Applied Geospatial Research in Public Policy (AGRiPP)
An academic-practitioner dialogue on tools-creation, training, and the social politics of mapping
In October 2019, the UPEI program in Applied Communication, Leadership & Culture (ACLC) will host a workshop on new tools and training in the digital humanities, with a specific focus on geospatial data, research, and regional development. Participants will come together to present new research and to ask a series of questions about the history and capacity of geospatial research in the region. These participatory sessions will explore several core questions including:
- What are some of the robust datasets and digitized collections available for digital humanities in the region?
- Who developed the region’s long run and geospatial data, and who is using it today?
- What social, economic, and ecological indicators do the data and collections support, and what others are important to develop?
- How can humanities training and geospatial research help our community tell better stories and make better policies for the region?
- How can new humanities and geospatial research in Atlantic Canada help us understand and integrate multiple ways of knowing, including Traditional Ecological Knowledge?
The workshop will be held 3-5 October, 2019 in Charlottetown, and is organized by both ACLC and the new Canada Research Chair’s lab for GeoREACH: Geospatial Research in Atlantic Canadian History. ACLC is dedicated to applied humanities training, and the GeoLab is building geospatial research capacity for the region, including a study of the indicators that support a robust environmental history in Atlantic Canada.
The two-day event will include specialized keynote presentations and smaller workshops with experts from across the Atlantic region and beyond. The organizers will collect feedback from participants on the content of the presentations and workshops to help design an online resource for public administrators to support digital literacy and digital mapping for public policy. Speakers will articulate how their research can contribute to day-to-day public administration and policy-related decision making, thereby supporting knowledge transfer between academia to public administration. The workshop’s transdisciplinary and multi-sector approach will bring practitioners and academics together to build understandings and resources aimed at building a better Atlantic Region.
This is a particularly fitting time and location for this gathering. UPEI is celebrating its 50th anniversary, but 2019 also marks the semicentennial of a major Federal-Provincial Comprehensive Development Plan that caused significant social and ecological changes in PEI. Several invited speakers have agreed to help provide context for the history of regional development and planning, as well as new digital humanities projects and the ways that government understands data in the policy innovation process today.
Confirmed speakers include:
Paul Ledwell, PEI Deputy Minister of Policy Priorities and Intergovernmental and Public Affairs 
Dr. Tina Loo, Professor of History, University of British Columbia
| DM Paul Ledwell’s Presentation | Dr. Tina Loo’s Presentation |
Dr. Edward MacDonald, Professor of History, University of Prince Edward Island 
Dr. Jim Clifford, Associate Professor of History and recent Director of the Historical Geographic Information Systems Lab, University of Saskatchewan
| Dr. Edward MacDonald’s Presentation | Dr. Jim Clifford’s Presentation |
- Schedule at a glance
- Thursday, 3 October, 7-9pm, public keynote at Beaconsfield Museum, Charlottetown, by Dr. Ed MacDonald
- Friday, 4 October, 8am-5pm, sessions on knowledge transfer, regional assets, and “doing” geospatial research. Lunch and refreshments will be provided for registered guests.
- Saturday, 5 October, 9am-3pm, sessions on the state of digital humanities research and training. Lunch on-your-own at the Charlottetown Farmers’ Market, will be followed by a concluding session on grant applications and next steps.
- Registration Fee: $40
For more information please contact Dr. Joshua MacFadyen, Canada Research Chair in Geospatial Humanities at jdmacfadyen@upei.ca