Bringing scientific expeditions into the schools

Two new technologies, the FASTexpedition and Remote FAST, have been developed that provide remote, 3D, high resolution, dynamic, interactive viewing of scientific data (such as simulations or measurements of physical phenomena). The FAST expedition permits one to access scientific data from the World Wide Web, take guided expeditions through the data. and continue with self controlled expeditions through the data. Remote FAST permits collaborators at remote sites to simultaneously view an analysis of scientific data and share control of the analysis. These technologies are now being used for remote collaboration in joint university, industry, and NASA projects.

NASA Ames Research Center has initiated a project to make scientific data and guided expeditions through the data available as FASTexpeditions on the World Wide Web for educational purposes. In addition, a World Wide Web repository for FASTexpeditions has been set up by the San Diego Supercomputer Center.

Despite the availability of the FASTexpeditions, it is unlikely that schools will extensively use this technology without some additional encouragement. A proposal to promote the use of these technologies for improving science education is presented.

Previous technologies used for remote visualisation and remote collaboration

Live video conferencing

Movie clips on the world wide web

The new technologies developed for remote visualisation and remote collaboration

The concept

The visualisation tool selected as a basis

1. FAST is in widespread use.
2. FAST has a very rich set of tools for analysis of vector and scalar fields.
3. FAST provides the high performance needed for interactive analysis.
4. FAST provides viewing of data computed or measured on a complex grid, either structured or unstructured.
5. FAST has the built in journal feature that automatically records an analysis as a script file that can be replayed. These script files are used to create the guided expeditions in the FASTexpeditions and to provide the remote control in Remote FAST.
6. FAST has a built in stereo viewing capability for truly 3D viewing.
7. FAST is available free on the World Wide Web.

Examples of FASTexpeditions

http://www.nas.nasa.gov/Software/FAST/FASTexpeditions/
http://www.sdsc.edu/Education/Expeditions/FASTexpeditions/main-page.html

Advantages of these new technologies over the previous technologies

1. The visual is much higher in resolution (1280x 1024 pixels) than typical video formats transmitted over the network (160x120 to 640x480 pixels).

2. The form of the visualisation can be controlled interactively (because the viewer is interactively controlling the visualisation tool running on his workstation).

3. A rich variety of guided expeditions through the data can be included easily.

4. A capability is provided for collaborators at remote sites to simultaneously view an analysis being controlled by one of the collaborators. Control of the analysis can be passed from site to site.

5. The scenes can be viewed in 3D using stereo vision.

6. The volume of data required to be sent over the net for the FASTexpedition may be much less than required for movie clips. For an example case where movie clips of ocean velocity vectors were converted to FASTexpeditions, the volume of data sent over the net was reduced by a factor of 70. This comparison of movie clips with FASTexpeditions is given in an online report on the World Wide Web (Watson, 1994).

7. The network bandwidth used for the visualisation using Remote FAST is much smaller than the network bandwidth used for video formats. (The measured peak bandwidth used for Remote FAST was 1 kbit/sec --- 1/500th the bandwidth measured for desktop video conferencing.)

Comparison of the new technologies with two other new technologies just introduced

WebSpace

WebSpace is missing the following features provided by the FASTexpeditions and Remote FAST

1. Tools for analysis of scientific data.
2. A mechanism for guided expeditions through the data.
3. The capability for remote collaborative analysis of the data.

Vis5D

Vis5D is missing the following features provided by the FASTexpeditions and Remote FAST

1. A capability for depicting data on unstructured or complex structured grids. (Since many simulations of physical phenomena require the use of unstructured or complex structured grids, this technology would not be useful for viewing many simulations.)

2. Many analysis tools available in FAST (such as topology extraction).

3. A mechanism for guided expeditions through the data.

4. The capability for remote collaborative analysis of the data.

Current applications of the new technologies

FASTexpeditions and Remote FAST are being included as key elements of the DARWIN (Development Aerodynamics Revolutionising Wind tunnels and Intelligent Systems for NASA) project to permit more convenient remote use of NASA facilities.

NASA Ames has initiated a project to make FASTexpeditions of fluid dynamic simulations generated at NASA available on the World Wide Web for use in education. In addition, the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC has created a repository of FASTexpeditions on their World Wide Web server at http://www.sdsc.edu/Education/Expeditions/FASTexpeditions/main-page.html

Bringing these new technologies into the schools

The teachers can also request that students, as homework assignments, view the guided expeditions and/or create their own expeditions to illustrate some principle. If questions arise, the teachers and students can use the Remote FAST capability to connect to each other, to the author of the FASTexpeditions, or to other scientists and employ co-visual analysis to determine the answers.

Despite the availability of FASTexpeditions in the repository mentioned above, it is unlikely that the FASTexpedition and Remote FAST technologies will be used extensively in schools without some additional action. The problem is a "chicken and egg" problem Information suppliers provide information on the World Wide Web in a format that permits access and analysis by the "least common denominator" tools currently used for access and analysis -- and schools buy tools for access and analysis of information based on the format of information provided by the information suppliers. The result of this problem is that current sources of dynamic scientific data is in the format of movies because the movie player is currently the "least common denominator" tool for viewing dynamic data. This problem will exist until some action breaks the "chicken and egg" cycle.

The solution to this problem is to catapult the level of the "least common denominator" tools for accessing and analysing scientific data to the "scientific expedition". The "scientific expedition" is defined as a tool that has the major features of the FASTexpeditions. Specifically, a "scientific expedition"

1. permits obtaining the actual scientific data or excerpts of the data from the World Wide Web.

2. automatically launches an analysis tool for interactively investigating the data with high resolution, 3D, dynamic graphics.

3. permits obtaining guided expeditions through the data.

4. permits viewers to take control of the tool for their own "what if analysis"

5. permits viewers to post their analyses back to the World Wide Web for others to view as guided expeditions.

This author proposes that the multimedia community seize a golden opportunity to help schools improve science education by

1. selecting, endorsing, and publicising a new set of "least common denominator" tools for accessing and analysing scientific data.

2. determining the specifications for multimedia systems that can support these tools and publicising these specifications.

3. helping schools to obtain these systems.

Summary

By using FASTexpeditions, scientists can now include their scientific data and dynamic, 3D, guided expeditions through their data in their online reports on the World Wide Web. The reader can take these guided expeditions through the data and/or conduct self controlled interactive expeditions through the data. The reader can even post new expeditions back onto the World Wide Web as additional guided expeditions for others to view. Including FASTexpeditions in the online reports should substantially improve the effectiveness of scientific reporting.

Remote FAST permits collaborators at remote sites to co-visualise an analysis of the data and share control of the analysis. This capability, combined with the availability of the data on the World Wide Web as FASTexpeditions, should greatly improve scientists', teachers' and students' ability to collaborate in scientific research and education.

FASTexpeditions and Remote FAST have a high potential for improving science education. However, it is unlikely that schools will begin to use technologies like these without encouragement. This author proposes that the multimedia community take specific actions to help schools identify and acquire systems that can support the "scientific expedition" tools.

References

Watson, Velvin R. (1994). Bringing Scientific Expeditions into the Schools. World Wide Web at URL http://www.nas.nasa.gov/Software/FAST/Nationalgoals/

Silicon Graphics, Inc. (1995). WebSpace... because the world is not flat. World Wide Web at URL http://www.sgi.com/Products/WebFORCE/WebSpace/ [try http://www.sgi.com/Products/software/webspace_author.html]

Hibbard, William (1995). Serving and Viewing Vis5D Files Via the Web. World Wide Web at URL http://www.ssec.wisc.edu/~billh/view5d.html

InPerson is a trade mark of Silicon Graphics, Inc
OpenGL is a trade mark of Silicon Graphics, Inc
Open Inventor is a trade mark of Silicon Graphics, Inc

Author: Dr Velvin (Val) R. Watson Senior Staff Scientist, NASA Ames Research Center Mail Stop 258-2, Moffett Field, CA 94035-1000 USA Email: watson@nas.nasa.gov Phone: (415) 604 6421 Fax (415) 604 4377 Please cite as: Watson, V. R. (1996). Bringing scientific expeditions into the schools. In C. McBeath and R. Atkinson (Eds), Proceedings of the Third International Interactive Multimedia Symposium, 46-49. Perth, Western Australia, 21-25 January. Promaco Conventions. http://www.aset.org.au/confs/iims/1996/ry/watson.html