00:00 Exterior,
Jubilee Campus, University of Nottingham
Pan
across campus buildings
c.u.
Computer Science sign
Interior,
Computer Science Dept. Atrium
"Mixed
Reality Lab" neon sign
Researcher
at computer
Reverse
of above
2
nd researcher c.u.
Hands
on keyboard
Wide
over shoulder, researcher at computer
Guide Voice: Researchers from the Computer
Science department at England's University of Nottingham are
involved in an exciting project to widen the parameters of
scientific research.
Part of a larger initiative known as Equator which aims to forge
clearer understanding of what it means to live in a digital age,
E-Science is taking research out of the laboratory and creating new
opportunities to share data via the internet. Nottingham's
E-Science project uses diverse types of mobile and distributed
sensors connected to a large scale computing infrastructure known
as the grid, to support new forms of scientific enquiry.
The project is funded by the UK's Engineering and Physical
Sciences Research Council.
00:36 SOT: Professor Tom Rodden, Director of
Equator Interdisciplinary Research Collaboration (IRC), University
of Nottingham - "E-Science is really about
putting science online. So science, rather than happening in wet
labs, happens by information going on the net and then being
analysed by other scientists, somewhere else in the world, then
being put back out onto the net."
00:54 Researcher
at computer – image change on screen
Guide Voice: Working in this way, scientists
can have access to research data from even the remotest of
sites.
01:00 SOT: Prof. Tom Rodden -
"So, the kinds of things that happen within an e-science
structure is there's a remote sensor in somewhere like the
Antarctic, which will sense the environment, put that environmental
information on the net and a scientist in Nottingham will analyse
that and model things like climate change and various sorts of
climate prediction."
01:17 Exterior
of building with University sign
Researcher
at computer
c.u
researcher's face
c.u.
computer screen
Aerial
shot of Antarctic coast (file footage)
Wide
Antarctic landscape (file footage)
c.u.
Emperor Penguins (file footage)
Ice
floe (file footage)
c.u.
graph on computer
Helicopter
flying in equipment
Wide
– hole being bored in ice
Wide
– sensor probe lowered into ice-hole
Researcher
at computer
c.u.
info on screen
Researcher
at computer
Dr.
Steed and assistant assembling cycling monitor pack
c.u.
gps and pda assembly
c.u
closing up pack
Wide
– handing pack to cyclist
Cyclist
on street
c.u.
map on computer screen
Extreme
c.u. of above
Guide Voice: Which is exactly what Nottingham
scientists are doing.
A project within the School of Biosciences at Nottingham is
studying the carbon cycle in Antarctic lakes, one of the world's
most inhospitable locations. Before the advent of E-Science, data
would be collected by a researcher who would regularly go out in
the snow for 20 – 30 kilometres, take a series of
measurements and send them back once a month. At the end of an
eighteen-month period, the researcher would return and analyse this
data to develop models about climate change in the Antarctic and
its impact globally.
Nottingham's scientists have now built a device which measures
the temperature at various levels in the lake and also measures the
lake conditions. It takes these readings once every five minutes
and uses wireless connections to send these back onto the net,
providing constant updates from which scientists can build much
richer models detailing changes in the lake.
Another big advantage of E-science is that it helps to get the
general public involved in science, developing a better
understanding of the need for research. Working with colleagues at
London University College, members of Nottingham's E-Science team
are monitoring local pollution levels in order to build up a map of
environmental pollution in London.
They provide monitoring equipment to cyclists who, as they cycle
through the streets, collect information on local pollution levels
throughout the city.
02:37 SOT: Dr. Anthony Steed, Lecturer, Dept. of
Computer Science, University College of London (UCL)
– "The blue line on this model is the path of
somebody going to get their sandwiches at lunchtime and they're
carrying their pollution monitor. (cutaway c.u. at 02:38) They go
out this way and round the block and they come back in to UCL. Now,
what we've done is we've added in their pollution monitor and the
red spots in here indicate the places which are high pollution and
this fits with what we expect so we're very buoyed by
this."
03:06 Wide
– researcher at computer
Researcher
face
c.u.
screen – diagram of sensor system
Reverse
– researcher at computer
c.u.
screen – graphs
Cut
to wide with graphs
Guide Voice: The third project in the current
E-Science programme uses low-cost devices to monitor the health of
their wearer and send a series of medical signals to the grid using
wireless technology. The medical information sent by their wearable
devices is collected and made available to experts who can access
and analyse it on-line.
The long-term benefits of this research should affect
patient-care worldwide.
03:29 SOT: Professor Steve Benford, Mixed
Reality Lab.University of Nottingham: "I think
the projects we're doing here – they really illustrate the
idea of the Grid and E-Science extending right out into the field.
So, moving away from the laboratory and getting data from the
environment, from distant locations and then getting scientists to
be able to work with that as quickly and rapidly as
possible."
03:48 c.u.
photoplethysmogram graph
Over
shoulder - Researcher at computer
03:52 SOT: Prof. Steve
Benford - "E-Science is the future of
research; in fact, it's really the now of research. Scientists are
already working this way they are sharing data and working
collaboratively. They just do need better tools so that they can do
that properly."
04:05 END
