The existing problems of Asgardia are the current lack of foundations to support our space nation's growth and development. The power is not fully in the hands of the people, and a lack in communications between even the inter-administration bodies in Asgardia has lead to confusion, spread of misinformation, ...
The existing problems of Asgardia are the current lack of foundations to support our space nation's growth and development. The power is not fully in the hands of the people, and a lack in communications between even the inter-administration bodies in Asgardia has lead to confusion, spread of misinformation, and public discontent among individuals.
Today, founder/manager of Voices of Asgardia - World Asgardian Radio 'Ryan Zohar' has claimed that his team's plans to initiate an "election coverage program" was neglected as the administration changed the Parliamentary elections finishing date to the 1st of January, 2018, which is less than 38 days away. He states that the plan was "in progress" and that there were plans to start the coverage program on the 1st of January yet soon without warning had discovered that the election conclusion date was moved forward 2 months to January, the day they planned to start election coverage. Zohar has expressed that he is upset and becoming "very angry with [Asgardia]" for making such a sudden decision on a event which affects everyone within the community. Another point raised was the lack of directions from the Central Election Committee (CEC) as well as the silent implementation of policies undisclosed to the public which affects the nation as a whole without prior consultation from citizens.
This seems to be a major problem in communications between administration and inter-administration bodies, not to mention the public. Asgardia's current means of communication is the website (asgardia.space) and Facebook (via official Asgardia pages), there is no autonomous model or system of intranet communications capability nor the use of a proven third-party source. This instance with Zohar and Voices of Asgardia is one of a few examples which shows the lack of effective communication capabilities in Asgardia. Granted, Asgardia is just over a year old and the project started in its utmost infancy which almost guarantees problems to appear along the way, however, the lack of even decent communications between the administration and the public could be definitely improved immediately. We don't need Parliament for good communications, simply individuals with initiative and want things to move smoothly.
We need good methods and systems of communication if we are to become a prosperous nation in the future. Without such fundamentals we would be repeating these same mistakes which hinder our progress and focus towards our goals of reaching space and protecting Earth.
Another issue at the moment is the lack of motivation from citizens to vote for a candidate in the Parliament elections (which is due to end in less than 38 days from now). Currently, there are 68,062 voters with only 1,484 (2.2%) people who have actually voted for a candidate. Showing a clear lack of motivation by citizens to vote in the elections, despite the election pop-up splash screen showing when someone accesses the website. This could be due to negligence to the political aspects of Asgardia or people who are skeptical and/or confused as to why our project has elections in the first place. Now, most people don't like to read about something they have never heard about, this is why good design is paramount to a successful start-up company. Asgardia keeps spreading images of fancy concept renderings of space arks and stations that has unintentionally mislead some people into thinking we are a physical entity residing in low-Earth orbit and even outer space. Instead of emphasising what appears to be a almost finished concept of our physical space nation, we should be focusing on informing people, newcomers especially, that we are a digital nation that is working to become a physical space entity in the distant future.
Asgardia (administration) may have the false impression that the citizens and visitors of Asgardia are all enthusiastic, optimistic and action-oriented people who would do everything they can to participate and contribute to Asgardia's national goals. This is clearly not the case, and many open skeptics now roam the website, forums and Facebook pages to disclose their complaints on the lack of good visible and physical progress from Asgardia. A conceptual (digital) nation such as Asgardia is not catered towards the users it targets, the lack of design thinking and principles along with the innovation process has made Asgardia a target for informed skeptics and critics such as James Allen who is the CEO of a tech company in the United States. Considering user capabilities is the first step before developing a concept, if no design is taken to allow the target user to empaphise with your concept then they will not care enough to use it.
These issues must be openly addressed and further discussions must be made immediately. I have my own solutions been worked on for these issues, however as a university student working more than 60 hours a week in the retail industry as well as contributing my time and energy for projects relating to Asgardia, I cannot solve these issues alone, which is why I ask for other dedicated Asgardians to discuss with others and formulate solutions to alleviate the severity of these issues.
We cannot solve these problems with an isolated and secular mindset, as citizens and supporters of the Asgardia project we should try to dedicate at least some time to come together and solve issues which affect the wider community. I hope that we can work together to put these problems behind us and focus on the goals of reaching space.
One Humanity, One Unity.
Steven "Edrick" Wang.
BA
- Innovation and Design;
ELECTIVES
- International Politics (2017), Business Law (2018), Business Information Systems (2018), Integrated Marketing Communication (2018).
Swinburne University of Technology, Australia.
