The COSEE Excellence in Networking Tools Sub-Group (ENTS) is continually reviewing online networking tools. COSEE Centers are using an increasing variety of these tools in their activities. This is a place to showcase the tools that have worked successfully - and why!
BatchGeo is an interactive map making tool based around tabular data (tables and spreadsheets). It accepts addresses, intersections, cities, states, and postal codes for production of google maps that show location data.
The Scientist Engagement Working Group (SEW-G) has had great success using Skype, a free tool used for conference calls. The Production Team now conducts all of its weekly meetings via Skype, a huge benefit to the conference call budget. The software, available at http://www.skype.com, is free to install and works with both Mac and PC users, as well as with various types of internet connections.
We have all experienced this before: Someone emails or asks you about a piece of paper, such as an application for a workshop, that they had given you weeks ago, and suddenly your mind goes blank. Did I really get that paper? What did I do with it? I’m pretty sure that I put it in its appropriate file, but what if I didn’t? This is when I start to panic, until I can get to my desk and flip through my files. I always find whatever I am looking for, but I could do without the panic attack. The logical solution? Put these forms online, which is what COSEE West did this year with our applications for our summer workshops.
How do you communicate among hundreds of ocean scientists and educators spread across the largest, but most-wired, state in the country? How do you add in the many scientists who do their research in Alaska’s seas but have home institutions in many other states? COSEE Alaska identified the development and support of SeaNET, the Network of Scientists and Educators in Alaska, as one the highest priorities of their project.
One of the many opportunities COSEE West offers our educators is online workshops, where people from all over the world can interact with each other, as well as with our scientist speakers. It is also a great way for a scientist to broaden their outreach without ever having to leave their city.
Over the years, some of our online workshop participants have been asking for live chat capability. It’s one thing to post questions and read answers, but there is still nothing like a real-time, face-to-face interaction. During our Spring 2009 online workshop on the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) and Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), we tried out a live chat via Adobe Connect. Adobe Connect is quite versatile in that it allows participants to share their desktop (one at a time), edit documents in real-time and see each other via webcams. It allowed our speaker to identify misunderstandings and address them right away, without having to wait for a question and then write something back.
