Tweet Me Your Talk: Geographical Learning and Knowledge Production 2.0

Abstract

We are in a Gutenberg moment in which we are migrating from book reading to Internet browsing. We are subtly shifting to more ephemeral, summary methods of learning and producing knowledge, shaped by how we consume information on the Web. Thus, a strong determinant of learning might be the very technology that hosts the information, such that technology is both the arbiter of our understanding of the world and how we come to gain that understanding. Based on recent evidence that the Internet is reshaping our learning processes, I argue that geographical knowledge production and translation are not so much products of individualism but rather shaped by rapidly changing work styles that favor concise and highly accessible methods of academic production. I offer examples of changes in journal formats, academic social networking, and academic reviewing to reveal that we are catering to shorter attention spans that prefer to browse.