Translations of culture and identity : a study of Internet use in the Haitian community

Abstract

Despite the reality of the digital divide, over the years many bridges have been built over this chasm; diverse people of diverse backgrounds, cultures and countries utilize computers and their inherent technologies. One of the communities that use the Internet is the Haitian community. A detailed study on what the Haitian community - citizens and those of the Diaspora - finds in the Internet, what they make of this tool and how they relate its possibilities to themselves will reveal a profusion of information about both the Haitian culture and about the Internet. This ethnographic research will shed light on how useful the Internet is to this particular community. These findings may be used to engineer design that is more specific to the needs of this community. This 'culturized' study is presented through the lens of theoretical frameworks that view the user as playing a dominant role in defining the nature, scope and functions of the technology. This research hopes to focus on users and the way in which they shape the Internet media to have meaning in their everyday life and culture. The research examines the way in which the role of the technology is shaped within the domestic environment - how it is manipulated to compliment existing patterns of behavior and routine. The purpose of this research is to ask what domestic Internet users do with their media and how they construct it as meaningful in the existing network of everyday life. A qualitative approach has been adopted, which prioritizes the role of the user.