Disseminating Results and Broader Impacts
Planetary Biodiversity Inventory: Plant Bugs
Project Home Page, Associated Databases, and Other Web Elements

Figure 9 presents in graphic form content and interrelationships of the major web elements of this proposed PBI project. "Broader impacts" are summarized in the Management Plan along with additional details on elements of training and the individuals who will benefit from it.

Figure 9.
Fig. 9. Schematic presentation of PBI project elements to be available over the Internet.
Traveling Exhibit

We will work with the exhibition staff of the AMNH to develop a small traveling exhibit to be shown at participating institutions. This exhibit will portray the scientific rationale, methods, results, and impacts of the project in terms accessible to the general public. The breadth of influence of this exhibit could be substantial because the AMNH receives 4 million onsite visitors annually, about half of them children; in addition > 4000 K-12 teachers participate in professional development offerings each year at the Museum. The Australian Museum receives ~ 500,000 visitors per year, and has education programs similar to those of the AMNH. The PIs, if funded, will cover development costs by seeking supplementary support through the NSF program "Communicating Research to Public Audiences".

Public Outreach Website

In parallel with development of the exhibit described above, we will develop web materials whose content will be comprehensible to the general public and could be used as instructional aids in a pre-college setting. The online audience of the AMNH includes approximately 16,000 unique visitors each day, or near 6 million visitors per year to the Museum's online collections, databases, digital library, exhibition-related web sites, curricular materials for students and teachers, and other web resources based on Museum science, research, and collections. The Australian Museum broadens the online visitor base even more. For example, its FaunaNet site received 455,000 hits during November 2002. The materials will be developed in coordination with the AMNH National Center for Science Literacy, Education and Technology (see letter from Rosamond Kinsler in Supplementary Documentation) and will be funded as part of our supplementary request to the NSF as noted above under discussion of the "Traveling Exhibit".

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