Imagine a web space that lets every scholar see related researchers doing similar work. The site suggests cross-disciplinary relationships between different writings. Sustainability would be referenced for every area of scholarship. As an example, how does research into literature have sustainability implications?

For example, a microbiologist studying a species of frogs in the Amazon may not know that a similar research is happening and the results are similar. By constantly searching and matching keywords, categories, related subjects, GIS information, and other factors, the map could be geo-local and based on subject matter. The website would have different ways of exploring how a given research idea relates to other research subjects. You could then contact those individuals or create online groups using simple social networking features. The system would constantly be pushing cross-disciplinary perspectives of research.

Here is a list of features in the site:
-instant online groups (select up to 10 researchers for an instant group that lasts up to 4 week after the last activity)
-share documents in a virtual space
-share desktops
-video chat
-schedule seminars online for interested students, other researchers, or for the public
-instant message
-idea mapping (see how your ideas are related to other research ideas)
-idea reporting (see where subject areas have deep research and where it is shallow)
-idea journey (explore how ideas relate to each other and read summaries)
-research to reality check (see how media is covering a subject area being researched)
-top of the food chain (explore who are the leading scholars in different areas)

Agri Mashup is a strategic tool to increase data utilization for creating new economic opportunities and will have a considerable impact on facilitating access to information and knowledge for the Base of the Pyramid (BoP) segment.

This project also present opportunity for visionary companies looking for new markets to increase competitive advantage while helping BoP communities meet their basic needs but also accelerate economic growth, reduce inequality and poverty.

The Avatar Action Center, a project of the Tides Center, has been producing interactive educational events and materials in Second Life (SL) for more than a year. We are now expanding our ability to fulfill our mission of raising awareness of sustainability issues and getting people to take action in their real lives outside the virtual world with the launch of the Avatar Action Education Network (AAEN).

While our exhibits, events, and classes have been effective in broadening people's understanding of issues including alternative energy, climate change, peak oil, economic globalization, and others, we want bring more activists and subject-matter-experts into the conversation who are not necessarily part of the SL community.

The AAEN will offer the world a creative and engaging mixture of educational and news content in two ways. The first is a weekly podcast "filmed" on a set inside SL. The content of these podcasts will be composed of reports on both SL-based groups whose work addresses sustainability issues and real world sustainability news. They will appeal to viewers ranging from young adults through middle-agers who will find the content informative and the delivery technique innovative. Broadcasts will be delivered in a news-reporting format with video annotations, and will include interviews with people working in the sustainable living arena to keep it timely and engaging. They will be made available on our web site, iTunes, and YouTube to reach the broadest possible audience and break out of the virtual space.

The second part of AAEN is our Education Station system, a web-based course management system we created to centralize our content on the web and be able to serve it anywhere in SL. Having this content be browser-based will provide visitors to our web site the chance to use our materials without going into SL. We also recently started mashing it up with Moodle, an open-source course management system that a group of people are adapting for use in Second Life as “Sloodle.”

The Education Stations run people through a program of courses that expose them to the broad spectrum of issues that sustainability encompasses. Once a person completes a designated number of courses by passing quizzes based on the presented materials, she will earn a Certificate of Sustainability Awareness.

Both of these components will debut at our second annual Earth Day event on April 19th in Second Life.

THREAD is a web tool that ties action to social and environmental impact through relevant content so visitors can make informed choices about their daily actions.THREAD will create an online community focused on sustainability and social responsibility from the individual viewpoint. Individual actions become part of a community network, providing a trustworthy, peer-to-peer generated forum for advice and knowledge sharing in regards to the impact of products and services. The model provided by sites such as Yelp.com proves the viability and impact of peer-to-peer reviews in influencing consumer behavior on a local level. THREAD will take this concept to the next level – a global community of engaged people providing context and guidance in the macro consumer decision-making process. Syndicated news content will be aggregated in a searchable dataset system and tagged to allow users to make connections or “Threads” to everyday actions – purchasing objects, joining groups, digesting media. Users can personalize this knowledge tree by viewing it through different filters: “gender issues”, “politics” or “business”. Connections will be recorded along a timeline so users can see when different actions/objects were connected and the sequence in which connections were made. Although various sites attempt to provide guidance on spending decisions, they focus on niche areas vs. a more holistic view of the multi-facets that comprise any product on the market. By incorporating user preferences based on a variety of factors (including labor practices, corporate responsibility, human rights, environmental impacts, health, etc.) THREAD creates a centralized site where people can go to find information on socially-conscious living. Mobile technology will allow the content to be accessed anywhere, anytime. In revealing the complicated web of interconnections between products, choices, and sustainability from a consumer perspective, THREAD will revolutionize the process for consumer decision making.

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.