New technological localisms: a comparative analysis of two case studies

Résumé

The following paper is concerned with elucidating an account of forms of new localism as they relate to the concept of ‘habitele’, a conceptual framework that helps us understand new forms of relatedness in the digitally mediated world. In doing this it will also reflect back on the concept and draw out as yet unconsidered elements based upon issues of fluidity, mobility, and what we will call ‘distal-locals’. The paper is centred around two case studies: the first is of a smart phone app, vouchercloud and details the way that the offering of money-off vouchers rests on particular notions of the local; while the second is of a environment organization who uses information technology to promote their activities. It is premised upon a history of work in the sociology of science and technology studies (STS) and in particular a set of conceptual and methodologicalresources that helps to reveal the complexities of notions such as “the local”.