The Herman Trend Alert
March 30, 2022
Helping the World with Technology
More than four million Ukrainians have fled the horrors of the Russian invasion. Many have escaped to nearby countries, including Hungary, Poland, and Czechoslovakia. These fleeing refugees need food and shelter, and most do not have relatives or friends with whom they may stay.
Enter UkraineTakeShelter.com
A couple of Harvard University students Avi Schiffmann, 19, and Marco Burstein, 18, worked together to respond to the necessity to match those in need with people who have space to take in the refugees until they can find permanent housing. The website they created UkraineTakeShelter.com is a "super-fast and stripped-down version Airbnb."
What Prompted the Idea
Schiffmann had taken a semester off from school. After participating in a demonstration in San Diego protesting the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Schiffmann could not sleep. He couldn't stop thinking about how he might help. He wanted to do something that would have an immediate impact. He looked online and found that the websites for refugees were clumsy and not user-friendly.
What Happened Next
Schiffmann posted a tweet: "a cool idea would be to set up a website to match Ukrainian refugees to hosts in neighboring countries." He later followed up asking for people who spoke other languages who could help translating the website into Ukrainian, Russian, Polish, Czech and Romanian. Then Schiffmann texted his computer coding whiz Harvard classmate Burstein. What followed was a marathon of almost nonstop texting and calls on FaceTime to get the job done and develop the website. Although Burstein was in Cambridge, Massachusetts 3,000 miles away, he put aside his classes and assignments and focused on the task at hand.
March 3rd Launch, just Three Days Later
Three days and only five hours of sleep later, the pair launched Ukraine Take Shelter, a site in 12 languages where Ukrainian refugees fleeing war can be matched with hosts. From couches to spare rooms to unused resort condos, mother-in-law apartments, school dormitories, or entire houses, property owners have stepped up to help their fellow humans in need. Now, there are more than 4,000 hosts on the site and refugees can communicate with them in multiple languages.
Not his First Rodeo
Two years earlier, when he was 17, Schiffmann had developed an award-winning website to help track the spread of the coronavirus around the world. The colorful and accurate site ncov2019.live, was so well received that Schiffmann was awarded Webby Person of the Year award online in 2020. Even today, it continues to deliver valuable statistics to those who need them.
Technology to the Rescue
It is indeed heartwarming to see how technology can be put to work to help humanity. I believe that we will see more of these initiatives---particularly from our Gen Zers who really care about the welfare of others less fortunate than themselves. Putting digital knowledge to work to match people with resources is a beautiful and effective use of their intellectual capital. Expect to see this kind of matching put to work in all kinds of ways, including people suffering from diseases with leading edge treatments, starving families in Africa with people who would support them, abandoned pets with forever families, and more. And that's only one kind of expertise. The sky is the limit when it comes to applying technology to helping humankind. It's going to be a wild ride!
Special thanks to MSNBC and the Washington Post for calling this development to my attention.
Next Week's Herman Trend Alert: Flying Taxies
For years, we have heard that flying cars were on the way. Now, there's a new concept scheduled for testing in Dubai and they are even electric! Get the details in next week's Alert.
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