The digitization, commercialization, and increased connectivity invading our world often is criticized and pegged as the movement that will eventually destroy our ability as humans to interact with one another and socialize with one another. These arguments all hold merit, but it is important to note that the Internet offers an unprecedented amount of positive implications on the way we can provide relief to natural disasters that happen across the world. In this regard, for example, people were able to use their cell phones to donate to relief efforts through text message and on Twitter.
I was reading on Mashable recently about a website that popped up after the earthquake that provided a resource and venue for people who wanted to offer their home as a makeshift shelter. The website is called Sparkrelief, and great numbers of people have offered their homes up to people who were displaced by the tsunami. This website uses the power of inter-connectivity to provide relief in a way that could never have been available before the birth of the internet and mapping technology.
As we continue to explore and push for progress on the Internet, it is important for us to always be pushing for innovation in the sectors that can bring positive social impact on our world. Investing millions of dollars into social media is worthwhile if the social media we are pursuing also provides social benefit to people in need.
Do you know of any other ways the internet is being used in innovative and revolutionary ways to care for the world's hurting or to solve social problems?
I'm currently all over the idea of Collaborative Consumption, and this sounds like it's along those same lines. But it's really amazing that the internet, which is certainly blamed for the breakdown of the traditional community, is also helping to repair a community. Cool.
ReplyDeleteAs far as other sites go, have you been to IfWeRanTheWorld.com? I haven't spent a lot of time on there, but people put in a problem that needs to be solved, and then break it down into action steps. Seems really cool.
The website freerice.com is a non-profit website run by the United Nations World Food Programme. The FreeRice site states that it has two main goals: The first, "provide education to everyone for free" and the second is to "help end world hunger by providing rice to hungry people for free"
ReplyDeleteThrough the word game on the site users are able to expand their vocabulary and with each question they get right 50 grains of rice are donated to someone in need.
The FreeRice "About" page states:
"Whether you are CEO of a large corporation or a street child in a poor country, improving your education can improve your life. It is a great investment in yourself. Perhaps even greater is the investment your donated rice makes in hungry human beings, enabling them to function and be productive. Somewhere in the world, a person is eating rice that you helped provide."
I watched a segment about Sparkrelief on the news the other day and took in a really powerful story about how a single mom and her son were able to find a new home thanks to the website and the generosity of a landlord.
ReplyDeleteI'm currently using Kiva.org, which is a micro-loan service that connects lenders with needy entrepreneurs across the world. The loans can be made for as little as $25 and are repaid back entirely interest free. I feel it's a great way to really enable people to pick themselves up and give them a sense of hope for the future. In addition, this service protects people in developing areas from aggressive loan sharks and gives them an alternative to expensive bank loans.
And because I feel like a Rhetoric major would be totally into this:
ReplyDeleteI'm a pen pal on In2Books and it's basically a site that connects mentors with grade school students to help cultivate a love of books and learning. Basically, throughout the year, you and your student will read books together (your student will pick them out) and you will correspond over the In2Books website to share about what you guys have read. I feel that this is definitely a step forward for education, especially since this program targets kids from low-income areas who didn't have the same advantages and privileges that I had.
After all, part of the thrill of attaining a higher education should be being able to share our commitment to lifelong learning right?
Man I should be writing Hallmark cards...
The American Red Cross now has a feature on its website that allows people to make monetary contributions over the internet. Donors can choose where they want the money to go, and I'm sure right now a lot of that money will be going to Japan, just as it went to Haiti and Louisiana in the recent past. There is even an option to send your money "Where the need is the greatest" so the money can be doled out where necessary.
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