The petrol station and the Internet cafe: rural technospaces for youth

Several writers suggest information and communication technologies (ICTs) may eliminate the friction of distance in questions of location and social interaction. If this is interpreted within a pro-periphery framework, this creates new optimism for rural areas. In the Norwegian discourse on ICT and regional policies, ICT is seen as a technical device to improve communication, and can be used to represent of the rural areas as being contemporary and up to date. Voluntary based Internet cafes is one example of this, where access to technology is linked to an urban cafe trend. For youth, these cafes provide an alternative to the local petrol station as a place to meet in public. This article is based on empirical studies in two Norwegian villages, focusing on the local petrol station and the Internet cafes as technospaces for youth cultures. I explore how technology and human interaction intersect in constituting these spaces; involving processes of extension, transgression, and exclusion. Furthermore I analyse how the car and the Internet are interpreted and given different symbolic and utility values among youth at the petrol station and the respective Internet cafes. The Internet like the car are domesticated in different ways according to the interests and orientations of the users; to expand their radius of activity and their repertoire of identities in the local community, or to reach beyond the village. Despite being initially built on the same concept, the two Internet cafes evolved to be quite different from one another, as the implementation process and integration of the cafes took place within their respective local contexts. The study challenges the common view of the Internet as symbolically attached to the urban community and a practical means to accomplish global reach.