Course Description: Digital technology has created new opportunities and resources for mapping, cartography, and geolocation-­‐based visual investigation. It has also brought the need to consider issues concerning power, representation, and space. In this seven-­‐week course, students will be introduced to GIS (geographic information system) basics and learn the practical realities of working with spatial data using digital mapping tools and technologies like mapshaper, Leaflet.js, TileMill, and d3.js. Time will also be devoted to investigating the conceptual questions that inform
mapping and strategies for counter-­‐mapping. Topics of discussion will include: what do maps represent as visual information artifacts? What happens when we consider maps as art objects? How is the expression of geodata a result of political processes? What does it mean for virtual creations to refer to physical realities, and in what ways do the two shape one another?

Chisom Onuoha