a world-class university

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1 Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2015 and QS World University Rankings 2015 2 QS ‘World University Rankings by Subject, 20163 Hobson’s Good Universities Guide 2015 (socio-economic equity and generic skills)

Location-based Apps and the Spatial Self

A/Prof Marj Kibby

Faculty of Education and Arts

School of Humanities and Social Science

ANZCA 6-8 July 2016 Creating Space in the Fifth Estate

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Today, young people are more concerned about effective self-representation on social media, than about maintaining anonymity.

Location sharing is a necessary part of personalised information provision.

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Location-based AppsThe majority of millennials now carry smartphones or other devices that collect or record their location and transmit data about where they are, who they are with, and what they are doing. 

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An online discussion forum and brief online survey provided information on Australian millennials’ attitudes towards location data, and their experiences using location dependent applications.

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The Spatial Self

Image: Igor Polyakov, Flickr - Creative Commons licenced

The spatial self (Schwartz and Halegoua, 2014) is a theoretical concept that describes the construction and presentation of self in terms of geographic locations or physical places.

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Space and PlaceSpace is the area that we travel, the routes we take between places; where we are when we aren’t anywhere in particular (de Certeau 1984).

When space feels thoroughly familiar to us, it has become place (Tuan 1977).

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Place and Space

Image: Mohit Gupta, Flickr - Creative Commons licenced

Places are areas that individuals come to know and identify with.

A location that is anonymous, provisional or temporary, is a “non-place” a part of the general space we have no emotional attachment to.

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Location-based social media allow users to share even transient spaces, and through sharing they acquire common meanings and associations that result in users developing a sense of place for that location.

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Networked connections and mobile telephony have changed the ways in which the physical environment is experienced, and changed the relationships between people, activities, and the locations in which they occur.

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Location-aware Apps

In this study, participants revealed utilitarian functions: coordination, communication, information gathering and personalized services.and social and identity driven functions:sharing lifestyle choices, evidence of involvement in an activity, presenting themselves in a particular light, or updating their mood or disposition.

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Location-aware Apps

While this group were concerned about privacy and security when other than close friends could access their location, they also saw location sharing as necessary for personalized information, and for effective self-representation on social media.

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Thank you!