User:Joe eckert

A researcher from the geography department at the University of Washington, Seattle.

Joe's master's thesis, "Tropes 2.0: Strategic Mobilizations of the Geoweb" explores how social movement theory may offer a component to the question of why people choose to contribute data to the OpenStreetMap project. Blending ethnographic tools of participant observation and semi-structured interviews, Joe seeks a more nuanced explanation of participant motivation. He identifies 3 tropes: "you", "the community", and "the map" that are unpacked as mobilizing frameworks and situated understandings on the part of user-participants.

Joe can be reached at jeckert1-AT-uw-DOT-edu.