3rd Year Hon. Mention: The Negative Space of Communication – A Cartographic, Postcolonial, and Neo-Marxist Analysis of Internet Connectivity in Canada

SOSC 3702, Urban Analysis II. CD: Teresa Abbruzzese.

Abstract

“The Negative Space of Communication” is an original, interesting research project designed by its writer to investigate the lack of publicly available internet Wi-Fi and consider the effects of that absence on the social, political and economic mobility of precarious Canadians of all sorts. The writer carefully examines how reliable internet access is essential for modern social, political and economic success, especially during the current pandemic. Nevertheless, this access is limited for many; in a neoliberal economic system, affluence affects digital participation as much as other sorts of belonging. Public, free Wi-Fi could offset this institutional bias, resulting in more fairness for all.

In this socially valuable and interesting report, the author searched for and documented all available public wi-fi on Toronto’s Yonge street between Bloor and King Streets, noting vast expanses of “negative space” where public internet is either not available, or only available if one becomes a customer and purchases something. Subjecting these findings to rigorous post-colonial analysis, the paper notes how in “historical colonial processes, the main factor in such processes was the silencing of people,” and wisely observes that lack of internet access has a similar effect on marginal persons in Canada. Its superb theoretical analysis is followed by practical (and cost-effective!) solutions that would widen internet access for all, something all the more important as Canadian society adapts to covid-19.