I have some contact with <a href="http://www.globe.gov">http://www.globe.gov</a> and had the chance to show off two OLPC XO-1 laptops a couple of years ago at their office in Denver. I am still a current GLOBE trainer in Melbourne. Would you like me to make contact with them regarding membership of GLOBE? It would be great for your Uganda data to become part of our global weather data-set. Regards Roland <div class="gmail_quote">On 20 April 2010 07:49, Nicholas Doiron <<a href="mailto:ndoiron@andrew.cmu.edu">ndoiron@andrew.cmu.edu</a>> wrote: <blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-left: 1ex;"> I do appreciate your response and thoughts on how it would be difficult to collect data regularly. I am hoping to install an XO-accessible weather station in Uganda this summer. A device will monitor the sensor and students can collect and post the data on their own schedule. A large-scale project could start by choosing a simpler project where students send reports about what they see. Last December I was on a call with DigiLiteracy.org and Cornell's volunteer science program. Cornell is interested in bird counts from OLPC schools in the US, India, and Latin America. They also have a bilingual Celebrate Urban Birds program for city schools. Here is a report about their work with a school in Costa Rica: <a href="http://www.birds.cornell.edu/netcommunity/Page.aspx?pid=1693" target="_blank">http://www.birds.cornell.edu/netcommunity/Page.aspx?pid=1693</a> I would be happy to help in bringing this program back to life. We have put digital graphs, cameras, maps, and networks in schools around the world; it would be amazing if we can connect them with practical science projects. Regards, Nick Doiron <div><div></div><div class="h5"> On Sun, April 18, 2010 11:44 pm, Yamandu Ploskonka wrote: > Provincia San Luis in Argentina is doing an amazing project of > calculating the carbon footprint of every community in the Provincia, the > kids go house byhouse interviewing the families on what kind of appliances > they have, number of lightbulbs, etc. Classmates running winnows, alas. > > > Please disregard the rest of my response below - I'm into nonsense, no > need to take any of that seriously, I just find it somewhat quaint I fell > into that, so I'm leaving it there > > as to massive data gathering, something on the lines of weather projects > could be fascinating, with adequate sensors. Anyway, so far we haven't > even been able to figure out even what it is that kids use their computers > for, which simply would require to see / spider / datamine the Journals. > To assume that we will be able to have kids regularly upload > information, and also somehow will we manage to get them previously the > proper sensors... > > Now, with *adequate* data processing, having weather data moving across > a locality with a couple hundred sensors *accurately* located would be > terrific, especially cross referencing that with satellite data and doing > it over a significant span of time. > > Same difficulty with anything of this kind. It's cute this was > originally sold as something that would use accelerometers in computers, > but, oh, it turns out you need separate sensors. > > I've seen a few very clever Science Fair seismic sensors, but even the > cheapest ones can run beyond what is practical to consider as individual > expenses. And don't forget calibrating them, etc. I would be surprised a > sensor that actually can give useful information would cost less than an > XO! > > > On 04/18/2010 09:39 PM, Caryl Bigenho wrote: > >> Hi Nick, >> >> >> Thanks for the link to the Science For Citizens site. Sounds like >> most of these projects are for the US only. I wonder if there are >> similar projects in other countries? Some really nice lessons could be >> developed for students to do with their XOs with web access. Does >> anyone know of others? >> >> Caryl </div></div><div><div></div><div class="h5">_______________________________________________ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) <a href="mailto:IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org">IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org</a> <a href="http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep" target="_blank">http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep</a> </div></div></blockquote></div> -- Roland Gesthuizen - ICT Coordinator - Westall Secondary College <a href="http://www.westallsc.vic.edu.au">http://www.westallsc.vic.edu.au</a> "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed it is the only thing that ever has." --Margaret Mead