Alan Wilks is not a GI person but he is ops Director of the AGI and he was a memeber of the conference team and a participant at the GeoCommunity conference.
A very good point AlanI am beginning to think that the problem is not the concepts themselves, but the language used by geographers to explain the concepts. This language is evolving as a tool for geographer to speak to geographer. But as geographers learn that language and use that language, it creates an increasing barrier between the geographers and the layman. And an idea only takes shape once language is used to communicate that idea.
So ironically, just as the technology is making GIS more accessible to the public, the language is making GIS increasingly less accessible. It is almost as if geographers are uncomfortable with widening access to their ideas beyond a perceived audience.
