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In December 2011 The Portas Review put forward 28 recommendations to the UK government regarding the future of ‘our’ high street.  Within the report and surrounding media there is a sense of ‘crisis’ associated with such spaces and by implication with the ‘moral values’ of ‘community’, ‘localism’ and ‘sense of belonging’ associated with high street.  Such approaches show that attention needs to be paid the spaces of the everyday such as the UK high street to further understand what these spaces do in an economic, social and cultural sense and how changes in such spaces affect not only economic stability but orderings and understandings of such ideas as ‘local’ ‘neighbourhood’ and ‘identity’.

With approaches within the social sciences from authors such as Ingold (2007) and Massey (2005) the role of materiality and spatial practices in everyday social life is receiving increasing attention.  Within this the role of the physical configuration of the built environment and its relationship to the social organisation of everyday life, much potential exists to either advance current understandings or develop new critical understandings of the role of the spaces of the built environment in social relations.

We invite proposals for papers that present critical work on change or continuity of the ‘public spaces of the everyday’, such as the suburban high street through collaborative and mixed methods approaches across a range of disciplines including GIS, architecture, anthropology and sociology. We welcome proposals that work across disciplines and in particular combine quantitative and qualitative approaches.  Preference is for work that combines historical perspectives to the suburban realm and high street although we welcome submissions of critical investigation of the relationship between shifting patterns of economic, social and cultural land uses and the types of socio-spatial relations they engender in other ‘spaces’.

The GIScRG will provide one bursary for this session, sponsored by the GIScRG for a paper (co-)authored by a postgraduate student; priority will be given to postgraduate students also delivering the paper. The bursary will cover the reduced conference fee for the student for the duration of the conference. It is a requirement that the student is an RGS-IBG Postgraduate Fellow at the time the bursary is awarded [Annual membership costs from £27 (with no joining fee)].

Participants are asked to use an innovative style of presentation; to prepare a presentation with full-slide images, with a maximum of ten words per slide. We intend to accept only four presentations to allow for discussion time. The abstracts will be circulated to presenters and they will be asked to prepare responses to key ideas from all the abstracts in order to enable a useful discussion at the end of the session. Titles and abstracts (up to 500 words) for this session should be sent to both David Jeevendrampillai (david.jeevendrampillai.10[AT]ucl.ac.uk) and Ashley Dhanani (ashley.dhanani[AT]ucl.ac.uk) by Monday 9th January 2012. The session conveners (David Jeevendrampillai, Ashley Dhanani, Mordechai (Muki) Haklay and Laura Vaughan) are members of the Adaptable Suburbs project team at UCL.

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Interdisciplinary research is not only an extremely difficult balancing act, but one which is becoming more frequent. Geography and concepts relating to place and space often serve as a unifying factor around which information from other disciplines can be clustered. In such research, experts in various fields come together for a shared goal, but first need to establish common ground, grasping the opportunity (or threat) that teams can be comprised of researchers from areas as diverse as anthropology, architecture, computer science, economics, tourism, electronic engineering, physics and biology, in addition to geographers.

Challenges that face interdisciplinary teams go beyond those encountered in team work (such as the personalities of the different team members, different management and working styles, national cultures and so forth).  Interdisciplinary team members must also understand the basics and sometimes the detail of work in other disciplines – which requires time and effort from participants in each research area.  Disciplinary cultures can be different (for example presentation and paper writing style, frequency and nature of publications). Terms that mean one thing in one discipline can mean something completely different in another. Technical challenges also arise – how to facilitate data and information sharing within the project when different levels of technological use and understanding are common and different software packages are utilised within each discipline.  Such teams may be multi-locational, reducing the frequency of face-to-face meetings. In addition there is a potential internal conflict between working on research core to a discipline versus participating in a collaborative effort with outsiders. 

The session organisers invite proposals for papers from researchers interested in theoretical or applied learning, with experience in working with teams that bring together people in a multi-national or multi-locational and interdisciplinary context. We seek to evaluate and share both positive and less successful experiences and techniques for interdisciplinary working, with a view to identifying elements of best and worst practice. We welcome proposals that explore issues including:

• Interdisciplinary Learning: the challenges and rewards associated with becoming familiar with another discipline.
• Data and Information Sharing: media and methods used to share information effectively, as well as accounts of those that do not.
• Conflict Management: addressing the hurdles of disciplinary differences, misunderstandings and team growing pains.
• Project Management Issues: such as the choice between virtual and face-to-face meetings and issues relating to meeting frequency.

The GIScRG will provide one bursary for this session, sponsored by the GIScRG for a paper (co-)authored by a postgraduate student; priority will be given to postgraduate students also delivering the paper. The bursary will cover the reduced conference fee for the student for the duration of the conference. It is a requirement that the student is an RGS-IBG Postgraduate Fellow at the time the bursary is awarded [Annual membership costs from £27 (with no joining fee)].

We are looking for people to share the lessons they have learned in order to continue to push forward interdisciplinary work.  The session will be run by Claire Ellul (UCL). Titles, abstracts (no longer than 250 words) and 5 key words, along with contact details should be emailed to Patrick Rickles (p.rickles[AT]ucl.ac.uk) by Friday 16th December 2011. Notification of acceptance will be given by mid-January 2012.

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This session aims to bring together researchers to report on progress in diverse types of modelling that has direct impacts on a variety of policy domains.  We encourage the submission of papers that present novel use of new or established methodologies using GIS or bespoke models.  We are particularly interested in policy applications in the area of health, population dynamics, crime/security, urban planning and retail.  We intend to represent the interdisciplinary nature of policy research and analysis with a focus on geographic tools and methods.

Papers may include, but are not limited to: 

• Estimating and projecting populations and components of demographic change
• Understanding spatial patterns of crime and issues of security
• Models for decision support and urban sustainability
• Modelling different patterns of individual behaviour
• Spatial modelling/estimating disease prevalence in small areas
• Modelling the impact of policy change on retail networks 

The conveners are in discussion with the Applied Spatial Analysis and Policy journal to publish high quality submissions in a special edition. 

The GIScRG will provide one bursary for this session, sponsored by the GIScRG for a paper (co-)authored by a postgraduate student; priority will be given to postgraduate students also delivering the paper. The bursary will cover the reduced conference fee for the student for the duration of the conference. It is a requirement that the student is an RGS-IBG Postgraduate Fellow at the time the bursary is awarded [Annual membership costs from £27 (with no joining fee)].

Titles, abstracts (no longer than 250 words) and 5 key words, should be emailed to Dianna Smith (dianna.m.smith[AT]gmail.com), Adam Dennett (a.dennett[AT]ucl.ac.uk) and Alison Heppenstall (a.j.heppenstall[AT]leeds.ac.uk) by Friday 16th December 2011. Notification of acceptance will be given by mid-January 2012.

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This session aims to bring together researchers to report on progress in diverse types of automata systems in social simulation. We encourage the submission of theoretical, experimental, methodological and application papers related to Cellular Automata (CA) and Agent‐Based Modelling (ABM). Papers may include, but are not limited to: 

• Artificial social systems.
• Agents and social networks.
• Modelling complexity in social simulations.
• Large scale social simulation.
• Social behaviour, social actions and interactions.
• Models of competition, cooperation and negotiation.
• Multi‐agent evolution: adaptation and learning.
• Hybrid automata models.
• Validation and verification of simulation results and simulation systems.
• Novel approaches to visualisation 

The GIScRG will provide one bursary for this session, sponsored by the GIScRG for a paper (co-)authored by a postgraduate student; priority will be given to postgraduate students also delivering the paper. The bursary will cover the reduced conference fee for the student for the duration of the conference. It is a requirement that the student is an RGS-IBG Postgraduate Fellow at the time the bursary is awarded [Annual membership costs from £27 (with no joining fee)].

Titles and abstracts (no longer than 250 words) should be emailed to Alison Heppenstall (a.j.heppenstall[AT]leeds.ac.uk), Mike Batty (m.batty[AT]ucl.ac.uk) and Mark Birkin (m.h.birkin[AT]leeds.ac.uk) by Friday 16th December 2011. Notification of acceptance will be given by mid-January 2012.

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Geospatial technologies are an important component of transport geography and transport applications, and increasingly influence everyday mobilities through vehicle navigation systems as well as location-based services on personal mobile devices. In this session we seek contributions across the range of geographers interested in GIS and GPS uses in a transport context, whether conducting mobilities-related research, mainstream transport geography, qualitative uses of GIS, or creating innovations in integrated and Intelligent Transport Systems. We are interested in concepts that motivate this work as well as the particular methodological and substantive aspects of this field. Please note that this session is focusing on people’s mobilities and private/public transport rather than freight.

Topics may include, but are not limited to, the following:

• state-of-the-art in space-time analysis and visualisation beyond GIS;
• ‘born-digital’ mobility data and the digital security of everyday mobility traces;
• difference and transport;
• documentary practices of everyday mobilities with qualitative GIS;
• development of location-based services and impacts on mobilities;
• inaccuracy issues and integrity of positioning information in integrated transport systems (including GIS/GPS/mapping/digitisation/cartographic errors).

The GIScRG will provide one bursary for this session, sponsored by the GIScRG for a paper (co-)authored by a postgraduate student; priority will be given to postgraduate students also delivering the paper. The bursary will cover the reduced conference fee for the student for the duration of the conference. It is a requirement that the student is an RGS-IBG Postgraduate Fellow at the time the bursary is awarded [Annual membership costs from £27 (with no joining fee)].

Titles and abstracts (no longer than 250 words) should be emailed to Seraphim Alvanides (s.alvanides[AT]gmail.com), Kate Pangbourne (k.pangbourne[AT]abdn.ac.uk) and Matthew W.Wilson (matthew.w.wilson[AT]uky.edu) by Friday 16th December 2011. Notification of acceptance will be given by mid-January 2012.

The workshop will be held in conjunction with the annual Open Source GIS Conference, June 21, 2011, Nottingham, United Kingdom, and will be held at the School of Geography/Centre for Geospatial Science at the University of Nottingham.

For more information, including the conference programme, visit: http://punkish.org/opengov/index.html

This workshop builds on the Law and the GeoWeb workshop held recently at Microsoft Research, Redmond, WA, and will bring together speakers from across industry, research and academia to contribute toward some of the fundamental theoretical and technical questions emerging in the Open Data space.

The following speakers and topics have been confirmed:
* Producing and consuming open data by Dr. Peter Mooney, Department of Computer Science, NUI Maynooth, Ireland
* Mapping the UK population over time by Prof. David Martin, School of Geography, University of Southampton
* Curating geographic and other data by Zach Beauvais, Talis
* Discussant: Bob Anderson, Horizon Digital Economy Research, University of Nottingham
* Legal implications of open data by Dr. Katleen Janssen, ICRI, Katholieke Universiteit, Leuven, Belgiu
* Open rights campaign, Javier Ruiz Diaz, Open Rights Group
* Exercising our rights over information about us by Prof. Derek McAuley, Horizon Digital Economy Research Institute, University of Nottingham
* Discussant: Prof. Estelle Derclaye, Faculty of Law, University of Nottingham
* Tackling global challenges through open innovation and geographic information  by Dr. Chris Parker and Ian Holt,  Ordnance Survey, Southampton
* Topic TBD by Diane Cabell, Director, iCommons
* Discussant: David Martin

Please register for the workshop at the main OSGIS web site by June 3, 2011.

For further information please contact Dr. Hanif Rahemtulla (Hanif.Rahemtulla[AT]nottingham.ac.uk) or Puneet Kishor (punkish[AT]creativecommons.org).

A wide number of public and private repositories of digital data are participating in the challenge.  Applicants will form international teams from at least two of the participating countries.  Winning teams will receive grants from two or more of the funding agencies and, two years later, will be invited to show off their work at a special conference sponsored by the eight funders.  Read more on the Digging into Data website,  http://www.diggingintodata.org/

The “Open Government” workshop will bring together speakers from across industry, research and academia to contribute towards some of the fundamental theoretical and technical questions emerging in the Open Data space (i.e., how to mark up and release open data; licensing models for governments; conflicts between data protection and transparency and structuring access to data by different groups). The session will be a series of presented papers with a lively explorative session which will inform, provoke and encourage discussion.

Proceedings of the Seattle and Nottingham workshops and selected longer papers will be published in a special issue of the open-access International Journal of Spatial Data Infrastructure Research published by the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission.

Registration for the OSGIS and workshop will commence shortly.  If you require any further information regarding the workshop please contact either Dr. Hanif Rahemtulla, Horizon Digital Economy Research at the University of Nottingham (hanif.rahemtulla[AT]nottingham.ac.uk) or Puneet Kishor, Creative Commons (punkish[AT]creative commons.org].

The term “Open Data” refers to the philosophical and methodological approach to the democratization of data enabling citizens to access and create value through the reuse of public sector information. Today, Open Data is gathering momentum and forms part of a global movement linked to Open Access and comparable to other Open movements such as Open Source.

Today, the Open Data movement has created great excitement in the developer community with a seemingly endless stream of novel and innovative applications, tools and visualizations that repurposes and enriches public data.

However, while Open Data gives rise to many new opportunities it also poses many challenges. As Boyd (2010) states, access to public information to provide transparency represents only the first step to a more informed citizenry. The success of Open Data will depend in part upon addressing existing barriers to access which encompasses issues such as digital inclusion and information literacy. As such, there is much work still to do to make this promised future happen.

This special feature in the Journal of Spatial Information Science aims to bring together some of the key developers, academics and writers on Open Data to document its lineage, debate its philosophy and methods and to envision its future. Contributions are welcome from any source, and in any style appropriate to the arguments being made.

The deadline for the submission of full research articles is 30th June 2011.  Articles will be subject to the normal JOSIS peer review process. For more details of the submission process CLICK HERE.

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“The term “Open Data” refers to the philosophical and methodological approach to the democratization of data enabling citizens to access and create value through the reuse of public sector information. Today, Open Data is gathering momentum and forms part of a global movement linked to Open Access and comparable to other Open movements such as Open Source. To date, this movement is being led by government institutions in the UK, USA and Australia through pioneering initiatives such as Data.Gov and the London DataStore. These initiatives, which are being replicated across cities, states and countries (i.e., Open Toronto and New Zealand Open Data Catalogue) provide access to “non-sensitive government datasets, at no cost, to citizens, citizen groups, non-governmental-organisations (NGOs) and businesses” (Lauriault, 2008).

The Open Data Initiative will, it is envisaged, support greater transparency and accountability within Government and create new economic and social value (see Oxera Study, 1999; Cambridge Study, 2008). Furthermore, as O’Reilly (2009) and others argue, the advent of Open Data will fundamentally change the nature by which citizens interact with government. Specifically, the release of public data online and public APIs (which is already underway in some places) will create a platform supporting the development of third-party communication applications outside of government (Headd, 2010). This it is expected will provide a vehicle for expanding public outreach and enhancing public engagement leading to “a more responsive and citizen-focused government” (Madera, 2009).

Today, the Open Data movement has created great excitement in the developer community with a seemingly endless stream of novel and innovative applications, tools and visualizations that repurposes and enriches public data – and has lead to some of the most exciting developments in mobile GIS, web-cartography and LBS in recent years.

However, while Open Data gives rise to a many new opportunities it also poses many challenges. As Boyd (2010) states, access to public information to promote transparency represents only the first step to a more informed citizenry. The success of Open Data will depend in part upon addressing existing barriers to access which encompasses issues such as digital inclusion and information literacy. As such, there is much work still to do to make this promised future happen.

This Special Session aims to bring together some of the key developers, academics and writers on Open Data to document its lineage, debate its philosophy and methods and to envision its future. Contributions are welcome from any source, and in any style appropriate to the arguments being made.”

The session will be a series of presented papers with a lively explorative session in which the four/five scholars will debate about alternative interpretations/methods/solutions within this emerging research area on Open Data.

For more information, please contact the session convenors, Hanif Rahemtulla (Hanif.Rahemtulla[AT]nottingham.ac.uk) and/or Paul Longley (plongley[AT]geog.ucl.ac.uk). Please send abstracts (350 words max.) and key words to Hanif Rahemtulla, by 20^th February 2011.

Further details about the conference can be found here.