CHAPTER 4: NET WORK GOVERNANCE
that digital telecommunications technologies, though common to many users, are specially adapted and fine tuned in the needs of a specific user group. That being said, they serve as a shared point of reference in ongoing project work, allowing for a transmission of information across “different social worlds” (Star and Griesemer, 1989). Digital telecommunications technologies do “not require coordination through a hierarchy, but the creation of an infrastructure…” that serves as a “mutual point of reference to promote collaboration (Star and Griesemer, 1989). In the case of technological introduction in urban regional governance networks, there is a process of parallel development. Parallel Development refers to the fact that an external social or technological change will be distributed amongst actors in a network equally. Responses to these changes will largely be informed by past experiences and by the “tools” available to actors to effectively adapt to change. Each actor will thus initially operate independently to understand the possible applications and implications of technological and social change, internalizing and appropriating those elements of technological change most suited to current activity.
4.6 DIGITAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGIES AND COMMUNICATION AND COLLABORATION IN URBAN REGIONAL GOVERNANCE NETWORKS In the works of Knox and Pinch, it was asserted that digital telecommunications technologies not only allow for more long distance communication, but also similarly allow for the expansion and refinement of local ties in a given actor network (2000). The implementation of digital telecommunications technologies leads to a process of “co-configuration…based even more on the utilization of new information and communication technologies to create a…customer intelligent product, collaborative value creation and spur continuous redevelopment” (Virkkunen, 2007). The aim is to “extend horizontal collaboration” and “collective active” with human systems often morphing
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into and resembling a constantly modifiable open source software. Infrastructural investments such as digital communications cabling, wireless service provision and e-governance development require long term planning, collective problem solving and shifts in actor network organization and collaboration. In urban regional actor networks, the first dimension of exchange that is fundamentally impacted by the introduction of digital telecommunications technologies is the dimension of communication. Through the implementation of digital telecommunications technologies, there is a quantitative increase in the amount of connections between actors in a given network both in the process of initial installation of infrastructure and in the process of understanding how to better furnish services in a digital telecommunications technologies framework. The ability to communicate with actors at in a closer distance in a faster and more integrated way has the added benefit of strengthening relationships and ties previously established through by facilitating and opening new forums of information exchange. Local actors are able to share more information and communicate more effectively, thus aiding in the efforts to build consensus on policy interventions in governance networks. A quantitative increase in connections between actors is coupled with a quantitative increase in the scale of communication. The ability to connect with actors at a farther distance effectively increases the scale and possibilities of interaction. The use of digital telecommunications technologies is intangible and is thus not confined to conventional notions of boundaries that limit the scale and effectiveness of urban governance network project interventions. While in the past communication and collaboration between actors was limited by geography and technology, the introduction of digital telecommunications technologies has allowed for a change in the scale and dimension of these activities. Unconstrained by conventional boundaries and networks of information exchange, actors can think beyond the local but below the regional; a semi space to which urban systems have currently evolved, directing and evolving action to suit the needs of individual users that operate in