If We Ran the World...

I was super excited when I read a Wired article about plans to launch a website called IfWeRanTheWorld.com. Today, the site is nothing more than a platform to recruit help to make the site happen...a fitting start for the start-up crowdsourcing project.

Its aim, when launched, is to convert intent into action. Conceived by marketing veteran Cindy Gallop and software developer Wendell Davis, IfWeRantheWorld.com is designed to motivate people to make small contributions toward achieving big things. How? By breaking even the most overwhelming initiatives (e.g., "end world hunger") into irreducible, bite-sized and achievable individual tasks, so that when people find themselves wishing they could do something about some injustice or need in the world, they actually can.

Here's how it works. A simple, Google-like search box on the site will greet first-time visitors with the partially-completed sentence, "If I ran the world I would...." Their entries join a database of action platforms, which platform originators and community members break down into discrete tasks -- irreducible atoms of action. Members complete these tasks, assign them to friends, offer kudos for jobs well done and offer advice to various action platforms. Completed tasks and kudos appear on your profile page, which lists everything you've done.

It's a brilliant concept (read the full article here). So, start thinking of what you'd do if you ran the world...and stay posted.