Affective Maps? - Matthew Wilson, University of Kentucky

Affective Maps?
Matthew Wilson, University of Kentucky
How might we study the affectivity of a map? How is the effectivity of a map different? As digital techniques transformed cartographic practice at mid-century, a receptivity to behavioral modes of experimentation and analysis creeped into the drawing of a line. Draw a map, study the reading of the map, adjust the drawing, and repeat. Map effectiveness became a tantalizing gloss. I consider what it means to move beyond the effectiveness of maps as tools of communication. In doing so, I propose a renewal of a critical cartographic sensibility which maintains that the role of map design should be to create environments and that these environments may resist the implicit neo-Robinsonian determinisms of contemporary map study.
This presentation was made at the 2023 annual meeting of the North American Cartographic Information Society (NACIS). For more information on NACIS, check out NACIS.org.