Week 3

*Power of maps
*Countermapping:
-Practices
-Methods
-Outcomes
*Conclusion

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Maps and Power

-Maps communicate Power

-Map-making yields Power

*claims can be made
*communicates authority
*planning of previously unruled places
-under social organization and development

-Maps organize and systematize social life

*interconnected with capitalist systems
*tied with neoliberalism/imperialism
*constant and dynamic

-Maps are instruments of regulation and control

*development planning
*territories

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HISTORY OF GIS

-1962
*From Canada, to document Canada's productive resources

1965
-the term GIS was coined

1967
-made Data for Decisions

1972
-First landset Satellite imagery

1981
-commercialy finally, by ESRI conference

1982
-ARC/INFO, first commercial

1986
-Mapinfo as inexpensive mapping tool

1993
-First web based map
1999
-First GIS Day celeb on Nov 19, 1999

2004
-OpenStreetMap existed and its free

2005
-Google Maps and Google Earth

2013
-QGIS, ARCGIS
-GIS MOOC entitled Maps and Geospatial Revolution

*GIS became central in the 1980s and 1990s in the modernization of the state,
administration of social life, restructuring of economic activity, and
rationalization of planning.

*Discussion on the social impacts of GIS has been limited to an internal analysis
of techniques and methodology; extending capabilities; improving accuracy and
widening the scope of application.

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Revisiting GIS
*Complicity of the tools of the practice vs challenging injustices
*GIS in legal cases
*Dealing with injustices but privileging "some"
-possible to help indigenous communities and understanding the complexity of
stakeholders
*Questions around inclusivity
-social justice

Critical Quantifications
*cognizant of critiques of mainstream computation and positivist quantification
-critiquing to challenge several power relations
*re-appropriate and refashion mathematical, statistical, and computational
practices using theoretical insights and methodologies of social and cultural
theory
*mixed methods and the integration of qualitative methods into GIS practice

Digital Humanities
*Speculative computing
-Intersections of computer and humanistic inquiry
-Started on mainframe computing humanistic computing
-Analysis of cultural objects particularly literary text
-Eventually not just text but other forms
-In the 1990s, WorldWideWeb and Area of Experimentation
-How do objects relate to history
-How do ideas become symbols (language)

Political Economy of GIS

*Involves parsing the long histories of where, when, and how specific geospatial
techs were produced
*Charting the paths that have shaped and continued to shape this technological form
and its role in the world
*Actors and stakeholders, and governmentality that have implicated political
technologies in the reconfiguration of geographical spaces

*Tied up with State Projects, then commercialized,

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COUNTER MAPPING

Reflection:
Althroughout history, maps have governed over sovereignity, conquest, and authority
via claims. It does this for the sake of ownership and also social
organization/development. In feudal Europe maps helped with the collection of taxes
and tithes, thus inherently relevant for the sovereign. Especially when it comes to
the territory of countries, the issue of Sabah and some of China's belligerent
annexation of a few oil-rich Philippine islands. Both of which have used the
argument of historical territory via old maps. Similar to books/literature, it can
influence and subvert decisions and perspectives of not only individuals but also
countries.

The digitalization of the world through the Internet has jumpstarted GIS into
relevance. The presence of GIS has made the quarantine/pandemic bearable and
possible. Because without it, there wouldn't be any Virtual Maps usable for
distribution of essentials.