"I love that you've brought this to attention. An extensive database of uncommon but resistant and hardy plants/foods could be developed and organized by climate. Ease of growth and processing should also be taken in to account. I will try to…"
A crash course in changing the world.
Listening and Learning: the secret to social innovation
Talk with the people who have the problem, and listen to what they have to say. Even though Paul Polak says it over and over again, it is still understated, possibly because it seems so obvious. Only by speaking to the people can one get an idea of what the real problems are. I consider this to be one of the most important cornerstones of social innovation. After all, without addressing the problem that plagues the client, "social innovation" is simply innovation. Many of the other secrets of innovation, such as culture, non obvious problems, existing platforms, and existing infrastructure, can be most effectively determined by talking to the people who come face to face with these factors everyday.
When a****sing the problem and the people facing the problem, talking with people and listening to what they say can provide invaluable insights that may be impossible to obtain by other methods. These insights can help avoid design flaws and pitfalls early on that may later become real problems that grind a project to a halt, or worse, cause harm. Of course this process isn't as easy as Polak makes it sound. Anyone can't go to any destitute village and interview the inhabitants and expect clear, accurate, and convenient answers. There are factors of language, culture, tradition, respect, history, and politics, any single one of which is nontrivial. Anyone looking for easy and quick solutions will likely be disappointed. However, when it comes to issues like international development, relief work, and human rights, it is far better for the agent to be disappointed early on when he faces a language barrier while trying to get to the truth of the problem than it is for the community to be disappointed when that agent skips that processes altogether and causes harm.
Views: 10
Comment
Latest Activity
Fourth of July on the Lake
This past weekend was the annual celebration at the lake house in Connecticut. It is amazing that the lake is still so clear and beautiful after all these years. The watershed association has done a wonderful job protecting these waters from the damaging effects of development.The wood grill was finally ready to cook on, so we didn't miss the propane tank fueled grill anymore. The food actually tasted fresher than in the past and was easy to keep fueled.Dad was very proud of the solar hybrid…See More
Stinging Nettle
In this blog post I will focus on a plant that is abundant in our nature, and which is immensely nutritious. It's of course the Stinging Nettle. Let's start with the chemical constituents of this plant:37 % Non-Nitrogen-Extracts19 - 29 % Ash9 - 21 % Fiber4 % Fat22 % ProteinOnce the leaves are drid, their protein content can reach an astounding 40 %, which is much higher than beef, which even under the best of circ**stances can never exceed 31 % protein. In addition the Stinging Nettle consists…See More
The meal
It is 7'oclock, I was late home from work due to an assignment that i wanted to get ahead on. By the time I get home I am feeling extremley tired and I cannot be bothered to make a proper meal. I walk to the fridge and open it to see what there is for me to eat. All of the out of date foodstuffs have been automaticaly thrown away by the fridge, they will be recycled tomorrow as animal feed or something. I see i have organic local eggs and some local cheese. Foods are vacc** sealded for easy…See More
Future
FutureToday is 2020/1/1. It is just like yesterday. The war is still continuing. It has started since 2010. In 2010, that year was a horrible year. Almost every energy ran out. Every country’s governments were crushed down at the same time. There were riots everywhere. All of the big company’s bosses were killed xdeadx in the riots. Troops fought each other everywhere. Food was bought up xawayx at once. There were no more food supplies in any shops. The economy was all crushed down. All the…See More
public servants
The exchange works directly for state and public workers and servants. It gives them credit in exchange for the amount of public work they contribute to the community. The more constructive they are based off a base rate the more credit they recieve.
© 2024 Created by Alchemy.
Powered by
You need to be a member of Urgent Evoke to add comments!
Join Urgent Evoke