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This is not a traditional halfbakery idea. It's a halfbaked idea to be sure. By definition, it is poorly thought out. It's a proposal for a work in progress, if you will.
Some background: Many of the 300-odd (or more, I've never actually counted them) ideas I have posted here are about improving
the world. I think of things that might make the world a better place, or a cleaner place, or reduce our reliance on non-renewable resources, etc.
I recently read an idea by [Murdoch], which was extremely sensible: Provide unused stationery to kids in places like sub-Saharan Africa. Commendable idea.
The downside, for me anyway, about the 'bakery is that a group of extremely creative people are pissing their capabilities in that respect, up against a wall, here.
My proposal is simple. Create a category that becomes a clearing house for ideas that might make a difference in the world... a forum for WIBNIs, where an open source De Bono's "Green Hat" approach to solving problems can be developed. Deal with the following fields:
Education
Pollution
Transport
Food Production
Resource Management
Pest and Disease Control
<insert suggestion here>
Definitely no effort to resolve:
Middle East conflicts
Gun Control, Death Penalty & Abortion debates
Anti-Americanism (though this idea may solve a lot of that)
<insert divisive, hot-button issue here>
Yes, it's outside the scope of the 'bakery, not least because it may be useful. I'm less concerned about that than I am about the fact this a privately owned and funded resource and this idea will be perceived as abuse of [jutta]'s largesse.
If that is the case then I would like to open up discussion about what we could do, along these lines, to engender discussion of an apolitical, useful organisation that can act as a consultancy for people to develop solutions to the problems our world is suffering.
It may be as simple as a category of the existing 'bakery. It may be as complex as a moderated PHP-based forum. I don't know.
I do know that I have been wondering for a long time whether this sort of thing is possible to implement. I also wonder how we could get the word out, to a world in need of altruism.
If this idea should not be part of the HB then I would ask those among you, who are interested, to email me. It's on my profile page.
Good ideas for making the world a better place.
http://www.shouldexist.org/
[jutta, Apr 26 2005]
And another.
http://www.globalid...bank.org/site/home/
[jutta, Apr 26 2005]
Whynot.net: Problems in search of solutions
http://www.whynot.n...es.php?mode=problem
Ah, knew I'd forgotten someone. [jutta, Apr 26 2005]
The 'bored' board
http://angel.nomutantenemy.co.uk/bored
[angel, Apr 26 2005]
Tyres for walls
http://www.earthship.com/
Off-topic, but for [UB] [moomintroll, Apr 26 2005]
Currently able to hold 0.1 wheelchairs.
http://www.webbresearch.com/slocum.htm
But we could big it up a little... [moomintroll, Apr 27 2005]
On water systems for the future
http://www.actionbi...ronment/kassas.html
[daseva, Sep 05 2005]
[link]
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Thank you, [jutta]. I knew about shouldexist, though not the other. |
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My focus is more humanitarian than shouldexist. I'm thinking more along the lines of WhatcanIdo? to expand a globalised think tank, with out-of-the-square thinking. |
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I don't regard bluetooth-enabled whiteboard markers, or bluetooth lightbulbs as necessities of life. Most of GID and shouldexist are about consumer shit, not real issues. |
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Offbeat solutions to practical concerns. |
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Good luck with your project, but, yeah, sounds like you want to start a site. |
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Globalideasbank, halfbakery, shouldexist, etc. are geared toward ideas in which the problem and the solution are presented by the idea's author. Are there any brainstorming sites that present existing (social) issues/problems and solicit creative solutions? |
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That's what I'm getting at, [half]. |
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If there aren't then it's time the net was put to that use. |
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The last thing I want it to be is a charity collection site. That's a nightmare. It may be a place where private funds and worthwhile ideas meet, but not a competitor to the global aid behemoths, like OxFam. |
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[bungston]s Copper Coated Car Tyres comes to mind. |
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Car tyres are almost an intractable waste issue. I once proposed using them for 3rd world housing, by threading them on posts (in a stretcher bond pattern), then corefilling the walls with dirt, for insulation and stability, to make walls for houses. I still think it's a viable use of old tyres. Put them on a ship, and dump them in another country that needs shelter and lacks building materials. |
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I'm not much good at solving social issues but do enjoy a good brainstorming session. |
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There used to be a website that offered bounties for commercial inventions, but it shut down. |
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whynot.net has a game: problems in search of solutions, allows posting of problems by users. Very generally, that seems to be the sort of thing you're after. Too bad their site is so slow and awkward. |
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I've tried to use it, before. It's a dog. |
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By the way, while I think conducting this shouldn't happen on the halfbakery, I think the idea of "have a halfbakery-like structure for serious/benevolent stuff" is perfectly valid. You can just leave it here as a marker so that people looking for a more seriousness can find it and send you email. |
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Thank you. I appreciate that very much. |
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A while ago, while the HB was on enforced hiatus, I put together a discussion-board site, principally as a coding exercise. A few people assisted with testing, and I made a few corrections, but it's just sitting there now. If [UB] (or anyone else) would like to check it for suitability, please feel free. (linky)
[edit] But not quite yet, as I've just found another error. I'll get back to you. |
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I recall the forum. That may be a good way to start such a thing. |
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The next step would be to sort out a publicity campaign, to raise the profile of the organisation. |
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Well, it seems to be working now. I'll add a help file when I get chance, but basically it's there.
In common with HB, you need an account in order to post, and links are not allowed in the main text (but other HTML is). |
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It seems to me there are plenty of good ideas on the web, the real trick is implementing them. Halfbakers and other creative types are not necessarily good at fundraising, (schmoozing) and follow through. You've been in the business world long enough [UB] to know, your best do-er is not a computer geek, but a person who can't sit still, who knows everyone, and can put together a team of do-ers at a moments' notice. A successful team is comprised of many talents, only the first step is represented here. |
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Not everyone here is a computer geek. And not all computer geeks are as impaired in their social, networking and business skills as I am. |
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Yeah - I'm sure some of the geeks here don't know much about computers at all. |
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Just look at that Bill Gates guy. He never seems to have any funds. |
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good point. still, many talents are needed, didn't mean to offend anyone. |
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I'm the schmoozing, marketing type guy that I need, [dentworth]. |
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I'm starting up a business venture at the moment, that deals with putting together groups of business people for the purpose of teaching the fundamentals of controlled business growth and development, to small to medium enterprise owners. |
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Part of that process is the development of a charitable focus, to round out the activities of the groups. This idea was one of the possible ways the groups could fulfill that goal. It's probably not ideal for them, but it got me to thinking how I could implement such a resource. |
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I'm not sure I understand why your idea shouldn't be part of the HB. Or rather, it seems to me that the HB fills this need very nicely. I've found my way back to HB many times via searching for something on google so anyone who is looking on the net for solutions to a problem or just for people who have half an idea how to solve that problem will find the related HB page. |
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I think that's why [jutta] said it could stay... As a signpost to a site that does this sort of thing. |
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Fakebakery is closer in feel to the HB. Was it yours, [longshot]? |
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that sounds terrific [Unabubba], I'm so glad you are doing this. I was afraid it would be more talk talk, and no action. (sorry if I sounded pedantic) |
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Here's a f'rinstance of what I'd like the project to be about. |
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One of the programs undertaken by Rotary Clubs, in Australia, is the provision of hand-powered wells in Bangladesh (The water table in Bangladesh is quite close to the surface in most places). |
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It's a good project but it has also had unintended consequences. There is a high concentration of arsenic in the soil of the Bangladeshi coastal plain. The water is poisoning the people it was meant to help. |
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I'd like to be able to brainstorm solutions (cheap, viable solutions) to that sort of problem. |
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There's a man in Adelaide who makes wheelchairs out of old bicycle frames, and sends them to India. They each cost about AUD$60 to make, using two discarded bicycles per chair. |
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His biggest cost is transport from Australia to India. How to get them there more cheaply is a worthy project. |
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Very good point. They could be mounted on boats and we could repatriate asylum seekers back to Asia. |
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Ballast in oil tankers returning from Australia to the Suez Canal? (they could drop off the wheelchairs on the way). |
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(Brainstorming, so there are no bad ideas, right?) |
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Reduce shipping volume by transporting unassembled parts instead of finished goods, maybe creating a couple of welding jobs in India? |
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If the raw materials (bicycles) are available in India, move the operation to India? |
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Partner with another exporter that ships something with inherent voids that could be filled with wheelchairs? |
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Make smaller wheelchairs? |
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Use the tubing of the wheelchairs as protective shipping container for some small, high value product? Assumes availability of cheap labor at destination to extract the drugs, er, product from the wheelchairs. |
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I thought that they'd already solved the wheelchair problem UB...by cramming loads of people from the sub-continent onto leaky old boats and shipping them to Australia to collect their wheelchairs in person. |
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It's very clear that, while the developed world has lots of good stuff unused which the Third World could use, transporting it is often the bottleneck. What would be great is to create some convincing economic reason for people to transport stuff themselves, rather than trying to piggyback other things. Stupid crazy, but if (say) everybody in Uganda contributed, maybe they could buy a majority share in a large corporation and force them to spend their profits on a Round-the-World free transport system (a few old, slow ships). .. |
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Since wheelchairs don't go off if they're in transit for a couple of months... how about a giant version of that torpedo thing they use for measuring ocean currents. Let's see if I can find a link... |
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awkwardly shuffles around and while everyone looks away says in a quiet voice "will this be baked?" |
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I would contribute some brainstorming here and there if deemed worthy and permitted to do so. |
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Ditto. For what it's worth. |
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//Cheap, unpowered filtration of water, especially if it removes heavy metals.// Just use my fresh water pump, perhaps hooked to a bicycle. Of course, assuming it works... |
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Projects that would be worth looking into: |
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Cheap, unpowered filtration of water, especially if it removes heavy metals. This would be particularly handy in polluted areas of developing nations.
[Murdoch]'s Global Stationery Bank
[bneal27]'s H2OME, or some variation of it. |
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I know we have people here with qualifications and experience in chemistry, plastics moulding and transport logistics. |
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So, not the "B Ark", then? |
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HHGG. Golgafrinchans' method of disposing of the useless 1/3 of the population. |
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I recall us doing something about sending fresh water down rivers by way of large bags, or somesuch idea. |
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The greatest hinderance to implementing this sort of thing is the logistical concerns of centralizing the knowledge base and providing some direction for it.
Few small manufacturing companies are truly international in their product creation efforts, with good reason, and almost all have centralized engineering efforts of some sort, because, in the end, it takes playing with the actual equipment in-hand, testing, etc. If we aim collectively to get off our creative backsides and actually produce something that meets the rigors of production, then there will need to be some sort of organized approach to it. |
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I think the website should have at least 2 layers. Top layer is like the bakery, relatively unformatted, general brainstorming, high level of topical shift to stir up the pot. The 2nd layer would be more narrow-focused on the particulars of an idea, specific questions; problems, topics raised in the implementation process, and would need to be more selective in moderation somehow. Perhaps only recognized, subscribed members to that specific topic would be invited, like organized, virtual team meetings. |
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Thinking about it in the car, I came up with some other insights.
The narrow-casted layer should have some structure, outlining the problem, and then have some fill-in sections. Perhaps for the usual root-cause analysis and effects analysis. In auto manufacturing, we generate these forms called 'P-diagrams' which are simply a listing of all of the components interfacings with the outside world; be they functional, intermittent, nonfunctional, environmental, aesthetic, assembly, disassembly, etc. We then create FMEA's (Failure mode effects analyses) based on these functions, which simply state what could go wrong, what the likely odds are of failure, the odds of finding the issue if it fails, and what can be done to prevent it if the picture isn't pretty. |
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In other cases, if we're given a problem, we'll use a '5-why' method to find the root cause. These are easy enough to implement in any web page and quite useful for diagnosing failing systems and practices, and based on the generality that once you ask 'why' about 5 times or so, you've nearly bottomed out to at least one of the root causes. Example: Roland doesn't seem to ever get the girl. Why? Because they see him as a loser. Why? Because he dresses poorly and acts strangely. Why? Because he doesn't understand the concept of maintaining his image. Why? Because it was never taught to him. Why? Because his father got ran over by a Segway when he was 3. Ah. So the problem is that Roland suffers from a lack of positive role models. |
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My favorite, of course, are the 'fishbone diagrams,' which break down every potential problem into core root causes by problem type, be they methods, manufacturing, people, design, materials, etc. |
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I can't describe how excited I am by the potential of the open-source movement. The type of site that UB is suggesting is exactly what I was looking for when I found the Bakery last month. The only problem I have is maintaining my focus. It’s a beautiful thing. |
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I really like the 2 layer approach [RayfordSteele]. If the Bakery is the first layer, couldn't the links to specific websites serve as the second layer? |
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To really make a difference, we need 3 types of people working together, the Inventors, the Builders, and the Deliverers. All of these people are not always great writers <standing and raising hand>. I realize that some people are addicted to perfect spelling and grammar, but if we really want to make a difference in the world, aren’t the ideas more important? If my ideas don't make the cut, I'm still willing to be a guinea pig. We need those too, right? What guinea pig will work for free if you keep calling him an idiot? |
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I suggest putting all projects for social healing in the "peace" category and relaxing a bit on the writing standards. That might have happened naturally, I don't know. |
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I have plans to build and live in the H2OME or something like it. I would like to use the HB to help me avoid wasting a lot of time on ideas that turn out to be stupid. In exchange, I will keep a public record of my progress on my own website (building it now). |
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//Cheap, unpowered filtration of
water// inflateable solar stills -
baked in Western camping goods
stores. About $5 worth of food-
grade plastics and a couple of
minutes of inflation. No reason it
couldn't scale up to village size
that I can see. |
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inflateable or inflatable? |
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There has been research into particular sustainable flora that can clean water up to 95%. It's fully sustainable, only requires some heavy up front maintenance. Looking for links... |
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