Wherefore art
thou, Science@NASA?
In an editorial, Dr. Tony Phillips
briefly reviews the history of Science.nasa.gov and
announces plans for SpaceScience.com.
What's in a name? That which we call a
rose
By any other name would smell as sweet.
Jan 15, 2000: The recent announcements about
the cancellation of NASA's web site science.nasa.gov (SNG)
have been met with dismay and frustration by many readers.
I've received an avalanche of email praising our work, asking
"why!?", and advocating a change of mind. All of us
who contributed to SNG appreciate these messages of support
and condolence.
SNG was regarded by many as NASA's top
education and science news site. Our mission was to bring NASA
science research closer to the taxpayer. We tried to do this
in innovative ways, by inviting readers to participate in
science research through "Partners in Discovery," by
means of live events like meteor balloon flights, and through
high quality science news stories crafted with the direct
participation of NASA scientists. A very popular spin-off of
SNG was our Thursday's
Classroom web site.
In 1999, SNG won the People's Voice Webby Award for science
sites on the internet. It was the only government web site
nominated for this prestigious honor.
Our web site not only conveyed the latest
research news to lay people, but it also alerted scientists to
the work of other scientists. As a result of SNG stories,
meteorite impacts on the Moon were observed for the first
time, extraterrestrial meteoroids were captured in the
stratosphere, a global network of scientists monitored the
Earth's gravitational field during the August 1999 solar
eclipse, and certain materials science experiments were
selected for flight on the Space Shuttle. The idea that
science communications could actually trigger new science was
exciting.
Clearly, SNG was an important, redeeming
activity, and it shouldn't go away.
The SNG tradition of excellence will now
continue at SpaceScience.com,
which was the official sister site of Science.nasa.gov until
two weeks ago. There will still be coverage of NASA news with
daily stories, new lesson plans for Thursday's Classroom, live
sky events -- in short, SpaceScience.com will do everything
you've come to expect from SNG.
My company, Bishop Web Works, was the prime
contractor for SNG web content. We supplied art, supporting
*.com web sites, educational lesson plans for Thursday's
Classroom, and - along with Dave Dooling and others - original
headline stories. All of the Bishop Web Works team will still
be involved with SpaceScience.com and we expect contributions
from former SNG writers as well.
For now, SpaceScience.com will be operated
as a private enterprise. This may not be a permanent situation
as we hope to attract support from other NASA centers. Indeed,
there are already signs that the Marshall Space Flight center
may be reconsidering its decision.
Meanwhile you can help support our efforts
by remaining a subscriber of the SpaceScience.com email news
service. Daily updates will continue. If you're already on our
mailing list no action on your part will be necessary. If you
no longer receive email notices, please visit http://spacescience.com/news/subscribe.htm
to resubscribe.
Sincerely,
Tony Phillips
Editor's note: In Romeo and Juliet,
"Wherefore art thou, Romeo" was a lament that meant
"Why are you Romeo?"
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