“Tachometer of Urban Experience: Communication Technologies and Spatial Media Tools” Interview Held as part of Design Fest '21

Gökçe Uzgören was the moderator of the conversation. The conversation started with Gökçe Uzgören briefly talking about Melis Oğuz's education and academic career. Melis Oğuz; In the digitalizing world, spatial media tools, the development of communication technologies and the effects of these developments on the perception of space of individuals, and new trends in space studies.
 
First of all, Melis Oğuz, who explained exactly what we are talking about with the concept of spatial media, said that the spatial media developed under the communication discipline; later on, he mentioned that it turned into a concept that is also discussed in disciplines such as psychology, architecture, city and regional planning, and geography. Then, emphasizing that the concept of spatial media plays an increasingly important role in the digitalizing world; shared the findings of the research they conducted with Aslı Uzunkaya on spatial media tools such as FourSquare, Swarm, WhatsApp, Google Maps that many people use in daily life.
 
In the continuation of the conversation, Oğuz touched upon the effects of communication technologies and spatial media tools on individuals' perception of space and their urban daily lives, and said that in the digitalized world, we are exposed to more stimuli in cities than ever before and all our actions have accelerated significantly; therefore, he emphasized that this speed constitutes an obstacle to our comprehensive perception of the spaces around us.
 
Touching on the positive/negative aspects of making everything measurable, visualizable and readable in today's digital world, especially in terms of the use of space and being able to exist in the space (hence the society), Melis Oğuz said that the changes and transformations that occur in urban life in space studies are the new digital dynamics of today's world. pointed out that it should be considered together with After Melis Oğuz's narration, the interview ended with questions and discussion environment by İrem Fulya Özkan, Merve Karadaban and Zeynep Abacı.
 
We would like to thank Melis Oğuz for participating in our interview and sharing her eye-opening information with us.