Mapping can enable a visual representation of a political and civil struggle against an oppressive regime in a country unregistered by an international community of rightful countries, usually eager to intervene in difficult conflicts. Political Geography Now , deals with this issue by constantly updating, among others, the map of Syria, opposite. 6 Thanks to this site’s analysis of media and scientific articles one gets an explanation of very complex data, such as the position of diverse groups engaged in the conflict, the areas recently involved in the conflict, position of government troops, etc. This kind of effort provides us with information that, for certain reasons, remains under-represented in the mainstream media in the Western/Northern hemisphere – and manifests in an accessible way overlooked developments.
A good example of such a map is the result of a collaborative effort between New York Civil Liberties Union volunteers who gathered information about surveillance cameras across Manhattan and then mapped them. The result is not only a map of the locations of cameras, but also a negative map, the map of Big Brother. An awareness of where surveillance recordings take place empowers citizens who are able to discuss these locations, deciding which cameras should stay in their places and why. This project also warns about how passive and unaware the modern, maturing democratic society can be, and how much has to be done to set it in deliberative motion. The same democratic principles lie behind the Fix My Street mapping project, an initiative that tags places in the city that need repair, indicating the things that are supposed to be taken care of by people we vote into municipal office. If the tools developed by the system are not efficient enough, citizens will take over part of the responsibility and take matters into their own hands.
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www.mediaeater.com/cameras
The continually updated Civil Liberties Union Manhattan Surveillance Cameras Map: Manhattan is divided into twelve zones with information on the number of cameras, how many are stationary, rotational and globe cameras, and divided into two main categories: red dots point out private cameras, yellow dots are public ones. The map also marks cameras in green city parks and in blue places of interests – public buildings and squares. right: a detail of the CLUManhattan Surveillance Cameras Map
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