How Maps Speak: Mapping Commons Hackathon
NYC Open Data Week – March 25, 2026
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Speakers: Parisa Setayesh - PhD Candidate, CUNY Graduate Center; Shokran Rahiminezhad - PhD Candidate, CUNY Graduate Center
Introduction to the Mapping Commons Project
Parisa Setayesh opened the session by introducing the “Mapping Commons Hackathon,” subtitled “How Maps Speak,” a collaborative workshop focused on designing an open educational resource about mapping. She explained that the project emerged from ongoing conversations among researchers, educators, and community practitioners who work with maps and spatial data in different contexts.
The presenters argued that existing mapping education resources often emphasize technical GIS workflows while neglecting broader questions about:
How maps shape meaning
How maps communicate information
How maps influence visibility and interpretation
How people critically read maps
Accessibility and literacy issues in mapping
Setayesh emphasized that maps are not neutral tools. Instead, they are “formative” instruments that shape understanding of the world and influence how information is interpreted socially, politically, and culturally.
The project therefore seeks to create a beginner-friendly, open educational resource that approaches mapping not simply as technical GIS training but as a broader interdisciplinary practice of understanding and communicating spatial information.
Identifying Gaps in Existing Mapping Education
Setayesh described three major gaps the project aims to address.
Lack of Theoretical Grounding
Many mapping tutorials immediately transition users into software workflows without helping learners understand:
What maps are
How mapping systems work
How spatial representation shapes interpretation
Cross-disciplinary approaches to mapping
The presenters argued that critical theoretical grounding should precede technical instruction.
Limited Visual and Critical Literacy
Setayesh stressed the importance of helping learners develop “visual and critical literacy” around maps. This includes learning:
How to read maps critically
How to question maps
How to interpret the assumptions embedded in maps
How mapping choices shape narratives and visibility
She noted that although people use maps constantly in everyday life, most have never formally learned how to critically interpret or evaluate them.
Accessibility and Entry Barriers
The presenters also emphasized the need for accessible entry points into spatial analysis and GIS.
They observed that many existing resources assume:
Prior technical knowledge
Specialized terminology familiarity
Software experience
Institutional access
The proposed Mapping Commons resource aims to lower these barriers and create more inclusive access to mapping education.
Collaborative and Community-Driven Design Philosophy
Setayesh repeatedly emphasized that the project itself is intentionally collaborative and exploratory.
The hackathon format was designed not to finalize a curriculum immediately but to gather perspectives from people with different levels of mapping experience, including:
Educators
Researchers
Community organizers
Environmental justice practitioners
GIS users
Beginners
The presenters framed the session as a “free-form co-design and collaborative session,” intended to collectively define:
What the educational resource should include
Who it should serve
How it should be structured
What forms accessibility should take
Setayesh noted that the project had already emerged through conversations with people using mapping in very different contexts, including researchers communicating environmental data to communities.
Structure of the Hackathon Session
Shokran Rahiminezhad explained the structure of the workshop and outlined three major guiding questions around which the session would be organized.
The first two questions would be explored through breakout-room discussions:
Where do people get stuck with mapping?
What should an accessible mapping resource make possible?
Participants were encouraged to discuss:
Frictions encountered while teaching mapping
Difficulties faced in participatory mapping projects
Needs observed among students and communities
Effective educational formats and approaches
After the breakout discussions, the full group would reconvene to discuss a third broader question:
What should Mapping Commons become?
Rahiminezhad explained that moderators and note-takers would document ideas during each breakout session, with findings later shared in the main room.
Emphasis on Participatory and Community Mapping
Throughout the discussion, both presenters highlighted the importance of participatory mapping practices.
They referenced experiences working:
With communities
In participatory research settings
In collaborative environmental data communication projects
These experiences revealed recurring difficulties in helping participants understand mapping concepts while also critically engaging with spatial representations.
The presenters suggested that educational resources should better support collaborative and community-centered uses of mapping rather than focusing exclusively on technical GIS specialists.
Accessibility and Multiple Forms of Participation
Setayesh acknowledged that participants joined the session under different circumstances and comfort levels.
To support multiple forms of participation, the organizers created:
Breakout discussions
Shared Google Docs
Chat-based participation options
Open note-taking spaces
Participants unable to speak verbally were encouraged to contribute:
Through written chat
Through collaborative Google Docs
By adding comments asynchronously
This reflected the project’s broader emphasis on accessibility and inclusive collaboration.
Cross-Disciplinary Nature of Mapping
Setayesh repeatedly stressed that mapping should not be understood solely as a technical GIS specialization.
Instead, mapping intersects with:
Data communication
Environmental studies
Community organizing
Education
Critical theory
Accessibility studies
Urban research
The presenters argued that educational resources should reflect this interdisciplinary reality and help learners think about mapping across multiple domains rather than narrowly through software workflows alone.
Framing Maps as Communicative Systems
A recurring conceptual theme was the idea that maps “speak.”
Setayesh argued that maps communicate values, assumptions, visibility, and interpretation choices even when users perceive them as objective or neutral.
The presenters encouraged participants to think about:
What maps emphasize
What maps omit
How design decisions affect interpretation
How authority is embedded in spatial representation
This framing shaped the workshop’s subtitle, “How Maps Speak.”
Use of Open Educational Resources
The presenters emphasized their commitment to creating the Mapping Commons project as an open educational resource (OER).
The project aims to:
Be openly accessible
Support beginner learners
Encourage adaptation and reuse
Foster collaborative development
The organizers suggested that open educational approaches are especially important in spatial analysis and mapping because technical training resources are often expensive, proprietary, or institutionally restricted.
Workshop Logistics and Breakout Organization
Toward the end of the introductory session, Setayesh organized approximately 34 participants into three breakout rooms.
Participants were invited to:
Freely choose rooms
Contribute at varying levels
Use shared Google Docs for note-taking
Engage collaboratively rather than formally
Setayesh emphasized that the workshop was intentionally lightly structured to encourage experimentation and open discussion rather than rigid outcomes.
Closing Transition into Breakout Discussions
The introductory plenary concluded with organizers opening breakout rooms and inviting participants to begin collaborative discussions around mapping education, accessibility, and critical spatial literacy.
(The breakout report backs were not recorded.)
RESOURCES
How Maps Speak: Mapping Commons Hackathon — the NYC Open Data Week event page for this session
NYC Open Data Week — annual festival of open-data events across New York City
NYC Open Data — the City’s open-data portal, the shared reference point for the Mapping Commons project
NYC Open Data Week on YouTube — channel hosting recordings of past and current Open Data Week sessions
GC Digital Initiatives — Graduate Center program whose Digital Initiatives fellows supported the hackathon breakout discussions
GC Digital Initiatives on the CUNY Academic Commons — GCDI’s project and community hub for digital scholarship across CUNY
CUNY Graduate Center — home institution of presenters Parisa Setayesh and Shokran Rahiminezhad
UNESCO Open Educational Resources — background on the open educational resource (OER) model the hackathon aims to build under