Harvard University
CGIS South Building, Tsai Auditorium, Concourse Level
1730 Cambridge St., Cambridge, MA 02138
Co-Chairs:
Suzanne Preston Blier, Harvard University
Julia Finkelstein, Cornell University & Harvard CGA
View schedule with speaker and title (updated 03/28/12)
View Conference Program with abstracts and speaker bios (updated 03/28/12)
Abstract
This two-day conference brought together scholars on GIS and Africa to share their knowledge and experiences; to explore the potential of geospatial methods in the social sciences, further humanities scholarship by critically engaging GIS methods, and promote interdisciplinary collaborative research in health and humanities in the continent of Africa. The conference was free and open to all.
The objective was to explore the application of geographic information systems (GIS) methods to health and humanities work in Africa, bringing together scholars from across various disciplines whose research offers answers to key questions involving Africa. Scholars represent research interests in an array of disciplines, among these health, demography, government, geology, geography, biology, archaeology, economics, architecture, and art history.
The first day of this conference included a hands-on training workshop on WorldMap functionality and a web-based interactive demo of the WorldMap web mapping platform for interested individuals and groups in Africa and other parts of the world. The second day featured the keynote address, followed by a series of panels presenting lightning talks on topics including politics, environment, health, change, diversity and technologies.
The title of the keynote address, “Putting Peace on the Map“ by Patrick Vinck, Research Scientist at the Harvard School of Public Health and Associate Faculty with the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, elicited both the broad reach and historical and contemporary importance of issues that will be addressed here.
2012 Conference Presentations
Opening Remarks (YouTube video)
Caroline Elkins
Introductions
Suzanne Blier & Julia Finkelstein
Keynote Address:
- Putting Peace on the Map
Patrick Vinck
Politics
- The Space of Time: Mapping Difference in the Pre-Colonial Yoruba City
Suzanne Blier - Social Media as Passive Polling: Using Twitter to Map Islamist Sentiment in Egypt
Todd Mostak - Deterring or Displacing Electoral Irregularities? Spillover Effects of Observers in a Randomized Field Experiment in Ghana
Nahomi Ichino - “Stain Removal” - Measuring the Effect of Violence on Ethnic Demography in Kenya
Andy Harris
Environment
- Investigating Saharan Tourism Infrastructure
Aziza Chaouni - Sacred Seascapes of the Mediterranean - sailing the shores of North Africa & Beyond (PDF)
Jeff Howry - Space, Place, Time and Tsetse
Joseph Messina - Sensing New Water Resources in Egypt from Space
Magaly Koch - Community Mobilization, Spatial Mapping and Malaria Control
Felton Earls & Mary Carlson
Health
- Anemia: Spatial Mapping in Sub-Saharan Africa
Julia Finkelstein - The E¤ect of the TseTse Fly on African Development
Marcella Alsan - Using Geographic Information Systems to Support HIV Care in Rwanda
Fabien Munyaneza - The Maize/Malaria Connection in Western Ethiopia
Anthony Kiszewski
Change
- Cannabis: An African Biogeography, 1500-1940
Chris S. Duvall - The Texture of Change: Cloth, Commerce and Social History in West Africa, 1650-1850
Jody Benjamin - Boundary Softness in Historic West Central Africa
John Thornton - Responding to Change: Mapping Climate Change, Conflict and Aid in Africa
Ashley Moran
Diversity
- Mapping life: inventorying African biodiversity
James Hanken - Implications of Crowdsourcing and Cloud Computing for Improved Ecosystems Mapping in Sub-Saharan Africa
Henry N. N. Bulley - Transboundary Conservation: Greater Mapungubwe Transfrontier Conservation Area
Meghan Spigle - The Size of Savannah Africa: a Lion’s View
Andrew Jacobson - Spatial patterns of health: Evidence from the Women’s Health Study of Accra
Günther Fink
Methodologies and Technology
- Food Insecurity in the Greater Horn
Greg Husak - African health seen through spatial lens
Marcia Castro - Rebuilding after the Genocide in Rwanda
Delia Wendel - An incentive design experiment in the health sector: Zambia, GIS and social science field work
Kelsey Jack - Citizen Cyberscience for Africa
Francois Grey
Closing Remarks
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