Wednesday, October 14. 2009

Education Tidbits

The Challenger Center is offering a Webinar focussing on the Landsat Image Mosaic of Antarctica (LIMA) and how its used to explore the continent. It's free and on October 21 at 12:00pm ET.

- press release

This sounds like an interesting paper for those considering using GIS in liberal arts. It'll be presented at the Geological Society of America’s (GSA) annual meeting beginning later this week:

Additionally, Mike Taber, professor of education and director of CC’s [Colorado College] environmental program, will present his work on “Using GIS to Support a Data Driven Construction Approach to Teaching Global Climate Change.” Taber and collaborators at Colorado State University developed a curriculum that utilizes data-driven learning modules and challenges students to thoroughly understand climate change. Their work was sponsored by a grant from the Center for Multi-scale Modeling of Atmospheric Processes (CMMAP).

- Colorado College News

A faculty member and students from Northern Illinois University will tackle the economic climate in Riverside Illinois this fall. It seems the city will pay for the report produced, if it likes it; I'm not sure how that jibes with "volunteered."

Six NIU students and their professor, Richard Greene, have volunteered to gauge downtown Riverside's potential for economic improvement through a method of planning known as geographic information systems.

GIS is a complex system of collecting and computing geographic data, in this case to come up with a practical and sustainable business scenario for downtown.

- Riverside Brookfield Landmark

Wednesday, October 7. 2009

Education Tidbits

A guest column in the University of Montana paper touts the reasons to study geography. GIS is mentioned, but in passing.

The Department of Geography at The University of Montana is developing and adding new courses that reflect the status of the world on all levels. And an understanding of international topics is not the only realm of learning. Analysis of environmental and social issues as well as studies in geographic information systems (GIS) an important tool in many jobs, cartography, community and environmental planning, water issues, human impact on landscapes, mountains and climate are among the department’s many offerings.

Montana Kaimin

The Idaho State University history department received a $1,290,704 “Understanding Social Networks within Complex, Nonlinear Systems: Geographically-Integrated History and Dynamics GIS”

- press release

"With regards to his curiosity regarding my job title, I can confirm that we (GIS technicians) are a relatively new “species” that first came about just over 10 years ago." That's from a letter to the editor in response to a letter that questioned the title. Nice to see a proud GIS technician educating others.

- Press and Journal, North Scotland

Monday, October 5. 2009

A Review of NITLE Geospatial Event

Sean Connin, who helped put together the NITLE Geospatial Technology in the Liberal Arts event last weekend offers this recap, including some of the ideas I shared in my presentation. (And, special thanks to everyone for their kind hospitality to my Dad, who attended with me.)

I was pleased to be invited and to meet with instructional technologists and others interested in using technology in the liberal arts. This is a great group of folks, all passionate about what they do, and alas, all overworked! I'm more and more convinced that in the coming years the vast majority of students will learn about GIS in the context of a liberal arts course than in formal GIS/geography courses. I've been thinking about how our community can support this growing need for developing "good GIS instead of experts with certificates.

One final point. The night after I spoke at this conference I attended a family event in Burlington, VT. My Dad and I had dinner with a most interesting couple. After discussing teaching and biking, I learned the husband was involved in planning. He made a great point, with which I fully agree: People know quite a bit about GPS; many even understand how it works. But, no one really knows what GIS is. It's interesting how these two events tied together.

Wednesday, September 30. 2009

SpatialKey Following in FortiusOne's Footsteps

I found this blog post on SFWeekly which linked to post on the SpacialKey (sic) blog. The SpatialKey Blog post details how the company, on its own, read an article in the San Francisco Chronicle about Operation Safe Schools, downloaded data from SFData.gov did some analysis (video below) and came to some conclusions. The post does note the conclusions have a bit of an asterisk on them, since they deal with drug busts and schools, but the data used was collected in the summer when school is out. The post also makes clear that the company has no relation to the city, but would love to speak with them. Transparency = good! There's also a step by step discussion of how SpatialKey was used which can be used as a tutorial.

I note this blog post because it parallels what FortiusOne does with its Dataset of the Day posts (blog). These tend to deal a bit more with analysis even as they highlight freely available datasets. These efforts are great resources for GIS professionals and educators. Should your organization be offering this sort of materials?

Friday, September 25. 2009

Georgetown Course Gets More Geography; Sparks Student Protest

Map of the Modern World is the name of a course in the Georgetown School of Foreign Service. It's being reshaped per James Reardon-Anderson, director of the Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service program. The new version focuses on physical geography and its role in international affairs.

Per the school paper: "The changes will be embodied by three lectures on the fundamental forces that shape physical geography at the beginning of the course and a final lecture on global climate change. Reardon-Anderson, who will be teaching the class, acknowledged that the changes are part of the SFS’s effort to increase its students’ exposure to the sciences."

Students are not pleased. A protest group has sprung up on Facebook with more than 300 members. Some feel political issues will take a backseat to geography.

- The Georgetown Voice

Wednesday, September 23. 2009

Quote of the Week

"One day of GIS training in Ontario makes you a specialist. That's abominable!"

- Dr. Roger Tomlinson on the lack of trained teachers of GIS, in a profile in the Globe and Mail.