Tryangulation

Still another way to look at the world

I'm collecting sites that have interesting ways of depicting data, and came upon Worldmapper, which uses unusual maps to show all kinds of economic and development indicators, such as literacy and life expectancy. The maps are reshaped so that the relative distribution of the indicator value is shown in the relative size of each country. 

I played around with some of the maps showing education indicators and economic development, and was struck by the similarity in the distribution of spending on primary education (first image), secondary education, and research/development (second image).

Countries with high spending in one category tended to also have high spending in the other two categories. Likewise, countries with low investment in education also had low investments in R&D. I also found a lot of similarity with the map showing the distribution of new patents, a good indicator of innovation. Draw your own conclusions, or read more in the Eldis resource page on education and economic growth.

Worldmapper currently has 366 different maps, and they keep adding more. Visit their site, pick a few indicators, and see if you can guess what shape the world is in.

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A new way to pretend the world is flat

Never mind flat, the world is upside down... or is it?

I've always loved maps, and in particular the different ways they approach the problem of emphasizing certain details like shape, area, topography, or human impact. That's a problem because, in order to emphasize one thing in a map, you have to de-emphasize something else: blatant distortion of reality in order to get a point across.

I've wanted one of these south-up maps ever since I first saw a similar one nearly 30 years ago. I finally gave in to temptation and got one from ODT Maps; it just came in the mail yesterday. I can't wait to think up some assumptions to challenge. 

Click here for more info on unconventional maps and to get your own.

Language and identity: diverse ways of knowing

This is part three of a series of discussion questions related to the presentation on language and identity in our Theory of Knowledge class. See the end of this post for related links.

Indigenous languages, indigenous knowledge

Anthropologists apply indigenous knowledge from different cultures to other sciences, and have created new cross-disciplinary fields like ethnobotany, ethnozoology and ethnoastronomy. By studying the ways that indigenous people groups gather and organize their knowledge about the environment, scientists have identified "new" species of useful plants and animals, discovered useful chemical compounds in traditional medicines (including antibiotics and cancer treatments), and studied cognitive processes through linguistic analysis.

Case study 1

The ancient Maya used a base-twenty numbering system for public works, astronomy and calendar making. They invented the zero independently of ancient mathematicians in Mesopotamia, and their long-count calendar still works today without the need for regular adjustments like our Leap Year.

The image at the right (source)  is of Stela C, found at Tres Zapotes, a pre-Maya site in Mexico. The stela is one of the oldest artifacts that uses the Long Count calendar system used by many peoples in Mesoamerica. The numerals inscribed on the left column read: 7.16.6.16.18, which corresponds to the date 3 September 32 BC in the Julian calendar, around the time when Caesar Augustus defeated Mark Antony.   
The zero date for this calendar corresponds to 3114 BC in our calendar. The long count calendar will reset when it reaches the date 13.0.0.0.0.0, which will occur in December 2012.

What if Western Civilization had developed mathematics based on twenty instead of ten? How would technology be different? How would the sciences be different? Or language?

Case study 2

2. Surveyors in Brazil recently found evidence of 67 previously unidentified people groups living in the Amazon rain forest. Because of extensive mining and the harvesting of tropical hardwoods and other forest products, these people groups may become extinct soon.

What would be the best way to retrieve and protect the knowledge of these people groups? 

What if they believe that sharing their "secrets" would bring danger to them? How do you weigh the importance of protecting their culture versus learning from it?

Related links

Language and identity, part one: The sound of a vanishing language

Language and identity, part two: Geography 

For more on the problem of indigenous knowledge and intellectual property rights, see these Wikipedia articles on indigenous peoples,  traditional knowledge,  biopiracy.  See also the UN's Decade of the World's Indigeous Peoples.
 

Language and identity: geography

This is part two of a series of discussion questions related to the presentation on language and identity in our Theory of Knowledge class. See the end of this post for related links.

Map comparison

This map shows the topography of Guatemala and neighboring regions, with international boundaries. The red circle indicates the  area where traditionally Mam of Tacaná has been spoken.

The next map, taken from the Atlás Lingüístico de Guatemala (Michael Richards, et al. 2003), shows the municipios of Guatemala (secondary administrative divisions, like the ilçeler of Turkey). Each municipio is color coded according to the survival risk of the local indigenous languages. Red denotes the highest risk, and blue denotes minimum risk. The areas in white have no significant indigenous population for the purpose of the study. Notice that Tacaná is coded red.  

Discussion

1. Compare the topographical map with the language risk map. (You can click on the images to enlarge them.) Do you see a pattern in the distribution of risk levels? What hypotheses can you make about the relationship between geographic location and the level of risk?

2. Why do you think geographic location would be a factor? Can you think of any intermediate factors, that is, are there any ways that geography creates a certain effect which in turn affects language (like a chain reaction)? Read The sound of a vanishing language again to see if you can find an important clue that I left there.

3. What kind of research could you design to test your ideas about the relationship between geography and language?

Related links

Language and identity, part one: The sound of a vanishing language

Language and identity, part three: Diverse ways of knowing

To see the location of specific languages of Guatemala, you can look at this map from the Ethnologue.

 

On the Internet we don't see the wall

Fellow Michigander Doug Hart is helping his IB students with an e-zine project where his students write essays and opinion pieces about their daily life, and then invite IB'ers in other places to comment. Family life, dating, and curfews might have been a little cliché if it weren't for one thing.

The school is in Ramallah, Palestine, where the life of a teenager is anything but a cliché.

The name of the 'zine is Behind the Wall, and their third edition just came out. I was happy to see how so many students from other countries have started participating. But what really impressed me was the acknowledgments page and the long list of schools and individuals in more than a dozen countries who have contributed to this project. 

Congratulations and tebrikler (as we say in Turkish) to Doug and everyone else involved!

Link:  Behind the Wall

5000 years in 90 seconds

Here's an interesting animation of the history of conquest in the Middle East for the last 5000 years. You need Flash to view the animation.  Click here to go to the Maps of War website.