Welcome to the Ocean Portal Blog!

If you've found your way here, you've probably already seen the homepage of the Smithsonian Institution's brand new Ocean Portal (or OP, for short). We encourage you to spend some time exploring the OP and let us know what you think.

This is an experiment and an invitation. It's our first attempt to really work closely with visitors to build an interactive web experience - not just a web site. And we invite you to participate in shaping the Portal as it grows. Sure, we have cool ocean things we want to show you, but we also want to know what you are curious about and what kinds of features would be interesting or helpful to you.

This blog is one way we'll keep in touch. You can give us feedback by leaving comments, and we'll pose questions and post news about what we're hearing from visitors and how we're responding. As you explore the OP, you'll also notice that most pages have a place to give feedback. Please use these liberally! Let us know which are your favorite (and least favorite) stories, images, videos, and features. What are you dying to know more about? What's helpful, interesting, or confusing? What's missing? You can double your two cents by filling out the more detailed visitor survey.

Please, let us know what you think. We're listening.

Christine
Community Manager, Ocean Portal