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Geography of media and communication (also known as communication geography, media geography and geographies of media) is an interdisciplinary research area bringing together

human geography Human geography or anthropogeography is the branch of geography that studies spatial relationships between human communities, cultures, economies, and their interactions with the environment. It analyzes spatial interdependencies between social i ...

with

media studies Media studies is a discipline and field of study that deals with the content, history, and effects of various media; in particular, the mass media. Media Studies may draw on traditions from both the social sciences and the humanities, but mostly ...

and

communication theory Communication theory is a proposed description of communication phenomena, the relationships among them, a storyline describing these relationships, and an argument for these three elements. Communication theory provides a way of talking about a ...

. Research addressing the geography of media and communication seeks to understand how acts of communication and the systems they depend on both shape and are shaped by geographical patterns and processes. This topic addresses the prominence of certain types of communication in differing geographical areas, including how new technology allows for new types of communication for a multitude of global locations.

Overview

Geography of media and communication is an area of research, which considers various facets of communication. One interest is the layout and organization of communication systems at scales from cities to the planet. Closely related to this are the varying levels of access to communication systems from place to place. Attention to how places differ in regard to communication access leads to an interest in the changes that occur in places when new media diffuse into those places. A complementary interest is in how places are represented in various media—for example pictures of idyllic beaches in tourism advertisements or written descriptions of war zones in newspaper stories. Communications also allow people to interact with distant places, so a final area of investigation is how, by interacting with others through various kinds of communication systems, people inhabit various kinds of "virtual" spaces. Of particular interest to media/communication theorists are questions regarding the social and cultural formations associated with media, which in turn point to how media are involved in the transformation of belonging and citizenship, which relate to geographical territories. Social and cultural formations also depend on distinctions between public and private life, which have traditionally depended on spatial boundaries between public and private places. Topics of particular interest to geographers are place representations in visual media including photography, film and

graffiti Graffiti (plural; singular ''graffiti'' or ''graffito'', the latter rarely used except in archeology) is art that is written, painted or drawn on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from s ...

, in auditory media including radio and music recordings, and even in embodied communications such as dance and video games.

History

Geographical interest in the systematic study of communication can be traced to the writings of

Richard Hartshorne Richard Hartshorne (December 12, 1899 – November 5, 1992) was a prominent American geographer, and professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who specialized in economic and political geography and the philosophy of geography. He is kn ...

in the 1930s. Hartshorne considered language to be a key element forming culture regions, meaning that the dominant language is similar within a particular culture region and it changes when one leaves a culture region. A very different aspect of communication became the focus during the 1950s and 1960s as geographers began to measure and model the interactions between locations. In this case, geographers involved in the

quantitative revolution The quantitative revolution (QR) was a paradigm shift that sought to develop a more rigorous and systematic methodology for the discipline of geography. It came as a response to the inadequacy of regional geography to explain general spatial dynam ...

explained the accelerating flow of information between

locations In geography, location or place are used to denote a region (point, line, or area) on Earth's surface or elsewhere. The term ''location'' generally implies a higher degree of certainty than ''place'', the latter often indicating an entity with an ...

in terms of "time-space convergence" and "human extensibility." It was not until the 1970s that geographers began to focus on communications in terms of content, considering questions of symbolism,

representation Representation may refer to: Law and politics *Representation (politics), political activities undertaken by elected representatives, as well as other theories ** Representative democracy, type of democracy in which elected officials represent a ...

metaphor A metaphor is a figure of speech that, for rhetorical effect, directly refers to one thing by mentioning another. It may provide (or obscure) clarity or identify hidden similarities between two different ideas. Metaphors are often compared wit ...

, iconography and

discourse Discourse is a generalization of the notion of a conversation to any form of communication. Discourse is a major topic in social theory, with work spanning fields such as sociology, anthropology, continental philosophy, and discourse analysis. ...

. This interest first took form in geographical research that drew on

humanism Humanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential and agency of human beings. It considers human beings the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry. The meaning of the term "humani ...

phenomenology Phenomenology may refer to: Art * Phenomenology (architecture), based on the experience of building materials and their sensory properties Philosophy * Phenomenology (philosophy), a branch of philosophy which studies subjective experiences and a ...

and

hermeneutics Hermeneutics () is the theory and methodology of interpretation, especially the interpretation of biblical texts, wisdom literature, and philosophical texts. Hermeneutics is more than interpretative principles or methods used when immediate c ...

. By the 1990s, this approach shifted towards a more critical sensibility unpacking the various meanings of

landscape A landscape is the visible features of an area of land, its landforms, and how they integrate with natural or man-made features, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.''New Oxford American Dictionary''. A landscape includes the p ...

. Geographers researching communication over the past two decades have extended these research areas while carrying forward early insights regarding the importance of communication to the formation of regions, the rate of information flow as a measure of spatial interaction, and the association between landscape and representation. New approaches to communication have been advanced under the frameworks of

non-representational theory Non-representational theory is the study of a specific theory focused on human geography. It is the work of Nigel Thrift (Warwick University). The theory is based on using social theory, conducting geographical research, and the 'embodied experie ...

, actor-network theory, and assemblage theory. Equally important is the effort to think through digital code and its relationship with space.

Evolution of Geographic Communication

Throughout different areas of the world, certain types of communication are used more in certain places, and have evolved over time. America and other developed countries have gotten information and communicated within their local communities through newspapers and other forms of written communication in the past and present, but in the cases of certain types of communication such as environmental and risk communication, there has been a shift as newspapers are no longer the most effective form of communication. Part of the shift in communication over time comes from an increased presence of social media.

Social Media Evolution

Social media caused a new experience in geographical communication as it allowed instant contact with various people around the globe. Social media communication has been tracked through the United States, and on certain social media platforms there is the ability to track and log communication to and from all areas of the world. For example, the Twitter accounts of various geography departments have been used to show how interaction is divided within local, national, and global lines of communication, while also being able to analyze other aspects of the communication data. This is seen as when viewing common days of the week which are active or which months show heavy interaction between accounts. Analysis of larger cities throughout the world shows that social media has become a predominant force in communication for many communities. While there may be similar exposure to social media in wildly different areas across the world, evidence shows that the same type of social media communication is not equally effective in differing areas. Geographical locations with larger populations of higher education levels will interact and understand communication through social media more effectively than areas with lower education levels. While social media can be used to communicate information within and between communities throughout the world, it can also be an influence in public perception of rumors and risks. This study was conducted in 2015 when South Korea became panicked over a disease because of the rumors circling through social media about the disease and how it was negatively affecting people of the country. Based on the findings from this research, social media has a large influence on public perception throughout communities.

Areas of study

According to one taxonomy, the geography of media and communication involves four complementary aspects: places-in-media, media-in-places, media-in-spaces and spaces-in-media. Places-in-media are representations of place circulating in all sorts of media for all sorts of reasons, for example landscape paintings signifying the owner's status, and news images of urban spaces linking crime and chaos to minority populations and the poor. Media-in-places are ways in which particular places such as the home, classroom, workplace, or city street are altered functionally and experientially by transformations in how people use media in those places. Media-in-spaces are communication infrastructures, whether historical, like telegraph cables, or contemporary like

optical fiber cable A fiber-optic cable, also known as an optical-fiber cable, is an assembly similar to an electrical cable, but containing one or more optical fibers that are used to carry light. The optical fiber elements are typically individually coated with ...

when mapped and analyzed in terms of their physical layout. Spaces-in-media are the topologies that symbols, images, information and ideas move through as they spread or diffuse from person to person and from group to group.

Notable scholars

Geographers interested in media and communication

* Ronald F. Abler * John A. Agnew * Paul C. Adams * Trevor J. Barnes * Jacquelin Burgess * Denis Cosgrove *

Tim Cresswell Tim Cresswell (born 1965) is a British human geographer and poet. Cresswell is the Ogilvie Professor of Human Geography at the University of Edinburgh having formally served as the Dean of the Faculty and Vice President for Academic Affairs at T ...

* Julie Cupples *

Simon Dalby Simon Dalby is an Irish born academic and CIGI Chair in the Political Economy of Climate Change at the Balsillie School of International Affairs. Dalby works in the disciplines of environmental security and critical geopolitics. Bibliography ...

* Jason Dittmer * Klaus Dodds *

Peter Gould Peter Gould is an American television writer, director and producer. He worked on all five seasons of the AMC drama ''Breaking Bad''. He was nominated for four Writers Guild of America (WGA) Awards for his work on the series. After ''Breaking ...

* Mark Graham *

Derek Gregory Derek Gregory Ph.D. (Cantab) FBA, FRSC (born 1 March 1951) is a British academic and world-renowned geographer who is currently Peter Wall Distinguished Professor and Professor of Geography at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. H ...

David Harvey David W. Harvey (born 31 October 1935) is a British-born Marxist economic geographer, podcaster and Distinguished Professor of anthropology and geography at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York (CUNY). He received his Ph ...

* Eric Laurier * Chris Lukinbeal * Doreen Massey * John Pickles * Gillian Rose (Geographer) *

Nigel Thrift Sir Nigel John Thrift (born 12 October 1949 in Bath) is a British academic and geographer. In 2018 he was appointed as Chair of the Committee on Radioactive Waste Management, a committee that gives independent scientific and technical advice ...

Yi-Fu Tuan Yi-Fu Tuan (; December 5, 1930 – August 10, 2022) was a Chinese-born American geographer. He was one of the key figures in human geography and arguably the most important originator of humanistic geography. Early life and education Born in ...

Gearóid Ó Tuathail Gerard Toal ( ga, Gearóid Ó Tuathail; born 1962 in the Republic of IrelandHague, Euan (2004): Gearóid Ó Tuathail (Gerard Toal). In: Hubbard, Phil, Rob Kitchin and Gill Valentine (Eds.): Key thinkers on space and place. London: Sage Pubn Inc. ...

/ Gerard Toal *

Gill Valentine Gill Valentine is a British geographer, currently Professor of Geography and Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Social Sciences at the University of Sheffield. She is a member of the university's executive board and has chaired the Equality, Diversity & I ...

* Torsten Wissmann * Stefan Zimmermann

Media/communication scholars interested in geography

Manuel Castells Manuel Castells Oliván (; ; born 9 February 1942) is a Spanish sociologist. He is well known for his authorship of a trilogy of works, entitled The Information Age: Economy, Society and Culture. He is a scholar of the information society, co ...

Elizabeth Eisenstein Elizabeth Lewisohn Eisenstein (October 11, 1923 – January 31, 2016) was an American historian of the French Revolution and early 19th-century France. She is well known for her work on the history of early printing, writing on the transition in ...

* Kevin Glynn *

Harold Innis Harold Adams Innis (November 5, 1894 – November 9, 1952) was a Canadian professor of political economy at the University of Toronto and the author of seminal works on media, communication theory, and Canadian economic history. He helped deve ...

Marshall McLuhan Herbert Marshall McLuhan (July 21, 1911 – December 31, 1980) was a Canadian philosopher whose work is among the cornerstones of the study of media theory. He studied at the University of Manitoba and the University of Cambridge. He began his ...

* Joshua Meyrowitz *

Lewis Mumford Lewis Mumford (October 19, 1895 – January 26, 1990) was an American historian, sociologist, philosopher of technology, and literary critic. Particularly noted for his study of cities and urban architecture, he had a broad career as a w ...

* Walter J. Ong * Lisa Parks *

Neil Postman Neil Postman (March 8, 1931 – October 5, 2003) was an American author, educator, media theorist and cultural critic, who eschewed digital technology, including personal computers, mobile devices, and cruise control in cars, and was critical o ...

Mary Louise Pratt Mary Louise Pratt (born 1948) is a Silver Professor and Professor of Spanish and Portuguese Languages and Literatures at New York University. She received her B.A. in Modern Languages and Literatures from the University of Toronto in 1970, her M.A. ...

Saskia Sassen Saskia Sassen (born January 5, 1947) is a Dutch-American sociologist noted for her analyses of globalization and international human migration. She is Robert S. Lynd Professor of Sociology at Columbia University in New York City, and Centennial ...

Mimi Sheller Mimi Sheller (born 1967) is Dean of The Global School at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts, USA. From 2009-2021 she was professor of sociology in the Department of Culture and Communication, and the founding Director of the New Mobi ...

External links

Media Geography at Mainz

Media and Communication Specialty Group of the AAG

Geomedia Strong Research Group, Karlstad University, Sweden

Notes

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media Media may refer to: Communication * Media (communication), tools used to deliver information or data ** Advertising media, various media, content, buying and placement for advertising ** Broadcast media, communications delivered over mass ...

Mass media Communication