Social/Geographic Implications of
Information Technologies
New information technologies are helping "re-write" both the
geographical configuration of material artifacts (the built environment;
the spatial organization of economic activities) but also the ways in which
people interact with one another and how identities are constructed. A
fair bit of work is underway on the former within geography, but there
is relatively little systematic understanding of how the Web, telecommuting,
etc. is affecting the relationship between identity and place. Traditional
conceptions of boundedness (nation state, neighborhood, home) are being
undermined; ideas of separateness/belonging are being reconstituted; and
notions of place/space as a container and as belonging are shifting.
IMPLICATIONS include:
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Redefinition of/loss of community
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Changing the power/influence of different social groups
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The role and relevance of local legal standards/regulation
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Intersection with the internationalization of standards and practices
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Redefinition of home-work relations and domestic work
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Democratization
CORE SCIENCE TO BE PERFORMED
To trace, study and document the nature of the changes that are underway;
Comparative case studies of these phenomena
across different political/legal and technological contexts
for different kids of communities within common national contexts.
DISCIPLINES
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Political science/sociology
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Law
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Communications
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Anthropology
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Geography
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