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Interview: Andrew Rasiej on technology as a new ecology, not just a medium

Dowser — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 14:45:42 +0000

This week Dowser is revisiting our best tech stories while our writers report back from the Social Good Summit. Check back often for our conference coverage - we'll examine the power of technology and innovative thinking to create change.

Andrew Rasiej is what many would call a “serial entrepreneur.” A jack of all trades, Rasiej founded a number of ventures before stumbling upon his current calling: founder of MOUSE (Making Opportunities for Upgrading Schools and Education), an organization that runs three tech-based programs to educate and inspire under-served students to pursue careers in the Web-driven information economy. The MOUSE Squad trains students to run their own IT help desks inside their schools, and MOUSE Corp provides professional internship and career workshop opportunities. The third arm, MOUSE TechSource, focuses on research and evaluation of MOUSE programs. To date, MOUSE runs in 269 schools across seven states, working with 3,000 students who then provide technical support to over 240,000 students. Rasiej sat down with Dowser to talk about going head-to-head with Giuliani, getting stuck on a ski lift with a senator, and other adventures on the road to MOUSE. #

Dowser: You’ve got an eclectic work history – architect, real estate broker, music venue owner, and MOUSE founder. How did you get to MOUSE?
Rasiej: It sort of just happened. I was running Irving Plaza [a music venue in New York City] and at the time Rudy Giuliani was the mayor. He was publicly calling nightclubs bad for the city, and he had a task force to shut them down. I was getting visited by all kinds of agencies in the middle of shows, and was getting really frustrated with the city. #

I realized that I had to do something. So I joined a business group that had adopted a school just a block away from Irving Plaza. About the same time that I was doing that, I helped start an online music festival. I was webcasting live concerts and I was interested in the Internet as a democratization of the music industry. #

Tell me more about the school.
At this school, there were 3,000 kids, all on free school lunch, and there was not one computer in the school. I e-mailed some friends, asking if they would come help me build a computer lab on a Saturday with several used computers. To my surprise, 200 people showed up. And I thought, wow, here's this energy to get these young people in school to get onto the network. Of course, we didn't know what we were doing. And that’s how I started MOUSE. #

What did you learn in your first few years, and how did it influence the focus of MOUSE’s work?
I realized that the biggest problem wasn't really wiring the schools, or getting kids online; the biggest problem was getting the computers to work and getting people to fix them. There was only one systems administrator for the entire Manhattan district. #

How did you raise the money for that?
We raised money first from friends and family. Then I got a small grant from the New York Times Foundation, then CitiGroup gave us some money and it slowly started building. Soon after that, we created a program called MOUSE Squad that trains the kids to maintain the computers in their schools themselves. And then the program took off. Funding came faster because people were more willing to give money that was directly benefiting the kids. #

That sounds like a catalyst for a shift in strategy.
I started talking to education professionals – teachers, superintendents, chancellors, and then politicians, arguing for more money for technology. I like to say that they didn't realize that technology is not a piece of the pie, it's actually the pan. #

What was it like taking on politicians?
I started with Tom Daschle, then Dick Gephardt, then the Clintons, and I was invited to Washington to make speeches. But then I realized that politicians only listen to two types of people – the ones that they get a lot of money from and the ones that they give a lot of money to. Anybody who has an idea or some other valuable asset in between, they don't really pay attention to. So I really didn't get very far with the politicians; they basically nodded politely, said, this is great, now would you write us a $10,000 check please. #

What’s one of the most important interactions you had on the Hill?
The most important moment came about in the winter of 2000 when I was invited to attend a technology conference with a dozen senators and Tom Daschle, who was the majority leader at the time. There were all these big cable companies and telephone companies at the conference, and their reps said all the things that I had heard before and watching the politicians nod. #

We went skiing, I got on a ski lift with Tom and the ski lift got stuck. So we had half an hour to talk, and I convinced him that it wasn't enough to nod, that politicians had to start using the technologies themselves, and that it should empower them to do their jobs better and improve education, because ultimately education is the pillar of democracy. #

Seems like a good strategy, getting stuck on a ski lift with important people.
He invited me to Washington to make a speech, and a little later on in my life, I also ran for public office, trying to see if I could change the equation. It was a frustrating experience and I learned a lot from it, but the political system is still way, way behind. #

You’re still very busy working for social change. What insights have you gained over the years?
As much as things change, they also stay the same. The reason for 90% of human behavior is to maintain your position in life. And if all the best jobs got taken in the industrial age by the baby boomers 20 or 30 years ago, they're not getting out of the way; they're pretty happy where they are. So there are systems in place that take a long time to change. #

On the other hand, technology represents a huge opportunity to reboot our society, and my work is driven by a strong desire on my part for equity and justice. #

Where does that drive come from?
My parents were victims of the partition of Poland by the Germans and Russians. My grandfathers were killed by Stalin in a massacre of 20,000 Polish officers in one day. I grew up with stories of terrible things that had happened, so it ingrained in me this sense of justice. Through family stories, I realized that there is a lineage of community organizing in my family's blood. It’s not something that I decided I was going to do; I was just inclined to do it. In my work, I saw technology as a tool that could break the chain of social and economic inequity by exposing the truth. #

You’re an early adopter of technology. Would you describe yourself as a computer geek?
Not at all. I don't know how to write code. But my skill is having the ability to translate the implications of technology to an audience that isn't necessarily versed in it. Conversely, I’m able to explain to the people who do understand technology why certain groups don't change so fast. I'm a mediator, not a technologist, but certainly a big believer in technology. #

In your career as a social entrepreneur, what have been your hardest-learned lessons?
There were far more mistakes than there were successes. I think that the success of any project, whether it's for profit or not for profit, has a lot to do with timing. With many of my ideas, I can see what's going to happen further down the road, but the conditions for them to happen are not there yet. I learned to be more patient, because you can push all you want, but there are factors that you can't control. #

I've also learned that some of the institutions that we fight against aren't worth converting. I don’t waste my time trying to convince people who should get it but don't want to. #

You’ve got an analogy about horses and steam machines that speaks to this.
Imagine we were farmers or ranchers and all our friends were farmers or ranchers, and we visit a steam engine convention and we're exposed to perhaps the first locomotive. We go back and tell our friends, ‘Hey, check this out.’ And they say, ‘Hey, maybe we could use this to carry our horses to the field!’ #

It's like politicians thinking, ‘Oh, this is the Internet, maybe we could license e-mail addresses and make money.’ They don't see that it's converting the entire ecology of what they do. People frame the world through their own experiences, to understand how things work or to think about any given problem. But they don't necessarily recognize when an innovation is more than evolutionary, but revolutionary. #

Using this analogy to explain to people why this is so significant has proven to be one of the most pleasant parts of my own professional experience. #

This interview was edited and condensed. #

Photo: Elpias #

E-Health Point combines water and wireless to provide healthcare in rural India

Dowser — Thu, 05 May 2011 15:32:08 +0000

Al Hammond and Amit Jain of E-Health Point found a hook to get rural Indians to come to their clinics: provide clean water. Cheap clean water brings the foot traffic that lets their modern medical facilities flourish. Because there are no local doctors, the clinics use wireless broadband and two-way video with remote medical professionals. Last year their model caught the attention of Proctor and Gamble, whose investment in the company will allow them to scale up across India. Below Hammond describes the pull of the bright shiny medical office, the natural collusion of clean water, healthcare and technology and how he provides affordable medical care while growing his for-profit social enterprise. #

Dowser: How has the general reception been to your highly technical medical facilities in rural India?
Hammond: Rural individuals have access to television - that makes them realize that they are falling behind their Western counterparts. So, when they see a clean, well-functioning facility, they equate it with something urban. And that makes them feel proud that they have such a good quality place in their own community. Plus, it’s not charity; they’re a consumer, they’re a paying customer. So, it makes them have a great sense of pride. And that’s not unique to India. That sentiment is across the developing world. In fact, if they don’t like our service, they don’t have to come. #

What technologies are key for Health Point in Punjab?
I often say that this would not have been possible five years ago. There were four key technologies that were not available before.
1. Rural broadband
2. Good telemedical software
3. Modern point-of-care diagnostics mobile diagnostics
4. Cheap water treatment #

Would it be classified as a social enterprise or non-profit?
We’re a for-profit social enterprise. We're going to spend $50,000 per village. And we're going to spend probably $30 million of investment capital per country. And raising grants on that magnitude is not sustainable. Doing 100 units is not enough. We have to get enough units out there on a large scale so that capital markets and the global health market start viewing this as an alternative method to solving these problems. #

Are you finding that even though you're charging less than a dollar (30/40 Rs.) per medical test or consultation, you're able to raise enough funds?
Yes. We're in the positive. There are three strata in rural Punjab to consider and we cater to the middle. #

Top: 5% are wealthy: landowners, drive nice cars, can afford health services. #

Middle: 60-65% are successful farmers, merchants, etc.: can afford these kind of prices. They would typically have an income of $2 per day per family member. That's our core market. #

Bottom: 30% are landless immigrants and migrants. They typically cannot afford it. It's hard to get those families to become water users or healthcare users. If it's not free, they tend not to get it. The way to get those people is through public-private partnerships by offering subsidies. So, if we can get them access to clean water through such means then we can address childhood diarrhea, etc., which is so closely linked to water. #

Why did you start in Punjab?
Southern Punjab is very poor. Also, it was easier if we started in a place where we had support and could set it up. Then we can show it as an example to the government. We had an introduction to the ex-finance minister, which helped us get local support. Now, we're at a stage where we're wanted in the state and we can think about expanding to other parts of North India and then extend towards the South. #

The key is that you have to engage government to do this, even if you're financially independent. #

Doctors provide the tele-medical consultation, who are these doctors and how far away are they?
The doctors are coming from Bhatinda (a nearby city in Punjab) who are local and know the local language. We can of course get doctors from Delhi, Mohali, etc. And as we expand to the South or other regions, we’d get doctors from corresponding areas to ensure that they can speak the local languages. #

Are they paid?
It's not sustainable if they're not. We pay our doctors about 30,000 Rs. per month. We pay our village health workers. We pay our unit staff that we hire and train from the village. We cover those costs with patient fees. #

That's what's amazing - that we can do a reasonably good service, in an area where there wasn't any, and make enough to cover our costs. That's what's revolutionary - that it's sustainable. #

Does the clean water help people get to know about the clinic and come use its services?
Yes, and in the future, we're going to open the water first and then open the health services. Then the health care would be profitable sooner. Water provides traffic. Water helps avoid disease. Water tends to wipe out the diarrheal diseases, etc. They're both aspects of health. The water is the easiest to get up and going. The health takes a bit longer to make it profitable. #

Will you provide immunizations down the road?
Yes. We could do it as part of the government program and then charge for some additional ones. Later, we can provide insurance as well. #

Could you tell me more about the Proctor and Gamble partnership?
P&G is looking to get into the services sector and especially the BOP [Base of the Pyramid]. So, they're able to learn through our model. And they'll be able to help scale it. Fundamentally, they're an investor that's interested in learning about the market and we’re helping them do so. #

Do you find that there is any hesitancy when it comes to Western medicine? Do they prefer ayurvedic or homeopathy?
Some of our patients do feel that ayurvedic is better. But the vast majority of rural individuals are looking for solutions using traditional medicine. They take pride in seeing our facilities where everyone is dressed in a uniform, we have a stainless steel water purification machine, we have an on-site licensed pharmacy, and we have licensed doctors. They’re happy to see such services available in a rural setting. #

Beyond Connectivity

Dowser — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 15:00:35 +0000

Data-driven apps are opening a new era of global development. #

That's one of the big takeaways from the recent Global Philanthropy Forum in Redwood City, Calif. #

It's hard to pinpoint when the inflection point may come -- if it hasn't already -- but you know it's a pretty amazing world when five billion mobile phones and global connectivity are now taken as a given. #

That "ambient infrastructure" is "a huge tool that none of us have to pay for," Andrew Zolli, the curator of PopTech said on the forum's first day. Mobile devices, base stations, geo-coding, messaging and transaction services -- all are essentially cost-free to the new wave of entrepreneurs, he said. “This extraordinary thing becomes the platform for a whole set of other extraordinary things.” #

The open questions involve the shape and impact of the applications entrepreneurs will build on top of that platform. The advanced services already growing on top of M-PESA are just one example. The SMS-based mobile-banking service in Africa allows 13.5 million people to conduct $200 million in transactions each day. Now Kilimo Salama (“Safe Agriculture”) allows small farmers in Kenya to use M-PESA to insure themselves against droughts and floods, with payouts determined by a network of weather monitors that also report in via SMS. #

Just as mobile communication has leapfrogged landline phones in the developing world (and off-grid solar and other electricity solutions are leapfrogging unreliable power grids), the new apps spring straight from the global computing "cloud." #

"If software becomes commoditized, what becomes valuable? Very large databases," said Tim O'Reilly, founder of O'Reilly Media. "The subsystems of the global Internet operating system are data." #

That puts a premium on open, transparent, accurate data. Zolli highlighted the work of Ned Breslin and Water for People, which monitors the field-level activity of 60,000 wells and pumps with an Android app and Google Earth, broadcasting instant reports about their water and sanitation projects. #

Such real-time data about impact and efficacy is "terrifying many people in the space," Zolli said to nervous chuckles. But, he added, "The 'data exhaust' of whether that thing worked or not is going to be a primary asset that we can open-source, remix, and do all kinds of mashups with. So even when we fail, the precise data about how and why we fail is going to have immense value." #

That kind of accountability can dispel some cherished myths. Howard White of the International Initiative for Impact Evaluation described how the Bangladesh Integrated Nutrition Project was touted as a model program, based on data showing reduced infant malnutrition in the country. But a closer look showed the program had almost no impact -- the mothers who received the education weren't in charge of their kitchens (their mothers-in-law were) and "supplemental" feedings were replacing, rather than augmenting, regular meals. The reduced malnutrition was a function of lower rice prices and higher incomes across Bangladesh and had nothing to do with the program, he said. "You want to have results, you want to have impact, you want to save lives," White said. "The only way to do that is to have proper studies about what works and what doesn’t." #

Likewise, Reuben Abraham, executive director of the Centre for Emerging Markets Solutions at the Indian School of Business, deconstructed the myth that mobile access to price information had allowed Indian fishermen to shop their daily catch to the highest bidder, shifting power from brokers to producers. Instead, he said, the complex system of loans, leases and other agreements kept fishermen linked to their commission agents, who reaped most of the benefits of higher market prices. Mobile technology has indeed brought enormous productivity gains, he said, but because of constraints in the market, “it is people other those who actually fish who get the benefits.” #

The continuous loop of infrastructure, data and innovation is producing some exciting new business models. Leila Chirayath Janah explained how Samasource helps local entrepreneurs set up data-processing "factories" in places like central Haiti and Jharkand, India to harness the power of international trade for the benefit of the poorest of the poor. Traditional micro-credit helps villagers sell to other poor villagers; Samasource helps them sell to the global market. Such "microwork" -- the bottom tier of the $1.3 trillion annual business-processing outsourcing industry, is a far bigger market than, say, fair-trade coffee, she says. "This is a whole new channel for wealth-creation," she said. #

Photo: Keir32 #

The importance of reaching out: Cindy Cooper of Speak Shop

Dowser — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 15:36:57 +0000

In this series social entrepreneurs discuss the importance of sharing their big idea and reaching out to others. From making business partners out of strangers to saving flooded headquarters, our contacts and future contacts routinely prove integral to every aspect of creating and running a social enterprise. #

Speak Shop seeks to create inter-cultural dialog and understanding through language lessons. People use the service to take Spanish lessons with tutors in Guatemala one-on-one by webcam, and the founders hope to expand to other languages and countries. #

Their business model makes tutors micro-business owners instead of seasonal teachers and gives the student a cultural and language experience without the overhead costs of travel. #

Dowser: What's something concrete and tangible you've learned in the last three months?
Cooper: You need to find at least one other person you can let your guard down with who really gets it. I’m lucky I have that with Clay who is not just a co-founder, but also my husband. But sometimes you need someone outside your organization or family. Most people do not want to hear about your problems, but other social entrepreneurs are usually pretty receptive, and that’s where I go first. I recently heard a venture capitalist say, 'As an entrepreneur, you need to show your passion. When you ask people which Winnie-the-Pooh character they want to be, no one says Eeyore' (the gloomy one). He has a point. But entrepreneurship is notoriously up and down, so it’s really important to know who will be there on your Eeyore days. #

What is a mistake or mishap you've learned from?
One of the biggest mistakes we made early on was waiting to launch for fear of failing. When Speak Shop started out in 2004 we were very hesitant because no one had ever offered or heard of one-on-one Spanish tutoring by webcam, and we did not have the resources to prove that webcam-based tutoring would work. After unsuccessfully trying to get beta testers for several months, we just started marketing Speak Shop using Google Ads. People came. We were really excited, but still worried we might have launched too soon. I remember asking our first customer, Poppy: 'Do you think you can learn Spanish this way?' She was probably wondering: Why do you need to ask me, but she said, 'Yes, absolutely!' That was one of the best moments. We had a real customer who was excited and happy. I now notice that even huge companies like Twitter and Facebook fail some times. By temporarily suspending the drive for perfection, you can create something that really works and truly helps people. You aren’t an entrepreneur until you’ve made mistakes. #

Photo courtesy of Cindy Cooper #

Mini Case Study: How to leverage social media for action not just commentary

Dowser — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 16:00:43 +0000

PROBLEM:
While some applaud the power of social media to create social change, others doubt that information and discussion moves users to action. This fall, Malcolm Gladwell took a strong stand against the role of social media in changemaking, stating that connections formed by social media are “weak ties,” ask too little of participants, and do not lead to “high risk activism". These ties, he argued, provide information but don't compel us to act. If We Ran The World founder Cindy Gallop wants to make social media as act-friendly as possible. #

RESPONSE:
Upon entering If We Ran The World, users are prompted to answer the question: If I ran the world, I would... The site spits out a variety of possible actions for you to take linked to your response. With each action, you build a profile, creating not only a list of actions, but an activist identity that is shared across social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter. Users are viewed by their microactions and “action platforms” (how they would change the world). Users can also create microactions for others to take on. With a background in advertising and branding, Gallop thinks closely about how to tap good intentions by using them as branding opportunities; for the individual, but also for companies, which can learn what actions and brands users care about so that they can target products to those interests and commitments. #

RESULTS:
After just ten months, If We Ran The World users are generating actions that Gallop herself never expected. “We always intended it to be a place to make anything you want happen - not just social change,” Gallop said. “People are starting ventures on this website, people are using the site to change things about themselves, a politician has used the site to run her municipal election campaign, and more recently teachers have said they can use this in schools to generate action.” The site also partners with conferences at what Gallop calls “the moment of intention” to truly move idea-generation into the space of action. Unlike other uses of social media for social good, Gallop says, “On 'If We Ran the World' you can’t lie, because everything is based on what you actually do.” If We Ran the World hopes to develop further to the point where it can show users the picture of themselves created across their social media profiles and offer them ways to formulate it further with microactions. “The concept microaction itself has been around forever,” Gallop says, “the innovative key here is showing how they actually look good and feel better from taking those actions.” #

Craig Kielburger on how giving young activists more executive power motivates them to stay involved

Dowser — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 15:40:14 +0000

In 1995, 12-year-old Craig Kielburger was flipping through the Toronto Star looking for comics when he came across an article about the murder of Iqbal Masih, a Pakistani child labor activist who was also 12. Upset by this story, Kielburger gathered a small group of his seventh grade classmates to speak out against child labor, and the Canadian-based Free the Children was born. #

Free the Children focuses on training young changemakers in the U.S. and Canada, and putting that training into practice with a number of community development programs at home and abroad. The organization now operates in 45 countries, and has helped build more than 650 schools in places like Haiti and Sierra Leone. Kielburger’s enterprise was recently inducted into Oprah’s Angel Network for its commitment to liberating children from poverty and exploitation. #

In this interview, Kielburger talks about Free the Children’s peer-to-peer approach to youth activism. #

Dowser: Why are this generation’s young people more likely to carry out the work of Free the Children?
Kielburger: Each generation moves a little bit further to becoming global citizens, but I think this generation has done it by leaps and bounds. We’ve globalized technology in the sense that, say, you can offshore to India. We’ve globalized commerce; look at the financial crisis that’s taking place and how the flu in the United States financial system has spread around the world. #

The one thing we haven’t globalized yet is compassion. But because this generation has grown up as global citizens – with media technology and so much more at their fingertips – they’re breaking down the final barrier to globalization. #

Has technology impacted the work of Free the People?
I don’t think Free the Children would have been possible without the Internet. I look at the way we started our organization [in 1995] and a few years later you suddenly had the Internet boom taking place, email in households across North America, young people able to connect online. #

Up until that point, maybe they had a local volunteer club, but you usually didn’t have elementary or middle school students protesting global issues, fundraising, and talking to their peers halfway around the world on a regular basis. Suddenly, because of the technology, that became possible. #

What specific strategies do you use to help children channel their energy to take action?
We present simple and concrete ways that children can engage and help with overwhelming problems. And if an 8-year-old or 10-year-old can understand it, then anyone can. #

We go into North American schools three times a year, work with the student leaders, do presentations in front of the entire student body, and train the teachers in how to create meaningful opportunities for students to get engaged. Instead of just working at some charity where you’re licking envelopes or moving boxes of canned food, suddenly you’re in charge—it’s your initiative. It’s a shift from just volunteerism to activism. #

Is there a make-or-break detail for Free the Children?
Youth engagement. What makes us unique is who we appeal to. People under the age of 18 are responsible for 65% of all our money. Car washes and bake sales. All of our programs are aimed at young people. So what we are trying to do is create this generation of kids to be global citizens here in North America; to care in a very real and tangible way. #

What is an example of a core Free the Children project and how has it evolved?
The core of our model overseas is Adopt a Village. We originally started building schools 13 years ago, and girls wouldn’t go. They needed to walk far distances to get water, and during daylight because that was the safest time to do it, and they couldn’t go to school. So we had to bring a water project to the school. #

What other changes have you implemented after listening to your Adopt a Village clients?
Once when we brought a water project to the school, they said, ‘Well, that’s great, but these kids are poor, they need to work. If the children are not engaged in child labor, where’s the income coming from?’ So we set up microcredit cooperatives as an ongoing source of income à la Grameen Bank and Muhammad Yunus, whose daughter, Monica Yunus, is on our board. And then we created healthcare, because kids who are sick can’t learn. This whole model developed where the microcredit cooperatives provided [for] the ongoing operational costs, so everything is self-sustaining usually within five years of the initial investments in the community. #

You must have gone through different ideas before actually getting down to working. Was there anything you tried initially that didn’t end up working out?
The greatest part about beginning as young as we were was that we knew we didn’t have the answers. And we still have that same belief. We call it the ‘drink tea’ philosophy in our organization: where you drink tea with a woman, you drink tea with a man, you drink tea with the religious leaders, and you drink tea and drink tea and drink tea, and ask even some of the most basic, simple questions. I don’t think that a lot of adults appreciate that in kids there is a humbleness in curiosity. #

This interview was edited and condensed. #

Photo: Alison Herr #

Twitter Roundup - December 3: Jumo, fast trains and a food safety overhaul

Dowser — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 15:30:33 +0000

Search for the hashtag #socent and you’ll find wide-ranging interest in social entrepreneurship on Twitter. Here’s a roundup of a few thought-provoking tweets from the last week: #

We're officially live! Check it out: www.jumo.com

November 30, 2010 2:40 pm via TweetDeck

@jumoconnect

Jumo

Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes and his team launched the beta version of a new site called Jumo (@JumoConnect) which means “to come together” in the Yoruba language. It’s a social network dedicated to connecting people to the nonprofits and causes they care about. Plus it’s built on top of the Facebook platform, so no need to manage yet another social networking profile. Read more about it on their website, here. #

Charging for plastic bags cut bag consumption by half in China: Research from Sweden shows that people in China ... http://bit.ly/hlADUd

November 29, 2010 3:21 am via twitterfeed

@sciencedaily

sciencedaily

Researchers in Sweden announced the remarkable results of the ban on free plastic bags in China: plastic bag use has dropped by 50 percent, keeping up to 100 billion bags from landfills. And only about 40 percent of retailers have actually been complying with the ban. We're keeping an eye on other plastic bag bans to see what kinds of effects they have. #

Still hot: Poland Unveils BMW-Designed Subway Cars Which Are 98% Recyclable http://ow.ly/3hgBj

November 30, 2010 10:10 am via HootSuite

@fastcodesign

Co.Design

From Fast Company design, we have a cool story on some beautiful and eco-friendly new subway cars designed by BMW and Siemens for the underground rails of Warsaw, Poland. They’re 98 percent recyclable and significantly lighter than existing cars, so they need less energy to run. Click through to see the pictures. #

NYT NEWS ALERT: Senate Passes Overhaul of Food Safety Regulations

November 30, 2010 3:36 pm via The New York Times

@nytimes

The New York Times

This week, the so-called “lame duck” Senate surprised many by passing the Food Safety Modernization bill, the first significant food safety overhaul in over 70 years. It passed by a hefty margin of 73-25. Proponents say it protects small businesses and farmers while ensuring that consumers won’t be subject to so many food recalls and batches of dangerous produce. However, earlier this week, it was discovered that the decision may be thrown out, as any measures that deal with taxes are supposed to begin in the House of Representatives. We look forward to seeing what happens with this important legislation. #

What’d we miss? Let us know in the comments or find us @dowserDOTorg. #

Mini Case Study: Heal The Bay on how to make a video go viral

Dowser — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 15:30:09 +0000

Social innovators can learn from each others' successes and failures. That's the idea behind Dowser's Mini Case Studies, real-world stories showing how changemakers confront practical challenges. #

PROBLEM:
The environmental advocacy group Heal the Bay has identified marine debris as a core problem – and an issue ripe for political action. “Sixty to eighty percent of urban runoff is plastic,” says the group’s Communications Director Matthew King. “You just need to take a walk along the shoreline after a rainy day and you’ll see. We have to do something about plastic.” For five years, the group has been sponsoring bag ban bills in state and local legislatures, educating on marine debris issues, and leading beach clean-ups and other actions. In spring 2010, when the California plastic bag ban – AB1998 – finally came up in the state senate, the group knew it needed a big push if the bill had a chance of becoming law. But Heal the Bay had no budget for a major media campaign. #

RESPONSE:
King met with longtime advertising agency partner DDB, whose group Creative Director Kevin McCarthy is a Heal the Bay supporter and volunteer. To succeed, they knew they needed to appeal to emotion to personalize the story, and to make the video funny instead of didactic. McCarthy and others agreed to work pro-bono on a nature mockumentary, a film exploring the life of a plastic bag. They brought in Partisan Pictures to produce the film and Academy Award-winning actor Jeremy Irons to do the voice-over. Once they saw the film, King’s colleagues knew they had a powerful communication tool. To promote it, they sent it around to sites like Boing Boing, The Huffington Post, and the UK Guardian. Within a few days it was the second most-watched video on YouTube. “I think it went viral because of the compelling storytelling that combined humor, drama and education,” said King. “I liked that what had been thought of as the villain – the plastic bag – became an unlikely hero as it fought off all these challenges to make it to the ocean.” #

RESULTS:
“The [film] drew people in in a way nothing had been able to before,” King said. Although AB1998 did not pass, King considers the campaign a success. Thousands of people beyond Heal the Bay’s usual supporters responded by sending letters. Local legislators – including Arnold Schwarzenegger, who watched video with his staff – have taken up the plastic bag ban cause. Schools and other institutions across the country have asked for copies of the video to distribute. The video demonstrated the power of storytelling and entertainment in campaigns that can otherwise be filled with “so much doom and gloom,” said King. “The outstanding production values, Jeremy Irons' understated narration, the stirring music and the bits of humor all made for an entertaining – rather than hectoring – film.” He added: “This made us look like a creative risk taker and smart communicator and advocate – and it now really is a calling card for us.” #

Click here to view the embedded video.

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Smartphone apps turn citizens into scientists

Dowser — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 16:08:10 +0000

Around 100 million Americans use web-connected, camera-equipped phones on a daily -- probably hourly -- basis. Which is why many developers are exploring how this extraordinary resource can be harnessed for social change. By using our phones to snap photographs of trash-filled riverbeds, for example, or geo-tag pervasive noise pollution, just about anyone can contribute to vital data treasures that can reshape the world. Such crowd-sourced data advances scientific research and improves long-term planning. Today, we feature a few of our favorite apps that are empowering everyday people to become citizen scientists. #

NOAH, or Networked Organisms And Habitats, is an iPhone app that helps people learn more about the natural world using the virtual one. You can download field guides to look up different organisms you want to learn more about, or you can volunteer for a mission to help research groups and organizations track invasive plants or log photographs of endangered species. Right now, NOAH is working with groups who need help tracking wildlife in the Gulf Coast region.

Using the Visibility smartphone app, you can help researchers at the Robotic Embedded Systems Laboratory measure air pollution. After downloading the app, take a picture of the sky, rate the visibility and upload the image. The researchers who receive your image have developed an algorithm that lets them assess the particulate matter in the air just by collecting a large quantity of unobstructed images of the sky. So the more images you send in, they better they can evaluate the air pollution in your area.

Creek Watch is an iPhone app that lets you help monitor the health of your local watershed. If you pass by a waterway you can use the Creek Watch application to snap a picture and note how much water and trash you see. Analysts aggregate the data and share it with water control boards to help them track pollution and manage water resources.

Photo: NOAH #

A Safe Haven in Cartoon Confidants

Dowser — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 21:36:42 +0000

For months, psychologists struggled to reach the eight year old boy in the burn unit of the Pediatric Hospital of Tacubaya, in Mexico City. He had been discovered in the basement of a house, tied to a water tank after being burned along the backs of both legs with a clothes iron by his uncle and aunt, who were later arrested. Every time an adult tried to talk about his abuse, the boy would turn away and repeat, “No, no, no, no.” One day, a therapist said to a colleague, “Nothing is working. Let’s try Dulas.” #

Dulas is a computer-generated character created by Julia Borbolla, a Mexican child psychologist. It is one of several “emotional agents” Borbolla has invented that are being recognized in Mexico City as capable of gaining rare access into the inner lives of children. Dulas, like all of these characters, comes from a planet called Antenopolis and knows nothing about life on earth, not even what a mother or father is. He looks like a pointy-headed M&M with big eyes and radio antennas. He is red, the color children associate with burns, and wears bunny rabbit slippers because he remains in a hospital – so children can count on his companionship. #

A therapist named Rafael Mateos Ortiz took the boy to Dulas’s room, which was decorated with stars, planets and children’s art. In the corner a TV screen was set inside a cutout of a 1950s-style spaceship, with mailbox slots for children to place notes or drawings. Mateos explained to the boy that Dulas doesn’t like to interact with adults – so he would only come out after he left the room. Mateos went to an adjacent room and Dulas appeared on the screen. Speaking through Dulas in a software-altered cartoony voice, Mateos used keyboard strokes to make him move and express emotions. #

When I visited Mateos recently at the Tacubaya hospital, he told me that, within 30 minutes: “[The boy] told Dulas that he was living in a shelter, that his parents had died, that he had been abused, that he had been burned by his uncle and aunt.” Mateos added: “It was a major step – beginning to talk about his feelings.” Now the therapists had insights they could work with and the boy said he wanted to speak with Dulas again. #

Over the past five years, Borbolla’s characters have been used to assist 2,000 children from 3 to 14 years old, and have been employed in three Mexico City hospitals and a center for disabilities in another city, Morelia. The characters collectively go by the name Antenas because they all have antennas and come from Antenopolis (Borbolla’s original character also goes by the name Antenas.). The psychologists I spoke with said the tool creates an environment of trust and empathy that enables them to understand children’s issues more quickly than they imagined possible, and enhances the effectiveness of their work by providing a context in which children find it easier to discover and express their feelings — which carries over to therapy. “In my practice, if I needed four or five visits with a child to understand what really happened — with Antenas I need 10 or 15 minutes, maybe two sessions,” said Borbolla. #

Therapists have been using puppets to help children unearth and process their feelings for decades. But Borbolla, who has been working with children for 30 years, has taken this kind of work a step further, assembling elements that haven’t been put together before. To begin with, the children interact with the characters (or cyber-puppets) in a room without adults present (therapists monitor with cameras). The characters also have attributes and stories that are both designed to build rapport and make it easy for children to project their feelings upon them. Because they come from a planet that is different from Earth (but may have similar aspects), they are able to credibly ask naïve questions, like “What is a family?” or “What is a school?” that can elicit revealing answers. Like many children, they prefer not to interact with adults. “Children are drawn to that kind of complicity,” comments Borbolla. #

Perhaps most important, therapists must undergo several months of training and practice, under observation, before they can use the tool. Not all therapists receive certification, Borbolla says. It takes a good ear and a light touch ─ playful, enthusiastic, funny at times, but not too funny ─ to understand how to follow the child’s lead and make the characters come alive in a way that respects the child’s feelings and is believable enough to work. #

Borbolla originally got the idea to use a drawing of an animated character to communicate with children when she was working as a school psychologist in the 1980s. Years later, in private practice, she worked with a cyber-puppet maker to develop a software version. She spent six years refining the tool. “This is the fruit of many years’ experience and many adjustments,” she told me. #

In 2005, she established a nonprofit foundation, Antenas Por Los Ninos, supported by grants, to disseminate the work. The impetus was a comment made by her daughter Juli, who is now 27 and is also a clinical psychologist. Juli had been born without a right ventricle in her heart, and as an infant and child she had undergone repeated surgeries and hospitalizations. Borbolla recalled: “She told me, ‘If I had had Antenas in the hospital, I would have asked the character many things I never asked because I was afraid of saying things that might hurt you or my father. I wanted to know if I was going to die. I wanted to know what else was going to happen to me.’ ” #

Antenas characters have been used to assist children who are experiencing a range of difficulties. Therapists in Tacubaya use them in pre- and post-operative therapy and burn rehabilitation. In Morelia, one character, Bompi, is employed to assist children with disabilities. (Bompi says that all humans have disabilities because they don’t have antennas.) The program is being used to provide emotional support to children with heart disease and cancer, teach children how to protect themselves from potential abuse, and, at the government’s request, learn about children’s experiences in public day care centers. In a pilot project being conducted by the Pediatric Hospital of Iztapalapa in conjunction with four government agencies, children’s interactions with another character are carefully being reviewed as potential legal evidence in cases of violence or abuse. #

One of the first times Borbolla used the Antenas character was with a five-year-old girl whose parents brought her in because she had been wetting her bed. Antenas asked the girl, “Who do you live with?” She replied: “My father, my mother, my little brother, and the maid.” When Antenas asked: “What’s a maid?” the girl replied “It’s a woman who helps mother with the house and when your father goes out, she hurts you.” Another time Antenas asked a young boy, “What’s a driver?” and the boy said that a driver is a man who uses the car and touches you in the guest bathroom when your parents go out. Borbolla explained that these disclosures ─ spontaneous responses to general questions ─ are highly reliable, especially when they come from young children. But therapists also follow up with the child and the family to confirm facts. #

In such cases, therapists have to handle the information carefully. One principle of the work is that a therapist must not reveal that she knows something that was said to an Antenas character privately. The character must first ask permission of children to share any information with a “good adult.” This preserves the trust and integrity of the child’s relationship with the character. In the case of the boy and the driver above, Antenas said he should tell what he said to “Julia, that lady who brought you here.” The boy replied, “If I tell someone the driver will kill my mother.” Antenas said, “She will know how to protect you and your mother.” The boy gave permission for Antenas to tell Julia and she made sure the child’s parents, who happened to be wealthy, came directly to her office to pick up the boy (the driver was waiting for him outside) to deal with the matter. #

Over the years, Borbolla has gained insights into children simply by having a character ask basic questions like “What is a mother?” or “What is a father?” With children in hospitals, the character may ask: ‘What is a doctor?’ If the child responds ─ as many do, in effect ─ “A mean person who makes you suffer,” then Antenas can help the child handle his fears and adapt to his treatment. #

The psychologists I spoke and emailed with said they loved the tool. Ana Zarina Fiorentini Cañedo, who supervises the psychological program at Tacubaya, wrote that she highly recommends the program for hospitals because of its efficacy in helping children heal from the emotional pain of illness. Some psychologists have concerns about children being deceived into thinking they are confiding with a character when they are in fact talking to human adults. Borbolla acknowledges it, but says that it’s an extension of the established practice of using puppets. And she is careful to add that Antenas is no substitute for therapy. (She likes to limit its use to six sessions.) “It is a simple tool, but it can be enriched with the personality of each expert,” she says. #

To date, Antenas hasn’t been rigorously studied, and Borbolla is working to engage researchers to examine its impact. She is developing an Internet-based application to reach children who are immobile. And she dreams of having the resources to bring the tool into disaster areas, like Haiti. “After an earthquake, everybody thinks of food and blankets, but what are the children feeling? How are they faring?” Her biggest fear is that the tool will be co-opted for negative purposes. “I see how powerful it is,” she told me. “It can be used to get into the souls of children.” #

This column was originally published in The New York Times. Fixes appears every Tuesday in the Times Opinionator section.
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Photo credit/caption: Photo 1: Antenas por los Ninos, Talking about abuse to Dulas, instead of an adult, has been therapeutic for some traumatized children; Photo 2: Antenas por los Ninos, The original Antenas; Photo 3: Antenas por los Ninos, Bompi. #