Week 7: Who draws maps?

[eculler]

Maps are not neutral - they create neighborhoods, countries, and the world. This week, we'll read a couple of examples of how that is true.

Reading:

• The "Principle: Challenge Power" section of chapter 2 of Data Feminism [D’Ignazio, C., & Klein, L. F. (2020). Data Feminism. MIT Press.]
• Making the Coming Home Map [Pearce, M. W., & Hornsby, S. J. (2020). Making the Coming Home Map. Cartographica: The International Journal for Geographic Information and Geovisualization. https://doi.org/10.3138/cart-2019-0012]
• See the Coming Home Map in higher resolution

Questions:

• Name some examples of how maps create and perpetuate power relationships.
• How can you modify each of the following components of maps change their message and positionality? Can you think of more map components?
  • Title
  • Base map
  • Boundaries
  • Colors
  • Icons
  • Projection
  • Compass rose
• In the spirit of the Coming Home Map, what are some questions you might ask yourself when making a map to help yourself uphold FAIR and CARE data principles?

[Adriannaluger]

Upon first thought of how maps create power I first thought of how maps can show those in power or of higher economic status for example. But now I am realizing how maps only map things addressing those in power. This could be for several reasons one being there just isn't any data regarding groups with less power and social status or that these issues aren't brought to light so those who are able to make maps are just simply not aware of these issues, which is really unfortunate. Seeing the map where white men have run over black children was eye-opening for me because though I have never been to Detroit I would have never know this was an issue occurring and nearly how bad it was. Red-lining is also an interesting topic when thinking about power in maps because it literally got its name from red lined areas that were physically drawn on a map. I think this shows us a great example of how maps perpetuates power by excluding groups from living in certain areas and allowing others. It directly shows us the agendas and goals of those in power. The use of the equivant risk assessment algorithm is terrifying. I have never heard of this before but the fact that this is legally embedded into the system is insane to me and how it hides so easily under the predictive elements category. A quote that stuck out to me was "This is one of the challenges of using data about people as an input into a system: the data are never “raw.” Data are always the product of unequal social relations—relations affected by centuries of history." Throughout my education I have learned of the new jim crow and all about how the structure of our nation racially discriminates against people of color in every sector but learning know that its embedded into our algorithms is shocking, but also not surprising at all.
One can change the positionality of a map through various ways many of which are listed above but one really important one I think is by size. When making a map the size of everything on it represents is importance. Thus changing the sizes would change what is more important and what is less important in order to portray certain messages over others. Another most obvious one to me is by color because color is so closely related to different phenomena (for example, blue means cold and red means hot) so changing these up would totally throw someone off. Even just changing the hue of a color could change its importance to the reader by making it more prominent than other things in the map. I would ask myself how does this map take into account indigenous tribes and the history of their lands? How can I honor these things? How does the type of map I am making impact the ways in which I address fair and care principles?

[annettebalmes]

What I think is even crazier is how redlining, is how those little lines on maps, affect people to this day! And not much is being down to actively counteract it. I found this article that has a really great table with action items that people need to enact in order to ever try to get away from someone drawing on a map x amount of years ago.

[peterkobylarz]

Census block division and Congressional district re-drawing (gerrymandering) are other examples of modern redlining and relevant examples of the question "who makes maps?"

[nbol48]

These readings brought to mind some recent news out of Wyoming where a couple of public land hunters successfully defended themselves against a lawsuit brought by a wealthy, absentee landowner for engaging in a practice called "corner stepping" which the landowner contended was criminal trespassing. Corner stepping is when you cross from one piece of public (USFS, BLM, USFWS) land to another at a place where 2 chunks of private land come together at a point. Think about stepping from one tile to a diagonal tile without touching any adjacent tiles. This practice allows access to huge tracts of "landlocked" public lands which are often inaccessible due to a moat of private land, making them effectively private. The mapping company OnX has been instrumental in shifting the power relationship between the public and private landowners by providing a widely accessible platform for identifying these places where corner stepping opens access to thousands of acres of publicly owned land. Prior to the launch of OnX, and a number of ensuing platforms offering a similar service, finding accurate land ownership maps was a time intensive and often prohibitively difficult exercise. in this case, maps have significantly changed the power dynamic for local vs nonlocal, private vs public, and a number of other competing stakeholders in the West.

[peterkobylarz]

I recently heard about this story as well. Last I heard, the landowner was appealing the decision but I hope it goes in favor of the hunters and public access. Tools like OnX and Gaia GPS put really powerful data into the hands of users (assuming they can pay for the subscription). As a GIS professional who used to be a data manager for land records for a County government, I find land ownership information and the laws surrounding them to very interesting. Technically this information is public record and is maintained by tax-payer money but it isn't always easy/possible to access this data or to be certain you are looking at the most up to date version of it.

[ellenalamont17]

I was very excited to see cartographic principles as the discussion topic this week as it is one of my favorite topics. It's such an important, powerful, and often overlooked component of graphic visualizations. I was first exposed to this topic in a Cartography 101 course many years ago. At that time, the instructor had us read a book called "How to Lie with Maps" by Mark Monmonier. The book focused on how our cartographic choices could impact messaging, misrepresent or over/under emphasize data, and assert power, introduce bias, or cause harm.

The reading this week from Data Feminism and the Coming Home Map do a great job emphasizing the pros and cons, respectively, of cartographic choices. In the Data Feminism reading, the authors discuss how practices such as redlining - defining in a red color communities at high risk of needing bank loans - not only introduced a new form of discrimination for the individuals residing within those red zones by keeping them from receiving much needed financial assistance, but also further perpetuated their plight over the long term. This practice was oppressive and supported the perpetuation of systemic failures impacting under-represented, at-risk, and economically repressed communities. It was further mentioned that a lack of complete or representative data has a similar negative impact. The authors emphasize an example of the ignorance bred by the limited availability of data related to fatalities of black youth due to road accidents and how compelling counter data had to be collected to bring awareness to the issue. Similarly, in the book, "The Ghost Map," the authors explain how Dr. John Snow collected and mapped detailed data of the occurrence of Cholera-related deaths to ultimately determine the source of the 1850's outbreak - contamination of London's water wells. Until that time, it was believed that the illness was the result of 'dirty poor people' among other misnomers. The collection of compelling data resulted in positive change.

I really appreciated the efforts placed on the created of the Coming Home Map. While the resulting product was not a decolonization project as originally envisioned, the final product was actually much better; a re-empowerment of first nations communities of sorts. Indirectly, the author recognized many times in his iterative process of rediscovering and revealing place names, meanings, and heritage that his individual efforts were ridden in bias. It was only through iterative community engagement, respect for the culture and community will, and careful consideration of cartographic choices that this information was FAIR-ly collected, developed, and distributed. The article explains the painstaking detail taken to choose colors, lines, symbology, and the create power in the "NO" answers of those who refrained from contribution. The result was a product representative of the communities they were meant to represent.

[annettebalmes]

This week I attended a geology conference, and I was surprised at how many presentations began with essentially, "I want to acknowledge that the lands that I worked on were home to these indigenous tribes and that the land we are mapping was on stolen lands." Not only did they bring cultural sensitivity and awareness to these issue, but their maps brought a layer of truth beyond just the geology. The maps became something much more than just a map. They didn't even really change anything about their maps, but it felt different when you looked at it, even if there was just a footnote acknowledging it.

[jsmi374]

Maps are a powerful tool and have been used for thousands of years generate a working framework for the natural world. Maps were and are essential for progress, but have also hindered progress in many ways. Different populations have used maps to define their territory, strategically expand their territory, and displace those who are less equipped. In the 19th and 20th century, gerrymandering became prominent in the US and was used to redraw district lines, creating unequal opportunities for communities and maximizing electoral college disadvantages … for certain populations. This is a great example of how maps can perpetuate power relationships.

I think it is important to mention indigenous and native communities for the region you are mapping or studying … perhaps we will see a shift towards this in the scientific community. It would be awesome to see acknowledgements below a figure, or a mention at the end of a publication reminding the audience that this land was taken, and credit is due. I visited a University in Vancouver, BC a few years ago, and every class, presentation, graduation ceremony started with an acknowledgement of the native communities that inhabited that region, and a reminder that the land was taken from them. This is powerful. It sounds like the western US is doing a better job with this.

[peterkobylarz]

Wow, the Coming Home map is so cool! It sounds like the project was a massive effort and a complicated journey for the author. I found it interesting how the Coming Home author described their original intentions of the project but found that they constantly had to readjust their assumptions as they encountered unexpected viewpoints, feelings, and levels of participation from the numerous indigenous knowledge holders they sought out. This is an excellent reminder that although this particular map-maker set out to make a map that de-colonized, or "indiginized" Canada with "good intentions", their own hidden biases and expectations got in the way of accomplishing this goal in the way they originally wanted to. In this case, the author seems like they were able to adjust their process and expectations to still arrive somewhere near where they intended to with the map through a process of self-negotiation on the process. This kind of flexibility is important and serves as a reminder that cartographers have a responsibility to evaluate their own intentions and goals as a part of the map-making process.

[thku8507]

Name some examples of how maps create and perpetuate power relationships.

Mapping usually reflect the priorities of the map makers--typically people of some wealth, status, and cultural capital who are funded by powerful institutions. An extreme example is the redlining maps discussed in the Data Feminism chapter, which were created for the plain purpose of preserving existing inequities. More insidious are maps that perpetuate inequity without the express intent of doing so. Well-meaning academics may choose to map a problem, but existing power structures dictate who decides what is worth mapping and who is doing the mapping. To counteract this, D'Ignazio and Klein describe the practice of compiling counterdata to quantify and visualize structural oppression in the face of institutional neglect.

I could stare at the Coming Home map for hours! Regarding the second question, the creators of that map addressed the question of positionality by prioritizing consent, negotiation and listening throughout the data collection and the map-making process. They provide place names in both English translations and in the original language, and interestingly, they include markers (without labels) for areas from which they did not receive consent to provide place names. This both avoids erasure of those areas by admission, and acknowledges the right of Indigenous peoples to decide not to share place names. Had the cartographers approached this project from a more traditional Western extractive research mindset, I doubt it would have occurred to them to do this. Blank spaces on the map would be seen as cartographic imperfections to be remedied, rather than realities to be acknowledged and marked.

[lucap1211]

Maps are powerful tools to create and perpetuate power relationships. To start, creating a map requires resources, and such resources often come from powerful groups who try to advance their agendas and secure the already existing power of its makers. One example of this could be the white men on the Detroit Board of Commerce, their families, and their communities who called their redlining map; "Residential Security Map," but the underlying desire to create the map was motivated by securing property values and protecting homeownership available to white people only. Another aspect of perpetuated power relationships can appear when powerful nations redraw borders, creating tension between territories, and later, such conflicts further widen the gap between power distribution in the region. Furthermore, creating maps without local knowledge can be misleading and silence/hide important groups of people contrary to their importance when interpreting the map.

Map components have an important role in guiding the viewers to draw similar conclusions as the authors intended to distribute. Although such conclusions often only reflect the worldviews of its makers. One of these powerful components is the title. Map titles act as headlines, most likely the most outstanding messages that represent the map besides the colors that draw our eyes' attention to the map. For example, the scale of the map can highlight or mask aspects that mislead the interpreter. The handling of missing data (the importance of compiling counterdata) can also lead to missed details that might only be relevant to a group that is either intentionally left out or considered irrelevant from the privileged perspective of the mapmaker.

In the spirit of the Coming Home Map, what are some questions you might ask yourself when making a map to help yourself uphold FAIR and CARE data principles?

I would focus my attention on first asking questions that relate to CARE, and only if my map supports such principles I would ask myself FAIR principles. I think #BeFAIRandCARE should be rephrased to #CAREandBeFAIR because starting to make a map by caring and considering aspects like collective benefit, authority control, responsibility, and ethics should precede aspects like making sure the map is based on data that is findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable.

@eculler