I’ve had a couple of conversations (relative to a couple of different projects) over the past week or two around how open we should really be with our day to day work. The discussion really centered around Twitter and whether or not someone like me should write job-related stuff like “oh no, my mission’s going to crash into the moon because I screwed up the calculation” when I screw something up.
The concern was that if the public sees such comments about how often stuff gets screwed up, that they’ll want to take all of our money away because we seem like a bunch of idiots. The flip side is that if we’re really open and honest about how close we are to failure every day and how incredible it is that people find the errors that they do, then the general public will gain a whole new appreciation for how difficult spaceflight is and how close we are to failure all the time.
I think I’m on the side of being open… that volunteering completely honest information about what’s happening on a day to day basis is what is going to connect us to the public. Sure, it might be a little tough at first, and certainly lots of people are going to be really uncomfortable with it… but don’t we all understand that mistakes will be made? Why do we need to hide them?
June 9th, 2008 at 1:57 am
fully agreed that open AND honest is key to all online communication. or any communication for that matter. while i can understand the value and importance of being secretive in certain regards (one may choose not to give up vital information if it destroys competition), it is imperative that the public and the community understand exactly what is happening, in a general sense. i’m pretty certain that the public really has no understanding or concept of just how difficult most of this work really is.
June 9th, 2008 at 2:28 am
Interesting point. There is proven value in being as honest as possible: besides the moral obvious, recent studies have shown that full disclosure of medical errors actually benefits patients, health care providers, and liability insurers. It’s plausible to believe that this same kind of incentivized behavior could work for NASA and its taxpayers…especially when it seems like the main complaint from taxpayers is that they don’t really understand what NASA does anyway!
June 9th, 2008 at 4:25 am
This is a great question, Rivers. One that will certainly need to be addressed as the agency transitions to a new workforce. As the other two commenters have stated, there are a number of reasons to employ open communication at NASA. For me, personally, the Mars Phoenix Twitter feed has taught me more about robotic exploration, in just a few weeks, than I have learned working in the space industry for the past 6 years. It has been so successful that many other future robotic explorers are now tweeting.
While I certainly feel open communication is key to our success, I am not convinced that it should be extended to any and all employees via blogs, tweets, Facebook, etc. Many already communicate about their personal lives, but opening the doors to NASA this way could be a dangerous road to travel. It opens the door for the injection of individual perceptions and politically-motivated agendas. While seemingly harmless as they are one person’s opinion, the court of public opinion does not operate by conventional rules. For its jury, “truth is relevant”.
June 9th, 2008 at 2:13 pm
I understand that openness and honesty are preferable. However, as you point out, very few people realize how hard this space stuff is. And my guess is that, risk-averse as we’ve become, taxpayers and their elected officials would be even more willing to cut NASA funding. I had a non-space person tell me this weekend that she didn’t believe we went to the Moon 40 years ago when we’re having so much trouble now.
And yes, there is such a thing as “too much information.”
June 9th, 2008 at 4:59 pm
Open communications is great — within NASA.
But putting daily feeds about issues and concerns out publicly can create many problems for NASA.
First, policy makers (the ones that control our purse strings) are not “techies” and may not understand the nuances of R&D failures, technical issues and the vital give-and-take disagreements necessary for exploration.
Second, the news media reads such blogs. Media reps are not always tech savvy as well — or may run a story without understanding the issues involved. (See comment above)
Third, rumors can spread when only one side or part of the story is communicated.
If the Twitters/blogs are private only to those involved in the program, that’s a totally different story. However, if these commentaries are opened to the public, serious misunderstandings can result that can do more harm than good.
NASA has a public affairs office for a reason. Believe it or not, these folks do understand issues of information dissemination and the media mindset. If NASA currently does not have a policy related to employees/contractor Twitter/blog communications, they need to develop one ASAP.
Perhaps someone involved in the New Open NASA/Gen Y group can work with PAO to come up with such a policy. That will show you are team players who want to promote new technology use, but in ways that benefit the program, not just personal convenience.
June 9th, 2008 at 5:34 pm
I think it is an extremely important question. One aspect of this is that as an agency, open discussion internal to NASA need to be expanded. Once more interest in that regard has been made, then I feel like material can be pulled together easier for public release of coherent stories and ideas and process.
Your example is a good one, and indicative of someone who is very close to the technology and all of its challenges. We need a way to share those thoughts to those around us so that others know of our trials and tribulations and can potentially help with solutions. For my part, I would like to see newsgroups of talented professional people sharing challenges and ideas.
For the public, I would like to see material drawn from those sources in such a way so as to paint a more universal picture of what we do and how we do it, rather than the minute by minute accounts of the highs and lows that come with any challenging job.
June 13th, 2008 at 10:12 pm
Very valuable question and points. It might be beneficial to have a face-to-face with NASA PAO to revisit communication and policies and figure out how to move forward.
I think NASA has control of and manages well, the communication to the public. I think the timing is right for NASA to think about how to approach communication in front of the public.
For example, there is tremendous amount of work done for NASA’s missions by people outside of NASA, via universities, contracts, etc… . There is a barrier for NASA efficiency when a NASA project or task has to figure out how to set up communication and collaboration space in these situations. I think updating the “open” communication approach would increase NASA productivity.
June 14th, 2008 at 12:25 pm
Great question, Rivers. With all the possibilities available today for connecting to people and sharing information, both internally and externally, openness is a double-edged sword. High risks and rewards abound.
It’s important not to back away from openness, though. There is too much potential to connect the public with what we do and why we do it. Internally, I think applying more openness makes an organization stronger. We just have to make sure to do it smartly.
I’d like to see (and help contribute to if possible) a policy that allows and encourages people to share information and perspectives smartly. Maybe to the public that means some form of moderation. I know I have benefited from peer review before posting something into the great abyss of the net.
Also, by asking for openness, I think we’re also asking ourselves to step up to set examples for how to do so with integrity and to maintain the high standards we hold by accepting the responsibility as ambassadors for the space program, no matter what level of involvement that means for each person.
June 16th, 2008 at 12:45 am
For the people who think that tweeting mistake makes you look bad: we _know_ you make mistakes. We all share the same basic DNA. If you didn’t make the same number of mistakes the rest of do, then you’d be grey-skinned, big-eyed super aliens. Not talking about them or trying to act like they don’t happen makes you look like your lying. Or at best trying to spin things.
I suspect the same people who tell you not to twitter bad things also ding President Bush for not admitting errors. Same difference…