Maps at Work
My blogs
| Location | Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada |
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| Introduction | Maps at Work is maintained by Jan van der Weijst. I am currently writing my Master's thesis on how a group of farmer's in southern Ontario makes sense out of maps of the Ministry of Transportation in a Highway Corridor Study and Environmental Assessment. Maps -sometimes more and sometimes less- are always complex and ambiguous creatures. Maps don't tell us anything at all. It is us who start telling the story by bringer our knowledge and background to interact with the map. it is clear again that a neutral map yet has to be invented. All maps, openly or covertly are advocacy maps. They -covertly or openly-, consciously or not consciously- argue for a certain cause. All maps embed values and perspectives. At least they try so. The power of maps in part lays in that map often look so terribly innocent we take them to reflect objective truths. Maps that more overtly declare their values, perspectives and the arguments they support can make society a bit more transparent and democratic. For that, of course we will have to leave behind 'the goal justifies the means' thinking. |