US Government offers 1 million dollars for protective suit against Ebola

25

October

2014

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ebola-suit-1

An Internet crowdsourcing initiative from the United States Agency for International Development (Usaid) offers $1 million for the best, novel design for an anti-contamination suit for healthcare workers fighting the Ebola outbreak.

Ebola is a disease that can spread rapidly through bodily fluids. According to the World Health Organization the most infectious fluids are blood, faeces and vomit, although the virus has also been detected in breast milk, urine and semen. The virus can also be transmitted indirectly, through contact contaminated objects and surfaces.

More and more workers are getting infected, despite the strict measures. That is why the Usaid started the initiative called ‘’Fighting Ebola: A Grand Challenge for Development.’ Usaid is searching for the best anti-contamination suit for healthcare workers who are fighting the Ebola outbreak. They are also looking for suits that provide cooling shields given the humid conditions in Africa and suits that are designed to be reusable. Each successful design accepted by the agency is capable of being awarded $1 million, ahead of any production run.

Many of the personal protection suits are usable one-time only and when they are thrown away without proper care, they increase the risk of accidental contamination.

Today (25 October 2014) there are more than then thousand people infected with Ebola all around the world. Already 4.992 people died, because of this virus. Especially Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone are heavily affected. There is still no medication against the virus, it is therefore important that the virus does not spread further.

Do you think crowdsourcing is a good idea to find the best anti-contamination suit for healthcare workers fighting the Ebola outbreak?

References:

http://web.orange.co.uk/article/news/us_turns_to_web_crowdsourcing_to_fight_ebola

http://www.nu.nl/buitenland/3912159/ruim-tienduizend-mensen-besmet-met-ebola.html

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/ebola-usaid-offers-more-half-million-pounds-best-design-protective-suit-1469594

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2788103/america-turns-web-crowdsourcing-fight-ebola-internet-hackers-try-cash-crisis-scam-emails.html

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Project Marilyn, an Open Source Cancer Research

18

October

2014

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When I was looking for more information about peer production and open source, I came across a very interesting article. This article is about a project to fight cancer. Did you know that one out of three people will get cancer in their lifetime?

Isaac Yonemoto came up with a solution. This solution is the development of unpatented drugs. These drugs should be sold by pharmaceutical companies for a reasonable price, so that these drugs will become accessible to everyone. The open source software and industry has already proved that patents are not necessary for innovation. Without patent, the drugs are less expensive and it is easier to develop better drugs.

This video will tell you briefly what the project is about:

The Marilyn Project

Marilyn Project is an open source project for developing a cure for cancer. This drug is patent free. You can support this research by donating money or bitcoins. A xenograft experiment will be funded with this money. Xenograft means the transplantation of living cells, tissues or organs from one species to another. Yonemoto can further develop the promising anti-cancer compound 9DS because of this xenograft experiment. This experiment needs to be completed before 9DS can move on to clinical trials. All the data is published online on the site http://www.indysci.org.

9DS

9DS was developed by Barbare Gerratana, a researcher at the University of Maryland. When she took a job at National Institute of Health, she was unable to continue her work. Because she had already published her research without any patent, big pharmaceutical companies were unlikely to sponsor it. However, this unpatented work does have an advantage. Because it was never patented, this work is now in the public domain. Now anyone can work on it, as in open source software. Yonemoto came across this research and continued her work.

Budget

The plan of Yonemoto is to spend the donations on scientific expenses such as materials to produce 9DS. You can see the total budget on the site (http://pledge.indysci.org/liberate-pharmaceuticals). Anyone can donate through money or bitcoins, but also by buying gifts like a coffee mug or t-shirt. It is a type of crowdfunding. Today (18 October 2014) the counter is $ 33.519 of $ 50.000. There are 10 days left.

The question is whether this project will really work. What do you think? Will Yonemoto get the required budget? Or do you think people do not want to donate to an open source project? Would you like to donate yourself? In addition, do you think open source projects like this really work? Let me know!

References:

The Man on a Quest to Open-Source Cancer Research

http://pledge.indysci.org/liberate-pharmaceuticals

http://groups.molbiosci.northwestern.edu/holmgren/Glossary/Definitions/Def-X/Xenograft.html

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Online Social Networks

2

October

2014

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Nowadays, almost everyone uses online social networks. Many people present themselves through the use of these networks and stay in touch with their own network of friends, family and acquaintances. Not only individuals, but also companies are using these online social networks for different purposes.

The first article is from Boyd and Ellison (2007): ‘Social network sites: Definition, history, and scholarship.’ This article begins with a definition of social network sites: web-based services that allow individuals to construct a public or semi-public profile within a bounded system, articulate a list of other users with whom they share a connection, and view and traverse their list of connections and those made by others within the system. This article also discusses the history of social network services and survey research that is directly concerned with social network sites. This SNS research focused on impression management and friendship performance, networks and network structure, online/offline connections and privacy issues.

The second article is from Borgatti et al (2009): ‘Network analysis in the social sciences.’ This article reviews the kind of things that social scientists have tried to explain using social network analysis. The potent idea in social sciences is that individuals are embedded in a network of social relations and interactions. Social network theory provides an answer to how autonomous individuals can combine to create enduring, functioning societies. This article organizes and simplifies this body of theory on the basis of various subjects, which are: type of ties, the importance of structure, research questions and theoretical mechanisms.

The third article is from Kaufmann, Li and Heck (2010): ‘Business network-based value creation in electronic commerce.’ This article discusses the circumstances under which value is created in business networks made possible by information technologies. Based on different theories, the article discusses propositions about network formation, demand and stability. In addition, the article discusses multiple case examples of the travel and hospitality industry. These cases function as evidence for the propositions.

The fourth article is from Cheung et al (2011): ‘Online social networks: Why do students use facebook?’ This article explores the factors that cause students to use online social networks (e.g. Facebook). The we-intention, social influence theory, the use and gratifications paradigm and social presence theory are used as theoretical background. The article also discusses five values, which are: purposive value, self-discovery, maintaining interpersonal interconnectivity, social enhancement and entertainment value. The results show that social presence has the strongest impact on the We-Intention to use Facebook. Group norms also have a significant influence on We-Intention to use Facebook. Only maintaining interpersonal interconnectivity, social enhancement and entertainment value are found to be significant.

The mini-cases examples about Best Buy’s CEO Dunn (2010) and Dell written by Strom (2012) show that companies can make good use of online social networks. For instance, they can use it to engage their customers. Dell handles the online social networking better than Best Buy. They even started they own Social Media and Community University to teach their employees about the use of social media.

References:

Borgatti, S.P., Mehra, A., Brass, D.J., and Labianca, G. 2009. Network analysis in the social sciences. Science 323(5916) 892-895.

Boyd, D.M., and Ellison, N.B. 2007. Social network sites: Definition, history, and scholarship. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 13(1) 210–230.

Cheung, C. M., Chiu, P. Y., & Lee, M. K. 2011. Online social networks: Why do students use facebook?. Computers in Human Behavior, 27(4), 1337-1343.

Dunn, B. J. 2010. Best Buy’s CEO on learning to love social media. Harvard Business Review.

Kauffman, R.J., Li, T., and Heck, E. 2010. Business network-based value creation in electronic commerce. International Journal of Electronic Commerce 15(1) 111-142.

Strom, D. 2012. How Dell Trained 9,000 on Social Media. Tom’s IT Pro. (Available at: http://www.tomsitpro.com/articles/social_media_training-dell_SMaC_U-social_media_and_community_university,2-330-3.html)

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Facebook is watching you

9

September

2014

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Facebook Messenger

Nowadays almost everyone uses Facebook. You can use it to like photos, upload videos and to chat with people around the world. Now it isn’t possible to chat on you mobile phone through the normal Facebook app anymore. You need to download the Facebook Messenger app to chat with your friends. It turns out, that this is not without any danger.

That Facebook doesn’t care about the privacy of their users is nothing new. The social medium was often seen in the news about their dubious privacy policy, but now Facebook goes a step further with the new Facebook Messenger app. Some examples:

  • The app can edit, receive and read your text messages.
  • The app can read your own contacts.
  • The app can make phone calls without your permission.
  • The app can record sound from the microphone.
  • The app can take photos and videos with the camera.
  • The app can access your call history, including data about incoming and outgoing calls.

It is clear that if you use this app, you do not have any privacy anymore. Facebook comes up with a reaction, saying that they ask for similar permissions that many other messaging systems ask for. They are also saying that there is confusion about the permission requests because Android uses a different language to describe them.

That’s easy to say, but it is still questionable. Many people install the app without looking at the permissions and can now be overheard by Facebook.

The question is, will you continue to use the Facebook Messenger app? I believe Facebook is going too far this time. I removed the app right away.

Sources:

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