Interactive Community Mapping: Between Empowerment and Effectiveness
Aerial Image Produced as Part of the Gulf of Mexico ICM
Source: © Warren 2011.
public viewing. The imagery was also integrated into an Ushahidi-based website that was launched by LABB to collect oil spill–related reports from citizens. While the circumstances and purpose of the ICM initiative in the Gulf of Mexico differ considerably from those of Map Kibera and Map Tandale, the ICM framework still applies. The Gulf of Mexico ICM project benefited from the highly advanced information infrastructure in the United States. Open-source tools were readily available to process the images and upload them to a publicly available database. No challenges were related to technological capacity—both because the mapping method is easy to master and because technological literacy is high in the United States. Civil society capacity was also strong. Local groups and communities (primarily LABB and the University of Tulane’s School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine) were instrumental in reaching out to potential volunteers and coordinating their participation in ICM activities. The project was also funded by relatively small donations from civil society groups, including the Center for Future Civic Media, the Lafourche Port Commission, the Washington Post, Development Seed, and others. As Warren (2011, 75) notes, “This dense web of collaborations has formed a backbone of support for the effort and ensured its regularity and sustainability.” The tragic circumstances that gave rise to this ICM initiative were supposed to provide natural incentives for local community members, such as fishermen, Closing the Feedback Loop • http://dx.doi.org/10.1596/978-1-4648-0191-4
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