Digital Geographies

Digital technologies are an important part of our lives and shape our everyday activities and environments in complex and sometimes surprising ways. In this module we explore how‘the digital’ is bound up in how we relate to one another and to the world around us.From the cards in our wallets to the cameras in our smart phones, we use digital technology to augment our bodies, minds and memories and through increasingly complex architectures and infrastructuresto adapt and order our surroundings.Cutting edge geography and social science research have begun to explore how our senses and spatialities are transformed through the digital, and thereby shape the relationship between our bodies and the senses of place. This module invites you to explore how what is to be human is inescapably bound up with technological development. 

To take this module you will normally be expected to have achieved appropriate levels of knowledge and understanding in cognate subject areas. It is suitable for anyone with a broad interest in how technology shapes our experience of the world. However, the module entails a commitment to individual preparation and learning. The module also has a creative production component, which involves producing a short video that illustrates and critically responds to a particular issue taken from the seminar discussion sessions and self-directed workbook activities. 

This module has two principal aims: to explore the role of the digitalin how we relate to one another and experience the world, and to critically interrogate the role of the digitalin the production of geographical knowledge. Embedded in the module are two elements of the module convenor’s research: the forms of spatial imagination produced by and through innovation practices (such as: Kinsley 2012); and: the role of digital media in contemporary spatial experience (for example: Kinsley 2014) and how this might be studied by geographers (Kinsley 2019, 2016). In addressing these aims the module will introduce you to the ways in which geographers have addressed the role of the digitalin relation to understandings of space and place, political economic activities, identity and difference, and community, society and world. Further, the module will draw upon longstanding discussion within the philosophy of technology and science and technology studies concerning the production of knowledge with and about digital technologies. Through regular discussion and independent learning you will relate your studies of technology to your everyday experiences of everyday life. The module will also introduce transferable skills through the video coursework. 

The mixture of lectures, seminars and completing the assessments will support you to further develop the following academic and professional skills: problem solving (developing own ideas with confidence, identifying and using appropriate sources of information, selectively collecting and collating appropriate information), managing structure (identifying key demands of the task, setting clearly defined goals, conceptualising central issues within the task, developing strategies to ensure individual and group progress), time management (managing time effectively individually and within a group), collaboration (respecting the views and values of others, taking initiative and leading others, supporting others in their work, maintaining group cohesiveness and purpose), and audience awareness (presenting ideas effectively in multiple formats, persuading others of the importance and relevance of your views, responding positively and effectively to questions). 

Conceptualising ‘the digital’ and digital geographies 

Discovering digital geographies  

Self-directed study based upon workbook activities drawing upon the concepts addressed in part one and a series of exercises that lead you towards developing ideas to pursue for the coursework assignments. 

Topics in digital geographies 

These thematic sections are supported by three seminars, self-guided coursework workbook activities and two workshops (which prepares you for the courseworks). The seminar have complimentary themes to the first section: 

The workbook reflections workshop and the video coursework workshop address your ideas and concerns in developing the individual 5-7 minute videos and answering the essay question. 

There are timetabled, but optional, coursework surgery sessions for the coursework, which you are strongly encouraged to join.