MikroAct: Sharing Tactical Urban Actions entry MikroAct is an open source platform and participatory urban initiative which mobilizes communities through collective actions. Through a set of collaboration and mapping tools, it allows coordination, sharing and replication of civic and DIY actions. Mailboxes installed in districts MikroAct is a civic engagement platform based on community-sourced, participatory research and collaborative design. Platforms for interfacing city institutions with publics emphasize the role of government in the performance of civic action and individual citizens in the articulation of issues. Based on community research in a Moscow city district that began last summer, we have identified the need for tools that support collective, community-based research into problems and solutions. Since the release of our prototype, we have organized a series of community feedback sessions as well as extensive design review, thorough process of redesigning the website’s second version in terms of usability. Links
Reinventing the Toilet in India Gandhi said “Sanitation is more important than independence”. To demonstrate his commitment he made cleanliness and sanitation an integral part of the Gandhian way of living and believed in total sanitation for all. October 2, 2013, is the 144th birthday of Bapu and what better way for the Bill & Melinda Gates to celebrate this profound and inspirational leader, than to announce our new partnership with The Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India in joint funding the Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC) to launch the Reinvent the Toilet Challenge – India. If you are not immersed in the issues facing global sanitation, you should be. At the moment, 2.5 billion people don’t have access to safe sanitation. Safe sanitation, that could save the lives of 1.5 million kids under the age of 5 globally every year and prevent so much sickness and suffering for 40% of the world’s population.
What Is Civic Media? Thursday, Sept. 20, 2007 5 - 7 p.m. Bartos Theater Abstract In Bowling Alone (2000), Robert Putnam wrote about a generation of Americans cut off from traditional forms of community life and civic engagement, passive consumers of mass media. Speakers Chris Csikszentmihalyi is Muriel R. Beth Noveck is professor of law at New York Law School where she directs the Institute for Information Law & Policy. Ethan Zuckerman is a fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society, Harvard Law School, and co-founder of Global Voices. Co-sponsors: MIT Comparative Media Studies and the MIT Media Lab. Summary By Greg Peverill-Conti [this is an edited summary, not a verbatim transcript] This is the first in a series of Forums that will highlight the activities of the new Center for the Future of Civic Media (C4FCM), a collaboration between MIT’s Program in Comparative Media Studies and the MIT Media Lab. For Jenkins, “civic media” can describe any use of a medium that fosters civic engagement.
Knight challenge seeks innovative community health concepts The Knight Foundation is joining with a quartet of healthcare's heavy hitters to spur new ideas to harness healthcare data technology for community health. The Miami-based media conglomerate is launching a health innovation contest with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, California HealthCare Foundation, Clinton Foundation and Health Data Consortium. The contest challenges participants to answer the question, "How might we harness data and information for the health of communities?" The right answer could be worth up to $2 million. Knight officials said they'll be looking for ideas that, for example, make use of large public datasets, help inform healthcare consumers, leverage personal behavioral data or inform local health policy. mHealth tools and concepts should play a role in many of the proposals. Each of the participating organizations, who will help with outreach and review the entries, weighed in on the importance of the challenge in the press release.
SOLIDARITES INTERNATIONAL | Aider plus loin Stars in Global Health | Grand Challenges Canada Grand Challenges Canada, which is funded by the Government of Canada, has developed the Stars in Global Health program to support Bold Ideas with Big Impact from the best and brightest talent, both in low- and middle-income countries and in Canada, to use scientific/technical, social and business innovation to address some of the most pressing global health challenges. This Request for Proposals is now closed. Round 7 Applicants will be notified in July 2014 regarding the application decision. Note to applicants from Peru / Nota para los solicitantes del Perú: Clique aquí para más información sobre ayuda adicional para innovadores basados en el Perú. Deadline: Monday, March 10, 2014, at 3:00 p.m. In the Round 7 Request for Proposals, Grand Challenges Canada seeks bold ideas aligned with innovative social entrepreneurial approaches that could be easily implemented in developing countries to save and improve lives. Please submit queries to stars@grandchallenges.ca.
Transforming Health Systems: Gamechanging Business Models Winners announced! The verdict is in – the three winners of Transforming Health Systems: Gamechanging Business Models have been selected. Two winning entries, selected by the Changemakers community and a panel of expert judges, and the Idea Prize winner, represent gamechanging business models that are solving the systemic health problems of different markets around the world. They will receive cash prizes totalling US $55,000 plus support from Boehringer Ingelheim to help grow their innovations. Read about their solutions below. As always, we welcome your continued feedback on all entries. The competition finalists continue to be eligible to win an additional $30,000 funding envelope from Boehringer Ingelheim. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook to receive updates on the latest in social innovation and to send us your feedback. To visit our Japanese website, click here. Dear Changemakers Community, In emerging markets, on the other hand, many communities face major gaps in health provision.
katemural : Getting ready for... MIT Builds An Open-Source Platform For Your Body Siberian temperatures. Eleven grueling days, navigating rough terrain. Six teams, matched for talent, competing for glory at the end. The Iditarod? Nah, just the annual MIT Health and Wellness Hackathon. This isn’t your average social app-fest. Healing The Health Industry "The tradition in health care technology is, ‘This is our device, we make our own software,’" says Dr. To unify the segmented market for health technology takes heavy lifting on the engineering side, since much of the progress made by private companies hasn’t been shared back to the community. "Working from a common platform takes an extra effort to build," Moore says, "but it ensures that the prototype will be something that has legs." Hacking Together Industry Partnerships The teams encamped on the Media Lab’s sixth floor, overlooking a Charles River initially frozen so solid you could stroll over to the Back Bay for pizza. How Do You Incentivize Product-Ready Hacks? hiVIVA Beacon My Op Pressure Free Epicenter
Want To Be More Creative In Your World-Changing Work? Apply For This Fellowship Many people assume that creativity is some kind of innate trait, like green eyes or a certain height, that you either have or you don’t. Only about half of Americans see themselves as creative. At Stanford University’s d.school, students learn that creativity is just another kind of skill. Along with Stanford grad students, the d.school teaches visiting executives and, more recently, hosts a class of fellows who are each trying to improve the world in some way. “What we’re basically looking for are people who are expert in their area but are dissatisfied with the ecosystem in which they operate. The fellows come from wildly different backgrounds. “These are super qualified people,” Ferrell says. The fellowship starts by instilling what the d.school calls creative confidence. “I’m not the first person to work on this, but I’m probably one of the first people to apply design thinking to it,” Lee says.
Inspired: Canada funds 68 bold, inventive ways to improve health, save lives in developing countries Grants were also announced for 17 Canadian-based projects to be implemented in developing countries. Among the Canadian-based projects: researchers will mimic rocket technology to propel coagulant nanoparticles into the bloodstream and stop maternal bleeding, a major cause of death in the developing world; test a high-tech Burn Survival Kit that includes a low-cost silver nanotubule dressing making treatment affordable; and develop an HIV infection detector that works in fewer than 5 minutes. Out-of-the-box projects based overseas include a new trading system in Kenya: seeds and fertilizers for proof of child vaccinations; a $100 kitchen reno to reduce indoor pollution and problem pregnancies in Bangladesh; cultivating disease-fighting prawns in Senegal; creating wealth from human waste in cholera-troubled Haiti; and, in Zambia, anti-diarrhea kits hitching a ride on Coca-Cola's distribution system to get essential medicine to "the ends of the Earth."
Reduction in child mortality in Niger: a Countdown to 2015 country case study This article can be found in the following collections: Global Health;Paediatrics(Paediatrics-other) Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd All rights reserved. Background The Millennium Development Goal 4 (MDG 4) is to reduce by two-thirds the mortality rate of children younger than 5 years, between 1990 and 2015. Methods We developed new estimates of child and neonatal mortality for 1998—2009 using a 2010 household survey. Findings The mortality rate in children younger than 5 years declined significantly from 226 deaths per 1000 livebirths (95% CI 207—246) in 1998 to 128 deaths (117—140) in 2009, an annual rate of decline of 5·1%. Interpretation Government policies supporting universal access, provision of free health care for pregnant women and children, and decentralised nutrition programmes permitted Niger to decrease child mortality at a pace that exceeds that needed to meet the MDG 4. Funding This article is made available free of charge, as a service to our users.
Morgenthaler Names 13 Finalists for Health IT Pitch Fest Wade Roush9/18/12 For three years running, Menlo Park, CA-based Morgenthaler Ventures has organized a fall event called DC to VC, with a focus on the conditions for health IT innovation in an era of rapid healthcare reform. The 2011 edition of the DC to VC event was organized around a pitch competition called the Health IT Startup Showcase, and Morgenthaler is reprising the format this year, but will present it for the first time in conjunction with the big Health 2.0 conference in San Francisco. Today Morgenthaler released the names of the seed-stage and Series-A-stage finalists who’ll be pitching their company’s stories to judges on Wednesday, October 10, the final day of the conference. “What’s in it for the companies is exposure,” says Missy Krasner, an entrepreneur-in-residence at Morgenthaler who organized this year’s competition. For Morgenthaler, the competition is a chance to test investment hypotheses about what’s hot in the health IT market, Krasner says. … Next Page »
7 Wearables You'll See at Health 2.0 | MedTech Boston On September 21, 2014, healthcare innovators from across the country will come together in Santa Clara for four days of demos, networking, presentations and inspiration at the Health 2.0 Fall Conference. Attendees will have access to 80 speakers, 30 panels, workshops, discussion sessions and 150 product demos. We’ll be there, but we got a sneak peak of the wearable technology demos that’ll be featured throughout the weekend and we wanted to share some of the coolest products with you. SunSprite This wearable, solar-powered light tracker measures the amount of sun you get each day. Find out more: Fitness Socks & Heart Rate Monitors from Sensoria Sensoria’s nifty socks are made with a high-tech running friendly fabric and an electronic anklet that snaps onto sock cuffs. Sensoria will also be modeling another product: a heart rate monitor that snaps into the Fitness Smart T-Shirt or Sports Bra. Find out more: Withings Activite Atlas Spire