Two NASA Sites Win Webby Awards

Brian Dunbar

Headquarters, Washington

WASHINGTON -- Two NASA websites have been recognized in the 15th Annual Webby Awards -- the leading international honor for the world's best Internet sites.

NASA's main website, www.NASA.gov, received its third consecutive People's Voice Award for best government site. NASA's Global Climate Change site, which won last year's People's Voice Award for science, won the 2011 judges' award for best science site.

"NASA is committed to sharing its compelling story with people everywhere and with every communication tool," said David Weaver, NASA's associate administrator for communications. "We are very grateful to the online community for its continued support of what we are doing, and are excited about our future."

NASA recently posted new interactive pieces on the 30th anniversary of the Space Shuttle Program and the 50th anniversary of the first U.S. spaceflight. And in the last year, the agency has streamlined its online video presentation into a single player and deployed a version of the site optimized for mobile devices.

"NASA has a very broad-based web team that can take content, literally the best raw material in the universe, and create compelling imagery, video and multimedia pieces to tell the agency's story," said Internet Services Manager Brian Dunbar in the Office of Communications at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif., manages the climate site for the agency's Science Mission Directorate.

"NASA satellites take key measurements of our climate, and the Global Climate Change site gives the public access to that data as a visual, immersive experience," said Randal Jackson, JPL's Internet communications manager. "We're grateful for the high degree of interest the public has shown in Earth's vital signs."

NASA has had a web presence almost since HTML was invented in the early 1990's, but the site's popularity skyrocketed after a 2003 redesign and relaunch focused on making it more usable and understandable for the general public. Since then, there have been more than 1.5 billion visits to the site, and its customer-satisfaction ratings are among the highest in government and comparable to popular commercial sites.

Reaching beyond the web, NASA's online communications include a Facebook page with more than 368,000 "likes"; a Twitter feed with more than a million followers; and more than 160 accounts across a variety of social media platforms. Last fall, NASA placed first by a wide margin in the L2 Digital IQ Index for the Public Sector study that ranks 100 public sector organizations in the effectiveness of their websites, digital outreach, social media use and mobile sites.

The Office of Communications and the Office of the Chief Information Officer, both at NASA Headquarters, manage the agency's website.

Presented by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, the Webby Award recognizes excellence in technology and creativity. The academy created the awards in 1996 to help drive the creative, technical, and professional progress of the Internet and evolving forms of interactive media. While members of the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences select the Webby award winners, the online community determines the winners of the People's Voice Awards.

To find all the ways you can connect and collaborate with NASA, visit http://www.nasa.gov/connect.

- end -