A compilation of authoritative reports from seasoned researchers working in eight different countries on five continents, this volume examines the concept that conditions of local feasibility are constitutive of research practices not simply obstructions to the realization of an ideal. The result documents the effects of political and cultural factors on research projects and offers culturally sensitive researchers a wealth of practical knowledge.

This volume explores how a number of developing countries -- including India, Malaysia, Columbia, Brazil, and Saudi Arabia -- are responding to the pressures of the information society. Infrastructural development, policies, and social systems are investigated, and models of information technologies and society are proposed in order to better reference the differences and similarities among the nations profiled. The authors identify the social technology perspective via the assimilation of technology in lifestyles and social systems. From this perspective, the diffusion of technologies is...