We're hiring an Internet Geographer!

We are hiring a full-time Internet Geographer at the Oxford Internet Institute!

The position is for a researcher to work with Mark Graham on a project to study and map the Geographies of the Internet. This is an exciting role in which the researcher will both gather and analyse a range of Internet-related data and develop innovative and beautiful ways to visualise them.

It is important to understand who produces and reproduces, who has access to, and who  and where are represented by information in our contemporary knowledge economy. Building on existing work conducted at the Oxford Internet Institute, this project proposes a comprehensive mapping of contemporary geographies of the Internet using both primary and secondary data (examples of data that we propose to map include geographies of academic journals, intellectual property imports vs. exports, patents, Wikipedia edits and contributions, networks of Twitter mentions and followers, Facebook users, information takedown requests, contested articles in Wikipedia, content indexed in Google etc.).

This one-year project will be divided into four stages. First, we will bring together and start collecting all necessary data. While some of the data are readily available in existing and open datasets, others require the creation of custom scripts and data collection tools. Second, we will use GIS and statistical packages to comprehensively analyse the data. Third, we will create visually appealing and state-of-the-art graphics and maps that clearly convey the geographies of access, information production, and information representation. Finally, we will broadly disseminate this work in a variety of open and accessible formats including free and interactive ebooks, an interactive website, a printed atlas, and academic journal articles. There may also be opportunities to gain teaching experience in some of the methods classes offered at the OII.

Candidates should have a keen interest in the geographies of the Internet, a passion for visualising and disseminating results, and an exemplary record of creative activity or scholarly research. The successful applicant will demonstrate an ability to collect online data with scripting tools, analyse large datasets with GIS tools, and visualise results in both static and interactive formats. 

We welcome applications from candidates who are additionally keen to design a future research programme in Internet Geographies in order to extend the position. Based at the Oxford Internet Institute, this position is available immediately for 12 months in the first instance, with the possibility of renewal thereafter funding permitting. 

For more details, please check out the application link and related job description and selection criteria:

https://www.recruit.ox.ac.uk/pls/hrisliverecruit/erq_jobspec_version_4.jobspec?p_id=105781

Please also feel free to get in touch with any questions about the position. 

Relevant links:

Internet Geographies OII project page

OII Visualisation site

Our floatingsheep.org blog

Recent academic publications

Recent Guardian contributions

Flows, borders and complexity

This post is a bit eclectic, but represents a series of recent publications that do a great job of capturing what we find so fascinating about how information and materiality are in constantly shifting and mutual constitutive flux.

First, visualizations based on satellite images. They are some wonderful representations of both the mobility (roads, air traffic) and information flows (undersea cables) of the 21st century. These images show a vision of the world that is borderless and strongly interconnected, albeit with some clear hubs and hinterlands emerging.

Satellite images showing roads, air traffic, cities at night and internet cables
Source: Felix Pharand-Deschenes (thanks to Jeremy Crampton for alerting us about these)

In contrast, although not in contradiction, to this vision is Frank Jacobs' essay, "In Praise of Borders", which strikes a chord with our own work (see here or here), on the extent to which borders in the material world are replicated in the geoweb. Jacobs writes, "...we find enclaves and exclaves, disputed and neutral zones, improbably straight and impossibly jagged borders, deadly borders born in war and old ones almost faded into irrelevance. Borders reflect humanity’s need for obstacles, for a line in the sand between Them and Us. And even if they coincide with rivers or mountain ranges, they remain entirely human constructs. They are there because we expect them to be, because the map says that they are. They can be as wondrous, frightening and magical..." The argument that borders matter even in a hyperlinked world resonates deeply with us.

Finally, a post by Richard Flordia in the Atlantic Cities which plays with some of the data that we pulled together for the Price of Weed Analysis highlights both the spatial complexity of human activity and the potential insight that thinking through usual questions can bring.

All in all, lots of food for thought.

Guest Geovisualizations: Spread of Newspapers, Post offices and Kiva investments

There have been a bunch of cool geo-animations that have come to our attention over the past few weeks and we thought we'd share them with you.

First is the animation of the spread of post offices across the United States done by Derek Watkins. His blog post about this visualization is here.

Posted: Visualizing US expansion through post offices. from Derek Watkins on Vimeo.

Second is the visualization of the growth of newspapers (also in the U.S.) presented by the Rural West Initiative and the Bill Lane Center for the American West. The interactive versions is available here and an animation is below.

The Growth of US Newspapers, 1690-2011 from Geoff McGhee on Vimeo.

We became aware of both these thanks to FlowingData.

The final visualization is an animation of the flows of microfinance via the Kiva lending program shown as an exchange of "intercontinental ballistic missiles". Thanks to AAG Economic Geography Specialty Group facebook feed.

Intercontinental Ballistic Microfinance from Kiva on Vimeo.

Visualizing Digiplace

Two of the basic concepts we use here at Floatingsheep are:

Cyberscape, or the cloud of geo-coded information through which we move everyday (handy visualization of cyberscape here).

AND

Digiplace, or the sorting of cyberscapes, often by software algorithms such as Google’s pagerank, to filter content and avoid information overload. A key part of digiplace is how it makes some parts of the cyberscape more visible while peripheralizing other areas.

We’ve never had a good visualization of digiplace…at least until now. But Taylor’s recent search (via his iPhone) on Google Maps for the keyword "Kroger grocery" resulted in a nice example. In the image below, Kroger’s is in the upper left and is marked by a red push pin. Interestingly, Meijer's, another grocery store chain, also shows up as a sponsored link. Digiplace in action.

Digiplace

While Google Maps does clearly label Meijer’s as a “sponsored link”, i.e., "paid for placement”, the digiplace produced by this search does change visibility within the retail landscape.

For further reading, see:
Zook, M. and M. Graham. 2007. The Creative Reconstruction of the Internet: Google and the privatization of cyberspace and DigiPlace. GeoForum 38(6): 1322-1343

Zook, M. and M. Graham. 2007. Mapping DigiPlace: Geo-coded Internet Data and the Perception of Place. Environment and Planning B 34(3): 466-482.