In a bold departure from its paper counterparts--scientific journals that reproduce their print editions on-line--Columbia and Columbia University Press have launched Columbia Earthscape, the first multi-media resource in the earth sciences designed for scientists and laymen alike.
Described as one-stop shopping in the field of earth system science, Columbia Earthscape contains current research, breaking news, policy debates and curriculum models for Earth science teachers on a wide-range of topics, such as climate change, oceanography, geology, and environmental resources.
The site contains of over 70,000 pages of multi-media web content, including full-text books, video clips, current journal articles, lectures and seminars, conferences, policy papers and commentary, maps and models, searchable databases, links and live web-casts of important conferences, from a variety of sources--among them, Columbia, NASA, MIT, the American Museum of Natural History and ABC News.
On Nov. 15 and 16, Earthscape will feature a live webcast of Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory's The State of the Planet conference, which will assess the state of the Earth from four standpoints: climate, natural resources, natural hazards and humankind's impact on the planet.
As the Earthscape site matures, 2,000 pages of information will be added monthly.
By virtue of its medium, the World Wide Web, it is expected that Earthscape will transform the way researchers, scholars, teachers, students and decision-makers gain access to critical information in the Earth sciences and environmental policy. The virtual publication is expected to reduce the cost of scholarly information access and use, and to expand the dissemination of scientific research to a wide audience. It also has the potential to create a trend in on-line curricular support for teachers in the field.
According to John Haber, editor of Columbia Earthscape, the site was developed with scientists in mind, but is not exclusively for a scholarly audience.
"Because science and environmental policy intrude on people's lives on a daily basis, the site offers something for everyone," said Haber.
A quarterly on-line magazine Earth Affairs offers a forum for scientists to exchange opinions and ideas. Breaking news engages the general public, and while the site offers information in the earth sciences for students, curriculum modules offer classroom tools for science teachers.
"Earthscape provides an environment for experimentation in the science curriculum thereby creating a community of teachers who are using high-tech multimedia materials in the classroom," said Haber.
In addition to curriculum modules in eight areas of the earth sciences, the site provides course models for others to follow, guidance on how to approach particular issues in the classroom and ways to further integrate current research and policy into undergraduate course curriculum.
"With Earthscape we are attempting to bring easily searchable quality content in a variety of media from a variety of resources," said Kate Wittenberg, senior executive editor of Columbia University Press and director of the Electronic Publishing Initiative at Columbia. "In a university setting, because of our resources and expertise, we can move swiftly and innovatively in the creation of interesting new models for publication."
Columbia Earthscape is the newest scholarly publication in a generation of innovative, interdisciplinary digital publications developed by Columbia. Through the Electronic Publishing Initiative at Columbia (the EPIC Center) established this summer, innovative on-line publications are explored, developed, and evaluated as digital solutions to the current crisis in scholarly publication: growing publishing costs in a shrinking market for scholarly books.
Like Columbia International Affairs On-line, the first multi-disciplinary on-line venture of its kind in the field of International Affairs, which was launched by Columbia two years ago, Columbia Earthscape is the result of a collaborative effort between the Columbia University Press, the University Libraries, and Academic Computing Information Systems (AcIS).
"The groundwork for Earthscape was set when we began planning for the Columbia Digital Library. This work gave us much insight into the viability of on-line resources in academic settings," said Elaine Sloan, vice president for Information Services and University librarian. "Since that time, our commitment to the development of the digital library has grown. One of the outcomes is the creation of EPIC, an organization that draws from the expertise of a range of minds within the University: faculty who create knowledge, information technologists who create the complex architecture and security of EPIC sites, librarians who contribute their expertise in the collection and organization of information, and Columbia University Press' contributions as publishers."
In addition to a start-up grant from the Office of the Provost, Columbia Earthscape has received two three-year grants assisting in the development, launch and staffing of the publication, including $590,000 from the National Science Foundation's Digital Library 2 Program and $200,000 from SPARC, the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition. According to the Director of SPARC, Rick Johnson, Earthscape was one of three digital initiatives awarded grants because of their "enormous potential to transform the scientific information economy" and "general benefit to science, academe and society at large."
Columbia Earthscape, located at www.earthscape.org, is accessible to the Columbia community free of charge via Columbia Net. The site will be available for subscription to both institutions and individuals in mid-December.
For more information on digital projects at Columbia contact Kate Wittenberg at (212) 666-1000, ext. 7119 or kw49@columbia.edu or visit the earthscape site at http://www.earthscape.org.
|
