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There are three primary components to the ongoing R&D efforts for the EARTHscope project: ES Player technology,
partner development, and earned revenue/grants:
- ES Player Features, Tool Sets and Interface Design
Version 2.0 of the EARTHscope publishing tool entered beta phase in July 2003. To further aid in learning and research,
tech R&D efforts for the 2004 development cycle will focus on functionality that:
- Enhances ES interactivity and multi media capability
- Allows partners to remotely update their geo-stories without access to source files
- Offers an ES tool suite that includes simple scenario modeling and Internet map retrieval (IMS)
- Enables ES users to search the ES library, and create and save a customized display of content
more upcoming features
- Partner Development for ES Content, Technology and Distribution
The ES team engages in extensive research, networking and follow-up work to establish technology partners and partners for
community outreach projects, educational programs and the ES Library. In addition we are actively working to expand and
engage the ES Advisory Board. An important aspect of these efforts involves attending and presenting at 3-6 conferences
each year in the fields of education, design and technology.
more about content partners
- ES Earned Revenue Model and Grant Funding
We are researching and have begun to test a number of potential sources for earned revenue. These include:
- Subscription fees from non-partner organizations that feature ES on their web sites
- Membership fees from content partners
- Standard user license and maintenance fee
- Self-publishing license fees
- Content production fees (successful examples include:suc Earthspan Kiosk and AAAS Atlas)
- Extra fees for special functionality (IMS capability, etc.)
- Commissions from book sales sourced through ES (using a "buy this book" feature)
- Sale of ES library CDs to schools, universities, home-schoolers, libraries, etc.
To position the ES project to receive grant funding we are:
- Assembling groups of institutional publishers, community/school based content contributors, and educational outreach
partners committed to using and disseminating ES
- Assembling tech development partners committed to building a suite of bundled ES functionalities that can make ES a
powerful interactive viewing, research and authoring tool
- Using this consortium of ES content/tech partners as the basis for ongoing grant applications to support the project
- Creating strategic partnerships to tap funding for the development of innovative "education for sustainability" and
"community mapping" programs that foster the innovative use of information technology (such as GIS, scenario planning,
modeling, and digital libraries)
- Targeted funding sources include: private foundations, GIS software companies, a small number of non-profit organizations
and government organizations such as: NASA, NSF, & NSDL
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