Tuesday, April 5th, 2005 N. Craig, B. J. Méndez (SEGway,UC Berkeley) R. J. Hanisch, C. A. Christian, F. Summers (NVO,StScI) B. Haisch, J. Lindblom (ManyOne Networks) National Virtual Observatory Data Access for the General Public

Tuesday, April 5th, 2005 Assessing the Outreach Needs for the NVO We conducted surveys of potential non-traditional audiences of the NVO to assess their interests, how they might like to make use of NVO resources. The surveyed audiences were:  K-12 Educators  Artists ( both traditional-media, electronic-media artists and students) Science Museum Professionals ( directors, coordinators, exhibit designers, trainees and web development personnel) Amateur Astronomers (Romantics, Educators, Serious Visual Observers, Serious Imagers,Tinkerers )

Tuesday, April 5th, 2005 Assessing the Outreach Needs for the NVO Our analysis of these surveys suggests that the following are the primary interests of the general public in an EPO portal to the NVO: Images (i.e. “pretty pictures”) Explanations of the images: their locations in space (e.g. with sky maps or 3-D representations) the science behind what is seen the imaging techniques and processing that went into creating the image any relevant human, cultural, or interdisciplinary aspects of the images or astronomical objects within them

Tuesday, April 5th, 2005 Assessing the Outreach Needs for the NVO Science, FAQs, Q&As with scientists, astronomical tutorials, classroom lesson plans Communication between users Information customized for the knowledge and skill level of different users Interactive, dynamic, user-friendly interfaces presenting data in a creative and exciting way

Tuesday, April 5th, 2005 HST Press Image Collection HST Press Images (hubblesite.org) Create meta-tags –Follows NASA Space Science Education Resource Directory –Based on Dublin Core –Schema defined by Gateway to Education Materials –Astronomical Schema defined for NASA SSRD Compile collection& register in NVO registry Demonstrate protocols for other astronomical observatories Create a process integrated into the NASA press release production

Tuesday, April 5th, 2005 NVO Registry Concept Image Collection Registry: collection description NVO Other registries Registry: -Type of data -What queries (point sources, all sky, etc.) -Method of retrieval (script, VO tables, separate service) -Protocol: NVO simple access image protocol

Tuesday, April 5th, 2005 Image Access User query: coordinates or targets NVO Registry Results: all data fitting query Builds on the extensive development of the NASA Education Resource Directory and the National Virtual Observatory Any interface: (Virtual Cosmos, education project, search engine)

Tuesday, April 5th, 2005 Uses rich media, 3-D navigation to interactively ManyOne Networks is creating a new web browser and we use it as a model public portal to the NVO convey information and education- oriented content Usable with dial-up Internet connection Open-source based to foster unlimited development.

Tuesday, April 5th, 2005 Browser and access to all Educational material will be free to the public Leads collaboration between experts and the public to create the largest, highest quality, free online encyclopedia ManyOne Networks

Tuesday, April 5th, 2005 Virtual Cosmos As users explore the Digital Universe and come upon various astronomical objects and phenomena, they will find encyclopedia-like webpages describing them in simple language. For some of the imagery (e.g. HST or Chandra images) there have already been press release and EPO information written, we will use these pages and integrate them into the larger structure of the Digital Universe Portals. The information to be included in the Virtual Cosmos Encyclopedia will be: Fast facts about the astronomical phenomena in the portal including their locations in space, size, age, etc. Science behind the phenomena Links to any relevant Web resources including any interdisciplinary information.

Tuesday, April 5th, 2005 Image Collection Registry: collection description NVO Users’ Perspective Users explore the Digital Universe and request HST imagery. The browser uses the NVO infrastructure to locate all relevant resources. Digital Universe

Tuesday, April 5th, 2005 To catalyze a worldwide effort in which stewards (experts, organizations, universities) organize the best information on the Internet into a digital Universe. Free to all and will create a public- service oriented, advertising-free subset of the Web (A PBS of the Web) Over time will become the Encyclopedia Galactica envisioned by Carl Sagan and Isaac Asimov. ManyOne Networks is creating the Digital Universe Foundation:

Tuesday, April 5th, 2005 First public release will be an Internet service and browser called eGalactica Will be distributed by Cosmos Studios and by the UC Berkeley Project. ManyOne Networks