Next Generation Cartographers Working Group of the International Cartographic Association

Goals

• Establish opportunities for the NGC community to meet and share knowledge in a peer-to-peer fashion.
• Support the career development of young professionals in the field and promote the needs and demands of the next generation within cartographic institutions, both on the local and global level.
• Raise awareness towards practices of exclusion, discrimination, and colonialism that have historically shaped our field and its institutions, by promoting critical, feminist, and solidary approaches to cartography and its institutional representation, as formulated by a global community of young scholars and professionals.
• Actively reach out to demographics that are underrepresented in our field and its institutions, both on the local and global level, to join the NGC initiative.

Values

The basis of the group's operation are the values of inclusiveness, diversity, and openness. NGC is a network and a safe space based on mutual trust and respect.

A code of conduct shall be developed that promotes these values and also allows for a wide range of opinions, views, and approaches to have a voice in the conversation.

The initiative is seeking to achieve this vision with the following activities

1. Serve as a contact point for next generation cartographers by:
   1. maintaining the website, mailing list, and other suitable means of communication and knowledge sharing,
   2. developing resources about the NGC initiative.
2. Organize regular NGC online meetings for the exchange of knowledge and networking.
3. Organize social events during cartographic conferences to facilitate networking among members of the NGC community.
4. Encourage members of NGC community to take up leading roles in cartography and support their professional career development by:
   1. disseminating information about job and professional development opportunities, project funding, etc.,
   2. promoting the involvement of members of NGC community in decision-making bodies in cartographic organizations (such as International Cartographic Association [ICA] and regional cartographic societies).
5. Facilitate establishing mentor-mentee relationships for members of the NGC community between members in more senior positions and emerging professionals.
6. Endorse critical approaches in cartography by co-organising events and supporting collaboration to facilitate ideas exchange.
7. Cooperate with the cartographic community by:
   1. promoting the participation of the NGC community in scientific events,
   2. participating in ICA Commissions’ work.
   3. engaging in cartographic institutions on the global and regional level and lobbying for the interests of the NGC community within those (e.g. active outreach to young scholars and professionals, lobbying simple and affordable membership for students and early-career cartographers etc.)
8. Present issues related to NGC initiative at cartographic conferences and in journals and other media.
9. Creating opportunities for collaborations with related disciplines (e.g., computer science, IT, engineering) - extending our network in a transdisciplinary manner

Participation

• Everyone interested in Cartography and considers themselves a young/emerging professional or wants to support this community in a mentoring role is eligible to participate in the NGC community.
• Participation is free of charge.
• Any initiative within the community is voluntary (not paid).