OpenIDEO

My Design Quotient

366,638,37.2,895

( public | make private )

Inspiration: 366pt
Concepting: 638pt
Evaluation: 37pt
Collaboration: 895pt
Total: 1936pt

( public | make private )

My Challenges

How might we restore vibrancy in cities and regions facing economic decline?

How can technology help people working to uphold human rights in the face of unlawful detention?

Amanda Drescher

"All your life, You were only waiting for this moment to arise."

I am a graduate student in Organizational Psychology generally, and my research interests are in creativity and leadership specifically. I've lived many places, but California has a special place in my heart. Hopefully I'll make it back there someday! I have diverse talents and interests, from my career as a professional ballroom dancer to my brief stint as a carriage driver (yes, carriage as in horse and carriage). I heard a talk by IDEO at a conference a couple years ago, and have been inspired ever since. So, when I found out about OpenIDEO, how could I pass up the chance to get involved?

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Thumbnail : Screenshot of Smart Cities Infographic

Infographics to Inspire Change

Using data visualization to heighten awareness, highlight areas of opportunity, and incorporate citizens in a move towards vibrancy.

December 06, 2011, 06:16PM 2051 views 56 comments 45 applause

Explore Vibrancy

Take to the Streets

As evidenced by some of the inspirations already provided, an essential element for vibrant cities/communities is pedestrians. A Walk Score is a mechanism that will tell you how walkable any given area is.

November 11, 2011, 12:54AM 220 views 8 comments 5 applause

Explore Vibrancy

Thumbnail : Screenshot of John Hunter's TED Talk about The World Peace Game

Investments + Children = Vibrant Future

While making communities vibrant now is an asset, investing in children is a way to make communities vibrant for decades to come. How can we empower to children to eventually change our cities for the better?

November 10, 2011, 02:19AM 252 views 4 comments 8 applause

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My Testimonials

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December 08, 2011, 03:20AM

Amanda was a winner on the Amnesty Challenge with her canny Creating Connections concept. She has quickly become a highly collaborative player on OpenIDEO and her adaptive approach allows her to update ideas, building upon input from others to support her own socially conscious vision. Way to go, Amanda!

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Amanda Drescher's reply to OpenIDEO 's comment

Amanda Drescher

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December 09, 2011, 12:34AM

Those are kind words. Thank you, OpenIDEO!

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Paul Reader

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November 29, 2011, 11:13AM

Thanks for adding me to your virtual team.
I'm not sure I have lived up to expectations.
At the moment I'm searching for ways to turn 'virtual' teams into actual teams, although my dial-up internet access may preclude me from actually participating. One resource I found, and passed on to Marnie ( http://www.openideo.com/open/amnesty/concepting/collaborate-with-the-un-global-pulse-project-digital-smoke-signals-/ ), is CMap Tools for Concept Mapping ( http://cmap.ihmc.us ) - you might find it interesting too.

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Paul Reader

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November 13, 2011, 05:22AM

Hi Amanda,
Please forgive this intrusion into personal space.
I was curious to know some of your skills and delighted to find you have psychology amongst them. It accords well with your Creating Connections concept for the Amnesty challenge.
It seemed to me that your concept might benefit from input from an anthropologist (not my skills) and wondered if there is one amongst the OpenIDEO community. This brings me to the three questions I should like to ask of you (and several others) -

How have you chosen your Virtual Team (eg. those who inspired you; people with known appropriate skills etc.)?

How do you collaborate with them (eg. just through the OpneIDEO PLATFORM; Twitter; or maybe IM or Skype)?

How are you collating information for Updates?

The reason I ask is because I am revisiting some of the concepts from the Social Impact challenge that didn't make it to the winning list. Maybe I'm crazy but I'm convinced that some, if realised, could be included as resources or utilities available to IDEATORS to enhance the process from inspiration to evaluation (and even maybe realisation).

There is no rush for a response, but I would appreciate your thoughts.

Regards

Paul

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Amanda Drescher's reply to OpenIDEO 's comment

Amanda Drescher

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November 14, 2011, 12:41AM

Hey Paul,

No problem, I'm absolutely willing to answer your questions. I chose my virtual team in two ways. First, I browsed concepts as they were introduced to the site. If I felt they were compatible with an idea I was developing, I linked them to my concept and included them in my virtual team. If I used their concept to update a concept I had already posted, I went back and retroactively added them to my virtual team. The second way I found my virtual team members is through "meeting" people who commented on my concepts. If I used their feedback to update the concept, I included them in my virtual team. I was also more likely, as new concepts were posted, to see those from people I'd already engaged in conversations with. Thus, their ideas were easier for me to link in the sense that I was more aware of them/remembered them better. I haven't really looked too much into people's areas of expertise unless I've engaged in conversation with them...

So far, I have just collaborated through the OpenIDEO platform. Though I haven't been on the site that long, so I imagine that will eventually expand to other venues as well.

I'm not sure what you mean by "collating information for updates". Do you mean how am I finding the information? How am I piecing it together? Perhaps if you could clarify, I'll have a better answer for you.

Hope this helps!

Regards,
Amanda

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Paul Reader's reply to OpenIDEO 's comment

Paul Reader

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November 15, 2011, 12:57AM

Thanks so much for the replies Amanda.

Re: "collating information for updates" I guess I was thinking about a way to share/collaborate on designing. I can read your GoogleDocs form but I cant amend or otherwise contribute to it. Adobe (and others too) have a platform for teams to revise a common document (keeping all versions) - in the case of you form I would have placed a region/state type field second and a language field third - if I could have made that addition in real time it would have saved a lengthy explanation for which (if you were in agreement) you (not me) would then have to make the changes. Although I know the possibilities exist (even I think within GoogleDocs) I also know that personally I have to do things the slow way - only because my dialup connection makes anything else impractical.

As for choosing your team - that seems a sensible approach. The reason I asked was because I have tried (with limited success) to bringing together some of the non-winning concepts from the Social Impact Challenge at http://www.experiment.vacau.com as a possible resource to complement OpenIDEO. I have just discovered a bug that needs ironing out and the site is still a work in progress. Since I have taken about 2 months to develop it to this stage I'm not in any rush for comments but having a few users on the site would be useful, so I launched it on the OpenIDEO forums the other day to see if there was any interest.

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