Places and Spaces: Mapping Science exhibit coming to Kennesaw State University

KENNESAW, Ga. (Aug 29, 2019) — The Department of Geography and Anthropology and the College of Humanities and Social Sciences will host the Places & Spaces: Mapping Science exhibit from November 4-December 8, 2019, in the Social Sciences Building Atrium on the Kennesaw Campus, to coincide with national Geography Awareness Week. The Places & Spaces: Mapping Science exhibition showcases creative approaches to the visualization of science, social science, and humanities endeavors. Ranging from early maps showing the terrain of science, to maps showing the national mood through tweets over the course of a day, the exhibition touches on subject matter as diverse as hurricane tracks from a polar perspective, forecasting epidemics, and the geographic settings of Victorian poems.

Organized by the Cyberinfrastructure for Network Science Center at Indiana University, Places & Spaces showcases outstanding examples of maps from around the globe and from diverse disciplines. Innovative and inspiring, these visualizations use data to tell stories and to point the way to promising new areas of research. Drawing from across cultures and across scholarly disciplines, Places & Spaces demonstrates the power of maps to address vital questions about the contours and content of human knowledge. Created by leading experts in the natural, physical, and social sciences, visual arts, and the humanities, the maps in Places & Spaces allow us to better grasp the abstract contexts, relationships, and dynamism of science and technology. Individually and as a whole, the maps of Places & Spaces allow data to tell stories which both the researcher and the layperson can understand and appreciate. The exhibit has been on display at over 375 venues in 28 countries on 6 continents. It showcases the work of 239 mapmakers that hail from 17 different countries.

The exhibit opening at Kennesaw State University is made possible by a 2019-2020 College of Humanities and Social Sciences Student Success Teaching Incentive Grant. “We are thrilled that CHSS is supporting the procurement of the mapping exhibit and that they see its value for student engagement and learning,” said Dr. Vanessa Slinger-Friedman, Professor of Geography and a Co-PI on the grant.

“It is such a unique opportunity to showcase the power, effect and visual appeal of maps. They are beautiful as well as informative,” noted Uli Ingram, Lecturer and GIS Lab Manager, and also a Co-PI on the grant. Erinn Bariteau, Lecturer of Physical Geography and a Co-PI on the grant, said, “This visual exhibit reveals how geography can be implemented outside our classroom walls. Students and faculty alike will be immersed in the spatial interpretation of data, drawing conclusions, and reframing the very questions to which we seek solutions.”

The Places & Spaces exhibit is a way to highlight the sweeping impacts of geo-literacy, the term that National Geographic has adopted to describe the understanding of how our world works that all members of modern society require. Geo-literacy is the ability to reason about Earth systems and interconnections to help make far-reaching, positive decisions, and to help steer away from costly bad decision-making. Whether we are making decisions about where to live or what precautions to take for natural hazards, we all make decisions that require geo-literacy throughout our lives.

“The exhibit highlights the many ways in which geography, cartography, and geographic information science transcend the social sciences, humanities, and natural sciences,” observed Dr. Paul McDaniel, Assistant Professor of Geography, who is also helping with the exhibit logistics, “which speaks to the many jobs, career fields, and opportunities throughout all areas of society—locally, nationally, and globally—in which geographers and those with a geography and spatial science skills set contribute to addressing contemporary challenges.” McDaniel also noted that “it’s great for us to host the exhibit during national Geography Awareness Week in November, which encourages everyone to consider the significance of place and space and how we affect and are affected by it.”

Places & Spaces: Mapping Science will be on display in the Social Sciences Building Atrium on the Kennesaw Campus from November 4-December 8. Several events are planned to coincide with the exhibit:

• Places & Spaces: Mapping Science Exhibit Opening Reception, Monday, November 4, at 4:00 PM.
• Geography Open House, Tuesday, November 5, from 3:30 PM to 6:30 PM.
• Geography Awareness Week Student Geography Club event at the exhibit, Thursday, November 14, at 2:00-3:30 PM.

All events will be held in the Social Sciences Building Atrium on the Kennesaw Campus.