65 Geoscience Education: EarthScope, Outreach, & Program Evaluation

Monday, 5 November 2012
8:00 AM - 12:00 PM
210AB

EARTHSCOPE AND NEW MADRID CONTENT MODULES FOR THE IRIS ACTIVE EARTH MONITOR

Paper number: 65-3
Program: Technical Sessions
Time: 8:30 AM – 8:45 AM

Authors

Abstract

The Active Earth Monitor (AEM) is an interactive computer-based display for university lobbies, museums, visitor centers, schools and libraries. AEM runs in a standard Internet web browser in full screen mode. The display consists of a customizable set of content pages about plate tectonics, earthquakes, volcanoes and tsunamis. Low-cost and simple-to-implement, the Active Earth Monitor provides a way to engage audiences with earth science information without spending resources on a large exhibit.

The EarthScope Active Earth Monitor content set highlights the connections between the landscape, the research, and monitoring being conducted by EarthScope in partnership with regional monitoring networks.

The EarthScope content consists of chapters that focus on What is EarthScope?, Where is EarthScope?, EarthScope Observatories, and EarthScope Research Results. Content topics are easily explored using a web page button type navigation interface via a touch screen or mouse.

The New Madrid Active Earth Monitor content set highlights the connections between the geology, history and research being conducted in the New Madrid Seismic Zone. 2011/2012 marks the two hundredth anniversary of the New Madrid historical earthquakes.

The New Madrid content consists of chapters that focus on Earthquakes, Geologic Setting, Historical Accounts, and Recent Research.

Chapters in the modules start with a general overview and proceed to detailed specifics. Each chapter utilizes at least one set of live or near real-time research data (often more than one). This exposes the general public to active ongoing research that is engaging, relevant to the individual user, and explained in easy to understand terms. All live content is updated each time a user accesses the individual page displaying the live data.

All scientific terms are defined using pop-up boxes. Leading questions are presented allowing the user to examine the content before accessing the answer via pop-up box. Diagrams and charts of research data have explanatory keys that allow users to self explore all content.

Content pages can be created and inserted in the Active Earth Monitor by utilizing the simple HTML/CSS coding.