…to better support UR faculty in Geography and beyond.

I’ve been in the field of academic technology for ten years, and here at UR I serve as an Academic Technology Consultant for the Social Sciences — Journalism, Political Science, Geography, etc.

It’s my first time supporting these disciplines, as my own academic background is in the humanities. For almost my entire career, I’ve supported faculty working in academic contexts outside of my own training. In my first job I worked with language faculty, and then moved to a health sciences context, helping advise doctors, nurses, pharmacists, dentists, and other physicians who wanted to incorporate technology into their teaching.

As a result, I’ve had a lot of practice in educating myself about a discipline’s priorities, without necessarily aiming to become a content expert. I’m excited about the opportunity to get that education in a more formal, structured setting. Plus I get to buy a new notebook and some colorful pens!! That may not seem interesting when you’ve been a student your whole life, but take ten years away from that world and you might be surprised at what gets you excited. (Don’t judge me.)

So, that is a long way of saying that my immediate goal for taking this course is to become more acquainted with the principles of mapping and geovisualization, and to pick up some of the more detailed skills and knowledge that comes from using CartoDB, ArcGIS, and other software for actual projects, as opposed to just practicing in my spare (ha!) time. An increasing amount of scholarly research in all disciplines includes or references geospatial data, and so while I need to be acquainted with these tools for my current job and departments, it’s also a great opportunity to develop my professional skills more broadly. I’m still pretty early in my career, and it’s unlikely this will be my last job, so it’s smart to take advantage of learning opportunities like this as often as I can.

From a more personal perspective, I’m an activist, and I learned in my last job about some of the ways that geospatial analysis can be used as a tool for social justice. It’s pretty exciting to think of some of the ways we can use data analysis to make life better for marginalized and oppressed people. And I would be remiss if I failed to say that, as a huge Eurovision Song Contest fan, I would love to create a map that compares ESC voting patterns with war and conflict on the European and Asian continents. Although the contest tries to remain apolitical, it’s pretty unavoidable when there’s a popular vote involved and some country (looking at you, Russia) does something aggressive (like trying to annex part of Ukraine).

Anyway! I’m excited to be here, and I look forward to learning with all of you.

I’ve been in the field of academic technology for ten years, and here at UR I serve as an Academic Technology Consultant for the Social Sciences — Journalism, Political Science, Geography, etc.

It’s my first time supporting these disciplines, as my own academic background is in the humanities. For almost my entire career, I’ve supported faculty working in academic contexts outside of my own training. In my first job I worked with language faculty, and then moved to a health sciences context, helping advise doctors, nurses, pharmacists, dentists, and other physicians who wanted to incorporate technology into their teaching.

As a result, I’ve had a lot of practice in educating myself about a discipline’s priorities, without necessarily aiming to become a content expert. I’m excited about the opportunity to get that education in a more formal, structured setting. Plus I get to buy a new notebook and some colorful pens!! That may not seem interesting when you’ve been a student your whole life, but take ten years away from that world and you might be surprised at what gets you excited. (Don’t judge me.)

So, that is a long way of saying that my immediate goal for taking this course is to become more acquainted with the principles of mapping and geovisualization, and to pick up some of the more detailed skills and knowledge that comes from using CartoDB, ArcGIS, and other software for actual projects, as opposed to just practicing in my spare (ha!) time. An increasing amount of scholarly research in all disciplines includes or references geospatial data, and so while I need to be acquainted with these tools for my current job and departments, it’s also a great opportunity to develop my professional skills more broadly. I’m still pretty early in my career, and it’s unlikely this will be my last job, so it’s smart to take advantage of learning opportunities like this as often as I can.

From a more personal perspective, I’m an activist, and I learned in my last job about some of the ways that geospatial analysis can be used as a tool for social justice. It’s pretty exciting to think of some of the ways we can use data analysis to make life better for marginalized and oppressed people. And I would be remiss if I failed to say that, as a huge Eurovision Song Contest fan, I would love to create a map that compares ESC voting patterns with war and conflict on the European and Asian continents. Although the contest tries to remain apolitical, it’s pretty unavoidable when there’s a popular vote involved and some country (looking at you, Russia) does something aggressive (like trying to annex part of Ukraine).

Anyway! I’m excited to be here, and I look forward to learning with all of you.