Comments for Google Opens Voting for 10^100 Projects to Help the World

Google Opens Voting for 10^100 Projects to Help the World

2009-09-24T20:45:27Z

Last year on its tenth birthday, Google announced its Project 10^100, a call for unique ideas to help as many people as possible.

In the 12 months between then and now, the company has fielded around 150,000 submissions in 25 languages; the ideas were reviewed by around 3,000 employees around the world. Now Google is asking the public to vote on which of the final 16 "big ideas" are worthy of being implemented. From better banking to landmine removal to real-time news and disaster reporting, the ideas are broad in scope and ambitious in the problems they address - just the sort of problems that Google enjoys tackling.

]]> Users' votes will be used to guide Google's advisory board, which will choose up to five projects to receive funding. Google will then launch an RFP (Request for Proposal) process to find organizations to implement those ideas.

Here's some background info on the project:

So far, the ideas involve community, environmental, economic, and energy-related solutions and include the following:

Encourage positive media depictions of engineers and scientists
Build better banking tools for everyone
Work toward socially conscious tax policies
Collect and organize the world's urban data
Create more efficient landmine removal programs
Drive innovation in public transport
Build real-time, user-reported news service
Make educational content available online for free
Create real-time natural crisis tracking system
Make government more transparent
Help social entrepreneurs drive change
Provide quality education to African students
Create genocide monitoring and alert system
Enhance science and engineering education
Promote health monitoring and data analysis
Create real-world issue reporting system

Interestingly, some of these ideas sound a lot like the driving concepts behind existing organizations and startups we know. For example, the final idea is so akin to current tech media darling CitySourced that we have to wonder about possible duplication of effort.

What do our readers think? Which idea will get your vote, and why? Let us know in the comments!

Comment from joe on 2010-07-30

2010-07-30T22:52:15Z

Look. Google had a good idea at the same time the economy took a turn for the worst. They were overwhelmed with responses and they handled it the best way they could. Everyone should stop being so sour towards Google and appreciate the fact that many people have good ideas to help the world. I hoped my idea would be picked, but I didn't expect it to get lumped into a group with other similar ideas. In hindsight, how foolish was I to think that others would not have the same or similar idea. At this point, I can only hope that one of the ideas gets picked and that Google or some other entity moves forward with making it a reality, even if I have to be completely disconnected from the process. It's not about any of us. It's about helping the world. Having an idea can only go so far. If you're truly passionate about your idea and you feel the Google approach didn't work out for you, get back to the drawing board and take some steps to make it happen. That's what life is all about. "Thought without action is a daydream. Action without thought is a nightmare."

Comment from BobcatBob on 2010-02-02

2010-02-02T16:30:51Z

First off, let me say to those whose 'ideas' were not selected to be in the final round, "I feel your Pain".
I understand your frustration of having worked hard over your creation then being rejected.
Let me tell you that all 'creators' know how YOU feel to have your creation discounted as unworthy.
Now I want to ask you a favor. Please do not stop here with your good idea. Carry on your struggle to see it activated in the outside world. I would suggest your 'idea' is very important to the rest of the world and 'it' deserves your energy and your commitment.
Hugs and Respect
B. Ingram

Comment from Aleksandar on 2009-11-07

2009-11-07T18:25:53Z

Any idea that pretends to help the people around the world must be political and that is what Google try hard to avoid. My project will one day completely change the world and make it a wonderfull place to be. Google has trouble to accept me because that would end capitalism the very system Google is based on. If Google does not chose me then one day it would bear unlimited shame. Here is my proposal http://www.sarovic.com/google_project.htm

Comment from Fred G. on 2009-11-04

2009-11-04T18:47:01Z

Have been utilizing Google since its inception. Now after the 10 100 project sham I will be utilizing Bing.com

Corporate lies !!

Comment from MV SEKHARA RAO on 2009-10-24

2009-10-24T15:34:54Z

I have submitted my idea named as FLOTTING CITY for this project. I was disappointed by the google's evaluation. I thought that my ideas were not that much strong enough to impact the world. But today while browsing I saw in the net that one pro gramme/video which was captioned as MEGA ENGINEERING/FLOTTING CITY added to discovery channel on 19 Jul 2009. This date is far from the closing date of google's 10 100 project. And this video must have been telecasted in discovery channel much before the date of google's 16 finalist's announcement. I believe that google must have stolen my idea for its benefit. I never thought google will do such a fraud. And now I am worried about my other submitted idea of GLOWING EARTH which describes that providing sun light to the earth at nights. Google may steel this idea too. What should I do to protect my ideas from google's theft hands.

Comment from Mouli on 2009-10-06

2009-10-06T11:04:26Z

I am requesting for a vote for the banking theme "Build better banking tools for everyone"(http://www.project10tothe100.com/submit.html?id=T13)

Regards
Mouli

Comment from Richard Brown on 2009-10-04

2009-10-05T00:15:14Z

"Build real-time, user-reported news service"
heeey this is a wonderful spy project. all famous secret services (cia mossad mi5 fsb etc.) must interested with this fascination idea!

Comment from joe on 2009-10-04

2009-10-04T17:44:23Z

Yes, I submitted a idea for the contest. After I saw the outcome I was very disappointed. I did not think we would win, but I thought we might get in the top 100. Oh sorry the top 16. Wow, I must of missed the memo with the changes to the contest. Well I do not know if google broke any laws, but guess what I now use Yahoo for searching the net.

What a terrible out come for such a great start. Go Yahoo !

Comment from R on 2009-09-29

2009-09-29T12:30:45Z

Hi Friends,
My idea "Virtual World" is selected in Google - Project 10^100.
Please vote for it to make it real!
http://googleproject10tothe100th.blogspot.com/2008/10/google-project-10100-idea-virtual-world.html

Thank you.. :)

Comment from Project tracking team on 2009-09-28

2009-09-28T19:55:00Z

I think this is a great step taken by Google for the project tracking techniques and now people will be able to have more advanced track on their projects.

Comment from James tracy - PurePowerCorp.Com on 2009-09-28

2009-09-28T17:10:11Z

@YvesdR Please send me those pdf's to James@purepowercorp.com

I am gathing info for a class action lawsuit.
I was a certified paralegal for 5 years.
The law of contracts is part of the US constititution, and google has broken the law.

Comment from YvesdR on 2009-09-28

2009-09-28T15:15:13Z

@ Prekast:
You are completely right.
When I've submitted my proposal, I've made a pdf copy of the rules and the FAQ. (french version although I've submitted in English).
They obviously have removed that paragraph related to the pickup of 100 ideas and the vote on the 20 best ideas and finalmy the selection of the 5 very best ideas by a comitee.
Yes it's a shame to change the rules during a contest !

Comment from piter silitonga on 2009-09-28

2009-09-28T09:59:30Z

my idea is not in 16 big ideas:).

Comment from James tracy - PurePowerCorp.Com on 2009-09-27

2009-09-28T03:51:38Z

Here is the original rules of the contest. I would suggest you copy this page before Google Deletes it too.
http://www.peswiki.com/index.php/Directory:Google's_10_to_the_100th_Project

Comment from JHMdFadden on 2009-09-27

2009-09-28T01:11:50Z

"Interestingly, some of these ideas sound a lot like the driving concepts behind existing organizations and startups we know. For example, the final idea is so akin to current tech media darling CitySourced that we have to wonder about possible duplication of effort."

It is a bit odd to use CitySourced as an example here, as it is a duplication of efforts that have been underway by companies like SeeClickFix (who give credit to FixMyStreet for inspiring their idea) and others for some time now. SeeClickFix already has made significant inroads integrating with media companies and city governments. I'm happy to see CitySourced on the scene as well, but they are certainly duplicating existing (and outstanding) efforts.
JHM

Comment from James tracy - PurePowerCorp.Com on 2009-09-27

2009-09-28T00:59:39Z

Also that was my 3rd post here, nice censorship. You delete the truth.

Comment from James tracy - PurePowerCorp.Com on 2009-09-27

2009-09-28T00:47:00Z

The submissions had to be completely original. None of the current list is an original Idea. Google says DO NO EVIL. Would you play poker with me if I changed the rules to suit me whenever I wanted. The contest is now a sham, scam, hoax, what ever. This is another case of Big Corporation screws everyone. What a joke. They could not buy an idea, so they stole as many as they could. Since none of the list is a submission, they do not have to pay anything to anyone. (Eyad you can already use your phone as a credit card is some places already). Barack Obama ran on Open Gov. The truth is none of the list is original. Most of the list is already being done.

Comment from Eyad on 2009-09-27

2009-09-27T16:10:37Z

for me i liked this Idea :

Build better banking tools for everyone
we can send and transfer the money via SMS mobile.

Coool! I'll vote for it . '

Comment from prekast on 2009-09-26

2009-09-26T22:36:18Z

Google 10^100 Project turns out to be a complete sham
Those of you are familiar with the original Google 10 ^100 project remember that Google said they would pick 100 ideas from the 150,00 idea submissions to put to a vote last year. They missed the dates again and again until finally last week they put

Comment from Mark on 2009-09-26

2009-09-26T21:24:43Z

Better education in Africa
Socially conscious tax policies etc.

http://www.project10tothe100.com/vote.html

What a sham. There was no transparency back to the original ideas, no recognition of submitters and they completely ignored the original terms that they published. In the end, Google got a huge amount of publicity and they just ignored what 150,000 people did.

Pathetic.

Comment from YvesDR on 2009-09-26

2009-09-26T09:20:31Z

What a joke!
On top of their very bad communication and challenge management,
Google has a curious opinion on what will change and improve the world.
There were different categories and it seems that only one has been retained (social, education).

They have even not published a simple list of submitted project by categories.

By the end of the submission period, they have blocked access to the original pages
and now they have flushed their cache.

Challenge categories:

Community: How can we help connect people, build communities and protect unique cultures?

Opportunity: How can we help people better provide for themselves and their families?

Energy: How can we help move the world toward safe, clean, inexpensive energy?

Environment: How can we help promote a cleaner and more sustainable global ecosystem?

Health: How can we help individuals lead longer, healthier lives?

Education: How can we help more people get more access to better education?

Shelter: How can we help ensure that everyone has a safe place to live?

Everything else: Sometimes the best ideas don't fit into any category at all.

I'm now convinced that this game was setup by Google to grab or
better to harvest ideas for free and take patents to make business.
I invite everyone to monitor the patents issuing rate from Google
since a few months and in the near future.
As an example, I've submitted an online Energy meter at the beginning of
the game and 4 months later the Google Power meter was published with exactly
the same features.
Very sad.

Comment from CitySourced on 2009-09-25

2009-09-26T03:55:58Z

Jolie- Hey thanks for the CitySourced love!

Comment from AG on 2009-09-25

2009-09-25T23:02:21Z

Using the process of elimination :

1a) My own entry is there.
1b) People are complaining that there's aren't.
1c) 3000 employees worked on this for a year.
1A) They didn't sweep them all under the rug and had some sort of process developed to come up with the final choices.

2a) The umbrella "big idea" my own entry is under neatly sums up not only my entry, but other entries that would work with it to create a much larger workable functioning system.
2b) The other "big idea"s look similar in that respect.
2c) They allude to a further set of possible votes or other "next step"
2A) Either they are going to combine similar ideas into systems and fund similar ideas as a "holistic" whole, or they are going to do a further "vote down".

3a) Half of these "big idea"s look like Google can simply expand their own infrastructure and run them itself. ie: education, news, etc
3b) The other half of these "big idea"s look like Google can directly add something to their implementation such as tracking, mapping or computing.
3c) It looks like the next step may be Google seeing what it's own infrastructure may be combined with or new areas for it.
3A) The final "big idea"s look like continuing projects with Google instead of being just sloughed off on RFP's.

Sidenote: I wonder if they are going to expand Google.org with this? Maybe combine the infrastructure of Google with the power of Google Users to make a more comprehensive and inclusive philanthropic force.

Comment from jeuxvideo on 2009-09-24

2009-09-25T05:53:56Z

I think Goggle’s action is focused on simple solutions that anyone can come up with. Millions of ideas will be rejected, the beauty of the project lies in that it will cause masses to think creatively toward a better standard of life for all.

Comment from James Logan on 2009-09-24

2009-09-25T00:17:08Z

love to hear what more google can do for us, so i vote for that too!

Thanks
J.Logan

Comment from Jmartens on 2009-09-24

2009-09-24T22:02:57Z

This is total BS...Google has essentially burried the initial project. It was about individual ideas and the fact that you could possible get funding. Now it is about 16 categories created by Google which will then be put out for RFP.

Why isn't anyone writing about the switch Google has made and calling them on the carpet for it? Enough of the Google luv fest already!

Comment from Philip Luedtke on 2009-09-24

2009-09-24T21:55:25Z

I vote for that too.

Comment from Tedco on 2009-09-24

2009-09-24T21:50:47Z

Make it so Gmail doesn't go down.