"A full-day workshop on the use of maps and mapping
in community health research"

Background: Mapping is an innovative and largely under-utilized tool that community researchers can use to explore and examine the unique health challenges facing rural and remote communities while building community capacity. Mapping is a broad term that encompasses desktop geographic information system (GIS) analysis to participatory knowledge gathering, exploration and dissemination, like community mapping. Community mapping is particularly useful in rural and remote health research because geographical factors contribute to make the localness or connectedness of assets that much more crucial.  For example, consider the importance of the following to a rural/remote community: distribution and locations of health programs and services, local food production, recreational assets, green space and playgrounds, and economic opportunities.

All communities have un-tapped strengths and supports; capacity waiting to be released and empowered. Capacity of this sort allows communities to promote health from within. Healthcare institutions, on the other hand, have strengths and supports that when working well complement this community capacity. Research using mapping is one set of tools which brings these strengths and complementary relationships to light. Mapping helps individuals, communities and institutions explore:

• Sense of place – which may be explored in terms of cultural, historical and geo/ecological knowledge of a place;
• Community cohesiveness - which can be qualitatively measured by the number and quality of “bumping places” that are used in a community; places where people come together to share;
• Empowerment - empowerment relates to knowledge of internal, community and institutional supports. Empowerment also comes from feelings of ownership of supports and confidence in drawing upon them to create positive change.

When: the Monday before the 6th BC Rural Communities Summit

Workshop Audience: The workshop is designed for a wide range of community-based health researchers, public health practitioners, policy makers, and community leaders. The mapping-based participatory action facilitation tools and processes presented in this workshop can be used at many stages of capacity building projects, from visioning to evaluation; and at any scale, from small group community walking challenges to network-level transportation planning for youth recreation.

Workshop Objectives: In this hands-on skills development workshop, we will:

• Teach facilitation techniques and health research tools that focus on making/using maps to promote healthy rural/remote communities;
• Explain and explore the community researcher philosophy that accompanies asset-based community development and participatory research;
• Exchange stories between participants who have used mapping and participatory research techniques in their work;

• Demonstrate and encourage the use of both desktop GIS and web-based mapping methods and tools that are driving innovative community research and community health approaches.
• Provide the participants with ideas and practical resources for projects to build capacity in rural/remote health at the individual, community and institution levels.

Workshop Synopsis: The tools and philosophy explored in this workshop are based on the asset-based community development work of John McKnight (http://www.northwestern.edu/ipr/people/mcknight.html) and community-based participatory research (see for example:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community-based_participatory_research).

We will explore how individuals, communities and institutions can be involved in each of three phases of 'Community Research with Maps':

(A) gathering knowledge on the strengths and supports (both current assets and visions for future capacity), (B) tools and methods for participatory analysis and priority setting of these assets and visions, and (C) re-presenting knowledge back to the community.

For A, we will try out group mapping exercises with pen and paper, and demonstrate on-line map data collection tools, describe mapping events, challenges and community building. These tools will include innovative and inexpensive open-source web-mapping systems that communities can build for themselves, and which institutions can support. In Part B, we will demonstrate systems for communities to examine/order/systematize the rich community data they have collected, and then discuss ways to equitably determine what projects should be given priority (assessing local capacity, funding, internal and external supports). Key to this discussion is how to let the individuals and communities "own" the research process. For Part C, we will discuss what is involved with the creation of print 'poster maps'

and health surveys that build health capacity through raising awareness of sense of place, community cohesiveness, and collective vision and goals.

Workshop Facilitation: The workshop will be facilitated by Dr Charles Burnett (UVic Geography/Geomemes) and Fiona Lawson (VIHA).