I've been trying to think, today, what I can do to make the world a better place with the skills I have now. It's an interesting problem and I'd like your input.
I have the following skills: I'm good with computers. I have a fair knowledge of the principles of systems administration. I have enough programming ability to solve most problems... although perhaps not well, or elegantly. I am reasonably capable with the english language and can puzzle out most written spanish. I am reasonably good at general problem solving. I am moderately handy.
While I'm not going to create world peace or solve the impending environmental crisis I think this is a fairly respectable toolset. What would sorts of things would you do?
Some ideas that come readily to mind:
I could theoretically come up with a new e-mail protocol that would conceivably cut down on spam, thus improving the mental environment. However, this seems like kind of a simplistic and overly naive idea.
I could come up with some kind of new blog/headspace thingy that lets people easily publish there thoughts online. Even those people with limited knowledge of computers and markup languages. Would this be helpful?
I could make some kind of natural language agnostic message forum where all of the language translations are handled automagically.... it would be a hard project but I think it's within the realm of possibility.
I could, perhaps, write some kind of novel teaching software and make it freely available. In a way, though, it seems like it would be hard to beat the web itself as a self-teaching tool.
I could get involved in any of a number of projects that are working to make computers and the internet more accessible to blind, deaf, or otherwise disabled people.
I could write some kind of software that helps people with their personal lives. I'm not sure really what this would be... I'm not sure how much room there is for software in our already dehumanized personal lives.
Obviously, I've only listed of few of the ideas I've come up with. I've also, for the time being, limited myself to things that are well suited to my current skillset. Really, I can do anything. At this point I would have no problem with going back to school and learning something else.... other than the fear of placing myself in a position that makes that many demands of me again. But I'm sick of that fear... It's past time for me to get off my ass.
A penny for your thoughts...
One of the little problems I have (and oen thing that makes me less skilled at programming than I otherwise might be) is that I have trouble breaking ideas down in to manageable chunks.
It sounds like you have a really good thing going. That's a neat idea.
You're right. Think globally, act locally.
Personally, I've found that the most rewarding ways of making the world better are those things I do on a small scale. It's generally a lot easier to complete tasks on a small scale than to think in terms of changing the world for large numbers of people at once. It's also a lot easier to see the effects of your behavior, which is an excellent reward. Plus, for me, at least, I never seem to be able to think of anything to accomplish on a large scale, or get the motivation to actually do anything I might think of.
I guess an example might be helpful: I've helped out a lot of people by giving them a web presence. I take care of everything for them, from domain registration to finding a hosting solution, helping them decide what sorts of tinformation they want to have on their site, organizing that information, and then finally making the pages for them. So many people feel really overwhelmed by technology--it's a big help for people to just be able to tell me what it is that they want, and then I can make it happen for them. It's hardly any grand-scale contribution, and it doesn't even seem like a big deal to me, but I think it's rewarding to help people accomplish something they didn't think they'd be able to accomplish.
Another alternative might be to make Linux and similar systems more accesible for ordinary people. 99.99% of people haven't got the time or the energy to learn that crap. If it were more accesible, the web would be a much more stable, welcoming place.
Or you could go to Iraq and be a human shield! :Þ