The DigitalOcean Consortium will be presenting a panel at the 5th Global Conference on Oceans, Coasts, and Islands: Ensuring Survival, Preserving Life, and Improving Governance, May 3-7, 2010, at UNESCO in Paris.

This is a major opportunity to showcase how the DigitalOcean software and team can help improve governance by building rapid, effective communication fabrics between scientists and ocean stakeholders and planners.

Dr. Bruce Caron will introduce the concepts of Science 2.0, and describe how emerging collaboration on publishing technologies will enhance a wide range of ocean science communication efforts.

Dr. Andrea Neal will describe how the DigitalOcean platform supports the rapid publication of forefront ocean science findings and the ability to fact-check media reporting with current science knowledge, using the problem of marine debris as an example.

Author and Blue Frontier Campaign President David Helvarg will discuss how collaboration takes place today between disparate organizations that drives national and global marine policy by more rapidly integrating the best available science with end users, including marine conservationists advocates and agencies on issues such as Marine Spatial Planning.

Ocean advocate and environmentalist David Schwartz will describe the impacts that the next generation of students can have through the film making of “Students Saving the Ocean” based on the Blue Frontier book `50 Ways to Save the Ocean’ a documentary film and ongoing student projects in California. These students naturally are communicating on social networks already.

Dave Toole will finish up with a live demonstration of the alpha-version DigitalOcean social network/social media platform to demonstrate how these existing and new social groups can come together and stay connected whenever, wherever they are to work on improving the health of the Oceans, The Panel will then move to a group discussion around the issues raised, and will explore how DigitalOcean capabilities can bring new coherence and global awareness to our ocean planet.

Sherman’s Lagoon syndicated cartoonist James Toomey will draw illustrations in real time as the panel discussion progresses. The panel will also be filmed for distribution through DigitalOcean. After the discussion, the Panel will open up to audience questions.

With the cascading problems of environmental impacts to our worlds oceans from industrial overfishing, pollution, loss of habitat and climate change it’s vital to develop cross-sectoral technology platforms to help increase marine conservation and restoration efforts. By utilizing the DigitalOcean Project Web 2.0 approach we can accelerate progress in addressing environmental concerns, by the transfer of information from emerging marine science data to educators and policy makers through various and regionally-appropriate forms of communication, media sharing, social networking and direct outreach. 
Issues of marine debris, Marine Protected Areas and sustainable fishing are three policy areas that DigitalOcean is addressing in its emerging launch phase.

It’s also aligning its efforts with a bottom up approach to formal and informal education through the dissemination of a Blue Frontier Campaign book, ‘50 Ways to Save the Ocean,’ and a DigitalOcean youth-video documentary based on this book. 
The next steps include the build-out of the DigitalOcean social network/social media platform, and a continuing global and real-time dialog designed to encourage collaboration among scientists, educators, policy makers and NGO activists. The aim is to use this platform, linked to more traditional tools (books, videos, teachers guides) to rapidly and effectively translate accurate science into awareness and policy. The panel itself reflects this diversity as it includes a technology specialist, tech innovator, marine scientist, policy advocate and author, educator, even a syndicated cartoonist. 
Recommendations for national and international decision-makers would include an invitation to take advantage of the new policy tools provided by joining DigitalOcean network and the Blue Frontier Campaign to create accessible and transparent groups and networks where key choices on the sustainable use of our last great global commons can be informed by a range of scientists and stakeholders.