Geddy Lee, Buffalo Field Campaign. Photo by Stephany Seay, BFC.

I had the privilege to represent Buffalo Field Campaign by attending the seventh annual Digital Frontiers Conference in Lawrence, Kansas on October 4th and 5th. It was exciting to meet up with several former colleagues from my previous time at the University of North Texas in Denton, Texas, as well as to meet new people from institutions from around the country. The conference theme this year was “Finding Community in Digital Humanities”.

I was invited to present the poster “Endangered Species Act Documentation of Wildlife Migration in a GIS” on the use of the BFC wildlife database in pursuit of Endangered Species Act protection for the buffalo. Thank you Mike and Stephany for your help editing the abstract as well as to Cindy for abbreviating the title. And of course a special thanks to Jesse for designing the wildlife database which is essential to our work.

I set up the poster first thing Thursday morning after walking from my accommodations to the Burge Union on the campus of the University of Kansas. It was 92 degrees when I arrived the day prior but the cold front overnight had it down to the low 50s this morning. The poster presentation session took place the first night during the reception. All five poster presenters stand by their posters and engage people who walk up. I chose to stand with my IPad demonstrating the wildlife database.

The poster Geddy created to represent the “Endangered Species Act Documentation of Wildlife Migration in a GIS”.

I designed the poster to give the background of the issue to set up why it is important that we do what we do. My intention was to use the poster to generate interest in the wildlife database and to engage me in questions and comments. I told my sister who goes to a lot of academic conferences that I had very positive interactions coupled with indifference. She thinks that is about par for the course. Overall, I think I accomplished an interesting and interactive presentation. And instead of creating supplemental handouts I handed out our newsletters.

I would like to thank Dr. Spencer D.C. Keralis for putting on a great conference as always. I would also like to thank my friends Audra, Bob, Ali, Chris, and Mike for putting up with me in Denton. Thank you to Rachel and Tim in Longmont for your hospitality. And a very special thanks to Lara and Sergio for picking me up at the airport so late as well as to Don for getting me to the airport so early to start my trip back in September.

Buffalove,
Geddy