Participatory Geographic Information Systems: More than maps

At the Annual meeting of the Society for Applied Anthropology on March 25 - 29, 2008, Memphis Marriott, USA, there will be a session relating the practice of PGIS and applied anthropology by the title: Participatory Geographic Information Systems: More than maps.
In their Call for Papers the session organisers wrote: "Most activities that we undertake, either as academics or practitioners, require producing tangible outputs as part of the work process. Outputs serve as metrics to evaluate progress and determine future direction. Mention of a Participatory Geographic Information System (PGIS) invariably elicits numerous requests to see the maps, and fewer questions regarding the process that went into their development. The "P" in PGIS has its roots in the development literature and in Participatory Rural Appraisal and Participatory Learning and Action in particular, which stress the importance of process. The relationship is not one way however, and in this session we would like to draw attention to the contributions that PGIS experiences offer to the larger development community. Our objective is to reflect on a variety of experiences with PGIS and focus the discussion on positive externalities and the intangible benefits that arise through process."

The theme for the Annual Meeri is The Public Sphere and Engaged Scholarship: Opportunities and Challenges for Applied Anthropology. The full description can be found at http://www.sfaa.net/sfaa2008.html .

Conflict and Natural Resources Book Recommendations

Here is an interesting selection on books connecting conflict (violent or otherwise), natural resources, and globalization/development.

Participatory GIS — a people's GIS?

In a recently published paper Christine Dunn argues that recent years have witnessed a burgeoning of applications of GIS which grant legitimacy to indigenous geographical knowledge as well as to `official' spatial data. By incorporating various forms of community participation these newer framings of Geographical Information Systems as `Participatory GIS' (PGIS) offer a response to the critiques of GIS which were prevalent in the 1990s. This paper reviews PGIS in the context of the `democratization of GIS'. It explores aspects of the control and ownership of geographical information, representations of local and indigenous knowledge, scale and scaling up, web-based approaches and some potential future technical and academic directions.

World Summit Award 2007 - Report Back on the session on e-Culture

The session on e-Culture took place at the World Summit Award Winners' Conference in Venice, Italy on 3 November 2007 and included the presentation on the award winning product "Participatory 3D Modelling (P3DM) for Resource Use, Development Planning and Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage in Fiji".

This short video documents the feedback on the session provided by the rapporteur, Dr. Paul Hoffert, Chairperson of Bell Cabada Fund, Canada and Fellow at the Berkman Centre for Internet and Society, Harvard University, USA.



Other sessions of the WSA 2007 Winners' Conference covered the following categories: e-Entertainment, e-Inclusiveness, e-Governance, e-Science, e-Business, e-Health and e-Learning.

Participatory 3D Modelling (P3DM) receiving the 2007 World Summit Award in the category e-culture

On November 5, 2007 at a ceremony which took place during the Global Forum 2007 at the Fondazione Giorgio Cini in Venice, Italy, the CTA-supported project Participatory 3D Modelling (P3DM) for Resource Use, Development Planning and Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage in Fiji was given the World Summit Award 2007 in the category e-culture. The product has been considered as one of the 40 best practice examples of quality e-Content in the world. The project has been jointly implemented by the following organisation: Fiji Locally-Managed Marine Area (FLMMA) Network, WWF South Pacific Programme, Native Lands Trust Board, Secretariat of the Pacific Community, National Trust of Fiji, Lomaiviti Provincial Council and the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Co-operation (CTA).