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Summary
"Live @ the Exploratorium:
Origins" takes Web and museum visitors on virtual field trips to
laboratories and observatories worldwide where scientists examine the
formation of the universe, the creation of matter, the shaping of the
earth, and the story of life itself. Using a mixture of live Internet
broadcasts (Webcasts) and interactive presentations, Origins goes beyond
the science to showcase the settings where advanced scientific achievements
occur, introducing the extraordinary people behind them.
With Exploratorium
staff scientists and educators as mediators, we invite audiences into
the process of basic scientific research, showing them where specialized
instrumentation is created and experiments are performed, and into the
hearts and minds of the scientists. We bring a collaborative spirit into
these settings, inviting researchers to generate ideas and help create
our programs. Additional resources about the people, places, tools, and
ideas behind the science are designed in collaboration with Exploratorium
staff and the staff at each facility.
To date, we have
worked with CERN (the European Consortium for Nuclear Research), The Space
Telescope Science Institute, Goddard Space Flight Center, and McMurdo
Station and the South Pole/Antarctica. Visitors to our
Web site can read articles, watch video interviews, take a virtual
tour of a laboratory or control room using QTVR™ technology, or try
an interactive activity that models the research activities of the scientists-such
as processing an image from the Hubble Space Telescope.
Key
Suggestions
- Identify core content
areas.
- Identify a producer
for the Webcasts and the Web site.
- Identify and work
closely with scientific and technical advisors at each location.
- Create a site
map for the Web site.
- If this is your
first foray into Webcasting, develop a script or storyboards for each
event that includes time at the local and remote locations, the shot,
the guest, and the subject.
- Launch your Web
site at least three weeks before the Webcasts to build an audience for
both.
- Pick a backdrop
location for staging your production that will be interesting and visible
to both a studio audience and an on-line audience watching a much-smaller
image.
- Try and pick a
time zone that doesn't conflict with that of your primary audience,
or coordinate your live production to that time zone.
- Identify dynamic
people who are clear communicators to be your hosts.
- Keep the cameras
on objects or experiments and off "talking heads" as much
as possible.
- Keep Webcasts
and individual segments within them short; you can add deeper information
with accompanying materials and Web resources.
- Provide "warm-up"
activities both online and in your museum to prime the audience.
- Assess communications
capabilities at each remote location and establish an agreed-upon contact
for connectivity issues.
Research
and Evaluation
Our target audiences
are both on-line and "live" (in the museum), and have very different
Webcast needs and experiences. We determine the best way to reach them
through:
- A mixture of surveys
of existing data, Web site analysis, on-line questionnaires, and on-site
interviews with audience members conducted by in-house evaluation staff.
This data provides rapid feedback, allowing us to modify scripts and
shows before the following day's production.
- Analysis of our
Web site by on-line audience members, conducted in collaboration with
the Center for Children and Technology. This is an ongoing part of the
project.
At the end of the
Origins project, we'll gather data to determine how effective we've been
in engaging remote viewers in the content and subject matter, in preparing
viewers for Webcasts, and in determining the number of follow-up contacts
for deeper engagement with the material. Ongoing activities include:
- Analyzing Origins-related
Web site log files using "Log Trends," an off-the-shelf software
product.
- Conducting on-line
surveys with a group of 75+ Web site/Webcast users.
- Developing pre-
and post-visit surveys that assess the interests and attitudes of an
on-line Web audience during "Origins: Antarctica" to better
understand its impact.
Budget
(average annual)
Staff and fringe: (includes planning, oversight and production for Website,
Webcasts, public programs and internal evaluation) $300,000
- Production Supplies,
$90,000
- Travel and Transportation
costs, $30,000
- Telephone and connection
costs, $20,000
- Consultants, $10,000
- External evaluation,
$65,000
Authors
Principal
Investigator—Robert Semper, Ph.D. (robs@exploratorium.edu)
Project Director—Melissa Alexander (melissaa@exploratorium.edu)
Webcast Manager—Robyn Davis (robyn@exploratorium.edu)
Web site Producer—Robin Marks (robinm@exploratorium.edu)
Webcast Producers—Noel
Wanner, Mary Miller, Julie Konop
Contact
Melissa Alexander
Project Director
Exploratorium
3601 Lyon St.
San Francisco, CA 94123
Phone: 415-561-0324
Email: melissa@exploratorium.edu
Web
Sites
http://www.exploratorium.edu/origins/cern/prologue/index.html
http://www.exploratorium.edu/origins/hubble
http://www.exploratorium.edu/origins/antarctica
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Created: 7/5/02
Last updated: 8/17/02
Contact: inquiries@nist.gov
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Museum visitors view a live Webcast.
The
Heart of the Matter: a look inside CERN, the world's largest particle
accelerator.
Hubble:
a view from the edge of space.
Antarctica:
scientific journeys from McMurdo to the Pole.
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