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21 st Century Fieldwork. Nick Lapthorn Head of Centre – Juniper Hall Field Centre nick.jh@field-studies-council.org. A new dawn? (or just the same old stuff). GIS and NEW TECHNOLOGIES. Quantitative. Qualitative. Primary. Secondary. RESEARCH. 20 th Century Fieldwork?. 21 st Century
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21st Century Fieldwork Nick Lapthorn Head of Centre – Juniper Hall Field Centre nick.jh@field-studies-council.org
A new dawn? (or just the same old stuff) GIS and NEW TECHNOLOGIES Quantitative Qualitative Primary Secondary RESEARCH
20th Century Fieldwork? 21st Century Fieldwork? STYLES LOCATIONS
Examples of types of new fieldwork Studentification Clone towns Sustainable transport Eco/carbon footprints Use and miss-use of green spaces Re-branding the 24hr city Stakeholder views Energy audits Right to roam Place checklists Mobility pathways Food miles Activity patterns Exciting newopportunities Weather-watch Exclusion by gender / age Lifestyle analysis Catchment management Shoreline management Impression maps Sustainable communities Ecological value Think maps Flood-risk determination Roof hydrographs Tourism profiles Place profiles
How to make the most of the new changes? • Less need to measure in minute detail. • Holistic and topical studies. • Greater opportunity for ‘qualitative’ approaches. • Greater relevance of topics to everyday situations.
Becoming a geographical researcher • Find data • Select and Sort • Synthesise and Analyse • Record and Report
Books – including standard A’Level texts Lots of choice
Articles – the ‘big 6’ GeoFile online Guardian & Independent Range of articles newspapers GeoFactsheet GeoNews Review Geographical ‘dossier’ Geography Review
Further Journals Remember to use their websites
Getting additional help • Try the exam boards
Probably the best geography websites: Fieldwork - OTHERS Google Books Search http://books.google.com/ Google Scholar http://scholar.google.com/
On the web…always consider • Who published the information • Organisation/Agency/Individual • Who wrote the information • Expert or interested individual? • The age of the material • Why the material exists • Academic research/Special interest groups
Exploring Ethnographic Opportunity A picture tells a 1000 words? All about participant observation: “people writing”
Ethnographic fieldwork • Oral Histories • Direct participant observation (movements and flows) – covert or overt? • Focus groups • Personal video (extended) interviews • Diary of an event, e.g. city food festival Keep personal observations in a field note book / diary
Price Prediction: High – Med – Low Actual Average Price (approx): £___________ Price Prediction: High – Med – Low Actual Average Price (approx): £___________ Imagery
Price Prediction: High – Med – Low Actual Average Price (approx): £___________ Price Prediction: High – Med – Low Actual Average Price (approx): £___________ Imagery
Denotation-ConnotationAnnotation-Implication Sophisticated, high quality, traditional Gold lettering in TNR, British Racing green What if all the shops in the street were like this? Who would(n’t) come? Curved facade to allow more display space
What is GIS ? • “GIS has the ability to store, retrieve, manipulate and analyse a range of spatially related data” • The user can: • ask questions of data related to the map • search for patterns and distributions • investigate the underlying relationships between different sets of data • Article in Geography Review: March 2007
Potential benefits of GIS • Spatial Understanding • Enquiry learning • Identifying relationships • Vocational element • Motivation
Continuums FREE EXPENSIVE Often web based EASY TO USE COMPLICATED BASIC SOPHISTICATED Sometimes a ‘cut-down’ version
Progression in GIS DIGITAL MAPPING (eg. Anquet, Memory Map) MAPPING LAYERS (eg Magic, Census, Google Earth) INTEROGATIVE GIS (eg Aegis, ArcInfo)
Other sources GA GTIP Page http://www.geography.org.uk/projects/gtip/gis/ http://www.geography.org.uk/projects/gtip/thinkpieces/gis
Other sources RGS GIS Page www.gis.rgs.org
GIS WWW Topic/Content Research