The concept behind Barford and Dorling’s map is a fascinating one and indeed can be seen to revolutionise the traditional map system. Described by Barford as “mapping the way we live”, the map portrays the world taking into account important and current worldwide issues rather than simply landmass. Each territory is re-sized according to the variable being assessed. In simple terms, areas are shown as large if they have vast numbers of the things being assessed, and small if they don’t. An example is the map of Malaria deaths, where, unsurprisingly, Africa obscures almost the whole of the rest of the world.
The talk was eye-opening and in many ways shocking, however, the pair were obviously keen to keep their feelings subjective, and let the maps speak for themselves. Although perhaps too many slides were shown, diverting our attention to the maps on the screen rather than the talk itself, the presentation effectively highlighted the disasters of the modern world, and the maps themselves can be seen as “incredible works of art”. The sheer amount of data that must have been needed to create these maps is immense, and gives yet more credit to the extremely likable duo in their plight to make the public aware of the huge issues that are ever-present in the world we live in.
