Rappresentazioni sociali delle nuove tecnologie. Il caso della rete Guadalinfo

Social representations of technology. The case study of Guadalinfo net. Besides the practical use and/or appropriation of new technologies, one also has to consider their symbolic dimension, which is linked to social discourse that is often highly-charged ideologically. This article discusses the symbolic and ideological dimension by delving social imaginaries and visions of subjects as they interact with technological devices.We assume that subjects not only perceive the technical object they handle through its material features but also through the mental and social representations it suggests. The social mind sets built in the process both legitimize a given social order and question it through criticism. This double condition of instituting and criticizing the social order reveals that the imaginary is a field of conflict and negotiation characterized by persuasion, seduction, fascination (and even violent imposition). In this arena of struggle, the subject is not wholly in charge of his actions, which swing between automatism and autonomy (as Michel de Certeau notes, we choose tactical actions within an imposed strategy that is foreign to us). This work is part of a three-year R and D project that analyzes the uses of new technologies in public spaces with Internet access. For this study, the techniques of participant observation and in-depth interview were used, with 51 key informants between users and municipal technicians.