Idea a day, end

Yea, I failed at thinking up a new idea a day.  But if I continued, I might have come of with some crappy ones.... that would be more fail.  This is significantlly harder then thinking of a new game idea a day.  I could maybe have done it if I had like a few hours to spare at a round table with a few good minds...  so, maybe I could put together one of those next.

But a few of my friends did help, thanks you guys!

I did sumit a few ideas though:

1o to the 100 idea network

Democratically Controlled Homeless Shelter

Wavering Donation

Discussion Overview

Advertisments for the Internet

Suicide Note Database

I don't think the other ideas are done yet... but if you want to finish them up yourself and submit them, be my guest.

I do, however, like the format to these ideas. I think I might use for whenever I get a new idea to make the world a better place.

Live video lecture

1. What one sentence best describes your idea?Teachers can teach a class of students remotely with online video.
2. 
   
3. Describe your idea in more depth. 
4. Using web cams or other technology, teachers can teach students basic, to highly advanced and specialized subjects. Students could interact in a variety of ways, such as digitally "raising their hand", so the instructor could know to stop talking, and allowing other students to answer questions. Perhaps even provide social networking features for student to help each other during and after the lecture.
   
   
5. What problem or issue does your idea address?
   
6. It is difficult to learn specialized subjects, pick your teachers, get helpful answers to questions remotely, find like minded people, etc...

Suicide Note Database

1. What one sentence best describes your idea?An open database of search-able and tag-able suicide notes.
2. 
   
3. Describe your idea in more depth. 
4. A site containing thousands of peoples' final words before they took their lives. Each note would be tagged with the reason the person took their life, and have lots of graphs and different ways to look at the data.
5. 
   
6. What problem or issue does your idea address?
   
7. Helps reveal the un-addressed or unidentified issues our society that cause people to kill themselves.
8. 
   
9. If your idea were to become a reality, who would benefit the most and how?Future potential victims of suicide, and people who may not go that far. We would be a few steps closer to solving whatever problems they are having.
   What are the initial steps required to get this idea off the ground?
   
10. Find out the legal things for putting up people's suicide notes.

Advertisments for the Internet

What one sentence best describes your idea?

A series a public service advertisements of how the Internet can help you

Describe your idea in more depth. 

Use conventional media advertisements, like billboards, commercials, and others, to help people understand how they could use the Internet. They would drive points, such as using the Internet to solve problems, how you could use it for social stuff, and how you could not just use it for social stuff.

What problem or issue does your idea address?

The Internet caught people off guard as a potential solution to several of their problems. The older generation's first instinct is to ask for help, but they don't think to use the Internet. Also, there is still some underestimating going on in terms of the scope of the problems the Internet could potentially solve.

If your idea were to become a reality, who would benefit the most and how?

People who are behind on the uses of the Internet, or people that think the Internet isn't capable to solving serious issues.

What are the initial steps required to get this idea off the ground?

In addition to hiring people who make advertisements, probably seeking more funders for this project who would also be interested.

If you'd like to recommend a specific organization, or the ideal type of organization, to execute your plan, please do so here. 

The World Wide Web Consortium

Gradeschool Video penpal

1. What one sentence best describes your idea?
   Grade schools classrooms send video recordings to other schools to learn about a different kind of culture.
2. 
   
3. Describe your idea in more depth. 
4. The teachers would ask the kids what kind of things they would want to record to show to kids from another school. Then, maybe, the could have individual video introductions for each child, and move on from there. It would provide a way for the kids to know more about the culture of that school, that writing alone would not achieve.
5. 
   
6. What problem or issue does your idea address?
   
7. Sometimes people have trouble respect people from other walks of life.
8. 
   
9. If your idea were to become a reality, who would benefit the most and how?Children would benefit, and perhaps even their parents, because they would be more open minded to people of different cultures.

Film of the near future

1. What one sentence best describes your idea?An independent film competition that focuses less on the technology of the near future, and more on how people might behave and think.
2. 
   
3. Describe your idea in more depth. 
4. When normal films depict the near future, the focus is the technology and how normal people of out time would use it. This competition would depict the mentality of how people would behave and think depending on what kind of future the world ends up in.
5. 
   
6. What problem or issue does your idea address?
   
7. People have no guidance of how to think or act ahead as economic, environmental, and medical changes approach.
8. 
   
9. If your idea were to become a reality, who would benefit the most and how?People in first world countries. They would have a better understanding on how the future could affect our culture.
10. 
    Describe the optimal outcome should your idea be selected and successfully implemented. How would you measure it?The popularity a project like this achieves. How much of a perceivable impact it makes. (I agree, not a very good form of measure)

Community Locality of (your city)

1. What one sentence best describes your idea?
   A place where people can drop in and instantly find volunteer opportunities that are right for them.
2. 
   
3. Describe your idea in more depth. 
4. A centralized building where people can come inquiring about volunteer opportunities, sign up for ones in the future, maybe even find some that they can start doing right away. It could also be a good meeting spot to carpool to other volunteer locations. People in need of help could also come and post their needs, and perhaps even find someone waiting to help them. It could also be a great way to find adventures with your friends.
5. 
   
6. What problem or issue does your idea address?
   
7. Volunteering isn't usually seen as "a fun thing to do on a Friday night." Perhaps with a structure like this, it can be. There really isn't a centralized place where you can find all the volunteer oppertunites in your area. If you need help, there isn't a phsycal ares where you can ask for it.
8. 
   
9. If your idea were to become a reality, who would benefit the most and how?Volunteers, organizations and those in need would benefit, because it would bring them all together in a positive context.
   What are the initial steps required to get this idea off the ground?
   
10. Talk to local community governments and planners about setting up a place like this in the area.

Meta Fund

1. What one sentence best describes your idea?A program that automatically donates to other organizations based on your preferences.
2. 
   
3. Describe your idea in more depth. 
4. A person could set it up so that they could donate to one central place and it automatically donates to causes they believe in. Also, if they are unsure what cause they should support, it could ask them questions like "how much do you care about unborn children?" or "would you rather help local people?" to narrow down paces where they would like to donate to.  It could help them with their tax deductible donations. It could even help remind them when the should donate, or prod them into donating more to their causes.
   Maybe have features like organizations having a donate button on the bottom of websites that puts that organization into your meta fund.
5. 
   
6. What problem or issue does your idea address?
   
7. It is difficult to remember to donate. It is hard to research where to donate. Giving isn't as convent as it should be.
8. 
   
9. If your idea were to become a reality, who would benefit the most and how?People who want donating to be more convent. People who feel they should donate more. Non-profit organizations would get more donations.
   What are the initial steps required to get this idea off the ground?
   
10. Research how a program like this could work in the law, finding a team or organization to set this up.
11. 
    Describe the optimal outcome should your idea be selected and successfully implemented. How would you measure it?The optimal outcome would be having lots of people using this service, and lots of organizations benefiting. It could be measure by how much money goes through this service, and the number of people and organizations using it.

Discussion Overview

This sounds kinda like my idea for one of my current projects.  I did away with all the social stuff and got straight to the point, addresing the most popular arguments.  I think if something already popular did it, they wouldn't have to rely on social features to get this thing going

1. What one sentence best describes your idea?A community created online overview of an issue, kinda like a cheat sheet for debates.
2. 
   
3. Describe your idea in more depth. 
4. A wiki like overview of the most common arguments for each side of an issue. Each argument has a link for the most common rebuttals to that argument, and each rebuttal has a link most common rebuttals to that... etc.
5. 
   
6. What problem or issue does your idea address?
   
7. People usually have a very basic understanding of an issue. It takes a lot of dedication and hard word to get even beyond a basic understanding. With this point-rebuttal hierarchy, even beginners can have a decent grasp of the state of an issue.
8. 
   
9. If your idea were to become a reality, who would benefit the most and how?People who don't have hours to commit to learning everything about an issue. They would be able to have an advanced understanding without spending too much time.
   What are the initial steps required to get this idea off the ground?
   
10. Research the best ways this could operate. Get a bunch of web programmers together .
11. 
    Describe the optimal outcome should your idea be selected and successfully implemented. How would you measure it?The optimal outcome would be having really large discussions, lots of people viewing them, and people referencing the discussions.
    If you'd like to recommend a specific organization, or the ideal type of organization, to execute your plan, please do so here. 
    The Wikimedia Foundation.

Parallel voice

1. What one sentence best describes your idea?A country wide polling entity, separate from the government,  that gets the views of what the people think of their governments actions.
2. 
   
3. Describe your idea in more depth. 
4. An entity, separate for the government, finds effective methods of polling people to find out what they really think about the government's actions and how it works. A focus will need to but put on making sure the entity is not seen as an outsider that would mess with the results for their own agenda, and also for making sure people from the outside don't see the results as being tampered with for the country's agenda.
5. 
   
6. What problem or issue does your idea address?
   
7. It may help stop people from being judged by their county's actions.
8. 
   
9. If your idea were to become a reality, who would benefit the most and how?Everybody who doesn't support their countries actions still gets some voice. It would also help provide people who what to make the world a better place with valuable data.
   What are the initial steps required to get this idea off the ground?
   
10. Research the best ways to operate a project like this. Find people or groups from each country who would be able to oversee and operate a project like this.
11. 
    Describe the optimal outcome should your idea be selected and successfully implemented. How would you measure it?The optimal outcome would be having the data on every country to find out want the average citizen thinks of their country and the world.

Wavering donation

1. What one sentence best describes your idea?A credit card that charges you extra for things you know you shouldn't be buying and sends the extra to the charities of your choice.
2. 
   
3. Describe your idea in more depth. 
4. When you make a major life decision, like choosing to adopt a certain diet, you don't just make that decision once. Every time you go to the store you have to make the decision not to pick up things you know you shouldn't. It would be easier to make the right decision if there was an additional incentive. There could be a credit card that automatically detects when you are purchasing the wrong products and automatically charges you a percentage of that item's costs and donates that to charity. This kind of thing could also be set up for automatically offsetting carbons, or just automatically donating a percentage of all the money you spend.
5. 
   
6. What problem or issue does your idea address?
   
7. It is far too convenient to break your dedication on a certain diet. It could be easier to oftest your carbons, ect.
8. 
   
9. If your idea were to become a reality, who would benefit the most and how?People who want to be better people would benefit most. There would be less barriers keeping them from being the kind of consumer they want to be.
   What are the initial steps required to get this idea off the ground?
   
10. Study the laws and how it could work with this, Make a database of junk food, and other types of products.
11. 
    Describe the optimal outcome should your idea be selected and successfully implemented. How would you measure it?Get as many people successfully using the cards as possible. Measured by how many people are using the card and having success stories.

Democratically Controlled Homeless Shelter

1. What one sentence best describes your idea?A homeless shelter where the tenants are in control of the rules, who is in charge, and what to do with outside help.
2. 
   
3. Describe your idea in more depth. 
4. When people want to help other people, they usually don't have a complete understanding of what their problems are and where these problems came from. With a democratic homeless shelter, the homeless could try to fix whatever problems they have themselves. They could vote on how it's operated, what to do with the money, the rules, and who is in charge of what, and what tasks volunteers could do to help.
5. 
   
6. What problem or issue does your idea address?
   
7. For whatever reason, many homeless people don't receive the help that others desire for them. This shelter would homeless people the power to help themselves. They would be able to think critically and act on ways to help themselves. Also, volunteers are always second guessing what types of help the most, this way they can be told directly by the recipient of their help.
8. 
   
9. If your idea were to become a reality, who would benefit the most and how?People who are homeless would benefit the most because they would have more control over their lives and perhaps get on their feet. Volunteers for homeless shelters would also benefit, because the could hep where they know they are wanted.
   What are the initial steps required to get this idea off the ground?
   
10. Use the money to refurbish a few building in different areas (or build new ones) and set them up for a structure like this; set each of them up with a different initial organizational type and find out which ones work best; find homeless people would would want to try this out.
    
11. Describe the optimal outcome should your idea be selected and successfully implemented. How would you measure it? 
    The optimal outcome would be for as many homeless people as possible to get back on their feet and out of the shelter. It would be measured by the number of people that successfully leave the shelter.

10 to the 100 idea network

I decided to start with an idea inspired by the concept of 10 to the 100.  I think an idea like this might go over pretty good in the voting portion of the competition.

What one sentence best describes your idea? A network for people to contribute, discuss, give/receive feedback, and modify ideas to change the world, and maybe find others to help.

1. 
   
2. Describe your idea in more depth.The problem with for profit ideas is that people hold on to them and guard them -for fear of getting stolen- so much, that it is detrimental to the idea. But, if the idea's objective is to change the world for the better, then you want the idea to be heard. There is a need for a social, community website where people can contribute, discuss, and modify ideas on how to change the world. People could come up with the concept and be able to hammer out the details together, and perhaps find help from other members of the community, for the idea to become a project. But, it should't end there. After an idea becomes a project, there should be a log of how the progress of the project is coming along, what hardships the participants encounter, what successes they achieve. It would be great for people with similar idea to learn for their mistakes and alter their idea based on the results of other projects.
   
3. 
   
4. What problem or issue does your idea address?There is no real network of people to receive feedback and find like minded who may want to help them in their cause to change the world for the better. There isn't an easy way to get feedback on your ideas. There isn't a easy way to find causes you may want to support.
   
5. 
   
6. If your idea were to become a reality, who would benefit the most and how?People who want to change the world would benefit. They may be able to find the help and focus they need to better help others.
   
7. What are the initial steps required to get this idea off the ground?Get a team of programmers, designers, and marketers/business people together to build a community website for it. Find an event coordination team to host in person events.
   
   
8. Describe the optimal outcome should your idea be selected and successfully implemented. How would you measure it?There is a large number of people constantly using the site have several ongoing project on the site, and hopefully a few successful outcomes with projects born from the site.

Thinking about an Idea on how to make the world a better place... a day?

So yesterday I found out that Google put of this "competition" website project 10 to the 100.  People submit ideas on how to make the word a better place and then people vote on them to see which ones receive funding.

On a similar note, I also am very inspired by Squidi's Three Hundred Mechanics project.  Where squidi would come up with an idea for a game a day.

I was thinking, maybe I could combine the two...

So, from now till October 20th, I intend to come up with a new idea to change the word a day, and perhaps submit it to Google.

I don't usually try to think up ideas that are beyond my resources (I really hate waiting for someone else's permission before I can "do the right thing").  But I guess that should change, cause sometimes changing gears like that is a good thing for the brain.

I choose to focus on...

I was thinking about how much I should focus on my civil discussion tools / website. I was thinking it would be best to port them to drupal. There's also my facebook application, which is already a success, but I don't spend too much time working on it. ( I should probably post about each of these projects soon)

I believe I will spend more time on facebook and general social networking sphere.

Here are the reasons I thought that would be a good idea.

• It appears I can think more outside box in terms of connecting people with the Internet then most.
  
• I might be able to make money off of it to use for living/donating/investing/larger projects.
  
• I can subtlety make the world a better place (doing it subtly is one of the most effective ways, in my opinion)
  
• I could deal with some of the current problems I have with the Internet directly
  
• I can do it almost all by myself... Finding help is a lot harder then I thought it would be.
  
• It's chances for failure are less.
  

I believe will first rebuild my facebook application, and make it nice and stuff.  That will be my primary project for the next couple of months.  

Although, my long term focus is something a little different... I'll post something everytime I feel I've gotten a little closer.

Vow of poverty

Every time I've considered going out and spending money to do something fun or buying something fun, I always think to myself, isn't there something I could put the money toward for making the world better?

It seems pretty ridiculous to me that people in poor communities have lots of friends and find loads of entertaining stuff to do without spending money; while many people in rich communities can be not nearly as happy.

So, I'm taking a vow of poverty.

Apparently, the rules on voes of poverty are actually pretty lax about how they are interpreted and not as extreme as one would first think.

Anything that protects your well being is good. So, those could include a heated home, decent food and personal care.

Anything that helps you stay connected to the outside world is still good. So, internet, telephones, tv, bicycles, and maybe even cars and are all good.

The way I see it: if anything inhibits your ability to make the world a better place, then you should probably stop. I've been experimenting a great deal on what exactly inhibits my ability to make the world a better place. Sometimes experimenting is the only way to find out. (and yes, living like a hermit doesn't help you make the world a better place).

How long will I be on this? Probably until I feel everything is on track for the world. The various forms of art are cool, and I would like to get back to the non-free ones at some point.

I'm turning this into a personal blog...

So, I'm going to turn this into a personal blog, because this was harder than I thought.

I can't really stay hopeful all the time, and sometimes I get really lost. No reason to try to hide that I suppose.

Also because, it might be interesting to follow the blog of someone who says things like "I'm gonna do whatever it takes to make the world a better place".

I still am going to find the answers, it'll just take longer than I thought. It also might be fun to chronicle my journey.

Might as well post my efforts, feelings, and reasons for the two while I'm still searching the answers.

I have a lot of stuff on my mind anyway.

I'll never give up hope

I'm starting a group (in facebook, to start).

I just want something:

to gauge how many people out there that haven't given up, and won't give up hope for the world in general

to bind people in terms of their motivation, and not their cause

to get people to remember their end goal and their reason for having hope

to link hoping and doing

and to make OK to hope

I hope this group is able to accomplished those...

Having hope isn't just for fictional characters in books, movies, or TV shows. Why can't hope belong in the real world too?

For each respective cause you may feel is worth fighting for, current and future
For our common end goal: the betterment of our community, country, or planet
For whatever happens in the future
For each obstacle that is yet to be overcome

There is always hope

Giving it up won't solve anything

What gives you hope?

Go to group!

How to make the world a better place

This blog is for people who believe the world is worth saving and it can be saved through making it better. A good foundation on how to make it better could give you ideas where your current efforts fit in and where they could go.

I believe that that there are two essential ways to make the world a better place:

- Focusing on the non-human component. This involves directly working on inanimate things to make the world a better place. Ex: science, technology, philosophy, literature or even the physical planet itself.

- Focusing on the human component. The operators, users, and discoverers of the tools mentioned above.

I am certain that the human component is the easiest and most effective thing to focus on if you are seriously interested in the field of making the world a better place. An effective human component will increase the effectiveness on the non-human components and maybe help reduce some of the strife between movements that fall into direct opposition of each other while they are trying to make the world a better place.

So, what problems arise that keep people from using the non-human component effectively?

- Sometimes good people lack knowledge of the power they possess or have access to. It could be knowledge of their potential, a tool, or a resource they don't know how to find or use. (ex: the Internet is an excellent resource, but many people don't know how to use it.)

- Sometimes good people have trouble deciphering if a power is good or bad; where the expected results could be opposite the actual end results.(ex: Einstein did not intend his theory of relativity to be used in making a weapon of mass destruction)

- Sometimes good people are afraid to find if the power they are using is good or bad. (ex: people usually already know in their gut if their power is being used poorly, but they go through with it anyway.)

- Sometimes bad use of power happens to good people. They may think it's OK (or even feel it is necessary) to use their power to make the world a worse place.(ex: A child that is abused by their parents grows up to abuse their children.)

I think finding ways to solve these problems will make the world a better place. Maybe with these problems in mind, you'll have some ideas where your current efforts fit in and where they could go.

My Ultimate blog

For my first post, I figured I'd write about the qualities of my perfect blog. The idea of writing my perfect blog is challenging and I thought making a list like this would be a good way to start. It's nearly impossible to make anything perfect, but you can't get close without trying...and there's always the chance to leave the naysayers floored if you succeed.

So, here are the qualities of my perfect blog... A Beacon United:

• Seriously address the issues that threaten humanity and the entire planet

• Explain how we can do something about it.

• Show how our efforts affect the big picture.

• Deal with the overwhelming amount of fear involved with considering the above

• Be a place where people come seeking answers, and actually find them.

• Make it more than socially acceptable to do or say "corny" things pertaining to the real world.

• Minimize the use of alienating language and the kind language that hides one's true intentions.

• Be as neutral, concrete, and clear as possible.

• Have advertisements in forms of entertainment that bring forth feelings of control, determination, and hope.

• Have the most awesome posts you've seen all week

• And while I'm at it, strike fear in the heart of evil, save the world...etc.

I don't currently have the writing skill to do all those things immediately, so I will go back and edit posts when I figure out how to perfect them.

So, I'm curious, for those of you that also have a blog, what elements would your ultimate blog have?