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Want to bring social change? This map shows the way

By SiliconIndia | Tuesday, 08 December 2009, 01:43 Hrs | 6 Comments

Want to bring social change? This map shows the way

Bangalore: A group of 40 people in Bangalore including techies and activists, are creating digital maps called 'Maps for Making Change' that will be used to bring social change in India. The Centre for Internet and Society in Bangalore, a social organization that studies the connection between the Internet and society, and the NGO Tactical Tech Collective (Bangalore and UK) are creating a map of India that will show hotspots where social change can be brought about.

Individuals working with groups and organizations working for social change across India, including grassroots activists, NGO workers, artists and researchers, sent in 70 high quality and detailed additions to the digital map, reports Renuka Phadnis of Bangalore Mirror. These places across India highlighted issues such as: the socio-economic aspects and consequences of the construction of Bangalore's Metro, fighting for clean rivers, people's rights to livelihoods in the Himalayas, monitoring the national implementation of Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act (2005), mobilizing slum dwellers to engage with Mumbai's new Development Plan, human rights violations in Kashmir, identifying land where internally displaced people can be resettled in the North East.

"You don't have to be a professional cartographer. With new technologies such as GPS and the Net, anyone can easily add to digital maps," says Dr. Anja Kovacs, Fellow, Centre for Internet and Society, Bangalore.
In a city like Bangalore, the potential of using digital maps is tremendous. For instance, such maps could be used to show which Metro routes and stations Bangaloreans want. The maps could tell us where migrant labor enter the city, where they live and where they move on. Bangalore based techie B.V. Pradeep, who provided technical support to the map team says, "In a map, every person draws what is important to him. One person may draw a mall, another may mark the school and hospital. This map will give visibility to invisible people."

Anyone can access Maps for Making Change. See email list (http://groups.google.co.in/group/maps-for-making-change). The wiki will be up and running in a few days time (maps4change.cis-india.org), said Dr Kovacs. To follow on Twitter, use the hash tag #maps4change.

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Reader's comments(6)

1: I want to feed the local children in needy families. But dont know where to look for them as most of these kids are occupied with "Child Labor".

If a map like this existed, it would make it easy to find them.

Sounds good to me.

Posted by:Mansi Patel - 09 Dec, 2009

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Hi Mansi, pl see www.openstreetmap.org. --Renuka Phadnis

Renuka Replied to: Mansi Patel - 17 Dec, 2009

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3: Digital maps called 'Maps for Making Change'will help in acquiring abundance of information for social activists and NGOs etc.

Already Digital mapping has been in implementation in Germany and other countries.

In an article, “Maps for Social Change and Community Involvement” David Sasaki wrote about digital mapping in Germany:

'Unortkataster Köln is a project of Köln 2020 which allows users to document and map what they refer to as "architectural or social deficiencies" around the German city. This could range from potholes to graffiti to sound pollution. The project, led by Professor Georg Trogemann at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne, seeks to encourage an inclusive conversation about how Köln can be improved and what improvements should take priority.

Mark Glaser asks, "How Can We Improve Information Needs of Local Communities?" Garden Registry and Unortkataster Köln exemplify a new strategy to move map interfaces beyond mere aggregations of information by allowing users to network and share valuable information that leads to community involvement. Still, these services could be made even more valuable by tapping into the constant stream of information found on microblogging sites like Twitter and Brightkite. Anytime I find a good location for tree planting in my neighborhood, for example, I should be able to upload a photograph of it to Brightkite with the tag "#4treeplanting" and that information should automatically appear on a map like Unortkataster Köln, as well as alert the proper authorities at Oakland Public Works. In this model microblogging tools like Twitter and Brightkite.'

This abundance of information all displayed attractively on stunning map interfaces is no doubt useful and interesting, but does it lead to local social change?

Dr.A.Jagadeesh Nellore (AP)

Posted by:Dr.A.Jagadeesh - 08 Dec, 2009

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Interesting that the maps could link to social media sites. Thanks, Renuka Phadnis

Renuka Replied to: Dr.A.Jagadeesh - 17 Dec, 2009

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5: A very interesting initiative..hope it succeeds..

Posted by:Raj - 08 Dec, 2009

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Thanks for commenting. --Renuka

Renuka Replied to: Raj - 17 Dec, 2009

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