nca2006

11/30/09 http://www.matei.org http://www.mentalmpas.info http://ww.visiblepast.com

Sorin A. Matei

Purdue University

Space: the stuff of communication


Philosophical assumptions

Space is constructed

Space is social

Space is a set of relationally defined locations

Space is about vicinities and the communication processes they enable Vicinity is that space defined by our communication

practices

A

B

C


Space is of two kinds


Space is of two kinds…

Space is everywhere


Research questions

If we analyze flows of exchanges between nations, should we expect an increasing alignment of nations that share same cultural/civilizational characteristics?

Do nations that speak the same language or have the same beliefs send more information to one another?

Explored in Globalization and heterogenization: Cultural and civilizational clustering in telecommunicative space (1989–1999). Telematics and Informatics Volume 23, Issue 4 , November 2006, Pages 316-331

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6V1H-4H8830Y-2&_coverDate=11/30/2006&_alid=488733367&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_qd=1&_cdi=5675&_sort=d&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=cd0e285b00230dfb6b0251f252




Data

2 who-to-whom matrices—networks—of international telephony ties between 107/110 nations (80% world population) – 1989 – 1999

Data from ITU and Telegeography

Matrices define “telecommunicative neighbors” Countries are neighbors of each other if they send at least 5% of

their traffic to each other 5% threshold is based on analysis of tie distribution

Logarithmic A nation typically sends 80% of its outgoing traffic to 4 nations These nations typically absorb between 5 to 90% of the traffic (average

35%), each All the other nations (109) absorb under 5%


Data cntd.

Node attributes: cultural afilliation (linguistic): rated civilizational affiliation (religious): percentage

4 linguistic and 4 civilizational areals English French Arabic Spanish

Protestant

Catholic

Islamic

Buddhist-Hindu


Statistical Analysis

Spatial correlation (Moran’s I)

Measures likelihood of countries that have high values on certain attributes to be surrounded by nations that are like them


Global Moran’s I

Global version: what is the magnitude of spatial association in the entire dataset?

0 - 1: Countries are systematically surrounded by nations with similar values on the key attribute

-1 - 0: Countries are systematically surrounded by nations with dissimilar values on the key attribute

0: No association


Results: Global values

0.00

0.10

0.20

0.30

0.40

0.50

0.60

0.70

0.80

English

French

Spanish

Arabic

Protestant

Catholic

Islam

BuddHindu

Cultural and civilizational areals

Mo

ran

's I

valu

e

1989

1999

Global Moran’s I values increase for all, except one areal, ArabicValue increases are significant (t-test for paired samples), except for the Islamic arealThere is an increasing tendency of countries that are similar culturally or civilizationally to cluster together in telecommunicative space


Discussion

Evidence for heterogenization Nations more likely to be surrounded by their

civilizational peers


Conclusion

Space can be viewed as a set of communicative ties These ties differ from geographic ties We can use this paradigm for any other situation

that involves a social and a physical network

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