2023 conference
The theme of the 2023 conference was Data visualization. Maps can communicate all kinds of information. While geographic features and toponyms are frequently highlighted, arraying information in a spatial layout has proven useful for centuries. Maps and data visualization go hand-in-hand, but in ways that are complex and deserve critical examination; this is why they were the focus of the fourth biennial Ruderman Conference on Cartography, held October 18-20, 2023 at the David Rumsey Map Center at Stanford University.
Speakers from a variety of disciplinary backgrounds and specializations shared their expertise about historical, design, and digital applications of data visualization. Conference participants examined examples of maps that share information in a variety of ways and discussed the potential and limitations of the medium in the past, present, and for the future.
Keynote speakers included Michael Friendly (York University, Canada), who discussed the history of data visualization, and Karen Lewis (the Ohio State University), who shared the mapping methodology and design behind the recovery of Underground Railway routes and stories.
Recordings
Opening Remarks: Barry Lawrence Ruderman Conference on Cartography IV
Keynote by Karen Lewis, Ohio State: Enacting the Underground Railroad: Landscapes of Resistance and Ingenuity
Gilles Palsky, Universite Paris 1: Legitimizing administrative statistics in XIXth Century France: The Albums de Statistique Graphique in Context, their Aims and Audiences
RJ Andrews, infowetrust: Don’t Be a Square: Circular Delights from the Analog Age of Information Graphics
Susan Schulten, University of Denver: How Richard Edes Harrison Mapped Information
Daniel Rosenberg, University of Oregon: Zero Cartography: Abstraction and Representation in the Time Charts of Joseph Priestley
Garrett Dash Nelson, Boston Public Library: Geographic Information, Popular Visualization, and the Regionalization Problem
Jan Trachet, Ghent University: Historical maps as data for research and communication on past, present and future landscapes
Ademide Adelusi-Adeluyi, UC Riverside: Visions of Old Lagos: Mapping Landscape & Culture from the 1851 Bombardments
Stacy Levy, landscape artist: Drawing Water: the art of making watersheds visible
Keynote by Michael Friendly, York University: A Celebration of Les Chevaliers des Albums de Statistique Graphique
Elspeth Iralu, University of New Mexico: The Land, the Water, the Sky: Volumetric Sovereignty and Indigenous Visual Culture
Mamata Akella, cartographer at Felt.com: Felt: Pioneering a New Era in Online Cartography
Mel Imfeld, Mapbox: Maps for movement: The unique nature of automotive navigation maps
Lize Mogel, visual artist: Embodied Cartography
Benjamin Benus, Loyola University: Fostering a Feeling of World Community: Isotype and Map Design
Ken Field, Esri: Californian Snowflakes
Gabriella Evergreen, Pratt Institute: Patchwork Stories: Embodied Queer Geographies and Storytelling Through Data Visualization