Today I gave a paper at the European Conference of the Landscape Research Group
Energy Landscapes Perception, Planning, Participation and Power

It needed more crafting as I have more fieldwork to do, and academic reading to complete, however presenting it helped. It’s now time to think about shaping it the way I did for a project called theirwork which is published in Re-thinking Maps. (Connolly, E. & Williamson, D. (2009) ‘theirwork: The Development of a Sustainable Mapping Tool’, Rethinking Maps: New Frontiers in Cartographic Theory, London: Routledge.)

Is TAGSCAPE something I can interject into different spaces? If so, are they going to be spaces that negotiate energy production on a larger scale? Patrick Devine-Wright’s key note speech helped me to think about the different people that I gather data from in the context of landscape and resource use. At the end of my talk, he said it will be interesting to see if I can take TAGSCAPE into an energy landscape. To achieve this, as Bryony Fowler of Clean Earth Energy pointed, I need to develop a tool kit. At the moment, I am working on natural and perceptual data collection however, I have always been thinking about how to interject the small-scale charcoal making that happens at Crenver (Beech) Grove, and the commercial softwood production that is Bellever Forest.

On Friday I go on a field trip to Leipzig. It’s a good time to be taken out of context – The field trip includes a walk along the Parthe river and a ‘pic nic discussion’ with researchers and stakeholders from the region. 

This month I go to Dresden and give a paper about #tagscape at a conference called Energy Landscapes Perception, Planning, Participation and Power. I then travel to Bristol to present the project and other mapping jobs I have been involved in. It’s good timing, the rest of July and August have been difficult in terms of advancing the project. Things like the leaves on the trees have not helped me with I.D skills, and I haven’t found it easy to take GPS readings in the woods. And then of course, everyone is on holiday.

Just before Dresden, I will finalise how I am going to database perceptual and natural data. In October, I can then start resolving technical and production issues. It’ll be good to present what I have learnt and my plan of action.  Plus, I need to start critically evaluating the project and I don’t think there’s a better way than to share the work with an academic community who are into landscape.