Colonial maps and modern network diagrams both render non-valued entities invisible.

Evidence

Like the network visualizations of today, colonial maps illustrated a form of knowledge that can be described as nodocentric. The maps showed the location of mines, ports, towns, and other resources that were crucial to the operation of the empire; they isolated and represented the points or nodes that had value and rendered everything else invisible. A network diagram performs very similar functions. Only nodes and their connections are prioritized, giving us a reality in which nodes can only “see” other nodes, and only nodes deserve to be accounted for. In essence, the colonial maps of the past and the network diagrams of the present function as spatial representations of a power structure that in each case submits to a capitalist and a colonialist logic. They connect peripheral resources to processing centers or network hubs while depicting intermediary spaces as empty or dead. Locations that hold no value to the colonial enterprise, just like individuals who are not users of the platform, practically disappear from the map or diagram. — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection, 312

Categorization

• XREF: Introduces the ‘nodocentric’ concept that connects to network-theory critiques and to the platform section of this book; also echoes communication-theory discussions of representation and erasure. — connects to: Colonial maps erased native presence by designating inhabited lands empty; Smart-city narratives mask extractive data capitalism by rendering the unconnected invisible. — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection: How Data Is…, 460; Twentieth-century states claimed modernity by rendering their racial workings invisible — David Theo Goldberg, The Racial State, 108 (+2 more)
• DEFINE: Defines ‘nodocentric’ as a mode of knowledge that prioritizes only value-bearing nodes and renders everything else invisible.
• CANDY: The point that non-users of a platform ‘practically disappear from the map’ is a compact, shareable observation.

Broader Connections

• European maps ignored Native settlements in favor of colonial ones. #exemplifies (0.88) — Neil MacGregor, A History of the World in 100 Objects, 1354
• Smart-city narratives mask extractive data capitalism by rendering the unconnected invisible. #expands (0.85) — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection, 460
• Colonial maps erased native presence by designating inhabited lands empty #exemplifies (0.80)
• Colonial censuses imposed a fiction of singular, unambiguous identity on every subject #exemplifies (0.75) — Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities, 649
• Twentieth-century states claimed modernity by rendering their racial workings invisible #exemplifies (0.72) — David Theo Goldberg, The Racial State, 108