Mozilla Service week! Sept 14- 21 2009

This is really cool: Use your internet skills to help make a difference. Examples:

* Teach senior citizens how to use the Web.
* Show a non-profit how to use social networking to grow its base of supporters.
* Help install a wireless network at a school.
* Create Web how-to materials for a library's computer cluster.
* Refurbish hardware for a local computer center.
* Update a non-profit organization's website.
* Teach the values of the open Web to other public benefit organizations.

What Is Mozilla Service Week?

During the week of September 14-21, 2009, we're asking individuals to step up and make a difference by using the Web to better their community. We're looking for people who want to share, give, engage, create, and collaborate by offering their time and talent to local organizations and people who need their help.

Mozilla believes everyone should know how to use the Internet, have easy access to it, and have a good experience when they're online. By utilizing our community's talents for writing, designing, programming, developing, and all-around technical know-how, we believe we can make the Web a better place for everyone.

Not sure what you would do? Here are some great stories for inspiration.

check it out >

Design to Improve Life (INDEX Peoples' Choice Awards)

Browse the really cool projects (including Kiva.org!) and vote on your favorite designs

Yay Denmark for hosting this cool award!

(photo: the 700$ house)

(thanks to Aaron Sklar for the link)

Humanity-Centered Design: IDEO's Aaron Sklar Speaks About How and Why....

IDEO's Aaron Sklar speaks about the process of human-centered design and how it can be applied to solving the 'important' problems of the world...

He is speaking in the SoCap09 conference Sept 1-3 09 in San Francisco, which you should attend if you can...unfortunately I will be out of town. Ironically, doing user research for my current user-centric project!

This video really got me thinking about how to apply the methodologies I use every day in my work as an interaction designer to do something more...how shall I say...'important' for other humans out there. You will definitely hear me using the term, "humanity-centererd design" from now on!

Maker Faire Africa!

Can't wait to hear more about it. http://makerfaireafrica.com/

First impressions video can be seen here. And photos here.

Maker Faire Africa (MFA) www.makerfaireafrica.com, a celebration of African ingenuity, innovation and invention, will take place August 14-16 at the Ghana-India Kofi Annan Centre of Excellence in ICT in Ghana's capital, Accra. This event will showcase ICT, robotics, green machinery and software development. Maker Faire Africa asks the question, “What happens when you put the drivers of ingenious concepts from Mali with those from Ghana and Kenya, and add resources to the mix?"

Specifically, Maker Faire Africa will take an approach that will achieve these principal aims:

* Brighten the light on local examples of the “fabrication” ethos
* Provide mechanisms to incubate these innovators and their products to a point where they can be taken to market
* Connect refined plans to disseminate innovations with venture finance
* Inventions that can help with reliable green electricity
* How to use robotics to solve every day problems

Valentine's Day Challenge that Bridges the Physical and Digital

Another cool feature from Nike + -- If you run a 5k this Valentine's Day, February 14th, and upload your run to Nike+, you will get to see how you matched up against other people in the challenge.

You will have 24 hours to record your 5k -- I will be competing, you should join the challenge too.





Also...

I just love these scrapable widgets!

They're such a good viral idea.



You need Nike + to participate.

Cute Message Board Format

Message boards tend to be so boring...this one is not! One of the features is the "pulse" where new posts appear dynamically. Also, big avatars and speech bubbles make it really playful. It's a forum for Gaia Online, a super-popular MMOG. It looks like they're using heavily modified PHPBB

http://www.gaiaonline.com/forum/extended-discussion/the-cause-of-popularity/t.32362425/

don't read the conversation, just look at the format!

here's the main forum, http://www.gaiaonline.com/forum/index.php