Message from AC SAO Chair mid-January 2010

Dear Senior Arctic Officials and Permanent Participant HoDs,

On the basis of the discussion we had during the dinner on 11 November 2009 and the few written comments we have received since then, we have redrafted our first paper on Observer Criteria. You will find the revised version attached.

We would like to conclude this phase of the observer exercise at the level of SAOs/PPs a.s.a.p. and before the next SAO meeting. Accordingly, we would appreciate any comments by January 29 at the latest.

Best regards

Lars Møller

Chair, Senior Arctic Official

observer-criteria-14-january-2010 

The IPY Oslo Science Conference will be the largest polar science event to date! It will demonstrate, strengthen, and extend the International Polar Year's accomplishments in science and outreach. The conference is an essential opportunity to display and explore the full breadth and implications of IPY activities. The international and interdisciplinary science conference will in particular highlight the global impact of the changes that have been observed in the Polar Regions. The IPY-OSC steering committee received more than 2200 abstracts from 58 countries on deadline, however, as a courtesy to some partners, in particular Antarctic scientists returning from the field, the committee has decided to slightly extend the deadline until January 25, 2010. Submit your abstract now!

PLEASE NOTE: PolarTEACHERS can still apply, and PolarCINEMA receives entries until 15th of February.

Over 100 conveners are being brought together to review the submitted abstracts, which are categorized into 6 overarching conference themes including: Theme 1. Linkages between Polar Regions and global systems Theme 2. Past, present and future changes in Polar Regions Theme 3. Polar ecosystems and biodiversity Theme 4. Human dimensions of change: Health, society and resources Theme 5. New frontiers, data practices and directions in polar research Theme 6. Polar science education, outreach and communication Limited travel support is available for researchers through the International Arctic Research Center, University of Alaska Fairbanks. Priority will be given to young researchers and educators. These travel grants are available for US researchers, teachers and foreign scientists working at US institutions. More information can be found here. The International Arctic Science Committee (IASC) also provide travel grants for early career scientists to attend the IPY Oslo Science Conference. A special committee appointed by the conference organizers will coordinate the selection procedure. Further announcements regarding the stipend and travel support for early career scientists and an overview of conference activities especially focused on early career scientists can be found on the APECS website.

Discovering the Arctic is the name of a web learning facility developed and recently launched by the Royal Geographical Society. It is aimed at the secondary school level (14-16 year olds) in the United Kingdom. According to the Royal Geographical Society, it is intended to be a resource to be dipped into depending on specific curriculum needs and priorities.
The Discovering the Arctic website seems biased toward what, according to a widespread view, constitutes the quintessential Arctic, viz. the high North of Greenland and Canada, and thus gives preference to the Inuit whereas peoples and places of Arctic Russian Federation get comparatively less coverage.

While tending to over-expose the Inuit, at the same time the information rendered about Inuit is rather superficial and sometimes incorrect. For instance, the website makes no attempt to correct the common misunderstanding that Inuit is a noun in the singular that becomes Inuits in the plural, whereas Inuit is in fact plural of the singular Inuk. 

Bearing in mind that the main target group is non-Arctic secondary school children and that, consequently, the knowledge presented should not be too specialised or complex, even so, or even more so, the Royal Geographical Society's learning facility should correct rather than reproduce common misrepresentations of this sort. Hopefully, it will do so in its future versions. Otherwise, this resource appears well conceived pedagogically and deserves the chance to evolve, perhaps by incorporating in its updated versions mechanisms that allow interactive feedback from advancing pupils or from expert circumpolar youth. Such feedback could help the website improve itself and eventually become truly state of the Arctic.