The concept of Chesapeake environmental literacy derives from a series of programs that have established various literacy principles, for example, ocean literacy (www.coexploration.org). These programs have distilled the essence of what an informed person needs to know, thus informing both formal (e.g., classroom) and informal (e.g., museums) educators.

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Recently, Tim Carruthers from IAN was fortunate to have the opportunity to visit Tamil Nadu in India for a LOICZ (Land Ocean Interactions of the Coastal Zone) meeting. Here are some thoughts and observations on Chennai and the surrounding country side. Having always wanted to visit India, this was a fantastic opportunity and apart from beautiful sunrises, amazing history, and a welcome break from a long northern winter, I was struck by how friendly and engaging Indian folks are.

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"Perspectives on NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Data and Modeling for Chesapeake Bay Research and Applications" workshop … NASA scientists initiated a meeting with Chesapeake Bay scientists to compare the remote sensing needs for Chesapeake Bay research, monitoring, modeling and management with the capabilities that NASA remote sensing programs can provide.

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This blog post discusses the seminar given by Dr Walter Boynton, of the Chesapeake Biological Laboratory, at the IAN Seminar Series on March 25, 2010. If agricultural nutrient management activities like cover crops were instituted, how long would it take to see an effect in the estuary? Time lags were a topic of much discussion regarding the potential delay in restoration progress due to long groundwater residence times.

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This blog post discusses the seminar given by Dr Bill Dennison, of the Integration and Application Network, at the IAN Seminar Series on January 28, 2010. Several lines of inquiry were discussed as a way of further analyzing the Chesapeake Bay trajectories.

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This blog post discusses the seminar given by Sara Powell, of the Chesapeake Biological Laboratory, at the IAN Seminar Series on February 25, 2010. The issue of what constitutes a citizen scientist was discussed, and several issues regarding data quality assurance were raised. The turnover of different citizen scientists means that ongoing training was necessary. Mechanisms to cull bad data are needed with citizen scientist groups.

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A publication by Oregon Sea Grant in 2008 entitled "Hold That Thought!: Questioning five common assumptions about communicating with the public" by Joe Cone presents as one of the myths "Science communication is an art". Integration and Application Network (IAN) staff often introduce science communication principles and examples by using the title "Zen and the Art of Science Communication" which does infer that there is an art to science communication.

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A group of concerned former politicians, scientists and riverkeepers converged on federal agencies in Washington, D.C. to discuss Chesapeake Bay restoration. This loosely associated group has been convened by Gerald Winegrad, a former Maryland state senator from Annapolis, and currently totals 38 people. The group includes two former Maryland governors, a former U.S. senator, former U.S. congressman.

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A team from the Integration and Application Network traveled to Colonial National Historical Park on March 10-11 to initiate a Natural Resources Condition Assessment process over the next 18-24 months. The visit included a meeting with park personnel at the Yorktown Battlefield Visitors Center, followed by a tour of the entire park on the first day, and on the second day, we held a mini-symposium at the Virginia Commonwealth University's Rice Center on the James River.

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This week is the sixth anniversary of when the Integration and Application Network first posted its symbol library on its newly created website. This free, downloadable symbol library has been providing users with symbols crafted by IAN science communicators for use in constructing conceptual diagrams.

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