To the extent we are concerned about ushering in a future that looks different than today, we must not only understand how power operates, but seek to shift and democratize it. (I’m using this handout from powercube.net to ground my understanding of power.)
Network mapping inherently illuminates power.
Network mapping and/or analysis inherently seeks to bring to light several kinds of power. Here are several ways it can include power:
- Demonstrates where capacity and resources exist in a group of entities
- Visualizes previously invisible patterns, structures, and dynamics that existed but of which we were unaware
- Elucidates relationships and pathways for exchange; help understand how things flow through a set of entities (and where they don’t flow)
- Surfaces gaps like who’s not being represented by providing an overview of a set of entities
- Supports an understanding of these things as they change over time so we can reflect transparently (rather than anecdotally) on improvements or regression
Network mapping is different and broader than power mapping.
My understanding of network mapping differs from power mapping (for example, see MoveOn’s Community Power Map Guide) in a few ways:
- It’s not necessarily about a campaign victory; network mapping can address power over the long-term in heterogeneous communities
- Doesn’t have one/few explicit target(s); rather, takes a broad approach to understanding power dynamics within a larger group of entities
- Network mapping is broader than only looking at power. Taking an example of clustering for power mapping from MoveOn’s page, we can think of several other useful ways of understanding a network, and view those side by side.
Network map credit: Valdis Krebs, copyright 2013 from http://orgnet.com/contagion.html.