The data visualization section of this website is an ongoing project that was initiated in collaboration with faculty and students from ITAM and Columbia University. This map exhibits the geographical distribution of colectivos in Mexico, the U.S., Central America, and South America. It is important to note that the available data that we have gathered is not complete, and that the year of creation, number of members, and current status is not available for all the collectives represented in this map. The intention of our ongoing project of data visualization is to demonstrate any potential correlations between the data that we have produced through our own research with existing data that has been created by other projects, organizations, and institutions. We are currently underway in producing additional maps that will offer a visual comparison between the data that we have produced with statistical information on general perceptions of safety, trust in authorities and in neighbors, and collective action for community security in Mexico. These latter data have been recorded through ENVIPE, an annual national survey given by INEGI in Mexico.
The data that No Estan Solas offers come from the general information on collectives, and the ethnographic and qualitative data that we collected through interviews. General information on the formation and location of collectives will be compared with the data from ENVIPE to suggest possible effects on collective search efforts that stem from higher or lower levels in perceived security, trust in authorities and neighbors, and collective acts of communal security. Though such a comparison will not produce results that are directly indicative of the actual relationship between these factors, such a comparison can help to guide future qualitative, journalistic, and ethnographic research on the interrelations between them. The qualitative information that we have recorded in the interviews and testimonies, which we have hosted on this website, allow for insight into personal perspectives, experience, and knowledge from those searching for the disappeared to more critically engage with the statistical abstractions produced through ENVIPE. A comparison of interviews with INEGI’s analysis will allow for close scrutiny of the classifications and categories of survey data and large scale assessments of subjective sociological factors such as perceptions of security and trust among communities and the authorities. As such, this map serves as the first step in showing a development of collective action and organization in different states of Mexico and beyond, which will form an investigative foundation for future cross-analysis with various sociological and demographic factors.