Company
Date Published
Author
Burak Arikan
Word count
984
Language
English
Hacker News points
None

Summary

Graph Commons is a collaborative platform that enables users to transform their data into interactive graph maps, facilitating investigative journalism, civic data research, and organizational analysis. The platform aims to make network mapping and analysis accessible to non-experts by providing an intuitive visual editor and cartography interface. With over 2,000 members using the platform for professional and activist work, Graph Commons has already seen a momentum of interest from people with varying interests and skill sets. Members use the platform to create unique projects such as mapping NGOs helping Syrian refugees, social movements, and climate targets, which showcase its potential to generate new knowledge and crucial discussions. The project "Networks of Dispossession" demonstrates the platform's capacity to clearly display indirect links and organic clusters of power, raising questions and becoming a reference point for the general public and activist communities. To further develop the platform, Graph Commons is working on building new mechanisms that enable collaboration and encouraging users to build off each other's mapping efforts, with plans to release improved community tools and qualitative graph analysis methods.