This document discusses how technology has impacted the visibility and representation of informal settlements or slums. It notes that slums were often not depicted accurately on official maps and lacked reliable data. The Map Kibera project created the first online public map of Kibera, Kenya. Satellite imagery and tools like Google Earth have increased global awareness of slums by revealing living conditions. While some exploit slums for tourism, technology also provides opportunities to enhance life in slums through mobile networks and devices that support micro-enterprises and health services. Overall, technology aids self-representation of slums and blurs boundaries between formal cities and informal settlements.

1. Technology and Visibility
in Informal Settlements
Breanna Faye
11.29.2012

2. AESTHIC ISOLATION OF THE SLUM: THE CONCEAL
• Lack of representation for informal
settlements on official government maps
• Absence of reliable data
• Slums represented as a blank spot on maps

3. Kibera represented as National Park in Nairobi

4. Map Kibera Project: the first online, public map of Kibera

5. EXPLOITATION OF THE INFORMAL: THE REVEAL
• The age of technology and increasing globalization
has generated an extreme lust for worldwide
realities
• Slum tourism as recreation
• Satellite imagery advancement relation to global
awareness

6. Publicly available satellite imagery, via Google Earth
Real-time satellite imagery display vs. Historical Image Comparison

7. The adolescent tour guides of the Rocinha Favela Tour in Rio De Janiero, Brazil

9. MEDIA: THE TECHNOLOGICAL MEDIUM
• Technology as scope in which to view
informal settlements
• Transition to a tool to enhance living
conditions in slums

10. micro-scale enterprises in slums with cellular phone industry
• charging stations
• sale of pre-paid cellular devices

11. a vendor in Kibera selling mobile phones

12. EyeNetra: MIT Media Lab’s device that measures for nearsightedness,
farsightedness, and astigmatism as an attachment to a mobile smart phone

14. technology has the opportunity to enhance the quality of
life in health as well as economy

15. Technology has the opportunity to enhance the quality
of life in health as well as economy
Aids in Self-representation
Blurs the boundary between the city and the slum