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Thinking Big: �Do we question the world around us?

If we’re going to Think Big, we need to question.

Why does this happen?
Why does it happen in this way?
How could this be improved?

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The Mercator Projection

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Fact: Because the Earth is roughly spherical, every flat map distorts the world in one way or another.

The Mercator projection

Widely used for centuries�
Including today’s Google Maps.

Advantages? Preserves directional bearings �
Disadvantages? Distorts the shape and size of objects approaching the poles.

The implications? Most of us accept this view of the world with no idea how big some places really are.

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The reality?

Alaska can fit inside the continental U.S. about three times.
Greenland can fit inside Africa about 14 times.
South America nearly doubles Europe's land mass.

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The Galls-Peter Projection

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Fact: Because the Earth is roughly spherical, every flat map distorts the world in one way or another.

The Gall-Peters projection

Presented in 1974 by Dr Arno Peters.

Advantages? Makes seeing the relative size of places much easier.�
Shows how much more land there is in the ‘global south’ therefore removing euro-centric bias and helping to remove our wrapped perception of developing countries.

Disadvantages? Still distorts the shape of land masses- in particular, making them appear stretched.

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I want you to think about ‘migrants’ around the world.

What do you think of when you hear that word?

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Google processes ~8.5 billion searches per day.

But have you ever questioned the images you get given?

Do you think twice about what you are being shown?

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How do we encourage people to question the narrative of immigration?

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Who is missing from this Google image search result for ‘British people’?

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Scrolling to the bottom of the first page…

Where are the 19% of non-white residents of the UK?

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