Hello all, I guess I’ll get started wit…

Hello all, I guess I’ll get started with the week six discussion forum! I thought our guest speaker today had some really interesting projects to share, and I’m looking forward to how other people connected with them. As we have talked about in this class and in others, GIS and other techniques we learn are really about data visualization, and have the power to translate confusing data into forms that are easy to understand. To me, this has huge political implications. Too often, data is only used by powerful groups to further their own interests, both in that large institutions have the resources to commission studies (and therefor decide which questions to ask) and the ability to disclose, hide, or strategically represent findings. Data, numbers, maps, statistics, etc. are all tools that can be used by marginalized groups as well, but they (/we) face many barriers in obtaining and using them. Along with increasing people’s familiarity with how to read basic statistics, creating more accurate and easy to understand graphic representations of data can be an excellent way to resist efforts by powerful institutions to shape our opinions and understanding of the world for us.