'The Map is the Debate': Radiation Webmapping and Public Involvement During the Fukushima Issue

Abstract:     
This article explores how mapping mashup can trigger and shape the public involvement during an online controversy. It suggests to depart from merely focusing on the maps’ impact to rather analyse their specific affordances in shaping the public engagement. This interrelation between maps and public can be analysed in the online debate about radiation levels in Japan after the Fukushima nuclear event in March 2011: various maps were created in order to provide alternative views of the radiation situation. This case study provides the opportunity to analyse how citizens gathered online to fulfill the various steps in radiation mapmaking; the various steps in this process were reconstituted by interviewing the main actors and by using a Web Crawler. Once this interrelation between the public and maps is clarified, the affordances of mapping mashup are characterized by their belonging to digital culture.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 16

Keywords: Digital culture, Issue analysis, Public debate, Public involvement, Web maps

working papers series