Hello all, I guess I’ll get started wit…
Hello all, I guess I’ll get started with the week six discussion forum! I thought our guest speaker today had some really interesting projects to share, and I’m looking forward to how other people connected with them. As we have talked about in this class and in others, GIS and other techniques we learn are really about data visualization, and have the power to translate confusing data into forms that are easy to understand. To me, this has huge political implications. Too often, data is only used by powerful groups to further their own interests, both in that large institutions have the resources to commission studies (and therefor decide which questions to ask) and the ability to disclose, hide, or strategically represent findings. Data, numbers, maps, statistics, etc. are all tools that can be used by marginalized groups as well, but they (/we) face many barriers in obtaining and using them. Along with increasing people’s familiarity with how to read basic statistics, creating more accurate and easy to understand graphic representations of data can be an excellent way to resist efforts by powerful institutions to shape our opinions and understanding of the world for us.
Eleanor Shorrock 6:39 pm on February 9, 2016 Permalink |
To build on what Mielle has said, I found this week’s guest speaker, Joey, quite encouraging, as he assured me that I have built skills over the past 3 years that make me employable. Having set on the human/physical geography fence up until this year, I have been getting increasingly concerned that whilst I have learnt a plethora of skills, I have not developed any in particular. Joey has enlightened me however that having had a taste of coding, mapping, blogging, making models, historical research (the list goes on!), I have had the opportunity to explore and touch on many fields that less diverse degrees perhaps do not. As Joey said – us geographers are a “bi-curious” bunch and instead of being concerned that I know a lot in little depth, I should utilise the skills that I have and enjoy, to develop them and find something to offer an employer.
Cheng Yee Seah 10:09 pm on February 11, 2016 Permalink |
As Eleanor suggested, this “bi-curiosity” is definitely something that stood out to me from Joey’s lecture. As Geographers, but also as learnings it’s more and more important to be able to make linkages between different passions and interests, and Joey was able to clearly show us an example of using data visualizations as a method of mapping and sorting out massive amounts of information. It is also quite scary to think about how our world revolves around the use of computers and technology yet most of us (at least, definitely me!) don’t know how our information is being used or who has access to it – leading to privacy issues.
Even if we aren’t able to code, I think this lecture definitely pushed for us as “researchers” to think outside the box – how can we best present large amounts of data in ways that will be approachable and relatable to our targeted audience? It’s also interesting to think about how we can display information that can be useful e.g. Joey’s app on Taxi-pooling in NYC.
As someone mentioned in class, which I found to be incredibly important to consider – is the challenges that we may face in presenting information in “unique” and “out of the box ways” when there is limited access to computers, laptops and general technology/internet. This may not be such a big issue in Canada, but definitely if you were to work in other countries or in more rural areas, this would be a huge factor to consider.
eleanor shorrock 6:43 pm on February 9, 2016 Permalink |
To follow what Mielle has said, I found this week’s guest speaker, Joey, quite encouraging, as he assured me that I have built skills over the past 3 years that make me employable. Having set on the human/physical geography fence up until this year, I have been getting increasingly concerned that whilst I have learnt a plethora of skills, I have not developed any in particular. Joey has enlightened me however that having had a taste of coding, mapping, blogging, making models, historical research (the list goes on!), I have had the opportunity to explore and touch on many fields that less diverse degrees perhaps do not and develop them. As Joey said – us geographers are a “bi-curious” bunch and instead of being concerned that I know a lot in little depth, I should utilise the skills that I have and enjoy, to improve on them and find something to offer an employer.
alison fung 11:57 pm on February 9, 2016 Permalink |
Similar to Mielle and Eleanor, I also found Joey’s talk inspiring. While it is true that as geographers, we do not have necessarily have the easiest skills to describe, he made a very good point that it is up to “do a lot of stuff” to show what we can do. For myself and others that are not going in the direction of maps, design and technology, I realized this class is something that shows other non-academic skills such as working with a community partner and different stakeholders, facilitating focus groups etc. For my group, we are starting to see interactions of human, environmental and spatial issues with trail use in the Williams Lake Community Forest. This is quite exciting to me, as it combines different interests and values and seems like a very geography-oriented project to me.
Also, like Eleanor, I agree that not necessarily specializing in one thing in particular can be beneficial since it keeps options open to potential future jobs.
Emily Dunn 7:17 pm on February 10, 2016 Permalink |
Similar to above, I found Joey’s talk fascinating as it came from someone who has been through the system the same as us, someone who has undertaken a Geography Undergraduate degree and shown how well it can be applied within the context of the real world. More often than not, people either typecast Geography as something that is useless or vague and I think what Joey showed was how dynamic the degree truly is. The skills we learn throughout our undergraduate through various methods classes – for example, I’ve taken a GIS course and now a human geography methods course – will be instrumental into helping us with future employment and I believe that the dynamic nature of Geography will offer us an edge. In a world that is constantly changing, GIS skills will soon become instrumental and offer advantages as Geography graduates to apply our skills in a real life context that other degrees may not be offered. Even in the way Joey described himself showed the diverse applications of Geography and how it has become a subject that touches on many disciplines and is not simply an art or a science, but a mixture of both.
Donna Liu 7:48 pm on February 10, 2016 Permalink |
I totally agree with all the sentiments shared above and I think perhaps we were all drawn to Joey’s presentation because he shared similar academic and personal experiences as our own, with interests and skills across different disciplines. His portfolio of projects encouraged us to see that we have opportunities to combine our geographical skills and other interests in interesting and surprising ways. I also related to how he shared about his fears and uncertainties in creating his work and overcoming those feelings by continuing to develop his skills and finding the right medium and outlets to facilitate his learning. In this course, it has been exciting how we have so much flexibility to explore and build upon our academic and personal skills. In my group project so far, we have been introduced to a lot of data and information and as Joey suggested, it will be important to present our data in an accessible and inclusive way for our community partner. While we may not be as techy as Joey, we hope to work towards creating a readable and engaging project for our community partner!
Anton Metalnikov 7:57 pm on February 10, 2016 Permalink |
It’s interesting that you mention that Joey’s talk was encouraging for you, because it actually made me quite nervous! His thorough knowledge of technology and ability to intertwine geography with it made me question my own abilities and what I would be able to provide to a potential employer. I really admired his creativity and it actually has made me reevaluate the way I work and study the past few days. Graduating students are becoming more and more creative lately and Joey has in a way inspired me to start thinking outside of the box in my own interests. Since his presentation, I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about how I could use new technologies to come up with a fresh perspective, both for my community project as well as for my future career goals. I haven’t come up with anything yet, but it’s certainly given me a lot to think about as I move forward with my degree.
theriseofthesun 1:16 pm on February 11, 2016 Permalink |
Hey Anton,
I would have to agree with your sentiments, as I also felt super overwhelmed by all his accomplishments post-undergrad. After class I decided to return to a website called “Code Academy” where I started learning how to code on but completely forgot all I had learned since it has been over a year since I started. I remember feeling super inspired to take a Computer Science course at UBC but was discouraged to do so because I felt like I would not be able to keep up with the pace of a University level course.
However I appreciated Joey’s discussion on the importance of picking something you’re passionate about and investing a lot of time into it, such as coding or blogging. For me, I have taken on a personal project to write 365 days of poetry as a side project, ever since I was inspired from taking Creative Writing courses here at UBC. I was amazed by the numerous ways Joey collaborated with other talented individuals, which makes me wonder in awe of the potential that exists out there in the real world, for me as a cross-studies Human Geography and Creative Writing fanatic. And thus, what are some of the ways I could creatively integrate my skills from both fields into a career path?
– Therise
Kianna Zivny 1:56 pm on February 15, 2016 Permalink |
Sorry my week 6 post is a few days late, but I also wanted to briefly mention something about Joey’s talk. I definitely thought that his presentation was the most interesting one we’ve had yet and I agree with everyone else that it’s because it’s so relevant to what we are learning. Even though I found it very interesting, I agree with Anton that it was also quite overwhelming. This is the first time in my geography degree that i’m taking classes like GIS and cartography and although I really like what we’re learning and it’s such a good skill to have, it’s going to take me a while to wrap my head around using this technology let alone becoming really skilled at it. (I can’t imagine even trying to learn coding at this stage). Something that Joey mentioned that I looked into was the MapTime meetups in Vancouver, and I’m hoping to make it out to attend one sometime to learn something new in an environment like that!
Cheng Yee 10:04 pm on February 11, 2016 Permalink |
As Eleanor suggested, this “bi-curiosity” is definitely something that stood out to me from Joey’s lecture. As Geographers, but also as learnings it’s more and more important to be able to make linkages between different passions and interests, and Joey was able to clearly show us an example of using data visualizations as a method of mapping and sorting out massive amounts of information. It is also quite scary to think about how our world revolves around the use of computers and technology yet most of us (at least, definitely me!) don’t know how our information is being used or who has access to it – leading to privacy issues.
Even if we aren’t able to code, I think this lecture definitely pushed for us as “researchers” to think outside the box – how can we best present large amounts of data in ways that will be approachable and relatable to our targeted audience? It’s also interesting to think about how we can display information that can be useful e.g. Joey’s app on Taxi-pooling in NYC.
As someone mentioned in class, which I found to be incredibly important to consider – is the challenges that we may face in presenting information in “unique” and “out of the box ways” when there is limited access to computers, laptops and general technology/internet. This may not be such a big issue in Canada, but definitely if you were to work in other countries or in more rural areas, this would be a huge factor to consider.
angelaho 1:10 pm on February 11, 2016 Permalink |
I really like how Joey emphasized the use of open access data visualization programs. From my understanding, software programs such as ArcGIS and Adobe software products can be quite unaffordable. I think this contributes to the power dynamic that Mielle talked about, where those with money and power are the ones who control the production and framing of knowledge. I think that open access programs provide opportunities for the public to take part in the production of knowledge. Although there may be issues with the quality/validity of information that is produced, I think these programs can enhance the accessibility of knowledge production, and promote a diversity of perspectives. For me, I will definitely explore different open access programs out there, and try to integrate it into my group’s final project if possible.
ernielly leo 10:19 pm on February 11, 2016 Permalink |
Really good point on power, Mielle and Angela! This was something that I had been thinking about as well. It really is concerning that I don’t really know the workings of a lot things that I use, or even depend on daily. It made think about how easy it is to be an ignorant user but how that in itself creates opportunity for exploitation by large corporations.
It was really nice to hear that there is a counter movement against that, on meet ups and people helping each other to better access technology and information. What I found most refreshing was the emphasize on inclusivity in these push backs again the status quo, creating spaces and encouraging those who are usually underrepresented in the field and making it truly a safe space to learn in many ways. I find that usually the hardest part in learning as an adult is that there is a lot of pride as well as fear of mistakes that usually discourages us from practicing, even though practicing is the only way to get better.
atherias 11:07 am on February 12, 2016 Permalink |
I agree with you about the importance of open source data, and I enjoyed how Joey particularly emphasized how in the “real world” we will not necessarily have access to all the same software and data as we do in university. I’ve often thought about this through my experience in learning GIS and cartography, realizing that if I was left alone to do a project with no guidelines I would be completely lost! I am also going to look into using more open access data in this and other research projects. I think this links back to the concept of community mapping (even if it might take place on a smaller scale, and using a different format) because it seems to me that a place is created by the intersection of the institutions that organize it and the people that live it, therefore it only makes sense that both should take part in representing it on a map.