Argentina Discourses for “information society”: a critical analysis of digital cities in Argentina

Abstract

This work presents a critical look at those discourses that from various areas promote the “Information Society” (IS). We focus on these discourses because they are currently motivating particular practices that modify intervention ways and observation of different actors in the public place, such as the “digital cities”. To start with, we reflect – based on technical philosophy, sociology and social communication contributions – about IS promises as a society model and the value acquired by “information and communication technologies” (ICTs). We believe that the Information Society and the ICTs are reproduced in mechanisms, practices, and discourses situated in particular societies and actors.  In our second step we reflect on some “digital city” models in Argentina that turn out to be of special interest to analyze critically the way in which the IS permeates public policies, generating effects of meaning related to ways of conceiving the city, the social  actors and their links in the governmental instances. In the conclusion we share some reflections about the particular ways in which these discourses define the public sphere and the centrality that the communication gains to think about cities and contemporary ways of life.