tech application island hosts kids for dhs

8/14/2019 Tech Application Island Hosts Kids for DHS

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KIDS DAY 09 DHS S&T

A Visit To

TechApplication IslandVR LAB

In Second Life


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The Theme: ITS NOT JUST A GAME

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Cast Of Characters

The characters were developed for the event to include First Responders from EMT, F

and Police.

Each Avatar provided could be transformed into any of the characters in real time,

causing much fun as the avatars morphed between characters.


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The kids logged in andgathered on the Auditoriums

terrace. This is where their

mentors at DHS, Paul

Stregevsky and Sean Lang

showed them the basics of how

to move and how to transform

their Avatar into the character

of their choice.

They were joined by host

Apollo Lyon, also known in RL

(the real world) as Theo Mayer,

Senior Technology Advisor of

TechApplication.com and the

proprietor of the TechApplication

Island Lab in Second Life.

Also joining the group was Ammit

Demontrond, AKA Michelle Wallace in

RL, Chief Architect and Designer for

TechApplication Island.

The island is an experimental

laboratory for using Metaverse

Technologies for real world

applications and is set up with a

number of facilities and

demonstration projects thatinclude a briefing auditorium, a

virtual Executive Command

Center, a remote mining

operations center, a general

media lab, a GIS Map Walker

experiment, and more...

Gathering and Transforming


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The short History of Virtual Realityis A long time ago history to the

kids.

Using the Auditoriums media

presentation technologies, Apollo

presented a brief slide show about the

history of virtual reality, and how video

gaming transformed advanced

computer graphics from really

expensive and special into the

incredible X-box, PlayStation and

computers the kids enjoy and play

with.

The question was asked: How

does this apply to Homeland Security

and crisis management?.

The kids were told that they wouldspend the rest of the time on the

Island exploring that question by

visiting the Executive Command

Center, and the Map Walker to see

how First Responders might use these

same tools to deal with a real world

crisis.

A Little History And Context


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Sitting on a hilltop behind theAuditorium is the ECC (Executive

Command Center). This is a small

6-10 person (Avatar) facility is

equipped some advanced briefing

tools including streaming media, desk

screens, and projection displays. The kids learned that in a virtual

reality world like this,

experts from many

locations could gather

to get briefings and to

make plans for how to

deal with a crisis. After

all, they were in

Washington, DC,

Apollo was in Los

Angeles, California and

Ammit was in San

Antonio, Texas.

The kids learned how, by looking

through their Avatars eyes, even in a

virtual reality meeting like this one, the

fact that (virtual) eye contact is kept

between speakers (the avatars look

where the user is looking) really helps

in understanding and

communications.

Then is was off to the Map Walker

to explore a giant map walk-around

map can be used for planning.

The Executive Command Center


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Floating in the sky highabove the island is the Map

Walker. It is a great tool in

planning strategies for crisis

management. It features a

large survey map, plus the

giant walk around map where

police, fire, EMT andother crisis managers

can plan command

center locations,

evacuations, where to

place their resources

based on the crisis.

For the kids, it was an

experiential introduction

to the ideas of GIS,

resource allocation and

multidisciplinary

interaction without ever

having to use any of

those words.

Most important, it was an

opportunity to finally run around all

over and even to explore one of the

most exciting aspects about virtual

worlds... YOU CAN FLY!

The Map Walker


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This journey into a virtual worldlaboratory would have been more

ideally suited to high school rather

than middle school and grade school

kids. However, the contextual

experience they had, seeing grown

ups using their toys to do work is

likely to have more of an impression

than we might think.

It was also somewhat controlled

chaos! The pictures in this article

showing the well postured avatars

sitting neatly at attention belies the

reality. Simply keeping the kids

together in a group, when they literally

have the power to fly away is definitely

akin to herding cats! Just imagine

being 12 years old and suddenly

discovering you can jump into the skyand fly... Wouldnt you?

The overall experience was a very

rich one for the TechApplication Island

Lab team, and hopefully for the kids.

The experience was contextual,

experiential and definitely immersive.

It was a great combination of

learning and playing for everyone

involved - including the kids.

CREDITS AND MENTIONS:

Many thanks to all who helped

make this experiment possible. At

DHS S&T, Paul Stregevsky, Sean

Lang, Elise Rand the IT team that

made Second Life accessible

through the DHS firewalls. Special

thanks to Michelle Wallace, who

volunteered her time to prep theavatars and the lab for the event.

Michelle AKA Ammit also acted as our

in-world photographer.

To learn more, please contact me

at [email protected]

Summary
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]

tech application island hosts kids for dhs

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