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Be NetSquared: Year 3

Want a N2Y3 recap? View attendee blogs, vlogs and comments at Be NetSquared.

Congratulations to the N2Y3 Winners, in order: Ushahidi, KnowMore.org and Social Actions! Continue to show your support for all 21 Featured Projects. See the DonateNow and Yahoo! Green winners on the Challenges and Awards page.

Freecycle Cellular Osmosis

The Idea:

What will change in the world because this Project happens?

The internet will osmose into the cell phone. Many internet transactions could easily be done on a regular cell phone using text messaging & other nifty mapping etc tools.

Freecycle.org: n. 1 a web community which enables people to give items away in their local community rather than to throw away these items of little or no monetary value. 2 a global gift economy which keeps hundreds of tons a day out of landfills.

Cell: n. 1 the most basic unit of life surrounded by a thin membrane which enables the absorption of nutrients. 2 a mobile phone requiring no cord or computer to connect with other members of ones community.

Osmosis: n. 1 the passage from one medium into another through a thin membrane such as the wall of a cell so as to equalize the concentration on both sides of the membrane. 2 an apparently effortless absorption of ideas.

The Freecycle Network current enables millions of members to effortlessly exchange items for free in 85 countries. 100% of all exchanges are limited to the medium referred to as the "internet." The concentration of activity is extremely high.

The other medium is the cell, or "mobile phone." This medium has a concentration of gifting of 0% and is an vast & undeveloped medium protected by a surprisingly thin membrane from the “internet.” Oddly enough, this medium is highly fluid and has become naturalized on every continent and is much more widespread than the so-called "internet" medium.

Nearly every humanoid carries such a medium on their person, not only in the more developed "Western" biome, but also in virtually every varying and developing micro-climate and biome on the planet. In fact 80% of all phones in Africa are “mobile phones.”

This project seeks to enable a penetration of the thin membrane which separates the cell from the highly concentrated medium which is this internet. With careful treatment and web/cellular engineering we believe that we can bring about a concentration shift to 50/50.

By enabling the cell to assume the functionality of the net, a viral expansion and dissipation is achieved of what may then become a truly “global gift economy.”

mashup catalysts: n. pl. 1 Coding which enables offering of items and their receipt directly via cell phone in interaction with Freecyle.org and other local cell phones. 2 Linkage to existing mapping functionality which then provides directional input on the cell phone to guide the humanoid to the local gift pickup location.

What information will people interact with to make this change?

1) A mapping tool which is cell-phone enabled.

2) The cell phone for making & receiving posts via a photo/text sent via text messaging for example, and mapping access/viewing of directions. Take picture of item with phone, send to website and it goes out to all others who wish to receive it in their email or on their cell phone.

3) The internet / freecycle.org as the sort of home of data, posts, pictures, membership tracking, etc.

What else have you done in this Cause Area?

We've got the website. Just need to plug in the new cell phone and mapping functionality.

The Assessment

What kind of help or resources do you need to turn your project idea into a completed mashup?

We have an excellent project manager whose day job is as a fancy schmancy engineer but who barely has enough time nites and weekends to keep the main site going (his wife also just had a sweet little baby). We have tons of volunteers with varying degrees of tech skills. We have a beta testing team and a webmaster. We need the coding of the new tools. We might have a cell phone company interested in kicking in coding help and some funding, particularly as relates to the mapping tool. We may also have a software company willing to offer us their coding which already enables the "posting with photo" via cell phone piece of the puzzle, free of charge. Nothing firm yet. We'd either need someone who can do the above coding, or if we get funding or help from the above companies, we'd need help finding an engineer who we could then hire to keep this site going full-time.

Mashup Data Sources

This doesn't really exist yet. See www.freecyle.org for the main data source. Re: mapping on a cell phone and re: making item posts via a cell phone, there could be a number of options.

The Team

Additional Project Idea Representative: Deron Beal deronbeal
Project Designer Richard Wallman rwallman
Project Engineer None

Comments

i like the idea and think

i like the idea and think freecycle is a great organization.

here's a mashup that reminded me of the concept:

http://garbagescout.com/

Basically, you take a camera phone photo of some 'free' stuff that's out for trash and send it to their service with an address and they put it on a google map. Just for nyc.

Global Gifting Economy

I think this sounds like really great project and I am amazed at its potential. We are definitely a world on the move and our cell phones are almost an extension of our own being. Developing this fuctionality would bring Freecycle beyond even our laptops -- it will put it into the hands of anyone with a cell phone. I can't begin to think how much more this could expand the ability for people to gift and receive even without a computer. Most Excellent!

Freecucle again?

Freecycle again? You won last year like Maplight. You also have received thousands already. Step aside and give others the chance to win this year.

Great idea

This is a great idea, with the global growth of Freecycle on the internet, extending to mobile phones will enable a greater number of people to have access any time of day or night. No need to be 'tied' to their PC's.

Almost everyone these days has access to mobile phones, and people can access the Freecycle network, sending their offer/wanted requests to the group members. Greater flexibility of access will only lead to a larger growth factorto the network, and the options available for members to move unwanted items to people who can and want to receive them.

freecycle bs

Uhmm,, Yeah,, db has an idea that all his "Yes"Men/Women chime in to praise the messiah. What a CROCK!!

Freecycle rocks

It's amusing that some of the comments come from people who continue to fight against Freecycle (TM) and the trademark approval. As Freecycle moves forward with the website (which is in beta testing now) and the cell phone osmosis, we recognize that there will always be room for other recycling groups. It's a pity that some of the others can't concentrate on developing their own groups rather than trying to destroy Freecycle.

Ummm hardly

The website in beta testing is wreaking havoc within the community, as it was poorly rolled out (past beta, really, as it has been deployed) and was not thoroughly thought out in the first place. 

Considering all the money that has been thrown at freecycle.org in the past, and how little there is to show for it, I'd say pass on this one.

Not to mention that the overblown rhetoric in the proposal is largely false. Nowhere close to "every humanoid carries such a medium" on there person. Not even remotely close. Unless you're daft enough to take the total population of earth and divide by the number of cell phones. But if you were to follow that logic, every "humanoid" also carries several billion ants on their person. 

Maybe we could all just chip in and buy deron a clue instead? 

Freecycle Collects on Behalf of Continued Website Development

 Again, freecycle wants to win the award for what?  According to the admin messages that have been going out on their internal moderator sites, the award money will be going to complete the website that has been ongoing for the last few years.  Not a word was stated regarding this "project" proposal and how it would benefit anyone.

 How many more years and how much more money is freecycle going to throw at their website?  What happened to the money that was won last year to the tune of $10,000?  Oh yes, that was also used to "develop the website".  What exactly was the proposal for last year anyway?

 Other projects are much more deserving than freecycle who already has grants from big contributors like Waste Management.  And the founder, deron beal is drawing a paycheck.  Maybe funds are drying up afterall.  Need I say more????

Where is the IRS when you need them?

I hope that a member of the Federal IRS wakes up and investigates this alleged Non-profit! WAKE UP! INVESTIGATE!

People put your money to the good of our Earth! Not to another person getting killed while texting and driving. " Wanted: A Brand New Car......CRASH!!" Oops can't hit send with twisted wreckage wrapped around you:( 

The Freecycle Network has turned into nothing but a place for people to beg for free stuff! The grassroots movement has turned into nothing but money in Beals personal pocket.

Just Say No!

Stop The Madness!

freecycle

I dont appreciate your "freecycle is a place for people to beg" comment. I'll have you know it is nice when you need to get rid of something and you know someone who needs it is going to be getting some use out of it. I just received a bag of maternity clothing, which i could not afford to buy during these economically hard times, from a lady who no longer needed them. What's wrong with connecting with people in this way. I am extremely grateful for her giving attitude. And I didn't have to throw money, which I didnt have, at new clothing that i'd only be wearing for a short period of time. This, in my opinion, is a good way to recycle.

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