Everyday digital geographies (LocWeb 2022)

Abstract

As a clear-cut distinction between online and physical spaces rapidly degrades, online representations of places have become an integral part of the places they represent. The content produced through online platforms has become part and parcel of our experience of place and events, as we capture our experiences and take part in other people’s narratives through the medium of the internet. Despite the great interest and the large number of studies devoted to this topic in geography and related fields in the past decade, most of the research in this area has been conducted either using purely quantitative approaches, in the field of GIScience, or a purely qualitative and frequently critical perspective, in the field of human geography. In this talk, I will explore the opportunities offered by mixed methods approaches in digital geographies. Based on my work as part of the Mapping Multiculture project (in collaboration with Dr Katy Bennett and Dr Zoe Gardner), I will discuss the advantages and limitations of combining advanced artificial intelligence approaches with situated qualitative content analysis in exploring the everyday digital geographies of Leicester as a multicultural city.