Mobile technology, including everything from inventive applications for smart phones to simple text messaging, is increasingly ubiquitous in the developing world. USAID challenges you to explore its potential through an innovation for maximum development impact in areas such as health, banking, education, agricultural trade, or other pressing development issues.

Making government data available online in universally accessible formats to allow citizens to make use of that data to comment, derive value, and take action in their own communities.

• The President-elect's transition web site itself is allowing people to participate, with the "Your Seat at the Table" feature with which people can track transition meetings with interest groups and leave comments for the transition team.



• At Forum One's September "Web Executive Seminar", "Web Sites Without Walls", we had speakers from nonprofits and government showing innovative ways they are now syndicating and sharing web content and data. For example, Vivek Kundra, the Washington, D.C. government CTO, spoke about how DC has created more than 200 data feeds on D.C. city issues and indicators.

Bringing democracy and policy deliberations directly to the people by requiring his Cabinet officials to have periodic national online town hall meetings to answer questions and discuss issues before their agencies.

• The incoming administration provides a very cool "Open for Questions" feature which allows people to submit and vote for questions that are then answered by the transition team. They reported getting "600,000 votes from more than 10,000 people on more than 7,300 questions" on December 10-11. That's pretty wide participation. Related - TechPresident's Micah Sifry reflects on Obama campaign lessons and asks whether we have adequate tools for mass collaboration; these transition experiments may be showing how to scale up such collaboration.

• Also related to expanding civic participation, we recently worked with the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) to launch its "Next America" project web site. The project uses online debates, blogs and social media to engage future leaders interested in substantive foreign policy issues.

Employing technologies, including blogs, wikis and social networking tools, to modernize internal, cross-agency, and public communication and information sharing to improve government decision-making.

• Quick scan - look who's already using Twitter:
  US "AIDSGov" Service http://twitter.com/AIDSgov
  UK Prime Minister's Office http://twitter.com/DowningStreet
  Red Cross http://twitter.com/redcross
  US State Department http://twitter.com/dipnote
  and us too (!) http://twitter.com/forumone

• An example of using a wiki to try to expand collaboration is the "Global Development Commons" wiki we at Forum One launched to explore opening up sharing/access in international development information. (add your own ideas!).

• Craig Newmark of Craigslist recently blogged about how the incoming administration could create "A Craigslist for Service" to facilitate volunteer opportunities for those motivated by the call to serve.

Simpler and safer methods for making the Phase II TB drug candidate PA-824 have been proposed to the TB Alliance by two winners of a scientific challenge. These solutions may save the TB Alliance and end-users a substantial amount of money, thus allowing more patients to be treated for less.

The two winning proposals were identified as coming from a scientist in China, and a research fellow in Germany.

"These were unique ideas," said Dr. Takushi Kaneko, the TB Alliance chemist who oversaw the Challenge process. "It was certainly worth going through the exercise."

Under the InnoCentive Challenge agreement, which was funded by the Rockefeller Foundation, intellectual property related to the solutions goes to the TB Alliance, and each of the winners receives US$20,000. Following a tender process, the TB Alliance has now selected a contract research organization to see if these ideas can be reduced to a practical synthesis.

Forum One has promoted use of online communities in order to advance research for many years.  In 2000 we began working with an international group of researchers in AIDS economics and policy and hosted bi-annual calls for papers to leading researchers in the economic and policy implications of the HIV/AIDS pandemic in developing countries.  The reward for 10-20 winners each time was their fully funded travel and participation in a global HIV/AIDS conference and presentation of their research during a professional forum.

Welcome to Ushahidi, which means “testimony” in Swahili, where we are building a platform that crowdsources crisis information. Allowing anyone to submit crisis information through text messaging using a mobile phone, email or web form.

In order to document what is happening right now on the ground, on Friday the Ushahidi has deployed its software to the DRC after successfully using it during January's post-electoral violence in Kenya and in May during the xenophobic attacks on immigrants in South Africa. Ushahidi, that means “witness” in Swahili, is a tool that allowes anyone to submit crisis information through text messaging using a mobile phone, email or web form, and to visualize it on a map or timeline. The phone number to send the SMS reports to is +243992592111 and the site to view the reports is http://DRC.ushahidi.com.

Here are a few ideas on what this might look like...

American Express is looking for projects that will make a difference. Think about what inspires you and whether you want to make a difference in your neighborhood or across the globe. Submit a project in the following categories: Arts & Culture, Community Development, Education, Environment & Wildlife, and Health. The project should address a specific problem or issue, be achievable, innovative, and have a positive impact that touches the lives of people in a significant way.