The document discusses different modes of appropriating mobile technologies, including baroquization, creolization, and cannibalization. It explores these concepts through examples from Latin America and research projects studying mobile use in Brazil and a storytelling platform for immigrants in Los Angeles. The document also examines questions around the appropriation process and how technologies are rolled out, adopted, and reclaimed by users.
14. “ Among the angels and the vines of the façade of San Lorenzo, an Indian princess appears, and all the symbols of the defeated Incan culture are given a new lease on life. The Indian half-moon disturbs the traditional serenity of the Corinthian vine. American jungle leaves and Mediterranean clover intertwine. The sirens of Ulysses play the Peruvian guitar. And the flora, the fauna, the music, and even the sun of the ancient Indian world are forcefully asserted. There shall be no European culture in the New World unless all of these, our native symbols, are admitted on an equal footing.” Carlos Fuentes (1999) The Buried Mirror - Reflections on Spain and the New World ,
22. Appropriation modes: creolization Horse-phone: “ Like earlier horse-phones, it had a cord. Wire stored on a 5-mile reel played out as a scout rode. The improved model let a rider make calls without having to first dismount and then drive a spike into the ground to complete the electrical connection. Instead, the grounding wire was attached to the horse’s skin. The mild electrical current would pass through its body to its hoofs, one of which was almost always touching the ground.” (Popular Mechanics, Sep. 1907)
53. suppliers roll-out technology users appropriate suppliers re-claim users adopt reject users baroquize creolize cannibalize suppliers co-opt adapt block who are the “users”? what motivates them? what resources can they draw upon? how do they go about it? can they get help from others? (“appropriation-for-hire”)