Moving back to the US after nearly five years in India, I was very much aware that my carbon footprint was about to increase substantially. Every time I visited, I’d gasp in horror at the packaging waste, the lights left on without anyone in the room, the unnecessary car trips taken whimsically. Whether or not I was ready for it, I was returning to the American culture of excess. Thankfully, I have found several inspiring films that help me keep alive the hope that things can change here. Below is a montage of the films I recently seen which examine ways to live more sustainably and sensibly, with my brief take on them.

 

 

In addition to the “How To Create” media on your phone portions, we delve deeply into sharing your mobile content, delivering your media to mobile and engaging your mobile audience. More than that, we have many case studies, tons of tools, a terminology glossary and feature a weekly roundup of the latest in the field. You can even join us by guest blogging on your experience in the field with mobile media! We’ve profiled a number of pioneers creating mobile media and are always on the lookout for more.

If you’re looking to learn, we have lots in store for you. Just some examples:

• Make some sense of how mobile social media is impacting the media landscape. Use it as a listening tool, enable citizen journalists to produce content, or experiment with microblogging.
• Find out what geo-tagging is and how it’s impacting journalism.
• Decide whether and how to deliver your content via mobile apps.
• Want to know more about mobile radio? Hear how Freedom Fone and Farm Radio created a first-time partnership to use IVR with African stations, or Afghanistan’s Radio Azadi, which incorporates an interactive SMS service.
• Itching to create viral videos from your phone? We have step-by-step instructions, even for live-streaming!
• Improve your mobile photography skills.

So please come check out our Mobile Media Toolkit and let us know what you think! For our latest updates, join us on Twitter @mobilemediakit or on Facebook.

 Recently I’ve been thinking a lot about the so-called “creative process,” thanks to a couple books I’ve been reading: Gail McMeekin’s “12 Secrets of Highly Successful Women” and Oriah Mountain Dreamer’s “What We Ache For.” Some people, and I might be one of them, claim that humans are innately creative beings. But I’m haunted by questions: why must we try so hard to complete creative acts if the creative impulse is supposed to come so naturally? And why are only some things recognized as creative while others are not?

Innovation and creativity are buzzwords in the current economy, and it appears that success depends on them. But only to a certain extent–if we actually unleash all our creative impulses, all order would disappear. With the current torrent of technological advancements, it’s easy to think that our lives are becoming more mechanical and less creative. Yet, even though technology can seem like the furthest thing from creativity, it was born through a creative impulse, an inspiring idea.

I was live tweeting (seems to be one of my favorite pastimes nowadays!) and below is the Storified version.

I also enjoyed seeing Elie Wiesel and hearing his philosophies. He lamented that nowadays, people don’t know how to wait; for him, so much pleasure in life has come through the waiting and anticipation.

There were lots of other stars around yesterday; pictured below is Randi Zuckerberg, Derrick Ashong & Mandy Moore.

Check out 92Y’s Social Good Summit: Recap of Day Two with video clips!

Ted Turner was charming and funny. His lighthearted approach to serious humanitarian problems made them seem manageable without undermining their urgency. He came out with many one-liners and certainly had the confidence of a media mogul. He also promoted the Economist as a source of unbiased international news, which I’ve been reading since college. It’s a good thing he’s so likeable!

There were a number of panels focusing on the influence of youth, which was fitting but unexpected. It makes sense that since these new “digital natives” are so tech savvy, they’re using it towards social good, but I hadn’t personally come across many examples until yesterday. It’s a great twist to the normal power equation, where younger people are teaching others; as is the case with One Laptop per Child, some children are even teaching their parents how to read. Loved this quote by Monique from GimmeMo:

You can do it all, you don’t have to choose between success and social good. You can contribute as you’re growing. Humanitarianism will find you!

I’d definitely like to check out these orgs:

• One Young World
• DoSomething
• Teens Turning Green

As could be expected at a tech conference, there were lots of launches: CharityWater Dollars to Projects, IdealistNYC.org, USAID’s FWD fundraising campaign to help the nearly 12 million people affected in the Horn of Africa. One Laptop per Child showed us their solar-powered tablet prototype which really got the crowd going.

Simon Mainwaring’s enthusiasm for a “third way” was infectious: between profit and charity, there’s a way to tie them together. See his slides below.

Mashable Slides

I’m glad that Christy Turlington & Heather Armstrong (Dooce) are publicizing the issue of maternal mortality with Every Mother Counts; I’m surprised to hear that many people are surprised by the number of deaths that occur due to childbirth. Then again, most people haven’t studied development issues! Often it takes a personal experience for us to wake up to reality–as happened with Christy’s childbirth complication, she became inspired to champion the issues on a large scale.

See the official Recap of Day One from 92Y.

We have been through two moves in as many months, and while I have been working from home, recently I started to feel like I’m rushing whenever I go out. The pace of this city is notorious, and it requires an extreme awareness not to get drawn into the tide like a leaf which has fallen into a river. I find myself constantly walking briskly, even when I have plenty of time; nonetheless, I am often running slightly late which puts me into even more of a running mode.

Since there are many opportunities for networking and socializing, I have been trying to take advantage of at least one or two each week. Even this sometimes feels like a small number considering all the options, but when the week is over I feel like I’ve done a lot. This week was a particularly busy one, and I had scheduled something almost every evening, yet it didn’t always work out according to plan. On Monday, the person cancelled; Tuesday was a great event at the Alliance Francaise; Wednesday I had two options to choose from, neither of which I ended up going to.

Yesterday was the clincher, when, in my haste, I failed to notice that the event was on Jay St, Brooklyn and instead went downtown to Jay St! This oversight cost me two hours and made me wake up to the fact that I simply need to be more strategic in my plans, and not automatically accept every interesting invitation which comes my way. But the lovely sunset I saw on the ride home made it worthwhile, and made me realize the metaphor that despite the cold and rainy weather, or perhaps because of it, the sunset was that much more magnificent. I interpreted this to mean that even through the tough times, or maybe thanks to them, life shines with a brilliance. We still have the choice to gracefully and joyfully handle the situation.

I’m also reading The 12 Secrets of Highly Creative Women: A Portable Mentor as recommended by Kimberly Wilson. It’s helping me to think about what I’d like to accomplish and how to go about it. I need to dedicate time to concretize my vision for the future before I go about creating it. On Wednesday, I had three interviews, and by the end of the day my head was spinning with the possibilities. But once the dust settled, I was much more able to see what was not only more realistic, but what truly suits me.

Next week will be another busy one, what with Mashable’s Social Good Summit. I was thrilled that I was accepted to be a part of the Digital Lounge for press and bloggers! This weekend I have to study the agendas and map out my focus. You can follow the live webstream too. Expect to see daily recaps of the event here on this blog, and maybe even some videos if I feel adventurous enough…

Much to my surprise, I’m slowly discovering how to live sustainably in New York. When we left India, I was well aware that we were leaving more than just a place, but a certain lifestyle and mentality. Sure, its slow pace would frustrate me on many occasions–even cows have right of way!–but it’s something I now look at nostalgically, with fondness. I’m looking into volunteering in local community gardens, and discovering that there are several farmer’s markets in Queens, where I can even deposit compost. Perhaps I shouldn’t be surprised, because New York has it all; but I’m new here and it’s easy to be distracted by the glitz and flashy lights.

Last week, I attended part of No Impact Week at Jivamukti. Naturally I watched the “No Impact Man” documentary beforehand on Netflix, and was struck by the similarities between the way Colin (No Impact Man) lived and the way we lived in India by default. On Friday, we all went to see “Bag It,” which provided the inspiration to be more firm in my commitment to living sustainably. The trailer is below. In a nutshell–Plastic doesn’t just go away; reduce (that means buy less, people!), reuse, then recycle… If you’re into eco-conscious media, definitely check out the Story of Stuff, too.

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While you can find a good synopsis of what was said here, I’d like to delve into the issues a little more closely and provide a critique of how CSR and cause marketing have become sexy and make savvy business sense. Part of me is thrilled that supporting causes has become virtually mainstream, but I can’t help but be skeptical about the motives behind this move.

Isn’t it just another ploy by big corporations to make money? And is that such a bad thing, when after all, consumers will anyway consume, and people in need are benefitting in the long run? I don’t have the answers, but I’d love to hear yours in the comments!

I admit, I was won over by Huffington’s positive outlook and do-gooder DNA, choosing the “abundance model” over the “need or scarcity model.” HuffPost’s Impact section strikes me as a more effective a way to solve social problems than just throwing money at them; it is an attempt to create, facilitate and showcase  sustained dialogue around them.

Yet, the issue is that social problems are much more complex than cause marketing or CSR would like to acknowledge–what if your very products are the source of immense suffering? Isn’t it better CSR to just stop what you’re doing, than to create huge white-washing campaigns? Take the case of Chevron’s “We Agree” campaign (see this spoof too, pictured below).

Nonetheless, I have no doubt that Huffington is correct in her prediction about cause marketing’s prevalence, and the question should not be whether it is good, but how to harness it for the greater good. Corporations should take a long, hard look at their DNA and see what needs to stay and what needs to go–if we are to evolve collectively.

What do you think? Am I just being a grinch, and should I just shut up and be happy about the money being directed to our favorite causes (and the ones that will earn big bucks, too)?

{This post was written with Beth Kanter in mind and at her suggestion}

What is the relevance of mobile technologies for the development landscape, given that the World Bank has estimated that more than one-third of the world’s poor live in India? This post will provide a snapshot of the “m4d” situation in India, and point you to further resources should you want to find out more about the exciting potential of mobile for development.

ICTD efforts in India have been ongoing for quite some time.  In some cases, mobile applications are being created as standalone measures; in others, mobile projects act as an extension of already existing ICTD projects. The models range from government or NGO-sponsored, to CSR and for-profit ventures.

When thinking about mobile in India, the first caveats to mention are language, illiteracy, and ICT experience. There are innumerable regional languages in India. Only 63 percent of the population is literate, not to mention the huge barriers to ICT access among the roughly 70  percent that live in India’s villages. One project that aims to address these challenges is the Brahmi phone, “the first phone designed for Indian languages.”

Here’s a brief overview of different ways mobile is being used in India’s development sector. New products are getting launched practically every day–if you know of any, kindly share in the comments below!

m-Health

• India Institute of Public Health’s infectious disease surveillance system: mobile phones replace paper transmission from field workers to public authorities.
• Dr. SMS, a Government of Kerala  project providing comprehensive information on health-related resources via SMS
• Wellness World, just launched last week by Uninor and Handygo, is available on both IVR (Interactive Voice Response) and SMS platforms. It will provide daily information to Uninor’s subscribers on health related issues.
• mPedigree – Started in Ghana and available in India, it’s a platform to protect users from drug counterfeiting.
• Sana — Partnering with one of India’s leading healthcare providers, Narayana Hrudayalaya, the platform will help to screen and manage chronic diseases in rural and semi-urban India.
• The Healthphone is set to launch on June 1st, with health and nutrition content in  English and 15 Indian Languages. It is been based on research from UNICEF, WHO, UNESCO, UNFPA, UNDP, UNAIDS, WFP and The World Bank.

It should be mentioned that the telemedicine industry is quite advanced in India; Apollo Hospitals was a pioneer in this regard. David Shafran‘s mHealth India article gives an excellent overview of additional projects.

m-Governance (complementing e-Governance)

• Kerala’s mobile initiative: Kerala’s m-governance projects have introduced transparency in operations and citizen-centric services. See this research paper for more information.

• Bharti Airtel was the first service provider to offer traffic automation as the world’s largest BlackBerry-supported law enforcement network. It has also facilitated property tax collection for Chennai Corporation via BlackBerry.

m-Agriculture

• mKrishi: a mobile-based service delivery platform by Tata Consultancy Services for farmers. It provides personalized advice specific to the subscribers’ needs.
• Self Employed Women’s Association (SEWA): Each day, SEWA sends agricultural workers SMS messages with commodity prices so they can determine when and where to get the best price for their produce. For more on #mwomen initiatives, see mwomen.org/deployments. Thanks Trina DasGupta for the head’s up!
• Life lines India: Initiated by OneWorld in collaboration with British Telecom and Cicso Systems, LifeLines today serves rural communities in 53 districts across 4 states of India with information services in Agriculture and Education. BT’s first Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programme based on digital inclusion.

(This post serves as research for a guest post I’m preparing.)