Thinking the Geoweb: Political economies, ‘neo’geographies, and spatial media Agnieszka Leszczynski A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Washington 2012 Reading Committee: Sarah Elwood, Chair Katharyne Mitchell Matthew Sparke Nadine Schuurman Program Authorized to Offer Degree: Geography ©Copyright 2012 Agnieszka Leszczynski University of Washington Abstract Thinking the Geoweb: Political economies, ‘neo’geographies, and spatial media Agnieszka Leszczynski Chair of Supervisory Committee: Professor Sarah Elwood Geography Critical GIS and GIScience face tremendous methodological and conceptual challenges at present as they grapple with the emergence and proliferation of a diverse range of new, Web- based geographical information technologies that cannot be defined or engaged in terms of conventional geographic information systems (GIS). Together, these new hardware/software objects, the new content forms that spatial data are assuming, and practices around these technologies and information artifacts are referred to by geographers as ‘the geoweb.’ The emergence of the geoweb is fundamentally transforming the ways in which society, space, and technology intersect and are co-articulated. Against this backdrop, this research takes the material and digital presences of geoweb phenomena as primary evidence of a transformative moment in the production, distribution, commercialization, circulation, and public awareness of geographic information technologies. On the basis of a content and discourse analysis of textual material thematically about the geoweb that I archived and coded over a period of three years (June 2009 – June 2012), I advance propositions that address the intellectual challenge of thinking – apprehending, conceptualizing, and engaging – the geoweb as a multi-faceted socio- spatio-technical phenomenon. These propositions constitute three threads of an empirically- grounded framework for theorizing the societal transformations wrought through the geoweb on multiple, intersecting levels: i) the political economic relations from which these transformations emerge; ii) the discursive practices that have been used to ensure the sustained consumption and proliferation of geoweb technologies; and iii) the epistemological frames that help us as scholars fully interrogate the diverse material practices/objects that co-constitute the geoweb and the forms of communication and social, spatial, and technological relations it is used to foster. Acknowledgements I am eternally indebted to my Chair and mentor Sarah Elwood for the commitment, generosity, understanding, patience, advice, availability, kindness and friendship that she has extended to me over the course of this doctoral program. She has been a pillar of support not only academically but also personally, invested in my success and wellbeing in ways that go far and beyond the requirements of a graduate advisor. It has been a great privilege to have had the opportunity to think, research, and write collaboratively with her over the last several years. I would like to equally thank my committee members Katharyne Mitchell and Matthew Sparke for being exceptionally intellectually welcoming and supportive from the time of my arrival at UW through to the present, for being generous with their time, and for providing indispensible feedback and insight at the moments when they were most needed. Additionally, I am most grateful to my mentor, Masters advisor, and current committee member Nadine Schuurman for her ongoing support, advice, and friendship. She has continued to generously make herself available to me as a sounding board and well of wisdom far beyond the time when I was her student. And, I would like to thank the staff of the Geography Department – Rick Roth, Marci Melvin, Sue Bernhardt, Darian Smolar, and Thao Chao – for all of their kind assistance with the countless details without which nothing would be possible. Table of Contents CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................................1 1.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................................1 1.2 Engagements of the geoweb in the geographical literature .....................................................4 1.2.1 Early engagements .......................................................................................................................... 4 1.2.2 Recent interventions ........................................................................................................................ 6 1.3 Research rationale ................................................................................................................................9 1.3.1 Gaps in the literature ...................................................................................................................... 9 1.3.2 Motivations for research ............................................................................................................. 10 1.4 Research design and methodology ............................................................................................... 12 1.4.1 Overview......................................................................................................................................... 12 1.4.2 Empirical sources of evidence and objects of analysis .......................................................... 13 1.4.3 Data collection ............................................................................................................................... 14 1.4.4 Analysis .......................................................................................................................................... 16 1.5 Theoretical propositions and dissertation structure ............................................................... 19 CHAPTER 2 POLITICAL ECONOMIES ..................................................................................................... 22 2.1 Introduction ......................................................................................................................................... 22 2.2 Writing the geoweb ........................................................................................................................... 25 2.3 Neoliberal governance and the state ............................................................................................ 28 2.4 Rolling back… ..................................................................................................................................... 31 2.5 …and rolling out ................................................................................................................................. 35 2.5.1 Free labor ....................................................................................................................................... 36 2.5.2 Ownership ..................................................................................................................................... 37 2.5.3 (Un)accountability......................................................................................................................... 39 2.6 Relationships, changed ..................................................................................................................... 41 2.7 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................................... 43 CHAPTER 3 DISCOURSES OF NEOGEOGRAPHY ................................................................................. 47 3.1 Introduction ......................................................................................................................................... 47 3.2 Neogeography ..................................................................................................................................... 52 3.3 ‘Newness’ as a de-politicizing device ........................................................................................... 55 3.4 ‘Newness’ as rationalization of the social consequences of geoweb technologies ......... 60 3.5 ‘Newness’ as profit and proliferation ........................................................................................... 66 3.5.1 Profit ................................................................................................................................................ 66 3.5.2 Proliferation ................................................................................................................................... 71 3.6 Connectivity and the neoliberal subject ..................................................................................... 76 3.7 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................................... 83 CHAPTER 4 SPATIAL MEDIAS ................................................................................................................. 86 4.1 Introduction ......................................................................................................................................... 86 4.1.1 Background and historical context ............................................................................................ 86 4.1.2 The geoweb 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