Vol. 38, No. 18

3-4-2004
By: Emmett Crawley

OSU technology beams historic Lewis and Clark journey

More than 200 years after the Lewis and Clark expedition was commissioned by President Thomas Jefferson, technology developed by Ohio State is enabling people around the country to experience live, real-time, interactive portrayals of the expedition, as it cruises down the river or stands along a river bank.
As official re-enactors for the National Lewis and Clark Bicentennial, running from January 2003-2006, the Discovery Expedition of St. Charles, Mo., and the School District of Clayton, Mo., with support from the National Park Service Challenge Cost Share Program, are retracing the entire waterway portion of the original 1803-1806 expedition east of the Rocky Mountains.
More than 30 million people are expected to travel to some part of the Lewis and Clark trail as part of the bicentennial commemoration. Countless others will be able to view the journey with the help of Ohio State’s Transportable Satellite Internet System (TSIS), developed by the Office of the Chief Information Officer (CIO), OARnet and ITEC-Ohio (Internet2 Technology Evaluation Center), in partnership with the American Distance Education Consortium (ADEC) and funding from the National Science Foundation.
Students and teachers across the country can become active participants in this project as they engage in interactive videoconferences and live Webcasts from the field. Apple Learning Interchange is the education series contributor through its project, “Lewis and Clark Then and Now: Linking the Trail to America’s Students.” For details, visit www.ali.apple.com/lewisandclark.
About Lewis and Clark
Lewis and Clark’s history-making expedition began in 1803, in Elizabeth, Pa., where they took delivery of a large keelboat, built especially for the expedition, and sailed to Missouri. On May 21, 1804, the U.S. Army Corps of Discovery, using the keelboat and an assortment of smaller boats, set sail up the Missouri River from St. Charles, Mo., to explore America’s then-untamed west.
Upon completion, their journey was labeled a geographic, scientific and cultural marvel. Among the scientific findings, for example, the expedition discovered 122 animal species and subspecies and 178 new plant species; 223 plant specimens from the expedition survive today.
OSU connection
The bicentennial planners in St. Charles wanted to provide a rich and genuine living history experience to the public, using satellite communication technology that would provide for interactive videoconferences and live Webcasts from the keelboat and other field locations where the expedition re-enactments would occur. They had heard about the trailer-based TSIS, as well as the new backpack-sized videoconferencing station being developed at Ohio State. Early in 2003, the planners contacted Bob Dixon, chief research engineer for the Office of the CIO and for OARnet.
Dixon and his staff, Megan Troyer, videoconferencing specialist, and Gabe Moulton, technology engineer, were invited to St. Charles for further discussions and for a live demonstration of the TSIS aboard the new keelboat that’s an exact replica of the original boat used by Lewis and Clark.
“This was a wonderful experience,” Dixon said. “We installed a wireless video station in the keelboat, and Megan rode on board, as the expedition re-enactors rowed up and down the Missouri River. We sent live video from the boat and from the shore to several school classes around the country. Students were able to communicate with the re-enactors and asked lots of questions about the expedition.”
The expedition planners were impressed and adopted the TSIS technology. The TSIS has been setup in a variety of locations, from the backwoods of West Virginia to downtown St. Louis, under all kinds of weather conditions, said Jim Strum, of the Discovery Expedition of St. Charles.
“During our setups, we have had camera and computer failures, but never have we failed to get a connection with the TSIS,” Strum said. “It has become our most reliable technology. It allows us to present the Lewis and Clark story to thousands of students in real time, in their classrooms, when they want it.”
For details on the re-enactment of the Lewis and Clark expedition, visit www.lewisandclark.net. For more information on the TSIS, visit http://cio.osu.edu/emerging/tsisohio.html.

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