A new and improved version of  KQED’s QUEST Website, which we helped to develop, is now live. QUEST is an ambitious project utilizing all of KQED’s platforms to not only broadcast science and nature programming, but to also build a community supporting further exploration in the area. Ideum worked with KQED to design a website promoting community participation via an interactive mashup-driven website.

The most recent version of QUEST includes a number of improvements intended to simplify the navigation of the site’s ever-expanding content. With nearly 100 television broadcasts and around 65 online radio broadcasts, the initial sort features (time based) became difficult to use. The radio/television tab can now be filtered by topic and type and the main map features the latest five items instead of search features.

You’ll also notice that blog posts are now displayed as items on the main site’s map - a feature we were able to implement using data from the geopress plugin for WordPress. This feature means that all of KQED’s great content can now be available within the Google Map Mashup. Since the purpose of KQED QUEST is to explore “the stories behind Bay Area science, nature and environmental issues,” this addition makes perfect sense. Take a look at the KQED site or check out  KQED Quest in our portfolio to learn more.

Last July, we posted a prototype Web application, RSS Mixer that allowed anonymous visitors to mix RSS (and Atom) feeds together. Back then the page got a lot of notice. There was a blog post from Mashable, one from CNET’s Webware, a brief article in Brazil’s largest newspaper, and literally hundreds of other links from all over the world. The prototype site continues to get traffic and it will surpass 5,000 user-generated mixes and added 10,000 feeds any day now.

Next month, we’ll be releasing a new version of RSS Mixer. The alpha version will still allow for anonymous mixing, but registered (free) users will be able save and edit their mixes. A new and vastly improved feed mixer will update RSS and Atom feeds quickly, pulling images and other rich media. A number of other improvements including enhanced language support, full search, tagging, feed statistics and ranking, and many others will all be part of the package. We will announce the release date in early February.  Update: We will be releasing the new version of RSS Mixer this summer.

Today’s Albuquerque Journal has a story about Ideum in the business section. The article provides some background on our company and highlights our move from California. You can read the web version on the ABQJournal online, the article is entitled, A Warm Climate.

Last week I was in Tucson, Arizona as part of the Astronomy from the Ground Up initiative. This NSF-sponsored project involves the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, Association of Science-Technology Centers, and the National Optical Astronomy Observatory. Ideum is working with all of the partners to help build an online community and create some online materials and experiences for informal educators. We spent part of the day Thursday trying out some outdoor astronomy activities at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum.

My time was somewhat limited, but I did get a chance to look around the museum and take some pictures. The place is certainly unique. It touts itself as a zoo, natural history museum and botanical garden, and it does do a pretty good job teaching visitors about the natural wonders of this part of the world. The museum is located on 98 acres in the hills just outside of Tucson.

The desert was in bloom when we were there or perhaps just past, but regardless the demonstration gardens were absolutely beautiful.

The museum was quite crowded the day we were there. An employee told me it was the end of the busy season. It was about 90° F the day we visited, so it is easy to see why attendance in the summer might be down. According to their FAQ the highest recorded temperature at the museum was 117° F.

The museum recommends about 2 to 3 hours to look around, unfortunately I was only able to spend about half that amount of time exploring. I walked through some of various demonstration gardens. In the mountain woodlands area, they have a mountain lion “exhibit.” While, I must admit I have mixed emotions when I see large animals in captivity, it was still quite fascinating to be able to see this amazing cat so close.

In the desert grasslands area I got to check out some Black-tailed Prairie Dogs, very cool.

The museum is full of suprises they have a mineral gallery, a collection of reptiles and invertebrates, an impressive hummingbird aviary, and much more. All in all it was a nice mix of live animals, beautiful demonstration gardens, and other types of exhibits. It was a great, brief introduction to the Sonoran Desert.