Our goal is to work together as a group to learn how to make digital maps. We will start with very simple things (like putting pins into a Google map) and get increasingly sophisticated. One thing that would be great for us to be able to do is, say, replicate and improve the US census map by racial category (see coverage here and here). Being able to reproduce this will teach us all a lot (scalable computing, UI design, working with census data -- not to mention navigating the potentially charged world of racial diversity, etc.). However, we can map kitten photos on Flickr too.

Raymond Yee will not be the only instructor. The goal is for all of us to contribute, and the degree to which everyone contributes will determine what happens. I welcome people with a wide range of perspectives but want everyone to contribute to their ability for us to build together. I will be biased towards wanting to build with Python + JavaScript + open source data and tools --- though I think Google maps/ Google Earth are things I like even when they aren't open source.  I want for us to think about how to build for mobile too.