Geography, media, and communications have been closely linked since the 16th Century. Just as the advent of the printing press and new modes of measurement changed the media landscape, so too did it change that of geography and cartography. Now, in the digital age we are presented with ever more instruments of measurement (big data, algorithms, UGC, VGI etc.), ever more far-reaching versions of the printing press (Web 2.0, Social Media etc.), and the waters are muddied further by the development of participatory-GIS systems, and the (re-)birth of Neogeography which purportedly offers up a challenge to the status quo. Thus, it becomes essential that, just as we might question the 16th century map-makers, we must now question data analytics, algorithms and their architects, as well as the tools used to communicate these new spaces. The bringing together of the theories of Geography and of Media and Communications allows for an alternate, nuanced, and a spatially grounded approach to envisioning the myriad ways in which the digital age mediates social, economic and political experiences and, in particular, in the increasingly technologically informed media and communications sector, allowing us to ask, ‘did you find the world or did you make it up?’.

中文翻译：

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您找到了世界还是创造了世界？数字时代的媒体，传播和地理

自16世纪以来，地理，媒体和通讯一直紧密相连。就像印刷机的出现和新的测量方式改变了媒体格局一样，它也改变了地理和制图学的面貌。现在，在数字时代，我们将获得越来越多的测量仪器（大数据，算法，UGC，VGI等），印刷机的影响深远的版本（Web 2.0，Social Media等），以及参与式GIS系统的发展使水域更加混乱，而新地理学的（重新）诞生据称对现状提出了挑战。因此，至关重要的是，就像我们可能会质疑16世纪的地图制作者一样，我们现在必须质疑数据分析，算法及其架构师以及用于传达这些新空间的工具。