NORTONOLOGY:
a light-hearted look at Nature in Norton
New
Cable Access Series on Norton’s Natural Resources
and Relevant History
In
progress
Proposed by: Kathleen
Ebert-Zawasky and Linda S. Kollett, Land Preservation
Society (LPS), Norton, MA, June 5, 2008; revised November
20, 2008
Goals:
We propose to
produce a series of short television programs (perhaps 10
minutes each) which will present local wild places and wild
things to the residents of Norton. The content will be
primarily the natural resources in our town and we plan to
include some content about relevant town history. The
intent is to provide short programs that will instill or
inspire a sense of wonder in our children and encourage
them to visit the places we showcase. It will encourage
outdoor exploration and interaction with the program
developers for future programming.
This series will be broadcast on local cable television and
become available on the Norton Cable Access Channel (NCAC)
and LPS websites. We hope it will prove useful as a
long-term resource to be used by schools, the library and
other organizations. The linking of television programming
and web resources will strengthen the content of both media
and support interaction between viewers and developers.
In addition, we propose that this series can be used to
raise Norton’s profile as a place with interesting
natural wildness, biodiversity and abundance and with
valuable land preserves. This should be helpful in
establishing and publicizing the value of our natural
places as plans for development continue in southeastern
Massachusetts.
Target
Audience: Families and
school children and people of all ages who want to know
more about nature in Norton
Pilot
Programs:
We plan to focus on three different types of programs.
These shows should vary in content and presentation format
so that we can evaluate them and understand what goes into
their production. We want to see how well they are received
and if they invite response and interaction. We will rely
on NCAC staff for considerable help with technology,
process, procedures, etc. Three possible topics are:
1.
King Philip’s Cave
The
“Cave” is Norton’s geologic high spot,
formed when huge boulders were dropped as the glacier
melted over about 15,000 years ago. Walking to the Cave,
one walks through mixed woods, including dogwood, blueberry
and evergreens. This unusual destination connects
beautifully with the Native American history and colonial
history of our town.
2.
Norton bird video clips and images with sounds:
We have access
to a large collection of beautiful pictures of
Norton’s high flyers by local photographers and
digitized bird songs from which to build this program.
3.
Life in and around a vernal pond
In the spring,
we would like to focus on one or more of Norton’s
vernal ponds. A vernal pond is a contained basin
depression, holding water for two to three months or more,
which lacks breeding populations of fish and which supports
the breeding of wood frogs or mole salamanders or contains
fairy shrimp. We may want to compare the pond with another
body of water, a river or lake. We would like to use
microscopes to show the interesting tiny organisms in the
water, too.
For more information, contact Kathleen Ebert-Zawasky
at
kezawasky@mac.com or
Linda S. Kollett at
lkollett@mac.com
Ideas for Future Content and
Interaction