Spatial information technology and society: Ethics, values, and practice (Asia, January 2003; Honolulu, Hawaii, January 2004)

该项目包括案例研究和讲习班，以评估在亚太地区利用空间信息技术促进基于社区的资源管理所涉及的伦理、组织和社会经济问题。最近，地理信息系统(GIS)、低成本全球定位系统(GPS)和遥感图像分析软件等现代空间信息技术的普及，赋予了那些传统上被地图剥夺了记录和控制地图信息的人以记录和控制地图信息的权利，这一特权以前只有国家资助的地图制图员才能享有。与此同时，这一新获得的界定和控制空间使用的权力损害了它打算保护的习惯用途。空间信息技术和绘图通常促进将注意力和关注点从人与环境关系的质量转移到对边界/边界所隐含的这种关系的可量化限制的做法。该项目的主要目标是：1)分析测绘技术和活动对农村社区文化和社会动态的影响；2)了解登记和采用/部署新技术所涉及的社会和政治动态；3)制定总体战略，对技术转让的伦理、组织和社会政治影响进行批判性评估。由于大多数关于空间信息技术影响的研究都是在北美进行的，该项目填补了在不同发展历史的社会中设想和发展的引进技术的影响的理解空白。与会者将来自目前参与非政府组织项目的七个亚洲组织，这些非政府组织利用空间信息技术在亚太地区促进基于社区的资源管理，并来自加拿大和美国有相关经验的项目。该项目的结构是使参与者能够相互学习经验，并对采用空间信息技术促进社区资源管理所涉及的挑战和机会有更现实的了解。讲习班的讨论将被提炼成一份出版物，该出版物将对方法和问题进行最先进的调查，并具体说明具体技术和如何使用这些技术。项目活动旨在为社会活动家提供概念工具，协助他们评估空间信息技术在推进其目标方面的作用。

This project involves case studies and workshops to assess ethical, organizational, and socioeconomic issues involved in using spatial information technology for promoting community-based resource management in the Asia/Pacific region. Recent growth in availability of modem spatial information technology such as geographic information systems (GIS), low-cost global positioning systems (GPS), and remote sensing image analysis software has empowered those traditionally disenfranchised by maps to record and control mapped information, a privilege formerly available only to state-funded mapmakers. At the same time, this newly acquired authority to define and exert control over the use of space compromises the customary uses it is intended to protect. Spatial information technology and mapping generally promote practices that shift attention and concern away from qualities of human/environment relationship to quantifiable limits on that relationship implied by boundaries/borders. The project's primary objectives are to: 1) analyze the impact of mapping technologies and activities on the cultural and social dynamics of rural communities, 2) understand the social and political dynamics involved in enrolling in and employing/deploying new technologies, and 3) develop a general strategy for critically evaluating the ethical, organizational, and socio-political impacts of technology transfer. Since most research on the implications of spatial information technology has been conducted in North America, this project fills a gap in understanding the impact of importing technology conceived and developed in societies with different developmental histories. Participants are from seven Asian organizations currently involved in NGO projects that use spatial information technology for promoting community-based resource management in the Asia/Pacific region will participate, and from Canadian and U.S. projects that have relevant prior experience. The project is structured to allow participants to learn from each other's experiences, and to develop a more realistic understanding of the challenges and opportunities involved in adopting spatial information technology for promoting community based resource management. Workshop discussions will be distilled into a publication that will provide a state-of-the-art survey of methodology and issues as well as specify specific technologies and how they should be used. Project activities are designed to provide social activists with conceptual tools to assist them in evaluating the roles of spatial information technology in advancing their goals.