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A
Programming Challenge, Getting the UVM Landscape Change Program off the Dirt
Road onto the Information Superhighway
Dr. Paul Bierman
Department of Geology
University of Vermont
Date: Friday September 9, 2005
Time: 12:20 p.m. - 1:10 p.m.
Location:
367 Votey
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Abstract
Six
years ago, we had the crazy idea that students might learn better from images
that touched their lives than from the abstractions offered by many
textbooks. NSF agreed and funded what seemed then to be a high-risk,
proof-of-concept project to compile a web-based archive of Vermont
images showing landscape change over time. Since its modest beginnings,
the image archive has grown dramatically and now contains over 10,000 images
on line and free to all at: uvm.edu/perkins/landscape. Problem is, we’ve
outgrown our simple software and with 4000 to 6000 hits a week, we need all
the help we can get to make the website equal to the quality of images it
contains. NSF to the rescue again. We have support over the next
few years to continue improving the archive, both in terms of imagery and
software. Much of the support is dedicate to students engaged in
service learning – both geology and computer science students at the
undergraduate and graduate levels. In my talk, I’ll review the Landscape
project, its website, and the science and education we have done with its
images. I’ll present some examples of what others have done with
digital image archives and highlight ways in which the web site could
improve. My goal is to begin a dialog across campus and to interest
those with far deeper knowledge of computing in being part of a team, a team
that will help spread the word and views of Vermont landscapes far and wide
as both science education and research tools.
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