NetSquared enables social benefit organizations to leverage the tools of the social web.

climate change

Twavel

Project URL: 
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=310068049&mt=8
Short Project Overview: 

Twavel makes it fun for you to make green travel choices and shows how even the little differences you make soon add up to a significant benefit to our environment.  Track your travel choices and see how much C02 you can reduce!

Detailed Project Overview: 

Twavel makes it fun for you to make green travel choices and shows how even the little differences you make soon add up to a significant benefit to our environment.  Track your travel choices and see how much C02 you can reduce!

At it's heart is a powerful carbon calculator that is easy to use because it allows you to quickly record your travel by distance or time, and mode.  A dynamic baseline allows Twavel to track your rate of carbon emissions and show your trending day by day.  You can compare how you are doing to other Twavel users around the world  and be a part of the cumulative CO2 reduction of all Twavel users.

Your carbon footprint is displayed as a unique Twibble character that changes between 5 different looks based on the choices you make in the ways you get around. Your Twibble will become a wheezing, machine-beast, or a clean-air loving friend, it’s up to you!

Twavel offers a fun way to enable a dialogue about climate change with your family and friends and employs proven community-based social marketing techniques to motivate positive behaviour change. Let your kids add your daily trips in Twavel so they can learn about reducing carbon emissions while caring for their Twibble.  Share tips on low-emission living with like-minded people through Twavel’s built-in social networking, all the while earning points that you can use to buy your Twibble cool accessories, such as: a pirate hat, a bow tie, or a crown.  The more you use it, the more it rewards you.

What else have you done in this area?: 

Climate action applications for the government of British Columbia.

Is there a video that helps describe your Project? If so, enter the embed code here: 
City: 
Victoria
State/Region: 
BC
Country: 
Canada
Does your Project have financial support?: 
No
Is the impact area of your Project global?: 
Yes
Type of expertise needed: 
Marketing/Media Expertise
Additional Project Idea Representative: 
Steve Burtch
Additional Project Idea Representative: 
Adam Blainey
Additional Project Idea Representative NetSquared User Name: 
adyblain

Face the Change

Project URL: 
http://www.facethechange.org
Short Project Overview: 

This project, Face the Change, a web-based communication platform on climate change, explores the use of cell phone messaging (voice, text and video) to engage poor and vulnerable communities in developing countries and empower them to participate in national debates and policy development.

Detailed Project Overview: 

The goal of Face the Change is to mobilize support to tackle climate change by highlighting its social impacts. By putting a human face on global warming, we aim to elevate the current debate on science and energy policy to one that includes key human rights issues of natural disasters and forced migration. The web-based platform will primarily use video and other multimedia to document the current and future impacts and facilitate a global dialogue with the intention of shaping policy. To reach communities without widespread access to the Internet, we will run a pilot project using cell phone Short Message Service (SMS) and Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) to raise awareness, rally and gather feedback from impoverished communities whose homes and livelihoods will be directly threatened by rising seas, drought and other climate change related effects. Cell phones are the windows to the world for many in developing countries, but their potential as a medium that informs under-represented people and allows them to participate in debates is far from realized.

Focus Bangladesh – a pilot study

For our pilot study, we intend to focus on Bangladesh, a country expected to be hard-hit by climate change but where public awareness is very low. We will work with local partners - non-governmental organizations (NGOs), community groups and communication companies - to carry out a market study with surveys and focus groups to determine perception and informational gaps. This study will guide the conceptualization and production of the voice, text and video messages to ensure that they are culturally relevant for targeted audiences and compatible with the mobile devices. The key to making such a campaign a success is to produce provocative, informative and motivating messages and to include outlets for interaction: the website, reply text automation for additional information, and requests for feedback. To disseminate to the appropriate market, we will engage NGO and community groups to deliver the messages to people on their contact lists as a first wave of recipients. If packaged correctly, the message will encourage the recipients to forward them onto their friends and relatives, who will then forward them to others in their contact lists, thus creating a ‘viral’ multiplier effect.

Power of the platform

For market delivery we will engage phone companies to track receipt and forwarding on their networks. The text feedback will be transferred to the Face the Change-Bangladesh website, which will be designed to offer a national discussion platform. It is our hope that greater awareness and discussion about the issue will empower the people of Bangladesh to pressure their leaders to include them in the decision-making process and enable them to be a part of a search for solutions. Bangladeshis have developed many ways to address climate variations over the centuries and these adaptations may be useful in coping with future changes. If successful, this campaign will go a long way to giving a voice to those sections of society that are too often ignored and the ability to have a say in their own future.

What else have you done in this area?: 

The co-founders of Face the Change, Daniel Cooney and Mireille Ferrari, each have 10 years of experience working in impoverished countries in Asia. Most recently they lived in Afghanistan for two years, where Daniel was the correspondent for Associated Press, and Mireille was the creative director for a communications agency that developed and implemented information campaigns for U.N. agencies, USAID and other clients. Daniel is currently pursuing a Master of Public Policy at UC-Berkeley on a Rotary International World Peace Fellowship, while Mireille is a communications consultant for non-profit groups and advises on using web technology for information campaigns.

Nate Dewart spent the past four years implementing technology education and training for U.S. federal programs in low-income communities. He has 10 years of experience in environmental initiatives and is also pursuing a Master of Public Policy at UC-Berkeley focusing on climate change policy.

Is there a video that helps describe your Project? If so, enter the embed code here: 
City: 
Berkeley
State/Region: 
CA
Country: 
United States
Does your Project have financial support?: 
No
Is the impact area of your Project global?: 
Yes
Identified Obstacles: 

Clearly, using cell phones as a medium to deliver information to target communities and to gather feedback requires a pilot project. However, the viral dissemination of cell phone messages is not without precedent. Its potential has been highlighted in South Asia through the widespread distribution of adult videos on cell phones. Moreover, in 2007 in India, a local partner of the international advertising agency Ogilvy used cell phones to distribute a 25-second video to change negative attitudes about child adoption.

Additional Project Idea Representative: 
Mireille Ferrari
Additional Project Idea Representative: 
Nate Dewart

EduIcan Sharing Knowledge

Short Project Overview: 

EduIcan Sharing Knowledge will be social networking service where students will assist each other in their studies and do community service by using SMS service. The idea is to connect students from all course of life, different schools, communities  and also help students from public schools to learn from their peers in private schools. The education in my country has gone down and knowing that most of students have access to cellphones, it will be great that they use it for the goodness of their future.

Detailed Project Overview: 

 EduIcan Sharing Knowledge will be a social networking for students in the whole of Namibia. Students will be required to register for the service and they can choose the subjects they want to register for and proposed environmental projects they want to embark on. Every time they have a question in a certain subject they SMS their question to the code of that subject and the question is sent to all registered students in that subject who than can reply or comment on the question and is sent again to the group. Even those who didn’t ask the question will be able to learn from what their fellow students asked. They registered students will be required to team together and come-up with environmental projects on issues affecting their communities most. Climate change has also affacted the country in the past 2 years where by floods has been hitting the country and affacting lot of people. Surveys will be done on a monthly basis to see how the students are benefiting from the project and to access environmental projects they have created within their communities. They will be required than to implement those projects by sharing their solutions with the community and educating them on climate change issues.

The idea is to help students form diffirent backgrounds learn from their peers and engage students from public schools with students from private schools.

What else have you done in this area?: 

EduIcan is busy organizing English Literature competitions for students in Grade 10 - 12 in Oshana Region - northern Namibia.

Is there a video that helps describe your Project? If so, enter the embed code here: 
City: 
Oshakati
State/Region: 
Oshana
Country: 
Namibia
Does your Project have financial support?: 
No
Is the impact area of your Project global?: 
No
If no, what country(s) does it impact?: 
Namibia
Type of expertise needed: 
Technical Expertise
Description: 

The project will need an input on Instant Messaging Service softwares and servers, as well technical skills to set-up diffirent subject codes to be used. IT skills will be required to ensure that when a question is posed its conveyed to the right study group.

Type of expertise needed: 
Marketing/Media Expertise
Description: 

There will be a little media exposure needed to educate and market the project to students and parents.   

Type of expertise needed: 
Other
Sustainability (financial) Model: 

Income will be generated from SMS fees being charged per SMS. There will also be a tutor service groups which will charge higher fees, than the normal student groups because help will be provided by professionals in certain subjects and this will help to generate further income. Environmental projects those found to be feasible and sustainable will charge minimum fees from the communities. 

Identified Obstacles: 

Not all students who will benefit from the project have access to cellphones. To find the right Instant Messaging software and reasonable cost

Project Milestones: 

The project is still at an early stage and need capital for launching and a computer.

Additional Project Idea Representative: 
Lahja Kanime

climate change hyperlinked videos

Project URL: 
http://karennyhus.wikispaces.com/Climate+Change+Video+Mashup
What will change in the world because this Project happens?: 

Policy-makers and the public will have a greater understanding of the latest climate change research (such as the "Big Melt" of last summer in the arctic), future scenarios, the urgency of acting immediately and strongly, the huge opportunities for a "new deal on green jobs," and the consequences if we don't. This will impact the next President and Congress, who *must* pass and begin to implement binding global agreements and national policies on reducing greenhouse gases. The impacts will be both direct (allowing elected officials to see a more clear and direct view of the science and policy options) as well as indirect (supporting and growing the growing movement for climate change action and climate justice).

This project also creates a new platform, which could have many other applications: a way of combining web video and the intelligence of hyperlinking, using the timestamp inherent in all digital video (hr:min:sec) as the central reference point. It allows existing video, from shorts to feature-length documentaries, to be "sliced and diced" in a way that gives the viewer more control over the "flow" of the information. This benefits learning by (a) chopping up long narrative content into more bite-sized blocks; (b) allowing the mashup of smaller bits of video which have logical links into a new narrative; (c) giving the user the option to investigate 'tangents' off the main narrative without getting "lost on YouTube", and (d) allowing the viewer to fit new information into her brain in the order and way it makes sense to her, not to the filmmaker. It speaks to the shorter attention span of the "YouTube" generation, while maintaining the integrity of the information presented. Finally, it uses video, rather than text or traditional web content, at the center of a mashup of information which brings viewers to other content online, as their curiosity leads them there.

What information will people interact with to make this change?: 

documentaries and feature films about climate
science talks (e.g., from conferences) captured on video
talks by affected peoples (e.g., Arctic indigenous) about the impact of climate change on their people and cultural survival
speeches about policy options
white papers about policy options
personal testimonials by climate scientists
climate animations (e.g., showing sea level rising)

What else have you done in this Cause Area?: 

I participated in StepItUp actions in 2007, and helped organize and produce the Focus The Nation climate change teach-in at San Francisco State in January, 2008. I have been an activist for decades. I was just in Ecuador this summer, seeing the multiple impacts of climate change and oil exploration in the Amazon. I'm also a grad student in the field (environmental science and policy).

Is there a video that helps describe your Project? If so, enter the embed code here: 
Does your Project have financial support?: 
No

My Green Map: Sharing your Sustainable Worldview

Project URL: 
http://greenmap.org/ggm/
What will change in the world because this Project happens?: 

Since 1995, Green Map System has engaged communities worldwide in charting a sustainable future. Now, we’re taking the next step by merging local knowledge and our freshly updated iconography with a Google Map mashup to create an open interactive Green Mapmaking website that will inclusively help people worldwide quickly share their own selection of sustainability sites, pathways and resources online. The resulting interactive Green Maps will be viewable from our own and many other websites, starting in mid-2008. With open commentary, green ratings, multimedia elements, 'impacts index', mobile access, on-site markers and more, everyone will be able to get involved.

My Green Map (working name) will give a powerful voice to thousands and ensure that an enormous diversity of successful sustainability activities and critical issues are shared with the broadest audience possible. It will merge the booming ‘local first’ and green development movements with social networking and interactive mapping. It will draw from a rich data source: thousands of green living, nature, social and cultural resources already charted on 335 published Green Maps, used by millions both near home and while traveling.

Our network of 450 locally-led map projects in 50 countries will be the first to add sites to My Green Map. Each of their mashups will be linked to profiles and the locally-designed Green Maps already viewable at GreenMap.org. Once technical and financial barriers to participation have been overcome, we intend to phase in public mapmaking and behavior change assessment, mobile formats, thematic worldviews, and more. Thus, the N2Y3 Mashup Challenge can play a key role in promoting inclusive participation in sustainable community development around the world.

What information will people interact with to make this change?: 

My Green Map will welcome people to a fresh green perspective of cities, towns and villages. In a familiar Google Map format, it will enable people of all ages to explore or share comprehensive citywide maps; theme maps, such as cycling routes & resources or social justice sites; mapmaking workshop outcomes and eco-tourism maps.

Color-coded universal Green Map Icons will connect people instantly with sustainable living, nature, culture and social sites, helping them make better choices as they shop, dine, commute, work and play. The mapmaker's site description will be openly discussed, updated and translated by the public – they can add a green rating, an image or video and a personal change testimonial that provides evidence of the site's – and the map's – real impacts on community well-being and our common future. Alongside the maps, this will inspire more personal, policy and culture change.

Because My Green Map's mashups will be linked to GreenMap.org's multilingual profiles, users will be able to delve into the motivations and methodologies behind this community-media movement, exploring how grassroots, professional and youth Green Mapmakers are empowered by our adaptable full-scale Green Mapmaking resources. These public interactions will expand local project networks, too.

From a social change perspective, My Green Map offers tremendous hope to people of all backgrounds and communities everywhere.

What else have you done in this Cause Area?: 

Since 1995, we have built strong relationships with hundreds of environmental and social equity advocates on 6 continents. Collaboratively, we have:

• developed our eco-cultural .ORG and adaptable youth and professional mapmaking tools

• published multilingual websites, books and DVDs

• produced mapmaker gatherings, public workshops, tours and presentations

• supported decentralized Green Map Hubs in Indonesia, Japan, Latin America and other places.

Our work has received special recognition and positive press locally, nationally and globally, as GreenMap.org's News section attests.

At the heart of it all is the set of Green Map Icons, which is thought to be the world's only universal symbol system for maps. Updated during a 5-year inclusive process, Version 3 of this living lexicon was just released. Viewable at GreenMap.org/icons, these 170 symbols will identify, promote and link My Green Map's sites.

Is there a video that helps describe your Project? If so, enter the embed code here: 
Organization Supporting your project, if any: 
Green Map System and the global network of Green Mapmakers
Supporting Organization URL: 
http://greenmap.org
Does your Project have financial support?: 
No
What kind of help or resources do you need to turn your project idea into a completed mashup?: 

Our small, flexible team includes digital developers, designers, social change agents and collaborators in NYC, Bucharest, Yogyakarta, Tokyo and Victoria BC. We have seed funds and capacity to move from the alpha site at GreenMap.org/ogm to a mid-year public launch, but the fully integrated self-sustaining vision - from mapmaking tool to encyclopedic Global Green Map – needs financial, infrastructure, Drupal/PHP, Google API and mobile developers, business, marketing and legal support.

By prioritizing practical ways to democratically involve many more people – from rural elders to OLPC youth to urban digerati – we can exchange crucial information that helps whole communities take action. Get involved! This synergistic mashup makes local resources for sustainable community development accessible to all, and has potential to truly revolutionize the way people from all over the world perceive and interact with their communities.

List URLs that link to, or describe, your mashup data sources: 
Additional Project Idea Representative: 
Wendy Brawer, Founding Director
Project Designer: 
Akiko Rukube, Graphic Designer
Project Engineer: 
Thomas Turnbull, Chief Digital Developer

Sponsors

  • Microsoft
  • Yahoo
  • Business Objects
  • Raincity Studios
  • Mozilla Foundation
  • Ready Talk
  • .
  • Adobe
  • Linden Lab
  • Network For Good
  • Wild Apricot
  • Stanford Social Innovation Review
  • L'Atelier North America
  • The Panelist
  • Good
  • Fora.tv
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