I’ve been considering the possibility of using virtual worlds like Second Life to communicate technical information for a while. In particular, could a virtual classroom in Second Life be an effective way to teach students that are geographically dispersed? What about as a virtual conference room for a meeting? Second Life is already getting some use for these purposes, but I haven’t participated in any of them, yet.

Aimee Weber's Tsunami Demo

Anyway, NOAA now has demos in Second Life (they are located on the island of Meteroa, if you want to find them). There are two tsunami demos, sea life submarine ride, real-time temparature map, narration by Exploratorium Chief Scientist Paul Doherty, an airplane ride into a hurricane, and a melting glacier demo.