Methodologies for Development of A Web-Based Interactive ...

Methodologies for Development of A Web-Based Interactive Aerosol Education Program Ying Li and Pratim Biswas Aerosol and Air Quality Research Laboratory

Stefan Falke and Ed Fialkowski Center for Air Pollution Impact & Trend Analysis (CAPITA) Department of Energy, Environmental and Chemical Engineering Washington University in St. Louis 2nd International Symposium on Energy and Environment Aerosol Science & Technology and Energy Education Workshop Hong Kong, December 8, 2008

Methodologies for Development of A Web-Based Interactive Aerosol Education Program ‰ Program Website: • WUStL Server: http://aerosols.wustl.edu/education • UF Server: http://aerosol.ees.ufl.edu • Accessible from the flash drive

‰ Twelve Modules • Covering a variety of topics in aerosol science and engineering (aerosol basics, transport, dynamics, instrumentation, atmospheric aerosols, bioaerosols, health related aerosols, etc.)

‰ Features of the Modules • Static components: texts, tables, figures, pictures • Interactive features: animations, web-calculators, simulators • Demonstration: Optical Particle Counter; the HUB

Methodologies for Development of A Web-Based Interactive Aerosol Education Program ‰ Methodologies and Resources to Make the Program • Information Technology: HTML, FLASH, ASP, VBscript, PERL • Human Resources: • Faculty: Dr. Pratim Biswas at WUStL and Dr. Chang-Yu Wu at UF • Post-docs, graduate students, undergraduate students, and staff from both the UF and WUStL. • Time: 3 ~ 12 months for each individual module • Financial Support: National Science Foundation (NSF)

Spatial-temporal analysis modules Modules accessible through web browsers to visualize and analyze data through maps, charts and tables.

1960-2000 monthly

Source: RETRO

Modules have an application programming interface that allows data to be inputted and outputted, thereby connecting the module with other modules and applications.

Mashup Applications • User interaction with web has expanded from one-way information download to include user-driven information content – “Web 2.0” • Within the science and engineering domains, this next phase of the web is referred to as cyberinfrastructure, e-science, and service oriented science. • new capabilities for sharing information, conducting research in a distributed environment, and achieving new insights that would have taken longer, or not occurred at all, in independent organizations.

Mashups - applications constructed by combining data and services from disparate sources.

Summary of Mashup APIs - All

Summary of Mashup APIs – Last 14 days

Aerosol Education Mashups Connecting independent data analysis and visualization modules into thirdparty applications for conveying air quality science concepts.

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Web standards and technologies allow data to be accessed and visualized from multiple sources.

Transfer Emission Data (Java Script) to OPC Module (Flash) Action Script connecting Java Script and Flash – how emission data (PM2.5) is transferred http://niceguy.wustl.edu/OPC/ import flash.external.ExternalInterface; import mx.controls.Alert; //import flash.events.Event; function getTextFromJavaScript(str:String, flow:String):Void { _global.PM25= Number(str); _global.flow= Number(flow); Alert.show(_global.PM25, "PM2.5 Emissions (tons/yr)"); trace(PM25); } ExternalInterface.addCallback("sendTextToFlash", this, getTextFromJavaScript);

Technologies • • • • • •

Web 2.0 Open Geospatial Consortium Standards Data Standards Javascript HTML Adobe Flex Charts

What does it mean for Education? • Data is becoming increasingly available through shared interfaces • Cyberinfrastructures are forming, collaborations are becoming more desired • Students are growing-up in a digital and web-oriented world. • How do we take the rich data sources and powerful web technologies to create tools that enhance students understanding of aerosol science and technology?

Bigger Picture: An Aerosol Education Cyberinfrastructure GEOSS as a Case Study The Group on Earth Observations (GEO) is a partnership that includes 77 governments and 56 international organizations. The vision of GEO is to create a Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) to realize coordinated, comprehensive and sustained Earth observations and information among countries.

http://www.earthobservations.org/ This emerging infrastructure aims to interconnect a diverse and growing array of sensors and information systems to monitor, forecast and assess changes in our global environment to support experts, policy makers, and decision makers. …AND EDUCATION

Conclusions • Successfully combined modules from two labs to create a small single aerosol education application • The method used is generic and applicable to other modules • Interest in “scaling up” to include multiple aerosol groups, multiple courses, and independently created applications • More information: – Presentation this afternoon on coal utility informatics – Poster: “Collaborative Air Quality Data Analysis through Web Technologies”