Spatial information technologies in geographic education

This paper describes a project focusing on the need to enhance communication and understanding between higher education and the K-12 system through the use of spatial information technologies, specifically geographic information systems (GIS), global positioning systems (GPS), remotely sensed data (RS) and the Internet. The project has developed materials and identified data through an interactive exchange between Colorado State University graduate students studying information technology for resource management and K-12 teachers. The outcome of the project is twofold: 1) to help K-12 students meet content standards of geography: “how to use maps and other geographic representations, tools and technology to acquire, process and report information from a spatial perspective” (National Geography Standard, 1994, p. 106); and 2) to bridge the gap between higher education and K-12 by providing CSU graduate students with an opportunity to apply spatial information technology skills. Content of exercises developed by CSU graduate students focuses on specific natural resource management issues

An "All Hands" Call to the Social Science Community: Establishing a Community Framework for Complexity Modeling Using Agent Based Models and Cyberinfrastructure

To date, many communities of practice (COP) in the social sciences have been struggling with how to deal with rapidly growing bodies of information. Many CoPs across broad disciplines have turned to community frameworks for complexity modeling (CFCMs) but this strategy has been slow to be discussed let alone adopted by the social sciences communities of practice (SS-CoPs). In this paper we urge the SS-CoPs that it is timely to develop and establish a CBCF for the social sciences for two major reasons: the rapid acquisition of data and the emergence of critical cybertools which can facilitate agent-based, spatially-explicit models. The goal of this paper is not to prescribe how a CFCM might be set up but to suggest of what components it might consist and what its advantages would be. Agent based models serve the establishment of a CFCM because they allow robust and diverse inputs and are amenable to output-driven modifications. In other words, as phenomena are resolved by a SS-CoP it is possible to adjust and refine ABMs (and their predictive ability) as a recursive and collective process. Existing and emerging cybertools such as computer networks, digital data collections and advances in programming languages mean the SS-CoP must now carefully consider committing the human organization to enabling a cyberinfrastructure tool. The combination of technologies with human interfaces can allow scenarios to be incorporated through 'if' 'then' rules and provide a powerful basis for addressing the dynamics of coupled and complex social ecological systems (cSESs). The need for social scientists to be more engaged participants in the growing challenges of characterizing chaotic, self-organizing social systems and predicting emergent patterns makes the application of ABMs timely. The enabling of a SS-CoP CFCM human-cyberinfrastructure represents an unprecedented opportunity to synthesize, compare and evaluate diverse sociological phenomena as a cohesive and recursive community-driven process.Community-Based Complex Models, Mathematics, Social Sciences

Vulnerability of Subsistence Systems Due to Social and Environmental Change: A Case Study in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, Alaska

Arctic Indigenous communities have been classified as highly vulnerable to climate change impacts. The remoteness of Arctic communities, their dependence upon local species and habitats, and the historical marginalization of Indigenous peoples enhances this characterization of vulnerability. However, vulnerability is a result of diverse historical, social, economic, political, cultural, institutional, natural resource, and environmental conditions and processes and is not easily reduced to a single metric. Furthermore, despite the widespread characterization of vulnerability, Arctic Indigenous communities are extremely resilient as evidenced by subsistence institutions that have been developed over thousands of years. We explored the vulnerability of subsistence systems in the Cup’ik village of Chevak and Yup’ik village of Kotlik through the lens of the strong seasonal dimensions of resource availability. In the context of subsistence harvesting in Alaska Native villages, vulnerability may be determined by analyzing the exposure of subsistence resources to climate change impacts, the sensitivity of a community to those impacts, and the capacity of subsistence institutions to absorb these impacts. Subsistence resources, their seasonality, and perceived impacts to these resources were investigated via semi-structured interviews and participatory mapping-calendar workshops. Results suggest that while these communities are experiencing disproportionate impacts of climate change, Indigenous ingenuity and adaptability provide an avenue for culturally appropriate adaptation strategies. However, despite this capacity for resiliency, rapid socio-cultural changes have the potential to be a barrier to community adaptation and the recent, ongoing shifts in seasonal weather patterns may make seasonally specific subsistence adaptations to landscape particularly vulnerable.Les collectivités autochtones de l’Arctique sont classées comme étant fortement vulnérables aux incidences du changement climatique. L’éloignement des collectivités de l’Arctique, leur dépendance des espèces et des habitats locaux de même que la marginalisation historique des peuples autochtones intensifient cette vulnérabilité. Toutefois, la vulnérabilité est le résultat de conditions et de processus divers sur le plan historique, social, économique, politique, culturel, institutionnel, environnemental et des ressources naturelles. Il est difficile d’attribuer la vulnérabilité à un seul aspect. Malgré cette vaste caractérisation de la vulnérabilité, les collectivités autochtones de l’Arctique sont extrêmement résilientes, comme en attestent les modes de subsistance qui se sont développés au fil de milliers d’années. Nous avons exploré la vulnérabilité des systèmes de subsistance du village cup’ik de Chevak et du village yup’ik de Kotlik du point de vue des dimensions saisonnières fortes de la disponibilité des ressources. Dans le contexte des récoltes de subsistance des villages autochtones de l’Alaska, la vulnérabilité peut être déterminée au moyen de l’exposition des ressources de subsistance aux incidences du changement climatique, de la sensibilité d’une collectivité à ces incidences et de la capacité des institutions de subsistance à absorber ces incidences. Les ressources de subsistance, leur saisonnalité et les incidences perçues de ces ressources ont été étudiées au moyen d’entrevues semi-structurées et d’ateliers participatifs d’établissement de calendrier. Selon les résultats, bien que ces collectivités soient aux prises avec des incidences disproportionnées de changement climatique, l’ingéniosité et l’adaptabilité des Autochtones pavent le chemin à des stratégies d’adaptation convenant à leur culture. Cependant, malgré cette capacité de résilience, les changements socioculturels accélérés ont la possibilité de faire obstacle à l’adaptation collective, sans compter que la variation continue des tendances climatiques saisonnières peut rendre les adaptations de subsistance saisonnières au paysage particulièrement vulnérables

Risk, equity and environment: A methodology for conducting an Environmental Equity Assessment.

This dissertation examines the relationship between risk and equity as manifested in the environment--in particular, what is the relationship of risk to social, political and economic processes. To accomplish this, I have developed a methodology, an Environmental Equity Assessment (EEA), by which to examine disproportionate impacts of environmental stress. This research acknowledges the fact that problems of environmental pollution are linked not only to business and industry practices but to issues of social justice. This dissertation is designed to contribute to a better understanding of the relationships between risk and equity, environmental philosophy and social justice, and to devise alternative methods to define and analyze risk, and help create equitable policy options and considerations. The methodology is applied to a case study related to water quality in Tucson, Arizona. The case study is primarily illustrative; it brings into focus the relationship between risk, equity and environment, providing a venue for the implementation of an Environmental Equity Assessment (EEA)

Innovations in Education and Research at WCNR

A panel discussion of new ideas, pedagogy and methods for the integration of teaching and research. WCNR is a leading institution for natural resource education. This panel will present specific examples from the across the college and discuss benefits to students, research outputs, and innovative approaches to teaching. Facilitator: Melinda Laituri; Panelists: Jessica Thompson, Sara Rathbur

SDG Indicator 11.3.1 and Secondary Cities: An Analysis and Assessment

Secondary cities are rapidly growing areas in low- and middle-income countries that lack data, planning, and essential services for sustainable development. Their rapid, informal growth patterns mean secondary cities are often data-poor and under-resourced, impacting the ability of governments to target development efforts, respond to emergencies, and design sustainable futures. The United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 11 focuses on inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable cities and human settlements. SDG Indicator (SDGI) 11.3.1 calculates the ratio of land consumption rate to population growth rate to enhance inclusive and sustainable urbanization. Our paper compares three cities—Denpasar, Indonesia; Kharkiv, Ukraine; and Mekelle, Ethiopia—that were part of the Secondary Cities (2C) Initiative of the U.S. Department of State, Office of the Geographer and Global Issues to assess SDGI 11.3.1. The 2C Initiative focused on field-based participatory mapping for data generation to assist city planning. Urban form and population data are critical for calculating and visually representing this ratio. We examine the spatial extent of each city to assess land use efficiency (LUE) and track changes in urban form over time. With limited demographic and spatial data for secondary cities, we speculate whether SDGI 11.3.1 is useful for small- and medium-sized cities

Strategic needs of water in the Yukon (SNOWY): participatory mapping in Alaska

ZIP file includes a reflection document with supporting materials and a readme file.As part of the larger, NSF funded research project, Strategic Needs of Water on the Yukon (SNOWY), participatory mapping workshops were held in three villages (Kotlik, Chevak, St. Mary's) located in the lower Yukon River Basin and Yukon-Kuskokwim delta region of Alaska. The goal of these workshops was to create a suite of maps based on seasonal subsistence resource utilization and begin to assess changes to the winter climate in the Yukon. In concert with the maps, participants also created seasonal subsistence calendars listing resource utilization throughout the year and engaged in interviews to discuss seasonality. The research focused on the nature and degree of the relationship between seasonality and subsistence resource vulnerability. We used data collected through semi-structured interview, participatory mapping, and seasonal calendar workshops in three communities located in the Yukon River Delta (YRD) over the course of two weeks in February 2014 and a return visit in May 2014

On Line Disaster Response Community: People as Sensors of High Magnitude Disasters Using Internet GIS

The Indian Ocean tsunami (2004) and Hurricane Katrina (2005) reveal the coming of age of the on-line disaster response community. Due to the integration of key geospatial technologies (remote sensing - RS, geographic information systems - GIS, global positioning systems – GPS) and the Internet, on-line disaster response communities have grown. They include the traditional aspects of disaster preparedness, response, recovery, mitigation, and policy as facilitated by governmental agencies and relief response organizations. However, the contribution from the public via the Internet has changed significantly. The on-line disaster response community includes several key characteristics: the ability to donate money quickly and efficiently due to improved Internet security and reliable donation sites; a computer-savvy segment of the public that creates blogs, uploads pictures, and disseminates information – oftentimes faster than government agencies, and message boards to create interactive information exchange in seeking family members and identifying shelters. A critical and novel occurrence is the development of “people as sensors†- networks of government, NGOs, private companies, and the public - to build rapid response databases of the disaster area for various aspects of disaster relief and response using geospatial technologies. This paper examines these networks, their products, and their future potential

Spatialising Agricultural Water Governance Data in Polycentric Regimes

Water governance in the Colorado River Basin (CRB) is based on a historical and complex set of policies, legal decisions, and operational guidelines called the Law of the River. Behind the complex institutional structure lies an intricate web of data on water, most of which are hydrogeological in nature. However, we posit that in order to realise sustainable water governance, management efforts must also address data on water governance. Therefore, our central research question is: what is the role of water governance data in water governance, as it pertains to agriculture? First, we lay out the digital landscape and theoretical framework that justify the development of the Colorado River Basin Water Governance Relational Database. Then, we conduct an analysis of water-sharing policies within Law of the River to identify and categorise boundaries. By operationalising a boundary typology in a geographic information system, we found that data on agricultural water governance have little to no current role in water governance due to scale discrepancies, insufficient availability and collection of data, and lack of standardisation. In addition, agricultural water governance in the CRB was found to exhibit polycentric patterns. However, unlike the flexible and adaptive nature of some polycentric systems, polycentric data sets may pose challenges to water governance due to limited information regarding organisational changes, policy developments, and special interests. This study advances the science-policy dialogue in four ways: 1) by emphasising the salience of the data on water governance, 2) by incorporating water governance data in water governance and policy decisions, 3) by demonstrating the value of integrating data types, and 4) by engaging users through geo-visualisation