Back in January 2014, as I was catching up on episodes of the CRM Archaeology podcast hosted by Chris Webster, one topic they covered was the “Day of Archaeology”. This instantly piqued my interest and I needed to find out more about it. After a little bit of investigation I was hooked on the concept. It really didn’t take much convincing about how valuable such an event could be.

After brief discussions with some friends and colleagues, I purchased some domains and “Day of Geography” was born.

When is it?

The “Day of Geography” will be held on Monday, November 17, 2014. This is the Monday of Geography Awareness Week. It would also have been Dr. Roger Tomlinson’s 81st birthday. I believe holding it on this day would be a great way of honouring the man known as the Father of GIS.

What is it?

The concept of “Day of Geography” is to provide the general public and students a glimpse into the day-to-day activities of geographers/geospatial/geomatics practitioners all over the world. After all, we know that we’re not all about colouring maps and knowing trivia pertaining to capital cities and longest rivers.

A number of months ago, there was a LinkedIn discussion on the GoGeomatics Canada group page about how we are perceived and how we perceive ourselves. This was also a point of discussion at the recent CGCRT meeting in Ottawa in June. The premise was you are at a party and during the introductions you are asked what you do for a living. The consensus was that for us as geospatial professionals, we tend to simplify what it is we do to “we work with maps”. That is not the sum of all of us. So important is identity that it is one of the critical components of the Pan-Canadian Geomatics Strategy.

We’re asking people who are working, studying or volunteering in the realm of geography, geospatial technologies/information and geomatics in any economic sector, to sign up to participate by sending an email to [email protected] so we can get an idea of numbers and organize log-ins.

The Day of Geography website will be on a WordPress platform. On the day of the event, we encourage everyone to go to the Day of Geography website (still to be constructed), log in, and blog about your day. Depending on how the website takes shape, we’ll try to accept as many forms of submissions as possible (video/audio etc). If you cannot join us for the Day of Geography itself, we will be accepting submissions throughout Geography Awareness Week. All postings will be moderated by volunteers in order to effectively categorize into fields of study/career paths and to make sure there is no unacceptable use or defamatory posts. Whatever discipline you’re in, we want you to tell us about your day.

Why is this happening?

The goal of Day of Geography is to raise awareness about the importance and relevance of geography to the broader public and perhaps more importantly, to students in K-12. It will provide a central repository to students who may be interested in pursuing a geographic education or career with insight into what we do. It will also be a resource for teachers to illustrate what careers can be had with a geographic education, whether it be in transportation, planning, surveying, environmental, or even archaeology… the list is nearly endless. This is an international opportunity to showcase all geo-careers.

What do we need?

In short, we need participants and volunteers. Taking part in the “Day of Geography” is free, but I can’t do it alone. Time is of the essence, and I hope to get a site up and running by the beginning of September to start promotion. I hope this will be an annual, world wide event to kick off Geography Awareness Week. It will be interesting to see how it grows from year to year.

To quote the “Day of Archaeology” website: “the whole day….relies on goodwill and passion for public engagement.”

Participants – If you wish to participate, please send an email to [email protected] to indicate your interest. This will help us determine numbers in order to plan the website effectively.

Volunteers – If you wish to volunteer time, skills, resources or services (such as server space) send an email to [email protected] to indicate your interest.

Everyone – Promote the event to friends and colleagues! Consider participating or volunteering.

Contact/Follow

Please contact [email protected] for more information, to register, volunteer or donate services. Follow us on Twitter @dayofgeog #dayofgeog