New Philadelphia: using augmented reality to interpret slavery and reconstruction era historical sites

Does a historical site lose its significance or become less worthy of interpretation if there are no surviving buildings? Can technology help present the stories of disadvantaged and disenfranchised groups whose heritage lacks well-preserved architecture or material culture? The emerging technology of augmented reality (AR) offers new ways of designing and shaping the public’s experience when visiting landmarks by enabling an unprecedented means to combine 3D historical visualization with historical landmarks. This especially applies to underrepresented groups whose heritages have not been well served by traditional modes of preservation and interpretation due to a variety of factors. These range from disadvantages relating to material culture to a greater emphasis on intangible heritage which have placed them outside the bounds of what archaeologist Laurajane Smith calls authorised heritage discourse. A project at the New Philadelphia National Historic Landmark, located in Pike County Illinois, seeks to address these issues through AR. The technology, while offering opportunities for historical interpretation, poses challenges in terms of designing AR systems that coordinate content presentation with specific locations as well as developing virtual historical content with varying levels of source materials.     

Evaluating Differences in Landscape Interpretation between Webcam and Field-Based Experiences

Field trips have become less common due to issues including budget constraints and large class sizes. Research suggests that virtual field trips can substitute for field visits, but the role of webcams has not been evaluated. To investigate the potential for webcams to substitute for field trips, participants viewed urban and physical landscapes either in-person or by webcam. Differences in landscape interpretation responses between webcam viewers and field trip participants were often statistically insignificant, suggesting that webcams hold potential as substitutes for field trips. However, upon reflection, field trip participants valued their experience, while webcam participants had mixed views.     

世界文化遗产数字化保护与建设初探——以西藏罗布林卡古建筑为例

随着计算机及相关技术的迅猛发展,以数字近景摄影测量、三维激光扫描测量、虚拟现实等技术为基础的数字化保护与复原开始在古建筑保护中扮演重要的角色。但由于经费短缺,人员匮乏,制约了文化遗产数字化保护与利用的发展。为了更好地保护和利用好罗布林卡,应提高认识数字化保护建设,增强危机感。建立完整的罗布林卡古建筑数字化保护与展示技术,形成一套集建筑表征、内部结构、周围环境影响因素于一体的档案系统,利用数字平台打造综合性的罗布林卡文化遗产展示与推广平台。     

Enhancing critical thinking skills in first year environmental management students: a tale of curriculum design,application and reflection

This paper chronicles the experience of academic staff in developing a course to enhance the critical thinking skills of environmental management undergraduates. We outline our considerations and process for course development, discuss insights from course evaluations, and reflect on the challenges encountered. We believe these perspectives will be useful for others who are developing critical thinking skills curricula, especially first year courses. Aspects of the course design which were considered particularly effective were the use of scaffolded assessment, the application of threshold concepts, and well-structured collaborative learning activities paired with quality tutors. The key learning for the authors from the evaluation of the course was that while the tools and strategies developed were very useful, interweaving these tools into year 2 and 3 courses would help students see the ongoing value of critical thinking in their work.     

Context and Interpretation: An Archaeology of Cultural Production

This paper examines the construction of modern-world contexts in historical archaeology. To help draw out and understand the social and cultural contexts of capitalism, colonialism, and modernity, and how they may be materially understood, an explanation of the German history of everyday life school (Alltagsgeschichte) is presented. In this approach, the objects of historical study become the everyday cultural interpretations of past people and how these interpretations actively produced and reproduced cultures. This approach is illustrated by a landscape archaeology of the Bordley–Randall site in Annapolis, Maryland.     

Young children’s use of an augmented reality sandbox to enhance spatial thinking

ABSTRACT

Augmented reality (AR) technology is being introduced in educational settings for its ability to overlay virtual information onto physical environments. The AR Sandbox is a conventional sandbox with depth coloured representations projected onto the sand’s surface. This research investigates how 4- and 5-year-old Australian children use an AR Sandbox to enhance their spatial thinking through play. Participants were four children, their two educators and the first author as a participant-observer researcher. Data were collected over an 8-week period during 2015 and included observation, child conferencing, photography, educators’ perspectives, and the researcher’s perspectives. Vignettes are presented to demonstrate how children’s spatial thinking was enhanced through exploration and representation in the AR Sandbox. Children’s active and dynamic manipulation of the space of the AR Sandbox, along with a range of socio-cultural contexts and tools, assisted in enhancing their spatial abilities.     

Passing Online Exams

Many controversial subjects characterize geography in the 21st century. Issues such as climate change, sustainability and social exclusion generate much discussion and often involve clear differences in opinion of how they might be addressed. Higher education is an important space for critical engagement with challenging issues. Preparing for and participating in debates enables students to develop critical thinking skills, alongside a variety of oral presentation and discussion skills. This paper reflects on the potential for teaching through debate in geography. The arguments are illustrated through a debate about whether asylum seekers should be allowed to work in the UK.     

“Nameless landscapes” - what can be seen and understood on a battlefield?

Abstract

A battlefield—as a complex notion—encompasses many kinds of space, from the physical to the symbolic. The features of geographical elements together created the stage for a clash and conditioned in some way (partly or even entirely) the course and result of the battle. However, today’s battlefield landscape is often a literary silent witness to history, telling us nothing of the past. Given the fact that battlefields have become tourist attractions and are a destination not only to the so-called ‘dedicated cultural tourists’, there is a need to give the landscape a voice in the complex tourist narration. In order to enable including a historical landscape story in a general tourist narration about a battlefield, a theoretical framework of a historical battlefield is proposed and discussed to justify the need of using specific tourist facilities to make the past present in today’s landscape. The case of Rac?awice battlefield in Poland illustrates the ‘nameless landscape’ where only the symbolic space is readable and linked with the past. It also supports a conclusion that there is a need to make the battlefield legible in terms of the sequence of events, the roles of people (groups and individual), and the role of geographical features in the battle. In this simple condition, a visit to a battlefield might be more complex and provide a fuller understanding.     

Placing GIS in sustainability education

As public awareness about sustainability grows and as higher education advances sustainability more comprehensively, geographers have an opportunity to take a role in sustainability education. This article examines (1) what constitutes sustainability education, (2) how geographic concepts and Geographic Information System (GIS) are relevant to sustainability education, and (3) how geospatial thinking can be incorporated into the sustainability curriculum using GIS. This research proposes five geospatial inquiries that students can make to explore sustainability issues using GIS, which are spatial distribution, spatial interactions, spatial relationships, spatial comparisons, and temporal relationships. Definition, examples, and uses of these five geospatial inquiries supported by GIS are provided.     

Departmental relationships and images within the university

Abstract

It is contended that the foremost condition for the survival and ultimate success of departments is the development of qualitatively superior images and relationships within the university, and that excellence at that level must normally precede or accompany significant recognition at regional, national, and international scales. Aggressive participation by geographers is advocated in matters involving relationships with other disciplines, the university decision‐making process, concerns of students, alumni and developmental activities, and creation of a superior curriculum. A series of operational principles, called ‘bewares’, is suggested to guide the internal management of departments that seek excellence at any level.     

空间思维观下的山地旅游开发理念刍论——以陕西省镇巴县为例

从空间思维理论出发,探讨空间思维理论在山地旅游开发中应用。通过引入空间思维并剖析它的内涵,在思维对象、思维方式、思维过程等方面对旅游开发进行指导;之后浅析了山地旅游开发理论,归纳出山地旅游开发的理论模式;并进行综合,运用点式思维、线式思维、面式思维、体式思维等空间思维理念模式于山地旅游开发之中;最后以陕西省镇巴县山地旅游开发为例,进行验证。     

生态旅游及其景观生态学透视

在简单介绍生态旅游的产生及其与可持续旅游关系,以及简要总结生态旅游定义的基础上,本文尝试从旅游供给方、旅游需求方即旅游者和综合层次三个方面对生态旅游进行定义,可以概括为旅游者的旅游活动形式、生态旅游产品及其组合与可持续旅游思想在生态旅游目的地的综合和空间实现。在现代地理学与生态学结合下产生的景观生态学,既强调空间地域研究,又考虑生态学的思想和原则,为理解生态旅游的概念内涵提供了理论切入点。