7.3 Maps and Liberal Education

Liberal education explores how creative insights and knowledge are acquired and used, as well as how they change over time. Mapping is an important way of knowing and changing the world. Liberal education engages you, as both a student and a global citizen, through multiple forms of learning that include reading, fieldwork, group experiences, lab work, writing, and other creative activities. These are important components of a broader education that gives you the ability to see multiple sides of an issue, develop critical reasoning abilities, and create an ethical compass to guide you in your lifelong participation in society as a knowledgeable, thoughtful, and engaged citizen.

Inquiry and Mapping

Artists, scientists, and policy makers are among the many people who use mapping technologies to describe and analyze human experiences and behavior. We examine how individuals and organizations use maps, both as tools and objects of analysis.

Mapping relies on a number of fundamentals, from data collection to science approaches, ranging from mapping data, using symbolization to best represent data, simplifying and classifying data via visual and statistical methods, and then finally analyzing data and maps with a range of methods.

We identify key mapping resources and evaluate their quality. We examine the science and policy dimensions of data and mapping technologies in order to better understand their promise and pitfalls. More broadly, we discuss the role of various individuals and organizations in providing map-based analyses on a range of issues.

We examine the roles that individuals play in their cultural, social, economic, and political worlds. We ask questions about what surveillance practices mean for individuals and society one week, for example, while in another we consider how individuals can take advantage of the ubiquity of mobile mapping technologies to change the way they understand and effect change in the world. Mapping offers a multidisciplinary framework with which to understand a range of local, national, and global issues. It also involves engaging in a process of critical evaluation of maps produced by various individuals, social groups, and researchers.

Society, Technology, and Mapping

We examine the measurable impacts mapping technologies have on society. Mapping is a trillion-dollar enterprise that fuses fast-evolving technologies with rapidly changing societal practices. What does it mean for individuals and society that most mobile phones and many web-applications like Facebook can track your location in a way that was not possible just a few years ago? Should the government track our every movement? Should parents or schools track their children? Companies their employees or customers? These are not hypothetical questions. Tens of millions of people are being tracked right now, including you if you are reading this on a computer or phone or any other internet-connected device.

We examine the science and engineering behind mapping technologies to better understand their promise and pitfalls. How does GPS tracking work, and what are the limitations of its functionality? Importantly, are these limitations clear to its users? How do crowd-sourced maps compare to more traditional atlases in their accuracy and adaptability? How do these different methods of gathering mapped data affect the way these maps are used?

We discuss how society has fostered the development of mapping technologies. What does it mean that mapping technologies such as satellite imaging of the earth, GPS units, or the spatially-aware internet owe their existence and continued evolution to military research?

We examine how various social groups put mapping technologies to use. We explore how maps are used in many ways, including to tell lies, sell products, win elections, and save lives. We look at mapping from multiple perspectives, from developers of technology to users and other people affected by the technology. Mapping is a useful lens through which to understand interactions between society and technology, as mapping technologies are driven by social imperatives, and these technologies in turn change with society.