Joel Morrison
Interests:
The impact of geographic information technology on organizational
structures; the present attempts to
use industrial age models for information age phenomena; the
importance of the changing
relationship between government, private industry, academia, and
non-profits
"Value" in the information age
Free vs fee data, copyright, licensing, the role of data vs information in
a service economy
The expanded gulf between the "technological possible" and the "actual" for
large numbers of people
who do not have access to the tools of geographical information
The relative importance of "where" in an informational society, with its
cellular phones, e-mail, and
telecommuting, vs an industrial society.
Issues:
In the mature information age of the future, is area (geographical space of
states, counties, etc) the
appropriate frame for the redistricting of Congress, or should it
be affinity groups linked by
networks? (e.g. consider the AAG, are the specialty groups
stronger than the regions?)
What are the new professional organizations of the future? Replacements
for NSPS for example. A
model for Business Geographics? How do you transition?
What are the new universities of the future? Virtual geography departments?
Donald G. Janelle
Interest # 1: The Need for a National Periodic Survey on
the Applications of Communication/Information Technologies in
Everyday Life
Is there a case to be made for periodic national surveys on the
applications of communication/information technologies in the
everyday activities of the population?
Arguments for this include:
- current census practices do not represent adequately the
changing space-time dimensions of work and activity patterns;
- changing conditions of employment that have led to varied work
days/weeks, combinations of shiftwork, flexitime, staggered
hours, overtime, shared jobs, temporary work, 24-hour commercial
and service operations, mobile work, all-day/everyday and global-
scale commercial uses of the Internet, and telecommuting
represent growing complexity in the organization of daily life;
- changing patterns of activity behaviour at the individual and
household levels greatly impact on requirements for public and
private infrastructure;
- communication and information technologies have been integral to
recent changes in lifestyles, but in ways that are poorly
understood;
- the spatial dimensions of activity patterns, seen as space-time
paths (Hagerstrand), have been altered greatly by
communication/information technologies, influencing levels of
interaction and travel behavior, and landuse decision making;
- the provision of emergency services are complicated greatly by
the inherent complexity of space-time behavior in association
with communication technologies and would benefit from a greater
understanding of what is happening?
- the pace of change is so rapid that there is need for either
ongoing or periodic surveys to capture the changing patterns and
their implications for resource requirements;
- we know little about emerging technology uses in family
communications (e.g., the pace to which email may be replacing
post as a means of bonding among nuclear and extended families).
(expansion required -- needs group discussion)
Arguments against this include:
- large-scale government-sponsored surveys could be seen as a
further erosion of individual autonomy and privacy;
- it may be difficult to foresee or to control how such
information is exploited;
- collection and processing of such data will be costly and
complicated;
- private organizations may be better equipped to handle such
exercises;
(expansion required; needs group discussion)
Implementation Procedures/Considerations:
- Associated space-time activity diaries could provide a strong
empirical contextual framework for technology applications, one
that relates to significant social concerns and to theoretical
discourse.
- diary surveys may be structured to include household
samples to represent weekdays and weekends.
- household samples of week-long space-time diaries, on the
premise that the week is becoming the primary temporal unit
for structuring household activity patterns.
- surveys distribution structured to sample the population
over 52 weeks of the year, to capture seasonal variations.
- Use previous studies as models (with changes to incorporate
spatial information and communication technologies), e.g., the
World Time Budget Study (A. Szalai, ed., 1972 The Use of Time).
- Can a cost-benefit approach be used to evaluate the worth of
such an enterprise?
- What organizational requirements would be needed (e.g., space,
personnel, training, budgets)? Can this be grafted to on-going
census operations.?Interest # 2 (Janelle) "Dormant Data" and "Latent
Geographic
Information": Issues of Social Surveillance and Scientific Value
Note: Interest statement # 2 relates to statement # 1 in the
following way: if a survey approach to documenting the
applications of communication/information technologies in
everyday life is not feasible, could standard surveillance
approaches be used within a GIS framework to do the same
thing? I am aware of the numerous ethical issues that arise
here and adhere strongly to the importance of designing
studies that do not contravene protocols of ethical research
-- reader beware!
This speculative statement considers the social and scientific
issues that arise through the combination of "Dormant Data",
releasing agents, and "Latent Information". Focusing on the role
of Geographic Information Science, it juxtaposes the intentions,
methods, and outcomes of social surveillance with those of
scientific investigation.
Dormant Data and Latent Information:
Data stored on maps and in geo-coded digital files represent
explicit geographic information, presumably gathered and compiled
to satisfy specific needs. However, vast quantities of data (both
spatial and non-spatial in character, both historical and
current) lie dormant, even though they may have latent potentials
for geographic insight. Dormancy implies that such data are
temporarily out of action and awaiting someone or something to
release them for a renewed existence or for possible
transformation and integration with other data into higher-
ordered information (ideas, concepts, and theories).
Releasing Agents and Geographic Information:
Computers and analytic procedures for match-and-merge cross-
tabulations have the power to convert seemingly unrelated data
sets into meaningful exposures of pattern and structure. GIS is
one such tool for freeing isolated facts from their dormancy and
for spatializing data that may have little apparent relationship
to geographic patterns and processes.
Yet, how much more effective could GIS be if it could harness the
expertise of enquiry represented in the collective talents of
investigative lawyers, probing journalists, and detectives. Can
algorithmic coding assist researchers in asking the right
questions, systematically examining and piecing together the
evidence, cross-examining different data sets for alternative
interpretations, inferring missing pieces, and reaching new
levels of insight into problems? In principle, if not in
practice, GIS provides the ultimate resource for presenting
information spatially, accurately and fast. Armed with the
exploratory skills of the detective/journalist/lawyer and GIS,
the researcher enhances prospects for cutting through confusing
details and for increasing the probability of finding new and
potentially important associations.
Surveillance, Science, and Social Understanding -- the Dilemma of
Co-existence:
It is in its role as a surveillance tool that Geographic
Information Science faces one of its most important social
challenges. With its capacity to represent data spatially, GIS
enhances the latent surveillance role of spatialized information.
Surveillance involves the gathering of information and careful
monitoring of subjects. Latent Surveillance concerns the possible
uses of existing data sources to reconstruct histories and
geographies of persons, institutions, and places, either with or
without their knowledge and acceptance. For example, credit card
transactions, telephone bills, and company personnel records
could be used to create an activity and linkage profile of a
person in space and time. As with all forms of data, such records
may be used in deceitful and negative ways or in ways that
promote broadly desirable social and scientific outcomes.
Scientific understanding of society relies on varying degrees of
surveillance. Yet, the impacts of surveillance technologies on
individual privacy and on culture are of growing concern, and
codes of scientific practice preclude any potential harm to
research subjects. Surveillance may be voluntary when an
individual agrees to complete a survey, fill out an application
form, or document daily activities in a diary. It is considered
desirable for security and acceptable when luggage is screened at
an airport. But, if someone rummages through the garbage for
receipts and other titbits of personal history, it is an invasion
of one's personal history.
Covert and overt surveillance goes on continually -- often under
the guises of intelligence gathering, spying, espionage,
detective work, and undercover investigation, sometimes gathering
information through secret clandestine operations or false
pretence. For this reason, public expressions of suspicion over
the out-sourcing of government data management to private firms
(e.g., EDS in the U.K.), the introduction of national identity
cards, the use of electronic badges in the work place, and the
use of vehicle tracking systems (using GPS) are warranted. In
contrast, these practices are advocated and used to create
efficiencies and to enhance services for the general public or
for specific client groups. They could also be used to create
spatial databases for scientific investigations -- for example
(in relation to Interest # 1, above) to explore the changing
nature of human space-time activity patterns.
While it is evident that surveillance may benefit from spatial
representation of data and information, it may be possible to
turn this around, and to ask: how might the methods of
surveillance be used to enhance the effectiveness of GIS in
scientific research? And, can sufficient safeguards be
incorporated to avoid jeopardizing the security and safety of
research subjects? At this point the number of questions become
so numerous and so broad in scope that it would be best to
explore them among a range of private and public stakeholders,
including representatives from many scholarly disciplines. Maybe
we can pursue this at the NCGIA workshop.
Workshop Home Page...