Spring NEARC 2022

Geographic information systems, like the broader world of computational technology, has become over the past four decades the site of ever larger accumulations of data coupled with ever more sophisticated forms of analysis. This world of “big data” marks not just a shift in the technical possibilities of informatics, but also a shifting economic and political relationship towards knowledge. Yet the rise of “big data” has also inspired a series of countermoves, including both critical resistance to the dominance of quantification as well as a popular demand for storytelling and interpretation. In this talk, I’ll discuss how we might move from a GIS of “big data” to a more pluralistic concept of “big evidence,” by considering the intertwined technical and social systems that surround digital mapmaking.