This is going to sound like quite the abstract idea so bare with me. To begin, a summary of Clay Shirky's cognitive surplus is that we live in a world where technology combined with the entire populations idle time allows limitless possibilities for the future. In other words, so many people have enough free time on the internet to help contribute to a greater cause. The problem with this is that most people waste their idle internet time playing games, etc. If only there could be a way to motivate everybody to give their time to a cause, or convince people to use social media for social good, and here is how we are going to do it...
Recall yesterday in class how easy it was to annotate a map using google maps. Although we created them for fun in just a short amount of time, the real world application of these maps could be huge in the field of crisis relief. The way cognitive surplus fits into this mix is that if it was incredibly easy for a single person to make an effective map then imagine how easy it would be for a collective group of people to make a highly-effective map. We have already seen annotated maps used for help with the water level during hurricane Katrina as well as the evacuation line for the 4 mile fire. Think of other possibilities these maps could be used for. No matter the crisis, the maps can be used for drawing evacuation lines, finding missing or dislocated people, and could even be used to show doctors in 3rd world countries when and where a pregnant mother in need of help is. The way the maps are socially applied is that, like google docx, google maps are open source. Meaning anybody can edit or build upon another's work. For example, if the last update to the map was where an evacuation line for a fire was a few hours ago, anybody who is near the fire could easily drag the line on the map to where the fire has now moved to. The idea is that there are so many people with the cognitive ability to use these maps that eventually crisis will never catch anyone off guard. The more and more people there are online at a time of crisis, the faster the response, the fewer informed people, leads to the least catastrophe.
I understand this may sound extremely wordy, but it is easier to explain vocally, if you have any questions either comment or I can answer them during class time.
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I think you have a lot of very creative ideas. However, aren't maps on Google already open source? People can already create maps like this. But I do find your idea very interesting because it could work. I always find myself surfing the Internet and doing trivial things with my free time. Your idea sounds almost like Wikipedia. They could be Wikimaps. However, there would need to be people to monitor these maps because some people may be out to give misleading information. Although, most people don't like to give false information and there are always people to correct others mistakes. But what if these maps did become like Wikipedia, and lets say students wanted to use them for a project, but professors wouldn't let them because they thought they weren't reliable sources. These are loose ended thoughts of mine. But like I said I really enjoy hearing/reading your creative ideas.
ReplyDeleteYou brought up many good points that I failed to address earlier. For starters Google maps are already open source, that is the more or less the entire basis of my project. The reason that I mentioned open source is because not only are people free to create their own map, but more importantly people are free to build off others maps. This building off others aspect is key because the public would not actually be starting the mapping of the infant mortality rate, instead they are building off a base map. You mentioned wikipedia and how you surf the internet in your free time. I am glad you said this because this not only relates to my project but also to Clay Shirky's 'cognitive surplus.' In other words, the fate of my project relies on the free time of millions of internet users contributing their free time. The reason why I truly believe that people will spend their free time on my site is because it is for a good cause. Finally, your last point is another huge aspect to my project. Misleading information on the maps can come from sources from both sides. Not only would African tribes in need of doctors send false reports, but internet users creating the maps could make false maps (for no reason other than being a delinquent) My solution to this corresponds with Erik Hersman's idea for Ushahidi. By filtering responses overtime, I will be able to mark a source as misleading. If a source is constantly misleading than there reports will be automatically filtered out of the creation of the maps. I appreciate your questions and comments as they helped me realize what parts I left out in summarizing my project.
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