The Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI) XBOX game will be displayed at Exploration Station, a special event that is held prior to the start of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting in San Francisco, California. Exploration Station is a program of activities organized by the various AGU sections and focus groups. Many AGU section and focus group members work for organizations with well-developed education and public outreach programs. Exploration Station is an opportunity for these organizations to bring their exhibits and hands-on activities to the meeting and interact with the public in San Francisco.
This event is free and open to the public.
During the Exploration Station event, visitors can make their way through about 20 exhibits offering a variety of easy, family friendly, hands-on activities. They will also have an opportunity to interact one-on-one with scientists, engineers, and education specialists. Exploration Station was established to take advantage of the large number of scientists and education specialists that gather in San Francisco to attend the AGU meetings. Past events have been very successful at engaging young people and their families; last year’s event attracted over 200 attendees.
The OOI XBOX game recently made the finals of the Top 10 in Interactive Video Games for the 2011 National Science Foundation (NSF) International Science & Engineering Visualization Challenge. A group at Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the Birch Aquarium have been the developing the Deep-sea Extreme Environment Pilot (D.E.E.P.) game on the Microsoft Xbox360 platform. Development of the game was funded by the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) as part of their institutional contribution to the OOI program. The UCSD is responsible for the Cyberinfrastructure segment of OOI. The D.E.E.P. game provides an inside look into the OOI, allowing players to dive into the ocean and view how the OOI will collect data around-the-clock in ways never before possible.
For questions about the Exploration Station event, please contact Bethany Adamec, Education and Public Outreach Coordinator (bhadamec@agu.org) or Pranoti Asher, Education and Public Outreach Manager (pasher@agu.org).