Everyday life and locative play: an exploration of Foursquare and playful engagements with space and place

Abstract

Foursquare is a location-based social network (LBSN) that combines gaming elements with features conventionally associated with social networking sites (SNSs). Following two qualitative studies, the paper sets out to explore what impact this overlaying of physical environments with play has on everyday life and experiences of space and place. Drawing on early understandings of play (Caillois, 2001;Huizinga, 1992), alongside the flâneur (Benjamin, 1991) and 'phoneur' (Luke, 2006) as respective methods for conceptualising play in the context of mobility and urbanity, the paper examines whether the suggested division between play and ordinary life (Apter, 1991;Caillois, 2001;Huizinga, 1992) is challenged by Foursquare, and if so, how this reframing of play is experienced. Secondly, the paper investigates what effect this LBSN is having on mobility choices and spatial relationships. Finally, the novel concept of the 'phoneur' is posited as a way of understanding how pervasive play through LBSNs acts as a mediating influence on the experience of space and place.

From hybrid space to dislocated space: Mobile virtual reality and a third stage of mobile media theory

“…that enabled people to 'check-in' to share location with friends (Saker and Evans, 2016), and mobile games that used location information for gameplay (Frith, 2013;Licoppe and Inada, 2006). By 2018, it has become nearly impossible to even begin listing applications-or even types of applicationsthat use location to tailor information (Wilken and Goggin, 2015).…”

Use of Applications With Georeferenced Contacts ‘Dating Apps’ to Identify Creative Areas

“…This could be an indicator of the phenomena described by Cerrone (2015) as the detachment of the spatial features and social activeness, which is being produced with social networks taking a major role. City understood as a hybrid space (where physical space is merged with the virtual realm [34], [35]) allows people to move freely in the virtual space with no time, space or income boundaries. Socioeconomic inequalities noted in the income distribution and service inequalities found in the physical distribution of venues are not present in the virtual realm, since activity patterns are independent from both.…”

Comparing Two Methods for Urban Complexity Calculation Using the Shannon-Wiener Index

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