"Doing" cultural geography/"being" a cultural geographer – reflections by an "accidental geographer" on practising cultural geography in the Netherlands

In this article, I explore Dutch social geography in the context of "the cultural turn". In so doing, I extensively draw on writing from the Anglo-American context which somewhat complicates the matter. Barnett (1998) implied that the "cultural turn" is not a "coherent and singular process" (379) which will emerge from my reflections as well. But even though the disciplines have undergone different ways of becoming, Dutch geographies are, formally, valued and assessed by procedures that have developed alongside, if not as a part of, the cultural turn(s) in the United Kingdom. In the Netherlands, different Departments have been a part of (or apart from) the cultural turn in different ways. In this article, I draw on some of the similarities and differences but will focus to a large extent on my own institutional context at the University of Groningen

The cue is key: Design for real-life remembering

This paper aims to put the memory cue in the spotlight. We show how memory cues are incorporated in the area of interaction design. The focus is on external memory cues - cues that exist outside the human mind but have an internal effect on memory reconstruction. Examples of external cues include people, environments, and things, where the latter are most relevant for the aim of this paper since these cues can be incorporated in designs. This paper makes a dual contribution to research: (1) it provides insights into how memory research informs the design of devices to facilitate personal memory recall; and (2) by taking a design perspective, it raises questions about memory cues as part of real-life remembering to inform psychological memory research. Since memory theory inspires design and both fields would benefit from collaboration, we would like these questions to be an inspiration for future memory research, in particular targeting external memory cues. © 2014 Hogrefe Publishing

Reflections on "doing" cultural geography - "being" a cultural geographer in the Netherlands:"being" a cultural geographer in the Netherlands

In this article, I explore Dutch social geography in the context of "the cultural turn". In so doing, I extensively draw on writing from the Anglo-American context which somewhat complicates the matter. Barnett (1998) implied that the "cultural turn" is not a "coherent and singular process" (379) which will emerge from my reflections as well. But even though the disciplines have undergone different ways of becoming, Dutch geographies are, formally, valued and assessed by procedures that have developed alongside, if not as a part of, the cultural turn(s) in the United Kingdom. In the Netherlands, different Departments have been a part of (or apart from) the cultural turn in different ways. In this article, I draw on some of the similarities and differences but will focus to a large extent on my own institutional context at the University of Groningen

Informing design for reflection: An overview of current everyday practices

© 2016 ACM. There is an increasing interest in HCI in designing to support reflection in users. In this paper, we specifically focus on everyday life reflection, covering and connecting a broad range of topics from someone's life rather than focusing on a very specific aspect. Although many systems aim to support reflection, few are based on an overview of how people currently integrate reflection in everyday life. In this paper, we aim to contribute to this gap through a questionnaire on everyday life reflection practices combining both qualitative and quantitative questions. Findings provide insights in the broad range of people that engage with reflection in different ways. We aim to inform design through four considerations: rumination, timing, initiative and social context

Peripheral interaction: characteristics and considerations

© 2014, Springer-Verlag London. In everyday life, we are able to perceive information and perform physical actions in the background or periphery of attention. Inspired by this observation, several researchers have studied interactive systems that display digital information in the periphery of attention. To broaden the scope of this research direction, a few recent studies have focused on interactive systems that can not only be perceived in the background but also enable users to physically interact with digital information in their periphery. Such peripheral interaction designs can support computing technology to fluently embed in and become a meaningful part of people’s everyday routines. With the increasing ubiquity of technology in our everyday environment, we believe that this direction is highly relevant nowadays. This paper presents an in-depth analysis of three case studies on peripheral interaction. These case studies involved the design and development of peripheral interactive systems and deployment of these systems in the real context of use for a number of weeks. Based on the insights gained through these case studies, we discuss generalized characteristics and considerations for peripheral interaction design and evaluation. The aim of the work presented in this paper is to support interaction design researchers and practitioners in anticipating and facilitating peripheral interaction with the designs they are evaluating or developing

Neighbourhood walks as place-making in later life

For older people living in densely populated urban neighbourhoods, walking is an important mode of everyday mobility: it allows to engage in neighbourhood social life and can mitigate physiological decline, which is emphasised in healthy ageing discourses. However, walking is also a means through which meanings about the places of one's everyday life are (re)produced and, hence, contributes to feelings of illbeing and wellbeing. In this paper, we provide a phenomenological account of older adults' place-making practices through walking. In examining this topic, we draw on twelve walking interviews with older adults living independently in two urban neighbourhoods in the Netherlands. Our findings reveal that although our respondents developed a sense of 'insideness' through their spatial and social routes and routines, these same routes and routines also acted as exclusionary mechanisms. We argue that these 'meaningful movements', characterised by ambivalence, remain underexposed in healthy ageing discourses. Paying attention to these feelings and experiences would allow for a better understanding of the facilitators and impediments of walking in later life and its effect on social and emotional wellbeing. This paper concludes by providing implications for policy and planning practice in developing age-friendly and walkable neighbourhoods

Young Muslims’ religious identities in relation to places beyond the UK:a qualitative map-making technique in Newcastle upon Tyne

Transnational relations can play an important role in young people’s identity negotiations and transitions to adulthood. In this article, we explore how young British-born Muslims construct and contest their religious identities and experience their changing religious identities from their lateteens until their early-twenties. We analyse how places beyond the UK shape their religious beliefs and identities in Newcastle upon Tyne in the North East of England, and present a methodological tool to understand young people’s complex and changing (religious) identities and spatialities. We draw on in-depth interviews–including map-making methods–with a small number of young Muslims living in Newcastle upon Tyne whose parents migrated from Pakistan or Bangladesh. This article contributes to youth geographies, by illustrating that when the participants begin to negotiate ‘being Muslim’ more independently, the spatial orientation of their religious identities starts to change as well. We show that the changing meaning and importance of the places beyond the UK should be understood in relation to other spatial notions when explaining religious identity negotiations of young people. Moreover, the paper provides a methodological contribution in demonstrating how map-making can help to examine young people’s identities and changing relationships to places in a transnational context