Monday, December 3, 2007

Interview

Email interview with Bernadette Chasteen, a GIS Specialist at RTI International in RTP, NC.

Can you give me some idea of your professional history with GIS (i.e. what is your current position, how long have you been in GIS, is there an area in which you specialize, etc…)?


My title at RTI is Research GIS Specialist. I have been working as a GIS specialist Since 1990, 17 years (good lord). My current area of specialty is GIS data management. I am the Database Administrator for our nationwide and global Spatial datasets at RTI.


Where did your interest in GIS originate?

My master’s degree is in Urban Planning. There are obvious uses for GIS in urban planning so I was introduced to the technology in graduate school. After I earned my degree I decided that I enjoyed using GIS technology to answer questions for various disciplines more than I was enjoying Urban Planning so I switched my focus.


Where does data come from that is displayed on GIS maps?

Anywhere we can get it! Mostly today we are using data that was originally entered from paper maps and later updated when satellite imagery showed us inaccuracies. Recently our group digitized data from a 1920 map showing influenza deaths in Chicago. Once in digital form, the data could be linked to information from hospital records, vital statistics and census to improve the accuracy and help researchers learn about how the disease spread and what factors influenced mortality outcomes.


What is the most interesting application of GIS technology that you have experienced personally? Know about.

I am most excited by GIS applications for epidemiology. One recent study found a significant link between breast and colon cancer and lack of exposure to sun during critical growing years. http://gis.esri.com/library/userconf/proc05/abstracts/a1468.html
Another study supports the theory that there is a link between Multiple Sclerosis and Lyme disease. http://gis.esri.com/library/userconf/proc06/papers/papers/pap_1358.pdf


I’m learning about some ways in which GIS can be used to minimize impact of and/or respond to natural disasters like hurricanes or wild fires: Do you have any thoughts on GIS as a preparation/planning tool? As a response tool? In what role do you think it is most effective?

GIS is now essential for both preparation/planning and response. For example, there was so much devastation from Katrina that GPS played a critical role in helping responders re-map the area to show current conditions. For targeting response resources, you can’t do without GIS. If you type ‘disaster’ on the ESRI.com web site you will get 1,349 hits. If you Google ‘disaster gis’ you will get 1,950,000 hits.


I’m interested in how GIS was used recently in specific disasters like Hurricane Katrina and the San Bernardino wild fires. Do you have any insight into how GIS was or might have been used in these situations?

Jamie worked very hard to provide updated information about nursing homes and hospitals (places that could provide needed medical care) to the Katrina response team in Washington. After the response to the disaster, the information was compiled into an atlas for use in future emergency response. http://www.ahrq.gov/prep/nursinghomes/atlas.htm


From your perspective, what does the future of GIS look like? Looking ahead, do you have any thoughts on potential future applications for GIS? How might GIS be used to recognize or solve pressing issues?

The availability of mapping on the internet is democratizing GIS. Personally I think this is fantastic. The more people realize the power of GIS to solve problems, the better off our world will be. The accuracy of GIS data has improved as more people attempt to use spatial data for more applications. Better accuracy allows us to use spatial data to solve more problems. Spatial statistics is finally coming into its own. We have been able to say there appears to be a connection between various layers but with spatial statistics we can quantify such connections.


What are the biggest obstacles right now in realizing the full potential of GIS? (I’m not sure if this question makes complete sense… but it seems to me that GIS potential for recognizing and solving significant problems in the world is HUGE and that not many people are aware of the technology or how it is being used. Is there a reason that it has not been as widely or appreciated as I feel it should be?

It takes some training and understanding to apply the technology correctly to solve specific problems. This will always be an obstacle but the tools are getting easier and easier to use so who knows where this will take us. I think the generation of people who have grown up with the internet and digital mapping as a given will be much more inclined to think about solving problems spatially.

Any other thoughts that you would like to provide would be great… if there is an aspect of GIS that you are passionate about that I didn’t address or if you just really enjoy discussing the topic, please feel free...

You are definitely bitten by the GIS bug! Now you maybe understand why us GIS geeks like what we do so much. The other thing is that the technology has continued to evolve so that what I was doing 15 years ago is very different from what I do now. I have had to continue to learn and grow and I really enjoy the aspect of being able to apply the technology to different disciplines. This keeps me learning new things too. This is particularly true here at RTI.

I am honestly grateful for my career in GIS. I frequently get up from my desk and think “Damb, this is fun and I’m getting paid for it!”.

Saturday, December 1, 2007

Interview

Leo.... I sent my interview questions through email and was assured that I would have them answered before the weekend, but I have't gotten anything back yet. I hope I get a response soon! I'll post as soon as I do.

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

New Progress

I'm feeling very confident with my newly found focus.

Today I contacted Bernadette Chasteen, a GIS expert at RTI International, and asked some general questions about GIS and disaster relief as well as submitted a list of interview questions for her review. I should have the interview completed before the weekend. But here's some very helpful information that I already received from her:

She forwarded me an email from ArcWatch, a monthly newsleter for GIS professionals that she subscribes to. In the email were links to various recent GIS applications, including the recent wild fires in CA. Here's a link to information on that: http://www.esri.com/news/arcwatch/1107/firestorm.html. The technology involved in efforts to track and display elements of dozens of wildfires burning simultaneously is amazing. GIS professionals and technology were used at every command post on the ground and in various FEMA command centers to provide visual data on the current state and size of the fires themselves, the geographic location of each fire, and potential spread based on wind and other weather conditions. They even modeled the potential spread of smoke resulting from the fires. GIS was also used to show coordinates of different personnel working to fight the fires and to aid in coordination of the efforts (They showed closed roads v. those open for evacuations, locations of firefighting teams and equipment in relation to strategic locations around the fires. "...Agency personnel took advantage of the analysis and visualization capabilities to help federal, state, and local agencies collaborate, prioritize, and best utilize manpower and resources as well as monitor events on the ground in near real time." Satellite heat signature data was incorporated into the maps to show the hottest areas of the fires in real time (this could also probably aid efforts to track down the origination point of the fire). “Real-time weather (wind) was incorporated to provide an indication of what direction and at what speed the fire would travel. This information, when coupled with GIS layers that located homes and other developments in harm's way, provided fire officials with better information to make tactical and strategic decisions concerning public safety, resource allocation, evacuation needs, and additional equipment needed.” GIS also aided in identifying critical facilities and infrastructure on which to focus protection efforts, property and community damage assessments, selecting locations for relief centers, planning and carrying out evacuations, and developing recovery plans. “Specialists used GIS to analyze vegetation, slope, and other landscape features to help understand and potentially predict fire behavior in the event weather conditions worsened.” Wow! Imagine how disorganized efforts to fight these fires and protect people and property would have been without this technology!

Mrs. Chasteen also pointed me to a website for an organization which she is involved in that provides volunteer GIS services in disaster situations ( http://giscorps.org/). She elaborated on recent work with the Red Cross to place displaced New Orleans residents into homes immediately following the flooding caused by Katrina. Her efforts were to GeoCode addresses of people in our area who had volunteered to shelter Katrina victims. The addresses were added to a database that housed geographic information of “safe houses” around the country so that the Red Cross could find shelter for the families.

So, I’m getting some interesting stuff…. More later.

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

New (old) Topic and New Direction

I think I've finally arrived at a direction for my project. I'm planning on exploring the application of GIS in emergency planning. I'll research various situations in the past in which GIS has proven useful and explore some ways that it may be applied in the future. In order to narrow it down some for the actual paper, I will probably pick one area like evacuation planning or something like that and go in depth about how GIS would be applied.

Here are some questions I will be exploring:
What is GIS?
How are maps created using GIS?
Where does the data come from?
What are some common applications of GIS?
How has GIS been used for emergency planning in the past (maybe a focus on natural disasters)?
Is GIS effective in planning/responding to emergencies like natural disasters?
What does the future of GIs look like in respect to emergency planning and response?

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

My original topic

So, all of the sudden after seeing some posters I'm feeling like I would be better served following through with my old topic, GIS and disease spread... how GIS can aid in minimizing serious disease outbreaks. Or would it even be too broad for my topic to be What is GIS and what are some common applications in the world today? I could see an interesting project from that.

I'm thinking this because of the posters that I viewed and thought were really good. I think the most important thing was focus, which I don't have in my current research. I'm interested in my topic and I'm finding the research interesting, but there's just so much of it from so many different angles that I'm having a difficult time finding a point to focus on and run with. The GOS topic is a little less interesting to me, but I don't have the focus issue. I really had a hard time following a couple of posters because I felt they lacked focus and I don't want people to feel that way about mine.

So, some of my questions would look like this:
What is GIS?
How is GIS commonly used in the world?
What additional problems may be addressed with GIS in the future?
What tools does a GIS specialist use?
Where does the data come from?

If I go the disease route: How can GIS be used to contain disease spread?

What do you think? Am I too late or is this doable?

Monday, November 12, 2007

Working on a Thesis Statement/Question

How about this: Does television viewing by young children affect learning and scholastic performance?

I'm interested in looking at this from different perspectives: How news media presents the issue, How experienced teachers view the question, and then finally what resent research shows.

What do you think? Can you think of any other perspectives I could use? I'm sure I can find a very very seasoned teacher who may be able to recall a time before TV, or at least before it was in every household in the country. Could that work as my professional interview?

Thanks,
Jesse

Sunday, November 11, 2007

New Direction in Research

While working on my annotated bibliographies I thought of a good angle on my topic. Initially I wanted to stay away from content, but now I'm thinking that there's more to content than I initially thought. First I was most interested in the idea that the actual act of TV watching is detrimental to early childhood development, but the only support I could find for this position was not backed up by research. A lot of people feel this way but as far as I can tell it hasn't been proven.

So, then I thought about looking into a specific developmental theory (Piaget's on stages of intellectual development) and applying it to television. While I still may be able to do something with this, I'm finding it difficult to find relevant sources without sifting through tons of stuff.

Recently my research led me to differences in perception by age, gender, class, etc... and how that relates to differences in understanding of material presented through TV. One of the more interesting facts I found is that information presented very quickly in short snippets is much more entertaining than information presented coherently and at a slower rate. On the other hand, slow coherent presentations of information lead to much higher rates of absorption and retention of material than the faster, more entertaining version. It occurs to me that this leads to a conflict of interests for providers of television content; Is their goal to entertain or to educate? The content and presentation of the program should be very different based on the goal here. My instinct tells me that no matter how interested programming companies are in educating our youth, they are not interested enough to potentially lose money in the process. But in order to focus on education the shows would need to be made less interesting, less appealing to the audience. I think that the absence today of shows like Mr. Roger's Neighborhood and the prevalence of faster paced shows like Sesame Street or ... whatever else kids are watching these days (Cayden doesn't watch TV... so I don't know :-) backs up my instinctual feeling that education is low on the list of priorities for programmers of children's video material. If that's the case than content is a huge factor. If the content is universally contradictory to what is best for children at any given developmental stage then regardless of the content, it is bad for the child... right? Then maybe I can make an argument that the act of television watching is inherently bad for the child.

Thanks for your comment on my last post. Are you doing your dissertation on educating through video games? This idea would apply to that in the same way... in order to fully allow for optimal learning, the material would need to be presenting slowly and coherently. But that would make for a boring game to play! So if it's not optimal for learning than are children wasting time playing when they could be learning it more productively somewhere else?

Since I got into this topic late, I'm a feeling a little behind in developing a concrete topic and sticking with it, but at least I'm moving forward. The annotated biblio assignment is helping. So, what do you think about my progress and do you think this is a good tree to climb?

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Search Log

I met with Rita Moss in Davis library this week. She is the same reference librarian who provided the class with an informational tour on a day that I missed class. So, I took the opportunity to review the same things that she showed everyone else plus got some help on my specific topic. This meeting was extremely helpful for me. It opened new doors for my research that I didn’t know how to open on my own. Mrs. Moss took me through a variety of general search engines that I can use through the UNC network that return articles and books that are available online or in the library. It sounds really basic, but this is my first semester at UNC, so this introduction helped me a lot. The most helpful general advise was to search Psych Info for Psychology research on TV’s effects on children. That helped to narrow down the books and articles returned to a workable group of legitimate studies.

The interview basically proceeded like this: “What is your topic?” Mrs. Moss was excited about my topic, so that helped. The way I presented it was leaning more towards examining detrimental effects of TV on development. Mrs. Moss pointed out that some programming was actually beneficial to development, but I didn’t want to focus on programming… just the act of watching TV in general. I explained that this was a new topic for me so it wasn’t very developed and she helped me develop it a bit. We explored the possibilities of looking into how TV time was structured, how much exposure exists, TV in a daycare environment vs home, how age plays a role, does TV watching lend to the obesity problem, or ADD, etc… I expressed my interest in developmental psychology and especially in Jean Piaget’s developmental theories and she helped me find some books based on that. So, as a result of the interview and after reviewing the books I picked up I’ve narrowed the topic down some. I will be exploring Piaget’s Theory of Developmental Intelligence as it applies to children 0 – 7 years old (this encompasses two stages: Sensory motor, and Preoperational) and introducing the effects of TV watching on normal development in these stages including how it may hinder some natural development in certain areas and may actually lend to it in others.

I obtained the following four books from Davis library with the help of Mrs. Moss. Interestingly enough though, the book that she sent me after and that she thought would be most helpful is the only one that I doubt I will use! The others I found by just exploring the other selections around it and skimming the Table of Contents. The TOCs provided an easy, quick peak into the book and helped a lot in determining what might be useful vs. what wouldn’t. The ones that I left with referenced specific studies that spanned at least a year and also provided detailed input into how the studies were conducted. Although I am more interested in books that have been published recently, research on Piaget is an exception. Based on initial reading I’m pretty confident that I can use three of the four books as references for my project.

Simpson, B. (2004). Children and Television. London: Continuum International Publishing Group.
Singer, J. L. (1981). Television, Immagination, and Aggression. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
**Sturm, H. (1981). Information Processing by Young Children. Munchen; New York; London; Paris: KG Saur.Van Evra, J. (2004). Television and Child Development. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Monday, September 17, 2007

New stuff.....

So, now I'm interested in finding a relationship between invention of certain kinds of mass travel and serious disease outbreaks. It's looking like this could be pretty difficult to find today, so I'll just write about what I am finding. I've found a cool website that details inventions in travel from wheeled carts in 3500 BC to the first jumbo jet in 1970 (crazy to think that this wasn't even 40 years ago!) http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/bl_history_of_transportation.htm. I also found a good website that provides a detailed description of various infectious diseases from anthrax to typhus. It provides information on the origination of the disease, means of spread, effects on the human body, and a historic profile . This may be helpful in my research, but I doubt it will be what I need to show the relationship that I would like to show.

If I am not successful in showing this relationship by the end of the week then I will most likely look into existing research to make the correlation for me. Up to this point my research has been 100 % web-based (not sure I should admit that, but I have a feeling I'm not alone!). I'll be hitting off the library soon to research the history of diseases and hopefully find a timeline that shows outbreaks in different parts of the world. I can find timelines online, but they are usually specific to a particular disease. maybe then I should pick a couple of specific diseases and detail their spread along with advances in transportation that affected the same geographic area in the same time frame? I guess I should explore this a bit. I don't need a detailed history of all infectious disease spread in order to show correlation, a small sample would do that fine.

So, then I need to pick specific diseases to track. I would probably want to avoid diseases like AIDS that are only transmittable through close intimate contact of specific sorts and instead focus on diseases like TB or SARS that are easily transmitted through the air or through casual contact. SARS would probably be a good example since the outbreak was recent and there was a huge concern over air travel and in spreading the disease across the world. A disease like SARS wouldn't have had such a serious impact on the entire world without air travel. Today I also found more recent episodes of large scale fear related to diseases entering the US with impoverished immigrants (http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/database/article_display.cfm?HHID=422).

So now I'm thinking about bird flu. Although human migration doesn't play a large role in spreading this disease, bird migration plays a huge role! So, now I’m feeling a bit lost again. I wish I had more time to research today, but my son has other things in mind and he always wins this battle! But here are a couple of questions to answer:
What makes certain populations vulnerable to infectious diseases? I learned today that there have been 3 influenza pandemics in the US in the 20th century. Each time it was caused by genetic mutation of the flu various to a form that left a huge amount of the population extremely vulnerable since they had never before been exposed in order to develop immunity (http://www.globalsecurity.org/security/library/report/2004/hsc-planning-scenarios-jul04_03.htm). This is usually the case in widespread pandemics… they are so deadly b/c the population’s immune system is not capable of handling the disease.
The website above references homeland security which would probably be a good resource for me to see what existing scenarios are in place to predict and prevent disease spread across populations.

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

New Direction in my Research

So, as I'm putting the final touches on my outline that's due TOMORROW I realize that I want to take my research in another direction... not a completely different direction, but different enough that I don't have time to do the research and writing necessary to modify my current outline. So, the outline will mostly reflect the same ideas that I've already expressed here with a few additions and in a different format, but the next iteration will focus on:

HOW DOES HUMAN MIGRATION AFFECT DISEASE SPREAD?

When I really got down to it, focusing on commuting patterns in the US and the diseases that are spread that way we're really mostly dealing with colds and the flu and stuff like that. You're not very likely to catch a life-threatening disease from someone on your bus on the way to work or from someone in the cubicle next to yours. The thing about studying a certain population and disease is that rarely are new diseases introduced that cause a real need for concern. Bio Terrorism is a real threat, but I'm tired of hearing about terrorism and I'm much less interested in doing a project on it. However, if you look at human travel in a much larger scale (migration in history) you can find all sorts of instances where susceptible populations are introduced to diseases that have very serious consequences. Today I found a "History of Transportation Timeline" that goes all the way back to 3500 BC with the invention of the fixed-wheel cart (http://inventors.about.com/od/wstartinventions/a/wheel.htm). As transportation became easier, faster, and more available people who were once relatively isolated became mobile. They began to venture farther and farther from their homes and with them they carried all sorts of diseases, eventually introducing them to populations and ecosystems that had never been exposed.

In the end I think I can show a correlation between emergence of particular diseases and mass migration of one group or another that likely introduced the diseases. Depending on how long this project needs to be I can also look ahead and introduce the idea of GIS aiding in creating models for potential disease spread. I feel much better looking ahead at this research than I do continuing with where I'm currently headed.

Saturday, September 8, 2007

Commuting Patterns and Infectious Disease Transmission

While modern medicine has reduced the frequency and severity of most common infectious diseases, increased human mobility has made it possible for these diseases to spread wider distances very rapidly. Carriers of infectious disease who travel significant distances from home are likely to spread the disease to others they come in contact with. Likewise, these secondary contacts are likely to travel some distance and then come into contact with others, potentially spreading the disease far from its origin. Without insight as to where these individuals are likely to travel officials are not likely to mount a very effective counter against further spread of the disease. In cases of highly contagious infective diseases that carry serious adverse health risks it is of the utmost importance that officials are able to determine where the carrier(s) of a disease travelled while infected, who they came into contact with, and where those contacts travelled, etc...

Recent research has shown that the majority of travel in the U.S. originates from either home or the workplace. U.S. Census data shows that more than 128 million Americans have jobs and 97% of those jobs are outside of the worker's residence meaning they commute to work multiple days every week. Some commutes are relatively short while others span large distances. While the majority of work commutes fall in the range of 15 to 29 minutes, nearly 27% are 30 - 59 minutes and another 8% are an hour or more. Studying the geographic commuting patterns of Americans gives researchers good insight into possible spread patterns of infectious diseases and allows for a prompt intervention from authorities to minimize affects of disease.

I'm still interested in researching commuting using past census data to compare and see if we are commuting farther to work today than in the past. I also want to talk to researchers who are involved in a national study on models of infectious disease aimed at improving national communication and response when it comes to infectious disease out brakes.

Wednesday, September 5, 2007

After 20 minutes researching...

I just spent 20 minutes researching two questions
1. How are communicable diseases spread and
2. How are commuting patterns studied

I found a lot of sources for #1 and it basically looks like the diseases are simply spread through contact. I did find a lot of other information that categorized diseases in terms of their lethality, ability to be treated, how quickly and easily they spread, etc... I think some of this information could be helpful in explaining the importance of predicting where a quickly spreading disease may be spreading next.

I didn't so much related information for #2. Instead I found very detailed reports that provided information on how patterns have changed. I think that sifting trough the information to reveal the method used for researching commuting patterns will take more than 20 minutes.

I feel pretty stuck with my subject and overwhelmed with the amount of information to look through.

Disease Spread Related to Commuting Patterns

Can Studying Commuting Patterns Help Prevent the Spread of Communicable Diseases?
  1. How does population movement affect the spread of communicable disease?
  • How do communicable diseases most often spread?
  • How are commuting patterns generally studied?

Tuesday, September 4, 2007

Kuhlthau and ISP

This article was a bit overwhelming at first, but I felt pretty comfortable with its contents by the end. And so goes the information search process (ISP). I found lots of great points in the article and by the end I was feeling pretty confident in my current state of research...l which is definitely at the early stages of confusion. I'm not so confused about the topic itself, but I don't have a very clear picture of how my research will be presented in the end or what form my project will take. I was relieved in reading Belkin's idea the information need is "The gap between the user's knowledge about the problem or topic and what the user user needs to know to solve the problem" and that that gap is large in the early stages of research and progressively smaller as the research continues. That means that my current concerns, lack of knowledge, and large information gap put me right on track to completing a super A+ research project!

I really could relate to the idea that confidence increases with focus and how the two relate throughout the ISP process at initiation, midpoint, and closure.

This introduction to information from a scholarly perspective is really interesting to me. I was expecting a lot of database management and web design in info science, but I never considered such a wide scale evaluation of the research process to be a part of the curriculum.

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

My Information Needs

Answers to the following questions would be helpful in continuing with my research:
- What is a communicable disease?
- How do these diseases typically spread across a population?
- Examples of different diseases
- Do certain conditions increase the likelihood of disease spread?
- How are commuiting patterns in the US determined?
- How is disease-specific data overlayed with geographic information to produce a model for desease spread?

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Prospectus Continued.... Why am I Interested?

I'm not sure if we were supposed to post our reasons for interest in our topic or not. My work has me producing field maps for the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH). I work with GIS staff who take US census data and overlay it with US maps to show populations within certain areas of the country. Eventually field staff use the maps to find houses and perform interviews. This work recently had me attending a GIS workshop where I learned to use an application called ArcGIS along with census data to create my own informative maps. It was very interesting and got me thinking about all of the possible applications where this could be useful. There's a current study on my topic which my company is involved in. So, with my interest and access to professionals in the field I thought it would be a good project.

Prospectus stuff

Ok, so here's my initial prospectus:

How can GIS Help Prevent the Spread of Communicable Diseases?

GIS (Geographic Information System) is a “computer system for capturing, storing, checking, integrating, manipulating, analyzing and displaying data related to positions on the Earth's surface” (www.dictionary.reference.com). GIS typically integrates geography with other raw data to show spatial trends. Multiple “layers” of data are overlaid onto maps to provide a visual picture of the data and show how it is dissimulated into a geographic area. GIS can be an excellent tool for preventing the spread of communicable diseases by pinpointing the location of an outbreak and overlaying data specific to a disease to track the potential geographic area and rate of spread. This information can be used by medical authorities to quarantine specific areas and direct resources to strategic areas in the interest of minimizing the impact of a serious disease.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) sponsors a Models of Infectious Disease Agent Study (MIDAS) which involves the GIS department at RTI International. Some of the maps that GIS staff at RTI has created show detailed commuting patterns in the US. This helps us understand where people go and who they interact with and can be used to help predict the potential spread of infectious diseases. Along with my own research I will use GIS staff at RTI as a resource in this project.
___________________________________________________________________

After presenting it to a student and seeing that he really didn't really get what I was trying do I I decided that I better make some changes. So, now I'm thinking of presenting my proposed research more like this:

Can Studying Commuting Patterns in the US Help Prevent the Spread of Communicable Diseases?

Learning how to pinpoint outbreaks and then reduce the spread of communicable diseases is becoming increasingly important in the US with the recent threat of biological terrorist attacks. Spotting and diagnosing an outbreak can be simple for medical authorities. Some tougher questions to answer are "Where might the disease spread next? How many people might it infect in a given period of time? Where should relief efforts be focused?". Finding solid answers to these questions early in an outbreak could significantly reduce the fallout from serious infectious diseases. By studying commuting patterns in the US and using Geographic Information Science (GIS) to create models for predicting the spread of diseases the above questions, and many more, can be answered.