1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910835052703321

Autore

Hanchard Matthew

Titolo

Engaging with Digital Maps : Our Knowledgeable Deferral to Rough Guides / / by Matthew Hanchard

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Singapore : , : Springer Nature Singapore : , : Imprint : Palgrave Macmillan, , 2024

ISBN

981-9989-72-8

Edizione

[1st ed. 2024.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (297 pages)

Collana

Geographies of Media, , 3005-0138

Disciplina

912.0285

Soggetti

Human geography

Science - Social aspects

Sociology, Urban

Communication

Human Geography

Science and Technology Studies

Urban Sociology

Media and Communication

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Nota di contenuto

Chapter 1: Introduction -- Chapter 2: The socio-technical development of digital maps -- Chapter 3: The missing user in cartographic thought -- Chapter 4: Towards a practice-orientated digital sociology -- Chapter 5: Applying practice-orientated digital sociology -- Chapter 6: Knowledgeable deferral and digital maps as anchors -- Chapter 7: Centring anchors and the affordances of digital maps -- Chapter 8: Rough guides that anchor and the affordances of digital maps -- Chapter 9: Conclusion.

Sommario/riassunto

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. Dr Matthew Hanchard is a Research Associate at the University of Sheffield (UK) with research interests spanning digital sociology, medical sociology, and science and technology studies. His research to date has involved activity on projects funded by the AHRC, ARC, European Commission (COST), UKRI, and Wellcome Trust. .