Marspedia 2018 MARSPEDIA END OF YEAR CALL JAMES BURK Recognize Frank and Nicole 2018 MARSPEDIA END OF YEAR CALL JAMES BURK CHAiR, MARSPEDIA GOVERNING COUNCIl

2018 Accomplishments New Logo Adopted! Front page redesigned! Editorial Subcommittee Met Weekly via Zoom.us Created new Category Hierarchy. Re-categorized all 500 existing articles. Created list of Needed Articles. Technical Subcommittee made some progress and kept the wiki software up to date Student Internship Program Formed In the process of contacting 7 target schools. MDRS Crew Reports Project Formed with F.I.T. Students Beginning work later this week.

New Category Hierarchy / I. Mars Planetary Science physical description of the planet; all the science data that is collected II. Mars Spacecraft/Robotic Missions (non-human) - mission planning and execution history. III. Mars Human Exploration human exploration concepts and planning IV. Mars Human Settlement including plans & concepts, philosophical/ethical considerations, and mars analogue research V. Mars Outreach Advocacy for Mars Exploration/Settlement - people and organizations (Mars Society, Marspedia, etc), political action, and public outreach & education VI. Mars Arts and Literature Mars in literature, music, movies, plays, graphic arts, photography All categories for Marspedia roll up into the following 6 top-level categories: At the Irvine Mars Society Convention last year, James, Josh Baldwin, and I discussed the idea of applying a consistent set of categories to all Mars Society media (TMS YouTube channel, TMS MarsPapers, etc.). Then Marspedia was brought into the fold. In 2003 when I started up MarsPapers, I had examined the first conference proceedings and the stated objectives of the Mars Society, and I rather arbitrarily established 20 keywords that have been used every since to allow folks to quickly locate related papers on a topic. Of course since that time, search engines like google have turned loose their indexing robots to allow searches for words and word combinations contained in the entire text sited on each URL. But we’re all aware that those items that appear at the top of our search will be prioritized. You may find a gem of a information source ten pages deep in the search results, but who really looks that far? Most of us use some information in the highest priority items to prepare a more detailed search that may bring the cream to the top. The Editorial Subcommittee examined the current ad hoc approach of categorization of Marspedia articles and found it to be lacking a structure of how information about Mars is displayed and searched. The Subcommittee wanted a logical and navigable hierarchy of categories. This would also form the core of a new Browse experience. The new Marspedia category tree is much more focused on the future and specifically expanded on aspects of the future human exploration and permanent settlement of the Red Planet. It also focuses on outreach (advocacy) and the arts and literature to encourage individuals and the public at large to support human exploration and settlement there. Finally Marspedia is focused on providing the best source of information about past, present, and future exploration and settlement of Mars. These are goals of The Mars Society and that is why The Mars Society sponsors and manages Marspedia. We don’t apologize for the emphasis and focus on the future. That is what energizes the volunteers of The Mars Society and Marspedia. New Category Hierarchy

Plans for 2019 – Editorial Subcommittee Weekly conference call using Zoom.us service. May move to afternoon or evening times. Build out the Needed Articles. Create Index Pages for MDRS crew report content and Mars Society Conventions. Material may live elsewhere (MarsPapers, MDRS, YouTube, etc.) Support the Student Intern Program by reviewing and assigning work.

Plans for 2019 - Technical Subcommittee Finish the Category selector for the Visual Editor extension of Mediawiki. Flesh out the Mediawiki import/export procedures for sharing content with other wikis. Bulk-creating the Needed Articles as “Stubs”. Begin planning out the new Mars Atlas (the “Areology” section) An article page for every named feature on Mars A 3-D globe component that is potentially VR-enabled.

Areology Section 3-D Mars Globe, viewable on a modern web browser (WebGL) and also in VR. Each named feature is displayed. Click on a feature to get to a Marspedia article page about that feature. Zoom all the way down to ground level and walk around with “WASD” keys! Possible with MOLA data and imagery from different missions.

Q&A

Special Thanks THANK YOU TO OUR TOP VOLUNTEERS! Frank Crossman Jim LeFavre Bruce Mackenzie Shaun Moss Josh Baldwin I’m excited to talk about this project, Marspedia, which is

The Marspedia Governing Council was formed in October 2017. Current Members: James Burk (Jburk), Chair Nicole Willett (Nicolew), Vice Chair Frank Crossman (Frank C) Mike Delaney (Mdelaney) Bruce Mackenzie (BMackenzie) *Ex-Officio (Executive Director of the Mars Foundation) Carie Fay *Ex-Officio (Administrative Director of the Mars Society) James Gholston (Strangelv) *Designated Representative to Marspedia by the Moon Society Lucinda Offer Michael Stoltz

How you can help Login and improve articles. Look for stubs and other articles that need revision. Write new articles using the Needed Articles list. Help us come up with new ideas for articles. Help us grow the student internship program by contacting Universities. Tell people about it including your educator friends. Submit content that you’ve written elsewhere.