John Berger's Recent Discussions

One Laptop Per Child - XO Computer

This is the first review I've seen/read about the XO laptop, from One Laptop Per Child in the NY Times article by David Pogue. Be sure to watch the video. From a design perspective, it seems wonderful. Cost-wise, in the realm of making a huge difference. They have even designed in alternate/supplemental power: there is an optional yo-yo power cord (1 min of pulling is 10 min of time) and a $12 solar hookup that can power and/or recharge the unit. Sure, there are a lot of people bashing the thing. But who else has come even close to bringing something that has the potential to reach really, really poor places?

During two weeks in November, the purchase price is $400, and is "Give 1, Get 1" - you get one and one goes to charity. Pretty cool.

Last comment added: Tue, 11 Nov 2008 10:34:34 PST

Strategic Network Weaving

Recently in chatting with Valdis Krebs, we decided to do some mapping together. Why? More and more people are doing social network analysis of their personal or small business networks. It isn't just corporations anymore.

Why would you want to do that? Because you can be strategic about your network weaving. The more you can see and understand your network, the more you can make informed choices about which nodes to connect for strategic effect.

And this may be a contentious issue. Some people connect people together because they see some common thread between them. And I think that is a great. However, I have a mission. A personal mission. I think we need the world to change pretty dramatically in the near future. So I am trying to be strategic about who I connect. Weaving not only within common groups, but weaving in a boundary-spanning-way between different groups. My intention here is to expand awareness of both parties, work on my personal mission, and foster creative interactions. Having a map of the people in my network is really useful.

Do you think network weaving should be about intentionally weaving, for strategic ends, the network? And if so, how do you go about it? Or what do you think could help with this?

Last comment added: Wed, 15 Oct 2008 07:34:36 PDT

Slavery and Traffikcing - October - Ending Slavery in our Lifetime

I hope you all read an amazing new book by Kevin Bales, “Ending Slavery – How We Free Today’s Slaves”

To be honest, when I first heard about this book from our partner Free The Slaves (which Kevin runs) I was a bit cynical. I love Kevins other books and they are the top of our recommended list so I knew this would be good, but I had a hard time really believing that in a few hundred pages anyone could outline a plan to end slavery.

Well, having read the book I can say I underestimated him. Even if you are not that interested in this issue, this book is worth reading. It will give you hundreds of ideas that might be applied to other causes, and leave you thinking that yes, it really is possible end, or at least significantly shrink slavery in our lifetime.

The book is available on Free The Slaves new website www.Freetheslaves.net, or their store (hosted by us) www.FreeTheSlaves.MadeBySurvivors.com

Last comment added: Tue, 14 Oct 2008 06:37:11 PDT

Site Improvements

How can we improve ned?

Want to abolish all negative feedback? Make things more like Razoo?

Start your ideas here! Ideas that catch probably deserve their own discussions eventually.

This site does not have full time support personnel, but changes will be made as people agree on good ideas, and time permits. Larger features may require raising money and hiring programmers, but that's not out of the question!

Last comment added: Wed, 08 Oct 2008 14:39:10 PDT

CRISIS in Sudan/Chad - 2008

Educate, Advocate and Mobilize.

The Crisis in Darfur has now spread significantly into Chad. A military Coup launched against the Chadian Presidency of Idriss Deby at the beginning of February 2008 has seen the capital N'Djamena under heavy fire, NGO and Aid Community staff evacuated and the Refugee Camps inside the Chadian border - home to more than 150,000 Darfuris and internally displaced Chadians - left more vulnerable to open attack than ever before.

The following website links will connect you to the most active, engaged and up-to-date information, campaigns and activist groups working together to bring this insanity to an end.

STOP GENOCIDE NOW 2008

Grass-roots Interactive Global Activism - Projects include "i-ACT" - filmed and reported directly from the Refugee Camps of Eastern Chad by GABRIEL STAURING and KATIE-JAY SCOTT and the team (including NINY KHOR ) - and "Camp Darfur" - an interactive awareness and education event that brings attention to the ongoing genocide in Darfur, Sudan, and gives individuals the opportunity to discover their own power to make a difference. A traveling refugee camp coming to your community.

Genocide Intervention Network (GI-Net)

Mark Hanis and the team at Genocide Intervention Network envision a world in which the global community is willing and able to protect civilians from genocide and mass atrocities. The mission is to empower individuals and communities with the tools to prevent and stop genocide. Initiatives and GI-Net supported projects include:

STAND: A Student Anti-Genocide Coalition

Sudan Targeted Divestment: Are your investments funding genocide?

Darfur Scorecard: What is your Representative doing about genocide?

10 Things: Ten things you can do to stop genocide.

ENOUGH! Project

The project to abolish genocide and mass atrocities is an initiative of the Center for American Progress and the International Crisis Group (launched January 30, 2007). Site includes monthly reports, papers and op-eds.

Save Darfur Coalition

An alliance of over 100 faith-based, humanitarian and human rights organizations. Updates, campaigns, blog and newsletters on site.

Ask the Candidates The next US President MUST stop the genocide in Darfur.
1-800-GENOCIDE (1-800-436-6243): Call the anti-genocide hotline and get the most up-to-date talking points before getting connected (for free) to your legislator at the state and federal level.
ICG: International Crisis Group. Detailed crisis reports, briefings, international op-ed pieces.
HRW: Human Rights Watch. A great site for current alerts & information.
Amnesty International
USHMM Speaker's Directory

Last comment added: Fri, 26 Sep 2008 00:31:48 PDT

Better World Media Network Logo color feedback

Well, which color do you like best, option 1: dark green or option 2: light green?

(option 1: dark green)

(option 2: light green)

Last comment added: Wed, 24 Sep 2008 00:24:51 PDT

Nonprofit (NPO) Initial Public Offering (IPO)

The overall concept is great, but 80 investors at 100K each. Kinda leaves out involvement from Joe & Jane Doe...to bad.

Press Release Source: Do Something

Do Something, Largest US Online Teen Service Org, Launches IPO to Raise $8 Million Growth Capital
Friday September 12, 10:53 am ET  
On September 17th, Do Something Sells Shares to Invest in Teen America-  TELECONFERENCE WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 17TH, NOON ET 

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Do Something, one of the country’s largest nonprofit community service organizations for teens, will launch an Initial Public Offering on September 17th. Borrowing private sector techniques, Do Something is issuing an IPO that promises significant Social Return on Investment (SROI). The growth capital investment will foster exponential growth and bolster the organization’s self-sustaining programming.

“We run a business here—but instead of selling cars or candy to kids, we’re selling hope and leadership,” said Nancy Lublin, CEO of Do Something. “Our business model is totally scalable. These Funds aren’t for a building or a fat endowment. We’re spending on growth.”

Do Something is offering 80 shares of $100,000 each to raise $8 million in growth capital. Subscribers may purchase units based on the contribution of shares of stock. By taking shares, donors pledge to donate $100,000 to Do Something over a six-month period. In pledging to raise $100,000, the donor becomes a Shareholder, entitled to attend quarterly Shareholder calls and an Annual Shareholder Meeting. Before the prospectus even went to print, Do Something had sold 10 shares.

The prospectus will be released Wednesday, September 17th on a teleconference call with Nancy Lublin, Chief Executive Officer of Do Something, and members of the Do Something Board of Directors, including Larry Berg, Senior Partner, Apollo Management; John Faucher, Managing Director, Equity Research, JPMorgan Chase; and Roz Resnick, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Axxess Business Consulting.

** PRESS CONFERENCE CALL - WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 17TH - NOON - DIAL

800-895-0198, ID 7SOMETHING **

WHAT:

Do Something IPO Launch Teleconference

WHO:

Nancy Lublin, Chief Executive Officer, Do Something

Do Something Board of Directors

Larry Berg, Senior Partner, Apollo Management

John Faucher, Managing Director, Equity Research, JPMorgan Chase

Roz Resnick, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Axxess Business Consulting

WHEN: Noon, Wednesday, September 17th, 2008

DIAL: 1-800-895-0198; Conference ID: 7SOMETHING

For an embargoed advance copy of the prospectus, email cgunter@fenton.com.

Do Something leverages communications technologies to enable teens to convert their ideas and energy into positive action. www.dosomething.org

Contact:
Fenton Communications
Claudia Gunter, 212-584-5000 x 226
cgunter@fenton.com

Last comment added: Tue, 23 Sep 2008 15:19:21 PDT

How to change worlds with facebook

Hall of fame- facebook groups where some deep insight conversations on how to network are happening social networks group (1200) http://www.facebook.com/group.ph p?gid=2379374935

Its my belief that : 1 facebook can be used to change the world , with a different level of success than almost any tool currently out there

BUT 2 1 will not happen with the average way its users are using it

Before that sounds too arrogant, let see if we agree that the average user of facebook is conversing in ways that build that persons real (time, place) diaries and potential self-friendships.

Next, if we are going to identify 2 types of peope in change world - those who want to help and those who defintely need it then friending across those 2 types would be relevant but I dont see very much of that happening at facebook's average conversations.

Before journeying through some very unusual ways to use facebook, any challenges on the above?

Last comment added: Mon, 22 Sep 2008 07:32:21 PDT

What's Up with Life in Africa?

Many of you may have noticed that LiA has been very quiet lately. At least I hope you noticed or maybe I am just assuming something that isn't so. Well, I just want to tell you that even though we have been quiet, we are still here, still working, still trying to accomplish out goals. We have simply had a few stumbles.....well maybe a lot of stumbles on our path forward.

We had a great plan. The communities would become CBOs, LiA USA would help to support them. Christina gave them both a loan and we gave them all the tools we thought they would need to become independent. Best laid plans, you know how that goes.

None of us could have predicted the terrible string of events that would occur to put huge boulders in our path. The tragedy of the car crash in Uganda devastated us. It forced Christina to change all her plans and stay in Uganda but be isolated. I don't think any of us realized what an impact this would have on all of us. I know I certainly didn't. She was the driving force behind all of us and without her, we all fell down, got up, fell down again and so it goes on and on. LiA USA was just starting and seemed to get crushed before it began. But we are survivors if nothing else.

We have moved forward. I put money into the organization and we have crept on, struggling from month to month to keep things going. The communities struggled as well. They really needed guidance and we didn't do a good job of giving it. But somehow we made it through six months of operations and did the best we could. WE have just finished our year end (fiscal year ended June 30) and the report can be seen here if you are interested. We made a few accomplishments come true and we have plans for the future. We may be down but we are not out by any means!

http://www.ned.com/group/lia-usa /ws/year_end_report/

Our communities in Uganda have not been on line but we hope to rectify that soon with the help of Mark Grimes/ned. Be patient. They have had no internet connection, constant power outages, no water part of the time, and still they go on. WE go on. This is Life in Africa. Thats a catch phrase we all use when things go wrong. WE smile, we shrug and shake our heads. Life in Africa is never easy, it is just what it is.....Life in Africa. Stay tuned for more to come.

Last comment added: Thu, 18 Sep 2008 03:35:35 PDT

TEN makes changemakers/ashoka finalists - we now need help driving votes!

Im happy to say that The Emancipation Network has made the finals of the recent Changemakers competition - Ending Global Slavery.

This now become a get out the vote campain and any help you can give us at driving votes on any social network you belong to.

The vote should be for "A Business Solution to Fighting Slavery"

The link is here http://www.changemakers.net/en-u s/competition/freedom

Here is the script for a vote button:

<a href="http://www.changemakers.net/competition/freedom" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.changemakers.net/file s/HU_button_vert.gif" width="100" height="160" border="0"></a

Ill be creating some emails and text as well

Thanks in advance for your help. If we win all of the $5000 will be used in the Destiny profram to buy sewing machines and pay wages to the survivors in the new center we have opened.

Last comment added: Fri, 29 Aug 2008 08:02:22 PDT

Kenyan Elections

Kenyan elections were held on December 27. The elections saw many members of Parliament thrown out. The presidential election was extremely close with sitting president Mwai Kibaki claiming victory, amid reports of widespread election tampering, over challenger Ralia Odinga. The results have led to riots and widespread social disruption.

This thread is spot for discussing this emerging crisis in a country where many of us have friends.

Dozens burnt alive in church attack is an article in "The Nation" one of Kenya's leading independent newspapers. Press has been blocked at various times during this unfolding tragedy, blogs and online communities have been a source for information and perspective.

Right now I'm upset and jittery. There are some posts and sources I want to link to, but want to collect my thoughts. I would be very grateful to others who post here.

Edit: typos

Last comment added: Fri, 22 Aug 2008 02:12:58 PDT

Oxfam and social enterprise

I was interested to learn recently that Oxfam is contemplating an increase of activity in Russia in the area of social enterprise development.

http://www.oxfam.org.uk/resource s/countries/russia.html

So, representing an organisation who was able to initiate a pioneering social enterprise development project there 9 years ago, I made contact with their sponsor section.

I emailed, explaining that as a small scale social enterprise, we had no large funds to donate, but could offer the social capital of our own research and progress in this area.

They declined my offer by return of mail. I wrote back, explaining that this was free to for them to use, as anyone else having been made publicly accessible via the web and that ignoring what had already been established might incur spending more donations than needed on this research.

The response to that was that they would forward the information to the Russian office. No response from them since in the last week.

Should I be disappointed in this? As a social enterprise we have commercial interest in being recognised for our efforts, but so often it seems that we're in competition and in this case with a major organisation with large amounts of public donations available to diminish our contribution.

Jeff

Last comment added: Fri, 08 Aug 2008 09:22:07 PDT

Destiny Program – A significant new program at TEN

This is a quick overview of a program that will be one of our top two priorities for 2008. To set the stage for this: back when TEN was only an idea and we were brainstorming about what we wanted to accomplish, one of our long term goals was to help the shelters move from simple handicraft programs into programs that are true businesses that employ, and ideally are managed and owned by survivors.

We were not really sure how all the NGOs would take this idea of IGP (income generation programs) ultimately being separate from the NGOs. Essentially, it means less NGO control and a redirection of revenues. Nonetheless this is one of our core goals and we bring it up every time we plan with our NGO partners.

Last year, (Dec 06) when we visited Sanlaap in Kolkata, India we again brought up this goal with them. They were very supportive, in fact it is fair to say they were excited about the idea and wanted to move faster than we were prepared to at the time. They saw in this idea the ability to increase their capacity to help more survivors.

One of their biggest problems, they told us, was that older girls who had been through their education and therapy programs but could not be reintegrated to their communities were taking up rooms they could be using to help more survivors. To them, a separate IGP program would directly increase their ability to serve more survivors. Furthermore, they said that they thought the success of a successful IGP program would provide motivation for new survivors as they saw the success their older peers were having.

In the fall of 07 we sent Becky Bavinger to Kolkata to live there and work on this program as well as some programs for TEN Charities. (full credit to Becky – we are not paying her anything for this – just covering expenses).

Sanlaap has been amazing and have worked with us to create a new program, that the survivors have chosen to call “Destiny”. The Destiny program is a separate IGP program that allows survivors to leave the Sanlaap shelters, live independently and earn a living making Made By Survivors products.

The Destiny program is a multi phase program – the first phase of which has already begun. In this first phase, 6 survivors are leaving the Sanlaap shelter and moving into a new apartment/workshop that is connected to the home of Sanlaap’s IGP manager Chan (an amazing person who has dedicated his live to survivors). Becky and Chan have been furnishing the facility and they will be moving in within days. There will be a few sewing machines in their apartment, but for the first phase they will travel to the production facilities at the Sanlaap shelter to work on our orders.

In the next phase, we will hope to rent a separate production facility, find more apartments and move another dozen or so survivors into the program. We have other partners in the area that we hope will join us in this so this may very well end up being a multi NGO program. Our goal is to, over the next several years, train some of the survivors in management and begin a process of moving to employee ownership

There lot more involved than but I think I have explained enough of the basic idea of Destiny. We are also making changes in the products they are making for us. We have found an amazing source of t-shirt and light clothing blanks in the area and we are developing Destiny as a rapid turnaround design and manufacturing group – starting with logo t-shirts and moving to higher end logo clothing items. Every US based NGO we talk to buys t-shirts and would love to have a source that has the double impact of supporting survivors, so I think we are developing a potentially large new product line with the capacity we will build with Destiny. There is one other new line they are working on, but I don’t want to publicly talk about that yet.

As amazing as Destiny is to TEN, its actually not our first foray into this structure. We have a partner in England that has supported one of NGO partner in Nepal for along time. A year ago the government in Nepal told them that under the law the charity could not run a business (major selective enforcement as that is common). Our partner in England bought the business from the charity and we have been working with them over the past year to help in the transition. Soon, TEN Inc. will almost certainly be purchasing 50% interest in this business, but more important for us it has been a good testing ground where we can learn about the kinds of unexpected social issues that can come up from this kind of transition.

Ok- that’s the short version. I will be doing a lot to try to fund and promote Destiny over the next few months so expect more soon!

John Berger http://www.madebysurvivors.com/

Last comment added: Wed, 30 Jul 2008 17:44:48 PDT

http://www.10000women.org

This is one of the cooler things Ive seen in a while

What is 10,000 WomenSM?

Expanding the entrepreneurial talent and managerial pool in developing and emerging economies – especially among women – is one of the most important means to reducing inequality and ensuring more shared economic growth.

Launched by Goldman Sachs, 10,000 Women is a global initiative that will:

Increase the number of underserved women receiving a business and management education

Improve the quality and capacity of business and management education around the world

10,000 Women has six components:

10,000 Women Over Five Years Will Receive a Business and Management Education: Over the next five years, Goldman Sachs will support partnerships with universities and development organizations that will lead to 10,000 women receiving a business and management education. The initial partnerships will fund business and management education certificates in countries around the world. These innovative certificate programs are pragmatic, flexible and shorter term and will help open doors for thousands of women whose financial and practical circumstances prevent them from ever receiving a traditional business education. These programs will provide women with the opportunity to develop specific skills, such as drafting a business plan, accounting, public speaking, marketing, management and accessing capital. There will also be a select number of MBA and BA scholarships funded.

Build Quality and Capacity Through Global Business Sister School Partnerships: To strengthen the quality and capacity of business schools in developing nations, Goldman Sachs will support new partnerships between business schools and universities in the United States and Europe and business schools in developing and emerging economies. Through these partnerships, the schools will collaborate to train professors, exchange faculty, develop curriculum and create local case study material.

Establish Mentoring and Post-Graduation Support for Women Entrepreneurs: In addition to funding tuition for business and management education, 10,000 Women will seek to establish mentoring and networking channels for women and to encourage career development opportunities that will extend the benefits of the program beyond the classroom, leveraging the overall impact of their educational experience.

Work with Leading Research and Women's Development Organizations: Many outstanding organizations are working on the ground to give girls, young women and potential entrepreneurs a sense of their future potential. 10,000 Women will work with these organizations to better understand the local challenges these girls and women must overcome so more of them can ultimately realize their potential through access to greater economic opportunity.

Develop Partnerships in the United States to Help Disadvantaged Women: As part of 10,000 Women, Goldman Sachs will establish parallel programs and partnerships to provide more business and management education for disadvantaged women in the United States.

Commit $100 Million in Addition to the Time and Dedication of Goldman Sachs People: Goldman Sachs will commit $100 million over the next five years to 10,000 Women. In addition, the people of Goldman Sachs will contribute their time and expertise through classroom instruction and mentoring.

John Berger http://www.madebysurvivors.com/

Last comment added: Sun, 27 Jul 2008 13:39:17 PDT

[Tech] Kickstart: Providing Technology for Small Businesses in Africa

Recently came across this interesting resource. I wonder what other technology development and transfer models nedsters are tracking?

KickStart's mission is to help millions of people out of poverty. We promote sustainable economic growth and employment creation in Kenya and other countries. We develop and promote technologies that can be used by dynamic entrepreneurs to establish and run profitable small scale enterprises.

KickStart believes that self-motivated private entrepreneurs managing small-scale enterprises can play a dynamic role in the economies of developing countries.

These entrepreneurs can raise small amounts of capital ($100-$1,000 US) to start a new enterprise. KickStart then helps them to identify viable business opportunities and access the technologies required to launch the new enterprises.

In addition to promoting small enterprise development, KickStart's technologies, expertise, and methods are widely applied throughout Africa to support programs in agriculture, shelter, water, sanitation, health, and relief.

The Organization

Establish in July 1991 by Nick Moon and Martin Fisher, KickStart was founded in Kenya as an international social enterprise.

KickStart has offices in Kenya, Tanzania, and Mali. We have engineers and technicians that design and develop our award winning products. We also employ trainers and promoters to explain the benefits of our products to our customers.

KickStart's unique model developed in Kenya is now being replicated in other African countries. We established an ambitious goal to expand our program in East Africa and open new programs in Southern and West Africa to help millions more people out of poverty. More on our approach.

KickStart's market and private-sector oriented approach ensures that the impacts of its program become fully self-sustaining in local economies. Technologies are installed in the private sector and continue to be produced, marketed, and used by entrepreneurs to create thousands of vibrant new businesses and jobs, long after KickStart's interventions have ceased.

Last comment added: Wed, 16 Jul 2008 03:38:43 PDT

[Participation] Big Claims, High Stakes, and Teeny, Tiny Risks

Its funny how sometimes its appropriate to make claims about technology in the context of international development work that one wouldn't necessarily make at home. For example, a "tool to end poverty." Here at home we'd talk about financial instruments to promote savings, supply credit, etc. We'd talk about technologies to improve the availability of electricity, mitigate drought, etc.

We wouldn't really lay claim to tools that can "end poverty."

And yet in the development context, this is seen as acceptable. Kiva says its making loans that "save lives." MicroPlace says it provides "wise" investment opportunities that "end poverty." World of Good, another eBay company (as is MicroPlace) suggests that "...a good choice can change the world." And of course there are others.

The smarm is thick as molasses.

Ultimately, its disingenuous to those whose lives depend on concrete change, not small change.

Now I know there is a whole lot of hype about how the concerted small actions of a very great many people can produce "sea changes." But the reality is that its not happening.

But you can have another dolop of smarm with that. "Supersmarm me."

I think the smarmfest is coming from the marketing imperatives of the profit motives that underlay most of these emerging business models. In other words, "If you don't feel good about doing it (really, really good - in fact so good you want to tell a lot of other people about doing it) we're not gonna make a buck. Oh, and yeah the world is gonna suck."

Well, even if the world still sucks, at least the company remains financially healthy.

And this seems to be a big problem today: the health of the larger share of the world's population is being put on smarm island, that gooey refuge created when Big Institutions (like government) have been drowned in the bathtubs of the Grover Norquists, replaced by private intermediaries offering The Big Quid Pro Quo: let us help you help others by helping us (in other words, give us your money, kid).

The world has never changed without some serious heavy lifting. And the world is hard to lift if it seeps through your fingers.

The sums here are tiny, focused at the micro level, and uncoordinated. One has to wonder how Big Infrastructure will happen fast enough. There's this funny little riddle: as trust and confidence in government decline at the same time the outsourcing of government services rises in developing nations, people place more and more faith in the private and "independent" sectors to get things done. This in turn draws much needed monies away from government coffers.

Yet the reality is that private enterprise flourishes on government spending.

How are the schools going to be built (educate the future workforce), the hospitals established (keep the workforce healthy), and the roads paved (keep goods and services flowing) before governments collapse into chaos?

Do microlending companies take an active interest in the taxation policies of the nations where they lend? How about in the ones where they're based?

Of course they do: how to avoid them.

And yet peer to peer relationships are vital. Technology transfer, microlending, "conscientious consumption" -- all of these are helpful tools of strengthened interdependence.

I'd just like to ask for a little less sugar-coating of the outcomes, a greater recognition of the complementariness of these efforts with traditional development, and a willingness to acknowledge that the risk of getting a $150 loan paid back is far less than the risk to an entire generation's future by not supporting the formal instruments of large-scale assistance and economic development, for example overseas direct assistance (ODA).

So the companies are making big claims. There's a lot on the line for the people behind the big smiles. And consumers are putting very little on the line. And while the conventional tools of economy building don't promise as much, and they are certainly not as sexy (or smarmy), perhaps complemented by the civil stability wide-spread microfinance tools could bring, they just might be a good combintation.

Last comment added: Tue, 08 Jul 2008 20:23:47 PDT

KIVA -what's up or down

Kiva's been in both the good news and the bad news headlines

1 good news being one of Jeff Skoll's Annual Prize winners

2 allegedly having microentrepreneurially funded cockfighting in some south american country

what this reminds me of is a question I havent got to the bottom of - how does kiva choose its local MF partners?

Last month I had an hour on the phone with the head of Grameen America. He confirms that the ethics of some who will call themselves MF is treacherous to all the rest who work so dilligently. The trouble with an open source model which both microcredit and micrifinance are is that almost everything under the sun can claim to be MF. MC's quality standards have a lot more bite thanks to the 2000 that annually meet at http://microcreditsummit.org and the dedicated work of http://results.org but few integarte the systemic sustanability dynamics of Grameen and BRAC who require borrowers commit to communally investing in the next generation, which has always been core bto the hi-trust relationships of the whole grameen design

It really is up to kiva -now one of the sexiest brands in virtual development markets - to clarify how it audits the organsiation that may have the lowest commin denominator standards of all the local partners its sources projects in need of funding from. Do you know of any bookmarks where they do explain this?

Last comment added: Sat, 28 Jun 2008 07:09:17 PDT

The next crisis will be over food

Ben Parkinson started a really provocative discussion on Genetically Modified crops in Africa; a great discussion raising all sorts of interesting perspectives. A few items I came across recently seemed as though they might fit that discussion. The problem is they fit from my perspective that GM crops are not a "silver bullet." There are so many angles on food security and a new thread seems worthwile to look at the issue from the perspective of rapidly rising commodities prices.

At the Agonist Don notes:

GRAND FORKS, N.D. - The wheat market moved into historic ground Friday in North Dakota and Minnesota, as short-term demand from mills pushed [wheat] prices up to $20 a bushel at one elevator in an after-hours scramble.

Most elevators in northeast North Dakota and northwest Minnesota posted prices of $16.70 to $17.30 Friday, according to an Agweek survey; that's four times as high as a year ago and the highest figures ever seen...

John Robb writes today about Food Shocks. He points to a FT article "The next crisis will be over food" :

A WFP official, for example, recently showed me the red plastic cup that is used to dole out daily rations to starving Africans – and then explained, in graphically moving terms, that this vessel is typically now only being filled by two-thirds each day, because food prices are rising faster than the WFP budget.

The problem is urgent and will require creativity and clear thinking to solve. How can we make the changes the world needs?

Last comment added: Thu, 26 Jun 2008 07:46:27 PDT

L3C company? - Potential great news for social enterprise

Very interesting articles linked below about a new legal structure in Vermont called the L3C which essentially formalizes the hybrid model social enterprise as a legal entity under state law.

There are some very important claims being made including:

Passing L3C legislation streamlines a time-consuming and often expensive process to get specific Internal Revenue Service approval for a company to accept foundation funds, through a program known as "program related investment,"

I have not read a copy of the legislation yet, but based on press reports I think entities like mine (The Emancipation Network) would want to seriously consider registering as an L3C in Vermont.

However, the part I dont get is how state law in this case trumps federal law. The PRI rules and rules about what donations can or cant be tax deductible are determined by federal law - so does anyone have an idea on how this state law makes the federal law work better for hybrids? Is this only for PRIs from foundations or could it stretch to individuals? Even if it cant stretch to individuals, could not a hybrid not be an L3C and co managed private foundation that passed individual donations through to the L3C?

Lots of possibilities here but a lot more clarity is needed.

http://www.burlingtonfreepress.c om/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20 080420/BUSINESS/804200301/10

http://philanthropy.com/news/gov ernment/index.php?id=4459

http://www.communitywealth.com/N ewsletter/August%202007/L3C.html

http://www.leg.state.vt.us/docs/ legdoc.cfm?URL=/docs/2008/bills/ passed/h-775.htm

John Berger The Emancipation Network http://www.madebysurvivors.com/

Last comment added: Wed, 11 Jun 2008 12:21:51 PDT

a thread for google.org & Scott McNealy enthusiasts

Of the big forces in internet USA, it seems to me that sun and google are more open tha closed- happy to hear among big if you have a different listr

I'd heard quite a bit about Scott of Sun Microsystems, and I believe my dad interviewed him about 30 years ago, but today was the first time I had heard him talk in person-- and the first time that I had gotten more understanding of what sun means when it has says it has a vision of ending digital divides through interfacing open source

I am cetrainly going to add Scott/Sun to my map of people doing serious stuff to bridge digital divides- anyone else here already a supporter of his ideas?

Last comment added: Mon, 09 Jun 2008 04:33:08 PDT

Ned Salt Spring Island May 2008 Gathering

Meron and I have been noodling with the idea of a Ned get together on Salt Spring Island mid-May this year, possibly kind of themed around: online social networks into real world actions.

When I think to some of my favorite moments at previous get-togethers I think of the wonderful evening at Barbara's San Diego a couple years ago, and the fabulous barn-side movie night at the Peace Tiles get together in Vermont, and many, many moments in Uganda.

So, what could Ned Salt Spring Island look like? 2-3 days on a beautiful island, loosely organized, easy-going, great food, great times with great people.

Possibly a Peace Tiles workshop.

Possibly a tour of Solar Energy Host and/or Hairy Kids

Possibly looking into Salt Spring Dollars and what alternative currency means

Definitely all the Salt Spring Island Coffee you can drink

Definitely meeting some of the incredible people from SOLID

Maybe, maybe if we're really, really lucky...we can somehow meet in the spectacular Ango Retreat

In the meantime, if it sounds like something you might be interested in (no "conference fees", just applicable travel/room/board needs) raise your hand and say...

..."definitely, count me in"

..."would love to, need to look at my sked"

..."hell no, we wont go"

If we get a handful of Nedsters, well we'll make it happen...and it'll be wow.

Last comment added: Thu, 05 Jun 2008 20:48:26 PDT

TEN/MadeBySurvivors Updates

Ive been to busy to even get my own discussion thread started lately. Our most recent big deadline will be finished today, when we ship our largest order ever to Goody's.

So, in a few weeks, Made By Survivor products will be in I think over 300 stores (im not sure how many they have). This will be part of their new Ashley Judd collection, so a big thanks to Ashley for helping us get this started.

Last comment added: Thu, 29 May 2008 13:33:32 PDT

Can the NED community help Intel help China?

Hi all. I've been cruising NED for about a month now and have enjoyed many posts and ideas here. I'm hoping now that I can ask fellow NED folks for some advice. Intel's CSR program is involved with a provincial Chinese government project that is presenting some serious challenges. I'll describe them in a minute, but what I'm hoping is that someone here has recommendations for highly recognized individuals or organizations that could join Intel in helping the Chinese government solve the challenge we're working on. Here's the issue:

Many of China's larger cities are facing a land shortage as more people migrate from western cities toward more prosperous eastern ones. As these people move east, governments are taking farming land out of production to make way for high-rise housing complexes where these migrants and others wind up living. In a city called Chengdu, where a major Intel facility exists, more than 30,000 farmers were relocated from their lands and into project high-rises. Needless to say, this forced relocation has created malaise and morale problems among the farmers. The government has successfully placed the majority of these farmers in new jobs, but these jobs don't pay well, nor do they compare to working in the open air. And, the remaining farmers without jobs still need to be reemployed somewhere. The government's process of relocation, retraining and social services support provided to the farmers is first-rate. Their use of technology is very good. And yet, there remains the challenge of additional job placements, morale issues and general malaise among the farmers. Chinese government officials acknowledge their first-rate efforts will not be enough because this problem is a growing one...all across the country.

Intel began working with the Chengdu government last year. Employees have volunteered to work with the farmers on a variety of skills building tasks. But lately we have taken our involvement to the next level by brokering introductions between the Chinese government and a U.S. based international community development organization called One Global Economy. OGE has proferred a proposal for conducting a community and farmer assessment in order to match farmers' skills with opportunities that may exist in the community. THe porposal is a good one and argues mightily for including the farmers as a key ingredient in solution-crafting. The Chinese government is in the process of reviewing the OGE proposal. What we're looking for are additional experts, individuals or organizations that have successfully dealt with similar community development, workforce retraining efforts at the total community level, preferrably in a country other than the United States.

Any ideas?

You can find out more about what we're doing on this project at the http://www.intel.com/community/s olutions/success_stories.htm#far mers

Last comment added: Sat, 10 May 2008 15:11:02 PDT

What role can social enterprises play within the context of the African Union’s formal agricultural development planning process?

Given so much work amongst NED members related to various projects in Africa, I’ve started this new thread to explore the roles that social enterprises can play in relation to the African Union’s formal agricultural development planning process, the Comprehensive African Agricultural Development Programme (CAADP).

Over the past year, I have been involved in CAADP in co-founding a public-private initiative, the African Organic Food & Fiber Initiative. AOFFI is bringing together major U.S. and European food and apparel companies to make pledges to source organic value-add goods from sub-Saharan Africa. AOFFI then helps local African farmer cooperatives, social enterprises, SME businesses, trade associations, NGOs, and research institutions with grants and technical assistance to overcome the supply side constraints so that they can meet the growing western demand for organic products.

Disclaimer: all comments I make in this discussion are as an individual and in no way are endorsed by or represent AOFFI, CAADP, COMESA, the African Union, or any other organization.

Last comment added: Thu, 01 May 2008 11:17:19 PDT

Meet & Greet Ned Members (Feb-March 2008)

Welcome to Ned. Please tell other members what you do, what your passion is, how you found Ned, and even what you like to do to make the world a better place (if you wish). Simply just introduce yourself and say howdy to other members as they do the same.

Ultimately whether you spend 15 minutes at Ned a month or 2-3 hours a day, each Ned member needs to find their own Ned Muse to let the Ned community become a meaningful part of their lives. Human beings connecting.

This is your community, your ideas, your time, your efforts, and your actions. This is a community of real people, using real names, working in the real world (well, and at Ned)...taking real actions to make the world a better place. Really.

We are fortunate enough to enjoy incredible members from many countries around the world, and we all work together in a community of mutual respect, humor with an eye towards doing real world things and making the world a better place. Have fun, and please if you have any questions don’t hesitate to ask a question here, Nedsters tend to be a very friendly sort. Many of us have met face-to-face at various events around the world during the last three years.

Okay, introductions...I started the thread going...so having drawn the short straw, I'll go first.

I'm Mark Grimes a serial and social entrepreneur from Portland, Oregon who came to Ned after Omidyar.net community closed last year. The experience of making the world a better place online and offline gets me revved up. I enjoy helping other people (and related their orgs) make greater impact, solve problems, simplify things, practice transparency, build multiple revenue streams towards increasing sustainability, and exploring new, different and more powerful ways to collaborate.

Last comment added: Mon, 17 Mar 2008 15:31:43 PST

Design Help needed

We are working on a new jewelry program and we need some help with the design. The idea is to have a line of Abolition Jewelry and we have been thinking about a pendant that can be used as a base for a whole line of jewelry.

We had a design idea shown to us (the first few are the originals) that we liked. We had a logo designer mock it up but I am having a hard time translating this into a concept that will look good on jewelry. We could use any kind of pendant manufacturing, from cast metal (this no color) to enamel with color.

Here are the original ideas and options since then, please let me know your thoughts and share any ideas you have.

Last comment added: Thu, 13 Mar 2008 23:51:22 PST

Americas Giving Challenge

Just a note to share that Nedster Scott Beale and his Atlas Service Corps remain in #1 potision by a thin hair at this moment with just 7 more $10 donations. The giving challenge ends at noon on January 31st, and it sure will be great to see if Altas tops them all.

If you have $10 to donate and help Scott and Atlas build a lead, turning $10 into $50,000 ... now that's leverage :-)

Fingers crossed (and all)

Last comment added: Wed, 27 Feb 2008 10:09:47 PST

In the News

A place to gather snippets of <Ned> and <Ned> members in the news.

Last comment added: Tue, 26 Feb 2008 14:04:34 PST

January & February 2008: SOLID News

Here's some stuff we are working on:

January 17th: Two more SOLID volunteers are making the long journey to Malawi to volunteer their energy, expertise and enthusiam at Nkhoma hospital and Ndi Moyo Palliative Care Center. This mission follows in the footsteps of Anna Callegari and Beth Gessinger who spent three months working alongside Health Care Professionals in four Sub-Saharan African countries early last year. Sala Hantle Africa!

January 19th: Meron, Phil and a couple of Global Awareness kids go to the 2008 Change Conference to represent SOILD in a workshop. The kidz and I will be presenting our Peace Tiles tale and Phil will sing his story about his work in the Export Processing Zones of Kenya. He needs some help as his partner will be away so I'm reading the Maggie part. No, I'm not going to sing!!! That wouldn't be pretty.

[Note: Our Peace Tiles story will be coming out in the next edition of AWARE Magazine. Thanks Chris!]

Heather and her lovely daughter Eswen are still in Lesotho, we look forward to their updates about our projects there.

Working on our new website and partnership at Solar Energy Host. Aaron is going to host our site for free and as an added bonus for every new account $5 will be donated to plant a tree in Africa though the Gardens of Hope project! Also we'll get a commission for every new account we send his way. So if you are thinking of switching ... just mention SOLID sent you.

March 16th: Planning for the Walk/Run fundraiser for Sala Hantle Africa being hosted by University of British Columbia.

There's more but it escapes me right now ... it's been a looooong day. I'll update when I remember.

Last comment added: Sat, 23 Feb 2008 22:08:45 PST

GM crops in Africa

Having just listened to Radio 4, the discussion was on GM and how it could benefit 250m children living with Vitamin A deficiency. They also talked about the feature that Time Magazine did on golden rice.

On the broadcast, Dick Taverne said that those creating barriers for GM products in Europe are dissuading farmers in developing nations from growing GM, as there will be no market for them abroad. He calls this "a crime against humanity".

Harvest Plus also said that "we should be asking ourselves what if GM is safe and it could improve the lives of billions of people, but we just stood there and did nothing?"

At the same time GMWatch are resolute in saying that the technology is unproven, despite WHO advising that GM is safe.

We seem once again to be in a situation where the risk averse minority dictate the lives of the majority or am I overstating?

What is the view of NED on the encouragement of GM crop development in Africa?

Last comment added: Wed, 13 Feb 2008 15:13:22 PST

[In the News] [Economist] The Growing Influence of "Unreasonable" (But Social) Entrepreneurs

Let's discuss!

TEN YEARS AGO, few people had heard the term “social entrepreneur”. Now, to be a social entrepreneur is to be sought after by politicians and businessmen alike for your potential to solve big social challenges in innovative ways. Governments, increasingly struggling to meet society’s demands, are desperate for help from someone more creative than the typical bureaucrat.

Businesses, as this week’s special report in The Economist makes clear (see article), want to engage in socially responsible but still entrepreneurial schemes that let them “do well by doing good”. Social entrepreneurs now have a reputation for being able to deliver, especially since the grand-daddy of social entrepreneurship, Muhammad Yunus, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize a couple of years ago for founding Grameen Bank, a micro-finance powerhouse.

This week, some of the world’s leading social entrepreneurs have gathered near Zurich for the final annual summit organised by the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship. Klaus Schwab, the legendary founder of the World Economic Forum, which meets later this week in Davos, convened the first summit a few years ago, but now apparently feels that social entrepreneurs are sufficiently mainstream that the event has served its purpose. They are an extraordinarily diverse bunch—so much so that it is not at all obvious what it means to be a social entrepreneur.

One session brought together a French woman who runs a company that provides childcare to parents with unusual working hours, a Czech woman who set up a helpline for victims of domestic violence and then campaigned to change the law so that perpetrators rather than victims have to leave the family home, a Chilean founder of an organisation that provides coaching for at-risk families, and a Mexican who has built a for-profit company that provides free movies to poor people on inflatable screens, funded by advertisements from big companies.

Each of them was entrepreneurial, certainly, but quite what “social” means is less clear. The Czech organisation, Bily Kruh Bezpeci, founded by Petra Vitousova, is never going to turn a profit, nor should it try to do so. Ariel Zylbersztejn, the managing director of Mexico’s Cinepop, by contrast, boasts that his entertainment-based platform allows business and government to target otherwise inaccessible markets. He has ambitious plans to expand, not least to China. His brand of social entrepreneurship could make him rich.

Still, both he and Ms Vitousova are doing interesting things, and they seemed to find inspiration from each other. Perhaps it does not really matter exactly how “social entrepreneur” is defined if such impressive people feel good and part of a supportive community when they use the term to describe themselves.

Pamela Hartigan, who runs the Schwab Foundation, seems to think what all these social entrepreneurs have in common is that they are “unreasonable people”. She means this as a compliment. Indeed, she has just written a fascinating book, with John Elkington, the founder of Sustainability, a consultancy, celebrating “The Power of Unreasonable People: How Social Entrepreneurs Create Markets and Change the World.” The title is inspired by playwright George Bernard Shaw, who once said, “The reasonable man adapts himself to the world, the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.”

The gist of the book is that established businesses should carefully watch—and be ready to invest in—various forms of social entrepreneurship, which tend to be good at spotting profitable opportunities in unlikely places, not least amongst poorer consumers at the so-called “bottom of the pyramid”. Mr Yunus has showed that even the poorest borrowers can be good customers, and as a result huge amounts of profit-seeking capital have flowed into the microfinance industry all over the world. Ms Hartigan and Mr Elkington reckon that social entrepreneurs will uncover other profitable new industries.

As well as courting business, social entrepreneurs are also increasingly looking to expand into partnerships with governments. Indeed, the strongest theme uniting the social entrepreneurs in Zurich (besides their unreasonableness) is the realisation that they need to work with government or business, or both, if they are to succeed on the large scale to which they aspire.

In the early days, social entrepreneurs saw themselves as an alternative to business or government. Today, they want to be partners, seeing business and government as assets to be leveraged. This is probably a good thing, provided it does not dull their creativity or cause them to be more reasonable.

In some ways, social entrepreneurship has reached a crossroads. As it has become better known, expectations have been raised; the next few years will show whether these expectations are justified and these social entrepreneurs can deliver. This will depend on them mastering the nitty-gritty of managing a growing organisation, including everything from a proper budgeting process and human-resource policies to succession planning and corporate governance.

Unreasonable people are not always gifted at such mundane tasks. Moreover, the community of social entrepreneurs gathered in Zurich is tight, built on long-standing personal connections that allow them to solve problems and find resources in unorthodox ways. To go mainstream will require adapting to a more open and perhaps more impersonal environment.

Yet, if the next phase in the evolution of the social entrepreneur goes well, both business and government will be significantly improved, not least in the poorer and less well-run parts of the world. Perhaps, eventually, it will be impossible to be regarded as an effective politician or social activist if you are not also entrepreneurial, or a successful entrepreneur if you do not address social needs. In that case, the term social entrepreneur, whatever it means, will no longer be necessary—but its disappearance from the dictionary will symbolise its triumph. Is that such an unreasonable thing to hope for?

Last comment added: Wed, 13 Feb 2008 11:20:52 PST

[Peace Tiles] Connecting Coffee Consumers and Producing Communities through Art

Hi Everyone - So I wanted to ask your input on something that has been brewing for a while. The project involves some regional branches of a national coffee retailer; the concept is to connect coffee consumers with children in coffee growing communities where the beans are sourced - through Peace Tiles: in-store decor, an accompanying book, and "feedback" cards (need a more personal, lively name).

I'd love your feedback on the proposal (the draft concept proposal can be downloaded here) and also input on any or all of these questions I have:

What kind of theme might Peace Tiles ask the kids to explore in their tile-making workshop (The rub: should connect downstream to coffee shops as engaging, enhancing decor etc)?
What would the kids get from putting their hearts and minds into this? In other words, how can this effort ensure its an equitable two-way flow of energy and resources?
What would Peace Tiles want to tell Starbucks customers about the project?
How can I pay for this? Right now its a regional pilot with no commitment other than space on the walls. The gamble is that corporate higher-ups would want to pick it up as a way to "source" artwork for their stores.

Okay, thanks in advance for your creativity!

lars

Last comment added: Mon, 11 Feb 2008 14:15:54 PST

Uganda comes to Thailand

I just got off the phone with Christina! They haven't even cleared customs yet. They will spend the night in Bangkok and arrive here in Ubon tomorrow afternoon.

Ask me if I am excited!!!!!

Last comment added: Sun, 10 Feb 2008 22:06:28 PST

Does anyone here get Family Circle?

Ok - strange request I know, but Sarah TEN and I will be in the March Family Circle and I know that subscribers get it before it hits the street. We have had a sudden surge in web traffic and sign-ups with one sign up mentioning the article, so I think it may be out there.

So if you get it or know someone who does, please contact me as I would love to get a look at it before it hits the street so that I can update our website to leverage what ever it is they say about us.

There are no comments.

AFRICOM

In the Kenyan Elections thread I made a post about AFRICOM which has been bugging me ever since. First of all a discussion about AFRICOM is an off-topic distraction there. But my biggest concern is in wanting to be an informed advocate for positive change across Africa in my own country the USA.

As an ordinary guy, terrorism is a big concern, one obvious reason is that targeting ordinary people is so much easier so in essence the modus operandi of terrorism is terror against ordinary folk like me. One of the key responses of the US government to the threat of terrorism has been an incredible increase in government secrecy and covert operations. So in effect the response has been to disconnect government policy from the citizens, the very citizens who will bare the brunt of future attacks. And in these policies of secrets, American citizens are viewed as "the problem" rather than the source of government legitimacy.

I gave my qualified support for AFRICOM on the premise that a command structure might help to make US operations in Africa more transparent and therefore more subject to influence by an informed citizenry. I'm afraid this view is hopelessly naive. The trend suggests more secrecy and a cloak of happy-talk PR about helping Africa.

This thread then might serve as a place to discuss AFRICOM and provide links to information about US military actions on the African Continent.

Last comment added: Wed, 30 Jan 2008 19:26:50 PST

Modern Slavery and Trafficking - News and Resources

Because on my main site we now have a fully automated news service I have not been doing a good job keeping up posts on important new stories. This great new report got me back again:

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video /world/2008/01/28/rogers.uk.sex. trafficking.itn

Its a must view and a great example of the kind of press coverage we need more of world wide. The only thing I dont like about the story is that it has no hope - it shows none of the work that is being done to stop the trafficking and gives the viewer no idea how they can help - this is something we all need to work on getting the press to spend more time on.

John Berger The Emancipation Network http://www.madebysurvivors.com/

Last comment added: Wed, 30 Jan 2008 04:51:51 PST

Mass systematic rape in Congo

Please take a few minutes to read this article from last Sunday's NY Times. It is difficult to swallow, but powerful in spreading the word. Ongoing, there is mass rape against women of all ages in Congo. People aren't really sure why, but a group called Rastas, were part of the Hutu militia from the Rwandan genocide are responsible.

Last comment added: Fri, 25 Jan 2008 10:28:22 PST

Intellectual Property Rights: Profit more than protection?

In another discussion the problem of intellectual property rights arose. This is meant to be a discussion of some of the following concepts:

What is the purpose of intellectual property rights?

Paying for information - Who gets the money?

Is there a solution to opening information to researchers in developing nations?

EDIT - spelling

Last comment added: Tue, 22 Jan 2008 14:17:43 PST

Pitch LiA at BlogHer

Beth Kanter asks for some help in identifying 10 (or more) non profits to "give" as a holiday gift. I always read Beth's Blog and so do a lot of people, given how well her posts Google. Lots more read BlogHer. I think this is a great opportunity to pitch LiA but I would love some input--deadline is Sunday. Here's Beth's criteria:

Recommend a charity and/or cause.
Describe what you think a contribution to this charity in someone's honor as a holiday gift would be an awesome gift. In LESS than three sentences.
Include a link to the charity's web site
Extra bonus: point me to a fantastic image (cc licensed) in flickr that can be used to illustrate the post.

As far as the last item goes, you might consider giving one picture some form of CC license. "Gulu mamas" already has a link to the Web site. My point is that I don't think too much would come from making one or two pictures CC and having a picture posted at BlogHer would be a bonus in my estimation.

Last comment added: Thu, 17 Jan 2008 09:36:38 PST

GiveWell stung - but is this bad? Ethics question

The full news story is here, http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/1 5/us/15givewell.html?adxnnl=1&am p;ref=todayspaper&adxnnlx=12 00402545-aBc3C8VnHcnAIfxpmG6mkQ

but in a nutshell, the givewell board has fined and demoted a founder because he used a fake identity on a website to ask "where should I give" and then answered the question with another identity promoting givewell.

I would love to hear what you all think of this and the underlying ethics. I am sure that many organizations, both non profit and for profit, out right hire people to do this as a part of a marketing campaign, or at least hire people to promote the company on the web without disclosing their employer.

If this was a public company and this was done to manipulate the stock price then it would be illegal, but I am aware of no laws for any standard lower than this.

Last comment added: Tue, 15 Jan 2008 15:20:14 PST

[MixedMedia] mixedmedia.us has a facelift...

Please visit at http://www.mixedmedia.us - join in the fray!

Last comment added: Mon, 14 Jan 2008 17:39:17 PST

Soap Project - Development

Lay out of the budget plan and getting started

Last comment added: Mon, 14 Jan 2008 16:53:59 PST

Designs for Reputation and Feedback for Building Healthy Community

I'm starting this thread specifically for discussion about how to ensure that the feedback system here at <Ned> supports the process of growing the kind of community and interactions that we want to have occur here.

A bunch of this conversation has already started in the Site Improvements thread and I'll start by inserting the (lengthy) post that I put there jumping into the dialogue in progress.

Please share about the purpose you'd like any feedback and reputation systems here to serve. Then we can scheme together about how to make that work. The example below is just one possibility.

Entry from the Site Improvements thread follows:

Sorry to join this thread so late after Linda made the Stone / Tumbles / Gems reference so early...

I'd like to have a fairly concerted conversation about points / posies / neggies / reputation / incentives / ratings / signal-noise filtering and such. I'm going to start the conversation here responding to a number of things in this thread, but it may be appropriate to start a topic on it.

A Context for Reputation & Feedback

So, first let me link to the recommendations I wrote up a couple years ago about reputation and feedback for o.net. I know <Ned> may have a different agenda, but based on the discussion already going on on this thread, I think it still applies.

We initially created the metaphor of Stones/Tumbles/Gems as a general tri-fold reputation currency for online communities of practice. The metaphor itself creates the context that we are moving toward creating Gems (action, practice, impact, results). However, the Stones (ideas, theory, insight) are a valuable starting point, and the Tumbles (feedback, dialogue, refinement, processing, participation) are critical to the process as well.

Much of the dialogue on this thread about points has already been infected by the assumptions acquired from the other place. I think we need to stop and get clear about why we would even use points and what they should be useful for.

Please note that Stones/Tumbles/Gems are NOT like the different categories of kudos on Razoo. They are never directly given to a person. Rather they are calculated based on a number of factors related to the persons behavior. How active are they? How are their posts rated? How many people have "subcribed" to watch their posts? How many have blacklisted them? Are they participing in initiatives and producing results? etc...

The Purpose of Reputation and Feedback

Reputation for People: As has been pointed out, this is silly if it is about stroking our egos. However, it is very useful for managing community boundaries and acceptable use of the site. We want to know if somebody is a constructive member of the community. Ideally, we'd like to know something about what kind of resource they might be for us and what kind of resource they've been for the community.

A well designed reputation is a kind of extrapolation of somebody's trajectory... it gives a sense of what they have to offer in the future based on their past behavior. Any reputation based on the arbitrary giving of points/kudos/thanks, ends up being a kind of popularity contest rather than a measure of value they're contributing to the community.

Reputation for Discussions/Workspaces/Threads Again, this is not about stroking people's egos. What makes this kind of reputation extremely valuable is when we can use it for gauging quality. We have finite time and attention, our community will fail if we feel like we're drowning in noise just to get to the valuable pearls of wisdom.

The "verbal diarrhea" of the other place has been mentioned and I think it was a natural consequence of the points system there. You were rewarded for talking. The more actively you posted, the more your bank grew, the more your bank grows the more you can throw points around to shape other people's attention and stroke egos and increase the chance of receiving reciprocal points. In other words, the more noise you made (regardless of quality) the influence you had. Norbert gave over 44,000 points away (over 20,000 more than Mark, the 2nd place giver of feedback). If points are used to highlight valuable content and/or fold it, do we really want them to just amplify the influence of the already loudest voices?

BTW, the current <Ned> solution of just keeping the banks from growing isn't really a solution to this problem either. We want community members to actively be rating content so we can have the high-quality stuff become visible instead of being buried. Having scarce points prevents people from fulfilling this role. Of course, I'm suggesting something more like 5-star ratings on content rather than points anyway. And everybody always gets to have their vote on each item of content. There's always enough votes to go around.

Did Neggies Destroy Omidyar.net?

Yes. I believe they did.

But posies played their role too (as noted above - they only amplified the noisemakers).

If neggies are supposed to play the role of muting innapropriate content (and posies are supposed to highlight content), how well did they play that role?

Neggies consistently generated MORE noise when they were used. Fights ensued, people were offended, they took it personally, people's attention was drawn to them. People even veiwed folded posts, curious about why they were folded. The combination of two noise producing points activities was the large part of what made o.net fundamentally untenable.

Evvy suggested that maybe we could just have a more enlightened view when we receive neggies. However, it is a VERY different experience to receive 1 or 2 out of 5 stars on a post than to receive a negative feedback point. It occurs for most people as personal -- as if I received negative feedback. Neggies are an active attack. 1 out of 5 is simply constructive feedback. Consequences are necessary, but neggies are not necessary to create consequences.

Neggies (and Posies) also tend to reduce constructive dialogue and increase personality battles. Posies and Neggies should not be about whether you agree or disagree with what was said. What we care about is whether a post is appropriate, on topic and adding value to the dialogue.

Personal note: Frankly I couldn't keep up with the noise machine, and that is my biggest fear about participating here where you're using the same tools. I set out to post this suggestion a few days ago, and the thread grew by pages before I could read the other suggestions to be sure I wasn't being redundant and could integrate people's input. And this is not that active a thread. A "hands-on" board who can reprimand people can not make up for the deck being stacked for generating noise. And if they try to, it will feel like censorship.

Some other Pearls on this Thread

On Topic - David Frayne suggests and "on topic" flag. This is exactly one of the things to help filter noise. Sometimes jokes or other things inserted into a thread are funny or constructive, but they're not on topic. If I have the time to read everything because I care about the interplay of each personal interaction, I can do so But if I'm trying to figure out if they're something valuable in this thread that I can use or want to respond to, I can skip the jokes (even when they're funny enough to rate 5 stars).
Reputation Scale - Niny suggests 2000 points could be intimidating to newcomers. And Mark talks about rebooting points so they don't grow out of hand. David F. suggests what percentage of all points given went someone... In any case, a reputation on an infinite scale is meaningless. One strange thing about the points in the other place was that if you had over 100 points you had more than about 90% of everone else, but compared to the leaders it seemed miniscule. I'd recommend that reputation be displayed as a percentile ranking. It gives it a clear scale. Percentage doesn't quite work, because with enough people, the top rated person may still only be 2% of total points given. You'd never be able to see any progress on your reputation.
Distraction - John Berger talks about points as a distraction. I couldn't agree more about that in the way they're currently structured. However, if one's reputation is derived from actual behavior metrics (rather than tossing points around) than it is a natural, emergent thing that just comes from participating. And one form of participating is helping filter noise from content by rating it's quality and noting it's relevance.
Offensive Content Flag This is where it is great to have active moderators who can respond and delete spam or posts which are not congruent with the purpose of the community. They can respond to these flags and remove the item, or remove the flag if somebody was mistakenly trying to use it like a neggie.
What's Alluring about Razoo? - Action. O.net provided great discussion tools, but really had nothing to support action. Razoo is organized around action. Frankly, it's weak on discussion and workspaces. Adding the ability to post initiatives/causes and actions and track who is accomplishing them makes our talk of making a difference real.

If you skipped the link to the recommendations at the beginning, now is the time to go read it. It should help clarify the Stones/Tumbles/Gems concept a lot. You'll find that all these issues were addressed in it.

Jim, I'd be happy to discuss any of the technical aspects in greater detail. We could even look into using some of the things we've already built in conjunction with this toolset.

edit: fixed image insertion tags

Last comment added: Tue, 01 Jan 2008 19:57:03 PST