ADVOCATING SCIENCE AND SPACE - THE STORY OF ISRAEL'S ONLY DEDICATED WEBSITE, OPERATEING FROM 1997 TO DATE

摘要

"Hayadan" ("The Erudite Person" in Hebrew) is a website which covers science and scientific aspects of current events. The site was established in 1997,during the Internet's early days. "Hayadan" updates 3-5 times a day with not only academic studies but also their application in various industries. Over 18,000 articles can currently be found on the site, which is visited by thousands of people daily, thanks to the its high Google PageRank, Google News coverage, and the many Hebrew Wikipedia articles which rely on and refer to the website as a scientifically credible source. The website receives 350-400 thousand monthly views (10-15 thousand daily views), from approximately 150 thousand unique users. "Hayadan" is a highly acclaimed website, which has thus far been awarded two important awards: special award for its Unique Contribution to the Popularization of Science, from the Israeli National Academy of Sciences, and An award for Excellence in Digital Journalism, from both Google and the Tel Aviv Journalists' Association. The paper will present the author's unique experience in popularization of space sciences and technologies, while maintaining a high standard for accuracy. It will present issues of funding the website, collaborations with space related industries and institutions, and also portray the authors personal experience covering high profile space missions such as the ill-fated STS-107 mission of the space shuttle Columbia, and the landing of the PHILAE lander on a comet, in which the author was present at the ESA operation center in Darmstadt, Germany.