Welcome to Marsbase - A New Mars project?

Adrian · 2002-08-08 20:00:18

A friend of mine recently showed me a book by Ben Bova called Welcome to Moonbase. It's written as a 'factual' introduction for new residents of a Moonbase, and describes details such as jobs, education, tourism, economy, sports, entertainment and more. What I've read of it is very interesting and I can imagine that kids in particular would have loved it - however, it was written about 15 years ago and so I don't think it gets much attention presently.

Of course, the logical progression here is to write Welcome to Marsbase - something which I think Mars Society and New Mars members might enjoy doing, perhaps as a website first. It's an idea!

Byron · 2002-08-09 06:08:14

Hey...that is a *very* good idea...

I'm a bit of a writer myself, so that's something I wouldn't mind contributing to a part of a 'group' project by M.S./ New Mars members.

Incidentaly, I am in the process of building a "Mars" website, called Red Frontier...the url is www.redfrontier.com. I have tons of space and bandwidth available for something like this...and I'd be honored to host "Welcome to Marsbase" on my site...perhaps I should get the ball rolling by writing the firswt "installment" of it...

Check it out and see what you guys think of it anyhow...it is a Flash site (I haven't built a html version of it yet..lol), which requires Flash or Shockwave player, available at www.macromedia.com.

Bill White · 2002-08-09 11:14:15

Of course, the logical progression here is to write Welcome to Marsbase - something which I think Mars Society and New Mars members might enjoy doing, perhaps as a website first. It's an idea!

It would be a great idea - *IF* - the folks working on it more or less agreed on the overall political & economic framework that established Marsbase and the ecology of how it survives.

Remember, form follows function.

The day to day life of a Mars settler will be largely derived from - and dependent upon - the reasons why the settlers are sent to Mars to begin with.

clark · 2002-08-09 11:38:03

It would be a great idea - *IF* - the folks working on it more or less agreed on the overall political & economic framework that established Marsbase and the ecology of how it survives.

LOL. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Bill White · 2002-08-09 12:17:57

Seriously, Adrian, if you wish to pursue this idea, I suggest you privately invite a small handful of people to work with you, privately, on the project

- and -

you should retain "benevolent dictator" status to bounce anyone - who after repeated warnings and with a general consensus from your group - is hindering the overall goals.

Spell out the ground rules up front so contributors can freely and knowingly consent and therefore can be justly bound by the rules. . .

Rather Rousseau-esque, isn't it?

An "open forum" Marsbase book project would be a disaster, IMHO. . .

Tonight's "Who should owns Mars" forum at the convention in Boulder should provide another good example of how such a book project will be very controvesial "unless" the book project team is more or less like minded. Then the controversy will start after Welcome to Marsbase is released.

Nonetheless, my own opinion remains that how humans will live on Mars is less important in August of 2002 - than is finding persuasive rationales for going in the first place.

A book project I am considering is "Red Planet Real Estate" - a collection of *divergent* views on Martian property rights. I would propose to be editor, keeping the right to add an essay or two of my own. . .

Palomar · 2002-08-09 13:40:51

Of course, the logical progression here is to write Welcome to Marsbase - something which I think Mars Society and New Mars members might enjoy doing, perhaps as a website first. It's an idea!
It would be a great idea - *IF* - the folks working on it more or less agreed on the overall political & economic framework that established Marsbase and the ecology of how it survives.

*Mmmmm, I'm going to have to disagree with you on this one, Bill. I say let each person write his/her ideas exclusive/independent of one another. It'll give more "wagon room" to mess around with ideas, and is a better approach to the creative process, IMO.

Unfortunately, I probably won't be contributing. I'm already late for my next escapade in the 1700's...[hops into time machine]...

--Cindy

Phobos · 2002-08-09 18:59:31

We could have several groups of like-minded people hammer out their particular political visions for Mars and then present three or four major frameworks for political possibilities on Mars. It seems to me that there are groups of people on here who share relatively the same political views even though they might disagree on some finer points. Some of the subjects Adrian listed though aren't as controversial as politics and could easily be produced as a single presentation without being mired down in a bloodbath. Such topics include subjects like sports and tourism.

turbo · 2002-08-11 10:03:06

The idea sounds great! Does Mars give special status to the greenhouse keepers who make air, or techie types who fix the other equipment? Any notes to tourists not to be alarmed when the door of the hotel room closes then locks with hydraulic rams? Instructions of how the water rationing system works?

Nice idea!

Cindy, let Ben Franklin hold his own kite.

Adrian · 2002-09-16 14:19:43

Not that I like being premature, what with First Words not even having started yet, but I've been turning over the 'Welcome to Marsbase' idea in my head for a while. Clearly it will be a collaborative effort; whether or not it will be a private group, and how to handle things like copyright and ownership is another matter entirely.

In any case, I've decided that the best way to work on it will be via a Wiki. The concept of a Wiki is that it's a workspace in which everyone can alter any document. This sounds like a recipe for chaos - why, people could just waltz in and delete the whole thing - but Wikis hold the history of documents, so if anyone does this, the next person (or the nth person) can go and restore the last best version.

There are several strong advantages that Wikis hold, the principal being that everyone can work on a document and create new documents and links between them without having to ask for permissions. Hence, not only is the addition of new material made easier, but also casual readers can edit and correct typos.

Wikis do have a slightly higher learning curve than other solutions, as people have to become familiarised with the unique terminology and structure that they use. However, everyone here is perfectly intelligent and I know that after a few weeks things will settle down. They aren't difficult to install and it'd be easy to set one up for New Mars - not merely for 'Welcome to Marsbase' but for any other projects that people wish to pursue. I imagine that a New Mars Wiki could really help Mars Society groups all over the world - from past and current experience, I can say that the Internet expertise of the Mars Society is sadly lacking in many quarters.

A great example of a Wiki that works well is Wikipedia. This is an encyclopaedia Wiki that has over 40,000 articles, many of which are very good. There's a nice description of Wikis here.

I haven't yet decided which Wiki software to use (there are several to choose from). I'm tending towards UseModWiki or PhpWiki for their ease of installation, but time will tell.

This is all planning talk - I don't intend to any work on installing a Wiki until First Words is completely finished, at least, and probably not until late October or November. This has the added advantage of allowing Wiki software to mature (UseModWiki will be reaching 1.0 soonish). I'd be interested to hear your comments though.

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#1 2002-08-08 20:00:18

Re: Welcome to Marsbase - A New Mars project?

#2 2002-08-09 06:08:14

Re: Welcome to Marsbase - A New Mars project?

#3 2002-08-09 11:14:15

Re: Welcome to Marsbase - A New Mars project?

#4 2002-08-09 11:38:03

Re: Welcome to Marsbase - A New Mars project?

#5 2002-08-09 12:17:57

Re: Welcome to Marsbase - A New Mars project?

#6 2002-08-09 13:40:51

Re: Welcome to Marsbase - A New Mars project?

#7 2002-08-09 18:59:31

Re: Welcome to Marsbase - A New Mars project?

#8 2002-08-11 10:03:06

Re: Welcome to Marsbase - A New Mars project?

#9 2002-09-16 14:19:43

Re: Welcome to Marsbase - A New Mars project?

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