51 Geography and the Internet

Today I received a letter from the Chair of Graduate Studies, Department of Geography, The Ohio State University, asking me to participate in an "Activity-Internet Diary Survey" sponsored by the National Science Foundation. The researcher wants to understand the effects of Internet and Non-Internet use on women's daily activities and travel patterns, and its relationships with those of men, if there are any, within a household. The letter says I was randomly selected, but I suspect Dr. Kwan knows I have three blogs.

Then Nathan Bierma at his weblog at Books and Culture also writes about geography, or rather counters the futurist Thorton May's "Geography is Dead." He writes:

Never before have people had such access to such resources to measure and explore the dimensions of physical space. Besides, the awe of our ability to connect digitally requires something meaningful to connect in the first place. If, as May foresees, we evolve into a singular, generic cosmopolitan world, it won't really matter whether we talk to someone down the block or across the globe—everyone will think and act essentially the same. Until then, the allure of sending an e-mail to Paris or dialing up a map of the Amazon River makes global communication enticing.

I guess that explains why the Department of Geography is checking around to see if my internet use is affecting my travel patterns. They only want 2 days--if I do Monday and Tuesday, I go to 2 different coffee shops. If I do Thursday and Friday, I am mail courier for the church and go out to eat with my husband. This looks like fun! I haven't made it into a major research study since the pig poop guy at the Iowa hog farm acknowledged my help.