HCC:Small:Collaborative Research: Exploring the Use of Immersive Virtual Reality Technologies for Scientific Research, Communication, and Outreach

本研究的目的是探索新兴的沉浸式虚拟现实（VR）技术和虚拟世界（VWs）在天体物理学和相关领域框架内的科学和教育用途。这项工作将在梅塔计算天体物理研究所（Meta Institute for Computational Astrophysics， MICA）的支持下完成，这是第一个专门以大众为基础的专业科学组织，它本身代表了科学组织和交流的一次实验。然而，研究结果应该更广泛地适用于大多数其他科学和学术领域。向整个学术界展示这些新兴技术的潜力和效用，将有助于科学家和教育工作者更广泛地参与这些发展。具体而言，研究将探讨以下主题：(1)大众汽车作为科学合作和交流环境的使用，包括个人和小组讨论，研讨会和科学会议和讲习班。(2)在设置、调整和解释结果方面，特别是在交互/协作设置方面，用户交互和与数值模拟接口的新方法。(3)高度复杂的多维数据集的沉浸式和交互式可视化，用于直接的视觉探索，数据挖掘，并作为电子媒体上可发表的演示文稿。(4)利用WVs作为一个新颖的、互动的教育和公共宣传平台。(5)初步探索下一代具有VR用户界面的Web的数据架构和结构，以及人类化身和智能软件代理的交互。(6)调查大众在非专有Opensim/Opengrid环境中的发展。这项工作将在天体物理学领域利用新的VR和vw技术开发科学研究和交流的新模式，同时也对类似的科学领域产生积极影响。它可以为科学家之间、与他们的数据、与他们的数值模拟之间的互动开辟一种定性的新方式，从而为科学和学术培养一些真正的新“计算思维”方法。虚拟世界将成为一个平台，在计算天体物理学和数据密集型天文学领域开展严格的研究活动，寻求确定这些新技术的潜力，并开发一套新的最佳实践，为学术和研究活动提供支持，并通过现有的基于网络和新的虚拟现实技术的结合。这个项目背后的核心思想是，沉浸式虚拟现实和大众汽车是潜在的变革性技术，与网络本身一样，可以而且应该用于严肃的目的，包括科学和学术。通过向专业科学家和学者传达这一理念，并以身作则，该项目旨在让更广泛的学术界参与到这些技术的利用和进一步发展中来。这项工作将包括一项积极和多方面的教育和公众宣传计划，这将促进公众对科学和信息技术的了解。

The goals of this study are to explore the utility of the emerging immersive virtual reality (VR) technologies and virtual worlds (VWs) for scientific and educational uses in the framework of astrophysics and related fields. This work will be done under the auspices of the Meta Institute for Computational Astrophysics (MICA), the first professional scientific organization based exclusively in VWs, representing an experiment in scientific organization and communication by itself. However, the results should be more broadly applicable to most other fields of science and scholarship. Demonstrating the potential and the utility of these emerging technologies to the academic community at large will help engage and facilitate a broader participation of scientists and educators in these developments. Specifically, the research will explore the following topics: (1) The uses of VWs as scientific collaboration and communication environments, ranging from individual and group discussions, to seminars and scientific conferences and workshops. (2) Novel ways of user interaction and interfacing with numerical simulations, in terms of the setup, adjustments, and interpretation of results, especially in an interactive/collaborative setting. (3) Immersive and interactive visualization of highly complex, multi-dimensional data sets, for a direct visual exploration, data mining, and as publishable presentations in electronic media. (4) Uses of WVs as a novel, interactive educational and public outreach platform. (5) An initial exploration of the data architectures and structures for the next generation of the Web with a VR user interface, and interaction of human avatars and intelligent software agents. (6) Investigate VW developments in the non-proprietary Opensim/Opengrid environments. This effort will develop new modalities of scientific research and communication using new VR and VWs technologies in the domain of astrophysics but having positive impacts for comparable fields of science as well. It can open qualitatively new ways in which scientists interact among themselves, with their data, and with their numerical simulations, and thus foster some genuine new "computational thinking" approaches to science and scholarship. Virtual worlds will become a platform to conduct rigorous research activities in the fields of computational astrophysics and data-intensive astronomy, seeking to determine the potential of these new technologies, as well as to develop a new set of best practices for scholarly and research activities enabled by them, and by a combination of the existing Web-based and the new VR technologies. The central idea behind this project is that immersive VR and VWs are potentially transformative technologies on par with the Web itself, which can and should be used for serious purposes, including science and scholarship. By conveying this idea to professional scientists and scholars, and by leading by example, the project aims to engage a much broader segment of the academic community in utilizing, and developing further these technologies. The work will include an active and multi-facetted program of education and public outreach, which will foster the public understanding of both science and information technology.