Image of place as a byproduct of medium: Understanding media and place through case study of Foursquare (original) (raw)
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Mobile communication and new sense of places: a critique of spatialization in cyberculture
Galáxia, 2008
The underlying idea of this paper can be expressed as follows: informational mobile technologies have enabled new means of communication and sociability based on what I call "informational territories". What is at stake here is to question some visions about the relationship between informational technologies and place, territory, community and mobility. I will argue that, under the label of "locative media", new mobile technologies are creating new forms of territorialization (control, surveillance, tracking) and new meanings of space, place, and territory, contradicting the theory of "non-place" or "no sense of place". Moreover, this impels us to argue the ideas of anomie and isolation with the emergence of new forms of sociability and community created by location-based services.
The Discursive Construction of Place in the Digital Age, ed. by Alejandro Parini and Francisco Yus (Routledge), 2023
In this article we aim to examine the notion of "place" as it is discursively constructed and eventually entextualised (decontextualised and recontextualised), both individually and collectively through the online-offline interface that characterises today's digital communication. We argue that this entextualisation is mainly performed in terms of three different layers of context: 1) A sociocultural context through which place is seen as liberating and at the same time constraining, ie. tethering and untethering people to and from the physicality of a particular location (Yus 2021a, Frith 2014, de Souza e Silva 2013; de Souza e Silva and Frith 2010). This is done against the background of the premium put on mobility and liquidity (Bauman 2000) as crucial components of the relationship between the Internet and the pervasive culture of freedom that permeates society today. 2) A sociomental context in which place fosters a feeling of togetherness and nonstop connectivity through the sharing of experiences (both physicalised and virtualised), and with known and/or unknown others. And 3) A situational context in which place is discursively and interactionally conceptualised along four dimensions: a) a temporal dimension through which place is experienced and constructed or co-constructed in synchronous or asynchronous forms of communication, with (a)synchronicity seen not only as an inherent property of a particular medium of communication but also seen in terms of how users perceive, interpret and assess temporality and their current physical location (as opposed to the virtual realm where interactions unfold); b) a functional dimension through which place is framed as a freestanding, one-off event or as a prelude or follow-up event connecting different social practices taking place in hybridised physical-virtual scenarios; c) a multimedia dimension through which place is co-constructed either unimodally or multimodally using different semiotic resources, depending on the interface affordances; and d) an interpersonal dimension through which place is collectively constructed in the form of a social, cultural or collective mosaic or wikispace.
2017
This dissertation explores the role of locative media in people's place-making activities and sense of place. Sense of place is a human need that entails people's meanings, memories, and feelings for a location. Recent technological and market developments have introduced powerful geographic information tools and place-related media. By identifying a user's location, locative media deliver geographically relevant content that enable people to capture and preserve place information, virtually append it to space, and broadcast it to others. Despite locative media's growing prominence, the influence on sense of place is not well understood. A major finding of this research is that use of locative media can contribute meaningfully to a person's positive sense of place, including fostering existential connection. This study refutes scholarly and popular dismissals of the medium as only detracting from sense of place. Locative media was found to enable people to make spaces their own by offering geographic relevant information and experiences, recording and sharing place-related impressions, and presenting places in new and enjoyable ways, such as through defamiliarization and decommodification. This study demonstrates the importance of access to our hybrid spaces, unfettered by corporate restriction, to create meaningful place relationships. However, it was The process to completion of a doctoral degree is legendarily herculean and, at times, sisyphean. I could not have made it through my odyssey were it not for the support and guidance of many people.
The Discursive Construction of Place in the Digital Age, 2023
This collection calls for greater attention to the need for a clearer understanding of the role of discourse in the process of placemaking in the digital age and the increasing hybridisation of physical and virtual worlds. The volume outlines a new conceptualisation of place in the time of smartphones, whose technological and social afordances evoke placemaking as a collaborative endeavour which allows users to create and maintain a sense of community around place as shareable or collective experience. Taken together, the chapters argue for a greater emphasis on the ways in which users employ discourse to manage this physical-virtual interface in digital interactions and in turn, produce "remixed" cultural practices that draw on diverse digital semiotic resources and refect their everyday experiences of place and location. The book explores a wide range of topics and contexts which embody these dynamics, including livestreaming platforms, mourning in the digital age, e-service encounters, and Internet forums. While the overlay of physical and virtual information on locationbased media is not a new phenomenon, this volume argues that, in the face of its increasing pervasiveness, we can better understand its unfolding and future directions for research by accounting for the signifcance of place in today's interactions. This book will be of interest to students and scholars in discourse analysis, digital communication, pragmatics, and media studies
Locative Media in the city: Spatial Practices and Social Dynamics
Book chapter in "Mediacity. Situations, Practices and Encounters" - Edited by F. Eckardt et al., Frank & Timme, Berlin, Germany, 2008
Locative Media as " spatial interfaces "-Unraveling the different types of spatial awareness involved in Locative Media Locative Media can be thought of as spatial interfaces, initiating a series of interlacing spatial practices and activities that define their use as everyday media. The spatial character of Locative Media is twofold. In a more general sense, the use of any medium is essentially spatial, by virtue of being part of everyday life practices. Technological, discursive and symbolic artifacts represent and contribute to the shaping of the socio-cultural realities of individuals and communities. These everyday realities are presuppositionally and ontologically spatial (Soja, 1996: 46). In other words, the use of any medium is always situational and contextual and its meaning is contingent upon the specific space-temporal conditions in which it unfolds. In a more specific sense, Locative Media afford a series of highly spatialized activities that set them apart from other types of media. By enabling the execution of location-based activities, Locative Media create new zones of technosocial action and appropriation, each reflecting different types of spatial awareness. Below, we are proposing a taxonomy of these different, yet inextricably related and mutually defined, types of spatial awareness of Locative Media users and the spatial practices they encompass. We suggest that this taxonomy may be used as a theoretical model for different levels of research into the spatial aspect of Locative Media. In proposing this model, we subscribe to Graham's (2004) " recombinant approach " which supports a fully relational view of the links between technology, time, space and social life. a) Performative space We call the first zone of Locative Media the " performative space " and propose that I may be approached through the narrative paradigm according to which the modern city is a " text " on which a variety of textual practices are performed. The environment or landscape always gives meaning to places, and urban landscapes reflect contemporaneous trends (Zeitgeist). The signs and symbols of the city are read as an urban biography. Today these signs include New Media which in their turn become part of a new urban symbolology. For the prominent French philosopher of everyday life, Michel De Certeau, the modern city has become a " concept " (a " concept-city "), by producing its own space through rational organization. This is how the city is being created as a universal and anonymous subject. The " concept-city " functions as a space of metamorphoses and appropriations, as an object of various interventions and at the same time as a subject which is continuously reinforced with new elements. Schematically, the city today is a structured complex, within which the subversive human practices are functioning in an overt or covert way. These are essentially spatial practices " ways of operating or acting " which take place and evolve in space.
2002
This paper explores the relationship between place, computation, and experience. In particular, it seeks to understand the zone that exists between the digital world on the one hand, and the physical world on the other. It is suggested that the ideal of "immersive ...
Our changing relationship with place and non-place in our modern mobile world
2014
From the 1960s and 70s onward, concepts of ‘place’ have begun to be discussed and explored through their specific relationship with people. At the same time many artists have taken creative approaches to address the aerial perspective using new technological advances. The theories on ‘place’, our relationship to it, and our perception of the world from an aerial viewpoint have developed and changed rapidly in our modern, mobile world. New terms such as ‘non-place’, discussed at length by the anthropologist Marc Augé in Non-Places: An Introduction to Supermodernity, have been born, evoking a negative, disconnected state in which we occupy the world. Our ability to see the world we live in from above has also altered and now using satellite imaging the whole globe has become available for us to view at just a click of a mouse. This view from above can often be thought of as a physical and mental detachment from where we come from, a detachment from place, and it is tied up with complex political relationships and technological control across the globe that it makes visible. Does this perhaps point to the globe having turned into one entire ‘non-place’? This dissertation will discuss whether the current definitions of ‘non-place’ are in fact outdated, and whether traditional notions of ‘place’ set down from the 1960s by anthropologists and geographers should be reassessed to improve the understanding of the term. The contexts in which we experience place have changed and despite being christened non-places, this may not be an appropriate phrase to fully describe our current relationship to place. Artists from the 1960s who turned to land art in order to free themselves from the institutional space of the gallery, will also be considered, as a main focus for them was the aerial view. The art and writings of Robert Smithson in particular will be analysed regarding Marc Augé’s statement that ‘We are in an era characterized by changes of scale’1. Carol Rhodes’ painterly, aerial depictions of typical non-places will also be considered as an alternative visual tool by which to examine our current relationship with place. How has our fascination in seeing the world from above, and our newly acquired ability to do so completely changed our perception and experience of physical place and space? It will be useful to investigate the ‘geographical imagination’ stimulated by aerial views and draw on arguments from social theorists, human geographers, anthropologists and art writers as well as analysis of artists, to explore the validity of the term ‘non-place’ as well as our apparent detachment from the world. 1 Marc Augé, Non-Places: An Introduction to Supermodernity, p.26
Placemaking in the Digital Media Era
The active use of modern technology has affected the relationship between people and place. The "digital environment" and the "digital community" are becoming an increasingly important factor in people's daily life, leading to a loss of belonging to a place, an entire neighbourhood, and a community. In the long run, this poses risks to the unification of values and the loss of identity. In this context, the involvement of the local community in the identification and preservation of historical heritage and defining the specific values of each site is particularly important. Thus, both the attraction of the local community to specific places and the revealed potential of local tourism are promoted. Digital placemaking enters urban regeneration as a logical approach to mixing digital and physical environments and involving the local community. Several GIS-based platforms and other tools are used to identify heritage values, both tangible and intangible. Although digital placemaking is emerging worldwide, its manifestations are closely related to specific local circumstances. The article focuses on the key characteristics and configurations of the digital placemaking tools within particular communities. The study tests digital placemaking practice in the historical districts of three cities: Taipei (Taiwan), Riga (Latvia), and Kaunas (Lithuania).