Program

PDF Program (Updated on April 19)

Keynote 1: Beyond GIS? The Future of Cultural Geo-Analytics

Andrea Ballatore

Abstract: Cultural geo-analytics (CGA) is an emergent area that studies the geographical dimension of the production and consumption of cultural objects, relying on digital data and spatial methods. In this talk, I will explore how, as GIS experts, we can fruitfully collaborate with researchers in cultural studies, media studies, and digital humanities to shape new interdisciplinary agendas. Given the conceptual and empirical centrality of place in CGA, I will then discuss the challenges in its representation in GIS by offering an overview of several case studies.

Bio: Andrea Ballatore (he/him) is a Lecturer in Social and Cultural Informatics at King’s College London. From 2016 to 2021, he was employed as a Lecturer in Geographic Data Science at Birkbeck, University of London. Previously, he worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the Center for Spatial Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. In 2013, he completed a PhD in Computer Science at University College Dublin on geographic information retrieval and natural language processing. His current work combines cultural analytics and digital geographies, and is centred on collaborative projects with academic and corporate partners, including the Ordnance Survey and Facebook.

Keynote 2: Geosocial Media Data Analysis and Applications

Shoko Wakamiya

Abstract: With the development of social media and smartphones, there is a variety of crowd-sourced data linked to locations. In this talk, I will present some of the studies on navigation and visualization, mainly using web and social media data to contribute to health promotion and wellbeing. Also, I will discuss challenges in utilizing these data and on-going projects to address them.

Bio: Dr. Shoko Wakamiya is an associate professor at Graduate School of Science and Technology, Division of Information Science, Nara Institute of Science and Technology (NAIST), Japan. In 2013, she completed a PhD in Human Science and Environment at University of Hyogo. Currently, she is involved in various projects on social computing, medical and health informatics, and natural language processing applications.