Your Spark is the story of my life

I've been inspired by social networking since it first hit the net with Friendster but it was not until the simplicity and addictiveness of Facebook, my involvement with the inspiring active community of TakingITGlobal -- alongside the the rise of blogging sites,YouTube's video sharing, Flickr's photo sharing, del.icio.us' bookmark sharing and other virtual communities that have made communication easier and more effective -- that I decided to pursue a thesis in designing a virtual community of my own; to use my skills as a graphic designer and observer for facilitating a process: using the Internet to enhance lives.

I came across Don Tapscott's Wikinomics shortly after I discussed my idea with my professor last year, which went on to prove that there is a lot of information on these sorts of matter and virtual communities are changing the Internet, changing lives and enhancing the way we communicate, help others and network. Wikinomics is the first book that talks about "mass collaboration" on the Internet and gives examples of all the different community websites starting of course with Wikipedia and open source information sharing. Some other highlights from his book are examples of "ideagoras": a marketplace for ideas from people who have the skills to the people who need their minds for innovation. The most successful website doing this is InnoCentive:

"In our Open Innovation Marketplace, Seekers- commercial, academic, and nonprofit organizations - draw on a global network of Solvers - more than 125,000 engineers, scientists, inventors, and business people - to meet challenging needs and move their organizations forward in the following areas:

• Physical Sciences
• Engineering and Design
• Chemistry
• Math and Computer Science
• Life Sciences
• Business and Entrepreneurship"

Pursuing my interest in social activism, over the past year I have also been researching social networking websites for people interested in social and global issues and non-profit organizations that need their voices heard. Besides the highly international and successful TakingITGlobal (which was also featured in Tapscott's book as an example for how Internet can promote activism) I looked into sites like idealist.org, igloo.org, design21sdn.com and was also really inspired by the philsophy and the amazing community of open-minded, like-minded people on zaadz.com which assured me that if you have a purpose, a heart and a strong mission with your site, you will attract the right minds and hearts, and your site will serve its purpose to connect others with the same goals.

My offline inspirations come from initiatives like ThinkTank at OCAD where designers from all backgrounds come together to discuss the potential for their skills in contribution towards community, humanity and sustainability. I'm also very drawn towards MIT's Comparative Media Studies (CMS) program that is designed for a multi-disciplinary education from literature, arts and media, history and so on to develop highly skilled students for the world that has yet to define jobs for their multi-faceted and informed minds. The head of the department Henry Jenkins has written quite a number of books and essays on this very subject about collaborative intelligence; he has been considered a living McLuhan of the 21st century. I'm inspired by the future and the potential for collaborative pursuits for defining that future...and Internet is the most amazing tool we could have ever asked for as species on this planet.

My life's story up to this point is really the main reason for this challenging undertaking. I've always had many interests that I've been passionate about -- sports, writing, reading, health, history, cultures, helping people, philosophy, nature, art, music and many other fascinating fields that provide endless knowledge -- and as a result of that I've met many inspiring people from various skills and strengths from different areas of profession. My community and group involvements have ensured me that I love to bring people together to inform and inspire eachother, as much as I like networking myself. I want people to see their potential through collaborative pursuits, and I mean that literally.