Cultural Geography Blog

After a gap of a few years, I'm back working with European colleagues who I have worked with for many years. ERASMUS+ is sadly no more, but I've started working on a project which is funded by the Civics Innovation Hub. You can see what we've done so far on this project page on the Eurogeo website. Details of the project: The GEODEM-AI project aims to encourage a healthy, critical view of ethical issues related to the use of AI in Geography teaching and learning. GEODEM-AI addresses democratic principles, civic engagement, and social responsibility of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in geographic information, by offering interactive multimedia training materials for teachers and educators based on real-world civic applications, with the aim to foster active citizenship and civic participation. Main outputs: – A research report on AI and ethical issues in geoinformation – download and read  the report – A Civic Education training module (Web-based) – tested and piloted – A set ...

Daniel Raven Ellison has previously behind the making of a number of films, including: The UK in 100 Seconds  - narrated by the late Benjamin Zephaniah The UK National Parks in 100 Seconds  - narrated by Cerys Matthews The Netherlands in 100 Seconds See them here. He is now planning to release his latest film. Of the UK film, Dan said: "I don’t think anyone really has a clue what Britain actually looks like. It's just too big and complicated for us to get a proper sense of proportion. And that’s a problem when people are making decisions about how we feed ourselves or how much more affordable housing we can build. Or, crucially, how much more space for nature we can have. If we don’t have a proper sense of what the country looks like then how can we fix our problems?" His latest film is going to be his 'largest' yet: The Earth in 100 Seconds'. Here's a preview: What are we using planet Earth for?  Each second of this film reveals 1% of land and how we...

Leaving aside the obvious reply to this headline ... In Year 8, around Christmas time, we unpick the lyrics used for the different versions of this song. A new 40th anniversary recording has now been released. There has been a lot of coverage of the song, and also the criticisms of the lyrics. More to come on this...

 Every now and again I remember what a good piece of music this is.

Last Saturday night, I went to the Cambridge Union to see an event that had been arranged as part of the Cambridge Literary Festival. The weather was wet and windy due to Storm Bert , and there were also train issues due to engineering works, but the city was busy with Christmas shoppers.  The Union was packed and also very hot. Mackenzie has written and illustrated a short book - not a children's book - an interesting format really - imagining Nick Drak e coming to his house, and modelled on a book he remembered from his childhood. Drake signed to Island Records at twenty while still a student at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge University. Marking the 50th anniversary of his death, the book is both a celebration of his memory and a heart-warming reminder of the impact a person can have on others, though they might not realise it. There was lots of interest in the detectorists of course, as not everyone was familiar with the music of Nick Drake. He was in conversation with Tom Gat...

  A new venture, and one I can certainly get behind... Two legends of international geography teaching, resource creation and training in the same virtual space: Richard Allaway and Matt Podbury have teamed up to offer some special support for teachers in international schools / teaching international qualifications. Their new website and opportunity is now live. They will start their new enterprise by offering three online workshops between now and May 2025, which can be booked individually or as an ‘all three bundle’ . Each workshop consists of two 90-minute sessions and then the opportunity to have a 30-minute one-on-one meeting with either Richard or Matt to focus on your specific topics of interest and questions. The workshops will happen on Saturdays, so most of you will not need to find cover for your classes. They will run from 10h00 CET to 13h30 CET, so you have enough time for a lie-in and a lazy breakfast, and everything is finished in time for a late lunch. The worksho...