Letter to the Community

Letter to the Community

March 2015

Dear GLOBE Friends,

We're less than one month away from Earth Day and the official start of GLOBE's 20th Anniversary year. Two decades of good work have gone into making GLOBE a world leader in Earth Science education, and I invite all of you to celebrate along with me. During the entire week surrounding Earth Day, from 20-24 April, I am challenging you to enter data into the GLOBE database. Go out and collect new data, or enter data from sheets of measurements that you haven't had a chance to enter. No data is too old to enter; all data is of value to us and to YOU! We're calling this week the GLOBE Data Entry Challenge, and we'll be recognizing the top data contributors for that week, as well as top data contributors in the Program overall. 

As part of GLOBE's 20th Anniversary celebration, GLOBE is releasing a Data Entry App, which will be available on both iOS and Android platforms. Currently, GLOBE requires students who use the GLOBE protocols to go into the field and manually record their measurements on a data entry sheet. They then return to their classrooms to enter the data into the GLOBE database online. The GLOBE Data Entry App will allow GLOBE users around the world to enter data directly into their phone or tablet device while out in the field, and then send their data to the GLOBE database whenever they have an active internet connection. The new app includes some cool features: it will automatically enter the user's time and date, and seamlessly integrate the user's camera to facilitate entering data. Teachers and their students will be able to download the app, which will simplify the whole data entry process, and make it easier for data to be submitted to GLOBE for use by other teachers, students, and scientists. The "offline mode" also supports people in countries with limited Internet access, or people in the field who do not have Internet access at the time they are making measurements. I can't wait to try it myself!

In addition to the Data Entry Challenge and the new Data Entry App, we have something else for you. GLOBE is working to launch an enhanced version of the GLOBE website for Earth Day. The new website will have an improved look and feel and will work equally well on desktops, phones, and tablets. The homepage will include some new features, such as an awesome 3D interactive globe, a "real-time" streaming ticker showing data that has been uploaded, and a "real-time" list of all the activity happening on the GLOBE website, Facebook, and Twitter. Overall, the site architecture has been simplified to better organize content and make it easier to find information. A new and improved Teacher's Guide section will allow users to search for protocols and supporting documents by grade level, area of interest, and the Next Generation Science Standards. All Teacher's Guide documents will be linked together to make it easier to find what you need.

As you can see, it's an exciting time to be a part of The GLOBE Program. Please visit the GLOBE Earth Day 2015 webpage to learn what others are doing to celebrate along with us here at the GLOBE Implementation Office. Share your GLOBE Earth Day and 20th Anniversary events with us, and we will add your events to this page.

Thank you and have a wonderful weekend.

 Sincerely,

 
 
 
 
Dr. Tony Murphy  
Director, GLOBE Implementation Office
tmurphy@ucar.edu