"i.am.FIRST -- Science is Rock and Roll" airs August 14th

[Akash Rastogi]

Originally Posted by DSM33

on the topic of making FIRST a "spectator friendly" sport for TV and such i think the FIRST in Michigan special needs to be looked at. If following a team is hard to follow just check out their personal robocam on either side of the screen. If the scoring is too difficult to follow then look at the score in the top bar (although it seemed mysteriously empty this year)

The FIRST In MI special was AMAZING. I'd love to see that as the next step in televised robotics.

[plnyyanks]

Originally Posted by Dave Flowerday

An average non-FIRST searcher may not get those same results. See http://dontbubble.us/ for more info.

Ah, right. Forgot about that. Good call.

[pfreivald]

Originally Posted by JohnBoucher

FYI not everyone uses Google. It comes up first in Google because Google gave that to us.

Not everyone watches TV. Are we now going to fault them for not using talk radio, telegraph, and semaphore?

Most people in a position to become interested in FIRST uses the internet. Most of them use Google.

'Nuff said.

[RayTurner1126]

personally i think we should all be greatful will.i.am did this for us. yes, it wasn't what we all expected, but that's because we already know everything the program presented, it's like watching a documentary about yourself or something, you are going to see every little detail they left out. will.i.am didn't have to do this, and neither did any of the celebrities that participated. would you all rather not have a special about FIRST and be left without the publicity it did give us? I wouldn't, I say thank you to will.i.am for helping me in my journey to spread the word of FIRST. Now when I'm recruiting I can say "How many other school functions have the support of so many celebrities?" And that is GREAT to be able to say!

So thank you to will.i.am, ABC, and everyone else involved in making this great program!

[TimSchley]

Originally Posted by Dave Flowerday

An average non-FIRST searcher may not get those same results. See http://dontbubble.us/ for more info.

Even using the "non-search bubble search engine" that the website provides, usfirst.org is still the first website that comes up.

http://duckduckgo.com/?q=First

Yes, I know that the search bubble for other people could potentially move usfirst.org DOWN in their results, as well as move it UP for our results, but still the fact is, it is most likely going to be near the top of search results for anybody that is that interested in getting involved in FIRST.


On another note, Looks like the ratings (http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/201...f-more/100424/ ) are in with the broadcast getting approx. 2.17 million viewers. that's not counting DVR or online viewers. Not too shabby.

[Bill_B]

Originally Posted by rsisk

I guess that's going to be our job to do. I need a t-shirt that says "Ask me about FIRST".

T-shirt should say: "Ask me how FIRST will help you decide about your future."

[Bill_B]

Another thing to consider about the absence of specific coverage of match play is that keeping it to a minimum increases the lifetime of the video. That is, 2012 will have a new match, 2013, 2014 etc. The enthusiasm of the interviewed kids will still apply for several years to come. If too much emphasis had been placed on Logomotion, next year's new spectators might be wondering where the logo tubes are.

[Travis Hoffman]

Originally Posted by pfreivald

Not everyone watches TV. Are we now going to fault them for not using talk radio, telegraph, and semaphore?

Most people in a position to become interested in FIRST uses the internet. Most of them use Google.

'Nuff said.

Is this what people think of when they so easily dismiss certain segments of the population from being "worthy" of FIRST's attention as people who have the potential to contribute something great to society?

Jed tells his Pa Cletus:

Hey Pa, I shore wont ta figgur out what all dem fancy contraptions was on da movin pictures show, mebbe lern how ta make sumthin outta mehself among dem dere city slickers.

Cletus: I shore wuld love ta help ya son, but dang gummit the pictures didna tell us nuttin about what ta do next.

Jed: Guessin' I should figgur to go back ta shootin groundhogs and possum on pappy's farm.

******

I surely hope not.

I'll have to watch the show again, but I don't believe any of the team/individual "stories" highlighted students coming from extremely rural areas who had previously never heard of FIRST or related opportunities.

Final input - if there was some significant monetary cost or FCC legal restriction or what have you that prohibits the website address to be displayed on the screen during such network programs, then fine, I can accept that. I've yet to hear anything like that brought to light, though.

Otherwise, people are simply making excuses for an oversight that would likely take minutes, if not seconds for those who produced the show to correct, increasing the likelihood and speed at which those who are not computer literate (or worse) can find out more about our programs. A small addition of input by one person can lead to huge, as yet unrealized gains for many. Simply fix it and move on.

[JohnBoucher]

On a brighter note..... Since this was on ABC, will ESPN get back on board?????

[Chris is me]

Originally Posted by Dave Flowerday

An average non-FIRST searcher may not get those same results. See http://dontbubble.us/ for more info.

Though FIRST is also the first result for DuckDuckGo which does not have a filter bubble.

[Dave Flowerday]

Originally Posted by Chris is me

Though FIRST is also the first result for DuckDuckGo which does not have a filter bubble.

That's not the point.... most people don't use DDG, they use search engines that do filtering. And if you're the type of person who's currently NOT interested in science & technology, and instead spends all their online time reading about sports, fashion, music, celebrities, or whatever (you know, the type of people FIRST is probably trying to reach the most), the first page of results you get very well might not contain usfirst.org at all.

I've had some surprising difficulty finding information on topics that are outside of my normal interests before when keywords for those topics overlap keywords that do fall within my normal searching habits. Most people don't realize what a large effect this "bubble" has. It really works against you when the word people are searching for ("FIRST") has meaning in just about any context.

[Libby K]

My first response, Travis:

Originally Posted by Travis Hoffman

Jed tells his Pa Cletus:

Hey Pa, I shore wont ta figgur out what all dem fancy contraptions was on da movin pictures show, mebbe lern how ta make sumthin outta mehself among dem dere city slickers.

Cletus: I shore wuld love ta help ya son, but dang gummit the pictures didna tell us nuttin about what ta do next.

Jed: Guessin' I should figgur to go back ta shootin groundhogs and possum on pappy's farm.

I really hope you don't generalize or mock people like that in real life. I go to college in a very rural area and I love seeing the change that comes out of the students I work with through FIRST. And absolutely none of them speak like that. Your point, while at least a tiny bit valid, was lessened by your rude and insensitive remarks.

Now, to the actual point.

Originally Posted by Travis Hoffman

Is FIRST presuming that every family and individual in America knows how to "Google something"?

If you're getting it for free, EXTRACT EVERY BIT OF VALUE YOU CAN FROM THAT OPPORTUNITY. If you're going to put up a still image of the FIRST logo during the program (which was done early on in the show), take the ten additional seconds necessary to post the dang website address underneath it.

If indeed this is going to be repeated for future seasons, make the iteration, add the corrective action to improve the information conveyed to the public during the show, and have a nice day.

Where did I say 'google something'? The show says, for more information, go to ABC.com. From the ABC page for iamFIRST, it directs you to www.usfirst.org

If these people you speak of don't know how to use the internet, as you say, then no matter what URL you give- they just won't figure it out!

I think that, sure, it's something to improve for next year, and if the sponsors agree to it, put both URLs down or something. But if that's the only complaint, then I guess they did an alright job.

[Koko Ed]

Originally Posted by Tim Delles

I think it will be interesting to see what Nielson ratings say.

They look pretty modest, really.

[Tim Delles]

Originally Posted by Koko Ed

They look pretty modest, really.

Just got home from work and checked... haha... These are modest at best, but we will see how it goes with the next viewings... The next airings of the show may increase the unique views.

As for everyone talking about what a search engine will and will not show you, there are a lot of things that go into what is shown to an individual when they make a search query. A users individual pattern online does play a roll, but there is a lot that Google, Microsoft, and the rest of the search engines keep in their 'black boxes' that we don't get to see.

That being said, it is very, very unlikely that FIRST doesn't come up when you search for 'first' in Google, Bing (MSN), Yahoo, AOL, etc. This is for multiple reasons, including link presents, SEO, etc... I've actually checked out FIRST's page before and they have great organic ranking in almost every core keyword you can think of. (Yes I do online marketing and strategy as a job...)

So that being said, if you can't find FIRST online, maybe you should watch the program again and go through abc.com...

Originally Posted by Libby K

My first response, Travis:

I really hope you don't generalize or mock people like that in real life. I go to college in a very rural area and I love seeing the change that comes out of the students I work with through FIRST. And absolutely none of them speak like that. Your point, while at least a tiny bit valid, was lessened by your rude and insensitive remarks.

And I'm with Libby on this, considering according to Travis he should throw me in that bucket...

[JaneYoung]

Originally Posted by Travis Hoffman

Jed tells his Pa Cletus:

Hey Pa, I shore wont ta figgur out what all dem fancy contraptions was on da movin pictures show, mebbe lern how ta make sumthin outta mehself among dem dere city slickers.

Cletus: I shore wuld love ta help ya son, but dang gummit the pictures didna tell us nuttin about what ta do next.

Jed: Guessin' I should figgur to go back ta shootin groundhogs and possum on pappy's farm.

Wow, Travis.

You've lost me on this one. What is your point? Who is your target audience here?

Jane