Innovation Incubator

1) This is basically already done at wikimapia? I know I was able to tag restaurants in my college town and home town and even my own college house...

2) This is probably the best idea I've looked at so far.

3) Our group had a similar idea, but we feared inaccuracy in this, which may put people's lives or their families in the hands of online users.

4)I like the idea of adding this to a google map applications. Sounds similar the Chicago Crime Web sites.

5) I don't really understand this one. I'd like a better explination.

Jordan (and others), regarding #5, check out the Sunlight Foundation and some of their work.

1)Localwiki seems cool, especially the integration of the google map. This could obviously take on a news function as well, with citizen journalists producing wiki articles with the action located on the map. Would it work like wikipedia - with a panel reviewing the submissions, etc? As with all google maps (or similar apps) the question is how to pull it off technologically. Would users create their own marker, and then be able to edit within the dialog box?

2)letterwritingapp - another solid idea that seems to provide users with a channel of communication with community leaders, etc... Would the app be able to find the correct senators, local leaders, etc... to send the letters to? That, to me, would be the real value: composing an open letter without worrying about who all you have to send it to.

3)Useful tool for some, but would the digital divide (still a real issue among those other than just uninsured college students) limit the potential exposure of the targeted audience?

4)A tool to help the reluctant or unskilled participate is a good idea. The "madlib" analogy is too simple though, the idea need fleshing out.

5)Would be handy as a tool for journalists, who would then be able to provide the necessary context to make the numbers speak.

1.) Two things: not seeing that this is overly innovative or original. With it's current description, I agree with Jordan: too close to what's out there. Without some amazing embellishment, I wouldn't say it's your strongest idea. Secondly, great for a large geographic ear but being from a small town and doing to a small college, the use for me is minimal to none.

2.) I like it. And unlike anything else out there. One question, though. I undertand it's use to senators, editors, etcs, but why friends? Isn't that what email is for? I think it needs a distinction ... but in the realm of "professionalism" it has it's place.

3.) Trust me, I spent many hours grappling over this idea in our group before we scrapped it for several reasons. One was that we were trying to undo an incredibly corrupt system. In order to make these databases, you would be relying on too much information from these healthcare sources, and who is to say it's true? And we deciced there would be some reluctancy for them to release it. And we don't want to be messing with lives. We found some different, and neat, map applications out there outside of the Goole Map API, so let me know if you go with this one ...

4.) I like this, it's creative, and again, unlike anything else out there. But sometimes don't you need more than the 5 w's? If this app can be made truly reliable, it's a great source and embraced citizen journalism. This site needs monitoring to maintain its credibility. I think in this day in age there is something to say for "multiple eye witness" reports, and this escapes that.

5.) I looked at this links and to be honest, still don't understand this. I believe in tracking political officials, and think this would encourage involvement to a level. On the other hand, it seems those who want to be politically invovled would already know who their elected reps were (reference to the Sunlight Founation). If you want to maintain contact with government officais, I think you're better off with the letter writing app.

1). This is interesting. ould there be any news outlets sponsoring or adding information or stories? Should there be? I think there should really more more structure, where users are presented with a traditional story. Who is to say the wiki info is correct? No news organization would tie there name to a site which might house inaccurate info.

2) I guess I don't really get why this is different than e-mail. Or, what it has to do with news, rather than local politics. If there was some information in traditional news form tacked to the top of a page, perhaps?

3) This is a very interesting idea! It's very specific, I liek that. Would the people searching for health care be computer savy? Something to consider...

4) Another group had a smililar idea. I was thinking that legaly, who would be blamed when the first libel suit came? The citizen or the news agency? News organizations' legal teams would have a harm time okaying this, maybe.

5) On this, I'm sorry to say, I nead a little bit of a better explination...

Brian (from A, Awesome)

1. Yeah. I've got to agree with it being mostly like WikiMapia. If you were to go ahead with it, it might actually work due to people's visiting a bigger news site than some little one.

2. Could we read others' letters? Otherwise, I'm sure this would be great, so long as Digg didn't get a hold of it.

3.
(A) http://www.healthcarethatworks.org/maps/nyc/

(B) http://www.healthmap.org/

(C) Make them better

(D) And you will need to load a lot of data into this.

(E) So be careful.

4. Will people really only want to fill this in? Wouldn't they want to do more than just typing a few things? However, the level of simplicity is startlingly lovable. I think that something will have to be added after the novelty wears off, though. Users can some how manage to gain more options in their articles' writing, maybe?

5. After collecting the debris from my exploding brain, I concur that this is just phenomenal. I ... can't even begin to describe how many door this would open for citizens and politicians and journalists. Do it. (Oh, yes, it might require a bit of FOIA, eh?)

Brian (from A, Awesome)

1. Yeah. I've got to agree with it being mostly like WikiMapia. If you were to go ahead with it, it might actually work due to people's visiting a bigger news site than some little one.

2. Could we read others' letters? Otherwise, I'm sure this would be great, so long as Digg didn't get a hold of it.

3.
(A) http://www.healthcarethatworks.org/maps/nyc/

(B) http://www.healthmap.org/

(C) Make them better

(D) And you will need to load a lot of data into this.

(E) So be careful.

4. Will people really only want to fill this in? Wouldn't they want to do more than just typing a few things? However, the level of simplicity is startlingly lovable. I think that something will have to be added after the novelty wears off, though. Users can some how manage to gain more options in their articles' writing, maybe?

5. After collecting the debris from my exploding brain, I concur that this is just phenomenal. I ... can't even begin to describe how many door this would open for citizens and politicians and journalists. Do it. (Oh, yes, it might require a bit of FOIA, eh?)

Brian (from A, Awesome)

1. Yeah. I've got to agree with it being mostly like WikiMapia. If you were to go ahead with it, it might actually work due to people's visiting a bigger news site than some little one.

2. Could we read others' letters? Otherwise, I'm sure this would be great, so long as Digg didn't get a hold of it.

3.
(A) http://www.healthcarethatworks.org/maps/nyc/

(B) http://www.healthmap.org/

(C) Make them better

(D) And you will need to load a lot of data into this.

(E) So be careful.

4. Will people really only want to fill this in? Wouldn't they want to do more than just typing a few things? However, the level of simplicity is startlingly lovable. I think that something will have to be added after the novelty wears off, though. Users can some how manage to gain more options in their articles' writing, maybe?

5. After collecting the debris from my exploding brain, I concur that this is just phenomenal. I ... can't even begin to describe how many doors this would open for citizens and politicians and journalists. Do it. (Oh, yes, it might require a bit of FOIA, eh?)

I think that this application and be a wonderful tool for real estate agents. It might also be a good tool for someone who's looking for new home. It could give the person who's buying a home in certain community A of a community's history. Hopefully, a lot of the information obtained comes from reliable sources such as newspapers history books and I witness accounts.

Idea two
I'm not quite sure what this does. Is in an application that just forwards mail. What about this is allowing it to send mail to their local politicians? Doesn't have the listing of all politicians in the area and a listing of news editors?

Idea three
We had a very similar idea. What you mean by good treatment? I'm assuming your talking about free Health Care or maybe a sliding scale. Allow the information be needed on the site such as hours, accepted insurance, etc. A nice feature might be paperwork from each hospital. The two can fill out your house and have are ready when you arrive.

Idea four
I think the overall it's a good idea one problem is if they've witnessed something so the important why does in the journalist just interviewed them? I also think that would be very hard to make a program that could sort out the, who, what, when, and why. It's quite possible that this might be the way people are interviewed. But a program that sorts context might be a little farfetched right now.

I think it's a cool idea I'd like to see exactly who was influencing who. I think it might force politicians to be more honest. In shed light on a lot of their hidden agendas. My only concern is I hope that what was running as would not give influenced by someone and stop publishing the complete truth. This is my favorite idea.

1. What sort of focus would this wiki take? There is SO much information available about a geographical area.

2. I really like this idea, but it needs to be marketed correctly and be very professional.

3. Are there enough free clinics in a given area to make it worthwhile? And would the audience be 'connected' enough to make it worthwhile?

4. I like this idea - it's something we are considering as part of our own concept.

5. Is this more one story, or would it be something that people would check on a frequent basis?

1. I don't know wikimapia, but this seems cool. I'm not sure it would be something to check every day, if that's ever a concern.

2. This a pretty sweet idea, I just wouldn't know how to sell it as "delivering a new form of news."

3. As the other kids from Voltron have said, this one is just tricky. They all have more to say about it.

4. I think this idea may be sort of irresponsible. Plus I can't imagine how this create-your-own-story works- "____ happened _____ at _____"?

5. This a very cool idea, especially posting resumes. Gathering the information may be the most difficult part.

Jenna (UNLV Group/Team C)

Hello KU Group...I already personally e-mailed feedback to Chris who is in my team, but for the sake of argument here goes;)

1.) This idea is really hyper-local and I think that online news works the best when it is hyper-local and not just random and national...
2.) This idea is really practical, but I'm out on the whole facebook application thing. My group had an idea similar to this and like I said earlier it is practical, but not entirely "innovative."
3.) This idea reflected how hyper-local your number one idea was too. I really like the way your group incorporates niche markets into their ideas such as health services...so often news reports on problems without actual solutions for communities...
4.) This idea is, in my opinion, the best idea as far as "innovative" goes. It involves the community and makes citizen journalism possible. This would be a great section to add to a local newspaper's site. I like it a lot...
5.) The is a great tool for citizens, but a really full proof way for journalists to do their job in the political beat. I really think an idea that fully benefits the journalist and reader is the best way to go...

***Pretty much all of your ideas use databases...good one;)

~Jenna

Jenna (UNLV Group/Team C)

Hello KU Group...I already personally e-mailed feedback to Chris who is in my team, but for the sake of argument here goes;)

1.) This idea is really hyper-local and I think that online news works the best when it is hyper-local and not just random and national...
2.) This idea is really practical, but I'm out on the whole facebook application thing. My group had an idea similar to this and like I said earlier it is practical, but not entirely "innovative."
3.) This idea reflected how hyper-local your number one idea was too. I really like the way your group incorporates niche markets into their ideas such as health services...so often news reports on problems without actual solutions for communities...
4.) This idea is, in my opinion, the best idea as far as "innovative" goes. It involves the community and makes citizen journalism possible. This would be a great section to add to a local newspaper's site. I like it a lot...
5.) The is a great tool for citizens, but a really full proof way for journalists to do their job in the political beat. I really think an idea that fully benefits the journalist and reader is the best way to go...

***Pretty much all of your ideas use databases...good one;)

~Jenna

1) This idea is very similar to a couple of my team’s ideas, and as I’ve done more research it has come to my attention that this idea on its own isn’t very original. However, this description is pretty vague and you could really set it apart by working on the details.

2) I like this idea because I’m the kind of person who has strong political opinions but never does anything about. The only question I have about this service is: will politicians take the feedback through this system seriously?

3) I’ve seen similar ideas to this one on other team’s blogs. I’m from New Zealand where healthcare is free, and every year I go back there to do all my major check ups, so this is an issue I really can’t help you with.

4) As a journalism student I would love this app, and I’m sure the majority of those in the journalism community will appreciate it. But what about the general public? What will draw them to your service?

5) I really like this idea but I have 2 questions: is this information available to the public? Will parties cooperate with this service?

2. Love the idea of being able to see a list of all the letters written to congress or other influential people. Might take alot of cooperation from writers and receivers because it may be personal. (I hope i understood that right)
3. Similar things have been done with things like citysearch. What makes this different? I understand that the babyboomers are getting old but maybe there is another way to reach them.
4. creepy in its simplicity, realistic?
5. I can't imagine how truly transparent this would make our society! It is an incredible idea! Citizen journalism, and gatekeeping! I love it. Goodluck pulling it off.

1. kind of broad, might want to specify how this would work more narrowly. I know you can add tags and stuff to google earth and there are websites that let you find out different things about building or historic locations or whatever. is this just info about the locations or will it include recent news as well?

2. seems slightly old-school. is mass letter writing really an efficient way of creating change anymore? seem like these days you need to make your comments or whatever in public from a loud platform, preferably with some financial backing to hire lobbyists and PACs, in order to get heard above the noise.

3. Well, i dont think there are very many free clinics around these days. doing this kind of thing might actually overwhelm the few that are out there. it would bring more attention to our healthcare problem though so it might work pretty good in letting people see how things are right now. i think you need to do more than just provide locations though.

4. seems like it might create hyper plural situation where every little event is covered by 100 different people. if each story was unique and about different things then it might work but you have to figure out what would constitute news here? and how would people be able to sort it out on the consumer side? I dont want to sort my own way through 50 useless (to me) stories to get to an interesting one.

5. well the problem with this is that it can be kind of hard to track exactly where money comes from and where it goes on a per candidate or office-holder level. i can figure out that GM gave 11 million dollars to some PAC who gave money to some lobbyist firm who donated to some politician's campaign but how do i know if that money that ended up with that politician is from GM and not one of the 300 other contributers to the PAC? opensecrets.org is also doing something similar but it also cant get too specific since that kind of transperency is not required right now. it is cool to see who your neighbors are contributing to though- which can be done at opensecrets.

anyways good luck with the project ya bastards.

Hey all,

Sorry for the tardiness of my comments. . . but better late than never. So without further adieu:

1. The Localwiki: I am a little confused about this one. I like the general idea of getting people to post local news, events, info or whatever, but I worry about a couple of things. Who authenticates the posts? How would you get people to use the site initially? Is this site done by region, zip code, city etc. . ? Is it all one site or is it hosted by someone else? I like the idea of reader supplied news, as I've mentioned in other blogs, but I think these questions need to be answered before I can get too interested.

2. How is this really different from normal e-mail? Right now, all you're offering is a roli-dex of names and e-mail address (would you have to personally add each one in too?) To me, this idea just doesn't have enough to it to make is a viable contender. Unless there's something catchier about it, I don't know how much potential it has.

3. The health care tracker has a lot more umph to it. You've got a very real and growing demographic and a service they can use. How would this work? Would you, as the creator's, rate these places and services as you added them into the system? Would you pare with a company that already does rating in this sector? I would suggest a place for users to leave comments on the care they received from different places. This might require a moderator, but would be a good way to vouch for your ratings. You might consider paring with a social network like carepages.com. They offer a way for someone who is in the hospital or ill to send regular updates to family and friends. They might have a section for places too, but I'm not sure.

4.Citizen journalist applications are interesting. To be honest with you, having someone just throw something onto a website and call it reporting is scary to me, and not just because my job is being outsourced. What about credibility? How can you authenticate what is put on by this application? Who makes that call? Is the application posting things on it's own site or through other news sites? I need more on this idea before I can really understand it.

5. I like this idea. It's got an investigative bent to it, but I feel like it's the example for your idea rather than an idea itself. Could you design an application that would do this with larger stories or more broad issues? I feel like that would be more useful than just this one story line. Is this an application? Who puts in the information or decides what is connected? Do you envision this being used by existing news organizations or as its own new entity? Flesh it out a little more.

Hope these were helpful!

1. Interesting, I just don't see myself using it for my own town.

2. I think politically active groups like churches offer a simpler form letter so it sounds like an expanded version of a current idea. I'd use this one.

3. This needs a bit more explanation, I'm unclear.

4. The idea fits more into a broadcasting setting where the news stories are as pigeon-holed as fill in the blank in a general story concept. I'm not sure that citizen journalists would respond to it or people would read it if it were this cookie-cutter.

5. Great idea! If this information were more popular, the voters would retake control.

1. Interesting, I just don't see myself using it for my own town.

2. I think politically active groups like churches offer a simpler form letter so it sounds like an expanded version of a current idea. I'd use this one.

3. This needs a bit more explanation, I'm unclear.

4. The idea fits more into a broadcasting setting where the news stories are as pigeon-holed as fill in the blank in a general story concept. I'm not sure that citizen journalists would respond to it or people would read it if it were this cookie-cutter.

5. Great idea! If this information were more popular, the voters would retake control.

1. Interesting, I just don't see myself using it for my own town.

2. I think politically active groups like churches offer a simpler form letter so it sounds like an expanded version of a current idea. I'd use this one.

3. This needs a bit more explanation, I'm unclear.

4. The idea fits more into a broadcasting setting where the news stories are as pigeon-holed as fill in the blank in a general story concept. I'm not sure that citizen journalists would respond to it or people would read it if it were this cookie-cutter.

5. Great idea! If this information were more popular, the voters would retake control.