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Geography
Human Geography

Mapping Geomedia: Charting the Terrains of Space, Place and Media

Profile image of Paul AdamsPaul Adams
https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315410210-3
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Abstract

In my previous research, I have developed a taxonomic system for situating work in the nascent field of geomedia. This taxonomy organizes the field into four quadrants separated by the classic geographical distinction between space and place, and an orthogonal division between media as containers and media as contents. There is growing attention to communicational processes that fragment or modularize identity while extending agency in various ways. Second, the formation of social collectivities evolves in response to the new processes forming personal identity. New kinds of publics emerge through digital data flows, and these redefine the nature of mobility. When one moves with a digital device that links to distant locations while constantly updating the location of the user, and the device both shapes and tracks the user's movement, distinctions of space, place, content and context break down. This chapter builds off the quadrant diagram to provide a sense of where we are headed with these developments.

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The physical space has historically served as an important support for human expression. However, the production of location-based information has been consciously used as means of social control by the hegemonic power, which decides what can be publicly displayed, and what should be hidden. With the development of mobile media, space has gained new dimensions, resulting in a sort of hybrid space where digital information overlays the physical space revealing what was previous unknown about a place. As mobile devices become increasingly present in our society, they should be understood as a social interface to our experience of space, serving not only as means to consume information, but also tools for communication. This paper discuss the current mobile media practices, such as mapping, urban electronic annotations, location-based mobile games, and smart mobs, which creates opportunities for new forms of human expression, reappropriations of space, and contestation of hegemonic power.

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An Introduction to the Symposium "Other Senses of Place: Socio-Spatial Practices in the Contemporary Media Environment", edited by Federica Timeto, SOCIOLOGICA n.3/2015
Federica Timeto

This introduction offers an overview of the different sociospatial practices of the contemporary geomedia environment which are discussed in the collected essays of this symposium. Although they have varied theoretical and practical approaches, ranging from media theory and media and communication sociology to urban media studies, game studies and the digital arts, all the essays in the collection bring to the fore the performativity of places, which locative-mobile interfaces make increasingly visible and traceable today, urging us to consider – contingently as well as conjoinedly – the mobility and positionality of any location.

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Related topics

  • Human Geography
  • Media Theory
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