Internet or Imperial-Pigeon? A False Choice*

More individuals and organizations are starting to realize that silo-d thinking and the related concept of existence as a zero sum game are not only unnecessary but counter productive. Counter productive even to traditional western definitions of success. Consider the fact that best seller status is being achieved by the book Give and Take, which provides compelling evidence that ultimately the most successful people are not those who try to maximize their own benefit at the expense of others. It is an eye opening book for anyone stuck on the idea that to rise to the top in a capitalist, technology driven society you have to claw your way over the bodies of every one and every thing in your way.

Then there is the notion that some hold onto with a death-like grip that says that digital technology and nature are diametrically opposed. This is similar silo-d thinking: one must dominate at the expense of the other. This mindset can at first appear intransigent, because clouds and computers seem so different. Wait a second...  Why do we come up with terms like "cloud computing"? Why do we like that juxtaposition so much?

Earlier this year, in the magazine put out by The Nature Conservancy there was a short spot on using mobile devices such as tablets to get our techno-swamped kids out into nature. As much as I personally love, value, pine for the opportunity to get out into nature without being trailed by digital anything, I thought that perhaps it was pretty slick to use nature apps to lure techno-addicted kids away from the indoors and get them to appreciate the natural world.

Predictably, some letters to the editor loved the idea and others thought that it was horrible. Yet this should not be an either-or choice. Tablet or tree. Smartphone or slug. (If you don't think slugs are fascinating, you should really take another look at them, especially some of the dinosaur look-a-likes from the US Pacific Northwest). It's all a matter of perspective and attitude.

But wait, perhaps it is more than that. I was really pleased to see a blog post by Richard Louv, who popularized the notion of "nature deficit disorder" making the case for the need for both the natural and digital worlds. More than a need, an imperative. In his post Louv says:

"I believe that a central goal of modern education should be ... to nurture the hybrid mind: to stimulate both ways of knowing in the world: digital and direct experience"

Louv advocates for ensuring a digital/nature balance in children, but the case is equally strong for adults, and for applying this balance to how we do business. When someone replies to you "yeah but..." and starts talking in generalities about competition and economics, respectfully suggest they pause and investigate the growing evidence out there that supports an alternative viewpoint. We can consider it as yet another interdisciplinary computing challenge.

*The Imperial-Pigeon is a type of stunningly colorful Australian bird. There are several types of Imperial-Pigeon and they, along with some of their likewise stunningly feathered relatives, will eliminate once and for all any notion you might harbor that pigeons are uninteresting.

SIGCSE: Computing For Good in the Morning

What a day for engaging with issues of computing for social good in computing education. There was a special session this morning called "CS Education for the Social Good". The presenters were Michael Goldweber (Xavier University), John Barr (Ithaca College), and Elizabeth Patitsas from the University of Toronto.

Mikey (as he often likes to be called) Goldweber started off the session by looking out at the audience and saying "This is the group of people who want to save the world". Yes. Yes we do. We want the world to be a better place, and how really terrific it was to be in a room full of people who felt likewise and are using their professional experience and skills to that end. I had a no holds barred warm and fuzzy moment.

Moments later, Mikey G. made a provocative statement that caused us to stop in our tracks:

"What is the message we send when we teach games in introductory computing?" 

If you aren't in computing education you may not realize the full impact of that question. Many computing programs have infused game development, or "gamification" as it is sometimes called, into the curriculum. There has been solid evidence in favor of doing so. Games appeal to  many students' interests. Replacing deadly dull applications (e.g. the fibonacci sequence, tic-tac-toe, vending machine simulation) with game development has become quite popular. Faculty like it, students like it, enrollments in these classes often increase.

On the other hand...games are a form of entertainment. Mikey's question asked us to consider what we are saying about what computer science is when we introduce it via entertainment.  It certainly made me stop and think. Does this approach help our overall perception problem? Are we as professionals primarily about entertainment? Are we primarily about short term mindless gratification? Is this a beneficial way to teach first concepts and principles?

Interestingly, there is evidence that although students may enjoy some early gamification, it isn't enough to sustain their interest in studying computer science. After all, this field isn't all about games. In fact, it is very little about games, unless you just happen to get a job as a professional game developer. A lively discussion ensued as some in the room wanted to defend the game approach.

Mikey went on to suggest that there was a difference between appealing to student interests and student values. He posited the idea that in fact, appealing to student values was a more effective way to engage students and that it also provided an opening, not provided by most gamification, to address meaty societal concerns. Also something to stop and ponder.

How to do it? The session members discussed quite a few approaches. One division stood out: there are some areas of integrating social good into computing that necessitate additional content knowledge in another field. In this case it might pay off to collaborate with a content expert in that other field. Or a variety of other approaches to bring in that depth knowledge. Then there is the wrapper approach, which is to repurpose something you are already teaching.

I loved the radioactive rodent example. Apparently, during the Fukushima power plant crisis in Japan a whole lot of mice became radioactive. Now, humans may obey instructions and stay outside the radioactive perimeter, but mice don't obey instructions They migrate wherever they feel like going. Along the way they may die, they may get eaten by other animals, they may (nay, will) poop. This is a problem. So the Japanese sent in robots to hunt down and kill the mice.

I'm not going to comment on the complicated ethics of mouse slaughter. But to some people, this would be a relevant issue. That question did not come up this morning, but I point it out because I know people for whom killing any living animal presents an ethical quandary. An interesting ethics question - the value of human life as compared to animal life. Are there alternatives to addressing the contamination problem? How might the robots be reprogrammed? What are the costs and benefits? Where do values fit into the decisions?

But, back to the discussion this morning. One session member told about how he turned a cops and robber application in his introductory computing class into a cat and mice application. Instead of a police officers hunting down bad guys, he turned the robbers into mice and the cop into a cat. The amount of work on his part was minimal and suddenly he had an activity for his computing students that engaged with a contemporary complicated social issue. And taught core computing concepts at the same time.

This session was chock full of examples of how computing could connect with values rather than interests. Others included, water pollution (modeling?), voting systems (security? algortihms?), sexually transmitted diseases (graph theory), Red Cross disaster relief (Dijkstra's shortes path algorithm).

That was just the beginning. We hadn't even gotten to lunch yet.

What is Your Opinion About Sustainability in the Computing Curriculum?

I'm making final edits to my blurb on Sustainability for a panel presentation description about social and professional issues in the computer science curriculum*. More precisely, I'm thinking about conflict. There isn't much time when you are on a panel. What to focus on, what to focus on...so many choices and I'm conflicted. And oh boy, so will be some of my audience. Conflicted. Perhaps many of them, if past performance is any predictor of future performance. Which market analysts remind us all the time is not the case.

Yet, enlightened educators and psychologists tell us about the beneficial opportunities for managed conflict. Not the kind where you duke it out and slug your neighbor, but the kind where something provocative lands in your lap and you wrestle with it in a civilized manner as a group.

Sustainability in the computing curriculum is my little piece of the panel presentation**. When I wrote my original blurb I ended it with "Lisa will discuss the sometimes controversial sustainability knowledge unit in the social and professional practice knowledge area".

One of the anonymous reviewers asked: what is controversial? I wasn't sure if s/he was positively inclined and surprised by the statement or didn't know much about the issue and was just curious. I am 99.99% sure the reviewer was not negatively inclined towards the idea of sustainability in the computing curriculum. Anyone who gets all p.o.'d about the idea knows they are in conflict with a growing movement.

Another reviewer suggested that I bring up to speed members of the audience who are not familiar with the fundamental issues. In light of the first reviewer, this makes good sense. Ok, will do - if you wrote that and are reading this, then yes, I will make sure when I speak to cover the fundamentals for those who are not already deeply embroiled in everything.

And embroiled many people are. I was momentarily surprised to read the question asking what is controversial about infusing sustainability into the undergraduate computing curriculum. Perhaps because I routinely encounter professional colleagues who have strong opinions on the matter. In prior outreach on this issue I have encountered everything from:

"Thank goodness AT LAST this issue is being taken seriously!" 

to 

"Oh no, not ANOTHER mandate being shoved down my throat!"

(Mandate? Mandate? They are called "recommendations" for a reason).

There are also people in the professional community of computing education who are curious, curious, to hear about what the controversy is all about. Not ready to bite my head off nor to shower me with roses. Just curious.

I am reminded by this reminder that rather than presuming either roses or rotten tomatoes when I speak next March, I can view this as a micro-classroom opportunity. Perhaps challenge the crowd with comments such as these:

Sustainability is part and parcel of computer science and you ignore it at your peril

Sustainability is more than reducing your electricity load - which we suck at by the way

The "solution" isn't sending your old electronics off to a developing country for recycling  and patting yourself on the back

I believe all of the these, and I could continue with some evidence, but the point isn't (and won't be) for people to sit and take solemn notes about the pros and cons and the logic of it all. The whole point here will not be for me to talk talk talk but to get people off their comfy little conference hall chairs and engaging with the challenge of sustainability in their classrooms. What a panel can provide is an opportunity for constructively dealing with a difficult, challenging, conflicted topic with one's peers. In person. Where it is a lot harder to flame someone.

If you are a computing educator and think sustainability in the classroom is great stuff but haven't overcome the challenges of curricular rubber hitting the road let's all wrestle with your excitement and questions.

If you are a computing educator and think infusing sustainability in the classroom is silly or impossible let's all wrestle with your skepticism.

If you are a computing educator and not sure what you think - even better. I would like to put you right smack in between your opinionated peers and let's all talk about it.

*The Panel will be presented at the SIGCSE 2013 Symposium in Denver, Colorado and is called: "Computer Science Curriculum 2013: Social and Professional Recommendations from the ACM/IEEE-CS Task Force".

**My fellow panelists and wonderful colleagues are: Beth Hawthorne - bravely moderating this adventurous panel, along with Flo Appel and Carol Spradling, both of whom are battle seasoned veterans of the social and professional issues world of computing.

Why Keep Good Work Secret?

Recently, I wrote the following opinion piece for another venue - I thought I'd share it here with you, as you too might find it interesting. Although I refer specifically to San Diego, I think you'll see that the concept applies far more broadly. The case studies I mention are taken from my book "Computers and Society - Computing For Good".

(For fun, I'm challenging you to figure out why I'm including this particular picture)

People are cynical about the social value technology has for society. As part of my research into socially beneficial computing, I ask random people what the phrase “computers and society” means to them. Respondents invariably start referring to problems: people get hurt, people are screwed over, all types of disasters can happen. Occasionally, people provide specific examples but most of the time they say vague things about how computers dehumanize society. Prodded to think about where computing is being used to benefit society, they pause, and most commonly refer to the One Laptop Per Child initiative or perhaps make a vague reference to philanthropy in “developing countries”.  They think about large software companies that have “extra money” to spend on “side activities”. The evidence is clear: on a gut level, public perception associates computing, and technology driven business in general, with causing harm. People believe there is no business case for using computers to make the world a better place.

Yet, my research has also shown that a wide range of organizations across the country are better able to do business when they focus on the unique role computing can play in helping people or the environment. Not just hi-tech companies either. I studied several dozen organizations that achieved dramatic improvements in executing their core mission by leveraging computing for the public good.

There are many ways to both benefit the public and support your mission with computing. One approach is to take advantage of state of the art advances in computer hardware and software. For example, the Children’sHospital of Philadelphia started with an industry standard PACS for storing and managing their digital images. Unfortunately, the proprietary system did not deal effectively with the demands of modern complex healthcare data. Nurses and doctors who want to spend their time on patient care found themselves having to spend time on wasteful and expensive activities such as manually retrieving digital images.  After implementing a Vendor Neutral Archive, the hospital was able to more efficiently store and retrieve images and to achieve significant cost savings. Stakeholders such as doctors and radiologists were pleased. Most importantly, patient care was improved because imaging data became more rapidly and reliably available, greatly reducing instances of patients “getting the run-around”. The hospital’s already world-renowned reputation for excellence in children’s medical care increased even more. 

A second approach uses distributed computing such that experts can combine forces and make discoveries no single person or institution could make alone. For example, in another healthcare project, a team of interdisciplinary neonatologists, known as The Children’s Hospitals Neonatal Consortium (CHNC), is collaborating with The Child Health Corporation ofAmerica, based in Kansas City, to develop a national database to identify and share best practice recommendations for rare, life threatening conditions. Although still early in the development cycle, the CHNC initiative has already fostered important discussions between member hospitals about how to collect and study data in compliance with federal healthcare reform mandates. When fully implemented, the project will facilitate tracking and trending of individual and patient data, and establish benchmarking standards for quality care across the United States. Physicians and their patients in rural or otherwise isolated hospitals will share in the benefits of cutting edge health informatics research. 

You don’t have to be a large organization to benefit from using computers for social good. As demonstrated by the Sea Turtle Conservancy (STC), based in Gainesville, Florida, social networking can be a powerful way for a small organization to gain more power and influence. With a staff of fewer than 20 people, the STC is trying to reach a world-wide audience about the importance of saving sea turtles. By enhancing, and in some cases replacing, traditional labor intensive outreach methods with a strategic use of social media, they get their message out where it really counts. For example, when the Deep Horizon Oil Spill occurred, state and federal agencies asked for STC assistance, knowing the group was a source of reliable, accurate information about sea turtles and that they had an effective social media presence. The agencies kept the STC in the loop about many activities and the group subsequently played an important role in voicing the positive aspects of the disaster response. Significantly, the STC increased their membership even during the recent recession.

Surprisingly, most organizations I studied did not advertise their computing accomplishments. Yet publicizing your use of computers for the public good can be a valuable selling point. Here in San Diego, where our industry focus is heavily weighted towards biotechnology and medical care, we have a unique opportunity to be on the leading edge of social responsibility and computing. Competitive advantage will follow. San Diego businesses use cutting edge digital technology, are making life saving new discoveries all the time, and provide state of the art services. Putting the spotlight on how you use computing to benefit society will surprise your audience and cause them to see you in a whole new light.

 

Professional Communication & Sustainability in the CS Curriculum?

You still have a few weeks left to comment on the Computer Science Curricula 2013 (CS2013) Strawman Draft (which can be found here). If you haven't looked at it yet and have any interest in providing input on the next stage of joint ACM/IEEE curricular recommendations now is the time. Sure, there will be another version (Ironman Draft) to comment on, but things are in their most formative stage right now and there are interesting items in the Social and Professional Practice Knowledge Area.

Technical Communication Snafu

Some of what you will find in this section include Professional Ethics, Intellectual Property, Privacy and Civil Liberties. Also included are two of my favorites, and not because some people have surprisingly strong opinions on them: Professional Communication (p. 169) and Sustainability (p. 170).

Professional Communication has to do with, well, you might guess: writing, making presentations, human to human interaction, and collaboration (for starters). Critical soft skills that employers often say are so important. In my former role as a faculty member and in my current participation on the ACM Education Council I have heard this need brought up so many times; it seems as if no one could possibly dispute the importance of including communication skills in curricular guidelines for any computing program. Nevertheless, the issue is more complex than at first seems because some people believe these particular skills do not belong in the computing curriculum at all; some people believe they should be taught outside computing departments; some people think they should be required and some people think they should be optional.

Sustainability. Oh la la (I still have one foot in France). When I was part of the ITiCSE 2008 Working Group on Sustainability and Computing, I learned firsthand how controversial this topic can be. The strength of the flames from some of my colleagues in computing education was enough to stand my hair on end as if I had sprayed it with tight-hold super gel. One anonymous survey respondent talked about not wanting to have sustainability shoved down his throat. With multiple exclamation points (!!!!!) and underlines. On the other hand, there were colleagues who practically hugged the working group members for "finally" bringing this topic into a serious discussion forum. Thank you, thank you, some said, for encouraging us to think about the environmental effects of our professional work.

Do you have an opinion about Professional Communication or Sustainability in the computer science curriculum? Yes, no, not sure... You have until September 15 to submit comments on any aspect of the Strawman Draft. If you have been meaning to do so and haven't, now is the time.

Quelque Chose est Différente Ici

It is healthy to periodically have your perspective altered as mine has been for the past few days here in France. When I go to sign on to this blog for example, I am asked for my "Adresse électronique" and my "Mot de passe" and depending upon whose computer I'm using I may find myself reminding my fingers that the "z" is not where I think it should be. Along with many other keys. It's not a QWERTY keyboard. Have you assumed that QWERTY is universal? Nope, it's not.

I checked out a definition on Wiktionnaire and then logged in to Facebook. "Bienvenue sur Facebook. Connectez-vous inscrive-vous ou décrouve!" Connect, write, or discover! 

Another meaning for découvrir is "to take the lid off". Now that makes me think of food. Pas problèm, as so much of it is so good here. Pqss the pqstries: qnd the cheese:  I wonder if the people at Facebook were trying some subtle way to appeal to the French palate. Not that Facebook is known for subtlety.

A French relative once told me that the best cheese is the most odiferous cheese; the way to identify the best cheeses, he said, were to sit them out and wait for a passing fly. If the fly passes above the cheese and drops dead the cheese is first rate. Yum. We immediately went cheese hunting.

A few days ago someone asked me to look over a document written in English and edit it for the grammar. They handed me a flash drive. Not any ordinary flash drive - not a bit of plastic in it. It is made of wood and remains closed by virtue of a magnet. Talk about ecologically ingenious. I've got to hand it to whoever created this device because I'd love to see us reduce the amount of environmentally toxic plastic used in our computing systems.

Electronic devices are some of the worst plastic offenders. This little flash drive is a reminder that there are alternatives to our near complete dependence on plastic if only we get creative in our thinking. Maybe a laptop made of wood isn't the solution (might it catch on fire when the drive heats up?) but surely there is something we can do about all that plastic.

You know what I haven't seen here in Paris? iPods. I can't recall having seen more than one or two people in Paris with those dangling ear cords. Smartphones are everywhere, everyone seems to have one, but there are signs in many places asking people not to use their phones and people respond by not using their phones! I think it's great. People aren't absorbed in their own isolated electronic worlds the way they often are in the US. They talk to in person to one another, to their children, to their friends. 

Bonne journée

The Data Provenance Project

It is a scientist's job to ask a lot of questions and to search for answers. Often this means collecting extensive data and studying it to generate meaning. Along the way, scientists may see an unusual output, such as described in the hydrology research project in my last post. To follow the trail leading eventually to our friend the moose, questions had to be asked: which sensor produced the anomalous data, when did this happen, what day, what time, how long did the change last, was there a similar rise in water level at nearby sensors in other streams? These answers come in the form of data: Provenance Data. Provenance comes from the French verb "provenir", meaning "to come from, to come forth".

But Provenance Data is not just for getting to the bottom of mysteries. Provenance Data is a key contributor to proving and justifying scientific conclusions.  This is where the challenging concept of "raw data" comes into play. What data exactly are we talking about when we ask for the "raw data"? How do we present that data to others such that it has meaning, given that a bunch of numbers without any interpretation is often meaningless? But once we interpret (manipulate) it, is it still "raw"? It is easy to get trapped in a circular conundrum.

An Example, returning to the hydrology project: is raw data the data about stream outflow at a given location? This outflow information has meaning, but was generated by a synthesis and filtering of other data. So, is raw data the average water weight generated every 15 minutes at various onshore loggers? Maybe. We can get yet more specific: is raw data the individual underwater sensor readings taken every few seconds? Maybe...but at this point would those readings make any sense to anyone other than a few highly trained specialists and engineers?

Probably not.  So how helpful would it actually be in proving and justifying claims of stream outflow volume to the concerned external evaluator or critic? We didn't even discuss the fact that there are enormous technological hurdles to maintaining every single sensor reading for any length of time. Not to mention that if you ask an ecologist they would probably present even more alternatives for the title of "raw data".

More than ever, in this day and age of constant challenging and questioning of scientific claims, something is needed to assist with obtaining a full picture of where results come from and what they mean.

As explained to me by Barbara Lerner, computer science faculty at Mount Holyoke College, Provenance Data is useful for answering many questions related to understanding, validation and accountability: to provide tracking of data, to enable a study of interacting actions inherent to any complex process, to facilitate investigation of deeper and broader questions generated by data inherent to complex processes.

Barbara is part of the multi-institutional Data Provenance Project which is developing a process system to aid scientists in collecting, storing and analyzing Provenance Data. She works with faculty at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst (Lee Osterweil) and at Harvard Forest (Emery Boose). The tool they are creating will provide a disciplined method to track how and when data was collected, and how it has been manipulated, all the way through to the development of descriptive models.  There are applications in diverse domains; her focus is the Harvard Forest ecology project measuring stream volume outflow we have been discussing. When the project is complete, the ecologists her team works with will be able to extensively query and manipulate their data - without having to learn a query language such as SQL. The current prototype is already able to produce Data Derivation Graphs (DDG) for the scientists.

Here is a very simple example of a  DDG describing the process for obtaining one stream discharge value, using a specialized processing language called Little-JIL:

Detailed explanations can be found in the team's published papers.*

There are challenges on many levels to building a Data Provenance tool. One of the biggest concerns is with balancing technical flexibility with ease of use for the non computer scientist. For this reason the computer scientists work closely with the ecologists, who think this project is "cool" and are happy to provide ongoing feedback. There are other challenges: those inherent to graph problems in general; all sorts of challenges to developing process systems that will be functional across disciplines. Other areas of interest range from processes tied to climate modeling, emergency room care, chemotherapy delivery and labor negotiations. Clearly, the long term benefits extend far beyond the ecology project. Theoretically, any science process, research or otherwise, will be able to use this system once it is fully developed.

As Barbara Lerner says, it is extremely rewarding to do outward looking things and obtain concrete results.  It is inspiring to work with other scientists who think this work is exciting. The field of computer science benefits, the overall cause of science benefits, and society benefits. Hard to argue with any of that.



*Barbara Lerner, Emery Boose, Leon Osterweil, Aaron Ellison and Lori Clarke, "Provenance and Quality Control in Sensor Networks", Environmental Information Managemet 2011 Conference, Santa Barbara, California, September 2011.

Preparing for the Unexpected Moose in Your Hydrology Research Study

Let's say you are an ecologist studying a watershed high in the mountains. You care about the water flow through several streams that feed a pristine lake. Ultimately you want to understand the stream discharge process in this region - what is the volume? You need to collect a lot of complex data in order to build a realistic model of what happens day in and day out.

Water can enter the environment several ways, including rain and another body of water; water can exit the environment in several ways including evaporation, entering another body of water, or seeping underground. So you create small dams and place sensors in the water at well chosen locations. Each sensor measures the weight of the water (among other things) and feeds that data every few seconds to a data logger on the nearby shore. The data logger computes an average every 15 minutes and saves those values for you. Every so often you trek up the trail to your sensors, Palm Pilot in hand, download the data, take it back to the lab.

(Compressing the description of the scientific process for purposes of brevity) Run statistical analyses on the data, generate defensible behavioral models, write up the results and publish them.

Until the day that you notice a very strange reading. The water level is suddenly unusually high. Why might this be...

By running a few standard checks and conducting a little investigation you discover that a moose stepped in the water. If you are like me, when you first heard this all too real scenario, you almost fell off the chair laughing at the thought of a moose blithely wandering into the middle of a serious research project.

One unexpected and undetected moose could really mess up your data driven model of stream flow. Fortunately, the moose is reasonably easy to figure out. But other scenarios are a lot harder to get to the bottom of when you are dealing with complex natural phenomena and processes. What if you are measuring and modeling atmospheric carbon flow and sequestration in trees over that same expanse of forest? What if you include variables related to climate change, which is sure to bring in-depth scrutiny from peers and critics? You absolutely need to be able to explain and justify your conclusions to science and perhaps even to the wider public.

What you need is Provenance Data: the data about the data; the meta-data, whatever you want to call it. Provenance Data is the data that describes how those stream values were obtained, when they were obtained, what was done to that data. The contextual information surrounding the so-called Raw Data.

Computer Scientists are involved in a series of research projects to enable the gathering and clear presentation of Provenance Data. Next post, I will explain what they are doing, as well as why I said "so-called" Raw Data.

Computing and Helping Sea Turtles with Social Media

The Annual Symposium on Sea Turtle Biology and Conservation was held here in San Diego this week. I was fortunate enough to be able to spend a few hours speaking with someone attending the conference. I have been doing research into computing used in sea turtle conservation work for some time as part of my book project so this was a really nice opportunity to share ideas and compare notes in person.

One of the messages that comes through loud and clear: there is an enormous opportunity for the computing discipline to work hand in hand with environmental groups. There are highly technical computing activities such as the use of GPS technology (tracking animal movement for example) and modeling (projections of complex scenarios and how different factors might affect outcomes) and then there is a sometimes overlooked opportunity for the effective use of social media. We hear about social media playing a critical role in reporting international political events, but we do not hear so much about leveraging social media as a serious and ongoing computing career option.

When the Deep Horizon oil spill occurred last spring, how did the public get their information? Some people listened to television and traditional media. However, many went elsewhere. Scientists of all kinds and other content experts, working round the clock, who had more to say than what fit in a 30 second sound bite used: social networking outlets. For example, last summer a blog maintained by the Sea Turtle Conservancy posted statistics about turtles impacted by the oil spill; the same organization used their website,  Facebook and other online venues to distribute solid data-supported information.

Professional computing skills can contribute enormously to the effective use of social networking. When to post, what to post, how to target the post. In the case of reporting on sea turtle issues this means computer science personnel can use their software engineering skills. These skills include principles of good UI design, and requirements gathering to provide a target audience the information they are interested in, in the most effective way online.

Additional computing skills are needed to build an effective public education and outreach website. html? cascading style sheets? content management system? sharepoint pages? Connections to databases of organized information - how should all that data be stored and revealed to the users through different media? ... There are many ways to build a site and it is critical to understand what approach makes the most sense and how to leverage technical capabilities in alignment with content goals. The biologists know their sea turtles. They know what the critical information is and what actions need to be done, be it with the public, government entities, other organizations and stakeholders.

There is another item worth mentioning. A computer scientist who works with an environmental group such as those supporting sea turtle conservation is most definitely not going to spend her or his life sitting in a cubicle all alone. She (or he) might well find herself (or himself) on a remote beach late at night watching for rare migrating turtles looking to crawl up on a beach to lay eggs. So I learned from my research - travel to interesting locations around the world and immersion in the natural environment come with the job.

Are you a computer scientist who wants to work for an environmental cause? Do you like to travel? Does the idea of getting dirty, muddy or bug bitten sound like not a big deal? This could be your calling.

Computing has an Important Role to Play in Earthquake Preparedness and Response

When devastation as large as that currently happening in Japan occurs, it can be hard to know what to say or do. If you are like me, you have been reading the news daily (or more often), caught up in a mix of complicated reactions. This morning for example I watched computer generated weather simulations of possible flow patterns of radioactive contamination (via the BBC).  As the simulation looped over and over I couldn't help but be transfixed by one large multicolored plume as it slid like a mutant amoeba over Southern California. Right here in other words. The colors registered different levels of radiation. Computers generated those simulations and unsettling as they were, I'm glad to be able to see them. It is better to have knowledge from a reliable source than no knowledge, even when that knowledge is based on probabilities and a great deal of the unknown.

I was very grateful for computer science when the recent earthquake struck New Zealand. A friend lives in Christchurch and it was only a matter of a few nerve wracking days before a brief post appeared on Facebook telling all of us that she was ok - no doubt considerably freaked out, but ok. Thank you to the computer scientist creators of social networking.

The situation was very different in 2004 when the tsunami hit Sri Lanka and someone I know was very near the coast. It was over a week before we learned that he and his family were alive. There was no email access, no smart phones, no Facebook page, nothing but waiting and telephone calls to the US State Department (who were terrific by the way). The computing communication infrastructure either was not there to start with or had been completely disabled by the dual natural disasters of earthquake and tsunami.

Watching the developing situation in Japan, the triple disasters unfolding as nuclear contamination possibilities are added to realities of earthquake and tsumani, watching the weather models, I was reminded of the researchers around the world who work full time developing models of earthquake simulation and  who perform seismic hazard analysis. They work on these models so that we can know as much as possible about what can happen, how it can happen, how we can best prepare, where to erect buildings and other structures and how to protect them as best we can.

Developing 3-D and 4-D maps and models are classic computing problems of large scale data analysis: selecting and applying the "best" constraints, knowing that the model you develop will depend upon choices about possible epicenter (location of the earth directly above the underground origin of the earthquake), focal depth (how deep the origin is), magnitude (amount of energy released) and possible paths the seismic waves may follow. There are innumerable factors to include or leave out of this type of model such as local and regional variations, ground type, land masses, rock type...just for starters. It is all about improving probabilities and predictions.

The paths of seismic waves are not always what one might expect. For example, one reason Los Angeles gets hit so hard by some earthquakes on the famous San Andreas fault is because there is a natural "funnel" that directs ground motion directly into the city from a section of the fault well east of the city. Complex modeling and a solid knowledge of the land revealed this important information. 

You have to know your hardware, firmware and software; you have to know how to work with the latest and most sophisticated networks of high performance computing. Operating system, algorithm and programming language optimization. Databases to hold all those data and sophisticated networks to link the distributed grids of computers.

If you have an interest in earth science and scientific computing (you don't need expertise in both - this is where collaboration between fields comes in) then here is an area where you can work to make a difference in people's lives.

Healthy Mouse Batteries?

My mouse has been bothering me. I persist in using a mouse tethered to my computer via the umbilical cord because I try not to use batteries. Batteries are just plain toxic. But, I confess, the tail of my mouse gets in the way. It gets tangled up and sometimes it has to be shoved out of the way or the mouse runs over its own tail. Poor thing.

I know, small potatoes in the name of being Green. Everywhere I look we are switching to wireless mice so the time may come soon when my mouse dies with a small squeak (or not) and I cannot replace it with anything but the tail-less version. So I have been researching batteries. In general, throughout my living space I use rechargeable batteries. Fewer heavy metals and other noxious chemicals go in the landfills. But eventually they do go in the landfills. And as the following site describes, though they beat normal batteries hands down, even a rechargeable battery is on some level bad news:

http://www.greenbatteries.com/aa-battery-faqs.html

The page claims that NiMH (Nickel-Metal Hydride) rechargeable batteries are environmentally friendly but this is true only by comparison to the other rechargeables. Although the disposal hazard is reduced because there is no (highly toxic) Cadmium in NiMH batteries, the site neglects to mention that there can be significant environmental degradation from current mining practices and processing of the base components.

What is a mouse user to do...

I found something really cool... How about a living mouse! No, I'm not suggesting you train a furry creature to let you hold it and scoot it around on the table with an antennae of some sort attached to it. PETA would probably be on *my* tail really fast - with justification. (Besides, you know what mice like to do besides eat)

Not yet ready for prime time, but MIT is at work on a virus-driven battery!  What a totally cool idea. The viruses "create a cathode by coating themselves with iron phosphate and then grabbing hold of carbon nanotubes" (full article below). Cool. I think. It gives new meaning to "reach out and touch someone".  Now if we all had these little critters powering our mice just think of the good it would do for the environment. I could get rid of my umbilical tail. And then maybe we could replace the battery in my laptop as well?

I wonder what viruses they use...

In the interests of science I am currently looking for a friend who would like to test one under my supervision as soon as they become available.


Article:
http://www.businessgreen.com/bg/news/1802467/mit-team-touts-sci-style-virus-battery

Publications page: http://belcher10.mit.edu/publications/

Bicycle That Helps People and the Environment

The September issue of CACM (Communications of the ACM) has an interesting article on the development of a computing driven bicycle that helps people, cities and the environment. It has truly interdisciplinary application, including roles as an augmented exercise device, rider safety enhancer, social networking tool, aid to urban planning and a possible tool to help fight climate change. The bike, which recharges itself when the rider brakes, is loaded with technical goodies.

There is a Bluetooth device in the wheel hub and a smartphone on the handlebars. Information can be communicated to the rider about different routes, problem areas to avoid, potholes, etc. The rider can also communicate with other riders who are using the same type of bike - mobile computing goes mobile in a whole new way.

But the really cool technology is a group of sensors that collect information on carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, temperature, humidity and noise. The data is stored for review later (presumably so the rider doesn't crash from trying to read it while moving).  The data can be transmitted to city planners, urban designers and scientists working on climate change. Here is a brief snippet giving a glimpse of how the data can be used:

"The data can be cross referenced with information about land use at various points along the routes...help urban planners identify heat islands...pinpoint areas suffering from noise pollution or a concentration of exhaust fumes"

Not coincidentally, the bike, which is currently being piloted in Copenhagen, was introduced at the Copenhagen Climate Conference as part of a project to decrease auto ridership and increase bicycle commuting. It is very exciting to see that one of the primary concerns of the developers is to address an environmental problem.