Tuesday, March 31, 2009

NASA's Version of Crowd Sourcing

I had just read about the new "NASA" version of crowdsourcing, and i must say, it seems rather ridiculous... Now from what I could gather, I found that crowdsourcing can be defined as "Delegating a task to a large group of semi-organized individuals (via the internet). So by this definition, it seems as though NASA is acting a the crowdsourcing manner. Yet from what I understand, NASA feels that by relinquishing its power over something as minor as a name for a particular building/wing, would be too overwhelming. So I ask the question, "Why make this option available to the public if you still reserve the right to overturn their decision? This reminds me a lot of the Chevy challenge in which the crowd was able to make their own Chevy commercial with certain parameters. So with certain parameters already being laid out for the public, it seems almost inevitable that the crowd begins to lash out at NASA for their poor attempt in conjuring a usable name for its new wing. I think if the name and reputation of this new wing was the real motive behind this contest, then why not have a contest where people relay their thoughts for a good name, and ultimately have NASA decide which name they receive is best suited for the new wing. This seems like a perfect way for NASA to publicly showcase their new wing, as well as having people interact with NASA and its employees. To me this seems like a better fit for garnering public attention, along with an enticing name to go with the wing. After conducting some research about NASA and its crowdsourcing, I found that NASA is actually very active in its crowdsourcing community. NASA routinely embraces the idea of using the internet to interact with its followers and community. They have started a twitter with a lander on Mars named "Phoenix," and even gained some recognition for it by receiving the Shorty Award. (The Shorty Award recognizes individuals that have the best tweets) NASA has also started a crowdsourcing project where the public can vote on the next galaxy that will be viewed through a very powerful telescope. The galaxy with the most votes will then proceed to be photographed NASA, and available to be viewed on its website. These online projects would suggest one to assume that NASA has learned to harness public opinion and knowledge, but the clear misuse of crowdsourcing concerning this new wing suggests otherwise. I think this particular use of crowdsourcing actually disables the personal identity, and ultimately, the general population will let it be known. Everyone wants the world to know who he or she is, but with NASA's approach to this preventing this drive, the population will use other media (newspapers, television, radio, etc.) to regain its own individuality. This is how I believe individuals use media, to enable his or her's own personality. New media that doesn't comply with this belief usually end up being filtered out (think Chevy), and I don't see this case being any different.

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