Plenary panel: Futures of Geomedia
Joan Ramon Rodriguez-Amat: Thinking the futures of geomedia from outside
Followed by commentaries on the future of geomedia by Pablo Abend, Helena Atteneder, and Karina Kirsten
Chair: Karin Fast
Thinking the futures of geomedia from outside
Joan Ramon Rodriguez-Amat
The geographic configurations of the media landscapes have been historically deeply entangled with power structures through forms of symbolic and cultural meaning, political and technological relevance, or economic ownership. To understand the futures of geomedia it is necessary to explore the factors and interests that combine in all but innocent definition of the geographic and media landscape parcellations.
This talk revisits the outskirts of the dispositif that looms beyond the specific conditions of existence of geomedia as a field and contributes with discussions originated in three neighbouring disciplinary fields -platformisation studies; science and technology studies; and the studies of culture including concepts from the postcolonial and identity traditions. First, the platformised ecosystem of ringfenced ownership has transformed the internet based social and cultural interactions; but also, has placed data property at the centre of a political and economic dynamic that turns clicks into goods, limiting access to shared data and imposing self-designed technical features that make cross-system compatibility difficult. Second, the debates on interfaces and on science and technological studies also illuminate questions about materiality and relations between devices, networks, and societal assemblages that form the governance of geomedia related technologies. And third, the discussions on culture and citizenship help understand geography and media as political and symbolic battlefields of interests and tensions that inform notions such as shared identity and belonging, heritage and tradition, civic engagement, and community.
This triple disciplinary excursus towards neighbouring research fields helps identify more factors that shape -from outside- the conditions for the futures of Geomedia; and activate debates on how, from the Geomedia research, the geographic configurations of the media landscapes must be further challenged to make them fairer, and more sustainable for all.