Session Wish List, 2011 AAG Meetings, Seattle, WA

It's that time of year, again... perusing the AAG preliminary program to organize a 'wish list' of sessions I'd like to attend...  I've compiled my wish list below, some of which are competing interests... many of which I'll likely be too 'conferenced-out' to actually attend... sadly.

This list is very much a work in progress.  Please let me know if there are excellent sessions that I've overlooked (particularly in the areas/intersections of STS, urban-political geographies, critical GIS, and/or social/political theory or journal-sponsored lectures or author-meets-critics or cool panel discussions).

Monday, April 11th

1. Volunteered Geographic Information: Research progress and new developments
• AAG Preconference, organized by Sarah Elwood, Mike Goodchild, and Dan Sui.  Sheraton, Aspen Room.  I'll be discussing very similar work that I briefly outlined at the specialist meeting at UCSB in December.

Tuesday, April 12th

1. 12:40-2:20  |  Grand Ballroom A, Sheraton, 2nd Flr
• Mapping Practices and User-Generated Content.  I was on the program committee that organized this collection of authors (apologies to the participants if they feel like the organization for this session seems loose!).  I'm particularly interested in hearing the paper by Jason Young, "From PGIS to UGC: Mapping Virtual Positionalities and Political Power".
2. 2:40-4:20  |  603, Convention Center
• Critical Perspectives on Software and Space.  This looks to be a fun panel discussion, organized by Ryan Burns and Joe Eckert, chaired by Sarah Elwood, with panelists, Mark Graham, Rob Kitchin, Matt Zook, and Wendy Chun!  I'm pleased to be serving as a discussant.
3. 4:40-6:20  |  Issaquah A, Sheraton, Union Tower, 3rd Flr
• Urban Political Ecology and Science and Technology Studies.  This is one of multiple sessions organized by Seth Gustafson under the same title.

Wednesday, April 13th

1. 8:00-9:40  |  Metropolitan Ballroom B, Sheraton, 3rd Flr
• For Julie Graham: Celebrating Julie Graham's Contributions and Exploring the Future of Her Work.  This will no doubt be a very powerful and stirring session, organized by Kevin St. Martin and Stephen Healy, with panelists Kathy Gibson, Eric Sheppard, JP Jones, Andrew Leyshon, Paul Robbins, Deborah Thien, Roger Lee, and Sallie Marston.
2. 10:00-11:40  |  Douglas Room, Sheraton, 2nd Flr
• "This Fight Is Not in Vain/ We've Got a World to Gain!": The Wisconsin Public Workers' Struggle.  Organized by Oliver Belcher, this panel has all the ingredients of a must-see.  Panelists: Jeremy Sorenson, Keith Woodward, Abigail Neely, Kristin M. Sziarto, Kris Olds, Kevin Gibbons, Sigrid Peterson, Anne Bonds, Patrick M Bigger, and Morgan Robertson.
3. 12:40-2:20  |  609, Convention Center
• Critical GIS: Research and Ethics.  This is another session organized by the program committee.  In addition to catching up with Gene Martin and Falguni Mukherjee, I'm looking forward to papers by Geoffrey Demarest from the U.S. Army’s Foreign Military Studies Office (although listed as U. of Kansas) on field research ethics and government sponsorship.  Read more about the Bowman Expeditions, here.
4. 2:40-4:20  |  609, Convention Center
• Critical Cartography and GIS.  Another session I pulled together as part of the program committee.  In addition to catching up on research by Wen Lin and Craig Dalton, I'm really curious about the paper, "Eventful Mapping", by Joe Gerlach.
• Unfortunately, Nigel Thrift's lecture, "The Untoward Land", sponsored by cultural geographies is occurring at the same time in Grand Ballroom B, on the 2nd flr. of the Sheraton.
• Nick Blomley is also giving a plenary lecture at this time, sponsored by the Urban Geography Specialty Group, introduced by Sarah Elwood and Bob Lake.  611, Convention Center.
5. 4:40-6:20  |  201, Convention Center
• GIS Specialty Group Honors Student Paper Competition.  I'm thrilled that Bryan Preston, one of the grad students that I advise, made it as a finalist for this competition.  He'll be presenting on his work at the intersection of ethnography and qualitative GIS in a study of community gardening in Muncie, IN. It will also be great to catch up with Jin-Kyu Jung, now at UW-Bothell.
6. 6:30-8:00  |  Cirrus Ballroom, Sheraton
• Space-Time Geographies Reception, hosted by the AAG, the GIS SG, ESRI, and UCGIS.
7. 7:30-8:30  |  614, Convention Center
• Geographic Perspectives on Women Specialty Group Meeting, chaired by Deb Thien.

Thursday, April 14th

1. 8:00-9:40  |  612, Convention Center
• Immanent Materialisms in Geography.  Organized by Nathan Clough, this session is the first of a couple sessions focused on D&G and Spinoza.
2. 10:00-11:40  |  Willow A, Sheraton, 2nd Flr
• Critical space-time geographies.  As part of the Space-Time Symposium, this paper session is organized by Tim Schwanen and Mei-Po Kwan.  I'll be serving as a discussant.  Great to see that Stephen Burgess and Rina Ghose will be presenting.
3. 12:00-2:20  |  Ballard, Sheraton, 3rd Flr
• Visualizing Human-Environment Interactions.  This session features a couple Ball State University graduate students presenting their research involving remote sensing: Laura Giboo and Jess Thompson.
4. 2:40-4:20  |  619, Convention Center
• Panel discussion of Matthew Hannah's (2010) "Dark Territory in the Information Age".  While I haven't yet read the book, I'll likely use this as an opportunity to do just that... I'm hoping it becomes more affordable.  Panelists are Patricia Ehrkamp, Jeremy Crampton, and Neil Smith, chaired by Stephen Legg.
5. 6:30-8:30  |  ArtXchange Gallery, 512 First Ave. S.
• GPOW Book Event & Reception.
  
6. 8:00-9:00  |  611, Convention Center
• GIS Specialty Group Meeting, chaired by Francis Harvey.
• Urban Geography Specialty Group Meeting, chaired by Sarah Elwood.

Friday, April 15th

1. 8:00-9:40  |  204, Convention Center
• Technologies of Mobility I.  This is the first of a series, organized by Matt Zook and Rein Ahas.
• Unfortunately, there's also a cool session in the Cirrus Ballroom, Sheraton, 35th Flr. of Pike Tower called The Difference of Things, organized by Keith Woodward, with a paper by Sue Ruddick and Leesa Fawcett.
2. 10:00-11:40  |  204, Convention Center
• Technologies of Mobility II.  I'll be presenting "Location-based services, conspicuous mobility, and the location-aware future" during this session.
3. 12:40-2:20  |  211, Convention Center
• The Politics of Expectations.  Submersibles, cleantech, and stream restoration!  I'll look forward to Rebecca Lave's paper, "...embracing contradiction...".
4. 2:40-4:20  |  Cirrus Ballroom, Sheraton, Pike Tower, 35th Flr
• Geographies of Seattle.  I'll be joining a panel of UWers (and former UWers) -- Katharyne Mitchell, Michael Brown, Vicky Lawson, Sarah Elwood, Jennifer Devine, Anne Bonds, Kevin Ramsey, JW Harrington, Mark Ellis, and Dick Morrill -- to discuss our contributions to Seattle Geographies, edited by Brown and Morrill, and published by UW Press.
5. 4:40-6:20  |  Grand Ballroom C, Sheraton, 2nd Flr
• Progress in Human Geography Annual Lecture.  Neil Smith will be presenting "Of Social Interests and Critical Intent: From Ideology to Discourse and Back Again", with an introduction by Rob Kitchin.

Saturday, April 16th

1. 8:00-9:40  |  609, Convention Center
• Powers of Habit I.  While 8am on Saturday morning might be tricky, I'm looking forward to papers by JD Dewsbury and David Bissell.  However, I'll likely need to do some reading on Felix Ravaisson's Of Habit, prior to the meetings...
2. 10:00-11:40  |  616, Convention Center
• Twenty-plus years of transformation: reflections on "post"-socialism across Eurasia.  This session seems to be a reunion of UW alumni, that I'm curious to see unfold...
3. 12:00-1:40  |  609, Convention Center
• Powers of Habit III.  This is a discussion panel with many of the authors from earlier sessions, Dewsbury, Bissell, as well as Mark Jackson, Maria Fannin, Jamie Lorimer, Maria Hynes, Alan Latham, and Scott Sharpe.