Geography Education
Geography Education
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Global news with a spatial perspective: Interesting, current supplemental materials for geography students and teachers. http://geographyeducation.org
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Martin Luther King Street

A teaser trailer for the MLK Streets Project, a documentary film examining the state of the many avenues, boulevards and thoroughfares named after the slain ...


This video echoes much of what the authors of the fantastic book "Civil Rights Memorials and the Geography of Memory" say (in fact one of the authors is shown in this video).  Throughout America, streets that are named after Martin Luther King Jr. frequently are in poor, crime-ridden neighborhoods.  This video highlights the irony between the historical memory of Martin Luther King Jr. and places of memorialization that bear his name.   


Questions to ponder: If Matin Luther King Jr. represents non-violence, then why are streets bearing his name often in 'violent' neighborhoods?  Where should Martin Luther King be memorialized in the United States?  Only in the South?  Only in predominantly African-American communities?  Do the geography of the spaces where he is memorialized say something about the United States?    

 

Tags: historical, culture, landscape, place, race, unit 3 culture, USA, urban, poverty, unit 7 cities, book review

melissa stjean's comment, October 8, 2012 9:49 PM
These streets are the most popular in the country, but they are located mostly located in areas with profoundly poorer incomes. With poorer incomes, leads to increased crime rates, does naming a street after an iconic hero please the people who live here? It seems like the geography of these places is creating a line of segregation by using his name for a street.
Jeff F's comment, October 8, 2012 10:42 PM
Martin Luther King Streets are places into prominently African-American neighborhoods because that is where the dominant white culture says they belong. Martin Luther King jr was a powerful African-American man and a powerful African-American man has no place in white communities according to this philosophy. If a MLK street was to be placed into a white suburb it would likely cause controversy. Cries of myths such as "reverse racism" would likely run rampant. This would be accompanied with the idea that a MLK street should only belong in an area with a heavy African-American population.
Jesse Gauthier's comment, October 14, 2012 3:49 PM
I think Martin Luther King should be memorialized in all parts of the country, and why not with all cultures and races. He did stand for non-violence and non-discrimination, which happens among all types of people.
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QGIS for Educators: Basics of QGIS

This is the second in our series of videos showing educators the main features and applications of QGIS (Quantum GIS) in the classroom. In this video we will...

 

If you need help downloading and installing there is a video tutorial. Once installed, this simple tutorial gets you started with the free, open-source GIS platform.  For more about resources on how to use QGIS, see: http://geographyeducation.org/whats-new/qgis/


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QGIS Workshop

QGIS Workshop | Geography Education | Scoop.it
Harvard CGA Quantum GIS Workshop...

 

This is a good way to familiarize yourself with the open source (read: free!) GIS system QGIS. 

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Welcome to the Quantum GIS Project

Welcome to the Quantum GIS Project | Geography Education | Scoop.it
Quantum GIS - Open Source Geographic Information System...

 

This is another free GIS option (this one an open source option).   This is a full-blown GIS, with more mapping, editing and exporting options. 

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QGIS

QGIS | Geography Education | Scoop.it

Do you want to use GIS but don't have the budgetary support to install expensive software?  Don't know where to start?  QGIS is a free, open-source GIS that is a nice option for schools operating on a limited budget that still want a full GIS platform.

 

Here is an excellent set of video screencasts that are an introduction to what GIS is, using the QGIS software: http://linfiniti.com/dla/ .  This site also has sample data, tutorials and worksheets.

 

Another excellent tutorial for novices to GIS is found here: http://multimedia.journalism.berkeley.edu/tutorials/qgis-basics-journalists/ .  This tutorial was especially designed for journalists creating maps, and walks you through the installation process as well as some of the basics of the user interface.

 

Many small city governments without the budget to run proprietary GIS software use QGIS and here is a repository of QGIS resources including blogs, forums, tutorials and user manuals: http://www.townshipgis.org/resources/qgis ; An excellent blog with QGIS tutorials is: http://qgis.spatialthoughts.com/

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QGIS: Open-source GIS resources

QGIS: Open-source GIS resources | Geography Education | Scoop.it

For GIS day, I not only celebrate ESRI, but also want to acknowledge the open-source GIS community.  This site provides many resources for those seeking to try out QGIS or other GIS platforms, but haven't known where to start.   

4995songs's comment, November 16, 2011 4:02 PM
I've been playing around with QGIS for a few weeks, and while I think ArcGIS is significantly more user-friendly, I love that QGIS is available for those of us that don't have thousands of dollars to spend on GIS software. I've also found that QGIS runs much quicker (presumably from its smaller files). Ultimately, I'm a huge fan of any information or technology that's specifically designed to be accessible to all who want it, and QGIS certainly fits the bill.
Seth Dixon's comment, November 16, 2011 6:43 PM
I haven't delved into QGIS as of yet, but am toying around with it for the future (especially for my 'pre-GIS' class that doesn't exist yet called 'Mapping our Changing World.')