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Our Approach
As part of our Ag Literacy Program, The Simpson Centre is developing informational resources on widely debated topics (aka controversies) within the agriculture system. This work uses Controversy Mapping (CM), a methodology that unpacks and maps the layers of a controversy (Venturini, 2012) (Venturini et al., 2015). This process creates a Controversy Atlas for people to engage with and learn about through an interactive website, like this one!
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Controversy Mapping
Controversy Mapping (CM) works to untangle complex debates, or controversies, to make them more understandable to the variety of “actors” involved. These actors can be policy makers, researchers, the public, or even the environment itself.
The goal of each controversy map and resulting controversy atlas is to help you navigate a controversy's complexity with ease. By untangling a controversy into layers, you as a reader are encouraged to explore, engage, and draw your own conclusions on the material.
The foundational puzzle pieces of a controversy map are:
"What" = The statements involved in the discourse. Visualized by a Tree of Disagreement.
“Who” = The actor providing each statement. Visualized by an Actor-Arguments Table, which shows where actors share or diverge in argument statements.
“How” = How actors are connected within the controversy network. The Actor-Network Diagram shows clusters and isolations of actors.
“When” = The Timeline of the Controversy tracks changes and developments over time (e.g. new technologies or policy changes).
Controversy Map
“Where” = Where this controversy takes place on a bigger scale.
CM Puzzle Anchor
Click on each puzzle piece to explore the website!
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