‘I need to make a map - can you help me?’: Starting geospatial literacy at the beginning, and reaching learners across diverse subject areas with online and open instructional videos

Abstract

Fairly frequently researchers from the sciences, social sciences and humanities, ask the library for help to make a map for an assignment or a piece of scholarship they are working on; other times they want to go a little further and explore some geospatial analysis possibilities for their project. Regardless, both kinds of researchers, be they students or faculty, have little to no experience with either Geographic Information Systems (GIS) software or the principles behind it. The library is glad to help on a case-by-case basis, and can refer more complex projects to the Geospatial Analysis Center on campus. However, to bolster campus wide geospatial literacy skills and address the need we’ve experienced through the requests for help, we’ve offered in-person workshops (which have been poorly attended), and added post-workshop materials to our GIS LibGuide as asynchronous tutorials. These asynchronous tutorials have proven useful in getting people started with the software, however what they are lacking is fundamental geospatial literacy skills, and a familiarity with maps. This is much like writing; the more you read the better a writer you become and the more maps you examine, the better map maker you become. To help build these experiences, the library created a new video series to provide a sort of map show-and-tell. The goals of the series are to point out common features, share map reading skills, showcase the diversity of maps, and most of all, explain that maps are communication pieces, just like a piece of written work. Both should be tailored to a specific audience, presented in a way that the audience will understand and find useful. While the librarian who created these had considerable experience making videos for instructional purposes, a new approach was taken to make these more engaging. Rather than relying on screen capture, the visual elements were created in the video editing software so as to move dynamically with the audio, and bringing in other context such as satellite imagery or photos of the place to make it more real. These were shared on YouTube, bringing these materials and experiences to any learner, connected to the campus or not; they are also embedded on the Maps and GIS LibGuide for people who look for advice there. The materials are therefore discoverable, and quick to share as supplemental instruction with anyone who asks for advice on map making or GIS projects.