Friday, March 1, 2013

World Heritage Sites Group 6 – Europe (Group Summary)


World Heritage Sites
Group 6 – Europe
Of the 962 World Heritage sites designated by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Culture Organization (UNESCO), the “European group: was responsible for identifying and analyzing characteristics of 12 World Heritage sites. World Heritage Sites are natural or cultural locations that UNESCO classifies as having special cultural or physical significance. Our group was responsible for 12 European Sites which included: the Orto Botanico di Padova, Italy; the historic city of Trogir, Croatia; Canal du Midi, France; Delphi, Greece; Isle of Surtsey, Iceland; Srebarna Nature Reserve, Bulgaria; City of Bath, England; Kronborg Castle, Denmark; the Gran Dolina, Spain; the Garden Kingdom of Dessau- Wörlitz, Germany; Western Caucasus, Russian Federation; and the Blenheim Palace, England. This group was led online through the University of West Florida GIS program.  Each member was tasked to create a world heritage site map of an assigned location with a description of the site, a photograph of the location, and URL where users can find more information. The maps were shared amongst the group using ArcGIS Online web-maps, and combined they create a map gallery of the 12 UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Europe. These maps can be used to share in-depth knowledge and external resources about UNESCO World Heritage sites. Additionally, the group was broken down into separate teams in order to focus our strengths to complete the project. Jobs included gathering resources, creating an introductory paragraph, correspondence, generating a group summary, and a group leader. By working in a group, students gained experience of collaborating in a team environment along with expanding their GIS knowledge.


                                                                                            
Map Gallery Preview:


Closing Remarks:
            This exercise was an interesting project for each of us, it demonstrated the many challenges of group cooperation and communication when using online tools, and paved the way for future collaboration. This lesson also presented an opportunity to learn about sites steeped in cultural history that many of us had never heard of before.


Resources for Group 6 EUROPE

Main Resources:
The two main sites utilized by all participating group members provided location information, historical material, and additional access to photos.

·         UNESCO, accessed Feb 16, 2013, http://whc.unesco.org.
This website contains information and reference map of all the UNESCO World Heritage sites.

·         Wikipedia, accessed Feb 16, 2013, http://www.wikipedia.org.
Wikipedia contains crowd sourced information on all of the World Heritage Sites. Much of the information is sourced and it provides an excellent starting point for further research.


Unique Individual Resources:
Below are resources utilized by the members for their assigned World Heritage Site.

·         “Delphi Archaeological Site”, ancient-greece.org, accessed 19 Feb 2013,  http://www.ancient-greece.org/archaeology/delphi-archaeology.html

·         “Botanical Garden of Padova,” Universita Degli Studi Di Padova, accessed 20 Feb 2013, http://www.ortobotanico.unipd.it/en/index.html

·         “Canal du Midi HD,” Jack Johanson, posted to YouTube 4 Feb 2009, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1zT3DA-8uo

·         “The French Midi Canal,” Philippe Calas, Apr 2005, http://www.midicanal.fr/

·         “Kronborg Castle,” Agency for Palaces and Cultural Properties, accessed 20 Feb 2013, http://www.kronborgcastle.com/

·         “Kronborg Castle,” World Heritage Site, accessed 20 Feb 2013, http://www.worldheritagesite.org/sites/kronborgcastle.html

·         “History of Bath,” Mother Earth Travel, accessed 20 Feb 2013, http://motherearthtravel.com/united_kingdom/bath/history.htm

·         “The Royal Crescent in Bath,” Pictures of England, accessed 20 Feb 2013, http://www.picturesofengland.com/England/Somerset/Bath/article/1044

·         “Royal Crescent,” Wikipedia, accessed 20 Feb 2013, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Crescent

·         “Western Caucasus, Russian Federation,” Encyclopedia of Earth, accessed 20 Feb 2013, http://www.eoearth.org/article/Western_Caucasus,_Russian_Federation

·         “Welcome to Trogir – Croatia,” Troigir, accessed 20 Feb 2013, http://www.trogironline.com/
   



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