The explosion in popularity of the internet over the past decade has lead to an equally large increase in geographic information within the general population. With so many different tools available on the internet, such as Google and Wikipedia, the ability to create and change geographic information. The website that we used for our lab, Photosynth.net, was a particularly interesting tool to use to visually make a 3 dimensional image from many 2 dimensional images. However, with all of this freedom, there are many concerns with how all of this new information is used or viewed.
For this assignment, I chose to take about 100 underwater photos of one of the pools on campus. My reasoning for this was mostly based on the idea that most people will never see an underwater view of places on our planet. On a broader scale, I thought that being able to visually map the coastlines of tropical oceans and reefs would make for some amazing photosynths and images. I definitely consider this use of the technology as a beneficial and positive system that can improve our geographic knowledge of the world. However, I fully realize and understand that the increase in technologies has both good and bad consequences.
In the article "Citizens as censors", Michael Goodchild brings of the idea of the double edged sword that is geographic information and technologies. He writes that the new technologies have created a lot of excitement because people are given so much more freedom to create their own geographic information using visual tools, while at the same time they are not really seeing some of the downsides to this freedom. One of the most controversial topics surrounding the geographic freedom created by the internet is that of personal privacy. Using photosynth as an example, someone who puts something on the website may not realize that they are putting up an image of their own private space or someone else’s. If someone takes pictures of a room in their home, they are potentially showing everyone with an internet connection a visual representation of a private space. Clearly this can be expanded to other places around the world with places that may be considered holy or spiritual to some, but only a place to take pictures to others.
In conclusion, the increase in technologies surrounding geographic information has great potential to create both positive and negative consequences. I personally think that there are far more advantages or positive effects of using and continuing to use these technologies than there are disadvantages. I definitely foresee some amazing technologies developing in the future that are going to help people understand and expand their own geographic information.
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