Crowdsourcing NASA

I guess this is nice. It's always nice that you can find a picture of something you're interested in. But I'm regularly mystified by the goal of stuff like this. Are there people in the general public who have time to just "browse" over images of the Moon and Mars? I sure don't.

Is this sort of like having the wonderful restaurant down the street that you never have time to go to? If they do it, what exactly do they get by doing that browsing?

Let's not misread this as an educational opportunity. If there isn't any specific curriculum or activity that needs these images, what exactly are students "learning" by browsing? Kids who "browse" over craters, mountains, and rille valleys are just daydreaming. That's kinda useful, in it's own way, but it ain't education. It's really entertainment and perhaps a somewhat doltish form of "inspiration".

Don't get me wrong. This is wonderful stuff. But what makes it important?

Hallie, my take is that it is more like a public library - you will never read all, most or even many of the books there, yet you are happy to have it when you need it.

All-in-all I do think that it contributes to raising the general awareness and knowledge of space, though perhaps not as directly and tangibly as you'd prefer.