Exploring Climate Science in the Metaverse: Interactive Storytelling in Immersive Environments for Deep Learning and Public Engagement
Stacey Spiegel, Hua Wang · 2024
Abstract Climate science can be too complex for the general public to understand. By sharing several exemplary projects in this chapter, I hope to demonstrate how combining interactive storytelling in immersive environments with simulation, games, telepresence, social learning, and govies (a blend of movies with games) can provide mass audiences a deep learning experience about the natural world and issues related to the climate crisis. This approach offers participants extraordinary opportunities as scientific explorers to investigate real-world problems, present scientific information through live broadcast and pre-rendered videos projected on immersive cinema screens, and access media resources through individual touchscreen terminals and AI-driven voice-controlled interactions to participate in real-time group discussions in a shared space – physical and virtual – simultaneously. The metaverse is here, and the technological and social features of these immersive experiences hold tremendous value for public engagement with science education and climate communication.