B8131 - Communicating Geography (1) (LM)

Learning outcomes

By the end of the course, students will have honed the ability to communicate geographical knowledge to non-expert users. They will learn how to use approaches from human geography, geomatics and digital cartography to disseminate knowledge about social, economic and cultural issues rooted in local specificities. They will be able to write non-academic reports and adapt data to contexts including journalistic writing, videos, podcasts, cartographic visualizations, and public lectures.

Course contents

This course aims to give initial notions for a critical reading of the processes of production and circulation of information, moving from geographies of communication to communicating geography effectively.

The first part of the course will focus on some key debates in contemporary geography: science and technology studies, digital, artificial intelligence and cybernetic geographies, posthuman geographies, geographies of affect. The aim is to have a basic knowledge of some geographical concepts and perspectives, and in a second part of the course, to be able to translate the final result into a form accessible to non-experts.

In a second part, to create a bridge between human geography, as it is taught in the academic world, and its possibilities as a key to all social, economic, cultural issues related to the territory, by showing theories and practices of geography dissemination. In addition to a part explaining how to bring geographic knowledge into the form of reports, essays, and articles in newspapers, magazines, videos and podcasts, there will be a part on narratology and analysis of today's methods and possibilities for the interpretation and representation of data, such as storymaps, or infographics, and some theoretical foundations of information architecture and multimedia article design will be provided.

The theoretical part provides the basis for developing a second part of the course, which is of a practical nature, in which students are introduced to the figure of the “popularizing geographer” (who knows how to analyse data for representation and popularization), and to the different areas in which geography can make a contribution, analysing and working in practice on the various ways in which this can take place. This concerns more canonical figures, such as geography teachers, science journalism, jobs in non-governmental organisations and institutions at various levels, but also new hybrid figures, increasingly in demand by public bodies and private companies, in which human geography and cartography are combined for representation and scientific dissemination.

Readings/Bibliography

ATTENDING STUDENTS

The bibliography will be given in class during the course

NON-ATTENDING STUDENTS

to be decided. will be defined shortly.

Teaching methods

The course for attending students is organized in a format that includes lectures, flipped classroom style, and exercises, which together make up the students' final grade.

In the first part of the course, the lecturer will alternate between:

(1) Lectures on the theoretical foundations of some topics related to human geography: posthuman geographies, science and technology studies, geographies of artificial intelligence (AI), geographies of affect, anthropocene/capitalocene/wasteocene, and others to be decided according to the interests of the participants.

(2) Lectures on communicating academic knowledge outside the university context: tones, modes, types (reports, newspaper articles, creative, participatory modes, map constructions, visualisations and infographics, journalistic longforms, storymaps, but also children's texts, poems and more);

The second part of the course will take place in seminar and workshop style, where with the lecturer and guest lecturers you will work on topics of the students' choice that will be transformed from academic topics to output for a non-academic audience.

Assessment methods

(At least) Six exam sessions are guaranteed during each academic year. The exams will take place in January, February, May, June, July, September.

EXAM ASSESSMENT FOR ATTENDING STUDENTS

The final assessment for attending students consists of two parts, which will be explained in detail in class. In addition, instructions on how to develop the project, deadlines, and assessment methods will be given during the first lecture.

During the second half of the course, each person or group (to be decided depending on the number of students in the course) will choose a non-academic way to communicate one of the geographic topics covered.

The tests on which attending students are assessed are:

- a report on the “building blocks” that help the development of the chosen theme and non-academic modality of communication (explanation and related information will be made available at the beginning of the course and the exercise explained in detail by the lecturer. Inn general, a building block means a report on one aspect of the process of transformation from an academic text to a non-academic product)

- the “result” of this process: the creation (or design for a creation, if the timing does not allow for implementation) of a non-academic product to communicate a geographical theme to a non-academic audience.

Means of verifying learning:

For attending students, the two assessment moments are aimed at verifying understanding of the theories and ways of communicating geography introduced both through the lecturer's lectures and through the preparation of building blocks. The didactic methodology adopted by the lecturer in fact envisages that the student is not a passive recipient but becomes an active part of the learning process. Therefore, an attempt will be made to stimulate the student's personal reflection on the phenomena studied, both in class, where participation in the discussion of the topics covered is considered a fundamental element, which the lecturer will use to assess the students' interest in deepening their knowledge of the geographical facts discussed, and during the examination, during which the student will be invited to propose his/her own reflections and examples aimed at explaining the theoretical aspects studied. In addition, the assessment cannot fail to take into account the student's communication skills, which require not only an appropriate knowledge of the course content but also the appropriateness of language necessary to demonstrate that they have understood and internalised the themes of the discipline.

 

NON-ATTENDING STUDENTS

Non-attending students must study the entire syllabus presented in the bibliography, and are NOT required to study the lecture slides, nor to prepare the tests that attending students will prepare in class.

Non-attending students will have to take an oral examination on topics related to the texts listed in the bibliography.

Methods of verifying learning:

For non-attending students, the examination is aimed at testing understanding of the relationship between geography and communication, and how to communicate geographical phenomena beyond the university environment. During the examination the student will be invited to propose his/her own reflections on the geographical facts inherent to the course, and on the relationship between geography and communication, also using examples from specific themes that the lecturer may propose, in order to test the student's ability to apply what he/she has learnt from the texts to be taken for the examination to practical cases. Furthermore, the assessment cannot fail to take into account the student's communication skills, which are required not only to have an appropriate knowledge of the course contents but also to demonstrate the appropriateness of language necessary to demonstrate that they have understood and internalised the themes of the discipline.

 

Students with learning disorders and\or temporary or permanent disabilities: please, contact the office responsible ( https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/en/for-students ) as soon as possible so that they can propose acceptable adjustments. The request for adaptation must be submitted in advance (15 days before the exam date) to the lecturer, who will assess the appropriateness of the adjustments, taking into account the teaching objectives.

Teaching tools

The powerpoint presentations used during the lectures, descriptions of the exercises to be carried out during the lectures, and further material will be made available to students among the teaching materials on virtuale.unibo.it

Articles as part of the bibliography will be made available among the academic materials.

Office hours

See the website of Annaclaudia Martini