FoxHershockMappingCommunities

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INTRODUCTION MAPPING POWER: IRONIC EFFECTS OF SPATIAL INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY Jefferson Fox, Krisnawati Suryanata, Peter Hershock, and Albertus Hadi Pramono The recent growth in the availability of modern spatial information technology (SIT)—geographic information systems (GIS), low cost global positioning systems (GPS), remote sensing image analysis software—as well as the growth of participatory mapping techniques has enabled communities to make maps of their lands and resource uses, and to bolster the legitimacy of their customary claims to resources by appropriating the state’s techniques and manner of representation (Peluso 1995). Over the last several decades participatory mapping has led to the successful demarcation of land claims that led to the signing of treaties (e.g., Nisga’a), compensations for land loss (e.g., Native American, Maori), and formation of indigenous territory and government (e.g., Nunavut). A community-made map was instrumental in the decision of the Sarawak High Court of Malaysia favoring an Iban village in a dispute against a tree plantation company (Borneo Wire 2001). Evidence of the perceived power of this technology to counterbalance the authority of government mapping agencies was vividly demonstrated in the Malaysian state of Sarawak where the 2001 Land Surveyor’s Bill regulates the activities of land surveyors and declares community mapping initiatives illegal (Urit 2001, Thompson 2001, Majid Cooke 2003). But, the impacts of widespread adoption of SIT at the local level are not limited to the intended objectives. Among the unintended consequences of mapping have been increased conflict between and within communities (Sirait 1994, Poole 1995, Sterrit et al. 1998), loss of indigenous conceptions of space and increased privatization of land (Fox 2002), and increased regulation and co-optation by the state (Urit 2001, Majid Cooke 2003). Consequently, mapping technology is viewed as simultaneously empowering and disadvantaging indigenous communities (Harris and Wiener 1998). Researchers working under the umbrella of Research Initiative 19 of the National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis (NCGIA) suggest that GIS technology privileges “particular conceptions and forms of knowledge, knowing, and language” and that the historical development of the technology leads to “differential levels of access to information” (Mark et al., n.d.). Rundstrom (1995) further suggests that GIS is incompatible with indigenous knowledge systems and separates the community that has knowledge from information (the “product” of GIS application). Tensions thus exist between new patterns of empowerment yielded through SIT and broader social, political, economic, and ethical ramifications of the technology. To date, most research on the social and ethical implications of spatial information technology has been conducted in North America (Sieber 2000). Given the rapidity with which the use of SIT is becoming “necessary,” there is an urgent need to examine the implications of this technology, especially in rural settings and in less developed countries, as well as among indigenous groups. We submit that the tools, families of technologies, and practices associated with SIT 1
use are value-laden and that deploying SIT will necessarily have ethical consequences. That is, the deployment of SIT will affect the constellations of values that distinctively shape any given society, its spatial practices, and its approach to reconciling conflicts or disharmony among competing goods or interests. We further submit that because the tools and technological families gathered under the rubric of SIT were not originally developed and produced in rural communities or among indigenous peoples in Asia, it will be in such settings that the tensions associated with SIT and its ironic effects are likely to be most apparent and potentially profound. This book and the research project on which it is based emerged out of common and yet distinct concerns among the editors that spatial information technologies—at least in certain contexts and at certain scales—can lead to consequences that raise important ethical questions. We identified three interrelated dimensions in which these consequences have manifested: in conflicts correlated with changing patterns of spatial perceptions and values; in competition related to knowledge and claims of resources; and in relation to structural or organization stresses at the institutional level. This book evinces the efforts of its editors to critically broaden reflection on such experiences and their implications for technology transfer and evaluation. Our analysis of these phenomena is informed by studies in technology and society that examine the interplay between technological development and the social institutions that shape its further deployment. Furthermore, we examine these issues from a political ecology perspective that situates the proliferation of SITs in the context of economic and political liberalization that has brought an explosion of new property claims and protectionist strategies to forests and other environments, changing the very terms by which resources and environments are defined. Tools, Technologies and Ironic Effects Critically assessing the impacts of SIT requires us to clarify the relationship between tools and technologies. Tools are products of technological processes. They are used by individual persons, corporations, or nations, and are evaluated based on their task-specific utility. If tools do not work, we exchange them, improve them, cannibalize them, or discard them. In contrast, technologies consist of widespread patterns of material and conceptual practices that embody and deploy particular strategic values and meanings (Hershock 1999). Technologies are complex systems promoting and institutionalizing relational patterns aimed at realizing particular ends. Technologies cannot be value neutral, and do not occur in isolation from one another but in families or lineages (Shrader-Frechette and Westra 1997; Hershock 1999). A hand-held GPS unit, for example, is a tool associated with SIT. Individuals using GPS units assess them in terms of their reliability, ergonomic design, technical specifications, and features. By contrast, SIT as a whole consists of a 2
Page 1 and 2: MAPPINGCOMMUNITIES ETHICS, VALUES,
Page 3 and 4: TABLE OF CONTENTS vi vii viii 1 11
Page 5 and 6: ACRONYMS AMA: adaptive management a
Page 10 and 11: INTRODUCTION MAPPING POWER: IRONIC
Page 18 and 19: COMPARATIVE STUDY OF PARTICIPATORY
Page 32 and 33: APPENDIX I: FORMAL INTERVIEWS AND G
Page 34: APPENDIX II: RESEARCH QUESTIONS AND
Page 37 and 38: land-use plans in various stages of
Page 39 and 40: egan to argue that these areas were
Page 41 and 42: conflicts. The NTFP also assists vi
Page 43 and 44: illegal logging activities and to s
Page 45 and 46: property is defined according to th
Page 47 and 48: the real outside pressure has not y
Page 49 and 50: 7. How well do NTFP staff members u
Page 51 and 52: further and further away from areas
Page 53 and 54: Methods Projecting aerial photograp
Page 55 and 56: RESEARCH QUESTIONS The underlying q
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In Samout Krom Village, villagers h
Page 59 and 60:
who have not attended the sketch ma
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concrete sensorial experiences much
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CONCLUSION Based on mapping researc
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BACKGROUND According to the MIGIS p
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many schools, resulting in the clos
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members, the Beima, and villagers'
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tree cutting and animal grazing in
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the bio-gas project that was implem
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During the evaluation process we al
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1 Mr. Zhao Yaqiao, Ms. Wu Chengrui,
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Events / Dates Bio-gas systems cons
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communities to take advantage of SI
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Hayfork based NGO focused on commun
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likely to be more knowledgeable abo
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planning processes, especially with
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and implement projects. Some NGOs a
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CONCLUSIONS SIT training provides p
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REFERENCES California Fire Safe Cou
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map strengthened the community's cl
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1994 and 1995 with community mapper
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to the mapping. These disagreements
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CONCLUSIONS For too long now, the D
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APPENDIX B The table below lists th
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uncritically or simply misused. As
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However, the equipment acquired for
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degrees in social sciences, agricul
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photo: Martin Hardiono photo: Marti
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REFERENCES Herlihy, P. H., and G. K
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eserve boundaries, develop a common
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NGO that focused on facilitating co
Page 119 and 120:
left their organizations within a y
Page 121 and 122:
eadily use the available computer a
Page 123 and 124:
local capacity both in terms of ski
Page 125:
Nusa Tenggara Community Development
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