Web 2.0 allows virtually everyone to create contents and share them worldwide in the Internet. Making use of the technology, you and I can be famous bloggers, Internet singing stars and reporter to regional news. We heard numerous cases in which the sharing of content brings turns the owners into Internet celebrities. What else do you think the tech can enable us to be?
Youtube, as a video sharing platform, is considered a birthplace of potential stars. Youtube (or should I say Google?) recently starts a project which can bring our ideas to the space! Youtube is now running “Youtube Space Lab” project which is collaboration with space adventure and development organizations including National Aeronautics and Space Administration (I’m sure you know: NASA) in the US.
This project is a competition targeting young science talents who are interested in space experiment which is one of the important duties that keep astronauts busy, not to mention repairing their own spaceship.
To win the contest, participants should dream up a wonderful space experiment and demonstrate the concept in a video through Youtube. The most brilliant idea doesn’t only win the competition, the winner also wins a chance to have the experiment conducted (by astronaut) in space. Meanwhile, Youtube will live broadcast the process.
It is really amazing to see how far Web 2.0 can bring us to. We have get used to the cases which video sharing and blogs enable people become famous by showing talents related to arts, daily knowledge and entertainment. Now, the Space Lab project extends the area to space science.
I also feel rather surprised by the power of Google. Who could predict the dramatic development of this search engine company ten years ago? From search engine to email service and then Google Earth, it is now stepping in space stations.
Very interesting post - NASA seems to be constantly leveraging the 'wisdom of crowds': take a look at their clickworkers project for another example of collective intelligence at work.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing this funny post. For the last generation, although many people have talents, they are difficult to find the ways to show them. I do really think Web 2.0 gave us a lot of chances to present our talents. I remember a singing competition also utilizes Youtube to give young talents a chance to present themselves.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your sharing. As you mentioned the dramatic rise of Google in the past decade, I keep imagining what our lives would become now without Google. As students, we would face great difficulties in doing research and group projects. As an iPhone user, I could no longer enjoy the free global positioning system on Google Map. In fact, Google has permeated into almost every aspect of our lives. While Google has taken a big step in collaborating with NASA, what it really cares about is individuals like us. I am looking forward to the live broadcast of the space experiment.
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