Communication Asset Mapping: Practical Example

Dr. Gauti SigthorssonCreative Professions and Digital ArtsUniversity of Greenwich

Communication assets:

"Physical components of the urban environment that residents consider positive spaces of social and community interaction" (MetaConnects).

The inspiration here comes from the work of the MetaConnects group at the University of Southern California, who apply community asset mapping (Kretzmann and McKnight) to questions of communication at the level of urban neighbourhoods.

They also have a fantastic research toolkit.

What to look for:

Hotspots: Gathering zones.

Comfort zones: Community institutions and locations that residents feel most connected to.

How? Here's one simple, DIY approach...

Demarcate areas of interest:

Declare your aims:Decide on 1-3 things to look for:

● What do you want recorded (other than location)?● How should it be recorded? (Photos, notes, sketches, interviews, video…)

Note each location on a printed map

Tools (for collecting data, making it usable)

Tools:1. Map printouts of the location to be studied + pencils2. A basic smartphone that can connect to wi-fi (for uploading pictures, notes).3. Shared Google Drive folder for gathering images, notes, etc.4. Shared spreadsheet (location, notes and image URLs) to create map layers.5. A Google My Maps map to share initial results among participants, so

everyone can see what's been done.

Why use Google Apps for this?Students already use this for University email.

Free, consumer-level tools for data-gathering.

Easy to use on smartphones and desktop, with dedicated apps available.

Easy to link images to points on the map (lat/lon).

Map and spreadsheets in main folder, images in subfolders

Shared folder

Only invited team members can edit, to minimise errors, and ensure accountability for data entry (we need to know who did what when).

Making the data usable: Avoiding / correcting errors

Address errors: If these are uploaded, they'll have to be fixed in the map data table. More work.

Error message, faulty location data

Mistaken location

(not in Greenwich, London, UK)

It pays to be precise at the outset, less cleanup later

House no. + street

Full postcode

Longtitude/latitude (from separate Google Map)

Finding lon/lat coordinates

Click and hold on the precise spot you want to indicate on the map.

The longtitude and latitude appear in this box:

Enter coordinates into spreadsheet (no space after comma)

Upload to mapClick "Add layer", select file to upload (in this case from Google Drive).

Style the layer (marker shape, colours, etc.)

Result

So, why are we interested in this?

Because space is a medium. It matters for understanding communications: How we use space, move within it, how we share it, demarcate it, etc. Not to mention what we hear, see, smell, touch and taste… What we do, we do in space.

And we can use spatial data creatively:Mapping things that don't usually appear on maps (e.g., places to sit down, water fountains, nice views…)Developing new ways of mapping and visualising geocoded qualitative data.Creating location-based smartphone apps.Making interactive displays. ...and more.

Contact / credits

Dr. Gauti SigthorssonDept. of Creative Professions and Digital Arts, University of Greenwichhttp://blogs.gre.ac.uk/media/Twitter: @ conceptbin

With thanks to students in MEDS1038 Media Theory and Research and MEDS1054 Communications Research