Here is my Dear Old Pappy looking rather pleased with his LM1 mini Poster & under the mini Darth Vader there's a photo of the Moon (you might make out?) with a cut-out of Dad on Top...He might not be on top of the World but he might perhaps be on Top of the Moon
One Day....BTW that's a funny looking face you pulled Dad

Hi All, this is my first contributor post for some while. I've had a hectic few months but I'm now able to dive back in with my thoughts once again.

Contributors to this topic have covered two areas: digi.me and the cost of digital memory space for the mission. I'll start with cost issues as they're dealt with more quickly, before getting stuck into issues surrounding digi.me, a crucial component of the LM1 project.

The cost of anything comes down to affordability - and in the case of LM1 cost equates with how much solid-state drives (or their future equivalents) will weigh as each gram is a fortune to launch into space. There are however some interesting developments in memory like 3D NAND which *may* reduce the costs significantly - and perhaps allow more memory for our money:



LM1 do not need to make any final decisions on what archive memory accompanies the mission for some time. The challenge they have right now is that they do need to state a price so people can buy memory, and be clear about their investment. There's no question that the "current prices" for LM1 memory which became clear via the October LM1 competition post were clearly a disappointment to Paul and others. All I think LM1 needed to do was to say a few words online and explain the price of memory is a moving target. They need to demonstrate they are considering the issue of cost and memory carefully by addressing questions like: When will the decision of what memory will form part of the mission have to be made? In 3 years? 5 years? Would evolving technologies have a potentially positive impact and allow more memory for contributors? Or would any additional cost advantage be fed back into the project?

I'm a firm believer in keeping as much as possible as transparent as possible. People want, need and deserve open discussion where concerns are clearly expressed as they have been here. If there's no meaningful engagement about a given issue, the organization (no matter how small or big) loose touch with their community, and this leads to a slow down in positive momentum. I am disappointed that a member of the LM1 team has not responded to the points mentioned given how long this topic has been live. I hope LM1 will therefore be forthcoming in the near future with their thoughts.

I'll now turn to digi-me which is essentially a container for social online channels (from the likes of Twitter and Facebook, to Google Plus and Linkedin).

digi.me/

The Lunar Mission One branded version can be downloaded from a link that goes from here:

lunarmissionone.com/digi-me/create-your-...-capsule-on-the-moon

To the LM1 store. A trial of the software is what you get - which is especially confusing for those who are backers and already have a digital voucher via the Kickstarter campaign. There doesn't however seem to be any obvious mechanism for the digi.me LM1 program to recognize LM1 members who have already paid for digital memory to license the software, but perhaps I'm missing something.

Unfortunately the program crashed with the latest update today. I've sent a support message to digi-me and they'll hopefully resolve the problem in the near future. The more significant issue however surround the emphasis of social media on the platform as well as stability and licensing issues. As has been mentioned, there are many people who do not use, nor wish to use social media. The digi.me solution for LM1 therefore needs to place far less emphasis on its online social network integration, and the special build for LM1 needs to allow a more intuitive and instant method of adding a broader range of files from the user's local drive into the digi.me Lunar Mission One container (currently called the "Lunar Mission One Collection").

digi.me allows text based journal and photo entries to be added to digi.me by clicking the ‘Write something’ box which expands and allows you to type and add photos from a computer or device, but this is not obvious from the get-go, and the file types need to be extended. The first time you make a personal entry you will need to click on the avatar to add your own photo. This in itself is not the best approach in my view as people are effectively evaluating the software on first use, and the last thing many people will want to do given concerns about privacy and security is to provide personally identifiable information about themselves before they add other files.

The current approach does not emphasize full control, but rather "guides" the user down a particular path on first use. Of course users could just add a test image file to move forward, but the message requests a personal photo, and this in my opinion is the wrong way to introduce the LM1 collection. I hope the digi.me team together with LM1 provide an improved interface as quickly as possible as at present the program will be a turn off for many which puts a break on take-up. I don't doubt that a sleuth of potential users close the program immediately after the request for a personal photo...

A reworking of the interface shouldn't take that long. The program requires a re-design of the flow of how LM1 users interact with the program, rather than having to change the core functionality. I've no doubt that once users are given the option to easily add files to their Lunar Mission One collection, they'll start doing that and the program will be used far more widely.

My last observation about digi.me is about the licensing of the LM1 branded version. The interface shows it to be in trial mode for a month. It's very unlikely people will invest time with the program until they're clear they understand the licensing model or (as those who have purchased LM1 digital memory vouchers) have unlimited access to the program as they're investing time in creating their personal archive for the moon. This in my view is the program's greatest deficiency. As an LM1 Kickstarter contributer I've already paid for my right to save data in readiness for the moon and yet when I download and use the program I can see no serial or license details available in my LM1 account to license digi.me beyond the moving trial period. Now, it's perfectly possible that the LM1 team and digi.me haven't got around to implementing this yet (although they should have as we're now close to a year into the project). But even if that's the case, there should at the very least, be a clear indication that the program will be free to use for those with a "reserve your place in space" voucher.

I understand that digi.me will be motivated by upsells to their service from the LM1 branded version, however at present the program doesn't in my view adequately cater for those who wish to start on their LM1 archive on their local drive rather than through a social media channel.

On reflection we may need a section on the forum specifically for discussions about digi.me as it will be the container that allows backers and supporters to ready their digital archive for the moon, and so forms a core tool of the project.

Mike

Hello all, as you know, I'm not the IT whizz so I'll ask Rhydian to give you a better answer to all this! But in brief...

- when you download the digi.me software it needs to be done whilst you're logged in. Some people have been asked to pay and this is because they're not logged in, so the system has no way of knowing whether or not you have bought a digital memory box (DMB) or not. If you're logged in, you can download for free because your purchase has already been recognised.

- the 'trial' thing is confusing, I agree. You don't have a one month trial - you have it until we launch! But...for one month you get extra 'premium' features above and beyond what the LM1 version gives you. We have had a lot of people saying they don't need the 'social safe' side of things and just want it for LM1 purposes, so we didn't incur the extra cost of buying you all the premium version - if you want this then of course by all means upgrade, but if you're just collating your DMB then you won't need it for that. So it's a personal choice. I quite like it actually, but I guess social media has given me many happy memories to look back on as I have been using it for many years and for me to look back over old SM posts gives me the same "happy days" feeling as looking though old photo albums! Anyway, as I said - the version of digi.me that you have gives you what you need.

- "I don't use social media" is something many of you have said to us, so in the new version of digi.me (which we will release probably early next year) there is no need to link it to a social media account at ALL.

- even if it asks for a 'personal photo', it is important to remember that digi.me DOES NOT - EVER, back up your stuff anywhere else other than where you tell it to - on your computer itself or perhaps a hard drive or something. It does not hold your stuff in the cloud or anything like that. All your stuff is under YOUR control, so adding a personal photo does not need to be a worry. And in the new version I think your photo can be anything, anyway, so maybe use a photo of the cat if you're feeling shy

Phew! Right, I've rambled on for long enough now, but hopefully that's answered a few queries!

Lol! The new version of digi.me (7.0.9) which does not need you to have a social media account is already in the SpaceStore!

Just make sure that you are LOGGED IN, so we know you're a supporter and then choose the Mac or PC version.

Hi Stan,

Please be assured that your data is not, absolutely NOT going to the cloud with digi.me!! That is one of the many reasons we chose digi.me - because it ALL remains on YOUR device and under YOUR control. Even if it was on the LM1 website we would have to promise to protect your data for you for ten years and we don't want to do that because this is your private digital archive.

So with digi.me, all you get is the software that helps you gather the stuff you want. And you no longer need any kind of social media account (as of version 7.0.9). All the data stays where you put it - perhaps on your computer, perhaps on an external drive or back-up drive that you own. It's up to you.

So please have fun curating your collection and please be assured that this is your private archive and no-one has access to it except you. When we are ready to collect your collections for the launch, we will give you plenty of notice and will send instructions on how to upload...but that is a little way ahead in the future yet. For now simply enjoy collecting stuff

Hi Angela, thanks for your detailed replies.

Given it is important to be logged in for those with LM1 Digital Memory Boxes, then there should be a message for both Windows and Mac users before they download. If you visit the space store, either logged in, or as a visitor, the same text appears - consider changing this text dynamically depending on the login status.

I suggest you also update your digi.me FAQ page with this information as this will fend off some support requests:

lm1newdev.lunarmissionone.com/digi-me/cr...-capsule-on-the-moon

On reflection I think the best way of resolving this is for the digi.me interface to be improved with a dedicated FAQ page within the program for LM1 users. That could be accessed by clicking the LM1 logo in digi.me which currently does nothing apart from brand the program. This would need a little re-design to ensure users know the image is clickable.

As the program has a one month trial feature, that should be disclosed before the download. It's a real turn-off to be offered something you don't expect. In my former role as director of a software company, we had to be VERY careful not to push our commercial products with our freeware. Of course it's very different if people are expecting a trial. Trials are however problematical when people are expecting a full version or a free program as there will be users who will not take-up or consider the cross-sell to use the premium functions. I understand this appears to be part of the partnership model you've set up with digi-me, however I strongly suggest you consider offering a dedicated LM1 digi-me offering without the trial functionality for social networking premium features. When people like something, they will look at what else the company produces. What people don't like however is being pushed unexpectedly into a direction they hadn't anticipated.

Concerning the personal photo request, I'd mentioned this because of the perception of a program's safety and security - it's that I don't think the request for a photo is not the best way to gently start people off with their LM1 container. Most people will want to test the program using non-descript data when they use the program for the first time before using any personally identifiable information.

It would be helpful if there was a shortcut in the Personal Entries to the folder where those entries are stored: C:\Program Files (x86)\SocialSafe\SocialSafe files

Not only so they can be backed up more easily, but also so the user has more control over the file destination. Some users prefer their program folders are just that, and that any other data is stored elsewhere - perhaps suggest this to digi.me. This makes it far easier to remember where things are

At present the personal entries are restricted to text and photos. I presume other file types like music (mp3), video (mp4) and PDFs will be included in a future update.