The Geographies of the Internet

摘要

The word "geography" derives from the Greek term meaning "to write about the Earth," and geography has been a dynamic field of study throughout recorded history. Although many equate geography with simply memorizing names on a map, it is better defined as "the study of the Earth's surface as the space within which the human population lives" with particular attention to the "spatial variation that can occur" (Haggett, 1993, p. 220). The definition of the Earth's surface may seem self-explanatory, in other words, the physical landscape around us, but communication media and technologies have created new nonphysical spaces for human interaction. Although these communication spaces have long existed and shaped the development of civilizations (Innis, 1950, 1951), the rise of electronic information technologies has created a communication space that is categorically richer, more flexible, and more accessible for larger numbers of people. Of particular interest for geographers is the creation-via the widespread diffusion of the Internet-of complex new geographies of interaction and connection between people and places, both near and distant, that blend virtual spaces and physical places. Although the technical capability of the Internet often promotes an image of uniform and Utopian connectivity, these new geographies of the Internet are exceedingly complex. The Internet is far from being a uniform process or system; it is not simply overlaid on existing patterns nor does it entail the end of geography as some have claimed. Rather, it provides new geographies of connection and exclusion (e.g., the difference in access available in physically proximate downtown business districts vs. downtown slums); invites experimentation; and opens the possibility for contests between differing visions of the world. These geographies-ranging from the convergence of hitherto isolated individuals into social and cultural movements to the offshoring of computer programming jobs-are not homogeneous. Instead, the manifestation of Internet geographies turns on issues of cost, usability, reliability, culture, and power to name but a few. Simple expectations of a uniform geography or ubiquitous access are simply unreflective of the reality of the Internet.