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CSISS Mission and Objectives
CSISS, the Center for Spatially Integrated Social
Science, was funded with support from the
National
Science Foundation under its program of support
for infrastructure in the social and behavioural sciences.
Its programs focus on the methods, tools, techniques,
software, data access, and other services needed to
promote and facilitate a novel and integrating approach
to the social sciences.
CSISS Mission Statement:
CSISS is founded on the principle that analyzing social
phenomena in space and time enhances our understanding of
social processes. Hence, CSISS cultivates an integrated
approach to social science research that recognizes the
importance of location, space, spatiality, and place.
The goal of CSISS is to integrate spatial concepts into
the theories and practices of the social sciences by providing
infrastructure to facilitate: (1) the integration of existing
spatial knowledge, making it more explicit, and (2) the
generation of new spatial knowledge and understanding.
CSISS Objectives:
- To encourage and expand applications of new geographic
information technologies and newly available geographically
referenced data in social science.
- To introduce the next generation of scholars to this
integrated approach to social science research.
- To foster collaborative interdisciplinary networks that
address core issues in the social sciences using this
approach.
- To develop a successful clearinghouse for the tools,
case studies, educational opportunities, and other resources
needed by this approach.
To fulfill its objectives, CSISS administers seven
interrelated programs:
Specialist
Meetings
National
Workshops
Spatial Analytic Tools
Learning Resources
Best
Examples
Place-Based
Search
Virtual Community
Please explore the CSISS website to discover the spatial
resources, methods, tools, and other services we provide to
enhance research in the social sciences.
Background Papers:
Toward Spatially Integrated Social Science,
by
Michael
F. Goodchild,
Luc Anselin,
Richard
P. Appelbaum, and
Barbara
Herr Harthorn - A published paper outlining the
motivation for a spatial approach in the social and behavioral
sciences. The authors review the emerging interest in space
and place in the recent social science literature and develop
a vision for spatially integrated social science. First
published in the International Regional Science Review
23,2 pp.139-159, copyright © by
Sage
Publications. Reprinted by Permission of Sage Publications.
PDF, 262 Kb
New Horizons for the Social Sciences: Geographic
Information Systems, by
Michael
F. Goodchild - The use of GIS has now spread very
widely among the sciences, and it is now an accepted tool among
all of the disciplines that deal with the surface of the Earth
and its human population. This paper discusses the concept of
Digital Earth, and its possible value as a motivating force.
PDF, 36 Kb
Survey
of Program Applicants and Participants - In January
of 2003 CSISS commissioned the UCSB Social Science Survey
Center to survey applicants and participants in CSISS
programs during the period of 2000-2002. The purpose
of the survey was two-fold – (1) to help trace
trends in the development and use of spatial thinking
in the social sciences and (2) to assess the impact
of CSISS programs on teaching and research.
PDF, 540 Kb
Michael F. Goodchild
Executive
Director
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