My notes from the "Tool Kit" discussion...

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Ken Brandt (KB)

Dave Brody (DB)

Rachel Connolly (RC)

Joel Halverson (JH)\

Steve Lee (SL)

Mark Petersen (MP)

Carolyn Sumners (CS)

Ryan Wyatt (RW)

Ka Chun Yu (KY)

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From subgroup in Cleveland (CS):

+ toolkit form of CD

+ handed out at planetarium show to educator

+ only available in planetarium, directly connected to planetarium

experience

Spatially-enabled tools (JH)

+ movie frames for left and right eye

Deliver a toolkit to NASA visualizers:

+ how to make fulldome video frames (CS)

Needs to be a method to get media out of NASA (BS)

+ Earth as well as space science

What format video do you use?

+ DVD

+ MPEG-Is

+ MPEG-IIs

+ HD

+ BetaCam

+ MiniDV

+ editable video format

+ links to various tools for displaying different formats -- i.e.,

VideoLAN client (VLC) from France (SL/JH)

+ access to original data source or image sequence, full frame

resolution (JH)

Dome master still archive (CS)

Define dome master: equidistant azimuthal (MP)

High-resolution camera for ISS; ought to give consideration to

planetarium community (CS)

Classroom and teacher training uses (RC):

+ interactive programs don't work so well, pre-done flight paths

+ interface (via DVD or web) to access data

+ maybe with programming wrapped around it

+ i.e., SDSS with clickable all-sky image

Informal education curriculum ideas (RC)

+ even just references

Need distribution of hands-on materials (KB):

+ Universe at Your Fingertips

Form of technology transfer from the centers (JH):

+ problem seeing NASA as service bureaus

+ getting more sophisticated

+ better wedding of commercial and non-commercial products

+ maybe it's a cookbook, but it's also access to the data (KY)

+ make elements available from (JS)

Multiwavelength data

+ narrow-band and wide-band

+ software support, too

Software tools:

+ simple fulldome Photoshop / image analysis (CS)

+ NIH Image? GIMP?

Public domain plug-ins to available software (JH)

Emphasis on portals rather than repositories (JS)

+ fulldome.nasa.gov

Allow for institutions to put media back into NASA archive (JH)

Address bandwidth issues with password protection or IP identification

(JH)

+ Museum viz network w/ BitTorrent network

+ FedEx a hard drive

What 3-D animation packages are in use?

+ Maya

+ 3D Studio MAX

+ Lightwave

+ GeoFusion (left and right eye)

Finite number of DVD authoring packages (DB)

+ DVD authoring templates

+ iDVD templates? (RW)

Amass a knowledge base?

NASA-TV should not suck

+ ratchet it up a notch!

Residencies at planetariums (JH)

Better articulation of hardware needs for planetariums (KB)

Small-dome interests (KB):

+ opportunity for funding

+ central hub to acquire data

Conceptual standards-based visualizations (RC, CS)

+ e.g., seasons, moon phases

Mechanism for informal-education institutions to share media

PAO representatives should attend these meetings

Coordinate resources and toolkits with Roadmap (JH)

People side of the toolkit

+ science careers

Edna’s ch 7 notes

Edna's Notes from our discussion:

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Under the Dome: Challenges and Opportunities

Facilitator: Ryan Wyatt

The Pros are here at the meeting: Most pre-rendered images have been

created by people in this group: lots of talent here. Real-time

rendering is a key activity, and the work at the Rose is very

impressive (Steve Savage).

Why are non-dome people here?

-the planetarium/dome community is an effective existing network for

disseminating NASA activities and events (Rob)

-immersive environments: here to explore these as an opportunity for

PAO/ new releases (Walt)

-interested in immersive environments in general (Michael)

-challenge: using the dome to look at surfaces, e.g. Mars--domes are

the sky. Comments: we have techniques to make such displays.

-coming from the 2-d world (TV), and intrigued by the potential for the

domed environment; great tool for telling stories

What distinguishes the domed environment from other spaces?

-system that one wears is different

-very unique experience

-digital controls allow for multiple subjects for content

-interactive programming possible as well

Digital vs. non-digital theaters?

-95% of the non-digital theater people are terrified: the roadmap ahead

in not clear? (Steve Savage)

-technical challenges: set-up and maintenance of equipment is a reality

(Donna Cox)

-personnel: number of people needed to proportional to the size of the

dome, and digital domes require different skill sets to sustain the

technology (Donna Cox)

-professional preparation: planetarium directors are hired on the basis

of astronomical and educational preparation, yet in the digital domes,

the background required is more akin to television production,

audiovisual production (Don Davis)

-small domes: staff is small and time stressed. The small dome (school,

small museum) requires turn-key programming (Mark-Loch Ness)

Opportunities: What does NASA need to do?

-NASA needs to be immersed in the planetarium community to learn more

about the opportunities available through planetaria. "It's not your

Mom and Dad's planetarium anymore." NASA needs to overcome the

challenge that decision makers all visited a planetarium when they were

in 4th grade and haven't been back. "Been there, done that." needs to

be challenged.

-NASA should consider bringing in planetarium-experienced personnel

into the EPO and PAO offices

-Future opportunities: planetaria have the opportunity to develop a

whole new audience.

Challenges:

-We filled the dome with stars, images and motion. Now we need to

create great stories now--we're on a learning curve here.

-How can we take advantage of the domed environment differently? (More

than space travel, and such).

-How can we transfer data and expertise?

-How can we obtain the time of scientists and science ops. groups

necessary to make the data accessible? It's a practical issue: time,

personnel and dollars at the first level. Often the data has been

reviewed by scientists, but it's not readily accessible to

non-scientists.

-Institutional inertia: NASA is not accustomed to outsiders having the

tools to process data. Example: with the Huygens images, the panoramas

where first released by "amateurs" who stitched together single frames.

-creating DB of other worlds: reference to 'World Wind" (the model of

the Earth). NASA ARC has released a low-res Mars version--can the

higher res version be mapped into this (Savage)? What about a similar

product for the upcoming Moon data?

-With the new technology, domes can present amazing amounts of

scientific information. Issue: requires time and tools to translate

into products that are accessible to planetaria?

-How will NASA sustain this in 5 to 10 years? How can this be a

sustained effort? Suggestion: have a technical agent on each "campus"

(center) to broker the outside world needs to the inside world of

scientists and their data.

-Recommendation: Have an agent/person at each NASA Center whose task is

to identify, broker, facilitate the scientific and technical

discoveries at that center. John Stoke serves this function at STScI

for Hubble; clone John to the other centers.

-Issue: provide proper credit and appropriate timely release of

information. Scientists need to control the release of information in

coordination with press conferences and publication.

-Issue: provide appropriate credit for the contribution of individuals

and institutions that promote space science and astronomy for NASA.

-Change the mindset of NASA: the planetaria are the foot soldiers for

dissemination of NASA information.

-Data driven programs: are we going to produce programs driven around

data, or are we going to produce programs that meet the interests and

needs of our audiences?

-The planetarium is a current events outlet for astronomy and space

science.

-The planetarium is also the basics and good stories.

-There are 150 (?) Explorer schools are the focus of the Education

Division. This reaches very few people in the country. Recommendation:

re-direct this funding into the planetarium community. NASA is not

focusing on the very many school planetaria that provide a ready-made

group of educators to bring astronomy and space sciences to children

across the country.

-Context: we have a responsibility to present information in a context.

The Cosmic Atlas at Denver is a balancing act: the merger of data sets

vs. production house items will slowly build an up-to-date atlas from

the larger DB that are available.

-The Planetarium has multiple roles as a classroom and a theater. This

creates an intrinsic pressure to drive the content.

-Formatting: it's an issue to create programs and data in different

formats. We need tools for this sort of repurposing. We need to have

the data sets in an accessible format.

-Real data: We have an opportunity to show to "real stuff". It's an

opportunity because of the fidelity and excitement of using real data.

-IPS Standards Committee: dancing around this issue. This is a very big

issue. The data visualizers spend considerable effort accessing and

reworking the data.

NASA Issue: How is data archived and sustained when missions are

completed?

This group needs to see itself as a stake-holder, rather than a group

of competitors.

Consider: adopt a scientist--create a relationship with a planetarium

staff member. Issue: there are more than 1700 planetaria in the

USA--are the relationships only with the big dome?