What is an issue? What is bias?

1. What is an issue?What is bias? Canadian and World Issues

2. Issues –Summer 2013 • Syria – use of chemical weapons • Lac-Megantic, Quebec – rail fire • Keystone XL – Alberta to Texas • Arctic sovereignty – Harper • Marijuana • Prince George

3. Issues involve: • National and/or global implications • Complex causes • Complex, often imperfect, solutions • Interrelated environmental, social, political and economic components • Groups of people with different points of view • People unwilling to compromise

4. Reliability of sources • Highest level of confidence in academic articles, professional journals and scholarly books (reviewed by editorial boards) • Lower level of confidence in magazines & newspapers. They can be held financially responsible when sued for libel. • Little to no level of confidence in web sites that are not accountable to anyone.

5. Questions to ask to help validate the information found on a web site: • What is the date of the information? • What organization published the document? • Who are the authors? Credentials, vested interest • What is the form of the information? Government site, academic journal, blog • What types of data are used to support the view point? Statistics, polls, opinions • How was the information collected? Survey, controlled experiment, academic research • Do you know of missing information? • Does the information match that found in other sources? • What is the purpose of the information?

6. Validating information from a source • Biased information: presented from only one point of view • Unsubstantiated information: not verified by the evidence Song: What Did You Learn In School? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VucczIg98Gw

7. Map Projections: Bias? • A globe is the only accurate representation of the world. • A map projection is created by projecting the features onto a flat surface; each projection misrepresents the Earth in some way. • Maps are not neutral.

8. Mercator Map • Compass directions are accurate. • Shape and size of regions are distorted: equatorial regions are smaller than they actually are while polar regions are larger.

9. Peters Projection • Equal area map. There is no distortion and the continents and bodies of water are shown in their actual size.

10. Aitoff’s Northern HemisphereHammer’s Southern Hemisphere

11. Hobo-Dyer Equal Area Map • Shape of land masses between 45* north and 45* south are well preserved. • Land masses at the poles are very distorted.

13. Buckminster Fuller’s DymaxionProjection Minimizes the distortion of major land masses Intended only for representations of entire globe Icosahedron (20-sided)

14. http://www.genekeyes.com/FULLER/BF-6-later-ed.html

15. Gall-Peters Mollweide Cassini Which is your favorite world map? From Democratic Underground.com http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=105x7810816

16. Comparing Map Projections • Conformal - angular • Equal/ Equivalent Area • Equidistant • Accuracy • Scale http://bl.ocks.org/syntagmatic/3711245

17. Map Projections http://www.progonos.com/furuti/MapProj/Normal/TOC/cartTOC.html http://geo7lab.blogspot.ca/2010/11/lab-5-map-projections_07.html South America in selected projections at identical scale. Which projection is best? Which is right? The short answer is none, at least not all the time.

18. Conformal Projections • Maintain angular relationships. • Compass directions accurate. • Shapes intact but area distorted. • Scale same in any direction. Examples: • Mercator severely distorts size as you approach the poles. • Gall Stereographic is an improved version of the Mercator projection which attempts to correct this distortion • Azimuthal Stereographic

19. Equal Area / Equivalent Projections • Maintains accurate relative sizes which allows for accurate area calculations. • Good to show global distribution. • Shape distorted Examples: • Mollweide projection • Hammer projection • Cylindrical Equal-Area projection. Both are variations of an equal area projection but are united in that they both preserve the area of the continents.

20. Equidistant Map Projections • Maintain accurate distances from the center of the projection or other points. • Creates a scale that is the same along all meridians. Examples: • Equidistant conic • Sinusoidal projection: accurate along the Equator and the Prime Meridian.

21. Maps and Transportation • Which is the shortest distance between Brazil and South Korea? • Which map projection helps plot the best route? • Mercator or Polar Azimuthal Equidistant Map?

22. Maps and Social Equality • West Wing ‘Why are we changing maps?’ 3 mins. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8zBC2dvERM http://www.thepolemicist.net/2013/06/pictures-of-world.html

23. Cartogram • Size of an area is proportional to the value of the phenomenon that is found in the area: the larger the area, the greater the value http://www.worldpopulationatlas.org/

24. Cartogram of Guardian News Items

25. Mapping News Alisa Miller: The news about the news 4 mins. http://www.ted.com/talks/alisa_miller_shares_the_news_about_the_news.html March 17-21 $3,750

26. Distinguishing Opinions from Facts • Your opinions reflect the beliefs you hold about the events in the world. They develop as you considers facts you have learned, your values and life experiences. • Facts are indisputable truths – knowledge that is certain, concrete and incontestable. • Polls are taken to get the opinions of sample group and the results are extrapolated to represent the opinions of a larger group.

27. Validating poll results • How large is the sample? • Who paid for the poll? • Who conducted the poll? • How were the questions phrased? • How was the poll administered? • When was the poll taken? Is a teacher, who is not using technology (computer, internet, etc.), doing his or her job? July 15, 2009

28. Personal point of view/ bias • Everyone has their own particular set of economic and social perspectives. They will colour your viewpoint.

29. Parable of the blind men and elephant http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBqgr5xZLz0 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJVBQefNXIw

30. What do you see in this photo? • Do you see police maintaining law and order? • Do you see citizens fighting for their rights against a repressive government?

31. Map projections attempt to correct for errors in • Transferability • Area, distance, scale and proportion • Area, distance, shape and direction • Distance, proximity and topology • Distance, shape and lines of latitude and longitude c) Area, distance, shape and direction

32. The prime meridian is what degree of longitude? • 0 degrees • 45 degrees • 90 degrees • 120 degrees • 180 degrees a) 0 degrees

33. What type of map has all lines of latitude and longitude meeting at right angles, creating much distortion at both of the polar regions? • Mercator • Robinson • Molleweide • Azimuthal • Goodes-Homsoline a) Mercator

34. Homework Determine where you stand on the political compass by taking a 5 minute test. There's no right, wrong or ideal response. It's simply a measure of attitudes and inevitable human contradictions to provide a more integrated definition of where people and parties are really at. The categories of 'right' and 'left‘ were established for the seating arrangement of the French National Assembly of 1789. They are overly simplistic for today's complex political landscape. For example, who are the 'conservatives' in today's Russia? Are they the unreconstructed Stalinists, or the reformers who have adopted the right-wing views of conservatives like Margaret Thatcher ? On the standard left-right scale, how do you distinguish leftists like Stalin and Gandhi? It's not sufficient to say that Stalin was simply more left than Gandhi. There are fundamental political differences between them that the old categories on their own can't explain. Similarly, we generally describe social reactionaries as 'right-wingers', yet that leaves left-wing reactionaries like Robert Mugabe and Pol Pot off the hook. • www.politicalcompass.org