1. Membership
Activities in 2003-2007 in relation to each of these TORs have been as follows:
Mandate:
"To improve general cartographic literacy by promoting the discussion about, awareness of, and research into the problems related to children as map makers and map users".
3. Achievements 1999-2003
Over the 1999-2003 period of their mandate the Cartography and Children Commission has made significant achievements in three major areas. These are: the organization of seminars, the development of the Commission's web site and, providing guidance to the ICA Executive in connection with the guidelines and rules of the Barbara Petchenik International Children's Map Competition.
Two-day seminars, with an emphasis on different aspects of Cartography and Children, have been held in Hungary (Budapest, 2000) and Brazil (Diamantina, 2002). Another is planned for South Africa (Cape Town, 2003). There have also been one-day seminars in China (Beijing, 2001) and Brazil (Rio de Janeiro, 2002). Over the period of the mandate the Commission has made great progress towards involving teachers in these seminar programs. In Budapest teachers were invited to attend a session related to teaching maps skills in the classroom, while in Rio de Janeiro commission members gave several three-hour workshops (in a school environment) to 90 teachers. In 2002 in Brazil - for the first time - official funding agencies recognized investigations relating to Cartography and Children as an area of research. As a result of the ICA General Assembly, Technical Conference, sponsored seminars, presentations by commission members at other international events and the associated publications of proceedings*, there now exist a growing body of literature related to numerous aspects of the diverse and complex area of cartographic literacy and children.
The Commission's web site provides access to a database of people with an interest in Cartography and Children. In addition to maintaining this database, one of the achievements has been development in providing reference to works related to Cartography and Children. A selected English bibliography has been updated. Links to German and Greek bibliographies, produced by CCC members now exist. Other bibliographies are under construction (Bulgarian, French, Hungarian, Spanish, and Chinese). There are also links to other relevant existing sites (e.g., a recent bibliography of works relating to Brazilian cartography). A project, now well underway, is to create pdf files, accessible via the Commission's web site, of the abstracts of works relating to Cartography and Children presented at ICA sponsored conferences and seminars 1995-2003. The deadline for completion of this project is December 2003.
The third achievement is the Commission's submission, to the ICA Executive, of guidelines and rules, for the Barbara Petchenik International World Map Design Competition, that pay attention to cartographic procedure. Associated with these items has been the development, by Henry Castner, of "A Teacher Introduction to the Barbara Petchenik International World Map Design Competition". These guidelines (available on the Commission's web site), which are a work in progress, provide general information on the contest, together with material on how teachers can engage students in this contest. The rules and techniques of graphic expression are explored, together with making graphic metaphors and systems of projections (and their connections with Geography, Mathematics and Geometry).
4. The Cartography and Children Commission have published the following proceedings: