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| Author(s): |
Diego Vicentin
Total Authors: 1
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| Document type: | Doctoral Thesis |
| Press: | Campinas, SP. |
| Institution: | Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Instituto de Filosofia e Ciências Humanas |
| Defense date: | 2016-06-05 |
| Examining board members: |
Laymert Garcia dos Santos;
Henrique Zoqui Martins Parra;
Marta Mourão Kanashiro;
Rafael de Almeida Evangelista;
Olga Cavalli
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| Advisor: | Laymert Garcia dos Santos |
| Abstract | |
The main objective of this work is to concurrently describe and inform a dimension of reality in which technology and politics overlap. This dissertation follows the evolution path from cellphone technology towards the mobile broadband network. The research object is placed in the grey area between computing, telecommunications and social sciences. Based on the specialized literature and technical tutorials, the first chapter describes the basics of cellphone technology and the shift between generations that were on the path of evolving towards the mobile broadband technology. The second chapter, in its turn, presents the philosophical though that underpins my research perspective. It introduces the theory of the French philosopher Gilbert Simondon by focusing on the concept of reticulation that is particularly important to apprehend the network as a constantly evolving infrastructure rather than static. The third chapter is exploring the relation between technology and politics from the perspective of standardization. In particular, it addresses the very technopolitical nature of standards development activity based on the ethnographic research conducted at the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers Standards Association (IEEE-SA). The primary result of this work is the compilation of ethnographic notes that were taken during the IEEE-SA Standards Board (SASB) series of meetings and during the 802 LMSC Plenaries and Wireless Interim meetings. Based on the ethnographic notes I have described formal and informal operations in the process of shaping interoperability standards. Finally, the fourth chapter closes the dissertation and retakes the evolution path of the mobile broadband network based on the ethnographic experience presented previously. It describes the convergence process between two distinct technical architectures - cellular and Wireless LAN - and the conflict between two competing standards: LTE/3GPP and WiFi/IEEE 802. Here the main goal is to approach certain contemporary technopolitical dilemmas in regard to the mobile broadband network architecture, including a topological change and the possibility of capturing the unlicensed share of the electromagnetic spectrum by telecom corporations (AU) | |
| FAPESP's process: | 10/18434-9 - Reticulation and Data Flow: the social gears of the machinery of data production and transmission. |
| Grantee: | Diego Jair Vicentin |
| Support Opportunities: | Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate |