[finders] Society Mapping

[finders at findability.org]

June 12, 2006: Society Mapping

http://www.findability.org/archives/000120.php

Peder Soderlind of Glykol in Stockholm, Sweden approached me after reading
Ambient Findability to discuss the relationship between findability and
information literacy. This conversation morphed into the following (edited)
interview centered around Peder's society mapping workshops.

What is society mapping?

Peder: Society mapping is an exercise and a method to increase information
literacy. The purpose is to place focus on the information producers in
society. The feeling of unavailability and lack of perspective that many
people experience concerning the amount of information available on the
Internet is counteracted through this exercise. Our experience is that this
is a very effective method to build critical thinking about information and
information use.

What instructions do you give to students in your society mapping workshop?
Do you provide them with a sample map or a template?

Peder: We divide the group into smaller groups of 4 to 6 participants. We
then present a case or scenario - a crisis is at hand and each group must
work on assignment of the Swedish government to produce a list of all
Swedish actors that might be knowledge owners or information producers. Each
group gets a specific subject area.

With a pen and paper the groups sketch which institutions, organisations and
individuals will be invited to a hearing. The task also requires the group
to organize the actors into different categories. We hand out overhead film
and pens and show a template of how it's possible to sketch the society map.

The groups have only 30 minutes to discuss and make the sketch - no
computers are allowed in the room nor are any other guides or references.
The time pressure is important; it forces the participants to act. In our
line of work information should also be seen as something perishable and we
raise a warning: if the group delivers one minute late they don't pass. We
always put a lot of energy into finding current and pressing subjects. This
makes the participants more involved.

During the 30 minutes, we support the groups with different sorts of tips -
most important is that they don't restrict their creativity. From time to
time there is a dominant person in the group that limits productive
suggestions - this must be handled in a wise way.

The society maps are then collected, displayed and compared. The
participants can then see that no matter the subject, there are some
categories of knowledge owners and information producers (actors) almost
always present.

Figure 2 (above) shows results from a group brainstorm around the subject of
"full nuclearpower phased out effects on the climate." In the centre is the
subject, then the main categories of actors, and in the outer circle are the
actors.

Figure 3 shows the categories which often present irrespective of subject.

What are some of the most interesting lessons or insights produced by the
society mapping experience?

Peder: The participants often tell us this is probably something they always
do - they have just not understood that this is what they do. If this is
true, it has given them a name for what they do and they have become aware
of their actions. If not, they have tried an alternative way of thinking. A
society-based approach has been established. The idea is not to do this
brainstorming for each information-need situation. But, next time we are
presented a result list from Google, we can appreciate the different kinds
of information or at least detect from which category of producer the
information comes from.

Figure 4 (above) shows a result list on the subject "full nuclearpower
phased out effects on the climate." We state that some (one) part of the
source/literary criticism has been done even before we have viewed the
documents. Many organizations use databases that are not indexed by the
search engines(the "deep web"). The society based approach supports the
strategy of a two step search: first detect a relevant source (e.g.,
organization, database), and then perform a search.

It is important to remember that the maps created are pictures of the
society in which the participants live - in this case Sweden. If the
exercise would take place in, for example, the USA, the maps would differ
from the ones done in Sweden by Swedes. Sweden is a small country, with half
the gross domestic product created within the public sector - this shows in
the maps. Secondly, the maps are also a result of the participants'
knowledge about the society. Different groups, different maps. The maps made
by a group of 20 year old students contain different elements to those made
by 50+ librarians.

The next step in the workshop process is to talk about "how and why"
information is created and made available via the Internet. Concepts we
discuss include information types, agendas, databases, interfaces, literacy,
and now findability. The exercise mostly addresses classic publishing: web
pages with or without a database. When this is done we allow ourselves to
talk about more complex environments such as flowing information, social
networks, weblogs and so on.

Where should people go to learn more? Do you have any upcoming workshops?

Peder: Two times a year this exercise is done as a distance course in
collaboration with Sodertorn University College. This year we have done
about 30 sessions at different universities, organizations, libraries and
companies. Beside our workshops, we perform research assignments, and
believe it or not, we use the society mapping method, mostly at the start of
the research process and as a part of the communication with the customer to
specify their information needs. At the moment we are writing a book on this
theme and the target group is new students in higher education - hopefully
it will help build their practical information literacy.

In Conclusion

Peter Morville: Please join me in thanking Peder for sharing his company's
society mapping process. In you have questions or want to sign up for a
workshop, you can find Peder at Glykol.