ALT Four people gathered around a navigational display as Kevin explains how to explore using the starship controls
ALT Three avatars standing on the bridge of the starship with the Milky Way stretching vastly behind them
ALT An alternate view of the sky with constellation boundaries and names outlined around the stars, as viewed from the starship
ALT View from the presentation deck, while flying through space to reach the next destination, with people sitting on comfy-looking seats
ALT The booth from above! A square area consisting of temporary panel walls displays large posters from Australia’s CSIRO showing the Parkes and ASKAP radio telescopes. A lady is sitting at the desk, while I help a visitor with the VR headset.
ALT A lady sits in a Japanese yukata wearing a VR headset and waving at the camera.
ALT Two people are sitting at the booth, one wearing a VR headset.
ALT A screenshot from inside the exhibit. Four avatars can be seen in a room with a number of models. Two avatars are in a discussion around a table that shows the layout of the ASKAP antennae.
ALT Vanessa posing in front of the exhibit. She looks sweaty because she is - it’s like 110% humidity and super hot in Japan right now! But the exhibit booth looks nice.
ALT Wide shot of the exhibit booth with shiny (heavy) poster panels, stickers, postcards and VR!
ALT Close up shot of Meta Quest headset blinged out with a CSIRO sticker, with the RACS indigenous artwork behind.
ALT A screen shot from the virtual reality exhibit hall. Two avatars stand in front of the wall displaying the TFOM logo, CSIRO logo and a group picture. On the wall opposite, images of the radio telescopes can be seen.
ALT Two avatars standing in a room with photographs on the wall. The most visible shows the Milky Way above radio antennae.
ALT A silhouette of an avatar stands in a circular room with a panoramic image of radio antenna and celestial objects views in radio waves.
ALT An avatar stands before an animated model of the ASKAP Phased Array Feed. A projected image of a CSIRO scientists is explaining what is being seen.
ALT An avatar of @cosmicpudding standing in the VR exhibit with her poster, with colourful indigenous artworks displayed in the background.
ALT A screen shot from the virtual reality exhibit hall. Two avatars stand in front of the wall displaying the TFOM logo, CSIRO logo and a group picture. On the wall opposite, images of the radio telescopes can be seen.
ALT Two avatars standing in a room with photographs on the wall. The most visible shows the Milky Way above radio antennae.
ALT A silhouette of an avatar stands in a circular room with a panoramic image of radio antenna and celestial objects views in radio waves.
ALT An avatar stands before an animated model of the ASKAP Phased Array Feed. A projected image of a CSIRO scientists is explaining what is being seen.
ALT Screenshot of a meeting space in VR, showing two identical avatars (actually the same person logged in from their headset and computer to debug an issue!)
ALT A very happy Glen gives the thumbs up from the purple galactic metaverse while standing next to some shiny JAXA hardware. Nothing and everything is a meeting in the hive mind!
ALT Slide showing some of the balance of advantages for online versus virtual meetings. Online can be better for those with illness, caring duties, battling stress or mental health issues, handling political change with visa issues, disabilities, travel costs and climate change. This can be swept aside by the feeling than only in-person can provide good networking and interactions. But our focus should really be on improving this, rather than dismissing the advantages of online.
ALT In virtual reality spaces, directional audio and sound fall-off can allow for multiple, overlapping conversations at once. This is similar to in-person meet-ups, and great for networking. The slide shows a VR scene with several distinct conversations taking place.
ALT My favourite VR space: the JAXA room! Built in AltspaceVR, this room let you explore models, videos and images from JAXA missions. The centre piece is asteroid Ryugu, with the Hayabusa2 spacecraft above it.
ALT Another plus about VR space is the ability to interact with models. The three images show a group of avatars in discussion around a model of an electrical component, another group gathered around a white board, and a movie showing an avatar picking up models of small spacecraft.
ALT TFOM members waving in the "Science For Public Good" space that was used as part of the S4PGxTFOM talk series in 2022.
ALT TFOM members in the JAXA space which featured 3D models, images and videos associated with JAXA missions.
ALT TFOMers gathered in a big blue hall with a screen share on the wall.
ALT There are TFOMers in this spacey cosmic shot, but let’s be honest, the ASKAP antenna steals the show.
ALT TFOMers gathered around looking at JAXA assets imported into Spatial.
ALT A TFOMer stands over a 3D model of a mapped terrain imported from SketchFab