Despite the many claims that maps are an especially trustworthy information medium (e.g., Kent, 2017; Flanagin & Metzger, 2008), only a single empirical study has compared trust in maps with trust in other information mediums. Accordingly, Meier (2017) found that news stories featuring maps were perceived as more credible than those with other visualizations or only text, but these differences were not statistically significant. Other evidence suggests that visualizations are more trusted as a way of transmitting information than other means such as narrative text or photography (Tal & Wansink, 2016). Still, research assessing people’s trust in maps versus other mediums is limited. Moreover, it is not clear how trust varies across national and cultural lines in the global field of cartography. Thus, in this thesis an empirical study on the effect of maps for the trustworthiness of information communication should be pursued.
Literature/references:
Flanagin, A. J., & Metzger, M. J. (2008). The credibility of volunteered geographic information. GeoJournal, 72(3–4), 137–148. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10708-008-9188-y
Gartner, G. (2022). Towards a Research Agenda for Increasing Trust in Maps and Their Trustworthiness. Kartografija i Geoinformacije = Cartography and Geoinformation, 21, 48–58. https://doi.org/10.32909/kg.21.si.4
Kent, A. (2017). Trust Me, I’m a Cartographer: Post-truth and the Problem of Acritical Cartography. The Cartographic Journal, 54(3), 193–195. https://doi.org/10.1080/00087041.2017.1376489
Meier, S. (2017). Visualizations in Online News—And Their Effect on Perceived Credibility. KN - Journal of Cartography and Geographic Information, 67(2), 74–83. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03545380
Tal, A., & Wansink, B. (2016). Blinded with science: Trivial graphs and formulas increase ad persuasiveness and belief in product efficacy. Public Understanding of Science, 25(1), 117–125. https://doi.org/10.1177/0963662514549688
