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15.2: Activity 1 - GlobalXplorer

  • Page ID
    74806
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    Amanda Wolcott Paskey and AnnMarie Beasley Cisneros
    Cosumnes River College and American River College

    GlobalXplorer is the brainchild of Dr. Sarah Parcak, an archaeologist at the University of Alabama at Birmingham who is also a National Geographic Fellow. In 2016, she won the TED Prize, which granted her $1 million for any project of her choosing. She created GlobalXplorer with that grant. GlobalXplorer is a crowdsourcing application for locating archaeological sites and monitoring them for looting by training individuals to identify evidence of looting in satellite images.

    Go to https://www.globalxplorer.org/explore.

    Complete the “Looting” tutorial so you understand how to identify potential archaeological sites in satellite images and evidence of looting.

    Go to the “Now” tab and view and assess at least 50 satellite images.

    Answer the following questions:

    1. How are satellite images useful for locating looting? Why does Dr. Parcak think this is important work?
    2. What did you learn about looting patterns from the training video?
    3. Describe your experience viewing portions of satellite images and searching for evidence of looting. Was it what you expected? Why or why not?
    4. As a now-seasoned GlobalXplorer, what drawbacks do you see in using this method to locate looting?
    5. What are your general impressions of the GlobalXplorer initiative?

    This page titled 15.2: Activity 1 - GlobalXplorer is shared under a CC BY-NC license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Amanda Wolcott Paskey and AnnMarie Beasley Cisneros (ASCCC Open Educational Resources Initiative (OERI)) .