TRAVELLING THE WORLD THROUGH SOFTWARE
Establishing Social Spatial Relations within Mobile Applications
Human beings are among the most mobile of animals. We are beings of the between, always on the move between places. When one place threatens to become vacuous (uninteresting, unsatisfying, desolate, or empty), we hasten on to another.
Edward. S. Casey 1993
Name: Arla Krikke
Date: June 25, 2015 Supervisor: Anne Helmond Secondary Reader: Carolin Gerlitz
Institution: University of Amsterdam Department: Media Studies
(New Media & Digital Culture)
KEYWORDS
Globalization, Social Spatial Relations, Mobile Applications, Software Studies ABSTRACT
This thesis aims to add the study of the formation of social spatial relations within mobile applications to both the academic fields of globalization and software studies. Since software is highly intertwined with contemporary everyday life, it offers its users various possibilities. However, the layer of software is all too often ubiquitous. Therefore, software studies proposes to make the layer of software visible again.
Back in 1964 McLuhan adumbrated a 'ʹglobal village'ʹ where people around the world would become interconnected due to the development of new media forms. However, it can be questioned to what extent global interconnections are established through media, in particular media that rely on software, nowadays.
Following the example of the Internet that not only enables
globalization but localization as well, contemporary software in the form of the mobile applications Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Foursquare are examined. The examination of the possibilities for users to establish global or local social spatial relations within mobile applications not only makes the layer of software visible again but also shows how software configures global and local connections. Herewith, the analysis provides an insight on how the software of mobile applications contributes to global and local
interconnectedness.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I would like to thank my supervisor Anne Helmond for her guidance and inspiration and the coordinator of the Master'ʹs Programme New Media and Digital Culture Dr. Carolin Gerlitz for fulfilling the role of secondary reader. Besides, I would like to thank my parents and friends for their great support throughout this year. A special thanks regarding this thesis project goes to Gratia Meijers and Daniel Hutchinson.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Introduction 1
2. Theoretical Framework 5
2.1 A Global Village 5
2.2 A Brief Explanation of the Internet 6
2.3 The Internet as Globalizing Medium 9
2.4 The Internet as Localizing Medium 12
2.5 From Cyberspace to Coded Space 16
2.6 From Space to Social Spatial Relations 21
2.7 Locative and Social Networking Media 24
2.8 Mobile Applications as Locative and Social Networking Media 30
3. Approach 33 3.1 Software Studies 33 3.2 Methodology 36 4. Analysis 40 4.1 Facebook 40 4.2 Instagram 47 4.3 Twitter 55 4.4 Foursquare 61
5. Discussion & Conclusion: Travelling the World through Software? 67
Bibliography 71
List of Figures 74
1. Introduction
A year ago, I was unable to decide whether I wanted to travel the world or stay in Amsterdam and deepen my academic knowledge. Interested in the interaction between technology and human beings, I was studying the role of new media in contemporary society. Writing my Bachelor thesis on the relation of software and sociality, the quote of academic Taina Bucher highly relates to me: “I am interested in exploring how software, through protocols and algorithms, has the capacity to govern and manage users” (2). Rather than focusing on the technological side of software, I chose to explore the possibilities of software for its users and how it has the power to shape user behavior. While travelling through Asia a few years ago, the Internet had just emerged as a medium that enables users to connect globally, no matter one’s location. By keeping a travel blog, I could update my friends and family about adventures I had experienced and the new people I had met at various places around the world. Although I love meeting new people while travelling, the availability of software to connect with the whole world together with its increasing role in contemporary society convinced me to stay, travel the world through technology and continue my academic education.
My wanderlust has brought me to the topic of globalization and the idea that we live in a highly globalized world. In 1962, media theoretic Marshall McLuhan introduced the idea of a 'ʹglobal village'ʹ. He described a scenario for the future where all people around the globe would have become interconnected through media. Following the phenomenon of a village were people know each other, are close to each other and are able to share
information easily, he thought of a similar situation for the whole world (Walkosz et al. 3).
around the globe: physically through technology of aircrafts and mentally through the possibilities of new media. We can make a Skype call to
Australia, add a friend from Mexico on Facebook and send a picture of our breakfast to a friend in Switzerland through WhatsApp. More than ever, people are able to connect their local physical space with a global virtual space. When reading on both the topics of globalization and new media, particularly the role of the Internet and software in everyday life, it occurred to me that the notion of space and sociality are important aspects within these discourses. Digital new media are so easily available these days and make it possible to ‘be’ wherever you want to ‘be’ irrespective of your physical location and connect with people at distant locations. As will be discussed, the medium of the Internet can be seen as a medium that enables global connectedness (Hafez 100; Miller and Slater 39). However, as Kai Hafez argues, the topic of globalization deserves more academic attention from the discipline of media studies (5). Moreover, people around the world
increasingly use other new forms of software such as mobile phones and accompanying mobile applications (Bratton 93). Taking the Internet as an example of the phenomena of globalization and its counterpart localization, it would be interesting to investigate how these new media forms of mobile applications allow users to establish connections with others regardless of distance. First, this investigation would reveal information on how
contemporary mobile software enables users to ‘travel’ the world and connect with other places. It brings the academic discourse of globalization to the field of new media and specifically to the topic of the mobile devices that so many of us carry around nowadays. It connects the use of personal new media technology to the broader question of globalization and the possibility of one connected world. Second, it would contribute to the knowledge of the rising use and possibilities of location (and the broader concept of space) within social media and the call for research on this trend. As Jordan Frith claims:
"ʺThe sharing of location is a relatively new form of computer-‐‑mediated communication, and there is a lack of existing research examining the
coordination practices of people using social location sharing services"ʺ (890). Third, it aligns with the purpose of the academic field of software studies to increase awareness of the central role of technology in everyday life, as Lev Manovich argues (Software Takes Command 15). Manovich states that although software shapes our everyday life extensively, it has become an invisible layer that we should make visible again in order to understand its power (Software Takes Command 15).
Taken together, I want to proceed on the interplay between space and the social, software and its users and the phenomenon of globalization in regard to the field of new media. This brings me to the following research question:
"ʺHow does the software of mobile applications configure the possibilities to establish global social spatial relations?"ʺ
Herewith, I will be focusing on the phenomenon of globalization within media studies and humanities, as well as on the increasingly symbiotic relationship between space, software and its social users, as suggested by both Bucher and Frith.
In order to answer the above stated question, the first part of this paper will pay attention to the discourses and theories in a theoretical framework. First, the concept of the global village by McLuhan will be introduced followed by a brief explanation of the medium of the Internet. Next I will explore to what extent the Internet enables the phenomenon of media globalization. Subsequently, attention will be paid to the opposite
phenomenon: how the Internet strengthens the local and the familiar. Because these phenomena regard an individual’s location and the space they inhabit,
the next paragraphs will investigate the concept of space and will highlight the importance of social relations that constitute space. In order to investigate the role of new media in the constitution of social spatial relations, it will be explored what kind of new media offers users this possibility. This brings the theoretical framework to the last paragraphs wherein locative media, social networking practices and mobile applications will be approached as
facilitators for the establishment of social spatial relations that either
emphasize the local or the global. After outlining a theoretical framework for the research question, I move to an interface analysis of mobile applications in line with software studies in order to examine how software offers users the possibilities to create social relations that are emphasizing the global or the local. Finally, the last chapter will discuss the role of software of mobile applications and the establishment of social spatial relations that connect users on a global and/or local scale.
2. Theoretical Framework 2.1 A Global Village
I would like to begin with a brief explanation of one of the first concepts that combined media with globalization. In 1962 Marshall McLuhan wrote The Gutenberg Galaxy and introduced the concept of a ‘global village’. Marshall McLuhan believed that the rise of new technologies would reconfigure our world into a global village where people around the world would become interconnected (xxxvi). This concept proceeds on the traditional local village that provides an "ʺenvironment in which everyone knows everyone else over a period of time and under many circumstances and has existed long before the idea of a global village” (Walkosz et al. 3). However, due to the development of new technologies people would also be able to easily maintain
relationships with distant localities around world. McLuhan envisioned that the world would “become a computer, an electronic brain, exactly as in an infantile piece of science fiction” (37). Put differently, in the eyes of McLuhan the world would become one connected space where people are
interconnected due to technology and electronic media.
The futuristic idea of McLuhan was developed several decades ago when media such as television were still considered ‘new media’ and a lot of contemporary technologies such as the network of the Internet were not around. The question rises to what extent this concept of a 'ʹglobal village'ʹ could be applicable in the present era of new media technologies and their worldwide usage? How could the idea of global interconnectedness be approached nowadays?
Almost three decades after the introduction of the concept of a ‘global village’ McLuhan and Bruce R. Powers conclude that “electronic technologies have begun to shake the distinction between inner and outer space, by
telephone as the first medium causing this blurring between being here or there: “By increasing the speed of the private voice, it retrieved telepathy and gave everyone the feeling of being everywhere at once” (McLuhan and
Powers 148). Since mobile telephone usage have been largely adopted across the globe nowadays and has become the main access to the global network of the Internet (see paragraph 2.6 and 2.7), it makes sense to employ the idea of a global village in order to investigate global interconnectedness in the present era.
Since its introduction, the term ‘global village’ has been widely used within media studies and other academic fields (Walkosz et al. 1). Proceeding on McLuhan’s idea of the global village, in 2008 Walkosz et al. state that the world has become connected in an unprecedented manner due to
globalization of the media such as internationalization of television programming, worldwide Internet access and cell phone technology (1). Moreover, as Walkosz et al. state: "ʺAll the while, through this global
interconnectedness, the global becomes local and the local becomes global"ʺ (3). To stick to the field of new media, the next three paragraphs will focus on the medium of the Internet, how it works as a worldwide network and how it enables both globalization and localization. After an examination of the Internet, I will focus on the increasing presence of new forms of software by outlining the concepts of 'ʹlocative media'ʹ, cell phone technology and mobile applications.
2.2 A Brief Explanation of the Internet
McLuhan suggested that in order to reach the situation of a global village a worldwide medium would have to provide people with an extensive amount of information and would enable communication on a global scale:
The next medium, whatever it is—it may be the extension of consciousness—will include television as its content, not as its environment, and will transform television into an art form. A computer as a research and communication instrument could enhance retrieval, obsolesce mass library organization, retrieve the individual’s encyclopaedic function and flip into a private line to speedily tailored data of a saleable kind. (293)
In the present era, it can be stated that new forms of media that resonate with the description of a global medium by McLuhan have arrived. As sociologist Manuel Castells labels our contemporary connected situation as 'ʹthe network society'ʹ, he explains and defines what our contemporary society comprises: “A network society is a society whose social structure is made of networks powered by microelectronics-‐‑based information and communication
technologies“ (3). These information and communication technologies have brought changes to contemporary society and the possibilities of how people are able to connect with each other. For example, academics Martin Dodge and Rob Kitchin emphasize how communication media allow social relations to be speeded up and novel social networks to be developed (12). They raise the examples of e-‐‑mail and mobile phones and the various ways to connect with each other through chatrooms, virtual worlds and web pages (12). The thoughts of Castells and Dodge and Kitchin on information and communication technologies (ICTs) ask for a compact investigation of concrete examples of ICTs. As Castells states, one of the key contributors to the network society is the software of the Internet because of its ability to link up anything digital from anywhere and to recombine it (10). John December
complements Castells by explaining what the Internet actually comprises:
The Internet is a cooperatively run, globally distributed collection of computer networks, providing a communication forum. The Internet provides an array of tools for people to use for information retrieval and communication in individual, group, and mass contexts. (n. pag)
The online Internet Society (Leiner et al.) complements this description of December by outlining the Internet as "ʺa world-‐‑wide broadcasting capability."ʺ Moreover, according to Leiner et al. the Internet can be defined as "ʺa medium for collaboration and interaction between individuals and their computers without regard for geographic location"ʺ (1). They continue by describing the influences of the Internet as reaching beyond the technical fields of computer communications and as embedded in contemporary society due to the
increasing usage of online tools to accomplish electronic commerce, information acquisition, and community operations (1).
In order to facilitate user-‐‑friendly access to the Internet back in the 90'ʹs, Tim Berners-‐‑Lee developed the World Wide Web, also known as 'ʹthe web'ʹ. The original design of the World Wide Web by Berners-‐‑Lee had two
functions: a browser and an editor (Castells 11). As Berners-‐‑Lee et al. explain, the development of the World Wide Web was a practical project "ʺdesigned to bring a global information universe into existence using available technology"ʺ (461). Castells adds that, since its introduction, the World Wide Web has largely been reduced to a browser and information provider (11).
Moving back to the present, new forms of software and technologies dominate the world. As will be discussed later on, and as already pointed out above, mobile phones and the accompanying mobile applications (apps) are increasingly used by people all over the world (Bratton 93). In order to limit this discussion to the relationships between apps, the Internet and the web, in comparison to the web apps can be approached as a short-‐‑cut to the
information stored in databases provided by the Internet (Matviyenko xiv). Moreover, in The Imaginary App Svitlana Matviyenko summarizes statements that suggest the decline of the World Wide Web (the web) caused by the increasing usage of mobile apps (xiv). This resonates with Benjamin Bratton
who states that mobile phones are increasingly the main point of access to the Internet (93).
To conclude, this paragraph has outlined the main differences between the Internet, the web and mobile applications. The Internet is a worldwide network that can be seen as a broadcasting ability for individuals or groups despite their geographical location (December n. pag). Subsequently, the web is a user-‐‑friendly and information providing browser helping to make sense of the information universe that the Internet has become (Berners-‐‑Lee et al. 461). And lastly, mobile applications on mobile phones function as a short-‐‑cut to the web and thereby to the network of the Internet. These different aspects and accesses of the Internet will be useful in the following discussion and theories on globalization, localization, locative media, mobile devices and mobile applications.
2.3 The Internet as Globalizing Medium
To start, according to Walkosz et al. globalization entails the integration of economies, cultures, governmental policies, and political movements around the world (Walkosz et al. 3). In order to get a more concrete idea of what the phenomenon of globalization comprises, Andrew Jones states that within the academic debate the definition of Anthony Giddens is largely accepted (228). Giddens describes globalization as "ʺthe intensification of worldwide social relations which link distant localities"ʺ (Giddens 64). This implies that the aspect of social relations and the aspect of the connection of different localities (places) are fundamental to the phenomenon of globalization. This resonates with McLuhan’s idea of the global village where interconnectedness between people in distant locations plays a central role as well.
Kai Hafez, renown in the fields of communication, politics and arts and humanities, claims that the Internet could be easily seen as a medium that enhances globalization because of its power to connect people from all over the world (The Myth of Media Globalization 100). Daniel Miller and Don Slater complement the idea of the Internet as a globalizing medium by opening their chapter with the statement "ʺif one is looking for the best possible image of a global phenomenon, then the Internet undoubtedly provides it (39). Miller and Slater state that more or less the whole planet, irrespective of place can unite through the Internet and it therefore provides a wonderful glimpse of globalization (42). Herewith, the authors above emphasize the aspect of different localities becoming interconnected made possible by the medium of the Internet. Miller and Slater continue; this has come to pass less by the invention of the technology itself (one could already contact most parts of the world by telephone) but rather by the rapidly decreasing costs of global communication the Internet made possible (43).
Exploring the possibilities the Internet offers its users to connect globally, Hafez introduces the idea of ‘virtual border-‐‑crossing’ which implies that the medium of the Internet allows users to travel the world in a virtual way as digital media do not have the barrier of real borders between
countries (The Myth of Media Globalization 100). This fact suggests a global connectedness that leads to a situation where world citizens do not have to cross borders physically to get in touch with each other. Michael Jenson, scholar of globalization, architecture and place, complements this idea of Hafez by stating that the fading of borders is one of the major effects of globalization (52). He agues that technological developments have brought major contributions to spatial transformation (52). As global communication technologies such as the Internet are integrated into our daily lives,
geographical places become less important and we will lose our tangible connection to them (Jenson 52). This spatial transformation discussed by
Jenson, is acknowledged by Castells, who approaches the Internet as a network built up of nodes of which the distances between different nodes have a tendency to diminish to zero (4). Given this fact, a network follows the logic of small worlds’ properties: “they are able to connect to the entire
network and communicated networks from any node in the network by sharing protocols of communication” (Castells 4). Consequently, if the
Internet is being approached as a network in line with the thoughts of Castells, the Internet can be seen as a network that brings distances to zero and connect nodes across the globe. Walkosz et al. provide experimental evidence by claiming that youth across the globe have more in common than they have with their families in the same physical place (4).
Regarding the definition of globalization by Giddens and the fact that the Internet as a network connects different localities and strengthens social relations by enabling extensive new forms of communication tools makes it indeed plausible to approach it as a globalizing medium and expect it to connect people worldwide. Furthermore, concerning the everyday presence of new media, Jenson summarises how in our present era “globalism has been brought into the domicile through interfaces devoid of any real depth”(60). This means that through the interfaces of new media globalism has become intertwined with everyday life and everyday technology usage. Therefore, academic attention should be paid to the power of new media to enable global connectedness.
Although the Internet can be seen as a globalizing medium, as discussed above, Hafez is critical of this idea. He states that because of the Internet a "ʺglobal culture may unfold and become established in evolutionary fashion"ʺ but is will be a "ʺprocess that may extend over many decades, perhaps centuries” (The Myth of Media Globalization 100). Moreover, Hafez emphasizes that the Internet has potential to network the globe, but has never actually been a global system of communication (The Myth of Media Globalization 100).
He argues that empirical research often shows the opposite of globalization: the development of its counterpart of ‘localization’ (Hafez, The Myth of Media Globalization 100). This is the case because "ʺthe tendency of national and regional interconnections to increase more rapidly than international ones with the help of the Internet may be intensified"ʺ (Hafez, How Global Is the Internet? 1). Rather than enabling the intensification of global relations, the Internet emphasizes the familiar and local aspects of the user (Hafez, The Myth of Media Globalization 100). Local embracement and so-‐‑called 'ʹgrounding'ʹ of the Internet seems to be the conclusion of various academic thinkers and will therefore be addressed in the next paragraph.
2.4 The Internet as Localizing Medium
As opposed to their assumption of the Internet as a globalizing medium as shown above, Miller and Slater were one of the first researchers that, as it were ‘grounded’ the Internet (Rogers, The End of the Virtual 1). They found how the inhabitants of Trinidad and Tobago have adopted the Internet to fit their cultural standards and suit their local needs (Rogers, The End of the Virtual 2). Miller and Slater concluded that Trinis are fitting the medium of the Internet to their own culture instead of sharing a global culture with the world (45). This evidence contrasts with the idea of globalization in
connecting different localities around the globe.
In line with their findings, Hafez asks the critical question: "ʺWhat does it mean, if processes of cross-‐‑border communication on the Internet are increasing, but at the same time Internet traffic within national borders is growing far more rapidly?"ʺ (The Myth of Media Globalization 2). If globalization is defined by the intensification of global social connections, than one could argue localization is defined by intensification of social relations within a
specific space, like a national or regional space. In 2015, almost six decades after McLuhan expressed the idea of a global village, Hafez concludes that the idea of the Internet moving the world closer together is a deceptive one (How Global Is the Internet? 661). According to Hafez, only for limited moments in time the world can be seen as a global village (How Global Is the Internet? 661). These moments refer to specific events, often bound to religious and cultural groups, or language areas (How Global Is the Internet? 661).
Hafez claims that the Internet has strengthened the intensification of national and regional interconnections to a larger extent than international interconnections (The Myth of Media Globalization 100). A possible explanation for this phenomenon could be that the Internet differs from older forms of media in many ways. As Hafez points out, the Internet is not necessarily market-‐‑oriented, beyond the reach of authority and has the potential to link societies because it eliminates the separation between the sender and recipient of communication (The Myth of Media Globalization 101). Hafez gives different examples why the Internet is strengthening local or regional cultures and communities instead of global ones. First of all, there is the phenomenon of so-‐‑called ‘multilingualization’. Although the English language still
dominates, its domination is rapidly diminishing (The Myth of Media
Globalization 103). Moreover, the increasing internationalization of the World Wide Web enables a diversification of users’ languages (Hafez, The Myth of Media Globalization 103). Secondly, one reason why the Internet does not lead directly to globalization is because of the ‘digital divide’. Hafez brings up the inequality of Internet access around the globe: “The Internet’s development into a multilingual tool used equally by all parts of the world is being
hindered by the striking asymmetry in global Internet connections” (The Myth of Media Globalization 105). Where the Internet use in industrialized parts of the world is high because of advanced technological infrastructure, it is only available to a small part of the population in less developed countries.
According to Hafez, the reasons for this are the facts that the personal
computer is the main point of entry and excludes the share of the population that has no computing skills or which is unable to afford such a machine (The Myth of Media Globalization 110). However, this could be questioned because as Benjamin Bratton states, the primary point of access to Internet connection is nowadays the smartphone (93). According to Hafez, national borders rapidly disappear online only if one has cleared all the hurdles to Internet access but he also states that there is a communication 'ʹelite'ʹ (The Myth of Media Globalization 111). Taken together, Hafez claims that the Internet enables globalization only at specific moments in time but moreover, it enhances localization due to language obstacles and global unequal access to the network of the Internet.
To complement Hafez'ʹ and Miller and Slater’s descriptions of the Internet emphasizing the local rather than the global, Castells argues that in the 'ʹnetwork society'ʹ it is unlikely that people will reject the need for social relationships based on physical location (229). This claim implies that local connections will stay important or become even more important, irrespective of the global connectedness or maybe even because of this. The reduction in the importance of location enabled by the Internet has not made geography or place irrelevant. In fact, the opposite appears more likely. According to
Castells, most computer-‐‑mediated communication is local, affording and reinforcing connections within existing realms of activity: the home,
neighbourhood, and workplace (229). Furthermore, Thielmann et al. state that the web, the browser of the Internet that once held the promise of unimpeded access to the wide world, is now increasingly starting to segment our view of the world through social and spatial filtering (64). This raises the notion of space as an environment where social spatial relations are established which will be further explored in the next paragraphs. Thielmann et al. use the term 'ʹGeoWeb'ʹ to emphasize the increasing location awareness on the web: "ʺThe
term Geospatial Web or GeoWeb describes an emerging environment rather than a technical development"ʺ (10). According to the authors, it refers to the increasingly geospatial organization of the web (in short, as explained in paragraph 2.2, the web is a user-‐‑friendly access to the Internet). By this, Thielmann et al. mean the manner in which the Internet configures
information, services and applications (10). This geospatial organization of the web is strengthened by the increasing usage of mobile phones because these devices constantly accompany people and are aware of their location (Thielmann et al. 13). In this case, "ʺmobile Internet applications, which can be located per se and thus can permanently provide us with a ‘sense of space,’ are acting as an additional catalyst"ʺ (Thielmann et al. 64). This contemporary development of mobile media that enhance location awareness will be
discussed in the last two paragraphs of the theoretical framework.
Because of the tension between globalization and localization due to the Internet, Hafez argues for exhaustive research on the consequences of the Internet because he states there is not enough evidence to make the claim that media logically entails globalization (The Myth of Media Globalization 100). As described above, Hafez illuminates the gap between the potential of the Internet to provide a global system of communication and the continuing preponderance of local communication as shown by actual Internet usage (The Myth of Media Globalization 100).
To conclude, although the Internet is able to give its users a broad view of the world and to connect people almost anywhere, the discourses above highlight some of the limitations. According to Slater and Miller, Hafez, Castells and to a certain extend Thielmann et al. the network of the Internet is strengthening the local more than the global. Software has developed rapidly and gained importance in contemporary life and in the configuration of space, which raises questions about how software offers its users the possibility to
connect to other spaces and locations. In order to answer these questions, it is necessary to investigate the concept of space and what it comprises.
2.5 From Cyberspace to Coded Space
After investigating the globalization and localization of the Internet, one could notice that these phenomena have a strong link with space and localities and the connection between spaces and localities (Giddens 64; Castells 4; Jenson 52). Therefore, the following two paragraphs will discuss the concept of space. First, a short historical lineage will be presented from the rise of the Internet to the software of today and how it affects the human experience of space. The next paragraph will outline the concepts of space, place and location and investigate how space is deeply intertwined with the 'ʹsocial'ʹ, in particular with social relations.
The Internet, and the connections it enables, has long been seen as constituting a separate world where people could meet each other, often referred to as cyberspace (Grozs; Farman). Philosopher and professor Elizabeth Grozs describes how cyberspace has been considered a ‘parallel’ universe to our own, generated and sustained by global communications networks and computers linking distant physical spaces and individuals through a shared virtual space (76). Jenson similarly describes a simultaneous realm parallel to our physical reality (60). Subsequently, there is only a
transient connection to the material world (Jenson 60).
Although it is understandable to think that this virtual world is
something new that is made possible by the global network of the Internet, it is actually not: “The computer and the various worlds it generates reveal that the world in which we live, the real world, has always been a space of
computer space is fundamentally no different from the virtual reality of
writing, reading, drawing or even thinking (78). Building on this idea, it could be stated that this virtual space called cyberspace is nothing different from the other imaginary spaces media forms has brought us to, for example by books, films or stories. Regarding globalization and localization, one could argue that the idea of 'ʹvirtual border-‐‑crossing'ʹ, as described in paragraph 2.3, is nothing new. However, getting in touch with other people around the globe is something that could not be achieved by means of the virtual spaces of books, films and stories.
Moreover, founder of the Digital Methods Initiative Richard Rogers explains that the idea of a divide between the real and the virtual arose from the discourse surrounding virtual reality in the late 1980s and early 1990s (The End of the Virtual 1). Back then the Internet came to stand for a virtual realm, with opportunities for a redefinition of consciousness, identity,
corporality, community, citizenry and (social movement) politics (Rogers, The End of the Virtual 1). However, Rogers challenges the premise of this divide by focusing on the rise of methods of Internet research that move beyond the concept of the Internet as a realm apart (The End of the Virtual 1). The title of the article ‘The End of the Virtual’ by Rogers clearly reflects his standpoint. Rogers claims that the end of the rigid divide between real and virtual space can be located around the year 2000. According to Rogers, a first sign of this ‘End of Cyberspace’ can be found in the research of Miller and Slater on Internet usage in Trinidad and Tobago that challenge the idea of cyberspace as a realm apart (The End of the Virtual 2). Miller and Slater concluded that Trinis appropriated the medium of the Internet to make it a part of their own culture (44). This finding was against the idea of an Internet which anyone could inhabit regardless of one’s location (Rogers, The End of the Virtual 2). Other new voices about the relationship of the real with the virtual came from the 'ʹVirtual Society? Program'ʹ (1997-‐‑2000). The research found that virtual
interactions supplement rather than substitute real interactions. In addition, it was found that identities are based in both the online as well the off-‐‑line world (Rogers, The End of the Virtual 2).
The ‘End of Cyberspace’ as a ‘placeless space’ (in the terms of Manual Castells) can be deduced from the lawsuit against Yahoo! in 2000 (Rogers, The End of the Virtual 3). At that time, Web users in France where able to visit Nazi memorabilia pages on Yahoo.com from the United States, but two NGOs wanted the pages to be inaccessible from within France. Subsequently, IP-‐‑to-‐‑ geo technology was developed so that French users located in France could no longer visit the specific Yahoo pages. Rogers calls this the ‘grounding’ of the web and explains how major players as Google, Microsoft Live and YouTube have implemented this technology (The End of the Virtual 4). Rogers therefore notices a turning point which he calls ‘The End of
Cyberspace’, since the idea of the online realm as a separated world became no longer tenable: the online and offline worlds had become intertwined (The End of the Virtual 4).
Taking into account the real/virtual divide and the fact that the online and offline are mutually dependent and connected, Jason Farman describes two lenses through which people make sense of the world (36). His
description could be seen as an updated version of the divide since Farman describes how his mobile device works as a second lens through which he experiences and sees the (real) world (36). This implies not a different realm, or a cyberspace to escape to, but illustrates how technology has become an additional tool, or almost a sixth sense for our experiences and interactions with the spaces we occupy. Farman describes it as:
The ‘virtual’ world of the mobile interface deeply affects the way I move through my everyday life. I savor the context-‐‑aware information my mobile device provides me when the representation of my environment on my device does not match
up with the material space around me I feel one of my lenses to the world has been broken. (36)
Furthermore, Rogers states that the online realm, once routinely thought of and mapped as placeless, now lifts location to the fore (Mapping and the Politics of Web Space 194). The shift from the rigid real/virtual divide to the approach of the online and offline as two lenses through which to observe the one world, is for Farman a reason to call for an updated approach for our perceptions of how virtual and material spaces interact (36). He pleads for an approach with the understanding of real and virtual space as having a
constant interplay and permeability between the two spaces (36). By ignoring this interplay and permeability we can never realize a nuanced
understanding of computing space and mobile media space (Farman 37). These computing and mobiles media spaces are configured through code and software (Dodge and Kitchin 9). As Manovich concludes, software has become a universal language, “the interface to our imagination and the world” (The Algorithms of Our Lives n. pag). The fact that the technology of the Internet no longer simply facilitates a different world like Cyberspace implies that technology is now facilitating and shaping ‘real’ everyday life. Dodge and Kitchin focus on this phenomenon in their work Code/Space. They state that the practice of everyday life has over the last years become
increasingly infused with and mediated by software and that it is “shaping our world”(9). This implies that software offers possibilities and takes over tasks with little human participation. Hence, code actively shapes people’s daily interactions and transactions, and mediates all manner of practices in entertainment, communication, and movements (Dodge and Kitchin 9). In addition to this, or as part of these actions, it shapes our perception and experience of space and the notion of ‘where we are.’
As Dodge and Kitchin open their chapter "ʺThe Transduction of Space"ʺ the academic field of software studies has largely ignored the role of space as
a conceptual and analytical tool for understanding how and why software matters, instead prioritizing the role played by social relations and time (65). Dodge and Kitchin argue that “software makes a difference to everyday life because it alternatively modulates the conditions through which space is beckoned into being, transducing code/space and coded space” (80). Software is shaping our spatial environment because it comes in so many forms, from objects to processes and infrastructures, and is often ubiquitous (Dodge and Kitchin 80). Therefore, they proposed the concept of ‘code/space’ or ‘coded space’ to describe spaces which are embedded in the physical world and at the same time depend highly on software structures.
A ‘code/space’ is established when a space is constituted of both code and location and the space could not exist in its full functionality if one was absent (16). Hence, regarding a code/space, space and code are mutually dependent and shaped by each other. To illustrate their own concept, they give the example of the check-‐‑in area at an airport. The characteristics of this space come from the possibilities of software and therefore, the function and operations of this space are dependent on software (Dodge and Kitchin 17). Proceeding on their call for a central role for space within software studies, rather than focusing on time and social relations as has been extensively done already (Dodge and Kitchin 65), it makes sense to focus on space and social relations. An interesting idea they refer to is that people in Western society are entering an age of ‘everyware’ (Dodge and Kitchin 216). 'ʹEveryware'ʹ is the notion that "ʺcomputational power will soon be distributed and available at any point on the planet"ʺ (Dodge and Kitchin 216). This idea suggests that wherever you physically are around the globe, you can be everywhere due to the possibilities offered by software. Dodge and Kitchin describe this situation as “rounded by spatiality in certain locations, but accessible from anywhere across the network” (17).
To summarize, the rise of the Internet enabled users to be part of a global network, accessible from any physical location. Subsequently, the overall rise of software in contemporary everyday life reconfigures space and our perception of it. In the following chapter the question of how software enables users to create global and/or local connections is addressed.
2.6 From Space to Social Spatial Relations
Since globalization and localization are both concerned with the aspect of sociality as well as the aspect of space, this paragraph addresses how these two aspects relate to each other. The spaces that users are able to enter due to the possibilities of software are, according to various academics, not
stationary entities (Hubbard et al 4.; Lefebvre 26; Dodge and Kitchin 13;
Hochman and Manovich n. pag). In the following paragraph the different and sometimes overlapping perspectives of these authors are outlined in order to understand how ‘space’ and 'ʹsociality'ʹ are intertwined and also defined by each other. This relates to globalization and localization, because these phenomena regard both social connections and space/localities as discussed in the first three paragraphs of this theoretical framework.
To start, Farman claims that the contemporary era of computing is social in general (56). Since space is extensively shaped by code and software, it could be assumed that space is social as well. Moreover, it is extensively argued that space comprises the aspect of ‘sociality’. The collaborative book Key Thinkers On Space and Place of Phil Hubbard, Rob Kitchin and Gill
Valentine introduces a historical lineage of the concept of space and outlines how the perception of space have merged with social activities. They open the discussion about these concepts by stating that space and place are often regarded as synonymous within popular discourse (Hubbard et al. 3).
However, within the field of geography, these concepts and the tension between them have a long history and illustrate the diverse ways in which space and place have been used to make sense of the world (Hubbard et al. 3). Until the 1970s, ‘space’ was considered a neutral entity, a “blank canvas that is filled with human activity” (Hubbard et al. 4). This means that space was being understood as something that existed outside of human existence rather than playing an active role in shaping everyday and social life (Hubbard et al. 4). In reaction to this concept of space, in the 1970s the idea emerged of space as an active actor within social relations, being both socially produced and consumed (Hubbard et al. 5). Moreover, Marxist theorist Henri Lefebvre marked with his work The Production of Space in 1991 a turning point in the understanding of space as a social concept. He inferred that absolute space can not exist because it is always configured through social activity (Lefebvre 26). Hubbard et al. argue that from this point on the concept of ‘place’
emerges as a particular form of space. Place is created through social acts and thus represents a particular type of space defined by social relations
(Hubbard et al. 5).
Dodge and Kitchin strengthen this approach by stating that space is not simply a box in which things happen but rather that “spaces are subtly evolving layers of context and practices that fold together people and things and actively shape social relations” (13). Federica Timeto also describes how space and information are not stationary entities but are continuously enacted “through the relations among subjects, objects, and places” (94). Farman follows this idea and explains how our bearings in space are not simply a matter of understanding our location, but also a matter of spatial
relationships and how the practices that are situated in a space are culturally inscribed (87). This point towards the idea of space as defined by our location, the social relations it facilitates and the cultural ideas about that location. In
all, space can be seen as the sum of a location and a person’s social and cultural bonding to that location.
This leads to the conclusion that relations (connections) define space. In regard to Giddens definition of globalization an important aspect of which is that of space as a setting for social relations (64). Herewith, globalization is being emphasized as a process that highly concerns social relations. Hence, the approach of space as an environment for social relations aligns with the discussion of globalization/localization and the intensification of these relations. Thus, in both discourses of space and of globalization/localization relations (connections) are of high importance.
Strengthening these theoretical claims with empirical research data, in their media and cultural studies on the mobile photography application Instagram, Hochman and Manovich found that this application encourages people to understand themselves as time and place (n. pag). This is because of the fact that an image uploaded to the application is always tagged with a timestamp (to be precise: the time passed since the time of uploading) and users are able to voluntarily add their location as well. Hochman and
Manovich conclude that existing representations of space using social media data emphasize the fact that space does not stand on its own as a fixed entity but rather that it is a social product, bound up with specific social realities (n. pag).
To conclude, the referenced authors showed that space is made of the social relationships that are established within that specific space. However, these relationships can only be established if there is a way for people to connect. The most simple and straightforward way for such a connection is 'ʹface to face'ʹ, but since we live in a highly mediated world nowadays, there are obviously far more options. Moreover, in the light of globalization and localization, connections can be made through different localities. After examining the differences of these concepts, it can be concluded that location
is a users physical location; space on the other hand is a much broader
concept. Space is defined as the environment a human being can inhabit and a place is defined as a socially embodied form of space (Hubbard et al. 5). Although Hubbard et al. claim that place is as a form of space infused with social relations, others argue that space in general is concerned with social relations (Lefebvre 26; Dodge and Kitchin 13). In line with the latter, this research paper will approach both the terms of space and place as social and will focus on people around the world who are able to establish social spatial relations through contemporary software.
Hence, rather than addressing space as a concept, it makes sense to investigate social spatial relations in the light of the possibilities offered by software. Subsequently, the question remains how new media facilitates these relations. Therefore, the next paragraphs will pay attention to the field of 'ʹlocative media'ʹ and the practice of social networking because together they comprise both location and space. Herewith, the combination of locative media and social networking combine the two most important aspects of the phenomenon of globalization: place and social relations.
2.7 Locative and Social Networking Media
Since new technologies facilitate global or local social relations, it is important to look how specific new media forms offer users the possibilities of
establishing these social spatial relations. In order to analyse the possibilities of the software of new media and how they connect us globally or locally, theoretical knowledge on new media forms that concerns both space and sociality will be presented in the following paragraphs.
Raz Schwartz and Nadav Hochman state in their chapter "ʺThe Social Media Life of Public Spaces"ʺ that the fast-‐‑growing practices of geolocated
social media data as for example tweets, check-‐‑ins, and images promise to bring new challenges and opportunities in investigating the relationships between space and the social (53). Similarly, Farman sees a major transition in digital culture toward a focus on the importance of location (43).
A concept in the field of media studies concerning the increasing awareness of location within new media is 'ʹlocative media'ʹ. As Federica Timeto states, in principle, all media can be considered locative (95). The context in which they are produced and consumed can be approached as a form of location, and they thus become ‘locative media’ (95). However, what separates the so-‐‑called locative media from other media forms is the fact that they enable the experience and performance of space in a 'ʹprocessual'ʹ way (Timeto 95). By this, Timeto means that the establishment of a certain space is a process rather than a given fact, which is in line with the approach to space as discussed in the previous paragraph. The two aspects that define locative media are the possibility of moving inside and through physical places as well as the symbolic aspect of moving through different forms of virtual places (Timeto 95). The first aspect comprises the possibility for a user to possess a mobile device and thereby allows the user to move inside and through physical places accompanied by media. The second aspect refers to the discourse and discussion of virtual space versus real space and how media allows the user to navigate through both of them (if they even exist) (Timeto 95).
In addition to Timeto and her approach to locative media, Wilken and Goggin define locative media as media of communication that are
functionally bound to a location (4). By emphasizing the aspect of
communication, space and sociality become intertwined within these media. Thielmann complements this by defining locative media as communication media that embrace and emphasize users location and consequently trigger real social interactions (2). Wilken and Goggin outline people'ʹs contemporary
engagements with the Internet and mobile media by also emphasizing the importance and the increasing central role of location and location awareness (5). Wilken and Goggin plead for extensive research on locative media in the direction of how location-‐‑based services can generate new potentialities for facilitating the forms of social appropriation, citizenship, and (experimental) sociability (4). They refer to the work of Anne Galloway and Matthew Ward who explain how the term ‘locative media’ has for a long time been used within the research domain of media arts particularly, but that varied research on locative media has resulted in a “flowering of detailed, wider, interdisciplinary scholarship on and around locative media” (Wilken and Goggin 5). Moreover and more important regarding the questions of this research paper, Timeto argues that it is almost impossible to discuss locative media without considering how these media influence encounters,
connections, and relations (96). This relates back to the social and spatial relations that are highly intertwined with the concept of space and clearly of real importance within the experience and usage of locative media. Timeto concludes that locative media especially frames space and spatiality as a form of communication (102). The discourses outlined above result in the approach of a 'ʹsocial spatial relation'ʹ as a form of communication and will be of real value for the analysis of mobile applications that will follow.
In addition to Timeto, Farman acknowledges the importance of reciprocity between people in ‘making space’ using locative media (64). Adding these ideas to the definition of Wilken and Goggin, locative media can be seen as tools of communication with the aspect of emphasizing the location of users involved in the communication. Farman also acknowledges this definition and its aspects. He states that the term ‘locative media’ is being used for those media that give users the possibility to add and/or emphasize their location. Locative media, for example the mobile phone, provides users with a sense of 'ʹsituatedness'ʹ through its locative abilities: it can locate where
