A close reading of Graham et al’s Toward a study of information geographies[1].

The writers of the paper, Towards a study of information geographies: (im)mutable augmentations and a mapping of the geographies of information, [1] Mark Graham [2], Stefano De Sabbata [2] and Matthew A.Zook [3] put forth the central idea that information has always had geography. Within their article they explore key areas around the consumption and distribution of information on media (focussing on the Internet). In summary they discuss various geographies: geographies of access and enablement, of participation and representation and use physical geographical information in their explanations into digital inequalities. This inequality is analysed from a view that looks at the difference in information generation and consumption that exists in the world.

To bring forth their views and findings they structure their paper in such a way that they provide a theoretical analysis first and then address the various theories that they are referencing; i.e. they provide a historical background first before moving on to the specfic study concerned.

Information has always had a geography. The writers expand on this statement by stating that information exists about somewhere, evolves somewhere and originates from somewhere and these places can be physical or material. What is the value to their notion? Why does it matter that information has a geography? After reading their paper it becomes evident that the writers are interested in this notion as the manner in which people find and understand different parts of the world is dependant on these geographies of information. Complimenting this, they state that geographic augmentations do more than just represent and reflect places they form part of the place itself. They also realise and prove the geographic information itself is made of a collection of uneven geographies.

To understand their notion and thoughts thereof, they explore various methods in which information geographies have their own geographic influence: geographic representation, participation and access. They perform their research via broad surveys of key platforms that are involved in geographic information.

To understand how geographic augmentations, shape a place rather than solely representing it, they present the following example: if a restaurant is omitted from a map it will cease to be a restaurant as nobody can find it. This shows that these augmentations affect how places are brought into being. This brings about an interesting idea, why does it matter how places are brought into being? This notion they put forth almost creates the idea that places need to be marketed and if an area/place is not represented by some form of information, they are not part of the place itself. Sometimes the mere fact that the place exists is enough and the way people perceive and came to know of the place does not matter. For example, in today’s fast paced world, many people know that a place exists and do not give much thought as to how it came into existence. On the other side, a place that it not known and not represented do they form part of the place itself? Their notion is that geographic augmentations form part of the place itself, what happens when a particular area is not represented? Does it not form part of the place itself?

Becoming aware of this notion raises many thoughts. Geographical augmentations from part of the place itself and shape it rather than solely reflecting it. How can one use this information to their advantage? Thinking about this, justifies many current occurrences in today’s world. E.g. places like Paris and London are popular around the world and have an associated status. Regardless of whether one has been to these places most often they would refer to these places as ‘world class’ or somewhere they would love to go. Other places such as Pakistan do not receive such welcoming. People immediately associate it with violence and unsafe, whereas once you complete some reasearch you will realise that this is not the case. The way in which Pakistan is represented is different to how France is. The biggest concern with this is that the people in the places itself are not always the only people responsible for creating that respective place’s geographical augmentation. As expected, this results in unfair and inaccurate representations and thus interpretations of many places.

In the end, the question left is, is there anything we can do?

Looking at these three areas: Geographies of access and enablement, of participation and representation there are specifics that should be brought forth. With regards to the geographies of access an enablement they analyse this with respect to the internet. How many people have access to it and what is its' penetration? The figure they provide for this argument indicates an interesting idea - China has a large amount of users but has a low penetration. Why is that the case? Considering that China is one of the global superpowers.

Their analysis into the geographies of participation look at three main aspects: the distribution of domain names, GitHub and Wikipedia. Following their evidence put forward, when analysing the distribution of domain names, it is clear that the size of the internet is not related to the production of information. Some countries over produce information e.g.USA and some under produce. After analysing the given figures, it is clear that the access and production of information around the world is skewed. Looking at their analysis of GitHub we find that there is a difference between who simple uses versus who commits to GitHub, i.e. who is actually producing versus who is consuming information. Their analysis into Wikipedia brought forth interesting thoughts. The global north was responsible for contributing the most edits to the site and created bulk of the content. Countries, like South Africa, were shown to be consuming more information than it was producing. This is worrying as South Africa is essentially consuming information about itself and not writing its own narrative. This can lead to various inequalities and mis-representation. It is not just South Africa, many countries, people and ideas are being documented by people who are not apart of that respective idea. In the end what occurs is that people are not shaping their own narrative.

How do we address this? Can we address it? If we do not address it, this will result in people and places being represented by simply not being allowed to have a voice. And if they can speak, who will hear?

References

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