The Space Tweep Society

There is a recent movement within NASA to be open and transparent and practice inclusion with our space program, but how do we accomplish that? There are many schools of thought, but my personal take on it is that inclusion isn’t just about giving tours of space centers and holding events (though these are much appreciated). It is also about giving people a voice and making them feel like they share a role in the mission. I’m no expert, but my thought was that if we want people to feel included, maybe we should let them tell us what they think.

This past Thursday I attended the Review of Human Spaceflight Plans Committee’s public meeting in Cocoa Beach, FL. This is the committee also known as the Augustine Committee that was chartered by the president to figure out which direction our space program should go. One of the topics – I believe it was brought up by the group’s chair, Norm Augustine- was that public outreach needed to reach beyond just those who already “drank the Kool-Aid” (meaning those who are already interested in and supportive of NASA’s mission). His point was that more people need to be reached. In thinking about it, though- maybe further engaging the sector of the public that already “drank the Kool-Aid” is the best way to reach more people. These people in turn, can become ambassadors if they are given more encouragement and resources to get others involved. This could be very powerful.

Along these lines, the Space Tweep Society is a group that was created as a way to unite Twittering space enthusiasts of every background, both inside and outside of the space industry. The society is only a small step in public outreach, but it was instantly well received, which would seem to indicate that there was a need for it. The group’s multi-author blog is a place where members can publish their thoughts about space exploration, astronomy, or any other aspect of space that they’d like to discuss- and start a dialog with the other members. The blog is only about six weeks old, and the posts have been excellent. In the last week we moved it to a new platform in order to allow us to add more authors and features such as chat, forums, and Twitter integration. The new site is located at http://spacetweepsociety.org. I hope you’ll stop by and check it out. You might find yourself wanting to hang around for a while…