Earth Forum: Browsing the global environment Page: 1 of 2
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TEXAS HIGHWAYS/FOTOFEST SIDEBAR--EARTH FORUM/MALLORY
EARTH FORUM:
Browsing the global environment
Last go-round (1994), FotoFest set out to break new ground by creating an
exhibit that would merge information technology and concern for the environment.
The result: a techno-exhibit called Earth Forum which wowed photo devotees at the
biennial event. Today, Earth Forum continues to wow the public as a permanent
exhibit at the Houston Museum of Natural Science.
A joint project of the museum and FotoFest, the one-of-a-kind Earth Forum
allows visitors, working individually or in small groups, to become "test pilots on the
information superhighway." By simply rotating a blue trackball and pressing an orange
button, exhibit "info-nauts" explore the world's environment and people at six
integrated electronic workstations, each dealing with a continent and a global resource:
South America and biodiversity; North America and fresh water; Oceania/ Antarctica
and the oceans; Asia and the atmosphere; Europe and energy; and Africa and
agriculture.
Workstation wall maps, globes, and photos from space provide hands-on
reference points for each continent's "big picture." Videos, text, still photos, music, and
narration (all quickly accessed via computer and laser disk) generate as much
information, sights, and sounds as curiosity demands.
Information-gathering organizations like NASA, the National Geographic
Society, and the World Resources Institute donated gigabytes of electronic information
to create the exhibit's collective database. An adjacent central kiosk supplied by Rice
University features computers with up-to-the-second images and data taken from the
Internet to complement workstation learning.--more--
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Mallory, Randy. Earth Forum: Browsing the global environment, text, 1996-03~; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1924061/m1/1/: accessed June 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.