Giving Voice to the Unspoken

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Duration: 22 minutes and 35 seconds

Year: 2001

Country: Vietnam

Language: English

License: CC Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike

Genre: Instructional

Producer: ASEAN Regional Center for Biodiversity Conservation (ARCBC)

Director: Giacomo Rambaldi

Views: 1,837 (1,182 embedded)

Posted by: giacomo on Feb 28, 2008

20-minute video production showing the hands-on aspects of Participatory 3D Modelling (P3DM). The video supports all practical aspects of P3DM described in the resource book "Participatory 3-Dimensional Modelling: Guiding Principles and Applications" and documents in detail an exercise conducted within the Pu Mat National Park, a protected area in Vietnam.

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Giving Voice to the Unspoken
Educational Video Production in Support of the Resource Book
Participatory 3D Modelling: Guiding Principles and Applications
In a world where natural resources continue to become scarcer and poorer
it is increasingly recognised that the cooperation
and active participation of all those concerned
are necessary to ensure their sustainable management.
Distribution, tenure and access are focal issues
in the management of such resources.
Having access to mere quantitative and qualitative data
is not sufficient for their complete understanding
and use in learning, negotiation and networking processes.
Data on resource tenure, use and access
have a lesser meaning if not visualised
in terms of their distribution over a given territory.
In the last decade there has been a strong
drive towards integrating Geographic Information Systems
better known as GIS
into community-centred initiatives.
This particularly
to deal with the spatial information gathering
and to allow stakeholders to make informed decisions on how best to manage their environment.
Most natural resource dependent communities
are marginalised and isolated
and do not have the technical and financial capabilities
needed to handle a GIS.
As such,
a method known as Participatory 3 Dimensional Modelling
or P3DM
has been conceived to bring GIS potentials
closer to rural communities.
This video production
on Participatory 3D Modelling
is intended to assist researchers,
project implementers,
NGOs and GIS practitioners
in bringing the power of Geographic Information Technologies
to the grassroots.
Participatory 3D Modelling
integrates conventional and spatial information
like contour lines and people's knowledge
to produce stand-alone, scaled and georeferenced relief models.
These have proved to be user friendly
and relatively accurate data storage
and analysis devices
and at the same time excellent communication media.
This video shows the various steps
involved in producing a 3D Model.
A detailed discussion of the method can be found
in the accompanying book
Participatory 3D Modelling:
Guiding Principles and Applications.
So far, P3DM has been successfully used
in Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam
in diverse situations
and for different purposes,
but all dealing with territorial and natural resource management issues,
including:
Supporting Traditional Knowledge
Collaborative Research and Planning
Protected Area Management
Participatory Monitoring and Evaluation
Conflict Resolution
Indigenous Peoples' Rights
Information and Education.
The functionality of the method is based essentially on the fact
that it facilitates discovery learning
visualises knowledge
improves communication
and stimulates cohesion among community members.
It is important to understand
that a Participatory 3D Modelling exercise
should be conceived only as a component
of a broader, long-lasting intervention
having a clearly defined goal.
Never do a 3D Modelling exercise
just for the sake of gathering data.
You will generate a lot of expectations
and disillusions among participants.
The manufacture of the model itself
is a relatively demanding exercise
and we would like to show you how to do it.
Hands-on!
To show the construction of one of these models
we had filmed an exercise done in November 2001
in Vietnam
at the headquarters of the Pu Mat National Park
The exercise involved
more than 120 people.
Students and teachers from local schools
were responsible for the construction
of the blank model.
80 representatives from ethnic minority groups
living inside and around the park
acted as key informants.
Park staff and government officials
joint the facilitators in their task.
The actual construction is the combination
of months of preparation, that included:
Selecting the area
Gathering information
Doing a stakeholder analysis
Conducting consultations
Mobilising the community
Procuring supplies, and
looking after the logistics.
Procurement is one of the critical aspects
of 3D Modelling.
You need items which will allow informants
to reproduce real-world features
at a given scale
through clearly identifiable symbols.
The relief model is made
by overlaying, custom-cut layers of cartonboard.
The thickness of the carton
reproduces the contour interval
at the desired scale.
Differentiating among horizontal and vertical scales
gives the opportunity to enhance the perception of slope.
Push and map pins are used to represent point data
like households, social infrastructures,
landmarks and others.
Paint is used for symbolising areas
including land use and cover
water bodies like lakes, marshes and the sea.
Yarns are used to show linear data
like roads, trails and boundaries.
To work at scale, you need a series of measuring or scaling instruments.
These include, a calliper
a scale ruler, plumb line, compass,
steal measuring tape
cut-outs of numbers and letters
and a quick reference guide.
The base map has to be prepared with precision and adequate referencing.
Two copies are needed.
Other supplies are needed in sufficient quantities
to keep all participants busy.
The construction of blank models
is best entrusted to students.
They are briefed on the mechanics of construction
before the actual work.
They are then divided into 3 working groups
that will trace, cut and paste the different layers.
The exercise requires at least 3 facilitators
skilled in cartography or GIS,
environmental, land use and community work.
The first activity consists of assembling the base map.
The map is then glued on a tailored made table.
It must be emphasised that map, table and carton sheets
should have exactly the same size.
To transfer the single contour lines
from the base map to the carton board
you need a large carbon paper.
The best way is to assemble it on the spot
making sure that its size matches the one of the map.
Once completed, the carbon paper is placed
between the base map and one carton board.
This allows you to trace a selected contour line.
The traced contour line is used as a guide
for cutting out the single layers
using cutters, short solid scissors
or coping saws.
The layers are then marked
with the correspondig elevation and the North orientation.
Particularly in mountain areas
the higher the elevation the more segmented each layer will be.
Depending on its complexity and segmentation
you may resort to maintaining temporary bridges
or to independently assembling selected portions of the model.
A geographic referencing system
is needed to avoid misplacing
the various layers.
Long nails are placed through the table
to correspond with selected landmarks
such as mountain peaks or hill tops.
The second base map is perforated
to match the nails placed on the based table.
This allows to perfectly locate succeeding layers.
Small paper cut-outs are glued
on the edge of the carton layers
to strengthen the model
and smoothen the slopes.
The use of water-based glue is recommended
and it has to be diluted to allow easy spreading
without soaking the carton board.
Determining the correct dilution,
and this depends on the quality of the glue available on the market,
is one of the key factors affecting the quality of the model.
Watery glue will cause the carton board to weaken and
the single layers to partially collapse.
This alters the desired vertical scale.
It is important that layers are gently compressed on top of each other
so that the resulting surface is flat.
The first task has now been completed.
The blank model is ready to accommodate the knowledge of key informants.
To do this, coding means should first be prepared.
It may be hard to find custom-made water-based colours
at reasonable prices.
Colour powder can be used instead.
Sufficient quantities of each colour must be prepared
to ensure consistency in coding.
Colour-coded yarns should be used before applying paint
to allow for a free discussion
while depicting lines and areas.
Yarns are flexible coding means
able to accommodate endless adjustments.
The legend allows users
to decode and interpret data displayed on the model.
Its preparation, particularly the listing
and description of different terms,
will determine the usefulness of the model
and the final intellectual ownership
of the output.
Symbols and corresponding definitions
should be easily understood
and include features relevant to the informants.
The second group of participants
is composed of people who best know the territory
generally elders, indigenous peoples
farmers, fisher folk, forest dwellers and others.
They are oriented in front of the blank model.
The discussion includes a review of the objectives of the exercise
of the process of the depicting mental maps
as well as the reminder to refer to the legend
when choosing colours and symbols.
Many people have difficulties in reading maps.
This is not the case with relief models
where the vertical dimension offers visible and tangible hints to memory.
Informants are first asked to identify
and name familiar features
such as watercourses
roads, mountain peaks
and others.
This is a critical process
that follows people's natural orientation
and learning mechanisms.
It also allows participants
to get a progressively deeper grasp
of their whereabouts in relation to the model.
They are then asked to outline land use
and land cover with colour-coded yarns.
Paint is applied only after everyone agrees
on the location and identification of various features.
The physical nature of the model
enhances discovery learning
through verbal, visual and physical experiences.
It stimulates feedback
promotes debate and negotiation
and generates shared information
in visible and tangible formats.
Pins of different colours and shapes
are used to locate point data.
A the 1:10.000 scale
informants can easily point out
single households
and many other features.
The exercise in Vietnam involved two groups of informants
working one after the other.
One villager was asked to introduce newcomers
to the mechanics of the exercise
and brief them on his experience.
For the first time in his life he spoke in front of a large audience
including government officials,
park staff, researchers and foreigners.
This has been an important communication
and community empowerment aspect
of the exercise.
The two groups worked together for sometimes
to allow cross-checking and validation of data.
To extract the data from the model,
a geo-referenced grid with 10 cm intervals
is placed.
Each 10 cm interval,
corresponds to 100 meters on the ground.
Each resulting square
is identified by simple coordinates
based on numbers and letters.
Using the resulting grid as a reference
the protected area boundary can be transferred
from the second base map onto the model.
This provides stakeholders
with a clear and factual understanding
of its perimeter.
This facilitates a bottom-up approach
to boundary delineation and zoning,
activities that frequently tend to be slow
and confrontational due to unequal access to information.
A professional digital camera is then used
to capture data from the model
through a process similar to aerial photography.
High resolution pictures are shot in a regular sequence
from a 4-meter distance
which, at a 1:10.000 scale,
corresponds to 40.000 meter elevation.
The images are transferred to a GIS
through direct on-screen digitising.
The legend is the key for decoding data shown on the model.
A model without a legend is mute and meaningless.
So, make sure that you store colours' samples
on blank sheets of paper.
You will later cut them
to compose the final legend
which will be laminated and embedded into the model.
At the end of the exercise
group pictures are taken
and each participant is given an attendance certificate.
Thereafter, the module is officially handed over to the community.
These are important events
particularly for villagers
because they are given official recognition for their role
as stakeholders and custodians of knowledge.
Here it is.
We all have learnt a lot.
The landscape of Pu Mat
will definitely be engraved in my memory
for a long time.
I never climbed these mountains
but after having gone through this exercise as a trainee
I guess all of us would know better on how to walk around the area.
But what is definitely more important
all those participating got a broader view of the environment
they are living in.
People from the villages got the chance
to be actors on the scene
and gain the rightful recognition of their traditional knowledge.
In the coming months
the model will be expanded
to include the entire National Park
and its buffer zones.
More villagers will participate
as part of a collaborative process
involving park staff, researchers
and government officials.
Increased access to information
will add transparency to the process
and favour learning, communication,
negotiation and decision making
and hopefully lead to a more sustainable management
of natural resources.