Ensuring access to GIS for marginal societies

Producing an Indigenous Knowledge Web GIS for Arctic Alaska Communities: Challenges, Successes, and Lessons Learned

“…The research project, from its inception, specifically required ground‐truthing or validation of the information that was acquired during interviews. In response to Laituri's (2002) question, “Must indigenous knowledge be ‘scientized’ by Euro‐American research to be legitimate?” we have to state that, in this instance, the scientific legitimacy of the data collected was essential. We were expected to carry out two modes of verification: examination of aerial photography or satellite imagery, and direct field observation.…”

“…Public participatory GIS is being incorporated into various fields including urban planning, law, geography, landscape ecology, anthropology, natural resources, and conservation biology, and so the work of developing more effective strategies of engagement is crucial (Sieber 2006). Laituri (2002) recommends the establishment of an ongoing relationship through knowledge sharing and a commitment that supersedes the scope of a single project. Other GIS practitioners have lamented the difficulties of acquiring long‐term funding and personnel to ensure the maintenance and sustainability of their participatory GIS (Leitner et al.…”

“…Long‐term sustainability is premier in Barndt's (2002) criteria for the successful management of a PPGIS, and the recommendation is that the GIS be independent of short‐term funding through lowering costs and the inclusion of basic funding in local budgeting. Strategies to ensure that the GIS is used by the community to fulfill their needs range from partnering with governments, universities and schools to provide K‐12 teacher training, developing internships, on‐site demonstrations and data collection, and hands‐on, real world projects (Laituri 2002; Leitner et al. 2002).…”

All Strings Attached: Negotiating Relationships of Geographic Information Science

“…(), we suggest that these limitations may be more apparent than real and that indeed GIS and other geospatial technologies can be developed that are respectful of culture, social systems, and traditional methods of transmitting Indigenous knowledge. However, the incorporation of Indigenous knowledge in modern geospatial technologies must be predicated on the outcomes of deliberations by Indigenous peoples themselves, in order to address important issues such as rights and access, fluidity, and boundary (Laituri, ). This is particularly important in the case of Indigenous Australian cultures that have strict demarcations around knowledge access.…”

Geographic Information Systems in Developing Countries – What are the Ethical Issues we need to be aware of ? / Geografické Informační Systémy A Jejich Využití V Rozvojových Zemích - Jakým Etickým Otázkám Musíme Čelit?

“…The author of this paper acknowledges that there is continuous development in the understanding of GIS and he takes the fourth wave of criticism of GIS as the discussion about the intensive use of GIS in fields neglected so far. Participatory GIS became quite popular after making some thematic books [11] and special editions of journals focused on participatory approaches in GIS available (Cartography and According to Dunn [17] PGIS was also used in brand new areas of geographical research such as urban planning and public participation [7,10,18,19,21], land ownership and resource management conflict solutions [25,26,30,31,60,61], First Nations 4 access to land and services [5,32], protection of the environment [33,51,55] or land-use and natural resources management [56,59]. In the last decade, a number of books critically discussed the role of maps and information transmitted by maps [16,62,63] as well as the role of GIS in the process of creating these maps [12,38] and about the relationship between GIS and society [20,37].…”