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Stories of Us*

UW Sea Grant researchers look to use spatial narratives to engage citizens
in environmental stewardship of the Great Lakes.

March 26. 2012

By Aaron R. Conklin

Every place has its stories, shared experiences, history and perspectives
collected by the people who live in and around them.  There’s power and
science inherent in those place-based stories—which is why a pair of
University of Wisconsin Sea Grant-funded researchers are looking to harness
them to encourage environmental engagement and stewardship in Great Lakes
coastal communities.

The concept’s called spatial narratives. David Hart, UW Sea Grant’s
geographic information systems outreach specialist, first encountered it
when he heard Janet Silbernagel, professor of landscape architecture
affiliate of the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies, give a talk on
the topic that mentioned “deep maps,” a concept forwarded in William Least
Heat-Moon’s book *P**rairyErth.  *Hart and Silbernagel discovered they
shared a kindred interest in the idea of the deep map, and how it might be
harnessed for science and citizen engagement.

“We thought, could this idea be ramped up to the level of the Great Lakes?”
asked Hart. “What’s going to allow us to become better stewards is to be
able to tell stories about why the Great Lakes are worth preserving, why
they’re special and sacred to the people who use them all the time.”

The idea for the current Great Lakes spatial narratives project grew out of
a 2009 call for special projects related to the St. Louis River Estuary and
the designation of the National Estuarine Research Reserve (NERR) in
Duluth-Superior.  Hart and Silbernagel were aiming to test-drive the
spatial narratives concept in the estuary.  At the same time, a
Minnesota-based group was looking to detail stressor gradients in the
estuary as a means of exploring the scientific connections between human
activity and water quality.

The two projects proved a powerful match.  Focusing on five key topics
affecting the estuary--mining, shipping, fishing, wild rice and recreation
—the project has produced an arsenal of tech-friendly geotools, including a
mobile-based geoquest game called “Up River” that showed the ways people
have used and interacted with the estuary in the area’s ever-evolving
narrative.   Soon, there’ll also be an interactive website with audio
perspectives and a geo-archive. Project assistant Max Axler, meanwhile, is
working on constructing a deep map for the estuary and a second geoquest.

Hart and Silbernagel were anxious to expand the success of the spatial
narrative model into communities along the Great Lakes coastline.  This
time, they found an even more powerful partner:  Esri, the California-based
geographic information system (GIS) software giant. Two years ago,
Silbernagel and UW Sea Grant project assistant Robbie Greene attended the
company’s annual GeoDesign Summit, where they discussed the spatial
narratives/stressor gradients project.  The concept caught the attention of
Esri CEO Jack Dangermond, who offered the services of his company’s
Application Prototype Lab to help Silbernagel and Hart develop a geotool
that would allow users to craft their own spatial narratives about their
coastal communities using Web and mobile devices.
Now Patrick Robinson, Environmental Studies Specialist, UW-Extension, has
joined up with Hart and Silbernagel to lead an evaluation of citizen
engagement in WI coastal communities with the spatial narrative tool
through social science research. “What we want to do is implement and
evaluate the geotool’s effectiveness in fostering place-based learning,
spatial literacy and stewardship,” said Silbernagel.  “What effect might
the tool have in facilitating all of that?”

Where the St. Louis Estuary project focused more on using the perspectives
of particular interest groups to form the narrative—fishermen,
environmentalists, boat owners, etc.--Silbernagel is hoping the spatial
narratives that emerge from Great Lakes communities will be driven more by
users and community leaders and youth. The notion is that the science will
emerge from the stories as well.

 “Stories are very powerful,” noted Hart. “People are recognizing the power
of stories to communicate science. Seeing the potential this technology has
to communicate the issues surrounding a particular place and being able to
delve into them and explore them and get our hands on them makes so much
more sense. “