marine science

From the storyboard to the screen /  by Lisa Tossey

Planning is key for videos - especially when it comes to animated sequences. I enjoyed helping to write this script and storyboard it, then watch it come to life under the graphic magic of my colleague, Jeff Chase.

A few shots of my planning sketches on the script, followed by the final video.

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Learn more about this $23 million grant here >

#MAMEA18 in Portsmouth, Va. /  by Lisa Tossey

I always enjoy the annual conference of the Mid-Atlantic Marine Education Association (MAMEA) - it’s full of useful sessions as well as a fun weekend to catch up with my peers in the region and see what they have been doing in their own institutions and organizations. This year was especially cool, as I was elected as president-elect for the organization, which means I get to oversee next year’s conference. I have some fun ideas!

I presented a session on the use of VR/AR/MR (virtual, augmented, and mixed realities) in science communication and education and had some enthusiastic participants who also tried out some of the apps and headsets at the close of the session. Here is the Prezi I used during the presentation, as well as links to many examples, resources, and gear.

Spinning Science in 360° - MAMEA 2018 Conference

Direct Prezi link for sharing >

And here’s a Google Doc of all the links below for download >

I’m always happy to answer questions!

Examples & Resources for Communicating Science

Virtual Reality (VR)

360 Video

Augmented Reality (AR)

Mixed Reality

Cameras & Apps

Google Cardboard Camera

FOV 360 camera app (Apple iOS only)

Panorama 360. Camera

Insta360 camera line

Ricoh Theta camera line

GoPro Fusion camera (Note: I haven’t used this one personally & have heard mixed opinions on it)

Others I’ve tried & have not been thrilled with compared to the first two: Nikon KeyMission, 360Fly

Viewers & Platforms

Google Cardboard viewer app

Smartphone-based viewers:

Standalone headsets:

RoundMe

Thinglink - Sign up for their e-news, as they may have another Black Friday sale!

Google Tour Creator

Both YouTube & Vimeo now support 360 video

My Examples

DE Sea Grant on RoundMe

Thinglink

OCEANDOTCOMM 2018 /  by Lisa Tossey

EPIC.

I'm still processing the whirlwind that was this unique event, but that's the one word that comes to mind when I start reflecting on the experience. What was OCEANDOTCOMM exactly? It was a diverse gathering of writers, photographers, educators, podcasters, artists, storytellers, poets, and producers who all share a love of science - marine science in particular.

“WHEREAS, Lisa Tossey is deemed to be of sound mind and body; and

WHEREAS, Lisa Tossey is considered by peers to be of the utmost creative character and willing to generously give of this creativity; and

WHEREAS, Lisa Tossey is possessed of vital expertise in social media, science communication, and various other abilities—potentially of the supernatural variety; and

WHEREAS, Lisa Tossey agrees to further join a league of like skilled persons contributing to the greater good;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, Craig R. McClain, Executive Director of LUMCON, with the strong support of the selection committee, two alligators, and a resident pelican, do hereby proclaim that Lisa Tossey is

ACCEPTED TO OCEANDOTCOMM”
— My official invite

We were all gathered on the Gulf Coast by the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium (LUMCON) for four days to "tell a story like one has never been told before."  Once there, we were given a theme - "Coastal Optimism" - provided with an incredible array of experts and experiences, and encouraged to collaborate and create. And that we did. An amazing mix of 27 projects (and counting) were launched within those four days - some were completed, some are works-in-progress, and some are longer term, but the variety blew me away. I'm looking forward to sharing many of them soon via social media once they're finalized! 

I'm still working through a lot of the footage and audio I collected while down there, but here's a peek at the start of two of the projects I worked on:

The first was a collaborative effort with Jason Robertshaw (Mote Marine Laboratory), Lali DeRosier (K12 science teacher), and Alexander Havens (Alaska SeaLife Center). We worked together to create a BreakoutEDU game for LUMCON's education team to use. Breakout EDU is an immersive learning games platform that lets educators turn a classroom into an "escape room" and facilitate games where players use teamwork and critical thinking to solve a series of challenging puzzles in order to open the locked box. 

We completed a beta version of the game that we were able to test with three groups at OCEANDOTCOMM, which worked well. We are now fine-tuning it and aligning it to education standards before sharing it publically on the BreakoutEDU platform. 

Here are a few pieces and glimpses of the game. This video shows the opening sequence, a few "hint" videos we created, and several time lapse sequences of our development and testing process: 

These are a few graphic pieces I created and designed for the game - a fact sheet that is used to open one of the locks and a token that is used throughout:

I also started an educational 360, immersive tour to test some features of an Insta360 camera and the ThingLink platform. This final 360 tour will focus on several "defense systems" of the Louisiana coast, including levees, marshes, and barrier islands. The brief tour below served as a test for various types of file embeds, linking scenes together, and voiceover insertion. Stay tuned for more! 

This post was created from OCEANDOTCOMM and supported by the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium (LUMCON).