HCC:Small:Collaborative Research: Exploring the use of immersive virtual reality technologies for scientific research, communication, and outreach

摘要本研究的目的是在天体物理学及相关领域的框架内，探索新兴的沉浸式虚拟现实(VR)技术和虚拟世界(VW)在科学和教育方面的应用。这项工作将在计算天体物理元研究所(MICA)的赞助下完成，MICA是第一个专门设在大众的专业科学组织，代表着科学组织和交流方面的实验。然而，这些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。具体地说，研究将探讨以下主题：(1)大众作为科学协作和交流环境的使用，从个人和小组讨论到研讨会和科学会议和研讨会。(2)在设置、调整和解释结果方面，特别是在交互/协作环境中，用户交互和与数值模拟接口的新颖方式。(3)高度复杂的多维数据集的身临其境和交互可视化，用于直接的视觉探索、数据挖掘，并作为可在电子媒体上发布的演示文稿。(4)使用WVS作为一个新颖、互动的教育和公共宣传平台。(5)初步探索具有VR用户界面的下一代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/Openggrid环境中的开发。这一努力将在天体物理学领域使用新的虚拟现实和大众技术开发新的科学研究和通信模式，但也将对可比科学领域产生积极影响。它可以为科学家之间、与他们的数据以及与他们的数值模拟之间的互动开辟质的新途径，从而培养一些真正的新的科学和学术的“计算思维”方法。虚拟世界将成为在计算天体物理学和数据密集型天文学领域开展严格研究活动的平台，寻求确定这些新技术的潜力，并通过结合现有的基于网络的虚拟现实技术和新的虚拟现实技术，为学术和研究活动开发一套新的最佳做法。该项目背后的核心理念是，沉浸式虚拟现实和大众汽车是与网络本身一样具有潜在变革性的技术，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想法，并以身作则，该项目旨在让更广泛的学术界参与利用和进一步开发这些技术。这项工作将包括一个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理解。

Abstract 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.