The Science Museum of Minnesota prototyped interpretive approaches to using an innovative scientific visualization system developed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) called Science On a Sphere (SOS). SOS is composed of a wide variety of visualizations projected onto a six-foot sphere creating animated, whole-planet views of the Earth, other planets in our solar system, and their moons. Visualizations of the Earth cover topics such as weather, climate, topography, earth system dynamics, and geophysical processes. A challenge of SOS is making the content accessible
In May of 2006, Science on a Sphere (SOS) was set up in a permanent exhibit space at the Science Museum of Minnesota. With the new installation of the Sphere, came the addition of a variety of features that were not included in the initial front-end study. These new features included an expanded playlist, new audio for some of the visualizations, accompanying labels projected on the wall describing the visualization, indication on the labels of what image will be playing next, and seating for visitors so they can sit and view the sphere. The new master playlist was composed of three smaller
During January 2007, the Science Museum of Minnesota carried out a study to gather visitor feedback on a variety of potential interpretive features of Science on a Sphere. Visitor preferences related to the use of interpretive labels and graphics directly on the Sphere and the speed in which visualizations rotate were studied. A total of 51 visitors were interviewed. Key findings include: 1. Three quarters of visitors preferred descriptive labels to be directly on the Sphere. 2. If labels were projected on the Sphere, almost all the visitors wanted them to disappear after a period of time. 3
The American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) received a NOAA-ELG grant for a three-year project, entitled Exploring Earth Systems: Expanding Data Visualizations Experiences for Museum Learners (or Data Visualizations). The project focuses on the development, testing, and distribution of Visualizations for the Earth and Bio content strands of the AMNH's Science Bulletins program. The Visualizations are short media pieces that use satellite data to tell the story of Earth processes on land, in the oceans, and in the atmosphere, with the larger goals of helping viewers to understand the dynamic
DATE:
TEAM MEMBERS:
Susan FoutzAmerican Museum of Natural History
The American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) received a NOAA-ELG grant for a three-year project, entitled Exploring Earth Systems: Expanding Data Visualizations Experiences for Museum Learners (or Data Visualizations). The project focuses on the development, testing, and distribution of Visualizations for the Earth and Bio content strands of the AMNH's Science Bulletins program. The Visualizations are short media pieces that use satellite data to tell the story of Earth processes on land, in the oceans, and in the atmosphere, with the larger goals of helping viewers to understand the dynamic
DATE:
TEAM MEMBERS:
Susan FoutzAmerican Museum of Natural History