Geovisualization and Geovisual Analytics: The Interdisciplinary Perspective on Cartography

This article reviews the scope and potential of research done using a biographical approach and the role that this approach adopts in giving voice to experiences lived by the subjects. Special emphasis is placed on the use of narratives to construct life stories, histories and testimonies, incorporating elements for a discussion about their use and enhancement as an approach for research and intervention. This article is written from an interdisciplinary perspective, recognizing the strengths of this approach that can be applied to diverse disciplines within social sciences, humanities and health sciences. This paper analyzes the trends that have influenced in studies from a biographical approach, considering historical and epistemological aspects. This is particularly relevant for disciplines related to human care, such as Nursing or Social Work that deal with narratives of participants who have faced situations of pain or illness. The narrative-biographical approach allows us to retrieve these histories and to contribute to the memories of people willing to narrate their experiences. The article concludes by examining the contemporary uses of this approach both in research and in social interventions. Current challenges related to this approach are discussed and also the possibility of combining it with multimedia devices and the use of information technology.

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Big Data in the Field of Civil Security Research

International Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Information Systems ◽

10.4018/ijaeis.2016010104 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 7 (1) ◽

pp. 54-64 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Julia Gonschorek ◽

Anja Langer ◽

Benjamin Bernhardt ◽

Caroline Räbiger

Keyword(s):

Big Data ◽

Temporal Distribution ◽

Tactical Planning ◽

Fire Departments ◽

Prevention Measures ◽

Scientific Contribution ◽

Security Research ◽

Geovisual Analytics ◽

The University ◽

Selection Of

This article gives insight in a running dissertation at the University in Potsdam. Point of discussion is the spatial and temporal distribution of emergencies of German fire brigades that have not sufficiently been scientifically examined. The challenge is seen in Big Data: enormous amounts of data that exist now (or can be collected in the future) and whose variables are linked to one another. These analyses and visualizations can form a basis for strategic, operational and tactical planning, as well as prevention measures. The user-centered (geo-) visualization of fire brigade data accessible to the general public is a scientific contribution to the research topic 'geovisual analytics and geographical profiling'. It may supplement antiquated methods such as the so-called pinmaps as well as the areas of engagement that are freehand constructions in GIS. Considering police work, there are already numerous scientific projects, publications, and software solutions designed to meet the specific requirements of Crime Analysis and Crime Mapping. By adapting and extending these methods and techniques, civil security research can be tailored to the needs of fire departments. In this paper, a selection of appropriate visualization methods will be presented and discussed.

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Welcome Back, We’ve Missed You! Humanized Business Communication in Shop Window Messages during Early 2020-Lockdown

Languages ◽

10.3390/languages6020104 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 6 (2) ◽

pp. 104

Author(s):

Kurt Feyaerts ◽

Geertrui Heyvaert

Keyword(s):

Empirical Evidence ◽

Business Strategy ◽

Business Communication ◽

Marketing Strategies ◽

Mutual Relationship ◽

Communicative Interaction ◽

Interdisciplinary Perspective ◽

New Type ◽

Linguistic Approach ◽

Business Exchange

This paper focuses on the way in which small and medium-sized businesses in Flanders adapted communication with their customers during the economic lockdown in March–May 2020. It documents, more specifically, how shops tried to maintain, re-establish, or even re-invent communication with their customers during this two-month period. Based on pictures of shop windows in a Flemish city, we analyze the (semi-)commercial messages that appeared in this setting during this period. This analysis adopts an interdisciplinary perspective, in which a cognitive linguistic approach is integrated with analyses and practical advices by marketing agencies. Despite their orientation towards distinct, theoretical and practical goals, both approaches share an analytical interest in mapping participants and their mutual relationship as part of a communicative interaction. In the period of economic lockdown, marketers urged shop owners to ‘humanize’ their business strategy by downplaying content-related issues in favor of maximal social outreach towards customers. Considering this advice, it was hypothesized that under these circumstances participants in commercial transactions would be construed much more prominently, presenting themselves and each other as unprecedented empathetic business personas. Much of our data comply with this expectation, thus providing empirical evidence of a subjectified communicative ground, in which both buyer and seller personas figure with augmented prominence as parts of the object of conceptualization. Messages include, among other things, expressions of empathy, solidarity, combativity, but also creativity and humor thus incorporating a new type of humanized business communication. With respect to the analysis of marketing strategies, the collected data at the same time instantiate and legitimize marketers’ communication advice about humanizing one’s business exchange.

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