Jun 30, 2009

Professors Constance Penley (Film & Media Studies), Ronald E. Rice (Communication), Steve Gaines (Marine Sciences Institute), and John Melack (BREN School) have been awarded $211,000 for 2009-2010 by the MacArthur Foundation Digital Media and Learning Award Category: Innovation in Participatory Learning.  This proposal was ranked #1, and received the highest funding, out of 14 accepted projects and over 700 submitted proposals. Their project is DigitalOcean: Sampling the Sea, which engages middle and high school students in 200 classrooms around the world in monitoring, analyzing, and sharing information about the declining global fish population that, in its implications for humans and the ecosystem, dwarfs other food issues in our time. Sampling the Sea uses multi-disciplinary teams of students, scientists, and new media experts, partnering with Google Ocean, NASA GLOBE, and ePals, to engage the next generation of consumers in a global dialogue on the interrelationships among local human customs, regulatory laws, fishing practices, wildlife management, and the future of the sea.