Web Portal. Environmental Research Data Management Essay

Web Portal. Environmental Research Data Management - Essay Example Ecology may generally be defined as the relationship between living organisms, including plants and animals, and their environment (Levitt, 2008). It will be noted that the living organic component of the environment has so much dominance on the outcome and preservation of the environment. Much of the issue of environmental outcome and preservation also depends largely on how these living organisms relate to each other and influence the living of each other. In today’s era of environmental advocacy for the conservation and preservation of the environment therefore, it is proposed that the use of ecological web portals could be used as very effective avenues and media for the promotion of environmental awareness on how human behaviour in the ecosystem can influence the perpetual conservation and eventual preservation of the environment. The idea behind the use of ecological web portals to promote environmental protection is to ensure that there is a centralized destination and system, from which data and information regarding environmental interactions between various living organisms, and more specifically the effect of human behaviour on the environment can be sampled from. To effectively achieve the goal of the proposal, it is expected that a number of research questions will be answered. Through the use of research data collection in answering these questions, it is expected that the aim of the proposal will be achieved in the long while. The research questions are given as follows: 1. What are the specific human behaviours that impact on the environment negatively? 2. How can the use of a centralized web portal be used to solve these problems? 3. How can the use of web portals be promoted to reach a wider audience to play the role for which it is implemented? 4. What challenges are likely to be faced in the use of ecological web portal to promote environmental protection? In relation to the first research question, it will be noted that the human spe cies is a very powerful component of the ecosystem, which controls majority of the interactive activities that take place within the environment. This is said because the human beings have the power to raise other organisms and species within the ecosystem such as animals and plants and directly influence the way that these species relate to the environment. Due to this power possessed by humans, there are number behaviours that they put up that have been identified to affect the ecosystem negatively. In an attempt to answer the first research question therefore, the researcher shall undertake a comprehensive and systematic literature search to come to terms with examples of human behaviours and practices that affect the environment negatively. It is proposed that when most of these ecological practices and behaviours are known, it will pave the way for much information to be given on these behaviours on the web portals to the designed. Another relevance of this research question is that when the specific behaviours that affect the ecology are not known, the portal will only be championing a course that does not affect its users in any way. On the use of a centralised web portal to solve problems related environmental protection, it can said that this is a more modern form of information transmission that promises to have a larger reach and coverage than most available avenue (Popovic et al, 2005). This is because web portals are seen as components of the new media and for that matter, social media that have currently taken over the use of the internet. Because of the scope of users of web portals, the coverage of the advocacy that will take place will be impacting. For instance schools of higher education including universities, could become major targets for