here, there and everywhere: glocalising identities in transworld transmedia genius loci

The principle question discussed in this essay is essentially a philosophical or existential one: in our increasingly remediated, interconnected, physically and virtually mobile contemporary world, is it is conceivable, or feasible, for us actually to be “here, there, and everywhere” at one and the same time? Have our predominantly “local” personal, professional and collective narrative histories, and the various cultural traditions that have grown out of these, really furnished us with relational identity skills that enable us to participate positively and actively in ongoing globalisation processes and to play a constructive, active, ethical role in the global gameplay arena? Or do we need to work more with non-familiar forms of otherness if we want to develop new types of “glocal” identities, able to mediate and transcend the emotional, conceptual, cultural and other divides that may hinder the identification, management and just balancing of “global” and “local” needs, rights and interests? As a contribution to further interdisciplinary debate on this and related themes, in media studies and elsewhere, this essay intentionally seeks to provoke*, by offering some engaged, informed but clearly speculative considerations, regarding the valorisation, application and evaluation of new digital media designed to facilitate ludic transworld, transmedia cooperition at-a-distance, to develop practical strategies to engage in responsible, ethical, ecological, mutually sustainable ways, with non-copresent, non-local others and their own past, present and future actual, and possible, worlds. *“Provoke”, of course, is not meant here in any “mean” or negative way, but rather as a ludic challenge to my readers to experiment in engaging with ‘non-local’, ‘non-standard’ forms of otherness – which in the case of this essay is the actual diversity of forms, norms and practices in academic writing. This First Page Footnote also seems an appropriate place to offer my sincere thanks to two anonymous reviewers of a first draft version of this essay, both of whom, each with their own brand of provocative, stimulating and useful remarks, are hereforth anointed as contributing co-authors, of this its (hopefully) final version.