It has been stated numerous times that our only real solution to oil prices currently is to curb demand. To do this we need a national program to reduce consumption. It’s probably safe to assume that for whatever the reason we can’t rely on the government for this. Additionally the thought of the government dipping it’s hand in the gas situation gives most economists and people who drove in the 1970’s the shivers. So why not open source the project? The number of miles driven in March by almost 11 billion miles compared to the previous year (U. S. Department of Transportation [PDF]), showing people are willing to change their habits. The open source model could create a program that is developed from numerous points of view taking into account a variety of situations. It could also include experts to make sure the program works and isn’t just hype.

Giving people a clear picture of the “whys” of the oil pricing will help to keep politicians from using gas prices as political ploys (or more likely allow people to see through them). This will also give people a motivation other than financial to join in a open sourced program to reduce consumption of oil. 

A lot of time has been put into the back-end to he site, to make it work consistently and for the most part it does (just one little bugaboo in IE7). In addition a forum is being made to allow greater feedback and discussion on ideas, as well as give more people opportunities to post their own ideas. In the end the goal is to foster a community devoted to the goal of rethinking and facilitating the means with with information is delivered.

So the plan for the future is to post weekly on Mondays,and the forum should be up and running soon. With any luck this site can turn into more than just a place for a designer’s rants.

I’m sure this isn’t a completely original idea, but what if we served a separate style sheet to screen readers just like we would any other alternate means of browsing. This way we could optimize the content for screen readers.

But I also think there is a bigger opportunity here. I think there is a opportunity to create an opensource screen reader. There are numerous benefits to an open source screen reader. First being technology, as an open project the program can keep up with the most current web technologies. Secondly worldwide input can help to create the most usable screen reader (hopefully with a lot of input by people who actually rely on them) current solutions are generally thought of as pretty inadequate. Lastly the major benefit is cost, current screen reading software is prohibitively expensive. An open solution would make the Internet accessible to people who cant afford basic access to the net.

With the combination of an open screen reader and an new style sheet class a community of could open the Internet up to millions of people. The development could spur competition between software, and truly help to push the web towards true accessibility.

So what do we do?, who or what are we?, what is our reason for being? Simply put, ProjectKNOW is an organization interested in the dispersal of information. We want to discover new ways to spread good information. Yes, the phrase “good information” is a heavily loaded phrase, what we mean by that is information that presents a holistic view of an issue. Unlike most purveyors of information we don’t want to present answers, we want to present good information so people can find their own answers.

Currently we are embracing the internet for it’s democracy. Of course there are numerous areas and groups with no access to the internet for numerous reasons, but for large parts of the world the internet is an uncontrolled and inexpensive medium for free exchange of ideas with seemingly limitless possibilities. This doesn’t mean we are opposed to solutions based in the real world, just that currently we are like a kid with a new toy. Perhaps we can find a solution to the real world problem of access to the internet.

The web also allows for open source development that is crucial to what we do. This opens the discussion to anybody who wants to have a say, and even experts on what ever the discussion may revolve around. This creates an environment next to impossible to recreate physically.

So we have the tools, hopefully this project and it’s subsequent projects will become the means to develop ideas.