Documenting the process of gathering qualitative data for mapping. The result is a collaborative communications asset map of "hotspots" and "comfort zones" created by Media & Communicaitons students, University of Greenwich.

1. Communication Asset
Mapping: Practical Example
Dr. Gauti Sigthorsson
Creative Professions and Digital Arts
University of Greenwich

2. Communication assets:
"Physical components of the urban environment that
residents consider positive spaces of social and
community interaction" (MetaConnects).
The inspiration here comes from the work of the
MetaConnects group at the University of Southern
California, who apply community asset mapping
(Kretzmann and McKnight) to questions of
communication at the level of urban neighbourhoods.
They also have a fantastic research toolkit.

3. What to look for:
Hotspots: Gathering zones.
Comfort zones: Community institutions and locations
that residents feel most connected to.

4. How? Here's one simple, DIY approach...

5. Demarcate areas
of interest:

6. Declare your aims:
Decide on 1-3 things to look for:
● What do you want recorded (other than location)?
● How should it be recorded? (Photos, notes, sketches, interviews, video…)

7. Note each location on a printed map

8. Tools (for collecting data, making it usable)

9. Tools:
1. Map printouts of the location to be studied + pencils
2. A basic smartphone that can connect to wi-fi (for uploading pictures, notes).
3. Shared Google Drive folder for gathering images, notes, etc.
4. Shared spreadsheet (location, notes and image URLs) to create map layers.
5. A Google My Maps map to share initial results among participants, so
everyone can see what's been done.

10. Why use Google Apps for this?
Students already use this for University email.
Free, consumer-level tools for data-gathering.
Easy to use on smartphones and desktop, with dedicated apps available.
Easy to link images to points on the map (lat/lon).

11. Map and spreadsheets in main
folder, images in subfolders
Shared folder
Only invited team
members can edit,
to minimise errors,
and ensure
accountability for
data entry (we need
to know who did
what when).

12. Making the data usable: Avoiding / correcting
errors

13. Address errors: If these are uploaded, they'll have to
be fixed in the map data table. More work.

14. Error message, faulty location data

15. Mistaken location
(not in Greenwich, London, UK)

16. It pays to be precise at the outset, less cleanup
later
House no. + street
Full postcode
Longtitude/latitude (from separate
Google Map)

17. Finding lon/lat coordinates
Click and hold on the precise spot
you want to indicate on the map.
The longtitude and latitude appear in
this box:

18. Enter coordinates into
spreadsheet (no space after
comma)

19. Upload to map
Click "Add layer", select file to
upload (in this case from Google
Drive).
Style the layer (marker shape,
colours, etc.)

20. Result

21. So, why are we interested in this?

22. Because space is a medium. It
matters for understanding
communications: How we use space,
move within it, how we share it,
demarcate it, etc. Not to mention what
we hear, see, smell, touch and taste…
What we do, we do in space.

23. And we can use spatial data
creatively:
Mapping things that don't usually appear on
maps (e.g., places to sit down, water
fountains, nice views…)
Developing new ways of mapping and
visualising geocoded qualitative data.
Creating location-based smartphone apps.
Making interactive displays.
...and more.

24. Contact / credits
Dr. Gauti Sigthorsson
Dept. of Creative Professions and Digital
Arts, University of Greenwich
http://blogs.gre.ac.uk/media/
Twitter: @ conceptbin
With thanks to students in MEDS1038 Media
Theory and Research and MEDS1054
Communications Research