Recently in IT/Web Category

Analysis of DNSSEC Validation Failure Comcast - DNS Engineering, Comcast"

"How Did Users Interpret the Failure? The DNSSEC-­‐related misconfiguration of the NASA.GOV domain unfortunately occurred on the same day that some Internet websites such as Wikipedia and Reddit blacked out their sites in protest over the proposed SOPA and PIPA bills in in the U.S. Congress. ... Despite this, a website that discusses NASA-­‐related news and information, called NASA Watch (http://www.nasawatch.com) accused Comcast of blocking access to the NASA.GOV domain, seemingly on purpose."

Keith's note: Despite multiple tweets by @NASAWatch about this problem on 18 January 2012 - tweets that were responded to by @Comcast employees - no one at Comcast ever bothered to contact NASA Watch about the cause - until this report was issued. Yet they seem to place some importance on the fact that NASAWatch (and MSNBC) gave this issue prominence. We had to figure it out for ourselves. If Comcast wants people to know why things are not working for their customers, then they need to take the initiative to respond to public inquiries promptly - and not complain about things well after the fact.

Keith's note: Comcast has decided to block customer access to *.NASA.gov due, I am told, to an issue involving how NASA maintains its DNS records. Why these geniuses at Comcast chose the SOPA/PIPA protest day to do this is curious to say the least. Right now, if you are a Comcast customer, you are being purposefully denied access to one part of your government's services.

Keith's update: I have confirmed this via IT professionals at NASA and in several places across the U.S. that Comcast DNS is broken - but only for NASA.gov, it would seem.

Keith's update: Alan Boyle from MSNBC tweeted some good advice - change your DNS setting to Google's Public DNS. Info here.

Keith's update: Everything works again. Apparently NASA provided an update key for DNS and the new key did not match the Comcast key. So Comcast simply cut off DNS access for all of its customers to everything at NASA.gov. The old key has been sent by NASA and everything works again - so far.

Fifty-Seven Student Rocket Teams to Take NASA Launch Challenge

"For a complete competitor list and more information about the challenge, visit: http://education.msfc.nasa.gov/sli and http://education.msfc.nasa.gov/usli."

Keith's note: Simple, yes? Not when NASA's multiple webmasters get into the act. If you go to http://education.msfc.nasa.gov/sli you are redirected to another URL (link) that blinks too fast to copy down and then quickly redirects you again, this time to this link http://www.nasa.gov/offices/education/programs/descriptions/Student_Launch_Initiative.html. Why have the intermediary redirect? Why not just have http://education.msfc.nasa.gov/sli redirect to http://www.nasa.gov/offices/education/programs/descriptions/Student_Launch_Initiative.html?

If you go to the other link provided in this press release, http://education.msfc.nasa.gov/usli the same intermediate redirect happens and you end up at http://www.nasa.gov/offices/education/programs/descriptions/University_Student_Launch_Initiative.html

The answer you get about dueling URLs from NASA is that NASA wants to make it simple for people. I understand that and totally agree. But when you start with a simple URL, jump to another, longer URL, and then end get tossed again to the final (long) URL - that long URL is the one that you are going to save in your browser, cut and paste and share with others, go back to, etc. Why not stick with the short URL in the first place? Baffling.

NASA's Sprawling Web Presence, earlier post

"There is no uniform agency-wide process for ensuring content on the other NASA sites is accessible, updated, accurate or routinely improved. Individual programs and projects at the Centers and offices at NASA Headquarters manage their own content and are responsible for accuracy and accessibility."

NASA's Inability To Speak With One Voice Online, earlier post

"I hear constant complaints from within NASA that funds for websites, education and public outreach, and PAO are limited - and likely to be cut further. Yet the agency continues to waste money on dueling websites - and they use multiple web addressses to send people to the same website."

NASA OIG: NASA's Real Property Master Planning Efforts

"NASA's development of the Agency's first integrated master plan is a positive step toward better managing its diverse real property assets. However, we found deficiencies within the individual Center master plans the Agency is using to develop the integrated Agency plan that may limit the Plan's usefulness for making strategic real property decisions. Specifically, we found that NASA is developing its initial master plan based on Center master plans that (1) were developed using funding assumptions for the recapitalization program that are no longer realistic and (2) are missing essential information needed to make objective Agency-wide real property decisions. In addition, 5 of the 10 Centers did not develop master plans to reduce their real property footprint in accordance with Agency goals because of uncertain mission requirements."

Keith's note: According to State of the Federal Web Report, issued 16 Dec 2011 by the .gov Reform Task Force

"Some agencies, such as NASA, have a relatively small number of domains compared to other agencies, yet NASA reported the highest number of public websites, with 1,590."

NASA is quoted in this document as saying:

True number of systems unknown: Several agencies admitted that it was not clear how many CMS [Content Management System] are in use: "This number is a guess. No one at NASA knows the number with certainty."

"There is no uniform agency-wide process for ensuring content on the other NASA sites is accessible, updated, accurate or routinely improved. Individual programs and projects at the Centers and offices at NASA Headquarters manage their own content and are responsible for accuracy and accessibility."

"There is no agency-wide process for reporting the results of these center processes or establishing any of them as best practices."

Dawn Obtains First Low Altitude Images of Vesta

Keith's note: This press release says "More information about the Dawn mission is online at: http://www.nasa.gov/dawn and http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov." That's two separate websites at NASA for the same mission. But wait - there's yet another here. But you also reach this site if you go to http://www.nasa.gov/dawn. Two websites and three web addresses.

Then there are the multiple official Kepler websites: http://www.nasa.gov/kepler/, http://kepler.arc.nasa.gov/, http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/kepler/main/index.html , http://www.seti.org/kepler, and http://kepler.nasa.gov/ as well as the multiple official Cassini websites: http://www.nasa.gov/cassini , http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/cassini/main/index.html, and http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/, and so on. Virtually every NASA mission has more than one "official" NASA.gov website - and in each case the websites are regularly out of synch with one another.

Probably the most blatant example whereby NASA simply cannot make its mind up as to where an official mission website is has to do with Hubble - here are the official websites: http://hubble.nasa.gov/, http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hubble/main/index.html, http://hubblesite.org/, http://heritage.stsci.edu/, http://www.nasa.gov/hubble, and http://www.spacetelescope.org/. This recent hubble press release is typical. NASA offers 3 links - on three different official Hubble websites - for the same image.

I hear constant complaints from within NASA that funds for websites, education and public outreach, and PAO are limited - and likely to be cut further. Yet the agency continues to waste money on dueling websites - and they use multiple web addressses to send people to the same website. If you gave NASA more money would the number of websites decrease and efficiency of overall NASA website design increase? Doubtful. In a time when budgets are being cut, one would think that increased efficiency would be the focus - and that the number of duplicative websites would decrease and efficiency of NASA's overall website design would increase. Again, doubtful since the agency simply does not want - or care - to try and speak with one consistent, coordinated, efficient voice.

NASA Faces Significant Challenges in Transitioning to a Continuous Monitoring Approach for Its Information Technology Systems

"NASA Inspector General Paul K. Martin today released a report that found significant challenges with NASA's ongoing transition from an information technology (IT) security oversight approach that relied on periodic, static assessments to one that emphasizes ongoing and continuous monitoring of Agency systems."

NASA Launches apps@NASA

"NASA launched apps@NASA, a website where NASA employees and contractors can download mobile apps that securely access NASA systems. These apps enable our users to perform critical job functions at anytime from anywhere via personal and NASA mobile devices."

NASA Launches Mobile Apps Store, Information Week

"The agency was at the forefront of the feds' adoption of cloud computing, building its own cloud infrastructure, Nebula, that it is using internally to host applications and services. Mobile applications are another area in which NASA has been an early adopter, offering apps for both iPhones and Android devices. However, its mobile apps store for employees is a bit thin at the moment; the site currently has only two applications available in its apps store, but NASA plans to add more in the future."

Government Agencies Go Google+, Information Week

"Most of the agencies thus far have been posting news, multimedia, and information of the type one might expect to be posted on their Facebook pages or Twitter feeds. For example, with the exception of a post introducing itself to Google+, the Marine Corps' Google+ posts have thus far been carbon copies of its posts on its official Facebook page. Since joining Google+, NASA has been the most active of the new entrants with almost two dozen posts, mostly images and multimedia, and many of them different from information shared on other social media platforms. The page already has more than 18,000 followers."

United States Attorney Southern District of New York Press Event with NASA Inspector General

"A press conference will be held today to announce charges against seven individuals who engaged in a sophisticated, international Internet fraud scheme that infected more than four million computers in over 100 countries and manipulated online advertising.

- Preet Bharara, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York
- Janice K. Fedarcyk, Assistant Director-In-Charge of the New York Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation
- Paul Martin, Inspector General of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Office of Inspector General"

U.S. Attorney Charges Seven Individuals For Engineering Sophisticated Internet Fraud Scheme, Department of Justice

"Of the computers infected with malware, at least 500,000 were in the United States, including computers belonging to U.S. government agencies, such as NASA; educational institutions; non-profit organizations; commercial businesses; and individuals."

NASA Internal Memo: Goddard Libraries Transition to Electronic Services

"Beginning January 1, 2012, the NASA Goddard libraries at Greenbelt and Wallops will transition to an all-electronic activity. In response to changes in the research environment and to Center-driven resource priorities, we will no longer maintain a physical presence but will focus on supporting the research needs of the Goddard community electronically. ... Closing of the physical libraries is a strategic move to repurpose resources and refocus efforts toward enhanced electronic collections and new services vital for Goddard to continue to be productive and competitive in scientific research. "

Keith's note: So what does this mean with regard to the books and other printed items that already exist in the GSFC library i.e. "Closing of the physical libraries"? Is GSFC going to just get rid of everything? And if a book or journal is not in electronic format ... too bad. I am sure historians will just love this. And this is a "strategic move"?

Keith's Note: If you watch the live video from the Aquarius undersea habitat you can see that the NEEMO-15 crew are currently using tablet computers. According to an interview I did a few minutes ago, NEEMO-15 crew member Astronaut Shannon Walker says that they use these tablet computers to track their mission tasks. Walker also said that there will be several tablet computers aboard the next Progress cargo flight to the International Space Station. When asked, she was not able to say what brands of tablets would be going up.

Keith's update: According to NASA Public Affairs, the Russians plan to fly two iPads on the December Progress mission as a replacement for the iPod they currently have on the ISS The only use for these two iPads will be for entertainment. The Russians have no plans to use them operationally. NASA is still reviewing other tablet systems and plans to fly at least one more next year although the brand that they will fly is still TBD.

NASA OIG Annual Report: Federal Information Security Management Act: Fiscal Year 2011 Evaluation

"Overall, the Agency established and is maintaining a program for each of the 11 areas listed above. However, the Agency's programs for risk management, configuration monitoring management, and POA&M need significant improvements as they do not include all required attributes identified by the Department of Homeland Security."

data.nasa.gov API Now Available

"The data.nasa.gov API allows a machine-readable interface to return metadata from the site organized by category, tag, date, or search term. We're hoping this allows new and creative visualizations of the data resources NASA provides to the public. Additionally, it is a learning experience for us as we work to expand transparency, participation, and collaboration at NASA through new uses of technology. You can view documentation on the API directly on data.nasa.gov."

NASA Announces International Space Apps Competition

"NASA is announcing the International Space Apps Competition to support the Open Government Partnership (OGP), which President Barack Obama announced Tuesday. The challenge will culminate with a two-day event next year that will provide an opportunity for government to use the expertise and entrepreneurial spirit of citizen explorers to help address global challenges. During the event, NASA representatives and officials from international space agencies will gather with scientists and citizens to use publicly-released scientific data to create solutions for issues, such as weather impact on the global economy and depletion of ocean resources."

NASA Seeks to Communicate, Engage Public Better, TMCnet.com

"[Bolden] also said he was "disappointed" at the lack of fresh faces - "those in the back, who haven't been around for the last 10 to 20 years" - in the audience, but did not discount the attendees either. "We need your help - your ideas, your energy and your passion. What you're doing here today is very important, and I look forward to hearing more from you," Bolden said in closing, tying into the broader themes of the Future Forum, with panel discussions between academia, NASA officials, and private industry representatives featuring technology and innovation, commercial technology transfer, and inspiring education. Broader interaction with the public also came up during a question and answer session after the first panel discussion. A member of the audience suggested that the biggest problem NASA has is "preaching to the choir" - established supporters - via Twitter and the web. A discussion of broadening the base ensued. "If we have a more loud choir, more people look at what's going on in the church," NASA Chief Scientist Dr. Waleed Abdalati suggested."

Keith's note: NASA has lots of transmitters to throw things out into the media and at the public - but it has very few receivers with which to capture input from the real world. And when it does get input, it often hasn't a clue what to do with the information. There is more to this than constantly asking for input, Charlie. You need to instigate a culture shift inside your agency wherein the input NASA gets from outside itself is incorporated into how your people run the agency. NASA needs to admit that it doesn't know everything and that 'change is an option' when public input does not mesh with what the agency thinks it is supposed to be doing. As for loud choirs, Waleed, NASA often confuses momentary amplitude with real public interest. It can be difficult to hear subtle messages when all you have is a bullhorn at your disposal.

Keith's note: So ... this is the new NASA Buzzroom? If so, NASA needs to replace the responsible website contractor JESS3 ASAP. This is just a crappy Facebook feed wherein anything that people post appears on this NASA.gov website with zero moderation. One post says "NASA takes down buzzroom after too much revealed about Comet Elenin trajectory." At least this new version of Buzzroom no longer features utterly off-topic videos that featured including lynchings and 80's hair bands (see earlier stories on this failed experiment)

The NASA IT Summit is an open forum of all the best that IT offers. Members of the IT community - NASA, Federal, Industry & Academia - will gather to exchange ideas, share best practices, and learn what is new and cutting edge on the internal and external IT landscape. NASA CIO Linda Cureton will host the 2011 IT Summit at the Marriott Marquis in San Francisco - August 15-17. To chat during the session, please go to the session on the IT Summit Remote Engagement Site: http://open.nasa.gov/itsummit/

Livestreaming webcast

More information

Keith's note: Facebook's CIO Tim Campos is the opening speaker today at the IT Summit. Alas, NASA blocks access to Facebook (and Google+ etc.) NASA has multiple internal attempts to copy (badly) some of what Facebook does so there is some appreciation for the utility of these tools. Campos makes many good points. Indeed, I think Tim Campos and NASA CIO Linda Cureton need to have a serious chat during the lunch break. He says interesting things but NASA blocks access to his company's product. So how can his lessons be applied? Why can't NASA civil servants and contractors use Facebook (or Google+) or both? And please don't throw "firewall" or "ITAR" nonsense back at me in the comments section. If NASA can reprogram 30+ year old Voyager spacecraft outside our solar system surely they can figure out how to offer employees the same tools that the rest of the world uses.

Working at NASA in 2011 is like driving a car that only has an AM radio - with only one speaker.

Keith's clarification: While some people can clearly access (and interact with) Facebook and other social media sites from their desks at NASA others tell me that they cannot. Due to the retaliatory mindset at NASA I am not going to identify where these people are. Suffice it to say, there is no consistent, agency-wide policy as to what people inside NASA can or cannot access out in the real world.

Keith's note: NASA's Webb Space Telescope Twitter account is promoting AURA JWST lobbying materials:

"We've just added a link on our site to this page from AURA which has a collection of statements of support for JWST: bit.ly/okj0Cr"

Reader note: Read the following on the Direct TV web site regarding NASA TV. So they now want to charge $10.00 extra but not deliver HD. "Is NASA TV still available on DIRECTV? Yes, DIRECTV will still offer NASA TV on Channel 289. However, starting August 3, 2011, NASA TV will only be available to customers who have DIRECTV HD equipment and are subscribed to HD Access ($10/month). But please note: NASA TV will remain a standard definition channel. Upgrade to HD online or call us at 1-800-531-5000."

NASA Launches New Open Government Blog

"The site is a collaborative blog for the open government community to highlight the ways that transparency, participation, and collaboration are being embraced throughout the agency. "NASA is committed to experimenting with and embracing new participatory ways of collaboration," said Linda Cureton, the agency's chief information officer. "The launch of open.NASA is a new chapter in NASA's culture of openness and an exciting new way to engage citizens in our activities."

White House Announces Plans to Shut Down Hundreds of Duplicative Data Centers as Part of Campaign to Cut Waste

"To date, agencies have closed 81 data centers and will close 114 more during this calendar year for a total of 195 in 2011.This represents an increase in both planned and actual closures from the data released in April 2011. As agencies have continued to update their data center inventories, they have increased their planned closures, demonstrating the seriousness in which they are attacking waste."

Keith's note: 15 10 centers at NASA have been or will be closed (list)

NASA Open Source Summit Proceedings Online

"On March 29 & 30, NASA hosted its first Open Source Summit at Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California. The event brought engineers and policy makers from across NASA together with well-respected members of the open source community together to discuss current challenges with NASA's open source policy framework, and propose modifications that would make it easier for NASA to develop, release, and use open source software."

Why Do You Have to Type out 'www' to Get to our Website?, NASA

"It seems really simple - just three letters. But they seem to annoy some of our users, who have let us know: "Why do I have to type www.nasa.gov and not just nasa.gov? Don't you people even know the basics of running a web site?"

Marc's Note: I read this blog post and my jaw dropped. I've complained before that I didn't understand why I couldn't just type nasa.gov in any browser to get to NASA's web site. After all, technically it's a simple change to the domains Domain Name System (DNS) entry. Now I have the answer, NASA says it's an expensive move. Huh! Ok, sure NASA is a very popular web site. But changing the DNS entry so that queries typed in a browser as http://nasa.gov get redirected to http://www.nasa.gov shouldn't add prohibitive costs. No way.

NASA Internal Memo: Transformation of Agency Information Technology (IT) Services

"The Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO) is integrating and consolidating many IT services throughout the Agency. This new effort is called the IT Infrastructure Integration Program, or I3P. It will affect every employee who uses IT services such as: desktops, laptops, networks, etc.  The scope of I3P is broad, entailing consolidation, improved governance, and central management of IT services in the areas of service desk and ordering, Web services and technologies, enterprise business and management applications, integrated communications/network services, and end-user services.  Roll-out schedules will vary by each Center. Each Center's Chief Information Officer will send out more detailed information, but below you'll find a high-level summary of the new program."

Keith's note: I just got an email complaint from SMD regarding this calendar listing for the NASA Advisory Council Science Committee Planetary Science Subcommittee Meeting. NASA claims that I "typed" the webex passwords wrong. I did not "type" anything. I copied the notice VERBATIM from the Federal Register here which says "PSS--Apr18" and "PSS--Apr19". I have corrected the passwords, per the NASA SMD email, to read "PSS_Apr18" and "PSS_Apr19". It would seem from the email complaint I got that NASA JPL uses my site to update its staff (thanks guys!) but I find it to be a little curious how people seem to find out about these important advisory meetings via NASA Watch and SpaceRef - and not from NASA SMD itself ...

"As part of the NASA Open Government plan released on April 7, 2010, NASA announced more than 150 milestones related to integrating Open Government into the agencies programs and projects. To celebrate the one year anniversary of our plan, we've released a new infographic to communicate our first year of progress toward becoming more transparent, participatory, and collaborative. While we've set high goals, we're committed to incorporating open government into every facet of our mission. We have made great progress in some areas; others have taken longer than we anticipated and extra time is required to fully realize the goals. We hope this will clearly communicate our progress and keep you informed of new and exciting things within NASA. All of these goals are fluid - you'll see growth and movement as we work to determine the best path toward openness. If you have any questions or comments, we encourage you to visit our new NASA Open Government Initiative website at http://www.nasa.gov/open and share your ideas."

View the project status infographic.

NASA To Host Open Source Summit March 29-30 In California

"NASA will host a summit about open source software development on March 29-30 at the agency's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif. The event runs from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. PDT on both days. NASA's first Open Source Summit will bring together engineers, policy makers and members of the open source community. Participants will discuss the challenges within the existing open source policy framework and propose modifications to facilitate NASA's development, release and use of software."

Register as a remote participant.

Live streaming of the event can be found here.

NASA OIG: Inadequate Security Practices Expose Key NASA Network to Cyber Attack

"The OIG review found that six computer servers associated with information technology (IT) assets that control NASA spacecraft and contain critical data had vulnerabilities that would allow a remote attacker to take control of or render them unavailable. Moreover, once inside the Agency-wide mission network, the attacker could use the compromised computers to exploit other weaknesses we identified, a situation that could severely degrade or cripple NASA operations. We also found network servers that revealed encryption keys, encrypted passwords, and user account information to potential attackers."

NASA spacecraft vulnerable to cyber-attack, Nature

"Gail Robinson of the OIG's office tells Nature the IG can't say publicly which systems are affected for security reasons, but that it has told NASA the information. Although only six examples were documented, the IG report makes clear that up to 130 systems could be affected by the inconsistent oversight."

Houston, We Have a Problem: Critical NASA Systems Vulnerable, PC World

"Anup Ghosh, founder and chief scientist for Invincea, noted that events like the recent attacks against HBGary, RSA, and Comodo, and this audit report from NASA might lead IT admins to ask: "If it is happening to organizations like these, can it happen to us?" But, Ghosh says the better question to ask is: "If it is happening to the top security companies, is it happening everywhere?" Ghosh volunteers the answer to that question, saying it is undoubtedly "yes"."

NASA Computer Servers Insecure, Open to 'Catastrophic' Attack, PC Magazine

"What's the problem? The OIG said NASA has been slow to act on a recommendation it made in May 2010 that NASA secure its networks. At that point, the OIG told NASA to immediately establish an IT security oversight program for its mission network, but as of February 2011, NASA had done nothing."

Space Mission Networks at Risk of Major Breach, Govinfosecurity

"NASA CIO Linda Cureton, in a letter to the IG, generally concurred with the IG's recommendations, saying she will work with mission directorates and centers to develop a comprehensive approach by Sept. 30 to ensure that Internet-accessible computers on NASA's mission networks are routinely identified, vulnerabilities are continually evaluated and risks are promptly mitigated. In addition, Cureton said she will develop and implement a strategy for conducting an Agency-wide risk assessment by Aug. 31."

NASA CIO staff continue to make their own rules when it comes to setting up websites outside the NASA firewall for official purposes - websites with no security in place, according to postings on the NASA Forward Maker Camp website.

Keith's note: According to NASA GSFC's Jon Verville (@jonverve): "We are following the precedent set by OSTP/GSA here: http://expertnet.wikispaces.com/Getting+Started Please cite the NPR/NPD requirement which restricts the use of non-NASA websites." My response: "Your group is not operating this website according to NASA policy per NASA HQ. Precedents in other agencies do not count. Otherwise all NASA NPDs can be ignored since someone somewhere else always does things differently. Why have any rules at all?"

I wonder what would happen if CIO staff were to randomly walk around the agency and ask people what would happen if they went out and set up their own website outside the firewall for a project they were working on - or ask management what their reaction would be if their staff just went off and did this. The answer should be obvious. It would certainly be nice if NASA were much more open in this regard - but it is not there yet. Instead of breaking the rules (or making them up ad hoc) these CIO staffers need to set an example and follow their own rules. And if the rules are not working, they need to cite the problems, and then then change the rules. Otherwise having rules of any sort is pointless.

I fail to understand why NASA CIO sets standards that the entire agency has to follow when it comes to website hosting, security etc. and then their own staff can go do whatever they want in this regard. Why should anyone else at NASA bother to adhere to these rules - or pay attention to what the CIO says? Does the "precedent" that Verville mentions have any official bearing on NASA rules and regulations? If so, then where is the NPR/NPD that says so? Otherwise you can't just assume that you can do something simply because someone else did it.

Mixed Messages From NASA CIO Staff, earlier post

NASA's Chief Technology Officer for IT Chris Kemp Is Leaving The Agency

"Deciding to leave NASA has not been easy, and is something I've been struggling with for the past few months. About a month ago, I mentioned to one of my mentors that "it's a very difficult time to be an entrepreneur at NASA." She responded "is it ever a good time to be an entrepreneur at NASA?" Reflecting on this, I realized that most of my accomplishments at NASA were not at Headquarters, but out in the field where I could roll up my sleeves and work on projects and get stuff done. Whereas I thought I had the best of both worlds being a Headquarters employee stationed in Silicon Valley, I actually had the worst of both worlds... no influence when I can't be in all of those meetings at NASA HQ, with no mandate to manage projects at Ames. As budgets kept getting cut and continuing resolutions from Congress continued to make funding unavailable, I saw my vision for the future slowly slip further from my grasp. So, today, I am announcing that I am leaving the place I dreamed of working as a kid to find a garage in Palo Alto to do what I love."

Keith's note: NASA employees Nick Skytland @skytland, Chris Gerty @gerty, Stephanie Schierholtz @schierholz. VeronicaMcGregor (JPL) @VeronicaMcG , and Doug Ellison (JPL) @doug_ellison (and others) are currently attending SXSW (South by Southwest), an "Annual music, film, and interactive conference and festival held in Austin.". There are several panels and sessions (like this one chaired by Nick Skytland) that deal directly or partially with space exploration. It will be curious to see if any of these NASA folks write travel reports or make blog postings that describe what they saw - and what they learned - or if they will simply post a few scattered Tweets instead. Indeed, NASA's social media experts spend far too much time talking to each other - and less actually interacting with the public and other co-workers which (so I thought) was the whole point to begin with.

One would hope that they'd share what they learned - in some detail - (along with their presentations at SXSW) with the rest of the agency and the public. Curiously, Skytland et al only post their presentations (like the one for today's session) made as NASA employees at opennasa.com - never at NASA.gov. Even though Skytland is travelling as a NASA representative, he uses his personal website address and not NASA's. Many of the sites he discusses are not NASA-sponsored at all. You'd think that a NASA person would be giving a NASA presentation.

In addition, Skytland's presentation is not Section 508 compliant - a requirement for all NASA presentations posted online.

WALLOPS: Comment sought on moving main gate of NASA, Delmarva.com

"NASA is seeking comments from the public on its draft Environmental Assessment (EA) of potential impacts from proposed improvements at the Wallops Flight Facility main base entrance. NASA is proposing to improve the main base entrance to increase personnel safety and decrease congestion. .... The draft EA is available on the internet at: http://wff.nasa.gov/code250/MERP_DEA.html A description of means for submitting comments may be found on the website. Public comments on the draft EA are requested by April 12, 2011."

Keith's note: I am not sure how the "public" would ever know about this if it were not for newspapers since Wallops makes no mention of this on their website. I guess the locals are happy that they have newspapers with websites that do NASA's PR work. Oh yes, the web link from Code 250 in this article does not seem to be working.

Reader note: "For future reference, most if not all of NASA's URL's must have "www" prepended (e.g., nasa.gov doesn't work, www.nasa.gov does). Until this gets fixed by the Wallops' webmaster, try www.wff.nasa.gov/code250/MERP_DEA.html."

Keith's note: Looks like Beth Beck has finally decided to fix some major problems with NASA Buzzroom. When you visit now you get this message: "We're in the process of making Buzzroom better for our users. We appreciate your patience. Please check back in the future." The sad thing is that it took people outside the agency to notice these problems and bring them to NASA's attention before they took action. Virtually no one inside the agency seemed to have problems with the goofy, off-topic, and sometimes reprehensible content that this website's managers approved for posting - or simply did not notice.

- NASA Buzzroom Is Broken. Please Fix It. (Updated with SOMD Response), earlier post
- Pseudoscience and Profane Videos Featured Online at NASA.gov, earlier post
- Today's NASA Buzzroom Video Pick: Bowling For Soup US Tour, earlier post

Keith's note: Right now a featured video on NASA Buzzroom is "Bowling For Soup US Tour". (original on YouTube). Is this appropriate? No mention of outer space. So ... what do you do? If you go to NASA Buzzroom, and scroll to the bottom of the page you will see this notice: "This site collects community content about NASA. We invite you to join the conversation! If you find something you don't think belongs, please let us know! Page Last Updated: March 6th, 2011; Page Editor: JESS3; NASA Official: Beth Beck" One small problem: they do not provide a link or an email address. So ... how does one "let them know"?

Keith's note: Yesterday I made note of a broken website - NASA Buzzroom's video page. One feature of this site is to grab videos posted on YouTube - automatically - and post them on a nasa.gov webpage and add a comment feature. Nice idea - it lets people see what others think about NASA. One small problem - humans are not in the loop at NASA. At one point I found a video that had been on nasa.gov for weeks that depicted a bloody lynching and featured a non-stop stream of profanity. NASA eventually got around to deleting it - once I complained (Google cached version).

I complained about lots of other videos that simply had no reason whatsoever to be on a taxpayer-funded space agency website. Eventually, once someone at NASA saw these videos mentioned by me, they were removed. This process seems to be working backwards. I find these videos simply by looking at the video page. NASA deletes them - but only when I make public note of their location. The NASA folks seem to be utterly incapable of making a decision as to what is in appropriate on their own - or identifying inappropriate videos that have been on their site for weeks (or longer). Nor are they able to fix the problem inherent in this website's design in the first place. Given the way they set up this site, it would seem that no one in SOMD's crack Internet squad ever tested this website before putting it online.

To compound things, they simply take videos off of their webpage because one person (me) complains. That's not right. As such, they clearly don't have any established guidelines for removal of videos either.

Right now a clip from the notoriously horrid Howard the Duck from the 1980s is gracing a nasa.gov page. It is harmless but pointless when it comes to space exploration. The NASA SOMD Internet guys will eventually delete it (this is the video on YouTube). But they will only delete it because I complained. FAIL.

Curiously, while NASA told me - officially - that the NASA lawyers had told them - that they could not link to this rather popular video "NASA - The Frontier Is Everywhere" that went viral a month or so ago, this NASA Buzzroom website links to it. So ... there is a bright side to the way this page works. Too bad the people who run this site do not take its design or upkeep seriously.

Pseudoscience and Profane Videos Featured Online at NASA.gov, earlier post

Keith's update: Beth Beck from SOMD sent me this in response to an inquiry as to how content is approve for posting on NASA Buzzroom. She is responsible for this page at NASA.gov. The full exchange is below. In a nutshell whoever is responsible for this website is incompetent and should be relieved of this responsibility. You see, this is the sort of material that the current process allows to be posted and approved:

All I want for Christmas (for NASA), NASA LaRC CTO Rich Antcliff

"My grown up Christmas list for NASA:

- ULA and Charlie Brown's football. They hung it out in front of us just to make us salivate and than quickly took it back when the political pressure warmed up - gutless reaction. This is micromanagement at its worst."

... Plus some cogent comments on NASA IT.

NASA JSC Solicitation: Open Innovation Support Services for Internal Collaboration Support Platform and Intermediary

"NASA/JSC has a requirement for Open Innovation Support Services for internal collaboration support platform and intermediary to provide the capability for NASA employees to collaborate within and across the NASA organizations promoting internal collaboration and the identification of solutions to internal challenges by internal personnel and expertise. NASA/JSC intends to purchase the items from InnoCentive, Inc. InnoCentive, Inc. has the required infrastructure and personnel required to support the internal based platform and has an experience base that included an internet based ".com" and an internal based platform. Use of any other system would require duplication of work and loss of existing infrastructure that has already been designed for NASA, tested, validated and approved. The loss of infrastructure cannot be recovered through competition without substantial duplication of time, costs and risk to timely and successful implementation."

What Is Open Innovation at JSC?, Previous Post

NASA Innovation Pavilion, Innocentive

Keith's note: Hmm ... a sole cource contract for "open innovation support". Shouldn't there be multiple paths to "open innovation"? Is this a JSC-only product? The solicitation says "NASA/JSC has a requirement ..." yet the "NASA Innovation Pavilion" mentions JSC, GRC, and LaRC (not not other field centers). Additional solicitations also point to NASA/JSC requirements - not the agency as a whole. Confusing.

- NASA JSC Solicitation: Open Innovation Support Services for a Consortium Network Builder Platform Provider
- NASA JSC Solicitation: Open Innovation Support Services for an External Crowd Sourcing Platform

Keith's note: Someone in charge of the automatic email distribution list for NASA NSPIRES needs to fix the settings such that everyone cannot send email to everyone else complaining about the email that everyone is sending to everyone else.

Update from NSPIRES: "This morning, we encountered an issue where an individual replied back to an email notice about a 2011 EPSCoR Research Announcement. Unfortunately, all individuals on the mail list were able to see this person's reply. Please be advised that the technical issue that allowed this email response to occur has been addressed and no further 'mass replies' should occur. This situation has caused confusion and concern among many of the recipients of this email, and for that, the NSPIRES group extends its apologies to all."

Keith's note: According to a Tweet by @KevinDJones, a NASA MSFC-associated social networking consultant, "Recording videos for NASA's soon-to-be ExplorNet. I love this!"

I'll be willing to bet that most of NASA knows nothing about "NASA's soon-to-be ExplorNet". Expect some confusion, though: the name is already is use elsewhere. But this domain is for sale.

Preparing for the Space Shuttle Program's Retirement: A Review of NASA's Disposition of Information Technology Equipment

"NASA Inspector General Paul K. Martin today released a report that found significant weaknesses in the sanitization and disposal of NASA computers and hard drives used in the Space Shuttle Program. These weaknesses resulted in information technology (IT) equipment being sold or prepared for sale even though it still contained sensitive NASA data. This Office of Inspector General (OIG) audit examined IT sanitization practices at four NASA Centers - Kennedy and Johnson Space Centers and Ames and Langley Research Centers - and found serious issues at each. We concluded that NASA did not ensure the proper sanitization of excess IT equipment before releasing it outside Agency control."

Keith's note: Here's the premise: Random Hacks of Kindness (RHoK) - a series of long workshops (often known as "Hackathons") are held in multiple locations around the world wherein people come together to share their skills and create things (software etc.) that can be of use to others locally and globally. Wonderful idea. NASA becomes involved - thus offering the potential to bring its resources to bear - and ingest ideas from external and novel resources. Doubly wonderful - I can smell the synergy. Add in NASA's Deputy Administrator, the Secretary General of the United Nations at the opening session and there's an emergent property - one of heightened visibility for the concept and the participants. I'm sold. Marvelous concept. Gimme more.

NASA sends representatives from the Chief Technologist's and Chief Information Officer's organizations.  What are they doing? Well, that's uncertain.  NASA civil servant participants Robbie Schingler (NASA HQ CTO Chief of Staff) and Nick Skytland (NASA HQ CIO office) and perhaps others are big fans of social media tools yet they did little to use these tools other than to retweet several generic items about the event as a whole. They made no mention of what they - or NASA - were actually doing at this event.  Were they coding?  Organizing? What? So much for being "open and transparent".  This is especially ironic given that Schingler and Skytland work on NASA's Open Gov efforts, often serving as agency evangelists in this regard.

NASA Internal memo: Message to Headquarters Employees Regarding WikiLeaks and Government Requirements on Handling Classified Information

"This is a reminder for all employees that classified information, even if posted in the public domain, remains classified and should not be accessed, downloaded, copied, or retransmitted utilizing Government IT resources or equipment. Although information posted to WikiLeaks is in the public domain, the information remains classified. The NASA Headquarters Information Technology and Communications Division (ITCD) has initiated temporary blocks to the WikiLeaks sites. The purpose of the block is to protect NASA's administration network from inadvertently storing spilled "classified" data."

NASA Launches Open Gov Status Dashboard

"Some ideas, on the other hand, have taken a little longer than we anticipated and need some extra time in order to be done correctly. To articulate the status of all of these milestones, we're launching the new Open Government Status Dashboard, which details the status of all 39 three-month goals in an easy-to-read format. We'll work to keep this status page updates as milestones are achieved."

Keith's note: Of course, as eager as this group is, they never seem to get press releases out to tell people what they are doing. This item was posted a month ago at NASA.gov.

NASA, the White House and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals Lead Government, Non Profit and Industry Trade Groups in Social Media, Online Strategy

"NASA, the White House and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) outpace other public sector organizations when it comes to social media savvy and online strategy, according to the first annual Digital IQ Index(R) for the Public Sector."

Keith's update: Here we go again. One tweet and a retweet from several NASA civil servants. That's it. Yet again, no press release, or coordinated NASA.gov use of social media to promote a study that recognizes NASA's social media prowess. How ironic.

Keith's 3:30 pm Update update: NASA finally got around to issuing a press release at 3:00 pm EST 15 hours after it was released by others - and thus missed a whole news cycle. So much for making the best use of "social media and online strategy".

Annual Report Federal Information Security Management Act: Fiscal Year 2010 Report from the Office of Inspector General

"Although our audit work identifies challenges to and weaknesses in NASA's information technology (IT) security program, we believe that the Agency is steadily working to improve its overall IT security posture. Our report to OMB cited that NASA established a program for certification and accreditation, security configuration management, incident response and reporting, security training, Plans of Actions and Milestones, remote access, account and identity management, continuous monitoring, business continuity/disaster recovery, and overseeing systems operated by contractors. However, we found that internal controls for these areas needed improvements."

Chinese Computer Trumps US One as World's Fastest, CNBC

"A Chinese scientific research center has built the fastest supercomputer ever made, replacing the United States as maker of the swiftest machine, and giving China bragging rights as a technology superpower. The computer, known as Tianhe-1A, has 1.4 times the horsepower of the current top computer, which is at a national laboratory in Tennessee, as measured by the standard test used to gauge how well the systems handle mathematical calculations, said Jack Dongarra, a University of Tennessee computer scientist who maintains the official supercomputer rankings."

Chinese Supercomputer Likely to Prompt Unease in U.S., WS Journal

"But Mr. Dongarra and other researchers said the machine should nevertheless serve as a wake-up call that China is threatening to take the lead in scientific computing--akin to a machine from Japan that took the No. 1 position early in the past decade and triggered increased U.S. investment in the field."

Astronaut Doug Wheelock Checks In With Foursquare From International Space Station

"NASA astronaut and International Space Station Commander Doug Wheelock became the first person to "check in" from space Friday using the mobile social networking application Foursquare. Wheelock's check in to the space station launches a partnership between NASA and Foursquare to connect its users to the space agency, enabling them to explore the universe and discover Earth. The partnership also features a customized section of the Foursquare website for NASA, where the agency will provide official tips and information about the nation's space program in locations throughout the United States."

Announcing the Launch of IaaS, powered by Nebula

"Today, the pre-release of NASA Cloud Services, powered by Nebula is available to all NASA personnel. Plans call for the pre-release to be seamlessly transitioned to production after the Operational Readiness Review (ORR) is completed in the coming weeks."

NASA wants to run space missions, not data centers, ComputerWorld

"NASA CTO Chris Kemp said he believes that compute resources are fundamentally a utility, no different than electric power. And "we don't own power plants right now - we don't own other services that are provided as utilities," he said "I don't see why NASA needs to operate any infrastructure," said Kemp. "We can build space probes, we can build deep space networks, we can stay out on the frontiers, where the American public wants us to be and not spend over $1 billion a year on it infrastructure."

OpenStack: An Open Cloud Initiative Makes its 1st Release, ReadWrite Cloud

"It's official. Open Stack has made its first release. It's a major moment for the nascent open cloud initiative, a service that combines the Rackspace object storage capabilities with NASA's Nebula, the open computing effort from the U.S federal space agency."

NASA Open Government Summit Emphasized Data Exchange

"NASA is working to publish more of its data sets online and create more opportunities to engage with the public using digital tools. This was a major part of the discussion during the monthly Open Government Community Summit at NASA Headquarters in Washington last week. NASA's Office of the Chief Information Officer and Office of the Chief Financial Officer hosted the meeting. The event brought leaders from both government and public sectors together to discuss transparency, participation and collaboration in an era of emerging new technologies, maturing systems and increased generation of open data."

"The Open Government Community Summit Series is an inter-agency collaborative event hosted by a different agency each month. Several working groups have formed out of previous workshops, and the focus for the final two workshops of 2010 is to actually build-- not just talk about-- the infrastructure (i.e. collective knowledge resources and standard operating procedures) necessary to sustain the open government community over the long haul. This month's summit is generously hosted by NASA and facilitated by the Open Forum Foundation."