Educational Events

Educational research has always been very popular on all parts of the Internet, and the MBONE is no exception.

The JASON Project

JASON is a project founded by Dr. Robert Ballard (Figure 6-1).The project makes expeditions to various places. Its goal is to educate children and students and allow them to interact with scientists. For the two weeks that the JASON expedition VI was in Hawaii in March 1995, the topic was volcanos (Figure 6-2) and how they played a role in the Earth's formation and how it compares to other planets in our solar system in terms of volcanic issues.

Figure 6-1: Dr. Robert Ballard introducing the event to a student. (Photo courtesy of JASON Project.)

Figure 6-2: Dr. Ballard and a lava field. (Photo courtesy of the JASON Project.)

The broadcasts were sent to satellite links, and hundreds of thousands of students participated and interacted directly with the scientists on the site. The broadcasts focused on the research activities of the scientists, students, and teachers who participated in the program. The expedition went one more step by allowing students to try to control ROVs (remotely operated vehicles), like the one in Figure 6-3, from their remote location. Using the Web, people were able to register their location in a map of viewers' locations, and this map was later used in the event itself.

Figure 6-3: A remotely operated vehicle. (Photo courtesy of JASON Project.)

The missions of the Space Shuttle

Had enough of Earth-bound affairs? NASA broadcasts space shuttle missions onto the MBONE.

During these broadcasts, we can follow the astronauts during their space walks, their experiments, and their everyday life in space.

We are also provided with spectacular views of the Earth and space (Figure 6-4), and we can view live historic events like the rendezvous between the shuttle and the MIR space station (Figure 6-5).

Figure 6-4: A view of the Space Shuttle's launch. (Photo courtesy of NASA.)

Figure 6-5: A rendezvous between the shuttle and the MIR space station. (Photo courtesy of NASA.)

These space shuttle events are a great source of information, and the MBONE is the medium for viewing them live when most human beings only hear about these events through the news on TV. The shuttle missions are very popular, and seeing more than a hundred sites joined to view them is not uncommon.

The SUNergy broadcasts

Sometimes, a group of people sharing an interest presents a series of seminars on a topic and invite other people to come and share.

The events are held by Sun Corporation, and they consist of a discussion about issues involved in a larger topic. For example, on January 11th, 1994, the broadcast was about Global Information Infrastructures, and it featured people from Sun Corporation and the Internet Society.

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