Aporta (2005) GIS, Wayfinding, and the Device Paradigm

The article by Aporta and Higgs examines the shift in Inuit culture from traditional means of wayfinding to GPS based navigating. In an article writing about the shift away from traditional means of wayfinding I was worried that the authors would overlook the fact that Inuit have been open to many technological developments such as the snowmobile or rifle. Therefore it was good that they qualified their argument by first giving a historical overview of Inuit adoption of technology and incorporation into their culture. The article then looks at what the GPS provides, all the obvious advantages, including safety, efficiency, simplicity, and its disadvantage, which is a disengagement with the environment. What the article fails to answer is how important this disengagement is to the Inuit experience of the environment. The article mentions that the allure of technology in reducing labour has usually resulted in more negatives. Even if I agree with the authors’ findings, I’m not sure what the point is other than lamenting a lost era. As they write about earlier, Inuit have always been quick to adopt new technologies. Their economic structures have adapted to resettlement in town, their hunting techniques have adapted to rifles and snowmobiles, their forms of protest have adapted to the internet, and now there wayfinding will change with the adoption of GPS.

-Anontarian

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