The working hypothesis for this study is that the introduction of GIS technology
into the ancient procedures of map-making has changed the map-making context
sufficiently to require a revision of the way we think about, learn from, and use maps,
specifically in the public involvement process in natural resource management. The
assumption that we jointly know what maps mean, and how to use them, has been
carried unchallenged into the vastly changed arena of digital, information-dense, and
highly technical map-making, courtesy of Geographic Information Systems (GIS). It
has remained unchallenged even as the social context for environmental policy-making
is undergoing historic upheaval.
GIS fundamentally changes how information is viewed, literally, by many
different groups, for its maps and databases contain varying levels of uncertainty,
multiple embedded assumptions, potentially privileged knowledge, and considerable
power as story-makers, along with unintended and unexplored social consequences. GIS
maps/databases are used here as the central refractor of ideas about relationships
between scientists and lay audiences; between the post-modern understanding of
privilege and social change; and ultimately between technology and meaning, where
changing expectations about the role of science in natural resource management
resonate most profoundly.
Key research questions are: (1) How can GIS maps contribute to mutual learning
in the natural resource management arena?, and (2) Which consequences of GIS
development could change approaches to natural resource management? The
exploratory case study used to address these questions examines GIS maps from the
Coastal Landscape Analysis and Modeling Study (CLAMS), a landscape-scale
bioregional assessment in western Oregon that draws heavily on GIS technology to
illustrate ecological and socioeconomic dynamics and interactions.
Findings suggest that use of GIS through time may change the realm of
designing and structuring decision problems, adjusting it from a largely science-driven
exercise in natural resource management to a more collaborative story-making one.
While epistemological differences between scientists and lay audiences remain, they
can be offset through such collaboration, with concomitant shifts in power structures
that could affect a range of conditions including rates of technology diffusion, and
management of a broad transition in how natural resources are perceived and utilized. / Graduation date: 2005
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ORGSU/oai:ir.library.oregonstate.edu:1957/29746 |
| Date | 17 November 2004 |
| Creators | Duncan, Sally |
| Contributors | Lach, Denise H. |
| Source Sets | Oregon State University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
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