GEOCOAST: Development of Online Educational Portal
About Ireland’s Coastal and Marine Geology
Max Kozachenko & Pat Meere
2013
GEOCOAST: Development of online educational portal about Ireland’s Coastal and Marine Geology
Technical Report produced for INFOMAR programme
University College Cork, 2013
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
1
Acknowledgements
2
1. Introduction
3
2. Methodology
2.1 Fieldwork methodology
2.2. Data processing methodology
7
7
10
3. Results
11
4. Dissemination
15
5. Conclusions
16
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GEOCOAST: Development of online educational portal about Ireland’s Coastal and Marine Geology
Technical Report produced for INFOMAR programme
University College Cork, 2013
Acknowledgements
We would like to sincerely thank all people who helped during the production of the
GEOCOAST documentaries including Jeremy Gault (Director, Coastal & Marine Research
Centre, University College Cork), Aidan O'Donovan (Audio Visual Media Services, University
College Cork), Declan Dunne (Coastal & Marine Research Centre, University College Cork),
Koen Verbruggen (Director, Geological Survey of Ireland), Xavier Monteys (Geological
Survey of Ireland), Dr Dave Naylor, Dr David Chew (Trinity College Dublin), Prof Robert
Devoy (University College Cork), Dr Ed Jarviss (University College Cork), Sean Cullen
(Geological Survey of Ireland) and Ronan O'Toole (Geological Survey of Ireland). We would
also like to thank the Office of Public Works (OPW) for granting permission to use their
oblique helicopter coastal photographs (http://www.coastalhelicopterview.ie) for creating
coastal video flights.
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GEOCOAST: Development of online educational portal about Ireland’s Coastal and Marine Geology
Technical Report produced for INFOMAR programme
University College Cork, 2013
1. Introduction
This is the final report of the GEOCOAST project, which was aimed at developing the
online educational resource about Ireland’s Coastal and Marine Geology. It is
envisaged that this project will contribute towards dissemination and outreach of scientific
knowledge to the public through the use of modern day technology including online mapping
and videos.
In recent years we have witnessed a rapid expansion in the field of different Internet
activities including Facebook, Twitter, Blogs, etc... and particularly in the use of online videos
with www.youtube.com being a recognised leader in this field. Development of mobile and
computer hardware resulted in most peoples’ lives getting focused around Internet, which
became the central source for any information related to education, work or general
interests. Geographical Information System (GIS) has entered the lives of ordinary people
through integration of GPS technology within their phones and tablet computers. The reality
is that less people are buying printed books and instead reading them in electronic format on
their mobile devices. Hence, it is logical to conclude that combination of online
mapping and online video is the most effective way of disseminating knowledge in the
current environment.
Figure 1: Screen grab of the YouTube GEOCOAST channel.
Based on above logic the GEOCOAST produced a dedicated YouTube Channel:
GEOCOAST http://www.youtube.com/user/GEOCOAST (Figure 1). This channel includes
only education videos produced exclusively by the GEOCOAST project. In the description of
this channel it is clearly stated that it was created with support of the INFOMAR programme.
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GEOCOAST: Development of online educational portal about Ireland’s Coastal and Marine Geology
Technical Report produced for INFOMAR programme
University College Cork, 2013
Also each video file (documentary) uploaded on this channel contains INFOMAR's logo in
the beginning (Figure 2) and the following statement at the end of each film (Figure 3):
Project idea by Dr Max Kozachenko and Dr Pat Meere
(University College Cork, Ireland)
Film produced by Dr Max Kozachenko
Many thanks to the Irish Government
INFOMAR programme for supporting the GEOCOAST project
GeoCoast TV 2013
Therefore, the GEOCOAST project is also making its contribution towards popularisation of
the INFOMAR programme.
The
above
YouTube
channel
is
accompanied
with
online
mapping
guide
(http://www.geocoast.ucc.ie) allowing selection of videos based on their geographical
location.
Music used as soundtrack in some films unless otherwise stated has been played by
geologists participating in making GEOCOAST. As most stupid things on this Planet have
been made with a serious face - the GEOCOAST films may include some humour situations
if such occurred during filming.
Please keep in mind that in a way GEOCOAST is a pilot project as there isn’t any similar
existing educational resource about Ireland’s coastal and marine geology. Also limitations in
funding did not allow to produce video materials for all areas of geological interest, but
collection of new footage continues based on personal enthusiasm of the project team. It is
hoped that this project will allow to evaluate potential of this idea and create advanced
prototype, which in the near future may become a fully comprehensive video guide to
Ireland’s coastal and marine environments through provision of additional funding.
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GEOCOAST: Development of online educational portal about Ireland’s Coastal and Marine Geology
Technical Report produced for INFOMAR programme
University College Cork, 2013
Figure 2: Screen grabs of the beginnings of some of the GOECOAST films illustrating
the use of the INFOMAR logo.
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GEOCOAST: Development of online educational portal about Ireland’s Coastal and Marine Geology
Technical Report produced for INFOMAR programme
University College Cork, 2013
Figure 3: Screen grab showing the ending of one of the GOECOAST films illustrating
the appearance of the acknowledging statement.
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GEOCOAST: Development of online educational portal about Ireland’s Coastal and Marine Geology
Technical Report produced for INFOMAR programme
University College Cork, 2013
2. Methodology
This section contains a brief account of the methodology employed by the GEOCOAST
project. In general, the workflow can be subdivided into the following stages:
•
Filming refers to collecting raw video footage and audio recorded in the field at
particular locations.
•
Processing involves sinking audio into video and editing footage using
specialised film making software, followed by overlay of additional comments
and music where appropriate.
•
Publishing relates to uploading the final video files to YouTube.
•
Integration of the link to a particular video within the online mapping guide
(http://www.geocoast.ucc.ie) allowing selection of videos based on their
geographical location.
2.1 Fieldwork methodology
Filming
was
mostly
performed
using
Canon
EOS
60D
camera
(http://www.canon.ie/For_Home/Product_Finder/Cameras/Digital_SLR/EOS_60D/) allowing
for recording video in full HD format, which was set up on Manfrotto 755XBK MDEVE Black
Aluminum Video Tripod equipped with Manfrotto 701HDV Pro Fluid Video Mini Head
(http://www.manfrotto.com/701hdv-755xb-alu-tripod-mbag80)
(Figure 4).
Audio
was
recorded using radio controlled or cable lapel microphones connected into portable
professional
audio
recorder
Zoom H4n
(http://www.zoom.co.jp/english/products/h4n/)
(Figures 5-6).
On wet rainy days filming was performed with a GPS enabled all-weather water proof
camera
Nikon AW100
(http://www.europe-nikon.com/en_GB/product/digital-
cameras/coolpix/all-weather/coolpix-aw100), which also allowed for recording videos in full
HD format.
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GEOCOAST: Development of online educational portal about Ireland’s Coastal and Marine Geology
Technical Report produced for INFOMAR programme
University College Cork, 2013
Figure 4: Fieldwork filming set up with Canon EOS 60D camera mounted on Manfrotto
755XBK MDEVE Black Aluminum Video Tripod equipped with Manfrotto 701HDV Pro
Fluid Video Mini Head.
Filming in the coastal and marine setting have possessed certain challenges. The main
challenge was to achieve a reasonable quality audio recording - which is not an easy task
when you are exposed to high winds and noise from wave action. Hence, audio had to be
recorded separately to the video using high quality lapel microphones as microphones built
into the cameras could not record any sound in the field setting simply because of the
distance between the presenter and the microphone.
Aidan O'Donovan (Audio Visual Media Services, University College Cork) has helped a great
deal with selecting the right methodological approach and equipment for filming in the field
setting.
Most equipment used by the GEOCOAST project has been purchased from the personal
funds of the project team as project budget didn't allow for any major equipment expenditure.
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GEOCOAST: Development of online educational portal about Ireland’s Coastal and Marine Geology
Technical Report produced for INFOMAR programme
University College Cork, 2013
Figure 5: One of the radio controlled lapel microphones used during fieldwork.
Figure 6: Screen grab from one of the GEOCOAST films illustrating how the lapel
microphone shown on Figure x is clipped to the presenter's shirt.
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GEOCOAST: Development of online educational portal about Ireland’s Coastal and Marine Geology
Technical Report produced for INFOMAR programme
University College Cork, 2013
2.2. Data processing methodology
Video editing work has been performed with Corel VideoStudio Pro X5 software package
(Figure 7). This allowed to merge video with audio tracks, overlay commentary text and
music. After the editing several hours of raw footage sometimes have resulted in a 3-5
minutes video clip.
Figure 7: Screen grab from the Corel VideoStudio Pro X5 video editing software
during creation of one of the GEOCOAST videos.
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GEOCOAST: Development of online educational portal about Ireland’s Coastal and Marine Geology
Technical Report produced for INFOMAR programme
University College Cork, 2013
1. Results
The final result of the GEOCOAST project was the production of a number of short films of
educational nature about Ireland's coastal and marine geology as well as covering some
related topics about geological mapping and coastal monitoring techniques. The key
geographic and thematic areas covered in these videos are listed below.
Geographical areas covered by GEOCOAST:
•
Old Head of Kinsale, Co. Cork
•
Roches Point, Co. Cork
•
Harbour View, Kilbrittain, Co. Cork
•
Inchydoney, Co. Cork
•
Ballycotton Bay, Co. Cork
•
Hook Head, Co. Wexford
•
Cork Harbour, Co. Cork (looking at geology from the RIB)
•
Ship-based Training onboard RV Celtic Voyager, Cork Harbour
•
Sheep’s Head, Co. Cork
•
Mizen Head, Co. Cork
•
Dunmanus Bay, Co. Cork
•
Cooper Coast Geopark, Co. Waterford
•
Tramore, Co. Waterford
•
Rosbeigh, Co. Kerry
•
Valentia Island, Co. Kerry
•
Loughshinny, Co. Dublin (north off Dublin)
•
Killiney beach, Co. Dublin (south off Dublin)
•
Cliffs of Moher, Co. Clare
•
Burren, Co. Clare
Thematic areas covered by GEOCOAST:
•
Bedrock geology as a primary control over geomorphology;
•
Geological structures;
•
Coastal processes;
•
Geological mapping;
•
Using geological compass and performing measurements;
•
Intertidal environments;
•
Soft sediments (origin and dynamics);
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GEOCOAST: Development of online educational portal about Ireland’s Coastal and Marine Geology
Technical Report produced for INFOMAR programme
University College Cork, 2013
•
Coastal geomorphology;
•
Glacial features;
•
Coastal protection in ICZM context;
•
Coastal monitoring techniques;
•
Seabed mapping techniques (incl. side-scan sonar, multibeam, underwater
video surveys; seabed sampling);
•
Offshore bedrock geology (making links to onshore coastal geology);
All videos produced by the GEOCOAST project are to be uploaded to a dedicated YouTube
Channel: GEOCOAST http://www.youtube.com/user/GEOCOAST (Figures 1 & 8). This
YouTube channel is accompanied with online mapping guide (http://www.geocoast.ucc.ie)
allowing selection of videos based on their geographical location.
Figure 8: Screen grab of the GEOCOAST YouTube channel.
In addition, the GEOCOAST project has also discussed with the Office of Public Works
(OPW)
the
possibility
of
using
their
oblique
helicopter
coastal
photographs
(http://www.coastalhelicopterview.ie) for creating the coastal video flights with overlaid
comments about coastal geology. OPW have kindly granted permission to use their imagery
for this purpose. The test fly around the Old Head of Kinsale, Co. Cork can be viewed here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NS5CBOgegg (Figures 9-10). Provisionally this type of
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GEOCOAST: Development of online educational portal about Ireland’s Coastal and Marine Geology
Technical Report produced for INFOMAR programme
University College Cork, 2013
video clips have been named "GEOCOAST AIR Notes". The work of creating additional geoflights using OPW imagery is ongoing.
Figure 9: Screen grab of the fragment of GEOCOAST AIR NOTES: Fly Around the Old
Head of Kinsale, Co. Cork looking at the coastal geology
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GEOCOAST: Development of online educational portal about Ireland’s Coastal and Marine Geology
Technical Report produced for INFOMAR programme
University College Cork, 2013
Figure 10: Screen grab of the fragment of GEOCOAST AIR NOTES: Fly Around the Old
Head of Kinsale, Co. Cork looking at the coastal geology
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GEOCOAST: Development of online educational portal about Ireland’s Coastal and Marine Geology
Technical Report produced for INFOMAR programme
University College Cork, 2013
4. Dissemination
The dissemination of the project outputs have started from the beginning of the GEOCOAST
project mainly though incorporation of video materials within the teaching process at
University College Cork. Using videos in lectures and assignments has been very welcomed
by hundreds of students. The current number of subscribers to GEOCOAST and its sister
YouTube channel COSTAEIRE is currently over 100 with over 20,000 views.
In addition, the project is disseminating new videos added to the channel via a Facebook
page created with a view to raise people's appreciation of Ireland's coastal environments:
Coastal Ireland (Costa Eire) https://www.facebook.com/costa.eire and Coastal Ireland
(Costa Eire) blog http://www.coastalireland.blogspot.ie/.
The videos produced by the GEOCOAST project will be uploaded online gradually in order
not to "SPAM" the current subscribers with excessive email updates about the upload of a
new video and keep the audience interested in the new videos that are coming up in the
future.
It is planned to do an official launch and press release by January 2014.
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GEOCOAST: Development of online educational portal about Ireland’s Coastal and Marine Geology
Technical Report produced for INFOMAR programme
University College Cork, 2013
5. Conclusions
The GEOCOAST project have achieved most of its aims set at the beginning of the project.
It has created a dedicated YouTube channel http://www.youtube.com/user/GEOCOAST
accompanied with online mapping guide (http://www.geocoast.ucc.ie) allowing selection of
videos based on their geographical location. It is hoped that GEOCOAST videos will
increase people's awareness, understanding and appreciation of Ireland's coastal and
marine environments. Preliminary consultations with university students suggest that the
outputs of the project represent a valuable educational resource. The project team will
continue improving GEOCOAST following the official ending of the project based on
personal enthusiasm. Any additional funding to take GEOCOAST to a new level will be much
appreciated. The project team would like to sincerely thank the INFOMAR programme for
supporting this initiative!
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