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A talk delivered in Barcelona at a conference on the future of the internet, and on innovation and the social web. The talk focuses on African innovation and the lessons we can learn from African innovation for innovation in social media
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how do social change organizations innovate?
how do social change organizations innovate?
they don’tbadlyslowly
as a rule:social change organizations are unrealistic about what’spossible with network technologies
how do social change organizations innovate?
should
how do social change organizations innovate?
should
learn fromAfrican innovation
how to fail out ofgraduate school
Picasso, “The Tragedy”, 1903
Gaudí, Sagrada Familia, 1882-
Miró, “Ladders Cross the Blue Sky in a Wheel of Fire”, 1953
innovation arisesfrom constraint
photo by “mistersnappy”
photo by Eric Hersman
when you have nothing,anything is possible
photo by Clearly Ambiguous
photo by Markus Wichmann
hacking the hammer
Lead user theoryUser innovationEric von Hippel
learning from extreme cases
photo by JanneM
photo by JanneM
constraints:costelectric powerlocal materialslocal maintenance
zeer pot
evaporativecooling
Mohammed Bar Abba
cost: $225-30% increased profits
photo by Genocide Intervention
culture matters
Jiko
Berkeley-Darfur stovelocally made3x efficiency of 3-stone fire
$30 - too expensive
photo by malangali
photo by John and Mel Kotsdeforestation, 2m deaths from air pollution
protos stove by Boschund Siemens Hausgeräte GmbH
biomass charcoal
Dr. Amy Smith - “carbon macrotubes”
• don’t fight culture
• don’t fight culture• embrace market mechanisms
• don’t fight culture• embrace market mechanisms• innovate on existing platforms
Peter Kahugu, Nairobi (via Afrigadget.com)
bicycle ambulance, Namibia
freight vehicle,Uganda
photo by YoungRobV
motorbike, Kenya
payphone,Uganda
photo by Erik Hersman
objects become familiar, then hackable
photo by mooste
The Malawi Times, November 20, 2005
innovation is using the ordinary in extraordinary ways
photo by Erik Hersman
what we hack now
-100 million handsets in sub-Saharan Africa- 2.2 billion worldwide, rising to 3.3 billion in 2010- 97% of Tanzanians say they can access a phone
photo by Esthr
photo by steelmonkey
blackboard +mobile phone =
market informationsystem
Cash accounting, Ghana
photo by magganpice
Village phone operator, Gikongoro, Rwanda
very close tohawala, hundi
illegal or innovative?
Over $135min year one.
Remittance market is almost
$750m per year.
Celpay - 2% of the
Zambian economy
tracking dangerous predators
Citizen reportingvia blogs.
mobile phone companies and diesel
incremental infrastructure?
Ericsson tower/turbine prototype
problems not always obvious from afar
what you have matters more than what you lack
infrastructure can beget infrastructure
innovation (often) comes from constraintdon’t fight culture
embrace market mechanismsinnovate on existing platforms
problems not always obvious from afarwhat you have matters more than what you lack
infrastructure can beget infrastructure
Goal: Educate children in the developing world by givingevery child access to a powerful and flexible computer.
“education project, not a laptop project”“blank sheet of paper” design
personal vision, questambition - largest computer manufacturer in the world
innovation (often) comes from constraintdon’t fight culture
embrace market mechanismsinnovate on existing platforms
problems not always obvious from afarwhat you have matters more than what you lack
infrastructure can beget infrastructure
failpassfail
passfailfail?
Goal: support developing world entrepreneursvia microloans from developed world.
heavy reliance on field partnerssocial networkingis capital the biggest problem?
innovation (often) comes from constraintdon’t fight culture
embrace market mechanismsinnovate on existing platforms
problems not always obvious from afarwhat you have matters more than what you lack
infrastructure can beget infrastructure
passpasspasspassfail??
Goal: Reform international news by amplifyingvoices from the developing world.
filtertranslate
contextualize
amplify formainstream
media
innovation (often) comes from constraintdon’t fight culture
embrace market mechanismsinnovate on existing platforms
problems not always obvious from afarwhat you have matters more than what you lack
infrastructure can beget infrastructure
pass??
passfailfail
pass
social innovationnever comes from
blank canvas
comes from understanding theneeds of all parties
¡gracias!
ethanzuckerman.com globalvoicesonline.org
