Department of Geography Hosts Urban Geography Expert

World communication has become far cheaper now than in the past, and reduced costs of technology has allowed systems to grow, said Dr. Ed Malecki, an expert in urban, rural and regional economic development.

“Fiber optics technology has had a great impact on global communication. The investment cost per circuit of recent trans Atlantic cables is less than 1% of that of the TAT-8 installed in 1988,” offered Dr. Malecki to further establish this fact.

Dr. Malecki, a professor of Geography, at Ohio State University, made this statement during his speech, “Connecting the dots: Global communications shifts since 1979,” a seminar presented by the Department of Geography February 3 in Room 303 of the Teague Building.

In order to better understand global internet connections, Dr. Malecki spearheaded a project of creating a database of submarine cables that contained information of several periods of time, so the resulting data could be aggregated and manipulated to answer research questions.

Among the cables that he examined, Dr. Malecki attributed the international submarine cable network (popularly know as the Sea-Me-We cable) that connects 14 countries across South East Asia-Middle East-Western Europe and is nearly half the circumference of the earth in length, as a premier example of new technology allowing for global sans U.S. involvement.

“One of the most controversial things about the early internet was that it wasn’t truly global- everything went through the United States. But the Sea-Me-We cable was placed to solve this problem. These cables have permitted a much faster connection,” he said.

Dr. Malecki said that one of the big problems of having all internet traffic flow through the U.S. was that it deterred the speed of the connections. He gave the example of how traffic from Qatar and Dubai would have to be routed through New Jersey. With the new cables in place, the speed of the internet in these countries is 15 times faster, he said.

Jennifer Hoss, a senior Geography major who attended the presentation said she was impressed by the relevance that the material had to her life as a student.

“I think this was an excellent presentation. The discipline of Geography is very diverse and I think this was a good opportunity to understand a facet of Geography other than the one that I study. Also, this is a topic that really affects my life,” she said.

Dr. Malecki concluded his presentation by explaining why more international websites should present their content in languages other than English, even though this could mean roadblocks for people with conventional keyboards. 

“Simply because the internet began and grew up in the U.S. does not mean that all websites should be in English,” Dr Malecki said. “Global connections and expanded cultural technology will help countries such as India and China have a more active role in the global economy.”

Dr. Malecki is the Associate Editor for Entrepreneurship and Regional Development, and is a member of the Board of Editors of the Center for Urban Policy Research Press. Dr. Malecki has also served on the editorial boards of publications including The Professional Geographer and Texas Business Review. For more information on Dr. Malecki and his works, go to http://www.geography.ohio-state.edu/faculty/malecki/.