Reading Response: Design of Maps

I found Barton & Barton’s “Ideology of the Map” particularly interesting mostly because it has been a long time since I considered the political-ness of the map, or even thought about maps at all; or to connect these thoughts along any of the lines leading to professional or technical writing.

To me, a map was just something that I sometimes looked on Google for, or browsed or bought at a rest stop driving through a state; something charted and printed to help me get somewhere I needed to go. I did not, however, consciously consider the authority that that map holds; the power and the trust that I give it. Thinking further, with the aid of explications from Barton and Barton, one becomes aware of a certain scientific-ness about the map. There is a strong analysis possible within the different parts. Cartography is not quite an art, not quire a geography, not quite archaeology, not quite science. However, the making of a map can be a very technical thing and as this paper suggests, imparts upon the cartographer many choices, both implicit and explicit. The broadest of these “choices” being whatever social, economic, and cultural influences are being made for the creation of the map.

Barton and Barton bring up many specific examples of these influential factors, but I can see it all revolves around ones awareness of the self and the other, and an overall awareness of the social economic, and cultural influences when a map is being viewed or created. Where is the power being exerted?

“This ‘omphalos syndrome’ where a people believe themselves to be divinely appointed to the centre of the universe, can be traced in maps widely separated in time and space.” (237) Where we, this inclusive “we”, draw maps where “our” country, or our primary city is at the central point. The center is the focal point; it speaks of dominance and importance.

I also found some details explicated within the section titled “Repression of the Act of Production” particularly interesting. The beginning of this section described how maps had progressed from the first medieval maps, which focused on itineraries, distances caluculated by walking time, and important cities at which to stop, to the maps created by the 17th Century which “colonized space”. An important aspect of maps and the political nature of them is for what purpose they were created. The type of map in medieval time frames was (of course) connected to the main life focus at the time. This included pilgrimages and other important journeys to be made on foot. There was a slot less long-distance travel and when maps were needed and long distance was expected, it was much more serious than it is today.

Connections:

To tie in these concepts with some topics previously discussed in this class, we can make the connection to the professional and technical writer. If we consider the cartographer as a professional, or more pointedly, a technical writer, “writing” directions or instructions to the land, then we must question his identity. Is her merely a channel through which the land is explained? Does he merely translate, draw out, and label what is described to him? Or is he a key factor, a key contributor to the shape, the culture, and the implications of the map? Barton & Barton might argue for the latter with the cast conceptions that influences the map.

Barton B.B. & Barton M.S. (1993). Ideology and the map: Toward a postmodern visual design practice. In J. Johnson-Eilola and S.A. Selber (Eds.), Central works in technical communication (pp. 232-252). New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2004.