Archive for the 'Second Science' Category

Vent Nymphs of the Deep Seas of Second Life

Published
by
Jason
on February 5, 2008
in Second Science
. 2 Comments

I have an avatar in Second Life called Calamari Ricardo. He wandered into the lair of Grendel’s Children the other day and came across a new undersea option for avatars (see below).

Randy Olson cheekily suggested that the next Science Blogging Conference be conducted in Second Life. If so, maybe we could hold it on the newly expanded NOAA sim and all the ocean bloggers could go dressed up as Vent Nymphs.

Deep Sea Vent Nymphs of Second Life, by Flea BussyVent Nymphs
MiniHUD controls the black smoker effect & sound, and includes a unique skin and sculpted tubeworm growths! Both genders included. Created by Flea Bussy.

See also:

NOAA in Second Life redux

Published
by
Jason
on December 4, 2006
in Events and Second Science
. 1 Comment

Back in May 2006 I came across Hackshaven Harford and the early efforts to bring NOAA/ESRL into Second Life. Since then, NOAA has purchased its own Second Life island and it’s almost ready for the public. Exhibits on the sim were developed by Aimee Weber Studios and include a demonstration of tsunamis, glaciers and undersea life.

If you are wondering why NOAA is in Second Life, you can find the FAQ here:

Second Life (SL) provides a unique ability to create an immersive simulated learning experience. It is a cost effective way of reaching large numbers of people that otherwise would not have access to the wealth of knowledge that NOAA and ESRL possess. Currently, NOAA/ESRL are exploring SL as a way of visualizing the vast amouts of educational material and data at their disposal.

The Science Center in Second Life will get a sneak peek at NOAA/ESRL’s Meteroa Sim. The beta-test tour will be on Wednesday, Decemeber 6, at 8:00 AM PST. You must be part of the Science Center to take part.

UPDATE: The tour was great. I got to ride a weather balloon. Hacks says the sim will be open to the public “soon.”

Adventures with Calamari at Virtualbridges.net

Published
by
Jason
on July 4, 2006
in Second Science
. 0 Comments

There are a lot of good reasons to start a blog. Mine is not necessarily one of them. I started on the ‘Net back in the old Prodigy era (circa 1993). I was initially loath to communicate authentically online, taking pains to preserve my anonymity. But nowadays I realize that Google and other spiderbots are inexorably gathering information about us anyway. It’s an illusion to think there aren’t already little pieces of us scattered across sundry servers. So rather than let chance or my minor participation in conferences or listservs determine how I was indexed, I decided to start staking a claim to my own unreal estate and start blogging.

The nice thing about coming out of this shell is that I get to participate in the participatory Web and produce the Cephalopodcast podcast. It also has allowed me to (virtually) meet some very fine folks. In particular, I’ve been hanging around the educators and webcasters at Worldbridges.net. Some of them have also been venturing into the MMO1 world of Second Life. Naturally enough, they have been webcasting and podcasting these explorations. And you can now see the latest adventures at Virtualbridges.net.

The first entry is a Second Life Tour of the Spaceflight Museum that I particpated in recently.

Virtual rockets in Second Life [200x150, 12K]The International Spaceflight Museum is a museum in the virtual world of Second Life. It hosts exhibits and events about spacecraft, rockets, and space travel. The museum is located on the island sim Spaceport Alpha.

The organization that manages and develops the museum is the Spaceflight Museum Planning Group, a group of Second Life residents from around the world who share an interest in spaceflight.

So if you want to see practical examples of the educational potential of MMOs, check out the videos at Virtualbridges.net.

UPDATE: I’ve been made a manager at Virtualbridges.net, so I will be helping out with the posting there. The next jaunt into Second Life will be this Sunday, July 9, 5:30pmPDT/8:30pmEDT/12:30amGMT. Feel free to join us as we take a tour of Second Life’s Public Library and the Info Island sim.

NOAA/ESRL and the science of Second Life

Published
by
Jason
on May 11, 2006
in Second Science
. 0 Comments

Hackshaven Harford and Calamari Ricardo stand before the sphere of science [200x150, 12K]Okay, I know it’s the second post in a row about this, but I found something interesting last night. Looks like NOAA’s Earth System Research Laboratory has some unreal estate in Second Life! Got a chance to chat with Eric Hackathorn (aka Hackshaven Harford, pictured at right), who was kind enough to demonstrate some of the features of the NOAA/ESRL area. From their in-game notecard:

The structure before you is called “Science on a Sphere.” You can see the real world version at a museum close to you or by visiting http://sos.noaa.gov/. In the meantime, please enjoy a few sample animations by clicking on the controls on the right. Here are the animations currently available:

  • Martian Surface
    A topography of the surface of Mars colored by elevation.
  • 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami
    The different colors in the ocean represent the average sea surface elevation for the 24 hour period following the 9.0 earthquake that triggered a devistating tsunami in the region.
  • Sea Surface Temperatures
    The temperature of the sea surface over time. You can see the formation of an El Nino of the coast of South Africa.

Make sure streaming video is enabled under your preferences and then hit play on the movie control at the bottom of the interface.

Everything is still pretty new, but Eric and I both agreed there are plenty of possibilities for demonstrating science concepts in synthetic environments like SL. I look forward to seeing and hearing more.

UPDATE: Here is a PDF that gives some more details about NOAA in SL.

UPDATE: “Come see what NOAA/ESRL has been doing in Second Life and what our plans are for the future. A proof of concept, “Science on a Sphere” (http://sos.noaa.gov/), has been implemented and an overview of our future plans will be presented.” Monday, 05/15/2006 at 12:00pm MST.

Second Life from 30,000 ft

Published
by
Jason
on May 9, 2006
in Second Science
. 0 Comments

Calamari Ricardo distorted in orbit above Second Life [200x150, 12K]Thanks to Meno Rich and company for the Second Life meetup and simultaneous Skypecast. The snapshot at right is what my avatar looks like when shot into orbit around Second Life. If you want to know how that happened, send me an email.

There will be a grand opening of the World Bridge’s Second Life site from May 12-14.


The Ecology of Second Life

Published
by
Jason
on April 23, 2006
in Second Science
. 2 Comments

Calamari Ricardo finds a shark [200x150, 12K]After a bit of resistance, I finally took the plunge into Second Life. It is my first trip into a synthetic world, or MMO1.

In Second Life, users can fashion all manner of structures and objects. Most of these seem fairly primitive and industrial. There doesn’t seem to be much capacity for organic expression. I suspect this is mainly due to limitations in bandwidth. That is, it’s easier to simulate the repeating, rectilinear pattern of a brick wall than it is to recreate a convincing tree. But as a consequence, even though most users try to emulate the real world, I have found little evidence for any kind of ecology in Second Life. This is especially noticable underwater. Most of these areas are devoid of any kind of development and look more stark than the abyssal plane. So whenever I am in the game, I make an extra effort to look for examples of aquatic life. So far I’ve found a shark, an orca and a horseshoe crab. If you know of any others, please send me a note. And if you are in SL, look for my avatar, Calamari Ricardo.

Update: Thanks to Eric Rice (aka Spin Martin) for the aerial and aquatic tour of Slackstreet.