Research Summary:My research interests and publication history include the social and political impacts of spatial technologies such as GIS, the role and power of community-based planning and local activism in shaping urban geographies, urban environmental justice, and qualitative research methods. My past research in Minneapolis, St. Paul, and Milwaukee considered two kinds of questions: 1) the implications of GIS use for participation and power in neighborhood-based collaborative planning, and 2) the relevance of various local political, organizational, and technological variables in shaping the effectiveness and sustainability of so-called ‘public participation’ GIS practices.
I am currently working on a research, teaching, and community outreach project that focuses on the use and impacts of geographic information systems and GIS-based spatial knowledge in neighborhood revitalization, and urban planning and problem solving. In collaboration with two community development organizations in Chicago’s Humboldt Park neighborhood, the project seeks to develop knowledge in urban geography about the changing activities of grassroots citizen organizations in urban governance processes that shape neighborhood needs and conditions, by showing how their role and power in this context is affected by use of computer mapping and analysis technologies such as GIS. Working with staff and residents from these organizations, the project has created a spatial data library for use in the neighborhood revitalization activities of the partner organization, such as housing development, business and employment development, community organizing, youth and family advocacy, and crime and safety organizing. As part of experiential learning activities in GIS and urban geography courses, undergraduate students at DePaul University and the University of Arizona have worked with these organizations to plan and implement GIS-based spatial analysis projects using these data. I am currently developing Seattle-area contact to continue the service learning portion of the project since relocating to UW. The project’s educational activities are intended to develop students’ skills for and commitments to public service and active citizenship, and their critical reflection upon the social and political implications of their conceptual and applied learning. In its broader societal contributions, the project will develop knowledge and practices intended to help to answer fundamental questions about how to improve quality of life in American inner city neighborhoods, and create strategies that encourage robust democratic practices that involve neighborhood residents in the very decisions that affect them and their neighborhoods. This project is supported by the National Science Foundation.
Recent Publications:- Cope, M.; Elwood, S., (Forthcoming), For qualitative GIS, Qualitative GIS: A Mixed Methods Approach, Cope, M.; Elwood, S., Sage Publications.
- Elwood, S., (Forthcoming), “How do you show both?” Multiple representations, significations, and epistemologies in community-based GIS, Qualitative GIS: A Mixed Methods Approach, Cope, M.; Elwood, S., Sage Publications.
- Elwood, S.; Cope, M., (Forthcoming), Qualitative GIS: Forging mixed methods through representations, analytical innovations, and conceptual engagements, Qualitative GIS: A Mixed Methods Approach, Cope, M.; Elwood, S., Sage Publications.
- Elwood, S., (2009), Integrating action research and GIS Education: Negotiating methodologies, politics, and technologies. Journal, The Journal of Geography in Higher Education , 1: 33, 51-65.
- Elwood, S., (2009), Mixed methods: Thinking, doing, and asking in multiple ways, The Handbook of Qualitative Research in Human Geography, D. DeLyser; M. Crang; L. McDowell; S. Aitken; Herbert, S., Sage Publications.
- Kindon, S.; Elwood, S., (2009), Introduction: More than methods - Reflections on participatory action research in geographic teaching, learning and research, The Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 1: 33, 19-32.
- Elwood, S., (2008), Grassroots groups as stakeholders in spatial data infrastructures: Challenges and opportunities for local data development and sharing, International Journal of Geographic Information Science, 22: 1, 71-90.
- Elwood, S., (2008), Geographic Information Science: new geovisualization technologies - emerging questions and linkages with GIScience research, Progress in Human Geography, 0309132508094076.
- Elwood, S., (2008), Volunteered geographic information: Future research directions motivated by critical, participatory, and feminist GIS, GeoJournal GeoJournal, 72: 3-4, 173-183.
- Elwood, S., (2007), Negotiating participatory ethics in the midst of institutional ethics, ACME, 6: 2, 1-10.
- Elwood, S., (2006), Beyond Cooptation or Resistance: Urban Spatial Politics, Community Organizations, and GIS-Based Spatial Narratives, Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 96: 2, 323-341.
- Elwood, S., (2006), Negotiating Knowledge Production: The Everyday Inclusions, Exclusions, and Contradictions of Participatory GIS Research, The Professional Geographer, 58: 2, 197-208.
- Elwood, S., (2006), Research Article: Critical Issues in Participatory GIS: Deconstructions, Reconstructions, and New Research Directions, Transactions in GIS, 10: 5, 693-708.
- Elwood, S., (2006), Critical Issues in Participatory GIS: Deconstructions, Reconstructions, and New Research Directions, Transactions in GIS , 10: 5, 693-708.
- Elwood, S.; Schuurman, N., (2006), Ground Truth and Critical GIS: A Research Agenda for the Future, Transactions in GIS, 10: 5.
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Ph.D. 2000, University of Minnesota. Urban geography, community development, geographic information systems, community activism, participatory action research.
