Journal perfessor multigeek's Journal: Space.com - all the news, dumbed down for *you*! 2
I didn't want to mix this in with the other entry but, man! space.com is annoying! As I have said here and on my web site, how can they have put so much money into a site and have so little to show for it? I'ld say it's the Reader's Digest of space coverage but I knew the folks at RD and I wouldn't ever denigrate them so.
I was curious about today's launch, so after checking my usual haunts for this kind of thing (NASA, the Planetary Society, the Space Access Society, the Space Frontier Foundation, etc.) I decided to give Lou's kids another try. Bleagh! Nineteen stories about STS-112 and not one of them talking about the mission. Plenty of "the weather is looking pretty bad here Jim, and the mood is tense" manufactured melodrama but not a single piece focusing on why they're going up there in the first place. For all you'ld learn from most of their coverage they could be going up there for the world bubblegum championships.
They've taken the web and made it as superficial as televison. Come look at our pretty pictures. Oooh! Aaaa! We'll tell you the color of an astronaut's shoes and what mouthwash he uses. Stay tuned! More useless drivel coming in just a minute! Don't touch that dial!
I've said it before and I say it again folks, we've *got* to avoid Space.com whenever possible and route people to other sites because nobody will start a decent space program news source as long as these pop culture halfwits are able to dominate the field.
When somebody expresses interest in the space program, especially a teacher or student, take the time to tell them about PongSat. Clue them in about NASA links to facilities near them and the resources at the local science museum. Clue them into the the Mars Society and the Planetary Society and the dozen other groups like them. But do NOT let them end up in the hands of that bunch of brain-numbing idjits at SpaceDotDumb. If you do you might as well start working for Microsoft's marketing department because it's the same "they're big and everybody's heard of them and they *say* they have the full story" behavior.
Workin' to free us from big media but still reading the NYT in the meantime,
Rustin
I was curious about today's launch, so after checking my usual haunts for this kind of thing (NASA, the Planetary Society, the Space Access Society, the Space Frontier Foundation, etc.) I decided to give Lou's kids another try. Bleagh! Nineteen stories about STS-112 and not one of them talking about the mission. Plenty of "the weather is looking pretty bad here Jim, and the mood is tense" manufactured melodrama but not a single piece focusing on why they're going up there in the first place. For all you'ld learn from most of their coverage they could be going up there for the world bubblegum championships.
They've taken the web and made it as superficial as televison. Come look at our pretty pictures. Oooh! Aaaa! We'll tell you the color of an astronaut's shoes and what mouthwash he uses. Stay tuned! More useless drivel coming in just a minute! Don't touch that dial!
I've said it before and I say it again folks, we've *got* to avoid Space.com whenever possible and route people to other sites because nobody will start a decent space program news source as long as these pop culture halfwits are able to dominate the field.
When somebody expresses interest in the space program, especially a teacher or student, take the time to tell them about PongSat. Clue them in about NASA links to facilities near them and the resources at the local science museum. Clue them into the the Mars Society and the Planetary Society and the dozen other groups like them. But do NOT let them end up in the hands of that bunch of brain-numbing idjits at SpaceDotDumb. If you do you might as well start working for Microsoft's marketing department because it's the same "they're big and everybody's heard of them and they *say* they have the full story" behavior.
Workin' to free us from big media but still reading the NYT in the meantime,
Rustin
dumbed down (Score:1)
People don't have the same needs. For example, if I was a mechanic, I would despise the uselessness of car owner manuals. But, I am not. I don't mind that my car's owner manual doesn't give specs for the brake drums, the radiator, or such. It showed me where the oil pan is, so I didn't have to hunt to drain the thing. Yay! That's what I needed.
Some people read actual scientific journals, some read "Scientific American", and some read lame, generic news sources like "Time" or "Newsweek"; heck some read rags like "People", "Us" or more obvious tabliods. *Shrug* Keep up the good work of steering the brighter folks AWAY from the crap news.
Re:dumbed down (Score:1)
I also, as somebody doing a startup, keep picturing what it would be like to try to get funding or even ads for a more together publication. "But what do we need this for? Doesn't Space.com already do that?" That kind of thing would drive me utterly to distraction and I keep suspecting that somewhere out there somebody is probably going through it right now.
Keep up the good work of steering the brighter folks AWAY from the crap news.
Thank you.
Rustin