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Ask HN: How can I do social good through programming?

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Re: Ask HN: How can I do social good through programming?

#101

Post by nyargh »

Mz wrote: post #88

I think the best social good comes from fostering a more civilized environment. Sure, we need things like fire fighters and EMS. But keep in mind that fire fighters also try to do fire prevention. Sometimes, people get so focused on how to be a hero (metaphorically looking for the best way to fight the worst conflagrations) that they overlook opportunities to do more valuable though less "sexy" prevention. Anything t…

This. We have had a horrible track record with tech volunteers, in part because our mission is not tech-centric, so they don't get any glory. It doesn't mean there isn't anything for them to do - it's just that the story isn't about technology ... or them.

There is a mountain of boring, yet critically important work waiting for people to just roll up their sleeves and pitch in.

Re: Ask HN: How can I do social good through programming?

#102

Post by garysieling »

One simple thing is to volunteer your time to build websites for non-profits, which I've done.

If you have time, you can also build a useful side project.

For me -

Youtube and Reddit give a lot of weight to popular content. If you're trying to learn new ideas, videos with conspiracy theories, popular speakers, and things people already know dominate search results / subreddits.

My project (https://www.findlectures.com) recommends high quality content, but across as much topic variety as I can find (discourages ignoring speakers based on demographics or them not marketing their talks well).

Re: Ask HN: How can I do social good through programming?

#104

Post by sophacles »

I can't link directly to the talk (or i can't figure out how...), but I enjoyed a short talk about this topic at shmoocon this year. If you go to this page:

https://archive.org/details/ShmooCon2017#

Then go to video 20 (friday night firetalks) and skip forward to 1:31:55 theres a talk called "You can do the thing".

tl;dw - Theres a lot of help that can be done by finding local orgs that you agree with, and offering to modernize their websites, help manage IT, and so on.

Re: Ask HN: How can I do social good through programming?

#105

Post by chrisfosterelli »

Check out 80,000 hours: https://80000hours.org/

They have a bunch of interesting research, online articles, guides, and a book. The entire website is focused around how to make a difference with your career in a way that aligns with your own goals. It's a great resource.

Re: Ask HN: How can I do social good through programming?

#106

Post by awjr »

tomglynch wrote: post #100
awjr wrote: post #28

As a cycle campaigner I am using my programming/data/design/socialmedia skills to present information to decision in better ways. 1) https://cyclebath.org.uk/map/ This one has gone national and is up for a Creative Bath Innovation Award. 2) Using Census 2011 Data I've created a healthy cities and towns league index as well as spatial analysis on commuter behaviour. (6M people drive to work, of which 3.5M live within…

I'd like to get involved in this kind of thing in Melbourne, Aus. I'm already a campaigner, but hadn't thought of contributing in a technological sense! I think I'll get in contact with the others I know and offer to help out! Cheers for the insight!

I'd look at the 2016 http://www.abs.gov.au/census data set and see if you can start playing around with some of the data sets within there.

Re: Ask HN: How can I do social good through programming?

#109

Post by nyargh »

tacostakohashi wrote: post #12

Work as a programmer for whoever will pay you the most. Invest, and donate money to causes you care about.

People are going to shit on the parent comment - but honestly, anyone with more than a few years of experience in a tight tech job market is going to easily be in the top decile of earners. The highly-committed individuals that do the brutally hard work on the ground for non-profits or NGOs make a pittance in comparison. Committing a quarter of your salary would pay the entirety of theirs. Consider that for a moment.
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