"If you have an idea to better the world, no matter how you may think it seems to other people, it is your responsibility to humanity to bring it into reality." I remember my 6th grade teacher trying to inspire a very apathetic class with this line. However, it still resonates with me. That is why when my fellow classmates, Garret Smith and Albert Lin decided to take on this non-profit graduate student network, it intrigued me. Not because I was about to become a graduate student myself in the near future, but because it has the potential to be so much more. Why should only graduate students be able to access information about non-profit projects going on across the globe? People of all ages, all backgrounds have the capability to improve our world by a simple idea. They should be able to put in there opinions on localized, informed technology design. This project aims to eliminate information poverty...

The mission statement of our project "Open" isto create a global social network that actively designs and integrates developing world technologies. Creating chapters to connect the academic, private, and professional communities with the responsible design of developing world technologies.

This mission is conducted at first through 2 main objectives:
1) To create a searchable database of non-profit organizations across the globe whose mission is focused on responsible design and technology implementation
2) To provide non-profits with a diverse pool of expertise from individuals in academic and indutrial areas.

The central hub of this community will be built through an open, online "hub" in which chapters and individuals from around the world can communicate and interact on issues relating to technologies in the developing world.
But why would we need this type of format, and who would truly benefit from it?

In contrast to the normative description of developing technologies, this product is not specifically created for people in developing countries. Even though they may benefit from being able to seek a place to request solutions to problems or being able to discuss ideas with other, this platform is not developed specifically for them. It also developed to cater to the developed nations who may gain from the insight of developing nations and thus will be able to create better and more localized designs.

The advantages for both groups of development are staggering. At the present there isn’t even a list or database of all the non-profit organizations that are active, let alone a place where these organizations could interact with interested individuals. Developed nations such as America, Western European nations, and Australia export hundreds of thousands of volunteers each year who are motivated at aiding third-world nations through the Peace Corps, United Nations, and professional groups such as engineers or doctors without borders. But the enlistment can always be more. These organizations need help in fighting some of the greatest causes that afflict our poorest nations- famine, healthcare, AIDS, and research. The first objective therefore is aimed at these groups- inspired individuals and inspiring non-profits. The online form of the website will have a searchable database of NPOs, NGOs, and other service-based communities for individuals to browse and contact.It will also have a wealth of information about available and upcoming projects held by these groups across the globe.

The second objective is to reciprocate the first. The website will also be a database of volunteers with profiles and resumes, so that groups could contact qualified persons to see if they might be interested in joining their cause.But just a list of names and groups does nothing without interaction. Dialogue is the key to change. The need for creating responsible localized design is the main emphasis of the program. Corporations and industry personnel over in developed countries produce goods and services to export to developing countries with absolutely no regard to the cultural, social and economic differences that span them. Creating solutions to their daily life with traditional western thought will create irreparable differences.

One such example is the design of the One Laptop Per Child program. The technology that came from this initiative was innovative and the intentions were truly good. However, critics agree, that one laptop per child in countries where the main problem with schools is absenteeism and the amazing culture of kids playing outside still prevails are considerations that the OLPC founders should have considered first. Any person within those countries would have advised the founders that they need reliable and well-trained teachers to teach their kids first. They need help in their farms and must keep their kids at home to help or work instead of sending them to school regularly. A laptop fixes neither of these problems. An informed investor would have asked why the wireless laptop was being initiated into areas without wireless internet. An ethical person would have found that the homogenization of western culture should not be forced upon these kids. In developed countries, juvenile obesity and diabetes is running rampant as children spend less time playing outdoors and spend more time on computers and playing online games. Should we really subject a new set of kids to this affliction?

If the creators of OLPC had asked informed people in the region they meant to deploy their program, they may have addressed these issues earlier and not have spent incredible amounts of money developing a poorly organized goal. Had they done a needs assessment from a local perspective, then the program may have been a total success. Our second objective thus also aims to create the link between project leads and local users. Forum-based dialogue and available contact information should start this objective. People across the globe can post a problem or a need that they would like to have someone else attempt or advise them. Other individuals or corporations can use this need to brainstorm their own products. They can also refer back to the original post creator or other people in the region for continuous feedback. In one of the first upcoming projects that will be discussed later, the founding chapter of open.org is going to be building a bili-light tester for engineering world health. These prototypes will be deployed in the regions of south America and the sahara. The objective will be to try to interact with the potential users of this light tester (via the resource of engineering world health) before it is fully finished so that their input will benefit the final design.

There are two initial structures to this program, a singular campus student organization and a multi-chapter initiative. The single structure is meant to create awareness among already interested participants and establish a firm objective and guidelines as to how future chapters are meant to run. A large amount of publicity and marketing will be required to create a niche in the minds of future volunteers and activists within the next quarter. Awareness within the UCSD campus will be reaffirmed by community events, meetings, and workshops.

present structure (Quarter 2 2008)
Currently, the structure of the organization is set up as a student organization. There are 4 enrolled student board members, 2 graduates and 2 non-graduates. The organization is a registered student organization with the University of California, San Diego and is subject to all the guidelines set by the UC Regents. There are also group and community members contributing to the founding board. Included in these categories is Shivani Singh, an accomplished author and research scientist.

Upcoming Events:
The board is structured to hold weekly meetings and is tentaively set to be held every wednesday at 7pm. Meetings will highlight not only the technologies of different regions, but also the regional and cultural heritage. There will be food, from a different cultural background each week, along with a short introduction to the region. Each meeting will also be required to emphasize a strong connection to outside sources via some technological communication device or platform such as skype or videoconferencing.

Meetings are aimed to address specific concerns or to highlight different avenues that require aid. There should be equal opportunities for students to become involved in the administrative or economical side of development as well as the scientific side.

Upcoming projects include:

Case Study Workshop:
- highlighting the need for socially responsible design
- case studies explanation
- discussion of pros, cons and improvements of a particular design
-apply the needs assessment to the group. Explain to new members why the group is needed

Building and challenge event

• Either through an organization such as engineering world health or chapter-based ones. Building of a prototype or design. Challenge events are set up as “given the resources of a particular region, how would you attempt to solve this problem?”

conception to commercialization workshop/ speaker
- aimed to enlighten non-science majors as to the potential of design for development
- a tutorial on patents and licensing

website kickoff
- after initial completion of database and forum, the start of the multi-chapter hub begins with the launching of the new website

Second stage (Quarter 3 2008 and beyond)
However, the structure of this organization cannot stay at this one school if it is meant to create awareness. The second stage of the organization is a multi-chapter initiative with a centralized board for administrative control. Each chapter will be subject to the minimum guidelines and the overall mission statement. However, they can decide as an individual chapter what projects they would like to undertake, how to run their meetings, and from which groups of people in the opposite realm of development they would like feedback.


But we face many obstacles in enacting these objectives and goals. The first of which is public awareness. A large amount of campaigning and advertising must be done to create social awareness in both developed and developing countries to bring about the movement of more responsible design. As with any movement and social change, there will be resistance; social norms and cultural traditions is one inhibitor of our progress. There are two main traditions that will specifically need overcoming, the first of which is luddite behavior. There is a large amount of people who still exist today that are wary of developing technologies and the effects of modern machines. These people, termed "luddites", are concerned with the environmental effects such as pollution, erosion, and extinction and also the social effects such as obesity and social remoteness that occurs with western technology. Thus many residents of developing countries are concerned with any influence of western mindset involved in technologies that will be created for their countries.

The second large hurdle is to encourage western engineers and scientists to do more field work in developing countries. Unless they experience the land and resources for themselves they cannot fully appreciate the design that they are supposed to come up with. However, these groups of professionals have extremely comfortable living styles here in the United States. In comparison to their large salaries and benefits, poorly funded field work seems hardly inviting. Our attempt should not be to glamorize field work, because the reality of it is that it is difficult work. But rather to emphasize the need for it and hopefully to create enough awareness in industry to find corporate sponsorships or donations.