GPS tracking of some Northern Ireland students – patterns of shared and separated space: divided we stand?

Abstract

Northern Ireland is a fundamentally divided society and there is evidence of the two main communities there, Protestant and Catholic, leading essentially separate lives. These divisions are reflected in the largely segregated residential patterns for the communities and in the separate schooling that most of them experience. This paper examines these divisions and the young people's perceptions of their impact. Global positioning system (GPS) tracking devices are used to explore the patterns of movement of some young people and the effectiveness of this method of recording spatial mobility is examined. These devices seem, only recently, to be becoming a technology that Geography teachers would consider using in their classrooms and in the field to support learning and to develop an interest in GPS and other spatial technologies. It is argued that there are many potential uses of the devices by Geography teachers.

Keywords:

• GPS
• education
• Northern Ireland
• sectarianism
• segregation
• technology
• tracking

Acknowledgements

Thanks are due to the staff and students in all of the schools who took part and to Ms Teresa McEvoy, who carried out and transcribed the interviews for the two schools where the mapping was compared. Dr Linda Clarke and Dr Alan McCully read an early draft of the paper and offered useful advice. The authors would also like to thank two anonymous referees for their helpful comments.

Notes

1. The CRC commissioned the pilot with which this paper has been developed, with support from the Nerve Centre in Derry/Londonderry. The Nerve Centre has served as a focal point for young people in Northern Ireland, often working creatively with digital media. Also involved in the project was the Ulster Mediascapes group which has worked with schools in Northern Ireland since 2006, helping learners to create location-aware computing experiences.