Communications Media Geographies

Although there are human geographers who have previously written on matters of media and communication, and those in media and communication studies who have previously written on geographical issues, this is the first book-length dialogue in which experienced theorists and researchers from these different fields address each other directly and engage in conversation across traditional academic boundaries. The result is a compelling discussion, with the authors setting out statements of their positions before responding to the arguments made by others. One significant aspect of this discussion is a spirited debate about the sort of interdisciplinary area that might emerge as a focus for future work. Does the already-established idea of communication geography offer the best way forward? If so, what would applied or critical forms of communication geography be concerned to do? Could communication geography benefit from the sorts of conjunctural analysis that have been developed in contemporary cultural studies? Might a further way forward be to imagine an interdisciplinary field of everyday-life studies, which would draw critically on non-representational theories of practice and movement? Readers of Communications/Media/Geographies are invited to join the debate, thinking through such questions for themselves, and the themes that are explored in this book (for example, of space, place, meaning, power, and ethics) will be of interest not only to academics in human geography and in media and communication studies, but also to a wider range of scholars from across the humanities and social sciences.

Geographies of Media and Communication From the invention of the telegraph to the emergence of the Internet, communications technologies have transformed the ways that people and places relate to each other. Geographies of Media and Communication is the first textbook to treat all aspects of geography’s variegated encounter with communication. Connecting geographical ideas with communication theories such as intertextuality, audience-centered theory, and semiotics, Paul C. Adams explores media representations of places, the spatial diffusion of communication technologies, and the power of communication technologies to transform places, and to dictate who does and does not belong in them.

This Handbook offers a comprehensive overview of media geography, focusing on a range of different media viewed through the lenses of human geography and media theory. It addresses the spatial practices and processes associated with both old and new media, considering "media" not just as technologies and infrastructures, but also as networks, systems and assemblages of things that come together to enable communication in the real world. With contributions from academics specializing in geography and media studies, the Routledge Handbook of Media Geographies summarizes the recent developments in the field and explores key questions and challenges affecting various groups, such as women, minorities, and persons with visual impairment. It considers geographical aspects of disruptive media uses such as hacking, fake news, and racism. Written in an approachable style, chapters consider geographies of users, norms, rules, laws, values, attitudes, routines, customs, markets, and power relations. They shed light on how mobile media make users vulnerable to tracking and surveillance but also facilitate innovative forms of mobility, space perception and placemaking. Structured in four distinct sections centered around "control and access to digital media," "mass media," "mobile media and surveillance" and "media and the politics of knowledge," the Handbook explores digital divides and other manifestations of the uneven geographies of power. It also includes an overview of the alternative social media universe created by the Chinese government.Media geography is a burgeoning field of study that lies at the intersections of various social sciences, including human geography, political science, sociology, anthropology, communication/media studies, urban studies, and women and gender studies. Academics and students across these fields will greatly benefit from this Handbook.

This Handbook offers a comprehensive overview of media geography, focusing on a range of different media viewed through the lenses of human geography and media theory. It addresses the spatial practices and processes associated with both old and new media, considering "media" not just as technologies and infrastructures, but also as networks, systems and assemblages of things that come together to enable communication in the real world. With contributions from academics specializing in geography and media studies, the Routledge Handbook of Media Geographies summarizes the recent developments in the field and explores key questions and challenges affecting various groups, such as women, minorities, and persons with visual impairment. It considers geographical aspects of disruptive media uses such as hacking, fake news, and racism. Written in an approachable style, chapters consider geographies of users, norms, rules, laws, values, attitudes, routines, customs, markets, and power relations. They shed light on how mobile media make users vulnerable to tracking and surveillance but also facilitate innovative forms of mobility, space perception and placemaking. Structured in four distinct sections centered around "control and access to digital media," "mass media," "mobile media and surveillance" and "media and the politics of knowledge," the Handbook explores digital divides and other manifestations of the uneven geographies of power. It also includes an overview of the alternative social media universe created by the Chinese government. Media geography is a burgeoning field of study that lies at the intersections of various social sciences, including human geography, political science, sociology, anthropology, communication/media studies, urban studies, and women and gender studies. Academics and students across these fields will greatly benefit from this Handbook.

“Digital culture” reflects the ways in which the ubiquity and increasing use of digital devices and infrastructures is changing the arenas of human experience, creating new cultural realities. Whereas much of the existing literature on digital culture addresses the topic through a sociological, anthropological, or media theoretic lens, this book focuses on its geographic aspects. The first section, “infrastructures and networked practices” highlights the integration of digital technologies into everyday practices in very different historical and geographical contexts—ranging from local lifeworlds, urban environments, web cartographies up to global geopolitics. The second section on “subjectivities and identities” shows how digital technology use possesses the capacity to alter the subjective, perceptive, and affective engagement with the spatial world. Finally, “politics and inequalities” investigates the social and spatial disparities concerning digital technology and its use. This book draws attention to the deep interconnectedness of the cultural, digital, and spatial aspects of everyday practices by referring to a broad range of empirical examples taken from tourism, banking, mobility, and health. Scholars in human geography, anthropology, media and communication studies, and history will find this research indispensable reading. It addresses both young and seasoned researchers as well as advanced students in the aforementioned disciplines. The wealth of examples also makes this publication helpful in academic teaching.

Although there are human geographers who have previously written on matters of media and communication, and those in media and communication studies who have previously written on geographical issues, this is the first book-length dialogue in which experienced theorists and researchers from these different fields address each other directly and engage in conversation across traditional academic boundaries. The result is a compelling discussion, with the authors setting out statements of their positions before responding to the arguments made by others. One significant aspect of this discussion is a spirited debate about the sort of interdisciplinary area that might emerge as a focus for future work. Does the already-established idea of communication geography offer the best way forward? If so, what would applied or critical forms of communication geography be concerned to do? Could communication geography benefit from the sorts of conjunctural analysis that have been developed in contemporary cultural studies? Might a further way forward be to imagine an interdisciplinary field of everyday-life studies, which would draw critically on non-representational theories of practice and movement? Readers of Communications/Media/Geographies are invited to join the debate, thinking through such questions for themselves, and the themes that are explored in this book (for example, of space, place, meaning, power, and ethics) will be of interest not only to academics in human geography and in media and communication studies, but also to a wider range of scholars from across the humanities and social sciences.

From best-selling author David Morley, this book presents a set of interlinked essays which discuss and examine some of the key debates in the fields of media and cultural studies. Spanning the last decade, this fascinating and readable book is based on interdisciplinary work on the interface of media and cultural studies, cultural geography and anthropology. Clearly structured in five thematic sections, the book surveys the potential contribution of art-based discourses to the field and offers critical perspectives on the emergence of the ‘new media’ of our age. Including discussion on the status and future of media and cultural studies as disciplines, the significance of technology and new media, and raising questions about the place of the magical in the newly emerging forms of techno-modernity in which we live today, this is a media student must-read.