Cybercafés as constellations of social practices: Exploring 'place' and 'technospace' in cybercafés in México

The term cybercafé has been widely used to refer to social spaces designed to provide access to computers and the internet. Described as a type of technospace where technology and human interaction are closely intertwined, cybercafés assume many designs and undertake different functions in society. Current literature on cybercafés in developing countries addresses mainly issues of access to the internet (the digital divide), the role of intermediaries and the learning that takes place. We complement these works by analyzing the different practices performed in three cybercafés in Mexico. Our empirical data is drawn from participant observations and interviews with customers and the staff of the cybercafés observed. Drawing from the New Mobilities Paradigm, our analysis explores the flows people, objects and networks in each place. Additionally, we consider the transformations experienced at these places and suggest that these changes respond to a mixed business model as well as to the intersection of particular objects, trajectories and situations that coalesced at different moments in these cybercafés. We argue that cybercafés are continually evolving and finding new ways to survive as technospaces where consumers find various forms of technology, goods and resources, and where interesting ways of social interactions are taking place.