The geographic problematic: Empirical issues

The geographic problematic stems from the fact that we cannot accept reality as it is and so we create places to transform reality into what we think it ought to be, and then transform this new reality, and on and on. This paper explains how our place-making is essential in this transformation because place is a humanly constructed instrument that works much like a loom, helping us weave together elements of nature, meaning, and social relations to create projects and thus change reality into a new one. Understanding place's effect as an indispensable instrument sheds light on problems of identity, essentialism, scale, spatiality, the generic and specific, postmodernism, and our role as geographic agents.     

Making Space for the Citizen in Geographic Education

Abstract

This article argues that we need to reconsider the connection between citizenship and geography. Although geographic education purports to prepare citizens, the possibilities for this relationship have been addressed by few scholars. The study shows that citizenship is situated in places and students’ actions as citizens reinscribe the meaning of these places. Because of this intersection, educators must be attentive to how they teach about places, particularly the ongoing interconnection between place and identity. One of the identities common in the teaching of places is citizenship. Geography instructors need to be thoughtful about their role as citizenship educators.     

Inventing Geography: Writing as a Social Justice Pedagogy

Abstract

A critical geographic pedagogy of writing can help students participate in public life by gaining access to the means of knowledge production. Drawing on pedagogical and composition theory, this article analyzes student papers from an introductory-level geography course to show how geography teachers can create assignments that broaden the scope of student agency and expand access to power. This is one way to promote social justice in the classroom because it fosters habits and skills of critical citizenship and participatory democracy instead of passive, consumption-oriented attitudes. Students are better able to position themselves as active members of a community and as agents in the process of critically reshaping knowledge about the world.     

Basic-Level Geographic Categories*

As we experience places, we learn about those places and generalize information into more abstract geographic categories. Rosch's basic-level theory argues that information known about objects is stored in our memories in a three-layered hierarchy. Data that could be used to test this theory in a geographic context was generated by having subjects make lists of activities, characteristics, and parts associated with 11 familiar geographic categories. An analysis of the distribution of information among the geographic categories confirmed two basic predictions of Rosch's theory. Significantly more information was stored in the basic-level geographic categories country, region, state, city, and neighborhood than in the superordinate category place. Significantly more information was not stored in subordinate categories home country, home region, home state, home city, and home neighborhood. The results suggest that geographic information is efficiently stored in memory so that much of what we know about geographic space is stored in basic-level categories that are both distinctive and informative.     

Lesson Plans in Geography

Abstract

This article advocates that geography teachers undertake field studies of human systems with their students. A field trip process is described that helps teachers to guide students to explore and analyze a real human system with the expressed goal of building skills that can transfer to and complement a wide range of geographic learning tasks identified in Geography for Life: National Geography Standards 1994. Students are taken to a human system, such as a supermarket or a hotel. In groups, students interview as well as tour with a representative of a key department of the human system. Using teacher-supplied materials, groups create models or visual schematics of the whole human system they studied. The model must show the complex as a collection of interdependent elements with distinct functions. The learning outcomes achieved by students are a collection of geographic skills ideal for transfer to subsequent geographic investigations of urban places and or regions.     

Books,Places, Regions—A Natural Blend

Abstract

Children love books, and through carefully chosen ones geographic concepts can be conveyed. Books are good resources—great background material for describing a place, emphasizing the culture of a region, highlighting a geographical issue, or clarifying where a place is in the world. This article explains how literature encourages geographic thinking, builds geographic skills, and develops lasting mental maps of places and regions.     

A Systems Perspective on World-Systems Theory

Abstract

This article presents a conceptual framework that embeds ideas from world-systems theory within the larger systemic context known as the theory of dissipative structures. This article creates a theoretical perspective on global capitalism, both geographic and historical, that offers a sufficiently general and flexible model for this particular complex system in human geography. The goal is to provide a perspective that reflects the interconnectedness of individual and separate places into a larger global system that is a single functioning spatial entity. In this view, the modern world-system becomes a culmination of its past and a prologue to its future.     

Why Geography Still Needs Pen and Ink Cartography

Abstract

Maps are fundamental in geographic explanation and education, but as map-making becomes firmly entrenched in the GIS lab, it becomes harder for students to imagine how they can make maps for their papers. Students need to illustrate papers with maps: among other things, maps provide clarity, links to real places, and insights into patterns and context of phenomena discussed in student papers. A simple, quick, and aesthetically satisfying method for students to make their own maps is presented. This map making method can help students can think more creatively and geographically about their topics.     

The Value of Place Geography in a Commercial Geography Course

Abstract

This article summarizes methods used in a secondary school geography class to interest students in geography through examples drawn from local geography. Instead of relying on examples taken from exotic places to illustrate geographic concepts, the local landscape is used in the classroom to teach students about geography. The article is arranged according to the six essential elements of the National Geography Standards, but it does not imply that the methods presented should be used to teach the standards. Rather, the examples presented are used throughout a course in the geography of North and South America to develop an interest among students and, with examples from the local landscape, to increase student understanding of geographic concepts related to issues presented in the course.     

Thematic signatures for cleansing and enriching place-related linked data

There has been significant progress transforming semi-structured data about places into knowledge graphs that can be used in a wide variety of geographic information systems such as digital gazetteers or geographic information retrieval systems. For instance, in addition to information about events, actors, and objects, DBpedia contains data about hundreds of thousands of places from Wikipedia and publishes it as Linked Data. Repositories that store data about places are among the most interlinked hubs on the Linked Data cloud. However, most content about places resides in unstructured natural language text, and therefore it is not captured in these knowledge graphs. Instead, place representations are limited to facts such as their population counts, geographic locations, and relations to other entities, for example, headquarters of companies or historical figures. In this paper, we present a novel method to enrich the information stored about places in knowledge graphs using thematic signatures that are derived from unstructured text through the process of topic modeling. As proof of concept, we demonstrate that this enables the automatic categorization of articles into place types defined in the DBpedia ontology (e.g., mountain) and also provides a mechanism to infer relationships between place types that are not captured in existing ontologies. This method can also be used to uncover miscategorized places, which is a common problem arising from the automatic lifting of unstructured and semi-structured data.     

“Turn your brand into a destination”: toponymic commodification and the branding of place in Dubai and Winnipeg

ABSTRACT

The selling of naming rights to corporate sponsors has led urban policymakers to increasingly view the identities of public places as rent-generating assets to fund urban infrastructure. Yet few scholars have critically analyzed this emerging global trend of toponymic commodification and the seeking of “naming rent.” Through a combination of archival research, on-site field observations, and semi-structured interviews, this study examines how the practice of toponymic commodification is transforming the cultural landscapes of contemporary cities by considering two naming rights programs: Dubai’s Metro Naming Rights Initiative and the Sponsor Winnipeg Program. In each case, we explore the implications of commodifying public place names as well as the conflicting perceptions of such sponsorship programs. In doing so, the present study illustrates how the selling of naming rights is reshaping the built environment into a space of symbolic/economic capital transformations as brands become destinations and public places are reconceived as marketing opportunities.     

The Council at Work

Abstract

Through analysis of census data, these lessons cover geographic concepts dealing with migration and population change in the United States. Students discuss the historical push and pull factors of immigration to the United States. By focusing on the recent influx of Hispanic immigrants, students look at the geographic concepts of assimilation, discrimination, and time-decay. Students also create graphs and maps to examine the recent increase in the United States Hispanic population and geographic patterns of Hispanic settlement.     

Same space – different perspectives: comparative analysis of geographic context through sketch maps and spatial video geonarratives

ABSTRACT

The importance of including a contextual underpinning to the spatial analysis of social data is gaining traction in the spatial science community. The challenge, though, is how to capture these data in a rigorous manner that is translational. One method that has shown promise in achieving this aim is the spatial video geonarrative (SVG), and in this paper we pose questions that advance the science of geonarratives through a case study of criminal ex-offenders. Eleven ex-offenders provided sketch maps and SVGs identifying high-crime areas of their community. Wordmapper software was used to map and classify the SVG content; its spatial filter extension was used for hot spot mapping with statistical significance tested using Monte Carlo simulations. Then, each subject’s sketch map and SVG were compared. Results reveal that SVGs consistently produce finer spatial-scale data and more locations of relevance than the sketch maps. SVGs also provide explanation of spatial-temporal processes and causal mechanisms linked to specific places, which are not evident in the sketch maps. SVG can be a rigorous translational method for collecting data on the geographic context of many phenomena. Therefore, this paper makes an important advance in understanding how environmentally immersive methods contribute to the understanding of geographic context.     

My word! Vocabulary and Geography Learning

Abstract

Geography learning places a high demand on children's vocabulary development because they know so few words useful for analyzing geographic phenomena and processes. Research shows that multiple experiences with new words are needed if children are to use them fluently in conversation, reading, and writing. This paper describes a variety of contexts that can provide children with the experiences needed to construct the meanings of new words. These include explorations and guided experiments during science instruction and additional discussion, reading, and writing activities during literacy instruction.     

Resources for Preservice Education: A Personal Perspective

Abstract

Gail Ludwig and I met in late August 1994 to outline this special issue of the Journal. We spent part of the day brainstorming about what ought to be included and then a few hours thinking about the types of articles we could solicit that would be both useful and fun. This section addresses those ideas. Gail and I asked a number of leading geographic educators to recommend five books that every preservice student (and educator) should read and to explain why each book should be required reading. The diversity of responses mirrors the eclectic nature of geographic educators—and the richness of our field. Here follows the “top five” of James Binko, Sr. Madeleine Gregg, James M. Marran, and Salvatore J. Natoli.—Sarah W. Bednarz     

Escalation: A Simulation of Contemporary Geo-Politics

Abstract

ESCALATION is a one-hour simulation game that treats international power politics from a geographic perspective. It has been pilot-tested in several high schools and two universities. ESCALATION is deemed appropriate for high school geography and social studies classes, and for introductory college geography courses. Three important geographic principles are dramatically demonstrated by the activity. First, students discover that traditional ways of viewing maps can create misleading geographic stereotypes. Second, students learn the importance of cultural conditioning in viewing international relations. Third, students learn that numerous interacting factors influence nations in their selection of allies. The activity elaborated in the article provides geography teachers with a practical, ready-made teaching activity that is powerful in concepts and dramatic in presentation. The classroom teacher simply needs to transform the map (Figure 1) into a transparency and briefly review the simulation procedures. The teacher then presents the four sequential stages in the ESCALATION game and conducts a post-simulation discussion of what happened and why. The activity, in short, provides geography and social studies teachers with a simulation activity that combines role playing, decision-making, and surprise to generate several important geographic concepts and principles. The surprise climax invariably produces considerable discussion.     

Interoperable information model for geovisualization and interaction in XR environments

ABSTRACT

Since the vision of a Digital Earth (DE) was introduced in 1998, geo-browsers seem to have nearly fulfilled this vision. Virtual reality (VR) for visualizing the DE provides an immersive user experience in a mirror world. Location-based augmented reality (AR) browsers have been introduced and provide content according to user and environmental contexts. However, the content models of traditional geo-browsers and AR browsers have very limited interoperability, because they are described in application-specific formats using their domain standards. Each application is vertically integrated from content to application. The Web is an interoperable and open platform, and hundreds of millions of users are already using it to create and share content. To envision DE browsers for cross-reality (XR) environments that concurrently support geovisualization as well as VR, AR, and mixed-reality environments, we propose a DE content model based on Web standards and architecture that provides full interoperability and openness for XR browsers as a first-class citizen of the Web. This is expected to improve the DE content development efficiency by fully using the Web content development environment.     

A network approach to the production of geographic context using exponential random graph models

ABSTRACT

The notion of context continues to be both an enduring rationale and empirical problem for addressing human agency for geographers. Despite its centrality to geographic scholarship, context has largely been an abstraction in geography with relatively little effort to either clarify what it means or how to formally operationalize it for research purposes. When context has been formally addressed, it has primarily emphasized either impacts on agency at a specific scale through a reliance on a place-based interpretation. This paper takes up the issue of context by developing a multi-scalar theoretical framework that is suited for use with social network-based statistical models called exponential random graph models or ERGMs. The theory of context emphasizes the importance for both geographic and social contexts for agency while also recognizing place specific and larger scale influences. Using network data about World War I, a series of ERGMs are developed to demonstrate the importance of multiple types of contexts to the observed outcomes. The approach used in this paper reinforces the old truism that context matters by demonstrating it empirically. Most importantly, this paper illustrates the value of continued engagement with a wider spectrum of the theories of how and why context matters.     

Challenges of Teaching Advanced Placement Human Geography

Abstract

The new Advanced Placement (AP) human geography course is a wonderful opportunity to ensure the availability of high quality geographic education for high school students. As with any course, in addition to the students' interest and ability, their success is also closely linked to the teachers' preparation. In order to be as well prepared as possible, most AP human geography teachers want and need to know several things in addition to the course content. Questions addressed include how to promote the course, who to promote it to, necessary geographic background for both students and teachers, recommended texts and other resources, how to prepare students for the examination, and how to incorporate the course into the school curriculum.     

Field Experience through Community Engagement: A Model and Case Study

A crucial element in the foundation of geographic training is field experience and the opportunity to learn how to interpret the landscape. This element of the geographer's background provides a link between theory and reality. To enhance that experience, a place-based project focusing on civic engagement increases the student's understanding of geographic concepts, tools, and techniques while providing a service to a local community. This research proposes a model for developing classroom field experience that engages the student-researchers with a local community to address a community-based issue. A case study examining downtown parking in Laramie, Wyoming, is presented. The case study demonstrates how field experience, civic engagement, and collaborative learning can be incorporated into a classroom