New Academic Book Chapter: Legal Perspectives on Location Data
Our book titled “Konumsal Medya: Dijital Çağda Mekân Üzerine Disiplinlerarası Tartışmalar” (Locational Media: Interdisciplinary Discussions on Space in the Digital Age) , compiled and published as of October, 2020 with the valuable and diligent editorial work of Asst. Prof. Dr. Cemile Tokgöz Şahoğlu from Marmara University, Faculty of Communication, Department of Journalism, Informatics Division, and Asst. Prof. Betül Aydoğan from Galatasaray University, Faculty of Communication, Department of Radio, Television and Cinema, Communication Sciences Division. This book presents chapters from academics of diverse disciplines, including myself as the sole legal scholar, providing interdisciplinary perspectives on the concept of location-based media to researchers.
In my chapter titled “Protection of Location Data as Personal Data and the Legal Challenges Encountered in this Context”, I discuss the approaches to locational privacy, which treat location data confidentiality as a personal right, location-based marketing, and the scope of the Turkish Personal Data Protection Law (KVKK) within a legal framework. As noted in the first footnote of my chapter, you can always access the reference sources for further reading, the updated version of the chapter, and a presentation video on my website.
The distinguished academics who contributed to this book are as follows: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Burkay Pasin from İzmir University of Economics, Department of Architecture; Dr. Derya Gül Ünlü from Istanbul University, Faculty of Communication, Department of Public Relations and Advertising; Prof. Dr. Halime Yücel from Galatasaray University, Faculty of Communication, Department of Advertising and Public Relations; Prof. Dr. Hüseyin Köse from Atatürk University, Faculty of Communication, Department of Journalism; Dr. Mehmet Fatih Çömlekçi from Kırklareli University; Asst. Prof. Melis Oğuz from Beykent University, Faculty of Engineering and Architecture, Department of Industrial Design; Prof. Dr. Necmi Emel Dilmen from Marmara University, Faculty of Communication, Department of Journalism, Informatics Division; Assoc. Prof. Dr. Oya Morva from Istanbul University, Faculty of Communication, Department of Radio, Television and Cinema, Communication Sociology Division; Assoc. Prof. Dr. Özlem Özdemir from Fenerbahçe University, Faculty of Communication; Prof. Dr. Serhat Güney from Galatasaray University, Faculty of Communication; and myself, Serhat Koç, LL.M. IT, from Istanbul Yeni Yüzyıl University, Department of Intellectual Property and Information Technology Law.
The chapters/articles in the book, divided into three main parts titled “Reflections of Location-Based Media on Spatial Practices: Self, Memory, Experience,” “Commercial Use of Location Data, Legal Regulations, and Possibilities of Resistance,” and “Location-Based Media in the Pursuit of Social Equality,” include: “Spatial Self-Performances in Digital Environments: An Analysis of Location Determination Applications on Social Media,” “From Witnessing History to Social Imaginary: Location-Based Media and Memory,” “From Mass Tourism to Authentic Experience: Location-Based Media, New Travelers, and Digital Journeys,” “Location-Based Media and Shopping Mall Experience,” “Brands that Never Leave Your Side: Location-Based Marketing,” “Protection of Location Data as Personal Data and the Legal Challenges Encountered in this Context,” “Location but Don’t Settle! An Essay on New Positioning Forms Against Dominant Publicness and Its Spatial Perception,” “Gender Perception in Cities Transformed by Location-Based Media,” “I’m (In)Visible, Therefore I Am: Queer Spatial Practices in Location-Based Media,” and “Digital Solidarity: Location-Based Applications Developed for Refugees.”
With the embedding of geographic location data into digital media, the space we inhabit and the digital information related to that space can be experienced simultaneously. This simultaneity introduces new directions in how we perceive urban space and requires a rethinking of all spatial practices in daily life. Location-based technologies, serving as an interface between the user and space within a socio-spatial framework, transform the city both semantically and experientially through spatial perception, urban narratives and memory, social production of space, surveillance, privacy and resistance forms, and new opportunities and threats offered in the pursuit of social equality. Location-based media, as an academic field shaped exactly at this point, engages with location-based technologies involved in the dialectical relationship between humans and space by touching many disciplines from Architecture to Psychology but grounded firmly in Communication Studies. This anthology, prepared to provide a resource on location-based media to Turkish literature, aims to reveal the effects of location-based media on everyday life through an interdisciplinary approach.