CASIS Does Not Like Macs and Keeps Its Events Semi-Secret (Update)
CASIS Media Advisory: Space, Cancer and Personalized Medicine Conference
“A live webcast of the Space, Cancer and Personalized Medicine Conference (8:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. EDT) will also be available for interested media and can be viewed via link at www.iss-casis.org.
“**Please note that in order to participate in the live stream, you may be directed to download various applications. Computers with MAC operating systems will not have the ability to view the live stream.”
Keith’s note: If CASIS had any actual IT smarts they’d use USTREAM, Livestream, or do a Google Hangout for things like this – like everyone else does. All you need is a laptop with a webcam, a microphone, and an Internet connection. Chris Hadfield can tell them how to set this up.
Oh yes: it is really nice of CASIS to give everyone less than 24 hours notice. There is no mention of this event on the ISS National Lab page, NASA’s Calendar, or even CASIS’ events page Fixed.
Keith’s update: This just goofy. Now CASIS tells Mac users “**Please note that in order to participate in the live stream, you may be directed to download a “Scopia” codec. Computers with MAC operating systems: restart your browser after installing the codec and use this link to join the conference: http://us.tryscopia.com/scopia/entry/index.jsp?ID=7658112“ Install a codec? Yea right – what a great way to install malware on your computer.
Google Hangout anyone? Is this a taste of things to come with regard to ISS utilization – convoluted instuctions for something as simple and routine as a webcast? More inept public engagement from CASIS – all while Chris Hadfield has managed to use just about every social media platform he can think of – IN ORBIT.
Another CASIS boondoggle? CASIS is also the sponsor – how much of the dwindling NASA budget is being wasted on this? IS the OIG paying attention? Who is this Timothy Yeatman and what does he know about space science? Is this being used to promote his new job at the symposium site? Conflict of Interest anyone? Who is showing up besides the usual suspects? From the conflicted sponsor/host’s own words in a recently published news article:
‘Dr. Timothy Yeatman, President of the Gibbs Research Institute. “It’s a great chance to see what science is going to be going on in our lab. It’s a great chance to see the future of the Gibbs Cancer Center.” Yeatman says the research conference, which is from 8:15 a.m. to 3:15 p.m., marks the development of the lab, the renaming of the cancer center, and the arrival of Dr. Jack Pledger, Associate Center Director for Research and Deputy Director.’
…Seems as if this meeting may be more about self-promotion than space promotion.
Keith,
You might complain about “More inept public engagement from CASIS…” but their moves are almost slight-of-hand clever. Most of the comments here focus on “codec” issues and the (in)ability to view the Space, Cancer, and Personalized Medicine Conference as opposed to inputs or comments regarding the content of the conference itself.
The exception being: as space cadets pointed out, the apparent self-promotionalism tied to Yeatman and the Gibbs Cancer Center. From the conference, perhaps the donations to the Gibbs Cancer Center will exceed the $3315 dollars CASIS has collected in its 2 year lifetime.
space cadets needs to understand that for Yeatman to know about space science isn’t a requirement and that promotion of the Cancer Center is fine too, even if it is self-promotional. There is no OIG oversight, no HQ oversight. CASIS owns half of the ISS and no one can or will stop them from doing as they please as a non-profit.
NASA gives CASIS $15 million a year. Performance to date shows that CASIS is putting out about $1 million per quarter in grants, $4 million a year. That leaves $11 million for them to cover their own payroll and outreach events like this one. A rosy equation.
Nice to see Gabriella finding the CASIS website as “cool”. She should consider donating to CASIS so the total donations move from this year’s $70 dollars to over the $100 dollar mark.
It’s unfortunate that the posts here do not discuss the content presented at the conference, the good or the bad. It’s unfortunate the videocast website has not provided for an archive of the videocast, nor has it been posted on the CASIS website or You Tube. One would think that to properly promote ISS use outreach efforts would be aimed at informing citizens by having the conference content media available for viewing. The codec issue is dust on the floor, the elephant-in-the-room is the ISS, its science and R&D and the maximal use of a $100 billion dollar U.S. asset.
npng,
Good to know that someone is willing to consider the possibility that a lot of the NASA money – although $15 million is considered by many to be a rounding error – seems to be heading down contractor pockets. The estimate of an $11 million cost of doing business for a $4 million annual spend in grants seems to support this possibility. In looking through new reports, however, I can’t seem to find even a $4 million spend number – I only counted two funded grant opportunities – 1 biology and 1 material science that totaled $1.6 million. A third was recently noted as a supplement to the first but had no official announcement and the origin of the funded grants was not disclosed in the CASIS press release. Was there an unofficial call? Is CASIS permitted to dole out money at will? Is it possible these were part of the first call? The first two possibilities almost certainly would fly against acquisition guidelines. If these last two awards were from the initial proteins call, it may be worth looking at why these were suddenly funded…Was there an impropriety in the selection of the first three awardees? Or was it a way that CASIS could show a higher grant outlay ($2.2 million vs $1.6 million) without incurring the outrageous 600% overhead (and ease perceptions of their own self inflicted incompetence)?
Not sure how to take the comments about the lack of oversight and the ability of CASIS to quite literally steal the government dollars – intended for a better purpose. On one hand, I suppose history is full of such examples, but especially in the current budget climate when worthwhile NASA projects are being cut, it seems like the $15 million could be put to better use. Even though there is no OIG oversight, it would be nice if the OIG or someone who should be responsible (NASA managers?) for this waste steps up and at least does a thorough assessment and implements change if needed.
Finally, it would be of interest to know how Yeatman got appointed. If he doesn’t know any space science, how did he end up here – was there some cronyism at work in the CASIS skunk works? How much of the $13.4 million overhead went in Mr. Yeatmans pocket? How much did CASIS spend on the Gibbs affair – was it more than the meager $3315 CASIS has been able to raise? Once again, although there are probably similar examples through federal records– weren’t some of them prosecuted and didn’t some of those involved spend time in confinement?
great! downloading codecs is one of the preferred vectors for downloading malware to unsuspecting users. We spend countless hours tell people DON’T download, especially video codecs and then shoot ourselves in the foot. nice!
Agreed. However, Google is not innocent either. I’ve not used the Google Hangout that Keith suggests, but I have investigated other Google software (on PCs, not on MAC) and I was absolutely disgusted by how far Google goes in installing unnecessary stuff on our computers.
Even Chrome installs endless crap in the registry and automatic update software that takes an expert to get rid of — and you never get any choices during installation. Even to set your web browsing defaults in Chrome you have to be logged into their network with countless millions of other people.
Google does everything it can to get people logged in, and stay logged in, to their network. Why do you suppose that is? One of their stated goals is to index all of the data in the world. I consider them pretty ruthless in terms of how they get access to that data.
I don’t know anything about Google Hangout, but I’d be cautious about unnecessarily logging into anything Google. I’m not a conspiracy nut; it’s just that people are too trusting without first investigating all this software. There’s a reason why so much downloadable software is free.
Scopia is from Radvision, which is now owned by Avaya. They are an important player in the videoconferencing area, especially in Europe. I agree that they should be using a mainstream tool, but this is hardly fringe or malware.
Hey, what about us Linux users? Oh, sorry, not standard for CASIS. As to Google, I haven’t seen any evidence of anything beyond their terms of usage. Scopia also required Quicktime which I did not have time to download. Did anyone actually see the conference? I cannot find it. Casis does use Youtube (I think) for the animated video you get each time you go to their website.
Are you sure the tech problems are even CASIS’s fault? I don’t think they set up the a/v for the event. I watched some but it seemed to be hosted by the Gibbs people who may have used the poor software. It was interesting from the parts I was able to watch at work but yeah they should try to make sure every event with their name on it is worthy of the status they have in the community. Their website is cool 🙂
The entire conference has been archived and posted on the CASIS website http://www.iss-casis.org/Ne…