Shifting Spatialities of LGBTQ Life: A Progress Report
Topics: Queer and Trans Geographies
, Geographic Information Science and Systems
, Sexuality
Keywords: LGBTQ+ life, spatiality, geospatial platform, epistemology, methodology
Session Type: Virtual Paper Abstract
Day: Tuesday
Session Start / End Time: 3/1/2022 02:00 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 3/1/2022 03:20 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 61
Authors:
Larry Knopp, University of Washington Tacoma
Bo Zhao, University of Washington
Caitlin Alcorn, University of Washington
Ayanda Masilela, University of Washington
Kevin Ko, University of Washington
Kerwin Jiao, University of Washington
Yuke Cao, University of Washington
Lizhi Peng, University of Washington
,
,
Abstract
In May 2020 a team of geographers at the University of Washington was awarded an NSF grant to investigate changes in the nature and pattern of certain kinds of LGBTQ+ space in the U.S. between 1965-2014. The project involves extracting data from LGBTQ+ travel guides published over the time period, constructing a geospatial platform onto which that data will be uploaded, supplementing and correcting data via webscraping and interaction with the platform by knowledgeable local experts, visualizing the data, and spatially analyzing it to test claims made about LGBTQ+ space in the existing literature. This progress report emphasizes epistemological and methodological challenges associated with the data and progress made in construction of the geospatial platform. Epistemological and methodological challenges include issues of validity and reliability related to the data, the impact of COVID, and most importantly the biased nature of the data and data acquisition strategy. Geospatial platform construction, meanwhile, has to date entailed creating a public-facing online data portal that manages and visualizes the LGBTQ venues of a few cities in the United States. This platform allows knowledgeable local experts to contribute missing venues and ground-truth the locational data of venues in the spatial database. During the course of construction, the team has implemented a set of inclusive and colliding strategies to deal with the biased nature of data, their representation, and web-based visualization. Once built, this platform will play a crucial role in supporting spatial and placial analyses of the shifting spatialities of LGBTQ+ life in the U.S.
Shifting Spatialities of LGBTQ Life: A Progress Report
Category
Virtual Paper Abstract
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