Welcome to the World Mind Network.

Our name comes from our central metaphor: the notion that the planet is looking more and more like a gigantic brain because of the processing power and interconnectedness created by Web 2.0 and mobile tools.

We are an international organization which is devoted to using the latest Internet technologies to creatively address issues of sustainability, climate change, education in the developing world, cultural preservation, and pure research in ways which are entirely new, and yet recently proven. We have found that there are ways of doing this which are far easier and quicker than most people realize, due to the combined power of Facebook, Skype, YouTube, Yahoo Groups, webcams, texting, MySpace, online press releases, article submitters, all the Google apps, Collaborative mind mapping, Twitter, Diigo, blogs, wikis, iPhones, Blackberries, etc. <br /> <br /> Few people are aware of this. Why? If they're over 25, it's often because they are not familiar with these technologies. If they're UNDER 25, often they're very adept with the tools, but they use them largely for personal communication or entertainment. Most people have not yet realized that when you demand the most of these things, and use them in concert with each other, you can start to bring about social, environmental, and cultural change very quickly and without much effort, compared to the way things have been done traditionally. <br /> <p style=" text-align:="" />

Throughout human history, there has been a time lag between the invention of a new technology and its ultimate uses. As Emerson said "The compass was once a toy".
It took hundreds of years until its use in navigation was discovered. The automobile was a rich man's plaything for 25 years after its invention. The airplane was invented in 1903, but commercial aviation didn't begin until the 1930's

Similarly, Web 2.0 tools, which to a large degree arose around 2004, are still used largely for trivial purposes. These technologies are enormously capable, but they are still used mainly for gossip, for video games, for sharing vacation pictures, for creating silly videos of fraternity pranks, for 'poking' friends, for promoting amateur garage bands, and the like.

We're not against those things. We do them sometimes. But we have also discovered that the capacity of these tools to build community, to do research, to enlighten, educate, and inform, and to effect humanitarian aid is almost unexplored.

Over the last year we have developed a 'template', or formula, for how to set up and energize a disaster relief effort, an academic research project, a fair trade enterprise, an online 'think tank', or a humanitarian project in just a few hours, using Web 2.0 technologies.

The formula has many variations, but most look something like this:

1. Design a project to answer a need, sometimes using collaborative Mind Mapping software (MindMeister.com, Comapping.com, etc.)

2. Start social networks devoted to the undertaking on Facebook, Ning, Wetpaint, Orkut, Bebo, Grono, Passado, Imeem, MySpace, Hyves, Minglebox, Hi5, and others.

3. Write an article describing the program and submit it to online article directories.

4. Send out press releases to services like PRWeb, MassMediaDistribution, PRFree, Majon, RushPR, Arrivenet, UKPressBox, eReleases, eWorldWire, etc.

5. Start a socially responsive website devoted to the project on Ning, Wetpaint, or Diigo.


After this point, the next steps depend upon the particular project. A video for YouTube, Revver, or Metacafe might be created. A Podcast might be made. Blogs might be started on WordPress, Blogger, or Squarespace. A Wikipedia article might be written.

If the project is an online discussion group, nothing more need be done. If it is a humanitarian program requiring money or workers in the field, we have found that by bringing in lots of friends FIRST, using the above methods, the money and workers will eventually follow.

If the undertaking is wisely designed, meets a real need, and has competent administrators, the methods outlined here will build a network of 10,000 or more participants. At that point, programs will usually grow by themselves, with no further publicity required, especially since if all the steps are followed correctly search engine traffic will increase.

We started developing our programs during the Myanmar cyclone and Sichuan earthquake of 2008, when it became obvious that traditional relief agencies, governments, and NGOs had little idea of the power of Web 2.0 tools, and how quickly they can improve response time during a natural or man-made catastrophe.

In the last two years we have been building prototypes of projects which show how these programs not only work together seamlessly, but how they create real results with much less work than required by old methods.

We believe there are hundreds of projects all over the world which can benefit from this approach. The point is that ordinary people can make a huge societal change in just a few hours or even minutes, using the latest Web tools.

. Our Board of Trustees includes academics, NGO officials. businesspeople, independent scholars, and students. Each Board member can propose projects in our core areas. They can even propose programs which they themselves have no time to implement; if we find the idea worthy we will pursue it. Also, Board members have the authority to make anyone ELSE a Board member, with the same privileges. This helps to keep any one person from being overburdened with work.

Being a Board member is not an empty honor. We do our best to guide members towards undertakings which are truly unprecedented and ground-breaking, and we promote their efforts with online press releases. Where appropriate, we send experts their way. If the workload increases, we provide them with volunteers. Since most members are students, we also provide references for graduate school applications, CVs, and resumes.

We often employ the analogy of the beehive: people who don't utilize Web 2.0 tools are like flies, and those who do are like bees!

A fly lives for itself and dies in 3 days. But a bee is part of a coordinated society of 50,000 members. The bee can find a nectar source a half a kilometer from the hive, and in a few seconds convey the information about its location, type, and size to many other bees. And of course other bees have specialized tasks that they perform perfectly, due to millions of years of evolution.
So a beehive can accomplish things that look to us humans like 'intelligence', even though the bee brain has only 900 neurons.

Web 2.0 tools are making the human race more like bees! The average student has a Facebook account, and perhaps a MySpace, Bebo, or Orkut account with dozens or hundreds of 'friends'. And they may have an iPhone, Blackberry or other mobile device with many contacts on it also. Many are adept at creating listservs, Yahoo Groups, ezines, blogs, wikis, podcasts, video mashups, etc.

Given that there are now 175 million Facebook accounts, and 250 million MySpace accounts, 6 million Twits daily, and over a BILLION text messages sent daily, it's high time that Web 2.0 tools be applied to seriously solving major problems the way they have been to entertainment and personal communication.

We have found that if Humanity behaves more like bees (in other words, if we INSIST on using all the modern Web tools SERIOUSLY, and in concert with each other), then we can effect changes in society in a few days that previously took months or years.

We like to initiate programs which feed the 'Whole Person'. What this means is that we would rarely start something which consists merely of people raising money in the industrialized world to give to people in the Developing world. We prefer to respect the humanity of all involved by creating personal connections between those who 'help' and those who are 'helped'. We would rather empower people in the Global South to create something valuable, whether it's a native art form, storytelling, or 'green' agricultural products, than just send them money. Since most of our members are students, we strive as much as possible to create projects which combine a research or education component with humanitarianism.

Typically our members want not only to help others, but to learn, to carve out a research 'niche' for themselves, to create, to make connections between disparate disciplines, and to make new human connections. We are always finding new ways for them to do this.

Sometimes we have college student-led groups build subsidiary groups of secondary school students. These tend to have entirely different contacts, as the college students use Facebook more, whereas the high school ones use texting and MySpace more.

Our projects generally fall into one of five categories:

A 'Mihamsa', which is a Sanskrit word meaning 'Inquiry into the nature of a thing' is an online think tank. This consists of a moderated forum exploring an abstract topic.
Our social network which discusses the current world economic situation, worldeconomicforumonline.org, co-moderated by Dr. Edmund Phelps, is a mihamsa. So is the discussion group on science education in the 21st century, co-chaired by Dr. Peter Doherty.

A 'Kandoo', from the Farsi word for 'beehive', is a worldwide collaborative undertaking designed to elicit small efforts from hundreds of people to effect a change which benefits all. Our upcoming program which will offer a prize to those who can design a protocol for saving the most energy and water in the home based on tracking and analyzing the sensors in the 'Wired House' (bwired.nl) is a Kandoo.

A 'Minga' is like a Kandoo, except that it benefits a particular community rather than the whole world. In the Quechua language, 'minga' refers to a community project involving everyone in an Ecuadoran village, like digging a new well. The Sambaza program, which assists a multimedia ICT education center in Kenya, is a Minga. (Sambazagroup.com)

'Igiparu' is a Kinyarwanda word from Central Africa meaning 'good conversation'. For our purposes, an Igiparu does not have a specific goal, except building community and friendship between people, usually from widely differing cultures. Our upcoming collaboration with the Amy Biehl Foundation Trust in South Africa, in which children of the townships will share blogs, videos, wikis, and webcam conversations with children in China, India, and New Zealand, is an igiparu. If the parties agree, a 'minga' can arise from an igiparu.

'Marae' is a Maori word meaning 'meeting place'. In old New Zealand, a Marae was where village ceremonies, weddings, trials, religious rites, and musical celebrations were held.
For us a marae is an Internet-based worldwide celebration of human culture, such as sharing artistic resources found on the Web, or a website displaying live webcam views
of interesting activities. The student-created marae, worldmindnetwork.net, contains links to webcams showing monks praying in a monastery in Ireland, birds nesting in a nature preserve, live views of sunspot activity from an Austrian observatory, gorillas in a Barcelona zoo, artisans making Raku pottery, and more. It's a way to elicit wonder and curiosity about the vast array of human and natural activity on Earth.

To learn more, contact us at worldmindnetwork@gmail.com

New projects-- the World Mind Network is starting a discussion group to honor the memory of Neda Soltan, the young woman who was killed in the recent street demonstrations in Iran. We want to gather the best ideas, both from within and from outside Iran, that will help citizens there improve their country. Please click here:


and see the site at NedaSoltanAward.wetpaint.com.

Our new contest for classic poems written in 140 characters or less can be found at TwitLit.net.

Anyone can join our discussion group devoted to the current economic crisis, a forum co-hosted by 2006 Nobel Economics Laureate Edmund Phelps, at Worldeconomicforumonline.org.

You can help find out how to use a cellphone to donate unused minutes to a Multimedia ICT project in Western Kenya by visiting our sister site at Sambazagroup.com.

Our Institute for Digital Music allows you to upload compositions created on devices such as the iPhone (with apps like the Leaf Trombone or Ocarina), to collaborate with other musicians online, and to find out about upcoming events in electronic music. Go to InstituteForDigitalMusic.ning.com.

Anyone can join our worldwide discussion devoted to improved science education, co-moderated by 1996 Nobel Medicine Laureate Peter Doherty, and found at scienceeducationcalltoaction.wetpaint.com.

We have started a wiki devoted to the emotional contagion associated with swine flu. It can be found at emotionalcontagionandswineflu@wetpaint.com.

We are very interested in how modern Internet and mobile tools are changing higher education, and specifically the way research is conducted. See our new site, ANewParadigmForResearch.wetpaint.com.