NITLE > Events > Mapping For Sustainability

Mapping for Sustainability

Date: April 23 - 24, 2009 (11:00 AM, Thursday - 5:30 PM, Friday, EDT).
Location: Delivered online in NITLE MIV Auditorium
Price: 3 program units per participant

Who should participate

For faculty, instructional technologists, librarians, and other staff members at participating institutions who use or support the use of spatial software to visualize, understand, and address human impacts on environmental and cultural systems. Participants will consider how GIS and digital mapping shape the discourse on sustainability within higher education, with examples drawn from research, teaching, and institutional planning and outreach.

Program Description

The desire for a sustainable society, economy, and environment are increasingly reflected in the curricular offerings and program initiatives of liberal arts colleges. Sustainability is a goal that transcends disciplinary boundaries, fosters creative problem-solving, and requires the integration of our experiences, past and present, to address the needs of future generations. Few technologies compete with GIS to model the condition and trends of resources significant to sustainability while also incorporating the power of visualization to portray these stories. In recent years, advances in Web-based mapping have generated additional opportunities to raise awareness of growth-associated impacts across a range of spatial and temporal scales. How these technologies can be fully leveraged to enhance cross-curricular studies, address questions of equity and risk, reduce conflict, or inform public policy is often less clear.

Themes for sustainability and mapping included in this conference:

• Past evidence of human-environmental interaction and outcome
• Environmental geography of poverty, pollution, and conflict
• Our carbon foot-print
• Community outreach through the classroom
• Campus practices and sustainability assessment

Building on NITLE's tradition of GIS education, this conference provides a forum to discuss today's pressing issues for sustainability. Participants will learn how other colleges are using mapping technologies to foster "green" practices and to manage their campus resources. They will also broaden their exposure to mapping and sustainability within other disciplines. Finally, participants will consider the educational/ethical dimensions of mapping in relation to student projects, community outreach, and advocacy.

Program agenda

The agenda is available here (PDF, 712KB).

Getting familiar with the online environment

Directions on installing the MIV client (PC and Mac OS) to your computer is available here (.pdf, 703 KB).

We recommend that participants who are new to multipoint interactive videoconferencing (MIV) use our free Do-It-Yourself training module (.pdf, 2.08 MB) to complete basic training in the use of MIV prior to participating in this program. This DIY training includes an informal, hands-on, "Water Cooler" session in MIV (see .pdf training document for full information). This training will help new users of MIV feel comfortable within the virtual MIV environment, learn how to use its interactive tools, and otherwise learn how to participate and contribute successfully within MIV.

Technological Requirements

To have a successful participation experience, participants will want to use

• a computer manufactured in or after 2005;
• a web video camera; and
• an echo-free audio system. (For hands-free use and quality sound, we recommend a USB head set.)

Participants will also want to connect via a high-speed Internet connection. (Test your bandwidth speed at http://reviews.cnet.com/7004-7254_7-0.html: enter your telephone area code and your connection type, then click G0. Your bandwidth speed should be 500 kbps or greater.)

Other information

Please note that MIV is most effective with a 1:1 ratio between participant and MIV seat.  (Each MIV "seat" is equivalent to one laptop or desktop computer.)  Participants are therefore encouraged to join the program as individuals using their own computers.

Note that this event may be recorded; see our policy on recording MIV-delivered events for more details.

Questions?

For more information about this event, including its agenda and what to expect from participation, please contact Sean Connin at .