[Air-L] Revisiting Critical GIS - short meeting at Friday Harbor

[Jim T]

Hi all,

While this may not seem immediately appropriate, this meeting is *very much
*meant to appeal to a diverse set of scholars studying related topics in
interesting ways. Please feel encouraged to apply!

Best,
Jim

Revisiting Critical GIS

The rapid development and dissemination of digital geospatial technologies,
datasets, and practices raise questions about how various arguments of
'critical GIS' remain as relevant as ever, require rejuvenation, or have
run their course. Drawing in part on such developments, but also on
enthusiasm for the digital humanities and on new materialist and even
speculative realist currents of thought within social and cultural theory,
the prospects for a renewed engagement between critical human and
quantitative geographies appears more hopeful today than they have for some
time (Barnes 2009). This forum provides a venue within which participants
can think through these and other issues collaboratively, emerging with
fresh ideas and perspectives to bring to research and teaching.

To this end, the 2+ day format will blend pre-planned and collaboratively
organized sessions. Four sessions have been organized around broad themes
that touch upon recent discussions in the cognate literatures. Each
participant will be associated with one of these planned sessions and will
co-organize its content and format with others. Additionally, there are
three periods scheduled for collaboratively formed sessions (collective or
break-out) that emerge from the discussions at the conference.

The event will be held from later on Friday, October 17th to the morning of
Monday, October 20th at the University of Washington’s Friday Harbor
Laboratories on San Juan Island <https://depts.washington.edu/fhl/>.

Day 0 (Friday)

Afternoon / evening arrivals, welcome event

Dinner

Note: Ferry/flight schedules tend to be such that one needs to arrive at
this time in order to be present for the critical first sessions in the
morning.

Day 1 (Saturday)

Breakfast

Session 1: Getting to know one another: who we are, why we’re here, and
what we want to do

Session 2: The story so far: critical GIS, GIScience, and 'not only... but
also'

Lunch

Session 3: Hybrids: Critical Quantification and Digital Humanities

Session 4: Collaborative session I (Collective or break-out)

Dinner

Collaboration and creativity

Day 2 (Sunday)

Breakfast

Session 5: Corporatization of spatial information and our response

Session 6: What tools? What theory?

Lunch

Session 7: Collaborative session II (Collective or break-out)

Session 8: Collaborative session III (Collective or break-out)

Dinner

Collaboration and creativity

Day 3 (Monday)

Breakfast

Session 9: Concluding Session: Paths Forward

Departure

Given the nature of this event, the number of participants will be limited
to fewer than thirty, with a firm aim towards inclusivity (including, but
not limited to academic seniority; students, early career faculty, and
#alt-ac are strongly encouraged to participate).

Would-be participants should submit a short prospectus (300 word maximum).
The prospectus should address what the participant hopes to do at the
gathering and muse about what s/he hopes might emerge in the time beyond--a
forward-looking aspirational piece, rather than a description of previous
works.

Prospectuses are due August 1, 2014 and successful applicants will be
informed by September 1, 2014. Please submit your prospectus via email to
revisitingcritgis at gmail.com.

The cost of attendance is estimated to be approximately $345 for faculty
and $225 for students, meals and shared accommodations included.
Confirmation of costs will be provided at time of acceptance. Limited
support may be available to assist graduate student attendance. Please
apply and we will try to make a solution work.

Organizing Committee

Luke Bergmann, University of Washington

Jim Thatcher, University of Washington - Tacoma

David O’Sullivan, University of California - Berkeley

Jeremy Crampton, University of Kentucky

Sarah Elwood, University of Washington

Reuben Rose-Redwood, University of Victoria

Nadine Schuurman, Simon Fraser

Matt Wilson, University of Kentucky

References

Barnes TJ. 2009. Not Only... But Also: Critical and Quantitative Geography. The
Professional Geographer 61, 1442-54.