Presentation to ANZCA 2016

2. a world-class university
2 | The University of Newcastle www.newcastle.edu.au
1 Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2015 and QS World University Rankings 2015
2 QS ‘World University Rankings by Subject, 2016
3 Hobson’s Good Universities Guide 2015 (socio-economic equity and generic skills)

3. 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

4. 4 | The University of Newcastle www.newcastle.edu.au

5. 5 | The University of Newcastle www.newcastle.edu.au
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 Apps
The 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 Place
Space 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.

14. 14 | The University of Newcastle www.newcastle.edu.au
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.

15. The University of Newcastle www.newcastle.edu.au
Thank you!