Slides from presentation at Leicester Geography seminar March 2014, which is based on earlier discussion in a 'thinking and doing digital mapping' workshop in June 2013 in http://blog.digitalcartography.eu/2013/03/26/june-workshop-thinking-and-doing-digital-mapping/ as part of Charting the Digital project http://digitalcartography.eu/ The presentation discusses Volunteered Geographic Information (crowdsourced information) and Citizen Science, using the philosophy of technology of Albert Borgmann.

1. From crowdsourced geographic
information to participatory citizen science
- exploitation or empowerment?
Muki Haklay @mhaklay
Extreme Citizen Science group @ucl_excites

2. (cc) Development Seed

3. Source: Kate Jones, UCL/ZSL see http://www.ibats.org.uk/

4. Outline
• Ways of thinking through technology
• Albert Borgmann’s philosophy of technology
– The device paradigm
– Focal practices
– Natural, Cultural and Technological Information
• Cartography, Geographical Information Systems
and the limits of technological information
• Are crowdsourcing/neogeography/participatory
mapping making any difference?

5. Thinking through technology
©Stock.XCHNG

6. ©Stock.XCHNG

7. ©Stock.XCHNG

8. Borgmann’s philosophy of
technology

9. The Device Paradigm
(cc) CJ Sorg©Stock.XCHNG

10. (cc) Ed & Eddie

11. (cc) Ed & Eddie
(cc) 1950sUnlimited

12. Focal things and practices
©Stock.XCHNG

13. Focal things and practices
©Stock.XCHNG

14. Natural information: about reality
©Stock.XCHNG

15. Cultural information: for reality
©Stock.XCHNG

16. Technological information: as reality
(cc) Kanko*

17. Core concepts
• Device paradigm – the tendency of technology
to replace efficiency and automation for
meaningful human activities
• Focal things and practices – deeply meaningful
artefacts and practices
• Natural information: information about reality
• Cultural information: information for reality
• Technological information: replacing reality

20. NASA 24/12/1968

24. Source: Eric Fischer
Flickr – Locals (blue)
vs. Tourists (red)

25. Digiplace: filtered by software & people

27. 27
Limits of technological
information
• “A map that is rapidly assembled through a sequence
of points and clicks is far less deeply understood and
less thoughtfully crafted than one that is laboriously
drawn on a table” (p. 176)
• “If you imagine yourself in control of a perfect GIS,
nothing any longer presents itself with any authority.
Anything might as well be an impediment to inquiry”
(p. 177)
Source: Borgmann, A. (1999) Holding On to Reality, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

28. The story so far …
• GIS and digital mapping work towards
creation of technological information –
information as reality
• They provide an example for the device
paradigm: prioritising efficiency and
reductionist functionality over wider social
practices and activities
• Is there an alternative to this force and
direction?

29. Crowdsourced geographic
information (VGI)
• The wide use of tools such as GPS,
smartphone and the Web by professional
and non-professional participants to
create and disseminate geographic
information (VGI – Goodchild 2007)

32. Volunteer rainfall observer Rick
Grocke checks the rain gauge at
Tanami Downs cattle station in the
Northern Territory of Australia
WMO–No. 919
Audubon Cal.
Citizen science
• Scientific activities in
which non-
professional scientists
volunteer to
participate in data
collection, analysis
and dissemination of
a scientific project.

33. Citizen Science: iSpot

35. (cc) Urbanwide - flickr
(cc) Nick black

36. OpenStreetMap – Map Kibera

37. More information at http://publiclaboratory.org

40. Noise mapping
Mapping for Change
LCY noise mapping study at http://bit.ly/LCYNoise

43. 0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
00:00 03:00 06:00 09:00 12:00 15:00 18:00 21:00 00:00
dBA
Sound Readings - No Flights
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
00:00 03:00 06:00 09:00 12:00 15:00 18:00 21:00 00:00
dBA
Sound Readings - Normal Flights
Source: Wikimedia
Eyjafjallajökull – April 2010

44. Mapping for Change

47. June 2012
June 2012

48. July 2012
July 2012

49. August 2012
August 2012

50. October 2012
October2012

52. Forest monitoring
Jerome Lewis, ExCiteS

53. Lewis et al. (2007). “Logging in the Congo Basin: What hope for indigenous peoples’ resources and their environments?”.
In: Indigenous Affairs 4/06, pp. 8–15.
Lewis et al. (2012). “Accessible technologies and FPIC: independent monitoring with forest communities in Cameroon”.
In: Biodiversity and culture: exploring community protocols, rights and consent (PLA 65), pp. 151–165.

60. Summary
• The Device Paradigm can be identified in most
of the major digital mapping activities and
services
• Values are well embedded in technology and
many times operate against focal practices
and things
• However, alternatives can be developed but
they require special attention and action

61. Open questions
• How does the device paradigm of technology
limits what we can do with mapping?
• Which focal practices can we create and
support without falling into technical fixes?
• What is the value in these small scale activities
of ‘heroic mapping’ (Ed Parsons’ term)?

62. Credits
Support for the research kindly provided by:
UCL Graduate School Research Fund
ESRC ‘Conserving Biodiversity That Matters: The Value of Brownfield Sites’ project
RGS/IBG Small Research Grant
UrbanBuzz: Building Sustainable Communities (HEFCE)
London Sustainability Exchange (LSx)
London 21 Sustainability Network
EPSRC Challenging Engineering Award ‘Extreme Citizen Science’
EPSRC Adaptable Suburbs project
EU FP7 EveryAware project
Google Research Awards
Amazon Web Services Education Grants
Our special thanks to the participants and the communities that work with us
And to our partners: Royal Geographical Society, ESRI, Helveta and U-Blox

63. • Follow us:
– http://www.ucl.ac.uk/excites
– Twitter: @UCL_ExCiteS
– Blog: http://uclexcites.wordpress.com