Space vs. Satire: Stephen Colbert Puts NASA in a Submission Hold

Posted to Colbert Nation by #1threattoamericaStephen Colbert fans coming here probably already know that he was the top vote getter in NASA's public competition to name the Space Station's Node 3.  It is prominently posted on the Colbert Nation website and there are hundreds of articles on the web talking about it.

What I'm impressed by is how well Colbert is able to energize his community by encouraging them to be interactive.  His site includes the Green Scream Challenge to upload videos of cover versions of the Colbert Report theme song, a Facebook page, a blog, and a community forum discussion board (including, in the spirit of Lawrence Lessig, Colbert's permission for fans to upload remix videos of his images and words - I had to put one at the end of this post ;-).

The NASA voting competition ended on Friday with almost 1.2 million total votes cast. And while NASA had originally provided four suggestions modeled after its desire that, "The name should reflect the spirit of exploration and cooperation embodied by the space station," it also provided a write-in option. 

Enter Stephen Colbert.

Over the past month he urged his fans to take action and write-in his name for the contest. Although, to me, it doesn't seem to fit his character when considering that a major role of the module will be to act as the:

Water Recovery System (WRS) and Urine Processor Assembly (UPA), which take waste water from the station and purify it, separating any contaminants and making it safe for the crew to drink

Ok, maybe he'd like being associated with "purity."

Anyway, the Associated Press reported yesterday that Colbert received 40,000 more votes than the top NASA suggestion, Serenity. Colbert Wins!

The official naming will occur next month, and NASA spokesman, John Yembrick, reports that they will make the most suitable choice, with top vote getters getting "the most consideration."

You'd think that NASA, an agency struggling to promote itself over the past few decades, would jump at the chance to latch on to a bit of "cool geekdom" rather than serene geekiness--but really, who knows.

Even one of the agency's own appropriators, Congressman Chaka Fattah (D-PA), is calling for the people's vote to stand:

NASA decided to hold an election to name its new room at the international space station and the clear winner is Stephen Colbert. The people have spoken, and Stephen Colbert won it fair and square - even if his campaign was a bit over the top.

And be wary, whatever you are, more suggested naming possibilities are on the way with Stephen's Fantasy Namesake Photo Challenge.

And now, I leave you with a little "Mouth-of-Madness" remix, 'cause Colbert gets it:

Taste the March Madness: Coke Zero and the NCAA Helping Fans Crowdsource Their Enthusiasm

Image from NCAA/Coke Zero's Taste the Madness website (by Danny Yunez)The NCAA Men's College Basketball Championship Tournament is so much a part of American culture that we usually refer to it by not one, but two nicknames: March Madness and The Big Dance.  (Of historical note, it was a director of the Illinois High School Association's championship basketball tournament that first coined the term "March Madness" in 1939.  Brent Mussburger is credited with referring to it in association with the NCAA tournament in 1982.)

Marketers are, as always, latched on to the event.  The engagement aspects begin with CBS offering free streaming video of all the games online--a super smart move they made last year for the first time.

Directly tied-in to this is sponsorship from Coke Zero (among others) that supports the NCAA's streaming video effort. What's interesting is that the banner ad for Coke Zero links to a microsite, Taste the Madness, where fans can upload their own photos and videos, cataloging personal experiences with their team's basketball madness (videos are also cross-posted to YouTube). The NCAA and Coke Zero will also feature some of these uploads during the tip-off period before the start of the championship game. 

Fans from the major NCAA conference teams are driving the content so far (not a surprise), and some fans are even showing a sense of humor...

Did your team lose in the first round? Is the tournament already over for you? I know you feel bad, but the following clip will surely remind you... It Could Be Worse! (Posted by Adam Schleichkorn)

Of course, the site itself is poorly organized in many ways.  It lacks a search feature to start.  And its "most popular" section counts only the average rating, not how often a rating was given, so it is basically useless as every item with even 1 vote of 5 stars gets a top listing. It's disappointing to see so many good website ideas spoiled by poor usability.

The content on the site is a mixed bag and it doesn't appear to be getting too much traffic (interestingly, the video above has 33 views on the microsite and over 500 on YouTube), but I hope that Coke Zero (or someone else) keeps trying to nurture the idea this year and in the future.  Getting these kinds of perspectives on the tournament could be a truly great value-added experience, crowdsourced by the fans themselves.