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The literature on national and international information infrastructures (NII, GII) tends to focus on macro (international, regional, and national) issues. In a word, this literature so far has paid little attention to the role these infrastructures play in modern daily life (a micro level of analysis). By micro we mean here "local" and units of analysis like region and community.  GII and NII discussions also deal more with policy than implementation issues. Further, these discussions tend to rest on only quantitative measures, which by their very nature tend to be "coarse," i.e., a less than accurate reflection of what goes on "on the ground".

The children of Lunca Ilvei attend village schools until the 8th grade when they go away to high school. They are being raised and taught in a culture in transition, with few of the technological artifacts we in America take for granted, but their future

The children of Lunca Ilvei attend village schools until the 8th grade when they go away to high school. They are being raised and taught in a culture in transition, with few of the technological artifacts we in America take for granted, but their future
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In Romania, we have taken a different approach.  We start with local issues and context and then attempt to work our way "back up" In short, we are interested in "connecting the dots", i.e., looking at the interaction that goes on between levels (macro to micro).  Further, the qualitative methods and theory we use will help bring into the literature voices that today are seldom heard in the international conversations that take place about GII and NII. Using data from Romania, we will raise questions about what has "dropped out" of the GII and NII literature, as well as how commonly employed devices like information surveys and information audits may miss important dimensions of infrastructure, as well as the role information, knowledge and technology have in the lives of ordinary people.

To appreciate how these different levels (macro to micro) play out in daily life took us to Romania.1  In Lunca Ilvei and Hotenti, we worked through the issues above by looking at "proper fit" re: ICT (information communications technology), ICT implementation choices and ICT delivery paths.  Appropriate solutions to these problems can only be determined case by case, instance by instance, by how the "international", "national" and "local" (macro to micro) "lock" together in a particular context. These linkages are so invisible or obvious that we often miss the extent to which they inform modern life including our own, thus we went to Romania.

1. This project started at Emporia State University, Emporia, KS.  Emporia faculty/staff, especially those in the School of Library and Information Management, supported this project.  They are thanked for this here.    

 


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