Community Message from GLOBE Sponsors

Update on GLOBE Planning and the Future

03/21/2011 14:00 MDT - GLOBE is well into its second decade. This April will mark the 16^th year of program activity. It is remarkable to say that about any science and education program, but even more remarkable given GLOBE’s roots and impacts in over 100 countries. That is truly a tribute to the GLOBE community – the program’s very heart and soul. With this wonderful legacy to build on for the future, we see 2011 as a special year in the life of GLOBE.

The GLOBE Program Office (GPO) will have a new Director soon. The international search committee has interviewed an exciting slate of candidates. This will be a chance to chart future directions in partnership with the community and modernize the program to reflect current technology.

Much of the technology that supports the web-based tools you have been using for years (e.g., honor roll, data entry and visualizations) was initially created in the mid-1990s and has been incrementally modified and patched over the years. As technology and software engineering have evolved, maintaining and expanding these aging tools is becoming increasingly difficult and expensive. Most importantly, we strongly believe that upgrading GLOBE’s technical infrastructure (web presence, data archiving, access, and visualization, on-line collaboration tools, etc.) to the forefront of today’s standards will greatly enhance GPO’s ability to deliver the best quality products and services related to GLOBE operations (including the SCRC) to you, the GLOBE community, and at the same time improve your ability to implement GLOBE.

We have been examining this multifaceted issue and have been contemplating several critically important issues that include: securing the funding required for this undertaking; minimizing the impact on the community and on existing GPO commitments (e.g., SCRC); and, defining the most efficient and cost-effective path forward. We are fortunate that NASA has secured the financial resources and technical support required to proceed and settled on a plan for the technology upgrade in mid-February. Given the complexity of the task at hand, the full modernization will take roughly one year to implement. Our plan is to quickly revise all of GPO’s planning to reflect this technology modernization pathway and get those plans out to you as soon as possible, so we can continue to chart GLOBE’s future together.

These draft plans will include both what we think we can do during the technology modernization period (e.g., honoring your current SCRC commitments), as well as the exciting things we’ll be able to do once these new technologies become available on-line. Given this, we’d like to ask for your patience while we assemble these draft plans. Our hope is to have the GLOBE International Advisory Committee provide input on these draft plans in mid-April and then provide them to the broader GLOBE community for review and additional input later that month. We are very interested in your ideas and suggestions for new ways your local GLOBE programs might be able to partner in these new plans.

Transitions are always challenging, but with a shared community vision and commitment, they can be made less painful. When the GLOBE leaders in 2030 look back, we hope they see 2011 as a pivotal year in the program’s history – much like we do today when we look back at the visionaries that started GLOBE in the early 1990s. We look forward to doing this together.

Sincerely,

Ming-Ying Wei, Program Manager for Earth Science Education, NASA Headquarters

Christos Michalopoulos, Deputy Director for Education, NOAA Headquarters

John McLaughlin, Program Manager for Education, NOAA Headquarters

Jill Karsten, Program Director for Education and Diversity, NSF Geosciences Directorate

Jack Fellows, UCAR Vice President and Director for Community Programs