Welcome to blog on Island Access and Mobility

Welcome to the Island Access and Mobility Blog!

Mobility is intended as a complex web of movements: the movement of goods and finances, people, ideas, media of information and transportation and more. Mobility, as process and network, isolates and insulates, connects and disconnects, marginalizes and draws away from peripheries. Over recent years mobility has become a keyword in reference to transnational movements of globalization and in relation to the diffusion of technologies granting an ever-increasing availability of opportunities to remain connected while “on the go.” Yet, mobility is hardly a new idea or concern as any islander from any island of the world will testify. Islands, indeed, are a consequence of mobility and immobility practices; the very idea that waterways are meaningfully different from roadways is at the very core of islandness.

Issues of mobility are central to any island community’s well being, collective identity, and potential for sustainability. Too much movement of local islanders or too little movement, too many tourist access points or too few links to regional and global commerce, too infrequent schedules for connecting to the outside world or too frequent chances to become dependent on it: all of these are daily going concerns and daily opportunities for ideological disputes amongst islanders, and between islanders and mainlanders. Whether it is ferry boats, small or large air craft, bridges, canoes, or simply nothing, islands and islanders cannot be understood apart from the very media that shape the rhythms, identity, and spatial shape of their communities.

This blog focuses on island mobility networks of all types: from transportation to information exchange, from connections to mainlands and other islands to connections within an island itself. The purpose of discussion is to share knowledge, debate opinions, diffuse information, educate, reflect, and even entertain while being mindful of both the diversity and the commonalities amongst islands of the world.