GIS Ed Weekly: Tackling Geo Ethics and Social Justice

Resources for Teaching and Learning

WaPo: The complicated geography of vaccine hesitancy - "As you might expect, views of vaccination vary widely by state. In some places, such as Vermont, nearly everyone either indicates a desire to be vaccinated or reports having already received a vaccine dose. In other states, such as North Dakota, hesitancy is far more common."

Gizmodo: Earth Scientists Are Fighting to Push Racist Place Names Off the Map - "Four graduate students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have called for scientists to help support efforts to remove racism from the hundreds of federal place names across the country." Via @reSeiber.

Wired: Groups Call for Ethical Guidelines on Location-Tracking Tech - "The Locus Charter asks companies to commit to 10 principles, including minimizing data collection and actively seeking consent from users." Via @opengeospatial.

Undark: In the Sonoran Desert, GIS Helps to Map Migrant Deaths - "GIS technology lends insight into why some undocumented migrants perish while crossing international borders."

Reuters: Indonesia's map project ignores indigenous land, risks conflicts  - "An ambitious Indonesian project to create a single database of the country’s land area and stop conflicts is destined to flounder unless it includes maps created by indigenous communities, advocates said on Wednesday."

People

Monash: PhD profile: Embracing science and technology to assess a health hazard - "It was an interest in using GIS for public health purposes that drove Amanda to conduct her PhD within our Monash Centre for Occupational and Environmental Health (MonCOEH). Team members take overall responsibility for the Hazelwood Health Study, a longitudinal study monitoring health outcomes among people exposed to smoke from the 45-day long Hazelwood Mine Fire in Victoria’s La Trobe Valley in 2014."

Calvin: Mapping: A Creative Path for All Students - How did Eleanor Ludwig choose her college major? “I randomly clicked on the intro GIS course without knowing anything about it. My high school geography class was nothing like my classes now.”

The Griffon News (Missouri Western): Geography superhero: Dr. Dawn Drake - "...[G]eography professor Dr. Dawn Drake has the task to single-handedly teach Missouri Western students the vast subject and all it encompasses.

Programs and Courses

Onandaga CC: Big plans for fall semester - Among the new degree programs: "Geospatial Science & Technology A.A.S. - Think of this as G.I.S.,' or Geographic Information System Mapping. Students will learn how to operate drones with mapping technology and analyze data collected in the field. Students can go directly into a job as a G.I.S. Technician or Drone Pilot or work in an array of fields that require GIS skills."

Northeastern State: NSU's geography program recognized as one of the best in the nation - "NSU’s Geography and Sustainability program was listed at No. 21 as part of College Rank’s top 30 Best Bachelor’s in Geography list."

On and Off Campus

Bowdoin: Following a Map of 'Bowdoin Moments' - Bowdoin Moments is a new interactive website created by Max Freeman ’22 and Camilo Pareja ’22. 

The State Press: Mapping Access seeks to make ASU campuses easier to navigate for all - "Students and volunteers are going building by building to create more accessible campus maps."

Around the O (Oregon) - New virtual challenge rewards students’ COVID-19 knowledge - The weekly challenges "gamify" COVID-19 knowledge. "The challenge was created by the Division of Student Life, the Location Innovation Lab of the Campus GIS and Mapping Program and the incident management team. Student focus groups and student employees helped design the challenge and contributed feedback."

 

Meanwhile in Education

 

Inside Higher Ed: ‘A Hotly Contested Issue’- "In a case with far-reaching implications for both students and faculty members, a federal appeals court sides with a professor who refused to refer to transgender student by her preferred pronoun." I hope we get this sorted out soon.

Events and Opportunities

AI for Good: Workshop: Satellite Data Analysis and Machine Learning Classification with QGIS - Two, two-hour workshops are to be held 27 April and 11 May. The workshops seem to be free.