A Transnational History of the Internet in Central America, 1985-2000: Networks, Integration, and Development

Acknowledgments
Contents
About the Author
Acronyms
List of Figures
List of Tables
Chapter 1: “Follow the Networks”
Networks, Integration and Development: Theoretical and Methodological Considerations
A Transnational History of the Internet
Technology as a Political Integration Project
Sociotechnical Configurations of Development
A Note on Method
The Nodes of This Journey
References
Chapter 2: Matters of Central American Integration (1960s–1990s)
The Central American Common Market and the Telecommunications “Regional Artery”
Crisis, Peace, and a Tangled Integration
Concluding Remarks
References
Chapter 3: The Founding Networks of Central America
RACSAPAC: The Central American X.25 Network
UUCP: A Technology for Peace and Development
Nicarao and Progressive Networks for Social Change
A Node Called Huracán
Toward a Central American UUCP “Backbone”
BITNET: Overcoming Academic Isolation
The First Central American Node: UCRVM2
From Costa Rica to Panama: UTPVM1
Concluding Remarks
References
Chapter 4: An Internet for the Global South
NSFNET Outside of the United States
RedHUCyT: Internet and Academic Development in Latin America
UNDP: The Internet as the Path Toward Development
A Latin American Telecommunications Network
A Sustainable Development Network
A Front Divided by a Common Goal
Concluding Remarks
References
Chapter 5: A Central American Internet
The Costa Rican Catalyst
Nicaragua and the First “Pure Link” to the Internet
Another Rung on the Transnational Ladder: The Internet in Panama
The Internet and the Conflictive Top-Level Domain in Honduras
The Strength of Networks: The Internet as an Inter-Institutional Project in Guatemala
Of Networks and Lobbying: SVNet in El Salvador
Concluding Remarks
References
Chapter 6: Internet and Integration in the Era of Privatization
Opening the Telecommunications Market in Central America
Toward a Commercial Internet
From X.25 to the Internet: A Forced Shift
New Providers, New Tensions
A Network in Search of Users
On Digital Agendas and Public Policies
Privatization and the Limits of Integration
The “Central American Internet Backbone”
Many Institutions, Little Integration
From Internet Access to Meaningful Use: Archaeology of a Latin American ICT4D Theory
Concluding Remarks
References
Chapter 7: The Inconclusive Project of Technological Integration
Toward Transnational Internet Histories
Of “Regional Arteries” and “Backbones” for Development
References
Index