Thanks for starting this interesting conversation. I agree with everyone here that GPS is mainly useful for charting locations. But it can be integrated with social media and interactive mapping in compelling ways. Digital humanities scholars are leading the way, but there must be sociologists working in this vein as well. Some examples: Mark Sample, an English Prof. at George Mason University, offers his thoughts on the integration of GPS and social media in teaching students how to construct place-based narratives about trauma: http://bit.ly/pL7JH2 Wendy Hsu, a Post-Doc in the Center for Digital Learning and Research at Occidental College, "scrapes" (or harvests) MySpace location data and displays it with an open source GIS program (Open Layers) to make transnational Asian-American punk rock communities visible. Here's the context of her project: http://bit.ly/qWtsvf and here's the map: http://bit.ly/qb1yLd -- You can interact with the map by clicking on the upper right hand "+" sign. There you can see the clusters of MySpace friends in relation to geographic location and the relationship between friend clusters and live performance among other things. Is anyone else out there using GPS/social media or GIS in teaching or research? Best, Carey -- Carey Sargent, PhD Sociology Instruction + Research Consultant for the Social Sciences Scholarship Technology Occidental College -- twitter: careysargent blog: http://slowknowledge.wordpress.com music: http://dzian.info noise: http://grapefruitexperiment.wordpress.com/

An interesting art and social science project using GPS was done by Esther Polak and associates in Latvia in 2004. They tracked the route of MILK from Latvian dairy cows to cheese making facilities in the Netherlands. See: http://milkproject.net/en/installation.html Valdis On Sep 7, 2011, at 1:35 PM, Carey Sargent wrote: > Thanks for starting this interesting conversation. I agree with everyone here that GPS is mainly useful for charting locations. But it can be integrated with social media and interactive mapping in compelling ways. Digital humanities scholars are leading the way, but there must be sociologists working in this vein as well. > > Some examples: > > Mark Sample, an English Prof. at George Mason University, offers his thoughts on the integration of GPS and social media in teaching students how to construct place-based narratives about trauma: http://bit.ly/pL7JH2 > > Wendy Hsu, a Post-Doc in the Center for Digital Learning and Research at Occidental College, "scrapes" (or harvests) MySpace location data and displays it with an open source GIS program (Open Layers) to make transnational Asian-American punk rock communities visible. Here's the context of her project: http://bit.ly/qWtsvf and here's the map: http://bit.ly/qb1yLd -- You can interact with the map by clicking on the upper right hand "+" sign. There you can see the clusters of MySpace friends in relation to geographic location and the relationship between friend clusters and live performance among other things. > > Is anyone else out there using GPS/social media or GIS in teaching or research? > > Best, > Carey > > -- > Carey Sargent, PhD Sociology > Instruction + Research Consultant for the Social Sciences > Scholarship Technology > Occidental College > > -- > twitter: careysargent > blog: http://slowknowledge.wordpress.com > music: http://dzian.info > noise: http://grapefruitexperiment.wordpress.com/ > > > _______________________________________________ > CITASA mailing list > CITASA@list.citasa.org > http://list.citasa.org/mailman/listinfo/citasa_list.citasa.org

Folks in environmental justice / public health are doing interesting things with maps, like this one called Habitat Map: http://habitatmap.org/markers from their 'about us' page (http://habitatmap.org/about_us): HabitatMap is a non-profit environmental health justice organization whose goal is to raise awareness about the impact the environment has on human health. Our online mapping and social networking platform is designed to maximize the impact of community voices on city planning and strengthen ties between organizations and activists working to build greener, greater cities. Utilizing our shared advocacy platform participants can: - Alert the public to environmental health hazards - Hold polluters accountable for their environmental impacts - Highlight urban infrastructures that promote healthy living - Identify future opportunities for sustainable urban development - Promote policies that enhance equitable access to urban resources * * * Jessie Daniels, PhD Associate Professor CUNY School of Public Health Hunter College and The Graduate Center New York, NY * * * http://www.linkedin.com/in/jessiedaniels On Wed, Sep 7, 2011 at 1:54 PM, Valdis Krebs <valdis@orgnet.com> wrote: > An interesting art and social science project using GPS was done by Esther > Polak and associates in Latvia in 2004. They tracked the route of MILK from > Latvian dairy cows to cheese making facilities in the Netherlands. See: > http://milkproject.net/en/installation.html > > Valdis > > > On Sep 7, 2011, at 1:35 PM, Carey Sargent wrote: > > Thanks for starting this interesting conversation. I agree with everyone > here that GPS is mainly useful for charting locations. But it can be > integrated with social media and interactive mapping in compelling ways. > Digital humanities scholars are leading the way, but there must be > sociologists working in this vein as well. > > Some examples: > > Mark Sample, an English Prof. at George Mason University, offers his > thoughts on the integration of GPS and social media in teaching students how > to construct place-based narratives about trauma: http://bit.ly/pL7JH2 > > Wendy Hsu, a Post-Doc in the Center for Digital Learning and Research at > Occidental College, "scrapes" (or harvests) MySpace location data and > displays it with an open source GIS program (Open Layers) to make > transnational Asian-American punk rock communities visible. Here's the > context of her project: http://bit.ly/qWtsvf and here's the map: > http://bit.ly/qb1yLd -- You can interact with the map by clicking on the > upper right hand "+" sign. There you can see the clusters of MySpace friends > in relation to geographic location and the relationship between friend > clusters and live performance among other things. > > Is anyone else out there using GPS/social media or GIS in teaching or > research? > > Best, > Carey > > -- > Carey Sargent, PhD Sociology > Instruction + Research Consultant for the Social Sciences > Scholarship Technology > Occidental College > > -- > twitter: careysargent > blog: http://slowknowledge.wordpress.com > music: http://dzian.info > noise: http://grapefruitexperiment.wordpress.com/ > > > _______________________________________________ > CITASA mailing list > CITASA@list.citasa.org > http://list.citasa.org/mailman/listinfo/citasa_list.citasa.org > > > > _______________________________________________ > CITASA mailing list > CITASA@list.citasa.org > http://list.citasa.org/mailman/listinfo/citasa_list.citasa.org > >

with apologies for the late entry on this topic... [and a nod to map-likers & collectors everywhere] another analogy occurred to me wrt my experience as a linguist (i.e. focussing on aspects of language to make comments about language itself) that there are those of us who prefer an overview of language and language use, the systemicists and grammarians. some of us even call ourselves 'language cartographers'. while there are others who prefer to focus on the so-called 'performance aspects' of language use, the corpus linguists who study small elements of language in use and see overall patterns.... ...but wait! they are obviously interested in 'mapping patterns' as well. my analogy falls down. it's really a difference in perspective: a focus on the paradigmatic versus the syntagmatic with the linguists. in any case, count me in with the map-preference group: GPS devices make me feel as if i am blind, as if i am being taken on a mystery tour. i need an overview of the forest as well as the trees... to feel situated. and now to visit the site cited below... alex At 3:07 PM -0400 7/9/11, Jessie Daniels wrote: >Folks in environmental justice / public health are doing interesting >things with maps, like this one called Habitat Map: > ><http://habitatmap.org/markers>http://habitatmap.org/markers > > >from their 'about us' page >(<http://habitatmap.org/about_us>http://habitatmap.org/about_us): > >HabitatMap is a non-profit environmental health justice organization >whose goal is to raise awareness about the impact the environment >has on human health. Our online mapping and social networking >platform is designed to maximize the impact of community voices on >city planning and strengthen ties between organizations and >activists working to build greener, greater cities. Utilizing our >shared advocacy platform participants can: > >Alert the public to environmental health hazards >Hold polluters accountable for their environmental impacts >Highlight urban infrastructures that promote healthy living >Identify future opportunities for sustainable urban development >Promote policies that enhance equitable access to urban resources > > >* * * >Jessie Daniels, PhD >Associate Professor >CUNY School of Public Health >Hunter College and >The Graduate Center >New York, NY >* * * ><http://www.linkedin.com/in/jessiedaniels>http://www.linkedin.com/in/jessiedaniels > >On Wed, Sep 7, 2011 at 1:54 PM, Valdis Krebs ><<mailto:valdis@orgnet.com>valdis@orgnet.com> wrote: > >An interesting art and social science project using GPS was done by >Esther Polak and associates in Latvia in 2004. They tracked the >route of MILK from Latvian dairy cows to cheese making facilities in >the Netherlands. See: > <http://milkproject.net/en/installation.html>http://milkproject.net/en/installation.html > >Valdis > > >On Sep 7, 2011, at 1:35 PM, Carey Sargent wrote: > >>Thanks for starting this interesting conversation. I agree with >>everyone here that GPS is mainly useful for charting locations. But >>it can be integrated with social media and interactive mapping in >>compelling ways. Digital humanities scholars are leading the way, >>but there must be sociologists working in this vein as well. >> >>Some examples: >> >>Mark Sample, an English Prof. at George Mason University, offers >>his thoughts on the integration of GPS and social media in teaching >>students how to construct place-based narratives about trauma: >><http://bit.ly/pL7JH2>http://bit.ly/pL7JH2 >> >>Wendy Hsu, a Post-Doc in the Center for Digital Learning and >>Research at Occidental College, "scrapes" (or harvests) MySpace >>location data and displays it with an open source GIS program (Open >>Layers) to make transnational Asian-American punk rock communities >>visible. Here's the context of her project: >><http://bit.ly/qWtsvf>http://bit.ly/qWtsvf and here's the map: >><http://bit.ly/qb1yLd>http://bit.ly/qb1yLd -- You can interact with >>the map by clicking on the upper right hand "+" sign. There you can >>see the clusters of MySpace friends in relation to geographic >>location and the relationship between friend clusters and live >>performance among other things. >> >>Is anyone else out there using GPS/social media or GIS in teaching >>or research? >> >>Best, >>Carey >> >>-- >>Carey Sargent, PhD Sociology >>Instruction + Research Consultant for the Social Sciences >>Scholarship Technology >>Occidental College >> >>-- >>twitter: careysargent >>blog: <http://slowknowledge.wordpress.com/>http://slowknowledge.wordpress.com >>music: <http://dzian.info/>http://dzian.info >noise: ><http://grapefruitexperiment.wordpress.com/>http://grapefruitexperiment.wordpress.com/ > -- =============================== dr alexanne don internet-inhabitant http://interstrataltension.org http://outloud.info/playpen http://www.flickr.com/photos/el-don/ http://twitter.com/eldonnn