Place-Based Scholarship in the Information Age

In today's place-based design professions there are several new aspects of literacy. Much of the information available about places is available only in digital form: as GIS layers, including terrain models and aerial photos; CAD files from engineers; as well as three-dimensional models of buildings and other fixtures. Understanding how these resources can be compiled and integrated to make site representations is as crucial today as the pen-and-knife skills necessary for creating site representations of an earlier era. Understanding ths issues of georeferencing and data organization will enable alternatives to clay and chip models, but also will lead to:

• New ways to understand sites and site alternatives in broad context.
• New modes of collaboration in site-oriented design projects.
• More effective ways to communicate complex ideas than static boards and physical 3d models.

Weekly Lectures and Demonstrations

Each week, we will meet to discuss the topics of the week from a formal perspective abd to demonstrate techniques. Lectures will begin promptly at 11:37.

Weekly Lab Exercises

In weekly hands-on demonstrations, students will practice forming questions that can be explored though analytical GIS and modeling techniques. These exercises are designed to be worked through in a 1.5 hour lab session, and are documented sufficiently that they can be repeated independently with your own data. Labs will begin promptly at 11:37. Please be on time!!!

Your Product

Your product for this course will be a well organized compilation of data, analytical studies and presentation documents. This portfolio will be completely presenatable as a demonstration of each student's abilities to collaborate at a high level of place-based scholarship. This portfolio will be turned in in three installments. All work is to be documented according to the Guidelines fro Submitting Digital Work. CDs will be turned in to the Paul Cote's Mailbox outside the Urban Planning and Design Office on the 3rd Floor of Gund Hall. All projects are to be the students own work, except as properly credited to others. Plans to collaborate or form group projects must be cleared ahead of time with the instructor. Unless students explicitly request otherwise in advance, their projects may be posted on the web and in the Harvard Dataverse Network.

Student Work from Previous Years

• Ming Chieh Kao
• Arthur Adeya

Time Commitment of Students

Each week, Students are expected to spend at least 4 hours extending the techniques introduced in lab to their own datasets and documenting their work. It should be noted that 4 hours per week is much different than a 16 hour binge the evening before due dates! YOur time management is your responsibility, but our ability to help you will be best taken advantage of if you work through the exercises each week.

This is not an introductory computing class. Students should be experienced and comfortable with learning to use software by reading documentation, and with creating and organizing digital documents, and with keeping backups of all of their work.

Presentation documents created for each assignment require textual descriptions so students should be very comfortable writing in English.

The primary software platform used for the laboratory and independent work will be ArcGIS version 9.2. This software is available for use for GSD Students, or for other Harvard Users. All of the user manuals for ArcGIS 9.2 can be found at the Harvard Center for Geographic Analysis Web Site

There are some lab exercises and assignments that require access to file-system resources available only within the GSD. To access these resources, students will need to have a GSD computing Account and have thier computer on the GSD network, or use a public lab computer in Gund Hall.

All student work will be will handed back using the MyGSD courseware system. Use of this system requires a valid Harvard PIN. For more information, see Harvard PIN Request Site.