I'm asking this on the off-chance that it may yield results.

I love JPL's website. It's easy to navigate, it's well ordered, it's quick to load. One of my favorite features of the website is the von Karman lecture series. I have learned a lot through the last couple years by watching these fine presentations. But recently it seems as if the effort to archive these lectures is beginning to wane.

I've learned from the past that this archival is not instantaneous, in some cases it can take up to a month if I miss the lecture live. So the most recent lecture, UMSF.com favorite (and deservedly so, I might add) Rob Manning, has just been archived but the links to that footage are not yet available. And because it was the last lecture, that's to be expected. But it seems that months are now being skipped. Specifically, the March lecture is not available but the April lecture is.

Of course I've emailed them about it and I don't expect (and didn't receive) an answer, but considering that the problem is still unresolved I was hoping that anybody here who might have contact with anyone who runs the site could give a little friendly reminder? Long shot, I know, but that lecture series is excellent and I'd love for the archives to be complete (so I can watch them ).

I'd be happy to check on that for you. I recently noticed the same thing and meant to ask the Web team about it, but we all got tied up on Phoenix duty. Thanks to helvick for bringing your post to my attention. Always feel free to drop me a line.

Veronica
JPL Media Relations
veronica.mcgregor@jpl.nasa.gov

Not directly related to THE JPL website, but congratulations Veronica on breaking through the 20,000 mark for followers for the Phoenix Twitter page. That's just wonderful. I know you don't actually write the entries, you just "pass them on" from Phoenix itself but still, a great achievement.

I don't know if that 20,000 number counts all the ppl like me who just bookmarked it instead of subscribed. If not, I'm sure the number of followers and fans is much higher!

Thanks so much, Veronica! I hated to sound like I was complaining about the site, because it's very well-made and well-maintained. But it would be great to have those programs archived. That lecture series is excellent outreach and education.

jmjawors, thanks for posting a message that I've been meaning to write for years.

I too discovered the lecture series several years ago and have learned a good deal from them. The fact that it takes an indeterminate period ranging from 2 weeks to 3 months for an archive to become available is frustrating for people who, like me, can rarely if ever listen to a live webcast.

TTT

The number includes only users with a Twitter account who explicitly follow -- i.e. subscribe to -- MarsPhoenix updates. So, it's just a lower bound.



Paolo Amoroso

Regarding the lecture series-- I checked with our Web Manager, and (as I should have known) she and the rest of the Web team have been absolutely swamped with items to post over these past few months. It's a small team, just three people, and they're trying their best to catch up. The January lecture was not held at JPL and therefore not videotaped. That month we did a special showing of a JPL-produced documentary on the 50th anniversary of Explorer 1. A short (5 min.) version of that documentary is here. April and May have been posted, and she's still waiting on a transcript for March which is required for 508 compliance. . It's great to know that people are interested in watching the lectures, and hopefully we'll be able to catch up soon.

Stu, thanks for your note regarding Twitter! We made the front page of the Washington Post business section today. You were nice enough to mention it (first!) in your blog and that was much appreciated.

Veronica

Thanks, Veronica. I never considered how much work it would be for a small team to caption these sometimes 90 minute videos. I certainly understand waiting for the archived videos to be posted, but like I said it was when months started getting skipped that I began to be concerned. So now I'm glad there's nothing to be concerned about.

Thanks again, those lectures are really something I look forward to!

Veronica--You should consider UMSF viewers a potential source of transcribers. As I recall, several UMSF members took 20 minute blocks of a SS interview to create a transcript posted here. Lots of knowledgeable people here ready to help if asked.

That thought occurred to me as well. I certainly wouldn't mind helping out.