(the title, a reference to XFN. the picture, a reference from 2007 to my excitement to move to San Francisco.)I've been debating for a while writing a post that is more personal. I don't typically like blogging about myself, as evidence through my writing at Shake Well Before Use, and most of my personal life can be obtained through Twitter already. I always think "no one cares" to read about me - there's so much far more exciting stuff out there to be consuming! However, I love reading my friends' blogs and the idea that they have someone that enjoys reading their more introspective moments in hopes of gleaning some insight.2008 was an interesting year. Interesting sounds so terribly boring. By "interesting", there were ups and downs, some of which were captured on this site. In work, there were a lot of great, new, rewarding experiences that I truly cherished and hope to continue. I've now worked in multiple industries: advertising, technology, science, government, and I could be an arse and stretch it to culinary with CupcakeCamp ;) . But, by the end of the year, I felt like I was having empty nest syndrome - NASA CoLab went into hibernation from being a program, Pownce shut down and Yahoo! Brickhouse, where I often coworked, was figuratively demolished.In dating, it was a year of biting the bullet and putting myself out there - both ways. I walked out of one situation, realizing I valued my independence and all the things I wanted to accomplish more than anything. I walked in to another situation, and for once lifted both of my feet off the ground.Outside of income-related activities, there has always been my personal work. In years past, blogging took up most of my time (at my peak, I was posting 6 times a day). In 2008, I unintentionally transitioned from blogging to creating projects like Spacehack and CupcakeCamp. I can't explain the amount of positive energy that is generated by being part of something that generates so many passionate people. Dare I say that it is no longer about the content or the context - it is about the community. While I miss blogging as often (and I'm seriously considering starting a community management column), I realize that this is in step with why I moved to San Francisco in the first place. I wanted to be around people who actually created things rather than just talked about what everyone else was creating. I also realized that my move to SF was very much following in my mother's footsteps. After watching Milk (a very emotional movie to watch after Prop 8 passing) and conversing with my mother about what it was like to live through that time in San Francisco, she told me that the first time she walked down Telegraph Avenue, she felt she had finally found home.I don't know what 2009 will be for me just yet. I'm filled with so much energy to release right now, so that's exciting at the very least. December was a personally painful month that I've now let pass through me (like a storm, as one of my dear friends put it). All I can (and care to) concentrate on now is what I'm here to do and the people who need to hear what I have to say.
Spacehack.org launches!
Spacehack launched to the public today! I'm really excited to produce a resource that myself and others felt was lacking in the online space community.Spacehack is a directory of ways to participate in space exploration, interact + connect with the space community and encourage citizen science.A huge thank you goes out to all my former coworkers at NASA who continue to support me in my outer space endeavors - these ideas come to fruition from a community more so than any individual.I hope to see Spacehack continue to grow and be a valuable source of information for anyone who wants to get involved in space exploration but doesn't know where to start.
CupcakeCamp2 and CupcakeCamp East!
When I started CupcakeCamp back in May of this year, I had no idea it would be as popular as it was (we had about 300 people and 500+ cupcakes attend!). It was such a rewarding experience to see people from all different industries smiling and sharing cupcakes and meeting new people (what easier way for people to meet than to start a conversation about cupcakes!?).At nearly every event I went to, people asked me to bring it back, so I'm very happy to oblige and be throwing CupcakeCamp2 this December. RSVP yourself here and register to bring cupcakes here.Equally exciting, I received an email from Open Source Cupcakes who will be throwing the first ever CupcakeCamp East! I'm ecstatic that in less than 6 months of the first CupcakeCamp that it has already spread across the nation.Can't wait! As always, if you have questions about CupcakeCamp or need help organizing your own, feel free to ping me.
Update
Lately, I've been dreadful at updating my blogs with what's new in my life. What I said in July seems to still hold true a few months later:"My frequency of blogging has gone down lately. Is it because of the pervasiveness of microblogging? For the most part, no. The answer is that I’m consuming a LOT more information than outputting, which leaves little time to share all the great things I’m learning about at the end of the day."The most recent update in my world is that I decided to resign my contract with my employer today (when you work with NASA as a contractor, you're hired by a separate company that then contracts the work to NASA). Being the first "outside" blogger/social media consultant I know of being brought into NASA, I ran up against policies from my employer that made it impossible for me to do the job NASA hired me to do. My employer's policies for digital interaction are outdated, exemplified by the apparent prohibition of instant messaging and social networks during work hours. The policies and mindsets are written in such a way that it makes the use of Twitter akin to playing Solitaire at work. As well as being effective communication protocols that actually increase productivity and open collaboration, they are already receiving widespread usage within NASA. Due to the non-negotiable factor of these policies, it is with regret and deep frustration that I leave this role at NASA, as everything I had understood about their desire to be involved in social media filled me with enthusiasm and excitement and I relished the opportunity to bring my expertise to a new field.
I am not the first social media person to run into these types of issues in government services that affect me doing my job. Tara Hunt has a blog post from 2007 on "The Brown Act of 1953: how this positive policy now negatively affects civic collaboration".
Despite the unfortunate situation, I feel that the space community at large is truly wonderful and full of potential for social media, transparency and collaboration. The end goal of my program at NASA was to make NASA more open so people will begin to utilize NASA's vast amount of data (98% of everything they do is available publicly, just not well-communicated).This is also an interesting time to be involved with technology policies and the government. I intend to write a blog post in the coming weeks that goes into more detail on my personal experience over the last few months and analysis of why government maybe isn't ready for 2.0 just yet (but they're eager to be).TechCrunch today posted Barack Obama On Tech Policy. A few quotes to pull out that I find especially relevant to my experience:• "Create a transparent and connected democracy"• "We will put government data online in universally accessible formats"• "To seize this moment, we have to connect all of America to 21st century infrastructure"• "If we make technological literacy a fundamental part of education, then we can ... ensure the next generation of scientists and engineers is being educated right here in America"• "Together, we harness technology to confront the biggest challenges that America faces, just imagine what we could do!"For now, I will continue imagining what NASA can do on an informal basis :)
Space madness... in social media
image via twm1340Exploring the unknown territory of the space community's involvement in social networks, I've compiled a list of space-related Twitter accounts that are on my radar. From telescopes to planetary explorers, astrobiology to robots, these accounts aim to add some education to your everyday.At last count, I have 112 space-related Twitter accounts on the list I've compiled. I may expand my radar to include social networks beyond Twitter sometime soon. In the meantime, follow a few that interest you!