We need to develop a platform where we can quickly and easily set up a site to track data, events and feelings on any issue. This platform could act as a sort of social conscience for a group.

Not to get too political but most recently I have been pondering the Cash for Clunkers program. While I applaud attempts at lowering emissions and oil consumption I can’t help but have some serious reservations. It’s the prefect example for this I want to know more than how much is being spent by the government. I want to know how much overall mileage has been reduced and what the energy and resource use is for disposing of the old cars, also are there any resulting changes in the production of new cars? I want to know how many of the clunkers were serviceable, how old were they on average, has this worked elsewhere? I want to know what we think of the program as a country. In summary I want all this data and more available for me to decide whether or not it was worth it and if we should renew it, say, for a third time.

Such a platform could be applied to any issue you could think of Detention of Guantanamo Detainees to your bowling team’s uniform. This could help us to make better decisions as a society (or bowling team), preventing us from repeating mistakes (or someone else)by clearly aggregating the decisions and their effects. It just needs to be built.

The recent events of the Iranian elections have shown the true power of the internet as a communication medium and more important the power this system can have in changing the world. Clay Shirky in the Ted talk talks about how this medium not only makes the others obsolete but fundamentally changes the way the users interact with not only the technology but the producers of content (aka business or those in power).

For quite awhile now we have lived in a world where the control of technology and weapons allow a few to hold dominion over very large groups of people. The only way to overcome this has been through the slow, and often bloody, accumulation of large enough groups to wrest power. The key to creating and growing these groups is communication, which has traditionally been difficult. The typical means of getting a message out require expensive technology, professionals to run the tech and uninhibited means of delivery (not controlled by the government). The internet as Shirky points out gets rid of all but one of these hurdles. But as we’ve seen all to often (China, Iran, North Korea etc), entire parts of the internet can just be shut down. Hinder communication enough and throw in a dash (or more) of intimidation and you can quell an uprising.

This brings us back to the fundamental problems with communication. It has traditionally been one way and easily shut down, word needs to spread by mouth, which is relatively slow. While I’m as sick of the next person of hearing about it Twitter proves just how fast the internet can be. In these situations speed not only improves the chances of effectiveness but it can also save lives. Of course this is a moot point if those in power just shut down the means of communication. Which brings us to another problem with communication, it has to be mobile.

What’s needed is a moving target. A website that can hop domains easily and quickly, or be present in hundreds of locations simultaneously, and allow for the uploading and downloading of information. Coupled with a SMS system to send the location(s) of the site to people. Such a site could keep the lines of communication and collaboration open with large groups of people while being much more difficult to shut down. This creates a place where people can not only organize but also share first hand accounts with the rest of the world. There are numerous issues and holes in the logic here, maybe it relies too much on technology. Perhaps just a well researched and considered framework for organizing and mobilizing large groups made open and free to the world might be more beneficial. One thing is for sure as the world becomes more educated and gains access to the rest of the world there will be more need for these types of tools. President Obama said it perfectly when he quoted Dr. Martin Luther King the other day.

“Let us realize the arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice.”

Get ready I’m about to state the obvious, gas prices are clearly on everyone’s mind. It occurs to me that we seem to complain and speculate a lot about the reasons for the increase. Generally in discussions or news stories things like demand, or speculation or corporate greed will be attributed to the price inflation but you never seem to get the whole picture. In this light I propose a new project. This yet to be named project will be twofold. First, we need to figure out what exactly goes into the price of oil and consequently the price of gas. This should be easy enough, for the most part the information is publicly available. We will then consolidate this information to give a clear picture of what is going on and distribute it. The second part of the project is the big one.

It has been stated numerous times that our only real solution to oil prices currently is to curb demand. To do this we need a national program to reduce consumption. It’s probably safe to assume that for whatever the reason we can’t rely on the government for this. Additionally the thought of the government dipping it’s hand in the gas situation gives most economists and people who drove in the 1970’s the shivers. So why not open source the project? The number of miles driven in March by almost 11 billion miles compared to the previous year (U. S. Department of Transportation [PDF]), showing people are willing to change their habits. The open source model could create a program that is developed from numerous points of view taking into account a variety of situations. It could also include experts to make sure the program works and isn’t just hype.

Giving people a clear picture of the “whys” of the oil pricing will help to keep politicians from using gas prices as political ploys (or more likely allow people to see through them). This will also give people a motivation other than financial to join in a open sourced program to reduce consumption of oil. 

The recent decision to allow a lawsuit against Target Corporation on the grounds that their website isn’t accessible enough to the blind, has caused me to mull over the current solutions for the visually impaired. While I don’t want to comment on my thoughts about the lawsuit, I do believe that current solutions are out of sync with the present state of the web.

I’m sure this isn’t a completely original idea, but what if we served a separate style sheet to screen readers just like we would any other alternate means of browsing. This way we could optimize the content for screen readers.

But I also think there is a bigger opportunity here. I think there is a opportunity to create an opensource screen reader. There are numerous benefits to an open source screen reader. First being technology, as an open project the program can keep up with the most current web technologies. Secondly worldwide input can help to create the most usable screen reader (hopefully with a lot of input by people who actually rely on them) current solutions are generally thought of as pretty inadequate. Lastly the major benefit is cost, current screen reading software is prohibitively expensive. An open solution would make the Internet accessible to people who cant afford basic access to the net.

With the combination of an open screen reader and an new style sheet class a community of could open the Internet up to millions of people. The development could spur competition between software, and truly help to push the web towards true accessibility.