We were excited to be at re:publica, one of the world’s largest and most exciting conferences about digital culture from 6 – 8 May in Berlin, Germany. The conference attracted over 7000 participants, with 50 sessions covering this year’s theme of ‘Finding Europe’ to choose from.
From EJR-Quartz, Emily Baldwin and Karin Ranero Celius attended as speakers. Emily works on the ESA Rosetta Mission social media team, tweeting as the voice of the Rosetta orbiter and Karin works on the DLR Philae lander team and takes on the character of the Philae lander.
The talk, titled Rosetta 1 – Kardashian 0 -: How we (almost) broke the internet took place on Wednesday 6 May. Emily and Karin were interviewed by ESA’s Marco Trovatello, alongside ESA’s Andrea Accomazzo and DLR’s Koen Geurts who provided engineering perspectives to the discussion.
Emily and Karin shared insights into using social media as a tool to communicate the human side of space. They discussed the social media campaign in detail and how this allowed them to provide a human narrative to the tale of two robots. Initiatives such as the #WakeUpRosetta and #AreWeThereYet campaigns were mentioned, which invited public participation with the mission.
Tweeting as Rosetta and Philae, Emily and Karin held conversations between the two accounts, communicating not only the science, but the sense of adventure and emotion the spacecrafts would have felt if they were human.
This digital personification of the comet-chasing spacecraft duo captured the hearts of millions across the world. The spacecraft’s social media accounts continue to inspire as we learn more from Rosetta whilst it orbits the comet and eagerly await the wake up of Philae on the surface.
Watch a replay of the talk online below if you missed it.
