Spatial Conversations: Opportunities to Share Geographic Knowledge

For more than twenty years geographers have taken advantage of “new media” to share information, make connections, and expand the “spatial conversation.” As blogs opened the door for informal self-publishing and communicating about narrow, focused topic areas, geographers began to use emerging media platforms to present ideas to a broader audience, more quickly and interactively, as new data and technologies became available. Audio podcasts and videos broadened the platforms for dissemination and provide a greater level of immersion through digital media. Between the open publishing and subscription opportunities, and interaction provided through comments and social media engagement, a dialectic was built between content creators and content consumers. It remains this dialectic between publisher and follower or commentor that drives the broader, modern new media and social media landscape that geographers should take advantage of. In academia and industry alike, expectations have been geared toward interactions between knowledge experts, whereas new media broadens these discussions by allowing direct response to the content creator and communications between content consumers. This creator and consumer discourse offers the opportunity to develop and build geography-focused communities of practice.