All IT & New Media Projects

1.To boost awareness of the citizens of the world to come together as a collective intelligence. 2. Think globally, act locally. Teach through example rather than words. Pragmatic ideas (see "Things you can do ") Learn more

The OCF is an all-volunteer, student-run, student-initiated service group dedicated to free computing for all University of California, Berkeley students, faculty, and staff. The mission of the OCF is to provide an environment where no member of Berkeley's campus community is denied the computer resources he or she seeks, to appeal to all members of the Berkeley campus community who have unsatisfied computing needs, and to provide a place for those interested in computing to fully explore that interest. Among our services, we offer free webspace, email accounts, and printing (250 pages/semester). Learn more

Develop a marketable prototype of an IT platform that serves the needs of all or at least most motorized wheelchair users. Learn more

The Sitrep project is an initiative within the context of the School of Information's Information Services Design Clinic to investigate the challenges and opportunities for situation reporting in disaster response. Phase I The first phase of the project, spanning the 2007-2008 academic year, is devoted to exploratory research to identify problems and opportunities in the current process, the format of the information being collected, and the systems used to collect and analyze that data. Our approach to this research has been a combination of qualitative research methods, including interviews and roundtable discussions with a wide range of stakeholders, and document analysis of a large sample of sitreps from NGO and UN sources. We have conducted 32 interviews and four roundtables to date, along with an initial document analysis, and we intend to complete several more interviews and a more extensive document analysis within the next month. The result of this work, to be completed in early May, will be a research report detailing our findings on the current process as it exists in a range of organizations, including an in-depth evaluation of situation reporting within OCHA, which acts as a central point of collection and aggregation for information from a wide variety of NGOs and UN agencies during emergencies, and which issues its own situation reports that aim at giving a general snapshot of the events. We will offer initial recommendations for a generalized sitrep data model, along with suggestions for technical approaches appropriate to an improved system. Phase II We plan to conduct the second phase of the project during the of the summer of 2008. This phase would be a continuation of this research, centered on visits to NGO and OCHA field offices in several countries. To date, the majority of our work has been with staff in the U.S.-based headquarters offices of the various agencies, supplemented by phone interviews with staff in the field. Our proposed research for the second phase would include visits to at least two countries in which OCHA and NGO staff maintain a significant presence, as well as a visit to OCHA and NGO offices in Geneva, a key nexus of communication and interaction between organizations involved in international disaster relief. These visits would include a range of interviews and roundtables with staff responsible for collecting and reporting key information in emergencies. Contingent on the resources available to the project, we also hope to conduct one or more surveys of sitrep recipients and to perform an additional in-depth document analysis, both focused on emergencies in the countries we visit. This combination of methods could offer a rich and nuanced understanding of the reporting context in each country, informing a more accurate and effective approach to data modeling and technical implementation. Phase III Contingent on the findings and organizational partnerships established in Phases I and II, the third phase of the project, spanning the 2008-2009 academic year, would focus on finalizing the document model and implementing a prototype for an improved sitrep system. Though we believe that this work could have significant benefit for organizations involved in disaster response, it is our strong contention that its success - and indeed its justification - must be founded on the in-depth research we conduct in Phases I and II, and that it would be premature to scope this phase out further until we have prepared our initial results. Learn more

The ultimate goal is to develop a framework for a decision-support system for emergency response, recovery prioritization, and risk management of civil infrastructure systems subjected to seismic events. Learn more

Promote Transparency and Lower Barriers to Eating Locally Our solution should promote transparency by clearly linking all of the participants involved in a specific food sale, including producers, retailers, and distributors. It should lower barriers that consumers’ face by helping them eat seasonally, connect to and communicate with producers whose practices reflect their values, and find retailers who source locally. Encourage New and Struggling Farmers Our solution should provide tools to help producers share resources and exchange advice and ideas, with an emphasis on encouraging new producers to participate and seek help. It should also create clear channels of communication between producers, consumers, and retailers. This would allow producers to let others know of the struggles they face and to exchange information more easily with retailers to whom they sell. It would also encourage consumers to express their appreciation for the work put into their food, feedback that farmers both want and deserve. Encourage Political Awareness Our solution should promote discussion among all of the participants in the food system, allowing people to be more informed and aware of political barriers and their respective solutions. It should leverage both strong and weak ties and personal connections to help people become properly informed, organize around issues, and mobilize to take action. Foster Delight Our solution should emphasize the pleasure of personal connection and foster interactions that delight. It should allow people to explore the story behind their food in a fun, engaging way. As design strategist Patrick W. Jordan emphasizes, people want “products that offer something extra; products that are not merely tools but 'living objects' that people can relate to; products that bring not only functional benefits but also emotional ones.” (2002, p. 6) Our solution should motivate people to participate and to support each other by bringing this emotional benefit to the surface. Learn more