The Kopernik is an online marketplace bringing together technology developers, donors and beneficiaries to provide basic necessities through technology to families in the developing world. Online, donors are invited to learn about the new technologies and the communities in need, then donate money towards implementing a specific project. Offline, products and tools created by technology developers and paid for by donors are sent to communities in need. I recently had a chance to connect with Scott White, the Business Development Specialist at Kopernik, to learn more.

I wanted to share with you our most recent diabetes awareness project at the Diabetes Hands Foundation, called Making Sense of Diabetes

We are seeking video entries that tell about the impact diabetes has on our lives through one of the five senses: sight, hearing, taste, touch and smell. Watch this video to learn about the project and please help us pass the word around about it (perhaps one of you will take us up and help us make sense of diabetes.

Today, I've seen a great technology innovation, the world will talk about the next few months, it is the Spreading-it, received by everyone…
What is that ?! …
It is the technique used to post active events to publicity, on two minutes or so, most of the world will know what you're just seeing, amazing, just open up your mobile camera, capture any violation, save it and sent it to a world-wide number and it is published online and sent to human-rights organization and also to government and concerned around the world …
Not only, they are spreading a Bluetooth devices on hot-spots around the world which sends this media files and active-posts to the people surrounding it.

Finally. Project submitted.

 We are quite excited about the challenge. Let us know what you tihnk about the project we are presenting. This project will provide a framework for data collection, analysis, and distribution using mobile open source hardware, data processing and visualization software, along with guidelines for fieldwork. 

http://www.netsquared.org/projects/bug4good

I thought I'd post my responses to the NetSquared request for answers to 4 questions for a printable voter guide they are putting together next week.

This is for my project at: http://www.netsquared.org/2008/conference/projects/your-mapper

1. In 200 characters or less, what’s your Mashup Challenge elevator pitch?

Last night, N2Y2 Featured Project, TakingITGlobal, received the Microsoft Education Award at the Tech Museum Awards in San Jose, CA. The Canadian-based organization is an online community that connects youth to find inspiration, access information, get involved, and take action in their local and global communities.

They were one of five recipients of $50,000 cash prizes. The other winners were:

"I think one of the most important things that we are hoping to do, and we hope that people will help us with, is just talking about the message of open video, talking to people about why it's so important that the way videos are distributed online be open, and where the future of media is headed. Do we want it to be something that has a lot of gatekeepers? Do we want more proprietary systems, more closed off systems? Or do we want to make something that's truly open, truly accessible?"

Nicholas Reville is the Co-founder and Executive Director of the Participatory Culture Foundation, the creators of the Miro Internet TV Platform. Miro was a Featured Project at the NetSquared Conference in May 2007, and the Second Place Winner of the NetSquared Innovator Award.

You can hear an audio interview with Nicholas on the NetSquared Podcast, and a transcript of the interview is posted below.

You can also listen to Miro's 5-minute pitch at the Conference.

Nicholas Reville: My name is Nicholas Reville. I'm one of the founders and the Executive Director of the Participatory Culture Foundation, and we make Miro, which is a desktop application for watching Internet TV, and playing and organizing videos. We're set up as a nonprofit because we think that open video online is crucially important to the future of our media.

Television has been, historically, a very non-democratic medium, something that's been controlled by a small number of people. It's really a one-way broadcast. As that moves online, we have a chance to change that, and make it something that's open to anybody. There are a lot of companies right now that are trying to put video online in a very closed, proprietary way. We're trying to build something open, something that works like the Internet itself, specifically for video, and that's what Miro is all about.

"I think as of 2005, the majority of new Internet users every month, people who have never used the Internet before, no longer speak English as a first language. So there's a huge need for non-English content. We now have our site in 12 languages, and we're working on about 15 others to really meet that demand for further bringing together people with a diversity of language skills."

Michael Furdyk of TakingITGlobal is the 14th interview in our series of chats with the 21 Featured Projects from the 2nd NetSquared Conference (N2Y2).

You can hear an audio recording of the interview on the NetSquared Podcast and hear TakingITGlobal's 5-minute pitch at the Conference, here.

Michael Furdyk: I'm Michael Furdyk, the Director of Technology and Co-founder of TakingITGlobal. We are one of the first social networks for social good and social change focused specifically on engaging young people in important global and social issues and trying to get them to network across cultures and across languages to make a positive difference in their communities, in their countries, and in the world using technology.

Last month I interviewed Siegfried Woldhek, the founder and CEO of NABUUR for the NetSquared Podcast. NABUUR was one of the Featured Projects at the NetSquared Conference in May 2007. You can read a transcript of the interview below, and hear NABUUR's 5-minute pitch at the Conference here.

Siegfried Woldhek: Hi, I'm Siegfried Woldhek, and I'm the founder and CEO of NABUUR. NABUUR is an old Dutch word that means "neighbor." And it's chosen, that name, because we can now act as neighbors in the global village and help each other out, as neighbors do if they live together in a physical place.

NABUUR makes it possible for villages all around the world to get direct help from people that live elsewhere, far away or nearby, to solve local problems through the Internet. And the strange thing is, the wonderful thing is, that it actually works.

Today's interview is with Jennifer Sly, the Founder of YouthAssets. YouthAssets was one of the 21 Featured Projects at the NetSquared Conference in May 2007.

You can hear the audio recording of the interview on the NetSquared Podcast. A recording of YouthAssets' 5-minute pitch at the Conference is also available.

Jennifer Sly: Hello, my name is Jennifer Sly, and I'm the Founder of YouthAssets, a new organization dedicated to connect orphans and other vulnerable youth in southern Africa with the resources and support that they need. YouthAssets engages youth in the international development process in southern Africa by using interactive content accessible by mobile technology. Youth can then receive the most relevant information when they need it.