一封来自哈佛学生的邮件

今天收到一封电子邮件，大概意思是一个哈佛的本科生在找其他学生一起做个项目。基本上是为那个“每个孩子一台笔记本电脑”的第三世界扶贫项目所采用的廉价笔记本电脑写软件。他首先是参访了大约全世界100多个发展中国家的几万人，譬如柬埔寨或者喀麦隆的老师。然后想写一个软件能够记录这些人会经常遇到的问题，然后提供一个有针对性的解决方案数据库。 他还把这套东西放到网站congolop上去.


我很喜欢这种考虑很长远，为他人考虑的方法。能教人不自私，胸怀远大，感于尝试。将来送妮妮去哈佛上本科吧

原信如下

I am a junior Harvard undergraduate. This summer my crew and I asked the world to describe their personal experiences with local issues. Over 126 countries answered. Over 20,000 profiles received. Please enjoy this report which illustrates 15 compelling examples: http://www.congolop.com/10_Finalists/congolop.booklet.v5.pdf

We wrote an application for the One-Laptop-Per-Child devices. A partner organized a similar competition at 3 schools in South Africa. We are pursuing further cooperation.

We want to dial this up! Help us think BIG!!! Some incredible peers working with me. One of which graduates and plans to work full time. If you are interested, please email: umar@fas.harvard.edu. Include why you are interested. We'll then set up a meal.

There is lots to do. We are now organizing an issue and solution competition on "enabling access" to the internet worldwide. Key questions we hope to answer: How do people around the world connect to the internet? How do problems with internet connection affect their life and those around them? Are their solutions?

Our Rough Elevator Pitch:

Do you know of 20,000 local problems around the world? Congolop lets you wear the shoes of a Congolese student. Or wear the shoes of a biology teacher in Cameroon. We believe that to solve an issue one needs to listen to locals and the community. Congolop challenged the world Summer 2008 to describe their personal experiences with local issues. 126 countries answered. Awareness groups are eager to sponsor focused worldwide competitions. These grow our content. Congolop aspires to solve local issues worldwide similarly. Awareness groups are eager to sponsor worldwide solution competitions. Congolop employs novel machine learning techniques to match solutions with issues. Congolop ultimately invests in experiments of solutions to create visible impact.