Mixed-Reality Events: Enabling Global Participation in Real-World Events with Virtual Worlds Technologies

Paper number

IAC-08.E5.3.10

Author

Mr. Paul Graham, United States

Coauthor

Mr. Sanjoy Som, University of Washington, United States

Coauthor

Mr. Andrew Hoppin, NASA Ames Research Center, United States

Coauthor

Mr. Spike R. MacPhee, United States

Year

2008

Abstract

Mixed-Reality events are a novel method of merging real and virtual world environments to create a shared experience of an activity.   Event participants who are not co-located can contribute equally in real-time using multi-media broadcast and networking tools. Other advantages include reduction of travel costs, time requirements, and carbon footprint. Furthermore, it eliminates the access restrictions incurred by visa issues or security clearances, particularly relevant in the aerospace industry.  

Virtual worlds can better mimic the power of “live” face-to-face interaction than other communications tools such as teleconferencing or live online streaming video. The technique allows real and virtual people to interact with each other using virtual world 3-D bodies known as avatars. One such virtual world, Second Life, is a novel venue to test and expand the possibilities of Mixed-Reality events. The Next Generation Exploration Conference (NGEC) held at the NASA Ames Research Center in California, from February 12-15 2008 provided an excellent test case for this new communication method. A team from NASA CoLab, a NASA program dedicated to enabling “participatory exploration” of space through online and offline communities and collaboration tools, created a NASA conference site within Second Life and broadcast the event as a two way communication between the conference room at Ames and the global community. The NGEC working group interacted with the Second Life community as CoLab’s experimental trial in Mixed-Reality broadcasting. 

This paper discusses the history and events leading to this Mixed-Reality event, the lessons learned from it, and the ramifications and implications of this trial for the future of aerospace conferences. It asserts that Mixed-Reality can provide a more “level playing field” for a more diverse set of actors to contribute to and benefit from aerospace activities, and, when applied to live data streams from future space missions, also holds the promise of making space exploration itself more accessible to all.

Abstract document

IAC-08.E5.3.10.pdf

Manuscript document

IAC-08.E5.3.10.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).

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