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ABSTRACT
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This
retrospective case study utilized ethnographic field methods to explore the
building of La Plaza de Taos TeleCommunity, a
community network in Taos, New Mexico. The name La Plaza
was chosen as a Southwestern metaphor for the old
Spanish plazas which used to be gathering places to meet, gossip, buy, sell,
and trade, and as a place of community. This study examined the intersection
of technology and community development in this small community of 10,000. Taos is a year-round
tourist community which employs approximately 60% of the population. As one
of the poorest regions in the country, Taos could have been
easily missed on the Information Highway. Nonetheless, the
dedication and creativity of a handful of individuals brought the Internet to
Taos, and bat La Plaza into one of
the premier community networks in the United States. The central
mission of La Plaza was to provide free access and training through a public
access facility to all Taos residents. This
study conclusively found, using the theories of Karl Weick,
how the social and political rifts in Taos were reproduced in
the La Plaza organization through the concept of the <italic>enacted
environment</italic>. This concept recognizes that individuals create
environments which can be understood. Those environments can then be the
basis, through mutual or shared understandings, for making and promoting
relationships. The process of sharing understandings through our action with
the environment helps make sense of our roles. This concept then identifies
how organizations are comprised of people who have shared understandings in
their roles as organizational members, and as members of their communities.
Therefore, occurrences inside the organization are affected by outside events
at both the individual and organizational level. The research included formal
interviews with 27 adults. Nineteen were users of the Community Network and
represented a broad spectrum of the user community; 8 interview participants
were cultural informants, who helped me better understand the tri-ethnic culture
of Taos. The study also included
informal and experiential interviews, personal and professional journals, and
analysis of public documents, public e-mails, and the La Plaza Web Site.
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