Digital Maps as a Tool in the Remediation of a Nuclear Disaster

"This article analyses the mapping of radiation by amateurs, following the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster on 11 March 2011 and the resulting information crisis. The author posits that these maps were drawn up to support a process of “remediation”, in which lay citizens produced radiation data and maps as a basis for forming an opinion on the level and location of nuclear radiation. The analysis of these mashup maps highlights three phases in this action: first, collaborative work off-line and on-line to obtain radiation data to inform the maps; once the maps had been drawn up, they served to aggregate data from various sources in order to obtain a real-time description of the crisis and to verify the government’s announcements; and finally, this measuring and mapping of radiation remained tied to the crisis situation after the explosion and did not become a lasting infrastructure providing a common reference framework for measuring radiation."