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Technology and marginalization: a case study of the limited adoption of the intranet at a state-owned organisation in rural Australia

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conference contribution
posted on 2004-01-01, 00:00 authored by Niranjala Weerakkody
Taking a critical theory approach and the pluralist view of technology, this paper examines the problems in organizational communication that arose due to the implementation of a limited intranet electronic mail system as the main channel of communication between a rural stateowned organization and its city-based Head Office, installed at the sole discretion of the latter.
The intranet was provided only to the administration division and managers of some units due to financial constraints. This required others to receive information carried via the intranet through a gatekeeper who due to information and work overload, failed to disseminate the information effectively and efficiently. Using a combination of qualitative data collection methods, this study found that the intranet had marginalized those without access to it and reinforced the privileged position of those already with higher status within the organization, contrary to the utopian predictions
of new technologies as leading to social equality.

History

Title of proceedings

InSITE 2004 Informing Science + Information Technology Education Joint Conference

Event

Informing Science and IT Education Conference (2004 : Rockhampton, Australia)

Pagination

545 - 564

Publisher

Informing Science Institute

Location

Rockhampton, Australia

Place of publication

Santa Rosa, Calif.

Start date

2004-06-25

End date

2004-06-28

ISSN

1547-5867

eISSN

1547-5859

Language

eng

Notes

Reproduced with the specific permission of the copyright owner.

Publication classification

E1 Full written paper - refereed

Editor/Contributor(s)

E Cohen