Mapping, Measuring and Modelling Mobility: A Global Comparison

Call for Chapters

Xiaoge Xu

Mobile Studies International

This call invites new research perspectives on mobile and global human mobility.

The book aims to shed light on mobility, international and internal migration and mobile technology, from an interdisciplinary perspective. We embrace qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-methods research.

Background

Emerging technology-assisted solutions have become critical in the context of migration. Even more so, following the COVID-19 crisis. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the vulnerability of migrants due to inadequate health care, worse economic conditions, and overcrowded living conditions. As social distancing became the norm due to the COVID-19 outbreak, there was an immediate and urgent need to shift the focus of migrants' support from face-to-face interactions to online services. Mobile technology has become a dominant tool in monitoring human mobility, generating mobility statistics, and in migration governance. Alongside the utopian approach to mobile, there are significant challenges, including internet connectivity, digital literacy, misinformation, cybersecurity, privacy, and resources.

To examine mobility in the new global context, especially after the breakout of COVID-19, it is imperative to redefine it. In our re-definition, mobility refers to the movement of human activities from one place to another across borders and boundaries of all kinds, whether offline, online, or mobile. Mobility gives rise to diverse processes and outcomes in interactive, integrative, and influential human activities. Mobility occurs in various dimensions, directions, and densities. Interdisciplinary in nature, mobility should be examined through integrated disciplinary perspectives, including human geography, sociology, psychology, political economy, politics, media studies, and communication studies. Mobility can be investigated in terms of its dimensions, directions, densities, interactions, integrations, and influences of movements of human activities, ranging from human migration to news flows.

To map, measure, and model similarities and differences, strengths and weaknesses, inter-connections and inter-influences, as well as currents and trends in mobility’s dimensions, directions, densities, interactions, integrations, and influences in this ever-changing global mobility, we invite chapter contributors to focus on the following broadly defined areas: Mapping Mobility, Measuring Mobility, and Modeling Mobility. Mapping refers to efforts to locate mobility's interactions, integrations, and influences. Measuring refers to efforts to gauge mobility levels in terms of its interactions, integrations, and influences. Modeling mobility refers to the efforts to describe, explain, and predict mobility in terms of its interactions, integrations, and influences. Various factors shape interactions, integrations, and influences.