Next Steps
    
The community needs to start now to develop an integrated research/education/media strategy that will lead up to, and then be implemented during, the IPY of 2007-2009. Securing funding, establishing meaningful links with research programs and communities, constructing a portal/clearinghouse, involving agencies and industry, and developing exhibitions and documentaries all require substantial lead time. As a strategy is developed, the community needs to consider what education and outreach programs we want to remain in place in 2010 and the years following. First, both community and agency leaders need to be identified and working groups set up. Then these working groups should engage the community in identifying priorities and major collaborative programs. Concurrently, the community needs to work with the agencies to secure funding. From these ideas an implementation strategy can be developed, and Requests for Proposals distributed. Finally, the community needs to submit proposals, followed by implementation and evaluation.

Leadership, Community Building and Management

The "Planning for International Polar Year of 2007-2005" workshop on July 8-9, 2004, agreed that a crucial next step for the IPY was to increase the planning, including the possibility of a working group involving all the interested agencies. This action was taken in direct response to a recommendation from the Bridging the Poles workshop. Participants at the Bridging workshop also recommended establishment of an International Working Group on Polar Education and Outreach. Both of the national and international education and outreach committees need to work closely with planning efforts for the major science initiatives.

Through follow up workshops and communications, the education and research communities need to advertise the potential of the IPY and of polar education and outreach, and to start developing programmatic recommendations from the broad suite of options identified in this report. Educators and researchers should promote IPY to the broadest audience: industry, informal science and media communities, and professional organizations. Researchers and educators, including informal educators, should host special sessions at professional meetings on realizing the potential of the IPY.

Internationally, education and outreach efforts will be coordinated both through an Education and Outreach Task Force that will report to the overarching ICSU-WMO Joint International Polar Year Committee and through the International Polar Year Program Office. The Program Office will serve as a communication hub and hence will be a crucial link in developing integrative international education and outreach programs. With respect to national management, a central education and outreach body is needed with responsibility for coordinating among diverse communities, among agencies, among national and international science based committees. It should ensure regular communications with the broader polar community, through annual meetings, and a monthly/bi-monthly newsletter leading up to and during IPY. The US Interagency Task Force could agree to set aside support for such a coordinating effort.

Identify Programs and Priorities

Through follow up workshops and community proposals, the community should identify major collaborative programs to feature both nationally and internationally, and agree on a way to sequence and market their rollout. Programs to focus attention on the IPY need to be substantive, imaginative, and engaging to a broad audience. Events should be planned to complement research milestones, and to awaken public interest. The community should work towards establishing partners among the research, media, and education communities; and diversifying participation and audiences.

Develop an Implementation and Evaluation Strategy

As a community consensus emerges, it should be translated into an implementation and evaluation strategy, with a time line – just as it takes time to define a research program and establish the logistics to carry it out, effective education and outreach programs take years to develop. Communities need to work with institutions and agencies to fit polar education and outreach into their program plans for the next 5 years. It is important to think about how success will be measured, and so that baseline data can be collected before major programs begin.

Get Funding

To realize the potential of the IPY and polar education and outreach in general, requires funding, including support for new initiatives that join research, education and outreach projects, and support to maintain initiatives after the conclusion of the IPY. High-quality education and outreach programs are not cheap. A preliminary estimate would be 5-10% of the science budget of $10-60 million dollars. For example traveling museum exhibitions cost $2-3 million each, and factoring in logistics, a polar documentary can cost $1 million.

Recommendation for an Integrated IPY RFP

Requests for the proposals for the International Polar Year should encourage a broad spectrum of research, education, and outreach projects. The RFPs should be written to allow maximum flexibility in design and size: not all research programs need to have a major education component, and not all outreach programs need to have a major research component. Expensive, collaborative projects can have major national or even international impact when science programs are connected with press events, educational programming, and spin-offs of local programs. But small, individual projects can cause sustained transformation of local or target communities.

Implementation and Evaluation

It is important that the implementation of the IPY education and outreach activities be evaluated so that this experience can serve as a model that informs other such science and education initiatives. We must be able to look back at our objectives and measure our progress. Did we – polar scientists and educators – succeed in reaching learners at all levels, engaging diverse communities, leveraging the importance and excitement of polar science, and establishing infrastructure for effective education and outreach? Do people know more – and care more – about the poles? Have we inspired a new generation of polar scientists?

Iceday image of Ilulissat Icefjord in July 2002
Iceday image of Ilulissat Icefjord in July 2002. Photo credit: Veco Polar Resources.