River Engagement Portal

"Silent Spring" the little book that caused big changes

Tue, 25 Sep 2012 07:39:27 -0500

http://nyti.ms/RMYZnL I think if I were offering a classic example defining the importance of engagement, story, and similar strategies to multi-dimensional work on rivers, Silent Spring would be the first example I’d come up with. Carson’s science was impeccable, but not new; most of her citations were from published literature well known to specialists. Her contribution was to weave these disparate nuggets into a compelling story and to thereby take the insights of the few specialists and make them accessible to the many in the public.

Thus are revolutions born, and thus did the energy and momentum that became sweeping environmental protection legislation in the next decade get started. #engagement

"Water Is Life" A claim that must be taken seriously

Tue, 04 Sep 2012 09:15:22 -0500

http://bit.ly/N2r2Cr It may be easy to say “water is life,” but what does it take to act on that knowledge?

Across the American West, uranium mines and other industrial developments are contaminating scarce water supplies, endangering indigenous communities located far away, downstream in complicated, arid, watersheds.

These voices are powerful testimony to the persistence of people and community. #engagement

Little Crow newspaper series, panel discussion

Tue, 04 Sep 2012 08:17:00 -0500

http://ias.umn.edu/2012/08/30/brown-curt/ To mark the sesquicentennial of the US-Dakota War of 1862, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune developed a six-part series examining the war, events leading up to it, and its aftermath through the lens of the life of Little Crow, a Dakota leader.

This war is a pivotal event in the history of Minnesota, which makes it, in a very profound way, a River Story that must be told.

The first link above is to a video of a recent panel discussion about the series, held at the University of Minnesota August 30. #engagement

Can the Mississippi River become a hub for green tourism?

Mon, 30 Jul 2012 19:58:54 -0500

http://bit.ly/OwVKRi This article, from our friends at the Institute on the Environment’s Momentum program, describes efforts along Lake Superior’s North Shore to develop green tourism. Not only are the groups highlighted focusing on natural destination attractions, they are working hard to reduce their ecological and energy footprint.

A worthy goal for Mississippi River-related tourism also! #engagement

Can tablet computers re-create indigenous knowledge of place?

Wed, 25 Jul 2012 20:21:54 -0500

http://bit.ly/LOzH6q The deeply felt multisensory knowledge of a place that many indigenous people carry would seem to be incapable of being duplicated. But is it? Experiments in southern Africa are trying to find out. #engagement

Mississippi River Water Trail designated north of St. Louis

Wed, 25 Jul 2012 11:29:43 -0500

http://bit.ly/MDLJBJ President Obama’s “America’s Great Outdoors” initiative is creating water trails throughout the country. This article covers a trail that stretches for 120 miles north of St. Louis, and that involves several federal agencies. #engagement

Mississippi River is nation's second water trail

Tue, 24 Jul 2012 11:30:05 -0500

http://bit.ly/PZ78Ju Recognition of the Mississippi River’s importance and potential as a community corridor comes in the form of recognition as the nation’s second federally-designated water trail. #engagement

Multi-generational water expressions contest

Mon, 23 Jul 2012 14:16:37 -0500

http://1.usa.gov/MSHP6w Go to this site, enjoy, and vote for the best photography, poetry, dance, and multimedia art submitted to the intergenerational Sense of Wonder contest. Wonderful stuff! #engagement

Neighborhood Story Project: Voices from New Orleans

Wed, 18 Jul 2012 11:18:37 -0500

http://bit.ly/OAo4A6 We all want to hear the voices of people whose sense of place is closely tied to where they live. Here’s on example! #engagement

Trail brings people to forgotten riverfront

Tue, 17 Jul 2012 11:26:30 -0500

http://bit.ly/LD6wEw Major milestone in the Anacostia Riverfront Trail is met. Trails and river walks are well known to be important engagement tools, connecting people to formerly abandoned riverfronts. #engagement

Not beating swords into plowshares, but close!

Mon, 16 Jul 2012 11:27:29 -0500

http://bit.ly/N5ytqA Living Lands and Waters repurposes a barge as a classroom on the Upper Miss. #engagement

Not "nature" but maybe our future?

Mon, 02 Jul 2012 11:29:46 -0500

http://bit.ly/L6IKoS Singapore’s Gardens by the Bay: futuristic, expensive, and maybe an important model for one route to the future with energy, biomass, and learning. #engagement

Water Travel Narratives: How we know and love places

Sun, 01 Jul 2012 11:24:51 -0500

http://bit.ly/MXRHy7 This note from the U Wisconsin Water Library reminds us how much narrative, story, the experience of humans in place, is part of our growing to love places. This seems especially important for rivers; who can think of their earliest exposure to the Mississippi River without The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn?

What else should be on the “river rats” short list? #engagement

Nineteenth Century war still resonates on Minnesota River

Sat, 30 Jun 2012 11:27:08 -0500

http://kare11.tv/METI0c Our history is a central component of who we are, and for Minnesota, the 1862 Dakota War along the Minnesota River continues to echo troublingly throughout the region. #engagement

Panoramas: 19th century idea due for rebirth?

Fri, 29 Jun 2012 08:24:22 -0500

http://on.wsj.com/N2JVn4 As this article describes, “panoramas” were 19th century paintings that stretched across thousands of feet of canvas, depicting scenes from faraway lands (including the distant Mississippi River valley). Accompanied by lecturers describing the scenes as they unrolled, panoramas were viewed by tens of thousands of people in large Eastern cities and in London.

What would be a modern analogue? What kind of team could string together thousands of digital photos or movies to encompass the WHOLE Mississippi River? #engagement

Historic dredge boat finds new home

Wed, 27 Jun 2012 11:28:08 -0500

http://bit.ly/N2hgun Anyone interested in how the Upper Mississippi River works, as a river, should learn about the role that the dredge William A. Thompson played in maintaining the navigable waterway for well over 50 years. This important part of the Big River’s story will open soon as a museum in Prairie du Chien, WI. #engagement

Community historian in Minot ND: 2011 flooding is key part of story

Wed, 27 Jun 2012 08:29:00 -0500

http://bit.ly/M45e9n As last year’s floods on the Souris River threatened Minot, ND, community historian Bruce Anderson realized that he was dealing with “history as it happens.” Read more for his reflections and what he developed out of the flood emergency last summer. #engagement

Centennial offers opportunity to celebrate, teach

Fri, 22 Jun 2012 11:28:11 -0500

http://bit.ly/NHTCtN Our former colleague in Landscape Architecture at the University of Minnesota, Barry Lehrman, has just announced upcoming work to commemorate the centennial of the opening of the Los Angeles Aqueduct.

“Commemorate” is a fraught, complex term, but we’re sure that Lehrman’s work, which will involve teaching and an exhibition at the very least, will be complex and thought-provoking. Stay up to date by reading Lehrman’s blog at http://infrascapedesign.wordpress.com/ #engagement

THAT Camp: More fun that most people are allowed to have

Thu, 21 Jun 2012 11:25:44 -0500

http://bit.ly/M0VHPU at least by the sounds of this article from a recent attendee.

THAT Camp stands for The Humanities and Technology Camp, and there are apparently several of them going on around the country this summer (see the link for lots more details). Also worth noting: the depiction of the gathering as an “un conference;” an idea that we can definitely get behind! #engagement

"Digital cultural mapping" Oh my!

Wed, 20 Jun 2012 11:25:42 -0500

http://hypercities.com/NEH/ What’s not to like about projects that combine thoughtful, innovative, culturally-inquisitive cartography with information visualization? Or, to quote the article,

“By geospatial Humanities, we mean the centrality of place, geo-temporal analysis, and mapping for conceptualizing, investigating, and visualizing research problems in fields such as history, architecture, classics, literary studies, art history, as well as the humanistic social sciences (archaeology, anthropology, and political science). Situated at the intersection of critical cartography and information visualization,…”

The programs run at two locations for the next 2 weeks. We’ll be watching for more discussion! #engagement