Information Geography: A Bridge between Engineering and the Social Sciences

This paper presents the metaphor of engineering and the social sciences located on either side of a chasm and connected by the bridge of information geography. Information geography is not an integral part of engineering and is a new field within geography, a social science discipline. Geography, in general terms, is distinctively oriented to bi-directional relations, i.e. between humans and places as well as between places at global as well as local scales. The specialty of information geography is one of the newest in human geography, and as its name suggests, it attempts to explore and study the territorial dimension of the information society. Since the paper focuses on the bridging role of information geography in providing links between social and engineering sciences, it will not provide a full elaboration of the broader structures or critiques of the social sciences and engineering, nor the emerging field of information geography. Rather, the article will attempt to provide selected elements of these three knowledge fields in order to show their similarities, their differences in approaches, and the missing links in the information age. The article will also explain how information geography can connect the social sciences and engineering.