Museums Teaching Planet Earth Patricia Reiff, Rice University Carolyn Sumners, Houston Museum of Natural Science Jay Apt, Carnegie Museum of Natural History Dar Roberts, Dylan Prentiss, UC Santa Barbara Tamara Ledley, TERC Inc. Neal Desai, Sybil Media

Rice University Houston Museum of Natural Science Carnegie Museum of Natural History UCSB, TERC, Sybil Media, SkySkan ESIP-3 Reviews May 11, 1999 The need Educational, safe, real-time exhibits for museums and schools Planetariums considered “boring”: needed new look, new drama (new customers!) High-definition content for immersive planetarium shows and HDTV

Rice University Houston Museum of Natural Science Carnegie Museum of Natural History UCSB, TERC, Sybil Media, SkySkan ESIP-3 Reviews May 11, 1999 The (potential) Customers Hundreds of museums and science centers (6 in present online network) Thousands of teachers and schools New technology (and old technology!) planetariums HDTV producers

Rice University Houston Museum of Natural Science Carnegie Museum of Natural History UCSB, TERC, Sybil Media, SkySkan ESIP-3 Reviews May 11, 1999 Products under Development “Earth Forum”: interactive exhibit or problem- solving field trip experience Globe Theatre Productions: immersive high-resolution digital theatre “Earth Update”: information display system

Rice University Houston Museum of Natural Science Carnegie Museum of Natural History UCSB, TERC, Sybil Media, SkySkan ESIP-3 Reviews May 11, 1999 Component One: Earth Forum Earth exhibit organized by continent and resource Can run as problem-solving field trip for school classes (36 at once) Version 1.0 previously created using private resources Has been on display at HMNS since fall 1994

Rice University Houston Museum of Natural Science Carnegie Museum of Natural History UCSB, TERC, Sybil Media, SkySkan ESIP-3 Reviews May 11, 1999 Earth Forum: Content and Structure Africa - Food Asia - Atmosphere North America - Fresh Water South America - Biodiversity Europe - Energy Oceania - Oceans

Rice University Houston Museum of Natural Science Carnegie Museum of Natural History UCSB, TERC, Sybil Media, SkySkan ESIP-3 Reviews May 11, 1999 Earth Forum: main menu

Rice University Houston Museum of Natural Science Carnegie Museum of Natural History UCSB, TERC, Sybil Media, SkySkan ESIP-3 Reviews May 11, 1999 Earth Forum: population graphs

Rice University Houston Museum of Natural Science Carnegie Museum of Natural History UCSB, TERC, Sybil Media, SkySkan ESIP-3 Reviews May 11, 1999 Earth Forum: Accomplishments Major software revision to version 2.0 allowed use of updating imagery “Wild Blue Planet” opened CMNH June 1998 to rave reviews Version 2.1 embodies improvements in imagery and layout Featured in “Science Quest”, national public television show April 6, 1999

Rice University Houston Museum of Natural Science Carnegie Museum of Natural History UCSB, TERC, Sybil Media, SkySkan ESIP-3 Reviews May 11, 1999 Earth Forum at Houston Museum of Natural Science From “Science Quest” broadcast, April 6, 1999

Rice University Houston Museum of Natural Science Carnegie Museum of Natural History UCSB, TERC, Sybil Media, SkySkan ESIP-3 Reviews May 11, 1999 Wild Blue Planet at Carnegie Museum of Natural History From “Science Quest” broadcast, April 6, school groups this year so far for 90 minutes): 351 students total

Rice University Houston Museum of Natural Science Carnegie Museum of Natural History UCSB, TERC, Sybil Media, SkySkan ESIP-3 Reviews May 11, 1999 Component Two: Globe Theatre Planetariums being revitalized by new technology Multiple linked projectors allow wrap-around digital imagery Shared immersive experience brings many new customers to existing venues with relatively small additional resources “Way of the future” here today

Rice University Houston Museum of Natural Science Carnegie Museum of Natural History UCSB, TERC, Sybil Media, SkySkan ESIP-3 Reviews May 11, 1999 Globe Theatre: dome projection

Rice University Houston Museum of Natural Science Carnegie Museum of Natural History UCSB, TERC, Sybil Media, SkySkan ESIP-3 Reviews May 11, 1999 Globe Theatre: Content and Structure 3, 4, or 6-projector systems yields panorama, full view, or full dome, respectively 16 GB/minute data rate (each projector driven by separate computer). 20 minute show requires minute segments

Rice University Houston Museum of Natural Science Carnegie Museum of Natural History UCSB, TERC, Sybil Media, SkySkan ESIP-3 Reviews May 11, 1999 Globe Theatre: Accomplishments HMNS system installed November 1998 with major cost sharing (3 - 1). First shows “Magnificent Journey” and “Cosmic Mysteries” opened December 1998 HMNS has doubled planetarium revenues Next show “Destination: Moon” under development for July ‘99 opening

Rice University Houston Museum of Natural Science Carnegie Museum of Natural History UCSB, TERC, Sybil Media, SkySkan ESIP-3 Reviews May 11, 1999 First in the World (December 98)

Rice University Houston Museum of Natural Science Carnegie Museum of Natural History UCSB, TERC, Sybil Media, SkySkan ESIP-3 Reviews May 11, 1999 Globe Theatre: Increases revenues Dec 97: $13.4K vs. Dec 98: $30.9K (130% increase in revenues) Jan 98: $10.4K vs. Jan 99: $27.2K (161% increase) Feb 98: $ 9.7K vs. Feb 99: $24.8K (155% increase) Visitors, Dec 97 - Feb 98: 25,083 vs. Dec 98 - Feb 99: 41,784 (+67% increase in visitors)

Rice University Houston Museum of Natural Science Carnegie Museum of Natural History UCSB, TERC, Sybil Media, SkySkan ESIP-3 Reviews May 11, 1999 Component Three: Earth Update Macromedia-7 based information system, safe for unattended use (web browsers are too slow and can easily reach sites which are inappropriate for children)

Rice University Houston Museum of Natural Science Carnegie Museum of Natural History UCSB, TERC, Sybil Media, SkySkan ESIP-3 Reviews May 11, 1999 Component Three: Earth Update Earth imagery automatically updated daily for museums in our network (“push”) or available on-demand (“pull”)

Rice University Houston Museum of Natural Science Carnegie Museum of Natural History UCSB, TERC, Sybil Media, SkySkan ESIP-3 Reviews May 11, 1999 Component Three: Earth Update Macromedia-7 based information system, safe for unattended use Earth imagery will be fully updateable remotely for networked museums (“push” or “pull” system) Personal version will have hot links to update imagery or to view web resources, even when run from CD, but will still be safe for children

Rice University Houston Museum of Natural Science Carnegie Museum of Natural History UCSB, TERC, Sybil Media, SkySkan ESIP-3 Reviews May 11, 1999 Earth Update: Content and Structure Organized by science content (Atmosphere, Hydrosphere, Geosphere, Biosphere, Cryosphere)

Rice University Houston Museum of Natural Science Carnegie Museum of Natural History UCSB, TERC, Sybil Media, SkySkan ESIP-3 Reviews May 11, 1999

Rice University Houston Museum of Natural Science Carnegie Museum of Natural History UCSB, TERC, Sybil Media, SkySkan ESIP-3 Reviews May 11, 1999 Earth Update: Content and Structure Organized by science content (Atmosphere, Hydrosphere, Geosphere, Biosphere, Cryosphere) Each content section has “topics”, “what’s hot”, “latest data” and who/what/why/how buttons

Rice University Houston Museum of Natural Science Carnegie Museum of Natural History UCSB, TERC, Sybil Media, SkySkan ESIP-3 Reviews May 11, 1999

Rice University Houston Museum of Natural Science Carnegie Museum of Natural History UCSB, TERC, Sybil Media, SkySkan ESIP-3 Reviews May 11, 1999 Earth Update: Content and Structure Organized by science content (Atmosphere, Hydrosphere, Geosphere, Biosphere, Cryosphere) Each content section has “topics”, “what’s hot”, “latest data” and who/what/why/how buttons Central button explains how remote sensing can scan the Earth

Rice University Houston Museum of Natural Science Carnegie Museum of Natural History UCSB, TERC, Sybil Media, SkySkan ESIP-3 Reviews May 11, 1999 Remote sensing

Rice University Houston Museum of Natural Science Carnegie Museum of Natural History UCSB, TERC, Sybil Media, SkySkan ESIP-3 Reviews May 11, 1999 Earth Update: Accomplishments Main splash page laid out Section architecture and splash pages identified Sample section (atmosphere) essentially complete Real-time data sources, topics identified; much material already in hand

Rice University Houston Museum of Natural Science Carnegie Museum of Natural History UCSB, TERC, Sybil Media, SkySkan ESIP-3 Reviews May 11, 1999 Data products developed Sea-level change graphic This example shows 13-m sea-level rise

Rice University Houston Museum of Natural Science Carnegie Museum of Natural History UCSB, TERC, Sybil Media, SkySkan ESIP-3 Reviews May 11, 1999 Data products developed Earth at night 3 km VR movie (from DMSP database) (UCSB)

Rice University Houston Museum of Natural Science Carnegie Museum of Natural History UCSB, TERC, Sybil Media, SkySkan ESIP-3 Reviews May 11, 1999 Data products developed Earth at night also available as animated GIF

Rice University Houston Museum of Natural Science Carnegie Museum of Natural History UCSB, TERC, Sybil Media, SkySkan ESIP-3 Reviews May 11, 1999 Data products developed Some imagery developed by other sources (sea level with population density)

Rice University Houston Museum of Natural Science Carnegie Museum of Natural History UCSB, TERC, Sybil Media, SkySkan ESIP-3 Reviews May 11, 1999 Data products developed Imagery from combined data sets (bathymetry, AVHRR, night lights)

Rice University Houston Museum of Natural Science Carnegie Museum of Natural History UCSB, TERC, Sybil Media, SkySkan ESIP-3 Reviews May 11, 1999 Data products developed Clip adapted from IMAX for Globe Theatre

Rice University Houston Museum of Natural Science Carnegie Museum of Natural History UCSB, TERC, Sybil Media, SkySkan ESIP-3 Reviews May 11, Plans Earth Forum: version 2.2 to be completed and installed Globe Theatre: “Destination:Moon” show (summer ‘99) Earth Through Time show (fall) Carnegie theatre installation (fall) interactive buttons (HMNS) (fall) Earth Update: First full version (summer)

Rice University Houston Museum of Natural Science Carnegie Museum of Natural History UCSB, TERC, Sybil Media, SkySkan ESIP-3 Reviews May 11, 1999 Benefits to Customers Demonstrated additional paying customers Demonstrated “newsworthy” aspect - free advertising Outreach avenues for other NASA missions Create hi-def segments which can be used in many venues

Rice University Houston Museum of Natural Science Carnegie Museum of Natural History UCSB, TERC, Sybil Media, SkySkan ESIP-3 Reviews May 11, 1999 Collaborations with other ESIPs Can incorporate many ESIP data sets into Earth Update / Globe Theatre (have good ones??) Advertising through NBC web site Joint CDs with PlanetEarthSci (?) Displays at ESIP-cooperating museums (TerraSIP) (?) Intellectual property/data rights issues - joint solutions to similar problems