May 15, 1997
Whimsical worms and local TV weathercaster among hosts on UW’s CD-ROM “The Sound”
— Worms in theater seats enjoy popcorn while watching that classic action flick “Let Worms Do the Work.”
— KOMO News 4’s Steve Pool gets pelted with snowballs, has a brush with aliens and encounters a flirtatious cumulus cloud while explaining the weather.
— A dashing drop of water named Luigi invites viewers to play Sewerama, a game about reducing Puget Sound pollution.
These and other characters appear on a CD-ROM created at the University of Washington that mixes a heavy dose of quirkiness with the very latest information about Puget Sound from places like the University of Washington, state and federal environmental agencies and volunteer organizations such as People for Puget Sound.
Starting in mid-May, the UW will begin distributing 5,000 free copies of “The Sound” to K-12 teachers in the Puget Sound area. The CD-ROM will be available for $29.95 (plus sales tax) to the general public and teachers who miss the offer for free copies.
“There is a real shortage of fun educational computer products about our region,” says Pat Hardisty who spearheaded the creation of “The Sound” for the Applied Physics Laboratory and Washington Sea Grant, both parts of the UW’s College of Ocean and Fishery Sciences. “Besides teachers, ‘The Sound’ is something parents, troop leaders and outdoor enthusiasts would find is an excellent addition to their CD- ROM collections.”
Seven pull-down menus cover such things as the sound’s circulation, ecosystems, the species found there, the many ways humans use its waters and an assessment of its health. The disk contains more than 500 megabytes of digital text, photos, video, animation and sound.
“There’s an illustrated portion on Washington’s geological history, for example, where the state of Washington is formed and glaciers carve out the Puget Sound basin,” Hardisty says. “You can watch all 225 million years depicted in that section in a mere 10 seconds or you can step through the geological events one frame at a time. We envision teachers using the CD-ROM while they lecture, as a reference tool and for students to use for special projects.”
Packaged with each disk is a 16-page user’s guide. The UW developed the guide and is distributing 5,000 free copies to school teachers in the Puget Sound area as part of UW President Richard L. McCormick’s commitment to form new partnerships with Washington’s K-12 schools, address common challenges and achieve common goals, Hardisty says.
Right now, free copies are being offered primarily to school teachers in the 12 counties bordering Puget Sound. The creators of “The Sound” hope to sell enough copies to the general public so teachers elsewhere in the state may receive free copies.
Teachers wanting to take advantage of the free offer and persons interested in buying copies should call (206) 543-0733, in the Seattle area, or (800) 583-6235, elsewhere in the state. Teachers viewing KOMO News 4 weathercasts beginning May 19 at 5 p.m. will be invited to send requests for free copies, on school letterhead, to the station.
People with access to the World Wide Web, can get a sneak preview of “The Sound” at: {http://nero.apl.washington.edu/ps- cdrom/}.
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Reporters: To reach Pat Hardisty call (206) 543-4677
Ordering information: See next to last paragraph above
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