Data artist Josh Begley is doing some amazing things with open data, geocoding and archives that speak to the nature of our times. New collaborator Mike Smit today shared with me Begley’s video of every New York Times front page since 1952. The limits of publication technology are writ here, as well as our increasing appetite for photographs to tell stories. Visualize, in parallel, how the smartphone has exploded the visibility of events, newsworthy and otherwise, using built-in image and video as well as apps for sharing them. This video based on conventional media is just the tip of an increasingly bottom-heavy iceberg.
Month: February 2017
I am excited about my incoming 2017 complement of graduate students, but have one last gap to fill, whether for Masters (MES) or PhD. I’m looking for someone to contribute to my SSHRC-funded Insight Grant on adaptive grazing and climate change. Much of the field-based research for that grant is being led from the University of Alberta by grant collaborators John Parkins and Ed Bork. The work being based in Halifax is focused more on policy, training and scholarly discourse around sustainable grazing. A range of topics are available to align with a range of student backgrounds and interests: information management, political science, anthropology, sociology, public administration, education, agricultural extension. Methods could range widely from discourse analysis, social network analysis, cognitive mapping, Q-methodology, surveys, interviews, bibliometrics, and program evaluation techniques. If any of the above sounds like you and you have an interest in applied research, experience with independent scholarship (first-authored papers if applying for a PhD), and a strong GPA, get in touch to discuss mutual interests.
A subset of Thaddeus Holownia’s series of a small wetland near his home.
In between storms, my family and I got out on the weekend for some wetland adventures. The Shubenacadie Wildlife Park is always popular with our small ones, though the wind chill sped it up more than usual. It was great to see the new(ish) developments and interpretations that connect the park more closely with the Greenwing Wetland Centre. They had snowshoes available to borrow, and we all gave them a go, though the smallest member of the family struggled at their size. In the afternoon, after a warm-up, came a visit to the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, for their excellent show of Thaddeus Holownia‘s photography. Holownia is based around the Tantramar marsh, and while his photographs vary more widely in their geography, it was the local stuff I loved most. For instance, particularly intimate and moving was the above longitudinal series of photographs of a little manmade pond on his property near Jolicure, NB, over time and in different conditions. It was also wonderful to see his series on the erstwhile Radio Canada International shortwave towers near Sackville, NB, a missed landmark for me. My cellphone reproductions do not do the work justice: AGNS says on their website that there is an “attendant publication” for this show, but it was not available in the shop. Hopefully soon.
The faint sketches of the shortwave radio towers of Radio Canada International, captured by Thaddeus Holownia before their removal in the early 2010s.
Thanks to Dr. Jennifer Roberts, ClimateXChange Postdoctoral Fellow at Strathclyde University, for letting us know that the NB Electricity Futures Citizen Jury we ran in October 2015 was included as a case in a policy brief they published. The brief, Experts and evidence in public decision making, was released this month in hopes it will inform the consultations that have been recently launched by Scottish Government on the theme of climate change and energy. We are thrilled at this news of offshore research impact.
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