Geographies of Media – serie

In 1964, rebel radio stations took to the seas in converted ships to offer listening choice to a young, resistant audience, against a backdrop of restrictive broadcasting policies. This book draws on this exceptional moment in social history, and the decades that followed, teasing out the relations between sound, society and space that were central to ‘pirate’ broadcasting activities. With a turn towards mediated life in geography, studies of radio have been largely absent. However, radio remains the most pervasive mass communications medium. This book breaks new ground, discussing in depth the relationship between radio, space and society; considering how space matters in the production, consumption and regulation of audio transmission, through the geophysical spaces of sea, land and air. It is relevant for readers interested in geographies of media, sensory spatial experience, everyday geopolitics and the turn towards elemental and more-than-human geographies.

This book explores the concept of cyberplace as a mode of inhabiting the contemporary world. As a result, it suggests that, for many communities, unlocking cyberspace and inhabiting cyberplaces is now an integral part of their coming-to-the-globalised-world. Boos reviews in the detail the existing academic literature from cultural anthropology, human geography, and sociology on “cyberspace”, concluding that a phenomenological perspective on cyberspace provides the possibility of gaining a deep understanding of our contemporary lifeworlds, in which on- and offline practices constantly intermingle. In four chapters, he applies the developed theoretical and methodological approaches to the case of Siena’s neighbourhoods, the contrade, analysing their websites and discussing the implications of his findings for understanding contemporary processes of community building and for future research on cyberspace.This concise andaccessible book will be of interest to advanced students and scholars in cultural anthropology, human geography, media studies and sociology.

This book explores the concept of cyberplace as a mode of inhabiting the contemporary world. As a result, it suggests that, for many communities, unlocking cyberspace and inhabiting cyberplaces is now an integral part of their coming-to-the-globalised-world. Boos reviews in the detail the existing academic literature from cultural anthropology, human geography, and sociology on “cyberspace”, concluding that a phenomenological perspective on cyberspace provides the possibility of gaining a deep understanding of our contemporary lifeworlds, in which on- and offline practices constantly intermingle. In four chapters, he applies the developed theoretical and methodological approaches to the case of Siena’s neighbourhoods, the contrade, analysing their websites and discussing the implications of his findings for understanding contemporary processes of community building and for future research on cyberspace.This concise andaccessible book will be of interest to advanced students and scholars in cultural anthropology, human geography, media studies and sociology.

This open access book critically examines discussions on digitalisation and individual opportunities for socio-economic advancement. Contrary to the prevailing narratives of “digital empowerment” and opportunities for every individual, this book argues that digitalisation massively curtails social advancement opportunities, consolidating existing social relations. From a spatial perspective, Scheffer demonstrates how socially disadvantaged groups are faced with reproducing mechanisms as part of a new data economy. Surprisingly, the more intensively digital services are used, the more this happens.Building on Löw´s sociology of space and Bourdieu´s concept of habitus, this book shows how practices of social exclusion are transferred to the digital present in an innovative way. The image of “mirrored” spaces describes a new mechanism that explains social exclusion in the age of digitalisation. This book is an essential resource for researchers and students interestedin socio-economic inequalities, processes of digitalisation, and digital geographies.

Songs from Sweden shows how Swedish songwriters and producers are the creative forces behind much of today’s international pop music. As Ola Johansson reveals, the roots of this “music miracle” can be found in Sweden’s culture, economy, and thriving music industry, concentrated in Stockholm. While Swedish writer-producers developed early global recognition for making commercially successful pop music, new Swedish writer-producers have continuously emerged during the last two decades. Global artists travel to Stockholm to negotiate, record, and co-write songs. At the same time, Swedish writer-producers are part of a global collaborative network that spans the world. In addition to concrete commercial accomplishments, the Swedish success is also a result of the acquisition of reputational capital gained through positive associations that the global music industry holds about Swedish music. Ultimately, pop songs from Sweden exhibit a form of cultural hybridity, drawing from both local and global cultural expressions.

Songs from Sweden shows how Swedish songwriters and producers are the creative forces behind much of today’s international pop music. As Ola Johansson reveals, the roots of this “music miracle” can be found in Sweden’s culture, economy, and thriving music industry, concentrated in Stockholm. While Swedish writer-producers developed early global recognition for making commercially successful pop music, new Swedish writer-producers have continuously emerged during the last two decades. Global artists travel to Stockholm to negotiate, record, and co-write songs. At the same time, Swedish writer-producers are part of a global collaborative network that spans the world. In addition to concrete commercial accomplishments, the Swedish success is also a result of the acquisition of reputational capital gained through positive associations that the global music industry holds about Swedish music. Ultimately, pop songs from Sweden exhibit a form of cultural hybridity, drawing from both local and global cultural expressions.

Winner of the prestigious Marshall McLuhan Award for Outstanding Book in the Field of Media Ecology 2024. This book explores recreational uses of consumer drones from the lenses of media ecology, mobile communication, mobilities research, and science and technology studies. In this provocative ethnography, Julia M. Hildebrand discusses camera drones as mobile media for meaningful play. She thus widens perspectives onto the flying camera as foremost unmanned aircraft, spying tool, or dangerous toy towards a more comprehensive understanding of its potentials. How should we situate drone practices in recreational spaces? What ways of seeing, moving, and being do hobby drones open up? Across chapters about drone geography, communication, mobility, visuality, and human-machine relations, Aerial Play introduces novel frameworks for drone affordances, such as communication on the fly, disembodied mobilities, auratic vertical play, and drone-mindedness. In the mobile companionship with her own drone, Hildebrand contributes an innovative “auto-technographic” method for the self-reflective study of media and mobility. Ultimately, her grounded and aerial fieldwork illuminates new technological, mobile, visual, and social relations in everyday spaces.

Winner of the prestigious Marshall McLuhan Award for Outstanding Book in the Field of Media Ecology 2024. This book explores recreational uses of consumer drones from the lenses of media ecology, mobile communication, mobilities research, and science and technology studies. In this provocative ethnography, Julia M. Hildebrand discusses camera drones as mobile media for meaningful play. She thus widens perspectives onto the flying camera as foremost unmanned aircraft, spying tool, or dangerous toy towards a more comprehensive understanding of its potentials. How should we situate drone practices in recreational spaces? What ways of seeing, moving, and being do hobby drones open up? Across chapters about drone geography, communication, mobility, visuality, and human-machine relations, Aerial Play introduces novel frameworks for drone affordances, such as communication on the fly, disembodied mobilities, auratic vertical play, and drone-mindedness. In the mobile companionship with her own drone, Hildebrand contributes an innovative “auto-technographic” method for the self-reflective study of media and mobility. Ultimately, her grounded and aerial fieldwork illuminates new technological, mobile, visual, and social relations in everyday spaces.

This book reflects on what it means to live as urban citizens in a world increasingly shaped by the business and organisational logics of digital platforms. Where smart city strategies promote the roll-out of internet of things (IoT) technologies and big data analytics by city governments worldwide, platform urbanism responds to the deep and pervasive entanglements that exist between urban citizens, city services and platform ecosystems today.    Recent years have witnessed a backlash against major global platforms, evidenced by burgeoning literatures on platform capitalism, the platform society, platform surveillance and platform governance, as well as regulatory attention towards the market power of platforms in their dominance of global data infrastructure.  This book responds to these developments and asks: How do platform ecosystems reshape connected cities? How do urban researchers and policy makers respondto the logics of platform ecosystems and platform intermediation? What sorts of multisensory urban engagements are rendered through platform interfaces and modalities? And what sorts of governance challenges and responses are needed to cultivate and champion the digital public spaces of our connected lives.

This book reflects on what it means to live as urban citizens in a world increasingly shaped by the business and organisational logics of digital platforms. Where smart city strategies promote the roll-out of internet of things (IoT) technologies and big data analytics by city governments worldwide, platform urbanism responds to the deep and pervasive entanglements that exist between urban citizens, city services and platform ecosystems today.    Recent years have witnessed a backlash against major global platforms, evidenced by burgeoning literatures on platform capitalism, the platform society, platform surveillance and platform governance, as well as regulatory attention towards the market power of platforms in their dominance of global data infrastructure.  This book responds to these developments and asks: How do platform ecosystems reshape connected cities? How do urban researchers and policy makers respondto the logics of platform ecosystems and platform intermediation? What sorts of multisensory urban engagements are rendered through platform interfaces and modalities? And what sorts of governance challenges and responses are needed to cultivate and champion the digital public spaces of our connected lives.

This book proposes a new perspective on mapping and measuring urban live music ecologies. Music makes a significant economic and cultural contribution to cities, and each local context produces a complex live music ecosystem composed of musical and non-musical actors, infrastructures and regulatory frameworks. This complexity presents a challenge for policymakers and businesses seeking to make informed strategic decisions. To address this challenge, the volume explores two core themes: firstly, the valuation and measurement of live music ecologies by recognising the interdependencies between venues, stakeholders, infrastructures and policy environments. Secondly, it considers mapping as an analytical tool for identifying spatial patterns, relationships and inequalities within live music ecosystems. Together, these approaches help address key policy questions and offer evidence-based insights to support more informed decisionmaking for live music industries and communities in urban environments.

This book brings together leading scholars to interrogate the enduring and evolving relationship between journalism, mass communications, and the built environment. From the emergence of the first newspapers, media buildings have provided their producers and consumers with a “definable shape” and served as key nodes in the urban geography of communications. At the same time, the changing form and function of media buildings has both reflected and reified transformations in modern journalism and mass communication.

This book is the second installment of a trilogy that explores the spatial dimensions of music. Music has generated substantial interest among geographers, but other academic disciplines have also developed related spatial perspectives on music. This trilogy brings together multiple approaches, each book investigating a bundle of interrelated themes. New Geographies of Music 2: Music in Urban Tourism, Heritage Policies and Place-making starts by exploring contemporary approaches to the study of popular music, as well as the relations existing between music, tourism, heritage and urban geography. The chapters address a range of issues, including how music shapes the “feel” of touristic towns and urban public spaces, how music scenes have an increasing role in heritage and tourism policies, and how this recognition of music has consequences on artistic practices and urban imaginaries. This is a must-read for anyone interested in the relationship between space and music.

This book is the first installment of a trilogy that explores the spatial dimensions of music. Music has generated substantial interest among geographers, but other academic disciplines have also developed related spatial perspectives on music. This trilogy brings together multiple approaches, each book investigating a bundle of interrelated themes. New Geographies of Music 1: Urban Policies, Live Music, and Careers in a Changing Industry starts with an introduction that explores contemporary approaches to the study of popular music. The following chapters address a range of issues, including the role of live music in urban development, how knowledge about local music ecosystems circulates among cities, urban networks of music production, how musical practices in local scenes are affected by core-periphery relations, and how musicians rely on touring in order to earn a living. This is a must-read for anyone interested in the relationship between space and music.

This book fills a gap in sociological theory surrounding how we engage with digital maps like Google Maps, Bing Maps, and OpenStreetMap (OSM). It explains how they feature in everyday life and with what social consequences. To do so, the book walks through examples of how digital maps shape social practices, from choosing which home to buy (landed capital acquisition), through to selecting routes between places. The book first provides a socio-technical background to digital maps and their development as progeny of the Internet and web rather than direct successors to paper-based ones. It then charts the evolution of theory about map use from its origin in academic cartography to contemporary thought, introducing concepts from systems-based communication models, semiotics, cognitive-behaviorism, critical cartography, and critical data and platform studies. With background concepts in place, the book moves on to develop a particular framework for analysing digital media use. Combining digital sociology and practice theory, the book works through empirical examples to cumulatively develop a new sociological theory on the social consequences of digital maps. The book argues that we defer to digital maps knowledgeably as rough guides, adopting a Bayesian logic - albeit with an awareness of their potential for error. As a result, decisions over choice of place and route - the mobility of people and things in space - become anchored within people’s deferral to digital maps. By extension, so do senses of place, sense of security, and the performance of social positions.