Speaker Bios

Emily HendersonProgram Manager, Google Earth Outreach

Emily joined the Earth Outreach team as a Program Manager in May of 2015 and has worked at Google for the past 5 years. Prior to joining the Outreach team, Emily supported the eecutive engineering staff o the larger organization of Geo, which in addition to Google Earth and Maps, includes Google Mobile Maps, Street View, and Google's local business efforts. After years of advancing product development, Emily is excited to bring her knowledge of Google's mapping tools to teachers and students around the world.

Brian Thom

Assistant Professor, University of Victoria

Brian Thom, Assistant Professor at University of Victoria, focuses his research on the political, social and cultural processes that have surrounded Coast Salish people's efforts to resolve aboriginal title and rights claims and establish self-government. He is interested in the interplay of culture, power and discourse in land claims negotiations, and in exploring the political and ontological challenges for indigenous people who engage institutions of the state. His work is keenly attenuated to developing practical policy outcomes from the insights gained from this research. His research is community-driven and politically engaged in matters of contemporary social significance.

Justin Fritz

Graduate Student, University of Victoria

Justin Fritz is a graduate student at the University of Victoria, working through the Ethnographic Mapping Lab to develop a digital mapping project with and for members of the W̱SÁNEĆ Nation (Canada). The goal of this project is to assist members of the W̱SÁNEĆ Nation in their efforts to educate the public and the community share place-based knowledge, reactivate kin networks across the International Boundary, assert Douglas Treaty rights and Aboriginal rights and title, and revitalize reef net fishing as a cultural practice. Through this work, Justin substantial experience using Google Earth for this and other projects, and will be providing technical assistance to attendees during the workshop.