10k: A platform for immersive science communication

项目摘要 科学研究和通信技术的最新进展使我们处于一个新的 生物医学科学研究的时代。现在比以往任何时候都更需要一批多样化的年轻、创新的 研究人员充分利用这一机会;然而，招募和培训科学家仍然是一项挑战。 虚拟现实（VR）等技术被证明对学习因素有显著影响， 参与，动机和影响，所有这些都与科学成就和兴趣有关， STEM职业然而，用于科学学习的优质VR体验仍然耗时且昂贵 创建. Dynamoid已经建立了一个原型平台，10 k，目标是允许任何具有科学或教育背景的人 专业知识来创建身临其境的交互式3D体验：无需软件开发或设计技能。 该项目旨在a）展示一种可行的途径，以达到临界质量的这类用户，B）显示如何这样一个 混合用户群，包括出于自身通信需求的科学家和教育专家， 可以快速生成有效的内容，其他人可以重新用于自己的工作，以及c）展示如何 开源合作将促进开发具有成本效益的内容， 学习者和其他非科学家。 拟议中的研究将首先将研究人员直接纳入沉浸式体验 通过让年轻科学家参加训练营，他们将学习制作VR 体验可视化自己的数据集。然后，研究将展示这些基础 可视化可以由学习设计专家进行调整，以创建符合以下要求的教育VR体验： 达到国家教育标准。我们的第二个目标是证明10 k产生的沉浸式 经验吸引目标教育受众，并对参与科学产生积极影响 以及对追求STEM职业的兴趣，通过一项比较教育VR体验与 传统的2D多媒体视频。 这项研究的成果包括在Oculus Quest上全面公开推出10 k Viewer， SteamVR平台，将作为工作的一部分提供VR体验。另外，10 K 平台的整体可用性将提高创作者，它将免费提供给研究人员， 教育工作者产生自己的经验，可在10 k浏览器。最后，研究结果将补充 越来越多的VR和学习科学研究，为未来的研究奠定基础， 在更多平台上评估10 k，包括PC/Mac和天文馆圆顶，并利用10 k的增长 分析功能，以获得对用户行为和性能的有价值的见解。

PROJECT SUMMARY Recent advances in scientific research and communications technology have brought us to the cusp of a new era in biomedical science research. Now more than ever, there is a need for a diverse set of young, innovative researchers to take full advantage of this opportunity; yet recruiting and training scientists remains a challenge. Technology such as virtual reality (VR) is demonstrated to have a significant effect on learning factors like engagement, motivation, and affect, all of which are associated with scientific achievement and interest in STEM careers. However, quality VR experiences for scientific learning remain time-consuming and expensive to create. Dynamoid has built a prototype platform, 10k, with the goal of allowing anyone with scientific or educational expertise to create immersive, interactive 3D experiences: no software development or design skills necessary. This project seeks to a) demonstrate a viable pathway to a critical mass of such users, b) show how such a mixed user base, including scientists and educational experts motivated by their own communication needs, can quickly produce effective content that others can repurpose for their own work, and c) show how this open-source collaboration will catalyze the development of cost-effective content for presenting science to learners and other non-scientists. The proposed research will first incorporate researchers directly into the immersive experience production process by engaging young scientists in a bootcamp where they will learn to produce VR experiences that visualize their own datasets. The research will then demonstrate how these base visualizations can be adapted by learning design specialists to create educational VR experiences that adhere to national educational standards. Our second aim is to demonstrate that 10k-produced immersive experiences appeal to the target educational audience and positively affect engagement with science and interest in pursuing STEM careers, through a study comparing the educational VR experiences with a traditional 2D, multimedia video. The outcomes of this research include the full public launch of the 10k Viewer on the Oculus Quest and the SteamVR platforms, which will feature the VR experiences produced as part of the work. Also, the 10k platform’s overall usability will be improved for creators, and it will be made freely-available for researchers and educators to produce their own experiences, viewable on the 10k Viewer. Last, the results of the study will add to the growing body of research on VR and learning science, laying the groundwork for future studies that will evaluate 10k on more platforms, including PC/Mac and planetarium domes, and leveraging 10k’s growing analytics capabilities to gain valuable insights into user behavior and performance.