GI_Forum 2024, Volume 12

The Fridays For Future movement brought the issue of climate crisis an enormous boost in public awareness and generated great interest in climate-related topics among students. The particular way in which issues of climate protection or climate adaptation are negotiated by social media communities ensures their appeal. Two questions arise from this: Which digital practices do activists of Fridays For Future use to disseminate knowledge on climate and climate change? How do these practices affect informal learning processes in the knowledge domain of climate and climate change? Results obtained from a qualitative content analysis of posts and documents created by members of digital communities of the Fridays For Future movement and interviews with activists show that processes of identity formation take place in the communities. If these knowledge practices are taken up and reflected upon in the classroom, they can be transferred to formal educational processes, in terms also of transformative learning.

Keywords: digital condition, Social Media, education for sustainable development, transformative learning

Education for sustainable development (ESD) requires new and updated approaches, including the use of information and communication technologies like digital geomedia. However, despite their numerous possibilities, digital geomedia appear to be under-utilized in ESD, meaning that their full potential remains unused. This leads to unresolved questions: How are digital geomedia currently used in ESD, and what form do they take? What are the obstacles and possibilities for integrating digital geomedia in ESD? How can we address them? To answer these questions, the ESDplus project conducted an online questionnaire among organizations that carry out ESD (protected areas, museums, nature conservation associations and zoological gardens). The results show that one-third of the respondents have never used digital geomedia, and only 4% apply digital geomedia in their ESD activities. Even though almost two-thirds see great potential in the use of digital geomedia, a majority still prefer to use traditional analogue methods in ESD. The following issues are key to improving the use of digital geomedia: providing an overview of digital geomedia; their integration in ESD activities, and the provision of suitable training materials.

Keywords: learning with geoinformation, informal education, environmental education, geodata and geoinformation

Soon after the introduction of Geoinformation (systems) in the 1990s and the first use of geomedia in schools which followed, a host of studies evaluated the adoption of the new technologies at school level. These studies were largely exploratory and descriptive and, even 30 years after its first introduction, came to the conclusion that the use of geomedia in schools was still not widespread. However, an organizational perspective was missing from these studies, as well as analysis of the factors influencing the diffusion of GIS and geomedia. This paper examines the organizational approaches taken in recent research on digitalization in primary schools and the corresponding teacher training, and looks at questions of diffusion. We attempt to identify the more recent results that seem to make sense of the earlier ones. Two questions in particular are examined in this paper: To what extent can geomedia be understood as innovation? To what extent are geomedia embedded in schools? We also discuss opportunities for the systematic embedding of geomedia in school education.

Keywords: GIS, geomedia, diffusion, Innovation

In the field of Geographic Information Systems (GIS), privacy and surveillance have emerged as critical ethical concerns, reflecting the growing tension between technological advancements and the protection of individual rights. This paper presents a review of the literature that investigates the ethical challenges associated with these issues, tracing their evolution and present significance. Drawing from scholarly discourse, we analyse how the capabilities of GIS have raised complex ethical dilemmas related to unauthorized data access, the construction of digital identities, and the increasing risk of pervasive surveillance. Our review reveals that while GIS offers considerable societal benefits, its unchecked potential for surveillance and infringement of privacy demands stronger ethical standards, regulatory frameworks and public awareness. We highlight the need for GIS professionals to adopt proactive measures, such as enhanced data security and informed consent protocols, to mitigate these risks. Furthermore, the study calls for ongoing scholarly inquiry into the ethical stewardship of GIS, emphasizing the importance of balancing innovation with the protection of individual freedoms. This research contributes to the broader dialogue on GIS ethics, advocating for responsible practices that prioritize privacy and limit the scope of surveillance, ultimately safeguarding personal autonomy in the digital age.

Keywords: privacy, surveillance, ethics, geographic information systems