Keywords: Controversy, research methods, academia, knowledge production, social movements, analysis, how-to guide
Authors: Tommaso Venturini & Anders Kristian Munk
This guidebook is concerned with the problem of how academics, journalists, and the general public navigates “matters of public concern when facts are in doubt and expertise is contested”.
This guidebook can be used by anyone who is tracking and intending to map a controversy, be it a social movement, a government interrogation, a court case, or anything situation where people disagree with each other, and news and information about their disagreement can be found online.
This guidebook is made up of 3 parts, each offering a different (or complementary) strategy for how to engage in controversy mapping. Each chapter goes over theory, highlights a use-case, explains methodology and any potential sources of conflict or issue. Part 1 is about features of controversial landscapes. This section is primarily concerned with the history of controversy mapping within science and technology studies, and situating it within network theory and digital method analysis. Part 2 looks at tools of social cartography. It is the most methods focused, DIY section of the book. Part 3 looks at politics of mapmaking. This section is primarily concerned with the political implications and potentials of mapmaking.