sethdixon

Author

sethdixon

I am a geography professor at Rhode Island College.

The Cultural Geography of a Viral Sensation

The Gangnam Style! sensation is all over the internet, complete with parodies that both honor and mock the original. This first video is the original, which in a few short months received well ove…

The following link has the video, parodies and infographics to help student explore the meaning behind the cultural phenomenon.

Questions to Ponder: Considering the concept of cultural diffusion, what do we make of this phenomenon? What cultural combinations are seen in this? How has the technological innovations changed how cultures interact, spread and are replicated?

See on geographyeducation.org

September 29, 2012 0

Afghan Troops Get a Lesson in American Cultural Ignorance

Afghan troops are told that insulting behavior by Americans is an oversight, not a slight.

Cross-cultural interactions can be beautiful when immersed into a new cultural setting and the visitor learns to appreciate it. Unfortunately, it can often lead to clumsy missteps that are born out of ignorance of a new guiding set of cultural norms. Some missteps can lead to great laughter while others can be gravely insulting. The United States military seeks to train U.S. soldiers about Afghan customs, but they are trying a new tactic as well to minimize these issues. The U.S. military has prepared a cultural guide to teach the Afghan soldier that they work with about the curious customs that are part of social interaction in the United States but not considered offensive.

Tags: culture, war, unit 3 culture, conflict.

See on www.washingtonpost.com

September 29, 2012 0

Apple Apologizes for Its Maps Problem

“We are extremely sorry,” Apple CEO Tim Cook says in an open letter.

Producing a poor map can have disastrous consequences, especially if that map is widely disseminated. Given that people rely on maps to be accurate and base decisions on spatial information, it is the mapmaker’s responsibility to not go live with a map (or mapping platform) until it does meet the standards of expectation.

Tags: mapping, technology.

See on www.theatlantic.com

September 28, 2012 1

A Photo Essay on School Sprawl

“Schools used to be the heart of a neighborhood or community. Children and not a few teachers could walk to class, or to the playground or ball field on the weekend. This was relatively easy to do, because the schools were placed within, not separated from, their neighborhoods. They were human-scaled and their architecture was not just utilitarian, but signaled their importance in the community. Now it has become hard to tell one from a Walmart or Target.”

What better way to demonstrate the concepts of urban sprawl, automobile-dependent city planning and economies of scale than by analyzing the very geographic context of our schools themselves? This is a very nicely arranged photo essay that most could spark conversation and would foster some discussion on how best to plan neighborhoods and spatially arrange the city.

Tags: transportation, planning, sprawl, education, scale.

See on switchboard.nrdc.org

September 28, 2012 0

Getting to know the world around us

I was finishing up my recent vacation to Finland , with one day in Helsinki visiting friends, when a novel thought for many Americans occurred to me: Look at a map.

This article explains the importance of geography education, and how a lack of geographic understanding limits students and professionals. While this is nothing new to this particular audience; however it is another tool to use to convince administrators and politicians that geography education needs to be stregthened in this era of increased global connectivity.

Tags: GeographyEducation, geo-inspiration, globalization.

See on www.chicagotribune.com

September 28, 2012 1

Pigskin Geography

Pigskin Geography is a 17-week program that motivates students to learn United States geography by tracking the travels of competing professional football teams with the NFL schedule.

Pigskin Geography is an incredibly dynamic way to teach the geography of the United States. Specifically tailored for 4-6 grade students, this program gives students a series of 17 weekly activities that are adapted to the NFL schedule that week. These questions do NOT rely on football knowledge, but uses this as an opportunity to introduce vocabulary teams, and explore other places. For example: “This week the New Orleans Saints will ‘march’ over Cairo, IL, going to their game in Green Bay, WI. Locate Cairo at the southern end of the Illinois. Cairo is located at the CONFLUENCE of the _______ River and the _________________River.”

Tags: USA, sport, K12, geography, GeographyEducation, training.

See on www.pigskingeography.com

September 27, 2012 0

Tour the States – Music Video

Full album: http://www.marblesthebrainstore.com/brain-beats Music by Renald Francoeur Drawing by Craighton Berman “Tour the States” is track #1 from Brain Beats, a mnemonic CD…

It’s so often stated that geography education is so much more than just learning states and capitals. I wholeheartedly endorse that sentiment, but there is still some rudimentary importance to learning about where places are. I see it as analogous for English majors needing to learn basic grammar. You can’t write a masterpiece if you are still fumbling around with the alphabet. In geography, we can’t have a nuanced discussion of place and interconnectedness if we have no sense of where any place actually is.

Tags: USA, K12, video, GeographyEducation.

See on www.youtube.com

September 26, 2012 0