1st Edition

Geographies of the Internet

Edited By Barney Warf Copyright 2021
    382 Pages 55 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    382 Pages 55 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    This book offers a comprehensive overview of recent research on the internet, emphasizing its spatial dimensions, geospatial applications, and the numerous social and geographic implications such as the digital divide and the mobile internet.

    Written by leading scholars in the field, the book sheds light on the origins and the multiple facets of the internet. It addresses the various definitions of cyberspace and the rise of the World Wide Web, draws upon media theory, as well as explores the physical infrastructure such as the global skein of fibre optics networks and broadband connectivity. Several economic dimensions, such as e-commerce, e-tailing, e-finance, e-government, and e-tourism, are also explored. Apart from its most common uses such as Google Earth, social media like Twitter, and neogeography, this volume also presents the internet’s novel uses for ethnographic research and the study of digital diasporas.

    Illustrated with numerous graphics, maps, and charts, the book will best serve as supplementary reading for academics, students, researchers, and as a professional handbook for policy makers involved in communications, media, retailing, and economic development.

    1 Introduction Barney Warf

    PART I Conceiving the history, technology, and geography of the internet

    2 Is cyberspace there after all? Aharon Kellerman

    3 The World Wide Web as media ecology Michael L. Black

    4 Robustness and the internet: a geographic fiber-optic infrastructure perspective Ramakrishnan Durairajan

    5 The history of broadband Elizabeth Mack

    6 The mobile internet Matthew Kelley

    7 Geographies of the internet in rural areas in developing countries Jeffrey James

    8 Geographies of global digital divides James B. Pick and Avijit Sarkar

    PART II Political economy of the internet

    9 The geography of e-commerce Bruno Moriset

    10 Online retailing Emily Fekete

    11 Finance and information technologies: opposite sides of the same coin Jayson J. Funke

    12 E-tourism Irene Cheng Chu Chan and Rob Law

    13 The state and cyberspace: e-government geographies Barney Warf

    14 A geography of the internet in China Xiang Zhang

    PART III The internet in everyday life

    15 Google Earth Todd Patterson

    16 Augmented Reality: an overview Mark Billinghurst

    17 Twitter Matthew Haffner

    18 Neogeography Wen Lin

    19 Ethnographic research and the internet Tyler Sonnichsen

    20 Cyber-spatial cartographies of digital diasporas Michel S. Laguerre

    21 Wearable internet for wellness and health: interdigital territories of new technology Monica Murero

    22 The Internet of Things Anurag Agarwal and Bhuvan Unhelkar

    Index

    Biography

    Barney Warf is a Professor of Geography at the University of Kansas. His research and teaching interests lie within the broad domain of human geography, particularly telecommunications and the internet.