Towards geographies of cyberspace

Abstract

This article uses two cyberspatial technologies, namely, the Internet (the global network of connected computers), and its close cousins, intranets (closed, private corporate telematic networks), to illustrate the ways in which geographers have engaged, and could engage, with studies of cyberspace. Virtual reality technologies are not discussed explicitly as, in the main, they are still at an exploratory and experimental stage. The article has three central aims: first, to introduce cyberspace and its implications to a wider geographical audience; secondly, to provide a critical review of current empirical and theoretical work relating to cyberspatial technologies by geographers; and, thirdly, to introduce geographers to the current debates and empirical research of scholars from other disciplines and suggest how geographers can build upon and advance these studies. An agenda for future research is outlined and an approach in which to ground future studies is forwarded. It is argued that spatiality is central to understanding cyberspace.

Maps as social constructions: power, communication and visualization

“…It is likely that many will want to resist this death of distance through a renewed discussion of time-space compression, or a more optimistic vision of civic participation (Light, 1999) or transgression of national boundaries. What, then, are the cartographies of cybergeographies (Kitchin, 1998)? For example, a notable feature of many virtual spaces is the degree to which they replicate traditional physical spaces, complete with costs of distance.…”

Atemporalización y presentificación del mundo social en la sociología contemporánea

“…Es justo reconocer que esto se lleva tiempo haciendo. Basta con considerar las investigaciones sobre el ciberespacio (Carter 2005, Graham 1998, Kitchin 1998, Pratt, 2000 o sobre la comunicación por medio de móviles (Green 2002, Licoppe 2004, Prasopoulou, Pouloudi &Panteli 2006Wajcman 2008). Lo que alienta en esas líneas de investigación es que, para dar cuenta de las nuevas vivencias del espaciotiempo o de cómo las tecnologías median nuestra relación con el mundo, se atiende, no a lo que supuestamente está ya inscrito en las tecnologías, sino a las prácticas de los actores.…”

Science fiction or future fact? Exploring imaginative geographies of the new millennium

“…Whilst noting that surveillance and monitoring are nothing new, they report that recent developments in computing and telecommunications qualitatively alter the nature of surveillance by routinizing, broadening and deepening it (Marx, 1988) through the increased transferability, replicability and availability of records. As a consequence they contend that it is increasingly difficult to take part in everyday life without leaving a digital trace: individuals and institutional records are digitized and stored in relational databases that are easy to cross-check; CCTV equipment (vision, sound, infrared) monitor public spaces; satellites monitor the earth from low orbits; computers monitor credit transactions and movements in cyberspace (Kitchin, 1998). This surveillance has been accompanied by the privatization of public space, probably best illustrated through the transfer of shopping from public streets to privately regulated malls, with the shops remaining on the public street increasingly subject to the gaze of corporate and state surveillance (see Shields, 1989).…”