Digital Geographies Research Group Virtual Annual Symposium 2020
Wednesday 1st July 2020 1pm-5pm (BST/GMT+1) #DGRGSymp
Using the Digital: Methodologies, Teaching, and Everyday Practice
Our Annual Symposium has quickly become a highlight of the DGRG’s calendar as an opportunity to meet and discuss the digital with like-minded researchers. Due to COVID-19 we cannot meet in person, and we know that this is a difficult time of people in lots of different ways. However, in the spirit of staying in touch and trying to support each other, we decided to go ahead with the symposium, albeit in a virtual and low impact form.
As academics, we use digital technologies every day. From emails to social media, teaching to research methodologies, the digital has become inescapable. Digital research methodologies are receiving increasing attention from geographers and academics in other disciplines, and there are ongoing discussions about digital teaching methods. There are still more conversations to be had, however, and the other ways in which academics engage with the digital have been largely overlooked. For our 4th annual symposium, the Digital Geographies Research Group decided to explore these issues by focusing on how academics use the digital, in all its myriad forms. This is an opportunity to take stock of how the digital has transformed academia in the twenty-first century and reflect on the implications of this transformation, whether they are bad, good, or somewhere in between.
This year also featured a range of informal digital shorts. Digital shorts are summaries of your research in 2-5 minutes. They are deliberately designed to require limited preparation, so are ideal for postgraduates, early career researchers, and those with COVID-related caring responsibilities or other commitments.
| Timetable – All Times BST (British Summer Time) | |
| 1pm-1:15pm – Arrival | |
| 1:15pm-2:30pm – Welcome remarks by DGRG Chair Professor Dorothea Kleine, University of Sheffield, UK. Opening Panel, chaired by Professor Dorothea Kleine, University of Sheffield, UK. Panellists: Dr. Jessica McLean, Macquarie University, Australia. Professor Balaji Parthasarathy, International Institute of Information Technology Bangalore, India. Fiona C. Ssozi, Makerere University, Uganda. Professor Matthew Zook, University of Kentucky, USA. | |
| 2.30pm-2:45pm – Break | |
| 2:45pm-4pm – Digital Shorts, chaired by Dr. Tess Osborne, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, Netherlands. Presenters (For presentation titles and abstracts, see full programme, coming soon!): David Garcia, University of Canterbury, Aotearoa (New Zealand). Helen Johnson, University of Liverpool, UK. Dr. Doug Specht, University of Westminster, UK. Maxwell Mutanda, Independent researcher. Jamie Halliwell, Manchester Metropolitan University, UK. Jack Lowe, Royal Holloway, University of London, UK. Charles Sewell, University of Hull, UK. Dr. Hannah C. Gunderman, Carnegie Mellon University, USA. Clair Cooper, Durham University, UK. Daisy Curtis, University of Exeter, UK. Dr. Kelle Howson, Dr. Alessio Bertolini, and Professor Mark Graham, Oxford Internet Institute, UK. Caitlin Hafferty, Countryside and Research Institute, University of Gloucestershire, UK. Dr. Katja Kaufmann, Mag Christoph Straganz, Mag Belinda Mahlknecht, and Professor Tabea Bork-Hüffer, University of Innsbruck, Austria. Dr. Hilary Faxon, Cornell/University of California Berkeley, USA. | |
| 4pm-4:15pm – Break | |
| 4:15pm-4:45pm – Concurrent Breakout Sessions Breakout Group 1: Research Methodologies Chaired by Dr. Sammia Poveda, University of Sheffield, UK. Breakout Group 2: Teaching Chaired by Dr. Phil Jones, University of Birmingham, UK. Breakout Group 3: Everyday Practice Chaired by Dr. Hannah Awcock, University of Edinburgh, UK. | |
| 4:45pm-5pm – Closing Remarks | |
| End of Day | |