Dale Anderson shared this post

daleanderson

daleanderson

The National Science Foundation has started its first blog via its Division of Environmental Biology (http://nsfdeb.wordpress.com). It reminded me that my first online blog, Dale's Dive Diary, began almost twenty years ago in November of 1993 at a time when the internet was still fairly young. In fact, my blog may have been one of the very first blogs on the internet, and as far as I know it was the first blog from the continent of Antarctica. I was part of a NASA sponsored science and technology demonstration project using telepresent ROV technology to explore the ice-covered lakes of the MCM Dry Valleys and McMurdo Sound, and seizing the opportunity I enlisted the help of producers Geoff Haine-Stiles and Mark Jenkins and together we created an educational outreach program called Live! From Other Worlds! This program included the first and perhaps only live video broadcasts, over two episodes, from beneath the Antarctic sea-ice, enabling students in three US middle schools (VA, CA, HI) to make virtual dives with me as I explored the marine ecosystem beneath the thick ice cover of McMurdo Sound. The young students were able to operate and control the Telpresent ROV using the computers at their desks, talk with me underwater and all of this was shared nation-wide via PBS so others could join in the fun. My work in Antarctica continues, and I hope we will always find creative ways to communicate the fun and the excitement

All Posts, NewsMarie Levine