The UCSB Center for Spatial Studies hosted another great round of Spatial Lightning Talks this year, with a whole new batch of spatially-relevant topics. Eight speakers took the challenge to “enlighten us, but make it quick!” Many new and returning faces in the crowd had the opportunity to hear a lively group of speakers and make new connections across campus. This year, there was a 2-minute question and answer period after each 3-minute presentation, allowing the audience to participate more in the program. Two speakers, Paul Wilson (formerly of GE / MapFrame) and James Caesar (UCSB Campus Emergency Manager) spoke about the recent Thomas Fire and mudslides. Paul called for map-minded people in the local community to band together and improve the state of emergency mapping; James shared some of his real, on-the-ground experience responding to the recent fire and mudslide events. Geography Professor Keith Clarke taught us about a local piece of history just around the bend at Honda Point. Thomas Crimmel continued the geographers and history theme with his (very!) abridged history of the digital desktop. Joshua Kuntzman, graduate student at the Gervitz School of Education, pushed us to think more about what it takes to facilitate true interdisciplinary work through the UCSB Crossroads program. Jeremy Douglass, Assistant Professor of English, gave us a run-through of his project Panelcode. Graduate student Lily Cheng made everyone stop and think about their well-developed ‘paw preferences’, and aviation consultant William Yim gave everyone a new perspective on focus in photography. This event was organized by Crystal Bae, bidding adieu to Kitty Currier who has done a great job organizing in years past. If you are interested in presenting a 3-minute lightning talk at next year’s event, get in touch with Crystal anytime. Videos of this year’s talks will be posted on the Spatial Center website once they become...
