[Rubyforchange-talk] Fwd: [Fwd: Let's Find a Project]

[Micah Martin]

Sure!  First, here's the URL for their current site:
http://www.manoamano.org/

Here are the priorities that Seguno (the president of Mano-a-Mano)  
expressed to me during the conference.

1. Awareness.  Toward this goal, the site should allow people to  
learn about all the projects under construction.  This involves  
updating the site on a regular basis with text and data, but that's  
the boring part.  Videos will be posted on YouTube and integrated  
into the sire.  Pictures uploaded to Flickr and integrated.  Further  
more, it's important to Segunda that people know exactly where the  
projects are taking place. so we also integrated Google Earth.

2. Donations.  Of course people have the option to make general  
donations on the site.  However, Segundo would like the site to be  
more interactive.  So for each projects they will define a bill of  
materials, along with prices, required to complete the projects.   
Donors can browse the materials and choose to buy a box of nails,  
bags of concrete, or any combination of materials.  Segundo also has  
a vision for animating an image of the project such that donors can  
see the impact of their donations.  For example, if the project were  
to build a school, when you purchase a box of nails, you'd see nails  
flying into the school walls and when you purchase roof tiles, you'd  
see the tiles line up and form a roof.

3. Micro-Lending.  This gets complicated but it's something that Mano- 
a-Mano would very much like to offer.  What is it?  My understanding  
is that it's a way to let donors lend money to communities.   
Understand than many of the projects completed by Mano-a-Mano enrich  
the infrastructure of the Bolivian communities and allow them to  
double their crops, transport goods faster, produce more goods, and  
generally increase their income.  These communities would happily pay  
back the donations given to them.  This micro-lending structure would  
allow Mano-a-Mano to offer much more help and Segundo wants their  
website to support this type of donation.

That's the gist of it.  I imagine Segundo has many more wishes for  
their site.  I'll be happy to provide more info, or get the group in  
contact with Segundo.  He lives in Minneapolis.

Micah


On Aug 21, 2007, at 10:25 AM, Chad Fowler wrote:

> Cool, Micah.  Can you give more specifics about the kind of stuff he
> wants to do with it?  Who would it interact with, for example?
>
> Thanks,
> Chad
>
> On 8/21/07, Micah Martin <Micah at 8thlight.com> wrote:
>>
>> Hello Everyone,
>>
>> Last week at the Agile2007 conference, we worked on a website for  
>> a group
>> called Mano-a-Mano.  Perhaps it was already mentioned on this  
>> group,  It's a
>> NPO helping impoverished people in Bolivia.  The president of the
>> organization has a vivid vision for a website that will inform and  
>> interact
>> with users in new and innovative ways. It's a fun project and we only
>> finished a small portion of it during the conference.  Perhaps  
>> it's a good
>> candidate for this group.
>>
>> Micah
>>
>>
>> From: Chad Fowler <chad at chadfowler.com>
>> Date: August 14, 2007 7:33:55 PM CDT
>> To: Rubyforchange-talk at rubyforge.org
>> Subject: [Rubyforchange-talk] Let's Find a Project
>>
>>
>> Hello Friends!
>>
>> Now that we're a few days old here on the mailing list, I believe our
>> first order of non-logistical business is to find a first project.  I
>> don't know what the project is, nor do I have any great suggestions,
>> but I'm hoping someone on the list will have some ideas or some
>> friends who have ideas or some friends of friends....and so on.
>>
>> Here's what I think we need:
>>
>> * A 501(c)3 with a real application need which could have a
>> significant impact (the level of significance, of course, to be
>> determined)
>> * A person from that non-profit who can serve as the authoritative
>> customer for what the application should do
>> * A commitment of consistent involvement from that customer to help
>> drive feature requirements and provide feedback
>> * A (preferably same-city) "project lead" from this community to
>> serve as the point of developer continuity, so we're not trying to
>> piece together a cohesive application from too many random people's
>> hour-scraps on the weekends without someone who understands the full
>> context of the app.
>> * Hopefully a designer or two to help us make a decent UI.  Nobody
>> wants to use a UI that, for example, I made.  Yuck.
>>
>> My suggestion is that we propose projects here and come to a
>> consensus (assuming that's possible) on what the final choice is.
>> I'd like to suggest a self-imposed deadline for us, but we have to go
>> out and locate customers so I'm not sure how long that might take.
>>
>> If we're in agreement, then the obvious first step is to start
>> scouring for non-profits in need.  Ask your friends to ask your
>> friends for ideas.  DEFINITELY post on your weblog about it.  Let's
>> get the word out that help is out there for the right project that
>> needs it.
>>
>> That being said, getting the word out is a whole other deal.  I think
>> we need a reasonable web presence and, hopefully at some point, a
>> more automated system for connecting non-profits with developers.
>> Let's save that for another thread.
>>
>> Thanks!
>> Chad
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