As the semester progresses, we’ll use this space to collect the tools and techniques described by classmates during “Make Us Smart” presentations.
Week 1
Telling stories with data: how to use open source mapping tools to help your organization tell its story for cheap. Specific resources:
- TileMill: http://mapbox.com/tilemill/
- NPR Census Map: http://www.npr.org/censusmap/#4.00/39.00/-84.00
- A Wider Circle Map: http://data.awidercircle.org
Week 2
Experiences and insights from Philipp and MobileWorks. Slides available here.
Specific resources:
- MobileWorks: http://www.mobileworks.com/
- MechanicalTurk: http://www.mturk.com/
- Samasource: http://www.samasource.org
Week 3
Angel presented an introduction to Skillshare, an online platform for learning and teaching in the offline world. A few notes from Angel: the average class costs around $20; Skillshare shaves a 15 percent fee from the cost of the class; and some teachers are able to make upward of $1,000 per class that they teach through the site.
- Skillshare: http://www.skillshare.com/
Week 4
More ideas and More Feedback from Kari. See his blog post here for tools and techniques related to rapid prototyping and remote user testing.
Week 5
Please see Lena’s blog post on “smarchiving” and “crowdfunding”.
Week 6
Andrew presented on Stackoverflow and Quora, Q&A platforms that can be used as fantastic technical resources.
- StackOverflow: http://www.stackoverflow.com
- Quora: http://www.quora.com
Week 7
In his presentation (available here: Make Us Smart – Travis [pdf]), Travis offers a look at behavioral change and technology. He covers applications that help motivate individuals to improve their fitness and overall health.
Week 8
Brendan presented on microfinance and the way that Kiva leverages information technologies and data to drive engagement. Brendan’s slides can be found here [pdf].
- Kiva: http://www.kiva.org
Week 9
Darya presented a new generation of online fashion sites that engage users to create new looks, foster community, and enable new forms of interaction. Her slides are available here.
- Polyvore: http://www.polyvore.com/
Week 10
Casey presented on digital publishing and the various formats and models available to book publishers today. His slides are available here.
Week 11
Thomas presented on a form of “Weather Gambling”. His ignite style talk covered Climate Corporation, a new service for gambling on weather events. Or, as they put it, “total weather insurance”. His slides are available here: I290_MUS_TCM_v0.
Week 12
Prayag presented on raising funds in Silicon Valley. He offered a number of thoughts on startup incubators, traditional funding rounds, and other avenues to purse as you seek funding. His presentation is available here.
Week 13
Ariel presented a fitness app he developed in 2009 and a modern day equivalent, www.strava.com. The theme of his presentation was opportunity recognition: how do you know when your idea is venture-worthy?