Bhutan, in Fashion.

The New York Times Style magazine has many good features. If you can get past the glorification of affectless nearly post-adolescent models hanging clothes that most people could never afford off their bone and skin frames, redeeming qualities do exist.

In the Nov. 2, 2014 Travel issue, the Higher State of Being piece about Bhutan juxtaposes age-old Buddhist practices with an emerging bicycle culture and the country's measure of Gross National Happiness. Astute observers will also note the irony in stating facts like "The majority of Bhutanese live off the land, practicing subsistence agriculture." within this high-tone glossy magazine spread. Travel porn, if you will, is the currency of this leisure class industry.

Nonetheless, the following quote caught my eye:

To ask a Bhutanese about happiness is akin to asking a Frenchman about wine or a Brazilian about soccer: It is the expected question, the question he is perhaps a bit weary of answering — yet he will gamely respond, unfolding not just a rote reply, but an admirably subtle disquisition. Gross National Happiness, or G.N.H., is the big talking point when it comes to Bhutan. It is also a source of intense debate, a fluid concept which, many Bhutanese contend, is often misunderstood, especially by the outside world.

“Here is the key point to understand about G.N.H.,” said Kinley Dorji, the head of Bhutan’s Ministry of Information and Communication. “Happiness itself is an individual pursuit. Gross National Happiness then becomes a responsibility of the state, to create an environment where citizens can pursue happiness. It’s not a guarantee of happiness by the government. It’s not a promise of happiness. But there is a responsibility to, you know, create the conditions for happiness.”

Dorji said: “When we say ‘happiness,’ we have to be very clear that it’s not fun, pleasure, thrill, excitement, all the temporary fleeting senses. It is permanent contentment — with life, with what you have. That lies within the self. Because the bigger house, the faster car, the nicer clothes, they don’t give you that contentment. G.N.H. means good governance. G.N.H. means preservation of traditional culture. And it means sustainable socio-economic development. Remember, here, that G.N.H. is a pun on G.D.P., Gross Domestic Product. We are making a distinction.”

Michael Waldrep: Understanding the Meaning of Sense of Place

Nice essay here from one of the inaugural Fullbright-National Geographic Digital Storytelling fellows: Michael Waldrep: Understanding the Meaning of Sense of Place.

Waldrep will take a multimedia approach, using writing in combination with video, photography, and mapping to conduct an in-depth analysis of places around Mexico City.

"The idea," says Waldrep, "is to communicate a sense of this place and to gather together some of the lessons that Mexico City can learn from its own development, and that cities all around the world—not least of all those in the U.S., where sprawl is a fundamental fact of recent and contemporary urban development—can learn from as well."

It will be very interesting to see how all five of the Fullbright-National Geographic scholars develop their own unique project.

McKibben in Maine

A few of us from Unity College went up to Orono today to hear Bill McKibben talk. As it happened, we were walking into the auditorium at the same time as Mr. McKibben. We stopped and introduced ourselves as affiliated with Unity. To see his eyes light up with mention of UC and hear him say "I'm always glad to check in with Unity" was a moment of pride for my new place of work. I asked if it was okay to snap a picture and he was more than happy to indulge our group selfie.

From left: Gunnar Norback, Bill McKibben,
Martin Maines, JTS.
University of Maine - Orono.

The University of Maine hosted event was part of their honors program, having selected Eaarth as the honors read for 2014. It was a good talk. McKibben prefaced it with the acknowledgement that he was a professional "bummer outer" on the topic of climate change and delivered some very sobering stats about how small the window of opportunity really is for humanity to save itself from itself.

It was engaging, in part (and somewhat ironically), because McKibben is not a natural public speaker. He freely admits he sees himself as a writer and feels more comfortable in that role. He's also a realist. There's no pie-in-the-sky environmentalism here. Though it would have been nice to focus a little more on actionable insights - achievable solutions - it is just not that simple. Individuals will influence climate change very little through individual actions. That's not what many people want to hear (what I do matters!) but it's really only through organized group social and political action can we enact the necessary changes.

One analogy and one positive idea of potential change stick with me. The analogy is this: If I take my garbage to the city dump and have to pay $2 or $3 per bag to dispose of it, that is an expense I would rather not pay. I could just toss my garbage out on the sidewalk for free. But what happens? After a while I have a big stinking pile of garbage affecting my family, neighbors, and the neighborhood. Oil and gas companies could also pay to deal with their garbage (i.e. toxic pollutants in the air and water). But they effectively dump it into the atmosphere like so much garbage on the sidewalk - for free and with relative impunity. If the political will was there, as it is in some places (looking at you with a wink and a nod, British Columbia), governments could enact a system where polluters are held accountable - reversing long-term trend of Big Energy running roughshod over the already deteriorating life-path that future generations hope to tread. Political contributions from oil and gas companies strongly predict politician decision making. The system of big money in politics is a broken one and does not represent the interests of the people.

The idea for potential change caught my ear as analogous to a phenomenon that occurred in mass communications around the recent turn of the century. When cellular phone and internet technology started to infiltrate poorer nations, many regions went from 19th to 21st Century communication virtually overnight. Having skipped over land-line phones and cable television, many places went straight to satellite link-ups and cellular connections. This could happen in developing regions in terms of energy, too. What if regions that still depend on rudimentary energy sources - charcoal, coal, wood from unsustainable sources - were to virtually skip over the pitfalls of fossil fuels and jump right into renewables - solar, wind, sustainable bioenergy?  Not only does it seem possible, it seems very plausible and with high potential. And it provides some hope - something we could all use a little more of.

Getting Back on the Moose Track.

You may be stopping by The Topophilian because of a recent profile posted by my awesome alma mater - the University of Wisconsin's Department of Life Sciences Communication. That's nice. Thank you. You may also notice that this blog really has not been updated since July. Surprise! I've been busy! With all the dissertation defending and the packing and the moving and the new position at Unity College, well, there's just not been much time for blogging. This may or may not strike you as a reasonable excuse. I don't care. I'm sticking with it.

Yet, this is a kick in the pants to get back on the horse and keep writing. Though, perhaps, maybe getting back on the moose is more appropriate (and less cliche). Why? Because I saw a moose yesterday. Yes, really. It's in this picture, just barely. It was a juvenile bull moose just trotting down Charles Street here in Belfast. And, yes, I was shocked. Better than a cup of imported EVP coffee at 6:25am on an otherwise average Wednesday. But, I digress. I want to back to writing about this thing called place - place attachment, place meanings, sense of place, space and place. All that stuff. Good stuff.

There is such a strong local food culture here in Waldo County, Maine. So many people connected to the land. Terroir and all that. Many people doing many great things. There's so much to say. I just need to stop being so busy and add this to my list of things to do. I will. I promise. After I re-read that section of Omnivore's Dilemma and set out a lesson plan on Spotify and prep for this People's Climate March trip to NYC. And health insurance. Need to get health insurance. Then. Yes, then. Then I will blog. I will. It offers little in the way of external validation and about as close to nothing as one can get in the way of academic advancement, but I will get back to it. Why? Because other than sitting around and singing and stomping my feet with a hollow-body Gretsch turned up to 11 through a Mississippi-made tube amp with a 16" speaker, it's one of the things I enjoy most. That's what I'll be doing. What will you be doing?

For Whiskey, Environment Means Everything.

The set of encyclopedias I've been lugging around from place to place for nearly 20 years is good for many things. Sure, net neutrality and common core educational issues are not within those pages, but history comes alive in other ways. Take whiskey, for example.

Years ago I wanted to learn more about whiskey. This is mostly because I knew that my grandpa and his brothers used to have a still hidden somewhere out on the plains of southwest Minnesota. Like Little House on the Prairie, with booze. 

I discovered that a key ingredient is the water. This seems common-sense now but, at the time, it just hadn't occurred to me that the quality of water would impact the quality of the whiskey. The ground water in a place like Bourbon County, Kentucky, is filtered through a limestone shelf and gives a clarity and composition unique to the area. It is an essential ingredient yet, surprisingly, not a regulated one.

The Bourbon Family Tree - courtesy of GQ magazine.

NPR recently ran a segment called "It's Not Tennessee Whiskey If It's Aged In Kentucky, State Says" by Camila Domonoske. In it, we learn that the environmental conditions of an area have a big impact on the final product. Temperature, humidity, and other factors all impact how the charred oak barrels and their precious liquid contents interact.

Regardless of what that booze was doing in Kentucky, does it really matter where exactly a barrel of liquor ages? According to Joe Barnes, founder of the Tennessee Whiskey Trail, yes. 

"If you ask anyone in Tennessee, if they take their barrel down the street — much less across the state — they're going to get a different product, just by fluctuations in temperature and humidity," Barnes says. "Aging a product in Giles County is different from aging a product in Sevier County."

It is the whole environment, not only the water, but the wood, the air, the generations of expertise - the place itself - that ends up in those bottles of amber gold.

Also, for those of you wondering what the difference is between bourbon and whiskey, Natalie Wolchover at Live Science adds some insight: 

While bourbon whiskey has its roots in Kentucky, and continues to be primarily produced there, it is now manufactured in distilleries all over the United States. Manufacturers must meet the following requirements in order to advertise their whiskey product as "bourbon": 

It must be produced in the U.S. from a grain mixture (called "mash") made up of at least 51 percent corn. It must be distilled to a maximum strength of 160 proof, bottled at a strength of at least 80 proof, and barreled for aging at no more than 125 proof. It must be aged in new, charred oak barrels. To qualify as "straight bourbon," the spirits must meet the above requirements as well as being aged for at least two years and containing no added coloring, flavoring or other spirits. 

Many bourbon whiskey distilleries in Kentucky advertise their use of unique water filtered by the limestone shelf in Bourbon County; while this feature may add to the allure of Kentucky bourbon whiskey , the federal trade regulations do not stipulate about what water must be used.

Local versus Organic

A side-bar (actually, at the bottom of page) in the August, 2014, issue of Outside magazine offers a nice (though gender biased) heuristic for weighing the value of an oft-asked question: Which is better, local or organic?

It also addresses a consideration often overlooked - the time and expense of actual organic certification - that can be a practical and prohibitive barrier for many small producers.

As featured on page 24 [with my own bracketed additions]:

"In terms of nutrient value, fresh almost always trumps organic, which is why local is usually better. But a local farmer could be spraying his crops with every chemical in the book. Don't stress out about which chemicals to avoid. Find a farmer you can trust and ask if the produce is certified organic. If he [or she] says yes but his [or her] stand isn't labeled, be skeptical. If he [or she] says no but is eager to talk about how he [or she] grows [the] crops, that's probably the best indicator. The certification process is time consuming and expensive, and many local vendors skip it."

P6 spotlights Nature's Bakery Cooperative in Madison, Wisc.

Principle Six (P6) shines a nice little light on Nature's Bakery Cooperative, an east-side Madison, Wisconsin, local food staple for the past 44 years. The article Cooperatively Baked in Madison explains the bakery's business model (consensus-based decision making) and some of their best-selling goods.

I worked at Nature's Bakery for a few years, the last in a long string of jobs I held prior to getting into graduate school and on the scholarly track... Sometimes I'm not sure which was harder.

National Wildlife Refuge Top Picks

The folks over at Plain Adventure have put together a list of their Top 10 National Wildlife Refuges.

These sometimes overlooked natural areas provide vital habitat and recreation for animals and their human admirers. So many great places, including the Wichita Mountains NWR in Oklahoma, Charles M. Russell NWR in Montana, Bosque del Apache NWR in New Mexico... Okefenokee, Kenai, Chincotegue, Kilauea Point. Familiar names, perhaps. Incredible environmental treasures - absolutely.

One they must have forgotten, and an all-time favorite of mine, is the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge. Flowing through the driftless bluffs of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa and Illinois, the UMRNWFR is a river sanctuary suitable for the dreams of ol' Huckleberry Finn himself.

Writing from a place-oriented framework.

Three underlying aspects of place-based research described by Van Patten and Williams  (2008) can help guide reporting and writing from a place-oriented framework. As much as all three of these assumptions can be present in the construction of a place-based narrative argument, it seems, the resonant power would be multiplied exponentially. 

The first of these primary assumptions is place as “material form.” In other words, grounding a story in the spatial-temporal context or setting within which people conduct the happenings of their daily lives. Meet people “where they’re at” in terms of localized information and time-sensitive progress.   

Second is a matter of scale. This can be addressed both social and geographically. The story is happening either in the home, the town, the corn field, the watershed, the wind channel... somewhere specific. It is bounded in space, ranging from local to global. Also, socially, be aware of whether it is a matter of individual perceptions, small group perceptions or macro-level assumptions about what a place is, could be, "should" be, or should not be? Such levels of abstraction can be explicitly stated or otherwise made clear in the construction of any meaningful narrative arc. 

There is also the relational aspect of place. This is the cognitive landscape of meaning-making that constitutes a fundamental way “through which we make sense of the world and through which we act” (Sack, 1992, p.1). As a story is grounded in personal lived experience at an appropriately cast geographic scale, it must also take into account the social, historical, and cultural context surrounding the people and their environmental issues. 

In these times of post-postmodern flux where “the jet, the ‘net, and the fast food outlet” (Gieryn, 2000, p. 463) have added to a sense of placelessness, connections back to the physical and social landscapes that root meaning in individual experience can help combat the malaise of late modernity so often felt and discussed.

# #  #

Van Patten, S. R., & Williams, D. R. (2008). Problems in place: Using discursive social psychology to investigate the meanings of seasonal homes. Leisure Sciences, 30(5), 448–464.
 
Sack, R. D. (1992). Place, modernity, and the consumer’s world: A relational framework for geographical analysis. Johns Hopkins University Press.
 
Gieryn, T. F. (2000). A space for place in sociology. Annual review of sociology, 26, 463–496.

Folding and Unfolding Information, Trust, and Knowledge.

I haven't been posting much to The Topophilian lately because I've been busy working towards my dissertation deadline. That's right, dissertating. Every day and every night (almost). Below is a sample from my chapter on trusted sources of information. Enjoy! JTS

People typically turn to trusted sources of information when seeking answers to urgent questions as well as for mundane or technical scientific questions. As individuals, we live in an information environment deeply embedded within the day-to-day reality of our physical and social environments. These intersect through written, spoken, nonverbal, and mediated information, facilitating meaning making for abstract concepts and potentially elevating the physical world to the metaphoric plane of symbolic interactionism.

One’s information environment extends from personal to social in a dynamic and heterogeneous assemblage of experience, context, and meaning, constantly folding and unfolding (a la Delueze, 2000) as new information enters to replace or extend what was previously known and felt about the external world.

In the abstract, knowledge exists in multiplicity. There are not only many things to know, but many ways of knowing. Varying levels of knowledge and ignorance exist for both experts and non-experts. To claim to “know” about some issue is essentially to say: “From where I sit, it looks this way.” The influence of knowledge on perceptions of technological or corporeal risks and benefits is socially situated, culturally influenced, moderated by predisposition, processed through existing mental models, and bounded by experience, exposure and attention to information. Trust is similarly affected.

Trust may formulate affectively, pre-consciously, but it can percolate to a level of subjective analysis. Even if we often do not take the time to elaborate on the reasons behind our trust feelings, it is available to us by degrees.

Hardin (2001) points out a few conceptual confusions about trust that should be kept in mind. First, trust is not epistemologically primitive; it is available for subjective analysis. Trust is also not simply a matter of behavior. Rather, it is a function of knowledge or beliefs. Hardin also suggests that trust is neither a one- or two-part relation but can be conceived as a three part relation signifying that, for example, I trust you to do some thing. In other words, it is conditional and relative to context and rarely, if ever, universal or absolute. Second, trust should not be conflated with trustworthiness. Trust often begets trustworthiness, but it is a socially influenced psychological process whereas trustworthiness is a characteristic value judgment placed in a person or institution.

There may be a generalized “social trust” that people develop over time which esteems positive value on others or social institutions but, generally, trust is conceived as being grounded in specific past, present, or future relationships with other actors in the social sphere. Trust in institutions of risk management seems to be an important factor in perception and acceptance of risk as well as a prerequisite for effective risk communication (Poortinga & Pidgeon, 2003).

# # #

Deleuze, G. (2000) Foucault. University of Minnesota Press.

Hardin, R. (2001). Conceptions and explanations of trust. In K. S. Cook (Ed.), Trust in society (Vol. 2, pp. 3–39). New York, NY: Russell Sage Foundation.

Poortinga, W., & Pidgeon, N. F. (2003). Exploring the dimensionality of trust in risk regulation. Risk Analysis, 23(5), 961–972.

De-identifying Track Change Attribution in a Word document

This has nothing to do with "place" but it's a small victory worth sharing. Three cheers for small victories.

Huge SHOUT OUT to "Helen C." who answered a minor computing quandary for me today via this LinkedIn post: How to change user name for track-changes (retroactively).

For academics facing a Revise & Resubmit and needing to demonstrate changes via the "track-changes" mechanism in a Word document -- but also not wanting to jeopardize the double-blind peer-review process by having identifiable information in the document -- here you go:

"on a PC you go to the 'File' button in Word, click on 'Info' and you'll see 'Check for issues' next to the 'Prepare for sharing' box. Click on 'Check for issues' and select 'Inspect document', then click 'Inspect' in the dialogue box. One section under the review results will be 'Document properties and personal information'. If you click on 'Remove all', all changes will then be attributed to 'Author', rather than to individuals." 

Don't forget to save the document after you click the "Remove all" in order for the change to take effect.

SEE AMERICA!

I just love this collection of SEE AMERICA art, a collaborative project between the Creative Action Network and the National Parks Conservation Association.

The series captures essential elements of nature, demonstrating the value of its preservation, through relatively minimalist design. The prints are visually striking, using simple multi-tone color schemes and often a woodblock print style.

Focusing on many of the charismatic megafauna and other intriguing creatures -- bison, moose, mountain goats, whooping cranes, loons, wolf, grizzly bear, wild mustangs, and more -- these images capture unique senses of place from regions across the country.

With the centennial anniversary of the National Park Service approaching in 2016 and the continued threat of budget cuts today, Creative Action Network put out a call to its community of artists and designers around the world to create a new collection of See America posters for a new generation. The posters will highlight natural, cultural and historic sites across the country depicting our shared history and encouraging individuals to reconnect with these places. CAN has partnered with the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA), who stepped up to sponsor and support See America. - See more at: http://seeamericaproject.com/pages/about-us#sthash.z9G9qivt.dpuf

With the centennial anniversary of the National Park Service approaching in 2016 and the continued threat of budget cuts today, Creative Action Network put out a call to its community of artists and designers around the world to create a new collection of See America posters for a new generation. The posters will highlight natural, cultural and historic sites across the country depicting our shared history and encouraging individuals to reconnect with these places. CAN has partnered with the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA), who stepped up to sponsor and support See America. - See more at: http://seeamericaproject.com/pages/about-us#sthash.z9G9qivt.dpuf

With the centennial anniversary of the National Park Service approaching in 2016 and the continued threat of budget cuts today, Creative Action Network put out a call to its community of artists and designers around the world to create a new collection of See America posters for a new generation. The posters will highlight natural, cultural and historic sites across the country depicting our shared history and encouraging individuals to reconnect with these places. CAN has partnered with the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA), who stepped up to sponsor and support See America. - See more at: http://seeamericaproject.com/pages/about-us#sthash.z9G9qivt.dpuf

With the centennial anniversary of the National Park Service approaching in 2016 and the continued threat of budget cuts today, Creative Action Network put out a call to its community of artists and designers around the world to create a new collection of See America posters for a new generation. The posters will highlight natural, cultural and historic sites across the country depicting our shared history and encouraging individuals to reconnect with these places. CAN has partnered with the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA), who stepped up to sponsor and support See America. - See more at: http://seeamericaproject.com/pages/about-us#sthash.z9G9qivt.dpuf

GMO-free Beers

Rather than focusing on the 8 Beers That You Should Stop Drinking Immediately hows about we focus on those better brews - the non-GMO beers. After you've had a few, read the comments on the "8 Beers" post for a good laugh. So many valid opinions!*

From the Eating and Living Healthy Tips board of organics.org, you can enjoy these GMO-free beers nearly guilt free:

Organic Beers (Unpasteurized & Unfiltered)

• Wolaver’s – all beers
• Lamar Street – Whole Foods label (brewed by Goose Island)
• Bison – all beers
• Dogfish Head (organic when ingredients available)
• Fish Brewery Company – Fish Tale Ales
• Lakefront Brewery – Organic ESB
• Brooklyn – (organic when ingredients are available)
• Pinkus – all beers
• Samuel Smiths – Samuel Smiths Organic Ale
• Wychwood – Scarecrow Ale

Non-Organic Beers (Unpasteurized & Unfiltered)

• Sierra Nevada – all choices
• Duck Rabbit – Brown Ale, Porter, Amber Ale, Milk Stout
• Dogfish Head- 60 Minute IPA, Shelter Pale Ale, Chicory Stout
• Shipyard – Summer Brew
• Victory Brewery – Whirlwind
• North Coast – Blue Star
• Bridgeport – IPA (Bottle conditioned)
• Ayinger – all choices
• Royal Oak – Pale Ale
• Fraziskaner – Hefeweisse and Dunkel Weisse
• Weihenstephaner – Hefe Weissbier
• Maisel’s – Weisse
• Hoegaarden – Belgian Wit

Others

• Heineken
• Steamwhistle
• Amstel Light
• Duchy Original Ale Organic
• Mill Street Brewery
• Fuller’s Organic
• Nelson Organic Ale
• Natureland Organic

*sarcasm alert

Grass Farming in the Root River Valley.

Wherever I go, the Root River watershed of southeastern Minnesota is "home." Flowing roughly west to east, it meets the Upper Mississippi River Valley National Wildlife and Fish Refuge between the toe of Minnesota and the western belly of Wisconsin. The watershed drains the fertile bottom land and driftless ridgelines of five Minnesota counties and just a sliver of northeastern Iowa, in Winneshiek County.

The Land Stewardship Project is one group working to support a balance of sustainable agriculture and community development in the Root River watershed. By partnering with "some of the watershed’s critical thinkers and doers," the Land Stewardship Project is bringing theory to the table of practice of grass farming. At "the kitchen tables of watershed farmers," Stewardship planners seek to find out what is needed to bring more people into the world of grass farming and help make it happen.

Asking area farmers for "a kitchen table to share" by hosting a gathering of neighbors in order to discuss farming "for the birds, for the stream, for your own improved profitability" is an effort in place-making, grassroots community-building, and better communication among those who care about the land but may disagree about its best uses.

Place Literature and Climate Change Adaptation Dialogue.

Susanne Moser has a new research article out in the newest (and paywalled) edition of a Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews (WIREs) journal focused on climate change  (Vol. 5 Issue 2).

Communicating adaptation to climate change: The art and science of public engagement when climate change comes home (DOI: 10.1002/wcc.276) brings together an analysis on climate change adaptation language used in public policy, practice, and the news media. Scholarship on place attachment and place identity "are of particular relevance" to engaging various groups regarding climate change adaptation, as Moser suggests in the abstract:

Insights from the literature on place attachment and place identity are of particular relevance to public engagement on adaptation as it goes a long way toward explaining the quality of the adaptation debate to date while offering promising opportunities for dialogue.

Moser has her own research and consulting business in Santa Cruz, CA, and is also affiliated with the Woods Institute for the Environment of Stanford University. Along with co-author Lisa Dilling, Moser published Creating a Climate for Change: Communicating Climate Change and Facilitating Social Change (Cambridge University Press) in 2007. More recently, Moser and co-editor Max Boykoff (University of Colorado-Boulder) published Successful Adaptation to Climate Change (2013, Routledge).

Location-based Social Technology and Sense of Place.

Microsoft has invested $15M in location-ware app maker Foursquare, based in New York City.

Pedro Hernandez at eWeek writes that licensing this social technology will "help Windows and Bing users hone their sense of place."

Connecting Windows Phone users with the search engine Bing and Foursquare's location sensitive app will allow users to receive recommendations about nearby scenes and sites, ostensibly adding depth and perspective to the user experience. Used over time, says Matthew Panzarino at TechCrunch, these platforms will allow "the user to 'come in hot' with intent information about what they're searching for and where they are."

This is "anticipatory computing," using search and activity history to make algorithmic predictions about what other information or activities a user might find interesting. Big Brother never had it so good.

Does crowdsourced, place-based technology like Foursquare "hone" a user's sense of place? Do users become more emotionally attached to places or develop a deeper sense of meaning through the use of such technology? These are empirical questions. Social scientists take note.

"Sense of Place" in the Vernacular.

In contrast to yesterday's post listing Google Scholar results for "sense of place" the items below, from a general Google search, are much less academic. Again, that's the point of Google Scholar. 

Most people use standard Google rather than its academic counterpart. As seen below, regular Google results speak to a much broader audience. Films, urban revitalization, literature, etc. The same term, "sense of place," has different meanings and associations when used in academic research vs. the plain language of everyday life.

Inside Llewyn Davis – film review
Financial Times - That is its charm; that and a sense of place and time that lends a poetic glow to wryly fugitive plotting. This delectable days-in-the-life – or ...

A Sense of Place: Tim Gruber | rearcurtain.com
rearcurtain.com (Sabrina Henry) - Rear Curtain recently sat down with Minneapolis photographers Jenn Ackerman and Tim Gruber to talk about their personal projects. This husband ...

Speakers to bring local perspectives to Queentown event
Voxy - Three speakers with unique Queenstown connections will be joining the programme for TEDxQueenstown: Sense of Place on 22 February 2014.

Study: Placemaking is in vogue for Michigan cities, lack of capital an ...
Michigan Business Review - MLive.com - Grandville sought to create a "sense of place" in its downtown business district by spending $5 million in 2012 on a remodeling of the Chicago Drive ...

Wide Angle Vision Part 2: Missing The Variables - Patheos
A Sense of Place (Sterling) - Home · Pagan Channel · A Sense of Place · A Sense of Place. Pagans .... Us on Twitter · Follow Us on RSS. Subscribe by email to A Sense of Place ...

A sense of where you are
Commons
Paul Dedell, the middle school director, quotes Wallace Stegner, who in his essay “The Sense of Place,” wrote: “a place is not a place until people ...

PG Wodehouse was an English prose master, says Susan Hill
Metro
It has everything – excitement, danger, sense of place and especially of London, corners of which were still little changed when I went up to King's ...
See all stories on this topic »

The Residence by Cenizaro launches a new new series of ...
ITCM
Each Enriching Moment represents The Residence by Cenizaro's philosophy - heartfelt hospitality with a sense of place and warm, attentive service ...

Recent "sense of place" articles from Google Scholar

A much different collection of articles appears from a Google Scholar alert on "sense of place" compared to a regular Google search. But that's the point of Google Scholar, of course. 

These are academic articles published (mostly) in peer-reviewed journals rather than articles for the general public that might appear in newspapers, or other websites or blogs. Notice the highly specific topics in both article title and journal title. 

# # #

Unraveling the Mystique of Terroir: Wine's Sense of Place

GV Jones - 2013

Abstract This lecture focuses on terroir, a French notion that encompasses the climate,
landscape, soil, and people that contribute to the growing of great grapes and the making of
fine wine. Unlike most other beverages, wine has a special quality of invoking positive ...

Voices of Change–Stories of Tourism Development in West Virginia

DW Arbogast, D Eades, M Power - 2014

... Discussions with local leaders explore indicators of community-based tourism including:
maintaining authenticity and sense of place, creating quality experiences for visitors and residents,
balancing the costs and benefits of tourism growth, diversifying their local economies ...

The Socio-Cultural Impact of Industry Restructuring: Fishing Identities in Northeast Scotland

R Williams - Social Issues in Sustainable Fisheries Management, 2014

... studies (which have been limited to small coastal communities on the Altantic fringe); the need
for assessing the potential for co-management of marine resources; the need for an understanding
of the contribu- tion that fishing makes to local culture and sense of place for both ...

Women's Roles in Resistance Movements in Appalachia

EG Gillespie - 2014

... I plan to focus on personal context, sense of place in Appalachia, politics, cultural issues and
attitudes about women. Skip to main content ... I plan to focus on personal context, sense of place
in Appalachia, politics, cultural issues and attitudes about women. Start Date. ...

[PDF] Introduction: Conceptualizing the spatialities of social movements

W Nicholls, B Miller, J Beaumont - 2013

... and political process are played out (locations), social and organizational relations develop to
mediate micro responses to macro level processes (locale), and spatial imaginaries form to give
people a sense of meaning in their particular worlds (sense of place) (Agnew 1987: 28 ...

Crowdsourcing geographic knowledge: volunteered geographic information (VGI) in theory and practice

D Tulloch - International Journal of Geographical Information …, 2014

... ' “I don't come from anywhere”: Exploring the role of the GeoWeb and volunteered geographic
information in rediscovering a sense of place in a dispersed aboriginal community' presented
a balanced and considered look at the ways that this dispersed community employed ...

Being-towards the social: Mood and orientation to location-based social media, computational things and applications

L Evans - New Media & Society, 2014

... Place and mood: situatedness, making sense of place and the importance of place to
understanding the world. While accepting that Heidegger's ... or Besorge). This is critical to
understanding how Dasein makes sense of place. Dasein's making ...

Performance management of guided tours: matching organizational ends and means with participant expectations and experiences

P Demediuk, T Demediuk, R Solli - 2013

... bodies (participants and places) and are affected by other bodies. Whilst these tours
differ in their means, they are all designed to give the 'visitor' a sense of place and
purpose. But the way each tour is constructed both highlights ...

Wrapped up in covers: preschoolers' secrets and secret hiding places

K Corson, MJ Colwell, NJ Bell, E Trejos-Castillo - Early Child Development and Care, 2014

WITS JUNCTION–Student Housing and Heritage Adaptation

B Hart, K Munro - 2013

... requirements. Spatial quality, architectural responses to context, history and a sense
of place are often secondary considerations – nice to have but not essential. Show full
item record. Files in this item. Icon. Name: Hart,B and Munro, ... ...

“My School and Me”—Exploring the Intersections of Insideness and Interior Environments

A Strickland, T Hadjiyanni - Journal of Interior Design, 2013

Skip to Main Content. Wiley Online Library. Log in / Register. Log In E-Mail
Address Password Forgotten Password? Remember Me. ...

Emotional Ambivalence across Times and Spaces: Mapping Petrarch's Intersecting Worlds

P James - Exemplaria, 2014

... The problem here is that without a theory of why some people have such emotions the
explanation works backwards and the assumptions are teleological — that is, an emotional
response to an abstracted sense of place is explained by what comes after. ...

At the Intersection of Urban Sociology and Criminology: Fear Of Crime and the Postindustrial City

TA Benz - Sociology Compass, 2014

... in defense of the space through normative policing by the people – it is these people that Jacobs
is referring to when she refers to “eyes on the street.” Similarly, other scholars have found that
fear of crime largely depends on an individual's sense of place and community (Banks ...

Introduction: Social issues in sustainable fisheries management

J Urquhart, TG Acott, D Symes, M Zhao - Social Issues in Sustainable Fisheries …, 2014

... Social issues in fisheries encompass a diversity of topics, including livelihoods , social
cohesion , social innovation , social renewal , cultural values, sense of place and identity ,
education, wellbeing , equality , equity , dependency and spiritual values. ...

Effects of tofacitinib on lymphocytes in rheumatoid arthritis: relation to efficacy and infectious adverse events

K Sonomoto, K Yamaoka, S Kubo, S Hirata, S Fukuyo… - Rheumatology, 2014

... Takada K,; Jameson SC. . Naive T cell homeostasis: from awareness of space
to a sense of place. Nat Rev Immunol 2009;9:823-32. ...

A critical cultural inquiry into insider issues in South Korean art education

KM Paek - British Journal of Sociology of Education, 2014

... The studies have exposed that 'art educators' sense of place within the educational field, their
level of job satisfaction, available options and the future they envision are greatly tempered and
circumscribed by their socio-educational status' (Hamblen [198521. ...

Heritage, Skills and Livelihood: Reconstruction and Regeneration in a Cornish Fishing Port

T Martindale - Social Issues in Sustainable Fisheries Management, 2014

... Com- menting on Casey's (2002, p. 76) argument that to “know a region is also to be able to
remember it”—Matsuda (2004, p. 262) says this mnemonic sense of place “defies mere
'representation' because it is not about symbolism, but about finding presence in shifting temporal ...

(Local-) community for global challenges: carbon conversations, transition towns and governmental elisions

G Taylor Aiken - Local Environment, 2014

... A less individualistic approach might take into account the technologies, infrastructures,
sense of place, spirituality, memories and biographies, and other crucial more
phenomenological aspects of community, to name just a few. ...

[PDF] Exhausted Landscapes: Reframing the Rural in Recent Argentine and Brazilian Films

J Andermann - Cinema Journal, 2014

... Here, a kind of documentary window opens up inside the diegesis, with the narrator for once
falling silent and allowing a sense of place to emerge from sheer observation—as if, forced by
Paty's commanding screen presence, the film and its narrator could not but recognize, if ...

The Makiling Echo: The Multiple Functions of a Staff Magazine in the American Tropical Empire of the Twentieth Century

B Luyt - Library & Information History, 2014