And all of this is recorded for replay, annotation, or asynchronous collaboration. In this virtual laboratory, space physicists study many phenomena, such as magnetic storms that originate on the sun. Such storms send massive numbers of charged particles to Earth, where they interact with the magnetosphere to bring about the aurora borealis and aurora australis. On a less pyrotechnic level, the arrival of so much energy in Earth's ionosphere can interfere with radio and television reception, disrupt electric power transmission, and threaten orbiting spacecraft and astronauts. In applying human-centered design principles, it brings together computer scientists and behavioral scientists to complete a feedback loop with the space researchers.
Computer scientists work with the space physicists to develop the software systems.
Space physicists try out prototypes in live collaborative research settings under the eyes of the behavioral scientists. Behavioral scientists evaluate successes and failures and provide guidance to the computer scientists for the next round of prototypes. Its lessons can be applied to other projects in a variety of academic disciplines and within the private sector. Corporations with world-wide enterprises, for example, could apply the principles of this collaboratory to the research and development of new products. This new format allows for quicker access and relieves users of the need to have elaborate Java programs running on their local machine.