List of Ideas

Trying to come up with a list of ideas was not easy considering things that have already been done. Also trying to connect with people that don't normally give and to be able to persuade them to start practicing generosity did not come easily. I had to start thinking big. Gandhi and Mother Theresa big. So my ideas were quite absurd but I didn't want to filter. So here it is:

-A coffee cup campaign that takes pictures from downloads on an installed application on normal people desktops.

-An interactive notebook that can be carried in the pocket to record emotional responses to bad situations.

-A exhibit where a bucket of needles are used to quantify the problem

-A exhibit where it puts the audience in the place of the underprivileged

-A Documentary on poverty and needs.

-A book of Quotes

-A Campaign utilizing the bandwagon effect so you feel part of something (eg. live strong, nike human race, civic nation..) maybe join the FIGHT for humanity. A war against human atrocity.

-A document on people of Low income that contribute to charities though they have nothing (eliminating the excuse of no time/money for middle and upper income societies)

-A GIANT list of atrocities in the world. 

-A giant globe coloured to represent different atrocities

-A free magazine show casing different causes every month that is publicly distributed

-A website that you can upload cellphone photos to on atrocities around the world.

-A conceptual approach on how people in developing countries have to pick lesser of two evils to survive (ie. sweatshops/ricefields) and how to help.

-A map quantifying the density of wealth. (making the rich feel small in relation to the rest of the world)

-A touchscreen exhibit on a busy street corner (ie. robson) that is big. interacting with google earth and its causes filter to bring up giant pictures of causes around the globe and can be continually changing.

-A bus stop that has a projection of people in another country fighting for survival or the burning of the forests etc...

... these are my preliminary ideas since last week. I'll be posting more tonight and probably tomorrow. So far I'm fond of the interactive display window with google earth and images. If this is a possibility I have talked to a friend who can get me touch film and can also talk to unicef or redcross to use a big window and google earth to see if i can collaborate to make the project happen for real. I think the scale of the images and the shock value of different causes combined with the changing content would make this exhibition last a while and stop people on the streets at least to get them to think about charities.

new inspiration

After my last meeting with Tak i had to take a day or two off to reassess my situation. It seems that i have been too caught up in the organization part of charity. A terrible reality filter that i put every idea through minimized my concepts to very few 'good' options, and as pointed out were not great options.

I watched a phenomenal film at TED.com on James Nachtwey and 20 years of his work in documentry photography and it really hit the heart strings. I need to get closer to the human spirit. I think that's what my project will be for this weekend. It's frustrating and so easy to get trapped in the pragmatics of the project and to have my imagination curbed by this. I'll just have to blame it on sitting in a cubicle and suffering from cubicoma all summer. Time to get the heart started again.

what to do?

So i've decided to put my efforts into creating something that will encourage people to practice generosity but what is this form? It needs to catch the attention of those that would not normally give and cause them to start giving.

The triggers seem to be hard to isolate. Imagery that seems compelling seems to get some people while others may not be swayed by images. It seems that this will probably be a two part problem.

1. engaging the audience somehow
2. encouraging the practice of generosity

by achieving these two things i believe i will have fulfilled the requirements that were outlined by my proposal.

Initial visual research that seems to spark generosity are images that are more shocking (9-11) world trade center bombings, developing country poverty, natural disasters such as earthquakes and tsunamis. Is this what is needed to push people over the edge? does it really have to be this gruesome? seems quite sad.

quotes

"We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. Bur if that drop was not in the ocean, I think the ocean would be less because of that missing drop."

- Mother Theresa

Practice generosity

From the meeting with Don and research I have done I have concluded that there is a term that overarches all the motivations for giving and that is behaviour. Through some of the studies conducted that much of the people that DO give are practicing giving in one form or another. Churches expect you to give on a regular occasion, mothers and fathers give to their children, some people tip, some people, invest in social charities but what they all have in common is that people who donate practice giving.

This brings me to a new problem. How do you get someone that has never given to practice giving? some ideas right off the top of my head initially are immersing someone in that practice. giving them the opportunity to give. or having it pointed out to them. Setting up a soup kitchen so that people can share in the experience.

The other word of the day is also SHARING not just what you're taught when you were young but BEING AWARE that you are giving something you have invested time or money into. Charities sometimes, some say, are a bit degrading because it is said that it lowers the persons self-esteem or belittles the receiver, whereas sharing puts you on the status. It may be a difference in semantics but it is of important due to the exposure one receives from sharing the experience and being able to empathize also increasing the investment of the charity.

Any ideas on how to make people START practicing the action of giving would be appreciated.

catagories of giving

I've realized that the reasons for giving between different countries are very different due to the varying perspectives of people and the cultural differences around it. Most people in Vancouver have said that it is to 'make yourself feel better' more like a kind of karma. With the second reason being religious values.

I was recently reading a book Why the Wealthy Give, it was amazing to me that some of the reason why people give is also because of social status. It is almost implicit that if you are wealthy that you must give in some form or another and not to do so is a taboo because you have excess now and are not just trying to get by. Some of the wealthy actually will switch charities if they do not get on the board of trustees for a certain cause. Seems a little appalling. Charities and most books on charities seem to come down to one thing: MONEY, and as much of it as you can get. I have not read of much yet that deals with investing time or for lack of better words 'self' into the cause.

In the book 'iceberg philanthropy' the authors group donors into a couple of groups. tippers, donor, and investors. These terms are pretty self explanatory and most people are grouped into the bottom half with the goal being to convert donors into investors. Now there is an interesting idea that this form of charity when investors are at the helm become 'viral' that is anyone that comes into contact with these people become infected with the cause. They call the spreaders 'sneezers' and it would be interesting to apply this concept not so much on the monetary side as for the cause side. 

A conversation I had with a friend produced an interesting result. That is she was volunteering her time because someone she trusted asked her. a 'sneezer' and she would probably do it again. This time volunteering bypasses the monetary stage and goes straight to the cause stage. I will be thinking about this incident during my concept and development stages. 

Grad Project - Why we give

This is my first post for my grad project which already seems daunting yet exciting because should I arrive at a suitable solution the implications could be vast and may benefit the community around me. I have decided to work on the effectiveness of charity organizations and their approach to the audience. There seems to be a disparateness between the cause and the audience with the charity facilitating the aid. I believe that the audience is not being effectively targeted due to the lack of understanding in 'why we give'. I have begun research and the following seems to be a partial factor: 

guilt

religion

feeling good about oneself

altruism

I have purchased a voice recorder and am conducting primary and secondary research on theories on charity and empathy currently.

any feedback would be appreciated! Oh and there's my POLL to the SIDE tell me what you think! >>>>>