Technology is fun. It’s also an enabler for business and can be used to further humanity’s evolution at an accelerated pace by favoring cultural exchanges and fostering the sharing of ideas.
Today, there are unprecedented ways of connecting like-minded people throughout the world and enabling them to collaborate towards a single vision, or towards a call to action.
I wanted to gather in this post, all the people in Montreal who have been using these technological channels to try and bring about some needed change in the world. So here are the people and projects that I know that have as objective to make a positive social contribution:
1. Gifter.org - Austin Hill and Ben Yoskovitz. A possibly related project is Akoha (previously Project Ojibwe)
Make a wish by dropping a coin in the wishing well and $1 is given to charity. Sponsors provide the funds.
2. Atwater Digital Literacy Project - Miriam Verburg
The Atwater Digital Literacy Project, a project of the Atwater Library, gets kids and community groups using creative web technologies (blogging, audio, video, digital photos) to find new ways to talk about things important to them, and to help them build their communities.
3. île Sans Fil, CivicAccess - Michael Lenczner
ISF provides free wireless hotspots in Montreal and ways for content creators like artists to make their work known online.
CivicAccess:
Welcome to Citizens for Open Access to Civic Information and Data, a group of citizens which believes all levels of government should make civic information and data accessible at no cost in open formats to their citizens. We believe this is necessary to allow citizens to fully participate in the democratic process of an “information society.”
4. Listen To Your Kids - Julien Smith
Listen To Your Kids connects kids that want to share with parents that want to listen.
5. FACIL
FACIL = FACIL pour l’Appropriation Collective de l’Informatique Libre. FACIL educates about and promotes the use of Free computing resources, like free software and open-source software.
6. Homeless Nation - Daniel Cross
The Homeless Nation is Canada’s only website created by and for Homeless Canadians. Through a national network of outreach workers, The Homeless Nation Project is dedicated to providing the tools for homeless Canadians to share their stories, unique philosophies and points of view with other Canadians. As well, this site provides an opportunity for the general public to interact and learn more about Canada’s homeless population. We believe social change is an interactive process, and HomelessNation.org is a means to starting this national dialogue.
7. Yellow Door
The Access Internet Project is three years old! As a now steadily expanding project, we cater to isolated seniors in the downtown area. Our goal is to introduce basic computer and Internet skills to seniors by matching them with a volunteer that meets them directly at their home for one-on-one tutorials.
Thanks to Mat Balez.
If you know of any others or if you are involved, do let us know.
