Case Summary

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), an agency of the U.S. Commerce Department has launched themselves into a virtual world thanks to Second Life. People can now be educated about the Earths' environment in a myriad of ways, including standing on a plane while going through a hurricane or virtually witnessing the ice caps melting by standing right on them.

Business Challenge

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration wanted to be able to teach and connect with a whole new demographic of people. NOAA believes that by launching their virtual island in Second Life they'll be able to teach the next generation of Earth's scientists. Second Life also provides the opportunity to teach people about the Earth that they would never be able to experience in real life, making it a unique educational experience.

Approach Taken

Specifically the NOAA Earth Research Lab created the virtual island within Second Life allowing the NOAA to educate people about the Earth's Oceanic and Atmospheric features. In order to accomplish this goal they created two islands, Meteora (dealing with the atmosphere) and Okeanos (dealing with the ocean). Users are able to use the program to take a ride on a plane through the atmosphere, tell when a tsunami will be coming and see the effects of global climate change (ice caps melting).

What NOAA hopes is that fellow researchers and scientists will join them on their virtual island within Second Life to help teach about the Earth, holding conferences and even lectures within the program.

NOAA is also constantly thinking of new ways to integrate new technology into their virtual island. Science on a sphere, a 3-D visualization of the Earths environment will be placed into Second Life, enabling users to view three-dimensional views of planetary objects and ocean depths.

Results Achieved

Their have been no reports or studies found yet that outline how many people have visited NOAAs' Second Life world or what the educational effects have been.

To view a demo of NOAAs' virtual island, click here

Lessons Learned

By NOAA integrating their educational mission of teaching about the Earths environment into Second Life, they have opened the door for many other agencies and organizations to try and give Second Life a chance.

Whether these initiatives are successful or not is secondary to the notion that these organizations are willing to try new technology to communicate and get their message across to the public.