Thinking like Google

I've invited many volunteers and interns to look at the web sites I host and create their own interpretation so others might understand me from their perspective.

One volunteer wrote an article in the Tutor/mentor forum and summed up the Tutor/Mentor Connection (now Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC) this way:

It occurred to me that this forum is essentially modeled on a similar format as Google's. Tutormentorconnection.ning.com

a) looks for information, or content, and people relevant to the cause of tutoring and mentoring;
b) organizes, analyzes, and archives that information for future reference; and
c) utilizes those references for targeted advertising campaigns, social networking, grant-writing, and the like. Even more to the point, this forum is a way of attempting to grow the idea of tutoring and mentoring to scale, or to a point where it "tips".


The "In-Forming" Process works something like this:

1. Uninformed people interact with information and become informed.

2. Informed people interact with uninformed people, producing more informed people.

3. Informed people interact with each other.

4. To the point where new information is being passed along to all parties involved, starting the process over again.



This graphic illustrates how anyone can be someone who "interacts with the information" and "with others", "producing more informed people". If informed people then build a "to do list" that they look at every day, they can remind themselves of ways to give their time, talent, dollars, in support of one or more youth serving organizations in the city where they live.

If enough people take a role in this process it can build a stream of on-going support that flows to every poverty neighborhood in Chicago and other urban areas, supporting the growth of a wide range of programs that help young people move from pre-school through high school and college/vocational school and into 21st century careers.

This page shows some of the projects interns have done to communicate the Tutor/Mentor Connection strategy. This blog introduces you to interns and the work they have done.