More Than Getting Things Done

Since New Years I have been implementing a new life/task/action organizational system recommended to me by my dear friend and colleague Chris Lewicki. It is based on the book “Getting Things Done” by David Allen. So far things have gone swimmingly. I have started to take out of my brain every last don’t-forget-this, you-promised-this, and this-still-needs-to-happen and put in into a system for organizing them and tracking them. I feel a new future of being organized awaits me and there is still another 150 pages of the book to read and implement.

Lewicki in his infinite wisdom though, also recently sent me this quote— just to keep my new found gains in perspective:
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The Internet is now (officially) in space

Here on Earth, we’ve grown used to having the Internet available almost anytime we want it.  As of December 2009, 74% of American adults use the internet.  60% of American adults use broadband connections at home.  55% of American adults connect wirelessly through laptops or handheld devices like smartphones.

So, what about Astronauts in space?  Do they have internet?

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Kids and Social Media: What the Buzz?

At the Science Online 2010: Exploring Science on the Web conference in Research Triangle Park in North Carolina this past weekend, I attended a panel session of students from Stacy Baker‘s Staten Island Academy Biology class. The panel, Blogging the Future — The Use of Online Media in the Next Generation of Scientists, featured eight students who covered the following topics:

• Salina – data analysis
• Mike – extremebiology.net/blog
• Ammar – www.ptable.com
• Melina – chemtouch iphone app
• Brooke – Waves iphone app
• Alex – The Body Pod Game
• Carl – RPG Games
• Jack – Jack’s game

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Announcing people.openNASA

Ever since I started at NASA, my colleagues and I have lamented how little information is available via our agency-wide employee directory. The information is practical– email, phone, employer, etc.– but we often remark how great it would be if we could extend that information with more detailed, timely, and even personal content. Information about who you are, what you work on, tags and skills, or side projects, would help us connect in more meaningful ways. It would let us not just find people we already know about, but search for people based on specific properties, and learn more about colleagues we are collaborating with.

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Taking Care of Lewis and Clark

As a medical student and aspiring NASA flight surgeon (the doctor caring for astronauts), I recently participated in JSC’s aerospace medicine clerkship (aka elective). I felt called to be a NASA flight surgeon ever since learning about it through the NASA Academy internship in college and was eager to finally get a taste of the flight surgeon role.

First, I get a lot of questions on this, so, some clarification on common misconceptions:
1) Medical school is 4 years long, and requires a college degree first (like graduate school). Everyone graduates from med school as a general M.D. The fourth and final year of med school is when you decide what KIND of doctor you’re going to be (i.e., pediatrician, neurologist, surgeon, psychiatrist, obstetrician/gynecologist, internal (aka general) medicine doc, family doc, emergency doc). Your fourth year is thus spent applying to and interviewing at various programs around the country for a RESIDENCY in that specialty. Residency is ~3-5yrs long and is when you TRAIN in your chosen specialty.

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Culture of Yes

Washington, DC’s recently released open government directive has a lot of us in the open government community stoked about the mandate we are finally being given, collectively and formally, to make government more transparent and accessible.

The three tenets of participation, transparency, and collaboration are particularly relevant because, while they are couched in specific deliverables around the /open requirement for all agencies (that is, each agency must create /open); if you look closely, they are focused on process– as much as, if not more than, on outcome. This reflects the fact that open government is not somewhere we arrive or something we check off on a task list, but it’s about how we go about the business of governing ourselves.

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A Mission Patch to Mark the End of the Shuttle Program

The creation of mission patches is one of those age-old NASA traditions. Ever since humans first started traveling to space in the 1960’s, patches have been designed for each mission. It all began with the two-man Gemini IV mission in 1965 where the American flag was worn on a spacesuit and the tradition lives on today. The design of the mission patch is usually reserved for the crew (with the help of a NASA artist), but with only five Space Shuttle flights remaining, all scheduled to launch next year, NASA wanted to do something uplifting to mark the end of the Shuttle program. From October 15 to December 1, the Program opened up the design process and engaged past and present program workers to submit an emblem to mark the end of the shuttle era. NASA received 85 entries from people across the nation.

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The Known Universe

This is a great video that @joelwalker found today. The Known Universe takes you for a tour of our universe, from the Himalayas through the atmosphere to the edge of the known universe. Every star, planet, and quasar seen in the film is possible because of the world’s most complete four-dimensional map of the universe, the Digital Universe Atlas that is maintained and updated by astrophysicists at the American Museum of Natural History. The new film, created by the Museum, is part of an exhibition, Visions of the Cosmos: From the Milky Ocean to an Evolving Universe, at the Rubin Museum of Art in Manhattan through May 2010.

Starfleet Academy?

A post over on NASA Watch indirectly poses an interesting question: Should NASA have a Starfleet Academy?

I say yes – NASA would benefit from such a program, specifically a program that would train the agency’s next generation of leaders.  While the NASA Academy and the International Space University fit this type of need, they don’t specifically train young NASA civil servants.

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SpaceUp – A Space Unconference

I’m a big fan of the BarCamp format*, especially when applied to space.  So I have great news for you (which I’ll tell you more about in a bit).

If you are not familiar with BarCamps, they are an increasingly popular open-format collaborative working meeting format where those attending are encouraged to present to others on a topic of their choice. The barcamp format has been catching on in pockets around the space community. @edgufry and I had an opportunity to plan a BarCamp this fall which was hosted by the NASA Space Life Sciences Directorate (SLSD) at Johnson Space Center in August.  It was such a success that we are now in the process of planning a second event for January 29th (creatively entitled “Barcamp: A Sequel“). The goal of the the SLSDBarCamp events is to increase enthusiasm and communication within SLSD, create a platform for SLSD members to share their work, bridge gaps, facilitate knowledge management, brainstorm for new ideas and utilize existing ones. Our hope was to bring together members of our local community together and introduce the idea of hosting BarCamps at NASA JSC. Unfortunately, since this format is very new to the NASA community, we haven’t been able to convince management to open the SLSDBarCamps up to *everyone* yet (aka non NASA badged people) - but we are trying. In the near future, we hope to host BarCamp events that are open to the public at NASA Johnson Space Center, and for now we encourage those attending our events to join outside barcamps after their in-house experience.

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