Introduction of me, and some feedback mainly on the website. | Welcome Center | Forum

I just joined, perhaps I can help is some way.

Some info on myself:

I'm Dutch. I'm the co-owner of a gamescompany called FourceLabs. We focus on designing physical games, playful environments (http://www.fourcelabs.com/index_eng.html). I'm writing from my personal perspective, but the link to our company might be made in the (far) future, because I'd love to create games for astronauts one day.

Like probably many people, I have no idea how much time I can devote to this, but lets just see how it goes.

My main skill that might come in handy here is interaction designer.

- Perhaps I can give some feedback or suggestions for the website.

- Maybe when something has to be designed that people will use I can help in some way.

I'll probably also have some ideas on how this good/should be organized, but it will take some time to get to know this place, before I can probably say something useful about that.

Let me try to be useful with some quick feedback. I have feedback on:

• The website, getting people to participate
• Donate here
• Timeline
• Homepage mission (small detail)
• Video
• About > human faces
• Make it look real

Website feedback, getting people to participate

- The site looks nice and clean.

- On the long run, the most important part is probably making it extremely easy for people to understand if and how they can help, giving their skillset. The page on 'get involved' is a nice start. But it sort of stops there. You have to digg in to the Wiki or Forum. The less people have to deal with those things and get straight to the helping the cause part, the better. Once people have invested some time and got positive feedback, they are far more willing to invest time and energy in how tools like a wiki works.

I'd like to see a huge button that says 'find out how you can help', and then go to some sort 'test' or diagram where you can check your skills and see in what areas you might be helpfull. With perhaps the first question something in the line of 'how would you broadly qualify your skills' with options like:

> I can organize things

> I'm a tech guy/girl

> I can create/edit media

At the moment the website works the other way around, it shows the projects and asks if a person can contribute. The trick is probably to get someone who has just found this website as quickly as possible to to part of the website where can make themselves useful for the first time (in a very small way). Just really bitesize, 5 minutes tasks. For instance, just give a very concrete well defined problem, where probably the work is mostly done, but feedback is wanted.

Donate here

Something else; on the homepage there is a 'Donate here' button. People probably want to know what they are donating for. Just money for the foundation doesn't really do it for me (and probably for others). Something like 'we can buy our own computer servers when we have X amount of money. We need this because of Y.

If you would somewhat split the site for different target groups (I still have the organization, tech, media grouping in my head), you could make seperate donate buttons for stuff these different target groups understand and find valuable. For instance in the 'media' sub-page(s) you could place a donation where the money goes to a project that makes a weekly youtube video possible.

Timeline

I would also like to see some sort of timeline. Even if it is totaly made up and fuzzy on many parts. It makes me much more happy if I know we are al working towards something I understand or can feel. The deadline of 'once we will be on the moon' is too far, so it needs te be chopped up in smaller bits. This timeline should have milestones that might not yet have fixed dates to it, but some fixed qualities. I have no idea how to get to the Moon, but I can imagine that getting there unmaned is much easier than getting there manned. So it would make sesnse to me that getting there unmanned (OHKLA Project) is a milestone in the bigger project of getting there with people.

So if it was up to me, I would steer people attation a bit away from CLLARE and towards OHKLA, so the most energy people will spend is spent on things that are going to be done sooner. So the reward of the investment people will make will be felt sooner. The manned mission is still the shiny star that sits at the end of the timeline, so everybody is feeling that they are contributing to this bigger goal.

Homepage, missions (small detail)

The missions on the site are mentioned like this:

• • CLLARE
    (Collaborative Lunar Landing and Research Expedition)
  • CSTART
    Software Library
  • OHKLA (Open
    Hybrid Karman Line Attempt)

Probably good for people who know the site and quickly go to these subpages. But if this is something that is supposed to help new visitors to 'lure them in', you need to sell it a bit better. I'm not that much of a tech guy, maybe that's the reason that I have no idea what point 3 is saying (OHKLA (Open
Hybrid Karman Line Attempt)) . I probably don't need to know, but it would be nice to know why it is important for the bigger project.

So in short:

- make it really easy for new people to contribute quickly in a small way

- make it easy for people to understand what they are working towards, and make it feel real and realistic.

Video

Also, there is a lot text. Its probably nice to have a youtube video introduction where some guy/girl is explaining the main goals. In the beginning I still need to be convinced this site is worth my time, so it should be really easy to understand.

About > human faces

Also on "About – Who are the people behind CSTART", I'd love to see some faces of real humans. It is not ment as an egotrip for these people, but it just helps to make everything seem more real.

Make it look real

The biggest danger for this project is probably that people will think it has no chance of survival, so everything should be geared towards making this look (and act) like something real. (I'm not saying it is not real, I'm just talking about the image). For instance, show a live webcam feed of the office (if/once there is an office).

Or build a 3D printer (http://www.popularmechanics.co…..ws/4224759) and print the designs people make for (parts of) the spaceship. Just having something physical helps I think. It is also nice to show something like that to a reporter and leave it as a gift. You can use the 3D printer as an concrete example of that open source hardware is possible, they know it's not just a story somebody made up, because they have a 3D printed piece of our spaceship design in their hands. It's hard to argue with that.

That was my feedback for now. I hope some of these things will be valuable to this project somehow.

Julius

Also feedback on this in the FAQ:

"Can I volunteer as an astronaut?

The CLLARE project is currently in far too early a stage of
development for us to have decided on or even thought about a process
for selecting candidate astronauts. Please check back later."

It is perhaps a missed opportunity to do nothing with this demand. I can image some sort of point system. Contributing to the project will earn you points (it's sort of a game). You can do things like earn badges and stuff like that, but the main reward will be that it will increase your chance of going to space. The first 'rides for joy' will be given to people from the community, based on a lottery, where people with more points will have more chance of winning. But everyone who contributed at least X, has a (small) chance of goint into space.

Perhaps you also get points if you just help the community grow in some specific way.

You'd have to set up a whole point system, but it could be a fun thing that could help grow and sustain the community.

Post edited 11:13 am – April 26, 2010 by Julius

To continue with some different things

Contact local government around space port(s) ?

http://www.kfoxtv.com/news/223…..etail.html

So New Mexico is investing in a spaceport. That might be the place to be for C-Start, apparently the local governments believes in this field:

From the website:

"The taxpayers of Dona Ana County will see a reinvestment of their

dollars come forward and that reinvestment will really be in form of

jobs and opportunity,” said Lopez."

Maybe people from that area can ask around if there are any possibilities on financing or some sort of headquarters over there?

If they are spending millions on this thing, how about some investment in a community that breeds the professional skills needed for the future. C-Start is the place where young professionals can gain experience and build up their resume. Well I don't know if that's true, but it makes for a good argument :).

Oh, and if the C-start headquarters in New Mexico will take place, I'd love for us to create some interactive playful experience around that area to grab peoples attention. I'm thinking lots of interactive lasers aimed high in the sky :).

In the end the story of C-Star is also one of uniting people around the world. A common goal to get people to work with each other and learn to overcome cultural differences and see the added value in the differences. This process is in itself valuable.

I seem to keep thinking about the marketing/PR side of things, but this 'uniting the world' is also something that companies and governments would like to align themselves with (sponsorships, government support, etc).

Persona's

I really hope this thing takes of, I see so many opportunities.. I understand you guys are now looking at the reality of having to organize this and it is very hard to guide all this chaotic energy of people and ideas, but I hope you guys keep thinking big and don't play it small and safe.

Maybe it is interesting to do a study on your target groups, using persona's

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P…..rketing%29

For instance, trying to get into the mind of the community (that still has to be formed), what is the emotional attachment? I think the basic premise of C-start is almost outrageously bold, so it attracts people who like to believe big things can happen and while perhaps in their day job they might be restricted by the current reality, in the evening they can help C-start with creating a new reality. So sub-projects could/should have that same feel to it. The pragmatic side of it comes with the execution, but the goals may be big and bold. It should also be a bit fun, like a design a badge contest.

Oh, and you guys need to do a TED-talk (if you haven't already). Or get someone to do a talk about it. It seems like a natural fit.

Hot air balloon

Totally random idea; a hot air ballon in the shape of the moon to get attention. Google left me with this (its photoshopped): http://www.freakingnews.com/Ho…..

Post edited 12:20 pm – April 26, 2010 by Julius

And another idea..

It should be possible to get Stephen Colbert into this. He's a space geek, and likes to play with online communities like this.

So NASA had an online poll for a name on the Space Station, and he got involved and now his name will be used.

http://www.npr.org/templates/s…..=103119972

So perhaps C-start can promise Colbert something (his name on the back of a space suit?) You sort of need something that is more immediate, because it has to be good tv, but I think he personally would be very much interested to get involved. Perhaps he or his team can even think along on how this could be set up so it will be a nice PR moment for you guys and good TV. It would also be nice if his community could also be somehow involved. Again, some sort of contest perhaps. Also, Colbert had Richard Branson on his show, so if you get to Colbert, you are one step away from Branson.

Maybe something with writing his name on the moon with a laser? Play on his fear of robots? Tap into his Tek Jansen science faction? Stuff like that, something grand and over the top :D. Perhaps you guys are willing to 3D print a huge Colbert Nation logo for him if he is willing to set up a meeting with Richard Branson.

I'd say, just send the colbert nation an e-maill and see what happens.. * me searching online * .. Ok I can't find a contactpage. But someone should know someone who knows his e-mail address. Someone who has been on his show like Neil deGrasse Tyson. He should be willing to help you out, he's thé space guy and would love to get more people excited about space.

You can reach him here:

http://www.haydenplanetarium.o…..on/contact

Here is the episode where he is on Colbert:

http://www.colbertnation.com/t…..asse-tyson

You can clearly see he likes to promote bold programs like C-star.

I could try to contact him, but it looks better if someone from the core team does it.

So if someone from the core team could send him a letter, or a private message on twitter or something (http://twitter.com/neiltyson), and just ask if he can help out with setting something up with Colbert and/or Richard Branson.

Good luck!

Julius

Post edited 1:41 pm – April 27, 2010 by Julius

Yes, I understand. First some infrastructure and something to show for. The persona's idea I mentioned is something that could be useful right away. You probably did something around the area of figuring out who your target group(s) are for this project and the website, but perhaps I can help in some way in that area.

I wrote a bit on this subject to explain it a bit more:

http://cstart.org/forum/sugges…..ing/#p2989

I'll see if I can give some feedback on the new website / tools when it arrives :)