Who is behind this website?

This website was created by six students from the Communications School of Sciences Po for a class entitled “Mapping Controversies.” In this class, students are asked to launch a website that studies one of the many scientific controversies linked to global warming and climate change.

You said “mapping” a controversy?

It’s less complicated than it sounds. Mapping simply means producing an objective snapshot of a given situation. This website attempts to map a scientific controversy in order to make sense of the disagreements and contradictions surrounding the Tuvalu islands. This website is meant to provide an interactive look into major issues that define this debate; our role is to educate the general public by presenting all aspects of the controversy – be they scientific, political, social, economical – in the most straightforward, accessible way possible. The idea is also to go beyond the two-dimensional snapshot of the controversy, in order to avoid a seemingly stagnant representation of a debate that continues to evolve. The questions raised by this controversy cannot be answered with a simple “Yes” or “No.” The tools found on this website (interactive maps, videos, links, etc.) allow the visitor to thoroughly examine a complex question and come to his/her own conclusions. These conclusions won’t fall into black and white categories; as you will see, opinions on this controversy will cover a wide spectrum composed of various shades of grey. Our work thus consisted of sifting through research from very different domains, conducting interviews with passionate experts on the subject, and distilling all of this material until we arrived at the most important keys to understanding the controversy. The website is a perfect medium, both in-depth and simple, for presenting our findings to the wider public.

Why should we map controversies… and why should you get involved?

Why should we, the laypeople, go to all the trouble of mapping out scientific controversies?

Because scientific controversies hide a political agenda that lies just below the surface. The controversy surrounding global warming is a perfect example of this. Looking closer, we see that politics and sciences are not as independent as they may seem, as political actors are getting more and more involved in debates within the scientific community. In these situations, the citizen is often excluded from the conversation because he or she is said to lack the competency required to properly analyze the controversy.

So how can the citizen take part in scientific controversies, a dialogue that seems to be reserved for only the most eminent experts and well-placed politicians?

According to Bruno Latour, one of the founding fathers of the controversy mapping method, “When the facts are obscured, when there are no precedents to follow, when everything seems confusing, the moment has come when the general public, despite its supposed incompetence, is forced to make the most important decisions. The most thorny problems are those that our institutions are incapable of resolving on their own. The responsibility thus falls to the general public”.