Productive Organizer

Better society is a segment on Productive Organizer where we focus on business or people taking alternative efforts to improve the way we live through innovative means as well as opinions on our current society.

The market place is an important concept. Without its existence, people’s lives are worse because there do not exist a place that people that demands something can get their needs address by people that can supply it.

Unemployment and living the employment scene

The situation now in many places around the world have been a breakdown in business structure creating big unemployment.

Many people have lost the means to make a living if their skills that they learn in schools are in low demand or do not have demand in their countries. They would have to be retrained in other fields.

Imagine sending resumes to many firms but no one wants you because you are either too obsolete, too old or basically there is no demand for you locally.

There are many people falling out of the employment scene which actually makes unemployment numbers look better

There are always wants and needs

No matter how bad the situation, people have services that they require. The thing is that we glorify it as something that you have to professionally train in school for a few years, learn at a job to refine it and sell it at a high price to an establishment.

But what if the need is something more simple. What if as a professional you just enjoy helping people and getting to know people and don’t care about making money so much

1. I need someone to buy some furniture from IKEA and deliver to my house today
2. My nanny fell sick and I need someone to help me fetch my kids from school nearby so that I can pick them up after work
3. I want to learn how to create those nice pottery but I don’t want to go for a full class
4. We have a home gathering and need someone to cook or bake some unique eats for us

There are people with secondary skills

You don’t have to be professionally train to

1. Bake a cake that you like
2. Plan a great trip to Taiwan or Vietnam!
3. Take some nice photographs for the family
4. Assemble a computer for you family
5. Create a facebook fan page for yourself
6. Create a wordpress blog for yourself

If you are professionally train,  you may want to help people with  your skills

A Marketplace to match those that wants with those will provide

I think what government can encourage a marketplace to match these needs and wants.

We are seeing great entrepreneurs in the US trying to create a better society by addressing this space.

Coffee and Power

Phillip Rosedale, the founder of The Second Life, figured out how to get people to buy and sell goods and services in a virtual marketplace and he is now trying to do the same in the real world by launching Coffee & Power:

The site launched earlier this year, but re-launched on a broader scale today with services offered ranging from Arabic lessons to Android development to octopus crocheting. It uses a virtual currency, but exists very much in physical space — there’s even a Coffee & Power-funded coffee shop in San Francisco where people can meet up to exchange things. It’s a nice concept, but we can’t help but notice that Rosedale’s first project had one big advantage: you didn’t have to leave your house to buy stuff on Second Life.

How does it work?

You tell others what you are willing to do or need done, right now, for how much. The map shows your listings (we call them “missions”) along with those of other people. You use SMS and your mobile phone to quickly make/receive offers and get paid. Buyers and sellers use a virtual currency system (C$) for payments. You can earn C$ by selling missions, or buy themusing your credit card or Paypal. You can also turn the virtual currency back into US$ via Paypal.

Why do it?

As a seller: To help and meet people, make some extra money doing what you’re great at, or practice a new skill. As a buyer: To find new things or get something done faster and easier than you expected.

What kind of jobs happen on Coffee & Power?

All kinds! Do you need or have a recommendation on a new laptop, or travel advice on what to see on your upcoming trip to Buenos Aires? Check out the “Expertise on Tap” category. Need a desk assembled or a router reconfigured? See “Setup, Maint. & Repair”. Or maybe you just want some homemade cookies delivered to you by a local baking enthusiast? See “Little Luxuries”. But…we’re all still learning what people will use C&P for, which is a big part of the opportunity here!

Task Rabbit

Another very great idea is Task Rabbit created by Leah. It works on the same concept as Coffee and Power but it has been around for longer.

TaskRabbit is an online and mobile marketplace that allows folks to live a smarter and more fulfilling life by once again relying on their neighbors. TaskRabbit is about solving an age-old problem: there is never enough time in the day to do everything you need to do. At TaskRabbit, we harness the power of the community to get things done – forming a virtual neighborhood. We call it “Service Networking” – leveraging the latest social, mobile and location-based technologies to bring neighbors together to get things done.

There is a varied of task to be done and people with the right time and skills can bid for it.

The rabbits develop a reputation if they want to stay in this “business” for long. The higher your “level” the higher you can possibly charge and more likely to get the job.

Worklist

Now we know that to build software, you need to integrate many modules and many lines of code and many user interface.

We typically hire a group of developers to make it. You have to content with the person’s skillset, competency not to mention his development as an employee and all the benefits they should have.

But we know that software projects are make up of smaller pieces and what if people that have the time and skills can bid for that small feature and get paid doing it?

What if you have a project but not sure how far it develops to hire a full time freelance developer?

That’s the beauty of Worklist, the brain child of Philip Rosedale as well.

Worklist is a marketplace to rapidly build software and websites using a global network of developers, designers and testers. If you do the job well, it also act as an interview to get more permanently hired in that project, start-up or people can refer you because you are good.

We all complain that in Singapore, if you like technical things, after a certain age, no one hires you. What if you can get paid doing what you like? And explore new stuff meet new people?

There are numerous projects whether on iPhone, web, Coffee and Power which was mentioned above is also listed here!

The requirements are basically broken down into simple jobs such as

1. BUG – When there are lots of attachements on a mission, the dots overlap on the pictures
2. URL cleanup
3. Add Notification counter for Mission comments

The resourses are provided and the community built up will point you to where you can find the resources required or help required.

On the right side you can take a look at how much some people taking the jobs are paid.

This is a great platform for students who want to build up their skills and for experience developers who have moved on the management but still likes to tinker with codes.

Conclusion

To solve certain employment and social issues, a city or country may want to look at innovative ways to get it done. The ideas presented may work in your local context and with a skills marketplace it can match people with needs to the people that can do it.

I’m pretty happy about this collaboration between google and LTA. I believe Google Navigation is going to be big on the mobile platform and this would make folks with 3G phones be able to plan their travelling route.

Like whether to take CTE or go by Lornie road. As a bus taker or MRT taker, can find fast what are the ways i can reach a certain destination. I can just find any place on google map and do that.

Singapore, November 19, 2009 – With a daily public transport ridership of 6 million travelling by buses, taxi and trains; and more than 870,000 other vehicles on the roads in Singapore, commuters and motorists can now better plan their trips on Google Maps through a unique collaboration between Google and Singapore’s Land Transport Authority (LTA). Mapping, directions and route planning for various forms of land transport modes – from buses to trains to cars to even by walking – are now all available for free on Google Maps. Transit and traffic information are also available on mobile devices with Google Maps for Mobile, so commuters and motorists can check the latest updates to make route changes on-the-go.

Singapore is the first country in the world to provide this comprehensive range and nation-wide coverage of land transport options on Google’s global online map platform. Today at the Dhoby Ghaut MRT station, LTA’s Chief Executive, Mr Yam Ah Mee, and Google’s Geospatial Technologist, Mr Ed Parsons, launched this new service at maps.google.com.sg/transport.

Under this collaborative effort, LTA provided key transit and traffic information such as live traffic feeds and public bus/MRT routes and schedules. Google combined the high quality of LTA’s transit data, and worked with Quantum Inventions, a Singapore company, to integrate traffic data, on the popular and familiar user interface of Google Maps. The integration of LTA’s information on Google Maps complements existing LTA and third-party travel planning tools for commuters.

Whether a private car owner switching to go by bus or MRT, or a public transit rider choosing to drive or take a taxi, or even one of 10 million international visitors each year finding their way around, the Singapore public can now check all of their land transport options to make an informed decision on the quickest, most convenient route and method to reach their destinations. For example, each time a Google Maps user requests driving directions, the user will be given the opportunity to plan the same trip using public transit – a useful option when the driving route is highlighted as red or experiencing heavy congestion.

“In line with LTA’s vision for a people-centred public transport system, we have launched several initiatives to help commuters better manage their travel time, transfers, and make more informed transport decisions. Recent initiatives include PublicTransport@SG which has received good responses of 679,000 average page views monthly,” said Mr Yam Ah Mee, Chief Executive, LTA. “The collaboration with Google is another step in this direction to make it even easier for the public to plan their trips with transit and traffic information on Google Maps, whether travelling to their nearest shopping mall or across the island to their favourite eating joint.”

“Google’s goal is to bring LTA’s accurate, comprehensive land transport information together on a global mapping platform for easy access, search and use on PCs and mobile phones by millions of Singaporeans and Google Maps users around the world,” said Mr Ed Parsons, Geospatial Technologist, Google. “Google Maps seeks to provide users with tools to help them explore the world around them and working with LTA to improve the daily lives of Singaporeans is an example of how Google can partner with government agencies to serve the public on a national scale.”

Mapplets increase usefulness of Google Maps

Mapplets are useful mini-applications developed by third parties that can be added directly on to Google Maps Singapore. With just a single click of the mouse, users can customize their Google Maps by adding useful tools created just for Singapore.

The three highlighted mapplets on the left navigation panel on maps.google.com.sg are incidents, ERP locations/rates, and cycle routes (from National Parks Board). The incidents mapplet is based on LTA data and displays real-time traffic incidents, constructions, and road closures island-wide. If the traffic looks sluggish, you can find out what is causing it by clicking on the pin to get additional details such as when and where the incident happened.

Other Singapore mapplets can be found in the My Maps directory including petrol station finder, carpark finder, highway cameras and more.

For singapore GTD’ers, a series of labellers have been release from Brother.Do check them out if you are in the market for a labeller:

PT-90

PT-90 (SGD$39.90)

Personalise while you organise

• 8 Deco Mode formats for more creative labelling
• 12-character display
• 3 changeable faceplates
• Attractive new symbols
• Compact body

PT-1090

PT-1090 (SGD$49.90)

Organise your family and home products

• 12 Deco Mode formats for creative labelling
• 12-character large display
• “Cable Labelling” function key
• “Time & Date” function key
• 178 attractive symbols

PT-2090

PT-1290 (SGD$69.90)

Add a professional touch to your business

• 15 Deco Mode formats for creative labeling with professional formats in deco mode
• 12-character display
• 2 new fonts available
• Memory to store up to 9 label designs