How to PASS GEO 407/507

Another important part of "Geosciences Research" is to "know thy speaker." Oftentimes in the "real world" of academia we challenge or inspire ourselves by reading the works of others who are publishing in a different part of our field, or in a different field altogether. We are especially prompted to do so if introduced to the person's work in a departmental seminar or at a conference. This may even lead us to a new direction of inquiry or a brand new research specialty. To give you a sense of this process, you will also need to the do the following in order to pass the course:

• CHOOSE one talk that is particularly interesting to you.

• FIND a journal article, technical report, web site, etc. that the speaker has produced (more than likely it will be related to their talk). If you have difficulty locating the speaker's work in the library or on the web, go the Interlibrary Loan route. Or feel free to contact the speaker directly and ask him/her to send you a reprint. This is done all the time between academic colleagues. If nothing else, the speaker will be flattered by your continued interest in his/her work.

• READ the paper, web page, etc. and then WRITE a one-page (single-spaced) reaction paper (i.e., critique/assessment) of the person's presentation within the context of their written work that you've read outside of class. So in a sense it is a reaction to both the presentation and the outside work. This should be more than just an impersonal abstract or review. Feel free to share your own reactions/opinions.

  Here is an example of an EXCELLENT reaction paper.

• TURN IN your paper to me before the end of the quarter. Emailing the text is fine (dawn-at-dusk.geo.orst.edu).

See Dr. Wright for your own copy of the seminar poster or visit dusk.geo.orst.edu/geoviz07.html

Her office is Wilkinson 114, office hours TR 12:15-1:15

Geovisualization, and the broader discipline of geographic information science, are now also a key strategic areas for research and education at OSU, and certainly for the Department of Geosciences. More than 30 units on campus are involved in GIScience research and education. OSU is the only university west of the Mississippi that offers a certificate in GIScience (by way of cartography, remote sensing, quantitative analysis, and surveying, as well as GIS), and the GIScience certificate is offered at all three levels (undergraduate, graduate, and non-degree professional). OSU is the only university in the US that offers a graduate minor in Ecosystem Informatics. Many research enterprises at OSU (e.g., the H.J. Andrews Long-term Ecological Research program, the Partnership for Interdisciplinary Studies of Coastal Oceans [PISCO], the Institute for Water and Watersheds, the Institute for Natural Resources, the College of Oceanic & Atmospheric Sciences, and the Native American Collaborative Institute) produce and work with spatial and temporal data whose significance would be facilitated by geovisualization. The College of Engineering is planning to propose OSU as a Center of Excellence in Engineering, based in part on efforts in cyber-infrastructure

Buckley, A.R, Gahegan, M, and Clarke, K., Geographic visualization, in McMaster, R.B. and Usery, E.L., A Research Agenda for Geographic Information Science, Boca Raton, FL, CRC Press, 313-334, 2004.

Buckley, A.R, Clarke, K., and Gahegan, M., UCGIS Geographic Visualization Research Priorities, Revisited, UCGIS White Paper, Leesburg, VA, University Consortium for Geographic Information Science, 20 pp., 2006.

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