Kheraj, Sean. “Episode 17: Virtual Field Trips, Automobiles, and Global Commodity Chains.” Nature’s Past Podcast, 29 October 2010. MP3, 24:35. http://niche-canada.org/2010/10/30/natures-past-episode-17-virtual-field-trips-automobiles-and-global-commodity-chains/.
Over the summer of 2010, the NiCHE New Scholars group organized a virtual environmental history workshop that invited graduate students from around the world to participate in two days of discussion and review of working papers on a variety of topics in environmental history. Students from Canada, the US, Britain, France, Japan, and Australia were connected using Skype, Google Groups, and a Wordpress blog to review compelling new graduate research in environmental history. One of the hallmarks of the workshop was the virtual field trip. Because field trips play such a prominent role in environmental history workshops and conferences, the New Scholars organizing committee wanted to somehow include a field trip component in the virtual workshop. Using a combination of the photo-sharing service, Picassa, Google Maps and Google Earth, the workshop participants created an impressive collaborative geo-tagged photo essay on the topic of the automobile and its impact on landscapes as a global commodity.
Virtual Field Trips, Automobiles, and Global Commodity Chains (22.51 MB)
Music credits: “That’s For Sure” by Clarence Simpson, “Another Try” by Clarence Simpson, “Just As You Will” by Clarence Simpson
Nature’s Past podcasts are posted on a monthly basis on the website of the Network in Canadian History & Environment / Nouvelle initiative Canadienne en histoire de l’environnement (NiCHE). The podcasts contain discussion about the environmental history community and research in Canada. They are hosted by Sean Kheraj, an assistant professor in the Department of History at York University in Toronto, Canada.
