Boss 7awlak ( look around you )

[monarezk]

Boss 7awalek a project done while " make the future workshop"

@Labanita , @margwah , @MonaMakhlouf , @MostafaHussien , @MonaPrisacariu

Boss 7awalek is a campaign aimed at reducing traffic and increasing visibility for local businesses by utilizing billboards on the street. The problem is that people usually get used to going to certain supermarkets, clubs or places that are distant instead of looking for alternatives near their homes.

The boss 7awalek billboards will flash very simple message such as where are you going? Why are you here? Do you absolutely have to be here? Therefore, these questions will get the drivers to start thinking about the routes they are used to taking and to really ‘look around them’. Moreover, the billboard will light up, using the vibrations released from the cars as they cross.

Energy will be generated from vibration made by cars’ motion on the road. that energy will be saved to be reused to power the board. The generator captures energy that cars, trains, or people generate as they move across surfaces and cause vibrations. These vibrations can be harnessed and converted to energy using these units underneath surfaces. Electricity stored in roadside batteries could power traffic signs and signals, or if applied on a larger scale, be fed directly into the power grid .

Boss 7awalek will also have a mobile application containing a directory for the locations of different services with directions, proximity and ratings. This will work on a user contribution basis. Finally there is an offline component in the form of a guided exercise that encourages people to explore their neighborhoods and the facilities in their proximity and to compile those for easy reference. The campaign is about raising awareness and promoting behavioral change, so it’s not a standalone solution to the problem but a contribution to it.

[noemi]

Getting things done

Well done @monarezk and co., seems like you had a fruitful workshop! Doing something concrete while also acknowledging its “trial and error” aspect seems about right: you take a shot at addressing an issue, it may work or not, it may solve (partially) that issue, it’s still a worthy step to take.

Who’s in the team, anyone we know here on Edgeryders? and when do you start?

Wondering about the permission to put up billboards, is there work involved to get authorization from public offices? Is it feasible to expect to get one?

[hazem]

when is the 1st trial

looking good !!

from the pictures I can see u had a prototype that’s cool . do u plane on trying it out on a bigger scale . how is that , there r a lot of components in "bos 7awalek " do u think on getting things done on phases or do u plane on working on all the tracks together ?

keep up the good work and thanks for keeping us updated

[monamakhlouf]

Hello Hazem im glad you liked the idea, thank you for your kind words, your feedback guys is very important to us, well the campaign has several layers and dimensions, so i would say we will start with a phase and each one is a milestone but mainly we want to shed the light one an important aspect, and allow people to take note of different views. we want them to use the resources around them, which can save alot of energy, time and its healthy. You mentioned something about “components to boss 7awalek” can you elaborate on that plz

M

[noemi]

hm…

Hi @MonaMakhlouf welcome on board, happy to meet you!

I think mine and also Hazem’s curiosity is how are you planning to move forward with the project, and if there are specific skills you need to be able to actually implement it, aside from engineers who can get hold of a generator… Communicators? Someone to interface with public authorities? Designers for the visual campaign?

It may be too soon for you guys, but we’re listening

[hazem]

exactly

coz that’s BIG …and it can be broken down to different small stuff like noemi said so what’s ur plans guys

@monarezk @Labanita @MonaMakhlouf

[monamakhlouf]

boss 7awalek

hello there @Noemi and @Hazem im really happy you guys are engaged in the conversation, it is a big campaign or initiative let’s say, we want to cover a big target audience online and offline users, because we have a big sector who use vehicles but they don’t use a smart phone, so in order to reach them a national campaign in collaboration with other startups will be involved in this, we wanna create a buzz and get people thinking “teaser campaign” or an awareness campaign let’s say, as for the technical side of the billboard and how it will light up, we got on the team an engineer/architect and i myself am a graphic designer, our team is form of amazing thinkers n change makers n each is an expert in several fields. however we won’t be able to do it all on our own, so we need all the help that we can get, if you would like to join in our round table discussions please let me know so i can keep you updated, we would love to hear from you and tackle the challenges too, maybe we can collaborate on this

[noemi]

opportunity to get more people involved

Hey, yes a concerted action involving more groups and ngos seems much more reasonable.

More than me getting involved in it (i don’t know how I could help personally because I have very little knowledge of similar initiatives), I am wondering if we can get you in touch with others who can advise. For example you might want to start mapping the hot spots crossroads in town where the billboards should be placed, and once they’re on the map, use the data to build the app for drivers. Folks in Georgia are working with Open Street Maps and you could get in touch to learn how it’s done.   

Are any of you considering joining the international community gathering in Tbilisi this June?  That is a good context to collect more ideas for your project and get support from the bigger Edgeryders network. pinging @douwe-sjoerd to ask what the expectations and timeline for projects are after Make the Future workshops… would it be useful to follow up somehow?

[monarezk]

Thank you Noemi

yes @Noemi the " make the future work shop " was great and seemed to be an extension of future spotter workshop at Egypt . 

@futurespotter , we talked about our dreams , Ideas , solutions  & how to express all of them … then @make the future , we created some kinetic issues , then we had a task that focusing on a problem and what makes it worse then discussing the solution & make a prototype .

the team you may know @Labanita & @Margwah , Mostafa Hussein   , Mona Makhlouf , Monica … they supposed to be here … we started to discuss the Idea as  a real project and working on the generator which will generate energy from vibration done by car motion on the road . … for the billboards we will use the existing billboards on crowded roads ,  may be we can rent one of them :) 

[monarezk]

Thank you Hazem

@Hazem , mmmm we didn’t discuss if we will have a bigger prototype or not but will be more detailed one

phases or all together , we will share the topic with some details as soon as possible … but we started by the energy generator as we have a team of power engineering specialists & studying the ability of manufacturing the generator at Egypt instead of importing it

[2mavin]

nice initiative and something i can contribute in as well perhaps! energy, water, waste management, and food seem to be the verticals that much focus and resources (including investment) is being thrown at currently in most of developing countries.

keep us posted!

[monamakhlouf]

hi @2mavin im happy to connect, this is music to my ears, we wanna make it as environmental and possibly economically friendly as possible. taking into consideration the design thinking of the whole project. would love for you to join our round table discussion, im sure we have alot to talk about

M

[2mavin]

news?

Hi Mona,

Happy to help in any way.

so what has been happening re this project except the Edgeryders discussions? any tangible and specific steps forward?

[hazem]

arkeb eh

guys do u know arkeb eh " what to ride (as in transport) " they made an app that tells u what public transport to take from one place to another , I think only in cairo and its buses metro and minibuses but not microbuses ,

may be u can make something like that or even cooperate with them so that u have the other part of the story '"markabsh eh " (what not to ride :D)

---

out of topic

did anyone mapped the informal micro buses ? it is another issue but it 's interesting and worth a trial

[monarezk]

good point Hazem

yes @Hazem ,  @labanita mentioned this app as an example , but our idea concentrating on " why are you going far from your home , and leave what is near ? " , a person may has  services he needs at his neighborhood where he can walk or ride a bicycle , but he used to go to that famous market  to buy some thing cheaper and think that he is so smart but actually he spends money on fuel & wastes his  time to save may be 10 bounds . also for schools ppl put their children at famous schools even if they are far from home may be 2 or 3 driving hours . so we try to make ppl think about their alternatives . 

for Micro buses I don’t know if any one mapped it , but I think it cant be mapped and government should stop them or make more control on them because of their fast driving which I suffer from personally :) 

[monarezk]

'"markabsh eh "

@Hazem I didnt notice this  "markabsh eh " (what not to ride :D) nice funny Idea ,I like it

[hazem]

am kinda pro microbuses

I know they have lots of problems , environmentally and driving ethics wise . but we have to admit that the have a big share of the traffic in Egypt and can’t be stopped , I think  we should work together with them (microbuses drivers community) to enhance and get to better solutions and mapping could act as a 1st step to do so .

I also suffer from them but I also use them on daily basis in Cairo …

[amiridina]

Metro

I would love to have a metro from where I live to Down Town Cairo. I would love to spend my time reading, sleeping, checking my mail, anything but driving!! I do not like Microbuses.

[monarezk]

me to

@Hazem microbuses are the only way that I have to use for going from Banha to Cairo and take Metro after that , but you are right we should cooperate with micro.,  drivers and spread safety awareness between them …  

[hazem]

exactly

@monarezk since there is no other way to get from Banha to Cairo - or they r the fastest way - they have a big share in traffic and can be considered as very important stakeholder in this issue … they can’t be ignored anymore .