Comments on: The Web and Beyond: Mobility (1) – Adam Greenfield http://www.themobilecity.nl/2008/05/26/the-web-and-beyond-mobility-1-adam-greenfield/ Mobile Media and Urban Design Mon, 23 Jan 2012 22:57:15 +0000 hourly 1 By: Michiel de Lange http://www.themobilecity.nl/2008/05/26/the-web-and-beyond-mobility-1-adam-greenfield/comment-page-1/#comment-1903 Michiel de Lange Tue, 27 May 2008 09:37:17 +0000 http://www.themobilecity.nl/2008/05/26/the-web-and-beyond-mobility-1-adam-greenfield/#comment-1903 Hi Colin, you're right, there is no reason this kind of information should be obscured from the public. But I think the point Adam Greenfield tries to make in his talk - and which I could have conveyed more clearly here - is that it should be very clear what is actually mapped: crime <i>incidents</i>, not <i>actual risk</i>. For instance: at the same spot the risk of getting run over by a car, getting killed by environmental hazards or a domestic accident could be much higher. Also, many of these maps lack contextual information such as: what 'type of person' was there (demographics)? How did he/she behave? Was there any cause or event leading up to the crime? Is there a high concentration of jewellers in that particular street? Have the street lights just fallen out? Have the police being called away to another neighborhood? Etc. etc. This isn't to say there is no worth in these kind of crime-mapping efforts. I guess - in short - the point is maps tend to show only what they are made for, while we should also be aware of <i>what isn't shown</i> by maps. Statistically, it could be much safer to live in a neighborhood with a high crime rate than living in a neighborhood where many people drive big Hummers... Hi Colin, you’re right, there is no reason this kind of information should be obscured from the public. But I think the point Adam Greenfield tries to make in his talk – and which I could have conveyed more clearly here – is that it should be very clear what is actually mapped: crime incidents, not actual risk. For instance: at the same spot the risk of getting run over by a car, getting killed by environmental hazards or a domestic accident could be much higher.

Also, many of these maps lack contextual information such as: what ‘type of person’ was there (demographics)? How did he/she behave? Was there any cause or event leading up to the crime? Is there a high concentration of jewellers in that particular street? Have the street lights just fallen out? Have the police being called away to another neighborhood? Etc. etc.

This isn’t to say there is no worth in these kind of crime-mapping efforts. I guess – in short – the point is maps tend to show only what they are made for, while we should also be aware of what isn’t shown by maps. Statistically, it could be much safer to live in a neighborhood with a high crime rate than living in a neighborhood where many people drive big Hummers…

]]> By: Colin http://www.themobilecity.nl/2008/05/26/the-web-and-beyond-mobility-1-adam-greenfield/comment-page-1/#comment-1855 Colin Mon, 26 May 2008 13:38:59 +0000 http://www.themobilecity.nl/2008/05/26/the-web-and-beyond-mobility-1-adam-greenfield/#comment-1855 Being critical of showing crime incident data gives me concern. Spotcrime.com efforts to map crime across the US is not an attempt to editorialize or sensationalize crime. We feel that crime incident data should be publicly available. I see no acceptable argument to obscure information from the public. Being critical of showing crime incident data gives me concern. Spotcrime.com efforts to map crime across the US is not an attempt to editorialize or sensationalize crime. We feel that crime incident data should be publicly available. I see no acceptable argument to obscure information from the public.

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