Barbara A Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes

Dear Barbara A Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes, I receive your newsletter because I am interested in MAST (Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes) But I do not know all your insider acronyms. There are about 5.4 Billion Internet users now, and most of them will not know either. Perhaps you can have a checkbox (1.  Send explanations for all acronyms, 2. Send translation in Arabic, Bengali, Chinese, Danish, etc etc etc.)

Barbara A. Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes
(BAMA – STs only?)

SDSS Data ??
HLSPs ???
AAS 245! ???
STScI ???

Apache Point Observatory (MaNGA) survey

Somewhere about 20 Million of these, I simply do not want to memorize all those any more. And most humans do not have time – but are deeply interested in the universe and space.Maybe you only intend for this to reach die hard insiders. And like to throw around all the character sequences you have memorized and “all those unwashed billions are too dumb to understand”. There are people on the Internet who act that way. Most of the Internet the groups are supported because they “serve the human species”, then they talk only to full time employees of specific organizations, or only some countries, or only those with PhDs or only if they publish papers.

That is the world we live in now – fragmented, busy, overloaded with jargon and keywords that block communication or “just getting started”.  Or “explain it in full, and as I learn give me the option to use short cuts.

I know you are concerned and well intentioned.  But the world is global and becoming heliospheric. Looking out to the Milky Way Galaxy and far beyond. It takes a few minutes for you to do it properly, explain to users who memorized all that. Ask them for patience as you go global — all humans, all human languages, all domain specific languages and backgrounds. Actually add capabilities to your systems, add one of the outstanding AIs and give them ALL the acronyms and the ability to remember people. Assume they do not know, and gently ask. Remember each person, learn what they are interested in, what ideas they have, what they might hope and dream.

You do not want to make 8.2 Billion humans have to “spend decades memorizing all that” just because you did. I hope you can tell I care about astronomy in the world, but sites and groups treats most humans as disposable, unworthy, illiterate and innumerate. And then rubs it in. “We can see thing you will never even know about, we will give you pretty pictures but no real raw data or tools that we use.” “And if you are a real astronomer you will spend a lot on expensive equipment just to see real data.”

It will pay back handsomely if the humans streaming out into the universe actually know where they are going, and they can say, “computer, show me everything we need to consider and what we will see along the way”

Richard Collins, The Internet Foundation