以反全球化為焦點，自己成為記者並報導生活週遭相關的議題，將之置放在Independent media center網站（本文以IMC作為通稱）中，成為共享的資訊，這是1999年底在美國西雅圖反全球化集結運動中崛起並快速蔓延的一場現象，雖說是經由科技帶動起的網路串聯，實則是一記鮮明的社會徵候，特別是資訊時代裡，在遍佈於各大城市總共約182個IMC分站中，IMC作為抵抗主流媒體的全球網絡，以自主的模式謀求資訊內涵與傳播管道的其他可能，這所展現的是由下而上對資訊批判力量的一場迸發，如何匯聚起這股力量並促成IMC運作是本文研究動機的起始。 本文由此追溯，分為三個面向討論IMC的生成動力：全球化、自反性現代化與網絡空間。 首先了解IMC的反全球化立場在於反對資訊商品化，特別是跨國集團媒體對於全球化的片面詮釋，而破除商品化之一的手段便是資訊共享，這一層次的了解引領至本文討論知識、資訊在現代化社會中的角色，知識逐漸與資訊等價而資訊本身則信任削減，使得個人不得不反覆檢視日常行動隨時做出回應，這一體認是Beck與Giddens所提自反性現代化（Reflexive Modernization）的理論內涵，繼而受到Scott Lash美學面向自反性現代化的啟發，對資訊商品化的回應便是引領出一個創造的形式，對資訊的批判是一場意義填補的遊戲，而以行動去完成。在IMC所行動的網絡空間裡，對比於Taiwan IMC的聚集狀況與香港不使用IMC機制但有香港獨立媒體In-Media的比較分析，本文歸納出IMC的生成條件不僅僅是挪用其技術，而是對於黑客（Hackers）文化與IMC代表的共享精神的認同，共享的精神由黑客文化延續而來，將資訊作為禮物，使用Open Publishing自由發佈系統體現開放原始碼軟體意義，加上部落格這場新科技的實驗，資訊充分的自由流動性與全面開放的完整性增加了實現的條件，加速因共享精神的召喚而來的聚集現象，而流動性與完整性則是資訊共享的前提。 統整上述三個面向的分析，本文於結論中整理出研究發現，在自反性現代化作用之下，IMC所批判的資訊商品化有其改變的可能，以共享資訊作為行動來實踐其批判，完成了重新定義資訊的目的，這場具有創造性的實驗裡，本文於結論中討論IMC可能的社會影響，並在結語提出本研究的限制。 / The motive of this dissertation is inspired by a network phenomenon of IMC in 1999, which occurred at the scene of anti-globalization in Seattle. Readers of IMC (Independent media center) website volunteered to post their own articles related to anti-globalization issues on line and urged to set up a local branch site for the possibility of non-mainstream information production though an autonomous communication environment. The wild spread of IMC local branch sites emerged and prompted not only through new technology but also the burst of information critique in the form of bottom-up reflected ideology. Therefore, the naissance of IMC is the motivation of this dissertation. To broaden the theoretical aspects for answering question, the perspectives of research question divided by three dimensions, including: Globalization, Reflexive Modernization and Network Space. According to literatures of globalization, the statement of anti-globalization of IMC is against information commercialization, meanwhile, the perception of information as products also led IMC to respond to it with the action of the spirit of sharing information. Refer to the theory of Reflexive Modernization, it doesn’t only explain how this perception shaped up (refer to the interpretation of Beck and Giddens) but also clarify that the responses as a creative acting was inspired by the transformation of information connotation in our daily life (refer to the interpretation of Scott Lash). In addition, IMC took place at the network space, comparing to Taiwan IMC and Hong Kong anti-globalization websites, we draw a conclusion of naissance of IMC to the fact of hackers’ spirit, which means they treat the information as gift and the open publishing system combined with Blog features operated by IMC as the presuppositions of sharing information. To sum up the three dimensions of analysis, we concluded that the possibility of critique of information caused by IMC was created by the dynamic operation of globalization and reflexive modernization, meanwhile, we finalized the redefinition of information based upon the network space. We also brought up the possible social impacts generated by IMC phenomenon and research limits of this dissertation.

In spatial analysis, many operations are performed considering the neighbouring locations of a feature. The standard definition of a neighbourhood is an area confined by geometrical length and direction with respect to its focus. When allocating a location for a service, the population distribution is often considered. Standard GIS software includes tools for computations with uniform neighbourhoods, usually equal sized circles. These tools can be used for distribution analysis. Many geographic studies used as basis for city planning decisions use distance as an evaluator. It is a frequent occurrence that the actual distance is approximated using factored straight-line distance. For great distances and large datasets, this is a sufficient means of evaluation, whilst for smaller distances for specific locations, it poses major drawbacks. For distribution analysis in a network space, the neighbourhood would need to be derived from the local set of network features, creating a unique neighbourhood for each location. The neighbourhood can then be used to overlay other datasets to perform analysis of features within the network space. This report describes the application of network distance based neighbourhoods to design a tool, Network Location Analysis, for calculating focal statistics for use as a city planning decision support. The tool has been implemented as a workflow of ArcGIS tools scripted as a Python toolbox. The input required by the tool is a population point layer and a vector network dataset. The output is a grid of points with population statistics as attributes and corresponding neighbourhoods generalized as polygons. The tool has been tested by comparing it to standard focal operations implemented in ArcGIS and by applying it to the dataset used when conducting a study on the location of a new metro station using conventional ArcGIS tools. The results have been analysed and visualized and compared to data used in the study. The result concludes that Network Location Analysis surpasses conventional ArcGIS tools when conducting analysis on features in a network. It derives an accurate set of sum and proximity statistics for all locations within the processing extent, enabling analysis on the population distribution throughout the area and for specific points. The output is intuitive, manageable and can be visualized as raster or by displaying the neighbourhoods as polygons and can be used to evaluate population distribution and network connectivity. The drawbacks of the tool are its lack of robustness, its rigidity to input and the inefficient implementation causing execution time to be unpractical.