Push the Future

Michael Furdyk, one of North America’s leading technology entrepreneurs, closed out the presentations for PUSH 2008 discussing the challenges we face and how technology can empower us to improve health, the environment and education.

Furdyk started his career in technology before he entered high school - he launched his first web site in eighth grade. He has co-founded and sold two successful internet-based companies- Mydesktop.com and buybuddy.com. His most recent venture is TakingITGlobal, which connects youth globally and helps them get involved in projects to better their local and global communities – changes that are affecting the planet.

“If we can inspire them at the right age there is no amount of change that can’t happen,” said Furdyk.

Furdyk and his partner developed the idea of a web site where people could go to learn about global issues. That was the start of TakingITGlobal.com. It was the world’s first social network for social good.

TakingITGlobal developed training programs for teachers and students. At a school in West Philadelphia TakingITGlobal gave a laptop to every child and introduced a social network that exposed peers around the world. Teachers said that many of the students became unlikely friends. They created bonds across the country and world with the people they had met through the site.

In 2006 almost one half of students dropped out of high school because they were bored. 90 percent of dropouts were passing students. What is wrong with that? TakingITGlobal works to teach students in a fun, challenging way to keep them intrigued. If the dropout rate is lowered 1/5, the U.S. would save 18 billion dollars annually.

TakingITGlobal has many different features to fulfill its mission - to inspire, inform and involve. Features include: a global gallery, Commit to a Better World, downloadable guides to action, educational classroom games, a page on issues and lastly 3.5 million pages about countries, states and cities around the world.

The user base of TakingITGlobal is worldwide and only increasing. Thirty-one percent of users are from North America, 22 percent of users are in Africa and 20 percent of users are in Asia. TakingITGlobal is working to make information available off-line, by SMS text messages and textbooks – textbooks will reach 8 million people in the next decade.

Studies show that on average teenagers are as competent as adults. There is a proven link between their being treated as a child and behavioral problems. Young people are capable and competent - teachers need to engage them because they have great ideas.

TakingITGlobal has been on-line for eight years. 2.5 million people used the site in 2007. The site is available in 12 languages. It has had 250,000 downloads and over 35,000 actions have been taken through the site in a six month period. Youth are engaged from every country on the planet.

If young people are learning this much from TakingITGlobal and becoming involved with important global issues, think about how it is going to change the world.

Posted by Melissa Turtinen

Dr. Beth Kolko, an Associate Professor in the Department of Technical Communication at the University of Washington, has discovered a time machine… that looks exactly like an airplane. To study the “developing world,” a term she dislikes (try “resource constrained community”), Dr. Kolko travels forward in time via plane to places like Uzbekistan and Cambodia where she examines the creative-technology potential (patterns of adoption and adaptation) that countries like these hold. Her research can then be imported back to places like the U.S. where developers make good use of Kolko’s information that can ultimately influence design.

The focus of Kolko’s talk is on the kinds of responses to technology that people create around the globe. “Technology,” she says, “derives its meaning from culture, content and use,” and showcases the mobile phone to illustrate how undeveloped areas respond to one particular technology. Many of Kolko’s most frequented countries lack basic landline infrastructure, so citizens commonly turn to the prepaid mobile to solve their communication needs. In countries where most information is spread by word of mouth, the mobile is the next logical step for advancement in personal communication. In this capacity, the cell phone can satisfy a multitude of needs including not only communicative ones, but also knowledge (where’s Main Street again?), democratization of knowledge (how much is this fish really worth?), and financial needs (Mom, please send me $10 via cell). These usage patterns show how people are creatively using technology to satisfy their own needs and desires.

A point to consider is Kolko’s mentioning how technology has traditionally been something shared in developing countries – one car, one TV, one family phone. With the advent of the omnipresent cell phone in places otherwise technologically challenged, the “group” precedent is sure to be pushed, and social patterns that are being tested everywhere by technology could face amazing changes – social and other – in these resource constrained communities.

Posted by Anna Wool

Rwandan-American Antoine Bigirimana, co-founder and managing director of Thousand Hills Venture Fund (THVF), kicked-off the technology section of PUSH 2008 by discussing how technology has started to advance Rwanda into the 21st century.

After the Rwandan genocide in 1994 when 1.2 million people were killed in 100 days there was an incredible opportunity for technology advancement throughout the country.

Starting in 2001, anything was possible for Rwanda. The economy was destroyed after the genocide. A virgin economy was available, offering opportunities across the nation that were ready to be embraced.

“Every time there is a problem there is an opportunity,” said Bigirimana.

In 2003, Rwandan President Kagame decided to reinvent the future using technology, with a vision of making Rwanda the technology hub of Africa. The early increase of technology created Rwanda’s first chance at a democratic election.

Vision 2020 was also developed. This idea was that by 2020 Rwanda would be a middle-income country - an idea that all Rwandans could base their future around.

Rwanda offered ample opportunities for entrepreneurs and businesses. People came to the country to work, but credit was a major issue in Rwanda. In 2004, Bigirimana co-founded THVF. It allowed people to get a variety of loans, some interest free, and investments to start these businesses.

As businesses and wealth come to Rwanda, it will continue to get closer to reaching the goal of Vision 2020.

Looking into the future, Rwanda is creating 1000 telecenters. There will be a variety of services offered including: literacy, computer literacy, job listings and information on commodity prices for all national markets.

THVF is looking to bring in 1.2 million One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) computers, and hoping to have this localized by August 2008. The social impact of OLPC will be huge; the young will teach the adults how to use the OLPC, bringing access to information and knowledge that was not accessible before.

The access to information and technology needs to be available to 100 percent of the people in Rwanda, thus eliminating inequality and preventing another genocide.

Posted by Melissa Turtinen

It used to be that when I spoke about a future in which we’d have mini-manufacturing hubs in the home, that I’d see the audience squirm with discomfort. It just seemed too freaky, too unrelated to life as we know it.

But in this last year I’ve been able to share video clips demonstrating current technologies that “print” products, and seen people’s expressions transform from “Eeeeww!” to “Wow!!” The old saw that “seeing is believing” proves its point once again; the problem is that by the time trends and innovations can be seen, you’ve lost the advantage of anticipating them.

It’s not too late, however, to appreciate the ultimate impact of personal manufacturing hubs on the economy, with it’s potential to disrupt every link of the supply chain, from raw materials to design, production to distribution, inventory to retail and marketing. Watch the following video from Fab@Home, an open-source tool set that allows anyone to download blueprints and instructions to assemble your very own 3-D fabricator, right now. Material cost runs around $2,400.

Desktop fabricators allow users to print 3D objects

Ambient Technologies is offering far more than a penny for your thoughts with a new application that can translate thoughts into speech. Imagine what this means for people suffering from ALS (i.e, renowned physicist Stephen Hawking) and a wide range of neurological disorders who have much to say - and now a new way to say it.

Here’s a schematic from www.theaudeo.com showing how it works:

The ability to connect brains and computers has applications in medicine, robotics, defense, security and everyday software. Stretch this a bit further and it’s easy to imagine the effects on retail, marketing, gaming, education, polling, social networking, dating, criminal justice and rehabilitation, training, psychotherapy…anywhere brains and computers meet.

Which is what Microsoft is readying itself for, as evidenced by a patent filed on their behalf in 08.07. They’re working on EEG brain scanning technology that reads only the cognitive patterns of a computer user (filtering out non-cognitive activity). Microsoft’s goal, as stated on its research site, is “…to create brain-wave detection devices costing less than $100 per computer, this could very well lead to a revolution of sorts in PC capabilities.”

Factoring in emotional states of computer users is what researchers at Tufts University’s Human Computer Interaction are investigating. They’re working with infrared technology to visualize varying levels of blood oxygenation and their corresponding emotional states, similar to what functional MRIs yield, without having to lie stationary in a tube. Instead, fNIR headbands are worn in real-life environment.

“New evaluation techniques that monitor user experiences while working with computers are increasingly necessary,” said Robert Jacob, computer science professor and researcher. “One moment a user may be bored, and the next moment, the same user may be overwhelmed. Measuring mental workload, frustration and distraction is typically limited to qualitatively observing computer users or to administering surveys after completion of a task, potentially missing valuable insight into the users’ changing experiences.”

While the work being done at Tufts is still in the investigative stages, there’s a mind-reading EEG headset that you can buy now (I knew you wanted one!). Developed by NeuroSky the headsets will largely be used by gamers at first, however applications with robotics, space vehicles, and prosthetic devices are being played with as well. My guess is that requests for Wii on gift lists might just be replaced by NeuroSky’s MindSets by the 2008 holiday season - let the countdown begin!

Today is The Return of Super Tuesday, the big primary to see whether we get any closer to knowing which of the Democratic candidates will go up against John McCain in the general election. There are big, exciting, important things happening all over the world as we speak, and analysis I’m eager to share, but what’s really got me going tonight is a new super-slick research tool, Zotero.

Conducting research is a little bit like laying out the patterns of your thought process, in all of its associative glory. For all the research I do, I’d be hard pressed to recreate how I discovered an important idea, innovation or person; mostly it feels like I’m scurrying down rabbit holes without knowing what I’ll find or when I’ll resurface. But now it looks like I’ll be able to capture all my activity in one place with Zotero.

Produced by the Center for History and New Media at George Mason University, this tool puts the best of both disciplines together in one sweet online application (but that can be used offline as well). It’s a Firefox extension that lets you drag and drop pages or references, take notes, link to any desktop document, and store related links, PDFs, images and entire web pages all in one place. And ever so considerately, it automatically records and stored citation references of your sources. I’m looking forward to using it, and expect it will become a part of my regular self-management system.

Zotero’s been launched in its 1.0 phase, with expectations for a Zotero server to hit in 2008. This 2.0 application will make digital research collaborative, allowing recommendations and feeds for new resources to be shared. As they say on their site, it’s supposed to be research, not re-search. I call it b-u-tee- ful!

There’s a new entry into the alt energy race:

Vibrating raindrops may power our homes

That’s all well and good — but how about heating our MN homes with snowflakes?

Seems like an unlimited resource this time of year.

Read release

Tesla Motors busted a brand new dance move today with their first production 100% electric vehicle, a high performance sports car, no less. It’s just in time for their promised debut at the Clean Technology and Renewables Conference in New York City, February 20.

Robert Scoble is absolutely giddy as he documents (on his cell phone) the first ride.

(embed link didn’t work, so go to http://qik.com/video/22264)

It’s definitely the next “killer app” for autos. Like it? You’ll have to get in line and pay $100K, $6K less than a 2007 Porsche GT4 Coupe. Not bad at all.

If you’ve already gone to xobni.com, you may have noticed that the beta version is now available only to those who have an invitation. I have 5 invitations that I can share with any 5 individuals who’re interested in using it. Let me know: csommers [at] pushthefuture [dot] org. Once they’re used up, I’ll remove my address from this post.