Archive for May, 2006
RU student blogs
Increasingly tech-savvy students are demanding more tech-literate institutions. Schools are responding by using web technologies such as blogs to further their educational and institutional goals. Among these goals are increasing recruitment and admissions rates. A 2005 Symposium for the Marketing of Higher education included among its seminars, Blogging Lessons from the Corporate World: How You Can Use Blogs to Market to Your Most Important Constituencies. The Rutgers University Student Blog features profiles of current students and links to their blogs. Since prospective students have many questions about what their experiences will be like here at RU, having current students chat up the University seems to be an ideal way of informing them. The idea of using student bloggers is not unique to RU. The University of Dayton, Colgate University, Simmons College, and Hastings College are other example institutions.
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Make a global difference
Sustainability is a key word when it comes to charitable giving. Heifer International has been at the forefront of this movement since 1944. Heifer provides animals and training in animal husbandry to people who need a means to generate a sustainable income. Once the gift recipients become established they give back by donating offspring animals and training to other community members who in turn do the same. In this way, your initial donation cascades through a community far beyond the initial gift of honeybees, chickens, or oxen, etc. Kiva provides microloans to “qualified low income entrepreneur[s] in the developing world” who are looking to start businesses in their local communities. Visit the Kiva website where you can search through a list of proposed business ventures and see pictures of potential recipients. With as little as $25 dollars you can become an important positive change for good in someone’s life and an international powerbroker at the same time. Interestingly, Kiva reports a +96% repayment rate. Unitus is another similar international microfinancer. Estimates place the number of modern day slaves around 27 million. While it’s far from being the most egregious host nation, the United States is among those countries where slavery exists in the form of forced labor and prostitution. Free the Slaves is an international organization that provides research and support to partner organizations who are working to end modern day human trafficking. Click here for a National Geographic report on 21st Century slaves.
Note: Charity Navigator evaluates charitable organizations and provides a breakdown of expenses and the percentage of each dollar that goes to programming, as opposed to advertising and administrative expenses.
Update: Grameen Bank, a microfinancier operating out of Bangladesh, was awarded the Nobel Peace prize in 2006 for its work bankrolling the world’s poor.
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Video games designed for a change
Most people would agree that video games are an enjoyable waste of time. Some argue that these games can boost your intelligence. If intelligence is narrowly defined to include whatever skill is being practiced in the video game then that’s probably likely. A few game designers have begun to create online experiences that try to stimulate your conscience and call you to action. Darfur is Dying is one recent entry that gives perpective on the survival issues facing Darfurian refugees. Click NPR for a National Public Radio interview with one of its designers.
Another entry is, 3rd World Farmer. This online experience simulates the conditions faced by a third world farming family. Your goal is to survive hardships that are mostly out of your control. Another game, September 12, simulates a middleastern city. Here your goal is to decide whether or not to kill terrorists among a civilian population and to do so with little to no collateral damage, as doing so creates more terrorists. Click game for more information on the game designers. Food Force is a downloadable game in a Mac and Windows version. The game was created by the United Nation’s World Food Programme to bring attention to the issue of world hunger. Your goal in this game is to help rebuild a fictional country, Sheylan. As part of a food aid team, you will among other tasks run convoys and negotiate food shipments from around the world. A Force More Powerful, is sponsored by the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict. The game is purported to be “the first and only interactive teaching tool using nonviolent tactics to overcome oppression.” It is a for purchase game and only available in a PC version. America’s Army is the official video game of the U.S. Army. It is intended to teach “teamwork, values and responsibility.” Some would question its inclusion in this list but I’ll leave you to make up your own mind. All these game environments are constrained but they do require you to be more engaged than if you were only reading about the circumstances that the games recreate. You can find a more comprehensive list of these and other kinds of “serious games” at socialimpactgames.com. Try playing some of them and if you feel informed and inspired and so inclined then click over to the sponsoring agencies for more information on how you can make a difference in the real world.
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A great logo
This is a great logo designed by johnson banks, a design firm located in London. It reminds me of the University’s primary mission. (via swissmiss)
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