Dx1W: The Rest Saving the West

Because I cover tech for a radio program that does international news for an American audience, I end up doing a lot of stories on well meaning folks from the developed world (or the First World, as it was once known) who come up with great innovations designed to improve the lives of people in the developing world (the Third World, we once called it). Some of these efforts in my opinion work well, while others end up being a mixed bag. And then there are the spectacular failures that aren't really failures. In fact, the use of malaria-treated mosquito nets for catching fish has its own, perhaps tragically flawed, genius to it. Still, my point is this: we often think the developing world has a lock on all the world's problems. It doesn't. One need only look at the picture to the right, or think about a certain giant oil spill that is wrecking complete and utter havoc in the Gulf of Mexico. 

And so I was intrigued when someone recently sent me a link to a website called Design for the First World. (Dx1W to use it's uber-cool Twitter handle). The site's tagline? The Rest Saving the West. Carolina Vallejo, originally from Colombia and currently a grad student at NYU, came up with the idea for the site. Actually, it's not just a site, but a competition "for designers, artists, scientists, makers and thinkers in developing countries to provide solutions for First World problems."

I love it when someone turns a notion on its head.

Vallejo got the idea when, in class, she was asked to "design something for social change," but felt she wasn't given enough context, or time (only a week). "I was furious," she told me. "Being Colombian, I had been subject to aid, design and good intentions that didn't work, so I decided to invert the equation a little bit."

Dx1W invites anyone who is more than 13 years old, and is from a developing country, to come up with ideas to tackle four First World problems that were chosen by Vallejo (in consultation with her professors): obesity, consumerism, immigration, and low birth weight and aging population. Vallejo's been spreading the word through Twitter, Facebook and other social networks. She told me that she's been amazed at the positive response so far.

The competition is open until the end of May. Then, the ideas will go before a jury of designer, artists and scientists. The winning project will get $1,000, and an exhibit in a New York City gallery. Longer term, Vallejo says, she'd like to develop think tanks in various parts of the world that would continue to tackle these problems.

After all, she says, the point is that there are no "First World" problems, and "Third World" problems anymore, just human problems that affect the entire planet.

You can hear the audio from my podcast interview with Vallejo here. It starts about 26 minutes into the show. I can't wait to do a follow-up!

(Screen grab from Dx1W website)