Abstracts of Conference Presentations

presented:

"Social Protest, Spatial Praxis, and Radical Geography in the Teaching of World History" to the Southeast Division of the Association of American Geographers meeting in Lexington, KY, November 2001.

This paper examines how to synthetically integrate world history and radical geography within a social studies framework for K-12 students. New approaches to world history, which move away from teaching history in "isolation" to teaching world history as "global history," mimics trends in world regional geography that focus on global interconnectivity and themes of global change over regions in isolation. The overlap in approach between "global history" and "global geography" presents an opportunity for teachers to explore the role of "spatial praxis" in the development of place-based social systems in cross-cultural and cross-temporal context. Specifically, the study of social protest makes present the importance of spatial praxis for an ever-changing world historical geography. The paper explores the importance of social protest and spatial praxis by first examining the development of the world history and geography curriculum in California. Next, readers are provided with a theorization of space that builds a conceptual base for studying social protest as spatial phenomena. In the final section, we examine the spatial politics of Mahatma Gandhi for how one might go about teaching radical geography as part of a "globalized" world history and geography curriculum.

While at this (SEDAAG) meeting, Dr. Del Casino was the second author with a team from Mary Washington College (Stephen P. Hanna, Casey Selden, and Benjamin C. Hite), which presented a paper, entitled:

"Representation as Work: The Everyday Production of Heritage in Fredericksburg, Virginia" to the Southeast Division of the Association of American Geographers meeting in Lexington, KY, November 2001.

Much of the critical literature in tourism geography and tourism studies more broadly recognizes the important role that representation plays in the reproduction of tourism spaces and the identities of tourists and tourism workers. For the most part, however, these literatures focus on the representations themselves or on governments and corporations that produce such place-images and enact policies to ensure that tourism spaces "live-up" to their representation. Lost in such macro-scale analyses are the everyday practices of tourism workers who both create the maps, films, and brochures used to sell places as sites of tourism and interact with the tourists themselves helping to translate representation into experience. These activities, we argue, constitute representation as work. In this paper we present preliminary findings of ongoing ethnographic research on tourism workers in Fredericksburg, Virginia. Drawing from interviews with employees at the city's Visitors Center, we note that their daily efforts to reproduce Fredericksburg as "America's Most Historic City," identify what history is important, attach those past moments to the city's present identity and landscape, and recreate tourism as a gendered activity.

Dr. Del Casino is also the primary co-author (with Rachel Safman of Cornell University) of a presentation entitled:

"Working the 'Middle Ground': NGOs, Health Care, and AIDS in Chiang Mai, Thailand" to the Association of Asian Studies meeting, in Chicago, March 2001.

In recent years, NGOs have proliferated in Thailand. While these organizations are often mentioned in Thai Studies, they are rarely analyzed critically. In this paper I examine the role of NGOs, in particular one key NGO called AIDS Organization, as 'mediators and facilitators' of care programs for people living with HIV and AIDS (PLWHA) in Chiang Mai, Thailand. AIDS Organization is a meso-level organization situated in between the state apparatus and various locales and individuals. What this means is that AIDS Organization works between the spaces of provider and client, health care facility and PLWHA, the state-sector and local community organizations, and the international funding community and their outreach sites. AIDS Organization works these boundaries intentionally in the hopes of maintaining a distance, imagined or real, between themselves and funding agencies, the Thai government, and their self- constructed target populations. Positioning itself 'above' the fray, AIDS Organization attempts to organize health care in ways that transform the social and physical and political and economic dimensions that impact the overall health of its target populations. In so doing, AIDS Organization dedicates itself to the 'local,' whereby the organization hopes to see locales develop some relative autonomy from the Thai State and the global economy. AIDS Organization does not exist outside the flows of power, however, that mediate organizational life in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Their work, which fosters connections between PLWHA and the State provide opportunities for new structures of surveillance to be put into place. At the same time, their work opens up the possibility that new populations, such as PLWHA, can access the State and its decision-making mechanisms. AIDS Organization thus works the boundaries between various social actors and organizations, at the margins of power and resistance, and in relation to the flows of social relations that are present each time they enact their outreach efforts.

Dr. Del Casino additionally presented:

"Organizational Ethnographies and the Politics of Fieldwork" to the Association of American Geographers meeting in New York City in late February and early March 2001.

One of the first steps in developing a field study is the determination of one's object(s) of inquiry. In my research, I focused on non-governmental organizations (NGOs) working with people living with HIV and AIDS in Chiang Mai, Thailand. In an attempt to narrow my field, I chose one key organization, AIDS Organization. I collected ethnographic data on this organization for over fifteen months. As such, I came to be defined as a member of the organization by those working both within and outside this particular place. Indeed, as part of my fieldwork I offered my services as a volunteer, assisting staff in translating documents, participating in meetings, and consulting on project proposals. My position as a volunteer created some interesting interpersonal dynamics. I found that I had to eventually create some distance between the organization and myself in order to understand the ways in which their outreach efforts functioned after staff returned home from their outreach sites at the end of the day. To create this distance, I focused on one of their outreach sites and lived in the area for almost nine months. Over fifteen months, therefore, my positionality in relation to this organization was constantly changing. As I became more comfortable, as friendships developed, and as projects evolved (or died), so to do the ways in which I came to identify and be identified within the context of this organization. In this paper, I trace my changing position in relation to this organization and the ways in which I, and others, deployed identities in order to understand my role and position in the organization.

Dr. Del Casino also served as a discussant on a panel (which he co-organized) entitled:

"Interrogating Tourism Maps: New 'Guides' to Space and Identity" at the upcoming Association of American Geographers meeting in New York City in late February and early March.

Dr. Del Casino also made a presentation to a panel entitled:

"HIV/AIDS in Thailand," at the West Coast Meeting of the Association of Asian Studies, CSULB, in October 2000.

presented a progress report on her Quick Response grant:

"Patterns of Media Coverage of the Terrorist Attacks on the United States in September of 2001," to the New York University's Institute for Civil Infrastructure Systems' World Trade Center Workshop, New York, 11-13 December 2001.

This paper presents a progress report on my literature content analysis of media coverage of the 9/11 attacks on the United States. The progress report covers the first six weeks of home page coverage on the online edition of the Los Angeles Times. The dominant concerns of the Times' stories fall into three main categories: military reporting, investigation updates, and reactions to the disastrous attacks, categories expected of a war story, a crime story, and a disaster story, respectively. The first three weeks emphasize the disaster story, while the next three weeks shift to the war story. The early shift to the military response to these horrific events may lead to a deprioritization of the needs of New Yorkers, Washingtonians, and Americans as they struggle to recover from this disaster. The geopolitical context of the events is poorly drawn out in front screen coverage, and there is evidence of media sensationalism. To its credit, however, the Los Angeles Times' front screen coverage did evenly cover the impacts on businesses and workers. A few recommendations on interacting with the media are provided.

Dr. Rodrigue presented an invited paper:

"Risk Representation in the Space Program: The Internet and the Social Amplification of Risk," at Jet Propulsion Lab for a JPL/NASA Headquarters teleconference.

This paper summarized the results of a study of activist use of the Internet to debate the risks involved in the use of ceramicized plutonium dioxide RTGs on the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft. While the majority of UseNet participants were supporters of the mission, the opponents were far more vocal and far more likely to pass on the the messages of others in framing their own contributions to the debate. A large number of them brought countercultural values into the discourse. The forwarded messages trace back to about eleven individuals, who created a very powerful opposition movement to the Cassini-Huygens mission and generated a great deal of pressure on Congressional risk management decision-makers. The paper ended with a discussion of the three probable axes of controversy in an upcoming mission now in the planning stages (the Mars Sample Return) and a list of suggestions for risk communication and incorporation of public input into the decision- making process.

Dr. Rodrigue will present a paper in a special panel she is organizing:

"Media and Hazards," at the Association of American Geographers, Los Angeles, 19-23 March 2002.

Media are a major influence on perception of a hazard or disaster. Hazard assessment experts and activists both have trouble getting their messages to the public through traditional print and broadcast media, which have very high costs of entry and are dominated by interests with very different agendas than experts and activists. Media coverage of a hazardous situation or a disaster tends to be more sensational than informative and often undercovers the vulnerability of the most marginalized in society. The Internet promises to alter this situation. It has a very low cost of entry and has begun to displace or augment traditional media as a source of information. Initial analyses suggest, soberingly, that the Internet has increased the social amplification and attenuation of risks. On the positive side, cellular technology and the Internet have also been used to increase the efficiency of disaster response and can disseminate public education information to new audiences. Similarly, popular fiction (e.g., radio novellas) can get hazard mitigation and preparation information out to vulnerable and socially marginalized people, embedded in dramas of interest to them. Video can also be used by activists to document the complicated nuances that lead to heightened vulnerability among populations underserved by conventional media. This panel, then, will discuss both the positive and negative possibilities offered by a wide variety of media in shaping hazards perception and response to disaster.

She will also present a second paper in a special panel she just organized on the terrorist attack of 11 September:

"Media and the Terrorist Attack of 11 September 2001," also at the AAG, Los Angeles, 19-23 March 2002.

The terrorist attack on the United States on September 11th, 2001, was a disaster of a kind not previously experienced in the United States, neither a natural nor a technological disaster. It posed many of the same emergency management problems as a natural or technological disaster and can be expected to follow the classic response, restoration, reconstruction, and commemorative construction phases seen in any great disaster. More so than in natural disasters and more fiercely than in technological disasters, this catastrophe will entail assignment of blame, poor understanding of the context leading to these extreme events, demand for punishment of the guilty, and, for the first time, more than just punishment but retaliation. The stage of post-event mitigation may differ from other disasters, too, with perhaps a longer window of opportunity and troubling incursions on civil liberties for public safety. Media are constructing perception of this catastrophe, and it is the purpose of this panel to explore just how media are being used in this event. The panel will discuss print, online, cellular, and broadcast media representations of the events, their direct and collateral victims, their perpetrators, their context, and reaction to them.

Additionally, she will present a third paper, a poster:

"Media Coverage of the Terrorist Attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon," also at the AAG, Los Angeles, 19-23 March 2002.

The terrorist attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on 11 September 2001 was an unprecedented type of disaster in the United States. It imposed a toll in human life on a scale seen only in recent non-Western natural and technological disasters and the economic losses seen only in the disasters of developed countries. This catastrophe raised many of the same emergency management problems as natural or technological disasters, and recovery can be expected to move through similar stages of response, restoration, reconstruction, and commemorative reconstruction. More intensely than with conventional disasters, however, this incident entails assignment of blame, poor understanding of the forces behind the catastrophe, demand for punishment of the guilty, and, for the first time, more than just punishment but retaliation. The stage of post-event mitigation may differ from traditional disasters, too, with perhaps a longer window of opportunity for implementing safety measures and almost certainly incursions on American civil liberties for the sake of public safety. The media representation of these and related issues is the subject of this poster, which presents an inductive content analysis of a major online newspaper's coverage of the incident and its aftemath.

Dr. Rodrigue presented:

"The Internet in Risk Communication and Hazards Activism," to the 26th Annual Hazards Research and Applications Workshop, Boulder, Co, 17 July 2001.

Throughout the 1990s, the Internet has exploded into a medium that is competitive with television, radio, and print media. As with any medium, the Internet can be utilized for risk communication. More than any other medium, however, the Internet can also be used for recruitment of activists to generate political pressure on risk policy management decision-makers. It is thus altering the always uneasy relationship between risk assessment science and risk management policy.

Since 1997, I have been analyzing the use of the Internet in communicating about risk and in generating political pressure concerning hazards. As such, this is an extension of my long-standing interest in how print media represent hazards and disasters. My work on Internet risk communication has proceeded through a number of case studies, among them the plutonium on board the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft, chaparral fire hazard in Southern California, and a landslide incident in Southern California.

In the case studies explored thus far, what emerges is the rôle of the Internet in social risk amplification and risk attenuation. That is, in some cases (e.g., Cassini), social concern about a risk is inflated far beyond the estimates of probability and consequences coming from the professional risk assessment community. In other cases (e.g., chaparral fire hazard), social concern about a hazard assessed as relatively large in probability of occurrence and in consequences is soothed to a level enabling risky behavior (e.g., buying view homes in pyrogenic vegetation). Very interestingly, the Internet is used precisely to contest the legitimacy of conventional risk assessment science, with an eye toward generating political activism to impact risk management policy. In most of these cases, there is an attempt to recruit credentialed scientists at odds with the majority opinion in the relevant field of assessment science, a tactic seen in many other social issues than just hazards.

Perhaps more interesting than the risk amplification and attenuation content of Internet risk communication is its mechanism. Because of the exponential expansion in communication that the forward button allows, a very small number of people can generate large-scale awareness and political activism in service of their take on a given hazard. Tracing forwarded UseNet messages on Cassini back to their originators, I found that the entire controversy started with a handful of activists (from 2 to 11, depending on definitions). These individuals amplified the risks of plutonium on spacecraft, which proved very costly to NASA's Cassini science budget and which may alter the nature of outer solar system exploration in the future. The attenuation of perceived risk in the case of chaparral fire hazards in the mountains of Southern California was initiated ultimately by a single Malibu realtor disgruntled over Mike Davis' popularization of that hazard in The Ecology of Fear.

The Internet also seems to vary in its effectiveness as a risk communication medium, depending on the specific "channel" used. The Web is certainly the glamorous part of the Internet, with its full-color displays and multimedia (sound, movies, text, graphics, animation) capabilities. Its effectiveness as a medium, however, is limited by its need for an audience actively searching for information or following links. Oddly enough, the most effective "channels" of the Internet in risk communication seem to be the relatively homely ones: e-mail, listservers, news groups, and chats. These channels are far more ubiquitously used by people to get information out than are web pages (which are more technically demanding). And they demand little initiative from their more passive audiences: You get messages by e-mail (whether you want them or not) from friends, associates, and spammers. If some message about a risk catches your eye, it is extremely easy to send it to 50 of your closest Internet friends, who may themselves pass it on to their address lists, listservers, news groups, and chat buddies.

While at the Boulder conference, Dr. Rodrigue also presented a poster:

"The Internet in the Social Amplification and Attenuation of Risk."

The advent of the Internet has fundamentally altered the dialogue between risk assessment science and risk management policy. This dialogue has always been highly politicized, with pressure brought to bear on it from various stakeholders. These actively interested stakeholders have often included the public, which exhibits varying levels of activity. The effectiveness of public input has also varied, depending on perception, commitment of a vanguard of the more activist, and the sophistication of the latter in snagging media coverage to propagate their perceptions and activate wider participation among the rest of the public.

All the players in a given hazardous situation depend on broadcast and print media to get their messages out to one another and to the general public. The problem for them is that they cannot control the representation of their messages in the media. The media have their own interests and needs, which do not necessarily dovetail with the communications needs of risk assessment scientists, risk management policymakers, emergency responders, activists, and the broader public.

The Internet changes everything. This new, highly interactive medium brings immediacy, duration, geographical reach, and exponential expansion of communications among individuals -- and all for a very small price. Mass communication is now in the hands of the masses. What does this mean for the hazards community and the varyingly active members of the public?

Early results have included an impressive empowerment of individual activists as a handful of them generate tremendous citizen pressure on risk management decision makers. This is a blade that cuts both ways, however, with the Internet introducing new opportunities for demagoguery and for hijacking the reference group trust by which most people make political decisions on issues far beyond their normal concerns. The consequences include the propagation of skewed perceptions of hazard, and the resulting misdirection of behavior towards it.

That is, the Internet heightens efficiency in the social amplification of risk and the social attenuation of risk. The Internet has been used to amplify public concern about a risk assessed with conventional methods as vanishingly tiny in probability and relatively trivial in consequences (the use of plutonium dioxide on the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft). It has also been used to blunt perceptions of a natural hazard with relatively high and temporally increasing risks of recurrence and magnitude (chaparral fire hazard in Southern California).

Risk amplification in the first case may result in the opportunity costs of knowledge about the outer solar system forgone and of diverted political energies. Risk attenuation in the second case encourages more people to seek view homes in the middle of pyrogenic vegetation, thereby putting themselves at risk and diverting social protection resources to an unnecessary hazard.

Dr. Rodrigue recently presented:

"Construction of Hazard Perception and Activism on the Internet," to the Association of American Geographers, New York, February-March 2001.

Social construction of hazard policy entails a risk assessment dialogue between technical experts and public interest activists and between each of these and elected risk management policy-makers. These dialogues have traditionally taken place in the frequently distorting presence of broadcast and print media, with varying effect on public perception, interest, and recruitment to political action. The advent of the Internet has fundamentally altered these discussions, with the immediacy, duration, geographical reach, and exponential expansion of communications among individuals it affords. Early results have included an impressive empowerment of individual activists vis à vis the corporate interests that dominate traditional media, as well as tremendous citizen pressure on risk management decision- makers. This is a blade that cuts both ways, however, with new opportunities for demagoguery and hijacking of the reference group trust by which most people make political decisions on issues far beyond their training. This paper illustrates these points with case studies involving both technological and natural hazards controversies played out on the Internet.

She also presented:

"The Use of the Internet and Web-Based Technology for Space and Geoscience (Mis)Education: New Media in Natural and Technological Hazard Debates," to the American Geophysical Union, San Francisco, December 2000.

Risk assessment science and risk management policy ideally inform one another in natural and technological hazard situations. The relationship between the two is, however, notoriously challenging. Policy toward any given hazard is forged in complex dialogues between risk assessment scientists (e.g., seismologists, biogeographers, and atomic scientists) and risk management decision-makers (many of them elected politicians subject to Type I and Type II risks to their own careers riding on these debates). Impinging on these two sets of players is citizen pressure generated by public interest activists, many of them quite sophisticated at educating the public about their take on issues and adroit in stimulating political activism among the newly-informed. Many especially contentious debates play out in the distorting presence of print and broadcast media. Media have been criticized for the sensationalism and systematic social biases they display in covering disasters and hazardous situations, and risk assessment scientists, risk management policy-makers, and lay activists have frequently noted their frustration in getting their messages out to the general public through the traditional media. Of growing importance, however, is the emerging use of Internet media in these discussions to generate awareness and political activism. These interactive media allow technical experts and activists to bypass media they do not control to get their messages out in forms they can control. This paper presents several case studies of natural and technological hazard controversies and the use of media in (mis)education about them. These case studies will be arranged along a continuum stretching from nearly exclusive reliance on traditional media to nearly exclusive debate within the Internet. The case studies will include two seismic hazards (the Northridge earthquake and the Anaheim Hills landslide), one biogeographical hazard (chaparral fire hazard in Southern California), and one technological hazard (the plutonium on board the Cassini-Huygens mission). The education and miseducation successes of the Cassini activists and the victim of the landslide on the Internet and those of the earthquake victims and fire victims in traditional media raise questions about the nature of hazard decision-making in a democratic but scientifically unevenly informed society and about the sources of uneven access to information. The contrasts between the Internet mediated and the print and broadcast mediated cases underscore the empowerment on the Internet of small but well-organized groups and raises the issue of potential demagoguery in cyberspace that will increasingly affect risk assessment and risk management in the future.

Dr. Rodrigue also presented:

"Public Perception and Hazard Policy Construction When Experts and Activists Clash in the Media," to the 25th Hazards Research and Applications Workshop, Boulder, Colorado, July 2000.

This paper presents two case studies. One is about a technological risk controversy: the use of plutonium dioxide radioisotope thermal generators (RTGs) on board the Cassini-Huygens mission to Saturn, in light of its gravity-assist swing by Earth in August 1999. The other is about a natural hazard controversy: the Anaheim Hills landslide of January 1993, which destroyed 32 luxury homes that had been built on the site with full knowledge of its ancient and modern landslide history. In both cases, attention is paid to the use of the Internet by parties to the controversy to generate awareness and to stimulate political activism out of that awareness.

For the Cassini case study, the data consist of Internet dialogues on the topic, specifically, UseNet postings from 1 April 1995 through 31 March 1999. They illustrate the exponential impact of a very small and well-organized opposition movement, which utilized the Internet to exert pressure to abort the launch and flyby. Though Cassini went on to Saturn, the resulting political pressure on NASA has created an atmosphere of public controversy in which new missions may be more difficult to authorize if their goals and design require RTGs.

For the Anaheim Hills case study, the data derive from a content analysis of a massive web site built by one of the victims of the landslide, building a forum for other victims to relate their individual stories, an activist bulletin board for victims seeking restitution and, increasingly, for potential victims in a growing series of other landslide-susceptible sites, and a site to warn potential buyers away from hazardous areas.

The successes of the anti-Cassini activists on the one hand and the victim of the landslide on the other raise questions about the nature of risk decision-making in a democratic but unevenly informed society and about the sources of uneven access to information. It underscores the empowerment of small but well-organized groups in the realm of natural and technological hazard policy and the potential of the Internet in heightening individual empowerment in such debates. It also raises less heartening issues of potential demagoguery in cyberspace.

Dr. Rodrigue also made a poster available about the Cassini project, an abridgement of the content of the AAAS paper (below):

"Internet Recruitment and Activism in the Cassini Controversy," to the 25th Hazards Research and Applications Workshop, Boulder, Colorado, July 2000.

Dr. Rodrigue presented:

"Internet Recruitment and Activism in Constructing Technological Risk," to the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Washington, DC, February 2000.

Social construction of a technological risk policy entails a risk assessment dialogue between technical experts and public interest activists and between each of these and elected risk management policy-makers. These dialogues are conducted in the charged presence of media and take place in the contested terrain of public involvement and recruitment to political action.

This paper presents a case study of a recent technological risk controversy: the use of plutonium dioxide radioisotope thermal generators (RTGs) on board the Cassini-Huygens mission to Saturn, in light of its gravity-assist swing by Earth in August 1999. The data consist of Internet dialogues on the topic, specifically, UseNet postings from 1 April 1995 through 31 March 1999. They illustrate the exponential impact of a very small and well-organized opposition movement, which utilized the Internet to exert pressure to abort the launch and flyby. Though Cassini went on to Saturn, the resulting political pressure on NASA has created an atmosphere of public controversy in which new missions may be very difficult to authorize if their goals and design require RTGs.

The success of the anti-Cassini activists raises questions about the nature of technological risk decision-making in a democratic but unevenly informed society. It underscores the empowerment of small but well-organized groups in the realm of natural and technological hazard policy and the potential of the Internet in heightening individual empowerment in such debates, particularly when science itself is under critical interrogation. It also raises less heartening issues of demagoguery in cyberspace.

will present:

"Gold in Them Thar Hills: Do We Need to Protect Deep-Sea Hydrothermal Vents?" to the Association of American Geographers, Los Angeles, 19-23 March 2002.

Deep-sea hydrothermal vents, first discovered in 1977, are of great interest to biologists, geologists, and--increasingly--mining companies. To date, biologists have described more than 500 new species and 150 new genera from vents throughout the world's oceans. Scientific research has caused some minor damage to these communities, for example by blinding vent shrimp with floodlights and breaking off "black smoker" spires intentionally and accidentally. However, since 1997 governments have issued or considered leases to several vent sites in the southwest and western Pacific, where gold and silver concentrations in polymetalic sulfides appear sufficient to justify the cost of extraction. Experts estimate that such mining may commence within a decade, and could have a negative impact on the quality of these sites for both resident fauna and scientific study. Although vent ecosystems appear to be extremely resilient to natural changes in their environment, these developments nonetheless raise the question of whether some vent sites should be placed off-limits to mining or even certain scientific investigation practices. This poster will give an overview of the known disribution of vent communities, as well as sulfide deposits at which venting and biological activity have ceased. I will then use legal, geologic, biogeographic, and economic information to assess whether certain vent sites may merit being set aside by either national governments or the international community as under some form of protected status.

Will present:

"Effect of Interpolation Method and Grid Cell Resolution on DEM Accuracy" to the Association of American Geographers meeting in Los Angeles in March 2002.

Researchers often interpolate their own digital elevation models (DEMs) for areas not covered by existing DEMs or in situations where the DEM must be of higher accuracy or more detailed resolution than existing data. The quality of a self-generated DEM is inextricably linked to both the interpolation method and the grid cell size selected for interpolation. It is necessary to recognize the combined influence of both these factors on the resulting DEM. This study investigated the accuracy of DEMs interpolated onto various sized grids from irregular spaced points. Inverse distance weighting (IDW), spline and kriging interpolation techniques were evaluated. Over 4000 elevation points were digitized from the Otisco Valley, NY USGS 7.5-minute quadrangle. Sample validation points were randomly extracted and DEMs interpolated from the remaining points. Accuracy was measured using the root mean square error, mean absolute difference and standard deviation of the difference computed from validation points. Different interpolation procedures generate different surfaces from the same data. Some algorithms perform better on smoother surfaces whereas others better represent rapidly varying topography. The grid cell resolution selected is of particular importance in the latter situation. The 10-m resolution DEM was less accurate than the 30-m for kriged and IDW surfaces. The spline method produced the most accurate DEM for this data. This analysis highlights the need for caution when deriving data from interpolated DEMs. An optimal interpolator is not recommended; that choice is site and use dependent and could be based on the results of an analysis utilizing this approach.

Dr. Wechsler will also make a panel presentation to the:

"GIS Articulation" panel at the Cal GIS conference, Sacramento, 2002.

Dr. Wechsler and graduate student Ms. Erin Stockenberg, presented:

"Environmental and Natural Resource Applications of GIS: Course Development," to the International Conference on GIS Education, CSU San Bernardino, 21-23 June 2001.

This presentation will describe the initiation and development of a course on environmental and natural resource applications of Geographic Information Systems (GIS). The objectives of the course, methodology and procedures used in the development of course materials, and skills acquired through the assignments will be presented. The methodology utilized could be applied to the development of other GIS application courses. This presentation will benefit both faculty and students interested in expanding GIS course offerings and developing GIS laboratory materials that enhance skills and utilize relevant data.

"GIS and Remote Sensing at California State University Long Beach: By Example."

Additionally, she presented:

"Effect of Digital Elevation Model Uncertainty and Scale on Topographic Parameter Estimators" to the Association of American Geographers meeting in New York City in late February and early March.

Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) are representations of topography with inherent errors that constitute uncertainty. DEM data are often used in analyses without quantifying the effects of these errors. DEMs are a commonly utilized standard data source for GIS based studies aimed at evaluating natural processes. Random errors in a DEM constitute uncertainty. The grid structure of a DEM imposes a scale on elevation and derived parameters. The effect of DEM scale was investigated in the context of DEM uncertainty in elevation and hydrologic parameters frequently derived from DEMs (slope, upslope contributing area and the topographic index). Uncertainty in two DEMs with different grid cell resolution (30m and 10m) corresponding to a portion of the Claryville, NY quadrangle was simulated using Monte Carlo techniques. Error was represented in two ways (a) by completely random fields and (b) by random fields that incorporated spatial autocorrelation specific to the DEM. Uncertainty was quantified in the context of the probability of meeting predetermined threshold values for the parameters and estimated via the root mean square error of simulated parameters. Results indicate that the higher resolution DEM, generally perceived as more precise, yields greater uncertainty in derived hydrologic parameters. The methodology applied can be used to quantify uncertainty due to random error in any DEM.

Dr. Wechsler also gave a paper entitled:

"Applications of a Methodology For Digital Elevation Model Uncertainty Simulation Within ArcView Spatial Analyst," to the GIScience 2000 meeting in Savannah, Georgia, in late October 2000.

will present:

"East L.A. Moves South" to the Association of American Geographers meeting in Los Angeles in March, 2002.

This study examines the evolving hierarchy of Latino, especially Mexican, urban places in Los Angeles. Based on a variety of data, including demographic, economic, political and cultural, it contends that the core of Mexican Los Angeles has shifted from East L.A. to the old industrial corridor south of downtown, focusing on the city of Hungington Park. The processes and consequences of this move are considered, particularly contrasts in the built environment between East L.A. and Huntington Park.

Dr. Curtis presented a paper:

"Las Plazas of Manaus, Brazil" to the Conference of Latin Americanist Geographers meeting in Benicà;ssim/Castelló, Spain, in June 2001.

This study examines the plazas of Manaus, Brazil. It offers a 7-fold typology of contemporary plazas based on prevailing function and landscape character. Historical linkages with Portuguese and French colonial influences are explored.

He presented a paper, of which he is the primary co-author (with alumna Aimée R. Mindes):

"Urban Structure in Ensenada and La Paz, Mexico" to the Association of American Geographers meeting in New York City in late February and early March.

Based on detailed land use surveys, this study systematically compares the urban structure of Ensenada and La Paz, the third and fourth largest cities in Baja California. Both urban centers share common elements conducive to comparative analysis, including similarity in age, population size, growth rates, locational attributes, as well as economic characteristics. The proportional composition of land use activities, their intracity distributions, and the distinguishing landscape character of the two cities are compared and contrasted. How the cities' internal structure conforms to the most widely accepted morphological models that have been generated to depict Latin American and Mexican border city structure is assessed. Preliminary findings indicate that significant differences exist between the two cities, especially in tourist, commercial, and industrial land uses.

Dr. Curtis also presented:

"Ensenada: A Mexican Border Town?" to the American Studies Association, Montréal, October 1999.

Based on a variety of cultural, economic, social, and spatial factors, including the composition and location of landuse activities, it is widely contended that the Mexican border cities form a distinct subset of Mexican urban centers. In short, they are considered to be different than cities in the interior of the country. Although some scholars have argued that the border towns may not be as different as many have suggested, if that contention is nonetheless assumed to be even partially correct, an intriguing set of questions arise: Are border cities only those that directly front the international boundary? Or do "border cities" exist some distance south of the boundary? In the absence of any systematic research on the subject, most would likely support the notion that border cities need not abut the boundary per se. A case in point is the city of Ensenada in Baja California. Although located some 80 miles south of the border crossing at Tijuana, since at least the days of Prohibition in the United States (1918-1933), Ensenada has been universally considered a border town. In the popular media, it has been portrayed most often as a smaller, cleaner, safer, waterfront version of Tijuana, a place to go for "border town excitement" without all the crowds, hassles, and crimes associated with that city. This study examines the above questions, focusing specifically on Ensenada both historically and at the present. It draws heavily upon the results of a detailed landuse analysis of the city, which is compared to the most widely accepted model of Mexican border city urban structure. It concludes that, despite the long-standing importance of tourism to the economy and landscape of the city, Ensenada is not now and has never been a border town as such places are most commonly defined.

"The Social Construction of Authenticity and Attitudes toward Animals," to the Association of American Geographers, Los Angeles, March 2002.

Given increased wildlife-human conflicts, protracted difficulties of negotiating compromise for the environment, and the heavy demands of enforcement, conservation biologists have expressed the need to better understand the social aspects of conservation biology. My goal is to propose a typology of how social characteristics enter into the acceptance or rejection of various ways of knowing animals (making scientific education more or less effective); different conservation initiatives; and particular animals and the contexts in which they live. This work is based on anthropologist James Clifford's investigation of the social construction of authenticity and discriminative taste in the arts, from fine arts to crafts. From this I have articulated a typology of how authenticity is ascribed to particular animals and their related contexts, according to various ideologies and attitudes ranging between anthropocentrism and biocentrism. This work differs from most attitudinal research in that attitudes are understood as processes involving geographic scales of influence, namely global (economic and political trends), local (socio-cultural characteristics and mediating institutions), and individual (basic environmental values, knowledge of animals, species preference, interactions with animals) contexts and their influence on pulic attitudes toward animals.

Dr. Lassiter also presented:

"Cultural Diversity and the Construction of Marine Animals," to the Association of American Geographers, New York, March 2001.

The relationship between cultural diversity and attitudes toward marine animals is examined on the basis of an understanding of culture as a place-based process, and a focus of the local level where attitudes are socio- culturally mediated (between individual and global levels). This research employs qualitative approaches in order to more directly understand how and why particular attitudes emerge. Such explanation was premised on recent research in animal geography that highlights the role of identity formation and disenfranchisement in defining how animals are considered. In a first part, focus groups with inner city low income women of different ethnicities (African American, Latina, Chicana, Chinese, Filipina) were organized in Los Angeles, to identify the spectrum of attitudes toward marine animals, and dimensions of urban diversity (such as culture, class, socio-demographics and ethico-political stances). Interviews were also conducted with managers of local Marine Animal Oriented Organizations (MAOOs) to clarify how they are positioned vis-a-vis cultural factors and difference. Analysis showed that culture plays an important role in the formation of attitudes toward marine animals. Specific processes of identity formation emerged, related to oppression and to privilege, and were expressed in cultural contests. Science was key in this struggle for dominance, as was cultural relativism, and these processes were highly dependent on place. This research exemplifies how more explanatory understandings of attitudes can be provided, demonstrates the importance of considering culture in the process.of attitude formation, and helps to explain the persistence of non mainstream practices and attitudes. Some of the novel aspects of this work also include a focus on the attitudes of inner city ethnically diverse women and of managers of a range of MAOOs, and an emphasis on marine animals. The research was also carried out through approaches rarely used in attitudes toward animals research. Finally, the conceptual framework was significant in its distinct geographic emphasis on place.

will present:

"Nature's Pilgrims: American Camping from 1869 to 1940," to the American Society for Environmental History, Denver, March 2002.

The modern idea of camping, as a recreational end in itself, appeared with America's post-Civil War urbanization. Escaping their everyday lives, middle- class city dwellers began to camp in rural settings where they could take up a leisurely, if temporary, relationship with nature. During the Nineteenth Century and into the beginning of the Twentieth, locations relatively close to home satisfied most enthusiasts because of the difficulties and costs associated with long-distance camping. Starting in the 1910s, however, an army of campers began to seek both rural and wild nature across the American landscape as innovation and mass production reduced the costs and improved the technology of cars, camp stoves, lanterns, sleeping bags, tents, and other equipment.

Drawing on the work of anthropologists Mary Douglas and Victor Turner, I will argue that campers were urbanized anti-urbanists who could not abandon the city so instead took to this recreation as a form of pilgrimage back to the city's antithesis, "nature." Like other exculpatory rituals, camping employed a set of formal behaviors and myths to guide its practitioners into contact with this sacred source of Americaness. When properly practiced, immersion into the "purity" of the natural environment cleansed campers of the "dirt" of urban life and re-invigorated them for another round of city life. Conversely, even though campers shared a common goal, they grew more socially and spatially isolated from each other during these seven decades as technological innovation fostered new camping modes and provided access to an expanding array of "natural" yet disjunct destinations. This process of segmentation and isolation has continued into the present, increasing the frequency and intensity of conflicts among campers over the allocation of the limited resources available for the many modes and locations they enjoy.

He will also present:

"GIS and Public Participation Planning: Recommendations from Hollywood, California," to the Association of American Geographers, Los Angeles, 19-23 March 2002.

In the last 150 years, planning has become an expected feature of urban management and generally been run as a top-down, expert-driven process relying ever more heavily upon complex technologies like Geographic Information Systems (GIS). In recent decades, however, critics have called for less emphasis on formal expertise and greater public participation (PP) in planning. PPGIS emerged during the last five years as a process to reduce the technology's negative consequences, but as the participants in a 1998 National Center for Geographic Information & Analysis workshop noted, PPGIS practitioners need metrics to assess both their products and processes, possessing little understanding or documentation of successful or unsuccessful endeavors and the reasons for their outcome levels. In my presentation, I will begin by comparing the approaches and assumptions embraced in PPGIS with those current in the larger and older Public Participation Planning and Design (PPPD) literatures to illuminate issues and possibilities slipping by geographers. Next, I will report the reactions of residents in ethnically diverse, older neighborhoods in east Hollywood, CA to GIS in community environmental planning. USC researchers gathered their views during a series of focus groups and telephone surveys in Summer 2001. Finally, I will analyze the PPGIS and PPPD approaches in light of these field results to recommend how GIS might better be employed to meet the needs of community groups.

"Geography of the Last Moment" to the Association of American Geographers, New York, late February-early March, 2001.

This paper will be written on the plane on the back of United drink napkins. Graphics, maps and overheads will be scratched out the morning before on hotel stationery and rushed to Kinko's to be put on plastic which will still be warm by presentation time. The paper will be presented by either Dr. Gossette or any graduate student still standing and sober enough to make out the chicken scratchings. This paper will be part of the prestigious William Bunge Outstanding Last Minute Paper Competition held each year in each presentation room of the AAG.

Keywords: Last Minute, Napkins, Kinko's

Actually, it turned out that he actually presented a paper with Dr. Ronnie Gossette Wade of Stanford University (and the abstract has recently been declassified <G>:

"Using GIS to Model At-risk Populations for Emergency Planning and Response," to the Association of American Geographers, New York, March 2001.

During an emergency, estimating the numbers and location of persons at risk is extremely important. But such factors as day of the week and time of day can alter the geography of the at-risk population and make setting priorities very difficult. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) can be used to model the likely distribution of population during various time periods and relating that pattern to the location(s) affected by the emergency. This paper will explore the data requirements and GIS functionality necessary to produce population distribution estimates and suggest ways of validating and improving the models (with Roni Wade, Stanford University).

Dr. Gossette presented:

"Study and Teaching abroad as Part of the Liberal Arts Experience," to the College of Liberal Arts Retreat, CSULB, 9 February 2000.

Together with graduate student, Mr. Michael Jenkins, Dr. Gossette presented:

"Visualizing Flood Hazard with GIS," to the Association of American Geographers, Pittsburgh, April 2000.

The potential for flood risk in the local community was estimated using data from various sources and different scales. Macro-model flood zone maps produced by FEMA were related to detailed aerial-survey elevations for every residential structure in the City. The resulting parcel-level flood hazard estimates were used by individual homeowners in obtaining appropriate flood insurance. Analyzing these data at different scales and producing visual displays that were comprehensible to the general public was a challenge. This paper looks at the use of GIS to solve these modeling and visualization issues.

presented:

"Millie the Mapper II: Experiences of Women Geographers and Cartographers in WWII" to the Association of American Geographers meeting in New York City in late February and early March.

During WWII and the years immediately following, hundreds of women were involved in geographic and cartographic activities, and yet, our histories of geography tend to overlook these women and their contributions. How did they become geographers? What was their training? What were the experiences of these women? These are the guiding questions of this study.

As Chauncy Harris wrote, this period was "a seminal period in the development of geography and geographers in the United States during a significant period in American History." This research addresses the role of women geographers during the 1940s and 1950s. Previous research has documented, at a broad level, the numbers and occupations of women in geography-related fields, but the lives of these women remain largely unrecorded. This project involved interviewing women who are still living combined with archival research of oral histories that were recorded by other researchers.

Dr. Tyner also made an invited presentation:

"The Hidden Cartographers: The Role of Women in Cartography," to the Texas Map Society, University of Texas, Arlington.

The history of cartography has been the history of men. Indeed, Lloyd Brown's classic, The Story of Maps, begins, "This is the story of maps; the men who made them...." And yet women have been involved in the map trades from early days. They have been largely anonymous until the late 20th century, and their accomplishments were not ranked with Mercator, Hondius, or Ortelius, but from the menial and low paid tasks of map coloring and atlas stitching, to drafting and engraving, to designing and patenting globes and globe stands, compiling atlases and writing textbooks, and to running map publishing companies, women have participated in the map, globe, and chart trades.

This paper is a brief overview of women's contributions of the map trades from the 3rd century to the 20th century. It looks at who the women were, the types of employment, the motivation for employment, and the roles women played in the trade.

"Folk Maps, Cartoons, and Map Kitsch: The Role of Cartographic Curiosities," to the Association of American Geographers, Pittsburgh, April 2000.

In general, any map that is not a conventional map has at one time been labeled a cartographic curiosity, or alternative cartography; even computer cartography was once considered alternative. Curiosities are popular with collectors, and cartographic journals frequently feature cartographic oddities, but they are not treated as serious maps. Although there have been articles on political cartoon maps, postcards, embroidered maps, puzzles, postage stamps, etc., curiosities have not been studied as a group, the terms oddity, curiosity, folk cartography, or alternative cartography have not been defined, and there has been little study of the impact such maps can have. The two primary works on cartographic curiosities by Gillian Hill and R. V. Tooley are really catalogs of unusual maps and there is little agreement on what constitutes a curiosity or oddity. This paper is a preliminary attempt at sorting out the oddities and analyzing the role they play.

"Outreach and 'Inreach': Development of a Geography Internship Program.Outreach and "Inreach": Development of a Geography Internship Program," to the California Geographical Society, San Diego, May 2000.

California State University, Long Beach, is proud to have one of the most ethnically and culturally diverse student populations in the country. It is not uncommon for our students to be the first in their families to go to college or the first in their families to seek professional careers in the United States. As a result, faculty play an especially important role in helping students to develop and refine their educational and career goals and to make the transition to full-time professional employment. To meet this challenge the Geography Department has developed an exciting internship program to serve our 80 undergraduate majors and 40 graduate students.

As Director of the Internship Program in Applied Geography, my first challenge is to give students hope and help them develop confidence in their future. I work to prepare students for career opportunities and develop some of those opportunities through alumni/ae and other industry and government contacts. I also expose students to career possibilities through invited speakers, tours and an active web site. Part of the site showcases recent student internship experiences in their own words and photographs. In essence, I open doors, then gently push students through those doors and support them until they soon forget they needed support.

The success of the program over the last several years is evident in the numbers of students placed in internships, the quality of the learning experiences they have, and the ongoing career success of recent graduates. Over 95% of students who do an internship go on to full time, geography-related jobs after graduation.

Dr. Azary also presented:

"Making Connections: Development of an Internship Program to Ensure Undergraduate and Graduate Student Success," to the American Geophysical Union, San Francisco, December 1999.

California State University, Long Beach, is proud to have one of the most ethnically and culturally diverse student populations in the country. It is not uncommon for our students to be the first in their families to go to college or the first in their families to seek professional careers in the United States. As a result, faculty play an especially important role in helping students to develop and refine their educational and career goals and to make the transition to full-time professional employment. To meet this challenge the Geography Department has developed an exciting internship program to serve our 100 undergraduate majors and 50 graduate students. As Director of the Internship Program in Applied Geography, my first challenge is to give students hope and help them develop confidence in their future. I work to prepare students for career opportunities and develop some of those opportunities through alumni/ae and other industry and government contacts. I also expose students to career possibilities through invited speakers and an active web site. Part of the site showcases recent student internship experiences in their own words and photographs. In essence, I open doors, then gently push students through those doors and support them until they soon forget they needed support. The success of the program over the last several years is evident in the numbers of students placed in internships, the quality of the learning experiences they have, and the ongoing career success of recent graduates.

"Tiki L.A. -- Geography of an Urban Exotica," to the Association of American Geographers, New York, March 2001.

Portrayals of the South Pacific in literature, in art and especially in film have long captivated the public imagination. This fascination has left its imprint on landscapes quite distant from the region. For a variety of reasons this imprint has had a particularly marked effect in Southern California. Infatuation with the South Pacific mystique reached its heyday during the fifties and sixties with the proliferation of Polynesian themed nightclubs, restaurants, motels and other commercial establishments. In recent years there has been a resurgence of interest in what has come to be called Tiki culture. This poster presentation examines the stylistic forms and distribution of the unique visual features of Tiki Culture that still embellish the urban setting of Los Angeles. Interestingly, their distinctive geography contrasts sharply with settlement patterns of actual Pacific Islanders now residing in the city.

"Tracking the traces of division: A survey of the remnants of the Berlin Wall as a relict boundary on the urban landscape" to the California Geographical Society, San Diego, May 2000.

The Berlin Wall was a physical barrier that divided a militarily occupied capital city into east and west from 1961 to 1989. The superimposed boundary split streets, neighborhoods, a city, and a nation in half. Physical traces of the once formidable barrier between Communist East and Capitalist West are in evidence throughout central Berlin, constituting a relict boundary. A relict boundary is one that has been abandoned, but is still marked by differences in the landscape that developed during its lifetime. This type of boundary can be found in the form of physical remnants and vestiges of demarcation and fortification employed at the border, or surrounding the border area, and left behind after the border ceased to function. It is important to know that the Berlin Wall was not just one edifice but actually a series of physical barriers erected in a border security zone for the primary purpose of preventing escape from East to West. The design of this investigative study of the Berlin Wall as a relict boundary was threefold: 1.) To determine exactly where the Wall was placed and why; 2.) To describe what constituted the Wall; and 3.) To reveal which remnants of the Wall remain and what effects they have on Berlin's cityscape. The traces and remnants that were looked for were those components that comprised the morphology of the Berlin Wall. A field survey for a recent CSULB MA thesis was conducted along an approximate ten-kilometer long representative course of the Wall, through the center of Berlin, documenting whatever traces and remnants that remain on the urban landscape. Though the Berlin Wall may no longer function as an effective physical and political barrier to movement, it has left a significant and lasting physical imprint on the urban landscape of the city of Berlin.

Mr. Frazier is currently a Ph.D. student in the Geographisches Institut, Humboldt-Universität, Berlin, working under Dr. Marlies Schulz, who spoke on campus in April.