THE GLOBAL IDEAS BANK

www.globalideasbank.org

Your Ideas Wanted for the Global Ideas Bank!

A Global Ideas Bank for socially innovative non-technological ideas and projects, with £1,000 UK sterling awards annually for the best ideas or projects submitted

Sister to another non-profit: www.DoBe.org, the website for participatory events in every city in the world. The Global Ideas Bank is a member of the New Civilization Network

WANTED! Volunteer programmers, designers and editors to help improve this group of non-profit websites

LATEST NEWS November 2001:

  • See the unedited results of the World's Greatest Ideas Brainstorm held on International Social Innovations Day at Innovative ways to combat urban isolation
  • The Institute has a new book out in North America (but available to the whole world), and encyclopaedia of social inventions called 'The World's Greatest Ideas'. Check it out and buy a copy at the New Society website - it's our greatest hits in book form!
  • The Institute's 2001 compendium of ideas is out now, so why not buy a subscription to the Institute for Social Inventions for just 15 (17 overseas seamail) and get the new book, 'Cornucopia of Ideas'. New subscribers also receive '1,001 Health Tips' for FREE! Buy a subscription for yourself or as a present for a sparky friend here now!
  • The Institute's newest book, published in association with with Chatto & Windus, is SEIZE THE DAY, a Hardback Calendar of 'Tips for Living' from 366 extraordinary people. There is a page for each day with an inspiring tip and explanation from the likes of Tony Blair and Terry Waite, to Fay Weldon and Edward Goldsmith. "Question what you are taught"; "People are the size they make you feel"; "Never take a job you can do"; "Never trust anyone who likes neither cricket nor cats"; "Walk at the pace of a good conversation". 'Seize the Day' is a companion volume to the bestselling 'Poem for the Day', and both are edited by the late Nicholas Albery. All proceeds to charity, so buy a copy now , for only £13.99 incl. p&p.;
  • The Global Ideas Bank's sister website, www.DoBe.org is for events to involve YOU! You can put up a notice about any participatory real world event for any city in the world (although in this beta version only USA and UK cities and towns are included so far).
  • For the constantly updated APPRENTICEMASTER ALLIANCE directory, linking those who would like to be long-term apprentices, with master photographers, publishers, theatre producers, sculptors, etc, see the Directory of Masters.
  • For the London-based SATURDAY WALKER'S CLUB that each week does walks from the Time Out Book of Country Walks, see the website with train times, details and a bulletin board for last minute changes. If you ever come to London, come on one of these day outings (reached by train) - they are a wonderful way to see a bit of beautiful English countryside, get to know a few Londoners and to have a gourmet pub lunch and cream tea! Good company and anarchic conversation for all!
  • See the website for travellers to La GOMERA , the lovely and exotic island near Tenerife, where you can have a week's inexpensive walking holiday, walking round the island in a week, staying at a different pension each night.
  • The Australian Ideas Suggestion Box, started by Institute member Valerie Yule, and modelled on the Global Ideas Bank, already contains hundreds of ideas (mainly Valerie Yule's own ideas at this stage). All Australians should visit this site!
  • Wherever you are in the world, have your school organise a fund-raising Schools POETRY CHALLENGE.
  • Secure online ordering for the world's most socially innovative books: BOOK ORDERS. The Global Ideas Bank relies for its survival on donations and sales of publications.
  • FREE SOFTWARE to download! ZIP ART for Windows, allowing all ages to create intricate art work - this is a complete version; and LOGO for Windows, a fun way for children to learn geometry and programming - another FREE download and again the complete version.

    • SUBMIT your own ideas directly into the GIB database

    Please e-mail rhino@dial.pipex.com with details of any UPDATES or BROKEN LINKS. It is a massive undertaking to keep this vast Global Ideas Bank up to date - the Global Ideas Bank is extremely grateful to those members of the public who take the time to report changes or problems. For broken links, please give the URL of the page you were on and the destination you were aiming for. For updates, please give the URL of the relevant page.

    Categorized Sections. Start here!

    2762 schemes from different sources and publications are here organized in lists by category. Click on any of them to see the contents and links to schemes and the rating which each scheme has received so far.

    1. Social Innovations - Past and Present (3 ideas)
    2. Children and Education (183 ideas)
            top: Experienced mothers befriending new mothers (rated 93% by 68 people)
    3. Relationships (136 ideas)
            top: Appreciation lists enhance self-esteem (rated 94% by 598 people)
    4. Housing (44 ideas)
            top: List-Serv for salvagable fittings in buildings to be demolished (rated 93% by 46 people)
    5. New Money Systems & Financial Innovations (20 ideas)
            top: Green Dollar LETSystem (rated 89% by 143 people)
    6. Taxation (36 ideas)
            top: Holland has made green investments tax-free (rated 86% by 95 people)
    7. Work & Unemployment (71 ideas)
            top: Allotments for the unemployed (rated 93% by 154 people)
    8. Economics and Business (98 ideas)
            top: Debt redemption allows the very poor to benefit from credit (rated 93% by 48 people)
    9. Welfare (77 ideas)
            top: Slow audiobooks for stroke victims (rated 93% by 76 people)
    10. Crime & The Law (107 ideas)
            top: Prisoners training dogs for the disabled (rated 93% by 315 people)
    11. Health & Therapy (179 ideas)
            top: The 'Wellness' show (rated 96% by 1943 people)
    12. Neighbourhood (94 ideas)
            top: Brazilian city where neighbourhood groups allocate budget (rated 97% by 48 people)
    13. Environment and Ecology (307 ideas)
            top: Protect 19.2 sq ft of rainforest per day by clicking on ads (rated 97% by 28 people)
    14. Quality of Life (28 ideas)
            top: Eccentrics are healthier (rated 90% by 384 people)
    15. Science, Technology and Energy (117 ideas)
            top: A Royal Academy of Inventors (rated 93% by 317 people)
    16. Transport (121 ideas)
            top: Smart urban transport website (rated 95% by 32 people)
    17. Communications (166 ideas)
            top: Coercion is no way to train horses or humans (rated 93% by 223 people)
    18. Arts, Leisure & Lifestyle (97 ideas)
            top: Slow food - worldwide movement to protect the two hour lunch (rated 93% by 211 people)
    19. International and Developing World (113 ideas)
            top: Curitiba and its visionary mayor (rated 95% by 713 people)
    20. War & Peace (32 ideas)
            top: Transform the Korean demilitarized zone into a wildlife sanctuary (rated 91% by 11 people)
    21. Politics (74 ideas)
            top: Stakeholder Councils as ombudsmen and advisers to ministers (rated 90% by 13 people)
    22. Spirituality (57 ideas)
            top: The meaning of 'Namaste' (rated 91% by 602 people)
    23. Old Age (62 ideas)
            top: The Pet Fostering Service Scotland (rated 95% by 86 people)
    24. Death and Dying (66 ideas)
    25. Promoting Social Inventions (79 ideas)
            top: Institute Fellows (rated 93% by 6 people)

    • Recently submitted unedited ideas (298)
            top: Brazilian city where neighbourhood groups allocate budget (rated 97% by 48 people)


    Today's randomly-selected entry from the Global Ideas Bank

    Garlic-absorbing trees for protection from rabbits

    ..or look at another Random Idea

    Or see the Poem for the day (a short poem, old or new, worth learning by heart)

    Or see the Tip for the Day (a piece of advice that has made a difference to someone's life)





    Search the Global Ideas Bank [Use ONE WORD only in this test version]:


    Full text search within the Global Ideas Bank. Use single word only.

    Ratings

    As you are browsing through the ideas, you have the opportunity to rate how well you like each one. The ratings are stored and tabulated to show which ideas are the most popular.

    As of 11/14/2001, 119828 people have produced 185786 ratings of 2762 ideas.

    The 20 most highly rated ideas:

    These are currently the most highly rated ideas, however few the voters (the right hand column is the number of people who have voted). These are likely to include some of the more recent ideas added to the Global Ideas Bank:

    TitleRating# People
    Brazilian city where neighbourhood groups allocate budget97%48
    Protect 19.2 sq ft of rainforest per day by clicking on ads97%28
    The 'Wellness' show96%1943
    How to be an ideal patient96%1087
    The Pet Fostering Service Scotland95%86
    Giving gardens to the needy95%151
    DanceSafe - educating ravers in New England about drugs etc.95%9
    Songs as a way of reaching a patient with Alzheimer's95%64
    Smart urban transport website95%32
    Sustrans' 5,000 miles of cycle paths95%855
    The Natural Step - A National Plan for sustainability95%310
    Curitiba and its visionary mayor95%713
    Barcode identification of luggage at airports95%2
    Appreciation lists enhance self-esteem94%598
    Personal logbooks for patients94%43
    Visits to the elderly from P.A.T. Dogs94%374
    Plants, animals & children in nursing homes94%277
    Musical midwifery for the dying94%440
    Repairing coral reef systems with eco-friendly concrete balls94%7
    Community-Supported Agriculture94%268

    The 10 ideas most recently voted on:

    TitleRating# People
    Teach Sign Language in schools92%529
    Bedsits for arguing couples76%152
    Target in urinal reduces spillage83%172
    One word at a time, 1,600 words per minute78%50
    Porn as first sign of a media breakthrough78%39
    A code to protect guests on TV shows52%4
    Dolphin 'therapy' for a dying child93%503
    Abortion ceremonies28%211
    Brian Eno's pragmatic possibilities80%38
    Doing away with ring road brought about urban regeneration94%50

    The 5 top recent idea proposers:

    ProposerIdeas
    Stephen Russell  19
    Aaron Campbell  13
    Dr. KRS Murthy  10
    Dennis Wright  3
    Ben Malone  2

    Other ratings and statistics

    Past Award-Winners, Ideas and Projects, 1986 to 2000.

    Published Books On-Line

    These are compendiums or encylopaedias of ideas published by the Institute for Social Inventions. All of these ideas are organized by category above. Further book details and how to order the world's most socially innovative books.
    • The Book of Inspirations - A Directory of Social Inventions
    • Social Dreams & Technological Nightmares
    • World's Best Ideas - A Global Ideas Bank Compendium
    • Creative Speculations
    • DIY Futures
    • Best Ideas - A Compendium of Social Innovations
    • Reinventing Society
    • Social Innovations - a Compendium
    • Social Inventions Journal
    • Book of Visions
    • Poem for the Day (a short poem, old or new, worth learning by heart)
    • Ways to Go - Naturally
    • Last Aid Manual
    • Natural Death & Woodland Burial
    • Sooner or Later
    • Creative Endings
    • Before and After
    • Natural Death Handbook

    The Global Ideas Bank's current editorial team includes: Nick Temple, Stephanie Wienrich and Henrietta Bowen. It is an online development of encyclopaedias and books published by the Institute for Social Inventions

    Nicholas Albery, the founder and chairman of the Institute for Social Inventions, and the man behind the Global Ideas Bank, died in a car accident on June 3rd 2001. He will be greatly missed, and his enthusiasm, dedication and unfailing commitment to new ideas will continue to inspire.

    Obituaries of Nicholas can be read at The Times and at The Independent and at The Guardian
    and at The Telegraph.

    There is also a Memory Board to which you can contribute.

    Institute for Social Inventions
    20 Heber Road
    London NW2 6AA
    UK
    tel (int. 44) [0]20 8208 2853
    fax (int. 44) [0]20 8452 6434
    e-mail: rhino@dial.pipex.com

    Copyright © Institute for Social Inventions 2001

    Order the world's most socially innovative books! All royalties from book orders go to the non-profit Institute for Social Inventions, which is a charitable project of the Fourth World Educational and Research Association Trust, UK registered charity 283040, of which the trustees are Lord Beaumont, Teddy Goldsmith, Sir Richard Body and Michael Norton. The Institute is grateful to all the hundreds of people around the world who freely contributed items and is apologetic to any whom it failed to trace or acknowledge.

    The Global Ideas is very grateful for the technical help and support given by Flemming Funch
    and the New Civilization Network and its World Transformation web site.

    All comments about the Global Ideas Bank to: rhino@dial.pipex.com - and please state which web page you are commenting on.

    For the Global Ideas Bank's sister project, see www.DoBe.org, where you can put up any participatory real world event for any city in the world, or click on the image below.