Address:	Teresa Tang Canadian Research Institute for Social Policy   University of New Brunswick Suite 300, Keirstead Hall Fredericton, NB, Canada E3B 5A3
Tel:	(506) 447-3405
Fax:	(506) 447-3427
E-Mail:	teresa.tang@unb.ca

Teresa Tang is a GIS programmer and data analyst at the Canadian Research Institute for Social Policy. She has recently been awarded her MScE with the department of Geodesy and Geomatics Engineering at UNB. Before coming to Canada from Hong Kong, Teresa earned a bachelor degree in Geography and a master degree in Urban Planning from the University of Hong Kong. She worked as a research assistant at the University of Hong Kong specializing in housing studies and later worked on town planning for four years.

Combining her experience in planning and her knowledge of GIS (Geographic Information System), Teresa's thesis focused on designing and implementing a GIS-enabled online discussion forum (GeoDF) for public participation. She believes that effective communication and discussion is the crux of public participation. Her research points out that to date limited effort has been made to address the communication needs arising from discussion about issues with a geographic (spatial) context. Her GeoDF prototype has provided a platform that integrates a web Geographic Information System (GIS) with an online discussion forum to enable citizens to communicate effectively while they are participating in the planning process.

Teresa joined CRISP as a part-time research assistant in Feb 2004. She specializes in GIS and mapping applications, database management and maintenance, as well as web application development. In 2004, she and Richard Chan developed an online evaluation system for the Early Years Evaluation - Teacher Assessment (EYE-TA), an instrument created by Dr. Doug Willms and Dr. Joan Beswick to assist educators in assessing the skills of children age 4 - 6 years. Teresa is involved in a number of projects at CRISP including the NB Schools Early Literacy Project coordinated by Dr. Elizabeth Sloat where she is administrator of the database used for the project and the administrator of the EYE-TA online system, and she is the coordinator for CRISP's contribution to the RURAL Centre's research network headed by Judy Guernsey at Dalhousie University, and coordinator of the Atlantic Networks for Prevention Research (ANPR) program headed by Renee Lyons.

Teresa M.Y. Tang and David J. Coleman (2005), “Design of a GIS-Enabled Online Discussion Forum for Participatory Planning”, Proceedings of the 4^th Annual Public Participation GIS Conference, Cleveland, 31 July-2 August 2005 (in print).