HBG1 Inspiration case: Tolerants

Inspiration Case: TOLE-RANTS.COM, WORLD WIDE WEB

Web platform to promote sensationalist stories around social problems

Tole-rants.com is a global movement to inspire hope about solving social problems and to promote brief speeches that suggest potential solutions, usually taking the form of a 60 second heartfelt video, a so called tole-rant. The main goal is to give hope: as many of us are lucky to live in a web 2.0 world, a world of citizen journalism, a world where a single person equipped with a powerful idea really can change everything, this platform should change the way we think and act on social problems.

How does it work in detail?
By voicing and videoing people’s experiences and ideas in 60 second ‘heart-bites’ as well as sharing them through the power of social media, tole-rants.com wants to spark a movement of hope. The process is as simple as that: people get their phone, flip camera or other video recording device. They hit record, start with “I’m tole-ranting about…” briefly setting out a social problem e.g. “…ageism” and explain from the heart why the social problem means something to them and why they care. Most importantly, those people point towards a concrete solution. Finally, they upload their tole-rant on tole-rants.com and share it. Once a year a jury consisting of Rajmohan Gandhi, grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, Mirjam Schoning, head and senior director of the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship, Janis Karklins, assistant director-general for UNESCO’s communication and information sector and Simon Cohen, founder and managing director of global tolerance, chose the best tole-rants and help it on the road to reality.

Origin of the initiative
The tole-rants idea was born by one of the most influencial communications agencies in the social arena, global tolerance, that has already worked with HH Dalai Lama, Rajmohan Gandhi, HRH The Prince of Wales, and many of the best-known social activists and NGOs around the world.

What does it mean for the community?
One main goal and at the same time benefit of the tole-rants movement is to give hope: The whole idea of tole-ranting, being concise, constructive and speaking from the heart is that more people are likely to listen and engage with social problems. The more people who listen, the more chance for hope to be spread, leading to positive action. An additional benefit is that tole-rants can be shown on any social problem. Tole-rants raises the voices of those who have hope for the future, and of all global social change makers who work towards solutions to social problems every day.

Inspiration for DYNAMIC DIALOGUES

a) community members get a say
As community members can simply upload their own statement in a standardised way and pre-given format, they are given a real say in problem- and solution stating. Mechanisms like pre-upload checks to keep the rules and viewers votes on video’s appropriateness make this platform a very democratic way of community engagement in social problems.

b) awareness of diversity of problems & cultures
Different social problems shown on such a crowd-sourced platform, showcasing for example youth service cuts, small arms trade or dignity for disabled people, highlight the diversity of problems that people are aware of. This in turn opens the eyes of other community members that different people might perceive social problems differently; be it due to their culture, direct environment or neighbourhood.

A download version of this inspiration case can be found here.


Information sourced from: http://www.tole-rants.com; picture sourced from http://www.flickr.com/photos/tole-rants/4931287869/. | All rights reserved by tole-rants.com.