Research Questions

Τhe scope and possible meanings of ‘mapping’ drive a central effort to understand the different modes of exploration and representation of, and engagement with, communities. As a result, a number of questions arise both in terms of community context and the dimensions for asset mapping evaluation:

• What are the different meanings of asset mapping?
• What types of assets are captured by different mapping approaches?
• What is the value (the strengths and weaknesses) of different asset mapping approaches? (e.g. digital versus physical, performance and narrative versus visual expression) and what are their limitations?
• What are contextual conditions (social, cultural, psychological, ethical, logistical) for deploying different asset mapping approaches?
• How can different analytical approaches (text, thematic, discourse, visual and social network analysis) be deployed to yield useful insights and enable critical reflection?
• How can communities gain more from asset mapping approaches? How can the different ways that assets are communicated, expressed and represented help to enhance their visibility and therefore availability as a resource to the wider community? And how can this enhance the visibility of communities to the wider society?