Geothink&Learn 12: A Look Inside the Geothink Partnership Grant

The Canada Social Sciences and Humanities Research Counil (SSHRC) Geothink Partnership Grant will officially conclude on February 28, 2019. This panel brought together the Project Director (Associate Professor Renee Sieber, Department of Geography and School of Environment, McGill University) and two past project managers (Alex Taciuk and Sonja Solomun) as well as guest students and speakers to look inside the operations of this Partnership—the largest of its kind. The project’s work included collaboration between 30 partner organizations, 28 international researchers in diverse disciplines, and more than 100 students in Canada and the United States. It examined technology and data that has transformed citizen-city relations and generated more than 30 peer-reviewed publications, 120 presentations (to academic, civic and public audiences), 52 invited talks, 15 white papers, 11 webinars, 15 case studies, three books (with two in publication) and a public following on Twitter and YouTube.

On Friday, November 30 at 12:00 PM EST, Geothink hosted its twelfth Geothink&Learn video conference session. This session (along with four final webinars planned for the remaining months of the project) marks the end of the grant. (Catch a recording of this session below along with a transcript of the written question and answer session.)

The panel was convened by Geothink Project Director Renee Sieber, Associate Professor in McGill University’s Department of Geography and School of Environment. She was joined by two past Geothink Project Managers (Alex Taciuk and Sonja Solomun).

A question and answer session followed after presentations concluded. Our panelists briefly talked about their own experiences and then reflected on the Partnership’s work.

Download a PDF of this event to share.


A Transcription of the Chat Box During the Session
11:37:47 From Peck Sangiambut to All Panelists : Hello to panelists
11:39:00 From Renee Sieber to All Panelists : Hi Everyone
12:03:50 From Victoria Fast to All Panelists : Hi all! Looking forward to this final Geothink & Learn!!!
12:04:07 From Sonja Solomun to All Panelists : Hi Victoria!
12:04:17 From Sonja Solomun : Hi Victoria!
12:04:22 From Renee Sieber : There are more after this but welcome!
12:05:02 From Victoria Slonosky : Hi, good to see you all!
12:05:22 From Renee Sieber : Hello Vicky and Victoria!
12:15:31 From Geothink .CA : AGM=Annual General Meeting
12:17:36 From Renee Sieber : We have Muki Haklay online, who’s a collaborator, as well as Victoria Fast
12:17:52 From Muki Haklay to All Panelists : Hello!
12:18:00 From Renee Sieber : Vicky Slonosky is our lead on citizen science
12:28:50 From Victoria Fast to All Panelists : Have a Skype meeting now… be back soon!
12:29:00 From Renee Sieber : See you soon
12:30:32 From Renee Sieber : Peck moved to one of our most dedicated partners, Open North
12:31:57 From Sonja Solomun to All Panelists : Topics for Q&A – the ‘feedback success loop’ of students becoming collaborators – hopefully Victoria comes back in time to address this
12:34:39 From Sonja Solomun : Hi Muki! Happy you could join us
12:35:47 From Alexander Taciuk : Peck was the head of the student committee – organizing student conversations and events
12:37:12 From Muki Haklay : It is great to hear about your experiences and it’s wonderful to have the reflections from the core team!
12:37:48 From Renee Sieber : It’s great for me too. We don’t always have the opportunity to look back.
12:38:00 From Sonja Solomun : Thanks, Muki – hopefully you can contribute your own reflections during our Q&A
12:47:29 From Geothink .CA to All Panelists : How did you meet disparate needs from partners, students, coapps, etc
12:59:24 From Muki Haklay : I would also put in the interdisciplinarity the link to law with Teressa Scassa and her students – I think that several new ideas came in (writing it as Renee speaks!)
13:07:53 From Victoria Fast : A large and diverse group of mentors — mentors who not just help develop research projects, but also influence career trajectories, enrich research programs, and diversify social network.
13:11:56 From Victoria Slonosky : As a participant who has been supported by Geothink thanks to you all -especially project managers- for dealing with the administration aspects which has allowed our citizen science work to go forward
13:12:27 From Renee Sieber : You’ve been a great addition to our research and practice
13:13:14 From Muki Haklay : Thank you for all
13:13:35 From Muki Haklay : the work on Geothink – it was great to be part of it
13:14:00 From Victoria Fast : Thank you Renee!!!


When:
12:00 PM to 1:15 PM November 30, 2018

Where:
https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_ZKO05XlbSZOz6yoXrboUAg

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.

Convener:
Renee Sieber

Moderator:
Drew Bush

Panelists:
Renee Sieber is the head of Geothink (Project Director) and recognized worldwide for her research in Public Participation Geographic Information Systems (PPGIS), the Geospatial Web 2.0 (Geoweb), and community participation in use of new information and communications technologies. In 2016, she became the first recipient of the Canadian Association of Geographers (Geographic Information Systems and Science Special Interest Group): Lifetime Achievement and GIScience Excellence Award.

Alex Taciuk leads active transportation projects and coordinates a dockless bike share system for UBC’s Campus + Community Planning team.  A graduate of UBC’s Masters of Community and Regional Planning program, Alex has led projects on bicycle sharing, vehicle sharing, active transportation data analysis, and walkability for seniors. He was the Project Manager for Geothink from 2012-2016.

 

Sonja Solomun was the Project Manager for Geothink from 2016-2018. She joined the grant from its midterm to its final year. She is completing her PhD in Communications Studies at McGill University. Her dissertation research is on social media platforms, algorithmic bias and identity politics. She is currently a Research Fellow at the Media History Research Centre (MHRC) at Concordia University.

 

Suthee Sangiambut graduated from his Master’s in Geography at McGill University under Geothink. As the Geothink Student Coordinator, he was the interface between students and the rest of the grant, and provided support to grant activities such as communications and event planning. He continues to build upon academic training as the Applied Research Lead at OpenNorth, Canada’s leading not-for-profit organization specialised in open data, open government, community engagement, open smart cities and civic technology.