{"id":4217,"date":"2017-04-10T09:31:56","date_gmt":"2017-04-10T13:31:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/?p=4217"},"modified":"2017-04-10T09:38:38","modified_gmt":"2017-04-10T13:38:38","slug":"whither-the-bcs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2017\/04\/whither-the-bcs\/","title":{"rendered":"Whither the BCS?"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you’re going to rant, do it at length. Kenneth Field takes 16,000 words to lay out his concerns<\/a> about\u00a0the British Cartographic Society<\/a>.<\/p>\n

BCS is failing. Let’s ask the hard questions that need asking and make the Society actually mean and offer something going forward for UK cartography … or reconsider the very purpose of the society and seek an alternative. I\u2019d like to see profound change in what is offered; a society that makes me want to belong and which is the place I go to for my daily cartographic shot. I want to go beyond the scant reward of a re-branded society who think newly monogrammed pencils, pens and rulers will keep me interested. At the moment I see an error-strewn and content-less web site, a late Journal which is getting thinner, a conference that is costly and not particularly interesting and a rhetoric that says everything is rosy and dynamic. It really isn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

My fundamental pitch is that I’m convinced BCS is on its last legs. We (as in the community of cartographers and map-makers) should look towards forming a new society. The best approach in my mind is one that merges BCS with the other cartography society\u2014the Society of Cartographers. BCS and SoC need to get round the table, cast aside personality and work towards a solution for the betterment of cartography as a whole. Form a brand new society that brings everyone together and starts afresh with a blank piece of paper rather than everyone\u2019s well-worn prejudices. Deal pragmatically with the contested issues. Cartography has changed so much that the question has to be asked why shouldn’t the professional organisations that are clinging to some desire for relevance just disband, reform and go again?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It’s a mix of institutional critique and airing of personal grievances.\u00a0I’m not a BCS member, nor can I assess\u00a0the veracity of Field’s claims (the BCS itself has a rather formal rebuttal here<\/a>).\u00a0But what he describes\u2014too many committees (especially for society with only around 700 members), too much dysfunctional ossification (the\u00a0Iron Law of Institutions<\/a>\u00a0may also be applicable here)\u2014is rather common, even endemic, in\u00a0organizations. But I’ve also seen organizations reinvent themselves and be the stronger for it.<\/p>\n

(Field’s work has been featured here previously:\u00a0Kenneth Field\u2019s Map of Mars<\/a>;\u00a0Green Mars<\/a>;\u00a0End of the Line: A Tube Map of Tube Maps<\/a>.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you’re going to rant, do it at length. Kenneth Field takes 16,000 words to lay out his concerns about\u00a0the British Cartographic Society. BCS is failing. Let’s ask the hard questions that need asking and… More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"link","meta":{"autoblue_enabled":true,"autoblue_custom_message":"","autoblue_shares":[],"autoblue_post_url":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[121],"tags":[811,474],"class_list":["post-4217","post","type-post","status-publish","format-link","hentry","category-industry","tag-bcs","tag-map-societies","post_format-post-format-link"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1787663,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2019\/08\/what-happened-to-the-society-of-cartographers\/","url_meta":{"origin":4217,"position":0},"title":"What Happened to the Society of Cartographers?","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"29 August 2019","format":"link","excerpt":"https:\/\/twitter.com\/CartoSoc\/status\/1164551631930896386 The Society of Cartographers posted a notice on Twitter announcing the formal dissolution of the Society after its upcoming (and now presumably final) Annual Summer School Conference. That conference will be held in conjunction with the British Cartographic Society\u2019s Annual Conference on 11 and 12 September at the Ordnance\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Conferences"","block_context":{"text":"Conferences","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/conferences\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1788764,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2020\/04\/map-talks-online-past-and-future\/","url_meta":{"origin":4217,"position":1},"title":"Map Talks Online, Past and Future","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"22 April 2020","format":"link","excerpt":"Map Time is \u201ca series of short conversations with experts on maps and mapping from across the globe\u201d hosted by the Harvard Library and the Leventhal Center on Instagram Live. Held every Thursday at noon, through August. Schedule and upcoming speakers here. Past talks are available on YouTube. How to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Cartography"","block_context":{"text":"Cartography","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/cartography\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1789619,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2020\/11\/bcs-50th-anniversary-book-available-to-download\/","url_meta":{"origin":4217,"position":2},"title":"BCS 50th Anniversary Book Available to Download","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"2 November 2020","format":"link","excerpt":"The British Cartographic Society\u2019s 50th anniversary book, which came out in 2013, is now available as a free download (68 MB PDF). \u201cThis beautiful book, lavishly illustrated with over 130 maps, is presented in double-page map spreads for each year from 1963 to 2013, one map illustrating a UK event\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Cartography"","block_context":{"text":"Cartography","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/cartography\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"BCS 50th Anniversary Book (cover)","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/bcs-50th-106x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":513340,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2017\/12\/a-book-roundup-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":4217,"position":3},"title":"A Book Roundup","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"19 December 2017","format":"link","excerpt":"The Routledge Handbook Out last month, the expensive, 600-page\u00a0Routledge Handbook of Mapping and Cartography\u00a0(Routledge). Edited by Alexander J. Kent (who co-wrote\u00a0The Red Atlas) and Peter Vujakovic, the book \"draws on the wealth of new scholarship and practice in this emerging field, from the latest conceptual developments in mapping and advances\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Antique Maps"","block_context":{"text":"Antique Maps","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/antique-maps\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/social-life-of-maps-142x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/social-life-of-maps-142x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/social-life-of-maps-142x150.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/social-life-of-maps-142x150.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/social-life-of-maps-142x150.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/social-life-of-maps-142x150.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6167,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2017\/11\/confederate-maps-at-the-u-s-national-archives\/","url_meta":{"origin":4217,"position":4},"title":"Confederate Maps at the U.S. National Archives","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"24 November 2017","format":"link","excerpt":"The Unwritten Record, a blog by staff at the U.S. National Archives's Special Media Archives Services Division, announced last month: \"Civil War maps are always popular at the National Archives, and the Cartographic Branch is pleased to announce the digitization of over 100 Confederate maps from Record Group (RG) 109.\u00a0\u00a0All\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Antique Maps"","block_context":{"text":"Antique Maps","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/antique-maps\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/shiloh-1024x649.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/shiloh-1024x649.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/shiloh-1024x649.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/shiloh-1024x649.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3180,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2016\/10\/nacis-2017-in-montreal\/","url_meta":{"origin":4217,"position":5},"title":"NACIS 2017 in Montreal","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"31 October 2016","format":"link","excerpt":"Next year's annual meeting of NACIS, the North American Cartographic Information Society, will take place\u00a0from 10-13 October 2017 in Montreal. Hey, my home province --\u00a0I might actually be able to attend.","rel":"","context":"In "Conferences"","block_context":{"text":"Conferences","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/conferences\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4217","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4217"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4217\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4222,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4217\/revisions\/4222"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4217"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4217"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4217"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}