midterm

Sign on to Google and type in anything: kickboxing, eastern religion, ceramic chicken teapots and you can probably find a Web site dedicated to the topic. Now type in marine biology and the first site you’ll find is Marinebio.org, a beautiful website full of information and multimedia.

Marinebio.org is a website dedicated to educating anyone who is interested about marine biology and ocean conservation. The site has search features to find marine species, a news feed of relevant marine biology stories, a blog and numerous multimedia features. The site shows just how beneficial all of these aspects can be to a topic. The pages are packed with information but they are also eye-catching and fun to look at. The articles and entries are compelling and easy to understand for those who have no prior information.

This website is an example of the way research and conservation foundations have turned to the internet for support. The web has become a central aspect for many organizations and an incredible tool for research. However, not every website has mastered the use of multimedia and other eye catching tools to really capture the interest of the reader.

Marinebio.org received over 620,000 visits in February 2008 and has over 13,000 subscribers to their online newsletter. The Plankton Forums, an online community devoted to questions and discussions from viewers, has 1500 members with special access to certain posting boards but also allows comments from any visitor to the site. There were over 50,000 posts in the month of February alone. These numbers are a good indication of the success the site has had in connecting to visitors and getting their message out to the public.

The origins of the website rest with David Campbell, the founder and president of the site. Since the site is a side project for him, he was unreachable for comment at the time this article was written due to outside commitments. Campbell was a member of the Cousteau Society as a child and had the opportunity to SCUBA dive on coral reefs from a very young age. These experiences showed him the wonder of the oceans and compelled him to protect them.

Bailey Clear

“As he got older and learned about the problems marine life faces, like over fishing, coral bleaching, pollution, depletion of species, he felt compelled to use his talents in web design to teach people about the ocean,” said Joni Lawrence, vice president for Marinebio.org.

The original goal of the site was simply to share the wonder of the oceans with the public and teach them about marine life, according to Lawrence. The site evolved to be much more conservation oriented. There is now information on the species description pages that is incorporated from the IUCN Red List, a comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of plant and animal species. There are also extensive links to conservation information, including information on global warming complete with video, habitat conservation and sustainable fisheries, to name a few.

The importance of spreading the word about the danger to our oceans is summed up on the site’s About Us page. “Humans and the ocean are inextricably linked. Yet the ocean is just beginning to be understood,” it says. “As our understanding of this vast and powerful force of nature increases we realize that in spite of its seeming invulnerability—the ocean and marine life are in real trouble. Marine conservation efforts are vastly outnumbered by the problems facing the ocean.”

Some of the strongest features of the site are the use of multimedia. The photo and video galleries are spectacular and extensive and showcase just how amazing the oceans truly are.

While the photos themselves are beautiful, the presentation is a little difficult to navigate. The galleries are set up with an automatic scroll through the thumbnails, but it is so sensitive that it is easy to shoot by the photo you want. The video galleries are packed, but it makes the page load slowly and it is hard to make more than one video play without reloading the page between them. There could also be a little more clarity in how to access the galleries from the home page.

Besides these technical glitches, the site has made use of this multimedia in exactly the most beneficial way for this topic. “Multimedia has been critical to the success of MarineBio,” said Lawrence. “Without the visual appeal we have through photos and video, we would not generate the traffic that we do.”

Another two features the site has made good use of are the news feed and the blog. Lawrence is the blogger for the site and tries to post about relevant and current topics. The latest post is titled, “Cetacean Investigation- Video series by earthOCEAN featuring Erich Hoyt.” Hoyt is the director of marine mammals for Marinebio.org and senior research fellow for the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society. Other recent posts include a discussion on which fish are the best to eat for your health and for the environment, and a post on Valentine’s Day that included this silly video with a poignant message:

Lawrence says she also checks on other conservation websites’ blogs to see what they are reporting on. One she checks often is that of Greenpeace, the sometimes radical conservation society that is known for interfering in illegal whaling.

The news feed collects stories from Google News but also offers links to other marine biology news sites. The feed is split into different news categories, which makes it easier for the readers to find exactly the story they are looking for. If you want to find a story regarding coral reefs, it is simple to click the link and see the most recent hits for that term.

The Plankton Forums, as mentioned before, are an interesting addition, allowing people from all walks of life to discuss their interest or passion for the ocean. This is an excellent tool for networking and also for research. The open forum lets people post questions and get answers from experts whom they might not otherwise have been able to reach. Hoyt was asked to join the contributors to the site after he posted repeatedly on these forums.

The creators of the site have also recognized the importance of the web for research purposes.
“Many people are getting their news, ideas and even inspiration largely through the web,” said Hoyt who has also written 15 books about the ocean and is involved in numerous other sites, including http://www.russianorca.com/

Elisabeth Bentley, a senior biology major at Northeastern University, also thinks that online resources such as these are essential. “I think it’s a valuable tool to have everything at your fingertips,” she said. However, she recognizes the importance of books and journals as well.

“There’s a lot to be said for going and finding a hard copy,” she said. “It’s easy to believe everything you find on the Internet but you can be led down the wrong path.”

There are many pages offering other research alternatives, including relevant journals that can be found both online and in hard copy, as well as book recommendations. The books can even be purchased on the site, powered by Amazon.com, making it a one stop research source.

Marinebio.org has also incorporated pages for kids that include games, quizzes and links to other children’s marine exploration sites.

Marinebio.org

The site has resources for students and educators including job and scholarship postings. The students’ page includes camp and internship opportunities and an interview answering questions about careers in marine biology. The creators have included information for as large a range as possible without forgetting that the pages need to be eye catching and interesting.

“It seems like it is an introduction to marine biology because it covers so many things and covers them in depth,” said Hannah Stinson, coordinator for student and family programs at the New England Aquarium. “It seems like it was designed for people that didn’t have a lot of experience in marine biology, but I think it would also be a cool tool for people who are more fluent in it.”
Both Stinson and Hoyt think that there can be good use for Marinebio.org in school and other teaching settings.

“It's a fantastic resource and I often recommend it to high school students trying to decide if they want to have a career in some aspect of marine biology,” said Hoyt. “Usually they come back very excited. If they don't, then I am pretty sure this field is not for them.”

To keep up with changing times, Marinebio.org has continued to grow and change since its creation in 1998. This way, the editors of the site feel that they will be able to stay relevant to fulfill the needs of all of their viewers.

“We continue to develop the site as much as we can so that it continues to evolve as the best resource on the web for marine life science and conservation,” said Lawrence. She continued, discussing her goals, “What I’m planning for the immediate future…is to be clearer about presenting the problems (that threaten the ocean) and juxtaposing them to the solutions.”

Hoyt also has some desires for the site and added, “In terms of marine mammals and marine protected areas, I would like to find ways that more and more people could be involved and concerned about conservation.”

Although this website is very well put together and full of useful information, there are some changes that might benefit it.

“I would make the home page less busy,” said Tracy Hajduk, outreach coordinator for Northeastern University’s Marine Science Center. “It’s hard because it had so much information, and you want to look at it but I didn’t know where to click first. I did bookmark it, but I felt like there was too much, I can barely remember everything that’s on there.”

Hajduk also works with school groups and suggested that she might make better use of the site if she could navigate it more easily.

“There were a lot of side tabs,” Bentley agreed, adding, “It was kind of all there, all at once.”

Even with the few drawbacks, Marinebio.org proves to be an educational and useful site that has adapted to the growing need for interactive online resources. The site has made use of all of the newest technology and shows promise to continue doing so.

The site explains it best, “MarineBio is here to show you the wonders of the ocean and to show you the problems so that you have a better understanding of what's at stake and what needs to be done.”

Bailey Clear

winter photos

Here are my winter photos to share:

winter storm 1, that crazy one on that Thursday with all the traffic...this was the day after up at Nahant, MA

Winter storm 2, this was the day that classes were cancelled in the second week of school

and the snow from our most recent storm. This was actually a couple days after so it show how much came down.

G.O.T.

For those of you who have never been to the New England Aquarium, the center piece of the museum is what we all fondly call the GOT, or the Giant Ocean Tank. The Giant Ocean Tank is 23' deep and and holds 200,000 gallons of water. There are about 125 species and over 600 animals including 3 sharks and 5 sea turtles. Because of the incredible size of the tank the only efficient way to feed the animals and take care of the tank is to send in SCUBA divers. To be a diver in the tank is a coveted and envied position and takes a very large amount of qualification, including more than 75 previous dives. However, if you're lucky and have the right connections you might get to go in as a guest diver. Which I did.

I have to say, diving in that tank was one of the most interesting experiences of my life. The first question I get from most people is "Can you see out?" The answer to that is yes, but you really have to focus and look for people. For the most part, once you're in the water you're just much too absorbed in what's going on around you to really care about the people outside. In fact, there were several times where I brushed against the glass and startled myself because I forgot that I was in a tank and not the open ocean.

The second question is "Do the sharks bite" to which I answer a resounding "NO". In the open ocean, these Sand Tiger Sharks might eat only once or twice a month. At the New England Aquarium, we feed the twice a day. This means that they are full and happy and really have no desire to persue prey.

By far the best part of the tank is the well know Myrtle the Turtle. Myrtle is our green sea turtle, weighing in at a hefty 560 pounds and is definitely the star of the show. She has been at the aquarium since it opened in 1969 and is estimated to be between 60 and 70 years of age. Something that many people don't know is that sea turtles have a "living shell", meaning that she can actually feel her shell. Sea Turtles will scratch their shells against things for many reasons including cleaning, but also just because it feels good. Myrtle loves to be scratched and we spent about 15 minutes just scratching our fingers over her shell. She actually rocks back and forth like a little puppy, enjoying her rubbing time.

To see the GOT in action go to http://www.neaq.org/webcams/gotcam_stream.php and check out the streaming webcam. If you catch it at the right time, you can see the divers in there feeding or doing maintenance.

(all photos courtesy of www.NEAq.org)

"Sharkwater"

While most people have very likely seen a "Save the Whales" bumper sticker at some point in their lifetimes, it's pretty UNlikely that they've seen a "Save the Sharks" sticker. The terrifying "man eater" has been on the receiving end of a lot of bad press for a very long time. Shark attacks, though rare, always seem to end up on the evening news and those "When Animals Attack" type shows. In reality, there are more deaths by elephants every year but elephants don't have the same terrible reputation. The truth is that shark attacks are almost always a mistake--sharks see what they think is a tasty seal, fish or squid and go in for a snack, mistakenly biting the surfer or SCUBA diver instead.

Rob Stewart, a wildlife photographer, was a filming a movie about sharks and came across something that opened his eyes to the plight sharks are in.

(to watch the trailer, click on the Sharkwater link below and watch it on the movie's website)

Shark fins are a highly coveted delicacy in many Asian countries and more than 100 million sharks are killed every year on order to obtain them. Many times, the fins are cut off while the animal is still alive and then the shark is dumped back into the ocean to drown or bleed to death. Some people might ask why we care if sharks disappear. Besides the fact that they are a 450 million year old creature, they play an essential role in our oceans:

"The obliteration of sea otters led to an explosion in sea urchins, which then ate all the kelp," he (Stewart) explains. "Kelp was the perfect breeding ground for Pacific herring, so their population also plummeted. With no herring to feed on, sharks, tuna and dolphins began to disappear. If that is what happens when you take a seven-million-year-old species out of the food chain, imagine what will happen when you destroy a 450-million-year-old predator like the shark."

Stewart's movie "Sharkwater" is about the rapid decline of shark populations and the many illegal activities that surround it.

One day=

I am very anti-war, for many reasons, which don't really need to be discussed here. But I believe this video sums up one of those reasons in a very powerful way. Imagine what could have been done in this country with all the money we wasted on that quagmire...

Yes We Can...

Below is an ad for Barack Obama. I believe this ad is one of the most poignant and affective political ads I've seen for any election. Instead of doing the usual attacking of his opponents, Obama simply gave a message of hope, which I think is something we need as a country right now.

UPDATE: So I didn't realize that the Obama campaign wasn't involved in this ad. Which kind of explains a lot because most politicians are not this artistic. But Will.I.Am did a fabulous job! More political ads SHOULD be like this.



The spoof below made Obama's ad seem that much better. And also made McCain look like an idiot. Which really isn't all that hard in the grand scheme of things...

Japanese whaling

In case you are unaware, many of the world's whale species are dwindling and some are in peril of becoming extinct. Many people believe that it will be a long time until these animals are gone, but the liklihood of the right whale disappearing in only a few centuries is very high. Maybe a few centuries seems like a lot, but in the context of the earth, it's a blink of an eye.

Many countries have put strict regulations or restrictions on the hunting and killing of whales. Unfortunately, some countries still profit from the sale of whale meats and oils and continue to hunt whales with little regard for regulations. Japan has designed a "scientific" study that allows them to kill up to 1000 whales a year for study. Recently an Australian customs ship took this photo of a Japanese vessel hauling aboard what appeared to be a mother and calf Minke whale pair.

The Japanese denied the claim that this was a mother/calf pair and also said that by publishing the pictures, Australia was spreading propaganda.

God tries wiping the south off the face of the planet...again.

Whether or not you believe in God (which, honestly, I don't) you have to admit that it looks like something really doesn't like the south. After the many disasters of the past, most prominently Katrina, the south is now being assailed by tornadoes. So first they got flooded away and now they're getting blown away. My question is, why don't these people move? Everyone, just abandon the south. Clearly, you're fighting a losing battle.

My life is completely insane

I just wanted to write a quick note to apologize for my prolonged absence. Besides my three full days of classes, I also work 3-4 days a week and try to fit in horseback riding lessons, kickboxing lessons and sleep (and training classes for work at the moment). Needless to say, I seriously underestimated how busy this semester would be for me. However, after tonight things should settle down a little and my blogging should be back up with some frequency. Stay tuned!