Crowdsource Cartography And Conflict: The Role Of The User In Influencing Map Discursive Realities

Abstract

This thesis will scrutinize the various means by which internet users, or self described map editors, employ tactics and interactions to advance geopolitical discursive realities on OpenStreetMap (OSM), a globally popular crowdsource cartography platform. Using the Russian occupation of Crimea, and the Russia Ukraine conflict at large as a salient case study, a selection of user ban reports from the OSM data Working Group’s ban report archive were analyzed through employing qualitative content analysis. The results were then categorized by user tactic to identify their frequencies of occurrence, as well as qualitatively investigated to situate the findings within important contexts of the case study and broader topic at hand. By identifying tactical means by which internet users, through direct interaction with the OSM interface, have attempted to advance their respective discursive agendas within the scope of the case study at hand, this thesis aims to broaden literature on the shifting role of the internet user as an actor with increased agency in digital crowdsource cartography.