Oakland Crimespotting scrapes crime reports from the Oakland Police Department’s Crimewatch site and maps aggravated assaults, murders, acts of arson, vandalism, narcotics, prostitution, and other crimes to inform citizens about what’s going on in their backyard. Check out a few other examples of similar projects here.
I’m currently making arrangements to travel to Norway next fall to look at children’s mobile phone use in public spaces, with the goal of discovering and innovating around learning opportunities . I’ll post more about that particular project when everything is finalized. In the mean time, I was very excited to find this nytimes article: Can the Cellphone Help End Global Poverty? . The article describes the job of a “user anthropologist” who travels around developing countries looking for insights that very low-income populations might have about mobile phones. The article also goes on to justify mobile phones as a possible poverty cure. Mobile phones allow these users to run their small businesses more efficiently - helping users find customers, be available, record transactions, etc . This article excites me both because it details the exact thinking and process that I am interested in pursuing as a designer, but more importantly, I believe that many of the same properties that might help mobile phones reduce poverty can also aid in the promotion of peace.
– Rolf Steier
The World Movement for Democracy is a global network of democrats including activists, practitioners, academics, policy makers, and funders, who have come together to cooperate in the promotion of democracy.
The Stanford Persuasive Technology Lab will be sharing insights during a workshop entitled, “Using New Technologies for Advancing Democracy,” at the Fifth Assembly in Kiev, Ukraine.
I’m a firm believer that film will play an important, catalytic role in bringing about a more peaceful world. With the development of the internet as a global distribution medium, it is now possible to orchestrate a film event - or peace intervention - that reaches every corner of the planet.
On May 10, 2008, a program of powerful independent films will be watched live by a global audience in theaters around the world for Pangea Day. The goal: to bring about a more tolerant, compassionate world and encourage millions to build a better future. Pangea day was born from documentary filmmaker Jehane Joujaim’s TED wish to have a global film event that brings strangers from all over together under the spell of cinema - and, with the internet, to translate the response to the event towards a global movement dedicated to change.
Like myself, Jehane believes in the ability of film to bridge cultures and dissolve borders. Events like Pangea day may help make this possible, bringing us one step closer to achieving global peace.
-Ben Henretig
