Project description
The digital trajectory of Latin America post-1950
Following World War II, Latin American political and military leaders, scientists, journalists, and other professionals embraced digital computing as a vital tool for modernisation. However, the arrival of computers did not automatically shape the region’s future. Instead, it demonstrated the complex interplay between technological advancement and social change. In this context, the ERC-funded WIRED project will analyse the sociotechnical history of computing in Latin America between 1950 and 2000, focusing on how the synergy between people and computers shaped Latin American futures. Combining insights from technological history, science studies, computational linguistics, as well as interviews with contemporary actors, it will explore diverse pioneering initiatives to assess the practical implications of digital computing.
Objective
After World War II, democratic presidents, revolutionaries, dictators, managers, scientists, journalists, and military officials across Latin America, as in other parts of the world, heralded the digital computer as a “key to the future.”
However, the introduction of computers to Latin America from 1958 onward did not, on its own, unlock a predetermined future. The relationship between technology and society is far more complex. Technology is deeply intertwined with human agency: only networks of humans and machines can drive meaningful change. To fully understand the significance of computers, we must look beyond utopian and dystopian narratives and reject simplistic notions of technological or social determinism.
WIRED examines Latin America’s history from the 1950s to the 2000s—a period marked not only by computer imports but also by remarkable creativity, innovation, and locally developed computer projects—to ask:
How have people and digital computers shaped Latin American futures?
Drawing on perspectives from the history of technology, Science and Technology Studies, and computational linguistics, among others, WIRED investigates diverse future-making ventures—such as educational initiatives, statistical agencies, economic investments, and programming laboratories—to analyze computing’s impact on the ground. For new insights into the “making” of futures, the research project integrates interviews with contemporary actors and explores rarely examined sources, including internal IT department documents and computer source codes. By focusing on computers as artifacts that “intermingle” times— past, present and future —WIRED bridges two fields: the history of computing and temporality studies.
WIRED breaks new ground in the humanities and social sciences by:
1) Reframing societal change through computers
2) Combining the history of computing with temporality studies
3) Highlighting Latin America’s frequently overlooked computing history
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- humanities languages and literature linguistics
- humanities history and archaeology history
- natural sciences computer and information sciences
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
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Topic(s)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
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Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants
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Call for proposal
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Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2025-COG
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
50931 KOLN
Germany
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