Earth Knowledge: Wicked Good

Science!  That's what my part time gig is all about.  I've been a contributer to this group for a while, doing their website generations and branding over the years while I was with Ridgewood.  These days I'm working closer with them on their marketing materials, website graphics, presentations and data visualization.  Coming on board in April, I felt like I was putting frosting on the cake of years of development and research they had already put into this technology.

What's Earth Knowledge?  
The simple explanation:  taking the thousand page reports and complex data models scientists produce in earth science and boiling it down to simple English, Google Earth layers, and infographics so that legislators and the general public can understand the data enough to make informed decisions about the environment.

What's in it for you?  
The public side of Earth Knowledge is, in the words of social media guru Paul Gillin, "A great example of content curation."  Using artificial intelligence to organize sources of earth science from around the world, customized feeds can be read through the traditional Portal news feed or by location through the Virtual Globe.  These are big time sources:  Reuters, BBC, NASA, NOAA, USDA, USGS, DOI, Science Daily, Green Peace, Nature Conservancy, Monga Bay,  ARKive, Global Heritage Fund, United Nations, European Environmental Agency.

My ulterior motive here is to show off my web graphics.  Also to show off the exciting field of infographics I've been working in.  Thinking about the graphics in the text books of my youth and how long I would stare at them wondering how they were achieved.  Now I'm making them.  There is something very satisfying about using the mix of my skills in this way...  and working with scientists.  Fun!