Locative Media and Sociability:Using Location-Based Social Networks to Coordinate Everyday Life

Foursquare was a mobile social networking application that enabled people to share location with friends in the form of “check-ins.” The visualization of surrounding known social connections as well as unknown others has the potential to impact how people coordinate social encounters and forge new social ties. While many studies have explored mobile phones and sociability, there is a lack of empirical research examining location-based social network’s (LSBNs) from a sociability perspective. Drawing on a dataset of original qualitative research with a range of Foursquare users, the paper examines the application in the context of social coordination and sociability in three ways. First, the paper explores if Foursquare is used to organize certain social encounters, and if so, why. Second, the paper examines the visualization of surrounding social connections and whether this leads to “serendipitous encounters.” Lastly, the paper examines whether the use of Foursquare can produce new social relationships

Tourism and the smartphone app: capabilities, emerging practice and scope in the travel domain.

Based on its advanced computing capabilities and ubiquity, the smartphone has rapidly been adopted as a tourism travel tool.With a growing number of users and a wide varietyof applications emerging, the smartphone is fundamentally altering our current use and understanding of the transport network and tourism travel. Based on a review of smartphone apps, this article evaluates the current functionalities used in the domestic tourism travel domain and highlights where the next major developments lie. Then, at a more conceptual level, the article analyses how the smartphone mediates tourism travel and the role it might play in more collaborative and dynamic travel decisions to facilitate sustainable travel. Some emerging research challenges are discussed

Understanding temporal rhythms and travel behaviour at destinations: Potential ways to achieve more sustainable travel

This paper analyses the roles played by time in destination-based travel behaviour. It contrasts clock time's linear view of time with fragmented time, instantaneous time, fluid time and flow, time out and the multiple temporalities of tourism experiences. It explores temporal issues in a destination travel context, using qualitative techniques. Data were captured using diary photography, diary-interview method with tourists at a rural destination; their spatial and temporal patterns were captured using a purpose built smartphone app. The analysis revealed three temporal themes influencing travel behaviour: time fluidity; daily and place-related rhythms; and control of time. Three key messages emerge for future sustainable tourist destination-based travel systems. Given the strong desire for temporal fluidity, transport systems should evolve beyond clock-time regimes. Second, temporal forces favour personal modes of transport (car, walk, cycle), especially in rural areas where public transport cannot offer flexibility. Third, the car is personalised and perceived to optimise travel fluidity and speed, but is currently unsustainable. Imaginative initiatives, using new mobile media technology can offer new positive and proactive car travel, utilising spare public and private vehicle capacity. Research is needed to implement mechanisms for individualised space-time scheduling and collective vehicle use strategies. © 2013 Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC

Evaluation of Public Urban Space as a Context for Social Interaction

One of the contemporary critical issues in urban areas is to develop and improve the effective strategies for provision of opportunity for "social interaction" among citizens, eventually revitalizing contemporary or so-called modern urban communities. Several studies have analyzed specific physical factors of public urban space influence on social interaction. To understand the factors leading to social interaction, physical characteristics of urban space need to be considered along with the general socio-demographic characteristics of each city. In this study, the physical features and characteristics of selected public urban spaces in central district of Erzurum, Turkey, were categorized and examined based on the variables of connectivity, accessibility, and visibility, in relation to socio-demographic characteristics. The results of the analyses were finally combined, and compared to determine their relationship with the social interaction in public urban spaces

Evaluation of Public Urban Space as a Context for Social Interaction

One of the contemporary critical issues in urban areas is to develop and improve the effective strategies for provision of opportunity for "social interaction" among citizens, eventually revitalizing contemporary or so-called modern urban communities. Several studies have analyzed specific physical factors of public urban space influence on social interaction. To understand the factors leading to social interaction, physical characteristics of urban space need to be considered along with the general socio-demographic characteristics of each city. In this study, the physical features and characteristics of selected public urban spaces in central district of Erzurum, Turkey, were categorized and examined based on the variables of connectivity, accessibility, and visibility, in relation to socio-demographic characteristics. The results of the analyses were finally combined, and compared to determine their relationship with the social interaction in public urban spaces

Mobile Virtual Realities and Portable Magic Circles

Hybrid reality games such as Pokémon GO enable new approaches to embodied space that problematise traditional understandings of play. More recently, smartphones have again become involved in the provision of a new kind of relationship with space: the space of virtual reality. It is the intention of this exploratory chapter to examine mobile virtual reality as part of the continuum of mobile media in the context of two related themes: (1) physical distraction and (2) embodied space. The chapter will consider how this reassessment might provide new understandings of play’s connection to the ordinary space of daily life before expanding upon these issues within the broader context of the “smartphone movement” and concluding with suggested directions for future research within the field

Seeking public space: Architecture, democracy and citizenship in Turkey

Architecture is fundamentally a political activity. What makes living interesting is the environment that changes constantly, and politics is not only the essence of this alternating environment, but also it is the essence of the design process. The experience I had during Gezi Park protests in Turkey has changed my perspective about occupying and sharing a public space. The social and political influences of the protest have encouraged many citizens to be aware of their environment. In the course of demonstrations, protestors chose a symbol that reflects the ideology of the uprising: a tree. Certainly the issue was beyond a tree, but it was representing the connection between urban public spaces and citizens. This paper investigates how to create a political public space that minimizes government resistance and empowers citizens to actively participate in the decision-making process. The research is executed using an empirical method and through observations, case studies, interviews, and literature, data is collected for analysis. The potential of 'virtual' public space in conjunction with the importance of 'physical' public space allows for the expansion of conventional criteria of democratic action, which further empowers the citizen by alleviating the force of government interventi

Sociabilidades efímeras: la navegación social entre los jóvenes daneses

Aquest article analitza les maneres de reunir-se dels joves a les ciutats daneses d’Aarhus i Horsens, tenint en compte les complexitats espacials, temporals i socials de l’espai urbà. Suggerim el terme de «sociabilitats urbanes efímeres» per entendre com es construeix un estar junts alternatiu, fora de marcs institucionals o socials formals. Basant-nos en el treball de camp antropològic d’Anne-Lene Sand, ens centrem en un context en què el desenvolupament de l’espai urbà sembla haver disminuït les oportunitats perquè els joves definisquen i creen espais per a si mateixos. Aquest article se centra en les formes de reunir-se en un context que a primera vista sembla altament regulat i planejat, però que des d’una altra perspectiva és incert (Highmore, 2005; Lefebvre, 1994) i està obert a la reinterpretació lúdica (Stevens, 2007) . El material es discuteix a través del concepte de «navegació social» de l’antropòleg danés Henrik Vigh (2006, 2009), per entendre les formacions socials mòbils i canviants dels joves en el context urbà. Busquem contribuir al coneixement sobre les sociabilitats juvenils urbanes modernes que no poden ser descrites com grupals o territorials, però que en canvi es construeixen a través del desig de trobar-se amb persones afins.This article analyses how young people get together in the spatial, temporal and social complexity of urban space. We suggest the term ephemeral urban socialities to understand how young people construct alternative socialities that are not embedded within an institutional mode of thinking or a formalised social setting. Based on anthropological fieldwork and empirical material generated in the Danish cities of Aarhus and Horsens by Anne-Lene Sand, we frame the analysis in a context where the development of urban space minimises social places that young people can define by and for themselves. This article investigates how young people come together socially in a context that seems to be highly regulated and planned, but that from another perspective is uncertain (Highmore, 2005; Lefebvre, 1994) and open to ludic interpretation (Stevens, 2007). The material is discussed through the lens of the Danish anthropologist Henrik Vigh’s concept of social navigation (2006, 2009) to understand young people’s mobile and changing social formations in the urban context. This article contributes knowledge about modern urban socialities in medium-sized northern European cities that, in the case of youth formations, cannot be described as groups or as territorial, but that are constructed through the desire to meet with “like-minded individuals”.Este artículo analiza las maneras de reunirse de los jóvenes en lasB ciudades danesas de Aarhus y Horsens, teniendo en cuenta las complejidades espaciales, temporales y sociales del espacio urbano. Sugerimos el término de «sociabilidades urbanas efímeras» para entender cómo se construye un estar juntos alternativo, fuera de marcos institucionales o sociales formales. Basándonos en el trabajo de campo antropológico de Anne-Lene Sand, nos centramos en un contexto en el que el desarrollo del espacio urbano parece haber disminuido las oportunidades para que los jóvenes definan y creen espacios para sí mismos. Este artículo se centra en las formas de reunirse en un contexto que a simple vista parece altamente regulado y planeado, pero que desde otra perspectiva es incierto (Highmore, 2005; Lefebvre, 1994) y está abierto a la reinterpretación lúdica (Stevens, 2007). El material se discute a través del concepto de «navegación social» del antropólogo danés Henrik Vigh (2006, 2009), para entender las formaciones sociales móviles y cambiantes de los jóvenes en el contexto urbano. Buscamos contribuir al conocimiento sobre las sociabilidades juveniles urbanas modernas que no pueden ser descritas como grupales o territoriales, pero que en cambio se construyen a través del deseo de encontrarse con personas afines