Please join ESRI for the inaugural year of the Tribal / Indigenous (TRI) presentation series at the 2009 ESRI International User Conference.  The ESRI International User Conference is the largest gathering of GIS professionals globally with typically around 14,000 attendees a year.  The conference will be held in San Diego, CA July 13^th – the 17^th.  We've been working to illuminate the important GIS programs in Tribal and Indigenous Communities at the conference.  The result is a full day program featuring 12 distinguished and qualified presenters.  In addition to these presentations we are exploring the following activities to showcase the important use of GIS in Tribal and Indigenous Communities around the world.    

·         A Tribal / Indigenous Map Showcase in the Map Gallery (details below) which will incorporate your maps and screenshots into a display of GIS programs in Tribal and Indigenous Communities.   

·         A booth on the convention floor where you can represent your community, GIS program, and distribute maps and brochures.    

·         A Tribal / Indigenous Special Interest Group Meeting facilitated by  Tribal / Indigenous GIS Professionals to discuss important issues facing GIS in Tribal and Indigenous communities.

Also, the ESRI Graphics team will be building a dedicated display in the Map Gallery for Tribal / Indigenous GIS.  I need your help to make this showcase a success, please let me know if you will be able to contribute a map, or a screenshot, to the display and I will respond with the details of how to submit your work to the ESRI FTP site.  It takes some time to pull these displays together so I need to ask for you to submit your work as soon as possible, although we will have until the end of April to get everything in.  Our graphics team does exceptional work and this display of Tribal / Indigenous GIS will look amazing and drive a lot of discussion and interest in your work.  Please note, while we hope everyone can make it to San Diego, you do not have to be in attendance to include your important work in this display. 

Please let me know if you hope to participate and I’ll send you more details directly. I hope to see you there!

David Gadsden - NW Federal Account Manager 
606 Columbia Street NW, Suite 300, Olympia WA 
Email: dgadsden@esri.com Web: www.esri.com

A few weeks back I announced the development of new ESRI industry track dedicated to the use of GIS in Indian Country and by Indigenous Communities around the globe.  I'm very pleased to announce that that is now official and it's time to begin soliciting abstracts for the 2009 ESRI International User Conference!  As a new track it's very important we get a strong start with lots of abstracts submitted for potential speakers for next year's conference.  Even if you are not positive you will be able to attend, please submit an abstract if there is a chance you will attend and would be willing to share your GIS experiences with other Tribal / Indigenous attendees at the conference.   The ESRI International User Conference is the largest GIS gathering in the world with over 14,00 attendees.  If you have not attended before it is an amazing event with something for everyone regardless of your level of expertise with GIS.  

Please click http://tinyurl.com/4flnwm and then "Submit an Abstract".  The deadline to submit a track is currently October 17th so if you could take a few minutes and submit an abstract it would be a great help.

Please be sure you place your paper under our new track which can be found under the science and modeling theme: TRI   Tribal/Indigenous GIS Programs

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David Gadsden - NW Federal Account Manager

ESRI - Environmental Systems Research Institute

606 Columbia Street NW, Suite 300, Olympia WA

Phone: 360.754.4727 Fax: 360.943.6910

Web: www.esri.com

CALL FOR PAPERS

Indigenous Peoples, Community Mapping and Social Impact Assessment: New Directions in Land Use Planning

15th International Symposium on Society and Resource Management

July 5 - 8, 2009 in Vienna, (www.issrm09.info)

Organisers: Richard Howitt ⁽¹⁾, Gaim James Lunkapis ^(1,2)

Rebecca Lawrence ^{(1, 3)}  Deirdre Wilcock^(1,5) and Ella Carin Blind ⁽⁴⁾

¹ Department of Environment and Geography, Macquarie University,

² School of Social Sciences, Universiti Malaaysia Sabah,

³ Department of Sociology, Stockholm University,

⁴ Swedish Saami Association,

⁵ York University Toronto

Land Use Planning Systems are established by states to make provisions for the orderly and progressive development of lands and waters by providing maximum benefit that are both sustainable and equitable to citizens. In many settings, however, land use planning systems have been poorly-equipped to bring benefit to Indigenous communities whose relationship with the state is often characterised by alienation, marginalisation and exclusion, if not outright hostility. Indeed, in many states, land use planning has become a technology for the erasure and denial of Indigenous rights and the systems of knowledge, governance and connection that underpin them. This session will explore Community Mapping and Social Impact Assessment as possible technologies for engaging planning systems as a means of recognising, rather than erasing, Indigenous interests and participation in the planning process by the Indigenous public.

We draw on experience in Indigenous Australia, Malaysia, Sápmi¹ and North America to frame our thinking on these issues and invite colleagues from different parts of the world to contribute their own experiences to advance theories and practices of land use planning that supports just and sustainable land use planning outcomes for Indigenous peoples.

Papers should address some aspect of Indigenous people and land use planning, with attention to community mapping, social impact assessment and related approaches as a means for supporting Indigenous aspirations for recognition and participation.  Different methodological and theoretical approaches are welcome, although papers should draw on recent examples of research, practice and process as far as possible. Questions, expressions of interest, and firm proposals with abstracts should be emailed to Richard Howitt (rhowitt@els.mq.edu.au), Gaim J Lunkapis (glunkapis@els.mq.edu.au), Rebecca Lawrence (lawrence@sociology.su.se) and Deirdre Wilcock (dwilcock@els.mq.edu.au) no later then 9th December 2008.  Individuals’ joining this session will need to find their own sponsors to attend the conference and attendance is mandatory. Publication of the papers from this session will be pursued by the session organisers.

Guidelines for papers for the conference can be found online at:

http://www.issrm09.info/index.php?L1=left_Call_for_Papers.php&L2=body_Call_for_Papers_Scientific_paper_proposals.php

Location: Rotterdam, Netherlands

Information about GSDI 11 will be provided at this location as it becomes available:

http://www.gsdi.org/gsdi11/