Geotagging with nature....the evolution of GIS

Geotagging of images and media involves assigning geographical identification metadata to the image. Geotagging is a form of geospatial metadata consisting of latitude and longitude coordinates, and sometimes more complex data like altitude, etc. This very specific metadata can help users find images taken near a given location by entering latitude and longitude coordinates into a geotagging-enabled image search engine. The great power of geotagging is enabling information services which can be used to find location-based news, websites, blog or rss feeds, tweets, or countless other resources. Geotagging gives users the location of the content of an image, or other media, and conversely on some sites and web applications can show media relevant to a given location.
Geotagging evolved from the world of geographic information systems, a complex geospatial database tool developed in the early 1960’s. The Laboratory for Computer Graphics and Spatial Analysis at the Harvard Graduate School of Design was the real genesis of GIS, it is where the scientific world geospatial sciences, and the artistic world of design merged around the idea of geographic data representation. Some of the preeminent architects and planners of the world including Ian McHarg set forth the basic concepts that were to develop later in geographic information systems.
The great breakthrough of GIS data was the representation of real objects such as roads, land use, elevation with digital data. The ability to tie geospatial coordinates to real world objects allowed for the extensive development of geospatial metadata. Later, with the opening of the global positioning system (GPS), the access to geospatial data grew exponentially. This satellite-based navigation system is made up of a network of 24 satellites placed into orbit by the U.S. Department of Defense. GPS was originally intended for military applications, but in the 1980s, the government made the system available for civilian use. GPS works in any weather conditions, anywhere in the world, 24 hours a day, and it is extremely accurate through the use of satellite triangulation. Originally the system required a complex unit, often accompanied with a large antenna system for accurate use. Today, gps receivers exist in every cell phone, and almost any mobile electronic device.
Of course, one of the great advantages of all of this metadata is the ability to link the quickly growing world library of online digital images. The work that Blaise Aguera y Arcas is doing with seadragon at Microsoft is astounding. The visual clarity is phenomenal, and the grace of the movement in the interface is also remarkable. When Google purchased Keyhole in 2004 they made amazing strides in the field of geodata analysis. The emergence of Google Earth, and the associated tools, including streetview, have changed the way we deal with spatial information. Now, with the alliance of microsoft and yahoo, Bing mapping and flickr are offering amazing capabilities, and most importantly ease of use to the end user.
When I was an undergrad, my favorite professor liked to call geography “the science of the obvious”. It is in effect, everything that surrounds us. Combine that simple idea with the capability to manage immense amounts of data and metadata about everything that surrounds us, and the ability to capture spatial coordinates from satellites, and digital images of amazing clarity and quality, and you arrive at the brave world of geotagging, marching right in to the future of the obvious.

Couchsurfing - "doveryai, no proveryai"

My experience with couchsurfing goes back to my days as an ultimate frisbee player, well before the couchsurfing site existed. The ultimate community is a very informal group, sharing an interest in a sport played for fun and friendship rather than money and fame. Tournaments happen all around the country and teams travel great distances to play, often couchsurfing in the homes of host team players. I have slept on couches in Charleston, Savannah, Charlotte, Blacksburg, Washington, Philadelphia, Chicago, and more. I have had more than 10 players from other towns sleeping all over my house, including on my screened porch. Some of my best friends are people I have met through ultimate tournaments and couchsurfing. In the old days, the game depended a close knit community and trust.
Couch surfing has occurred informally, in more than just ultimate, for thousands of years, but the modern internet version started in 2003. The site started when the founder had a plane ticket to Reykjavik, Iceland and could not afford a hotel. So, he stayed on a friend of a friend's couch and found it was fun. Today there are 1.8 million couchsurfers in almost 71,000 cities worldwide. According to the site, there have been 4,649,018 positive experiences, which is about 99.8% of all member experiences.
Over 80% of these are under 35 years old, about half of couchsurfers living in Europe. Most of weekmonth, the service is free, but donations are encouraged to support the work of the site.
Some call couchsurfing a movement toward a kinder and more connected planet. It seems most couchsurfers are looking for new connections, and to add new social experiences. Most reviews talk about extraordinary kindnesses of strangers on their couches, but some the occasional poor guest. Mostly you read about amazing people participating in the lives of the homes they are staying in, how they immediately involved themselves into their families- helping with dinner and washing the dishes afterwards.
As all this relates to our class, research about social networks consistently shows that people with larger social networks are healthier, happier, and live longer. Of course, those who attend church regularly also fair well in these areas, and this is likely due to the social connections and fellowship that follows worship services. Nonetheless, this is a very real social network, and a way to build real long term relationships with strangers.
One of the most important aspects of couchsurfing is the trusting of a stranger. Obviously this trust must always be based on information. There is an old Russian proverb "doveryai, no proveryai" that translates as "trust, but verify." The couchsurfing site is based on reputation and verification. New couchsurfers must earn verification, and be “vouched” for by other couchsurfers.
Overall, couchsurfing is a great social experiment, a test of community building and trust. Now that I have kids, I am a little more prone to seek verification, but I hope to formally participate in couchsurfing again soon.

Web 2.0 gap analysis

My original objectives needed more specificity about building my knowledge base and understanding of web 2.0 concepts.  At this point in my academic career, I need to recognize that much of the learning comes from pursuing what I have been exposed to and see in a class like web 2.0 and Social Media.  I certainly have learned a tremendous amount about communicating through social media, but how do I implement that in my classroom?  How can I best inspire reading and writing using these tools? Is it through the use of wiki's and blogs? Can I begin to incorporate handheld technology, what would that look like with my students? What about podcasting, or digital storytellling? It is up to me to actualize these goals based on what I have seen here.
DI mentioned a previous comment about "academic rigor".  The class was challenging, and certainly had a lot of useful material and activities.  The assigned readings, the TED lectures, the youtube videos, all had their own intellectually stimulating quality.  Were they directly aligned and linked with established pedagogical research? Would that have made them more useful?  Probably not for me, I enjoyed the more conversational approach which encouraged peer learning and a lot of sharing. We were asked to join and participate in a number of social media sites that dealt directly with implementation of web 2.0 tools and concepts in education. At a workshop recently I was asked to align certain web 2.0 tools with pedagogical theory, this was interesting and eye opening. It felt a bit forced, and in this class I was able to explore and learn, later I can think about how theses tools work in terms of educational theory.
I would have liked to address implementation more directly in class, but cannot define how that would have happened. Just as I know my teaching style must adjust in this quickly evolving web based environment, my learning style and expectations must be adjusted as well.