Special Second Quarter 2013 Report:


FACEBOOK
One of the most encouraging and exciting developments for the W2O is our rapidly expanding Facebook audience. Our page likes have jumped from just a couple of thousand at the start of the year to more than 22,000 at the time of this report. We began a strategic paid advertising campaign on the social media site in early June and our audience has jumped exponentially. Our weekly reach is in the hundreds of thousands and we are strategically targeting a global, coastal audience: United States, New Zealand, Canada, South Africa, Argentina, Australia, Chile, Brazil, China, Egypt, France, Bahamas, the Seychelles, Costa Rica, the US & British Virgin Islands, Spain, Thailand, Yemen, the United Kingdom, Maldives, and Indonesia among others. If you are not currently following us on Facebook or Twitter, please do so today!
 

WORLD OCEAN RADIO
In mid-August we broadcast our 235th episode of  World Ocean Radio. Each week we distribute new episodes to public and college radio stations worldwide, produce a podcast on ITunes; make the episodes available at PRX.org, Audioport.org, and as an RSS feed; share through our social media connections worldwide, and at Stitcher.com. World Ocean Radio welcomed two new media partners earlier this year: DList Benguela and DList Agulhas. In late May we welcomed these two African affiliates to the World Ocean Radio community. DLIST Benguela provides information for those who are interested in the welfare of the Benguela Current Large Marine Ecosystem in Angola on the western coast of Africa. This web-based platform was created to help provide access to information for all stakeholders who have an interest in the welfare of the BCLME, its coastal areas and local communities.  DLIST ASCLME, its sister website, targets the western Indian Ocean region of Africa including Comoros, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Seychelles, Somalia, South Africa and Tanzania. DLIST ASCLME is a place of exchange of information for all stakeholders who have an interest in the welfare of Western Indian Ocean, its coastal areas and local communities.

Spread the word! Let us know if you have a local radio station that might benefit from this free weekly 5-minute feature.

Pictured: Floating schools bring classrooms to students: Shidhulai Swanirvar Sangstha from World Ocean Radio 230: An Ocean Irony.
 

OCEAN HEALTH INDEX
A new feature on World Ocean Observatory's home page is the Ocean Health Index where each week we'll update, by country and by goal, the various components available in the Ocean Health Index matrix. The OHI is a valuable tool for the ongoing assessment of ocean health and we are pleased to be working in consort with them and their collaborative team of experts and partners. The Ocean Health Index evaluates the condition of marine ecosystems based on ten human goals which represent the key ecological, social, and economic benefits that a healthy ocean affords. By providing a means to advance comprehensive ocean policy and compare future progress, the Index can inform decisions about how to use and/or protect marine ecosystems.
 

OCEAN LITERACY CURRICULUM
A second new feature on our site is the development of a section devoted to the Ocean Literacy Curriculum, developed by a group of scientists and educators to serve as a practical resource for K-12 educators.  We've taken the curriculum, broken it down into its fundamental concepts, each principle with its own page, and links to the expanded curriculum on the Ocean Literacy website. We will be sharing this compendium resource with the National Marine Educator’s Association network and on a number of educational sites as the school year begins. Please share this today with marine educators or students you know who are interested in ocean science and advocacy. The Ocean Literacy section of our site is available here.
 

GOOGLE OCEAN
We continue to build on our partnership with Google Ocean through postings of both W2O original content and curated pieces from our partners. We aim to post to the platform throughout the month and are on target to post 10 new stories each quarter. To date there are 58 posts on their platform, from ocean climate issues to human connections made near and by the sea. We met with a number of upper management Google Ocean administrators when we attended the Global Exploration 2020 Forum in Long Beach, CA (see below.) In the next quarterly report we may have some exciting advances to share with regard to our involvement with the platform. Stay tuned...
For a list of our posts, visit the Sylvia Earle Alliance and type "World Ocean Observatory" into the search field.

OCEAN EXPLORATION 2020 FORUM
In July, we were invited to attend and present at the by-invitation Ocean Exploration 2020 National Forum, a gathering of US ocean exploration leadership: 75 recognized individuals charged by the US Congress to recommend an oceanographic agenda and specific research goals and objectives to be taken by 2020. Representatives from most of the major American research vessels, ocean institutes, universities with ocean programs, and ocean not-for-profits were present; many others attended remotely. We gave a presentation on education and outreach, appropriate topics as many discussions revolved around secondary education and public awareness, both supported as the #1 priority by 94% of the invitees. World Ocean Observatory was in the right place, with the right message, at the right time: education and outreach are fast becoming the right strategies for our ocean future.
 

HUFFINGTONPOST.COM BLOG
Each week we submit blog posts to the Huffington Post. The regularity and reach of these high-profile blog posts has helped to further amplify the work of W2O and World Ocean Radio. Visit the Huffington Post for a comprehensive list of blog entries, and subscribe to their RSS feed today!
 

YOUTUBE
We updated the “About World Ocean Observatory” promotional video in July and hope you will take a moment to have a look if you haven't already. We have 50 new subscribers this quarter and have reached nearly 100,000 page views! YouTube continues to serve as our conduit for Google Ocean content and it is our aim to continue adding and sharing playlists and compelling ocean-related features with our audiences throughout the year. We hope you will subscribe today.
 

WORLD OCEAN JOURNAL
Be on the lookout later in the 3rd quarter for the inaugural release of   Volume I of the World Ocean Journal. While it was our goal to release this first volume by the end of the 2nd quarter, we are delayed by the acquisition of some content that we would very much like to include in this first volume.
World Ocean Journal: an online dynamic e-zine available free of charge to our 13,600 subscribers and the larger community through social media. WOJ is funded in part by private donors and foundation support.
 

Our very best wishes.
Peter Neill, Director
and the World Ocean Observatory Team

World Ocean Observatory
A Project of the Ocean Classroom Foundation
Post Office Box 220
Damariscotta, ME 04543
www.WorldOceanObservatory.org