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Exploratorium to feature Barrow live
Tamar Ben-Yosef The Arctic Sounder
A virtual visit to Barrow is going to be made easy for residents of the San Francisco area. In fact, a whole world of ice, culture and art will be as close as the push of a button.
And the only cost will be the price of a ticket to the Exploratorium Museum or free if you visit the Web site.
In celebration of the 2007-08 Polar Year, the museum is further developing its already rich and interactive Web site and exhibit to include a live feed of photos, webcasts, videos and live feeds with scientists conducting research at the Poles. For this purpose, a crew made up of a videographer, sound engineer, still photographer and producer spent nine days in Barrow, preparing for the project, which is scheduled to open the day after Thanksgiving.
Displayed between the walls of the Exploratorium Museum of Science, Art and Human Perception are numerous exhibits, each describing the world in unique and imaginative ways that require the patrons to actively participate in the learning.
“Our philosophy is that science is one way of describing the world, art is another and human perception yet another,” said Robyn Higdon, director of moving images at the Exploratorium and the producer from the Barrow crew.
Crew traveled to Barrow This project for which the crew traveled to Barrow, titled “Science From the Poles,” is made possible thanks to a National Science Foundation Informal Education Grant intended for projects that expose the public to how and where science is being done.
The project will highlight the science being conducted in Arctic, in Barrow and northern Greenland, as well as science from Antarctica at the South Pole. Through the live feeds, scientists will tell their own stories about their research and its importance to the world.
While in Barrow, the crew spent every waking moment scouting for ideas on projects they will complete when they return to Barrow next summer for a longer period of six to eight weeks. During that time the crew will spend all its time gathering media footage of the scientists in the field doing their research. The crew will also spend time speaking with and recording members of the community in Barrow.
The latter is what sets Barrow apart from other remote science locations, said Glenn Sheehan, director of the Barrow Arctic Science Consortium, which is working closely with the Exploratorium crew.
“There are scientists in Barrow, but also local people living there, and the Inupiat offer so much to the scientists there,” Higdon said.
Footage to be on database All footage gathered throughout the preparation for the project will eventually be made accessible in the form of a database to other media groups and schools across the country.
Once opened, the museum exhibit will display the various science projects, and visitors will be able to walk through and learn more about each project by pushing buttons to read blogs, see webcasts and even participate in live feeds directly to the museum where they will have an opportunity to ask questions and receive immediate answers from both Arctic scientists and from resident scientists that will be available at the museum.
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