A Blue Idea

Circle of Blue, the international network of journalists, scientists, and communications design experts dedicated to the global freshwater crisis, has just launched an innovative forum called Circle of Blue Idea Central. Essentially, Circle of Blue Idea Central is the product of Circle Blue's recently released report, “The Biggest Dry,” which focused on southeastern Australia’s 12-year drought and its social, economic and political implications for the region. Circle of Blue journalists realized that there was cause for finding real solutions to the Murray Darling drought, instead of just moving onto the next story. Accordingly, Circle of Blue teamed up with Imaginatik, a London and Boston-based collaborative software firm, to create Idea Central.

Idea Central is a collaborative interface that allows users of all sorts and backgrounds to submit and share ideas and stories. Thus, in regard to the Murray-Darling Basin water challenge, farmers, students, scientists, engineers and policy makers can all enter the discussion and generate potential solutions. While created in response to the Murray-Darling Basin water crisis, Circle of Blue aims for Idea Central to stand as a larger initiative. Circle of Blue co-founder and director J. Carl Ganter succinctly provides the rationale when he states, “This is an era of enormous challenge and complexity. It’s also an era of ideas, intellect and collaboration. It has to be. The problems of the world are too big, too involved, too difficult for any one human institution to solve on its own.”

Open-source platforms have shown themselves to be, for lack of a better phrase, a good thing. Linux pioneered open-source software development and propelled itself into a popular operating system and prominent example of open-source software collaboration. Other companies, such as Toyota, have experimented in some way with open-source and network information sharing and collaboration, and have achieved generally positive results. Circle of Blue’s application of open-sourcing to water issues is a smart, innovative step, and will hopefully encourage the interdisciplinary thinking necessary to tackle these global water issues.