Empowering Democracy

Welcome!

This page is my attempt at collating some ideas (which I’ll update as I think and hear from others) for creating a system that gives back power to democratic citizens. What do I mean by that?

I’ve recently been reflecting on the powerless feeling many people have in democratic nations when crisis occurs. In peace-time, we know (with various levels of effectiveness) how to vote, we know how to protest. But in times of crisis – things like war and natural disaster – it can be hard to know how to help quickly and effectively, and it’s frequently the case that governments and large organizations are slow to react / react in the ways we hope they will. Meanwhile, the resources needed exist in the world, but mapping them is a complex task and sometimes doesn’t manage to happen at all.

Enter some project ideas…

Idea 1: Open-Source Map Connecting People to Resources

I’m imagining something like a very complex Venn Diagram. There are two major sources of input:

  • NGO, Non-Profit, Meetup Group, etc. have profiles with needs
  • Individual’s profiles with detailed capabilities / available resources

What already exists?

These are helpful in connecting people and organizations to a degree, but there are barriers, such as someone knowing to even look for a site like this to begin with. Each platform is also specialized (donations, volunteerism) and I haven’t found something which offers a single view of what’s possible.

In addition, these aren’t a central point that everyone thinks to use for sharing resources, they are often targeted at companies looking to offer a way for their employees to volunteer/donate.

What doesn’t exist (that I’m aware of):

  • Something free and open-source (anyone can contribute / no cost to participate) and where no organization gets to pay money to get priority to your views as an individual. The opportunities shared with you should be transparent and based on your profile.
  • Verification should probably be reputation-based (both for volunteers, donaters, etc. and the organizations which need help)
  • Something which is agnostic to they type of support needed (not just for donations or volunteers, but includes everything and allows you to be sorted based on your preferences)

So effectively we would take a number of data points into account, interests, location, etc. and combine them to make a matching profile. Almost like a dating profile, I suppose, but for enabling you to take action on important crisis or causes you want to contribute to.

An Example:

  • You upload your profile:
    • You are a citizen of X country
    • Short Term: you are interested in using your vacation to contribute to disaster recovery situations
    • Long Term: you are willing to donate money
    • You are willing to donate to causes anywhere except Y country
    • You are willing to volunteer to crisis situations in countries A, B, C
  • Organization A uploaded their profile:
    • They need both long-term volunteers and donations
    • Their need is to help rebuild a town damaged by an earthquake
  • Organization B uploaded their profile:
    • They need short-term volunteers
    • They are running a literacy campaign at your local library

In this scenario, Organization B wouldn’t show up in your list at all, but Organization A would. Meanwhile, someone else who is interested in supporting literacy or wanted to participate in something local, might see Organization A as available to them.

In addition, this should funnel down into more actionable items. If you want to help rebuild a town damaged by an earthquake, there should be additional granularity in the matching algorithm:

  • You directly helping, and what skills you bring (home building, feeding onsite volunteers, etc.)
  • Providing resources (you have a company that can provide lumber, tools, etc.)
  • You know how to build generators for those without electricity
  • You can provide unique solutions to them in a catch-all area (i.e. I know of this thing that you don’t have listed, but I think it could be useful and here’s how)

Additional Thoughts:

Some kind of accountability system should exist which indicates if a volunteer frequently doesn’t show up, or an organization isn’t donating to the cause it claims to, etc.

As much as is possible should be transparent and easy to understand; someone shouldn’t have to be tech-savvy to make use of this.

Friction points should be reduced as much as possible:

  • Avoid overwhelming people with too many options
  • Make it very clear what the needed actions are
  • Make those actions as easy as possible to complete

These are just some initial thoughts. We already collaborate on platforms like Wikipedia (knowledge sharing), Google Maps Reviews (public feedback loop), GitHub (code sharing and collaboration), airbnb (sharing our homes). Something like this should exist for connecting people for help in times of crisis so that the first part of every crisis isn’t spent finding and connecting people and resources.

Let’s figure it out!