Digital Narratives and Witnessing: The Ethics of Engaging with Places at a Distance

Abstract

This article explores some of the geographies of crisis and conflict that have become increasingly visible through the use of digital technologies. It attends to the visual politics embedded within such images, whether these are photographs and videos shared through social media or maps produced on platforms such as Google Earth. It also discusses recent practices of spatial analysis that use a forensic approach. Through focusing on the Pakistani city of Gwadar in the restive Balochistan province, my aim is to reveal the complex layered narrative that emerges out of and about such a place through processes of visualization. Gwadar oscillates between an anticipated role as a strategic regional port and the present reality of being positioned at the periphery. By working through these narratives, I explore what type of ethical spatial engagement is possible with such places that are often constructed as out-of-bounds by governments and nonstate actors.

The Fading Gloss of Data Science: Towards an Agenda that Faces the Challenges of Big Data for Development and Humanitarian Action

“…Much scholarship tackles data biases or how regulation can be developed around an ethical computation (Goodman and Flaxman 2017). Other theorizations include exploring fair practices that advance data science to create ethical data science (Awan 2016) or data justice (Dencik et al 2016). More general concerns about regulation and guidelines on ethical data include the lack of consensus or a commonly accepted definition of 'fair' in data mining and usage.…”

Geography and virtual reality

“…It puts viewers into the perspective of Sidra, a 12‐year‐old Syrian refugee who is housed at the Al Zaatari Refugee Camp in Jordan, home to over 80,000 Syrians who had fled from the Syrian conflict. For Awan (2016), the power of such VR experiences is their ability to offer new means of witnessing in a digital age—evoking multi‐layered immersive forms of narrative and representations, presenting new possibilities for public and geopolitical engagement.…”