DisabiliTECH

January 13, 2013 By

Everybody loves a niche market, so here’s a good one- people with disabilities.  I’ve noticed more and more companies coming up with technology enable solutions to the challenges of those living with a disability.  Here are some examples:

For the Dexterity-Challenged

There are a lot of health issues that cause dexterity problems- Parkinsons, cerebral palsy, arthritis.  Luckily, technology can help. Researchers at Georgia Tech have developed a combination of software and hardware into they are calling Access4Kids.  It translates movements that are easy for those with physical impairments (e.g. pressing large buttons)  into movements that are becoming standard on tablets (e.g. pinching and swiping). You can see it in action in this video.

For Sign Language Users

People who use sign language to communicate face a daily challenge- most people around them don’t know sign language.  Enable Talk is a set of gloves that use sensors and Bluetooth to record what the signer is saying.  It then sends this to a mobile app that speaks what was signed.

For Those with Impaired Vision

Blindsquare is an iPhone app that taps into FourSquare data to tell people with impaired vision what’s around them.  This could be the most popular coffee shop nearby or nearest post office.

And what if you’re blind and you need to deal with money? How do you keep from getting ripped off? You can use one of several money identifying apps, including IDEAL Currency Identifier or Looktel Money Reader, to scan money and tell you what bill you are holding.  LookTel has another app, Recognizer, that can help identify pantry items and CDs.

SIDE TIP: I found most of these from the SpringWise email.  Check it out for an international slice of new ideas.

 

 

December #SOCENTMN Events and Beyond

November 19, 2012 By

As if you aren’t busy enough, but there are a few cool events coming up (and further out) that might be of interest:

TEDxTC + TEDxWomen

Saturday, December 1st

Hear speakers on a live feed from the D.C. main TEDxWomen event, followed by live local speakers on stage, including local author Cecily Sommers. ($28)

Social Innovation Lab

Tuesday, December 4th

The Social Innovation Lab is back and this time the focus is Vulnerability as Resource for Innovation.  The event includes small and large group sessions and is targeted at a broad audience of changemakers, non-profit to for-profit, entrepreneurs to policy folks.

Collaborate for Good Conference

Saturday, January 26th

This is the first conference from Thinkers & Makers, but they’ve put on several Strategy for Good workshops already.  Like the workshops, the conference will bring together the advertising and philanthropy sectors and hopefully help some non-profits with branding and other skills.

Social Enterprise Alliance National Conference HERE IN MINNEAPOLIS

May 19-22

Details are scarce, but mark your calendars because the national conference for the Social Enterprise Alliance will be held in Minneapolis this year.  Very exciting!

 

What Women Really Want: Pink Cars?

November 3, 2012 By

Honda is launching a new version of their Fit designed for women.  Or rather designed for a mass market with some women-friendly features slapped on. It’s called the Fit She’s (the apostrophe’s a heart!).  And I find it horrifying.

What are these woman-friendly features?

Well, for starters, it’s pink.  Seriously.  Inside and out.  (It does also come in some kind of “eyeliner brown” and white.)

The windscreen blocks 99% of wrinkle-casing UV rays, so it helps keep your skin young-looking.

And the air conditioning system has “Plasmacluster” technology that will improve your skin.

I know how obsessed Asian women can be about their skin, but that is all pretty ridiculous.  And car companies have been missing this target for a while now.

A Brief History of Lady Cars

According to a Yahoo blog, at the turn of the 20th century, electric cars were marketed to wives with the pitch that their lack of hand-crank starting would avoid broken shoulders and/or death. This is the most promising/ least patronizing feature I’ve seen so far.

In 1955, Dodge added the La Femme trim package to its Custom Royal Lancer.  It was, of course, pink and included a matching rain jacket, umbrella, cigarette lighter, compact, comb, and leather purse.  It was marketed with the tagline “By Appointment to Her Majesty . . . the American Woman.” and was a big flop.

In 2000, Ford made a concept for their Windstar minivan that had a refrigerator, washer/ dryer, vaccuum, and microwave because “Home is everywhere you are”. Yikes.

Actual Improvements

I was recently at She’s Geeky, the Minneapolis conference of a women-in-technology non-profit based in San Francisco.  Making pink versions of things and calling it “designing for women” came up, and one attendee mentioned that she doesn’t want a pink car, but she’d love a place to put her purse in the car (as would I).

There is some hope on that one.  Many automakers, including Ford and General Motors, have created groups of women designers and engineers who specifically consider the features and attributes of new products looking for ways to appeal to feminine needs – and avoid problems that might not be apparent to their male colleagues. According to ubergizmo, “That might include door handles that can snap off long fingernails. And a number of new vehicles now feature larger center storage bins able to handle a pocketbook – while men get the added benefit of being able to tuck away their iPads and other electronic goodies.”

And they had to add that last part.  Like women don’t have smartphones or iPads? Geez.

 

 

 

404 Pages are the new milk cartons

October 28, 2012 By

People contribute computing power to search for signals in the universe and add their brainpower for folding proteins.  Now you can donate that unused space on your 404 Not Found page.  European non-profit NotFound wants to put pictures of missing children on the pages that show up when a user ended up on a non-existent page.  Read more here on Springwise, or if you live in Europe, start donating your pages today.

This school is not boring.

October 22, 2012 By

I learned about Quest to Learn while reading Reality is Broken by Jane McGonigal.  It’s a middle school (and someday high school) entirely designed around the concepts used in games to engage students.

“The big idea of the school is we looked at how games work — literally how they’re built and the way they support learning — and we thought could we design a school from the ground up that supported learning in the way games do,” says Katie Salen, one of the executive directors of Quest to Learn, quoted in an MPR broadcast.

And how does the school bring the excitement of digital games to these middle schoolers? It turns out that in addition to 11 teaches, the school employs three full-time game designers.

What Students Do

Here are some examples of school work:

Creepytown

“In math, we’re traveling around the world,” says sixth-grader Rocco Rose, a student at Quest to Learn and a citizen of Creepytown — an imaginary city where his class learns math and English. The students play travel agents, convert currencies, keep blogs about their travel experiences and budget trips. Creepytown is structured like a video game that has jumped out of the computer. During their 10-week “missions,” students learn to adapt and improvise. “The second trimester, Creepytown went broke,” founder and executive director Katie Salen says. “They had … an economic crisis. So the kids worked to figure out … what had gone wrong. And then they proposed the design of a theme park to bring revenue in.” (from the MPR broadcast)

The Way Things Work

In the integrated science and math learning domain, “The Way Things Work,” over the course of one trimester, sixth graders help a shrunken mad scientist, lost inside the human body, navigate the systems he encounters and report back to his research lab. (from the Institute of Play website)

Day to Day

Students don’t receive grades but rather achieve levels of expertise, denoted on their report cards as “pre-novice,” “novice,” “apprentice,” “senior” and “master.” Quest to Learn students record podcasts, film and edit videos, play video games, blog avidly and occasionally receive video messages from aliens.  (from NY Times article)

Cool Quotes

“She was relatively hostile toward games and now she’s a fan.”

- James Paul Gee, a professor of literacy studies at Arizona State University, referring to retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor who recently collaborated with Gee on iCivics, a series of interactive games meant to revive the lost art of learning civics

“Games are this generation’s rock and roll.”

-Al Doyle, Quest to Learn teacher

“Failure in an academic environment is depressing. Failure in a video game is pleasant. It’s completely aspirational.”

-Ntiedo Etuk, the chief executive of Tabula Digita, which designs computer games that are now being used in roughly 1,200 schools