Inventing A Digital Chorapleth Map:  An Alternative Choragraphic/Psychogeographic Mapping Praxis

1. Abstract

I present how I invented a digital mapping method/genre I coin as a chorapleth map. Combining Ulmer's chorographic method and Debord's psychogeography method, I explain how a chorapleth map can be generated in juxtaposition to hegemonic practices embedded in producing choropleth maps. I explain how I applied the method for creating a chorapleth map to my consultation on the American addiction epidemic. Unlike choropleth maps, I was not interested in recording and relating amounts of overdoses in relation to addiction, I was interested in mapping the milieu and assemblage of addiction. I explain how I processed the data collected during my research on the American addiction epidemic and how I used that data to create a chorapleth map. I argue that chorapleth maps are digital mapping genres appropriate for the digital age and can be used as a method within public digital humanities to advocate for alternative voices.