Can we make a difference?
I was reminded of this video today, as I was reading the following e-mail from BusinessObjects:
I was reminded of this video today, as I was reading the following e-mail from BusinessObjects:
"Global Warming. World Hunger. Childhood Education. Clean Drinking Water. Human Rights. Extreme Poverty. Basic Healthcare.
THE WISDOM OF THE CROWD VERSUS THE PROBLEMS OF THE PLANET.
On May 15th, join Bernard Liautaud, Don Tapscott, John Schwarz and others as they gather to see if our collective intelligence can be put to a higher purpose—solving the world’s great problems.
Learn more about this in a video message from John Schwarz. We invite you to become part of an exciting new online community dedicated to seeing what happens if data lovers, business thinkers, technologists, academics, visual artists and others put their brains together to discover new ways of sharing ideas, analyzing information, and working together in a global mind grid.
Our goal is to change the way problems get solved, to work on issues that have a global impact, and to challenge the conventions and paradigms of online communities. "
I also have been sent information from IBM on their "Global Innovation Outlook" which asks "Have you ever thought about changing the world? Or maybe just one continent at time? How about Africa? ". IBM plans to use crowdsourcing to gather ideas on how help Africa through business development that will be discussed by thought leaders around the globe.
Both of these appear to be noble causes, but I can't help being skeptical whenever there appears to be "product placement" in the requests. Perhaps it's a small price to pay for the opportunity to truly help the world? A word of caution, if the "marketing" of their corporate services goes to far, it will turn people off and potentially turn them off from other future attempts at global crowdsourcing.
I hope for the best and plan on participating as well.
On May 15th, join Bernard Liautaud, Don Tapscott, John Schwarz and others as they gather to see if our collective intelligence can be put to a higher purpose—solving the world’s great problems.
Learn more about this in a video message from John Schwarz. We invite you to become part of an exciting new online community dedicated to seeing what happens if data lovers, business thinkers, technologists, academics, visual artists and others put their brains together to discover new ways of sharing ideas, analyzing information, and working together in a global mind grid.
Our goal is to change the way problems get solved, to work on issues that have a global impact, and to challenge the conventions and paradigms of online communities. "
I also have been sent information from IBM on their "Global Innovation Outlook" which asks "Have you ever thought about changing the world? Or maybe just one continent at time? How about Africa? ". IBM plans to use crowdsourcing to gather ideas on how help Africa through business development that will be discussed by thought leaders around the globe.
Both of these appear to be noble causes, but I can't help being skeptical whenever there appears to be "product placement" in the requests. Perhaps it's a small price to pay for the opportunity to truly help the world? A word of caution, if the "marketing" of their corporate services goes to far, it will turn people off and potentially turn them off from other future attempts at global crowdsourcing.
I hope for the best and plan on participating as well.
Time will tell us the outcome.
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