Not only can research findings can be greatly influenced by the chosen methodologies, I think the way in which research participants are sampled will also have major impacts on the findings. For example, while snowball or convenient sampling would be easy to achieve, it may not be an appropriate for producing representative research findings. As researchers, we need to have a clear understanding of how our chosen sample(s) can influence our understanding of the topic at hand. In some cases, the representativeness of research findings may not be as important as developing new theories or reaffirming existing theories. For my group, we have yet to decide on how we will divvy up the participants for our focus groups. As we will be working with youth, there is a range of possibilities that we can take to establish our focus groups, such as organizing them by race/ethnicity, age or gender. How do other groups plan to select participants for their research sample? Let me know, – I’d love to hear your thoughts!
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Angela Ho
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Marcus
This week’s guest presentation made me realize the immense power that research has and the responsibility we hold as students conducting research. I realized this when our guest lecturer Craig was talking about the changes in housing availability in the Richmond Park and Maywood areas of Burnaby. This presentation was personal to me as Burnaby is where I have been born, raised and live in to this day. Although I have seen these changes housing before, it was not until Craig’s presentation that I realized the true, somewhat negative implications of the changes to the neighbourhood. To be completely honest, I was quite shocked and even frightened after hearing him explain what may come to the place I’ve called home for 20 years. It was a powerful message that was shared and I realize now how researchers must always greatly consider the impact of these messages that produce and share. Whether we use surveys, interviews and focus groups, the information retrieved from the research is much more than data; they are stories about the lives of people and the results of the research can greatly alter how their stories unfold.
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theriseofthesun
Hi Marcus,
You made some really good observations about Craig’s presentation regarding the extremely rapid development of high-rise housing in the metropolitan area of Burnaby. I think the relationship between immigration and housing development is a pertinent issue that should definitely be explored further, especially because since it affects all of us, in terms of housing availability, affordability, accessibility and more. As someone who lives and has grown up in Richmond, BC, I have noticed a drastic boom in high-rise complex apartment buildings that have taken over older, single-story house neighborhoods. Recently, there has been a big debate and a study that claims to put data behind the widely held but difficult-to-prove assumption that off-shore money is driving Vancouver’s boiling housing market has concluded that the vast majority of houses on the city’s affluent west side have been bought by new immigrants from China, many of whom earning income outside of Canada.
I’m really interested in hearing what other people’s thoughts are about this?
For more information about the study here’s a link to a Globe and Mail article: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/vancouvers-housing-market-fuelled-by-chinese-buyers-study/article27064577/
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Cheng Yee Seah
Hmm yeah! I find it really interesting how research can, and is currently being used to tackle on going issues that are so close to us and evident in Vancouver. For a long time I struggled with gaging how useful conducting research was (I guess being a little skeptical), as so often I see groups just used as a “research topic” and an inability to actually utilize the research work to take action against or work towards solving issues. Craig’s presentation and research work was a prime example of how such research CAN in fact be used in a beneficial way. More importantly, I think he highlighted the process of doing so, and perhaps the struggles with dealing with much larger institutional issues and the pace at which progress can be seen.
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Emily Dunn
I think the most valuable thing about Craig’s research though is that through his method of triangulation, he manages to approach the issue from all perspectives and sides. His data might show one thing about the area (e.g. the condition of the buildings) but through his interviews and focus groups, he highlights a different perspective – that of the people who live there, which is perhaps the most important in this issue. What I found really interesting was the group of people who weren’t objected to the high rise development and who had actually seen benefits from it – e.g. the community center. I think even the publication of those would be immensely valuable, for both planning officials and future developers in order for them to judge how best to approach the situation and gain support for it. I think that Craig’s research contributed heavily to the socio-economic stance on the issue and should be used to illustrate alternative thinking around the redevelopment in Vancouver.
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Melissa Lee
Marcus is right, not only is basic quantitative numerical data collected but lots of valuable and useful stories, conversations, and context come out of this research as well. What would you say would be some example plans or approaches to actually use this wealth of information as they have so much potential to suggest the needed changes and inform people about them? I have to agree with you Emily, that the magic with Craig’s mixed triangulation method is that he allows himself to see the issue at multiple dimensions. Publications of several stories and interviews would give great exposure of the insides.
I once did a very part-time job doing door-to-door marketing about a home service when I was much younger and landed in a neighbourhood around South-Marine Vancouver. I quickly found it was not a great place for me to get leads after learning from the short conversations I had at homeowners’ doors that the whole area is being torn down (houses would be knocked down and notices were given out a year ago) so developers could build high-rise apartments. I had many people rant to me about how they felt at their doors and I remember wondering whether or not developers/planners listened to their stories and concerns before fully deciding such decisions (or to come up with compensations or accommodations). I do not remember every detail back then about the situation, but what matters is the fact that I had collected this kind of information from the actual people (homeowners in that neighbourhood) who were being affected. This memory of mine additionally helps me understand how sharing such kinds of data may contribute to creating future impacts if messages are received and actions are taken as a response.
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atherias
Cheng Yee, I definitely share some of your former skepticism about the power of research in effecting “real” change. I think this is partly due to the history of exploitative research that has done harm (or at least done little direct good) to the subjects involved and partly because of the recurring feeling that the realm of academia can be very removed from the issue being researched and the resolution of that issue. This is why I think our chance to undertake community research is so important; while we follow the academic protocol, there is direct collaboration that is taking place which may allow for the benefits of the research to reach the participants much faster. In both community and traditional research I still see the ways in which existing institutions have the power to stall needed change (identified by research) if those changes are not in their direct interests. Just as Burnaby lacks regulations to ensure affordable housing, the city of Williams Lake has invested very little in convenient and effective transportation. When those barriers occur and institution does not cooperate, I think it is important to empower communities from the ground up by drawing on their existing strengths. That is sort of the thinking that shapes my own interaction with my group’s project. Last year the students did extensive research on the public transit issues which they presented to the city, yet this has apparently not led to any changes. The work we are doing this year is finding one way in which the community itself can meet its own needs, which could happen faster since the people are motivated by their own experience.
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Kianna Zivny
Just to reply about this week’s guest lecture, I also thought it was a very interesting one. I live close to the skytrain line and I thought it was interesting how Craig talked about the densification of that corridor before the skytrain was put in place. I agree with Marcus on how important and powerful research can be, as well as intensive, if it is actually used to do something with. I also think a lot of research can go into a topic and then it doesn’t actually get used for anything tangible. To build off of what Adele said at the end about our group’s project, I think it has the potential to be very useful to the community in a tangible way. The work that last year’s group did on the transit system is something that we can use this year to build off of to help the motivated people in the community meet some of the needs that it addressed.
Also, I just want to add a quick comment about the discussion on gender and the activity we did in class. I thought the activity was interesting because of the way I would think people would choose to categorize the traits as “male or female.” I think if you only have the two choices of male or female, you could go about answering it in different ways. For example, either comparing a trait to yourself or someone you have in mind that displays that trait, could influence why you would categorize it in a certain way.
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alison fung
Like others, I also found Craig’s presentation on war lawyers very interesting, as it was a job I had never heard of before. Since he was an outsider interviewing others on a topic he was researching but did not have personal experience in the position, it made me think how our class is in a similar situation when we go to Williams Lake. We have been talking to people in the area, researching our topics, but in some ways, it seems like someone there might be better suited to work on some of our issues. However, Craig’s talk also showed me how an “outsider” perspective can be very useful and effective.
I also took away from the presentation that we should hold interviews where the interviewees feel most comfortable, and to also look at the interviewees as a regular person as well. We also need to make sure we are considering what questions we want to, but realizing what questions we can actually ask. I thought it was interesting how he couldn’t mention his work in Israel when he was in Palestine, as it showed how his positionality comes off to others– how his other research may anger others. It was also an exciting presentation in that there are always new fields we have yet to discover! -
mielle
I’ll be talking about triangulation and the group leadership survey, feel free to start another thread or add to this one! First off, I think that triangulation is a really interesting method of research that addresses some of the problems of various scales– either aggregate data that says very little about each individual, or smaller-scale research that does not illuminate the bigger picture. The differences between Craig’s survey and focus group data was striking, and it seems likely that many of us may encounter this effect as well if we are using more than one data collection method. Craig’s differing results did not invalidate any of his findings, but they did give him a perspective that he could not have gotten elsewhere. It was a good reminder to me that even though we use empirical methods and work to find the “truth”, this truth is almost always going to be framed differently by different people or kinds of data, and we should be aware of this in our research.
The leadership survey would be such an interesting place to use triangulation– while the researchers collected the survey results, I imagine that an interview or focus group with the participants might produce a different picture about their views of masculinity and femininity, and could get into some of the issues we discussed, like how personal experience shapes opinions. A further angle might be to interview someone about their combined choices of traits for an ideal leader, because the holistic picture could be different than each trait individually. If anyone wants to talk more about the gender associations, I think they’re equally fascinating and frustrating! I was surprised at how some of the traits were gendered– any particular surprises for you?-
Emily Dunn
I definitely agree with you Mielle, triangulation is a valuable method and one I wouldn’t have considered before Craig’s talk. The only downside I could see to it would be costs in terms of time as exploring different methods and avenues isn’t always an option during research, although it depends on the specifics of projects. I thought his point about surveys and the cost of them was an interesting one too as I have never considered that cost before and how it may limit research undertaken by academics – as well as any future research I may do in the future. However, with triangulation, I do believe that the benefits outweigh the cost and I think it’s an avenue I’ll definitely pursue in any future research. Even for our research at Williams Lake, the fact that we are now aware of it as a method has definitely made me more receptive to questioning assumptions I have and refusing to take any data at face value without a more social interface in order to be sure of my research.
As for the leadership survey, the gendering of the traits didn’t surprise me in the slightest – although some of the percentages (such as 96% vs 4% for confidence) did surprise me as I had thought – especially among students – that gender associations weren’t as prevalent in society as the leadership survey made them out to be. I think part of that can be explained in the categorization of the survey though – with only two categories, male or female, people were forced into a polarizing decision. I feel that if there had been a box for ‘both genders’ the results may not have been as divided and extreme as they were. I think what would be really interesting if interviews and focus groups had been conducted would be to find out how each gender expressing the trait would come across in a leadership context e.g. would an aggressive male be perceived more positively as a leader than an aggressive female? All in all, I thought it was an extremely interesting activity that has many implications for the way we perceive these issues, -
Eleanor Shorrock
I agree with Mielle that triangulation methodology can address problems on varying scales. Although one methodology cannot invalidate the other, having a second method with differing results can either highlight potential biases or raise awareness of potential phenomenon that we had not yet considered. Adding a third methodology on top can increase the validity of findings if they point to similar conclusion. Craig noted that using a range of research methodologies enabled him to attain general data through census, get expert opinions of his initial findings using interviews, and finally, challenge assumptions he had initially made through the use of focus groups. Whilst we may not have the time/resources in to conduct such a large scale project in Williams Lake, it is important that we do not just use one method and label our findings as ‘truth’. The mining team will be using surveys which we intend to analyse prior to our visit and then use these findings to construct interviews during our visit. Whilst it would be convenient for these two methods to provide us with the same outcome, what is most exciting about field work is that initial assumptions can be challenged!
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ernielly leo
I can’t seem to start a new thread in discussing gender, and in particular our conversation around International Women’s Day but thanks for bringing this up Mielle. There weren’t any surprises for me in terms of the experiment we did in class, it was a relief to see that our class’ response was slightly different than what is usually the case at large. However as we discuss and celebrate international Women’s day, I can’t help but consider the conversations and the meaning behind these worldwide celebration. I feel that we must consider intersectionality and how it further convoluted the conversation on genderization of characteristics. What does it mean to be a person of colour who are also assigned gendered characteristics on top of assigned characteristics due to ethnicity? Where do trans bodies fit in this space? What does it mean to be a woman in certain places where values, cultural practices, and relationship holds a different meaning from our North American context? I think it’s important to think about how we are celebrating International Womens Day, keeping in mind that its initial conception was at a very different time and that it was meant to celebrate a certain type of women. I think decolonizing our celebration and engaging with the intersectionality of gender, race, and sexual orientation is difficult but also so important! That being said, it is a very tricky thing to be doing, any ideas on how may broaden the conversation surrounding international Women’s day?
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Donna Liu
To continue the discussion on survey and gender, I felt extremely frustrated seeing the results of the perceived masculine and feminine traits! I think that the setup of the survey put pressure on participants to define attitudes and qualities of males and females in a black and white way. There was no opportunity in the participation of the survey for the participants to contextualize their answers and give their reasoning. Thus, we also do not have information either and only see the results of a more traditional culturally defined masculine and feminine traits. With this survey, it may have been interesting for the researchers to continue with a triangulation method and conduct interviews or focus groups to hear what the participants were thinking during the survey activity. Moreover, if I had completed the gender version of the survey, I would have given many positive traits that males scored higher, such as confident, powerful, and strong as a feminine trait. However, I recognize that my choices would be based on my experiences and attitude towards females in my life as well as my role models. I think it is also encouraging to see examples of many women are become strong leaders with leadership styles that don’t necessarily take on male caricatures. Similarly, there are many men who are sensible and relationship oriented!
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amy luo
I thought the activity Siobhan conducted with the class regarding gender and leadership was extremely interesting and it hit close to home for me. As a female athlete who has competed at an international level, I face gender issues all the time, especially playing a co-ed sport. Recently, I was playing ultimate at a recreational level with some friends, and oftentimes they look to me for leadership and advice due to my experience in the sport. However, another teammate arrived who has played at as high of a level as I have, but was a male. All of a sudden everyone started turning to him for leadership and advice, despite asking him questions that I was also perfectly capable of providing answers for. After the activity we did in class, I started reflecting on the possibility that these gendered stereotypes of leadership are so deeply engrained in our society that we don’t even realize it happening, as I’m sure my friends were not intentionally deferring to my male counterpart over me. (We were also the same ethnicity if that makes a difference!)
I apologize if my story was a bit of a digression, but I wanted to share this personal experience regarding gender and leadership as it felt very timely with Siobhan’s in class activity.
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courtenay desiree crane
Just adding to the conversation about gender, I think that the research that was conducted showed less about what traits are characteristic of men and women, but instead reflected how gender is constructed in society. I think that this week’s reading “Navigating the city: gender and positionality in cultural geography research” really complimented this week’s activity as it discusses gender and research. I found it really useful in helping to consider the relationship between gender and the methodology that we employ in our research. The authors write: “When we consider gender, we not only reference the physical qualities associated with gender differences but most importantly also refer to socially constructed gender roles” (Kusek et al., 153).
I think that the results of the survey illustrated the limitations that come with only recognizing two genders, male and female. I believe that gender should not be something that you just tick off in a box as either as male or female; perhaps a blank space for the participant to provide their own way of identifying would be more suitable. In the article “Native gay and lesbian issues: The two-spirited” Terry Tafoya offers a good overview of traditional Indigenous concepts of gender that are quite different from the Canadian constructions of gender that were long imposed on Indigenous peoples. In mainstream Canadian society, gender is often constructed as “polar opposites, or different ends of the same stick. One is either/or, male or female, gay or straight. Native American concepts usually prefer circles to lines. If one takes the line of male/female, gay/straight, and bends it into a circle, there are an infinite number of points. Just so, there are theoretically an infinite number of possible points of gender and sexual identity for an individual who can shift and differ over time and location” (Tafoya, 407).
This article is quite appropriate for our discussion of leadership, which, in Canadian society, has been dominated by men. If I remember correctly the leadership gender survey took place at a university in the states, which, like Canada is a settler colonial society, where males have dominated leadership positions. Prior to contact, many Indigenous communities were matriarchal and women often occupied leadership roles. This changed with the imposition of the Indian Act, which made it mandatory for Indians on reserves to vote in band office elections instead of using traditional forms of Indigenous governance, and denied women the right to vote or to be elected chief until 1951. These imposed Canadian concepts of gender and leadership were very different from traditional Indigenous understandings.
“Historically the status of a two-spirit person was valued in many native communities, since an ordinary male sees the world through male eyes and an ordinary female sees the world through female eyes. However, a two-spirited person (who possesses both a male and female spirit, regardless of the flesh that is worn) will always see further. For this reason, many two-spirited people have become medicine people, leaders, and intermediaries between men and women… Their greater flexibility provides them with greater possibilities of discovering alternative ways of seeing themselves and the world” (Tafoya, 407)References
Kusek, Weronika A., and Sarah L. Smiley. “Navigating the City: Gender and Positionality in Cultural Geography Research.” Journal of Cultural Geography 31.2 (2014): 152-65. WebTafoya, Terry. “Native gay and lesbian issues: The two-spirited.” Psychological perspectives on lesbian, gay, and bisexual experiences (2003): 401-409.
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amy shaw
I found Craig’s presentation on his work with military lawyers and his use of interviews to be extremely useful in learning what steps must be taken to ensure that you get the most out of an interview and built trust with your interviewee. Although I have had a completely different experience of life than my community partner in Williams Lake, Craig listed steps to ensure that I conduct a valuable and insightful interview. It is important to do background research, as this demonstrates commitment to their work. Furthermore, it is essential that we present ourselves as experts in the field, name dropping people in the industry. Finally, it is important to remain politically neutral in our interviews in order to get unbiased opinions from our interviewees.
One aspect of Craig’s talk I found particularly interesting was how he built up a strong rapport with his interviewee, really getting to know their personalities and their family lives. However, he struggled to juxtapose this with the military lawyer’s work, which he considered to be legitimizing killing of innocent civilians. He then had to reflect on if his interviews with these people was legitimizing their decisions, or what his work could be used for in the future. It is important for researchers to reflect on their choice of interviewee and who they choose not to interview, but also to understand the context of where you are researching and conducting your interview.
Craig’s talk really gave me the confidence to not be disheartened when I don’t receive a reply from a potential interviewee, and the advice he gave in his talk will really help in future research projects. -
brennwilliams
Eleanor, I also had similar feelings following Craig’ presentation. It was wonderful to hear about how he was so successful gaining access to both the war lawyers and those affected by their actions. Previously, I would have thought this to be impossible, particularly given the complexity of the israeli-palestinian conflict and Craig’s positionality as he is outside of both of these demographics. In my research, I have had success emphasizing my institutional connections to the university in order to conduct interviews. Every interview request I have sent from my UBC email has been responded to promptly, while approaching individuals through other platforms such as linkedin has resulted in lower rates of success. As you noted, perseverance is definitely key – and I think that Craig epitomized this. I think that with any interview, it is important to ask your subject if they know of anyone who could contribute to your research. Whether or not that individual is an expert in your field of study, or simply someone who has similar shared experiences to your original interview subject, once you have found a way into a community it is much easier to find others who are willing to help with your project.
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eleanor shorrock
I really enjoyed Craig’s presentation on interviews this week as it really gave me some confidence to be ambitious when deciding what research questions can be asked and who you can request an interview from. He highlighting that perseverance is key to a successful research process is important. In previous research, I have found that I have come to a dead end with communication lines and so approaching from a different angle or different institution is very important. Craig’s research is a sensitive topic so gaining access to the right people can be difficult but his perseverance is evident in just how many interviews he did and the interviewee’s he managed to get a hold of. This, I think, will be important for us in Williams Lake.
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Melissa Lee
It was a capturing presentation indeed overall with his story but what he had to say about interviews was so valuable to hear! You are very right when you say that his research is a sensitive one requiring his potential interviewees to talk about sensitive issues, so the amount of actual interviews he was able to pull off and the number of people he was able to get in touch with was very impressive. I was surprised to learn about all the cautious and tedious steps he did (and encourages us to adopt for our own research if we plan to conduct interviews) in order to “negotiate the access” such as the preliminary background research on potentials, and the extent to which one should extend their flexibility to meet up with the interviewees.
I think some of our class’ Williams Lake research topics can be culturally and politically sensitive (for example, my group’s research involves figuring out how many trees can be sustainably cut down considering that there are many traditional uses of the land by the Aboriginal peoples). Attaining access to the interviewees may not be a huge problem for many but it may be hard to gain their trust for them to completely open up to us. This is where Craig’s suggestion to keep a “political neutrality” may come to be important.
Overall I think Craig’s presentation really does make us wary about both the little details and the bigger picture about the whole process and considerations when it comes to performing/preparing for interviews in research.-
wileywilkins
Hey so I couldn’t get this blog to open up on my home computer. im actually surprised I was able to get it to open this time. So, since this blog post is late, I might as well talk about something that happened after this assignment was do; which was Max Rittz presentation today on sound geographies.
The first thing that hit my mind when he brought up sound geographies was this assignment I did last year for ‘urban environments’ or something along those lines. awesome class! any who one of the assignments we had (the only one that I didn’t like) was mapping noise pollution in Vancouver. we walked around a conglomeration of like 6 blocks and mapped the sound. I had found the assignment kind of pointless, until today! seeing a different approach to sound geographies by mapping the sound of boats in the ocean and where they are most prevalent? that was really interesting, and worth while. I now have respect for that assignment last year, and sound geographies in general. I have never thought about geography in the terms of sound. and now im going to think about it all of the time.
I wonder if using sound for geography will become more prevalent in research? I think Rittz brought it up, but sound (not language) is a way to communicate with all people. Most people are going to infer close to the same things from sounds, weather they are intrusive and aggressive, or soft and pleasant. Its one of the many things that makes us human that we can all agree on(besides people that are deaf I guess).
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wileywilkins
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Adrian Cheng
I totally agree with you. With each and every in class speaker, I have come to realize more and more how sensitive field research can be towards the participants in a study. With this in mind, I also wanted to comment on how important and intricate methodologies can be when carrying research out. To me, the methodologies are like the planting style of a researcher. Like a gardener, a researcher needs to keep a respectful yet flexible way on carrying out research with the risk of ruining the garden.
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mcphees
Any thoughts to share on last week’s guest speakers or on the timeline activity? You are only required to add to the discussion forum week 3,6,9,12 but the conversations have been wonderful so far so let’s keep it going.
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mcphees
Thanks for getting the conversation started Mielle and I am happy to see that you all enjoyed Joey’s talk and learned something from it. Don’t let reading week allow you to neglect your projects and your community partners. We have an exciting Tuesday when we get back with three guest speakers and free lunch!
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mielle
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.
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Eleanor Shorrock
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.
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Cheng Yee Seah
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.
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eleanor shorrock
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.
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alison fung
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
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.
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Donna Liu
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!
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Anton Metalnikov
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.
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theriseofthesun
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
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Kianna Zivny
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!
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Cheng Yee
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.
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angelaho
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.
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ernielly leo
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
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.
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Marina Favaro, and 
Adrian Cheng, 
Kasper Richter 11:21 pm on March 11, 2016 Permalink |
I definitely agree that we need to be careful in choosing our research methods, and this goes doubly so when working with sensitive groups like youth and first nations. Our group is doing the latter of the two, and we are walking a metaphorical tightrope, so to speak, as we need to address economic desires in a way that is respectful towards the community and as environmentally sustainable as a clearcutting can be.
We are currently in talks with our community partner about arranging an open house to discuss the matter, which would hopefully provide us with a large and randomized sample of community members.
In addition to this, I am currently considering going to Williams lake half a week to a week in advance in order to conduct some preliminary interviews with foresters and other band members.
Marina Favaro 1:50 pm on March 12, 2016 Permalink |
Hi all,
Just wanted to add my two cents on the topic of methodologies: as someone who has never done primary research in a similar context to this course, methodologies are something that I have never given much thought to. However, as a proud Arts student, I must say that methodologies are an area in which subjectivity and the “messiness” that comes with social sciences as opposed to more qualitative sciences are both important characteristics of research. For example, upon reading this article entitled “‘Unreliable’ tests may have led to apprehension of B.C. children” – the content of which is especially pertinent to the research we are conducting for the Cariboo Friendship Society, it was interesting that the exclusively forensic research that was conducted gave an incomplete picture of the realities of child apprehension. I look forward to working with a mixed methods approach, and embracing the challenges and messiness that comes with cross-cultural work and a plurality of voices.
Further reading: http://www.vancouversun.com/daphne+bramham+unreliable+tests+have+apprehension+children/11777160/story.html?__lsa=c817-ced3#ixzz42cW4G6BX
brennwilliams 6:05 pm on March 14, 2016 Permalink |
Hi Everyone!
It was pointed out to me this term from another instructor that we need to be cautious with our terminologies when we are discussing methods. Although we see the term methodologies a lot in academia, it is used incorrectly often as it refers to the study of methods. I was under the impression that methodologies was a more intelligent way of saying method my last 4 years at UBC! As we are not investigating the philosophy of different methods in our research, I would stick with ‘methods’ for the purpose of our blogs and research reports.