Date: February 21, 2011
Title: MyMoon: Engaging the Missing Link in Lunar Science and Exploration
Podcasters: Andy Shaner & Alec Eriksson
Organization: Lunar and Planetary Institute – http://www.lpi.usra.edu
Links:
http://www.lpi.usra.edu/mymoon
http://science.nasa.gov/
Description: Market research reveals that 18 to 25 year old adults are not accessed by or accessing NASA science and exploration. The Lunar and Planetary Institute has created MyMoon, an evolving, participatory portal for engaging 18 to 25 year old adults in a conversation about lunar science and exploration. MyMoon utilizes social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter to involve the target audience in MyMoon contests, webcasts, and polls. Members are invited to share lunar images and videos through MyMoon’s Flickr group and YouTube channel.
Bio: Andy Shaner is an education and public outreach specialist at the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston, TX. Andy coordinates content for the MyMoon website and other education programs at the Lunar and Planetary Institute including the High School Lunar Research Project. Alec Eriksson is lead web designer and programmer inside the MyMoon Towers. Champion of social media in all forms, he works tirelessly to deliver a unique user experience and aesthetic, and to contribute to MyMoon’s snark and sardonic whit. He loves the Moon, music, art, science, and audacious sneakers. Word.
Today’s sponsor: This episode of “365 Days of Astronomy” is sponsored by Greg Dorais, and is dedicated to the Chabot Space And Science Center in Oakland California, home of Bill Nye’s Climate Lab, Space Explorers Summer Camp, and so much more. At Chabot Space And Science Center, the universe is yours to experience. Set amid 13 trail-laced acres of East Bay parkland, with glorious views of San Francisco Bay and the Oakland foothills, Chabot is a hands-on celebration of sights, sounds, and sensations. Find out more about the Chabot Space And Science Center at www.chabotspace.org.
Transcript:
MyMoon Podcast Script
Salutations! My name is Andy Shaner and I am an education and public outreach specialist at the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston, TX. Today I want to chat with you about a website we have called MyMoon, which is engaging the missing link in lunar science and exploration. MyMoon is anything but a typical science – or NASA – website. The Lunar and Planetary Institute is creating and maintaining a dynamic portal to lunar science and exploration. Collaborating with lunar scientists, educators, artists – and the public – LPI is populating the MyMoon website with science content, diverse media exhibits, events, and opportunities for the public to be involved in the exploration of the Moon. Funded by NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, MyMoon gives the general public – with a focus on 18 to 25 year olds – the opportunity to interact with content that informs them about not only lunar science research and missions, but the Moon’s influence in human culture as well. Leveraging NASA’s new scientific exploration of the Moon, along with the public’s interest in the Moon, and innovative social networking approaches, MyMoon is engaging a new adult audience in the excitement of lunar science and exploration.
For those out there who are addicted to social media, you can follow MyMoon on Twitter, become a fan of MyMoon on Facebook, subscribe to our YouTube channel, and become a member of our Flickr group. MyMoon’s Twitter profile is @MyMoonLPI and you can search for us on Facebook under “MyMoon”, all one word. MyMoon uses both Twitter and Facebook primarily as a way to inform our followers and friends about upcoming MyMoon webcasts, contests, and new additions to the website. We also tweet about lunar science and exploration news and sometimes we’ll throw in a random thought. Platypus is a funny word. On Flickr you can join MyMoon’s group, “Lunr”, L-U-N-R. Hey, if Flickr can misspell, so can we. We are populating the Lunr group page with lunar related images and artwork submitted by MyMoon community members. Three contests have been held through Lunr. Most recently, users were asked to submit designs for MyMoon t-shirts. The winning design will be added to shirts available through the MyMoon store on CafePress. MyMoon’s YouTube channel, MyMoonLPI, is home to lunar related videos. Videos on our YouTube channel include interviews with lunar scientists and interviews with bands at the 2010 SXSW Festival in Austin, TX. We have also pulled in other cool lunar-related videos from other YouTube channels.
Why the social media approach? For years NASA and other science organizations and agencies have successfully informed the American public about science and exploration activities through traditional mass media; newspaper, television, etc. However, adults 18-25 years old, a sub-population of Generation-Y, or the net-generation, do not get their news and information via these traditional avenues. Not surprisingly, a study conducted by Dittmar & Associates of Houston, TX found that GenY is largely not accessed by, or accessing NASA, due in large part to NASA not capitalizing on social media in the past. However, NASA is increasingly recognizing the value of social media and is embracing its use in communicating the excitement of its science and exploration. The MyMoon site is experimenting with this new style of connecting with the audience. Like NASA, MyMoon is using social media to engage and involve the public in lunar science and exploration. The MyMoon portal, however, is very unlike NASA.
Making an all-too-brief appearance today on the podcast, Alec, resident MyMoon web developer czar and footware aficionado.
Thank you andy for the warm welcome, and hello everyone out there on the internet. This is Alec, I am indeed the MyMoon web developer czar and it has been my pleasure to work on the project so far. When I came to the project they said to me, “hey Alec” and I said “yeah?” And they said, “We really want to connect to kids you age about this really cool stuff…what can you do for us?” This is actually pretty hilarious because I’m long since out of kid status, but I knew where they were coming from. I really felt that if MyMoon was going to succeed it needed to come at it from a different angle, and I really felt that I had something that I could offer to our target audience. Ultimately it’s been my biggest desire to bring some different thinking to the site’s design and content.
I started off like a lot of you; aware of the Moon, impressed even, but not necessarily considering of its impact on my interests in art, music and design. The things NASA hasn’t talked about until now. I can tell you what MyMoon isn’t: and that’s your father’s website. Starfield backgrounds? No sir. I like to think that instead of your father’s NASA website what we were actually shooting for is your cooler older brother with a loft’s website. That’s why we chose a common downtown scene; the busy street corner covered in event and concert posters, for all the coolest neighborhood happenings. Instead of gazing into outer space I looked into popular culture, again, art, music, movies, products, your day to day life, things that you’re interested in, and thought that if we could come up with somewhere cool on terra-firma, at least in metaphor, that it would spark some discussion and hopefully provoke some thought into how the Moon is a common character throughout our lives whether or know it or not. Instead of text links to paragraphs of encyclopedic content, we cook it down into modern exhibits. Instead of referring you to further reading via footnotes, we bring the scientists to your bedroom, yes, right there in your bed. Okay maybe not right in your bed. And it’s not as creepy as it sounds. But they are webcasts, and they do come out regularly. We actually post on our blog, on an almost daily basis, about really cool stuff that’s going on in some way related to the Moon. It might be a spacecraft. It might just be some cool stuff down here on Earth about the Moon. But that’s what we do. We try to bring you 24/7, The Moon, in all shapes, and sizes, and forms.
Our snarky tone, seemly manic approach to bombarding the website visitors with information – yeah that was all designed with words, audio, and video and pictures to really speak the language of an audience that has grown up with cellphones, digital cameras, Photoshop, and the 24 hour 7 day a week information and entertainment outlet known as the Internet. Want to participate in the site? Yes please! We run contests regularly and let our audience members be heard using their favorite audio and visual media; be it Flickr, YouTube, anything. Our polling system, something I’m particularly proud of, really tries to engage the audience to provide feedback and to participate in a two-way discussion. Our snarky mascot Chuck the Squirrel dates back to our original desire to not just talk to, but speak the language of, our audience. We look and feel different because we’re doing this differently and because our audience is unique and we can’t let those differences result in a disconnect. That would suck.
Thank you, Alec. We never rest at MyMoon and Alec is hard at work constantly rolling out new features. Recently, visitors have been invited to join in on the conversation and leave comments on MyMoon’s blog, “The Rover,” a platform for the MyMoon staff to air their opinions on lunar related topics – and encourage visitor’s feedback. MyMoon does not look like a typical NASA website, neither does it offer the same information. MyMoon does not provide visitors with numerous detailed updates on lunar science and exploration. Instead, MyMoon focuses on the big picture news items, and encourages conversations about the Moon.
Update! To facilitate conversations about the Moon, MyMoon has unveiled its Community Page. This Facebook-esque interactive allows current MyMoon users to see who else out there has an interest in all things lunar. MyMoon visitors are encouraged to sign-up and create a free profile where they can upload their picture and let other’s know their interests in the Moon, NASA, extreme sports, pet grooming, whatever. Best of all, as a member, users are able to post their own blogs and receive comments on their blogs. It’s all part of the conversation!
One of the difficulties I run into trying to come up with ideas for MyMoon content, contests, etc., is I am, to quote my boss, a baby-boomer trapped in a Gen-Y body. It’s true. In some ways, I am not able to identify with people in my age demographic. Alec helps buffer that somewhat, but unfortunately, he is not able to spend all his time on MyMoon. In an attempt to overcome this generational deficiency, we at LPI are collaborating with three undergraduate students in the Houston area. We meet two to three times a month to get their input on content, contests, etc. They are also our voice out in the community, helping spread the word about MyMoon to their friends, campus, and other venues in which they hang. We invite everyone else to do the same! Send us your suggestions and tell others about us. I know if we work together, MyMoon can bring the global utopia we all yearn for.
MyMoon is an experimental, evolving, participatory portal for engaging 18 to 25 year old’s in a conversation about all things lunar. Got an idea for a webcast or a contest? Let us know! We want to know what about the Moon intrigues you the most. What do you want to learn about the Moon? Tell us! We’ll see if we can’t whip up an exhibit to tell you all you ever wanted to know. We encourage you to visit MyMoon at http://mymoon.lpi.usra.edu – and while you are at it, why don’t you tell your 18-25 year old friends about it?
End of podcast:
365 Days of Astronomy
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