T-shirt available from Google Store...Up to the ICT room where I would be later, and Ken Lacey was introducing the OS Open Data service. A floor down, David Rogers was kicking off an SPC workshop on "Putting Geography back on the map"
John has been an enthusiastic President this year, and I had the pleasure of his company at several events, notably up in Edinburgh for SAGT.
John mentioned the Guerrilla geographers of Mission Explore in his Presidential lecture, and mentioned 2 missions in particular...
Out, and chatted to a number of people: Mary Biddulph was using an article that I wrote for Teaching Geography as a prompt for her workshop on "Writing for Teaching Geography", David Lambert discussed the impact of 'a different view' one year on. Graeme Eyre was Championing Primary Geography and Bob Digby introduced the new Top Spec Geography publications...
Went to introduce Stephen Ruddick’s Teacher to Teacher session, but I was a day early. Spoke to Richard Bustin instead, who teaches at Bancroft’s School, and had earlier done some excellent work on UNSETTLING SETTLEMENT. I strongly recommend that you take a look at these excellent materials !!
I will certainly be using these in some future sessions and encouraging colleagues to take a look at this approach !!
Caught up with a number of people at lunchtime, including Duncan Hawley (I'll get over to Swansea soon...) and had some lunch. One of the advantages of Derby as a venue is that catering is in the same area as the exhibition area and the main lecture rooms.
Healthy Planet had a stand at the conference, where they were telling delegates about their resources for encouraging fund raising. Had a good chat with Shaylesh from Healthy Planet, and thought about other possible connections for them.
OS Open Space / Data was being mentioned, and I had a chance for a long chat with some of the people behind the new data release and was able to suggest some possible additional tweaks to allow teachers to make the most out of the new service (which is of course affected by licensing conditions...)
Also met up with colleagues from ESRI UK: good to see the partnership being advertised at locations around the exhibition space (tho' I forgot to get a picture of the banner....)
Missed out on the chance to pop in to the Young People's Geographies Workshop (which I heard good things about after the event) as I was preparing the room for my workshop. John McLaverty from Oxfam arrived and we had lunch and chatted, then set up the room, and laid out the various documents for the workshop.
The key presentation that we used is embedded below for your interest....The session seemed to go well - got some nice feedback. John then left to return to London. He had provided an excellent and succinct description of the difference between FOOD MILES and FAIR MILES: the link here goes to Oxfam GB where you can download the Fair Miles booklet... (PDF format)
John highlighted the importance of recognising that "far" is not necessarily "bad" and "near" is not necessarily "good" - the issue requires some further investigation.
One of the emerging issues in the area is that of LAND GRABS.
This occurs when rich countries buy up land in economically less developed countries, so that they can safeguard their future food supply...
We will return to this issue in 2011....
Managed to livestream the session on TWITCAM, which worked well. Had some people watching live, and also signing in later to watch the replay.
The timing of the session meant that I was unable to see some of the other sessions that I would have gone to - but unavoidable as there was so much on the programme...
It also didn't give me very long to scoot over to another lecture theatre to set up for a session that I was chairing and participating in. This was a session on BRANCHES, and offered support for those thinking of getting involved in running a branch, and also those who are already involved to see what others are doing.
Thanks to John Davidson for his efficient running of the event. I did a short input on the Norfolk GA branch. Thanks also to Frances Soar for her inputs. We also had to get out of the room quick at the end as Margaret Roberts was heading into the lecture theatre and we over-ran slightly.
Out and more discussions with people on the exhibition stands as the day came towards an end around 6 pm. Down to have a quick glass of wine with the Ordnance Survey and colleagues. More iPhone demos too...
A car full of weary geographers went down the drive to the main road back into Derby City Centre. The weather was so much milder than in recent months. After another quick visit to my room for a shower and change into my Google Maps t-shirt, I wandered through Derby city centre – passed the Stuart Hotel, which took me back to an earlier GA conference when I was staying in a bit of a cheap dive, along with Val Vannet and Ian Murray.
To Pizza Express for the SPC meal for good food and conversation, and some beer. Thanks to Simon Renshaw for the organisation, and Emma Johns and Victoria Ellis for arriving early and keeping me company, although we did end up with 13 at the table!
Wandered back through the evening, and it was warm enough for just a t-shirt – a great contrast to the previous few months. Rich and I had arranged to meet in the bar of the Hallmark Hotel with colleagues from the Edexcel Ning or doing IB.
Mark from Hong Kong’s King George V school was there. His school was awarded a GA Secondary Geography Quality Mark this year, and was good to discuss the impact of the GA overseas....
Caught up with other Geography Collective members, and also Simon Oakes. Thanks to Rob Morris from Shrewsbury for the whisky late on...
As I was heading back to the room, bumped into Margaret Roberts and Doreen Massey. Doreen was very interested in my Google Maps t-shirt: turned out that I would find the connection between the shirt and her lecture tomorrow....
For now it was time for bed...
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