[OSM-talk] STFU

[Robin Paulson]

On 2013-02-03 13:29, Tom Taylor wrote:
> I'm interested in OSM. I do mapping. I subscribed to Talk after a few
> weeks on Newbies, but all these political outcries strongly tempt me
> to unsubscribe. They don't contribute to the mapping that is
> presumably our primary interest.

maps are inherently political. to suggest they are not, and are mere 
reflections of some sort of objective reality is wrong. if you're 
involved in maps, there will be politics. whether you realise it or not 
and whether the ideology they display is visible or not, are other 
matters.

they set out notions of what is important in a society, reify abstract 
boundaries and thus nations-states.

i read this recently, it had some major flaws, but made a good argument 
as to the political nature of maps:
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1921340

also:
http://books.google.co.nz/books?id=DSFHnonqr7kC&dq=map+political&hl=en&sa=X&ei=pSQOUbCAIuzwmAXb-oCwBA&redir_esc=y
http://books.google.co.nz/books?id=WhyPBHJV5VYC&printsec=frontcover&dq=map+political&hl=en&sa=X&ei=pSQOUbCAIuzwmAXb-oCwBA&redir_esc=y

i'm sure there are plenty of other journals and books that say similar.

-- 
robin

http://universitywithoutconditions.ac.nz - Auckland's Free University