WANTED: PHP Developers looking to change the world

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markde
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Joined: Fri Jun 13, 2008 6:13 am

WANTED: PHP Developers looking to change the world

Post by markde »

Hi folks,

I'm a recording artist and radio broadcaster based in England, looking to give a little bit back.

I've been really impressed by this forum and am on the search for a couple of PHP Wizards who are interested in getting involved in a "Make The World A Better Place" project so that, by the time we pop our clogs (as they say in Holland), the world will be a little bit better off from our efforts.

The idea stems around encouraging 1,000,000 random acts of kindness around the world. I've developed the idea but am not a coder so would love to get a crack team together to help build the site, as a worthwhile way of donating their skills to the world.

I've looked at Drupal and believe this might be a fantastic CMS to base development on, but would also love to get your thoughts on this.

Please drop me a message if you are interested in finding out more. It would be great if you could include some URLs of sites you have worked on.

Thanks,
Mark
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onion2k
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Re: WANTED: PHP Developers looking to change the world

Post by onion2k »

markde wrote:The idea stems around encouraging 1,000,000 random acts of kindness around the world. I've developed the idea but am not a coder so would love to get a crack team together to help build the site, as a worthwhile way of donating their skills to the world.
Sounds interesting. If I decide to help out building the site and bring my PHP development skills to the table, what will you be bringing? What have you actually done so far, and what are you planning to do, beyond having this idea of "1,000,000 random acts of kindness"?
markde
Forum Newbie
Posts: 3
Joined: Fri Jun 13, 2008 6:13 am

Re: WANTED: PHP Developers looking to change the world

Post by markde »

Hi Onion2k,

Thanks for your interest and questions.

The idea is 95% thought through. I'm in the process of putting together draft tech spec as a working document for the dev team to all brainstorm around with me (in a previous life I managed a team of fifty web dev folks at a large ISP and project managed some v. large web sites). I have a flow chart for the site already as well, but it's not finalised as I don't want a rigid blueprint at this stage, but something which people like yourself can say "but have you thought about doing it this way?"

Domain is registered and I have a web server ready and waiting.

I would oversee the build of the site (in a project mgmt capacity). Once in beta, I will be promoting on it on radio, TV and the media to get people interested in the concept. It is based on a lovely (and fun) viral technique which would enable exponential growth through the participants if the site. As it'll capture the imagination of lots of people, I've got a feeling it'll will grow quite quickly and inspire a lot of people to join in around the world. Members of the site will then become proactive in running it as well.

Please feel free to drop me a message if you are interested.

Take care,
Mark
markde
Forum Newbie
Posts: 3
Joined: Fri Jun 13, 2008 6:13 am

Re: WANTED: PHP Developers looking to change the world

Post by markde »

Hi everyone,

I'd like to put this project into a wider context to help encourage the right type of volunteers.

The world is facing some big problems over the next few decades. Wayne Dyer said that he believes that the main problems are not global warming, climate change, famine and over population, these are all effect. The main problem is people - how we think, how we live and how we treat each other. We need to encourage more compassion in the world, and become grateful for what we have, rather than continually striving for more.

The idea of creating a focal point for one million random acts of kindness is a way of encouraging people to think of others, especially people that we're not in some way connected to (by friendship or relations). It is also encouraging "selfless" kind acts - ones which people do for no self gain.

This project will catch the imagination of people worldwide and kickstart a chain reaction of good throughout the world. It will also change the way people look at things, which is where we need to be heading if we're going to ultimately be in the right mindset to solve some of these big issues.

In the past I have been involved in many big web site builds, and actually, when you sit back and look at what you have created, we might have been proud of what we achieved technically, but when you look at what it's function is, it rarely created something which you'd look bck on your deathbed and be proud of. It rarely helped people. It helped people spend ther money, which helped the funders of the site make money, but it didn't really add anything to the world in a positive way, and when people write about the evolution of the web in years to come, it wouldn't even warrant a footnote.

The people on this forum have a special skill and the web is a special place. Combine the two to create something which will help the world and that might just make a footnote, maybe more. Even if it inspires a number of other similar projects, the knock-on effect could be amazing.

If you need any more encouragement, just have a read of this article from one of the UK's leading newspaper's The Independent:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world ... 50938.html

If we are to avoid these and other global problems, we need to start putting our skills to good use and building a world which our children and grandchildren will thrive and live wonderful lives.

I'd welcome any volunteers who have the passion to make a difference.

Thanks for listening,
Mark
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