This book introduces the Internet through a systematic geographical interpretation, thus shedding light on the Internet as a spatial entity. The book’s approach is to extend basic concepts developed for terrestrial geography to cyberspace, most notably those relating to space, structure, place, distance, mobility, and presence. It further considers the Internet by its constitution of information space, communications space, and screen space. By using well-known concepts from traditional hu...

One of the most significant and important advancements in information and communication technology over the past 20 years is the introduction and expansion of the Internet. Now almost universally available, the Internet brings us email, global voice and video communications, research repositories, reference libraries, and almost unlimited opportunities for daily activities. Bridging geographical distances in unprecedented ways, the Internet has impacted all aspects of our daily lives – fro...

In this ground-breaking book Aharon Kellerman explores a rapidly developing aspect of contemporary life: automated and autonomous spatial mobilities and their social and urban implications. Distinguishing between automation, or self-doing, and autonomy, or self-government, at both the conceptual and practical levels, this book also draws a distinction between spatial mobility and automated spatial mobility. Automation processes for transportation and communications media and their controls...

Discussing the concept of mobility at large and that of spatial mobilities in particular, this book makes the case for daily spatial mobilities as a distinct type of mobility and explores this concept from a variety of perspectives. Daily mobilities, such as for commuting, shopping, social ties, information, banking, news, studies, business meetings, etc. are typified by their being two-way mobilities, frequently performed, constituting a major element of our daily routine lives, and inclu...

We have been living and working in the information society for decades, yet still we struggle to understand and keep up in the face of its constant flux and vast scope. In this unique interdisciplinary text, three scholars at the forefront of this dynamic field provide a clear conceptual framework and interpretation of the global information society. They explain the three pillars of the information society—technology, knowledge, and mobility—and the global information society as a whole, ...

Personal Mobilities provides a systematic study of personal movement focusing on the dimensions of space, individuals, societies and technologies. Kellerman examines a variety of personal mobilities, including air transportation, through several perspectives, examining the human need for movement, their anchoring within wider societal trends, commonalities and differences among mobility technologies and international differences.Although spatial mobility seems geographical...

Smart Urbanism (SU) – the rebuilding of cities through the integration of digital technologies with buildings, neighbourhoods, networked infrastructures and people – is being represented as a unique emerging ‘solution’ to the majority of problems faced by cities today. SU discourses, enacted by technology companies, national governments and supranational agencies alike, claim a supremacy of urban digital technologies for managing and controlling infrastructures, achieving greater effective...

This book addresses issues on the nexus of freedom of and property in information, while acknowledging that both hiding and exposing information may affect our privacy. It inquires into the physics, the technologies, the business models, the governmental strategies and last but not least the legal frameworks concerning access, organisation and control of information. It debates whether it is in the very nature of information to be either free or monopolized, or both. Anal...

This Open Access book brings the experiences of automation as part of quotidian life into focus. It asks how, where and when automated technologies and systems are emerging in everyday life across different global regions? What are their likely impacts in the present and future? How do engineers, policy makers, industry stakeholders and designers envisage artificial intelligence (AI) and automated decision-making (ADM) as solutions to individual and societal problems? How do these future v...

On rediscovering surroundings when information goes everywhere.The world is filling with ever more kinds of media, in ever more contexts and formats. Glowing rectangles have become part of the scene; screens, large and small, appear everywhere. Physical locations are increasingly tagged and digitally augmented. Amid this flood, your attention practices matter more than ever. You might not be able to tune this world out. So it is worth remembering that underneath al...

The value of design for contributing to environmental solutions and a sustainable future is increasingly recognised. It spans many spheres of everyday life, and the ethical dimension of design practice that considers environmental, social and economic sustainability is compelling.Approaches to design recognise design as a practice that can transform human experience and understanding, expanding its role beyond stylistic enhancement. The traditional roles of design, designer and des...

An exploration of the ethics of practical engineering through analyses of eighteen rich case studiesThe Ethical Engineer explores ethical issues that arise in engineering practice, from technology transfer to privacy protection to whistle-blowing. Presenting key ethics concepts and real-life examples of engineering work, Robert McGinn illuminates the ethical dimension of engineering practice and helps students and professionals determine engineers’ context...