A new model of urban development: the role of collaborative maps in social organisation around public issues

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UNIVERSITY OF AMSTERDAM

Media Studies

A new model of urban development: the

role of collaborative maps in social

organisation around public issues

Student name: Indre Lauciute

Master thesis submitted: June 27, 2014

lauciute@gmail.com

Burgemeester de Kievietstraat 64, Diemen, 1111 GP | The Netherlands Student number: 10418040

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ABSTRACT

This paper considers the emerging phenomenon of collaborative mapping in relation to the urban organisation of citizens in a digital society. Taking the philosophical perspective of the theorist Bruno Latour who views technological objects as parts of social networks (Comber, Fisher and Wadsworth 299), digital collaborative mapping projects will be analysed. This research examines when digital maps stop being only representations and when people start organising themselves around the maps. It also seeks to identify processes behind the maps that influence dwellers to act in order to achieve social and urban changes. The paper begins by contextualizing the emerging digital mapping phenomenon, presentation of theories adapted to the research, methodological strategies and continues with an analysis of collaborative digital map case studies. After comparative analysis of collected digital maps and presented results, the research concludes with insights of possible contribution to the digital mapping context.

Keywords: New media; urbanism; digital mapping; citizen collaboration; urban issues; crowdsourcing.

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Table of figures

Figure 1. Image of the webpage "Collaborative Maps" created for the Master thesis research………..24

Figure 2. Documented 100 researched projects in an Excel document (included in Appendix). …..………..25

Figure 3. Visualised various data of "Smart Santander" project………...30

Figure 4. ‘Waze’ application illustrates available various reporting functions………….32

Figure 5. Locations of violence areas in ‘HarassMap’………..33

Figure 6. ‘Map Kibera’: diverse objects located in Nairobi, Kenya………..35

Figure 7. ‘Haiti earthquake’ map illustration with numbers of reports in different nature disaster areas………..37

Figure 8. Image of the project 'Accessible Way' located reports………...38

Figure 9. Illustration of the user performance during the air pollution measurement in Italy, Turin……….40

Figure 10. Illustration of ‘Wide Noise’ reports across the world………..41

Figure 11. Visualised locations of ‘Acqualta project’ sensors in Venice, Italy………….42

Figure 12. Overview of conservation projects mapped in Africa………...43

Figure 13. Developed map based on the categories emerged from collected collaborative digital projects………47

Figure 14. Bar chart created to show the quantity of the collected digital maps divided into different categories……….49

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Figure 15. Pie chart of the map categories…..………...50 Figure 16. Visualized geographic locations of the countries developed 100 collected collaborative digital maps………..50

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INTRODUCTION

The urban environment is developing in complex ways. Traditionally urban space is understood as consisting of physical objects like houses, streets but this attitude is transforming. An on-going development in communication technologies is changing the character of the urban space. Nowadays cities are implementing digital infrastructure and operate sensing devices. Digital instruments, incorporated in the urban areas, are shaping the city digitally. However, what happens when physical and digital spaces merge? Once devices are implemented, this has potential to generate data and create new data based platforms. This leads to the emergence of new urban services, such as real-time digital maps for finding free parking spaces. Such and similar projects open up opportunities for citizens to use digitised urban areas in an advanced way and to increase their living comfort.

To face this urban and societal transformation is inevitable. New digital platforms are rising and allow using technologies in many new ways that were never used before. Digital mapping is one of the examples where technology enables to perform ordinary practices in a different manner. For instance, instead of paper maps today we have online mapping applications such as ‘Google Maps’. Instead of having an image with geographic information on paper, the user now has ability to engage with a digital version of the map. In addition, digitally visualised geographic data expands the ways in which users can interact with the map: search, zoom, mark locations. A collection of data used in a virtual format allows searching for locations or estimating the distances between remote areas.

One of the most common ways to present information in digital maps is the combination of mapping and data visualisation. Through the graphic representation of information, data visualisation techniques offer audiences a possibility to explore data in ways which are not possible to see in collections of datasets, information stored in Excel spreadsheets (Cairo 10). Geographic information is not the only data that could be screened in the maps. Any information such as energy prices, global disease trends, population growth or birth rates could be displayed using mapping platform. The goal of visualisation is to get a deeper insight into the data through the visual

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overview. In addition, maps are not the only digital models to showcase information – bubble charts, treemaps, scatter plots etc. could be also used as templates. Visualisations created by designers, computer programmers are meant to bring new insights that could be missed when looking into the raw data.

However, in reality, according to media theorist Benjamin H. Bratton, whereas numerous projects for data visualisation claim to be interfaces for practical use and bring new notions, often this is not the case (Bratton and Jeremijenko 10). The scholar implies that if information is only visualised, the digital platform does not have any practical value. In order to make it useful, the diagrams or maps have to provide the possibility for people to engage with it. Visualised data platforms should be perceived as a way to gather people around the visualised issue. For example, visualised environmental data could be used as an opportunity to organise people and improve environmental issues. Data interfaces could be perceived to organise publics for a common goal and make a change happen (Bratton and Jeremijenko 10). Once a grand issue is recognised in a digital map or a chart, it can lead to transformation and have an actual effect on society. If data is only visualised, it distances people from the ability to act.

The idea to use data visualisation projects as an interface to get people to engage in action, seemed utopian for Bratton but nowadays we can see that this is already happening – numerous digital mapping platforms represent data in a way that actuate public initiative. Digital mapping platforms that allow the users to engage with the data suggest collaborative action. Such interfaces have implemented options that enable users to amend the data. Technology invites not only to see and use information but to contribute during the data collection process, to add it or even edit it. This idea of collaboration is similar to Wikipedia, which works based on voluntary crowd contribution. This means that numerous citizens work together for free in order to add content to the projects. Maps as platforms attract users to collaborate in the same manner.

The contribution to the data contained in the maps diversifies information layers in mapping platforms. Such occurrence proves that maps are becoming more than their previous paper representations. Academics Kazys Varnelis and Leah Meisterlin

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call this phenomenon an ‘intelligent map’. The scholars have noted that such complex maps go way beyond its collaborative function: ‘today's intelligent maps don't just represent spatial relationships, they reveal conditions in the city that were previously hidden in spreadsheets and databases’ (Varnelis and Meisterlin 8). Furthermore, the scholars claim that once information is brought to daylight, it allows citizens to take charge of the data and act. For example, a broken streetlight could be put into the map so that other citizens would be aware of it or so that they might even show initiative and fix it. Moreover, such information is a message for the municipality to pay attention to the problem. So maps as interfaces suggest ways to activate citizens through collaborative action. This indicates that digital maps have the promise of going beyond visual data representation.

Inspired by the potential of digital mapping, this research takes the opportunity to discuss citizen initiatives in the context of new media technologies and urban environment. In particular, the research question is: How do digital maps allow citizens to organise themselves collaboratively around urban issues? In order to answer the research question, I will divide it into three sub-questions. In particular, the first one that I will try to answer is: What kind of issues do people organise around? To answer the question I will research collaborative digital mapping projects trying to find out the raised matters of concern that connect maps together or differ. The second sub-question that I would like to address is: How are people organised? Thesis research will bring a deeper theoretical insight in understanding how citizens are mobilized through digital media. The last sub-question – How are publics engaged? – will seek to identify the characteristics of the maps that allow the citizens to act in order to achieve social and urban changes. The goal of this research is to understand the ways in which maps stop being only representations and when they become more – a value for the citizens, a change in a society.

Chapter 1. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

Theory is significant when trying to understand the processes emerging in reality. Abstract models adapted to particular research elements can facilitate the perception of their organisation process. This theoretical framework will introduce abstract

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theoretical models that will be later adapted to the research analysis. In the following section I will start by presenting the context of digital media and urbanism. This will bring a deeper insight into how technology affects organisation in modern urban environments and society. The goal is to show that developing technology nowadays is suggests new models for people to organise and act within the city.

The structure of the other following subchapters will be based on the research questions raised in the introduction. In particular, they will try to answer the three sub-questions: What kind of issues do people organise around? How are people organised? How are publics engaged? In order to answer them I will present different theories and scholars. Actor network theory and issue publics will be presented as theoretical methods. These theories will be adopted when investigating citizen organisation around digital maps and around which kind of issues these maps assemble people. Crowdsourcing will be reviewed as a method to analyse user engagement in mapping platforms. Other theoretical elements presented in subchapters will be later applied to the research analysis as well. The awareness of this theoretical framework will facilitate the process of following the research and making connections between the various elements if consists of and which are explored in the course of this thesis.

1.1. Digital urbanism

Digital media have already transformed the ways in which we communicate – for instance with the Internet, touchscreen phones or other devices. New technologies are changing how we interact with society but in tandem this phenomenon is penetrating into urban environments as well. The development of electronics led to new citizen habits which, once expressed, lead to urban development. For example, a constant necessity for the Internet lead to the implementation of Wi-Fi spots in city cafes. The increasing usage of laptops conditioned the implementation of more accessible sockets in public libraries. Ordinary examples met on a daily basis illustrate events that people often take for granted – emerging digital technologies challenge the modern city to fit society’s demands. Does this mean that our needs, influenced by technology, govern our entire infrastructure?

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geographic location anymore. It has transformed into a space generating ‘societal and individual development’ (Bridge and Watson 28). It is a receptive place that overtakes all processes happening in society. Such an approach can easily be proved when looking to history. During the 20th century, the impact of technology was enormous. Inventions such as the car and television have changed urban infrastructure and even how people behave (Urban digital). Urban life started developing inevitably in conjunction with emerging electronics. The development of technology has taken such a turn that as a result devices have sped up human communication and the Internet has permitted the search for information to become more effective. Technology has penetrated into urban life and that has challenged the search for new ways to approach urban environments.

Digital urbanism arrived as a new attempt to comprehend new manners of how dwellers inhabit the city (Urban digital), for instance, through user driven collaborative digital mapping platforms. Internet based collaborative maps widely used in cities are overtaking traditional modes of how people organise themselves in the urban context. Mapping technologies get easily adopted in daily practice through the interface of mobile screens or other devices. Digital maps enable to explore the city in intelligent manners, for example, to navigate from location A to B without using traditional paper maps. This type of development is most efficient for saving time. However, in some applications it is also possible to navigate the city with real time traffic data. For instance, when driving a car during peak hours it is useful to check collaborative digital maps that provide traffic information. In this way, it is possible to pinpoint the locations of traffic jams and bypass them using alternative roads. The source for such information can be mobile applications provided by private companies or public collaborative digital mapping platforms. Usually business applications are expensive but platforms with shared information from citizens are costless. Urban researchers does notice that collaborative online mapping applications drive ‘collective intelligence, <…> innovative living and working scenarios’ (Schaffers, Komninos, Pallot, Trousse, Nilsson and Oliveira 432). British academic Michael F. Goodchild has discovered that the contribution to data does not only innovate dwellers’ lives but additionally makes them fulfilling (Dodge and

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Kitchin 23). Contributors get personal satisfaction seeing their data screened in the mapping project and used by a wider audience. So these and other reasons assemble people in emerging mapping applications and empower to change the modern city beyond traditional urban city planning methods. Citizens no longer need to wait for the official channels to create city services providing real-time traffic data, now inhabitants can create such and other services themselves. Thanks to technology, collaborative user driven platforms enable digitally skilled crowds to govern the creation process of the urban medium. The employed technologies have awarded society with the power to adapt urban environments to its own needs. Citizens now have the possibility to participate in the city’s creation process through collaboration.

1.2. Public organisation

Digital urbanism has shown that technologies have enabled dwellers to create urban environments. Together with technologies, the masses have learned to develop maps that show solutions to overcome traffic jams or other urban challenges. The various kinds of collaborative data platforms are an illustration that citizens can be engaged towards one cause. Crowd participation for a common goal is a key to keep collaborative maps running. But how do digital maps create social organisation?

Actor Network Theory (ANT) is one of the ways to look into when searching for the answers. Deriving from the work of sociologist and French philosopher Bruno Latour in the 1980s, ANT offers a broader perspective on mapping culture (Comber, Fisher and Wadsworth 303). The theory claims that any technological and social objects are connected into a network. For instance, when considering the computer it is difficult to discern which elements result from human interactions and which from technology. People who create such a machine search in their knowledge of how to create software and are also influenced by their social background. As a result, it is impossible to separate which of the elements of a computer from a social or technical basis. So for Latour reality is a socio-technical medium where machines and humans merge together. Technology and people are considered as actors connected in a network. The philosopher argues that any world knowledge is constructed by interactions of actors in networks (Latour, Reassembling the Social: An Introduction to Actor-Network-Theory 46). Using the term actor, the scholar unfolds the concept

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for describing human and non-human elements that interact with each other. Derived from the theatre, the term actor is traditionally is understood as a person acting but the academic adds a new notion – he highlights that in actor it is hard to discern the authentic human being from the artificial character. The roles are vague: ‘To use the word ‘actor’ means that it’s never clear who and what is acting when we act since an actor on stage is never alone in acting’ (Latour, Reassembling the Social: An Introduction to Actor-Network-Theory 46). The source of action is unclear because the individual originality merges with the expressed role on the stage during the performance. When a person starts acting, the connection between these two different entities forms organisation. This connection forms a network, in other words, a network of actors. The scholar inserted this new insight into ANT theory enabling it to trace networks between diverse elements or associations between them.

Connections between actors and networks emerge because of the agency. This term is widely used by Latour for describing object interactions (Bender 310). For instance, a photo camera taking an image is performing an action only because of the photographer’s decision to use the device. In other words, the photo camera is taking pictures because the user decided to give it an agency – the right to operate. This moment gets physical and social worlds to merge. By Latourian perception, such kind of interactions generally are the main source of how things appear in the world (Bender 310). This can concern photos, computers, phones, or collaborative digital mapping applications. Things appear as they appear only after a long process of such interactions – human interactivity with the objects. This theory, adapted to collaborative mapping, can explain how the interaction of citizens with the Internet and technologies makes digital mapping platforms emerge. For instance, citizens give the agency to the digital maps but in return platforms automatically influence people to act. The actions citizens perform to put traffic data into the map is already driven by the agency of the platform. Rights given to the technology to operate do govern people to contribute information. Once the action is accomplished, the results are seen in the real world. That is, mapping platforms emerge because of human actions being expressed and represented in actuality.

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most essential is that it is a theory of distributing agency – it answers the question ‘How do things happen?’ (Bender 309). By answering such a question, the theory leads to a social analysis involving networks of actors. The concept ‘social’ by Latour is understood from a new approach. The philosopher noticed that the domain of the social is extensive and can be used for connecting heterogeneous elements (Latour, Reassembling the Social: An Introduction to Actor-Network-Theory 5). He perceives ‘social’ as a type of connection between things which are not social. This attitude is quite unexpected since the word social in domestic practice is used, on the contrary, for describing social elements. The links that the academic draws to connect non-social elements are associations. The ANT theory precisely traces such associations between diverse elements. A discovery such this makes me presume that associations seem to be the only pure occurrence that Latour considers to be certain and indisputable phenomena. This could explain his gradual conceptual movement towards developing his already described idea saying that social and technical elements are connected. Vanished distinctions between technical and social components seem to be replaced by associations. So the world appears to be constructed not out of clear and pure elements but out of connections, associations and interactions between them.

The ANT social concept was reviewed by the academic Thomas Bender (Bender 310). The scholar connected social science and ANT theory from a very interesting angle. Going back in the history he reminded that in 19th century the notion of ‘social’ or ‘society’ came into the new light – it became broadly used to emphasize that modern living covered a larger domain than just family or some small activities (Bender 310). The concept embraced a vast group of people outside the family circle. In that time the industrial revolution influenced people to move to live in the city. New kinds of jobs naturally caused more migration and communication and interaction between strangers. Migration appeared to be so massive and interactions so intense that this caused confusion on how to call such a phenomenon. So in that time the sociology was born only out of the necessity to make sense of such new patterns developing in social relations (Bender 310). This societal shift in history has changed human interactions. The appearance of new inhabitants in the cities created

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more movement, and the need to communicate and work together. It formed social life and made it modern. Accordingly, this model of social development could bring new insights when adapted to this research object – digital mapping technologies. As mentioned in the paragraph on digital urbanism, the appearance of digital maps causes new forms of citizen organisation. Collaborative digital mapping technologies and social organisation based on such platforms are still quite a new occurrence. It is evident that today’s society is digitized more than ever before. Through devices people are able to affect urban issues, improve city progress or other matters. Such developments seem to be still in the process of intensive analysis by scholars, who search for the right terms and definitions for the emerging phenomenon. Could today’s social processes caused by increasing interaction with technologies perhaps be associated with the historical changes faced during the industrial revolution of the 19th century? The awkward situation of not knowing how to name and make sense of events happening in society in that time did lead to the development of a new science – sociology. Maybe this could mean that the discussed research object of this study in few years time could accelerate the development of new scientific models? Urban development based on technologies nowadays is very fast, innovative and its impact in society organisation could not be unnoticed. Does it mean that technology development causing society collaborative organisation around issues could be a new tendency to form the cities? Is society taking over the right to manage the city from the officials? Although it is not possible to answer now yet, such questions are part of numerous inspirations driving this research to be born. The opportunity to discuss what is still in the process of development is always interesting since this does open many doors to find what has not yet been discovered.

1.3. Issue publics

The ANT theory represents processes of social organisation around digital mapping platforms. It has shown that dwellers focus on particular digital map issues and voluntarily connect into networks of actors. The issue is the centre of attention that organises citizens. If matters of concern can bring us together, what kind of issues invite people to organise?

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people all over the world are connected together by their worries and issues (Latour, From Realpolitik to Dingpolitik: An Introduction to Making Things Public 4). This can concern any political events, environmental problems such as global warming, or the economical crisis. Any type of global matter creates discussion and attention despite our geographic locations or beliefs. Each subject creates individual emotions but one single opinion might have no effects – it is too minor to be heard. However, if expressed together with the emotions of other people this might change. The scholar claims that all issues we care about create publics around them (Latour, From Realpolitik to Dingpolitik: An Introduction to Making Things Public 5). Attention for matters of concern connects us in a network around these matters. In this way the particular subject becomes important and makes our opinion influential. The issue as a centre of attention organises citizens and is thus converted into a reason for collaborative action. Public issues generate a chain of citizens who, in addition, cause chain effects by involving other people as well.

Issues could be represented in two different ways. According to Latour, the first way is by ‘assembly’. The academic is using the term as a synonym for a place, gathering or meeting. Historically, assemblage theory derives from the work of philosophers Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari. The term ‘assemblage’ is understood as ‘a concept dealing with the play of organization and change’ (Wise 80). Assemblage means a collection of different elements that are brought together in particular relations (Wise 80). In the case of digital mapping, ‘assembly’ connects such elements as interface, data and citizens. They fold into each other by creating tight relationships. ‘Assembly’ comprises the elements of the network. The second Latourian way to represent an issue is a topic, an actual matter of concern. So ‘assembly’ and ‘topic’ are two ways to represent an issue.

To understand such a double representation in practice the philosopher invokes the context of political philosophy (Latour, From Realpolitik to Dingpolitik: An Introduction to Making Things Public 6). Politicians gather for diverse discussions but once they are sitting in one room, they are already assembled by place. However, presence is not enough to start debates, it is needed to decide what to discuss but this might be a huge challenge. The representation of the matter of concern is not an easy

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task since the audience has to be convinced of the importance of the subject. Especially when it is hard to decide what can be considered an indisputable fact: ‘To convince the whole world of the presence of a phenomenon or of a looming danger, seems now almost beyond reach’ (Latour, From Realpolitik to Dingpolitik: An Introduction to Making Things Public 6). For example, the validity of some global events is questionable, like decisions by governments to start wars or, on the contrary, to create peace. The evaluation and perception of events can be subjective and to make an agreement on what is an absolute truth or right is difficult. Latour concludes that people do not assemble because they agree about something. On the contrary, issues bring us together because they are public matters that divide us (Latour, From Realpolitik to Dingpolitik: An Introduction to Making Things Public 13). These would be any public issues on which we do not agree but which are still concerning.

1.4. Citizen engagement

The organisation around important issues, the collaboration of data, and the initiative to act for the social cause are obtained from the digital mapping platforms. Latour’s insight shows that people organise around significant issues which the community is concerned about. Technologies play an important role in this process. Internet is one of the contemporary spheres where citizens can get introduced to such social issues (Latour, From Realpolitik to Dingpolitik: An Introduction to Making Things Public 24). Platforms assemble audiences but what drives people to assemble? What map affordances engage publics?

The fact that thousands of citizens are willing to spend large amounts of time contributing without any financial reward British academic Michael F. Goodchild calls phenomenal (Doge and Kitchin 23). In his analyses of digital maps, the scholar focuses on the reasons for citizens to voluntarily participate and concludes that self-promotion is the answer. Contributors for the mapping projects get personal satisfaction seeing their input and their information used by a wider audience. The users cannot be sure that their data contributions would ever be seen but despite that the possibility to be seen is always there (Doge and Kitchin 23). So self-promotion drives thousands of citizens to spend large amounts of time contributing data without

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any financial reward.

Citizens could be driven by political beliefs, the researchers Sharon S. Dawes and Natalie Helbig claim (Dawes and Helbig 1). Having analysed digital data platforms, the scholars say that personal satisfaction might be irrelevant in online collaboration. The possibility to reach the government through the platforms is the actual reason. Observing open governmental data citizens are able to send feedback regarding the clarity of information. Ways for citizens to speak up through, online web tools enable them to reach officials and let them make instant decisions for the welfare of the community. The inhabitants enjoy being conscious citizens who are aware of what is happening in their environments. Personal need is not the main motive of collaboration, but the improvement of living conditions in society.

Though the inspiration to engage with the digital maps could come from the citizens, it can also arrive from the mapping platforms. According to Sam Hind and Alex Gekker integrated points for encouragement in some platforms are based on the play mode (4). For example, in some maps for sharing data the user gets extra points. During time this method makes the user collaborate more in order to collect more rewards. Digital games are an illustration of why interactive participation in sharing data looks attractive for users. Casual games create various obstacles that the gamer has to overcome in order to achieve higher levels. Achievements in the game increase the level and the amount of capabilities that the gamer has in the platform and so a long-term player is formed. In some cases it is even possible to play online with friends, which makes the game more interactive. So, similarly to players wanting to achieve higher levels in their game, once they have a profile in a mapping application they are eager to maintain it. This forms a long-term participator. So gaming habits are transferred to the mapping platforms. Such play mode functions integrated into the digital maps can make user experience dynamic and casual at the same time. Even if people are not gamers, Hind and Gekker note, the interaction with digital interfaces such as touch screen phones is, in a way, already based on the human subconscious desire to play (6). The utilisation of digital devices is already a daily modern practice but combined with the play mode enriches user experience. This means that it allows contributing to the data, organising your own route, reporting road problems to be

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fixed, making individual decisions and getting practical benefits. In other words, it does give the right to more control of individual daily performance. It would be hard to resist such an outcome.

1.5. Crowdsourcing

Crowdsourcing is a way to engage publics around an issue on a map. The term ‘crowdsourcing’ is used in the research when analysing collaborative mapping platforms. The term was created by Jeff Howe to describe ‘a type of participatory process enabling collaborative knowledge to be collected and exploited when seeking for the most effective solution to a problem’ (Papadapoulou and Giaoutzi 110). The author developed the concept from practice after the division of labour in an online community was found to be a great solution when working for a common goal. Some web platforms are designed for collaborative participation which allows people all over the world to contribute in sharing their knowledge online whether they are experts or not: ‘crowdsourcing is based on the principle that nobody knows everything, as everyone has a share in knowledge’ (Papadapoulou and Giaoutzi 112). A high level of professional knowledge is not needed which means that anyone can contribute to the virtual mapping applications.

This relatively new approach to use crowdsourcing for problem solving has become popular. The scholars Martin Dodge and Rob Kitchin defined crowdsourcing as a ‘collective generation of media, ideas, and data undertaken voluntarily by many people’ (19). Despite definitions might differ in the literature, the essence of the term stays the same and is understood as a collaborative process when units of groups work together towards one goal. In the past people had to be physically together if they wanted to create a crowd. Whereas before, to achieve any progress from teamwork, physical meetings were needed, now web based technologies expanded our human capabilities to communicate and organise. With evolving technologies now we are able to create virtual crowds. The Internet and technological progress have eliminated physical borders. This allows people to get together around shared interests virtually.

Collaborative crowdsourced platforms already change how we think. Dodge and Kitchin notice that crowds connected online are not afraid of taking challenges like

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the enormous task to map the whole world (24). Such mass participation empowers people to take on tasks that for single individuals would be too daunting. The work can be always divided into small steps so that participants can easily undertake the tasks in the amount that they are able to. By organising a group of volunteer workers, previously existing maps can be optimised. Fixing mistakes in the maps is one of the main tasks of crowdsourcing crowds. Still, the vastest challenge is to keep crowds motivated for working towards a common goal. According to academics, willingness to participate in crowdsourcing projects voluntarily is undoubtedly based on the fact that they provide effective platforms to connect socially (Dodge and Kitchin 20). Social interaction is the motivation.

There are clearly two models of crowdsourced mapping: the first is commercially owned, such as Google Maps, whereas the second is represented by an open source model which is not owned by a company operating for profit. In other words, one map might only be a representation of data with limited functions meanwhile another is created on the basis of crowdsourcing with collaborative possibilities. When using profit seeking mapping applications, users might have to spend some money in order to get access to information services. This research is particularly interested in the aspects of crowdsourced maps.

1.6. Mapping

Mapping technologies are penetrating into the daily urban performances. Already given examples above have shown that the usage of collaborative applications can facilitate living conditions within the cities. However efficient collaborative mapping projects for navigating around the city or other such kind of projects took a long process to attain the development.

The first time when the attitude towards mapping started changing was in 1960 (Haklay and Weber 12). In that time, together with evolving technologies cartographers started to transcribe maps from paper into the computer (Haklay and Weber 12). In order to work with computer equipment, still expensive in that time, the staff was required to be highly qualified and possess a university degree. To be involved in the mapping process was a privilege for cartography and geography professionals. However, in 1994 renewed attention was brought to mapping – in

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particular, towards the mapping myth (Haklay and Weber 11). Scientists claimed that the widespread belief that the world could be mapped correctly was a mistake. The reason for this was that topographic mapping in many countries was sponsored by governments. Due to the fact that this process of financing mapping was often slow, maps could not be constantly updated. Because of the delayed sponsorship, the expensive highly educated professionals were not able to properly use their time for improving map accuracy.

Traditional mapping started changing dramatically together with the development of GPS technology. The Global Positioning System (GPS) technology was the first piece of software ever invented that allowed detecting locations virtually (Goodchild 216). When integrated into any device, such as phone or car navigation systems, GPS is able to fix exact geographic coordinates of the car or phone and screen them in the digital world map. Such technological development was a starting point for changes in cartography industry – traditional paper maps started loosing their position (Goodchild 216). Evolved digital maps with GPS technology seemed more practical in use compared to the analogue paper ones because they could find locations automatically without human effort. New technologies took over and began the process of transforming the old forms of mapping. Technology started changing our relationship with maps and the world it represents. Maps were no longer just something to read.

Navigation systems gained popularity in the market (Haklay and Weber 12). Technology that enables tracking locations formed a starting point for digital mapping projects. Such changes shifted maps from static to dynamic – the ability to be customized for personal needs. An illustration of this could be the above-mentioned possibility to navigate from one city to another. Overtime such behaviour became a normal urban practice that lead to the rise of a digital application market. Nowadays it is easy to find numerous digital mapping applications in combination with different kinds of located data – related to traffic, safety, shopping etc. The information spread out in the maps facilitates decision management of where to go in order to avoid traffic or which city areas are safe during the nighttime. Digital mapping applications are already being offered by private companies, developers.

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Depending on the creator, these mapping applications can be used with restrictions or without. This is exactly what is tackled by this research – to answer when maps grant users with more space for action and stop being only representations of data.

Together with the rise of digital applications the industry came with digital mapping projects that did suggest collaborative action. These projects were different from the widely used Google Maps or other mapping applications because new wiki based web projects allowed the user to add or edit the contents. That meant that anyone could add information to the maps without depending on the information provided by the creators of the map. The users could amend any data in order to fix mistakes noticed or for other reasons. Additionally, the development of open source platforms allowed citizens to make their own individual maps from scratch and visualise any open data for personal needs. For example, fuel price data could be spread out in the map according to locations so that it became visible where the fuel rates are highest or lowest. Based on observation, it then becomes easy to make a decision which location is the most suitable for the fuel purchase. However, the functionality of collaborative maps is based on citizen data contribution. That is, in order to maintain innovative individual organisation through the maps, individual initiative is needed. Open databases provided by governments or other institutions are not enough reassurance that information is updated regularly. Citizens have become sensors themselves for detecting the newest information like fuel prices.

Seeing such collaborative tendencies and citizen organisation, in this thesis I will understand map as a central element in presenting issues and assembling publics to engage. Issues raised through the maps gathers people and enables to act so I will into how a map can do that, how can map interact with people so that they are engaged. Digital maps nowadays have more power than being only visual representations so the paper will try to find of what are the ways when mapping platforms become more, create a meaning for social and urban benefit.

Chapter 2. METHODOLOGY

For the purpose of this study I focused on researching collaborative digital maps in order to build a representative catalogue of examples in which various citizen

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initiatives could be seen across different mapping projects. I hereby restricted myself to mapping projects in the English language only. In total, 100 digital maps were collected, considering that a great variety of case studies would better represent the diversity of collaborative activities undertaken by citizens. Of the 100 projects, the vast majority consisted of mobile applications, whereas the other projects were web maps. The research was conducted between April – June 2014.

The nature of collaborative mapping projects is digital, therefore the case studies were researched manually by using online digital tools and scholarly literature catalogues. Finding digital maps with a collaborative function proved to be the most difficult aspect in the search. The majority of the digital maps found were provided by private business parties but restricted collaborative actions. I rejected such projects as my requirements for considered projects were the presence of collaborative features and no restrictions for editing. Therefore, the research for collaborative digital maps was challenging. In order to find mapping projects, online tools were used, such as web search engines ‘Google’ and ‘Google Scholar’, online digital application shops like ‘Google Play’ and ‘iTunes’. Researching by keywords such as

‘collaborative map’, ‘digital mapping’, ‘crowdsource map’ and ‘collaborative application’, on the web search system ‘Google’ I found valuable articles such as one in ‘New Scientist’ (Hodson) about citizen cartographers, and projects like ‘Map Kibera’, ‘Haiti earthquake map’, ‘Bangladesh map’. And article in ‘WoodHouse’ (Clay) brought me to mapping applications such as ‘Smart Santander’ in Spain and the ‘Acqualta’ project in Venice. Another search engine, ‘Google Scholar’, proposed a range of published academic journals, case studies and articles, like Sam Hind and Alex Gekker’s article ‘Outsmarting Traffic, Together: Driving as Social Navigation’ where the focus lies on the collaborative traffic application ‘Waze’. The scholarly article ‘A Generic Platform for Ubiquitous and Subjective Data’ (Becker, Mueller, Hotho and Stumme) introduced me to the citizen initiated urban air quality mapping application ‘AirProbe’ and a mapping project for measuring sound levels called ‘WideNoise’.

The online application platform ‘Google Play’ did not yield any results when using the research keywords mentioned above. The applications in this digital

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platform were divided into specific categories based on the application’s functions, so the keywords used in the research had to be narrowed down according to the platform’s categories: ‘crowd app’, ‘citizen app’, ‘international mapping’, ‘citizen science’. The research in this platform supplemented my collection with applications such as ‘Urban Forest Map’ for creating an eco friendly environment and the initiative ‘PowerCuts’ to collect information about electricity conditions throughout India. Numerous mapping applications found in ‘Google Play’ were duplicates of projects found on ‘iTunes’ although the applications provided in both shops are supported by different software programmes. Still, few applications were different. ‘iTunes’ introduced applications such as ‘Tag Stoppers’ for improving city infrastructure, ‘Creek Watch’ for monitoring water levels within the city and ‘HonkPatrol’ for monitoring noise pollution in neighbourhoods.

Articles found on mentioned web search engines or applications on digital hosting platforms – all lead to similar content. Comments, images and the provided bibliography and website links lead to other related collaborative maps. The collected projects formed the research database. In order to keep track of the findings, the microblogging website ‘Tumblr’ was used as a platform to host collaborative digital maps. As seen in the image below, a new user account was created under the name of ‘Collaborative maps’.

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Each finding included the project title, an image of a map, a short project description and information about the source. Every discovered digital map was published online with particular post tags such as: ‘collaborative map’, ‘digital mapping’, ‘crowdsourced map’ etc. This means that now these findings can be easily traced by anyone using search engines, which can possibly facilitate other researchers when looking for information about collaborative mapping.

Figure 1. Image of the webpage "Collaborative Maps" created for the Master thesis research (http://collaborativemaps.tumblr.com)

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The collected collaborative maps were hosted offline as well. In order to analyse them – also in case of online technical issues – a database of 100 digital collaborative maps was documented in an Excel document. The digital maps were

divided into

categories and subcategories depending on the type of issue they represent. The entered findings included such information as category, subcategory, project title, a short description and the source of the information. Hosting projects in a document was a convenient method when sorting out the data.

2.1. Analytical model

The analysis of the research case studies will involve 10 chosen case studies based on the sequence of three sub-questions raised in the introduction: What kind of issues do people organise around? How are people organised? How are publics engaged? To answer these questions, different theoretical models will be applied.

Issue mapping will be used when searching for the answers to the sub-question about the kind of issues that make people assemble. This approach suggests that maps are useful to lay out issues when making connections between elements. For this reason, during the research a map will be developed. Screened issues of the researched projects will provide an overview and facilitate to see connections between them. Used as a strategy to connect different items, issue mapping is widely used by academics, researchers, and students (Rogers, Sanchez and Kil). The issue Figure 2. Documented 100 researched projects in an

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mapping method is frequently used to answer questions such as ‘is this topic an issue?’, ‘who are its actors?’, ‘where are the issues happening?’ (Issue mapping). This technique suggests that the production of a new map is a method to create an overview of all elements.

To analyse the methods of organisation in the digital mapping platforms, the ANT theory and issue publics theories will be applied. The ANT theory will be used in this research in order to analyse mapping technology as a part of social networks. Digital mapping case studies will be described through the terminology and concepts of the

social, actors, networks and agency. ANT as a theory of distributing agency answers the question ‘How do things happen?’ (Bender 309). By answering such question the theory leads to a social analysis involving networks of actors. The goal of using ANT theory is to examine connections among the actors that are involved in collaborative mapping platforms. The actors and their networks will be compared in 10 different selected case studies. Thomas Bender’s insights into the social concept will be used when parallelizing technological and social developments that form new kinds of social interactions. Crowdsourcing will be used for the research of engagement in collaborative mapping platforms. Dodge and Kitchin will come into the research as a source when looking for explanations of motives that drive citizens to act voluntarily. Sam Hind and Alex Gekker’s perceptions on citizen engagement will be considered when talking about gamification.

Overall I chose three case studies from the each main categories of the researched map catalogue whereas one case study was chosen from the minor category. In total, the chosen case studies made up 10 percent of the 100 researched projects.

Chapter 3. JUSTIFICATION OF CASE STUDIES CHOISE

It was not an easy task to decide which of 100 researched projects would be further analysed. The large variety of presented problems and contexts made it challenging. In order to facilitate this task, categorising maps by issues was a convenient method. As described earlier under Methodology, digital maps were divided into categories and subcategories depending on what matters they represent. Categories will be comprehensively analysed and represented in the results section.

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Beforehand, in order to facilitate the comprehension of the context, it can be said that in total 4 categories were developed: ‘Building environment’, ‘Community building’, ‘Citizen awareness’ and ‘Nature’. Following from this categorisation 14 subcategories emerged. The motives for the choice of specific case studies were the mapping issue frequency, how extensive projects were etc.

‘Building environment’ contains the majority of the researched projects compared with other categories. Subcategories ‘Transport’ and ‘Fixing city infrastructure’ even include 10 projects each. This invited to pay careful attention to this section and consider these projects for thorough analysis. During the research, the project ‘Smart Santander’ proved to be the most impressive and extensive. Initiated by the Spanish government and additionally supported by the European Union, this project is widely considered to be an example of future cities. It was interesting to choose it for analysis as a case study. One of the most extensive projects in subcategory ‘Transport’ was the mapping application ‘Waze’. Once developed as a small project to improve traffic, now it has many users and was even purchased by one of the biggest companies in the world: ‘Google’. This map could be an illustration of how collaborative action can transform into massive crowd organisation and receive social importance. The third subcategory ‘Safe environment’ even included 14 projects where the dominant cases regarded the prevention of sexual violence in developing countries. The most recent project from this subcategory is ‘HarassMap’, developed in India in 2013 and functioning till now.

“Community building” is the second most extensive category. The majority of its projects fall under the subcategory ‘Community development’. I chosen to analyse ‘Map Kibera’ since it was the earliest developed project from the category. Through an analysis of this map as a case study, I am seeking to get deeper insight into the rest of the cases falling under this subcategory. ‘Haiti earthquake Map’ was chosen from the subcategory “Community crisis management” as one of the most elaborated collaborative international aid platforms. The ‘Disability community’ subcategory could not be bypassed since it contained a sensitive social issue. These projects aim to use new media technology for connecting citizens with mobile difficulties. Project ‘Accessible Way’ was developed in Brazil and was chosen as a case study since it was

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the most recently developed project among the researched maps.

The category ‘Citizen awareness’ was created based on the issue and function regarding which the maps empower the citizens. These projects differ from those already mentioned above since in some cases participation requires additional devices other than a mobile phone or a computer. Citizens are invited to become independent inspectors for ‘Water level’, ‘Weather’, ‘Sound level’. Accordingly, three case studies were chosen: ‘Acqualta project’, ‘Air Probe project’, ‘Wide Noise project’. The ‘Acqualta project’ for controlling water levels within the city was chosen in order to show how mapping application can be used in addition to an extra device. The ‘Air Probe project’ for researching air quality brought a new way to look at environmental issues whereas ‘Wide Noise project’ seeks the improvement of the soundscape within urban areas.

‘Nature’ is the only category including 7 projects and without any subcategories. All projects are connected among each other with the common issues such as improving the conditions of wild animals, preserving populations on their way to extinction, seeking their conservation etc. I chose ‘The MAPA project’ as it covers a wide spectrum of issues and involves a large amount of participants.

Chapter 4. MAPPING CASE STUDIES

As mentioned before, a total of 10 mapping projects will be analysed as case studies. In order to keep the research consistent, in this section the case studies will be presented shortly highlighting the issues they raise, citizen organization and engagement methods. Once we have an overview of the cases and issues of the various projects, we can proceed to further research case studies. This will follow in paragraph 4.2. afterwards. Before looking into the chosen case studies, review of ‘Open Street Map’ is needed. A survey of this crowdsourced project is important since the majority of the researched projects are based on this platform. Once the user interaction process is understood, it is easier to understand which actions can be made by citizens.

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4.1. OpenStreetMap

Most of the 100 researched digital mapping projects for collaborative action are using the ‘OpenStreetMap’ (OSM) platform. This open source mapping platform is used as a tool to report and manage information. OSM is created as an open licensed map covering the whole world and built by volunteers (Open street map). Founded in 2004 by Steve Coast OSM followed the model of the collaborative online encyclopaedia project Wikipedia where the content is created collaboratively. The motivation to develop OSM was to create a collaborative geographic map with free access online since digital maps were still expensive at the time (Haklay and Weber 13). The diverse community of OSM mappers started collecting location data of roads, bus stops etc. Voluntarily contributed information was the centre of the project. As of May 2014 around 1 619 120 people were registered with OSM (Open street map) while for comparison, in 2008 the project had only 33 thousand registered users (Haklay and Weber 13). So in a decade, the number of contributors has increased evidently. Having grown from a local project to a worldwide map, OSM crossed the 1 million user mark in the beginning of 2013 and still continues to grow (Map box). The dataset has grown together with the number of users and, for example, now contains over 33 million kilometres of road data (Map box). Thousands of volunteers are constantly updating the map in real time and can use this platform to create their own map. How can the user join for collaboration?

The OSM community provides the interface to facilitate the citizens’ action. The process of participation and sharing data starts from the registration of a new user. I created an account on the project’s website to experience how the map works. To begin, all steps such as contact details, acceptance of the ‘contributor terms’ etc. are mandatory. Once registration is completed, collaboration can be started immediately.

Map features are the basic tools to start with. They are represented in three ways: as points, lines or areas. Points can be used to represent shops, restaurants and monuments. Lines are used to locate roads, railroads and rivers. Areas – to mark wider geographic details like squares, districts, forests etc. All features can be selected and edited. When locating your own individual living space, it is possible to edit house number, street name or even write a comment. The user is allowed to use

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various features such as zoom, search, edit, update, delete etc. The OSM interface is convenient to use. In case users have any intentions to use the platform professionally, the OSM community organises ‘mapping parties’ – workshops to answer any map related questions and produce new mapping content (Haklay and Weber 16). Informal meetings help the community to share experiences.

4.2. Case study: Smart Santander

Category: Building environment

Subcategory: Fixing city infrastructure

In recent years, the topic of smart cities is becoming a significant discussion key when thinking of future urbanism. The smart city is considered to be a progressive city model with deployed ICT (Information and communication technology) (Gutierrez, Galache, Sanchez, Munoz, Hernandez-Munoz, Fernandes and Presser 173). Technological evolution is bringing sensing devices into the urban areas. Once implemented, these devices change the way we interact with the city. Using digital devices we can access various kinds of open city data, for example, in order to bypass traffic jams or avoid long queues in shops. The possibility to access the data leads to the better management of individual actions within the city. Efficiency is generally the main goal of smart city projects and the access to the data is one of the ways to achieve this.

‘Smart Santander’ is an ambitious project developed to improve citizen urban experience. Based on the already described OSM mapping platform, the project was developed in the city of Santander, Spain, in 2010, with the goal to become an experimental prototype of the smart city in Europe (Smart Santander).

Figure 3. Visualised various data of "Smart Santander" project (Smart Santander)

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In order to achieve this, digital interfaces were implemented around the city. Integrated sensors were installed to measure temperature, noise or carbon levels (Smart Santander). Even car parking areas or waste bins had implemented sensors – to measure if they were full. In total, the project included 2700 places in the city with implemented sensors: parks, shops, bus stops, beaches, sport centres etc. which allowed real-time public access to beach cameras and weather reports (Gutierrez, Galache, Sanchez, Munoz, Hernandez-Munoz, Fernandes and Presser 179). Sensors integrated under roads could measure the speed of driving cars so it became easy to estimate which areas in the city were most dangerous for driving or even detect drivers violating the law.

This project touched upon diverse issues such as traffic, parking, waste, public transport but how could users be engaged to participate? To attract the interest from the people, the ‘Smart Santander’ mapping platform was used as a connecting platform for all data produced by the implemented city devices. To encourage community interaction with the map, users were invited to use the mobile application. As I have observed while using the application, the user is allowed to view the data in the map and comment it, as well as to take photos of urban problems and propose them for fixing. Such collected data is seen by officials and based on observations can immediately improve city infrastructure. It is worth to notice a unique application feature that allows scanning barcodes with the viewfinder. Nowadays, it is quite common that barcodes of shops, events or festivals can be scanned with a phone. Once the image is saved, the application automatically provides geographic information about the location of the place and screens it in the map. In addition, the user is invited to create personal public transport schedules and save it in the device, shop in a smart way – use the smart phone viewfinder as a digital interface to scan the area and get an overview on the map of where shops are located.

So ‘Smart Santander’ turned the city into an interface that can be used through the mapping platform. After three years of experiments, and with financial support of European Commission, Santander has built the widest urban infrastructure in the world with 20,000 implemented devices, all visible in the digital mapping platform (Telefonica).

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4.3. Case study: Waze

Category: Building environment Subcategory: Transport

Environmental concerns and volatile fuel rates have made transport into an expensive service. Together with the growth of the economy, transportation costs are and will be in the future increasing because of decreasing oil production (Ec Europa). This means that car drivers with time will need higher investments for transportation which forces them to reduce other expenses. For such reasons, users seek ways to make their lives more comfortable and save money. That is where collaborative action comes in.

The contribution of data by various users overtime made one of mapping applications become used widely. The ‘Waze’ mapping application could be an example of how collaborative initiatives together with the power of a crowd can turn into something more than just a map with data. Founded in 2008 in Israel as a collaborative platform for drivers, this interface for traffic and navigation allows users to get information about the most crowded traffic areas on their travelling route (Waze).

When using the application in practice, I have noticed that the user is invited to report traffic issues such as traffic jams, car accidents, gasoline prices, locations of cameras. Users are even able to communicate live through the integrated chat. Engaged to connect with each other, users can have their questions answered in real time. Such interactive user involvement makes user participation unique. In addition, it is interesting to notice

Figure 4. ‘Waze’ application illustrates available various reporting functions (Waze)

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that for the contribution of data by the user, ‘Waze’ provides points. The reason for such a reward is to encourage user engagement. Earned points rank the user profile as more reliable. Digital games could be an illustration of why interactive participation in sharing the data looks attractive for the drivers. Formed gaming habits are transferred into the mapping platforms.

So uploaded user data allows the user to facilitate organising their own route, report road problems or make individual decisions on how to bypass traffic jams (Harding, Finney, Davies, Rouncefield and Hannon 175). This idea, developed to create dynamic ways of sharing traffic information, turned into a massive project and even business. In 2013 ‘Waze’ was sold to ‘Google’ (Hind and Gekker 11). Started as a small project, the mapping application turned into a project with even more than 40 million users (Hind and Gekker 8).

4.4. Case study: HarassMap

Category: Building environment Subcategory: Safe environment

The volunteer based interactive mapping initiative ‘HarassMap’ with the mission to reduce incidents of sexual harassment throughout Egypt is an OSM software based project. Using online technology together with a huge offline community effort in neighbourhoods, the project tries to end tolerance to sexual assault incidents and stop the subject being taboo (Harass map). In the Egyptian culture such a sensitive issue is still understood as a shame. Launched in 2010 and collecting information via text messages, this independent initiative, which was the first of its kind, now has around 1000 volunteers in 17 governorates Figure 5. Locations of violence areas in

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across Egypt.

The collaborative map works through crowdsourcing – collected SMS messages and reports submitted online about the sexual harassment. The messages and reports are incorporated into the map. All data produced by the citizens is represented anonymously. Most significantly, this data is publicly available and presented beyond the online world with the effort of a range of volunteers. In order to engage users offline, project enthusiasts in Egypt print out the map and communicate with the people in neighbourhoods. The goal is to bring a message about the project and promote the action of speaking against assault. Using real evidence of the messages implemented in the digital map volunteers try to engage the community, convince them about the necessity to ignore excuses that people make for harassers (Harass map). Scholar Chelsea Young notes that fear of sexual violence limits women's mobility in society. Because of the daily risk to become a sexual victim, most females adapt their behaviour in society avoiding wearing bright colours or preferring to walk with a male assistant (Young 8). Adaptation to vulnerability is the attitude that the project tries to break. The possibility to share individual experiences and see other cases helps women to liberate themselves. According to the latest report of United Nations, the scale of the problem is still of a high level – in 2013 around 93 percent of Egyptian women reported having been sexually harassed (Young 9).

Despite the social initiatives, the government was involved in the map project as well. Officials can see the data and frequency of reports so that they become aware of how sensitive the issue is in Egypt. ‘HarassMap’ was noticed by international non-governmental organisations and was an impulse for the development of similar initiatives in other countries (Tavaana). The Palestine project ‘Ramllah Street Watch’ started reporting sexual harassment incidents, and then these projects followed: project ‘Resist Harassment’ developed in Lebanon, ‘Safe Streets’ in Yemen, ‘Name and Shame’ in Pakistan, ‘Women Under Siege’ in Syria, ‘Akshara’ in India, ‘SawtNsaa’ in Algeria (Tavaana). All eight countries are connected by location and united by the same attitude. The users of the platform have succeeded in launching a global movement outside the borders of Egypt and now coach joining countries and share their learned knowledge with them.

A new model of urban development: the role of collaborative maps in social organisation around public issues

UNIVERSITY OF AMSTERDAM

Media Studies