 Ibdio J4 Random dnt 42 Real Audio 146 ReceSSIOn 12 Regul
215
Index Long-term 68-71 rVJarnage 40, 68, 69-70, 80 J\lorher-daughrer 58 Pal.:c ot development 69 Scnousness 64-70 Shorr-term 63-4, 71 Trust III 67-8 ReligIOn 13, 173-93 ReligIOus authonry 179-80, 181 ReligIous community 178 ReslJenw"d arens 39 Rudder, David 110 Rumshop 89
Sacred Hearr Cathedra! 177 SI\TS exams 77
WebSIte deSigners 46, 145-72 Williams, Enc, 16,36,37,112,114 World Bank US, j 61
TIDCO 86, 94, 99, 104-5, liD, 112, 120, 148,152. 161,206 Tobago 35, 105, 110, 137 TOUrISm 99, liS, 120, 137, j 62 Trinidad 35-39, 86-7
\'(ITO 119, 130, il3, 139,206
Yclvlllgron, K, 90 Yorke, DWight 101
Yourh2,7, iJ,31,5J,62, 73 Y2K 168,203
Trinidadian, as general catcgorr 86-7 Trinidad-Online 87-8, 101 Trump, Donald 147
St. Pauls 42-3,197,199-200, San Fernando 30, 76 Sanparh, N. 94 Satellite 124-135, 19/ Schools 30, 46-7, 75-9
TSTT 17, 28,121-35,132-5,141_2,206 Umted Kingdom 59-61, 61, 93 Trimdadians In 93-5
Prcstlge secondary 33, 36, 45, 71
Unemplo~'lllent 38
71, 75-9 Sex 63-4, 76, 8 1,90 Sexual hamer 90-1 Se.\:pIl.:s exchange 6, 18, 62, 65 Shoppmg 169 Simlllel, G. 182 Skills 34,47-9,77, 135-6 Sk~IBox 30, j 69,206 Slavery 16, 35 Snmh ItT. 79-80 A1Ullllll
United Stares 20,44, S8, 99,106,136,139,
169 UmverSlty of West Indies (UWI) 187,206 UtoPia 16 Venezuela 119,120,138 Video phone 32 Virtuality 4-7, 55, 69-70, 82-3, 172 Viruses 78-9
7, 91, 95, 97, 110, 111-2,206
SOI.:I;] I
IIlcqualin' 44-52 Splnrual journcYlng 182-3 'Spot the Trini' 170 Steel-hanJs I J 1 Stewarr, J 1 J 0
VOIce rransmlSSton (vOice over 11') 122, 125,
129-132, 135 Wa keford, N. 74 Webcam 94 Weber, M, 189 Wehsltes 15,20,71, 103-11 J, 145-172,
Srru([ural adjustmenr 17, 1 J 9, 139 Sn'k' 33 Surfing 32, 95, 99, 104 Survey 27, 29, 30, 49, 195-203
177-8,188 As traps 20, 78,104,149,160,165, i68 Catalogue type 150, 156-64 Clothing and fahnl.: j 61-4 Flyer type 150 152-6 Ideal types 149-52, 167 Interacnvlty 150, i60, 164-S Interrace type 151, 160, 164-8 Personal web-pages 40, 78
Technology, media 8, 10, J 4- 16, 3 I Tedlllologtl.:aJ determtnlsm S TeJecolllmunlcanons monopoly 13, 17,
121-135
216
r
Telephone 32, 55, 57, 124, 13] Telephony 31, J 25 TeleVISion 32, 186
Compermve advantage 20, 136-143 Economy 38,119-20 Openness 98-103 RcprcseIHlllg 103-115 Umry 100 TrinIdad Express 94 Trinidad Guardian 94
!han, S. 37
501.:01 mUSl1.:
Index
217
