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C08.14 Geography of the Global Information Society
Session: Mediterranean Information Society
Chair(s): Maria Paradiso & Mark WilsonAbstract:
Information society in the Mediterranean region is evolving as different societies, cultures and countries interact with information and communications technology (ICT). This session is a special collaboration between the Mediterranean Renaissance Project and the Commission on Global Information Society to explore how ICT is evolving in a very diverse and significant geographic area. Papers are invited that examine how ICT affects people and places as well as the spatial, social and economic implications of information society.
Timeslots: 1
Session: Global Information Society
Chair(s): Mark Wilson & Maria ParadisoAbstract:
Then Commission on the Geography of Global Information Society welcomes papers and participants with an interest in the ways that societies affect, and are influenced by, information and communication technologies (ICT). The comnplexity and scope of change associated with technologies such as the Internet and mobile telephony affect many facets of daily life. Of particular interest to the Commission is the spatial dimension of ICT use as it evolves in different places to reflect local economic, social and political change.
Timeslots: 3
Session: Information and communication technologies for development and human well-being: perspectives from six continents
Chair(s): Dorothea Kleine & Mark WilsonAbstract:
From telecentres in rural communities in India, social-network based election campaigning in USA, mobile banking in Kenya and smartphone-assisted ethical shopping in the UK to social network-enabled activism in the Middle East and broadband-supported citizen participation online in Germany, examples abound that information and communication technologies (ICTs) are having a powerful impact on the lives people lead, in different cultural contexts and at different scales. As these technologies become ever more pervasive, offline and online spaces get interrelated in complex ways. Geographers from different sub-fields have been thinking about the growing role of ICTs from a variety of perspectives. There is, for example, a growing interdisciplinary field of ICT4D – ICTs for development, in which geographers have played an important role. This session aims to bring together geographers working on ICT4D from across the globe, but importantly, it also aims to expand orthodox notions of “development” to encompass multiple understandings of human well-being. It also suggests abandoning false discursive dichotomies of “developed” and “developing” countries and invites examples from all continents. Aspects might include for example, political freedoms, cultural expression, educational opportunities, economic advancement, easier communication, risk reduction, mobility, environmental protection, knowledge exchange etc. By widening the lens from development to human well-being, we hope to initiate a dialogue which can link colleagues doing work on ICTs from very different perspectives internationally. This also allows us to ask vital critical questions, such as whether different forms of digital divides might enhance social divides, whether the uneven global geographies of technology design create a risk of impositions across space, and whether more ICT use can ever become detrimental to human well-being. Within this scope, papers might address any of the following topics:
-theoretical considerations linking online and offline space
-diverse understandings of human well-being as it relates to ICTs
-ICTs and their effect on individual and collective human agency
-the potential of ICTs to reinforce or change existing power relationships
-digital divides, their conceptualization and measurement
-national ICT strategies
-ICT and development projects
-ICTs as facilitators of globalisation
-ICTs as facilitators of resistance to neoliberal globalisation
-geographies of ICT design, production and use
-local interpretation and patterns of ICT adoption
-environmental consequences of increased ICT usage
-diverse understandings of desirable lifestyles and the role of ICTs within them
-participation in technology design and participation facilitated by technology
-online and offline community building
-Etc.
We invite colleagues from a diversity of scholarship traditions, geography sub-fields, theoretical approaches and regional case studies to submit papers and join us in a conversation on ICTs and human well-being.
Timeslots: 1