Transboundary E-waste Main Menu Introduction: a map of the map. An introductory page for users after the landing page. Defining a starting point for the controversy map. A description of how we obtained a floating statement for the controversy map. Mapping the controversy on the scholarly web. A path leading users through the controversy as it can be traced in the scholalrly literature. Key findings. A short summary of key findings with links to appropriate parts of the map. Procedures for mapping the wild web. A path through the procedures we used to map the wild web. Procedures for mapping the scholarly web. A path through the procedures used to map the scholarly web. References, further reading, and tools. A page offering a list of suggested further reading and descriptions of main tools used in this controversy map.

Mapping the controversy on the web.

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A controversy map typically starts with a statement from which to build a corpus of documents related to the issue to be mapped. The statement used to initiate this controversy map is:

"E-waste is exported largely for the same reason manufacturing jobs have been sent overseas: lower labor costs and fewer regulatory burdens."

(USA Today, E-Waste in Developing Countries Endangers Environment, Locals 1 August 2014)


The above statement was elicited using a procedure from a group of approximately 127 members of the the Solve the E-waste Problem (StEP) membership. Though the single statement above may seem a paltry place from which to begin mapping the controversy around transboundary shipments of electronic waste (e-waste), our approach quickly lead to a very substantial corpus of material to map.

Once we had the statement from which to begin we divided it into a series of Google search queries based on keywords in the statement as follows:From these search queries we built a corpus of approximately 1200 URLs. Each URL was then classified into a meta-actor type (Business, Government, Journalism, Not for profit, QUANGO, Scientific Community, and Other). Each URL was then run through the Digital Methods Initiative "Text Ripper" to harvest all non-html text from each page. This resulted in a corpus of over 3 million words.

This page has paths:

  1. Defining a starting point for the controversy map. Josh Lepawsky
  2. Introduction: a map of the map. Josh Lepawsky

Contents of this path:

  1. Scoping the web.
  2. From Statements to Debates: Meta-Issues on the Web
  3. From Debates to Actors I: Who makes what statements on the web?
  4. From Debates to Actors II: Who makes what statements on the web?
  5. A Detour Through the Wikiweb I.
  6. A Detour Though the Wikiweb II.
  7. From Actors to Networks on the Web.
  8. From Networks to Locations
  9. From Locations to Timelines.