Joanna Chaplin's Posts - Urgent Evoke2024-03-28T18:29:04ZJoanna Chaplinhttp://www.urgentevoke.com/profile/JoannaChaplinhttp://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2209201939?profile=RESIZE_48X48&width=48&height=48&crop=1%3A1http://www.urgentevoke.com/profiles/blog/feed?user=0z7skezorcdw0&xn_auth=noFarm in a bag giving fresh produce to citiestag:www.urgentevoke.com,2010-04-08:4871302:BlogPost:854592010-04-08T14:16:26.000ZJoanna Chaplinhttp://www.urgentevoke.com/profile/JoannaChaplin
<p>I still exist, but I've determined that I will not be making an Evokation, and that resulted in my being much less active in the community. I'll try to get caught up, but there was no way I wasn't going to share this article: <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/africa/04/08/kenya.farm.slums/index.html">http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/africa/04/08/kenya.farm.slums/index.html</a></p>
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<p>An Italian group named Cooperazione Internazionale (COOPI) brought agricultural experts to teach…</p>
<p>I still exist, but I've determined that I will not be making an Evokation, and that resulted in my being much less active in the community. I'll try to get caught up, but there was no way I wasn't going to share this article: <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/africa/04/08/kenya.farm.slums/index.html">http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/africa/04/08/kenya.farm.slums/index.html</a></p>
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<p>An Italian group named Cooperazione Internazionale (COOPI) brought agricultural experts to teach groups in the slums of Kenya to care for a "farm in a sack". Each sack contains good soil and a variety of food seedlings that grow ripe several times in succession over the course of a year: 25 spinach, 15 kale, 2 capsicum and 1 spring onion . The capsicum and the spring onion provide some natural bug protection. COOPI provides expertise, fences, water tanks, and hoes. At least one community harvests fresh crops once a week and feeds 150 families.</p>
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<p>I know I've seen projects like this one discussed hear, so it might be heartening to know that it can be done and appears to be working.</p>Another response from a herotag:www.urgentevoke.com,2010-03-25:4871302:BlogPost:633592010-03-25T15:28:00.000ZJoanna Chaplinhttp://www.urgentevoke.com/profile/JoannaChaplin
<p>So I emailed Adam Boesel of the energy-neutral gyms I blogged about here: <a href="http://www.urgentevoke.com/profiles/blogs/pedal-power">http://www.urgentevoke.com/profiles/blogs/pedal-power</a> . I asked if someone involved with the gyms might check out EVOKE as a mentor. He did respond, and while he thought that the site was pretty interesting, he didn't have enough free time to join and get involved in the community. I wonder if one problem with the EVOKE network as it stands is that the…</p>
<p>So I emailed Adam Boesel of the energy-neutral gyms I blogged about here: <a href="http://www.urgentevoke.com/profiles/blogs/pedal-power">http://www.urgentevoke.com/profiles/blogs/pedal-power</a> . I asked if someone involved with the gyms might check out EVOKE as a mentor. He did respond, and while he thought that the site was pretty interesting, he didn't have enough free time to join and get involved in the community. I wonder if one problem with the EVOKE network as it stands is that the people who are already working on social entrepreneurship are too busy to come play along with the game. But I asked if he might share some thoughts on how he got started and if he had any advice for people with ideas. He responded thusly:</p>
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<p>"I still feel like I'm in the early days. I started this project over 2 years ago, and it's been a great experience. I would advise anybody who wants to do something different to start early, and throw ideas out there. Fail fast. That means, don't overthink the idea, throw it out there, try it out, and see if it works or not. If it doesn't work (which it probably won't), move on to the next idea.</p>
<p>Don't believe the 'experts'. Most experts in electricity and renewable energy didn't think my idea was a good one, but I figured out how to do it cheap and it worked, and then the media got involved. the media doesn't care if it works or not, they just want a good story.</p>
<p>Make your idea remarkable. Don't try to make it "normal" or "look professional". Make it look fun and interesting.</p>
<p>Don't believe you have to hire an 'expert' to do important parts of the project. They probably will charge too much and you'll have to do most of the heavy lifting yourself anyway because all good, new ideas are more unique than you might think.</p>
<p>Don't listen to friends and family all that much. They may like your idea or not, but they're not objective. Find out what people who have no interest in you think.</p>
<p>Pick up the phone and start making phone calls to try to get what you need. Entrepreneurship is not for people who are going to wait for things to come to them or happen for them. It's for people who are willing to go out and make it happen every day.</p>
<p>Finally, don't think about how much work it's going to take (you'll quit). Think about the goal you're trying to achieve."</p>Call to action! Power crisis in Venezuela, crisis declared March 10th, 2010. Immediate solutions needed!tag:www.urgentevoke.com,2010-03-20:4871302:BlogPost:500762010-03-20T14:00:00.000ZJoanna Chaplinhttp://www.urgentevoke.com/profile/JoannaChaplin
Here we are doing a thousand small things to help change the future, and that's all well and good, but meanwhile there's a real life crisis going on right now. 70% of Venezuela's power comes from hydroelectric dams. A drought this year has depleted energy production by 40%. The government has mandated electricity rationing and started a campaign of replacing light-bulbs using the military (<a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8543469.stm">http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8543469.stm</a>), but the…
Here we are doing a thousand small things to help change the future, and that's all well and good, but meanwhile there's a real life crisis going on right now. 70% of Venezuela's power comes from hydroelectric dams. A drought this year has depleted energy production by 40%. The government has mandated electricity rationing and started a campaign of replacing light-bulbs using the military (<a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8543469.stm">http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8543469.stm</a>), but the water is very quickly dropping to the point where the turbines are no longer going to work. It's already significantly affecting the country's economy. Venezuela produces quite a bit of petroleum, and measures are underway to start using more of it to produce electricity. Which means less is exported. Which means that at least in America, gas will be more expensive in a couple years. http://world-countries.net/archives/16839 I'd rather not promote an America-centric worldview, even though I'm sure it pervades my thinking, but I'm trying to convey that this crisis in Venezuela affects the world around it. And if you're wealthy enough to have access to this site, it probably will affect you personally eventually. <br/><br/>So spread the word! Devise short term fixes and follow up with long term solutions! Who has ideas? Develop them, drum up funding. Who is willing to go to Venezuela and help? Who is willing to put their money where their mouth is? <br/><br/>Or are you all just as cowardly as I am?<br/><br/>EDIT: Please discuss at <a href="http://www.urgentevoke.com/forum/topics/energy-crisis-in-venezuela">http://www.urgentevoke.com/forum/topics/energy-crisis-in-venezuela</a><br/><div id="refHTML"></div>
<div id="refHTML"></div>Pedal power!tag:www.urgentevoke.com,2010-03-18:4871302:BlogPost:457422010-03-18T23:55:24.000ZJoanna Chaplinhttp://www.urgentevoke.com/profile/JoannaChaplin
Sometime when I was a kid, I remember making drawings of people exercising on machines that turned their work into energy. After all, it's work wasted simply for the cause of burning calories. Agents from countries not in the US will probably boggle at the concept. But I was just a kid. I had no idea how to even share my idea, much less implement it. But it's now a reality, completely independent of my idea. Adam Boesel has created what he's pretty sure is the world's first energy neutral gym.…
Sometime when I was a kid, I remember making drawings of people exercising on machines that turned their work into energy. After all, it's work wasted simply for the cause of burning calories. Agents from countries not in the US will probably boggle at the concept. But I was just a kid. I had no idea how to even share my idea, much less implement it. But it's now a reality, completely independent of my idea. Adam Boesel has created what he's pretty sure is the world's first energy neutral gym. The building is powered by the various machines, as well as solar panels on the roof. <a href="http://www.wellsphere.com/add-adhd-article/the-carbon-negative-quest-portland-gym-converts-energy-of-pedal-bikes-into-electricity/926862%C2%A0">http://www.wellsphere.com/add-adhd-article/the-carbon-negative-quest-portland-gym-converts-energy-of-pedal-bikes-into-electricity/926862 </a>; What's more, he has offered to help other gyms who want to go energy neutral. There's a gym just down the street from me. I was thinking about maybe bringing this to their attention. The worse they can say is "we're not interested."<div id="refHTML"></div>Gaming for a causetag:www.urgentevoke.com,2010-03-18:4871302:BlogPost:426132010-03-18T02:50:26.000ZJoanna Chaplinhttp://www.urgentevoke.com/profile/JoannaChaplin
I've been trying to think about a way to have online social role-playing games (RPGs) to raise money for charity. One of my friends tried to lobby Blizzard Entertainment to have an in-world fundraiser of World of Warcraft currency for some need that fit into the feel of the world, the results of which would cause Blizzard to donate real money to a related real-world cause. The lobby attempt never got really far, but it got me thinking. Escapism games draw a lot of players. What if there was…
I've been trying to think about a way to have online social role-playing games (RPGs) to raise money for charity. One of my friends tried to lobby Blizzard Entertainment to have an in-world fundraiser of World of Warcraft currency for some need that fit into the feel of the world, the results of which would cause Blizzard to donate real money to a related real-world cause. The lobby attempt never got really far, but it got me thinking. Escapism games draw a lot of players. What if there was some way that a massively multiplayer online game (MMO) could allow players to donate in-game currency that results in real-world fund-raising? Players make characters and go on adventures, and donate to a choice of various causes. <br/><br/>This first idea has a series of problems with it. The big one is money. MMOs cost a lot of money to make, even more to make well, and yet more to maintain. The only reason they exist is you make more money than the enormous cost. This is fine for a large game company spending money to make money, but strictly irresponsible for a non-profit. And should the money come from the players? The game will be competing with all the other MMOs, and a higher than average price could scare away players. Free Rice <a href="http://www.freerice.com/">http://www.freerice.com/</a> supports its donations through advertisements, but advertisements in games are usually considered intrusive and jarring. Cause World <a href="http://www.causeworld.com/">http://www.causeworld.com/</a> uses corporate sponsors. This seems to me personally the best method, but the initial pitch has got to be difficult. I'm not sure how often people bet on small independent games succeeding. <br/><br/>Another big problem is balancing the need to describe the need, the organization in an honest and upfront fashion and balancing the need to maintain a believable and immersive world. My husband actually pointed out that a sci-fi setting fit it best, but still, either players are yanked back to the real world constantly within the game, or the can get misconceptions about how the in-world description corresponds to the real-world result. <br/><br/>The biggest issue is the game itself. If it cannot engage players and continue to engage them, it won't raise money regardless of the method. MMOs thrive on being able to play with other people. You need a critical mass of people or you don't succeed. And even if it's not competing for dollars with WoW, it definitely competes with time. It has to be the next big game, on top of being able to do anything else. That means character customization, balanced abilities, lots of player interaction. World building. Oof. <br/><br/>So, I thought to myself for the first time today, what about Facebook social games? They're yet more popular and mainstream than WoW, they have to be designed to be graphically non-intensive, so more people can play, and it's really easy to invite others to play. But the money problems are still an issue, although you might be able to get away with having players purchase virtual goods in micro-transactions. The start-up would be a lot smaller. But it still needs servers and art and agreements and a thousand different things I don't know about yet. I'm not an economist or an artist or even a programmer. I'm a lab tech. Is my idea even feasible? <br/><div id="refHTML"></div>Food, glorious foodtag:www.urgentevoke.com,2010-03-18:4871302:BlogPost:422792010-03-18T00:40:16.000ZJoanna Chaplinhttp://www.urgentevoke.com/profile/JoannaChaplin
So I delayed on this mission, since the results of my action don't start happening until the summer, but my husband and I are buying a share in <a href="http://www.tangerinisfarm.com/">http://www.tangerinisfarm.com/</a> . This will result in supporting a local farm, and eating tasty local veggies all summer.<div id="refHTML"></div>
So I delayed on this mission, since the results of my action don't start happening until the summer, but my husband and I are buying a share in <a href="http://www.tangerinisfarm.com/">http://www.tangerinisfarm.com/</a> . This will result in supporting a local farm, and eating tasty local veggies all summer.<div id="refHTML"></div>Open-source washing machinestag:www.urgentevoke.com,2010-03-17:4871302:BlogPost:413862010-03-17T19:30:00.000ZJoanna Chaplinhttp://www.urgentevoke.com/profile/JoannaChaplin
<p>I stumbled on this through my RSS feed to MAKE magazine: <a href="http://www.oswash.org/">http://www.oswash.org/</a> . It's a collaborative effort to produce low-tech washing machines for various types of needs. Washing machines were one of the big time savers in American history, as well as ovens and microwaves and other appliances. It's part of why women and African-Americans were able to make such strides in civil rights: the labor cost that fueled the unequal social construct went way…</p>
<p>I stumbled on this through my RSS feed to MAKE magazine: <a href="http://www.oswash.org/">http://www.oswash.org/</a> . It's a collaborative effort to produce low-tech washing machines for various types of needs. Washing machines were one of the big time savers in American history, as well as ovens and microwaves and other appliances. It's part of why women and African-Americans were able to make such strides in civil rights: the labor cost that fueled the unequal social construct went way down. If this project is able to help people supply themselves with washing machines, that begets other infrastructure, as it were.</p>
<div id="refHTML"></div>The hero responds!tag:www.urgentevoke.com,2010-03-16:4871302:BlogPost:390722010-03-16T18:00:23.000ZJoanna Chaplinhttp://www.urgentevoke.com/profile/JoannaChaplin
I actually heard back from Evans Wadongo, whose project I described here: <a href="http://www.urgentevoke.com/profiles/blogs/my-inspiration">http://www.urgentevoke.com/profiles/blogs/my-inspiration</a> . It only took a couple of days, but he only friended me on Facebook, thanked me for my interest, and urged me to spread the word of his project to family and friends. Which, honestly, was all I was expecting from someone who eats one meal a day to save money for solar lanterns. He's on tour now…
I actually heard back from Evans Wadongo, whose project I described here: <a href="http://www.urgentevoke.com/profiles/blogs/my-inspiration">http://www.urgentevoke.com/profiles/blogs/my-inspiration</a> . It only took a couple of days, but he only friended me on Facebook, thanked me for my interest, and urged me to spread the word of his project to family and friends. Which, honestly, was all I was expecting from someone who eats one meal a day to save money for solar lanterns. He's on tour now promoting his project, and will be going back to working on it soon.<div id="refHTML"></div>March 10, 2020tag:www.urgentevoke.com,2010-03-14:4871302:BlogPost:355962010-03-14T13:48:03.000ZJoanna Chaplinhttp://www.urgentevoke.com/profile/JoannaChaplin
"Mmm, hon, it smells wonderful. Here's your stool, Seth, wash your hands." Seth washes his little hands intensely. I'm a little worried that the "good hygiene" special speaker that came to his kindergarten class scared him a little too straight, but if all it means is cleaner hands, then it's not that big of a deal. <br></br>"Thanks, Jo. It's almost done. Just have to tidy up a bit." <br></br>"I wanna set the table!" <br></br>"We'll both do it. Here are the forks, the knives, and the chopsticks. Here are…
"Mmm, hon, it smells wonderful. Here's your stool, Seth, wash your hands." Seth washes his little hands intensely. I'm a little worried that the "good hygiene" special speaker that came to his kindergarten class scared him a little too straight, but if all it means is cleaner hands, then it's not that big of a deal. <br/>"Thanks, Jo. It's almost done. Just have to tidy up a bit." <br/>"I wanna set the table!" <br/>"We'll both do it. Here are the forks, the knives, and the chopsticks. Here are your special chopsticks. I'll get the plates." (<a href="http://www.forsmallhands.com/store/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=1_4_720&m2k_medium=adwords&gclid=CI-j9uyruKACFctx5QodiUpTTw">http://www.forsmallhands.com/store/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=1_4_720&m2k_medium=adwords&gclid=CI-j9uyruKACFctx5QodiUpTTw</a> )<br/>I set up the plates and the glasses of milk as Seth reaches to put the utensils in their places. Hopefully the novelty of setting the table won't wear off before he's old enough and tall enough to set them out straight. Jim sets the big heaping bowl of stir fry over wild rice on the trivet. The spring onions and turnips are in season, which is great, because they set off the beef wonderfully. <br/><br/>Some of my colleagues do not eat meat anymore due to the high relative energetic cost. But we buy this beef local, and we know the farmer, who does not use growth hormones or antibiotics because his cows are naturally large and disease-resistant. I should know. I analyzed the genome of his stud bull myself. Ecological vegetarianism is good and highly commendable, but human nature is hard to change. And I know it's in the nature of my husband and I to have trouble feeling full if there is not at least a little meat in our stir-fry. <br/><br/>I help Seth into his booster seat and then sit down. We all join hands. <br/>"It's my turn!" chimes Seth. "Dear God, thank you for this day, and bless the hands that grew this food and Daddy who made it and help us to do good things with the enn-eer-gy that it gives us. Amen." I smile at his prayer, which is a copy of how mine usually goes at dinnertime. One day, he'll be better at making it his own. But today, his only job is to eat his vegetables. <br/><br/>*Note, my husband in this story exists and does cook stir-fry, although his name has been changed. I don't yet have any children, but I hope to by 2020.*<br/><br/><div id="refHTML"></div>"Improving food security? In Massachusetts?"tag:www.urgentevoke.com,2010-03-14:4871302:BlogPost:355552010-03-14T13:08:23.000ZJoanna Chaplinhttp://www.urgentevoke.com/profile/JoannaChaplin
I admit, I'm struggling with this one. I live in a rich nation, and a rich state within that nation. Boston isn't quite as cosmopolitan as New York City, but there's still plenty of conspicuous spending. Not that we don't have poor people. It's just that, on average, people in this state have trouble getting food because they are out of work, not because of lack of education. Yes, I know that's a generalization. But I specifically live in a fairly well-off suburban area. Most of the…
I admit, I'm struggling with this one. I live in a rich nation, and a rich state within that nation. Boston isn't quite as cosmopolitan as New York City, but there's still plenty of conspicuous spending. Not that we don't have poor people. It's just that, on average, people in this state have trouble getting food because they are out of work, not because of lack of education. Yes, I know that's a generalization. But I specifically live in a fairly well-off suburban area. Most of the food-related organizations around here are focused on giving handouts to tide people over until their lives improve. Giving a fish, not teaching to fish. <br/><br/>But I'm working on it. According to the food pantry right in town, <a href="http://www.franklinfoodpantry.org/">http://www.franklinfoodpantry.org/</a> , the number of regulars has gone up by 28% since the beginning of October. And I also learned that the food pantry has a partnership with Tangerini's Farm <a href="http://www.tangerinisfarm.com/tangerini_farm_csa_share.htm">http://www.tangerinisfarm.com/tangerini_farm_csa_share.htm</a> . The farm works on a Community Supported Agriculture plan, as is described here: <a href="http://www.localharvest.org/csa/">http://www.localharvest.org/csa/</a> . The gist is, you pay a lump sum at the beginning of the season to cover the cost of growing, and then you come regularly to pick up whatever's harvested that week, your share. At Tangerini's Farm, you can also donate towards a share to be donated to the food pantry, which is good because most food pantries have to rely on non-perishables, and this partnership with the farm means that they get seasonal, local fresh foods. I don't know if teaching folks to fish will be something I personally can tackle here in the land of the cod, but for the moment, I'm going to settle for improving the food that people do get. <br/><div id="refHTML"></div>Adobe moon caccoonstag:www.urgentevoke.com,2010-03-12:4871302:BlogPost:337942010-03-12T23:30:00.000ZJoanna Chaplinhttp://www.urgentevoke.com/profile/JoannaChaplin
As I was searching the web for cool things, as I often do, I found this link: <a href="http://calearth.org/building-designs/eco-dome.html">http://calearth.org/building-designs/eco-dome.html</a> <br></br><br></br>They are little adobe huts made out of earth, coiled around in modified sandbags, and can be built quickly and provide shelter from the elements, particularly after a large-scale disaster. They are kind of smallish, but I think they are cute! They remind me a little of Park Guell, an…
As I was searching the web for cool things, as I often do, I found this link: <a href="http://calearth.org/building-designs/eco-dome.html">http://calearth.org/building-designs/eco-dome.html</a> <br/><br/>They are little adobe huts made out of earth, coiled around in modified sandbags, and can be built quickly and provide shelter from the elements, particularly after a large-scale disaster. They are kind of smallish, but I think they are cute! They remind me a little of Park Guell, an experimental village built by Gaudi: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Park_Guell%C2%A0">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Park_Guell</a> ; The Wikipedia pictures do not do it justice, so look here, also: <a href="http://www.barcelona-tourist-guide.com/en/albums-en/gaudi-park-guell/index.html">http://www.barcelona-tourist-guide.com/en/albums-en/gaudi-park-guell/index.html</a> . Can you just imagine building a little village full of these huts and then painting them, Gaudi-esque style? Beautiful! <br/><br/>EDIT: I'm going to try to find out on my own, but if anyone is soliciting advice for a building project, please point them towards this link. <br/><div id="refHTML"></div>
<div id="refHTML"></div>What I've been holding back.tag:www.urgentevoke.com,2010-03-10:4871302:BlogPost:268392010-03-10T02:00:00.000ZJoanna Chaplinhttp://www.urgentevoke.com/profile/JoannaChaplin
I wrote the following in response to a private message from Agent Boyden : <a href="http://www.urgentevoke.com/profile/JohnDBoyden">http://www.urgentevoke.com/profile/JohnDBoyden</a> . He encouraged me to put it in a blog post. I wrote it in frustration and in a fit of nervous energy. I'm a little embarrassed, since I always get verbose and sesquipidalian when I'm nervous, especially when I'm writing online. (For those who did not learn English as a firstlanguage, I write too much and my words…
I wrote the following in response to a private message from Agent Boyden : <a href="http://www.urgentevoke.com/profile/JohnDBoyden">http://www.urgentevoke.com/profile/JohnDBoyden</a> . He encouraged me to put it in a blog post. I wrote it in frustration and in a fit of nervous energy. I'm a little embarrassed, since I always get verbose and sesquipidalian when I'm nervous, especially when I'm writing online. (For those who did not learn English as a firstlanguage, I write too much and my words start getting too long). I've made a couple small tweaks for clarity, but I'm just going to put it out here as it was there. And if people get upset, well, that's a learning opportunity, right? <br/><br/>"I haven't picked a real-world problem yet. Every time I try I get
overwhelmed by all the need. I'm hoping that working on the missions<br/>
will solidify that for me, but honestly I'd rather get tapped to help an existing project than try and start one of my own.<br/>
<br/>
Professionally, I'm at sort of a crossroads right now. My first<br/>
job is amazing. It's at a large and very stable company. I get the<br/>
same sort of work pretty much every day with small side projects on<br/>
occasion. My boss gives me just the right amount of hands-on management. But my job is not<br/>
quite perfect. The work can be fun and stable, but it also gets<br/>
tedious; I wouldn't want to do it the rest of my life. And it's at a dead-end from an opportunity point of view. My colleagues are here for a lifer job. I'd have to make a lateral move<br/>
before I could move up. But I'm still insecure in my experimental<br/>
science. something I'd need for a lateral move. I have yet to be really successful in some of my more<br/>
ambitious projects. I want more education in hopes that it will make me more confident. In my field a PHD is<br/>
worth a lot more for career advancement than a BS, and an MS is not worth very much more than just a BS.<br/>
Meanwhile, my husband is out of work and has been having trouble<br/>
finding a part time job, much less something in his field (computer<br/>
science). We can live off my income, but I can't reasonably make the<br/>
switch back to academia and still make mortgage payments. By the grace<br/>
of God and the prudence of our parents, neither of us have student<br/>
loans.<br/>
<br/>
So I'm starting to be open to a big career switch, but the world<br/>
is scary and the economy is bad. And the seed money idea is all well<br/>
and good, but everybody needs money. If you gave every project mentioned<br/>
on this site about $500,000, they could use it and still need more.<br/>
I've been assuming that the need for money is a given when I investigate<br/>
projects. But me and my husband do not have enough savings enough for a new car when our old<br/>
one gives up the ghost, much less a capital venture.<br/>
<br/>
I'm sorry to be snippy, but I have been passing links and making<br/>
small donations for almost every cause under the sun for some 12 years now and hoping that my act would<br/>
unite with other acts to change the world. And the world keeps being<br/>
the same. I'm a little bit discouraged. I was getting the feeling<br/>
that this site would be different. A social movement as strong and as<br/>
inspiring as the American Great Revival, and even broader, since we're using the communication media of this generation.<br/>
It still has that potential. But all I see so far is sharing news of<br/>
projects people have heard about, begging for donations and power<br/>
votes. There are some good ideas being shared, but if no one acts on<br/>
them, they will all be lost in the noise of the information age and<br/>
leave nothing that lasts.<br/>
<br/>
To be fair, it is my goal to tackle the wiki and try and get others to start posting<br/>
projects and their associated needs there. I want to see if I can't start a help<br/>
wanted/help offered sort of system. I'm still trying to make the<br/>
network into a network instead of just another obscure internet forum<br/>
for people to argue in. I know it's a game. I want it to be more.<br/>
I'm going to work to try and make it more." <br/><br/>I will understand and appreciate it if people want to vote to show their approval, their support. But I find that intelligent comments are worth more to me. I might be a bit cynical right now, and I know it's a means of getting people hooked into this, but I find the grubbing for attention and votes to be a bit petty. <br/><br/>What the heck do I tag this as, anyway? I'm never good at tagging my posts. <br/><div id="refHTML"></div>
<div id="refHTML"></div>Just a game?tag:www.urgentevoke.com,2010-03-05:4871302:BlogPost:149592010-03-05T01:42:06.000ZJoanna Chaplinhttp://www.urgentevoke.com/profile/JoannaChaplin
So I know that this is a game. And games have rules and scoring. However, I honestly don't care about the scoring. I don't want to treat this like a game, like yet another way to get a high score and show people you've never met before how cool you are. I don't want this to be an "alternate reality game" because I want to make it my reality. I am hoping that when the scripted game is over, they will leave up the network, and allow the people who make it past the fad to continue to post, to…
So I know that this is a game. And games have rules and scoring. However, I honestly don't care about the scoring. I don't want to treat this like a game, like yet another way to get a high score and show people you've never met before how cool you are. I don't want this to be an "alternate reality game" because I want to make it my reality. I am hoping that when the scripted game is over, they will leave up the network, and allow the people who make it past the fad to continue to post, to share, and to collaborate. I am hoping that the scores will be a useful way to find someone who has tips for turning a venture into an economically sustainable business, for example, or to find someone who knows how to market an idea. Unfortunately, the leader boards appear to be full of "knowledge sharing", which is expected at the beginning of the game, but is unfortunately an extremely common skill. I want this to develop and mature into a social force. I cannot honestly say how my interest will last in the face of my regular routine, but right at this moment, I want to collaborate until it works, until something actually happens in the real world because of EVOKE. Increased donations don't count for my current drive.<div id="refHTML"></div>The secret that inspirestag:www.urgentevoke.com,2010-03-05:4871302:BlogPost:149192010-03-05T01:21:46.000ZJoanna Chaplinhttp://www.urgentevoke.com/profile/JoannaChaplin
I could just take one of the bullet points by itself, but I feel that the real secret that I identify with is hidden among several of these statements. Let me first list them.<br></br><br></br>"Don’t fight culture (If people cook by stirring their stews, they’re
not going to use a solar oven, no matter what you do to market it. Make<br />
them a better stove instead.)"<br></br><br></br>"<span><strong>Listen to the right people.</strong> "<br></br><br></br>"</span><strong>Understand</strong> by observing the environment,…
I could just take one of the bullet points by itself, but I feel that the real secret that I identify with is hidden among several of these statements. Let me first list them.<br/><br/>"Don’t fight culture (If people cook by stirring their stews, they’re
not going to use a solar oven, no matter what you do to market it. Make<br />
them a better stove instead.)"<br/><br/>"<span><strong>Listen to the right people.</strong> "<br/><br/>"</span><strong>Understand</strong> by observing the environment, infrastructure, culture and lives of people by being there."<br/><br/>Along with these truths, let me also state the truth I discovered while working on my missions, that the personal connection is more powerful than a symbolic gesture. <br/><br/>The whole point of the EVOKE network is that together we can solve problems that one person cannot even begin to solve. For a long time now I have believed that great things do happen by the sum of thousands of small actions. That is how economies act, how history is made. Of late, much has been made of trying to spark these small actions that add up to big things. Viral videos, crowdsourcing, and even slacktivism. Charities and commercial ventures know their power. <br/><br/>These are powerful, but somewhere along the way, it became acceptable for the average person to just share soundbites, clips, and links. Passing on information, wearing a ribbon, or posting a message in your forum signature. Awareness is important. Awareness can spark compassion. But awareness without true knowledge is weak, and knowing that people are "starving in Africa" as every American mom used to say a generation or two ago does not help put food in their mouths. It is true that a bunch of small donations can add up to a lot, but in an economic crisis, the average person does not feel secure spending much. <br/><br/>Most of my life, I've been a water droplet, trying to swim in a useful direction and convincing my neighbors to do the same, hoping to form a wave. I've been spreading awareness and donating when I felt I could. But doing these missions has shown me that hoping that the whim of the crowd follows the right direction is good, but not enough. I don't have as much money as I would like, but I have time and I have skills. What needs to be done is to identify tasks and then to identify people to help accomplish those tasks to form teams. <br/><br/>I've never been a leader, and I always thought only leaders could be social activists, and followers could only be donors. But every leader needs a team. I have yet not found my one call. I'll work on that in the coming weeks. But in the meantime, if there is a team who finds my skills worthwhile, please call on me. Let's take advantage of the burst of inspiration and the ease of communication, and let's make it sustain past the first spark. <br/><br/>I do not yet know how to succinctly describe my inspiring truth. For now, I will go with this: crowdsourcing is good, and an organized, communicating crowd is better. <br/><div id="refHTML"></div>March 4, 2020tag:www.urgentevoke.com,2010-03-05:4871302:BlogPost:148502010-03-05T00:46:59.000ZJoanna Chaplinhttp://www.urgentevoke.com/profile/JoannaChaplin
When Alchemy calls I am knee deep in sequencing data for the lab samples in the experimental rice crop. The first field tests are coming up too few months. It would be nice to nail down the chromatin-opening region (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epigenetics">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epigenetics</a>) that over-expresses the vitamin cartridge that we inserted into the genome. Monitoring the expression during the test would give that much more data to improve the next crop. As soon as…
When Alchemy calls I am knee deep in sequencing data for the lab samples in the experimental rice crop. The first field tests are coming up too few months. It would be nice to nail down the chromatin-opening region (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epigenetics">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epigenetics</a>) that over-expresses the vitamin cartridge that we inserted into the genome. Monitoring the expression during the test would give that much more data to improve the next crop. As soon as I know the situation in Tokyo, my heart drops. Our "ultra-rice", as the media has already dubbed it, would be perfect for the food shortages...and won't be anywhere near ready for another five years. And even that estimate assumes that the cross-pollination data with the wild-type rice was sufficiently low to allow approval by the UN GMO Oversight Committee (UNGOC). No, what Tokyo needs is help right now. Well, fertilization and irrigation techniques I have learned that help modified rice to grow will work just fine on wild-type rice. Talking to the people there will help provide the insight I need to figure out the rest. <br/><br/>With a few taps and strokes of my fingers on the screen of my electronic lab notebook (<a href="http://www.labtrack.com/">http://www.labtrack.com/</a>), I instruct the pipettorbot to conduct a few more sequencing reactions on the samples and send instructions to my students. The project is far enough along that they can continue without me, and they can always reach me via instant messaging. God bless satellite up-links. I catch the next boat off the International Floating Laboratory and then fly from Mumbai to Tokyo. On the plane, I am already trying to reduce my agriculture tips to catchy slogans. I don't bother trying to rhyme them, since I will have to consult with local translators anyway. <br/><div id="refHTML"></div>My inspirationtag:www.urgentevoke.com,2010-03-04:4871302:BlogPost:147092010-03-04T23:51:41.000ZJoanna Chaplinhttp://www.urgentevoke.com/profile/JoannaChaplin
I chose Evans Wadongo to follow online as my hero. I first learned about him by reading an article on CNN: <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2010/LIVING/02/11/cnnheroes.wadongo/index.html?iref=allsearch">http://www.cnn.com/2010/LIVING/02/11/cnnheroes.wadongo/index.html?iref=allsearch</a> . This was before I learned about the EVOKE network, and I marveled at his ingenuity and vision. He and teams of local volunteers make solar lanterns out of scrap metal, bulk-bought LEDs, and scrap bits of solar…
I chose Evans Wadongo to follow online as my hero. I first learned about him by reading an article on CNN: <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2010/LIVING/02/11/cnnheroes.wadongo/index.html?iref=allsearch">http://www.cnn.com/2010/LIVING/02/11/cnnheroes.wadongo/index.html?iref=allsearch</a> . This was before I learned about the EVOKE network, and I marveled at his ingenuity and vision. He and teams of local volunteers make solar lanterns out of scrap metal, bulk-bought LEDs, and scrap bits of solar panels too small to use commercially bought from solar-panel companies. The lanterns are then provided for free to people in Kenya, who usually use kerosene lamps to light their homes. Thus families save money that would go to buying kerosene, and have much better lit homes, improving the chances that children get educations. The official page can be found here: <a href="http://sustainabledevelopmentforall.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=4&Itemid=10">http://sustainabledevelopmentforall.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=4&Itemid=10</a> . <br/><br/>Note all the different aspects of this project! The lanterns are mostly made of material that would be thrown out. The labor is local, and those people who work are given reimbursement, so their labor does not prevent their families being fed. Reduced dependence on kerosene reduces fires, air pollution, both on a global scale, but also within the home using the lantern. The people save more money and can start digging themselves out of poverty. The children have reliable light to study with. And if you read the notes on the official page, there is also data being collected on the effect of the project, to make sure it's doing good and making a difference. There are an awful lot of charity ventures that could use such a thing. <br/><br/>All told, this project addresses the following social problems:<br/>Health<br/>Environment<br/>Education<br/>Poverty, and by extension, food security<br/>Inequality<br/>Sustainability<br/><br/>One of the problems I have when trying to donate money to charities is prioritization. Is it more important to feed the hungry, save the rainforest, educate orphans, provide vaccines? It can be dizzying trying to determine where to start. This projects hits a huge number of check-marks. I find it incredibly inspiring, if a little daunting. How can I possibly create or develop a project that is anything like my inspiration? I'm not sure, but I'm less afraid of failure, and trying to think, by just reading more about this project. So I'm following the project on Twitter: <a href="http://twitter.com/sdfakenya">http://twitter.com/sdfakenya</a> , and on Facebook: <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Nairobi-Kenya/sdfakenya/199101541090?ref=ts">http://www.facebook.com/pages/Nairobi-Kenya/sdfakenya/199101541090?ref=ts</a> and hoping to learn more. I have also sent a message to Evans Wadongo about how much his work has inspired me and briefly explaining the EVOKE network. I hope he gets back to me, but he appears to be a very busy man and I will understand if he does not. <br/><br/>As I mentioned, I saw the article before I found out about EVOKE. Initially, I had read the article and left it at that, saddened that I did not have more discretionary income to spend on giving (I had just given a large gift to a different charity). It was not until I found the ACT mission that I went the second step to find out more. Even if I had done that, I definitely would not have reached out if I had not been challenged to. It's so easy to forget that we're all in this boat called Earth together. And that gives me an idea for my LEARN mission, so expect a second blog post very soon. <br/><div id="refHTML"></div>