KTEP's
Desert Diary Web Pages

Introduction

Desert Diary is the expanded web version of a collection of short presentations on the cultural and natural history of the greater Chihuahuan Desert Region. Desert Diaries originally were written as short radio presentations and accompanying web pages by personnel and associates of the Centennial Museum. They currently are produced by KTEP National Public Radio for the Southwest (88.5 FM), University of Texas at El Paso. The radio version is aired daily at around 9 a.m. KTEP's Norma Martinez is the producer, with Florence Schwein as the voice of Desert Diaries.

Transcripts and associated materials from Desert Diaries are archived to give access to teachers and the general public who may wish to explore the natural and cultural history of the Chihuahuan Desert.

Each of the 1372 Desert Diary radio presentations has its own web page, often with additional material not available on the air. In a few cases, indicated by the golden chain icon, learning links are available for teachers and anyone who is just plain curious. Each web page presents a transcript of the daily presentation, and KTEP is adding audio as time permits. In addition, the website provides additional information focused on the subject with the aim of providing more in-depth material for the general public and for teachers. Expanded information, images, and references (both popular and technical) are included for many of the daily offerings.

Desert Diary entries have been submitted by individuals associated, formally or informally, with the Centennial Museum; these people are recognized by the contributors' line on the daily offering. The entry is checked for scientific, cultural, and historical accuracy by one or more experts at the University of Texas at El Paso. To meet time constraints of the radio medium, entries commonly have been reworked by the Centennial Museum Desert Diary Team: Florence E. Schwein, Kodi R. Jeffery, Arthur H. Harris, and Norma Martinez.

Team members also contribute much of the supplemental materials. Dr. Jeffery was the primary designer of the 'Learning Links'. Other contributors are recognized on the appropriate web pages.

References frequently include links to other websites. Although we believe these websites contain material of interest to our viewers, we cannot vouch for the accuracy of material on any site except our own, and links to commercial websites should not be considered an endorsement of them or their products. With over 1300 entries, links to additional off-site references cannot checked regularly and may become broken or outdated.

Access to the web presentations are by way of the menu to the right. These links will take you to the archives for the various subjects covered by Desert Diary programs. Within each category, presentations are listed in alphabetical order by title; a thumbnail image from an account often is present. Many of the subjects have multiple pages, as indicated by the page numbers in the menu.

Alternatively, you may use the search engine. However, be warned that loading of the search index is slow because of the large size; if you are on a modem, you probably don't want to go this route.

We currently are adding the audio component of the radio broadcasts. These are in mp3 format. Some early accounts have a link in rm format; these are now are inactive and are being replaced by mp3 recording as fast as practical.

Sixty-five accounts are duplicated in Spanish; these are placed at the end of the category indices. A link to the Spanish accounts is placed on each page of a category that has such accounts.

Materials on these pages are copyrighted. Reasonable use of Museum material for educational purposes is allowed provided proper credit is given to the source; we would appreciate notification of such use. We strongly urge that images not be used on web sites without requesting permission from the Webmaster*—some images are under copyright by other entities and used here by special permission; although we do not have the authority to give permission directly for their use, in most cases we can facilitate contact with the copyright holder. Commercial use of any images or text, in whole or in part, is expressly forbidden without formal approval.

Desert Diary Menu

• Amphibians and Reptiles
• Archaeology
• Arthropods 1, including insects, crustaceans, scorpions, etc. 2 3 4
• Birds 1 2 3 4
• Climate 1 2 3 4
• Culture 1 2 3 4
• Ecology 1 2 3 4 5
• Fish
• Fossils 1 2
• Geology 1 2 3 4
• General Biology 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
• History 1 2
• Malacology
• Mammals 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
• Mathematics
• Museums
• Physics 1, including astronomy 2 3
• Plants 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9