1.Crowdsourcing and Participation in Cartography Geography 572 Guest Lecture by Carl Sack cmsack@wisc.edu

2. I. Background:Critical Cartography Revisited Critical Cartography: The study of maps from a position that examines the social contexts, underlying assumptions, accepted categories, and power dynamics of mapping (e.g. Harley, Crampton) Critical GIS: Investigations of the mutual influences between GIS and society (e.g. Pickles, Kwan, Elwood) How does our social context impact the way we create GIS, and how does GIS impact the way we view the world and society? 3. 1929: Surrealist Map of the World (Varits Magazine, Brussels) 4. World population cartogram (Mark Newman, University of Michigan, 2009) 5. Some propositions: 1. Maps are expressions of innate human spatial capabilities. Everybody can make maps. 2. Maps embed knowledge that is socially constructed. 3. Maps are political. They represent and reinforce power relationships. 4. Official maps support the interests of capital and/or the state. 5. Participatory maps may be used to challenge those interests with other interests. 6. II. Crowdsourced Geographic Information Web 2.0: A set of technologies extending the World Wide Web to enable user-generated content and greater interactivity (two-way information relationship). Examples: blogs, wikis, YouTube, social media. GeoWeb: (i.e., Geospatial Web) Web components designed for the creating, analyzing, and sharing of geographic data Examples: web maps, cloud-based GIS, CGI Coined in Jon Udell, 2005: "Annotating the Planet with Google Maps." InfoWorld 27(10). 7. Now (2013): Then (2006): 8. Crowdsourcing: The way that large numbers of distributed people can work on the same project in a very powerful manner, creating something where the whole is more than the sum of its parts" (Crampton 2010). Archetype: Wikipedia Crowdsourced Geographic Information (CGI): The widespread engagement of large numbers of private citizens, often with little in the way of formal qualifications, in the creation of geographic information, a function that for centuries has been reserved to official agencies" (Goodchild 2007). aka Volunteered Geographic Information 9. Examples: Twitter posts 10. Examples: OpenStreetMap data 11. Examples: OpenStreetMap data 12. Examples: Geotagged photos 13. Examples: Unvolunteered Geographic Information? The NSA may also be engaging in geographic targeting, in which they listen in on communications between the United States and a particular foreign country or region (American Civil Liberties Union, 2013)NSA Boundless Informant data collection visualization (Wikipedia) 14. Distinguishing volunteered from contributed [geographic information] along ethical lines signals important differences in the processes of acquisition and the uses of crowdsourced data (Harvey, 2012: 31). Opt-in (volunteered)Opt-out (contributed)Clarity and specifics Control over data collection Limited control over data reuseVagueness and generalities Uncontrolled data collection No control over data reuse 15. Wikimap: A VGI-centered application 16. Wikimap: A VGI-centered application 17. The upshot: Powerful new tools are becoming ever-more available for public users with no cartography or web programming experience to make maps.BUT Does this really lead to the democratization of mapping? Do computer-based and online maps empower certain (Western) ways of seeing the world? How do web maps represent and reinforce power relationships? 18. Digital Divides largely mirror the social divides in society-at-large Gender, class, race, ethnicity, nationality, global north/south 19. So how can web maps lead to empowerment of the disempowered? 20. III. Participatory Mapping and GIS Participatory: Practices that engage and rely upon the knowledge of people with no institutional training in the field of study Focus usually on poor, underprivileged, and marginalized peoples Outside facilitators catalyze (but do not control) democratic, communitybased investigation, analysis, and planning 21. Participatory mapping: the use of maps in a community-based decision-making process Emerged from Participatory Rural Appraisal, a family of approaches and methods to enable rural people to share, enhance, and analyze their knowledge of life and conditions, to plan and to act." (Chambers, 1994) Key principles: Transparency Inclusion Local Control 22. Related terms: Counter-mapping: the use of maps to contest existing power relationships, particularly those involving private capital or the state i.e, Map or be mapped "If you were entirely cynical, you could view the appropriation of mapping from common understanding as just another police action designed to assist the process of homogenizing 5,000 human cultures into one malleable and docile market." (Aberley, 1993: 2) Indigenous mapping: the use of maps by Indigenous peoples to defend, reclaim, or assert tenure over territory, knowledge, and resources 23. Methods: Ground maps 24. Methods: Sketch maps 25. Methods: 3-dimensional modeling (P3DM) 26. Methods: Scale mapping, GPS mappingSipaliwini men use GPS to define their ancestral territory in Suriname (Amazon Conservation Team) 27. Methods: Participatory (Public Participation) GISFlood hazard mapping workshop in Guwahati, India (Stefan Kienberger) 28. Methods: Online Participatory MappingBad River Watershed Wikimap www.badrivermap.org Username: uw_cartPassword: maps 29. IV: Online Participatory Mapping Wikimap: (also) An Online Participatory Mapping application Key questions about wikimaps: How are wikimaps being used? When is a wikimap advantageous over other mapping technologies? How can wikimaps include qualitative data types that represent multiple epistemologies? What are the implications of differences in wikimap scale and domain? How should access and submission control be implemented? Who ultimately retains power over a wikimap? 30. Bad River Watershed Wikimap: Purpose: Empower the views of local residents in land use decisions by presenting local place knowledge and landscape values Landscape Values: the symbolic meanings and instrumental uses that people associate with certain places Motivation: iron mining, jobs vs. environment 31. Bad River Watershed Wikimap: Process: User-Centered Design An iterative design process that involves feedback from end-users throughout the applications development 32. Bad River Watershed Wikimap: FindingsNeeds Assessment: Interest in wikimap to convey scientific, narrative, and informational knowledge forms. Digital divide between rural areas (most of watershed) and cities Information needed limits to maintain respectful dialog and protect endangered species and sacred sites 33. Bad River Watershed Wikimap: FindingsDevelopment and testing: Maintaining regular communication is hard! Qualitative usability evaluation is necessary to solve problems before release User-centered design works! 34. Bad River Watershed Wikimap: FindingsEvaluation: 50+ users Map used mostly for map reading and information seeking; only 13% contribution rate Improved understanding of places in the watershed, but not landscape values 35. Bad River Watershed Wikimap: Questions for Future Research Is it democratic to have a small minority of users volunteering information? OSM: 30% contribution rate How can the contribution rate be increased to create a two-way map-facilitated conversation? Who really are the users? Are they representing the range of voices from the area? What are more effective ways to present landscape values on a map? Can a wikimap be a useful tool for challenging the dominant interests of capital and/or the state? Can it set the people free? 36. Thank you! References & recommended: Aberley, D. (Ed.), 1993. Boundaries of Home: Mapping for Local Empowerment, The New Catalyst Bioregional Series. New Society Publishers, Philadelphia. Chambers, R., 1994. The Origins and Practice of Participatory Rural Appraisal. World Development 22, 953969. Corbett, J., 2009. Good practices in participatory mapping: A review prepared for the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). International Fund for Agricultural Development, Rome, Italy. Crampton, J., 2010. Mapping: A Critical Introduction to Cartography and GIS. Wiley-Blackwell, Chichester, UK. Elwood, S., 2008. Volunteered geographic information: future research directions motivated by critical, participatory, and feminist GIS. GeoJournal 72, 173183. Freire, P., 2000. Pedagogy of the oppressed, 30th anniversary ed. ed. Continuum, New York. Goodchild, M.F., 2007. Citizens as sensors: the world of volunteered geography. GeoJournal 69, 211221. Harvey, F., 2012. To Volunteer or to Contribute Locational Information? Towards Truth in Labeling for Crowdsourced Geographic Information, in: Crowdsourcing Geographic Knowledge Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI) in Theory and Practice. Springer, pp. 3142.