Jordan Log
Tuesday, June 11, 2013
Objective 1 of 1 - Design: Revise the 4 way hinge concept design.
The most recent version of the pivot, separated for side to side and tilt motion.
Had two meetings today. Meeting one included the whole team, and was based around the design philosophies behind optimizing the machine for modularity (to make the actual building of the machines as quick and easy as possible). I will continue to optimize the pivot module until it is ready for use. Emailed the meeting notes to the team.
Meeting two included Audrey and Marcin. We discussed business development concepts and some of my ideas for optimizing OSE's marketing, branding, and social media strategies to encourage mass adoption. I will create wiki pages that go further in depth about these concepts, though my June 8 log has a good introduction to my thoughts and strategies in this realm. The most exciting thing I did today was definitely my push to facilitate Marcin's guest appearance on the Joe Rogan podcast, and it seems as if there is a great chance that we can make this happen. Being a big personal fan of Joe's podcasts, I can tell that he would be an excellent person to have on board. Open Source Ecology would be exposed to a new potential targeted niche audience of 25k-500k+ as a result of this. A flood of new collaborators can be brought in as a result.
I also will create a simple wheel module based off Marcin's photos of the MIT car design once the pivot is done.
In addition to the designing and building of the machines, add in daily social media posts, work duties around the living space, tracking and correspondence, documentation, business development and strategy, mindmapping, writing scripts for the animator, ratings sheet prototypes, customer avatar, web design and layout review, copywriting, the engineering/grading plan for Factor e Farm, and bonding with the team - and my plate is full! I think I've filled up more than two full time schedules with growth ideas to execute on. A crucial element to pulling this all off is to stay disciplined about prioritizing the ideas. If I had a team of ten assistants, I'd still come up with too many ideas to be able to do them all. So, it becomes very important for me to take out some time every few days to re-prioritize my to do list, with each idea fitting in the place where it belongs based upon the potential and probability of creating the biggest impact. I've gotten this down to a science over the past few years. That process could actually become its own wiki page (damnit, add another item on the to do list).
Will I be able to handle all of this in the span of a few weeks? Other than time for sleep, this is my life right now. One thing is for sure: I certainly did not come here to lay on a beach. I came here with the intention of testing the upper limits of what I am capable of accomplishing for our planet.
Monday, June 10, 2013
Objective 1 of 3 - Design: Revise the 4 way hinge concept design.
This is the most updated version of the 4 way hinge to date, v14.0 (last revised by Chris).
Objective 2 of 3 - SketchUp: Watch SketchUp tutorials (http://www.sketchup.com/learn/videos?playlist=58) to learn more advanced concepts and hone my skill set. If I can learn how to create models in Google Earth, it can be very useful for the site grading plan.
Objective 3 of 3 - Marketing/branding strategy: Met with Audrey to discuss the social media strategy, as well as marketing, branding, communication, and crowdfunding ideas to shape the future vision of OSE. I believe all of the pieces are in place for OSE to gain a mass following. Extremely innovative and world-changing vision, 10 years of existence, a TED talk with 1.17M+ views, many speaking engagements, many awards, social innovation competition victories (such as Feast on Good's Rev Up Change), a White House appearance, a full-time executive team, and a rising number of funders. I plan on utilizing the further development of my own website (http://www.projectfreeworld.org), upcoming book, and freedom walk to further OSE's reach as well, in order to help it scale worldwide.
Open Source Ecology is an absolute sleeping giant right now. By putting the right elements in place that will engage users via the website and social media channels, I don't see any reason why this will not have explosive growth in the very near future. It's surreal to be in the middle of it all.
Sunday, June 9, 2013
Objective 1 of 3 - Generator wiki: Created a new wiki page about how to refill the generator for future site visitors: http://www.opensourceecology.org/wiki/Factor_e_Farm_Generator_Maintenance
Objective 2 of 3 - Engineering/grading wiki: Since it poured last night, now is a good time to check out and photograph which trail areas around Factor e Farm have flooding issues, in order to be able to design an effective grading plan. The photos are now documented on this new page: http://www.opensourceecology.org/wiki/Grading_plan
Objective 3 of 3 - Recipe wiki: Created a new wiki page for anyone to upload their recipes to: http://www.opensourceecology.org/wiki/Recipes
Saturday, June 8, 2013
Note: No design sprint this weekend. In the coming weeks, we will be spending Saturdays collaborating with people remotely from all over the world to improve upon our concept designs.
Objective 1 of 2 - Social Media: Within 24 hours, the first post I created for the Open Source Ecology Facebook page has already smashed all of the previous 120-day high records in:
Views: 17,376 (previous high: 7,100) - this is a 245% increase over the previous high, and 496% increase over the average post (~3500 views).
Likes: 264 (previous high: 176) - this is a 150% increase over the previous high.
Shares: 125 (previous high: 75) - this is a 167% increase over the previous high.
This resulted in 65 new fans liking the OSE Facebook page in a single day (increase from 12,264 to 13,329). Additionally, several messages have come in from new potential collaborators. I am excited to see how far this can go.
Some insights on running the most effective social media campaigns: Clarity is key. Users love content that is engaging, interesting, uplifting, and human. An effective strategy I utilize is to keep everything as simple as possible, and explain complex concepts in language that even a seven year old can understand; to ensure that it appeals to a wide audience and encourages mass absorption.
One more insight worth mentioning: Over the past year, Instagram and Tumblr have been acquired by Facebook and Yahoo, respectively, for a combined $2.1 billion. Pinterest has also come onto the scene as a major player in the social media realm. This is a sign of the times; pictures and infographics truly are worth a thousand words. As a general rule of thumb, utilizing pictures and graphics that visually stimulate an audience significantly increases the chances of a post going viral. A quick scroll down through my OSE wiki page or blog (http://www.uncommonsense.is) shows the optimal format and combination of text, pictures, and white space to make the content easier on readers' eyes.
Objective 2 of 2 - Refill the generator: Filled up the generator to make sure the energy keeps going throughout the weekend. I'm going to create a simple step-by-step page on the wiki in the near future about how to refill the generator so that future OSE collaborators who come to Factor e Farm will all be able to use it for reference and learn how to do it. Automating systems in this manner enhances the do-it-yourself culture; and frees up additional time, energy and resources for the executive team to be able to focus on the highest leverage tasks that will grow the organization.
Reflection on my first week at OSE headquarters: Why I am here - Of the hundreds of innovative social good organizations I've researched over the past few years that have the potential to transform billions of lives for the better, I believe that there is no project more important for humanity than this one right now. I'm truly honored to be a part of this. Every day I find myself inspired, learning, contributing, and creating new ideas as often as possible through all hours of the day and night. Every person alive should be empowered to create their basic necessities to survive, and I will continue to do everything in my power to make this a reality. I will shout about OSE from the rooftops.
Friday, June 7, 2013
Objective 1 of 2 - Design: Revise the design of the 4 way hinge for the open source truck that allows for up and down and side to side movement.
My goal is to refine the pivot, and make it more compact; so that it is in-line with the truck bed rather than hanging below. I also need to ensure that the tilt pivot is capable of a wide range of motion, and double up the steel bars to make it stronger. Lucas mentioned that the Dodge Power Wagon has this type of feature, so I will do research in order to figure out the dynamics, and create some new prototypes.
Dodge Power Wagon pivot
Unfinished concept idea in progress (version 10.0)
The truck prototype is coming together. Chris modified the 4 Way Hinge prototype to attach to the truck.
Objective 2 of 2 - Social Media: I began contributing to the OSE 6 in 60 social media campaign via the Open Source Ecology pages on Facebook and Twitter, and will also be tracking the OSE online influence score via Klout. Here are the original numbers as of today:
Facebook: 12,264 fans
Twitter: following 439, followers 6,162
Klout score: 53 (falls within a range of 0-100)
I will contribute to the social media campaign daily on Facebook, 1-4 times per day on Twitter, and keep weekly updates on my wiki about social media metrics and growth. I've also started posting Klout score updates here: http://www.opensourceecology.org/wiki/Klout
Thursday, June 6, 2013
Objective 1 of 2 - Design: Revise the design of the 4 way hinge for the open source truck that allows for up and down and side to side movement.
Gary suggested that I begin to utilize the front and back of truck concept designs to envision the optimal type of hinge to create, while keeping in mind that this hinge should be modular and usable for other machines (potentially the bulldozer) as well. After a team discussion and some research of the machines at Factor e Farm, I will continue to create prototypes until we find one that will work.
The original LifeTrac
The original LifeTrac pivot point; some features may be incorporated into the design
The 4 way hinge and the 2 way hinge have been attached to the truck design in order to determine which would be an overall better choice. This will be discussed further tomorrow.
Objective 2 of 2 - Social Media: After completing the design work, I checked out all of the team members' wiki pages and uploaded the most recent designs to the Pinterest page in order to show our progression to the followers. Discussed posting our 6 in 60 progress on social media (via Facebook and Twitter as OSE).
Wednesday, June 5, 2013
Objective 1 of 2 - Design: Created a 4 way hinge for the open source truck that allows for up and down and side to side movement.
Version 1.0: File:4 Way Hinge.skp
Version 2.0: File:4 Way Hinge v2.0.skp
Version 3.0: File:4 Way Hinge v3.0.skp
Objective 2 of 2 - Social Media: Created an Open Source Ecology board on Pinterest in order to share pictures of the 6 in 60 prototypes the team is creating:
http://www.pinterest.com/jphoenix24/open-source-ecology
Included with each picture posted is a brief description, and a relevant link (to the Open Source Ecology main site or to Marcin's TED talk) in order to promote awareness and generate additional web traffic to OSE.
Tuesday, June 4, 2013
Arrival: Arrived at OSE after being delayed overnight at Denver airport. Met the team in person. There's already a great sense of camaraderie amongst the team. Cleaned out a room in the HabLab and moved my stuff in. Spent the afternoon helping out with work duties around the HabLab since my assigned SketchUp design work on the 6 machines in 60 days will begin tomorrow (Backhoe, Bulldozer, Car, Ironworker, Microtractor, Truck).
Cleaned up the entire place alongside the team members; swept and vacuumed the common rooms, kitchen, bathroom, cleaned toilet, untangled wires, discarded trash, organized cabinets, folded blankets, put everything back in its proper place. The HabLab is looking sharp right now! Not a spec of dust or straw anywhere in the house. Now I can focus completely on 6 in 60.
Gandhi quote on the HabLab board
A spotless HabLab