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we are looking to alleviate the poverty in India, you can visit our website www.aashritha.org if u like to donate or like to help please make a contribution for a Noble Cause.
Together For Children In Haiti with SOSAEC HAITI
There is a big problem finding seed funding for new start up charities, please have a look at ours at http://www.world-solar-aid.com we have the idea, the commitment and the end users waiting ! I am working on the principal that if "you don't ask, you don't get".
Russian children need help to find bone marrow donor - http://fromblogs.livejournal.com/8939... please retweet this or crosspost if you can.
For anyone still out there, Literacy Bridge just published some pretty exciting results: http://literacybridge.org/pilotre.... Farmers grew 73% more crops from what they learned with Talking Books. ROI of 3500%. And this was just our first major pilot program!
I am very excited to see that people continue to vote. I hope that the collaborative approach will ultimately result in support for the top groups such as Curriki. This will insure that participation is rewarded. Communities need to be shown that their opinion is important. Thanks for giving everyone this opportunity.
"Fatih !" liked this
Literacy Bridge’s Talking Book program: knowledge-sharing technology improving health, education, and human rights for the world’s most impoverished people. http://literacybridge.org [nomination at http://moderator.appspot.com/#9...]
Tamara, "Fatih !", John Beatty and 2 other people liked this
We have a bright orange talking book in our office and it is just a simple device to use. Simply brilliant! Have mentioned the talking book a few times on our blog : http://blog.prathambooks.org/2008... , http://blog.prathambooks.org/2008... and http://blog.prathambooks.org/2009... . Keep up the good work!
- Pratham Books
Thanks to Rod for the nomination (http://moderator.appspot.com/#11...) and to all the votes of support! Joyce made an excellent point (http://ff.im/4s9wN) about scaling with relevant/local-language information. To give 2-3 billion impoverished people access to crucial knowledge, we must empower the...
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- Cliff Schmidt
My name is Andrew Bayor. I've lived my entire life in the rural northern area of Ghana, and I have been implementing the Talking Book program in Ghana for over one year. It's absolutely great to see rural folks in Vingving, Ghana listening to useful health messages that they need so badly and lacked. Just yesterday, the subsistence rural Vingving farmers told me their success stories...
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- Bayor Andrew Azaabanye
Hi, My perspective is that of someone that has worked managing projects related to poverty reduction, technology, and disability in NGOs in the US and Brazil, at the UN's International Trade Centre (Latin America and Africa), and at UBS Philanthropy Services in connection with the Visionaris Award and social entrepreneurs from Ashoka. It is clear to me that the typical top-down...
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- Fernando Botelho
The Talking Book is an inexpensive, high fidelity, peer-to-peer information transmission device. And it helps people learn to read, to boot. It's the most innovative program I've seen in poor, rural information technology -- I knew I had to get involved when Cliff first explained his vision to me. It also seems much more attuned to the needs of the target market than, say, One Laptop...
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- John Beatty
5 months ago, on the 26 of february 2009, I received a call phone from Seatlle. I was working back home on one of our bright sunny days! The guy said his name was Cliff Schimdt, that he heard about me and my work of disseminating information in rural areas of Burkina Faso, on the Internet. He then told me about the Talking Book. Since that day, we seldom spend two days withouth a skype...
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- Yennenga KOMPAORE
For a quick overview of what Literacy Bridge is doing, see our new video at http://literacybridge.org.
- Cliff Schmidt
"The Center for Humane Living is a 501C3, inspiring all people to live peaceful and compassionate lives through an innovative approach to traditional martial arts education. Check us out @ www.centerforhumaneliving.com , http://www.youtube.com/watch...
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What would it take to motivate 1000 people like Paul to launch a similar competition? Then there might be several hundred winners, not just a few.
Ruchira S. Datta and Giselle Campagna liked this
I love this idea...Paul?
- Giselle Campagna
Visit http://www.lawyerslendahand.org and you'll see how lawyers in Chicago are raising money and recruiting volunteers to support multiple tutor/mentor programs. Lawyers could duplicate this in any city. So could engineers, doctors, technology folks, etc. If that were to happen volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs would have multiple sources of funding and volunteers and this would give each more stability and consistency in working with youth.
- Dan
Did Paul ever make a decision on who he would support? I continue to look for leaders who will connect the people they know to non profits doing social benefit work. This needs to happen every day in many places. I use my blog to model this and influence whom ever reads what I write. See http://tutormentor.blogspot.com Dan Bassill On Wednesday, July 8, 2009, at 11:29 PM, Giselle Campagna wrote:
- Dan
from email
Text books seem generally expensive and insipid (http://friendfeed.com/paul...). Are there any promising open-source textbook projects? (high quality content and likely to see actual use)
Julia, nahnu, Bill and 40 other people liked this
http://twitter.com/bookmaid - RIT Rochester Institute of Technology has their own text book exchange on Twitter :)
- Susan Beebe
Obama's chief technology dude (can't remember his name) headed a project like this before taking the cabinet position. The folks at Buzz Out Loud (@acedtect @Mollywood @raygun01) would know about this as he recorded a message for their 1000th episode last week and we were reminded of the program (somewhere on the east coast).
- Kevin Arth
paul - Literacybridge.org is a great non-profit focusing on this issue. there are numerous issues here in terms of language localization, cost of print and transport of books, ability to have access to and understand content, etc. many textbook programs also assume one basic fact that is not necessarily true - literacy. although i am a fan of building schools and education, the reality...
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- Joyce
IMO, most textbooks betray a massive bias of quantity over quality, in part because quantity is confused with depth. If professors were doing their jobs (some are of course), they'd concentrate on distilling out the key points rather than partake of the laziness/spoils of the rigged textbook market... most textbooks are the equivalent of a public works program.
- Alex Schleber
I am planning on using an open-source book for the intro programming class I am teaching next fall at Colorado University - http://www.greenteapress.com/thinkpy...
- Robert Felty
Doesn't the Wikimedia Foundation have a project for open source textbooks? EDIT: Why yes, yes they do, although YMMV. http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki...
- Chris Charabaruk
I agree with Alex. Sometimes a good curriculum or at least a lesson plan is more important than a textbook. That's why I think a great project is Curriki.org. It is an online community, where educational resources can be created, shared and re-used in an open license environment. They concentrate mainly on K-12 curriculum, however it seems like it can be a great tool to share the...
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- Maciek Zielinski
Paul I agree that textbooks are way too expensive. As you may know, because of the way textbooks get adopted by some states, most of the kids in the country end up learning from books that were specifically designed to get approved in Texas and California. So how's this for an idea of how to give away your "lots of money": fund the development of a complete set of textbooks through an...
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- Peter
Flat World Knowledge: Check it out: Professors donate time to produce textbooks. Students get them for free. - http://www.flatworldknowledge.com
- scott willeke
Note the importance of audio to building literacy - http://literacybridge.org/talking...
- Ed Dodds
Consider also that if a person "open schools" all the way up through university material, there is no way to CLEP a degree. The US Department of Education should issue guidelines for the degrees where this makes sense.
- Ed Dodds
...i suspect that the textbook business is terrifically profitable for publishers, and that they'll fight any move to displace them tooth and nail.
- .LAG liked that
There's also http://ck12.org/ They make it easy for teachers to put together custom textbooks by reusing existing pieces of content (chapters and such).
- Meryn Stol
The South African "Free High School Text Book" project has a reasonable reputation: http://www.fhsst.org/. There are a lot of free non-textbook resources available through OERCommons (http://www.oercommons.org/)
- Nick Lothian
@Peter - curriki looks pretty interesting. Do you have any kind of harvesting facilities?
- Nick Lothian
@Nick. Yes. Curriki provides several ways to export materials from the site. Each of the 30,000 free and open source resources can be downloaded on to your computer, where they can be printed. You can also get the XML data for any resource. In both cases, you just have to mind the specifics of the Creative Commons license requirements. You can also embed a widget for any learning...
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- Peter
Here is a project that I have tried to contribute information to and one of my websites is actually listed there because at their request, it was easier for me to start a site of my own with the info I gave them, than for them to list all the book titles and links I provided them with. http://textbookrevolution.org
- April Russo
Curriki is a knowledge exchange which is the 21st century textbook. EVERCHANGING, always adding, always collaborating. When I see this, I don't just see worksheets... I see customizable games- good easy to change content. I see LEARNING ACTIVITIES, best practices, I see collaboration, I see a whole curriculum FOR TEACHER INSTRUCTION- on learning how to use and implement different...
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- Sharnon Johnston-Robinett
Ditto on Flatworld, but @scott, profs are not donating their time for free -- basic web-version of text is made for free, with chapters, learning materials, etc. available for fee-based download -- don't have to use the fee-based material, but is very nice to see business model that offers a good hybrid between paper-only and web-only content. In my classes, students often print out material because they want to work on their computers and have something "hard" to refer to.
- Mickey Schafer
Check out my new blogs on Curriki, we address this issue and hope the community will make sure we are sustainable.
- Bobbi Kurshan
I have been following the Collaborative Charity voting and Curriki continues to have members voting. It seems it is now time to see if there is support for this effort. Check out my blog on Huffington Post this Friday on sustaining open and free. Now would be perfect time to support this effort with a donation....
David vs. Goliath Battle, pretty much the same information as in Pudget Sound last week, but the two contesters are different - http://philanthropy.com/giveand.... It seems like Paul's idea drew a lot of attention in the net.
Wow. I just checked the vote count. I know that Curriki was leading for a while and it seemed to me like the repeat of Bible history. However now the Clinton Foundation is leading again, and they are over 100 votes ahead. Anyone knows what happened?
- Maciek Zielinski
National Flu Readiness Initiative Taps Curriki for E-Learning - Schools will use internet to connect with sick children #OER - http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek...
"In addition, the Department of Ed has asked Curriki—an open-source online repository of free curricular materials from commercial vendors, government and professional organizations, and educators—to establish a continuity of learning plan as part of a nationwide readiness initiative. In response, Curriki has pulled together information and resources designed to help schools, districts, and states get prepared for flu-related school closures." - I think it is just a great idea to use social media to tackle the difficulties schools might have with swine flu. Something seems to be changing in the Department of Ed if they look this way at it. Not only they prepared a report proving that e-learning can and is more efficient that traditional face-to-face approach (I actually think the combination is the best solution), but they started really endorsing modern technologies. Congrats to Arnie Duncan and Jim Shelton.
- Maciek Zielinski
from Bookmarklet
Just found this room. Again, I pitch clean water, which gives the best leverage. It's a simple, proven way to have the biggest impact on improving health. I've been a fan of WaterPartners International http://water.org, which uses decentralized solutions and includes microcredit, for years, although some others have sprung up more recently.
Waterborne diseases especially affect children and contribute to the vicious cycle of poverty by preventing kids from going to school and the people who care for them from going to work. Besides this, poor people--adults and children--may spend hours each day going to get water for their daily needs instead of working towards a better future.
- Ruchira S. Datta
One thing that initially attracted me to WaterPartners International was their posting of their IRS forms and audited financial statements on their webpage: http://water.org/finance
- Ruchira S. Datta
http://www.cityhouse.org/ My Friend's House is a local charity, I know, but the goal of the program is to provide traumatized & abused children ages newborn to 9 years old with a safe place to live while a safer alternative is found. I ask that you please consider helping these children if you can. Thank You!
Free Speech TV (http://freespeech.org) is a non-profit 501 3(c), independent, non-commercial, television network. Their programming addresses social, political, cultural and environmental issues affecting under-served communities. FSTV is currently requesting funding to launch an online channel and social network. Great org...I work there ;-)
Bernadette Kubicki liked this
Curriki Calls on California Teachers To Open, Share and Collaborate To Enhance Education - http://ednetnews.com/story-3...
Meryn Stol and April Buchheit liked this
"Curriki, a leading online community for creating and sharing K-12 open source curricula today called on California teachers to join forces to enhance high school curriculum. In response to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's Free Digital Text Book Initiative, Curriki will work with California teachers to collaboratively improve free digital textbooks for high school earth science and chemistry courses." - It seems like the revolution in textbooks is slowly starting. Crisis has got also few good outcomes.
- Maciek Zielinski
from Bookmarklet
Little People of America (LPA) needs your support. We're the dwarf family that was highlighted in the Discovery Health/TLC TV documentary known as Dwarf Family:Meet the Fooses. Our show and others like it have raised awareness about the need for increased acceptance and support for little people. We have no grant money and no foundation support.
www.lpaonline.org to learn more. $50 helps a single dwarf person or family with a dwarf child access all our resources and support for a single year. $750 helps someone gain a "lifetime" membership so they are never disconnected from receiving the support they need. Dwarfism is a pre-existing condition that prevents many little people from easily getting or changing jobs because they are tied to SDI/Medicare or health insurance from their current employer. Dwarf children are regularly given up for adoption in the rest of the world, and even sometimes in the US. LPA helps families adopt these dwarf children to give them as much of a normal life as possible. Our daughter was adopted from Russia in 1994 and it cost us over $20,000.
- foosgroup
My recommendation to you is the 501(c)3 founded by Robert Egger, the V3campaign.org. What sets it apart from all other recommendations is that it is the only non-profit doing what it does, which is working to get the non-profit sector recognized by the political and governmental power structures. V3 mission: Our goal: to develop a new generation...
Chasing the Clinton Foundation - http://seattle.bizjournals.com/seattle...
Peter Fedin, Clare Dibble, travispuk and 8 other people liked this
"Seattle’s Literacy Bridge, a nonprofit that uses a cheap, rugged “talking book” to educate the poor in developing nations, could be in line for a competitive donation from the creator of Google’s Gmail. All that stands in its way is former U.S. President Bill Clinton. ... So far, the leading suggestion with more than 525 votes is the Clinton Foundation founded by the former president, which aids efforts in climate change and international health and development. In 2007 the foundation had nearly $130 million in revenue. Literacy Bridge, started by Cliff Schmidt, a former Navy officer and Microsoft employee, is second in voting with more than 270 votes. In 2008, Literacy Bridge had about $79,000 in revenue."
- Paul Buchheit
from Bookmarklet
Literacy Bridge is a great project which deserves a lot more attention. There's a Google Tech Talk about it although it's a bit old now. It seems that it would have a lot less barriers to adoption than OLPC. I blogged about it back in 2008 at work (http://blogs.educationau.edu.au/nlothia...) but it's excellent to see it's still going ok.
- Nick Lothian
What a lame article. It never says how the Clinton Foundation is getting in the way.
- Gabe
Gabe, I think the idea is that they're getting in the way by having more votes. The number of votes is just one variable though -- the selection will be based on many factors.
- Paul Buchheit
Like, for the fact that you're doing this, Paul, and for the approach you're taking.
- Joel Webber
Paul, that's my point exactly. If they thought that having more votes means they win, the article should have stated so. If they knew that it takes more than votes to win, they shouldn't have made it sound like the Clinton Foundation was somehow stopping Literacy Bridge from winning.
- Gabe
Nevertheless, being #1 would be better than being #2 Gabe, so although the Clinton Foundation is not "stopping" them, it could reasonably be considered somewhat of an impediment.
- Paul Buchheit
Well, let's just not forget about the other organisations than CF and LB. I track the vote quite regularly and for the last week there was a real competition going on, and the top three changed few times. Little people of America and Curriki.org are less than one hundred votes behind the LB and you have to keep in mind that they started getting votes later. They are actually even closer...
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- Maciek Zielinski
What sets the Clinton Foundation apart? It's a 501(c)3 with long-term, high-impact solutions to seemingly intractable problems such as HIV/AIDS, climate change, economic inequality, childhood obesity. Amazing projects to choose from, with tangible results. 96% of donation goes directly to programs. http://www.clintonfoundation.org/
Curriki.org was recognized and awarded last year by the Clinton Global Initiative (which is a part of Clinton Foundation) for its commitment to breaking the educational divide around the world . In my opinion Clinton Foundation itself has too broad aims. It seemed to me like Paul looked for something more specified, with a single solution, not just another big fund raising organisation,...
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- Maciek Zielinski
I really like how Desmond Tutu summarized the work of the Clinton Foundation on Huffington Post. He outlines some of the specific projects & successes: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/desmond...
- James Hupp
Excellent way to generate ideas! I work for a health funder in Maine who is trying a similar pilot through Facebook. We'll definitely be watching your progress for ways to modify our own process in generating community input. That said, my vote is WaterForPeople.org.
While all of the previously mentioned organizations and foundations are worthy recipents of the funds you would like to donate. I would just like to take this time to tell you about an organization that has given many Educators and students hope of a brighter future. DonorsChoose is an organization that takes donations from generous people like...
Charity Navigator - 2008 CEO Compensation Study - http://www.charitynavigator.org/index...
Maggie liked this
There is an Arby's foundation???
- Clare Dibble
from Bookmarklet
End malaria, which costs Africa 1 million lives and $12 billion in productivity each year. One $10 bed net protects at least two people from this preventable, treatable, but devastating disease - www.malariaNOMORE.org
Girl Games inspires dreams of tech careers - Santa Cruz Sentinel - http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/localne...
Unfortunately, this program is not a 501c(3) right now so it really doesn't meet Paul's criteria. I hope they can find a way to partner with a nonprofit and plan to expand/replicate. What they are doing is so important in so many ways.
- Laura Norvig
That's ok, you got them the gift of attention, that's already something
- Iphigenie
Hope Technology School -www.hopetechschool.org - An inclusion school with an excellent curriculum but needs more investment in attracting great teachers.
Let's create a heat map for good by combining the best of data visualization w/ crowd sourcing & web 2.0 concepts to build a network for donors, nonprofits & individuals/groups. Achieve unprecedented collaboration; remove redundancy in care. Similar to some models such as networkforgood but unique in visual design and network effect. Thoughts?
i like it. How would it be different from networkforgood?
- Joshua Dance
I love all charities but Paul we need to apply more action to the problems we face within the upcoming generation. Health and our ability to take action in improving ones health is what The Action Foundation is all about. www.theactionfoundation.org is geared to teach & equip parents, kids and schools for getting kids activity levels up by...
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