Welcome to the website of the team "Geography of Social Media and Digital Cultures"!

Our research currently focuses on three topics, which we investigate from the perspective of economic and anthropogeography, primarily using qualitative social research methods:

User Innovation and communities: digital media enable the networking of people across vast physical distances and thus support the emergence of new forms of communities. We are interested in the creative potentials as well as possibilities and forms of knowledge generation as well as economic utilization in such "communities of interest".

New places for work and creativity: Digitization is fundamentally changing our working world. Project work can be organized in largely virtual teams. Nevertheless, places for work are not becoming superfluous. On the contrary, we are observing and researching the emergence of places, such as "coworking spaces", that are specifically tailored to the needs of digital workers.

Crises: The analytical examination of crises is more relevant than ever. What characterizes a crisis? How do crises unfold in time, but also in space? Which groups of actors are relevant to crisis management and how is crisis processing organized (spatially)? Digital communication plays an increasingly important role in both crisis perception and crisis management, which we are investigating in our research.

News:

New projects:

since 09/2023: The relational embeddedness of "lay experts': Geographies of digitally mediated expertise in times of 'crisis'", funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) for 3 years

New publications (selected):

Donner, F. (2024). Structures that tilt: Understanding “toxic” behaviors in online gaming. New Media & Society (Online First).

Schmidt, S., Brinks, V. & Ibert, O. (2024). Placing career resilience: Collaborative workspaces as situated resources for adaptation and adaptability. Progress in Economic Geography, 2: 100004.

Brinks, V. & Ibert, O. (2023). Experts in crisis: The wide spectrum of advisors for coping with extreme events. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction 93: 103696.

Brinks, V. & Zademach, H.-M. (2023). Krisen. In: Suwala, L. (Hg.): Schlüsselbegriffe der Wirtschaftsgeographie. Stuttgart, 338-350.

Zschocke, J. (2022): Towards a multimethod approach for film geography: a case study of Los Angeles’ Nate Starkman Building. GeoJournal (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10708-022-10660-1

Brinks, V. (2022). Fluid objects? An attempt to conceptualise the global rise of "coworking spaces". Area, 54 (3), 435-442.

Brinks, V. (2021). Die Verortung digitaler Arbeit: Coworking Spaces. Geographische Rundschau (GR Plus), H.1/2-2021, 48-53.

Brinks, V. & Ibert, O. (2021). From omniscient narrator to involved participants: Places and spaces "activated" in the EHEC O104:H4 crisis 2011. Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management, 29 (3), 321-329.

Brinks, V. & Ibert, O. (2020). From corona virus to corona crisis: The value of an analytical and geographical understanding of crisis. Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, 111(3), 275-287.

Brinks, V. (2020). Fun or frustration? How emotions shape user innovation processes. Emotion, Space and Society, 34, 1-7.

Lectures/Interviews:

Donner, F. (2024): "Die Energiekrise online: Zur Performanz von (Laien) Expertise". Jahrestreffen des AK Energieforschung. Marburg. 07.06.2024

Brinks, V. & Zschocke, J. (2023): Social Media in Crisis. Navigating a new research field in Human Geography. Deutscher Kongress für Geographie 2023. Frankfurt a.M. 20.09.2023

Brinks, V. (2023): "Krise und ihre Bewältigung aus raumzeitlicher Perspektive – Welche Rolle spielen Expert:innen?" Leipziger Geographisches Kolloquium 2023 "Krisen und Stadt". Leipzig. 20.06.2023

Brinks, V. (2023): "Wieso die Krise (k)ein Dauerzustand ist. Vorstellung eines engen Krisenbegriffs und das Potenzial für die Geographie". Conference New Cultural Geography: "Geographies of overlapping crises". Halle (Saale). 27.01.2023

Zschocke, J. (2023): "OMG Corona - An analysis of the communication between Social Media Influencers and their followers during the first Lockdown in Germany". Conference New Cultural Geography: "Geographies of overlapping crises". Halle (Saale). 27.01.2023

Brinks, V. (2022): "Experts on Twitter and the Geographies of the Covid-19 Crisis". Global Conference on Economic Geography. Dublin. 07.06.2022

Brinks, V. (2022): "Neukonfiguration von Nähe und Distanz: Wie Digitalität Geographie verändert. Ein Blickwinkel aus der Wirtschaftsgeographie". 6. Rheinland-Pfälzischer Schulgeographentag 2022. Mainz. 01.04.2022