On the Question of How Web 2.0 Features Support Critical Map Reading

Web 2.0 technologies enable users to produce and distribute their own content. The variety of motives for taking part in these communication processes leads to considerable differences in levels of quality. While social media contexts have developed features for evaluating contributions, user-generated maps frequently do not offer tools to question or examine the origin and elements of user-generated content. This paper discusses the effects of the integration of Web 2.0 features with web maps for critical and reflective map reading. The initial findings of a content analysis study of user-generated web maps show evidence of a lack of assessment tools. Based on this, I characterize a framework of debatable maps that might encourage critical map reading.