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Unmanned Spaceflight.com _ Exploration Strategy _ Space Data Wiki
Posted by: MouseOnMars Dec 27 2008, 03:59 PM
Hello,
The project http://spacedatawiki.wiki.sourceforge.net/ is looking for help, volunteers, kind words, ideas, and constructive criticism.
To explain Space Data Wiki. Think of SDW as the Wikipedia of the visual exploration of space images. A user can add a comment to some interesting or notable feature which will start a new wiki page visible in the comment bubble ... the same bubbles you might have seen in Google Earth. They will be able to share that comment and area of the image on Facebook, or upload the image area to Flickr. Many other possible social interactions are possible using the application layers and toolsets provided by the social web.
I have a Web Map Server already setup using http://geoserver.org/ and I am in the process of developing the SDW web app using http://openlayers.org/. I am using thehttp://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/HiBlog/?p=132 of the HiRise team. I am working on projecting a HiRise jp2 image onto my map to experiment with the commenting. The NASA / Google agreement http://ti.arc.nasa.gov/projects/planetary/with a full Mars web map service including all the HiRise images as well as other sources. These data sources will be used in SDW. The commenting system can be cross application. I already have a development plugin in NASA Worldwind to allow commenting using that. The comments could also be fed to Google Earth (set up to show Mars).
So my "mission" is to make exploration as accessible as possible, but also a social endeavour.
Posted by: tedstryk Dec 27 2008, 04:20 PM
Since the PDS stuff is already public domain, what would setting this Wiki up add to it?
Posted by: djellison Dec 27 2008, 04:32 PM
And what does it offer that ASU's Mars Data system doesn't?
Posted by: centsworth_II Dec 27 2008, 04:46 PM
From the site linked in the opening post:
"Primarily an application to allow collaborative commenting of geographic maps and images....SDW will provide many interesting social networking features.... Of course the whole thing will be related to space, but SDW will also be a place where one can come and meet people and get to know people."
Who knows, it could be an interesting new way for people interested in things space-related to get together.
Posted by: ElkGroveDan Dec 27 2008, 04:55 PM
....because there is no place else to do that. In fact I was mentioning it to stu, nprev, elakdawalla, roverdriver, and vmcgregor in Los Angeles a couple months ago. Just no place for we enthusiasts to get to know each other and meet.
Posted by: centsworth_II Dec 27 2008, 05:22 PM
Maybe the people who have been thrown out of here will be interested. UMSF is great for what it provides (which is a great deal!), but it's tone is not to everyone's liking. No one site can be all things to all people. I'm not a Facebook or Myspace type person, but there are many who are and a space-related site based on that model may bring a lot of new people to the table.
Posted by: djellison Dec 27 2008, 05:58 PM
Just looks like a solution searching for a problem to me. 
Posted by: centsworth_II Dec 27 2008, 06:33 PM
There are plenty of space-related discussions that you do not allow to go on at UMSF for one reason or another. You tell people who complain to go somewhere else or start their own site. So, here is "somewhere else". People may find it worthwhile, they may not. That remains to be seen.
Posted by: MouseOnMars Dec 27 2008, 06:36 PM
Thanks for the replies !
Well, apart from here of course. Or Space.com, Nasaspaceflight.com ... probably a few others. Nevertheless maybe you could mention the SDW project to these people ?
I'm aware that some people absolutely loathe Youtube, or Facebook, or whatever, but of course some people love it. SDW will probably include the horrors of "Youtube'ism" comments, vandalism, and all that kind of thing. But Wikipedia has managed to put in mechanisms to deal with that kind of behaviour. I'm not asking anyone to endorse the project, but to have input from knowledgeable members here would be very valuable.
Posted by: djellison Dec 27 2008, 06:59 PM
Exactly - that was my point.
Posted by: centsworth_II Dec 27 2008, 07:05 PM
And anyone interested in outreach should welcome the chance to connect with a new group of people, assuming the new site reaches people that do not frequent the current flock of space-related websites.
Posted by: MouseOnMars Dec 28 2008, 09:51 AM
More so, the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Social_Web, as well as allowing social interaction, is a powerful tool ...
"While many kinds of value grow proportionally to network size and some grow proportionally to the square of network size, I've discovered that some network structures create total value that can scale even faster than that. Networks that support the construction of communicating groups create value that scales exponentially with network size, i.e. much more rapidly than Metcalfe's square law."[4]
( Quoted from http://journal.planetwork.net/article.php?lab=reed0704&page=1 )
So as well as creating an interesting social atmosphere for exploration, a Social Web application can draw on a huge leverage of investigation and curiosity that can explore the massive amount of data and images flowing down from MRO, for example, and many other probes in the future.
This is not only relevant to the "hobby" social environment ...
"Much has been written recently about the power of social networks and the famed 'six degrees of separation.' Suppose you could go online and make relevant connections with others from whom you are separated by one, two, or three degrees? Suppose that while working on a solar energy project in California, you could use such a system to find an engineer in Shanghai whose experience is directly relevant to your project? Could the Internet be used to establish networks of trust that cross traditional borders? Can the Internet be better at supporting the ability of citizens to self-organize and participate in civil society?"
What if that solar project worker was a Scientist with a particular interest in Mars Craters ? Or some other investigator with a research problem ? The Social Web technology has some interesting possibilities for research teams.
Posted by: imipak Dec 28 2008, 05:21 PM
I'm a relative late-comer to this newfangled http://www.friendface.info-type stuff, but I despite approaching them with pretty cynical expectations I've had some serendipitous moments from social networking sites. ISTR spotting quite a few, uh, "UMSF regulars", too... There's http://scilink.com/start.action, too, but the more the merrier as far as I'm concerned; TIMTOWTDI. Good luck, MouseOnMars!
Posted by: MouseOnMars Dec 28 2008, 07:20 PM
Thankyou kind Sir. I will try to develop some cunning virus analogies to use in the promotion of the project as your video guide suggests 
Posted by: MouseOnMars Jan 15 2009, 07:12 PM
http://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?forum_id=908168
A study by the think tank Demos as reported by BBC News ...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7695716.stm
... confirms some of the core aims of the SDW project.
"He said his customers used the software to set out problems which they faced and then threw them open to employees."The first people to respond might not know the answer, but they could suggest somebody who does," he said."Within a few days, they are able to get enough people from across the organisation with the right expertise to work on it."And by focusing the minds of a group of people on a specific task, you can find a solution much more quickly than you would do otherwise."
Some of the responses I've had from the space industry have been far from encouraging [please note - I'm talking in general terms here, not about this site !] , not unlike the "ban facebook" office manager response. Understandable from an efficiency standpoint, but ultimately misguided. Of course unreasonable usage cannot be condoned, but we are social beings and most people know how to pace and discipline themselves in the social world.
So to restate SDW aims. There's a lot to explore out there. Data systems continue to be filled with ever increasing amounts of images with little of no leverage of modern technology to examine them using a collaborative approach. This study goes some way to legitimising the belief of the SDW project that social networking systems can be used to improve the approach to space exploration.
Posted by: volcanopele Jan 15 2009, 08:52 PM
An interesting project, but I am still trying to get my head around what you are trying to do here. Is this akin to a Google Earth, but for other worlds, where users can upload pictures and comments tied to a location on the surface of a world (like the layers in Google Earth with Wikipedia links, user photos, and Nat Geo pics)? Will this be limited to Mars, or is that only in your current working version?
Posted by: MouseOnMars Jan 16 2009, 03:04 PM
Hello volcanopele 
.
It sounds like you've already understood the project.
Yes, it will be like Google Earth for other planets (not just Mars). People will be able to add a comment about a particular location. The action of adding a comment will start a new wiki page where text and other media can be added. Contributions can be shared on the social networking sites.
You can't actually directly add a comment in Google Earth that is publicly shared. This is why I have a plugin in development for NASA Worldwind where the user clicks on a location directly on the globe to add a comment. The project will have a core database and Web Map Server that can talk to Google Earth, Worldwind and Open Layers (google maps like, open source app), so as many people as possible can participate. For example they won't HAVE to use Worldwind if they have limited hardware.
My first intention was to concentrate on public participation, but as the study I posted shows, there are some powerful leveraging possibilities with "in house" use of social networking systems.
I hope that makes more sense.
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