Placing globalizing technologies: telemedicine and the making of place

Description/Abstract

The development and proliferation of new information and communication technologies has generated some profound claims about the erasure of place. Whilst these claims have continued political and policy resonance, they are increasingly challenged in sociological debate, which emphasizes the persistence of the local. Following this lead, our article explores relations between technology and place. We develop our understanding through engagement with Science and Technology Studies, Actor Network Theory and geographical conceptualizations of place. Our argument is worked through a new empirical study of telemedicine, where new technologies are applied precisely to overcome place. Our analysis is that, on the contrary, empirical outcomes are legible only through the lens of place. This has important policy implications and broader implications for thinking about technology in contemporary debates about globalization.