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| :''This is a work in progress. We will be highly receptive to any advice or changes you have''
| | Distributed Action is one of the first Appropedea Action Groups. We are based at San Francisco State University. |
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| Here on Appropedia, we will create a list of needs in the third world that westerners might address.
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| We will then spur the creation of local, independently operating clubs with their own names and identities. These clubs will collaborate with one another here on Appropedia to exchange ideas and best practices to further develop Appropedia's intellectual content.
| | == Bolivia Trip == |
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| Multitudes of westerners want to do something more meaningful to the world. By eliminating the barrier to entry and providing a lot of moral support, I believe we can bring many people into the field who would have otherwise remained observers. The catalytic effect of these people bringing their energy to bear on these problems will reach far beyond whatever project they work on directly as a member of their Appropedia Action Group.
| | We are currently planning a trip to [[Distributed Action Bolivia Trip | Bolivia]] starting Aug 1st. If you are interested in attending this trip, please leave a note on my [[user:david.reber |talk page ]] |
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| | == Senior Project == |
| | Starting next fall, several of us will begin working on designs for a [[medical waste incinerator]] to be installed by the [http://www.ewb-sfp.org/projects/haiti/haiti.html San Francisco Professional Chapter Of Engineers Without Boarder's Haiti Team]. |
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| ==Primary Goal of Distributed Action:==
| | We have a LOT of questions about this, so if you know anything about incinirators or hospitals, PLEASE [[user:david.reber | contact me]] |
| * Improve the world by connecting people across cultural and economic barriers.
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| How we will move toward this goal:
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| * Create an environment from which new development ideas can take root.
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| * Foster inter cultural understanding.
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| * Create a mechanism for international knowledge transfer.
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| * Alleviate Poverty.
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| * Be a fun and enlightening experience for everyone involved.
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| * Facilitate networking between individuals interested in international development.
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| ==Getting Started==
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| The current plan is to ramp up operations of this "boots on the ground" side of Appropedia in three phases.
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| Phase 1: domestic phase (now through summer of 2008)
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| Universities often require senior projects for graduation from engineering programs. Unfortunately, the projects that are currently completed are of relatively little impact on society. By first listing AT technologies ripe for development by student engineers and then marketing that list to universities, we can get more people involved in Appropedia while further refining the technologies. This model is the most useful form of [[service learning]].
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| Phase 2: international phase (summer 2008- summer 2009)
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| Dedicated members start a project database, put together the first support materials, and get the first few clubs going.
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| Phase 3: critical mass phase (summer 2009 - forever)
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| Once we have enough people involved, clubs start spontaneously, projects are added/maintained in the database spontaneously, and the support materials evolve
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| spontaneously. The media loves stories about how the internet is changing the social landscape, so once we have 2 or 3 projects completed, we can expect viral marketing.
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| ==Project Descriptions==
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| Each volunteer opportunity will get a page on this wiki with photographs of the project, the location, descriptions, and contact information for those in the community who would host the volunteers and be responsible for the project after the volunteers left.
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| Potential projects include schools in need of teachers, clinics in need of doctors, farmers in need of training or appropriate technologies, water projects in need of engineers, etc.
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| ==Support Manuals==
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| These manuals will cover many topics. They might include advice on how to start a chapter, tips on how to travel internationally, advice for teaching internationally, as well as the technical information that is already here on how to build solar cookers and bio digesters. The best part is that as volunteers gain experience, they can modify the manuals to provide more information for those who follow.
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| ==Chapters==
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| After the project descriptions are created, chapters will be created to adopt individual projects. Once the project is adopted by a chapter, progress updates will be made to the project description and Appropedia will serve as a mechanism for project collaboration. The student chapters will be supported by the manuals, materials and community here on Appropedia,
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| ==Organizational Model==
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| Chapters would be encouraged to establish unique names. This would reduce branding, organizational and liability issues from Appropedia's point of view while making it easier to bring existing NGO's into the fold because they wouldn't feel like they had to give up their identity. This may also provide the most fertile ground for emergent ideas and technologies.
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| These independent groups would be an example of [[Appropedia Action Groups]] informally associated with Appropedia and could collaborate with one another using their user pages.
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| ==Establishing Trust==
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| Establishing that the volunteers and in country partners are trustworthy presents a challenge that we are still thinking hard about. One idea that we are kicking around is to establish an optional certification for volunteers and an e-bay inspired reputation system for in country partners. In this way organization could choose certified volunteers and the volunteers can choose organizations based on their reputation if opportunities exist.
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| ==Potentially useful Wiki adaptations==
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| Current Wiki technologies aren't perfect for our needs. It would be excellent to have fairly standardized user, group, and project pages. These pages would be similar in organization to current social networking sites. With such pages, users could make searches based on the location of group or the location of the project, the expertise and experience of the users, certifications, reputation etcetera. There are current wiki technologies under development such as semantic media wiki that look like they will close some of these gaps soon. At any rate, these issues are issues that we don't need to think about until after considerable scaling of the Appropedia Action Groups.
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| ==Organizational Culture==
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| The development of a well rounded organizational culture is vital. Since we wouldn't have any mandatory training programs before our volunteers went into the field, our manuals and other communications would have to be very well done to ensure that everyone is well prepared. Several best practices that I have recently come across, courtesy of Paul Polak, include learning everything you can about the specific context, and not starting a project if you haven’t had conversations with at least 25 poor people before you start.
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| ==Misc Thoughts==
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| College students are an important target because they are very passionate and optimistic. Their summer breaks provide an ideal time to participate in group travel for extended periods. However students have little experience and less money.
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| Working people (25-55) have experience and money, but relatively little free time.
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| Retired people (55+) reportedly have 75% of America's disposable income and a lot of free time.
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| To the extent that we can create an organizational structure within our groups that takes full advantage of each demographic's strengths, the better off we will be. This area is still very ripe for further improvement.
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| ==Why this will work==
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| There are international volunteer organizations that charge 2600 for 2 week trips. Only 900 goes to direct in country costs and the other 1700 to overhead. Our idea should accomplish the same final result at zero overhead.
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| There are print publications that perform a similar function that are limited by their format.
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| There are several online sites serve as online clearinghouses for volunteer projects, Our idea expands on these by offering support in the form of clubs and manuals, along with an international development focus (that is until people add domestic projects)
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| Still other organizations are highly buearocratic our idea has no forms to fill out and you don't have to ask anyone's permission. This means the barrier to entry is minimal which means we can develop interest faster than other organizations.
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| The organization has zero overhead, this means no membership dues.
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| The organization has no problem scaling; The faster potential projects are added and groups are started, the better.
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| With all of the advantages of this model, I could see a high probability for success.
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| {{AAG}} | | {{AAG}} |
