Gigabit technology and University research

While the UC Santa Barbara already shares one of the fastest internet connections on the planet, students and others who live away from campus find that their ability to connect to academic resources from home can seriously impact their ability to work. Google's gigabit internet fiber to the home would reconnect these scholars and students to the resources that are now only available physically on campus. This would also allow University alumni and others who want to access resources from camus in homes around Santa Barbara.

Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/marcelgermain/3840597155/sizes/s/ CC licensed by MarcelGermain

What can we do with gigabit internet? What can't we do!

Google's enticing offer to build out test sites for gigabit internet (fiber to the home) opens the door to the next level of computer networking. The difference between the internet (WAN) and the local network (LAN) disappears, and we are all as connected as the devices in the same building. In one move, this fact demolishes that threshold between downloading content and using content. The download delay disappears and the game, the videoconference, the movie we need is just HERE.

Usability experts have long known that the key to psychological comfort in an interface is the feeling of control. Push a button and something happens NOW. Want to see that HD video preview? Push a button and watch it. Want to send a file to a colleague, push a button and it's there. Of course, the need for speed will also push our expectations. In a couple years we will be hungering for that 4k video feed. Of course, that's the glory of fiber optics--change out the hardware on both ends and a gigabit connection can become a 16 gigabit connection.

Bring it on Google! Santa Barbara is ready for you!
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Earth Science Meeting in DC #4

Jake Weltzin from the USGS is talking about using phenology to study climate change effects. Phenology is the study of the variations that occur seasonally in plants and animals. When leaves turn color in that fall, that's a phenological event. The timing of these events offers scientists great clues for climate change. In a recent study 62% of species are showing predictable changes in response to climate warming. This means their springtime changes are occurring earlier. For some species, such as migratory species, this can be a deadly trend. The USGS Phenology effort is looking for student scientists and others to help perform a hundred thousand observations. This is a great opportunity for science students to get involved.

Earth Science Meeting in DC #3

Bryant Cramer, Associate Director for Geography, USGS has stepped up to the podium. He notes that it is the uncertainty in the physical models for the future that earth science decision makers need to manage to be able to drive processes/policies such as Carbon cap-and-trade.  The critical first step is to take earth system models to a new level of certainty. He also noted that when USGS stopped charging for Landsat scenes the amount of data delivered skyrocketed.

Earth Science Meeting in DC #2

Pai-Yei Whung, Chief Scientist at the US EPA has stepped up to the podium. The EPA needs to quantify the impacts of its regulations to assure that they are beneficial for society. The data to information (through tools) to decisions and assessment requires the best available science practices, including observational data analysis.

In the Midwest there were two 500-year floods in 15 years (1993 and 2008). Increased water flows can cause sewer systems to fail. The increase of the likelihood of reoccurring sewage incidents in the water system due to climate changes may require new standards for sewer systems.

Dr. Whung notes that "Community is KEY" to the AirNOW effort at the EPA. What are the emergent Internet-based tools that would help the EPA to grow this community effort?

Earth Science Meeting in DC #1

The opening plenary of the ESIP Winter meeting at DC is just underway.
Listening to Michael Freilich, the director of NASA's Earth Science division.
He's talking about how the measurements we make about the Earth need to inform the models that can tell us the longer-term picture of the Earth's climate.
Sea level rise is a combination of adding water and heating the water (about half from each today).
"Snapshots for most earth systems don't work." We need longer-term measurements.
NASA makes its data available freely. Recently, the European Space Agency has also been moving to the NASA position.

Helen Wood, Senior Advisor for Satellite and Information Services at NOAA takes the podium. She mentions that the NASA open data policy has helped NOAA to open up its data policies. NOAA is looking to build a National Climate Service that can pull together all of NOAA's efforts in this area. NOAA is also interested in sustainable fisheries and sustainable coastal communities, as well as weather forecasting and science.

Eight Years in the Bush Leagues: Got a long way to recover from that

The report back from the IOC (and congrats to Rio!) is that nothing Obama could have said or done would have made Chicago more attractive. Rio had a exceedingly good point about sending the Olympics to a new continent. There is more to this than Rio's merits. The great majority of IOC members travel internationally, and comments back to the US delegation confirm that travel to the US is now a "harrowing experience" at the border for many nationalities (thanks to Boing Boing for this link).

Of all the changes in travel over the past several years, and in response to 9/11, the most impractical and counterproductive for America has been the level of harassment that foreign nationals now face to enter the US. Of course, several nations have reciprocated and so US travelers have found boarder crossings equally difficult. It is not that border security is unimportant, but it should be done with a greater economy. Instead of fingerprinting millions of travelers, we should be training border agents to be more perceptive. Keep the crossing secure, but don't make every foreign traveler feel like a criminal.

The sight of a gathering of Republican activists cheering the announcement that Chicago had lost its bid for the Olympics (assuming here that they are not closet Brazil supporters) is simply sad. It shows are complete lack of class. Makes one happy that crowd is no longer in the White House.

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