Open Technologist

Karen Armstrong’s Charter for Compassion

Last year I blogged about the Charter for Compassion, the TED prize wish of Karen Armstrong. The aim of the Charter for Compassion was to build a peaceful and congruent world by bringing together the voices of people from all religions and highlight that all faiths share the principle of compassion. An open call was made for people from different faiths to contribute to the charter. This open call and collaborative effort drew upon  thousands of people from over 100 countries in a six...

People Participation in Mass Collaboration Projects

One of the most prominent examples of mass collaboration is Wikipedia. According to Alexa, Wikipedia is the 8th most visited website in the world. Playing a role in Wikipedia's high ranking is the up-to-date information provided by the community of contributors. The contributors provide the  content and ultimately what why visitors turn to Wikipedia for knowledge. Therefore, the importance of having a community of willing contributors is essential to the livelihood of any mass collaboration...

Linux History- Where it all started

In 1991, Linus Torvalds decided to share code that he had created for an operating system which would later become known as Linux, in the hope of getting feedback from others on how he could improve it. I came across the original email that Linus sent and was amazed by the modesty : Hello everybody out there using minix - I'm doing a (free) operating system (just a hobby, won't be big and professional like gnu) for 386(486) AT clones. This has been brewing since april, and is starting to...

Charter For Compassion – Collaborating to Highlight What Religions Share

Since I started this blog I have focused on a few mass collaboration projects happening with the aid of technology. A new project called the Charter for Compassion is a collaboration project recently started with religion being the central theme. It is the TED prize wish of Karen Armstrong. The aim of the  Charter for Compassion is to build a peaceful and congruent world by bringing together the voices of people from all religions and highlight that all faiths share the principle of...

Wikipedia For Schools

Wikipedia Selection is a free version of Wikipedia that consists of hand-checked articles from Wikipedia applicable to the UK National Curriculum but also useful to many others. The project is run by SOS Children UK in conjunction with the Wikimedia Foundation. Wikipedia Selection has been distributed to schools in South Africa by the Shuttleworth Foundation and by the Hole in the Wall project to rural Indian children. It is the same size as a 20 volume encyclopedia and articles were ranked by...

An Internet Censorship Solution – psiphon

Internet censorship is denying people with access to valuable information. A human rights software project known as psiphon, run by the Citizen Lab at the Munk Centre for International Studies, allows people in countries where the Internet is censored unrestricted access to the Internet. If you are in a country that censors the Internet, all you have to do is find somebody in a uncensored country to setup a server for you to access and you will have uncensored access. The server setup...

Crowdsourcing Example – Facebook Crowdsourcing for Translations

Crowdsourcing is a term coined by Jeff Howe who described it as an open call by a company to a large group of individuals who are invited to partake in a task that would under traditional circumstances be performed by employees of the company. Facebook with its worldwide user-base has turned to crowdsourcing to translate Facebook into other languages such as German, French and Spanish amongst others. An application is used to translate bits of the site which is then voted upon by other users...

Fighting for Human Rights Using Technology

The Hub is a platform making use of technology such as video camera's and mobile phones to highlight human rights violations . The goal is to allow anybody around the world to share personal stories by drawing attention to violations and to mobilise action Videos, audio or photo's can be uploaded and shared with viewers who are encouraged to learn and get involved to make a difference. The Hub provides links to advocacy groups and campaigns so that a difference can be made and encourages...

Architecture for Humanity’s Open Architecture Network

Architecture for Humanity is a charitable organisation that aims to produce architectural solutions to aid humanitarian crisis and communities in need. The Open Architecture Network developed by  Architecture for Humanity, is an online community whose goal is to improve the living conditions of people living in informal settlements and assist those with shelter after a disaster. The network allows designers to: Share ideas, designs and plan Review designs by others Collaborate with all...

Innovation in the age of Mass Collaboration

Mass Collaboration occurs when large numbers of people work on a single project. The book Wikinomics highlites how technology and in particular the Internet is fueling mass collaboration and changing the way organisations are finding ways to solve problems. Mass Collaboration encourages all those involved in the business process  to share information and ideas. An increasing number of organisations have realised the benefits and for some it is becoming a major factor in corporate...