THE VIRTU@LIS PROJECT

The VIRTUALIS Project uses interactive multimedia technologies for the initiation of interested users to environmental risks and governance challenges. The focus of the project is not the production of information but rather the "mediation of knowledge" - facilitating the learning by non-specialist members of society. VIRTUALIS has therefore produced a suite of products with a pedagogic mission. The multimedia creations permit the user to learn through progressive discovery of virtual worlds presented through visual contexts such as buildings, maps and landscapes (in 2D and 3D, at multiple scales) which set the scene for presentations of key stakeholders, of the burning public policy and resource management issues, and of "what if scenarios" at the levels of individual and collective action. The logic of navigation is to take the visitor 'through' the virtual world and, in a number of ways, replace her or him back, with new insights, in the 'real world'. The four environmental domains addressed by VIRTUALIS are agricultural pollution, climate change, freshwater resources and marine capture fisheries.

See prototype:
1. for climate change: http://alba.jrc.it/vgas/ or for mobile (http://mobgas.jrc.it/)
2. for sustainable agriculture: http://viviane.c3ed.uvsq.fr/