On the Map

The focus of the series is on how humans connect with their surrounding environment and with each other. That environment can be natural or managed, rural or urban. The series is also concerned with the changing ways people interreact with space and place in terms of human movement, such as migration, and in terms equity in access to spaces, for instance access to a home for homeless people. This series examines humans and their environment as integrated, affecting each other through natural events, and human management.

We aim to make young Australians keenly aware of their place within a geographical context. We aim to make them aware of current debates in natural resource management, urban planning, economic impact and human movement, so that they can make informed decisions about the major issues of their times.

For students: That viewers will become informed about the current debates and issues in geography and environment management, and be able to confidently make informed decisions.

We aim to provide reliable information at the same as allowing for diverse cultural voices, including from indigenous people, to share their experience and knowledge in a way that encourages independent and critical thinking.

For teachers: The geography syllabus in schools is changing and reflecting current global concerns around the interaction between humans and their environment. A new curricula in Victoria will be implemented in 2022 and the national curricula is also under review. We are in contact with the curriculum specialist and it is timely to create a vibrant resource.

We have established relationships with the broadcaster ABCTV and with the distributor Kanopy.

Via ABC TV, the series episode outlines have been vetted and approved by an independent geography educator. We are also in contact with geography curriculum experts via the Geography Teachers’ Association of Victoria. We have researched the various Australian state’s geography courses.

We are currently forging further relationships with key stakeholders in geography, and the issues that will be discussed in the episodes.

We are not interested in the viewers taking ‘action’ per se, instead we are interested in them being better informed and more able to use critical thinking to analyse information. Research shows (Bilali, Vollhardt & Rarick 2016) that people tend not to change their beliefs once they have been formed. Research also demonstrates (Broockman & Kalla 2016) that people are willing to engage with new and various information on subjects when they have not already formed opinions and beliefs. We make documentaries for teenagers precisely because this is a group of people who have not formed set opinions on many issues, and we can help them create better informed opinions based on a greater understanding of the issues at hand.

We see this as particularly important given that environmental issues are of a particular concern to young people. The 2019 Mission Australia survey found that the environment and equity were in the top three issues for young people. This series examines both of those is

Quantitative data
We collect viewing figures from our website, and receive data from the distributor. We use this data to analyse the size of the market share that we have reached.

Qualitative data
We attend the teacher conferences where we speak to the teachers and listen to how they are using the material, and what impact it is having.

Other indicators
Our TV series have been included in e-text books, rebroadcast on ABC Australia (International), and ABC has relicensed our existing content a number of times. This indicates that the series are useful and able to create impact.