Wednesday, 7 April 2010
Food for thought
Tony Cassidy has added some new resources to his Share Geography website on the theme of FOOD....
Check it out as a useful addition to the materials produced for my conference workshop, which will be on the GA website shortly...
World Cup Resources...
Image by Flickr user manbeastextraordinaire via Flickr CC searchHave just spent a short time collating and developing a range of World Cup 2010 resources which will shortly go up on the PLANET SPORT section of the GA website.
South Africa 2010
View more presentations from GeoBlogs.
If you have any resources or ideas that you want to share, please let me know...
Flooding and landslides in Rio
Image of Rocinha by Marie HartGeographers will appreciate the risk that weather like this brings to those people whose homes are built in marginal locations: steep slopes, land which was not suitable for other developments and land on river floodplains.
The BBC have been following the dramatic story, and this would also make a useful context for using Google Earth in the classroom to navigate to some of the locations featured in the articles and explore the slopes and the relationships between the buildings and the terrain.
UPDATE: The government is beginning to remove settlements which are built in dangerous locations and thousands of dwellers are facing forced evictions.
Tuesday, 6 April 2010
Local foods & the Samphire Man
Picture: Lynn NewsThere's a lot of talk about LOCAL FOODS, and reducing FOOD MILES (although my food workshop at the GA Conference will be 'critical' of that notion...)
Some food also has PROTECTED GEOGRAPHICAL INDICATION status (PGI)
My local paper, the "Lynn News" today carried sad news of the death of Henry Dewson, who was known locally as "the Samphire Man".
I remember heading off for a field trip some years ago in the school minibus. A colleague was driving, and as we were heading out of town he suddenly pulled into a layby and ran across 3 lanes of traffic towards a horse drawn cart "parked" over the road (see picture in top hyperlink as it was the same one) and came back with a parcel wrapped in newspaper...
He'd just bought samphire: a plant which grows on the local salt marshes, and which was one of the indicator species on our coastal field trips.
Local foods for local people...
Could I have one of these please...
PCMag: Apple iPad video review from PCMag.com Reviews on Vimeo.
Will be happy to work to develop some geographical connections for it...Monday, 5 April 2010
Ordnance Survey Edition 37
The latest electronic edition of the Ordnance Survey's MAPPING NEWS is now available on the OS WEBSITE.It features a range of very useful articles on a range of topics.
There is also an article called "LOOKING AT LANDSCAPES" which I contributed to the issue, and is well worth reading...
Inflatable Icebergs
Just spent a while browsing through the archive of posts on Sam Jacob's excellent STRANGE HARVEST blog, and there's plenty of interest...
One thing that caught my eye was the post on the inflatable ICEBERG - which seems to have trade-marked a physical feature. Wonder if the people who grow Iceberg lettuces know that....
I liked the inflatable landscapes later in the post as well...
Project Pinewood: geo-literacy context
Preparing some thoughts for SAGT 2010 Conference later in the year, and have been looking at ideas for literacy.Here's my title slide (I always like to get that out of the way first...)
Thanks to the legendary Noel Jenkins (who will also be at SAGT again this year if you need a further reason to head North...) for the image of the Giant's Chair of Natsworthy (which would make an issues-based piece of work all by itself...)
One context I'm exploring at the moment is related to the creative industries which are based at Pinewood Studios.
PROJECT PINEWOOD is a great context for geographical investigations....
Pinewood is a film studio in Buckinghamshire.
The Project is aimed at developing a range of film locations and other facilities. The website has a PINEWOOD TV section with a range of useful resources.
Thinking of an exercise which might include choosing and sourcing film locations for scenarios using Google Street View.
Some regional tourist boards already make the most of their LOCATIONS: such as the North of England.
UK Film Council website has some useful detail on this aspect of film production....
More to come on this as the resource develops...
The Yurt
A relatively new feature of the Norfolk coast road is the Yurt (or ger)This is a restaurant which is proving popular: decent food at a reasonable price. Went there today, and the Drove Orchards farm shop was also open, and took shelter from the rain.
The picture above on a wet day doesn't really do justice to the interior, which is warmed by a large wood-burning stove.
Here's a better picture from the website of THE YURT
Worth the trip !
Image from http://theyurt.co.uk/index.phpSunday, 4 April 2010
Second Helpings
Happy Easter, and I hope you aren't eating too much chocolate...
Image by Alan Parkinson
Image by Alan ParkinsonCame across this good video on the way that the eating habits of people in Japan are impacting on the environment....
[ Don't forget that if you are using YOU TUBE with students, enter the letters /XL after YOUTUBE.COM to get a different interface page, without being able to see the comments below the videos... ]
Here's the same video but without the English subtitles - split it up into 30 second chunks and students have to make sense of what the video is about and provide the subtitles or voice-over ?
Via the FOODMAPPER blog...
[ Don't forget that if you are using YOU TUBE with students, enter the letters /XL after YOUTUBE.COM to get a different interface page, without being able to see the comments below the videos... ]
Here's the same video but without the English subtitles - split it up into 30 second chunks and students have to make sense of what the video is about and provide the subtitles or voice-over ?
Via the FOODMAPPER blog...
Saturday, 3 April 2010
Second helpings...
Just working on my presentation for next week's GA Conference. After a food workshop at last year's conference I'm teaming up with John McLaverty again for an ICT workshop called "Second Helpings".
Google Public Data Explorer
Check out the new Google Data Explorer tool which produces a range of visualisations of data in a "Gapminder" style interface, particularly the "bubble charts" which can be viewed over time...
Sound of the Suburbs: Living on the edge...
The suburbs are important geographical territory.
They are home to a large proportion of the urban population, and have featured in novels, music, art and other cultural forms for decades. They also provided the background for a range of classic sitcoms (when sitcoms were half-decent)
Terry and June - 1970's - Purley
The Good Life - 1980's - Surbiton
One Foot in the Grave - 1990's -Pinner
An excellent Guardian article features an interview with Andy Partridge of XTC, who of course sang about the 'RESPECTABLE STREETS'.
It features George Orwell's "Coming up for air" which has a description of the street where the main character lives, which could describe many suburban streets.
Do you know the road I live in – Ellesmere Road, West Bletchley? Even if you don't, you know fifty others exactly like it . . . Always the same. Long, long rows of little semi-detached houses . . . as much alike as council houses and generally uglier. The stucco front, the creosoted gate, the privet hedge, the green front door. The Laurels, the Myrtles, the Hawthorns, Mon Abri, Mon Repos, Belle Vue.
There is a whole new area to explore here, which make suburbs a fertile geographical area:
IDEAL HOMES explores the suburbs of south London
Explore the issue of urban sprawl in the USA (and other locations)
An interesting Telegraph article, which mentions the film 'Revolutionary Road'
It also led me to a fascinating post on the STRANGE HARVEST blog on the plans for a purpose-built series of film sets at Pinewood Studios.
PROJECT PINEWOOD would make a great context for a geographical unit - in fact I'm going to pursue that in another blog post...
The suburbs are also the territory for some of my favourite programmes, such as the Beiderbecke Trilogy - which is probably the only programme I could watch where the main characters were teachers....
Erik Johansson
Image copyright Erik JohanssonSome excellent photo manipulations, several of which could (and will) find a place in geographical presentations, produced by Erik Johansson.
Friday, 2 April 2010
Young People's Geographies Photo Display
Image by Jonathan JK MorrisThere will be a display of the latest images from Jonathan JK Morris at the GA Conference next week at the University of Derby.
Jonathan has been working with the young people in Castle Square in Swansea, and has also been documenting the free runners who explore the area.
See more on the YOUNG PEOPLE'S GEOGRAPHIES website.
You can also see an interview with him on the YPG WEBSITE.
Bill Bryson on the British landscape...
Image by Alan Parkinson: Castle Acre Castle, NorfolkAn excellent article in the Times magazine a couple of weeks ago which I have just got round to blogging...
It features Bill Bryson interviewing David Cameron, Nick Clegg and Gordon Brown about their policies on the countryside in advance of the General Election...
I used a Bill Bryson quote at the start of my book "Look at it this Way" from the speech that he gave when he took over as President of the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) in June 2007
I used a Bill Bryson quote at the start of my book "Look at it this Way" from the speech that he gave when he took over as President of the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) in June 2007
The Times article begins with this excellent paragraph which would make an excellent discussion piece, or perhaps the script for a video / presentation to be put together by students, along with appropriate images....
Nothing – and I mean, really, absolutely nothing – is more extraordinary in Britain than the beauty of the countryside. Nowhere in the world is there a landscape that has been more intensively utilised – more mined, farmed, quarried, covered with cities and clanging factories, threaded with motorways and railway lines – and yet remains so comprehensively and reliably lovely over most of its extent. Wherever you are now, you are almost certainly no more than an hour away, if that, from the heady smell of dung and hay, and the glory of a landscape that is sumptuous, productive and divine. You are the luckiest people in the world to have that. Luck, alas, won’t be enough to keep it.
You can also follow the CPRE on Twitter
Take a look at the article and you'll find plenty of other inspiration for work which looks at landscape change and the management of the countryside.
Teachmeet comes East...
Teachmeets are a particularly creative form of teacher CPDI have attended Teachmeets at the Scottish Learning Festival and BETT, and presented on the use of NING networks to develop learning communities at my first Teachmeet, tho' I got so excited I forgot to use the movie that I'd prepared for the purpose...
Now Teachmeet is heading to Norwich in June. It's being held on a Saturday partly because of the issues with travelling to Norwich easily for an evening session...
You can sign up HERE. I'm hoping to make it....
Stanfords Blog
Stanfords is one of my favourite shops. It has a BLOG, which is written by a series of guest bloggers, and many recent posts are written by members of the Geography Collective.
A wonderful blog post by Kye Askins of the Geography Collective
Some great quotes from the blog post that would make useful additions to a display in a geography classroom...
Geography is everywhere… and geography is nowhere.
Geography is central, critical, inherent to all that happens in the world: from the big debates and events (climate change, Haiti earthquake, migration and immigration issues, energy consumption/needs, socio-economic inequalities across the world); to the mundane stuff that we all do daily (food shopping, walking the dog, commuting to work, checking Facebook); to those things in between, especially travelling (where to go, how to get there, sustainability and cost issues, impact on local communities)....
It then goes on to talk about the geography is then hidden and not mentioned explicitly.
It mentions the appointment of Michael Palin as an important aspect of the development of the work of the Royal Geographical Society.
It finishes with the release of Mission Explore. Of course this would help tackle the current issue with fieldtrips and children spending time outside of the classroom, as mentioned in this recent BBC NEWS article
Ordnance Survey release map data
Yesterday was an auspicious day as the Ordnance Survey released a lot of its mapping data (some of its products) to developers and other interested members of the public.Go to the OPEN SPACE website and you can sign up for the necessary API key...
You can then go to the OPEN DATA website and download yourself some DATA to use....
My order id is 6870 so that gives you an idea of how popular the site has been over the last few days...
This allows the mapping to be used in a variety of locations, and for the creation of mash-ups. Of course you could just wait and let someone else do all that for you and share the results...
There has been lots of discussion on the various mapping forums and of course on Twitter about the extent of the data that has been released and the fact that this is good (or bad) news depending on your point of view.
What's clear is that the OS produce the best maps in the world, and the quality of the MASTERMAP data, as used with ESRI (UK) GIS products for example, is amazing.
I look forward to having a play and seeing what I can come up with....
Mapping
Another useful article in Wired UK looked at the mapping of commuters in London by a company called STAMEN.
Similar to the MY SOCIETY transport maps.
The boy who harnessed the wind
An inspiring story that I have just read about in the latest WIRED UK (catching up on my holiday reading this morning...)
TED fellow William Kamkwamba took scrap metal from the local dump near where he lived in Malawi and made it into windmills...
One of many inspirational TED videos...
TED fellow William Kamkwamba took scrap metal from the local dump near where he lived in Malawi and made it into windmills...
William has turned this story into the book: The Boy who harnessed the wind.
One of many inspirational TED videos...
Demonstrates the power of books in a library, which we need to remember sometimes...
You can count on it....
Image by Flickr user Bindaas Madhavi and made available under Creative CommonsAn interesting article in the BBC NEWS which describes the mammoth undertaking that will be the 2011 Census, not in the UK, but in India...
The Indian Census is going to be a huge project with massive environmental costs associated with the collection of so much data.
The article describes the extras that will be included in the census, which will take a year for all the stages to be completed. Everyone over the age of 15 will have their photographs and fingerprints taken.
Thursday, 1 April 2010
South Downs Landshapers
The South Downs was designated as a national park yesterday, as I blogged about at the time.Having investigated the blog a little further, I've come across a resource that would be useful for those teaching about LANDSCAPE.
Here is how the project is described on the website:
‘Landshapers’ is an oral history project which tells the story of the South Downs through the people who live and work there. A joint undertaking between the South Downs Joint Committee, Natural England and Hampshire County Council, the six audio visual files help explain how this landscape has been, and continues to be, shaped by man. These stories cover a wide range of themes intrinsically linked to the unique landscape we see today, all presented by a variety of local experts and accompanied by evocative and inspiring images of the South Downs. These are impassioned and personal accounts by the narrators based on their own background and experience. The audio files can also be downloaded onto mp3 players and are intended to accompany a number of walks in the South Downs where these themes are relevant. It is hoped these narratives will enhance your experience of the landscape as you explore it.
The LANDSHAPERS resource can be viewed by clicking the link...
Mystery book....
Had a mystery parcel waiting for me at the GA yesterday. It was apparently posted from Oxford Press in the USA, but there was no letter enclosed. It's a copy of an intriguing book about the Ottoman Age of Exploration.The envelope was addressed to me via "Cultural Geography Blog", so presume a reader of the blog sent it...
Can any blog visitor cast light on this ?
Plastiki Widget
The Plastiki voyage is now well underway, and the crew are keeping people up to date with their Twitter feed @PlastikiYou can now download a widget to track the progress of the vessel...
You can also EXPLORE the vessel and its features - check out the website for plenty more useful information on the trip...
Best wishes to all on board
Image copyright: Adventure Ecology, 2010
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