SCLG2616 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Global Positioning System, Leapfrogging, Telemedicine

• School: University of Sydney
• Department: Sociology
• Course: SCLG2616
• Professor: all

Document Summary

Time-space compression : the shrinking of space, and the reduction of the time required by a wide range of processes, brought about by changes in transportation and communi- cation technologies advanced mainly by capitalist corporations. Time-space distanciation : the stretching of social relations across space and time brought about by technological change. Leapfrogging : developing nations bypassing earlier technologies and adopting more advanced technologies. Bypassing twentieth century fixed-line phone systems and going directly to twenty-first century mobile phone technology is one of the most common examples of leapfrogging in the developing world. For example, in bangladesh there are barely more than one million land-line phone connections in a nation of 155 million people. However, there are already 100 million cell-phone users. In contrast, few of these tech- nologies flow to less developed, southern countries, they are used there less intensively, and there are relatively few trained people there capable of conducting the tests and interpreting the results.