Werner Geiger

Comparing the effects of mobile computers and traditional approaches in environmental education

Environmental education and computers? That was traditionally seen as an antagonism. But environmental educators who compete for attention and face new challenges in an age of mobile devices, have begun to explore the opportunities that mobile computers may offer in supporting environmental learning experiences. This study investigates the impact of a mobile guide system on different parameters of environmental literacy in comparison to traditional instruments of environmental education (i.e. brochure, human guide). In a field experiment at a floodplain conservation site, 185 school children and 76 adults participated in a guided tour using different media. Despite the novelty of mobile devices and usability issues associated with the prototype mobile nature guide, participants using the computer-assisted medium achieved similar results concerning environmental literacy components. The computer as mobile guide can lead to an increase in environmental knowledge and in case of the children it can increase their motivation to engage in environmental education activities.

Theme Park Environment as an example of environmental information systems for the public

Abstract Presenting environmental information to the public with the intention of enhancing the understanding of the environment and promoting environmental awareness requires the creation of dedicated types of environmental information systems (EIS). This paper presents concepts for the structure, contents, and implementation of such EIS for the public, with the “Theme Park Environment” ( http://themenpark-umwelt.baden-wuerttemberg.de/ ) serving as an example. The Theme Park Environment has been developed by Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe and the State Institute for Environmental Protection for the Ministry of the Environment of Baden-Wurttemberg. It contains information about soil, geology, and nature and interlinks this environmental information with other topics, such as local food production, historic site information, and environmental policy to increase the interest of the users. The system uses concepts of content management and multimedia systems with map server technology and database-driven structured information access for combining structured environmental information, location-based information, and text and multimedia contents in integrated Web pages. By means of an embedded ontology-based system, authors can relate different parts of content objects with each other and with multimedia contents, maps, fact information in databases, and other description parts. In this way, information within the Theme Park Environment can be reorganised dynamically and contents can be reused and shared easily.

XUMA - Ein Assisten für die Beurteilung von Altlasten

Altlasten sind die Folge einer ungeordneten Abfallbeseitigung und des nachlassigen Umgangs mit toxischen Stoffen. Man spricht von Altlasten, wenn der begrundete Verdacht besteht, das von Altablagerungen hauslichen, industriellen und gewerblichen Abfalls oder von Flachen ehemaliger Industrie- und Gewerbebetriebe, auf denen gefahrliche Stoffe abgelagert wurden oder mit solchen umgegangen wurde (Altstandorte), eine Gefahr fur die menschliche Gesundheit oder die Umwelt ausgeht Die Zahl solcher Standorte in Deutschland wird auf etwa 50 000 geschatzt. Man rechnet mit Sanierungskosten fur die dringendsten Falle von 15 bis 50 Milliarden DM. Um die mit der Untersuchung und Beurteilung von Altlasten befasten Fachleute zu unterstutzen, wird vom Institut fur Datenverarbeitung in der Technik des Kernforschungszentrums Karlsruhe und vom Institut fur Altlastensanierung der Landesanstalt fur Umweltschutz Baden-Wurttemberg (LfU) in einem gemeinsamen Vorhaben1 das Expertensystem Umweltqefahrlichkeit von Altlasten (XUMA) entwickelt. Der vorliegende Beitrag beschreibt die Funktionen des Systems und die Erfahrungen bei der Systementwicklung. Das Hauptaugenmerk liegt dabei auf den Teilen des Systems, die charakteristisch fur ein Expertensystem sind.

Entwurf eines Expertensystems zur Beurteilung von Abfallstoffen

Entscheidungen uber geeignete Entsorgungsverfahren fur Abfallstoffe bzw. uber die notwendigen Masnahmen zur Sicherung und Sanierung von schadstoffbelasteten Standorten beruhen in hohem Mase darauf, wie die von den Abfallstoffen bzw. den verunreinigten Boden auf die Schutzguter Grundwasser, Oberflachenwasser, Boden und Luft ausgehenden Gefahren eingeschatzt werden. In dem gemeinsamen Forschungsvorhaben XUMA (Expertensystem Umweltgefahrlichkeit von Abfallstoffen) untersuchen die fur solche Beurteilungen in Baden-Wurttemberg zustandige technische Fachbehorde, die Landesanstalt fur Umweltschutz (LfU), und das Kernforschungszentrum Karlsruhe (KfK), das den Informatik-Teil zu dem Vorhaben beitragt, inwieweitdie Entscheidungsfindung bei der Beurteilung von Abfallstoffen und schadstoffbelasteten Standorten mit den Mitteln der wissensbasierten Systeme unterstutzt werden kann. Dieser Beitrag beschreibt das Vorgehen der LfU bei der Gefahrenbeurteilung, die Anforderungen an ein unterstutzendes DV-System, den Entwurf des wissensbasierten Systems XUMA und die geplante Vorgehensweise bei dessen Realisierung durch KfK.

XUMA—An Expert System Assisting Environmental Protection Authorities in the Assessment of Contaminated Sites

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses XUMA—an expert system assisting environmental protection authorities in the assessment of contaminated sites. It is the task of the XUMA expert system to work as an intelligent assistant supporting the staff of the LfU and the water resources offices and relieving them in their routine work. With this system, it has been ensured that the experience gained in the field of sanitation and other new findings are taken into account immediately when the assessments are made. In addition, the system contributes to a standardization of the evaluation procedures and assessment criteria used in the state of Baden–Wurttemberg. The expert system is developed on Texas Instruments Explorer II LISP machines. One-third of the program is written in ART, a hybrid expert system development environment of the Inference Corporation, the rest is directly written in LISP.

Complementary Information Systems on Research in Europe on ICT for Environmental Sustainability

Within the scope of the FP7 project ICT-ENSURE, two complementary web-based information systems on research in Europe in the field of ICT for environmental sustainability have been developed: The ICT-ENSURE Research Programmes Information System that serves as an information source on national research programmes and projects in the European Union in the field of ICT for environmental sustainability, and the ICT-ENSURE Literature Information System which provides scientific literature on this field to the scientific community and other interested people. In this chapter, the goal, contents, functionality, and mutual interaction of the information systems are described. Furthermore, the tools for contents acquisition, the maintenance and quality assurance of the contents, as well as data privacy aspects are addressed.

Towards a Universal Search in Environmental Information Systems

Full-text search functions in environmental portals make a large amount of environmental data accessible. Many data sources, however, are not suited for indexing by search machines or the data themselves are not suited for access by full-text search. A possibility to make such data of the “dark web” accessible consists in addressing the data sources in the environmental portal directly. The procedure presented here starts with a formal description of data sources (e.g. from the point of view of the portal, these are the target systems). Based on this description, a special component of full-text search, the so-called search broker, can extend and detail a search query, such that all necessary parameters (if possible) are compiled to address these systems and to guide the user directly to the data desired. The presentation component of the environmental portal is responsible for the adequate compilation and display of these data, the so-called result mash-up.

Web-based Information Systems on ICT for Environmental Sustainability Research in Europe

For fostering a single European Research Area in the field of ICT for environmental sustainability, the FP7 project ICT-ENSURE (ICT Environmental Sustainability Research) was implemented. Within the scope of ICT-ENSURE, two web-based information systems with free online access have been developed: A Research Programmes Information System and a Literature Information System. The Research Programmes Information System serves as an information source on national research programmes and projects in the European Union in the field of ICT for environmental sustainability. The Literature Information System provides scientific literature on this field to the scientific community and other interested people. Both systems offer various search and navigation facilities to the end users. The information systems are fully integrated and based entirely on open source / free software. In the chapter, the goal, structure, contents, and functionality of the information systems are described and the maintenance and quality assurance of the contents are addressed. Besides presenting the information systems the chapter also aims at promoting the participation of the ITEE community in the contents of these systems in order to proceed further towards a single European research area in the field of ICT for environmental sustainability.