interpreting the visual language of cartography

May 27, 2020 10:16 AM

Bending Lines: Maps and Data from Distortion to Deception "Instead of ranking maps on a linear spectrum with “true and objective” on one side, and “false and biased” on the other, Bending Lines instead encourages you to pay attention to the social, cultural, and political context in which every act of communication is situated. Just because every map is distorted in some way or another doesn’t mean that it’s no longer possible to speak about honesty and accuracy. Thinking carefully about motivations, meaning, persuasion, and presentation helps us to construct trust in an informed, critical manner." from the Boston Public Library's Leventhal Map Center
posted by everybody had matching towels (1 comment total)

Wow, this is really, really good. I'm not usually a fan of online exhibits but they did a wonderful job with this one. The theme - essentially "Manipulating with Maps" - is so broad that it covers a lot of ground.

To go from California land speculation maps to British depictions of imperialistic Russia to 2016 electoral projects and in a neat, orderly way that's highly visual? Very well done indeed.

I confess that I am not normally a fan of the frequently terrible digital interfaces from my specialized collections colleagues (sorry, colleagues! You're lovely and please never use ContentDM!) but this is an exception. Thanks for sharing.
posted by librarylis at 7:03 PM on May 27, 2020 [2 favorites]