Six Months In: Caravan Studios Update

SIX MONTHS INCaravan Studios Update

THE METHODOLOGY

GenerateConvene people working in a particular issue area. Generate ideas.

DesignGather ideas and draft. Create prototypes.

SelectEncourage the community to vote for the right tool for them. Select the best.

BuildInvite technologists to hack a solution. Build a tool.

UsePublish the tool for everyone to access. Create impact in the community.

THE WORK

9 Generators have resulted in 58 Ideas with 4 Prototypes and 405 community touch points.

SafeNightMobile service that allows organizations to crowd source funding for hotel rooms when an individual needs urgent help and there is no appropriate and available shelter space.• V1: July 3• V1.x: TBD• Field Review: July 3

– August 25, 2013• Platforms: Win

7.8+, mobile• Partner: AidMatrix

CampfireDeploy known volunteers to meet urgent, previously unknown needs.• Alpha: TBD• V1: TBD• Field Review: July

16 – August 30• Platforms: Win 8,

mobile; html5• Partner: JayStack

CookstoveProvide an easy interface to allow a community member to find the nearest place, in time and location, for a youth to get a free meal.

LanternIlluminate the connection between housing costs and intimate partner violence.

Also in development

Privacy Shield

• Installed by a website owner

• Allows a website viewer, in a public place like a library, to click a button to obscure key words and graphics on a page.

DV API

• Make data from NNEDV annual census available in a technological format

• Work with a social benefit training organization to organize the data

• Work with a volunteer to put the data behind an API

OUR LEARNINGS

1. The interface matters. A lot.

2. We need community editable ways to manage the data.

3. The Generators work.

4. But not everything we thought was a Generator was a Generator.

5. We have a lot of opportunities to talk about TechSoup’s other services.

THE END

Informed by• Change by Design by Tim Brown• Do Things That Don’t Scale by Paul Graham• Harper High School (part 1 and 2) from This American Life• Cognitive Surplus by Clay Shirky• The Atlantic Cities• The Vocabulary of Politics by T.D. Weldon• Changing the City on Medium• How to Ask a Question the Smart Way by ESR• How to Be a Leader in Your Field by Phil Agre• Networking on the Network by Phil Agre

Colophon• Camping Icon Set from WeGraphics• Campfire black clip art• Objects Pocket lantern icon• Marnie Webb at Vizify

Caravan Studios is a division of TechSoup Global, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization.

We hope you will connect with us at:

@caravanstudios http://www.caravanstudios.org

and

@techsouphttp://www.techsoupglobal.org