Story by Wendy S. Loughlin
wsloughl@summon.syr.edu
Phone: 443-3784
Story ran in the April 20,1998 Syracuse Record

Since 1970, Earth Day has been celebrated every April 22. But thanks to the rapid advancement of technology, it's not just about hugging trees anymore.

This April 22, the staff at Syracuse University's Center for Really Neat Research (CRNR) will host a 24-hour Earth Day event via the Internet. Using interactive technology, they will cast a spotlight on the environment and the interconnectedness of society, technology and ecology.

"Technology has created a separate dimension known as cyberspace," says Myeongjin Lee, a CRNR staff member and computer and information science doctoral student in the L.C. Smith College of Engineering and Computer Science. "The Earth Day event is a good example of how this new `virtual world' can help the well-being of the real world."

On Wednesday, visitors to the CRNR Web site http://www.pulsar.org will find a variety of links and activities designed to facilitate online ecological awareness-such things as lists of suggested Earth Day activities for teachers, parents and children, as well as links to local and regional Earth Day events.

Current environmental issues will be grouped under four categories: Earth, Water, Wind and Fire. Visitors will be able to connect to various links to learn about the issues and can then discuss them with others through e-mail, chat rooms and online "bulletin boards." Participants will also be encouraged to list their own concerns and to suggest solutions to environmental problems.

Experts in various ecological, technological and societal issues will engage in live, online chat sessions with visitors. Each session will be recorded and placed on the Internet for future use by educators and others interested in learning more about these issues.

An "Earth-oriented social art site" will provide "get-well cards for the planet Earth" via a link to a database of multimedia greeting cards.

Additional Earth Day-related links will lead visitors to educational sites, Web tools, different organizations' Web pages, and downloadable freeware. The Earth Day cyber project was conceived and planned by the CRNR staff-under the tutelage of the center's director, David J. Warner, Nasson Fellow at SU's Northeast Parallel Architectures Center-following the guiding theme of "creative communications for a healthy, happy future."

Lee feels the most important aspect of the project is how it brings together a large number of geographically dispersed people. "This kind of gathering would not be easy to achieve in the `real' world," she says. "It might not even be possible."

For more information on the Earth Day event, contact the Center for Really Neat Research at 443-2629 or visit the center's Web site at http://www.pulsar.org .

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