Friday, April 27, 2007

Map, Map, Territory

What if Borges' (or, more properly, Alfred Korzybski's) map/territory contrast is just an overplayed maxim, a dwindling truism due for reversal? (Fine, so I'm not the first and only to consider the question.)

The aggregator turned up a report about laws in the Philippines and Malaysia that ban what is being called "participatory GIS", the ad hoc mash-up efforts combining cartography technologies with material models in an effort to define boundaries for lands held by indigenous groups. The ban on such processes is, in itself, fascinating (a way to keep the partitioning of the land specialized, in the hands of experts). But I'm also struck by the layers to this story, a coordination of compositional and rhetorical elements--mental models of spaces, the image-assisted translation of mental models into scaled relief maps made of various materials, the use of these constructs for legal claim-making, the implied omnipotence of Google Earth.

From the report, the moment of reconciliation between satellite imagery and the experiences and memories of the person and tribe (map as totemic?):

The modeling technique often starts by showing village elders satellite images, which they use to record their mental maps of tribal territories, hunting grounds, and sacred sites.

The material manifestation--something like a folk geodiorama or raised relief map--blends the latest digital technologies with everyday craft supplies:

[A]ctivist groups...have been helping indigenous communities mix computers and handheld navigation devices with paints, yarn, and cardboard to make simple but accurate three-dimensional terrain models.

Simple but accurate? Accurate enough to warrant a ban, anyway.

Posted by Derek Mueller at April 27, 2007 10:45 PM to Distances