Still photos of the Mark III AidPod
June 20, 2009 by Simon Berry · 1 Comment
Here are some still photos of the Mark III AidPod as a Flickr set or as a slide show below:
Update:
Video explanation of the Mark III AidPod design
Introducing the Mark III ColaLife AidPod
June 17, 2009 by Simon Berry · 8 Comments
This short video describes the features of our third version of the ColaLife AidPod.
The key features are:
- It has the same cross-section as the Mark II aidpod
- It is a two-part design: the lid and the container sections (first sketched here)
- The lid fits over a collar which is the same length as the inside of the lid so that longitudinal crushing will not occur
- The length of the ‘closed’ AidPod, with the lid in place, is the same as the internal dimensions of a Coca-Cola crate so the AidPod cannot burst open when in transit in the crate
- The shoulders of the AidPod which run along its length mean the aidpod clips below the lip of the crated bottles. This helps prevent the AidPod from popping out of the crate and also gives the AidPod longitudinal strength
- Aid Pods could be of two different lengths to either fit the crates width-wise or length-wise: shorter AidPods would be stronger and up to five could be carried per crate. The length-wise AidPod is long enough to carry a LifeStraw and up to three could be inserted per crate
Onwards and upwards. 
Update:
Still images of the Mark III AidPod
Will a LifeStraw fit in an AidPod?
June 8, 2009 by Simon Berry · Leave a Comment
Over the weekend I got a message from ColaLife Facebook Group member Matthew Carter in South Africa. It went like this:
The answer Matthew is ‘Yes’!
The problem is that we only have cardboard models of the AidPod at the moment. We don’t even have a fully developed prototype and this is one of the reasons we are considering setting ColaLife up as an organisation so that we can raise money to develop and manufacture the aidpods. But we will probably not be quick enough for you Matthew.
Giant AidPod installation at NESTA
May 23, 2009 by Simon Berry · Leave a Comment
Isn’t this fabulous?! It looks like the giant ColaLife AidPod is off to spend some time on display at NESTA whose strapline is: ‘making innovation flourish’. This is a mock-up of the installation that I received last night from Mark at theWorkshop who have put a lot of time (and money) into the production of the giant aidpod which is destined to be paraded around London if we get through to the last 100 in Google’s Project 10 to the 100th competion for ideas that will change the world.
NESTA are working on a handbook as part of their Generating social innovation project and the ColaLife campaign is set to feature in that, so it is appropriate that the giant aidpod is to be displayed by NESTA as a conversation starter and smile inducer.
Thanks again to Mark and his team at theWorkshop for their support.
WANTED AidPod makers . . .
March 8, 2009 by Simon Berry · 8 Comments
You can now make your own ColaLife AidPods! All you need is two bits of A4 card, some scissors, some glue and a printer (or someone else’s!). Here’s what you need to do:
1 Download both parts of the pattern:
2 Print them out. NOTE: Make sure you have ‘Page scaling’ turned off in the print dialogue box.
3 Cut out the two pieces
4 Join the two pieces by gluing the tab
5 Score and then fold along the lines
6 Glue the tabs and assemble
7 Stand back and admire your handiwork
8 Get someone to give you a pat on the back
9 Start again at step one!
When you’ve made one, take a photo, upload it to Flickr and tag it ‘myaidpod’ and it should pop up here:
www.flickr.com/photos/tags/myaidpod. We will pull these into the blog once we’ve got one or two in place.
If you live in London or Rugby and were willing to dedicate your creations to the cause (we are going to need lots when our voting campaign starts) leave a comment or contact me (simon[at]colalife[dot]org) and I’ll let you know where to bring them.
Have fun!
PS: Here are the nets in Adobe Illustrator format
NewAidPod Net A4 Part1.ai
NewAidPod Net A4 Part2.ai
The unveiling of Mark II of the ColaLife AidPod
March 4, 2009 by Simon Berry · 4 Comments
As promised, and a lot quicker than expected, here is the unveiling of Mark II of the ColaLife AidPod (thanks to David Wilcox at Social Reporter).
The main differences between the initial prototype model and this one are:
- It has a hi-top that sits slightly proud of the bottles - this increases the capacity of the pod
- It has has ’shoulders’ which mean that when the aid pod is pushed into the crate the bottles will part slightly and come back together and grip the pod once it is fully inserted. The shoulders also give the pod longitudinal strength
As before the benefits of using a universal pod are that:
- It allows the essential local determination of what is distributed and when. Needs will vary from location to location and from season to season and what is distributed MUST be determined locally by those with the long term responsibility for public health care;
- It potentially allows the idea to be replicated across the World after successful local trials;
- It also dis-associates the Coca-Cola product/brand with a particular ’social product’ which is likely to enable a wider range of products to be distributed.
I will be putting up a pattern so that you can make your own! And we will be building a 6-foot tall one for the press stunt on 17 March if we get through the last 100 in the Goggle’s Project 10 to the 100th competition.
ColaLife AidPod - new design to be unveiled on 3/3/09
March 1, 2009 by Simon Berry · Leave a Comment
A small group of us is gathering to plan for the eventually that our entry to Google’s Project 10 to the 100th ColaLife gets through to the final 100. Google will announce the final 100 on 17 March 2009 and then the public will be asked to vote on their favourite idea. Register for a vote reminder here: colalife.org/vote.
The focus of the meeting will be the planning of a voting campaign which will be multi-facetted and swing into action on 17 March if we get through.
At the meeting an exciting new design of the ColaLife AidPod will be unveiled! (Bet you can’t wait!). Shortly afterwards the details will be posted here.
In case you’ve missed it before. Here is our 30 second video that sums up our Project 10 to the 100th entry. The video has had nearly 6,000 views to date. Please go to YouTube to comment on it and give it 5 stars. Thanks.
Would you change your Facebook picture for ColaLife?
February 6, 2009 by Simon Berry · 6 Comments
A group of us (in a Google Group) are working on a campaign to get people to vote for the ColaLife idea if it gets through to the last 100 in Google’s Project 10 to the 100th trawl for the best ideas in the World. We will know on 17 March 2009.
One idea put forward by Kristin in the Colalife Google Group was to ask members of the Facebook Group to change their profile picture for a couple of weeks. Innovative! So Emma, another group member has had a go at a few designs - a selection of these are shown above. What do you think of them? Would this work? Would you change your Facebook picture to support ColaLife?
The ColaLife Google group is here and is open to everyone. If you’d like to help out please join.
More thoughts on the ColaLife AidPod design
January 24, 2009 by Simon Berry · 9 Comments
01: ColaLife AidPod with end cap(s) - click on the image to enlarge.
02: ColaLife AidPod (single piece) - click on the image to enlarge.
03: ColaLife AidPod with end lid - click on the image to enlarge.
Your comments please . . . .
Introducing the AIDPOD concept
January 4, 2009 by Simon Berry · 5 Comments
Click on the images to see them full-size on Flickr.
While in Tanzania I mocked up two types of ‘ColaLife’ pods and went out to get people’s reaction to them. The ‘wedge’ pod was much more popular than the ‘tube’, because the tube would displace a bottle.
There are other very significant benefits from moving from focussing on distributing a particular product (ORS with hygiene and sanitation educational materials). Among these are:
- It allows the essential local determination of what is distributed and when. Needs will vary from location to location and from season to season and what is distributed MUST be determined locally by those with the long term responsibility for public health care;
- It potentially allows the idea to be replicated across the World after successful local trials;
- It also dis-associates the Coca-Cola product/brand with a particular ’social product’ which is likely to enable a wider range of products to be distributed.
Following this, at the first ColaLife face to face event, there was some discussion about what the pod should be called. Given that the pod idea has a broader application than Coca-Cola crates is ‘ColaLife Pod’ the right name?
Then on 27/12/08 in the BBC Radio 4 iPM feature, Eddie Mair rounded off the 10 minute interview saying “Simon Berry and his AidPod”. So we got the name we were struggling for after the face to face meeting. The following domain names have been registered just in case we need them in the future:
http://www.aidpod.org
http://www.aidpod.org.uk
http://www.aidpod.co.uk
Onwards and upwards.
Update - related links
What the frontline thinks of the ColaLife AidPod idea, Tanzania, November 2008 (video)
More thoughts on the ColaLife AidPod design (note the comments on this post also)
Simon talking about the AidPod concept on BBC Radio 4 (audio)
Simon talking about the AidPod concept at the Face-to-Face meeting on 16/12/08 (video)
Introducing Mark III of the aidpod (video)
Pictures of the Mark III aidpod
What others are saying about ColaLife- ColaLife on Flickr
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