How the fascinating new world of GIS has infiltrated popular culture
14 Mar 2008 | Bernie Goldie
A researcher who uses mapping technology to encourage people in inner-city deprived areas to communicate what they like and dislike about their neighbourhoods and a historian who uses Geographical Information Systems (GIS) to map the history of cinemas in the United States will join a high profile list of presenters at a special workshop at the University of Wollongong on 17-18 March.
GIS are basically computer platforms for mapping and analysing any kind of information. They cover everything from GoogleEarth to NatSav systems in cars and mobile phones, to more advanced research applications mapping everything from coastal erosion to census data on ethnicity to public perceptions of crime and liveability.
Participating in the Australian Research Council (ARC) Cultural Research Network workshop will be academics in history, media and communication studies, geography, agricultural sciences and gender studies from the US and Australia.
Dr Sarah Elwood from the University of Washington, Seattle, uses GIS working with urban poor communities to encourage these people in inner-city deprived areas to communicate what they like and dislike about their neighbourhoods – and what could be improved.
Associate Professor Jeff Klenotic from the University of New Hampshire is a historian using GIS to map the history of cinemas in the United States. He has mapped where and when cinemas opened and closed, who attended them and how people got to the movies before the age of the motor car. In regard to cinema attendance, there is a sideline story about segregation in the United States and which cinemas were ‘white’ or ‘black’.
UOW’s Dr Kate Bowles is another participant whose research interests are in the history of cinema-going in Australia. She is part of an interdisciplinary research team awarded an Australian Research Council grant entitled “Mapping the movies: the changing nature of Australia’s cinema circuits and their audiences 1956-1984”.
A third US visitor will be Professor Robert Allen who is the James Logan Godfrey Distinguished Professor of American Studies, History and Communication Studies at the University of North Carolina. His work has ranged across film history, media history, the history of American popular entertainment, and television studies.
MEDIA PLEASE NOTE
Best time and venue for photo/filming opportunities: 10.30 to 11am Monday March 17 in Building 41 (Sciences Bldg) in Room 157. A good visual will be a computer laboratory fitted out with advanced flat screen Macs running the latest in 3D maps. The US participants along with Australian attendees will be available for interviews.
Further information: Contact Associate Professor Chris Gibson on (02) 4221 3448 or mobile 0438 233166 or Dr Andrew Gorman-Murray on (02) 4221 5455 or mobile 0414 849 260.
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