I recently wrote a brief post on Internet censorship around the world and it the piece got a good response from my Twitter followers. Unfortunately, visitors to my blog from Turkey would not have been able to view the embedded video clip as YouTube (along with other prominent web services) is banned in Turkey after comment wars emerged on the video site nearly three years ago between Greek and Turkish users.

In protest, many Turkish web users are turning to Google Maps to show their collective force. They are virtually lining the streets using a shared interface, creating what is becoming a fascinating, non-violent and hopefully effective visualisation.

Organisers of the ‘virtual protest walk’ are urging people from around the world to add themselves to the Google Map in Istanbul’s Taskim Square to show their solidarity against the Turkish government’s strict internet censorship laws. When the numbers reach 1 billion (or 1 trillion depending on which English translation you’re reading), the virtual protesters vow to march (pixel-by-pixel) to the nation’s Parliament in Ankara.

This is a really novel use of Google Maps and one which relies on trust and fairplay given that Google maps can be edited (and therefore defaced) by anyone who cares to get involved. The concept is being dubbed ‘a social game’ where people can move and edit each others’ position. Whilst this is perhaps an overly optimistic view of Google Maps usage, I hope that opponants of this ‘virtual march’ refrain from mischief-making using the EDIT/DELETE feature.

Tellingly, the organisers feel obliged to put the following instruction on the official site:

“Anyone can edit the page. So if someone moved all people to North Dakota, feel free to move them back to Istanbul.”

Interestingly, Taksim Square is the historic home of Turkish revolt. On February 16th, 1969, some 150 leftist demonstrators were injured during clashes with right wing groups in what is known as Bloody Sunday. In the events known as the Taksim Square massacre, thirty-six left-wing demonstrators were killed by unidentified and allegedly right-wing gunmen on the square during the Labour Day demonstrations of May 1, 1977. Following many other violent incidents, all forms of group protests were banned in the square and the police units maintain a round-the-clock presence to prevent any incidents. The ban doesn’t apply to surrounding avenues or streets and it obviously doesn’t apply to virtual loitering which is why the Google Map march is so poetic in its conception.

I think that it’s definitely worth adding your avatar to the cause. A map visualisation definitely brings the notion of a conventional petition to life. I would like to see more people use this kind of virtual protest visual representation to draw attention to their causes. By adding myself to this map, I did stop and investigate other people who had placed their mark in and around Taskim Square so perhaps there is some truth in this being ‘a social game’.

Let’s hope though that this ‘game’ will have a real impact on the way that Turkey responds to its citizens’ web access.

Get involved. You can find out more by visiting the official site here.

[Thanks to ReadWriteWeb for the initial tip-off]