Michael Nielson provides a quick, powerful treatise of the coming open science revolution in, “Reinventing Discovery.”
The book is a great read, pouring through recent examples of citizen science projects such as Galaxy Zoo and Fold.it and providing an optimistically sober perspective toward open science with partially open data and/or data delay for big scientific projects. This shift will be reliant on the incentive systems we have for scientists (current a “publish or perish” model), requirement levied by the funding organizations, and the desires of the sub communities. The last three chapters are a must read for those interested in designing tools and systems to create a reputation economy and break the academic race to write papers valued by the published scientific community, and instead, bring about an open data and open science approach for 21st century scientists.
“[T]ools can be used to amplify our collective intelligence, in much the way that manual tools have been used for millennia to amplify our physical strength.”
Continued…
Posted in Personal.
Tagged with open data, open innovation, open science.
By Robbie
– March 18, 2012
During @bobby_braun’s receptions this week, Charlie had his last chances to dig into the “School Kid” for being so young. There is something profound, however, about relatively young leadership at NASA. Bobby is a generation of leaders whose first memory of NASA was not the Apollo landing, but of the Viking landing on Mars. It was this feat that inspired him to become an engineer and work at NASA. He is part of a new class of leaders at NASA that were inspired not by the Moon program and competition with USSR, but by robotic exploration and the Space Shuttle program.
Viking Lander on display at the Smithsonian
Technically, my first memory of space was receiving a Space Shuttle alarm clock from my father (now, why a 6 year old needs an alarm clock I don’t really know). however, my first substantial memory of space is of being shuffled into the elementary school auditorium and witnessing the Challenger disaster. I don’t believe this affected my psyche as a 7-year-old, but it does paint a picture as to the real events and space experience that average 35-year-old-ish people have: Challenger disaster, the unprecedented discoveries of Hubble Space Telecsope, another tragedy with Columbia, and yet more unprecedented discoveries with Mars Exploration Rovers (MER). “Failure is not an option” was a popular slogan for the NASA of the 60’s, but the NASA I grew up with lived that term year-to-year. Hubble launched a failure and required follow-on missions to become successful, and engineers at NASA have kept the MER rovers alive an order of magnitude beyond their design lifetime. The NASA I know learned from its failures and earned its successes as a result.
Continued…
Posted in openNASA.
Tagged with culture, engineering, innovation, nasa, organizational transformation, Policy, space.
By Robbie
– September 23, 2011
Today is my first day of extended leave from NASA and it feels great. There have been many good wishes from people and for that I am very fortunate.
The going away party for @schingler and @bobby_braun
Here is the e-mail I sent to the OCT team earlier this week describing my intentions:
Continued…
Posted in openNASA, Personal.
Tagged with careers, change, nasa.
By Robbie
– September 22, 2011
Discussing the new directions contained in the 2011 budget roll-out with employees, Charlie Bolden announced a new Headquarters office called Misson Support, to be lead by Woodrow Whitlow from NASA Glenn Research Center. Mission Support will bring all NASA facilities and their operations under one umbrella, recognizing the important role these groups play in achieving NASA’s mission. This will allow greater insight into operational challenges, and more strategic investments into creating an integrated NASA workforce.
by Raymond Cassel, 1st place 2009 NSS Art contest
Continued…
Posted in openNASA.
Tagged with change, culture, nasa, workforce.
By Robbie
– February 15, 2010
We are started, and Craig Fugate, the Administrator of FEMA, just gave his keynote. Sitting 3 miles away from NASA Ames Research Center at the Hacker Dojo, we are creating a community of developers for the emergency response community. This meeting is bringing technologists and developers together with subject matter experts to understand each other – learn what technology already exists, and which ones need to get created. After Administrator Fugate, we have a dozen 5-minute lightening talks, both from technologists and subject matter experts. On organizing the event, asked people to come up with problem statements – or featured hacks – and have seven of them defined on the wall (including one submitted by the Department of State). After lightening talks, we will open up into a hack-a-thon as well as have rooms available for barcamp-style discussions. We’re going all night, and teams submit their programs by 1pm tomorrow, present them to the community, and a panel of judges will give out awards to the best hacks created at the event.
Continued…
Posted in openNASA.
Tagged with hacking, humanity, innovation, open source.
By Robbie
– November 13, 2009
I have unreasonably high expectations for people, and as Jessy put last night, that shouldn’t change. I should, however, adapt how I feel and react when expectations are not met. Additionally, I should be able to identify my role in the bar not being reached. As in most relationships, whether it is an intimate relationship, a friendship, or a business partnership, it all comes down to communication — and communication goes both ways. There are two rules that I follow when it comes to interpersonal relationships:
- Relationships work as long as you are in it for the same reason.
- The way you get out of a relationship is the way you get into it.
Continued…
Posted in Personal.
Tagged with expectations, leadership, relationships, toltec.
By Robbie
– November 11, 2009
When a good friend of mine took a new job his father gave him some good advice, “Be sure to stay for three years.” Three years, I thought, sounded forever. In looking back at the friends tenure in the job for three years, I can see the benefit. He was able to personally and professionally grow into the job, gain a lot of support from his stakeholders, redirect the organization, provide focus, and then execute. He took the organization out of the red and left it in a very stable position.
The attraction of a new job and an adventure is completely intoxicating. The honeymoon, however, of a new job with new opportunities can short lived. You are faced with people, processes, and entrenched world views. The challenges are similar whether you are in government, non-profit, or for profit organizations. The larger the organization, the greater the institutional memory and momentum to remain in status quo.
Continued…
Posted in Personal.
Tagged with change, leadership, work.
By Robbie
– November 9, 2009
The June/July visit to the Choza with @hancher, @jessykate, @toddicus, etc. was the first time that Todd visited the Choza. His fluency with Spanish and deep understanding of the Latin culture, enabled deeper conversations, better dialogue, and more meaningful connections with the community around the Choza. We had an excellent evening conversation with Erick and Solein kicked off by Jessy’s question of “What defines progress,” which was greatly enabled by Todd’s simultaneous translation. The Garcia brothers had a different perspective on role that technology plays into “progress.” If their five year age gap plays a role, this is testimony to the tsunami of change coming at the Concepcion community, and a cause for pause in thinking through the role we are playing.
Continued…
Posted in Choza.
Tagged with Choza, communication, culture, progress, think tank.
By Robbie
– August 16, 2009
“Education and Innovation will be the currency of the 21st Century,” declared President Obama in a speech last month. This ‘Cairo Speech’ outlined a science and technology partnership strategy with the Muslim community, but its message is for any country. NASA is uniquely positioned to be support the Obama Administration with this vision of international engagement through scientific and technical partnerships.
Artist conception of SAC-C
Historically, space has created a unique environment for scientific and technical collaboration outside the realms of political ideologies to pursue aims of international peace and stability. While there has been a strong element of national competition associated with space activities, the nature of science inherently provides room for research and tangible benefits which transcend borders. Some notable examples are the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project in 1975 (Russia), the progression from Space Station Freedom to the International Space Station (Russia) or the retirement of the Argentina’s Condor II Medium Range Ballistic Missile (resulted in the establishment of Argentina National Commission on Space Activities – CONAE – and an agreement on the Satelite de Aplicaciones Cientificas – SAC – series of satellites with NASA cooperation). Continued…
Posted in openNASA.
Tagged with Cairo, international, Muslim, partnership, space.
By Robbie
– July 17, 2009
Following on my post from a couple of weeks ago, and in the spirit of eating your own dogfood, I would like to share some ideas about open innovation at NASA. Please note that the below list is not exhaustive, and that they are just ideas, although some are much further along than others. Additionally, these ideas are not all mine, although they are coming from my (spacecraft + software) bias. Not only do all the projects below promote transparency in practice (both internally and externally), but it also creates a culture of action and has many positive intended consequences. However, that is for a different conversation. Below is a list of ideas that have stuck over the last few years that are both small developments (free) and large initiatives ($900M+).
Internal
• Interactive x500
• Side Project App
• Open Innovation Fund
• Co-working / Coffee Shop Environment
• QuickSat
• Participatory Exploration as a Level 1 requirement
• Reward Cost Underuns
External
• Prizes
• NASA Open Source Agreement (NOSA) Continuous Release Authority
• NASA Application Programming Interface (API)
• NASA Advanced Research Projects Agency (NARPA )/ ARPA-N / NIAC++
• Red Planet Capital
• X Class Missions + Launch initiative
• COTS-Alphabet
Further below is a paragraph describing each idea. I welcome and encourage your comments!
Continued…
Posted in openNASA.
Tagged with nasa, open government, open innovation, side projects, space.
By Robbie
– April 29, 2009
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