I'd like to start by saying I love maps, they excite me and I could look at them all day. However the first time that I was told maps could have a bias I just about lost it. I, like most of the world that Harley was referring to, always accepted maps to be the truth, as is. There was no way that map could be manipulated or changed for certain values. Then I saw examples, and thought about representation and even heard the popular author John Greene discredit this. Needless to say, my Geography 101 professor successfully put my know it all freshmen self in my place. From there I always questioned maps a bit and thought about their potential bias. I cant say that I examined them too closely. I certainly never considered a Road Map to be an act of power like Harley references, but still I was aware. So when I read this quote, I definitely had to take some time to think.
"In modern Western society maps quickly became crucial to the maintenance of state power—to its boundaries, to its commerce, to its internal administration, to control of populations, and to its military strength. Mapping soon became the business of the state: cartography is early nationalized. The state guards its knowledge carefully: maps have been universally censored, kept secret and falsified. In all these cases maps are linked to what Foucault called the exercise of 'juridical power.' [75] The map becomes a 'juridical territory': it facilitates surveillance and control. Maps are still used to control our lives in innumerable ways. A mapless society, though we may take the map for granted, would now be politically unimaginable. All this is power with the help of maps. It is an external power, often centralized and exercised bureaucratically, imposed from above, and manifest in particular acts or phases of deliberate policy." Maps have created a social limit on society. In reality there is nothing in nature telling me that I have left Maryland and entered Virginia, except for the man made sign of course. I could wander into the Potomac, cross it and not even realize that it was the boarder between several states. Without Maps I would have no idea. Now as I run along side the C and O canal I am always aware that just across that medium sized river lies another state. This subconscious effect that maps and knowing my geography has had on me never truly dawned on me till reading these pieces. However, I can certainly see the point that they limit us. Maps tell us where we can and cannot go. Where one controls and where is forbidden. There certainly is some truth to the statement that a mapless society would be political chaos. Not that too much of that is related to the Digital aspect of maps- so lets try to hit that a bit. Number one, Rumsey's collection of maps was really cool. In the future I'm definitely going to spend some more time looking through them and more of what his project has to offer. Many of the pictorial graphs and different perspectives were very insightful and could provide some neat analysis into the subjects they covered. In terms of a digital project, it would be awesome to have a pictorial map that was interactive and when the user clicked on the area, it would provide many more options to learn and explore that area. Now that I actually processed what I just typed I realized we've seen many projects like that this year so that was quite silly. The end of the marking period is getting the best of me. Number two- Hyper Cities- What an awesome project! I have struggled using it, I think simply because I'm not overly comfortable with it, but just looking at the maps of Berlin and New York from various time periods is truly fascinating. I wasn't able to get the same beginning screen that they were in the intro video, but I would love to be able to look at Berlin throughout the 20th century and the impact that post WWII and the Cold War Had on it. This really is a great example of how adding that digital element to a map can make it much more useful and allow the user to interact with it in a way that they were not capable of before. To conclude, the first reading discussed the implication of mapping relying on computers so much now and how the art has somewhat disappeared. I think thats truly a shame. Granted it nice to be able to pull out my Iphone, look at my maps app and know that what I'm seeing is perfectly represented in front of me. The practicality of that is really awesome. But the kid that grew up in the middle of the woods, or that young man that loves to just get lost in a state park for 8 hours and come back to 25 texts asking if I'm alive makes me appreciate the unknown of the world. It must have been so cool and yet also completely terrifying to be Lewis and Clark or Columbus as they ventured off into the unknown. The map makers that worked with them may not have been 100% accurate with their maps, but they sure were authentic in experience. There certainly is quite a bit of value in that and I for one cant see to get quite AS excited about new advancements in mapping without thinking about the thrill of how we got here. I hope this was semi understandable. My brain was a bit fried when I knocked this out. Till next time, Adam
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Adam RudyHistory Teacher, Cross Country and Track Coach, Runner, Amateur Blogger Archives
September 2017
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