DG / CJ DIGITAL GEOGRAPHIES OF CLIMATE JUSTICE

INFO 
SYLLABUS 
DOSSIER 
RESOURCES 
POLICIES 

COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENT, GEOGRAPHY, & URBANIZATION | UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO
_INFO
SYLLABUS
DOSSIER
RESOURCES
POLICIES

INFO




  • Instructor

Dr. Alexander Arroyo

Course Information
CEGU 32301
CEGU 22301
ENST 22301
GLST 29301
MAPH 32301

Office Hours 

T/R 3:30–4:30
  • COURSE DESCRIPTION

Struggles for climate and environmental justice are increasingly mediated by digital technologies and geospatial data, especially in the Global South. In Amazonia, for example, the plight of indigenous groups bearing the brunt of ecological dispossession and political violence by deforestation is frequently represented through remotely-sensed data showing time-series of canopy loss; in turn, these data are often prompted, groundtruthed, and mobilized by indigenous communities and affiliated activists in legal and political campaigns.

In parallel, across the world ocean, countries across the Global South– from Papua New Guinea and Ecuador to Ghana– are partnering with watch-dog organizations using satellite imagery and GPS data to track illegal fishing and human rights abuses at sea, acting as an auxilliary ecological police force to identify and provide data to prosecute offending vessels. The proliferation of these digital geographic technologies and techniques pose a number of complex questions.

Drawing on contemporary cases, experimental projects in “forensic” approaches to climate activism, and recent work in critical geography, aesthetics, STS, and political theory, this course will map out these digital geographies of climate justice as they are emerging. We will do so by focusing on three “metageographies” shaping the digital terrains in which struggles for climate justice are waged: the Forest, the Ocean, and the City. 

  • COURSE FORMAT

This course combines elements of a traditional reading-intenstive seminar with lab-based approaches to geographic information/geospatial science (i.e., “GIScience”) and studio-based approaches to visual research methods drawn from the spatial design disciplines (architecture, landscape architecture, & urban planning).  

Seminars
Following a first introductory session, the course will be divided into the three “metageographic” modules (two seminar sessions each), interspersed with a pair of entry-level remote sensing + GIS workshops that directly engage content from the seminar sessions.  The seminars will be open-ended discussions involving in-depth explorations of the projects specified for that week, and close readings of key texts. 

While all the texts are there for a reason, some are more important for understanding critical theoretic approaches to the subject matter, while others are primarily there to establish the scientific foundations of that week’s theme. I’ll briefly introduce and explain which texts to focus on and why during the end of the prior session.  

Finally, we’re lucky to have a couple sessions with guest lecturers whose work we’ll be reading. For those sessions we’ll forego a project-based focus to give more time to a lecture and discussion with our guest.

Workshops
The first workshop will follow our sessions on the Forest, and will involve working with data documenting deforestation. The second workshop will follow our sessions on the Ocean, and will involve working with data documenting illicit fishing activity. The workshops will also offer time for students to develop workflows attuned to individual research projects. 

Please note that no prior experience is required for the technical dimensions of the class; all workshop material will be covered in class and through preparatory online tutorials linked in the Resources section. 

  • COURSEWORK

All coursework will revolve around an individual research project of your choosing. We’ll approach this in two ways: through in-class participation and through a research “dossier”.  

In-Class Participation
There are as many ways to participate meaningfully in class as there are ways of learning, but all require putting in the work beforehand. We’ll formalize that as follows:

  • Each student is required to sign up to provide reading notes for one reading (two if short) per metageographic module. I will send out a sign-up form after the first session. 

  • Share your notes as a Google Doc with the class one day before class (i.e, end of day Tuesday). This will not be a “reading response” per se, but a set of working notes. It should include critical commentary, reflections on how it relates to the projects/data we’re exploring that week (or another), key quotations, follow-up questions, and links to related materials (other readings, datasets, projects, news media, etc). Finally, it should also include some short statements on why you selected the reading(s), and how they are relevant (however distant) to the project you’re developing. 

  • Be prepared to play a leading role in class discussion! I’ll likely ask you to expand on something you’ve written up in the flow of our collective dialogue. 

Dossier
The major deliverable for the course is a research dossier that will be tailored to your own project theme, disciplinary background, skillsets, etc.

See the Dossier section for full details.

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SYLLABUS





Structure

I.

DG / CJ II.

The Forest ---------------
~ Workshop 01 ~
---------------
III.

The Ocean ---------------
~ Workshop 02 ~
---------------
IV. 

The City

Schedule

03 JAN

Introduction: 
Digital Geographies / Climate Justice
10 JAN

 The Forest as Wilderness,  or How to See Like a (Climate) Colonizer

17 JAN

The Forest as Plantation, 
or the Logics 
of Green Growth
24 JAN

 Deforestation, or, From Countermapping to Critical Remote Sensing
Dossier M01 Submission 31 JAN

The Ocean as 
Frontier, or the Geopolitical Life 
of the Ice Edge

07 FEB
The Ocean
as Commons, or Offshoring the Future 
14 FEB

Transshipment, or, Forensic Geographies of Ecocidal Labor
Dossier M02 Submission
21 FEB

The (Resilient) City, or Urbicidal Tendencies 

28 FEB

The (Speculative) City, 
or Imagining Urban Abolition in Deep Time
INFO
SYLLABUS
DOSSIER
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POLICIES

I. DG / CJ





DIGITAL GEOGRAPHIES / CLIMATE JUSTICE
Seminar 01
03 Jan 24
  • Readings

  • Bennett, Mia M, Janice K Chen, Luis F Alvarez León, and Colin J Gleason. “The Politics of Pixels: A Review and Agenda for Critical Remote Sensing.” Progress in Human Geography, January 27, 2022, 03091325221074691. https://doi.org/10.1177/03091325221074691.  

  • Celermajer, Danielle, David Schlosberg, Dinesh Wadiwel, and Christine Winter. “A Political Theory for a Multispecies, Climate-Challenged World: 2050.” Political Theory 51, no. 1 (February 1, 2023): 39–53. https://doi.org/10.1177/00905917221128833.  

  • Guldi, Jo. “The Climate Emergency Demands a New Kind of History: Pragmatic Approaches from Science and Technology Studies, Text Mining, and Affiliated Disciplines.” Isis 113, no. 2 (June 2022): 352–65. https://doi.org/10.1086/719704.  

  • Nost, Eric, and Jenny Elaine Goldstein. “A Political Ecology of Data.” Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space 5, no. 1 (March 1, 2022): 3–17. https://doi.org/10.1177/25148486211043503.  

  • Sultana, Farhana. “Critical Climate Justice.” The Geographical Journal 188, no. 1 (2022): 118–24. https://doi.org/10.1111/geoj.12417.  

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II. THE FOREST





... AS WILDERNESS, or HOW TO SEE LIKE A (CLIMATE) COLONIZER 
Seminar 02
10 Jan 24
    Readings

    • Curtis, Philip G., Christy M. Slay, Nancy L. Harris, Alexandra Tyukavina, and Matthew C. Hansen. “Classifying Drivers of Global Forest Loss.” Science 361, no. 6407 (September 14, 2018): 1108–11. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aau3445.

    • Duncanson, L., M. Liang, V. Leitold, J. Armston, S. M. Krishna Moorthy, R. Dubayah, S. Costedoat, et al. “The Effectiveness of Global Protected Areas for Climate Change Mitigation.” Nature Communications 14, no. 1 (June 1, 2023): 2908. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-38073-9.  

      Guldi, Jo. “Introduction: Techniques of Occupancy.” In The Long Land War: The Global Struggle for Occupancy Rights, 1-35. Yale Agrarian Studies. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2022. 


      Scott, James C. “Chapter 1: Nature and Space.” In Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed, 11–52. Yale Agrarian Studies. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1998.  

       Vurdubakis, Theodore, and Raoni Rajão. “Envisioning Amazonia: Geospatial Technology, Legality and the (Dis)Enchantments of Infrastructure.” Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space 5, no. 1 (March 1, 2022): 81–103. https://doi.org/10.1177/2514848619899788.  

    • WinklerPrins, Antoinette M. G. A., and Carolina Levis. “Reframing Pre-European Amazonia through an Anthropocene Lens.” Annals of the American Association of Geographers 111, no. 3 (April 16, 2021): 858–68. https://doi.org/10.1080/24694452.2020.1843996.  

      Projects
    • Norwegian Ministry of Climate and Environment, “Norway’s International Climate and Forest Initiative.” https://www.nicfi.no/






      •  



        ... AS PLANTATION, or THE LOGICS OF GREEN GROWTH
          Seminar 03
          17 Jan 24
            Readings


          • Cook-Patton, Susan C., Sara M. Leavitt, David Gibbs, Nancy L. Harris, Kristine Lister, Kristina J. Anderson-Teixeira, Russell D. Briggs, et al. “Mapping Carbon Accumulation Potential from Global Natural Forest Regrowth.” Nature 585, no. 7826 (September 2020): 545–50. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2686-x.

            Gabrys, Jennifer. “Smart Forests and Data Practices: From the Internet of Trees to Planetary Governance.” Big Data & Society 7, no. 1 (January 1, 2020): 2053951720904871. https://doi.org/10.1177/2053951720904871.  




                Projects



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                  II. THE OCEAN




                  ... AS COMMONS, or OFFSHORING THE FUTURE

                  Seminar 04
                  31 JAN 24
                  •  Campling, Liam, and Alejandro Colas. Selections from Chapter 4, “Appropriation.” In Capitalism and The Sea: The Maritime Factor in the Making of the Modern World, 169-185. Brooklyn: Verso Books, 2021.  

                  • Carmine, Gabrielle, Juan Mayorga, Nathan A. Miller, Jaeyoon Park, Patrick N. Halpin, Guillermo Ortuño Crespo, Henrik Österblom, Enric Sala, and Jennifer Jacquet. “Who Is the High Seas Fishing Industry?” One Earth 3, no. 6 (December 18, 2020): 730–38. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oneear.2020.11.017.

                  •  Drakopulos, Lauren, Jennifer J. Silver, Eric Nost, Noella Gray, and Roberta Hawkins. “Making Global Oceans Governance in/Visible  with Smart Earth: The Case of Global Fishing Watch.” Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space, July 14, 2022, 25148486221111786. https://doi.org/10.1177/25148486221111786.  

                  • Kroodsma, David A., Juan Mayorga, Timothy Hochberg, Nathan A. Miller, Kristina Boerder, Francesco Ferretti, Alex Wilson, et al. “Tracking the Global Footprint of Fisheries.” Science 359, no. 6378 (February 23, 2018): 904–8. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aao5646.    

                  • Miller, Nathan A., Aaron Roan, Timothy Hochberg, John Amos, and David A. Kroodsma. “Identifying Global Patterns of Transshipment Behavior.” Frontiers in Marine Science 5 (2018). https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2018.00240.  

                  •  Paolo, Fernando, David Kroodsma, Jennifer Raynor, Tim Hochberg, Pete Davis, Jesse Cleary, Luca Marsaglia, Sara Orofino, Christian Thomas, and Patrick Halpin. “Satellite Mapping Reveals Extensive Industrial Activity at Sea.” Nature 625, no. 7993 (January 2024): 85–91. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-06825-8. 

                  •   Park, Jaeyoon, Jennifer Van Osdel, Joanna Turner, Courtney M. Farthing, Nathan A. Miller, Hannah L. Linder, Guillermo Ortuño Crespo, Gabrielle Carmine, and David A. Kroodsma. “Tracking Elusive and Shifting Identities of the Global Fishing Fleet.” Science Advances 9, no. 3 (January 18, 2023): eabp8200. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abp8200.  

                  • Seto, Katherine L., Nathan A. Miller, David Kroodsma, Quentin Hanich, Masanori Miyahara, Rui Saito, Kristina Boerder, Masaki Tsuda, Yoshioki Oozeki, and Osvaldo Urrutia S. “Fishing through the Cracks: The Unregulated Nature of Global Squid Fisheries.” Science Advances 9, no. 10 (March 10, 2023): eadd8125. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.add8125.  

                  Projects




                  ... AS FRONTIER, or THE GEOPOLITICAL LIFE OF THE ICE EDGE

                  Seminar 05
                  07 FEB 24
                  •  Bay-Larsen, Ingrid, T. G. Bjørndal, and E. A. T. Hermansen. “Mapping Ice in the Norwegian Arctic – on the Edge between Science and Policy.” Landscape Research 46, no. 2 (February 17, 2021): 167–81. https://doi.org/10.1080/01426397.2020.1740664.  


                  • Le Billon, Philippe, and Berit Kristoffersen. “Just Cuts for Fossil Fuels? Supply-Side Carbon Constraints and Energy Transition.” Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space 52, no. 6 (September 1, 2020): 1072–92. https://doi.org/10.1177/0308518X18816702.  

                  • Steinberg, Philip, and Berit Kristoffersen. “‘The Ice Edge Is Lost … Nature Moved It’: Mapping Ice as State Practice in the Canadian and Norwegian North.” Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers 42, no. 4 (2017): 625–41. https://doi.org/10.1111/tran.12184.  

                  • Steinberg, Philip E., Berit Kristoffersen, and Kristen L. Shake. “Edges and Flows: Exploring Legal Materialities and Biophysical Politics of Sea Ice.” In Blue Legalities, edited by Irus Braverman and Elizabeth R. Johnson, 85–106. The Life and Laws of the Sea. Duke University Press, 2020. https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv1131dk7.7.  

                  • Tømmerbakke, From Siri Gulliksen. “The Struggle Over the Ice Edge Decides the Future of Norway’s Oil.” High North News. Accessed January 26, 2023. https://www.highnorthnews.com/en/struggle-over-ice-edge-decides-future-norways-oil.   

                  • Watts, Michael John. “Hyper-Extractivism and the Global Oil Assemblage.” In Our Extractive Age: Expressions of Violence and Resistance, edited by Judith Shapiro and John-Andrew McNeish, 207–48. Routledge Studies of the Extractive Industries. Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY: Routledge, 2021. 

                  • *Guest Lecture*

                  • Prof. Berit Kristoffersen, UiT, The Arctic University of Norway (Tromsø)

                  • Projects

                  Norwegian Offshore Directorate

                  - Homepage

                  - “FactMaps” showing locations of petroleum-related activities

                  - Seabed Minerals

                  - Deep Sea Survey Map

                  - Mongabay reporting on mining plans
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                  IV. THE CITY



                  THE (RESILIENT) CITY, or URBICIDAL TENDENCIES

                  Seminar 06
                  21 FEB 24
                  Readings


                        Demos, T. J.  Chapter 3, “Climate Futures: From Emergency to Emergence.” In Radical Futurisms: Ecologies of Collapse, Chronopolitics and Justice-to-come. 89-123. London: Sternberg Press, 2023.

                        Goh, Kian. “Urbanising Climate Justice: Constructing Scales and Politicising Difference.” Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society 13, no. 3 (December 23, 2020): 559–74. https://doi.org/10.1093/cjres/rsaa010.  


                           Taylor, Zac J., and Manuel B. Aalbers. “Climate Gentrification: Risk, Rent, and Restructuring in Greater Miami.” Annals of the American Association of Geographers 112, no. 6 (August 18, 2022): 1685–1701. https://doi.org/10.1080/24694452.2021.2000358.  


                            ———. “Urbicide in the Anthropocene: Imagining Miami Futures.” In Imagining Apocalyptic Politics in the Anthropocene: 173-188. Routledge, 2021. 




                          THE (SPECULATIVE) CITY, or IMAGINING URBAN ABOLITION IN DEEP TIME

                          Seminar 07
                          28 FEB 24

                          • Readings

                          • Gandy, Matthew. “Cities in Deep Time.” City 22, no. 1 (January 2, 2018): 96–105. https://doi.org/10.1080/13604813.2018.1434289.  

                          • Graeber, David, and David Wengrow. Chapter 8, “Imaginary Cities.” In The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity. Unpaginated. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2021.  

                          • Luke, Nikki, and Nik Heynen. “Community Solar as Energy Reparations: Abolishing Petro-Racial Capitalism in New Orleans.” American Quarterly 72, no. 3 (2020): 603–25. https://doi.org/10.1353/aq.2020.0037.  

                          • Táíwò, Olúfẹ́mi O., and Shuchi Talati. “Who Are the Engineers? Solar Geoengineering Research and Justice.” Global Environmental Politics 22, no. 1 (February 4, 2021): 12–18. https://doi.org/10.1162/glep_a_00620.  

                          •  Weizman, Eyal, David Wengrow, and Forensic Architecture, The Nebelivka Project and The Center for Spatial Technologies. The Nebelivka Hypothesis. Venice Biennale 2023 - 18th International Architecture Exhibition. London: Forensic Architecture, 2023. 
                          INFO
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                          DOSSIER





                            Key Dates

                            Milestone 01: Proposal
                            24 JAN 24

                            Milestone 02: Work-in-Progress
                            14 FEB 24

                            Final Submission
                            08 MAR 24


                          DOSSIER OVERVIEW

                          This course is built around a research dossier. You will develop and compile the dossier throughout the quarter, with a focus on gleaning investigative resources for your independent, project-based research. You are welcome to develop this project through course content or bring in a project from another class, a thesis, dissertation, or other work.  

                          The dossier should demonstrate a level of project development appropriate for the stage of your research and study; it will look different, for example, for undergraduate and graduate students, but also for students working on a thesis/dissertation compared with those of you creating a project from scratch. What matters is that this dossier is useful for you. Consider the dossier as a hybrid report + toolkit you can refer back to and develop further in any research project where these kinds of methods fit. 



                          DOSSIER FORMAT

                          The dossier will be divided into 5 parts:

                                 1/ Research Statement    
                                 2/ Precedent Projects + Investigations
                                 3/ Data/Evidence + Technical Resources
                                  4/ Cartographic Workflows + Media
                                 5/ Annotated Bibliography
                          1/Research Statement [~500 words]
                          Your research statement should simply establish the parameters of your digital geographic investigation into some key question related to climate justice-- what we’ll call your “DG/CJ framework.” That means you should:

                          1. frame out a geographically, historically, and materially specific question related to climate justice (either for an existing or proposed project) 
                          2. describe how the climate justice problem you’ve identified is bound up with and mediated by digital geographic technologies, infrastructures, and relations 
                          3. outline how you will integrate digital geographic methods (investigative and cartographic) into your research

                          This is primarily to help me get a clear sense of what you’re trying to do, and to help you make the most of the various theoretical and technical resources this class will make available. While I’ll aim to help you sharpen your research questions and methods (and provide whatever other feedback you might want), assessing the novelty, sophistication, or disciplinary merits of your research won’t be my main focus. Remember, this is meant to be a toolkit you can carry with you! 

                          2/Precedent Projects + Investigations [~500-1000 words each]
                          Choose at least 3 projects and/or investigations that serve as precedents for the kind of research you want to do. Only 1 of these can be something we’ve covered in depth in class; it’s important that you find other resources to guide your own work and to bring into class discussions. For each precedent, briefly summarize why it’s relevant for your work, then critically analyze its component parts with a view to how they might help you structure your own project. Your analysis should always make reference to the DG/CJ framework established by your research statement, and should cover the following:

                          1. theoretical framework(s) + concepts
                          2. methods/technical workflows
                          3. kinds of data/evidence, key datasets/evidence 
                          4. forms of geographic representation (including but not limited to traditional cartography)

                          3/ Data/Evidence + Technical Resources [~300-500 words each]
                          Compile and contextualize 5-10 key datasets, forms of evidence, and/or technical resources (e.g., mapping/data visualization platform) for your research. For each one, consider what Nost and Goldstein (2022) call the “political ecology of data” for which they address
                          (1) the contested practices of utilizing and maintaining data infrastructures; (2) the ways they are governed and the territorial statecraft they enable; (3) the socionatural materiality they arise within but also produce.
                          You’ll need to do a bit of digging on each dataset, form of evidence, or other technical resource you choose that goes beyond an associated scientific paper or metadata. To structure your inquiry into the “political ecology” of your selected data, think of this as an exercise in “critical metadata.” Ask the basic “5W/H” (who/what/when/where/why/how) questions as needed: Where do the data  come from? What geographic area does the dataset cover, and at what resolution? Who collected the data or evidence? Why and how? When, and how often?  What material traces and/or bodies does it follow? Who funded the data collection and technologies of observation/surveillance? 

                          4/ Cartographic Workflows + Media [~3-5 workflows; ~1000 words]
                          Drawing on class materials and resources you find independently, identify and experiment with digital cartographic workflows and media you find most useful. Write up a narrative description of what you’re trying to do with these workflows, and critically reflect on what the approaches you’ve adopted can and can’t do to illuminate different dimensions of climate justice struggles and their entanglements with digital technologies. 

                          You’ll also want to pose and answer follow up questions relevant for your project. For example, what other kinds of evidence might you need to make your story more robust and inclusive of multiple perspectives, scales, and forms of life? How do your workflows reveal or disguise the political ecology of data you’ve explored through your datasets and evidence? What are some next steps you want to take, and what conceptual and/or technical hurdles are in your way?

                          This is the core technical element of our digital geographic work in the class, so make plenty of time to play around, break things, and learn from your mistakes! The idea is for you to take meaningful steps toward gaining a better understanding of digital geographic tools, and when/how/why they might serve your research. What that means for you depends on a number of variables, so the guidelines for deliverables/outputs for this section are a bit looser than the others. What’s important is that you provide evidence that you’re able to put some critical remote sensing and GIS-based workflows/tools (or combination thereof) to good use, which will typically include working code and media outputs. These outputs might range from a static data visualization/map to an Earth Engine app integrated into a project website.  

                          We’ll be exploring specific datasets and workflows in our workshops, but it’s unlikely your project needs will align exactly with workshop content. That means you’ll need to peruse the remote sensing and GIS-based workflows listed in the Resources section somewhat independently. How far you go with these more technical workflows largely depends on how much expertise you’re bringing into class, and how much time/interest permits you to explore the tutorials and training resources I’ll make available. Note that we will make time in workshops (and, of course, in office hours) to discuss (and commiserate on) any technical issues that come up. 

                          5/ Annotated Bibliography
                          All the dossier components above should be supported by well-sourced literature, data, and other citable materials. The quantity and kinds of sources you use depend on your project and its stage of development; you may already have a project bibliography to work with!

                          Use Zotero to keep things organized-- if you haven’t used Zotero before, please sign up ASAP with your UChicago account (we get unlimited file storage which makes it very useful). Once you have your bibliography up and running, keep it annotated with useful comments that you can refer to for future use, and submit this annotated version with your final dossier. 




                          DOSSIER SEQUENCE

                          While we’ll develop the dossier as a single entity, there are a couple milestones when you’ll need to submit work in progress. To share your dossier materials in progress, we’ll use a free content-sharing platform called Are.na (more on this in the Resources section). For your final submission, you may choose another format (or combination) according to your project needs and preference (e.g., a website, Earth Engine app, Figma prototype, etc).

                          24 JAN    |    Milestone 01: Proposal
                          Your first milestone focuses on the development of your Research Statement and preliminary identification of Precedents, Data, and Cartographic Workflows. For your submission you should:

                          • Complete a draft Research Statement
                          • Identify at least 2 Precedents
                          • Identify 3-5 sources of data/evidence/technical resources; draft “critical metadata” statement for at least 1
                          • Identify at least 2 workflows relevant to your project
                          • Begin compiling preliminary bibliography in Zotero (no annotation)

                          14 FEB    |    Milestone 02: Work-in-Progress
                          Your second milestone focuses on diving deeper into the Precedents, Data, and Workflows. For your submission you should:

                          • Revise draft Research Statement as needed
                          • Identify and critically analyze at least 3 Precedents
                          • Identify additional sources for data/evidence/technical resources, write up “critical metadata” for 3-5 sources
                          • Identify additional workflow(s) for project; show evidence of experimenting with at least 1, with visualization/media output
                          • Continue compiling bibliography in Zotero; identify and annotate key sources

                          08 MAR    |    FINAL SUBMISSION
                          Your final submission is due by end of day (i.e., 11:59 pm) on Friday, March 8. Everything outlined in the guidelines above should be complete. It’s the latest possible time I can accommodate and still provide meaningful feedback before the grading deadline (12 Mar), so no extensions are possible except in the case of emergencies.

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                          RESOURCES







                            RESOURCES OVERVIEW

                            The primary resources for this class fall into two categories: platforms for content curation (Are.na + Zotero) and for remote sensing-based geospatial analysis (e.g., Google Earth Engine) and related learning resources (EEFA, ARSET, etc). There is a vast and growing world of online resources for both of categories, so this is not by any means an exhaustive list! While we will definitely lean heavily on Are.na (for collecting and posting dossier materials) and Zotero (for organizing, sharing, and annotating readings), the Remote Sensing Resources list is somewhat more fluid. The key resources there are the Google Earth Engine Developer site the Earth Engine Fundamentals and Applications book (EEFA). We might add (or subtract) items depending on what we’re all most interested in, so keep an eye on this page and the Are.na Resources channel.


                              CONTENT CURATION

                                Are.na

                              Are.na is a free curatorial platform for saving digital content, creating collections of that content, and connecting with other collections and members. We will use Are.na as an informal space for gathering interesting materials, posting dossier content, and sharing resources with each other. 

                              It’s a simple and useful tool to quickly bookmark, collect, and organize digital media without knowing exactly where you’re heading, or what that material will do for you in the longer term. Students, artists, and designers often use it as an individual and/or collective repository for images, videos, texts, and other media; you’ll inevitably spend time exploring other members’ collections, called channels, and the items they contain, called blocks. You can either clip directly from your web browser (using a plugin) or manually link or upload materials.

                                Zotero
                               
                              You probably already know about Zotero as a bibliography manager through its integration with common word processors like Microsoft Word and Google Docs.  While I highly encourage you to use Zotero this way, we’re also going to use it to compile and share course readings in a Group Library. Everyone will need a Zotero account (sign up using your UChicago email address for free and unlimited storage) to access the Library; I’ll send an invite out after the first session.  


                                REMOTE SENSING RESOURCES

                              For our workshops we’ll be using Google Earth Engine (EE), a cloud-based geospatial processing platform used primarily with remote-sensed imagery and other data. We’ll spend time during the first session talking about the basics of EE, EEFA and other Earth Observation (EO) platforms and tutorials, and Awesome-GEE-Community-Catalog, a public repository for data prepped for Earth Engine. 

                              More detailed information will be made available for the workshops-- stay tuned!

                               
                                INFO
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                                _POLICIES

                                POLICIES
                                    THE BASICS


                                    Grading
                                    Attendance: 10%

                                    Participation/Reading Notes: 15%

                                      Dossier: 75%
                                      ___M01: 10%
                                      ___M02: 15%
                                      ___Final Submission: 50%


                                      Attendance
                                      Attendance is crucial for this class, especially given the brutally short quarter! Just to put things in perspective: missing 2 sessions is roughly equivalent of missing a quarter of the course!

                                      I understand that important things — family or personal issues, religious holidays, illness, and so on — come up, so please try to let me know as soon as possible if you know you’ll miss a session and we can discuss how best to catch up. 

                                      Late work
                                      Echoing the policy on absences: I recognize that things come up. If you need an extension on an assignment for a reasonable issue, let me know as soon as possible. However, there’s not much room for error with late work: Dossier milestones, for example, are timed so that you can make the most of the workshops. Turning in work late means you won’t be prepared for the workshop!

                                      No late submissions are possible for the final project due to the grading deadline. I’ve already pushed it back as far as I can to give you as much time as possible, and any late submission could result in an “Incomplete” for the course.

                                      Office Hours
                                      Office hours are divided into 20 minute blocks for shorter meetings, but you can schedule two in a row if needed for discussing something requiring more time. I recognize that schedule conflicts are inevitable and we may need to work on finding time outside of designated OH; if you need to chat, I will always find time to do so within a reasonable timeframe.

                                      I always recommend that you schedule an OH session early in the quarter so we can get to know each other better, but that’s up to you!



                                      GROUND RULES

                                      Come prepared, give attention generously, get engaged. Participate in ways that thoughtfully direct your particular strengths and sensitivities toward our individual and collective work. Always, always be patient and careful with yourself and your class comrades in that work, whether it’s creative or critical. Don’t weaponize your experience or expertise, and be open to the different experiences and expertises of others. We want this course to be a place to experiment, learn, and practice pedagogical camaraderie. Help build a space attuned to how we can thrive within and beyond the scope of the course!

                                      In practice, that means following a few common-sense ground rules:

                                      • Never be on your phone, on social media during class, doing unrelated work/play, using a device that makes sounds.
                                      • Sometimes (but not always!) take notes, look something up, and/or refer to readings on your laptop or tablet.
                                      • Any time it strikes you, write or draw notes/ideas/schemes with a pen or pencil; ask a question/make a comment (raise your hand first please!) 



                                      UNIVERSAL DESIGN

                                      I want this course to be accessible to as many different modes of learning and thinking as possible. The class will, by necessity, explore several ways of approaching, looking at, experiencing, and interacting with a variety of texts and geographic media. I intend these to not only expand the accessibility of the conceptual material we’ll cover, but to enrich everyone’s creative and critical capacities for thinking, making, and learning. Disability studies scholars have long shown that “disability” is a relation between people and environments, not personal trait or individual property; in this spirit, we want to shift from a framework of accommodating disability to designing for physical and neuro-diversity as a universal individual and collective condition for learning. I believe, in other words, that where learning with difference is always the starting point, universal design is good for everyone — including (and perhaps especially) instructors!

                                      There are two primary ways we’ll go about this.

                                      Anonymous Open Check-in
                                      First, you’re invited to complete an anonymous and optional feedback form any time you’d like. No identifying info will be collected; it’s ultimately an opportunity for us to check in about the class in a safe but open-ended way.

                                      The form does not ask or require you to share any information about a disability; disclosing disability status is entirely your choice, and protected by federal law. 

                                      I also always welcome your personal feedback if you feel comfortable talking to us directly! If you feel there are structural barriers to your full participation in the course, whether that entails the physical environment or particular activities or assignments, please let me know as soon as you can. In the event you want to communicate beyond the anonymous surveys, I will always keep these discussions confidential.

                                      UChicago Student Disability Services
                                      Second, the university makes a range of resources available through Student Disability Services (SDS). The process of making use of those resources is summarized here. If you have a documented disability, we encourage you to register with SDS to get support through official accommodation. You can contact them via email at disabilities@uchicago.edu, call them at (773) 702–6000. Their offices are located at 5501 S. Ellis Avenue.



                                      ACADEMIC ETHICS + LABOR

                                      Everything comes from somewhere, including ideas. It is crucial to the ethos of this class to acknowledge the conditions of our academic production. That most often means good citational practices consistent withe University’s guidelines on Academic Honesty (reproduced below). 

                                      However, it also means acknowledging that intellectual work is work, and that work is a) collaborative in some form and b) done differently (and often unevenly) by each person depending on diverging and converging abilities, experiences, and needs. 

                                      Academic integrity requires openness to the many modes, spaces, and histories within and beyond academia that make our collective work possible. This openness is a necessary (but not sufficient) step beyond “academic integrity” and toward a more active ethics.



                                      QUESTIONS OF ACKNOWLEDGMENT

                                      The context in which those ethics are put into practice is important. At root this course is about how collective spatial imaginaries of justice are mediated by complex entanglements between “technical” ways of thinking and seeing. In that spirit, it is crucial to resituate and reground where we understand ourselves to be imagining from — the homelands of Peoria, Miami, Kickapoo, and Potawatomi Nations— and how these social spaces have been built — with unfree and economically exploited African and African American labor. The tools of mapping, surveying, and geographic visualization more generally have often been central to abetting or perpetuating those legacies in and around Chicago, whether through settler-colonial land surveys or practices of redlining.

                                      There are many critical perspectives on the importance of acknowledging these truths that simultaneously point out their necessity (as part, for instance, of Native protocols of hospitality) while critiquing the all-too-often performative aspects of acknowledgment without concrete action (especially, for instance, around the return of stolen and illegally occupied Native land). Similar critiques have been levied from the point of view of Black labor, accompanied by powerful arguments for reparations here at UChicago.

                                      Because this course does not directly contribute to those struggles, I offer this land and labor acknowledgment with humility and the hope that the tools of critical spatial media can be put to work for justice.

                                      To learn more, the library has assembled some excellent resources that inform this section.


                                      Politics of Citation
                                      Be reflective and honest about the sources of your work, and always give credit where credit is due. Cite widely and generously; think of whose voice you are amplifying, what that amplification does, and for whom. If using AI tools is useful for you, that’s fine. Consider, however, that insights from AI are a kind of “view from nowhere.” Whose perspective is being reflected through AI? How do you know? What voices do AI tools amplify, if any?


                                      Citational Style
                                      Use the Chicago Manual of Style, Author-Date references. For AI tools, see these new citation guidelines.


                                      Plagiarism
                                      If you’re not sure, ask. This is especially important for the brave new worlds of digital making, including coding and cartography. Plagiarism is not acceptable under any circumstances, and it’s your responsibility to make sure your work maintains integrity as required by the University and demanded by the ethics of the academic community.

                                      Just so we’re entirely clear, if you need a refresher, here is the University policy on Academic Honesty and Plagiarism from the Student Manual:

                                      It is contrary to justice, academic integrity, and to the spirit of intellectual inquiry to submit another’s statements or ideas as one’s own work. To do so is plagiarism or cheating, offenses punishable under the University’s disciplinary system. Because these offenses undercut the distinctive moral and intellectual character of the University, we take them very seriously…

                                      Proper acknowledgment of another’s ideas, whether by direct quotation or paraphrase, is expected. In particular, if any written or electronic source is consulted and material is used from that source, directly or indirectly, the source should be identified by author, title, and page number, or by website and date accessed. Any doubts about what constitutes “use” should be addressed to the instructor.


                                      AI
                                      Last but not least: AI tools. We’re all cyborgs already! You may use any and all AI tools as you see fit. However, you must cite any tool you use, clarify why you’re using that tool, and reflect on how it shapes your critical and creative process.

                                      It’s unclear what positive role AI tools will play in course assignments and projects; we’re skeptical that you’ll find obvious ways in which AI will make your workflows more efficient, enhance your critical perspective, or open up many creative possibilities beyond what you could come up with without that tool. The two exceptions are when we begin to work with i) the Javascript-based coding environment of Google Earth Engine and ii) new generative image-making tools in Photoshop. You are more than welcome to experiment with these and other tools, as long as you follow the guidelines above.

                                      Finally, I occassionally use AI in our own work, and are still figuring out when it’s useful and when it’s a distraction. I’m happy to have those conversations openly and honestly-- and will naturally demand that same openness and honesty from you!