Maps and Politics: Visual culture, power and everyday practice

GEOG20311 Maps and Politics: Visual culture, power and everyday practice 20 Semester 1 Undergraduate Level 2 1 FHEQ level (Framework for Higher Education Qualifications) ' Middle part of Bachelors ' European Credit Transfer & Accumulation System Rating : 10.0 The following tripartite structure summarises themes that are central to this course The following tripartite structure summarises themes that are central to this course 1: Images (judging) - Representation and power, practice and performance - The world, technologies and visualization - Quality, accuracy, effectiveness, precision, comprehensiveness, pitch and level, appropriateness, coverage (spatial and temporal), rigour - Creativity, design, beauty: frameworks for judgment 2. Action (doing) - Drop-in tutorials for critical review - Collaborative mapping: participation in wiki mapping - Drop-in tutorials for team project 3: Ideas (thinking) - Culture and institutions: networks of power and regulation - Governmentality and transparency: surveillance privacy and the body - Mobility and interactivity: patterns in flow and flux of living - Mapping practices in society The following tripartite structure summarises themes that are central to this course The following tripartite structure summarises themes that are central to this course 1: Images (judging) - Representation and power, practice and performance - The world, technologies and visualization - Quality, accuracy, effectiveness, precision, comprehensiveness, pitch and level, appropriateness, coverage (spatial and temporal), rigour - Creativity, design, beauty: frameworks for judgment 2. Action (doing) - Drop-in tutorials for critical review - Collaborative mapping: participation in wiki mapping - Drop-in tutorials for team project 3: Ideas (thinking) - Culture and institutions: networks of power and regulation - Governmentality and transparency: surveillance privacy and the body - Mobility and interactivity: patterns in flow and flux of living - Mapping practices in society To introduce the geographical significance of the visual To explore links between representation, thought and action in the context of a critical review and mapping project To begin to appreciate what makes a good design By the end of the course unit, you should be able to: - have developed a critical appreciation of (carto)graphical quality - be able to envision space in more effective and creative ways - have improved their design skills in visualization Skills and Employability During this course unit, you will be encouraged to develop the following abilities and skills: - information handling skills involved in researching a team design project - critical skills involved in understanding different evaluative frameworks - creative skills involved in practical solution to a map design task - problem solving skills - communication skills used to develop sustained logical arguments in written and oral forms - taking responsibility for active self-critical learning, including time management - team work and sharing of abilities amongst small self selected groups Amongst other things you will learn: - When not to use the computer - How web 2.0 and neogeography are making new kinds of visual culture - The difference that places bring to the visual - Which software tools are best suited to which kinds of contexts - How maps work - The relations between the visual and everyday practice - How designs have changed over time The course unit will be delivered via a weekly 2 hour lecture complemented by small group discussion sessions, seminars and practicals. These are supported by a Blackboard site, blog, discussion forums and chatroom in which students will participate to build a week by week critical reflection of their developing skill sets. 0 Other 100% 100% course assessed. - Individual critical review. 40% Submitted Week 7 - Team mapping exercise. 40% Submitted Start of Exam Period - Individual participation in online discussion. 20% Ongoing Feedback Feedback will be provided in the following ways during this course unit: - extensive verbal feedback through Q&A, discussion and interaction in lectures - verbal feedback on any course unit issue through consultation hours - ongoing peer and staff feedback through study group discussion online - regular weekly discussion in tutorials / seminar groups / practical classes - detailed written feedback on the coursework assignments Y Selected Readings Dodge, M. McDerby, M. and Turner, M. (eds.) 2008 Geographic Visualization: Concepts, Tools and Applications. (Wiley, Chichester) Dodge, M. Kitchin, R. Perkins, C. (eds) 2009 Rethinking Maps. (Routledge, London) Dodge, M. Kitchin, R. Perkins, C. (eds) 2010 The Map Reader. (Routledge, London) Elkins, J. 1999 The Domain of Images, (Cornell University Press, Ithaca) Friendly, M. 2008 Milestones in the history of thematic cartography, statistical graphics, and data visualization <http://www.math.yorku.ca/SCS/Gallery/milestone/> Krygier, J and Wood, D 2005 Making Maps, A Visual Guide to Map Design for GIS. (The Guilford Press;,New York) Monmonier M, 1996 How To Lie With Maps, Second Edition (University of Chicago Press, Chicago) Rose, G. 2011 Visual Methodologies 3rd Ed., (Sage, London) Tufte, E. 1998 The Visual Display of Quantitative Information. 2nd Ed. (Graphics Press, Cheshire CT) Wood. D. and Fels, J. 2008 The Natures of Maps. (University of Chicago Press, Chicago) E Journals The Cartographic Journal; Cartographica; Cartography and GIScience Blogs / web catalogues Milestones in the History of Thematic Cartography, Statistical Graphics, and Data Visualization, http://www.math.yorku.ca/SCS/Gallery/milestone/index.html A Visual Exploration on Mapping Complex Networks, http://www.visualcomplexity.com/vc/ Information aesthetics blog: form follows data - data visualization & visual communication, http://infosthetics.com/ Gapminder, http://www.gapminder.org/ Strangemaps, http://strangemaps.wordpress.com/ Making maps: DIY cartography resources and ideas for making maps, http://makingmaps.net/ 0 0 0 Information Geographers have become very good at deconstructing. This course shows how construction still matters and how it can still be critical, collaborative and creative. It explores the potential and pitfalls of the new approaches to visualisation, focusing upon practical ways of judging and enacting design quality. The nature of scientific and more artistic visualization is examined through examples drawn from mapping, photography, film, video and other media. Contexts such as mass media, web sites and printed works are used, and the academic contrasted with the policy arena and the everyday. The informative is compared, to the educative and the entertaining. In the first half of the course the focus is upon exploring a toolkit to help you understand how different kinds of visualisation work, but also how they might be understood. Weekly team activities build to a first and individual assessed piece of work submitted in Week 7. In the second half of the semester the emphasis shifts onto an active and team-based exercise to make an effective visualization, submitted at the start of the exam period in January.Timetable Comprises of Lectures and Seminars please refer to course content information for further details Timetable information to be confirmed