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Saturday, May 22, 2010

Outgoing AAG President Likes Geography Blogs

The President of the Association of American Geographers (AAG), Dr. Carol Harden, who was interviewd by Geographic Travels in April, has written an article in the May 2010 AAG newsletter about geographers reaching out to the press and general public. Dr. Harden writes about geography blogs saying

"The Internet is a primary source of geographic information for broad audiences. Are academic and professional geographers contributing enough to this resource and adequately supporting those who do? As I explore the blogosphere, I am impressed by the volume and variety of material with geographic content and find myself using information from blogs as points of entry into new topics. Quality control is variable compared to that of peer-reviewed journals and major newspapers, but the more prominent blogs have good intentions and cite their sources. You may remember that Matt Rosenberg, who has covered geography at About.com for over a decade, received an NCGE Geography Excellence in Media Award. Other well-established, geography-oriented sites include Very Spatial, My Wonderful World Blog, Geographic Travels, and Geo Lounge."


Elsewhere in the article Dr. Harden writes that some of the most public geographers reach out through intermediateries and established links with reports. She also points out that opinion editorials in newspapers get the word out about the importance of geography. Finally, she stress the importance of promoting the cited work of others because that allows the public to look up references and read more about the aspects of geography that interest them.

Dr. Harden is right on the mark with her thoughts. Writing to the general public is critical because it allows for important geographic insight to be shared, understood, and factored into decisions from daily life to national security issues. Also, blogs are read more and more everyday with serious discussions and insights being shared. Geographers and readers of geography blogs should feel encouraged to e-mail each other, comment, write guest posts, and even create their online resources. This way an untapped/undertapped population can have impact not only in the field of geography but also the world.

1 comment:

Dan tdaxp said...

Congrats on the reference!